Day Thirteen

My alarm went off at 7:30 but I dozed until nearly eight before getting dressed and going to the exercise room. The room was quite nice, and I had it all to myself. When I was done with my workout, I found Dan still asleep, so I woke him up and we went downstairs and had breakfast.

By the time we went back to our room, it was ten, and I still hadn’t showered yet. But I’m at that point in a vacation where I’m starting to know how to cope with living out of bags, and I was ready in thirty minutes—shower, makeup, hair, clothes, and everything packed. While I got ready, Dan watched the weather report, and we learned that there was a flash flood in effect for Central Texas and that the whole area had gotten a lot of rain. We weren’t too thrilled at the idea of camping in the mud with the possibility of a flash flood, but we figured we would wait until we got to Kerrville before making a final decision.

We took a few pictures on the way out of Fort Stockton, including one of the roadrunner, which they list as an area attraction, which should give some idea of what they have to do in Fort Stockton.
















It was a long trip east to Kerrville, passing mesas and wind farms. . .



















cutting through the hills. . .

















and finally ending up in the Hill Country, as storm clouds swirled all around us. . .

















and we drove through rain.
















In Kerrville, we stopped at a little coffee bar where I had a really great curry chicken salad and Dan had a roast beef and provolone sandwich. We confirmed the local weather conditions with the shop owner, who told us there was flooding in the area. This cinched our decision that we would find a hotel for the night and we decided to push on to Victoria, where we could be sure of finding a decent hotel while being reasonably close to Yorktown, our last stop before going home.

But first we had to go to our favorite bookstore, where we browsed until nearly 5:00. After that, we strolled downtown a little, and then resumed our journey east.


In San Antonio, we did a side trip to find some of the places I remembered from my childhood. We found my church with surprisingly little trouble, for not having been there in thirty years. . .


















But finding home was harder. We finally found the high school, and after that it wasn’t too hard to locate my elementary school. . .


















and finally my house.


















Mission accomplished, we pressed on to Victoria. By now, it was growing dark and soon we were driving down highway 87 in the dark, from town to town.

















We got to Victoria around 9:00 and wandered around a bit before finding a nice place to stay on Navarro. Since our room had a microwave and it was too late to find anything better than a Denny’s open, we went to a grocery store and bought some frozen foods. I got an Amy’s Organics, and Dan got a Marie Calendar’s, so we were set.

And now were settled for the night. Our plan for tomorrow is to see the presidio at Goliad, then go to Yorktown and see Dan’s aunt. Then we’re off toward home.

Tomorrow night’s post will be from the comfort of my bedroom!