and the photos will show these moments were golden

san antonio. is. amazing. saying i love that city would be an understatement. i'm usually not a huge big-skyscraper-city fan... but oh my. i think it was the riverwalk that won me over. live music. outdoor restaurants on a river. and all just a flight of stairs below the rest of the city. it's the coolest thing! it was such a safe and clean city too. i'll definitely be going back there someday.

it was close to midnight by the time we left san antonio, and after walking around for a few hours, me and rotey (yes, i have countless nicknames for him) were pooped. after having to shell out $50 bucks the night before, i was determined to sleep for free last night. so on we drove through the warm, breezy night. about half an hour down the road, i saw signs for a campground, and i was sold. a little apprehensive since the campground was the ONLY thing off this exit, i attempted to push my doubts away with the thought of free sleeping. and then free waking up in the middle of the night to some wild-eyed man leaning over me, watching me sleep. and then free kicking and screaming as i'm dragged away to his log cabin in the middle of the woods, never to be heard from or seen again. ok, so obviously i wasn't successful in pushing my doubts away. however, i decided that i would at least check out the campsite, and if it looked at all sketchy, i would leave.

since i got to the site so late, everyone was already tucked away in their tents/RVs. Sadly, there was no one to collect my money that i was so eager and willing to give. How disappointed i was ;-) and i most certainly didn't intentionally drive right past the giant sign that said "Late Arrivals--Drop Money Inside" with an arrow pointing to a 24-hour building. What?? I knew would only be there for like 5 hours anyway...! Don't judge me. Finding the first open spot, i pulled my car in between two RVs and presumed setting up camp. Setting up camp for me consists of unrolling my sleeping pad, laying my sleeping bag on top, and crawling inside. I think tents are a waste of time. I'd much rather sleep under the beautiful blanket of stars. Rotor actually did act as my guard dog, circling my sleeping bag for most of the night, with a perpetual warning growl to anyone who might approach. 

it was such an amazing night. there was a constant warm breeze to keep me cool and the sky was so beautiful and clear. for an hour and a half (it took awhile to fall asleep because every horror movie i've ever seen kept popping up in my mind), i just gazed up at the stars. so peaceful. and within five minutes, i literally saw TWO shooting stars!!! i couldn't believe it! it took everything in me not to go bang on the RV door next to me and tell the neighbors what i'd just witnessed! i was soooo excited! what?? i've never seen one before. much less, 2! i don't remember falling asleep, but i do remember waking up to a certain guard dog who had fallen asleep on the job. he had somehow weasled his way inside the sleeping bag with me and proceeded to snore in my ear. 

i took that as my wake-up call, and with a good 5 hours of sleep under my belt, i decided we'd better mosey on outta there before someone realized i hadn't paid. so after grabbing my shower stuff, i ran over to the bathrooms only to find you needed a code to get inside. a code given only to those who had paid. a code which i obviously didn't have. so back onto the road we went. after a few minutes on the interstate, we came across another campground, and i snuck into the bathroom behind someone else, stole my shower, and headed back out onto the open road.

we arrived in el paso a couple hours ago... and i once again began my quest for a local coffee shop with free wifi. after much confusion and misdirection, i FINALLY found one! yay! so here we are... about to leave here and head off to phoenix next... hopefully camping again tonight. we'll see how it goes!