Wineries, State Parks and One Little Oops

We spent a day wandering around researching Texas wine.  Yes, they make wine in Texas.  After starting at a neat tasting room/gift shop in Wimberley, we hit the backroads, found a couple of wineries and had a few tastes.  None of the wines really knocked our socks off, but it was a nice way to spend the day.

View of vineyards from Driftwood Winery

neat looking squirrel at the winery

After 5 nights at the campground outside Dripping Springs, we had a travel day ahead.  Or at least a travel hour or two.  We made reservations at Blanco State Park, in Blanco, TX, just 25 miles from our site at Dripping Springs.  The only thing almost as good as long stays in one place are short travel days.  The morning got off to a rocky start we realized that during the night, Beanie had knocked my iPad to the floor and the impact dented the case enough that the volume icon is always on now and the volume button doesn’t work.  A quick Google search turned up many incidents of this and many successful repairs.  We decided to defer the job until later and packed up.

We were on the road at the crack of 11:15am.  Feeling pretty smug about our short drive and previous visit to Blanco, we eschewed all navigational aids and relying only on Google directions, promptly got lost in downtown Blanco.  Well , not really lost since it’s a very small town, but found ourselves parked on a side street unsure the route to park.  Finally, using the map on the park’s website, we got there, checked in and started getting settled.  We’ve done this enough now that the routine is pretty smooth.  Connect power and water.  Drop the jacks and level the coach.  Extend the slides one at a time.  Here comes the little oops….

Unnoticed, a drawer behind the big living room slide had come open while we were driving.  Hidden behind the slide while the slide was in, we didn’t see it and started extending the slide.  The slide caught the drawer, pulling it perpendicularly to its usual direction of travel until we heard a big crack and stopped the slide.  The drawer was jammed sideways, the slide frame was bent and piece of wooden trim inside the coach was halfway detached from the frame.  Worse yet, the slide was jammed against the drawer and could move neither forward nor back.  Crap.  Actually stronger language was used, but you get the drift.  After some study we were able take action.  Using brute force, the drawer was shoved back into its spot far enough that we could move the slide, especially after removing the drawer pull. 

Obstruction removed, we got the slide all the way and surveyed the damage.  The drawer is a goner.  The slide needs frame and trim repair.  But all seems functional.  

Rosebud Cafe in Blanco

We went into Blanco for a comforting lunch at the local café and then back to Chuck for naps and recovery.   

A beer flight-the important part of lunch

Not exactly the relaxing day we had hoped for, but, as always, it could have been worse.

Now we’ve planned a new route home via Red Bay, AL.  Our friends at Tiffin will surely have a spot for us and again we can leave Chuck for repairs.  Oh yeah, we still have to fix the iPad.  Every day is an adventure….whee!

Bridge over the Blanco River leading to our campsite.  Yes, we drove Chuck over it.  Whee!