Stranded in a Texas backwater

As Nancy was driving back on Sunday after dropping me off at a sports bar in Del Rio, Texas to watch the exciting new 49ers led by quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, liquid and steam started draining from beneath the hood of the Ford Ranger pickup truck we tow behind our motorhome.   She reached the RV park, parked the vehicle, and called a local repair shop.

Without a working vehicle, how was I to get home?  It was too far to walk.  I doubted they have taxis or Uber.  Nancy couldn't drive the motorhome.  Would I have to sleep in the alley behind the bar?  Luckily, one of the other RV park residents offered to drive Nancy to the sports bar to pick me up after the game.

The repair shop towed our truck and began working on it.  Diagnosis - exploded water pump and associated damage.  It's now been two days since the breakdown and finally the work is completed.  We will have spent at least four days rather than the two scheduled for Del Rio, which is a nondescript town almost on the Mexican border without much in its favor except for the friendliness and warmth of its citizens.  Interestingly, we learned that locals routinely go across the border for medical and especially dental care, where prices are a fraction of what they are on this side.  Medications are also much cheaper over there.

Lacking the ability to drive to a grocery store until now, our meals were confined to what we could find in our fridge and cabinets.  Nancy was able to cobble together nice lunches and dinners but the larder is getting bare.  And our days consisted of television, Kindle books, dog walks, meals, snacks, and conversation, mostly confined to the restricted living space within a recreational vehicle.  Now that we having a working pickup truck, our horizons are expanded. but Del Rio seems to be strictly a strip malll town, so there's not much of interest to be explored.

This incident brings home the fact that the vehicle we tow behind the motorhome is critical to our comfort and allows us to shop and enjoy the surrounding area.  If we had been told that the pickup truck couldn't be repaired, we'd have had to buy another tow vehicle before moving on - and the list of vehicles that can be towed without a trailer is rather limited.  Alternatives would be bicycles (probably not age-appropriate as the sole means of transportation beyond the motorhome), Vespa scooters, or motorcycles.  Let's face it: A couple of senior citizens on scooters would be seen as comical by some.