For whatever reason, I woke up feeling worse on Thursday than I did the day before. I’m not sure why, but I do know that my sunburned legs were now covered with small little blisters. I made myself get up and dressed and went into town where I went shopping for souvenirs for the folks back in Baltimore. Bandera is a tourist town so is loaded with shops hawking cowboy-themed stuff. I found some cute little trinkets for friends and then went home.
It was time to face the laundry. Ugh. I’d put off doing the wash for about two weeks, so practically everything was dirty. I hadn’t checked out the laundromat beforehand to see what shape it was in before taking my clothes over there. I wish I had. The place wasn’t air conditioned. The building was in the shade and there was a fan running which helped a little, but it was still really warm in there. Once the dryers got going, it got worse. I didn’t stick around while the clothes washed and dried. Instead, I’d go back to the camper for a while and sit in the A/C before going back to swap out loads. The wash took FOREVER because there were only two dryers that were fully functioning. I finally got it all done, though, and was just wiped out from the heat of the day. Temps are up around 100 in the afternoons now.
We were supposed to go meet Jason and Chris for dinner and a movie last night. I hated to beg off, but all I wanted to do is lie down. Jason was very nice about letting us out of or plans, so I climbed into bed and ended up going to sleep early. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Bandera, Geocaching, RV Parks, Texas, Travel
Original Hay Settlers
Not a lot to report today. After scoring really excellent doughnuts from the Snowflake bakery for breakfast, I visited the local cemetery to find the graves of the Hay ancestors. There are quite a few very old tombstones there, some dating back to the Texas Revolution. The first Hays to settle in Bandera, Alexander and Jessie, are buried in the cemetery.
After photographing the Hay stones, I ran errands, went home, made this killer grilled chicken with a cilantro lime pesto over rice, and tidied up the house. We had friends Chris and Shannon over for supper and chatted with them for a while. Now we’re watching a movie and taking it easy.
Tomorrow is laundry day. Ugh! It’s been so hot of late that the very idea of packing up all the clothes and hauling them across the street to the laundromat is unappealing. Still, must be done.
Tags: Bandera, family, food, friends, history, Texas, Travel
I spent today steeped in the history of Bandera, and the history of my great-grandfather’s family, the Hays, one of the founding families in this community. Ray Hay, my great-grandfather, was always a bit of a mystery to me. I knew he’d had another family before he married my great-grandma, and he’d been estranged from that family after he divorced his first wife. I knew they were all from Bandera and that his son had grown up to be quite a prominent citizen in the area, and that’s about all I knew.
Well, over the past couple of days I have learned much, much more. A lot of it is really convoluted and probably of no real interest to anyone but me and others in my family, but here are a few high points:
1) My great-grandfather helped to build the museum here in Bandera.
Frontier Times Museum
2) His father, my great-great grandfather, was rather notorious and may have shot and killed three, maybe four men, crimes for which he never went to trial, perhaps because his father was the county judge.
3) My great-grandmother once owned The Cabaret here in Bandera, a famous Texas dancehall.
The Bandera Cabaret Dancehall
4) My great-great-great-great grandfather, Alexander Hay, and his wife, Jessie, were the first Scots to be baptized into the Mormon faith and moved to the U.S. from Scotland to join a large group of Mormons who planned on establishing a colony in Texas.
The George Hay family, early Mormon settlers in Bandera County
5) My great-grandfather’s son was the first mayor of Bandera, helped to incorporate the town, was part of the EMS, ran the local paper, was a realtor, and heavens knows what else!
Ray Marvin Hay, my great-grandfather's son
6) The Hay family co-owned a general store, the basement of which was used as a speakeasy during Prohibition. It is said that a tunnel was constructed to connect the Hay family home across the street to the basement so that patrons could enter the illegal establishment without being seen. It is here that my great-great grandfather reportedly shot a man over a card game.
The Carmichael-Hay building, once a general store, now houses an antique shop
I have to thank Ruth Hay and Bobby Hay for helping me start to unravel the mystery of my great-grandpa, one of the most important figures of my youth. I also learned a great deal from the curator of the Frontier Times Museum, Rebecca Norton, and from staff at Love’s Antique Mall.
I have more I’d like to see and do while I’m here in Bandera, and I believe there is probably much more to learn, but today was an amazing start!
Mostly, this blog is about the ins and outs of living fulltime in an RV. That means lots of posts about the mechanics of the rig, adapting to small spaces, and being on the road. One thing I haven’t written much about but that has been on my mind a lot this summer is how different this trip is for me than it is for Alexis and why that difference exists. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: being out, gender, race, sexual orientation, Travel
Sunday started out beautifully. While Alexis made a big breakfast of pancakes and bacon, I ran to the grocery store to stock up on a few things we needed for our trip tubing down the Medina River with Jason and Chris, who joined us for breakfast shortly after I got back.
After breakfast, Alexis and Jason went to drop off our pickup where we planned to exit the river some six or seven miles away, and while they were gone, Chris and I aired up the innertubes and the raft. I lashed the ice chest full of cold drinks into a tube (later in the day it would end up on the raft), packed up the waterproof cameras, the walkie talkies, the sunblock, the bug spray, and we were ready to roll.
Once Alexis and Jason returned at about 1:00 p.m., we all changed into our suits, grabbed up all our gear, and walked down the hill to the river, leaving our cell phones at home lest they get dunked in the water and ruined. Here at the RV park, the entrance to the river is a good depth for tubing and has a nice current. We would soon find out that wasn’t the case for the entire route. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Bandera, Medina River, Texas, Travel, tubing
We were up around 8:00 a.m., and at 8:30 sharp, my friend Melinda knocked on the door. She was carrying homemade breakfast tacos AND a pan of cinnamon rolls! She brought us some El Milagro tortilla chips and a bag of groceries! That was so incredibly kind and generous. She must have figured we look like we don’t get quite enough to eat 
We sat and enjoyed our breakfast and chatted for a moment before getting up, bidding Melinda goodbye, and getting to work readying the rig for travel. Lex got her hitched up, I stowed all the hoses, cables, cords, and blocks, we got the critters in the truck, secured everything inside, and left the campground at about 10 a.m. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Bandera, family, friends, history, rving, Texas, Travel
Melinda smiles for the camera
Today was our last full day in San Antonio. Lex spent part of that day in town at a work-related meeting. I stayed home, cleaned house, and waited for a college friend, Melinda, to show up for a visit in the afternoon. We hadn’t seen each other in nearly fifteen years, but when she got here, it was just like old times! We sat and chatted until Lex got home.
Melinda had to go run an errand. but she came back and joined us for dinner a little later. She brought a corn cup and a gigantic fruit cup from a fruteria not far away, and we grabbed some Bill Miller’s. We shared our food and watched Percy Jackson and the Olympians. It was a great time, and when Melinda left, she promised to show up again in the morning to see us off with breakfast tacos. Read the rest of this entry »
Today was my day to geocache here in San Antonio. Before I did that, however, I needed to get the oil in the truck changed. We’ve come over 2,000 miles on our trip, so before we start heading back, we needed to take care of our tow vehicle. I had the shop put Rotella T in the truck; it’s the oil recommended for diesels. It’s a heavier weight oil so can handle the wear and tear of towing and hauling. I learned about it on one of my favorite RV blogs, Long, Long Honeymoon.
My geocaching goal for the day was to find as many of the 72 caches along San Antonio’s Mission Trail as I could before my ankle and the rest of me wore out. Well, I didn’t do a very good job, finding only one lousy cache of the six that I searched for before getting so hot, sweaty, and tired that I gave up. I’m not as patient or persistent as I used to be when it comes to geocaching. Of course, I’m not in the shape I once was, either. I really need to get up off my duff and get more exercise. When a simple park-and-grab leaves me drenched in perspiration, that’s bad. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: friends, Geocaching, San Antonio, Texas, Travel
Today I went to the post office in Elmendorf, not far from the RV park where we are staying, so I could mail Alexis’ iPhone 3G. The two-year-old phone sold in under two minutes on eBay for $150. What? Are people out of their minds? They can get the newer model, the 3GS for only $99! Oh well, we’re not ones to turn our noses up at money when it’s given freely.
As I was leaving Elmendorf, I saw this little ceramics shop at the crossroads in the middle of what passes for “town.” It seemed very lonely, the only business around for miles. I couldn’t help but stop; I felt almost obliged. The sign said open, but there wasn’t a soul around except for the owner, Cindy. She was so sweet and explained how ceramics are made, told me about her classes, and sold me a tiny little glazed vase for the whopping sum of $1.60! At prices like that, I’m not sure how she keeps the lights on. If you are anywhere near Elmendorf, Texas, go down FM327 and check out her shop. Classes are only $8! Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: food, San Antonio, Texas, Travel
Because Lex was off, we both spent a lazy Monday just poking around the house. Later in the afternoon, I did go into town to run a few errands and pick up some groceries. Came home, put together some dinner, and ended up going to bed early. So, not much else to report about Day 41 except that I did talk to a mobile RV repairman, and he’s trying to find a replacement belly pan for us before we leave SA this weekend.
Tuesday was a bit more interesting. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Floresville, friends, San Antonio, shopping, Texas, Travel
