Monday, November 18
Fort Worth
We left Dyess AFB around 9:30 am and headed to Fort Worth. The terrain had more trees and rolling plains the farther we traveled east, but it was definitely not very picturesque because it was winter. It made me feel more sympathetic toward those who found the desert pretty.
Since I planned to wax the trailer the next day, we stopped at a Blue Beacon just before our campground. Every time before we had gone to a Blue Beacon, there was at most one truck in front of us, but this place was busy. They had two bays with 3-4 trucks lined up behind them. It took us about 45 minutes to get in and wash. I think they had done the best job of all the places we had gone to, and I only paid about $25.
Cowtown RV Park
Cowtown RV Park campground was only about 30 more minutes down the road. It was a quick check-in, and we were led to a pull-through spot next to the bathrooms. We quickly unhooked and took off for a gas station and the Stockyards in downtown Fort Worth.
Fort Worth Stockyards
When we got to the Stockyard area around 2 pm, we drove around trying to find a parking spot and found some free spots near Billy Bob’s Honky Tonk. The Stock Yard area was a party area with many restaurants and bars in multiple city blocks. We walked around the blocks and eventually reached the stockyard area. We learned from a couple of valets in front of one of the fancy hotels the path of the cattle drives at 4 pm that afternoon that I wanted to see. We spent the time before the drive walking around through the visitor center, exploring the Exchange, and checking out the stockyard area that had been converted into a small store shopping mall. Some of the cowboys and their Longhorn Steers were out in the street about an hour before the drive, greeting the public. We talked with an older cowboy on a horse, but it was rather ornery. I got my picture on a real Longhorn Steer for $5, which was fun. Lisa and I got some Lone Star Beer in one of the small record shops, which we could drink while walking around.
The cattle drive had about 20 Longhorn Steers herded by an equal number of cowboys on horses. The Longhorns were very impressed with their longhorns.
After the cattle drive, we went to one of the bars called the Love Shack for some burgers and beers. I had the Texas Blonde, and Lisa had the Karback Love Street Kolsch.
We were given some free passes to walk into Billy Bob’s Honky Tonk, which was supposed to be the world’s most extensive cowboy bar, so we stopped there on the way back to the car. I was empty, but it was fun walking around it, and we even did a quick dance on their floor.
Evening
Afterward, we headed back to the camper and had some dinner there.
Tuesday, November 19
The goal for today was to get our trailer winterized and prepared for our trip home.
It was a beautiful day with temperatures in the 70s so I definitely wanted to get some much-needed wax on the trailer, I had been hauling a gallon jug of “Wash and Wax” since we left Kansas City that I had not had an opportunity to use. With the nice weather and trailer wash we got at the Blue Beacon the day before, I planned to give the trailer some love using the good Meguiers Wax I had gotten earlier that week.
Based on my reading, the trailer should be waxed at least twice a year. We had washed our trailer at least four times during this last trip and got RainX applied at two locations, but I am not sure how much that counted. I was most worried about the front cab that took a pound of flying debris from the road.
While I waxed, I did find some chips in the front cap, but the trailer overall was in pretty good shape. I did have some hard water stains from a leaking hot water heater drain plug that I could not remove altogether. But overall, I spent 3 to 4 hours on the waxing, which looked pretty good.
Lisa cleaned the inside of the trailer well and used some Old English on the very dry cabinet wood. She also gathered up everything, mainly food and clothes, that we did not want to leave in the trailer while it was in storage, and we packed it into the truck.
After we finished with the clean-up, we added the anti-freeze. I had seen enough YouTube videos to feel confident about doing it correctly. Still, my owner’s manual and the YouTube videos were not specific to my RV model. I also saw a lot of debate on some issues, such as whether you should add anti-freeze to the fresh water tank, use anti-freeze at all, or keep the lines drained. I did a good job flushing out the black tank by running the black tank flush for about an hour and then spraying water directly into the toilet to break up anything under the bathroom. I also drained the grey tanks for at least an hour apiece and opened the low point drains to get the fresh water tank empty. The trailer was on a slight incline toward the drains so that it might have also helped a little.
My first mistake while adding the anti-freeze was to pull the plug from the hot water heater without removing the pressure relief valve. Luckily, the hot water heater had been off for a while because when I pulled the plug, the water shot out and soaked me. My next issue was that I had difficulty finding where the tubing was to get the antifreeze pulled into the system. I finally found it behind the control panel in the pass-thru. Once the tube that goes into the anti-freeze jug was found, I found a connector that prevented it from entering. I cut the top off to get the tubing into the jug.. I am guessing that there was an attachment that I could have bought, but it seems unnecessary. Next, I found that even though I had drained the water, there was still a lot of water in the lines. I read that, ideally, I should blow out the water lines, but I did not have the equipment to do this. The anti-freeze was rated to -50 degrees, so I hope it was not too diluted.
In the late afternoon, we drove to Railhead Smokehouse BBQ for dinner, which was nearby. Since the weather was still charming, we ate out on their lovely patio. They also had a radio station promo there giving away stuff, so Lisa got a t-shirt, and I got a ball cap for Dustin. Though we were disappointed that at 5 pm they were already out of their daily special of BBQ chicken, I settled on ribs and Lisa on Sausage,
When we returned, we hooked up the trailer to the truck and went to bed early.
Wednesday, November 20
With the truck connected to the trailer the night before, it did not take long for us to get ready to go this morning. We ended up pulling out at about 6:25 am, and since it was still dark and we were going first thing through Forth Worth, Lisa asked me to drive.
Traffic was pretty busy, but we got about two hours under our belts before we stopped for gas and COFFEE! We switched drivers, and Lisa drove about three hours before we stopped for gas again. We had not eaten in a chain restaurant our entire trip, but I hankered for Taco Bell, so we got some for lunch. After I drove for another few hours, Lisa took us home to the storage lot.
The weather was mostly cloudy, and it drizzled on us most of the day, but the roads were nice. We got the trailer quickly parked at about 4 pm and got home promptly with most of the stuff we needed to take home already in the truck. Just as we headed to the house, a big rainstorm started. We got home at about 5:15 pm, safe and sound and dry. Fate once again smiled at us.