Our Maiden GS-DP Voyage

quikduk · 11-28-2007, 07:25 AM

First off I must ask if anyone of you have seen the movie RV? This is sort of how our trip unfolded. We(the family)decided to sell our current gas RV and get a newer one. We settled on a diesel pusher from a private dealership in Texas.

This set into motion all sorts of items including airline and pick up itineraries, side visits to various natural wonders (Grand Canyon etc.) and hopefully a visit to a friend in New Mexico.

My family and I flew out to Texas to purchase the DP. A friend of mine lives about 12 miles off the I-40 freeway along my chosen route back home so the plan was for us to come visit and stay a spell. We had BIG plans to do all kinds of stuff, Drive his new bulldozer, tractor, ATV, work on a joint grapple project, sight see, you know, the usual stuff when friends get together.

quikduk · 11-28-2007, 07:25 AM

First off I must ask if anyone of you have seen the movie RV? This is sort of how our trip unfolded. We(the family)decided to sell our current gas RV and get a newer one. We settled on a diesel pusher from a private dealership in Texas.

This set into motion all sorts of items including airline and pick up itineraries, side visits to various natural wonders (Grand Canyon etc.) and hopefully a visit to a friend in New Mexico.

My family and I flew out to Texas to purchase the DP. A friend of mine lives about 12 miles off the I-40 freeway along my chosen route back home so the plan was for us to come visit and stay a spell. We had BIG plans to do all kinds of stuff, Drive his new bulldozer, tractor, ATV, work on a joint grapple project, sight see, you know, the usual stuff when friends get together.

quikduk · 11-28-2007, 07:27 AM

You know what they say about best laid plans... We began by having a tough time getting all the supplies we needed for our trip home and then getting stuck in greater San Antonio. First, few people we encountered knew where they lived or how to get to anyplace other than where they were currently standing. Second, we kept getting stuck in an endless off/on routing with their highway exits, entrances and the fact that their "roadside signs" for the likes of Walmart or Home Depot occur AT the respective establishment rather than at the offramp you NEED. This makes you miss the correct off ramp necessitating a looong trip past the store to find the next off ramp. Sometimes you needed to go further on the frontage road only to turn around and go back the other way. Note: This was repeated several agonizing times...at night in an unfamiliar setting.

Additionally, the DW managed to injure her neck the first day. By the time we got to the Grand Canyon, she was in severe pain and required very strong medication to get her home. She soldiered on through the Grand Canyon adventure and train ride but by the time we got home, she was all but incapacitated.

NOTE: She has now recovered fully. We are all glad she is back to feeling well since we both "go" a lot, the kids are back in school and she started school again with a FULL load of classes for the quarter.

Back to the trip...

quikduk · 11-28-2007, 07:27 AM

Finally, here we are with the new (for us) diesel pusher at an RV park campground in Boerne, TX. It took soooo long to get out of San Antonio that we ended up spending a night in a Walmart parking lot in Hollywood Park, a suburb of San Antonio and then needed propane and other essentials so with the 110% humidity and 98+ degree weather, we decided to stop for the day/night and re-coup. We could sort out the new coach, swim to cool off and generally relax a bit which we sorely needed.

quikduk · 11-28-2007, 07:27 AM

We ended up changing our route due to the late start and decided to take TX state route #87. On the way we made some stops. The first was in Fredricksburg. Here we toured the Fredricksburg National Museum of the Pacific War.