Twelve Days in Charlottesville

The time, it's flying. . . I tell ya'. We spent time in Charlottesville and I was pretty worn out each day and didn't take time to post.

Our daughter had breast reduction surgery. I had it about 32 years ago. Like mother, like daughter, I guess. Let me tell you. . . carrying around the weight of a newborn on your chest for 30 years takes it toll. I was so glad when I had my surgery and so glad now that Jocelyn was able to have hers. In the time since, she has not had a recurrence of the C-spine migraines she had been experiencing for years. Hopefully she will have other problems that disappear as a result of getting rid of that extra weight.

We arrived two days after her surgery. Tommy's parents had been there for a couple days. Our job was to take care of the kids. Tommy needed a break and Jocelyn couldn't drive or lift anything and was spending a great deal of her time resting and recuperating. I was glad that we were able to be there and help with that process.

Since Aenea's birthday was last month and I had sent some gifts, I brought the remaining ones so we could see her unwrap them and get some hugs. Toward the end of our visit, we also gave Ronan his birthday presents since his birthday is the 21st and we obviously won't be there for that. I hope the kids don't mind that we miss these times. By giving them our gifts when we see them it gives them something to look forward to and we get to experience some special moments with them.

I usually tried to get in to their house by 10 a.m. and stayed until around six. Some days I stayed later, if Tom had something on his schedule, and sometimes I snuck out earlier. I took Aenea to gymnastics and Ronan to his friend's house as well as to the park, etc. I took Jocelyn shopping one day, but she overdid that and spent the next day sleeping mostly. One day later the next week, Terry and I took Jocelyn and both kids and went over to Stewart's Draft to the Amish cheese shop on Tinkling Springs Road. We never say we are going to Stewart's Draft, we always say Tinkling Springs. Something about that name, I guess, but we both know exactly what we are talking about. There are a few things we buy there that we can't seem to find anywhere else and it is an enjoyable trip over the mountain. While we were in the area, Jocelyn directed us on a drive back to Sherando Lake which has a campground, the likes of which Phaeton Place will never see. LOL  But MinnieMee would like to camp there sometime.

Their standard poodle, Pepper, was quite the clown while we were there. She still is wary around Terry, but she is great with the kids and enjoys watching out the window for anyone/anything that might go by.

 We took Aenea and Jocelyn out to the coffee shop one day. The one guy there just loves Aenea and talks with her and gives her high fives.

We had a most enjoyable visit and the kids even came out to the motorhome once. I think we helped give the kids a respite by taking care of mainly Aenea. She is not hard to watch, but if left alone to her own devices, she will choose to aggravate her brother all day long. There are like normal siblings, though. Ronan is old enough to entertain himself and also has friends he enjoys being with.












Till next time. . .

Dale

Take Me Out To The Ball Game!

Yesterday was our last day visiting with Brandon, Megan, Brynlee and Jax. We have had a very enjoyable visit this week. It has really flown by and we've had a lot of fun.

I went strawberry picking with Megan and Brynlee. We had to drive quite a ways north to Mims, but the strawberries were huge and delicious. They don't care how many you eat and they don't care if you bring kids. Sounds like a win-win. It didn't take long to get our fill, both in our baskets and in our tummies. I think I ended up with about 6-7 pounds. It was a lot of fun, but then I wondered what I was thinking with picking that many. It's just hard to stop, though, when you see all those huge ripe berries.

Once we got home to the motorhome, I cleaned them all and put them in bags. Later the next day, I mashed them up, put a little sugar in them and froze them. Then later we bagged them in airtight bags with the foodsaver. Oh, I did forget to mention that I made homemade biscuits and we did actually have strawberry shortcake! I like that with fresh strawberries or strawberry pie. Both are excellent, but I didn't think we'd have time to eat the pie, so I made the strawberries up for shortcake. Looking forward to enjoying that later.

The next day Megan, Brynlee and I went to Orlando. Megan had to go to a followup eye doctor appointment for her Lasix surgery. She is doing very well and seeing better than most people do. She is so glad to have had the procedure done. It was a long drive up there and a long drive back, but we did stop after the appointment and have a late lunch at Whole Foods. That evening, Terry and I babysat for Brynlee while Brandon and Megan went out for dinner and did a little shopping.

Saturday evening we went out to eat at Sonny's BBQ with the kids and Megan's parents, Percy and Diane. We had a very nice dinner and I got to chat a bit with Diane. She is also a teacher and is retiring at the end of the school year.

Sunday morning we had an Easter brunch at Diane and Percy's. We ate and then the kids all hunted Easter eggs. Brynlee and her two cousins all joined in the fun.

Later, Brandon, Megan, Brynlee, Terry and I all drove to Viera and went to a spring training baseball game. The Atlanta Braves were playing the Washington Nationals. I haven't been to a baseball game in 20 years or so. Not really my thing, but it was a lot of fun to be with loved ones and getting caught up in the excitement. Brandon almost caught a foul ball, but a tall kid in the row above has the souvenir. It was a hot day, 84 degrees, and sunny. We all had hats and sunscreen, but we were getting a little uncomfortable when the sun went behind a cloud and stayed there the rest of the afternoon. It dropped the temperature 2 degrees which actually helped and we were able to tough it out. The stadium there is very nice. It's not very old. All the seats were contoured and had backs on them. Brynlee got tired early and Megan ended up taking her home. It isn't very far from their house, so that is good.

It was a great visit and I'm so thankful our kids have wonderful families and lives. And so, we are off on our next adventure. . . to Charlottesville, Virginia, to see the other kids!

Till next time. . .

Dale

A light in the night!

Something happens once in awhile in Florida that doesn't often happen anywhere else. Rocket launches. One was scheduled for last night at 11:05 p.m. We have been in Florida before when launches are scheduled and they are continually postponed, so we try not to get our hopes up too high. We actually have seen two launches. I think both were Atlas 5 rockets carrying payloads to the space station. One we saw from a pier in the Indian River across from the campground and the other was from Brandon's front yard when he lived down near Palm Bay. Both were daytime launches. Brandon assured us we would be able to see the launch from our camp in Wickham Park if the sky remained clear and the launch did not get cancelled for some reason.

We got the dogs walked and back in for the night, checked our cameras, and went outside about 11. I took a few pictures to make sure I had the settings I wanted to use and hoped I didn't mess up the pictures. We were sitting waiting on the picnic table when I saw this strong light. I said, "There it is!" Then we decided that was just a plane or a helicopter coming our way. I thought that was really strange that a plane would be shining that bright on a night a launch was imminent. As the light burned brighter we knew it was indeed the launch. We began to see the smoke trail and started snapping away. It wasn't as large or as bright as the space shuttle launches, but it was still a sight! We heard a slight rumble, but no big noise or anything. Brandon said the larger rockets make a much greater sound. But it was pretty cool and we were happy to be able to witness the nighttime launch even though it was about 30 miles away!

Today I am going strawberry picking with Megan and Brynlee and Megan's mom. I won't pick many, but it will be fun.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Elvis has left the building!

At Milton, Florida, we stayed at a park called Avalon. It was very nice and the staff was very accommodating. We took the last site available and it was a back-in, but no problem for us. It had rained a great deal on our trip across Mississippi and Alabama and north Florida, but the rain was done by the time we got into Avalon. It did, however, start to storm later and we ended up with two dogs sleeping on the bed with us! They usually jump down sometime during the night after all the stormy weather has passed.

We drove from there to St. Augustine for the night and stayed at a park called Stagecoach. We have been there before and it's decent for an overnight.

We continued our push on toward Melbourne, but it was becoming difficult to find any campsites available. At one point, I tried to add a few days to our reservations at Wickham Park, but they showed they were full every day, so there was no point in trying to arrive a couple days early. Eventually we called the International RV Park down the road from Daytona International Speedway and the Daytona Flea Market. It has been years since we have been to that flea market and we love to browse. Gets us out and moving and it's fun to look at all the "junk" that's for sale.

We checked in on Saturday around noon and the owner invited us to a "Fabulous Fifties" party that evening. It was put on by the park and was completely free. That's right, FREE, including booze if you want it. He gave us free tickets so that evening after we fed the girls, we walked over to the hall. They started with appetizers which were very good and a salad bar. While everybody was chowing down on that, they started calling tables. We were called fairly early so we got our food quickly. They served beef tri tips over rice, green beans and a roll. . . along with the salad and appetizers we had eaten earlier. It was very good. I had a couple cups of beer and thoroughly enjoyed it. Kudos to the owners who treated everyone to such a great evening. Dancing followed and even Elvis put in an appearance. The park residents say the owners do a free dinner for everyone once a month. Wow!

When we arrived at this camp, we had some difficulty with our leveling jacks. We have replaced three of the four, plus a control panel. One of the four already replaced is ratcheting and grinding. We are smart enough now to know the "signs" of failure and know that if it breaks in the down position we are pretty much screwed. It would take awhile to get going because when the jacks go down it dumps the air. When a jack is broken in the down position it continues to dump the air anytime you try to go because that is a built in safety feature that you cannot move with a jack down. In that case we have to pull fuses, try to disconnect or remove the jack and then manually pump the airbags up. It is quite the process which we have done before, but Terry didn't really want to mess with it. Fortunately, I was able to raise it and it locked back in, so that is where the jacks are staying until it is fixed. It means we cannot use the jacks to level, so we have to do some jockeying to get as level as we can before we deploy the slides. But at least we are able to run now, so all is good.

We left there Sunday around 11 a.m. and drove on in to Wickham Park at Melbourne, just about five minutes from the kids. Brandon came out to see us after we got setup and then we joined them all for dinner a little later. He had made pulled pork in the crockpot and potatoes, etc. Wonderful meal and wonderful company. Brynlee is just as cute as ever and is learning to say "Grandma" better. She says "thank you" anytime you do something for her and it's adorable. We got to babysit for her today while Megan had a business meeting. Brandon essentially works from home now, but he is in his office most of the day, so we were glad to help out with Brynlee.

We finally made it. We are glad and we will have a great week! There is a launch tonight at 11:05 p.m. of an Atlas 5 rocket. Skies are clear right now and expected to stay that way. We are hoping nothing happens to postpone it. Brandon says we will be able to see it clearly from the park. I mean, it will pretty much look like a fireball, but we should get a good view of the flash from here. Terry's making popcorn.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Serpentine belts are so overrated!

We left Lakeside RV park just after Gary and Jo left on Wednesday, I think. The days are a blur. We didn't get but eight miles down the road when all hell broke loose. Alarms started going on and lots of red lights on the dash monitor. . . . I HATE RED LIGHTS!

Buzzers in my ears and red lights on the dash. I look down and the message was clear. . . CHECK INFO CENTER. So I scan my eyes to the left and the info center reads "high engine temp 222 degrees." Whoa! Not redlining yet, but getting close. I backed her off and eased over to the side putting my four-way flashers on. We were within one mile of the next exit which we could actually see. We got pulled off about 18 inches off the traffic lane. We could not get the wheels off the road because this county on I-12 due north of New Orleans was under a flood emergency by FEMA and the ground was saturated. Terry got on the phone to the road service who said they would call back with info on a wrecker. As we pondered our plight, we came to the conclusion that it was not "all hell" that broke loose, but likely the serpentine belt that broke. I guess Phaeton Place thought she could run without one, but we convinced her otherwise. In eleven years of fulltiming, we have enjoyed 10 trouble-free years; so we have nothing to complain about. It still is an eerie feeling to see this out your front window though.

Within a half hour, the Louisiana State Police were knocking on our door asking what the problem was. We explained what we thought and that we had just learned our road service had called a wrecker which would be dispatched within an hour. He asked us to call back and ask which wrecker service, because Officer Cook said he could get it dispatched quicker! Whoo hoo! As it was, the wrecker had already left to find us. The officer stayed behind us with his lights flashing and did a good job of getting traffic moved into the other lane. Thank you Officer Cook and the Louisiana State Police. Just a sidenote here: If you see a vehicle on the side of the road, slow down or move over. The wind impact from passing cars, RV's, trucks, etc., is horrendous and you are passing within INCHES of the vehicle. Slow down or move over and keep everyone alive!

It took over an hour for the tow driver to get our driveline unhook so we could be towed. But he knew what he was doing and checked and double-checked everything. He said he got that from his dad who was an airline pilot. Safety first! Great job John and great tow service from American Coachworks in Denham Springs, Louisiana.

We were towed to Big Wheel truck center and backed directly into a bay. The mechanics worked till closing that day and then finished up the next day. They did a good job for us, but there were some "problems" along the way. Fortunately, Terry is very smart about mechanics and knows all the intricacies of our coach. What he may not know, he knows the people to call, so we did just end up with the belt changed and not a lot of other stuff that was suggested. He did have them change the air cleaner because it was time and they had to take it off for access.

They had us all ready to go on Thursday afternoon at 3:30. We drove and drove it seems. We actually made it to Milton, Florida for the night. We had planned to stop at a state park on Mobile Bay, but it was raining again and they were expecting a lot of rain. We decided we didn't want to stay there in the rain and not be able to enjoy any sightseeing, so we just kept going. Better days ahead!

Till next time. . .

Dale

Leaving the RGV behind

We left the valley last Saturday, March 12, around 9:10. A lot of people came over to say goodbye, chat a bit. We made some new friends the last few months when some renters moved in across the street. Les and Aggie were a lot of fun . . . even if they are Canadian. LOL And some other Canadian friends of theirs came later. Sandy and Danny were back for year two. Danny is the rocker I have posted pictures of. We hated to leave these new friends, but they will all be back next year.

The plan was to drive to Wharton and stay at one of the parks there; but as we drove on, the parks did not look too appealing and the ones we would consider were already full. We ended up driving all the way to Houston and staying in Advanced RV Park in Pearland, the same park we stayed at last fall when we were through the area. The rodeo was going on at the time, so we decided not to go anywhere while we were there for overnight. The traffic was pretty bad as the evening wore on.

The next day we got on the road about the same time and traveled to Kinder, Louisiana, to the Coushatta Casino RV Park. It's one of the nicer parks you will find at casinos and we parked next to the dog park, so it was convenient with the dogs. We met and talked with another camper who is talking about going fulltime and was picking our brains for details. A lot of people talk about it, but I'm not sure how many act on it. You really have to not care much about "stuff." If you are in love with your "stuff" you won't be a happy fulltimer.

Cousin Gary called while we were there and said that his yard was quite saturated from all the rain they had over the past few days and suggested it might be hard to get our motorhome in/out of his yard. Not wanting to tear up his yard or our rig, we had already decided on seeing if they would meet us at a campground and spend a couple nights with us. So we met up at Lakeside RV Resort in Livingston, Louisiana. We arrived after they did, but just as they were getting parked, so it worked out pretty good. We parked right next to each other. The park was having a spaghetti dinner that night, so we signed up for it. We went over to the hall about 5 and got in line for dinner. We were all seated at tables facing each other and after dinner we were asked to introduce ourselves and tell a little about us. There were several who have just started out fulltiming. So many of them, however, go fulltime and then just live in the same RV park 100% of the time. To me that is not what fulltiming is all about. If weather is too hot or too cold, you can spend a lot in fuel or electricity trying to stay comfortable. The fulltime lifestyle is really about moving along and seeing this great country.

We spent the next day with Gary and Jo. We first hit Camping World in Hammond where we found few bargains but did get some stuff. We headed over to Mandeville next because Terry liked the name. What can I say? That's what happens sometimes. It appears the old part of town may be gone due to Hurricane Katrina, but we did find a little cafe for lunch that had really good food. Later we drove to Lake Pontchartrain, which we could access from the town. We walked out onto a fishing pier with the causeway bridge in the background and took some pictures. The bridge is 27 miles long. We didn't drive on it, but perhaps someday we will. What an engineering marvel! We have actually seen it from the air flying to Brandon's before.

Once we got back to camp, Gary cooked fish on the grill for supper. It was really good. We enjoyed our time with them and glad that they could take time to come camp with us.

Till next time. . .

Dale

And they call the wind. . . Mariah!

Yeah, well, Mariah is a witch, that's for sure. We have been having wind for several days now and it is stronger than ever. . . and relentless. It just blows and blows. . . yes, it really blows! LOL According to the weather report, we are having winds of 20 mph with gusts of 39. Well, I'm telling you, it is gusting ALL the time and it's probably more than 39. Motorhomes have heavy doors and when we open it, we have to struggle to get it open. The wind has been from the E, SE all day so it tries to blow the door shut when we open it. It is annoying, but we will survive!

We are getting ready to leave. It's hard to believe it's that time of year again, but it is! We are leaving Saturday or Sunday, depending on Butterscotch. She has to have a second cystoscopy on Friday and I'm not sure she would be able to travel on Saturday. The last time she had one, she was in some discomfort the day following, so we want to take care of her. We don't plan to go too far though the first night and the roads are good. We would want to stage the run through Houston on Sunday morning.

When we started planning our exit from the valley this year, we decided to leave a month earlier than we usually do so that we could stop and see many friends along the way. We always like to visit with our friends, but don't often get the chance, so we planned to do that this year. Now with these new developments with Butterscotch, we are leaving two weeks later than we had planned. So that meant we had to cut out some stops. Then we discovered that our daughter is going to need some help with her kids the end of March, so for us to leave the valley, drive to Florida to see our son and his family and make it to Virginia by March 31, we are going to have to pretty much cut out seeing anyone. It wasn't what we planned originally, but family comes first and I hope that everyone understands that. We feel fortunate that we are mobile and able to help when we can. Hopefully we can visit all our friends another time, but my kids and grandkids will always come first. We normally only get to see them twice a year and I won't skimp on that. And when they need help, we want to be there.

We have been busy for the last two weeks getting things in order for leaving. We also plan to set Mom and Dad's place up again. Since no one was in there this winter, we plan to treat the traps again, adding some water and antifreeze to keep seals from drying out.

We have one more jam to attend. . . the one at Casa Del Valle over in Alamo. Our friend Danny plays there and he is so good. He has a rock band back in Illinois, and we hope to go over this summer and listen to them play.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Valley Time!

We've had a good winter here in the Rio Grande Valley. The weather has been far better than the last two years. Those years we couldn't string together five days of decent weather. Now our "cold fronts" that come through bring mid-70's temps, so we are good to go. We have had some hot days and one that rumored to hit the 100 degree mark. I saw 95* myself.

We try to walk every day. We do it early in the morning before it gets too hot. We walk about 2.2 miles. Then we try to ride bikes every afternoon, but it has been really windy for several days rights now, so we haven't ridden much. Every day we walk past Tigger's house. Tigger is this huge cat that loves people. If he is in the back of the lot and I call him, he meows and comes running. I always pet him if he's out. Many other walkers do the same. Some feed him treats, but Tigger doesn't need anymore, so I just pet him. He is pretty cool for a cat.

We have been going to some shows down here. They have "Wintertainers." There has only been one we went to that was pretty lousy. The singer wasn't bad, but the people playing with her were out of tune and terrible, so we left during the break of that one. One we really enjoyed was Adam Pope. He is "rockabilly" and really good. His material is all original and he talks a bit about his music. We saw him twice, at our park and a neighboring park.

Our friends, Danny and Sandy, returned this winter and Danny has been playing at some of the jams in the area. Rock and  roll jams that is. He is really good and has a rock band back in Illinois. We may go see his band this summer.

There is also another couple who arrived last month across the street from us and we have enjoyed visiting with them. They are all coming back next year as well. We are going to be having quite a few new people in the park next year. After several years of properties for sale and not selling, we have enjoyed a period of increased sales. It will be good to have some new people in the park.

Butterscotch, our white Scottish Terrier, has had a rough year. She has bladder issues, but we finally found a vet down here who is interested in finding her problems and getting to the bottom of it. We believe he has found what's ailing her, but there isn't a great prognosis. She develops bladder stones, so we changed her diet. She has a malformation in her genital tract which makes it difficult and slow emptying her bladder. That by itself can cause infection to develop, so she will probably have to remain on antibiotics for the rest of her life. The good news is there wasn't any evidence of cancer, so we are thankful for that. She just doesn't have any energy though and doesn't want to walk, etc. She sleeps a lot. She goes back Friday for another cystoscopy to see if there are any visible changes. Wish us luck. We love her and her sister so much.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Biding time in Mission.

Terry here.

Still in The Rio Grande Valley of Texas.

Butterscotch has a couple of vet appointments coming up the next couple of weeks.
Looks like the earliest we'll be heading out is around the 10th of March. Butterscotch has been fighting UTI's for the past year, but we've finally found the cause. She has hundreds of sand like bladder stones which irritate the urethra when urinating. The vet has scoped her and found no cancer so far which was our greatest fear.

When eventually leave our place down here in Mission. We will travel along the Gulf Coast visiting friends and family and on to Florida, where we'll  see Brandon and family.

Terry

Still hanging out in Texas

Terry here.

Been back in Mission Texas for almost a month after our 10 day trip to Indiana for my cousin Debi's funeral. The weather has been fairly good with days anywhere from 70's to the  90's and most nights are in the low 50's. So overall we've had a much better winter than the last two years, without hardly any rain. We haven't done much other than go to some street dinners, see some entertainers and attend rock and roll jams. The rock and roll jams are much more preferable to the incessant off key warbling of the country jams, which are stuck in the 40's and 50's eras.

Dale has been spending much of her time working on organizing the tax information for our tax preparer in Indiana. Hopefully she gets the rest of the tax documents in our forwarded mail Monday or Tuesday so she can finish up. This will be the last year of this major effort since we now have only 1 duplex instead of the 5 duplexes we owned at the start of 2014.

Dale's parents ended up not coming south this winter, so we are thinking about heading out the end  of the month and seeing some friends along the way to visit our son's and daughter's families. That will give us almost two months to make it to central Indiana for our spring doctor's appointments at the end of April, rather than the normal one month.

I'm signing off, think we may be taking in the patio sales here in the park this morning.

Terry, subbing for Dale.

Heading back to Texas!

We are back on the road after spending a few days in northern Indiana to attend a funeral. We were going to wait until Sunday to leave, but there is a winter storm headed that way. We decided it would be better to try and leave today and get as far south as we could to avoid the anticipated snowfall that might be coming. These warnings are often false alarms and we don't often change our plans, but this is a different situation for us. We are heading back to Texas and today was just going to be "down" time for us to rest and recuperate before getting back on the road tomorrow. Jocelyn and Aenea had driven up from Virginia and they were going home today as well. I had wanted the rest of the day to put things in order in the house, since it has to be closed up again. But we just decided to leave after Jocelyn left.

So we were all packed and ready to go by noon and we took off. As it was, it rained on us almost the entire day and we had some fog as well, but we made it down to Elizabethtown, Kentucky, for the night. We were glad to get this far but it looks like we may still have some snow later tonight. Hopefully it will be shortlived and the roads won't be so bad by morning.

Having driven only 5+ hours on day one means we will be on a four day trip instead of a three day run. That's okay, but it is a bit more complicated with the two dogs. Butterscotch is recovering form a bad UTI and is now having adverse reactions to the new med she's been on for a week. We decided to drive and bring them with us so I could keep an eye on her. That's worked out well because I've had to be in contact with the vet and making some med adjustments and feeding changes to get her back on track. But so far that is working and she is responding well to the changes.

Tomorrow we leave here and we're not sure what route we are taking yet. None of them promise warm weather right now, but hopefully we can push through and at least find some sunshine.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Family Business

We left a week ago and drove to northern Indiana for a family funeral. It was a tragic loss. Terry's Mom was a twin. He is an only child and his aunt (his mom's twin) had one child, a girl. The twins were the only children of his grandparents and then he and his cousin were the only children born to the next generation.

His cousin Debi was married to Jim and last March they were both diagnosed with stage 4 glioblastoma, the deadliest form of brain cancer there is. Jim's was further advanced and they decided on palliative care for him. He died in mid-June at age 64. Debi had surgery to remove as much of the tumor as they could and then she followed up with chemo and radiation. Her father, who is 84, took care of her at his home until she needed more care than he could provide. She died last week at age 60.

They have three children and three grandchildren. They must all go on now without their parents/grandparents, losing them both within six months of each other. We pray for them.

Back in Phaeton Place!

We took Phaeton Place in to Holt CAT on the Monday after Thanksgiving and they had her till Friday afternoon. The mechanic came out and talked with us and showed us the parts he replaced. It seems the injector cups have seals on them and the seals were worn and crumbly on at least one of them. He replaced all six of them and then they had to backflush the radiator and filled it with new antifreeze. The seals being worn allowed diesel fuel to flow into the radiator. When the radiator got too full, it would shoot fluid, which was diesel fuel mixed with antifreeze, out the overflow, which is exactly what Terry said was happening. We knew the fluid was coming from there, but we didn't know what it was, since it didn't appear to be fuel nor antifreeze. And we didn't know why it was happening. In reality, it was a mixture of both. In addition to those repairs, Terry had them do an oil change since it had been 8,000 miles since our last one. Also, we still have been having some fuel leakage somewhere and Terry found the fuel inlet tubes to be the problem. Those had to be ordered from Freightliner and then were installed. We are certainly hoping our problems of late are behind us now. We actually have had several things that were causing us headaches, but they can all be traced back to the problems that have now been fixed or repaired. The CAT RV service center (Holt CAT in Edinburg, Texas), were very nice to work with, efficient, and worked with our extended warranty, which was great for us. The repairs were not as expensive as we had thought they would be.

We picked up Phaeton Place on Friday and drove north on 281 to give her a bit of a test. All went well and we turned around and headed home so we could get there before dark. We were towing the car in the event we had any trouble. We did fine and got backed in without any trouble. We didn't set her up because we intended to go for a longer drive on Saturday.

Saturday morning we pulled out once again, hitched up the truck and took off down the expressway. We drove all the way to Harlingen and stopped at the new Bass Pro store where we walked around and bought nothing. LOL Once back in the motorhome, we fired up the generator and microwaved our lunch before heading for home. By the time we got back, we had put about 130 miles on the coach since the repair. Everything seems to be working very well and we are pleased with the performance. If you are in the valley and need any service on your CAT engine, we can recommend Holt CAT in Edinburg.

We have spent several days moving back into the coach. We had so much stuff we had taken out and over to the Texas Room. Other stuff we stored temporarily in Mom and Dad's trailer because there was no room for it in the Texas Room since we were having to live there too. Now that we've gotten stuff moved out, I have started decorating for Christmas. I usually start with the trees and I got the outside one put up.  When I opened the indoor tree box, I could see that the white tree was now dark brown. Last year there was a limb or two that was discolored, but this year the entire tree was ugly brown. I thought at first I might put it up, but I decided that would not do. It just did not look very good. I got out the little motorhome tree and put it up in the corner on a stand. It looks quite nice there. We did go looking for another tree, but I haven't found one that I like. I will probably wait until after Christmas and find one on sale. I did find a little "table" tree at Target. I put some lights on it and some teeny tiny ornaments that really set it off. So we do have three trees up!

This morning our activities director, Sharon, had a workshop on making wreaths with that wide mesh. I had already bought a roll of it and all the accessories because I had planned on learning how to make one this year. So I was ready when the opportunity came! It didn't take long, but I took my time and I think it turned out really well.

This evening we went over to Pleasant Valley, the park next door, for their hamburger night. Terry had a hamburger and I had a chicken breast sandwich. It was good and for $5 you got a sandwich, chips, cole slaw, drink and dessert. We will probably go back.

We still are walking every morning and ride bikes every afternoon. Today it was really foggy. Walking down the street it was almost too foggy to see the doorsteps on the trailers! It started clearing up quickly, but still lingered for quite some time. We are having warm weather now. It starts out cool in the morning, then hot in the late afternoon, then cool again in the evenings.

Tomorrow I am planning on going over to Pleasant Valley in the afternoon. They have Spanish classes for those who want to learn the language. I hope it is worthwhile because I would like to learn.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Been A'While. . .

We have enjoyed very good weather since we arrived here in the Valley. We have been in shorts most days except for like . . . today. We had a cold front come through last night and things really cooled down.

Mom and Dad are not here. Dad does not want to spend three days riding in the car to get here. I can't blame him. Mom doesn't want to fly, but they have considered it. Time will tell. It is much colder up there already, but I don't think it's a bad place for them. Their grandkids visit occasionally and they are just a few steps from Nita's place. They spent Thanksgiving there and they had a lot more people around them there than they do here. Daddy even says that he knows so few people here anymore and that's probably true because as people get older, they either don't come down anymore or they die. Unfortunately the average age of the residents in this park is "old," and that is happening more and more. We plan to spend our winters here with them, so if they do decide to come down we will be here.

They were able to attend a Veteran's Day program at one of their great grandson's school in Lafayette, Indiana. Dad got to stand and be recognized and he really enjoyed accepting the accolades from the crowd. He is very proud of his service in the South Pacific during World War II and we are very proud of him. There aren't that many WWII vets left anymore and Daddy is 91. 

We have been working on getting things cleaned up and I must say, we haven't taxed ourselves doing that. We walk every morning and ride bikes every afternoon, so we have been getting some exercise. We already visited with friends that we somehow missed all last year, so that is good. We went out to eat with them at the Riverside, for tenderloins of course, and it was very good.

The park is not very full. We probably only have enough people on our street to fill up one side. More will come in after Thanksgiving and then more even after Christmas.

Thanksgiving was good. We had a great meal down at the hall. This year I helped get the turkeys in the roasters and then went back a few hours later to carve them and get that mess cleaned up. It's not a bad job and both times, it was just about 1 to 1 1/2 hours of work. A lot of workers makes for a short session.

This week will be busy. We have been unloading the motorhome as it is going into the shop on Monday. We are having an engine problem and we need to get it fixed. In fact, we can't leave until we do. We talked with the CAT service center and they seem very knowledgeable about what was happening and the potential cause, so that was encouraging. And they will work with our extended warranty company, so that's a plus. They think they will just have it a week tops, so we are hoping that is the case. In the meantime, we will be living in the Texas Room. It will be cramped but comfortable with all the necessities. We have been hauling stuff out of the closet as they may have to get into the hatches to access the engine. That is a real job and the reason they charge motorhomes $140/hour labor. But it has to be fixed. We cannot run far until it is done.

While the motorhome is out from under the canopy, we are having it birdproofed. There was so much bird crap on the pad and around the Texas room that is is actually a health hazard, so we are having the purlins wrapped. It is expensive because they are using steel to do it and it's rather labor intensive, setting up scaffolding, etc. But when it's done the pigeons will have to find someplace else to roost. We are also adding some spikey strips on the shed and the Texas room. We are hoping that takes care of the problem.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Rio Grande Valley!

We made it down to our lot in the Rio Grande Valley on Wednesday. We spent the night in Edinburg, Texas, at a park that is good for an overnight. That way, we only had 39 miles to drive in the morning, would arrived before noon, and be able to clean up the pad a bit before backing in. The pigeons love crapping all over the concrete. Not as much this year as in years before, but they hit the Texas Room worse this time. We are settled in and working a little bit each day to brighten up the place.

We had to start by whacking back our cacti. I love cactus, but I am continually reminded that they are actually a weed and thereby don't play by all the rules. My aloe plants are taking over and threaten to pierce the other cactus on the front, so I think I will be removing one of those. The prickly pear type  we planted is growing so fast. They had to be trimmed before we could back in. I will have to start picking up the leaves. I bought new leather gloves just to do that with, so hopefully I can save my hands. It is a fact that cactus grow the most during the hottest, driest parts of the the summer. They don't grow or bloom much in the winter. That is curious.

This morning we went to Quinta Mazatlan, an adobe home that is one of the largest adobe homes in Texas. It is run by the city of McAllen as a historical site. It was a single family dwelling owned by two different families until it was taken over by the city. The gardens around it attract a lot of native birds and insects. It is a lovely place and very well kept now.

Tomorrow is Pulga day, which is the Mexican flea market. We like to go there. It's just across the street and there are always lots of fruits and vegetables to buy.

We have all winter to get our work done. :-)

Till next time. . .

Dale

Houston!

We finally made it to Houston. We arrived on Sunday in time to watch the Nascar race. It was raining pretty hard, however, and we weren't able to get the satellite to work. Once the rain slacked off, the picture came in and we were able to watch it.

Today we went to Terry's cardiology appointment. We were seeing the doctor who did the implantation of his new ICD last year. He is a really nice doctor and we really like him. We had to wait a bit to see him, but there had been a death in his family and he apparently had to take some time off, so they were squeezing everybody in. No problem for us.

When we got done there, we drove over to my cousin Jim's house. He was waiting for us. We had a lunch of grilled cheese and tomato soup and it was really yummy. Jim is doing well and it was great to be able to visit with him this afternoon. We always enjoy touching base with him. His sister Pat will be arriving in a couple weeks and then they will both go back to Oregon for Christmas.

We are staying in a different campground this time. This is Advanced RV Resort in Pearland. We could not get a campsite at our regular haunt here in Houston. But this was a very nice camp. A bit further away from where we needed to be, but certainly do-able. I was able to do laundry here and got all caught up. With all the rain, I had lots of towels to wash from drying the dogs off, etc. I used my washer as well, but took two loads to the laundry here in the park. It was close by and cheap.

Tomorrow we head to the valley but will likely stop short of going in. We like a short drive the last day so we can get in and take our time setting up. It is dry there right now, so we want to get in before it starts raining again.

Till next time. . .

Dale

New Camp

When we left Gary and Jo's, we traveled across Louisiana and to the town of Vinton, just 4 miles from the Texas line. We stayed in a county park called Niblett's Bluff County Park. They had 50 amp with water and a dump station. We stayed there two nights.

It started raining when we got there and continued to rain all the rest of that day and the next. There were flood warnings and we were sitting on the Sabine River. Across the river was Texas. We didn't think too much about it because we were sitting back a ways in the camp and we should have plenty of warning if the river should rise. And the river did rise. I'm not sure how much rain they got, but there was a pretty heavy rain for a day and a half. But also, the areas to the north got heavy rain, so that would all eventually drain into the river.

The day we got there, we went out and walked on the piers which were built in a "U" shape from the shore. They were not floating docks, however, so when the river came up, the piers went under. The boat ramp was the first area to flood, then eventually the piers and it was odd to see the pier benches seemingly floating on top of the water. The were actually affixed to the piers themselves. The fish cleaning stations were under water and the road to the boat ramp was impassable. But we were high enough it didn't bother us and we were able to get out and continue our journey to Houston.

BUT. . . not without stopping first at the Delta Downs casino. We were there less than an hour and walked out with just over $35 to the good. If we had had more time, we might have stayed longer, but we wanted to get on in to Houston.

Till next time. . .

Dale