The Ongoing Perils of Keith and Donna

We've been back in San Angelo for over a week. Several things have happened. Let me catch you up.

We booked Spring Creek Marina and RV Park for a week. This is the place we stayed a couple of weeks ago. San Angelo really doesn't have a great RV park, and the 2 best -- in my opinion -- are Spring Creek and the KOA. The KOA, although efficient, is rather drab, so we normally opt for Spring Creek, where the scenery is better. But Spring Creek is wild on weekends and the dust out there can be bad since all interior roads and sites are natural surface.

We arrived at Spring Creek on a Thursday, and got a great site. We had a good first day and night, and then the party crowd arrived. On Friday and Saturday nights, music and partying continued on well past midnight. The management does nothing to control the noise. The music, for example, was coming from a fifth wheel parked right next to the couple that run the front office. The final straw for us came on Sunday. Sometime early Sunday morning, the water went out. Now, this was not the fault of Spring Creek, but this just wasn't what we wanted at this time. The water remained off all day. Fortunately, we had quite a bit of water in our fresh water tank, so we were able to wash, use the restroom, and do our normal chores. By the end of the day, though, the water was still off and our supply was beginning to run low, so we decided to leave. The park refunded our balance, and we headed to KOA.

We have a nice spot at KOA, about as nice as you can get. Most spots are pretty close to one another, but we have some room. We've enjoyed our stay here for the most part. I'll try to report on the park in another entry.

We've had rain a few days since arriving here a week ago. Last night, we had quite a bit of rain, thunder, lightning, and wind. These elements are not fun when staying in a travel trailer. But we survived. We're not out of trouble yet, though, as more bad weather is scheduled for today and perhaps the next day or two. We're not complaining, though, as the area always needs rain.

We think we have come to terms with a house at Rio Concho West. It is a 5 year old home, and we have scheduled various upgrades. We are still waiting for estimates, but work should begin soon. I expect it will be early June before the upgrades are complete and we close on the house. We are excited about being in a solid home again.

We'll stay here another week, then take a 2 week trip. I don't know where we are going, but we feel the need to just get away. We're ready to do some touristy things again.

North Llano River RV Park

For the past week, we have been staying at North Llano River RV Park, a former KOA RV park on the south bank of the North Llano River in Junction, Texas. This was our second time to stay here. This is a decent park, but not one I can whole-heartedly recommend to others.

Office and entrance gate. Pool is to the right, while propane is available in center of picture.

The park offers all the basic amenities, and they seem to all be in good working order. Over 50 cable TV channels are offered (more are available than what is listed on the sheet provided at check-in), and we were delighted to see that San Angelo news channels were included so we were able to keep up with news in our town. WiFi is available, and it seemed to work well for the most part. It was a bit slow at times, but not so much that it was frustrating to use. The laundry room, though limited with only 4 washers and 4 dryers, was clean and well maintained, and it included a small book swap. There is also a small pool. Bathrooms and showers are also available, and they are also well-maintained. Propane is available on site, though the price seemed a bit high to me, as are some basic RV supplies. There is also a security gate, but during our stay it did not work so it was left open. A small playground is located in front of the office for the little ones or the young at heart.

Small playground in front of office.

All interior roads and sites are natural surface/gravel, so there is a bit of dust in the park when vehicles drive through. Also, the park is located right next to the main highway that loops through town, so there is quite a bit of highway noise. The highway is primarily used by local traffic or visitors staying in Junction, so there isn't a great deal of traffic, but there is enough to be a nuisance if noise bothers you. Fortunately, traffic eased each night at a decent hour. Native pecan trees are all through the park, so during summer months there is quite a bit of shade. They were just leafing out during our stay.

The RV park

Cabins are also available in the park

Pool located next to the office. Restrooms/showers are located at this end of the office building.

Our site, #14. Site was slightly unlevel from side to side as the property slopes gently down to the river. Utilities were conveniently located together.

Two things bothered me about our stay. First, we were placed right next to the highway, the noisiest area of the park. When we arrived, the park was perhaps a fourth full, if that much. Perhaps they had reservations from some regulars for the weekend and were saving better spots for them. But we were staying an entire week and should have been assigned a better site. One-night guests seemed to be a large part of the customer base. Donna and I would sit outside our trailer and watch as RV after RV would come down the highway and turn in. And almost all of these folks seemed to be place in better sites for their one night stays. Our site was also not long enough to accommodate both our trailer and our truck, so we stuck out just a bit. Second, the weekly rate was simply too much for a park with gravel roads and sites and short, noisy sites at that. I doubt we will return. There are just too many other parks in the area with better sites and better rates. Had we been given a better site, I probably would not feel this way.

The North Llano River, looking upstream (west)

Good Eats: La Familia Restaurant, Junction, Texas

Junction, Texas, is a small town, so don't expect to find any frilly, trendy restaurants there. You will, however, find a few reasonably priced restaurants offering some very good food. One of these is La Familia, located on Main Street about a mile south of the interstate. We've eaten at La Familia many times over the years, but it had been a long time since our previous visit. I'm glad we returned.

La Familia is not some overpriced restaurant offering the latest in Mexican cuisine. It is, instead, a well-run and friendly hometown restaurant offering traditional Mexican dishes as well as a handful of American dishes. If you like basic Tex-Mex, as I do, I think you'll like La Familia.

The chips and salsa were quite good. The chips were thick enough so that they wouldn't break when you dipped them, but not so thick as to be obnoxious. The salsa was tomato sauce thick with a good bite on your tongue. However, I like chunks of onions, peppers, and tomatoes in my salsa, and the salsa at La Familia was pureed.

Donna doesn't eat much. We try to watch her weight. I don't want her ballooning on me. It's almost embarrassing how little she eats at times. On this trip, she ordered 2 bean chalupas, and she wasn't able to finish those. She did enjoy what she ate, though. Everything about her meal was good, and all the ingredients were fresh.

My favorite Mexican food is enchiladas, so I ordered 2 cheese enchiladas with a cheese taco. I always ask about the sauce that is used on the enchiladas and was delighted to find they used chile gravy rather than red sauce. The enchiladas from my childhood were made this way, so this is what I look for. The enchiladas at La Familia weren't the best I've ever had, but they were very good. I enjoyed my meal so much that I ordered flan for desert, and it was good as well.

The employees who greeted us and served us were very friendly and service oriented, even though we arrived shortly before closing time. Our tea glasses stayed full with freshly brewed tea, and we lacked for nothing.

Spring Creek Critters

As I've indicated in a previous post, we're currently staying at Spring Creek Marina and RV Park on the shores of Lake Nasworthy in San Angelo, Texas. I posted entries on this park back in 2011 and 2012, so I've not posted any this time. Below are links to my previous entries if you care to read them:

• Spring Creek Marina and RV Park (May 2011)
• Life at Spring Creek RV Park (June 2011)
• The Worst of Humanity (June 2011)
• The Good Things at Spring Creek (June 2011)
• Return to Spring Creek (August 2012)

With the new management, the park is much better run than when we stayed here in 2011 and 2012. From Monday through Thursday, it is really a pleasant place to stay, but once the weekend arrives, things get a bit wild. This is, after all, the "Oasis of West Texas." People from all over West Texas come here to enjoy the lake, the shade, and the grass, things relatively rare in West Texas.

I really enjoy watching the animals at Spring Creek, and you can see some almost every day. Below are some pictures I recently snapped.

During one of my walks, I spotted this cactus growing about 8 or 10 feet above the ground in the fork of a tree.

I spotted these deer early one morning near the park's entrance.

This confused deer thinks it is a turkey.

Black squirrels are not that common, but they are along Spring Creek. I've seen them along the creek all the way from Mertzon and Sherwood (about 25 to 30 miles west of Angelo). They seem to be as numerous as regular squirrels in the park.

We leave here tomorrow. Our home for the next week will be an RV park in Junction, Texas, one of our favorite small towns in Texas.

I'll see you down the road.

Catching Up in San Angelo

We've been in San Angelo for a week now, and we've been pretty busy. Let me catch you up.

We always have the regular chores to do, such as grocery shopping, laundry, and such. We also spent a morning getting our taxes done with our local tax preparer. Uncle Sam always wants his cut, you know.

But most of our time has been spent on acquiring a house. We've now moved up the list at Rio Concho West sufficiently that we spent a day looking at available houses there. We are meeting with the reps there again tomorrow to discuss 2 possible houses. We also spent one morning with our former builder, who has a new development near our former home. We like his houses and could see ourselves living in one of his homes again, so we are giving that option some consideration.

We had planned to stay only a week, then head to the Hill Country for a while. But because of the housing situation, we've extended our stay in Angelo for 3 more nights. We hope to leave on Thursday, but if we make a deal on a home, we may have to stay longer to select carpeting, tile, and other house options.

We've had a pretty good stay at Spring Creek. The RV park itself seems to be under new management since the last time we stayed here about 3 years ago, and it appears to be run much better. WiFi has been reliable this time, for example, and they do a good job of keeping the grass cut and the trash picked up. But it still gets wild on weekends and holidays out here. This past weekend was Easter weekend. Folks started pouring in Thursday afternoon, and most did not leave until late Sunday. I can't believe how many people from all around West Texas come here. There were throngs, and they left behind lots of trash. But they weren't too unruly. A solid police presence really helps keep folks in line. Still, I prefer not to be here when it is busy. We'll have to look at other options when we return.

Good Eats: Owl Drug Fountain and Grill, Coleman, Texas

One of the things Donna and I like to do during our travels is discover those local eateries, especially in small towns, that really serve some good grub. We found such a place during our recent stay at Hord's Creek Lake.

We had noticed a billboard while driving through Coleman advertising the grill and fountain at the Owl Drug Store in downtown Coleman. So when we went in to town on Saturday to do laundry, we stopped off at the drug store for lunch. We were glad we did.

The fountain and grill is located at the back right of the store. It's not hard to find -- just follow the steady stream of people that fill the booths and counter surrounding the fountain and grill. It was about 12:30 when we arrived, and we felt lucky to find an empty booth. The place stayed busy our entire stay.

The grill closes about 1:00 or 1:30, and cooking starts early for breakfast. The popular item at the grill, though, seems to be an old fashioned hamburger. Donna and I ordered the lunch special, which was a cheeseburger, chips, and drink for $7.50. After our first bite, we looked at each other, nodded, and smiled. Yep, these were hamburgers like we used to get years ago. It's hard to find a burger like this anymore. There's nothing fancy about it, no piling on of extra ingredients. This is just a solid, well-made old fashioned burger.

From the vantage point of our booth near the grill, we were able to watch the orders being prepared. When we saw the onion rings, we both wished we had ordered some. They looked like the real deal. Fries and tater tots were also being dished up. And since the place is a soda fountain, there are also malts and other ice cream treats available.

I know that on our next trip to Hord's Creek Lake, we'll be returning to downtown Coleman to have another good meal at the Owl Drug Store.

Back in San Angelo

After over 3 months of roaming and wandering, we're back in San Angelo, but we're still homeless.

We're in town for a week to take care of some things. We are staying at Spring Creek marina and RV Park, located on Lake Nasworthy on the city's west side. We stayed here quite a bit back in 2011, but there is a different manager now and the place seems to be run better overall.

We have an appointment with Rio Concho West to check the progress of our movement up the waiting list for a home there. We are also meeting with our previous home builder just as a backup. We'll also spend a lot of time just eating at all the places we've missed these past 3 months.

For the past 10 days or so, we've been without both Internet and television, so we have a lot of catching up to do. We've missed a lot of news, especially on the political front. And I've fallen behind on the blog. We seem to have both good television and good Internet here at Spring Creek, so I have some work to do.

I'm not sure yet where we go after this week. We've suffered through some cool weather the past few days, so we definitely want some place warm. But I suspect we will stay in Texas. If we are nearing the top of the wait list at CW, then we'll also be staying close to Angelo.