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Wanderung 11

A Tantalizing Taste of the Texas Tropical Trail

January-February 2006

Sunday, January 22nd, 2006 - San Antonio, Texas.

For the first time since we had arrived in Texas, the day dawned with a steady, soaking rain, which was direct confirmation, if any were needed, that we were indeed out of the desert ecological zone. Although that type of rain was certainly good for the local farmers and ranchers, it put the kibosh on our planned bicycle tour of the missions. Instead we used the morning to ramble around and do some necessary errands. We had to sign on to the internet to check our email and I wanted to check out portable battery chargers for the trailer so that we could do more extended camping in non-electric sites. Besides, I had to get some more Zocor so we had to find a drugstore for that and I wanted to find a coaxial cable in order to plug in to the cable TV offered at our site. Now ordinarily I would not have cared about watching TV on a Sunday afternoon, but this day was the NFL and AFC football championships, and we thought that those might be worth watching.

As usual, things did not work out as I had planned. The 12 foot coaxial cable I bought was long enough to connect the cable outlet to the trailer, but it turned out I needed another piece of coaxial cable inside the trailer to connect the Monika's TV to the antenna outlet. Fortunately I found an old piece of electronic gear that I could scavenge a short piece of coax from, so that problem was solved. When I turned on the TV and set it to scan for stations, however, I could not locate the satellite stations that were advertised in the camp brochure. In particular we needed CBS for the NFL playoffs and FOX for the AFC playoffs, but I could not find the satellite signal for either one. The camp office was, of course, closed on Sundays, and I couldn't find anyone who could clarify why the satellite reception was not at all as advertised or, better yet, fix it.

With kickoff time fast approaching I went to my backup plan of extending the rooftop antenna of our trailer and trying to adjust it so that we would get an acceptable picture for the game. With Monika checking picture quality I rotated the antenna until we could see the local CBS channel reasonably well, at which point we settled in for the game. Although the Pittsburgh Steelers won by a score of 34 to 17, the game was not as lopsided as the score indicated but fairly engrossing until nearly the bitter end. The second game, by contrast, was so one-sided that we gave up on it somewhere in the third quarter and turned in to finish up the Anne Perry book we were currently reading, which we found much more exciting.

We later heard on the news that the moderate rainfall had caused scores if not hundreds of minor accidents that day in the San Antonio area, some of which were quite serious. It seemed to me that the folks there had pretty much the same problem that the folks in Virginia have with snowfall--they just aren't used to it and will not adjust their driving habits to compensate for less traction. The result is that the laws of Physics take over and, will we or nil we, determine our automotive fates. So soliloquizing, I retired for the night.

Copyright 2006 by R. W. Holt and E. M. Holt
Prolog Map Epilog

January 06
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February 2006
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