Thursday, 16 November 2017: Saltillo

Yes, we woke up in Mexico this morning. We've teased each other for the past three months "...you want to go to Mexico with me?"  And here we are!

We had the car packed and were at breakfast by 7:30.  We were on our way to Zacatecas. 

It was 65' or so when we started out this morning and the mercury dropped with our increase in altitude.  All sorts of cacti in this desert. It had to be next to impossible to eek out a life here. There is a strange sense of the familiar too although it is much more green than last year.  Of course, we are at least six weeks earlier.  

Justin was thrilled since we were getting 48 mpg in our new car. And as good as that gas mileage is we still have to get gasoline from time to time. We made one of those stops on the way from Saltillo to Zacatecas in Concepcion del Oro.  The town also might have been called City of the river of gold (Ciudad del rio del oro).  We might want to check out this town for overnight stops. Hotels and restaurants looked promising.  

Into the colonial city of Zacatecas for the Museo de la Inquisicion. "Icky but informative" was the comment Justin left in the guest book. We figured we understood only about 10% of the Spanish only tour but that portion was quite enough. Halfway through I felt lightheaded and thought I'd need to sit down.  Justin reminded me that I might have been experiencing the effects of the increase in altitude.  Either way, I pressed through but was quite content to sit for a moment when we were back outside in the sunshine.  .

We roamed around the historic city center for a while and bought some cheese and wine.  Back on the road we headed to Aguascaliente determined to arrive before nightfall. 

Wednesday, 15 November 2017: Cotulla, Texas

We stopped for the night about an hour north of the border in Cotulla. Last year we learned from Evaristo, our real estate friend in San Miguel de Allende, that the place to cross the border is Puente Columbia. The crossing is a bit west of Laredo. Any time we might lose driving to extra 26 miles is easily reclaimed since there are no lines and no delay at all. 

Sunset on the desert -- our first day in Mexico

I knew our paperwork from the lien holder on our car might be an issue but halfway through the paper chase I realized I had changed the American insurance on our new car but not the Mexican insurance.  (I got on the phone as soon as we got back in the car.)  And all that trouble we went through to get paperwork for Gemma?  For the second year in a row no one even asked about her. This year we even asked them; they said we were good to go!  

We crossed the border officially at 3:36pm. We decided to head to Saltillo for our first evening. 

We thought we'd arrive about 7:30 pm. We don't want to travel at night and this was pushing it a bit.  We saw hundreds of Monarch butterflies just south of the border. Within an hour we a climbing and into the mountains. My ears started popping. The mid-80' thermometer is dropping too. 

Our odometer read 1018 miles when we entered Mexico.  We'll see what it says in a month or so. 

Tuesday , 14 November 2017: Austin

The odometer was at 352miles we picked up our car.  Leaving Austin, the reading was 656.  We reset to zero and headed south.  

Oh, wait, "Let's go to Shiner.  We can make the 11:00am brewery tour."  

Texas' oldest independent brewery (since 1909) has seen tremendous growth since it was bought be Carlos Alvarez in the late 1980's.  Still privately owned, every bit of Shiner beer is brewed right in Shiner, Texas by 115 employees. Justin quite liked the Holiday Cheer offering that had hints of pecan and preach.

Next stop: City Market in Luling, Texas for BBQ lunch. Touted to be a "classic, no-frills BBQ joint" this was simply the best BBQ I've ever eaten. You enter into the actual pit room to place your order for meat and then find your way to a table. Beans, potato salad etc can be claimed from the counter in the center.  "Finger licking good" has nothing at all to do with fried chicken.  I wanted to eat more since it was so, so good but I was just too full.  

Monday, 13 November 2017: Austin

Our first stop today was to get Gemma to the vet in Georgetown.  Then, back to Kia of south Austin for an inspection of our car.  Then back up I-35 to get a new toll tag and then back to georgetown to get Gemma.  All that to-ing and fro-ing and we still got back into Austin in time to join Kim's birthday celebration.

Kim with Harper -- what a cutie!

Dellene is absolutely go-go over Branson

Kim with new "B-O-Y", Brody.

Sunday, 12 November 2017: Austin

We hung out at home with and Dellene and Don most of the day yesterday.  Dellene and I had loads and loads of catching up to do.  God love her... she looked at every single one of my pictures.  She asked all the right questions and wanted to hear all about our Rollohome rehab projects.  

Justin and I headed to Billy's on Burnet for the Packer game on Sunday.  We came here for a games once or twice last year so we knew exactly where to go.  The cheese curds weren't like those from the Dyckesville Bowl but they were fine.  

Friday, 10 November 2017: Goldthwaite

Now it is time to worry about Gemma.  We need to get her to a vet for her clearance to cross the border and that must be completed within ten days of when we will enter Mexico.  More importantly, we need to get her blood work completed and get her on antibiotics prior to her dental surgery that is planned for next Tuesday at Texas A&M University.  This surgery has been planned for several months; first, though, we are going to get established with a in Georgetown and get the ball rolling.  

Both Justin and I liked the vet even though she told us not to expect Gemma to have too many teeth at all after surgery.  She also said we should get a lump on Gemma's next removed.  When I contacted TAMU they indicated they would not take the lump out at the same time; we decided to go with the local Georgetown vet.

To the storage unit to drop off some winter clothes for later visits and then into Austin. Dellene was at a wedding so Justin and I headed to our favorite Indian restaurant.  We anticipated that it would be a while before we'd have that opportunity again.  

It is 14' in Brussels, Wisconsin and it feels like 2'.  We are so glad we are not there!

Thursday, 9 November 2017: Goldthwaite

Lisa and Alan headed into Georgetown for appointments leaving Justin and I on our own to do some laundry and exploring in Goldthwaite.   After lunch at Peabody's, a local diner, we found Pecans.com.  This place is dangerous.  If I had planned holiday baking, this would be the place to stock up.  As it was, we settled for a few gifts and some special smackers for the road.

Dinner of shrimp and grits.  I have almost perfected my version of this southern classic.  Alan was skeptical but his clean plate indicated he might have changed his mind by the end of the evening.

Wednesday, 8 November 2017: Alvin

We left Uncle Harold's this morning on the hunt for a new car. We stopped at one KIA dealership north of Houston but we found success after a bit more of a drive to KIA of South Austin. We were very happy with the idea of a hybrid; we wanted towing capacity and we didn't want any busted glass.It was dark and rainy when we were finally on our way to visit with Lisa and Alan. The wind was up and the deer we're excited. We probably saw a dozen deer on the farm to market roads into their ranch -- too many of them on the highway way too close to our oncoming car.

Tuesday, 7 November 2017: Alvin

Charlsy headed back to Rey's pretty early this morning and Uncle Harold went to Perry's to buy steaks for dinner tonight. Justin started giving Gemma a much needed trim and then... all the electricity went off. We didn't realize those little clippers were quite so strong as to flip breakers. I checked the breaker box and found nothing amiss do I trekked down the street to see that the neighbors had lights so headed back home.  No power meant Justin had to finish Gemma with shears.   I started trying to contact the electric company. After well over an hour with precious little success I gave all my notes to Uncle Harold; Justin and I headed for lunch with Bill and Diana. Uncle Harold finally learned what he needed to do to straighten up the billing issue but not after his cell phone lost all its charge. What a mess!

Meanwhile Bill, Diana, Justin and I were enjoying the best BBQ ever...made right here in Alvin, Texas at Joes BBQ. Man this stuff is good!!!  Bill and Diana lost everything during Harvey.  They've been meeting with contractors and working like crazy.  They are entertaining the idea of selling as is and starting over.  It is a huge decision.  They are keeping good attitudes and thankfully they have their coach parked in the driveway -- their primary home for the next 6 month to a year.

Hal, Chami, Will and their puppy came over for dinner. The steaks were great. Visits with Hal are always entertaining; I just wish we could see them more often. Why didn't I take more pictures?

Monday , 6 November, 2017: Alvin, Texas

Charlsy's daughter Rey was in the hospital so she's been spending a lot of her time running up and down the freeway trying to be everwhere for everyone.  Her granddaughter Chloe has been staying with Uncle Harold and Charlsy; thank goodness Chloe's drive into Pearland High School is not too far.  

Uncle Harold spent most of the day on his tractor clearing in a
back ravine and pushing brush into a fire. 
Is there anyplace he'd be happier?

Charlsy asked us to help get the Christmas stuff down for her.  Justin and I made several dozen trips from upstairs in the garage into the garage in the house to help.  We also set up the tree. With a wedding in west Texas this weekend, and the need to be with Rey when she gets released from the hospital, Harold and Charlsy will find that it is really will be time to decorate soon.

Thought of Dave and Teru Gay when
we stopped here for a test drive.

Justin noticed that we had a crack in the moon roof in our car and we weren't willing to drive it into Mexico broken.  I spent a lot of time today in communication with our insurance folks and the claims agent to get the ball rolling for repairs. Meanwhile Justin called glass shops to learn that replacement glass alone is over $2,000.  Add the wait for the parts to come in to the added cost for installation and we were really glad to have 100% coverage.  We've been talking about a new car and now that conversation has taken on a new sense of urgency.  We took the short drive to Dickinson to look at KIA Niro's before dinner.  Justin has a saying about when you look for property -- you will find it.  Are cars the same way?  If we look, will we find one to buy?

I was driving yesterday when we crossed the border on I-10 from Louisiana into Texas.  The road is pretty crappy right there, but it meant I was home.  There was no denying that pang.  This morning when I walked outside, that same sense of familiarity and peace washed over me, as I was assaulted by the hot and humid air and the sunshine beating on my face.  Peace and assault?  Contradictory? Yes, but it is home.  

Sunday, 5 November, 2017: Lafayette, Louisiana

Our reason for stopping in Louisiana was to visit with Cousin Terry. He was singing in the church choir so we met him at the Church of the Ascension for the Episcopal service.  Yes, it's been a while since I took communion so when I dropped my communion bread  I was mortified! I figured it was sing from God that I'd better pay attention.  Lunch at Don's Seafood, with traditional and delicious cajun fare, allowed us time to chat with Terry before we drove into Houston to Harold's and Charlsy's.  

Saturday, 4 November, 2017: Murfreesboro

Left Mary's headed to Graceland!  We listened to Paul Simon as we were driving and learned that those poignant lyrics have nothing to do with Elvis. Yes, this was an unplanned stop.  Neither Justin or I are particularly all about Elvis but we did enjoy our visit with the king. Whenever I visit old or historical homes I wonder I I could live there. I could live in Graceland; I'd want to get rid of some of the gaudy, but the house itself would be very manageable. 

Back on the road headed to Lafayette.