Travels With Miranda

This morning, I walked across the village to the ‘post office’, which is a lean-to attached to someone’s house. You walk into the lean-to and there are some PO boxes, clutter, and a door with a bell. The sign outside said the counter hours were about 8:30 to 1:15, so being within those hours, I rang the bell.

A gentleman quickly answered, opening the top of the door, and apologized, saying the post master had stepped out. I wanted to get a PO box, mail two letters, and advise the post master that I had an Amazon package sent general delivery. He handed me a notepad on which to write my name and ‘address’ (legal land description plus descriptive description). I added a note about the incoming package and handed back the notepad and my two letters. My business was essentially done. I’ll try back Monday and see if there is a box ready for me.

It was a lovely stroll even though the sky was spitting. We’re in a grey stretch and power is becoming a concern. But once May is done, it’ll be endless sunshine into the fall, so I just need to hang in there.

Wow, I really didn’t expect the mail to get here this week. I’m a little thrown off my kilter right now.

I’m too busy to leave tomorrow, so I’ll definitely be renewing to Friday noonish. I need to call Teri to see if she can set up that guided walk she suggested in a comment.

With the days being as long as they are now, I could easily leave mid-day and arrive in Dallas with daylight to spare. Google Maps puts the trip at being 4.25 hours. I think I could do it within 6, depending on traffic. It’s 288mi (464KM), so it’s definitely doable in one shot.

We just got tons more rain here, but Teri had nothing to say about the weather when she dropped off mail, so now that the sky is FINALLY clearing, I can relax about having to move to higher ground.

I’m down almost 60AH now, the lowest I have ever gone since getting the battery monitor calibrated. Knowing that I’ll have power in Dallas, I’m not concerned. Plus, I’ll get some charge in on the drive there.

I refuse to truly complain about the weather, but dang it’s humid out there! There was also zero sun today. I was down FIFTY AH at the start of this evening, so I ran the engine long enough go bring myself to 39AH down. Not great, but the voltage boost is much appreciated.

longdog2 just called to ask if I was aware of the weather forecast for this evening. Um, no. Thanks again for looking out for me!

There is apparently a massive thunderstorm rolling in from Mexico, which might be those nasty clouds from today. I just got info about the storm watch and I am below it, so I should be fine. I’ll still put the computers away tonight and clear the counters in case I need to pull out in a hurry and make a run for higher ground (a couple hundred feet from my spot).

I ended up spending all of today working on a new website I’m preparing for y’all. It’s too soon to announce a launch date for it, but I’d like it to be before I get back to Canada. I love developing a new site; the time just flies by!

Tomorrow is technically my last full day in San Antonio, but I really don’t expect the mail to be here by Thursday, so I’ll like be staying on a bit. That would suit me just fine since there is some tourism I haven’t done yet.

That said, one of you fine, wonderful, loveable readers has offered me prime parking in Dallas for a few days! So I’m much more motivated to head there than I was a few days ago. The weather has given me my fill of San Antonio and knowing there is power and SHOWERS waiting at my next two stops (Dallas and Wichita) is making me rather eager to get going.

I’d like to be in Dallas by Tuesday at the absolute latest, which is April 9th and exactly four weeks from when I have to be back in Canada. We’ll see if the mail cooperates.

It has been disgustingly grey out most of the time I have been here. Thankfully, there have been some nice sunny patches, but it’s mostly been icky and the humidity has been increasing. It looks like we will finally get some rain tonight. I hope it’s not too much or I will have to move to higher ground.

If I didn’t have my solenoid, I would have had to move back into the RV park by now. Between it and the weak sun, I’m holding steady between 30 and 40AH down. So I’m fine, but my batteries sure would like a full charge sooner rather than later…

Mail will determine whether or not I leave on Thursday. I still haven’t figured out where I’m going next. I’ve pretty much decided not to stop in Austin. I’ve been told several times that I need to check it out, but I’m not into the music scene and nothing about the city is calling my name while there are things I want to see in Dallas. But Dallas is even more of a challenging in terms of finding an overnighting spot, much less somewhere that I can stay for several nights at little to no charge. I may just have to bite the bullet and stay at an RV park for a couple of nights.

That said, if I end up staying here later than Thursday and into the weekend, I will consider going to Austin on a day trip. An extended stay here would put me really behind schedule, so then I will probably overnight somewhere before Dallas, stop in Dallas for the afternoon (as long as I can find a place to drop the rig), and then overnight after Dallas.

I can’t believe I absolutely need to be back in Canada in 45 days, but I am aiming for no more than 40. April is going to SPEED by.

This morning, I was sad to see R and S leave for good, and a whole day ahead of schedule to boot since S wasn’t feeling well. Caroline and her husband are threatening to go tomorrow, too. Tonight, though, they, L, and I are heading down to Indianola for dinner and a little music. Can’t let them go without a shindig!

I went back into town this morning to reattempt to get propane as they were down for maintenance yesterday. I also needed to pickup a package at the post office and a few groceries. The plan was to do those things in reverse order as Walmart is on the opposite edge of town from propane, which is closer to the beach than is Walmart, and the post office is in the middle.

Anyway, I went to see L and we got gabbing as we do and by the time I got on the road, it was past 11. Just before the first turn for the post office, I remembered that today is Saturday and that they closed at noon! So I veered there first.

The lady at the counter recognized me from the little fit I threw yesterday so I didn’t even have to wait in line. She saw me come in and waved the package at me.

You see, I had two delivery confirmations yesterday and they only had one package for me, claiming that the other one had not been delivered even though it had been signed for not less than an hour before by the guy who was serving me at the counter!

He argued that UPS had not passed, that my package was not in the building, and that I’d have to come back today, regardless of how much mileage that was. The post office had done this before to me and I had been able to get the clerk to go into the back and pluck the package off the unsorted pile. But no dice this time and I was not shy to give them a piece of my mind since I had the friggin’ delivery confirmation in my hand!

Anyway, post office done, I went to Walmart and then moseyed on back to the propane place. I told the attendant that I was glad to see that they were up and running and he brusquely replied that he was going to serve me, but, really, they had closed five minutes before. He filled my 30lber ($23) and didn’t  put it back in the truck for me. It’s extremely rare that I don’t get that additional level of service. Anyway, no big deal; I got my propane! The on board tank is way too close to empty for comfort. The 30lbs should last me till I’m ready to pull out.