Category Archives: Life in General

Leaving Austin

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Finally, after over 3 months, we are close to getting back on the road and leaving Austin. It has been very interesting being here for this amount of time. We have learned the 40-mile radius from our campsite very well, and we know Austin as a whole pretty good also.

As of this writing, Roxie’s procedure has been completed and we just have to return next week for her final programming, then we plan on leaving here Wednesday. Our next stop will be the North Texas Airstream Community that is south of Dallas/Fort Worth. We will spend the Memorial Day weekend there to ensure we have a location for that busy time. Then we head north to Alaska.

While we have been here, we were able to accomplish some things (in addition to what I wrote about in the previous post). Two posts ago I showed some damage we incurred to the rock guard on the front of the trailer. I went to the local Airstream dealer, Camper Clinic II in Buda. The part was relatively cheap but the shipping was horrendous! Airstream, I am told, does not price their shipping, they box it up and call the shippers. The shippers then charge the rates. The shipping on the box was like $90! UPS charges the maximum rate for the box depending upon what can fit in it regardless of the weight. Oh well, we needed the part. Here is the repair:

This is the inside of the rockguard and shows some of the damage to the aluminum also.
One of the supports had pulled out of the skin. Not sure if that was from the pan hitting the guard.
This shows the rub rail (without the trim), it covers where the aluminum and plastic meet. I have to remove that before I can put on the new one.
Here is the aluminum rockguard part with the rub rail and the plastic removed.
The new plastic portion.
The new piece needs to be trimmed to fit.
Here is the completed product with shiny new piece of rub rail trim.
This is the support reattached and holding up its portion.

The repair was not too bad. Initially, I thought that I could just trim it to the same size as the other. But with the curves, it is hard to get it accurate. The best solution was to attach it at one end, work it around, riveting as you go, and then trimming it on the end. It will do the job.

But there was not just one repair, oh no! I was walking back from the park’s restroom and I found Roxie out talking to our neighbors. I walked over to join the conversation. They asked me if I had heard the noise. I did not. It appears that the window in the trailer next to Roxie’s chair slammed shut and shattered! I went back and looked and found this all over the ground:

Shattered window glass!

There was heavy rain forecast so I kicked into repair mode immediately. I contacted the Airstream dealer (again) to get a replacement window. They quoted me about 3-4 days shipping but this was Thursday so I was unsure if they could get it out on Friday. But I had to order it. I went to the local Home Depot to figure out how to close it off to the elements.

I got some bubble insulation, a paint drop cloth and some Gorilla tape. I left it open at the bottom for ventilation. It was not clean or pretty but it worked. After doing this, we went to Austin and got some more ‘insurance’. I got the window dimensions from Airstream, went to a local plastics company and ordered an acrylic window (sans holes). I also ordered an acrylic version of the larger windows on the trailer also. I figured if this happens again, I will have replacement versions with me until I can get the glass.

The glass version came in just under a week later and, ironically, that was the same day the acrylic ones were done. I used the glass one:

This is the small acrylic version of the window.

Thankfully we had an operational window again. But that rain forecast was very true. It was an interesting Friday for us.

We go to a town called Bee Cave to watch movies when we do. They have nice recliners in the theatre. I purchased the tickets online so we can also choose our seats. This time I purchased them for the wrong theatre! I rarely do that but I did today. The manager gave us a pass for the movies there but the movie was on an hour later, so we had to wait.

While we were in the movie I could hear rain on the roof of the theatre. I have heard that before and didn’t think anything about it. When we got out of the theatre there was a tremendous downpour. Of course we didn’t have an umbrella and I didn’t even have any coat. We had less that 100′ to walk to the truck but we were drenched. We also walked through water that was overwhelming the drainage and it was 4″-8″ deep. Wet feet also.

We tried to get back to our trailer in the Dripping Springs area. We tried at least 3 different low crossings but each of them were at least 2 feet deep with running water. I have a little video on Youtube of it:

https://youtu.be/kRHqXp9fjW8

We eventually decided to take major roads to get back. It added about 30 miles but was safer. I would drive through a foot of water but no more. It appears our local area received 8-9″ of rain in a 3 hour period! Luckily our trailer is almost to the top of a knoll so there is very little surface area for runoff. We survived!

One more thing I worked on for the truck in anticipation for Alaska and their roads:

Rock Tamers!

Now, we just have to GET to those Alaska roads!

Waiting in Texas

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We got to our spot near Austin on Feb 1. We are here to primarily get a procedure done for Roxie to help with her recurring back pain. We were at the MD’s office Feb 5 to get the ball rolling. The first step was to get a trial device for her. As I write this it is a full 45 days and the trial has not even started.

The delays have been insurance approval which did not take too much time. We then had to wait for some tests which pushed the initial date back. After that another surprise test and the time to get results pushed it back again but this time it pushed it into the doctors vacation. That just means it got pushed further! Now it stands at 2 weeks from now. It will be over 2 months from the start! Can you tell I am frustrated?

Luckily we had some other things to do while here. I was able to get my knee looked at, as it was causing be some consistent pain. There was no specific problem found but my knew was very strong and no physical issues. A daily anti-inflammatory pill is help tremendously.

We end up gong into Austin with regularity. One early morning, after an appointment, we went for a brunch at a local eatery. After breakfast we went next door to a cookie store and the proprietor was talking to another couple. I noticed some familiarity to their faces but it wasn’t verified until talking to the owner after they left. It was Matthew McConaughey and his wife. That was who I suspected it was. Roxie didn’t even notice them. However she did get a photo when he was, it looks like, signing a loaf of bread for a deliveryman:

We have also done some other items like, dental appointments where I was the 2nd patient for the new practice. We both did eye appointments. Roxie had her shoulder looked at. We got a handicap placard for Roxie. But enough of the fun stuff.

It was time to intersperse some fun stuff. Next to our RV park there is someones property where the have a donkey, deer, antelope and zebras. Roxie loves to look for them when we come and go:

We took a short jaunt to Pedernales Falls State Park. It was a quick walk down the trail from the parking lot to the falls overview. They have a campground also, as many Texas State Parks do.

We also bought a new truck. Traded in the 2017 and got a 2019 F350 Crew Cab. We previously had an extended cab and found out we needed the better seating. I made sure we got the same long bed and same color. This way we can use the existing bed rug and shell:

In a previous post I mentioned that we went to a Wheel of Fortune taping. During our time here is when they were broadcast. I have 3 screen captures, you can look for us:

I am always on the lookout for Airstreams and found this half of one at a local burger place. The number on it is currently being used by someone in Japan. I contacted them with these pictures and they were interested but it was not their trailer. WBCCI probably reused the numbers:

About a week later we went to pickup the part for the trailer that got damaged. This required going to Buda TX. This is a good 30 miles from here but I saw another half of an Airstream at the same burger chain but a different location. It was the OTHER half of the first one:

Another thing we wanted to do in Texas is get a couple of handguns, one for me and Roxie. We took a handgun safety course, went to the range and are signed up to get our CHL (concealed handgun license). Here are the patterns at the gun range, I did the 4 targets and Roxie did the 2 targets, there is also a slo-mo video of Roxie at the range:

https://youtu.be/g6qNzlGxFkE

Naturally, we go to see movies and try out a lot of different restaurants, we are retired! We will most likely be in the area through April and maybe a bit beyond.

When something else comes up, I will let you know.