A cold start and a soak in the Hotsprings

 Rio Grande Village Campground, Texas

I turned the heater on this morning at 7:00am and nothing happened. I looked at the thermometer and it was 49’ Fahrenheit inside my trailer. With faint hope I turned on the burner to boil water for my coffee but no propane flowed. I sat and thought about jumping back under the covers but now that I was up, I was looking forward to a cup of coffee. That translates to – if I didn’t get a cup of coffee within the next 10 minutes I would start throwing things. Perhaps this is a mild addiction to caffeine.

I threw on my clothes and jacket over my pajamas and went outside, opened up the cover on my pick up and thrashed through things until I had cleared a space to the spare propane tank.  I replaced it and then went inside and turned up the heat. Nothing. Nada. I tried moving the lever back and forth a few times. Not even a click. I turned on the stove element and was overjoyed to see it light. Coffee, at least.

 It was only 29’ F. outside and I wondered about going across the path and knocking on my friends’ door to ask if I could share their warmth. I thought that given how early it still was it may be a sure way to get deleted from the friendship list so I sat and hugged myself for a few minutes wishing that I understood the basic science behind propane furnaces. Then I got annoyed again and pushed the thermometer lever back and forth with frustration. There was a sudden whoosh, and the fan started. Happiness as I watched the thermometer click up.

After warming up I took Baloo outside, the sun had streaked the clouds with pink and golden streaks, and although still chilly, I felt suddenly happy to be up and outside. Our plans for the day included a driving to the hot springs so I put on my bathing suit  over my legs and as I was pulling it up I reached up to unzip my jacket that I had put on earlier over my pajamas. The zipper was stuck. I pulled, and yanked, and nothing worked. I decided to pull it over my head but the zipper clawed into the side of my head and as it tightened around my head, I thought it might get stuck and then I would be even in a bigger mess. I sat down and took a few breaths and thought the next best step was to walk over to Gaila and Dick’s and face the embarrassment. Oh how they laughed! Pliers were used and much tugging ensued with the end result being that I got out a pair of scissors and cut my way out. My favourite jacket!

The hot springs were marvelous! The road in was brutal, narrow and grossly uneven, washboard deep enough to rip off any low hanging parts. After parking there is a short walk in with beautiful rock nettles, petroglyphs, and pictographs, and a multitude of sparrow’s nests built along the cliff wall. The hot springs surrounded by a rock wall are about 105’F, about 2 feet deep, and they felt marvelous. We heard stories about their healing powers from other soakers and I was hoping the bruises and bumps on my sway bar foot were going to disappear after a good soaking. The Rio Grande ran right by the spring and I stepped over the one foot wall and waded out over the sandy bottom to cool off. There was a tent pitched on the other side, probably belonging to the Mexican who snuck over the border to sell painted walking sticks and beaded creatures.

Dick was the star of the afternoon making it much more exciting by keeling over in a faint. Luckily Gaila and I were close enough to grab him before he completed his swan dive. At first I thought he was joking being the funny man that he is, but it turned out to be real. After he came around we decided that we had had enough fun in the springs and we wandered off to find a picnic table so that we could have lunch. I don’t know how he did it but Dick greeted and made jokes with everyone we passed. You just can’t keep a good man down!

Gaila made a delicious Jambalaya for dinner followed by chocolate, peppermint tea, and Monopoly. And they let me win a game. A day to remember!