Whew!

Well, we worked all day on the apartment. We painted today. We are just doing the walls. The ceilings are fine. . . just the walls were bad. I don't know how two adults could get the walls so dirty in four years time. We don't work very fast. We take frequent breaks and also did lunch at the condo. And we quit at 4 p.m. That was enough for us, though. We have one room left to do. Then we will run the vacuum and I will mop the floors. We will call the carpet cleaners then and have the carpets done and it will be ready to rent!

Our new tenants have moved in across the street and seem to be happy in their new place. They are a young couple and very pleasant.

We did learn that one of our dear tenants, an elderly woman, has cancer and the prognosis is not good. Her husband died 15 years ago from cancer and she does not plan on doing as many chemo treatments as he did. She will try it but may not continue. She is doing radiation every day however. After her husband died, she eventually re-connected with a high school man she had dated. He also was widowed. They fell in love and married around ten years ago, I think. They are in their 70's now and I think theirs is a neat love story. She is facing a tough road ahead and she could use prayers. Her name is Libby.

We are here for three weeks and are anxious to see many of our old friends. If you are coming through, let us know and we can hook up for dinner or a campfire!

Till next time. . .

Dale

Son Brandon comes to visit!

It's a family reunion! Brandon and his girlfriend, Megan, drove up to Charlottesville from Melbourne, Florida, on Thursday. It took them about 12 hours. They arrived around 6:30 p.m. It is the first time in 2 1/2 years that we have all been together. It was truly a special few days.

Brandon brought presents for Ronan, of course, for his third birthday which was Wednesday. He brought him motorcycles--one green Ninja which is like his motorcycle and a black Ninja which is like Megan's. Ronan was thrilled with them. He loves anything that moves. . . trucks, equipment, cars, scooters, motorcycles, airplanes, helicopters, etc. He also got him a T-ball set and so we all went out in the yard to watch Ronan hit the ball. He really didn't need much instruction. . . he has quite an arm on him. He tends to favor his left hand when hitting the ball. Brandon says that is good, because left-handed players get more money! Hah! We may already have a star on our hands.

Friday evening all the kids came out to our camp at the KOA. We had a campfire and we grilled steaks. We also had a veggie plate and fruit plate and salad. Jocelyn brought some brown jasmine rice and we all ate till we were stuffed.

Afterwards we all sat around the fire and enjoyed each other's company. Ronan fell asleep in his mother's arms. He is such a little sweetie. We had both Whiskey, Jocelyn and Tom's standard Poodle and Neal. They are great friends. The party broke up around 10 p.m. We hated to see them go.

Today we left Charlottesville at 8 a.m. and headed north. We are camped at our "way point" in Gallipolis, Ohio. Tomorrow we will be at Camp Pull-Tab in Ohio. They are really great friends of ours and we met them when we all first started full-timing. We are anxious to see them.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Riverview Park and the Rivanna River

Jocelyn usually takes Ronan out every day for a walk. They frequently walk downtown Charlottesville. Ronan now normally rides his "balance bike" which is a bike with no pedals. It is small enough he can sit on it and his feet touch the ground. He more/less starts out "walking" astride the bike, but now he will pull his feet up and coast. He has developed a great deal of balance and when the time comes for him to get a regular bike with pedals, it is likely he will not need training wheels.

We went out with them to Riverview Park which is along the Rivanna River. Both are quite nice. We enjoy the walk and met several other dogs and people who were also out enjoying the sunshine and nice spring weather.

On Wednesday, Jocelyn and I took Ronan and drove to Lynchburg, Virginia, to a Children's Museum. It was much larger than most I have been to and had many interesting activities for children. Ronan like the water exhibit which showed the effects of hills and locks on the flow of the river. Course, the kids get boats to float down the water and everyone ends up wet. No wonder they like it. Ronan also like the farm exhibit and, of course, the trains.

Ronan likes his new quilt I made him. I call it his "camping quilt." I used blocks of fabric that have camping themes, pictures of camping items and animals you see in the woods. It is called a "rag" or "biscuit" quilt. The seams are sewn to one side and you clip the seam allowance. Then when you wash it, it frays and becomes fuzzy. The other side is smooth. They are easy to do.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Ronan, Ronan, Ronan, it's all about Ronan!

As well it should be. . . it is his third birthday today. We were here when he was born and what a wonderful time that was. We got to hold him shortly after the big event and started the spoiling right then. It continues to this day, I am happy to say.

Jocelyn, Ronan and I drove to Lynchburg, Virginia, today to visit the Children's Museum there. It is quite a large museum and Ronan had a very good time visiting all the areas and experimenting with the various activities. His favorite was the water table which had two rivers of water and locks which opened and closed and rapids. There were small reproductions of boats that traveled the rivers in the area and those boats could be carried to the top of the river and floated down through the locks and rapids.

We have enjoyed visiting with the kids this week and enjoyed watching Ronan play and interact with his friends and family. He is quite articulate and easy to talk to. His big thing now is time. He is always asking what time it is. Think that boy needs a watch!

Till next time. . .

Dale

It's mine, mine, mine.....................

Hi all, Terry here...

Hi-jacking the blog again!

We're camped at the KOA south of Charlottesville VA, been here since Saturday afternoon. We have heavy tree cover so none of our rooftop satellite systems, air card or cellphones work very well. So we're having to depend on the campground's somewhat slow Internet wi-fi connection and some text messages.

Ronan's birthday week is going great. All four of his grandparents were here for this past weekend and as of Monday we've had him to spoil all by ourselves, since Grandpa Tom and Grandma Sharon had to go back to New Jersey and work! Today is a birthday party on his actual birthday, with the kids in his play group at a local park. Tomorrow brings Uncle Brandon and girlfriend Megan from Florida to complete the little guy's 3rd birthday week. Hard being a kid isn't it.

I got a call from one of my Indy doctors Monday, inviting me to a stress test in my honor at Methodist Hospital in Indy the 18th of May. We were surprised since we were basically told "We'll see you this fall". Seems the two of them got together compared notes and decided "Terry needs a little further inspection." So we'll be there as requested for a chemical stress test. Whoopee, fun time for Terry. Should be used to these things since I've had about 10 of them in the past 12 years, but this will be only the 2nd chemically induced one. I must admit the brief "hot flash" and recovery time isn't quite as bad as 7-10 minutes on the treadmill.

Till next time...unless Dale breaks my fingers.

Terry

Raining in Gallipolis, Ohio

We had hoped to leave New Lisbon before it started raining, but it started at 7 a.m.! So much for an early start. We did get gone by 7:50 a.m. and we had minimal rain along the way. After about 20 minutes, we were out of the rain and just had spots of it on the drive to Gallipolis. We enjoy the fairgrounds campground here and got set up and took Neal out before the real rain set in.

We would have driven further, but once you get into West Virginia, it's pretty much a bust for camping for us. There isn't 40' of flat land on which to park Phaeton Place and if there is, getting there is impossible. There is one park we know of along the interstate and Terry called, but they are not open until May 1. So we decided to sit tight and make it an early night so we can get up early and drive on into Charlottesville, Virginia. Our grandson, Ronan, is turning 3 this week and we have to be there.

The drive tomorrow will be mostly mountains, but we have done it many times before. . . so no surprises.

Some of you have asked about Terry's doctor appointments. They went well. They are adjusting some of his meds, trying to eliminate the cause of the arrhythmias he had. Until then, they still don't want him to drive because the onset of the arrhythmias is too quick to respond, so he remains my navigator. He does that extremely well, so no problem there.

Till next time. . .

Dale

..............Definitely on the road again...

Terry hi-jacking the blog.

Left New Lisbon, Indiana a few minutes ago, on I-70 enroute to Charlottesville, Virginia for grandson Ronan's 3rd birthday. Dale is behind the wheel and I'm in the navigator's seat, looks like I'll be here for another 3-4 months after my Doctors' appointments in Indianapolis yesterday. We're heading to Gallipolis, Ohio to spend the night, so Dale can rest up before the trip through West Virginia tomorrow. The trip from Charleston east involves several long 7% grades, that she usually drives anyway, so I'm sure she will do great.

On the road again. . . .

One apartment is rented! Yay! We had two that were vacant and the one is going to have to have some paint. There were a couple of maintenance items with it as well. . . nothing that had to do with the previous tenant, but just parts wearing out. So we worked on it and we will finish when we return in a couple weeks. The other we rented to a young couple who seem very nice and they have a good history of paying their bills.

We left Goshen at noon today and took a leisurely drive down south to New Lisbon, Indiana. This is south of our old home but in the same county. We have doctor's appointments in nearby New Castle this week and Terry sees his cardiologist in Indianapolis as well. Neal sees his veterinarian, too, so it will be a busy week. We leave here on Friday and head to Virginia for our grandson Ronan's third birthday. We are getting started to Virginia a day later than usual, so it will mean longer driving days.

There are several people from the town where we lived who live here at the campground in the summer. They come here on the weekends. It is a nice place and we have already seen our old neighbor. We got to visit with him and his dog, Tucker, whom I have missed since we left the area.

We just had a family come in next to us. The dad got out and was hooking up and he had his dog with him. I think Boomer must be an Akita. We got to talking about Boomer who was exploring the area. Boomer has no eyes. Incredible dog. He had glaucoma in both eyes and the pain was excruciating. He said Boomer's eyes were bulging and he was always rubbing them up against stuff to relieve the pain. The veterinarian who did the surgery said he would adjust very well. He has and it has been about four years. The man was wearing flip-flops and said that Boomer listens and follows the sound of the flip-flops. It was obvious also that Boomer was very tuned into the man's voice and even the voice of their little girl, Olivia. I called him over to me and he followed my voice and came directly to me. He never faltered and if you didn't know he was not sighted, you wouldn't guess. His eye sockets are stitched shut, but he has so much fur, you don't noticed his (lack of) eyes unless you are close to him. He is a remarkable dog.

We are sitting not far from I-70 and we can see the traffic across the pond. We have been seeing more RV's on the road lately. I think a lot of them that we saw today were families returning from a weekend camping. It has been an unusually nice past week and weekend here in Indiana and I am sure everyone wanted to get out and enjoy the weather.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Back here again--in Indiana

Well, even though that little bluebird made a mess of my mirrors, I had to post another picture of him. He was so beautiful. And Terry went out with the windex and cleaned off my mirrors. Thanks, Babe.

We drove on north and crossed into Indiana at Louisville. We camped at Charlestown at the state park. Indiana has a lot to learn about campgrounds. While this is a beautiful campground, I find very few campgrounds worth $34+ a night, even with full hookups. That is what they are charging. Last year we stayed here in the same site with FHU's and the cost was $24. That is a pretty hefty increase in just one year. What are they thinking? I can tell you what people are thinking. . . it was a gorgeous weekend, each day hit 84* and there were probably fewer than a dozen campers in the entire camp. What purpose does raising the price to a prohibitive amount serve and then letting this camp sit empty? I know the state is trying to save/raise money, but a small increase would have been better. One that would put more money in the state coffers but not scare people away.

We stayed two nights there and did some sightseeing. One place I had always wanted to go while we lived in Indiana was the Falls of the Ohio. There at the Falls are some of the oldest fossil beds and during periods of low water, they are not only visible, but people are allowed to walk out on them and get a closer look. That was not possible now because this is a period of high water. The falls actually look more like rapids now because the river has been dammed up and a barrier put in place to section off the fossil beds. I think that was done more for navigation as the falls are the only barrier for over 900 miles of the river. The falls originally were a series of small falls dropping a total of 26 feet. When you see the water roiling now you can understand just how dangerous these rapids would be to an unsuspecting boater. The pictures show the amount of debris that is covering the approach to the fossil beds. Some of the beds are visible, but the trek over the driftwood and other trash was prohibitive. Spring cleanup will take care of a lot of the debris, but for the present, we observed the fossils in the rocks that were relocated on the grounds of the park. This is a very interesting park and there is an interpretive center that provides more information about how the fossil beds were formed. A school bus in the parking lot and noisy kids in the center made us decide to opt for the self-guided tour. On the grounds was a bronze statue of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on the place where they met, thus starting the Lewis and Clark Expedition which was to find a water route from the midwest to the Pacific ocean.

We left the Falls park and drove on down the levee to the cabin of George Rogers Clark. He was a brother to William Clark and was a Revolutionary War hero whose efforts claimed the entire area northwest of the Ohio River. In doing this, he took out a lot of loans on the promise by the President that they would be paid back. When they weren't he ended up bankrupt. The government eventually paid him back in land along the Ohio River where he built this cabin and lived out most of the rest of his life. Eventually most of his land was confiscated by creditors and a stroke made it impossible for him to live alone. He moved in with a relative on the other side of the river and died a few years later of the another stroke.

We moved from Charlestown yesterday and drove through some drizzle to Summit Lake State Park near Mooreland, Indiana, where we used to live. We like this park and right now it is quite cheap. But we only have electric, as they haven't turned on the water yet. It is actually on the same par price wise as Charlestown, but cheaper now because of reduced services, whereas Charlestown is all up and running. We are here because a colleague of mine from my teaching days has invited us for Easter dinner. It will be great to see friends again. Tomorrow we are breaking camp and will travel north to Goshen for some maintenance on the apartments.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Enough's ENOUGH!!!!!!

What was cute and beautiful is now ugly and crappy! As I was sitting here in my chair catching up on the morning news, a beautiful little bluebird sat on the arm of the external sideview mirrors of the motorhome. He seemed intrigued by his reflection and interested in meeting the little bird in the mirror. He was joined by his mate, a smaller, less colorful female and together they alternated sitting on the wiper blades and desperating trying to connect with the bird in the mirrors.

Well, I have often times seen people cover their mirrors with bags and I always assumed it was due to glare from the sun. Not so, it seems. It is to keep birds from attacking the mirrors. I must say, I have never seen this until now.

Now two hours later, the mirror is almost obliterated by bird snot and they have pooped all over the arm and the wiper blades. Looks like we will be getting out the hose and washing down those parts before we take off. They are now coming at the side door. . . where is that owl? I guess we need to carry one. We did also see two beautiful red birds here as well. From the looks of the bird houses around the pond, the owner wants to attract these small beautiful birds.

We will be leaving in about an hour. I put a load of clothes in this morning and we are waiting for it to dry. We don't have a long drive this morning, so I took the opportunity to catch up on the laundry.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Yum yum. . .

The time arrived. Chris graduated from college and the family threw him a party! And what a party it was. There was a crawfish boil! That means water is boiled in huge pots and then potatoes, corn on the cob and onions, garlic and lemon are tossed in along with whatever crawfish boil seasoning is desired. There were a couple different kinds that went into the three pots they had boiling. Once the potatoes have boiled a bit, the crawfish are immersed into the boiling water and cooked for just a few minutes. Then the "mudbugs" are removed and placed in a huge cooler to "steam" before eating. The corn and potatoes are added when they are done cooking, but it does not take long. They use small potatoes that cook quickly.

Later sausage was added and large whole mushrooms. They absorbed the flavor from the cooking broth and were delicious. I liked the corn and the mushrooms the best, but I did eat the crawfish too. It does seem like a lot of work. You have to pluck off the head and peel the tail to get to the meat which is really quite small, but very delicious. Even Terry ate the crawfish. I was proud of him for trying something different. He also ate some sausage and a hot dog Gary fixed in case anyone did not want to eat the mudbugs.

Later after everyone had had their fill, we moved inside and had cake Jo had bought for the occasion. A lot of relatives gathered around to congratulate Chris and to wish him the best. Chris started his college career after high school in 1988 I think and has recently gone back to finish his degree in psychology. Congratulations to him on a job well done!

After all that, there was still the issue of the remaining crawfish from the 200 pounds that were cooked. So, many of us gathered at the table on the patio and "plucked" the heads off. Jo packaged the tails and will probably freeze them and later remove the meat and use it in stew or efoutee.

It was a great evening and a great time!

Till next time. . .

Dale

Our Favorite Campsite!

Nothing beats camping in cousin Gary and Jo's backyard. We have a great site with water and electric, so it would be easy to wear out our welcome if we're not careful! It is quiet back here and our front window looks out over the side yard and on into a pasture where the cows roam during the day with their donkey escort Clarence. He is there to keep the coyotes at bay.

Gary and Jo bought a mid-1980's Prevost three years ago and Gary is in the process of converting it to a motorhome. He bought it from a father/son team who had begun the conversion. When the father died, the son lost interest and sold the bus. It is a nice looking bus and Gary is doing a great job on the inside. He still has a lot of work to do, but it is easy to see the progress he has made so far.

During hurricanes Gustave and Ike, the area north of Baton Rouge, where Gary and Jo live got hit hard. They had considerable damage to the roof of their house and to the barn as well as losing trees, etc. The roof has been replaced and Jo recently had some landscaping done and it really looks great. They have quite a bit of land here and no close neighbors. Very peaceful.

Preparations were underway early in the morning and afternoon for the crawfish boil to celebrate Chris' graduation from college. While everyone else was at graduation, we held down the fort and watched over the coolers of crawfish. Despite my inclination to drag them over to the pond and let them all go, all 200 pounds, common sense prevailed and I decided it would not be a good idea to upset the cajun celebration by releasing from captivity the entire main course. So instead I gave them last rites and promised them a swift demise.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Leaving Texas. . .

I couldn't resist taking a picture of the sunrise when we left the camp in Edna, Texas. It was spectacular. We plan to use this campground again. . . nice, quiet, lake, deer. . . it seems to have it all!

We left around 9 a.m. and made our drive toward Houston. We choose the times to go through Houston carefully and we have never been disappointed in planning carefully. We did get in the wrong lane once and ended up getting off 59 and onto I-45, but that road also curved around and connected with I-10 which was our goal all along. It turned out to be a good way to go anyway, so no time was lost. Those of you who have traveled I-10 know that it can be a bad road, but we didn't have too much trouble with it. The bridges were the worst as those all seem to need resurfacing, but most of the roadway was fine. We continued over to 165 in Louisiana and headed up toward Kinder, Louisiana. We made camp at Coushatta Red Shoes casino on the Indian reservation. This is a favorite stop of ours going to/from Cousin Gary's because the campground is so nice and well appointed and the casino is normally friendly. The fee for camping here for FHU's 50 Amp is $17/night. Although it is not an adult only park, I have only seen adults there so it is very quiet and the people are always friendly.

We did trek to the casino a couple days and did poorly one day and good the next, so we actually came out a little ahead. And we were sufficiently entertained so we left happy.

Yesterday we left and drove 120 miles to Cousin Gary and Jo's in Zachary, Louisiana, for a couple days. On our drive over here, we saw many boats in the crawfish ponds harvesting the crawfish. It would be interesting to get a closer look at exactly what they were doing, but it is hard to see from the road. The boats are very low slung in the marsh and they are "sternwheelers" having a large wheel on the back that pushes the boat through the shallow muddy waters. Also while we were observing that, we saw crop dusters, but they weren't crop dusting. They appeared to be feeding the crawfish! The ponds are numerous and close together. I guess it is easier to drop the food onto the water from the air, so that is what they were doing. Crawfish ponds are used every year, but they alternate between raising crawfish one year and growing rice the next.

While traveling back and forth across the southern part of the U.S., Gary's is a great stopping off point for us. If we are headed to/from Indiana, it is right at the point where we would make a big turn, so we never pass up the opportunity to see them. We haven't been here in over a year, however, as we have modified our normal routine the last couple winters. It happens that Gary's son Chris is graduating from college today. He started college in 1988, I think, so this is a big event! They are having a crawfish boil after the ceremony which is in Baton Rouge. We are looking to kick back today and enjoy the weather (high 77* and sunny) till the party starts this evening.

Neal is a little nervous. We are sitting out back by Gary's barn. They have had so much rain here this winter that his huge yard is soft and wouldn't support Phaeton Place. Fortunately, there is an old road bed here on the farm that runs from the front drive through the side yard to the back pasture. It actually is covered in grass and you cannot see it, but Gary knows where it is and we drove the motorhome back on it and parked close to the barn. . . not in our regular spot. It is a perfect spot and not soft at all. Always before we could hear coyotes at night, but Gary says they don't seem to be as numerous or as noisy as usual. But the cows pass within a few feet of us on the way to the back pasture. They "moo" a lot and Neal seems confused by that. He's not sure what that sound is and seems a little uncomfortable with it being so close!

Till next time. . .

Dale

And we're walking. . .

Took a little stroll around the campground tonight. Lots of sites here and we're thinking this would be a great spot for a rally. Warm weather right now, full hookup sites and areas where many rigs would fit and be somewhat private from other groups.

We saw some "visitors" who viewed us with curiosity. In the wooded area we also found this church. It is the oldest church in the county and was originally located in the town of Texana, Texas, which met its demise when the railroad bypassed it in the 1800's. The town is now a ghost town. This church has been moved twice, the first time was using logs as rollers and it was pulled by oxen. It is quite a large structure. . . I wonder how many oxen it took to move it. Of course, in some ways it would have been easier. . . not much in the way of obstructions.

Till next time. . .

Dale

DON'T FEED THE ALLIGATORS!

We are keeping a close eye on Neal when he is out. The sign says it all! We are camped at the Brackenridge Plantation Park and Campground, 7 miles southeast of Edna, Texas. We left the valley at 8:30 this morning and drove up here. It is just past Victoria, Texas. We had plans to go to the state park and we did drive through. This area had 2 1/2 inches of rain over the weekend and a lot of the sites had standing water on them. The park is obviously much older and the sites were very short. You could not park on the grass, so most places could not accommodate a big rig. We left there and came across the highway.

Brackenridge Recreation Complex is a huge indoor rodeo that was just completed in the last couple years. It is surrounded by fields and on down the lane sitting on Lake Texana is the park where we are camped. It is a beautiful park in a beautiful setting on the shores of the lake. The state park is actually on the lake as well, but on around the bend from where we are.

We had a nice driving day. There was a lot of sun, virtually no wind and no rain. The drive was easy and uneventful. . . just like we like them. We did leave a day earlier than we planned to because tomorrow wind is in the forecast for the valley all the way up to where we now sit. We are leaving early in the morning to get through Houston then on up to Kinder and the Red Shoes Casino.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Ready. . . Set. . . Go!

Our original plan was to pull out Wednesday, because I wanted to play bingo on Tuesday night. We are headed to Baton Rouge to spend a day or two with cousin Gary and wife Jo. They are having a big event over the weekend and we thought our arriving in the middle of it would not be ideal, so we changed our plans and decided to leave Tuesday. I haven't been winning much at bingo anyway, so no problem there.

So as we prepare for our departure, I was checking the weather report for next week and discovered Tuesday was going to be windy. The valley is breezy all the time, but the wind can get downright fierce. Since that is the only day wind is forecast, we decided to change our leave date. By leaving Monday, we will be past the wind area when we stop for the night and have another clear day on Tuesday to make it to Louisiana. Wednesday and Thursday rain is forecast from the valley up through Kinder, where we will be visiting the casino for the rainy days. Then on to the cousin's. Sounds like a great plan to me. We leave a little earlier, but have great driving weather every day.

It is always bittersweet to leave the valley. Mom and Dad will be staying for another month, but we have to be in central Indiana for doctor's appointments in early April. We also have an apartment to rent, so have to get that ready. After two weeks in Indiana, however, we head to Virginia for Ronan's THIRD birthday! It doesn't seem possible that our little grandson is already three. We are anxious to see him. There is a chance that our son and his girlfriend will be there as well.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Batteries, Schmatteries!

Well, it had to happen. We have been nursing a couple of "so-so" chassis batteries all winter. When we move, we have to charge them up the day before. We really thought they should last a wee bit longer, but that was not to be. Actually, we probably got a year more out of them than we should have.

Since we plan on leaving here next week, Terry decided to get them charged up. He put the charger on them and it showed a full charge, but when we tried to start the coach . . . no go. So he did another test and found one battery was still below where it should be, while the other appeared to be fully charged. Well, you cannot have that situation, so with the help of the neighbor, he was able to pull them out. They sit behind four coach "house" batteries, so help was necessary. We put them in the back of the truck and took off for the Freightliner dealer. I hope no one down here has to deal with that Freightliner dealer, because they certainly don't seem to want motorhome business. Terry had talked with them earlier in the day and when we arrived with our batteries, he said he didn't have anything like them and couldn't order them. Okay. . . well they are Freightliner batteries, but he suggested we try Kenworth or Peterbilt up the road. So we drove up to the Kenworth dealer. They were really nice, but also did not have the same battery but suggested we try Interstate Batteries up the road. We had tried to find the Interstate dealer, but they had moved. We ended up calling them for directions as they operated out of warehouse 17 in a huge warehouse complex. These people were very nice. They came out to the truck and load tested the batteries. The one was totally dead and the other operating at 1/3 capacity. The situation with the new ones is that the strength posted on their batteries is the minimum the battery puts out. The label on our Freightliner battery considerably higher leading one to believe they don't match. The tech said Freightliner does that so that you are fooled into believing that nothing but that specific EXPENSIVE Freightliner battery will work. He load tested the new battery and proved that the output is actually considerably more than the minimum the label indicates. No question that the new batteries were what we needed.

So we left with two new batteries and a lighter wallet. We stopped by our favorite restaurant, Rudy's, and picked up some barbeque to go since it had gotten late since we started this afternoon trek. Once we got back and ate, Terry got the new batteries installed. Phaeton Place fired right up and we are ready to go!

We plan on leaving here on Tuesday next week and staying south as we make our way toward Louisiana.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Marking Time

Seems like that is what we are doing now until we get ready to head north. We have been busy with various projects, but nothing too strenuous.

Terry has been working getting his shed in order. He's been hanging up tools on the pegboard and sweeping off the shelves and floor. It is very neat and will be a great place to store things. Since it appears we will be spending Christmas here many times, I am going to leave what few Christmas decorations I have here. All things considered, the weather here is much better in the winter than anywhere else we have ever been, so we figure we will be here for several months each winter while the rest of the nation fights cold weather. It has not been a good winter here, however. It has been cold, wet, windy, etc., but it still has been better than most places up north. Even Florida where Brandon lives has had bad weather this winter.

One thing we never are short of in the valley is entertainment. Our park has a "jam" every Thursday evening and I have started going to those. Terry sometimes tags along. I must say that 98% of the people who come to sing should stay home. They can't carry a tune, have no sense of rhythm and are hard to listen to, but the audience is generous with applause and they come back week after week. What is awesome is the band. . . which is different every week, depending on who is available and who wants to help out. There is on any given week a steel guitar player, a bass guitarist, lead guitar, alto and baritone saxophone and harmonica player. They are just thrown together that night and play accompaniment for the various performers and do a wonderful job. They play a few tunes by themselves and then each gets a solo at the end. They are really great.

One woman who lives here with her husband actually teaches at a junior high down the road and she sings country western and puts on her own show. We went to watch her and she is pretty good. Her husband is her sound man and they do a great job. Last week we also had a family band come and perform. They are the Lindley Creek Bluegrass. The Greer family travels full time in their RV and performs at hundreds of parks. They also gather with other family bands in combined performances. Many of these family groups have adopted the Rio Grande Valley as their winter home because of the weather and so we have a large selection of their venues to choose from during the winter. The prices are so reasonable as well, usually $4 for a 1 1/2 hour performance.

One evening we had some local students who came to perform "Folkloric" dances for us. The teacher of these students is trying hard to preserve folk dances from Central American countries. Some of the dances are very old and risk dying out. There were all ages of children from 5 to 17 performing. Each dance required a change of costume and the teacher would explain about the dance and the costume. She also makes all the dresses for the girls and most of the dresses required 50 yards of fabric! There are multiple pleats in the skirts so when they swirl, the dresses fly over the girl's head. All the money from the admission goes to the children to provide costumes for new dances.

Mom and Dad were honored along with other couples in the park on Sunday for being married 50 or more years. In fact, Mom and Dad got the prize for being married the longest. . . 64 years this year. They allowed guests, so I went along to join in the celebration. What a great idea. We also had entertainment. . . a couple here in the park who perform and they sang a few love songs.

Outside the park, there are many things to do. . . parks to visit, birding and wildlife preserves, entertainment and museums. A couple weeks ago, we went to the 2010 RV.net gathering for Winter Texans. What a great bunch! We have been gathering for 3 years now and we have moderators that attend as well and it's always great to touch base with them. I don't know how many we had, but we filled the Cactus Club at Victoria Palms with only a few seats empty. It was a cold, wet rainy day, so it was great to have something to do!

We have a launch date now. As expected, Terry is getting a bit antsy and wanting to get moving. We are leaving March 24, I think. We have two apartments that have come open as of April 1, and we plan to get there and put the sign out and start the screening process for new tenants. So we will head back to Indiana, work in the doctor appointments, then head to Virginia for Ronan's third birthday!

Till next time. . .

Dale

Elvis has left the building. . .

Today was the annual Ladies' Luncheon here at our park. It is always a well attended event. We all sign up to take mostly salads, finger foods and desserts to share and then we have a short program. The theme for this year's event was the Fabulous Fifties and they encouraged you to dress up in 50's garb. Today we saw mostly poodle skirts and rolled up blue jeans and shirts with rolled up sleeves. It was great fun. Mom, Mom's friend Pat, and I all won door prizes.

The entertainment was a really BAD Elvis impersonator. It was really hilarious because he was so bad, but I'm sure he was cheap. The guy came out dressed in a white bejewelled jumpsuit. He had just a few of Elvis' moves down and appeared to be a little unsure of whether or not he wanted to do them. On top of that, he was lip-syncing. . . not even karaoke. The music was really low, so most of the time, he just kind of stood up there swaying. Even his lip-syncing was unenthusiastic. Finally the photographer stepped up and adjusted the microphone so it would pick up the music better so we could hear. That certainly helped and people started singing along with their favorite Elvis tunes. Then the unthinkable happened. . . the recording skipped and stuck, repeating the same phrase over and over. Hahahahahaha. Well, Elvis didn't know what to do, so he just kind of swayed back and forth until the photographer once again stepped up. But, alas, there wasn't much of a fix as the recordings kept malfunctioning through the rest of the "performance."

At one point, the recording on one song just stopped, but that didn't stop the French Canadian women who picked up and finished the entire song. . . in pretty good form, too. Mom said, "Those French Canadians really seem to have a good time no matter where they are." I said yes and we could all take a lesson from them. I don't think they ever have a bad day.

The shelves in our cart shed are going in pretty well. Only a few more to go and the cart shed will be done. The golf cart is in there tonight plugged into the charger. We have a dedicated shelf for the charger so that all Dad has to do is drive it inside and plug it in.

The weather has been cooperating nicely the last couple days. High's in the 70's and lows in the high 50's. No rain today or in the forecast. Nice weather down here in south Texas.

Till next time. . .

Dale