Texas is Home for the Winter

  After our hopes of enjoying Austin in the winter were deflated by bad weather, we licked our wounds and decided to head towards Shreveport, LA for Randy's next assignment. After all that drama, we were ready to say goodbye to Texas! Before we left the area, I was able to find a little respite at South Shore Park.  It is located just north of Bastrop, Texas and less than 30 minutes from where Randy and I were currently finding refuge from the floods.
  The park is one of a handful of natural areas maintained by the Lower Colorado River Authority. South Shore Park was a great find, and because we stayed during the week, it was pretty quiet.  I nabbed site #12, a spacious spot that had plenty of privacy and was waterfront to Lake Bastrop.  Hiking, canoeing and fishing are big draws for the park and I wish we had more time to enjoy everything.  We did, however, hike to North Shore Park which is also owned and maintained by the LCRA. It was the longest of about a half dozen nicely trails on the ground. As long as you don't attempt to hike in the dark like Randy, the trails are clearly marked.  Roundtrip, we totaled close to 10 miles of hiking that day  through the woods and along the lake's edge.  Randy climbed a very tall pine tree while I watched and waited to call 911, but he got down triumphantly with no mishaps...not bad for an "old" man!
  While we were staying in Bastrop,  Randy discovered on Facebook that one of our Gulf Coast Diplomacy guests, Bashar, was visiting the Austin area with his girlfriend.  It was such a nice surprise that they were able to drive over and visit us while camping at South Shore.  Unfortunately, because we were headed out of town, there was only time for us to share a glass of wine.  I hope that we continue to have serendipitous meetings with old friends when we travel, and I have a hunch that we will see those two again.
  Since we planned on overnighting somewhere on the way to Shreveport, I navigated us toward an Airstream park a friend at Tennessee Cumberland Plateau (TCP campground) recommended. Willis is a long time Airstreamer that is our neighbor in Tennessee's Airstream park.  He previously owned two lots at Texas Airstream Harbor (TAHI) and suggested we stop by there to see if it might be suitable for us as a winter base camp.  Based on his description of the park,  I was not sure if I would like the place.  As a matter of fact, when we arrived at TAHI,  we were immediately underwhelmed.  Although the park sits on the banks of a tree-lined 140,000 acre lake,  the sites themselves are not heavily wooded and seem rather small.  Many tenants have corrugated metal cabanas and parking structures in addition to an Airstream.  As a result, he park has a very industrial feel and doesn't exude much charm.
  After just a few days, the neighborhood began to grow on us.  It is a gated community with about 100 sites in addition to a large clubhouse with the usual amenities of a commercial kitchen, dining area, meeting room, library and laundry.  However,  it was our initial impression of the people that made us fall for TAHI.
  Our arrival coincided with a Texas Gulf Coast rally and it was suggested that we park next to the clubhouse with the hopes that we would find an interest in attending.  Not long after we had parked and made ourselves at home, someone drove up to our site and loaned us a golf cart for the duration of our stay.  Someone else invited us to a potluck that evening and told us not to worry about bringing anything because his wife was bringing two dishes. Yet another person dropped by to admire Peggy and Beau. We quickly figured out that the neighborhood was very dog friendly....we were smitten.
  During dinner that night, Randy inquired about the availability of memberships in the park.  We were introduced to the neighborhood president and he gave us a tour of the streets and available
sites.  There was one site in particular that we fell in love with immediately.  It is flanked by large trees and has a wonderful water view of the lake.  We found out that it was one of the sites that Willis had owned previously and that was all we needed to know to cement the purchase of the lease.  We have found our winter home.

Our neighborhood waterfront at Lake Sam Rayburn.

Peggy enjoying a wade at the lake.

Our "Lot by the Lake."

Our lake view.

Ranman teaching me how to back up the tractor to load raked leaves.

San Marcos, Texas

  Okay, we have finally arrived in the Austin area. This has been a dream destination for us for quite some time. Unfortunately, I did not do my homework and didn't inquire about a park for the Tin Zen Den until about a month before we were leaving Tennessee. Big mistake! Apparently, there are what is known as Winter Texans.  Hundreds, maybe thousands of people,  all have fleeing to Texas from the cold weather on their minds.  We refer to those kinds of people as "Snowbirds" and I thought they all came to Florida!  Because of this fatal error, Randy and I found ourselves in San Marcos, which is about 45 minutes south of Austin.
  Our first night in San Marcos, Randy and I went out to try barbecue at Black's, a famous Texas style barbecue joint in Lockhart. The barbecue was delicious, and we especially loved the beef ribs. We were hoping that the smoked brisket would make us say "AAAhh, this is what all the fuss is about" but I guess we are just not brisket lovers.

  San Marcos is a sizable enough town, having a population of about 60,000 people.  It has all the shopping and conveniences most Americans require, two huge outlet malls, and is the home of Texas State University. The downside is that the RV park where we are staying is along the banks of the San Marcos river.  Why is that a downside you ask????  Well, the park flooded last Memorial Day, Halloween of last year,  and guess what...it flooded this Halloween eve, too.
  Of course, we didn't find out about all the flooding until we got here.  Right before Ranman left for his assignments to the cold and frozen north, there was a close call with a weekend of rain.  Luckily, the river never breached the banks and all was well.  However, the following weekend (Halloween) more rain was expected and I didn't think much of it because in my mind, thunderstorms don't have much rain.  Ha ha ha! I remember the rain starting very early in the morning on Friday the 30th, around 2 am and it didn't quit for several hours.
  Once the sun came up, there was a lot of commotion outside. Someone was driving around in their car and honking the horn repeatedly.  I didn't want to believe it was because of a flood warning, so I got dressed and walked the dogs. Many people were standing around outside, discussing the weather and wondering if it was premature to start thinking about evacuating.  The rain finally stopped and the river hadn't crested the banks yet, so I thought everything was fine.  A few minutes later, the fire department is walking around banging on everyone's door and telling us we needed to leave ASAP.  There was flooding upstream from us and it was expected to happen to our park shortly.
  An older couple that I talked to while walking the dogs sent a park employee over to help me get our rig ready to go.  By the time he arrived, I already had everything packed up inside the trailer and was working on disconnecting our water and sewer lines.  I told him that I have never towed the Airstream before and he gave me a 5 minute tutorial on towing and a "good luck". I was in shock and scared to death and I still didn't know what to do with Austin, my Mini Cooper.  He suggested I drive it over to the office, but I didn't think that was far enough away from the river.
  I noticed two women that were traveling together and I stopped to ask if either of them knew how to drive a manual transmission.  Thankfully, they agreed to help me. I was able to drive the rig (Randy coached me over the telephone the whole way), Angie drove Austin, and Shirley drove their motorhome that was also towing a vehicle.  We decided that the local Walmart was a safe destination and it was just a few miles down the road.  Once we arrived, a local told us that the Blanco River we just crossed to get there, was close to breaching its banks.  In other words, we would be flooded in the parking lot if we stayed.
  The three of us conferred with another camper who said that he was going to Target, another 6 miles down the road.  Our little caravan finally made it to Target and that is where we rode out the storm.   I found out later from a staff member from the park that it had flooded 5 feet in some places and up to 15 in other areas.  As a result of the significant flooding, the park would not reopen for another 1-2 weeks. We were refugees in the Target shopping center with nowhere to go.

  Carnage left after the flood waters receded at the RV park. I am sooo happy Austin wasn't left behind!!!!

  Shirley wanted to eat at Panda Express after we all got situated at Target, so we trudged in the rain across the parking lot to find that it wasn't even open because of the weather.  We came back to the RVs and after I tried to unlock the trailer, it wouldn't open!  Somehow in all the commotion of the stormy weather, the upper lock on the door became engaged before I closed it and I was locked out.  I said out loud "What else can go wrong?"  Shirley and Angie quickly told me that I should never utter those words, plenty of bad things can happen!  Thankfully for us, nothing else did.
  Again, my Louisiana friends save the day because Shirley looked at one of the open windows and declared that she could climb in if I didn't mind having the screen removed.   Having taken "Locked Out of the Trailer, 101" previously in Navarre, Florida with Ranman, I said "Go for it"!  That previous lesson cost us $150 for the locksmith, this one will just require us to replace the screen ourselves for less than $20.
  The next day on Halloween, the three of us went on a field trip to New Braunfels to check out a potential park.  It turned out to not be so nice, but we did have an enjoyable lunch at a German restaurant.  We came back to our temporary home at Target and called nearly a dozen parks.... no one had room for us. Apparently, the parks were overflowing with other displaced campers in addition to having their own regular Winter Texans.
  I was finally able to locate a park that was on the way to my new friend's next destination and the Austin airport where I would be picking up Randy in a few days.   It is in a little town near Bastrop and is 45 minutes from San Marco.  The three of us banded together again and drove to the park, site unseen, that reserved spots for us.  I am happy to say that we all arrived safely and no RVs, cars or people were harmed during the journey.  Unfortunately, the park is not that great but it is high and dry!
  My new friends left the next day after making sure that I was safe in the new hood.  They were so much fun despite all the adversity we were up against. I couldn't have found nicer people than those two, it was definitely serendipity that I had the courage to ask for their help.   I hope to see them again when Ranman and I relocate to Shreveport, Lousiana next week.