We moved from Austin to Hondo, TX which is located about 40 miles west of San Antonio. We stayed at an Escapees Park, Lone Star Corral RV Park. This park is about 8 miles west of the Hondo Wal-Mart. Park directions on the website are not that great. LS Corral is a fairly large park and the sites are about 50 feet wide by 70 feet deep. There is an Escapees waiting list of about 3 years to be able to purchase one of the lots. They sell for just under $3000 plus any improvements such as decks, cement, sheds, etc. Those little additions can add $10,000 to $20,000 to the price.
This Escapees park is pretty quiet this time of year since the busy time is during the winter. The clubhouse is quite large and well furnished. They have a huge library, dining area, laundry room, Wi-Fi, and craft shop. Unfortunately, they have no pool, but with so few in attendance in the summer, it probably would be more trouble than it is worth.
Our interest in visiting Hondo and the San Antonio area was three fold. Checking out the Lone Star Corral for possible lot ownership was one reason. We may need another visit here in the winter to determine whether this place is too quiet for us or not.
Second, we had a chance to have dinner with Tinka’s cousin, Patricia, at the Olive Garden in San Antonio. We hadn’t seen Patricia since our family reunion about two years ago and it was good to catch up with her.
And third, since we are heading to the coast from Hondo, we wanted to take the opportunity to search for a decent beach vehicle. Our beach experience has taught us that a one ton dually pickup truck is a lousy replacement for a jeep. Aside from the extreme lack of traction provided by an empty truck, the front end of the diesel is really heavy. We found that on wet sand the 4000 pound front end will sink to the axle if we stop moving. This results in pricey extraction efforts.
Anyway, we browsed Craig’s List for Jeep listings in the San Antonio area. We scoped out several and found one that we wanted to see in Camp Wood, TX. Camp Wood is located about 40 miles north of Uvalde, about 35 miles west of Hondo.
Since we figured the best way to bargain on a car would be to have a pocketful of cash, we took the long way around in order to pass by a Wells Fargo Bank.
Hondo is located just south of what is known as the Texas Hill Country. You can see the hills from Hwy 90. Anyway, our little side trip took us to the hills and the sights were breathtaking. The bank was located at Lake Medina and we found it to be a gorgeous location.
Our journey to Camp Wood took us through beautiful hills and terrain. This is truly a place where the deer and the antelope play. We also saw wild turkey and goats, etc. Oh yes, and the skies were not cloudy all day.
The first town we passed through was Bandera, Tx. which is bisected by the Medina River, a popular rafting and recreation spot.
We continued on, through the hills, toward Camp Wood through Vanderpool and Leakey and were happy we weren’t pulling the 5th wheel. Mexican roads and drop-offs had nothing over this road.
As we dropped down into Leakey (pronounced La’-key), we came across another popular rafting area, the Frio River.
The roadside streams leading to the river were also quite picturesque. We had expected Hondo to look like this, but not a chance. Hondo is flat and brushy.
It’s nice to have a really flexible schedule. We arrived in Camp Wood and met up with the lady selling the 2001 jeep. Aside from a dent in the tailgate and a small one in the front fender, the car was in pretty good shape. They recently replaced the soft top and the AC condenser. They even had a replacement tailgate that just needs installation and painting. We struck a deal and with Tinka driving the jeep, we headed back to Hondo on a more direct route through Uvalde.
After driving a dually for so long, Rick is a little more skittish about the narrow stance the the jeep provides, expecially with a stiff cross wind.
