Houston to San Antonio - No Nia in Rockport - Canyon Lake
Today I was scheduled to drive to Rockport and teach my Woodstock routine.
I had also kept it in the back of my mind to go visit Padre Island National Seashore, but of course I didn't do that either.
Instead what I did was drive straight through to San Antonio from Houston. It only took a few hours.
Since today was the fifth Monday of the trip, it means it's the exact middle day. I've just completed four of eight weeks and am starting on my fifth week. Babe had 6677.8 miles on the trip odometer this morning.
We took a slight detour because I wanted to visit Canyon Lake. It was something that Angela mentioned yesterday over tacos and it sounded nice the way she described it. It was only about half an hour out of the way and I had no plans other than driving to San Antonio, so I took the side trip.
I found the lake, but it was one of those situations where the only shore access I could see was on privately owned property. I drove around for a while and considered parking in front of what looked like an obviously abandoned home so we could explore the shore access. But I decided against it, not wanting to excite the ire of watchful neighbors.
Instead I kept driving around the town of Canyon Lake until finally I found a boat launch. It was posted that there should be no activity on this boat launch besides launching boats, but I blatantly ignored that sign and we set off to enjoy the lake.
We didn't stay long, as the weight of our scofflawery was heavy on my conscience. But we stayed long enough for me to eat two hard boiled eggs and a cheese sandwich. River relieved himself and I used my empty sandwich bag to clean up. Then we climbed over some rocks to one side of the boat ramp and found a place where we could access the water.
The lake was just as it was described to me; clean, clear and turquoise due to the yellowish rock it was formed in. The drop off into the water was too steep for River to really enjoy getting wet, but he did his best and splashed his front paws around in it. At the boat launch ramp, the entry was more gradual and on our way past it, he waded up to his mid chest.
Babe's gas tank was nearing empty by this time. My plan was to fill up as close to my destination as possible (I like to have a full tank when I arrive somewhere that I plan to stay a few days). But I ran into a few problems with gas stations....
The first one I went to, I put my credit card in the slot and entered all my pertinent information until it said "Begin pumping." So I put the nozzle in the tank and pulled the handle and fastened it so it would continue to fill while I washed the bugs and crap off the windshield. As I did that, I kept hearing a beeping, but didn't think much of it.
When I was done, I saw that it had stopped on exactly $26.00, which I thought was remarkable. But usually it shuts off automatically before it's actually full, so I pulled the handle once more to top it off, and nothing happened. The handle didn't even respond to my pulling it. It was just loose. Still I didn't register what had really gone down, so I just returned the handle, put my gas cap back on and drove away.
I was shocked to look down at the control panel and instead of seeing that my tank was full, I saw that there were still only two bars left. It was then that I figured out that I never pumped any gas. I thought the pump might have been defective or I did something wrong. In any case, I was moving on and I could stop at the next station.
I pull into a Shell station and noticed that there were signs taped to the pumps saying "Out of Supreme. Only have unleaded and diesel." So I skipped that place and went to the Chevron station up the road.
At the Chevron, I inserted my card and followed the prompts until I got to the part where you pull the handle to dispense the gas. The handle clicked and released any resistance to my pulling. No gas came out. I pulled the handle again and again, to no avail. Finally, I returned the nozzle to the pump and drove around to another pump, inserted my credit card and the same thing happened.
Then I walked into the store to say I couldn't get the pumps to work and asked if there was something I was doing wrong, but she told me that they were all out of Supreme. I don't put regular unleaded gas in my Mini Cooper, so I drove across the street to a Valero station.
My fourth attempt was successful. I heaved a sigh of relief as I heard the sound of gas being squirted into my tank. I filled it up and drove happily to the motel just a few miles away. I'm now in San Antonio for the next four days. I don't have much driving to do and I have a full tank--good feeling.
After taking River for a walk around the property and giving him his dinner, I took a short drive to the Natural Grocers and stocked up on food. This room has a refrigerator and a microwave so I was able to expand my usual shopping list to include things like frozen dinners and raw eggs in addition to the salad, fruit, cheese and sausage fare I usually get.
My back still hurts, though it feels much better. And now I'm getting occasional twinges of ache in my left testicle. So of course, I'm hyper sensitive to getting kidney stones. I've been careful to avoid eating too many foods high in oxylates, and also careful to drink lots of water and to go pee frequently. Strangely, the pain in my back (which is in a very similar place that I first felt that excruciating pain several years ago during the kidney stone incident) is on the right side, but it's my left testicle that is aching.
I'm hoping that they are unrelated to each other and that there are no stones in my near future. I am pretty sure the back hurts because of the run I took with River the other day. The pain doesn't come in waves, like it did back then. And it increases when I bend over and is tender when I press in certain areas. These Vans I'm wearing are old and have almost no cushioning nor support anymore. But I can't explain why the testicle on the opposite side would ache. It does feel similar to having "blue balls" so I will 'empty the pipes' tonight and hope that solves the issue.
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