Austin – the Arrival

After I crossed the Mississippi, my next destination was Buda, Texas, which was a mere 525 miles away. I had an appointment for Flo at Camper Clinic 2 to have her checked for leaks.

Buda is a small town about 10 miles south of Austin, and, incidentally, Buda is pronounced “BEAU-da.” (I knew you wanted to know.)

I crossed into Texas and stopped into the welcome center.

And I was back in Texas!

I stopped for the night at a rest stop near Corsicana. I like the fact that Texas welcomes travelers to stay over at their rest stops. It makes covering ground in that huge state much more convenient.

After a good night’s sleep at the rest stop, I hit the road towards Austin. I started seeing signs for Buc-ee’s.

Buc-ee’s! Now I know I’m in Texas!

There are billboards announcing how far you are from the next Buc-ee’s. When you get close, you finally see the Buc-ee’s sign glowing in the distance.

You might want to know, “What is Buc-ee’s?” Well, it is a Texas-sized gas station. Actually to call it a gas station is kind of like calling the Grand Canyon erosion damage.

The clerk in the convenience store – which is roughly the size of a Wal-Mart – told me that there are 96 gas pumps in front of the store, and that there are times when all the pumps are full and there is a line!

At the entrance to the store is a bronze statue of Buc-ee himself!

The store has just about everything you could want – food, clothes, outdoor equipment and REST ROOMS! (Guess where I was heading?)

After my visit to the porcelain convenience, I decided to grab a little sustenance. I saw that they had kolaches, which I hadn’t managed to sample on my previous travels in Texas.

According to my ultimate resource (Wikipedia), a kolach (plural: kolaches) is a pastry that comes from Eastern Europe. It is a type of pastry that holds a dollop of fruit rimmed by a puffy pillow of supple dough. Now I can say I’ve had kolaches.

On my way to the cash register to pay for my snack, I passed a large display of Buc-ee swag. While they had cute stuff, I didn’t really need anything. I was able to pass the display and get back on the road.

I arrived at Camper Clinic 2 and dropped off Flo. Cora and I headed for the hotel.

The plan was that they would apply the Sealtech machine on Flo and then seal up where the water was getting in. I do love a plan! One of these days, the plans will work.

After I got settled in to the hotel, I got a call from them that told me that the repair job I had done the year before – when I put a hole in the side – had been done incorrectly. They told me that they had to remove, reseat and re-caulk the five windows on the affected side of the trailer. I took a deep breath and agreed to the repairs.

So, rather than the two days I had originally planned, I ended up spending about a week in Austin.

Oh, well. I did feel that I hadn’t allotted enough time for my visit to Austin the year before.

Thus endeth “Austin – the Arrival”.