Spontaneity

I see that as of my last post, we were crossing into Texas.  That’s a good start for this post as our itinerary did not have us staying in Texas that first night.  The plan had been to stay in Lake Charles, LA at a state park but we felt motivated to continue to get closer to Austin, the next locale.  We spent the night at Stephen Austin state park in Texas.  We pulled in too late to officially check in but were able to secure a site and settle in for the full moon, lightning bugs and a good night’s sleep. 

The next morning we got back on the road, setting our sights on Austin and some good BBQ and music!  We left I-10 behind and enjoyed a great divided highway for a change of pace and pulled into Austin just before noon.  This is where being in an RV with no other transport besides bicycles is NOT ideal.   Not being comfortable driving the RV on downtown streets and the fact that it was RAINING, we were left with few options for getting around the city without getting soaked. 

We tried to park in a city park and ride the bikes across the river when the rain started coming down in earnest!  This is when we decided that this trip wasn’t about seeing new cities, but about experiencing our National Parks.  Without any further distress, we took the first turn to get us back out of town and kept right on going! This little caper cost us a couple hundred miles, the accompanying fuel and some time but we were both in good spirits and settled in for the continued ride. 

We really had no idea where we were going at this point because Austin was to be a several day stop and the next planned destination was Carlsbad Caverns, more than a day’s drive away.  We made attempts to stop at breweries – closed on Mondays!  We passed countless wineries (with tasting!) but never seemed to catch the entrance before it was too late.  We did make the turn at a wildflower farm with endless fields of poppies (so pretty!) but the promised “Beer is Back!” sign didn’t prove fruitful.  (We are TERRIBLY spoiled with Holy City brews and consequently a bit hard to please in this regard …grin!)

Looking for any form of stopping place or diversion on the map, I came across the Caverns of Sonora.  It was just a little spot on the huge Texas map but we needed SOMETHING!  After a little research (and fighting with almost nonexistent cell coverage) I managed to secure two tickets to go see the caves.  We pulled in just before they closed to find a friendly group of staff more than willing to be accommodating regardless of the time.

Arriving so late, we had a private near 2 hour tour of the amazing caverns.  With one “room” leading into the next, the cave seemed to go on forever.  Our guide, Charlotte was just great and seemed to love going through the cave as much as we did.  We learned about dead caves and active caves and formations and geology.  We saw stalactites and stalagmites and soda straws, butterflies and draperies (cave bacon!).  We experienced total darkness when all the lights were extinguished – did you know you’d go blind in 10 days if you lived with no light?  We saw how caves grow and how people can so easily damage them.  Anyway – it was a HIT!

To top off our luck, they also run an rv park and we had a safe place to stay the night.  Charlotte and her friend Thomas joined us for a few beers later and we were ready for a great night’s sleep.  NOT!!  Rob, who had been nursing a threatening cold, lost the battle.  He spent the night coughing and quite miserable.  We got up this morning expecting to get on the road and there was NO WAY he was going to make it.  His temp started to rise and I watched him get worse fast.  When the thermometer read 103.9, things got serious. 

Being a heart patient, fevers are taken seriously. Texts and calls (when reception allowed) to friend and doctor Steve Miller resulted in orders that even if we had to drive back to Austin, (5+ hours?!) Rob needed to get to the ER!  Thank heavens for great neighbors.  After meeting John and Susan (neighbors in the park) just minutes before, Susan offered to get Rob and I to the hospital about a 15 minute drive away.  

So, Rob has the FLU!!!  And we’re sharing this lovely little RV home of ours which means….yah, no way I’m getting out of this one.  But we’re both loaded up with Tamiflu and lo and behold, Rob is already seeing some improvement (and I am in no way gonna get sick!)  I spent the rest of the day taking random beer photography (ha!), watching the crazy peacock here strut his stuff, riding my bikes on some serious hills and generally staying busy. 

In the midst of it all, I realize that somehow we’ve already experienced a change.  Seems that if this trip is going to work, we’re going to have to learn to REALLY let things happen as they may.  The interesting thing is that at every stage in even so little time, each change of plan has brought some new delight.  I’m even feeling excited to put all of my pre-planning aside and watch as it all unfolds.  What will tomorrow bring I wonder?