Road trip to Raton, New Mexicao

We're on our way from Lubbock, Texas to Raton, New Mexico. It's fascinating to see how the landscape changes from watery areas to vast farmlands. Along the way, we passed through Littletown, Texas, which is the birthplace of Waylon Jennings. It's a tiny place, but I'm sure there's much more to the story of Waylon Jennings' life. 

When traveling on this route, it is important to check the weather beforehand. It can get extremely windy, and dust storms can occur, which can completely block your view. There are signs all over the road indicating that drivers should pull off the road, turn off their vehicle's lights, and wait until the storm passes. I can understand why this is necessary, and although we did not encounter any major storms, we did notice some dust forming in the distance. It can get quite windy without any obstructions, and the flat, dusty landscape of farmland only makes it worse.

Margaritaville Beach Resort South Padre Island

LandShark Bar & Grill is a popular beach bar located on the Gulf Coast, offering both tourists and locals a great place to enjoy delicious American tavern food and refreshing drinks with a tropical twist. The restaurant serves some of the best plates in the area, including signature LandShark burgers, fish sandwiches, Tex-Mex tacos, salads, and fresh seafood entrees.

While the food was great, the service did not meet expectations. Despite the lack of busyness, the service could have been better. On the bright side, there was a small two-piece band playing, and they did a great job. I particularly enjoyed the shrimp dish, which had 12 large pieces of shrimp. Everyone in our group was happy with their meals.

 

South Padre Island campsite/dining

 

San Antonion Rosario's Restaurant

During our river walk, we had many adventures. We stopped at a small restaurant for lunch, right by the river. After exploring the Alamo and downtown, it was time for dinner. We had heard about Rosairio's, one of the best Mexican restaurants in San Antonio, and decided to give it a try. 

We were not disappointed, and the food was delicious. I ordered the Albóndigas con Arroz, which was a combination of ground beef and pork meatballs cooked in a rich, fire-roasted tomato and chipotle sauce. It was garnished with queso fresco and sweet potato hay and served with Poblano rice. 

Everyone else enjoyed their meals as well, and the service was excellent despite the restaurant being quite busy. There were three large groups of over 20 people each, a bus with a private party upstairs, and a small private party in one of the side rooms. Overall, it was a great experience, and we highly recommend Rosairio's.

Rosario's Restuarant 

Mariachi Band played at a private party upstairs. We actually saw them on TV the next day!

 

Trip Pearl Street and Black Lab Brewery

Pearl Street is an old brewery that has been repurposed into shops, a dining area, a motel, and a living community. It's rather fascinating how they modernized the old buildings instead of demolishing them and starting anew.

History - Pearl (atpearl.com)

A 19th century Brewhouse turned into a 146-room riverfront hotel, Hotel Emma is now the heart of Pearl’s culinary and cultural community on the northern edge of downtown San Antonio.

We went to Black Lab Brewing from Pearl Street and had some beer and chicken wings.

 

 We are currently learning how to cook and store food while traveling in our RV. However, we face a big challenge as our RV doesn't have a residential fridge/freezer. It makes it difficult to store food in the fridge and freezer, as well as to freeze ice. 

To store ice for drinks and ice water, we have a small Engel cooler. However, like most coolers, it doesn't keep ice for very long. Additionally, one of the two ice cube trays in our freezer has cracked down the middle and on the sides. It is only a matter of time before we have to throw it away. Making ice in the trays takes about 2 days, but our freezer is probably fuller than it should be. 

As for the food items, we have some chicken breasts, 2 steaks, a small ham, hamburger, hot dogs, along with 2 trays of ice and a ziplock bag filled half full with ice cubes. In the fridge, we have eggs, milk, juice, water, some lunch meat, cheese, bread, and the necessities.

I can see where one must plan on going to the grocery store more often and make sure you know where that is on your route or in the town you are staying in.