Time flies . . .

Time flies when you're having fun, right? So it must be doing the slow crawl for us. Motorhome problems continue to plague us and we are about at our wits' end.

On the way to Piney Grove, we stopped at our favorite rest area on the north side of the bridge over the Tennessee River on the Natchez Trace. This was just the day after picking the coach up again from Hill's Truck Service Center in South Bend, Indiana. We noticed after stopping and walking the dogs that we had what appeared to be a leak under the driver's area. Yep, it's a NEW fuel leak. It's not the one that continues to spew fumes into the basement and coach. . . this is a NEW leak created by the "mechanics" at Hill's. We never had any VISIBLE leak until they "fixed" it. Grrrrrr. Well, that still wouldn't keep us from moving so on we went. As soon as we pulled out of the rest area and approached the incline on the bridge the "Check Engine Light" came on. It continued and flashed "Low Coolant" before going out. Hmmmmm. Thanks, Hill's for checking and topping off the coolant. We thought we had finally found a place where we could take the rig up in northern Indiana for service and now are having to rethink that. We have had this before and normally have to add a bit of coolant. Terry runs the Silverleaf Diagnostic System on his laptop and it showed the engine temperature perfect, so we didn't worry about that. We drove on without incident and got into the camp expecting Gary and Jo to be already parked and waiting for us, since we were a day late.

Sad to say, Gary and Jo had cancelled their reservations and were staying at Shirley's. That's not a bad thing. Staying at his sister's is the best place for them since they don't see each other that often. We still got our favorite site and the camp was full. The neighbors camping in "Gary's" site came over and introduced themselves and invited us to share their screen tent and play cards and games. We thanked them. . . southern hospitality at its best. But after the problems we had getting here, we stuck to our site, walked the dogs and relaxed.

We had recently received information from the tax gurus in Texas that they were upping our assessment and taxes on our Texas property and so we filed an appeal. Unfortunately, instead of just making an adjustment, they scheduled a hearing for us. If we were not going to make the hearing, which at this point was 10 days away, we would have to hire a representative (too late to do that) or submit all our data and have it notarized, etc. So I spent the morning preparing the necessary forms and supporting materials. Terry called his cousin Cathy and she has a cousin on the other side of the family who works at a bank and is a notary public. So we went to visit Cathy and her husband Bill and then she drove us to downtown Baldwyn where we met her cousin and she notarized our paperwork. After that we were able to drop it in the mail. Whew. That's done. It required eight copies of everything so that each person on the appeals board could have their own documents. It probably won't even make a difference, but I had to try. Since then, we have talked with other owners in our park and were told of a lawyer who is helping a lot of the winter Texans there; so we will touch base with that attorney this year so that in future years, we will have someone who can help us by remote.

We had a great visit with Cathy and Bill in their "new" house. Her Dad, Uncle Bob, is the last Pace member of his generation. He is Terry's Dad's brother. He is in assisted living and suffers from Alzheimer's. When he moved out, Cathy and Bill moved into his house and have redecorated it. It is lovely and is a beautiful home. They are becoming more comfortable in it I think.

We drove over to Red Bay, always a highlight of our trips to Mississippi. We bought a few things in the camp store. We should have looked around more, because they have built a new customer lounge and we didn't even know it until after we left. But we do go every year, so we will manage to see it next time. 

Saturday we attended the family reunion in Marietta, Mississippi. It was a bit of a disappointment. Uncle Bob was not feeling well, so he didn't come. We had a total of 18 I think. The restaurant venue was actually quite good. The food was good and the family was great. We had hoped by having it at a restaurant and not requiring anyone to cook, there would be a bigger attendance. I hope that more attend next year and in the years to come because we always enjoy seeing everyone. So many have moved away that it is good to touch base with them once a year at least. Terry thinks we could send out invitations and I think that would be a good idea. As the family gets older, it is important for the younger ones to take interest in seeing that we make that contact at least every year.

After the reunion, we went back to camp and spent some time with the dogs and walked them. We headed back to Wheeler later and spent the evening visiting with cousin Shirley and family and cousin Gary and wife Jo. We had a great time visiting. It is always fun to visit with these cousins. Terry has fond memories of spending time in Mississippi when he was little. They always came back for vacations and family events, so he was quite close with these cousins and they remain very special to him.

So, tomorrow will be time to head out. Our plans are to head to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, as our drivers' licenses need to be renewed.

Till next time. . .

Dale

What a difference. . .

Yesterday the temps actually got up to 70 which was way nicer than it has been. It has been cold and rainy down here in the Rio Grande Valley, but still not as bad as last year. We have been running through a lot of propane and electricity, though, that's for sure. We keep heat in the Texas Room all the time because we spend a lot of time over there. And we keep the motorhome heated as well, mostly with propane because the heat pumps are so noisy under the canopy.

With the warmer weather yesterday, there were so many people out walking and riding their bikes, there were traffic jams in the streets. On my! I got the dogs out more yesterday because they really like being outside. Today is another cold day and it has started out wet, so that is going to be the rule today and tomorrow and then warmer temps return. It will be more in the "normal" range from then on. . . at least for the 10 days I can see on the weather site. Still better than what we would have if we were back in Indiana. And it is easier trying to keep warm when it is 40 than if it were -10; I try not to complain.

I have started working on our taxes for last year. I have a computer I use just for that and when I booted it up the other day it gave me lots of errors. . . same as before which is why I stopped using it, but it never locked up on me. Now it was locking up every 15-20 minutes and would require pulling the battery and unplugging it, then putting it back together and restarting, only to do it all over 20 minutes later. Not going to be able to get my tax stuff done if that keeps happening. I can't just use my other machine, because it is a Mac and my one bank does not communicate Quicken files to a Mac. Get with the times, Interra! So I have to have this one running in order to download the data and work it up.

So. . . I finally got smarter and rebooted in safe mode. I went in and uninstalled multiple programs I knew I didn't need. . . mostly games. And I no longer use McAfee, opting for a free antivirus since I only fire this computer up once a year, so I got rid of it. I rebooted and it has been running well ever since.  Good for me. I worked all day yesterday and got some stuff printed out and some other work done on the apartments. It isn't hard work and the computer makes it easy, but I have some sorting through records, etc., and it just takes time. I want to be ready to send it all off when I get my tax documents from everywhere. Having sold two houses this year will certainly cause some stress, but we already know about how much and part of it has been paid, so we are ready for that. We took the sales documents to our tax person this fall, so she already has that part worked up. It will be a lot easier when we finished selling off the apartments and no longer have that paperwork to do.

Mom and Dad's car has been in for service and hopefully will be done this week, so when it is, we will take them to go get it. I see eating out in our future! We don't go out often as it's hard for Terry's low sodium diet, but we do sometimes splurge!

Till next time. . .

Dale

Off we go. . .

We finally got the fall round of doctor appointments out of the way. We are back living in Phaeton Place and heading over to the condo every day working on getting an apartment ready to lease. The good news is that it is almost finished. Have to mop the floors. The carpets are being cleaned today. Yesterday we signed the lease. Whoo hoo. We actually had two good candidates this time which is very unusual. But one stood out a bit better than the other, so we were able to make a decision quickly.

We are having everything reappraised and, of course, our tenants worry that we are selling. Actually, we continue to get slammed on property taxes by the county who have our assessments ridiculously high. Getting a qualified appraisal should help with that and help us get the assessment where they need to be and thereby reduce our property taxes. The problem is that raising the rent is not a totally viable option because then they raise the taxes due to the increased rent. . . has to do with the "multiplier" they use. I have a hard time understanding it all and I'm sure they don't understand it either. So we are doing what we can on our end.

Mom and Dad have decided they will no longer make the drive to Texas on their own, but they are willing to let someone else drive them. Sister Nita and my niece were planning on it, but logistics proved difficult for my niece, so since we have some time before we head south, Terry told me to volunteer. So next Monday, Nita and I will be driving Mom and Dad to Texas. We will fly back the following Monday. I am not looking forward to leaving Terry, although he has been doing well. He will have the dogs with him, of course. He will probably go back and forth between the house and the motorhome.

I have my bag packed and will not be taking a computer. That will be a new experience for me. But I do have a new smart phone, so I can check my mail and FB, although I don't like to post on it because of the ridiculously inadequate virtual keyboard. Hah. But I will be able to stay in touch.

Once I get back, we have a week before we head south. Still not sure if we are going to Virginia or Florida first, but I'm sure we will know by then!

Till next time. . .

Dale