Terlingua Dreams

Terlingua Dreams
Governors Landing Campground - Lake Amistad - Del Rio, Texas

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Test driving Mom's Mini-Van

It is not often that I go to bed at 10:45 p.m. on a Saturday evening but I did last night.  It is no surprise I woke up equally early.  Decided I would treat myself to the breakfast buffet at Sirloin Stockade and at the same time test drive mother's mini-van farther than one mile.

I am worried... it smells to gasoline when usually the vehicle that smells like that is dad's old car...not this one.   Swung by the P.O. Box and came on home.  As I passed by the area where they broke the water main, I saw several City of Del Rio Water Dept. personnel at work. Yeap, you guessed it...when I got home the water had been turned off yet again!  Hopefully for the last time.

This afternoon I told mom I wanted to run her mini van on the highway to see how it performed versus city driving.  We don't really have much choice it is either Highway 90-E toward Brackettville or Highway 90-W toward Lake Amistad or what is left of Lake Amistad with all the water the International Water Commission releases, it resembles a creek now :-(


Many of you are familiar with Barney, of OFM Adventures fame http://ofmadventures.blogspot.com/  he just left Del Rio after having spent a couple of weeks here.  On his blog he had pictures of his adventures on Lake Amistad and some were really sad, as they showed the very low lake levels.  I must say that seeing it in person is even sadder.


I had not been to the lake since November when I took my uncle to see the old now visible 277 bridge that used to be underwater.  It is much worst now.  I also noticed that the store/gasoline station/camping ground at the Y had closed.  Guess I am going to have to break down and buy our town's newspaper, misspelled words and all, so at least I know what is going on around here.

 I saw this vehicle at my favorite campground at the lake...Governors Landing.  I apologize for the poor quality.  For those new to the blog I am a member of a vandweller's forum.  I love to see all the creative ways people come up with to outfit their vans and other vehicles.  Some only use them to travel in but many make them their full time home.  I would have loved to have asked them where they were from, what cities they had visited and where they were headed but alas they were not outside.



Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

9 comments:

  1. Buying the Del Rio News Herald expecting to find actual news is a lot like buying a box of Lucky Charms and expecting to find the Leprechaun's pot of gold.
    El Zocolo tells me more about what's going on in the DR than the DRNH ever has.
    The lake is indeed looking sad. Here's a link to the water gauge. You can go up or down the river to get readings for the entire length of the Rio Grande.

    http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=ewx&gage=amit2&view=1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1&toggles=10,7,8,2,9,15,6&type=0

    They're letting it out at a steady rate of .3 feet a day.

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    1. Hello, East of the Pecos! I had to laugh about your analogy and could not agree more.

      I too read El Zocalo both the paper as well as the online version. What a quality newspaper with a lot more bang for my money.

      Thank you for that link and for dropping by.

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  2. Do hope the drought doesn't last too many more years, but who knows. Climates do change and the sun keeps gradually growing in size.

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    1. I certainly hope it doesn't last much longer. Del Rio depends heavily on tourism and most of that is people that come to the lake.

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  3. Replies
    1. It so sad, I do not know of a single lake in Texas that is even half way full.

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  4. We see quite a few vehicles, vans and assorted other vehicles that have been modified for camping, living and traveling. There is a German tour group that arrives here every year and they have this unque double decker bus that must sleep 20 or so people. And I have seen a few that resemble the one in your photo. There are some pretty practical people out there. If you have a chance look up the blog for Tiny House Blog. Every day there is an entry about the ingenious ways people come up with to live small.

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    1. Hi Charlton! I bet you get to see all kinds of vehicles out there.

      Take some pictures and post them on your blog. I will have to check out the Tiny House blog.

      Glad you came for a visit :)

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