Problem at the end of this boring drive

After a day trip to hike at Colorado Bend State Park, we drove the pickup back to our camping spot at Lometa, Texas. Then we did something that we have seldom done. We packed up the motor home and headed on down the road in the late afternoon. The forecast calls for rain tomorrow, and we would rather make the two-hour drive in the clear tonight--rather than in the rain tomorrow. Besides, this is just another boring drive through this part of Texas that we have seen many times before. So we arrived at the low-water crossing at Blanco River State Park later than usual for us.

The forecast was correct, and the rain started later that evening. This welcome moisture continued through the night and all the next morning. While hanging out in the motor home in the rain isn't much fun, we were glad that this parched part of the country got some moisture. We decided we needed some exercise in the afternoon, so we jumped the water puddles to take a loop hike that started along the Blanco River. We've never been here in the summer, but we've read that this is a great spot for tubing.

We walked into the town of Blanco, that is adjacent to the park. The rain had cleared, and the sun was lighting up the front of the historic old court house on Main Street. While we think this is a handy state park stop, we have to say that there's not much to see and do here along the Blanco River on a rainy day in January. Our three-mile loop hike wasn't much exercise, but we had to giggle when we talked to the campground host. They still hadn't ventured out on that little hike, and they've been here for three months. We've stopped at Blanco before, and to tell you the truth, we're getting a little bored with this long drive through Texas to get to the tip of the state where Denisa's Mother prefers to spend her winters.

So instead of making any other stops, we've decided to just hurry on down south. Instead of driving out of our way to another campground, we chose to spend our last night at a Walmart parking lot in Alice, Texas. We noticed a strange noise when we pulled into the parking lot. But we didn't think much about it after we parked on the edge of the lot and walked to a tasty Mexican restaurant nearby for dinner. When Mark looked under the motor home later, he saw that we had a problem. Our tail pipe was hanging at a strange angle. The noise we had heard earlier was it dragging as we made the angled turn into Walmart. When Mark removed the heat sock around the tailpipe, he discovered that it was completely cracked and ready to fall off!

Our choice of camping spot turned into a bonus. Mark walked into Walmart and bought some supplies to help us get on down the road. He made a tail-pipe bandage out of heavy-duty aluminum foil and muffler tape, and held up that broken tail pipe with wire. We were glad for our spot at the edge of the lot where he could lay under the motor home and work. 

After a pretty quiet night at Walmart, we made our final two-hour drive. We stopped to check on the muffler, and it was hanging on. We made it successfully to our destination at the tip of Texas in the Rio Grande Valley. We were bored with this drive south, and we found problems at our last stop. Now we have some time to find fun things to do and make some motor home repairs over the next month.