Thursday, it rained off and on from the Texas Hill Country southeast to Goliad. Goliad, located on the Coastal Plain along the San Antonio River, played a central role in Texas history starting with Spanish Missions, Mexican War of Independence and continuing on through the Texas Revolution. Weather forecast for Goliad predicted heavy rains starting late in the afternoon and continuing on through Saturday morning.
We arrived at Goliad State Park and Historic Site at lunch time. It was 72 degrees warm and sunny. After getting electric, water and sewer connected, we put the dogs in the camper and headed into town to eat lunch at Whataburger on the corner of US-183/Alternate US-77 and US-59. Only the Whataburger’s hot water was down, closing the restaurant for food health and safety. Hungry to the point of being cranky, the next stop was the Agave Jalisco Mexican Restaurant on US-59/Pearl Street.
Agave Jalisco turned out to be a lucky great restaurant pick. The service, food and atmosphere were excellent. The chips and salsa before our meal seemed endless.
I had the Pechuga de Pollo, one of the house specials. It came with rice, beans and a small salad made with shredded lettuce, a tomato slice and topped with a generous portion of guacamole. Linda loves guacamole so I gave her mine.
After lunch, we stopped at a car wash to rid the Jeep of the road grime from a drive through oil and gas production country.
Back at camp, we finished putting the campsite together expecting time to relax.
The wind picked up some so we retreated into the tent. Soon after, the rain started. Slowly at first but within a half hour the rain became more intense.
The weather forecast was right. Water was beginning to penetrate the rain fly and drip inside the tent. Time to retreat back into the truck camper for the rest of the day. We only ventured out during lulls in the rain to walk the dogs. Before sundown, the wind picked up. Both awnings were brought in. The temperatures dropped into the fifties.
Out of clothes, Friday ended up being wash day. The Goliad laundromat is nice. The machines are in good working order. It is clean and orderly.
It has the cleanest bathroom ever seen in a laundromat. Bring lots of quarters. No change machine is available. The dryers did have to struggle against the humidity generated by the continuing storm.
For lunch, we put a roast in the oven. Unfortunately we pulled the roast out too soon.
The carrots and potatoes were hard as rocks.
The beef was dangerously raw.
After another hour and a half baking, the roast was ready. Definitely a family favorite.
In the afternoon, back to the laundromat to wash blankets. The rain intensified and local flooding became evident.
Wind and rain continued all night. Saturday, still raining after breakfast, we headed off to Victoria to check out the HEB Plus and stop in Verizon to ask about a prepaid mobile hotspot offering we had heard about on the Internet.
We ended up getting a “MiFi” JetPack mobile hotspot. Overall, the two year contract lowered the monthly bill and improved Internet service.
Thankfully, Saturday, while in Victoria, it finally stopped raining.
Back in Goliad, the sun came out and the drying out process started. The tent had puddles of water in it. Hoping to improve airflow so the tent would dry out, we opened up the tent.
We feasted on grilled turkey sausage Saturday night.
It remained clear overnight with an overnight low near 40 degrees. In the morning before dawn, while walking the dogs, stars were visible. Unfortunately, the wind made the cold biting.
After breakfast the tent still had puddles from the previous days’ rainstorm. At Dollar General, we bought four cheap brown bath towels. It only took two bath towels to soak up the puddles in the tent. Still too cold to be in the tent, we stayed in the camper with the heater running.
For lunch we had leftover beef pot roast. Roast always tastes better after it has been in the refrigerator mellowing for a day or two.
Hope to see you on the road ahead!