Crossing the bridge and entering into the United States was like going from one world into another. Everything we had grown so accustom to was gone - done. At the border we had our first conversation in English, the last time we had a full on conversation with someone, where both sides completely understood each other, happened back in Costa Rica. Driving into Brownsville was an overwhelming shock to the system. "Do you hear that?" - quiet, no horns. "Do you see that?" - empty, orderly streets, no ones cutting us off or walking in front of the truck. "Do you feel that?" - smooth roads, no topes. You would think this would make driving easier, and it did but remembering the rules of the road took a little time. What do you mean I can't drive through a red light, aren't red lights just like stop signs?
After the day we had, all we wanted was a shower, some food, a bar and a bed. We found a Motel 6, checked in and found the neighbourhood pub. Wow, no guess work required, we could read the entire menu. Such a switch, usually we order by process of elimination (don't know that word, can't order that.) Our very friendly waiter came by and told us it was happy hour - perfect. He told us that all beers were $2.50 a piece. Whoa, thats seriously going to hurt the wallet. We were mostly paying about half of that in other countries. Damn.
Sitting in the pub, we noticed that we could understand everyones conversation. EVERYONES. Being away from english for so long, I guess we just tuned out what we couldn't understand. But now, our ears perked up, recognizing our own language. Uhhh, it was loud, chaotic and overwhelming coming out at us from everywhere.
Back at the hotel, brushing our teeth, we wondered is it really okay to drink the water. Is it really okay to put the toilet paper where it belongs. One thing was for sure, if we didn't have to buy water anymore that money could now goes towards beer. Ha.
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| Texas and Alberta could be related |
The next day, we drove on to Corpus Christi, the last time we would see the ocean. Sigh. We drove along pancake flat, wide, clean roads. Oh, how we dreamed of this. Usually a normal day of driving meant bouncing along dodging cows and trucks. This was nice. The first order of business was to hit a mall. Our clothes have become very ragged (to put it nicely). The mall was overwhelming too, so bright and shiny and so expensive. Next was the grocery store, there was no way be could continue eating at restaurants nor could we survive on convenience store hotdogs. Wow, sticker shock again, the cost of produce was outrageous compared to all the other countries we had been to. But oh, the selection.....
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| marina in Corpus Christi |
Our original plan, way back when, had us driving straight home after leaving Mexico, but since we had all this extra time we wanted to take full advantage of it and take a good look around. We had really no idea of where to go or what to see but before we could do anything we had a bunch of issues on the truck to take care of. We first changed the oil and replaced another two bushings (bushings have been a problem since the beginning of the trip) and we thought we were good to go.
We decided to first head to San Antonio because there was a land rover shop there and we wanted to get our emergency brake operating again. On the way into the city we ran into a wicked storm. Thus started our land rover bad luck. While driving down the highway our windshield wiper arm popped off and landed on the hood. Unbelievably, it stayed there and we were able to pull over and put it back on.
Justin put it back on and we continued down the road. About fifteen minutes later, as we entered the city, the wiper decided it had enough of this and it was gone for good. The next morning we ordered two wiper arms and found out that we couldn't get the parts to repair the emergency brake.
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| before we lost it for good |
Okay, so I'm going to get ahead of myself a bit and list everything thats happened to the land rover since we entered the states.
- Changed out 2 more leaf spring bushings, bringing it to a total of 8 since we left.
- All the welds broke on the back of the roof rack, at the moment its being held together with rope.
- Wiper arm blew off the truck, never to be seen again. Had to order one from New York.
- On the way to the San Antonio land rover shop, to get the wiper cut down to size, we realized we had lost all electrical. No brake or signal lights. It probably happened during the bad storm on the way into the city. Justin had to resort to hand signals out the window, until he got to a place he could fix it. It was two blown fuses.
- We began having problems starting the truck. After some trouble shooting we realized it was two glow plugs that needed to be replaced - we actually had spares.
- The day that we resolved starting the truck, we couldn't get the truck to turn off. Seriously. SERIOUSLY - we're still laughing about it. This one is still ongoing. The procedure is for me to hop out of the truck, block the tire because we have no emergency brake. Then Justin gets out and pops the hood and pushes the fuel shut-off linkage. Its becoming embarrassing.
- Today we had the wheel alignment done. The steering rods were bent. We imagine this is why our front tires are worn out. We need to get two more tires before we hit snow.
- A few days ago as we were driving around, Justin thought that the clutch peddle felt funny. He saw that the clutch fluid was leaking, he topped it off (hoping that it would go away). It didn't. We had to order a new clutch slave cylinder. Why didn't this happen the day we had to order the wiper blade? After the part came, he realized that the part had the wrong fittings. After a bunch of frantic calls and combing the town for the proper fitting, he was able to make it work.
- On a brighter note, we have finally gotten rid of all the ants in the truck.
In thirteen days, all of this has happened. One thing after another. We swear, we do love the freedom of having our own vehicle to travel in but sometimes.........AAARRRRRRR!!!!!!
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| its broken on both sides |
So back to Texas. In between truck issues we roamed around San Antonio. We visited the Alamo and wandered around the city. The River Walk is especially beautiful.
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| The Alamo |
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| The River Walk |
In the end, without a real plan for the states, we decided to head west. We want to see some of the great national parks and we need to get there before the snow falls. Oops too late......
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| now that is flat |
