Saturday, July 21, 2012

Mammoth visits the home of the Alamo

Thursday, July 19th




Yesterday we brought the Mammoth home from storage, so we could load her up. We decided to plug in to our 30amp outlet, so we could get the inside cooled down and make it easier to load. Well, with the extensions and converter to 50 amp, the surge/low voltage protector kept tripping. Hmmm. We've plugged her up like this before, what could be the issue? We struggled in the near 100 degree heat trying to find out. Eventually, I suggested plugging in the 50amp surge/low voltage protector instead (We it plugged in at the conversion from 50 to 30, rather than the 30 amp at the house), to see if that worked. Well, it did! Thank goodness, it wasn't a problem with the rig. We will have to explore why the 30amp didn't like it, another day.... The only reason we use this conversion and 30 amp extensions is when we need power to the rig when it is on the street, which is rare.

Back to the trip!!! The Texas Bandmaster's Association Convention is held every year in San Antonio, and since the cost of a hotel stay nearby keeps going up, we opted to take the Mammoth and stay at the KOA, instead. We decided on the KOA because it's not too far from the convention center, and it's on the city bus route, so Tony can take the bus there and not have to deal with trying to find parking for the dually truck. So this morning, I worked on getting the Mammoth loaded.






ready to go!




We had to wait until mid afternoon to head out. We left about 1:15pm, and made good time. I-35 is a mess with lots of construction, but once you get to sections that are widened, it is very nice. 


As we approached Austin, we decided to take the 130 Toll Road that goes east around the outskirts of the city. Tony has been on it on a few trips before, but we had not pulled the Mammoth on it. We decided it was worth the cost to avoid sitting in Austin rush-hour traffic for an hour or more. The 130 loop is long and out in the country it seems, but it was a very relaxing drive and we were very glad we took it!


Once we got to New Braunfels, we were starting to get hungry. We decided to stop at the new Buc-ee's. Buc-ee's is a gigantic convenience store, aimed at travelers. Their "mascot" is a cute grinning beaver. They advertise 80+ toilets. It looks to be the size of a large grocery store, with souvenirs, drinks, food, auto accessories, clothing, music, snacks of all kinds, dippin' dots™, and even fresh produce and hunting-related items. We stopped mainly to find out what the excitement was about, and find something to eat. They don't have anywhere to sit and eat, so we just paid and took our pulled-pork sandwiches back to the truck and ate. We were anxious to get to San Antonio before dark, so we didn't explore the store that much. 


Mammoth at Buc-ees

lots of cars filling up

Tony headed for an entrance

Once we arrived at the KOA, we got set up and settled in to get cooled off. The temp was much cooler here than back home, only 91 degrees, but the 50% humidity!!! We were drenched in sweat by the time the rig was leveled and hooked up to utilities.

our site at the San Antonio KOA

We were very tired from the drive, so we didn't do a lot to get set up inside... but that's OK. We don't have to jump up and do anything right away tomorrow.


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