Monday, February 26 - We have made a big decision with respect to our westward travels. After two days of heading west, through Laredo, and then to Seminole Canyon, we have decided that it's as far west as we want to go this trip. We've been on the road for 100 days, and it's time to think of heading home. So plans to go to Big Bend were cancelled, and today we start back to the east.

We still have 3 weeks of our planned time away to get home, so we aren't in  hurry. We've had lovely weather here in the Canyon area, did a great 10 mile hike yesterday down to the Rio Grande, and now look forward to spending a bit of time in San Antonio. We have gotten away from the fog and cloud that dominated the Rio Grande Valley, and have brilliant sunshine and warm temps here. So we'll try to find other places with similar weather on our way back. After San Antonio, we'll probably go up to Austin, and after that? Who knows?

We went to downtown Laredo on Friday to go to a small museum, and had a little incident with the rig. We were parked on a narrow street, and should have been fine, except ol' Lar forgot that a parking meter was rather close to the rig. So instead of carefully assessing the situation, and having my navigator outside to ensure clearance, I pulled forward and promptly encountered said parking meter. Result: broke the seating plate of the awning, so that one arm of said awning was hanging in the air, sadly and forlornly. You can only imagine the self-recrimination for the driver's stupidity.

However, we managed to get the arm of the awning seated again and tied it securely to the ladder at the back of the rig. Now we have to find a replacement part, which will have to wait until we get home. We don't use the awning a lot, so it's not a big problem, but just another reminder that when driving a bigger vehicle, you have to take everything into account.

The picture below shows that I am actually on this trip, not just ghost-writing from the comfort of my easy chair at home. I'm standing on the brink of the Rio Grande after hiking for nearly 5 miles. Across the way is Mexico. No one tries to cross the border here, for obvious reasons. Trump need not build a wall here, as Mother Nature has already provided it.

That's it for now. Time to head out in the direction of San Antonio. Stay tuned. More later.