Jay's & Stella's Travels

Saturday February 11, 2012-ron Hoover RV, Katy TX

2012-02-12T06:21:00.000-08:00

We got a good night's sleep and woke refreshed and ready to go back to the show. Of course, it doesn't start until noon, so we've got all morning to kill before we leave. Derek, one of the service advisers here, told me that he will move the trailer to position it for us to pull out tomorrow morning but since he's only moving it a few feet, we wouldn't have to pack everything up or even slide the rooms in. There was another customer's trailer sitting in the space that we will be in, so we had to wait for them to come in and pick up their trailer to get ours moved but that didn't take very long. I noticed that when we went to pull the hydraulic jacks up, they were in the wrong sequence with the electric stabilizers but we finally go it straightened out.

We were on our way to the show by 11:30 with our new Ron Hoover RV exhibitor badges that would get us into the show. We were told that we could also show the badge to get into the parking lot and were told where to drive on the back side of the Reliant Center for the exhibitor parking but when we arrived, we were greeted by a very rude man at the ticket booth that informed me that we would have to pay to park and that there were no exceptions without a parking pass. We reluctantly paid the $10 fee and went into the show. We had another great day of talking to people and saw a lot of old friends throughout the day. Some of the Boomers stopped by and I even ran into one of my college instructors and we had a nice visit. He is a retired Houston police officer as well as being retired from Alvin Community college. He said he tried a couple of years of teaching in a high school after retiring from Alvin but found that juniors and seniors in high school were too much for him to handle so he just retired and moved to his home on Lake Conroe.

We met Bill and Ornell, Tommy and Susan and Ricky and Dee for lunch at Pappasito's restaurant that is nearby. The food was good but overpriced and we all had a good time being together again. We went back to the show and learned that the first parking pass that we bought was not good for re-entry and had to pay AGAIN!! Bummer!

We stayed at the show until after 7 and again had a good time meeting people and talking about the RV lifestyle and living in our trailer. I talked to Dustin Hoover and met his brother Chris and both of them thanked us for coming to the show. It never hurts to "in" with the owners of the company.

Our problems began when we got home. The first thing we noticed was that the water pump wouldn't work, and the lights were very dim. Long story short is that somehow the converter isn't working to convert 110 volts to 12v. Also some of the plugs won't work but the television, the refrigerator and the microwave work so we had a cool night. The furnace worked early but the battery finally gave up and lost power. I think the problem is in the new power cord that was installed with either the wiring being messed up or something shorted out the converter. We will spend an extra night here and get it checked out on Monday. I'll just have to call Caddo Lake and tell them we're still coming but will be delayed. Maybe this problem will only take a little bit to get fixed. Cross your fingers...

So long.

Friday February 10, 2012-Ron Hoover RV, Katy TX

2012-02-12T04:42:00.000-08:00

When we woke this morning it was raining again. I don't think it will affect the work that is to be done and may actually make it easier to find the water leak because with the rain coming down, they can just follow the water to the source. At least today, they won't have to move the trailer, so all we have to do is stay out of their way as they work. I learned that the RV show doesn't open until noon, so we have plenty of time this morning.

Ron, one of the technicians here, came by and soon found that one of the slide gaskets was installed incorrectly and luckily they had the material to make the repair. Ron told Stella that once he found the problem, he wouldn't need to come back inside, so we could go to the show when we wanted to. That was good news because we are looking forward to the show.

We left about 10:30 this morning to go get rid of the old tailgate from the truck. The new gate looks really good and it will be a relief to clean up the bed by getting the old one out. We went to a salvage yard in Manvel that I knew of and got about $10 for the scrap metal in the tailgate, or enough to buy us a donut and coffee.

We went to the show and learned that although we had been told that we could probably show our Heartland badges and they might let us in, we were charged the full amount to park and enter the show. Bummer!

We were early to the show and had to stand in line to get in. I was kind of surprised to see as many people going to the show, with the bad weather and all on a Friday morning. We walked around a bit before going to the Ron Hoover booth and saw a few friends along the way. We spent the day meeting and talking to people and had a really good time. Ryan Scott, one of the Heartland sales reps took us to get a bite to eat at the show, which was very nice of him. He really appreciated us being there and frequently sent people to talk to us since we are full timers living in a Heartland trailer.

Bill and Ornell came to Houston this afternoon to stay for the weekend. They will be at the show tomorrow along with Tommy and Susan and Ricky and Dee. I called Bill when we left the show and met them at Pappas Bar B Que for supper tonight. We had a good meal and enjoyed their company before we left to come back home. We were very tired from being on our feet all day, but it had been a good day. Tomorrow should be even better.

So long.

Thursday February 9, 2012-Ron Hoover RV-Katy TX

2012-02-09T17:36:00.000-08:00

We were up early this morning because our slide will interfere with the workers coming in this morning, so we had to have everything ready for them to move . They will reposition the trailer inside the fence so they can work on it, so we will have to put everything away and slide the rooms in. We didn't have that much out, so it didn't take long and we were ready to go a little bit after 7. After walking the dogs, we got a couple of our lawn chairs out and sat behind the trailer, watching the people going to work and dealing with the traffic. It was nice to sit outside in the cool morning and watch the world go by as we drank our coffee.

The workers began coming to work about 8 o'clock and after getting moved in and water and electricity set up again, we left with the dogs to go pick up my new tailgate in Pasadena. The guys might need to get inside the trailer, so we took the dogs with us.

A couple of weeks ago, AJ, one of the porters here, was delivering a new trailer to a customer when the new company Dodge truck began to smoke. Before he knew it, the truck was on fire! AJ had the good judgement to unhook the truck from the trailer and drive it away, so although the truck burned up, he saved the trailer. The point to this is, the truck was a white Dodge 3500 exactly like my truck, so I was tempted to change the tailgates-with permission of course- but I found that the company truck's tailgate had dents on it too, so it would have been pointless to trade one dented-up tailgate for another, so I went ahead and bought the one that I had ordered.

Tommy met us at the store and we went to get lunch at a place called Big Tex Burgers in Pasadena. They served a good burger and it was nice to spend some time with Tommy. We haven't seen him since before we left this area in May.

After lunch, we decided to kill some time before going back to the dealership so they could get finished with their work. We were driving down the Beltway when i decided to call my old friend Emile, who is still working at the City of Missouri City. He was working today and had time to meet us for coffee at the Denny's restaurant where he and I used to go when we worked together. It was good to play catch-up with my old friend.

We came on back to the dealership and learned that they had finished up with some of the work they were supposed to do, but hadn't gotten to a couple of the things and planned to work on them tomorrow. We'll have to stay home with the dogs in the trailer because they will have to come inside to find a leak at the slides. We were scheduled to go to the RV show in the morning, but we will likely be delayed because of the repairs. Oh well...

We got everything set back up and settled in for the evening. It turned out to be a very good day. Got to see some old friends that we haven't seen in a long time and got the truck fixed too.

So long.

Wednesday February 8, 2012-Moving day-Mission to Ron Hoover RV

2012-02-09T16:14:00.000-08:00

We got up pretty early to get away from here as early as possible because we're driving all the way to Houston. The big problem is that it rained all night long and is raining still. It hasn't rained all month except one night when it showered and today when we're leaving it's raining. And the site we're is a dirt/grass site but most of the grass has died because of the drought.

We made good time in getting things packed up and ready to go and we were ready to hook the truck up by 8:30. When I backed in to hook up, the truck slid sideways and wouldn't line up. I tried several times but all I did was rut up the site. It's a good thing that Tom has a 4 wheel drive because he backed up and on the second try had the truck backed under the trailer. He motored it right on out and into the street and after just a few minutes we were hooked up and ready to go. It only took us an extra 45 minutes! After hugs and handshakes we pulled out about 9:20.

We went down Hwy. 281 this time and I believe it is a little faster than staying on Hwy. 77 all the way. I had gone to the little convenience store around the corner from the park to pick up breakfast tacos for us to eat after we got on the road. BIG mistake! The tacos are very tasty but difficult to eat while driving. I spilled more than I got into my mouth and Tramp loved it but I didn't like all the food that got on the floor of the truck. At least Trampy had a feast at our next stop. He got down on the floor under the steering wheel and chowed down!

We only made a couple of stops and got here to Ron Hoover right on time, about 4:15. We got set up outside the fence for tonight and had a pleasant night. I'm going to be interested in how much they get done tomorrow. We'll see...

So long.

Tuesday February 7, 2012-Mission West RV Resort

2012-02-07T18:58:00.000-08:00

Our last full day here in Mission began as usual with coffee with the guys. Some of them even remembered my name, but it probably helped that my name is on my coffee cup in big red letters.

We met some of our Heartland friends at Willie's Bar B Que, famous for their barcued brisket. I had the stuffed baked potato and it was delicious! We all had a nice time together but the group is splitting up. Three of us (including us) will be leaving tomorrow but many will meet in Kerrville at the Sweetheart rally there. We are sorry that we can't go to this rally, but there's always next year.

After we left, Stella and I ran some errands before leaving tomorrow. I filled up the fuel tanks on the truck. It hurts to fill all the tanks but it sure is convenient to be able to travel for 1100 miles or more before having to stop for fuel! Of course, if we find fuel at a good price, we can fill the tanks any time.

We came on back home and I took the porch down and did a few more chores in preparation for leaving. Our last day was a good one, but as I said before, there's always next year.

So long.

Monday February 6, 2012-Mission West RV Resort

2012-02-07T18:23:00.000-08:00

These two pictures are from our Ambassador meeting the other night at the Costa Messa restaurant.

Here you see me and Stella, Jim and Nancy and across the table, Kathy. That is Ken in the blue shirt and Nelly's arms.

Here you see Nelly and Kevin being serenaded by the mariachi band that strolled around the restaurant.

These next photos are taken on our trip to Mexico in Renee's Bakery.

L-R you see Sally, Nancy, Jim and Kathy

Here you see Nelly in blue, Kevin's arms holding his food, Roy, Sally, Nancy and Jim in the gray shirt. We all enjoyed our time together in Mexico.

We went with Ted and Donna over to Mexico this morning. We met five of our Heartland friends in the parking lot and we all walked across. We did a lot of shopping and looking before we went to eat at Renee's Bakery. We spent several hours in Mexico before coming back across into the US. It was another good day with our friends.

So long.

Sunday February 5, 2012-Mission West RV Resort

2012-02-07T10:15:00.000-08:00

Sunday morning, Jim invited us and 10 of our friends over for breakfast. We took Tom and Judy, so we had 14 people inside his trailer! Its a good thing he has a 40 footer! We all had plenty of room but it was rainy and cold outside, so we all had to stay inside. We stayed over there until almost noon before we left to return home.

We came home and made our preparations to watch the Super Bowl on television. Stella got a recipe from me for some spicy chili that a friend had posted that she made for this evening's meal and it turned out great! Thanks Ray. It was a good day to stay inside as it remained cool, so the chili really hit the spot.

The Super Bowl was exactly that, Super! It was a great game and congratulations go to Eli Manning and the New York Giants.

So long.

Saturday February 4, 2012-Mission West RV Resort

2012-02-07T09:53:00.000-08:00

We got up pretty early and went to Furr's Buffet for breakfast with Ted and Donna. Gotta eat at our favorite breakfast place again before we leave! After finishing up our breakfast, we came back home to get our truck because Ted was going to meet with friends to shoot skeet. We took Donna to the fruit market where we bought some fruits and veggies and two folding chairs for Tommy and Susan. They are very good chairs that are very heavy duty and only available down here. After bringing Donna back home we came home and hung out here all afternoon.

I've been working with Tramp while we've been down here by taking him for long walks and teaching him some doggie commands like heel and come. Of course, he's always on a leash so it's easy to make him obey, but I think its working. At least he gets more exercise and comes home and sleeps well. He's much easier to control when he's not with Cassie and is much more sociable. Cassie barks too much at both people and animals, so that's going to be my next doggie project.

So long.

Friday February 3, 2012-Mission West RV Resort

2012-02-06T15:30:00.000-08:00

Today we had to take Mr. Tramp to the Vet for his yearly checkup. It didn't take too long to learn that he is in excellent condition, weighing in at 11 pounds, which is a good weight for him. The only thing found was some tartar on his teeth. We bought some treats that help in keeping it off the dog's teeth, so we'll see.

We had tickets to see the Link family with Ted and Donna tonight at Bentsen Palms Village and I had suggested that Jim and several other of the Heartlander group get tickets too and come with us. Jim invited several of us over to his place this afternoon for a quicky potluck dinner before the show. Sadly, when they tried to get the tickets the show was sold out. This is a first time that ANYONE had sold out a show. We ended still going over to Jim's to eat and had a very nice time. The weather cooperated and the guys sat outside while the girls sat inside the trailer. We were excited for Jim, who is getting his new demo Landmark trailer next month and has just ordered a new Ford F-450 tow vehicle. Of course, us guys had a lot of discussion about it while eating. We won't see the new rig until the end of April in Gulfshores Alabama at the rally there.

We went to the Link show but Stella and I were kind of disappointed that they put on exactly the same show as the other night. They added a couple of different songs and still performed very well, but it was a rerun. We won't see them again until next season when we come back down here so maybe they'll have a new show for us.We still love 'em.

So long.

Thursday February 2, 2012-Mission West RV Resort

2012-02-05T16:52:00.000-08:00

The weather has cooperated for our events in the valley this year. Yesterday was the first time that we've been able to use the beautiful outside seating at Retama and today was at least as nice as yesterday was.

We had a good turnout for the dealer open house. There were a few details that I felt that could have been done better, but overall it was okay. It was good to see some of our old Heartland friends and to meet new ones. We had a great time again and can't wait for all the upcoming rallies that we are planning to attend.

We went to the Costa Messa restaurant in McAllen with Jim and Nancy, Ken and Kathy and Kevin and Nelly for an Ambassadors meeting. We all enjoyed our meal and were happy to hear that the Ambassador program will continue for at least one more year. It was another good time with good friends.

So long.

Wednesday February 1, 2012-Mission West RV Resort

2012-02-05T06:44:00.000-08:00

We didn't do too much this morning because we were going over to the Heartland Owners Meet and Greet this afternoon. I had coffee with the guys this morning and am apparently making friends with them because they include me in their conversations now.

We went over to Retama to help Ken and Kathy set up tables and clean the glass tops of the outside tables. Some of our friends began arriving soon after we got there, but it all worked out. We ended up with about 40 people that came today. There was plenty of good food and I believe that everyone had a good time. I know we did. It was good to meet some new people whose names I see all the time on the forum.

This is really a classy place, Retama Village. We will be looking forward to next year's gathering.

So long.

Tuesday January 31, 2012-Mission West RV Resort

2012-02-04T18:26:00.000-08:00

We went over to Mexico this morning again. I had been having some discomfort with my teeth and wanted the doctor to adjust them. It is so nice to be able to go in for adjustments and get in right away. I really do like this dentist!

Remember that Stella had decided to get some glasses in Mexico as I had done? She went in and found the frames that she liked and after a short exam, she was all fitted up. We made arrangements to pick her new glasses up on Friday but they weren't ready and we had told them we would come in today. I had talked to Karen and had learned that they were going to meet with some friends from Michigan in Mexico and we would all meet for lunch over there. The weather was not cooperating and traffic was terrible on the expressway, so we never saw them. It's really expensive to make or receive telephone calls in Mexico, so we couldn't call, so unfortunately we were not able to hook up. Stella picked up her glasses and we got something to eat and came on back home.

We went over to the Tropic Star RV Resort in Pharr to see the Red Head Express with The Walker Boys and the Link Family. It was a great concert and everyone enjoyed it. They have a huge auditorium at the Tropic Star and there were probably 3-500 people there for the performance. We will see the Links again when Ted and Donna arrive later in the week. It's very nice to see Branson performances at valley prices! Another reason to come down here!

So long.

Monday January 30 2012-Mission West RV Resort

2012-02-04T17:32:00.000-08:00

Our friends from Michigan, Dan and Karen came over today to visit us and see the new trailer. We had a nice visit with them here and then took them over to Retama Village to show them where we were going for the Meet and Greet. We then drove by the site where Jim B. will be staying when he arrives later this afternoon. Kathy came out and invited us in to see her coach house. Kathy told us the story about how they came to own this place at Retama Village.

We went to a new restaurant tonight, a place called Rick's restaurant, formerly called Granny's Cafe. They are known for their huge mega-burgers, with both a single patty and a double meat. The burgers are so big they are served on a wooden board with a machete to cut them, and many times one burger will feed four people. None of us had the huge burger, but we had a very good meal and plan to come back here.

Dan and Karen had to go back to their hotel tonight but will be coming to visit a friend here in Mission for the rest of their stay. We came back home and sat outside for awhile, enjoying the weather down here.

So long.

Saturday and Sunday January 28 & 29, 2012-Mission West RV Resort

2012-01-30T09:54:00.000-08:00

We didn't have anything to do on Saturday and Sunday so we took the weekend off. We deserve a day off every now and then, so we didn't leave the park. I slept in and didn't have coffee with the guys and only went out to take walks around the park. Tom and Judy went to Mexico one day, so we just stayed home with the doggies.

I haven't said much about this area where we are staying. It is kind of confusing because this park is outside any city limits with the nearest town being Palmview. We are somewhat west of Mission, hence the name Mission West. Mission is a good-sized city of over 77,000 people. Over 81% of the population here is Hispanic, so Spanish is a very popular language used here. It still bothers me that so many stores are so slanted toward the Hispanics but we ARE very near the border.

I researched Wikipedia for notables that came from Mission and learned that Lloyd Bentsen former US Senator and Vice Presidential candidate and Tom Landry, coach of the Dallas Cowboys were the two most recognizable names from this area.

I suppose this is enough of a geography/demographics lesson for now.

So long.

Thursday January 26 and Friday January 27, 2012-Mission West RV Resort

2012-01-28T11:03:00.000-08:00

Lets talk about the weather right off the bat today. The weather has been great here, lows in the low 50's and highs in the mid-upper 70's for the past three days. I'm not bragging about it, but stating a fact. This was about the time that we were getting to the valley last year and it didn't take long for the weather to turn cold, much colder in fact. We had the coldest weather of the season then. But the fact is, today is another spectacular day down here. It began cloudy and warmed up nicely. But that's the reason we pay big bucks to come down here.

Thursday we didn't do too much other than go our and distribute more fliers for the meet and greet and open house next week. We have traveled only a relatively few miles but burned a lot of fuel in trying to notify other Heartland owners of the events but today finished up our work. We stopped off at the grocery store to pick up some milk and a few other essentials before coming home. Stella and Judy sat outside for a good while this evening, enjoying the cool evening.

Friday was supposed to have been our last trip to Mexico to pick up Stella's glasses but when we got there we learned that there had been a problem with the delivery of her glasses from the lab where they had been built. Whatever the reason, we need to come back over next week to pick them up. Oh well, we still enjoy coming over here. Well truthfully, the beggars and street hawkers get kind of old but for the most part we have enjoyed our trips over.

We ate lunch at Renee's Bakery in Mexico today. Until the other morning when we were here so early we hadn't eaten in Mexico or even gotten a drink of water, but we changed our minds. The food here is delicious and downright cheap! We even drank our water that was served with our meals. We talked about it before taking a sip but figured that we've been drinking coffee that is made with water and it hasn't made us sick. It is now a full day after we ate and drank in Mexico and we had no problems, so we feel rather safe to eat and drink in Renee's Bakery. Elsa's restaurant was okay too, so there are two places that we checked out for you if you want to drop in for a bite to eat in Progresso.
Come on down, the weather's fine!!

So long.

Wednesday January 25, 2012-Mission West RV Resort

2012-01-27T06:14:00.000-08:00

We had the windows open last night because it was so nice outside but it had turned cool this morning, and I was too cold to get up to have coffee this morning, so I just stayed home.

Stella had an appointment with the dentist to have her teeth cleaned at noon, so we were off to Mexico again. There didn't seem to be as many visitors today, so we weren't delayed. I went in to talk to him again over some minor pains in my gums and he ground off some of the material and polished them up and now all is much better. After finishing up, we walked around and did a little shopping and went to the eyeglass store so we could leave a deposit. They first said that Stella's glasses were ready but then they discovered that the glasses were still at the lab and weren't ready yet.

We went to more RV parks this afternoon and found a few more people that wanted to come to the events of next week. We have been to at least 12 parks and have covered a lot of the area between Mission and Weslaco.

Do you remember awhile back I talked about that old man that was getting pretty hard of hearing that lived in my trailer? I just wanted to give you an update on him. His hearing hasn't gotten any better but then again, it hasn't gotten any worse. Judging from the other guys around his age that he hangs out with, its a pretty common ailment. The conversations around the coffee table are pretty funny sometimes: "What day is this? Its Wednesday. (Someone else at the table)-Its always windy down here in the valley".

I looked around in the Mexican market area while we were over there but did not find anyone that sells hearing aids, other than the "As seen on TV" types for $19.95. I think he could likely do as well as these toys by holding a cone up to his ear. I'll keep on looking. I'll never understand why Medicare doesn't cover hearing, but of course their policies are put in place by the same people that keep on borrowing money with a 15 trillion dollar deficit and screwed up so much. I'll bet ya if a retired congressman needed a hearing aid, he'd just march into the doctor's office and buy the best available and send the bill to the government taxpayers. Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now. You didn't come here to hear me whine. At least you can hear me when I whine.

So long.

Tuesday January 24, 2012-Mission West RV Resort

2012-01-26T05:13:00.001-08:00

I went and had coffee with the guys this morning as usual. They are much different from the Rayford guys but it's a guy thing to get together in the morning for coffee I guess. I came on back home and gathered Stella up and we went back out to hand out more fliers this morning. It was kind of a disappointing time with many of the people that I talked to not being able to make a decision of whether or not they were coming or not, but I'll get through it.

We were in the area of south Donna when we got to a stopping point and both Stella and I were hungry so we went to Gonzales Burgers again. Surprisingly, we didn't have to wait to order and there were plenty of open seats, so we've found the better time to come here. Two burgers with a fry/onion ring combination for less than $20 that filled us up so that we didn't want another meal today was a good deal.

We made a couple more stops along the way home and began getting ready to go to the Link Family and Red Head Express concert at the Tropic Star RV Resort. Man, this place is HUGE!! They have 700 RV sites and 200 park model sites. The park seems to be pretty full, and the big meeting room has plenty of room for large crowds. Its a good thing because there were probably 4-500 people here tonight. Neither of the groups disappointed us although we have heard everything that the Link Family did tonight. We will see them again on Feb. 3rd when they will perform at Bentsen Palms. Ted and Donna will be in that day so we'll celebrate their arrival with the Link family.

So long.

Monday January 23, 2012-Mission West RV Resort

2012-01-25T16:00:00.001-08:00

Today was my last appointment with my dentist in Mexico. We were up very early again for my 8AM appointment and were in Mexico about 7:30. Better to be early than late! After a short time, I was all fitted up and sporting some new dental work.

We went to a place called Renee's Bakery for breakfast. It was a great place to eat and we were amid a lot of other Winter Texans. The waiter brought us some cheese and cream nachos for an appetizer. Not only were the nachos delicious, it was a good way to check out my new teeth. Everything passed with flying colors, so I was very relieved.

Stella decided to have an eyeglass exam done and to buy some new glasses while we were there. It didn't take long for her to pick out some new frames and we ordered the glasses. We didn't bring enough cash with us, so we agreed to come back on Wednesday to pay for the glasses. This will give me a chance to have any adjustments made to my teeth if needed.

We left Mexico and drove through several RV parks to distribute fliers for our upcoming events. I talked to a lot of people that couldn't commit to coming but did take a flier. We got a few more names to add to the list and came on back home. It had been a good day for us.

So long.

Sunday January 22, 2012-Mission West RV Resort

2012-01-25T07:27:00.000-08:00

We had made arrangements with Tom and Judy to go over to Furr's buffet for their great breakfast. Its probably a good thing that they only serve this on weekends because we'd probably be there every day or so to eat. It is one of the best breakfast buffets that we've had.

We made a couple of stops on the way home and spent the rest of the day watching the football championship games. Congratulations to the Patriots and the Giants. They both were victorious in some great football games.

At least the weather is good down here in the valley, but of course, that's the reason so many come down here. We bask in the warmth, sitting outside in shorts when many of our neighbors are shivering in their former neighborhoods and curse the snow. Never having to deal with snow of any depth, I often wonder if it wouldn't be nice to spend a winter in snow country. If I could be assured of having plenty of heat, electricity, Internet and of course, a way to get into town to buy supplies, I wouldn't mind to spend some time there. This is not likely to happen, given our present lifestyle that we don't plan to change. Fifth wheel trailers don't make a very good home in long-term cold and snow. It's a nice thought though.

So long.

Saturday January 21, 2012-Mission West RV Resort

2012-01-24T05:42:00.001-08:00

I went down and had coffee with the guys again this morning and learned that there was going to be a park-wide craft and garage sale. When I finished my coffee, I took a walk around the park and looked at a lot of handmade stuff but didn't buy anything. Stella went down to look at some shoes and purses but she didn't buy anything either. I don't know whether we're cheap or just picky...

We had invited some of our neighbors to go to Ron Hoover RV today for a customer appreciation sale. We agreed to meet after lunch, so we went to the Don-Wes flea market for the first time this season. The place was packed and we both soon tired of having to put up with all the other shoppers. I walked across the street to the fruit market to check on some other items but it was packed too. I guess it was a good day to have a booth at the flea market today.

We grabbed a cup of coffee and a snack before going to Ron Hoover. Our neighbor Frank and his friend Donny, both from Canada, were already there, so we took them to look at some of the Heartland trailers there. Frank was interested in one of the Landmark trailers that they didn't have in stock, but perhaps they will get one in soon. I hope they get some more before our open house in a couple of weeks.

Friday January 20, 2012-Mission West RV Resort

2012-01-22T15:02:00.000-08:00

We were supposed to have gone back to Mexico to the dentist but the appointment was at 4 o'clock and we didn't want to be over there that late in the afternoon, so we changed it to Monday. We didn't do too much around here but sit outside and read my new Kindle Fire while Stella shelled pecans. Tom and Judy came by and we had a nice visit with them in the afternoon and we all enjoyed the nice weather.

Later in the afternoon we met Tom & Judy and Reggie & Mary for barbecue at a place called the 492 Barbecue. It's in an old house and the food was very good. We have made so many new friends down here that we would hate it if we couldn't come back for some reason.

I've been hearing low-flying helicopters around here all night long. I don't know whats going on but maybe I'll start reading the local newspaper while we're down here. Just about every RV park that we've stayed in has different sounds at night and early in the morning. Sometimes when I go to bed early, I will hear the sounds of a new rig coming in and getting set up. It's always interesting to hear the yelling between the husbands and wives when trying to get backed in when its dark. At times, they have burned my sensitive ears with their profanity, but I can understand. Its very difficult to back into an unfamiliar site in the dark and can surely cause some ugly words. I think it must be a law that RV parks are built near a rail line because there are always train horns. Sirens are also another sound I nearly always hear. I know its never anything good for someone when we hear siren. On the other hand, if someone is having a medical emergency, the siren is a sound of help coming. I hate it when I wake and can't think where we are...

So long.

Thursday January 19, 2012-Mission West RV Resort

2012-01-22T11:29:00.000-08:00

We didn't do too much today. We drove over to Ron Hoover RV and picked up some fliers to distribute to the local RV parks but had to make two trips to the dealership because Dalia was at lunch and running errands. We went by the State Farm office and picked up our insurance check for the tailgate. From there we went to a truck accessory store to see what they had but didn't find anything. I guess we'll have to wait until we get back to Houston to get the new gate.

We went to the grocery store and while there I ran the filthy truck through the car wash at the HEB grocery. I had found a similar wash at the Wal Mart in Canton and had been so impressed we got a wash job here. Again it was a great wash and cheaper than having it hand washed.

We came back home and sat outside with Tom and Judy. The weather has been great while we have been here but that's one of the main reasons that we come down here anyway.

So long.

Wednesday January 18, 2012-Mission West RV Resort

2012-01-20T06:51:00.000-08:00

Today was another laid back day down here in the valley. We stayed around here in the trailer until around noon when we went back across to Mexico. I know that several of my friends and family worry when we go to Progresso, but we've never had a problem there. We only go a short distance into the town and never stray off the main street. Our friends Tom and Judy often go over and walk around all over town, but we've not been that adventurous. I tried to look the town up but could only find that the town had a population of 4630 in 2005. In years past there was a good sized group of military at the border crossing but since there hasn't been any trouble there, they have pulled out. I was told that since there is only one way in and one way out of town, it made it a bad place for the drug cartel people to come. I don't know about all that, but so far there hasn't been a problem.

We went over to the dentist and I got fitted for my new dentures. The new "test" set was ready for final fitting, and it didn't take very long. Stella had made friends with several people in the waiting room while waiting for me. They are all having similar work done. Its reassuring to know that he is such a popular guy.

From there we went to the State Farm Insurance office but our check wasn't ready yet. Without sounding like an insurance commercial, I have been very pleased at the ease of getting this claim filed and taken care of.

Here are a few assorted pictures that I got while down here.

This is my long-lost sister Bobbye Sue with my youngest grandson Ian and Ian's mom and my oldest daughter Jennifer. I don't know where this picture was taken but told Jennifer to be careful with Ian around Bobbye Sue and she said she would.

No, these are not steaks or a side of beef, they are hamburger patties being cooked at Gonzales Burgers where we took Bill the other day. These are undoubtedly the biggest burgers that I've ever seen!

This is one of the small piles of clothes at one of the Ropas Usadas in Hidalgo. I took Bill down here to see them and he couldn't believe his eyes. I know I couldn't either the first time I saw one. Just one of the many sights to see down here.

So long.

Tuesday January 17, 2012-Mission West RV Resort

2012-01-18T16:29:00.000-08:00

Another nice day here in the Rio Grande Valley. The morning temperatures were in the 50's but the daytime temps were in the low 80's. This is the reason that so many people come down here for the winter. Since we only stay in Texas in the winter, I guess you c0uld call us Winter Texans too.

Stella washed our clothes this morning after I took them around the corner to the wash house. The sad thing about the going's-on in this park is that they're letting things go when they need maintenance and it sure reflects badly on the park. There were only two washers and two dryers when there are four of each in this wash house. We didn't go to the other house to check on it, but I heard that there are problems there too.

Since there wasn't much to report today, I thought it was a good day to show you some photos of my truck and the motorhome that I hit. I feel really bad about the accident but my truck looks much worse than the motorhome. See below:

The crunched-in tailgate. I was very surprised at the cost to replace the tailgate, over $800 to get it replaced! Glad we have good insurance!

It certainly crunched the tailgate! I was only going a couple of miles per hour when backing into the space.

The only damage to the motorhome was this metal fascia that pulls in against the rubber gasket to seal out water when traveling. It would be impossible to close the slide completely now. I spoke with John the owner, today and he said he has gotten an estimate done and is waiting for the insurance company to approve it and the parts to be ordered. I'm just glad he is being taken care of. I haven't had an accident in a loooong time, especially one that was my fault, but after having worked hundred of traffic accidents in my career, I know that these things can go pretty smoothly but it only takes one uncooperative employee to foul everything up. We may want to come back to this park sometime and I don't want my reputation ruined around here.

So long.

Monday January 16, 2012-Mission West RV Resort

2012-01-17T13:32:00.001-08:00

We slept with the windows open last night because it was such a nice night. I woke pretty early and read the news and over some blogs, as usual, and went back to sleep in my chair. It was very pleasant in the chair and I slept until about 7:30, past the coffee drinker time at the rally hall. After a quick breakfast, we went into Donna to run a few errands. We went to Ron Hoover RV and picked up some fliers for the upcoming open house there, went to the Dodge dealer and got an estimate for the repair to the truck tailgate. Dan, the body shop manager, told us how to get to the State Farm insurance office, and after finishing up the estimate, we went there and got the process started to get a check for the damage. We went to a couple of truck accessory stores to check on a vee gate but didn't find one.

We went to meet Tom and Judy along with Reggie and Mary at a new (for us) barbecue restaurant called the 492 BBQ. It is located on FM 492, hence the name... At any rate, the barbecue was very good and we all enjoyed our meal. Of course, I got kidded a lot about the damage to my truck but I probably deserved it. Remind me to post some pictures of the truck damage tomorrow.

So long.

Wednesday January 11 thru Sunday January 15, 2012-Mission West RV Resort

2012-01-15T11:20:00.000-08:00

We didn't do too much on Wednesday because we were all tired from spending all day in Mexico the day before. The weather was cool so it was a good day to stay home and rest.

Thursday however was a better day in some ways and much worse in others. We took Bill over to experience the famous Gonzales burgers and then ran a couple of errands before coming back home. I dropped Bill off at his motorhome and went around the corner to our site and while talking to Stella about something and as I was backing in, I somehow backed into the slideout of our neighbor, John. It bent up the tailgate of the truck but worst of all, it bent the metal overhang on his slide, making it impossible to close now. John came out immediately and after making sure that he wasn't hurt, I came inside and called my insurance company. It's not that big a deal, but it made me very mad for doing something like that. I was first going to blame Stella (she was talking to me and distracted me), but that's not gonna work. I guess I have to admit that I had my head up my.....well you can probably guess.

Friday morning we were up with the chickens to make our 8AM appointment with the doctor. The only good thing about being there that early was that we got an excellent parking space and didn't have to wait very long to get in. The took impressions for me and told me to come back in about three hours. Bill's appointment was at 8:30 and he was finished before me, so when I got through we went to find something to eat-a first for us. Until today we had not eaten or had anything to drink while in Mexico but we went to a small cafe and everything was fine. It was a popular place with lots of other winter Texans so we felt safe and no one had any problems. Bill bought our breakfast and after doing a little shopping, he went back home to get ready to leave in the morning. He said he would be leaving about 5AM, so we said our goodbyes now.

Saturday morning, I woke about 4 and heard Bill loading everything up and pulling out. No, I didn't go out to wave to him but wish him well on his way back to Houston. Stella told me that she didn't want to do anything or go anywhere today, so guess what? We didn't do anything but watch the football games and didn't leave home. Stella made some of her famous soup and cornbread and we invited Tom and Judy over to eat with us. We watched the football games and had a good time with our friends. Congratulations to the 49'ers and the Patriots.

Sunday morning I slept late again. Since it was Sunday, we didn't have much planned, so we just stayed inside and watched the rest of the football games. Tom and Judy invited us to go to Dairy Queen with them and their neighbors Reggie and Mary. We had a nice time with them and came home and watched the end of football. Congratulations to the Ravens and the Giants.

It has been a good week and the weather has been pretty good. We had a couple of cool nights and mornings but it warms up nicely during the day. That's the reason for coming down here isn't it?

So long.

Tuesday January 10, 2012-Mission West RV Resort

2012-01-11T06:45:00.000-08:00

It turned cold last night and was in the low 40's this morning. Bill had found some guys having coffee in the small rally hall, so he and I went over to meet them and have some morning coffee. The only problem that I had with them was that they talk about "insider" stuff that we as newcomers don't know anything about. Not a big problem and the longer we stay, the more we understand about who they're talking about. I guess we really get "inside" information from these guys.

We went over into Mexico today, me to have the rest of my dental work done and Bill to have his done. The dentist's office was busier than we've ever seen it and we ended up being there for most of the day. I only had my teeth cleaned today and will come back on Friday for more work to be done.

We took Bill to Martha's for supper. This is one of our favorites down here and they didn't disappoint. After our good meal, we returned home for the evening. We are having another good time down here in the valley.

So long.

Monday January 9, 2012-Mission West Resort

2012-01-10T05:47:00.000-08:00

Today was our first full day down here, and Stella decided that she needed to do some work for one of her clients, so while she stayed home and worked, Bill and I decided to go for a ride for him to check out the area. We rode down to the Bentsen Palms Village RV park for him to see it, and to drive by some of the other RV parks around here.

From park tour, I took him over to check out the Ropas stores. He bought a pair of shorts in the first one that we went to and then when we went to a Ropas Usada (used clothes), he couldn't believe what he was seeing. the way the people swarmed over the new clothes that were brought out was a sight to see.

After leaving the stores, we ran a couple of errands and stopped off at one of the Luby's for lunch. It was a pretty good way to spend exploring some of this area. There is still a lot to show him, but we'll work on it.

So long.

Sunday January 8, 2012-Moving day, Gateway to the Gulf RV Park to Mission West RV Resort

2012-01-09T07:44:00.000-08:00

We slept in a little later this morning but were still up and eating breakfast at 7 o'clock. I had spoken with our friend Bill, telling him that we wanted to leave around 10, and when I talked to him this morning, he was on the road, in the fog, and planning to be here around 9:30. It was very foggy here too so I hustled on home and got my stuff packed up and put away, and right on time, there was Bill in the parking lot. By the time we got pulled out of our site and Bill got his doggie Anya walked and taken care of, we were pulling out onto the highway.

We made very good time down the road and made only one stop so Bill could top off his fuel tank for the 60 mile run between Kingsville and Raymondville where there are no stops or service stations. After our break, we made a nice drive into Mission. arriving here around 2PM. Wow, this place is full, probably the fullest we've ever seen. It was probably good that we had called ahead for a reservation.

After getting set up, Stella had the football game all tuned in and coffee made, so I came in and took a break. Bill had a problem with his electricity at his site but he ended up plugging into the vacant site next door. Then he noticed that his refrigerator wasn't cooling like he thought it should and he couldn't find any good television stations. I invited him over to watch the football game here and while watching the Broncos beat up the Steelers, Tom and Judy came over. We had a nice visit with them and Stella made Bill and I some hot dogs for supper. It wasn't long before our company had all gone home and Stella and I watched the end of the game (congrats to Tim Tebow and the Broncos). Since this is being written on Monday, I've gotta tell you that I slept better last night with the windows open than I have in a long time. I slept until 6 this morning, which is very unusual for me!

It's shaping up to be another good visit to the valley.

So long.

Saturday January 7, 2012-Moving day-Poche's Fish N Camp to Gateway to the Gulf RV Park

2012-01-07T18:32:00.000-08:00

We had a long way to drive today, about 345 miles, from Breaux Bridge LA to Victoria TX so we set the alarm and got up early to start getting ready to go. Stella had done some of her inside work and I had gathered up most of the outside stuff so it was easy to get packed. After hugs and handshakes, we pulled out about 8:30 which was even earlier than we had planned. Whatever it took, I'm proud of us.

It started to rain around Lake Charles and it rained off and on all the way to Beaumont. We made very good time and even though we made three pit stops, including one long stop at the Buccee's store in Wharton where we took the doggies out and took a nice break, we made it here to Victoria about 3:30. We had expected to be here between 4 and 5, but this way we got to see the entire Houston football game (congratulations to the Texans) and are watching the New Orleans-Detroit game as I write.

Tomorrow we are meeting with Bill Heede, who wants to go to my dentist for some work. He is going to follow us down to Mission where he will stay until his work is completed.

We are hosting and participating in some more Heartland events in the valley next month as well as finishing up my dental work as soon as I can get an appointment with the doctor. It will be a big relief to get it done. I'll keep you posted, so stay tuned.

So long.

Friday January 6, 2012-Poche's Fish N Camp

2012-01-07T16:01:00.000-08:00

We woke to another cool and damp morning here in Louisiana. We started again this morning with a small fire (running out of firewood!) and a nice breakfast. Bill and Ornell decided to go visit one of Ornell's cousins, so Stella and I took David and Susan over to Avery Island to visit the Tabasco plant. David and Susan live in New Iberia LA, and David made deliveries to the island, so the trip over was easy.

Here is the sign at the visitors center. The island was badly damaged by hurricane Rita in 2005 and the company surrounded the factory with a 17 foot levee to protect from future storms. Until recently all of the peppers were grown on Avery island but now peppers are grown in south and central America to prevent weather conditions or other problems from slowing or stopping production of the sauces. All of the seeds that are planted come from Avery island.

Here is a display of various bottles used to sell Tabasco sauce. The lady that led our tour said that Mr. Mcllhenny, the founder, walked around and found empty bottles for the first deliveries of the product. They adopted the bottle used today in the 1930's.

Here is a demonstration of a pepper-picker in action. It is impossible to see in this picture, but the picker is using a "little red stick -le petit baton rouge- to gauge the ripeness of the peppers. We were told that many grandmothers have been picking the peppers for most of their lives and that some times they bring their grand daughters with them to pick in the beginning of the season. She said the grandchildren only last one day but the grandmothers work the entire season. She told us that after the first day, the ladies soak their hands in milk to stop the burning, the second day they use aloe vera oil but by the third day, their hands are accustomed to the peppers and nothing else is needed.

Here is the floor of the factory where the pepper sauce is produced. The peppers are picked and on the same day as picking, they are ground into a mash and lightly salted and placed into a wooden barrel that was once used to age whiskey. The top of the barrel is covered with salt that is also mined on the island. After aging the pepper mash mixture for up to three years, it is removed and vinegar added and the result is the familiar Tabasco sauce.

Here is a display of some of the products made here. There is a Sweet and Spicy sauce, the familiar red and green sauces, a garlic flavored sauce, Chipotle sauce which is hotter than the standard sauces but the hottest is the Habanero sauce. They now offer salt flavored with the peppers, mustard and mayonnaise, barbecue sauce and now even ice cream. The ice cream is sold in a liquid form and frozen by the consumer. We actually tried the ice cream in the visitors center but didn't like it enough to buy any. I'm sure it can be ordered from the company.

On the way back to Poche's, we went by the Evangeline landing where many native Acadians originally landed in Louisiana. David and Susan said their ancestors were among them. David also gave us some information on the Cajun dialect of the French language spoken here.

This is a very interesting tour and very inexpensive. If you are in the area, it is well worth going to. It was special for us because of David and Susan, both native Louisianans and both very Cajun. We thank them for the tour of the area.

So long.

Wednesday January 4 and Thursday January 5, 2011-Poche's Fish N Camp

2012-01-07T14:39:00.000-08:00

These two days were almost identical. The guys woke early and came outside and made a fire that we sat beside and drank our coffee. We made a big breakfast both mornings and then just snacked for the rest of the day. I think we all were inside by 8 and in bed pretty soon after that. It was sooooo relaxing!

Here's a very pretty sunset across the pond.
Not much wind on the water today!

This is where we spent most of our time this week. I don't know how much wood we burned, but we certainly made some smoke and lots of warmth.

Here are our three trailers, our Landmark, David and Susan's Bighorn and Bill and Ornell's Landmark.

I don't know when we've had a better time with good friends and lots of laid-back times. Everyone should have some times like this.

So long.

Tuesday January 3, 2012-Poche's Fish N Camp

2012-01-06T17:43:00.000-08:00

Today's post is going to be all about me. It's my birthday and today I am officially an old man of 65! I am registered for Medicare and am already receiving Social Security, so now I am a card-carrying oldster!

There were no parties or birthday cakes with a forest of candles on top, but I had a great day. Everyone here wished me a happy birthday but the most fun was on Facebook and email where over 130 of my friends and family sent me birthday wishes. wow, they blew me away! I knew I have a lot of friends on FB but never dreamed that this many would go to the trouble of wishing me a happy birthday. I got telephone calls from Grandma Willie Mae, all the girls and all the grandsons. I want you ALL to know that I love you and thank you for making me feel so special.

So long.

Monday December 2, 2012-Moving day-So. Toledo Bend SP to Poche's Fisn N Camp

2012-01-06T09:28:00.000-08:00

It was cold and damp this morning but we all started getting ready to leave pretty early. We met at the campfire one more time but broke up around 8 o'clock and began working. Were all ready to pull out about 9:45 but then Charlie had a problem with his front jacks that wouldn't retract. Bill and David got them pulled up by jacking the front of the trailer up to take the weight off the legs and pulled the pins for travel. After a short stop at the dump station, David, Bill and we were on the road to Poche's in Breaux Bridge.

We made a short stop for lunch at a McDonald's and then David took us for a tour of the Indian Creek campground that he likes. This is another Louisiana park that is very nice with waterfront views and sites. We will consider this one for another trip.

We pulled into Poche's at about 3 o'clock. This park is owned and operated by Ornell's cousins and this is where Bill and Ornell took Stella during hurricane Ike. This is a very nice park, even though not all the sites have concrete. The sites are level and have full hookups. We will definitely be back here in the future.

Poche's is near the city of Breaux Bridge which bills itself as the crawfish capitol of the world. Ornell told us that the campground began as a crawfish farm, owned by her uncle but he passed it to his son, who dredged the ponds deeper and made fish ponds and added RV sites.

Breaux Bridge, while a small town, is also hometown to a few celebrities. Hunter Hayes is a singer who began his singing career at age 4 by singing the song Jambalaya on stage with Hank Williams Jr. He continues as a professional singer but he was cuter as a 4 year old accordion player. Breaux Bridge is also home to Houston Texan backup quarterback Jake Delhomme who led the Carolina Panthers to the Super Bowl.

We are looking forward to some good times here and some good Cajun food. I'll keep you posted on how this works out.

So long.

Saturday December 31, 2011 and Sunday January 1, 2012-So. Toledo Bend state park

2012-01-05T17:51:00.000-08:00

It was very cold all weekend, so we spent most of our time in front of the fire. It's a good thing that David, Bill, Will and Charlie had brought plenty of firewood because we had fires all day and into the night every day that we were here.

This was a very good weekend with good friends, good food and great times. We had plenty of food to eat but didn't over eat. We weren't the late party animals either and went in around 8 o'clock each night, even New Year eve. It was midnight somewhere but it was too cold to sit outside very late. None of us even started our trucks but there was no reason to go anywhere. All in all, it was one of the best new year celebrations that we have had. I guess its true that sometimes simpler is better. It sure was this weekend!

So long.

Friday December 30, 2011-Moving day-Rayford Crossing to South Toledo Bend state park

2012-01-05T17:04:00.000-08:00

I woke pretty early and went down for coffee with the guys for the last time. Most of them will already be gone when we return to Rayford in April, so it was kind of a sad time for me, but we'll stay in touch.

Much of my outside work had been done, so getting ready went pretty fast. As usual, there were a lot of our friends that came by to tell us goodbye but we finally pulled out about 10:30. We made really good time and got to the South Toledo Bend state park in Anacoco Louisiana about 2PM. All of our friends were already here and set up, so as soon as we got set, we went over to the fire between David and Bill's trailers. This became our hangout for the entire weekend.

We were at this park a couple of years ago, and this year's party is shaping up to be as much fun as the first one. The only bad thing was that the lake was down about 20 feet, as most of the lakes in Texas are. I guess that makes sense, since the lake separates Texas and Louisiana. The park covers 1,000 acres and is one of two Louisiana parks on the Toledo Bend reservoir. The park is also a nesting ground for bald eagles but we didn't see any this trip. We're still looking forward to a great time with our friends.

So long.

Tuesday December 27 thru Thursday December 29, 2011-Rayford Crossing RV Resort

2012-01-05T16:32:00.001-08:00

There wasn't much going on for these three days at Rayford. We took Pat and Lori to Cheddar's restaurant on Tuesday night and both the food and service was bad. Service was very slow and the food was just bad. My chicken fried steak was mostly batter and the small amount of meat was tough and gristly. We were very disappointed to have taken our friends here and then have such a bad meal. I hope that it was just this location and not all their stores because they served good food at reasonable prices and we have always enjoyed eating there.

Wednesday morning, Pat and Lori pulled out to go back home to New Mexico. We were very sad to see our friends leave but they are still working and it was time for them to get back home. That afternoon we drove down to Texas City to have our celebration of Christmas with Jeremy, Kim and the boys. The gift exchange went very fast (I got a Kindle Fire!) and we were soon on our way to a new restaurant, Beyond Burgers. It is a cross between Fuddrucker's and a normal burger joint. It was good but there are several other burger restaurants that are better.

Thursday I went to the Donut Palace to get donuts and kolaches for the guys for coffee. The guys were thankful for the breakfast and we had a nice time together. I plan to have coffee with them again in the morning before we leave. The rest of the day was spent running last minute errands in preparation for pulling out in the morning. In the afternoon, I spent time getting things put away, leaving out only the essentials for the night. I got John to put the new night light over the front door of the trailer. He is tall enough to reach the light without a ladder. The light went up without too much trouble and it works very well. It has a movement switch that turns the light on automatically and uses a LED bulb that doesn't use much juice or get hot and really adds a lot to the trailer. Its nice to have friends that will help.

So long.

Monday December 26, 2011-Moving day-Serendipity Bay RV Resort to Rayford Crossing RV Resort

2011-12-28T11:06:00.000-08:00

Another cold morning on the bay here. It was in the upper 30's this morning but with the cold wind off the water it seemed colder. Again, we weren't in a very big hurry to leave but got away around 10 o'clock. While packing up, I went down to a Bighorn trailer when I saw the owner coming back home. The lady, Carol, told me that her husband John was out hunting and then I remembered him. I met him a couple of years ago, right here at Serendipity. If you've been following me that long, you might remember him. He designs and cuts out duck and goose decoys and is a very interesting fellow. Small world...

When we pulled out, I decided to stop off at a new park in Sweeny that has been advertising for work campers in their park. When we got there we had a nice short visit with the managers but I've slept since meeting them and can't remember their names. The job description wasn't bad at all and we hope to hear from them.

We pulled into Rayford about two o'clock and it only took about 30 minutes to get everything set back up. Several of our friends came by to welcome us back and it was good to be back. We're going to miss this place. Our good friends Pat and Lorie are back also, and its good to see them again. I'm trying to talk them into full timing and perhaps traveling with us. We're planning to spend next summer with them or at least with their trailer in Creede CO. Our plans are still being worked on and I'll let you know more when we figure out what we're going to do. At least we'll be nice and cool at Creede.

So long.

Sunday December 25, 2011-Serendipity Bay Resort

2011-12-28T07:42:00.000-08:00

I just thought it was cold in Spring... It's REALLY cold down here with the breeze off the bay! It was in the low 40's but if certainly felt colder than that. We stayed inside for most of the morning and Stella made her famous baked beans for our Christmas lunch at Henry and Elaine's house with the family. We went over there around noon, driving about 15 miles to their house.

We had a delicious lunch and visited with family for most of the afternoon. As I sat there in their house, I reminisced about Christmas times past. I guess that sometimes I go into "old man" mode and think back about the good times when I was a kid. My family consisted of my mother, father, brother Phil and sister Bobbye Sue, Momma's mother (MeMa) and father (Granddaddy), and her sister Janie, husband Herbert and their kids Betsy, Nancy, Steve and Linda. We were a close family and all of us grandkids were very close to MeMa and Granddaddy. On Christmas eve, we would eat together and then go to the individual houses for the gift exchanges. Then we would come home to try to get us kids to go to sleep for Santa to come to visit. It was nice to not have to travel very far during the holidays like we do now. Those were the good old days...

Stella and I came on back to our latest "home" in Palacios. So far, we haven't gotten tired of our nomadic traveling lifestyle and hopefully we won't for a long time.

I hope that everyone has a very merry Christmas.

So long.

Saturday December 24, 2011-Moving day-Rayford Crossing to Serendipity Bay Resort

2011-12-25T07:09:00.000-08:00

We got up to cold and rainy conditions this morning. I went down for coffee with the guys again and just stayed in the rally hall for Stella to come down for breakfast. Frank and Mack made pancakes and bacon for breakfast which was free this morning. I guess it was a Christmas thing, but it was good and a great way to say bye to several of our friends. We were ready to go about 10:30 and pulled out without any problems.

We are going to Palacios today to visit with family in the area. Its only a little over 100 miles so we aren't in a hurry. I don't remember if I told you but we took the trailer in for some service work and the motor on the electrical cord reel was found to be bad. They had to order the part and it hasn't come in yet. Its a big pain to hand-roll the cord onto the reel, so I got the bright idea to go to see my friend Joe at Ron Hoover to borrow an extension cord. That way, I can leave my cord rolled up on the reel and simply plug in the extension, so that is what we did. Its a few miles out of the way but it certainly will make traveling easier for me.

It rained on us all the way to West Columbia but we still made pretty good time. Traffic was heavy around the malls and shopping areas in Houston but we pulled into the park about 1:30. That included our little stop at the dealership, so it wasn't too bad. Let me tell you, they haven't done anything to improve upon this place. With the exception of the new sites put in about 6 years ago, nothing else has been done here. The roads are still bad and the sites hold water which was especially bad today because it was cold and wet feet made it feel even colder.

We got set up and came inside to dry off and warm up. Stella fixed some barbecued sausage to take over to the feast at Jana's house. It was nice to see the excitement in the faces of all the kids as they opened their presents. As usual, they popped about 10 zillion firecrackers and rockets but everyone had a good time. The good thing for us is that we get to celebrate Christmas so many times. We'll have another one at Kim's house later in the week and with Jennifer and Melissa at a later date.

Merry Christmas to all....

So long.

Monday December 12 thru Friday December 23, 2011-Rayford Crossing RV Resort

2011-12-13T18:28:00.000-08:00

It has warmed up considerably but it is still chilly in the morning, about 46 degrees this morning. We are having 10-12 guys at coffee every morning and today was no exception. I am gonna miss the guys when we leave.

We went to Clear Lake to meet with Eric, the CPA that Stella worked for, to go over one of the client's taxes. April 15th will be here soon! Before we left, I was loading everything into the truck that we needed but couldn't find my phone. I looked inside but couldn't find it and went out to the truck to look. I couldn't find it there either so Stella called my number. We could hear the phone ringing but couldn't find it. I remembered that I had my hands full last night when we got home but couldn't locate it now. I pulled things out from under the seat and console but it wasn't there. I finally found it in my right side pocket. I guess when I came in last night I put it in the wrong pocket and didn't look there today. I know, I know, you're saying poor old Jay is losing it.... Stop Laughing!

Okay, it's Friday the 23rd. I intended to get busy and get all caught up today and found that I had started this log back on the 12th and hadn't finished it. Maybe there really is some truth that I'm losing it! I don't want to listen to Stella complaining about me asking her what happened two weeks ago, so I'm just going to skip over all that time and hit a few highlights from the past couple of weeks.

Last Saturday, the 17th, was Cameron's birthday so we drove down to Texas City to spend the day with him. He had decided not to go out to eat for his birthday and wanted a home-cooked meal so we stayed at their house and Jeremy cooked. He made chicken picatta and pasta and it was delicious. He also made a pie of some sort that was really good. It was a cross between a regular pie and a cheesecake with a white icing. It was very good but very rich and filling.

Sunday we met Tommy and Susan at the Monument Inn for our anniversary dinner. Our anniversary was December 7th and theirs was on the 4th. We have talked about doing this for a couple of years but just never got around to it. This year we did it and it was a grand meal with good friends!

This whole week has been cold and dreary. It rained a lot the other night, all night long. I know we need the rain but I get tired of weather like this very quickly. The old bones get stiff when the weather isn't warm. Old Arthur (itis) comes to stay with us too, so it makes for a lousy time in this house.

Speaking of old, I got my Medicare card in the mail the other day. Stella filled out all the forms for me and sent them in a month or so ago, so now I would be a card-carrying old man with his Medicare card except that she kept my card. I guess its because I'm not official yet and won't be until the 3rd of January when I turn 65 and a real-life oldster! She's a LOT older than me and I guess is jealous when youngsters like me make the grade to being aged. I'll probably show off that card all over town when she does let me have it.

Also along those same lines, I want to tell you that it used to bother me when youngsters in their 40's and 50's called me sir. Wait a minute, I'm not old enough to be called sir, that's for old folks! I guess I've earned it though. I've been down a lot of roads in my life and not all of them were paved. I earned every one of those gray hairs, worrying about all those people and the bad guys that preyed on them. I put a lot of villains away in my career and can look back on it with pride. At least I don't have to pack a gun around any longer, worrying about someone from my past sneaking up on me.

I'm sitting here watching the news on television and watching all these kids breaking down doors in malls to get in to buy the latest Air Jordan shoes. They waited in line all night long to buy these shoes for $200 and are hoping to sell some of them for up to $400. First of all, I've never wanted anything bad enough to stand in line in the cold all night. I used to dress pretty stylish but of course, those days are gone, but I wouldn't consider paying $200 for tennis shoes, and certainly not $400! There I go again, showing my age.

That's about enough for me right now but hang in there with me, I'll get back on track and keep the blog up better.

So long.

Monday December 5 thru Sunday December 11, 2011-Rayford Crossing RV Resort

2011-12-06T06:11:00.000-08:00

Monday morning was rainy and cold. I went down for coffee but there weren't too many of the regulars there. Guess the weather kept them home. The rain finally let up and we all walked home. It remained cold and damp for the rest of the day. It was a good day to turn the fireplace on and stay inside.

Tuesday morning was just cold. No rain this morning, but the temps were in the high 30's but we had a good turnout for coffee. We went to Tewbeleaux for lunch. They have a special of 20 wings (mixed flavors) for $10. I don't really care for wings that much but they were pretty good and best of all, Jerry and Diane picked up the tab for everyone. We stopped at Kroger and picked up some essentials and came back home. Another afternoon of fireplace and furnace.

Wednesday was another cold morning, 29 degrees here! At least it wasn't a hard freeze- down in the 20's -so hopefully no one will have any broken pipes. Our neighbors, Mark and Rebecca, have been having trouble with their propane heater in their Montana. Our friend Mack has been coming over to help them and has replaced their propane regulator which made the heater work again but they still have a propane smell. Today we got it fixed. There is another regulator on the other side of the trailer on the second propane bottle, that we discovered was bad. I took Mark and Mack up to Lone Star RV and bought the parts needed to make the repair, and now it seems that all is well! Mack had also worked on Roy and June's motorhome heater that had stopped working. He found that a reset switch on the CO detector had been kicked and was keeping the propane from coming on to light the heater. Friends have certainly been keeping him busy!

Stella and I went to eat with our Heartland club friends Tom and Marti at El Palenque. They are interested in taking over the south Texas chapter when we are ready to step down so we talked about it and decided to let them be the wagonmasters of the October rally next year. It will give them a chance to "test the waters" of organizing and putting on a rally. We are looking forward to working with them on the rally. I hope they will have as much fun as we have in being chapter leaders.

Thursday was another cold morning, below freezing which is unusual for this area this early. We typically see these temps in late January and February but not in December. After coffee and breakfast at home, I took the clothes down to the washateria for Stella. It turned out to be another cold and dreary day, so we just stayed inside and tried to stay warm. That evening we went out to eat with Jim and Reta and met Ed and Sharon at Tewbeleaux for their chicken-fried steak night dinner. We all had plenty to eat and had a fine time together.

Friday morning wasn't as cold as it has been but still chilly outside. We were invited out to eat with our neighbors Mark and Rebecca at Furr's buffet and had a very nice time with them. Mark is a retired US Marine, so he got his military discount as well as the senior discount, so he graciously bought our lunch. That made our meal even better!

Saturday morning the temp was a little warmer and I slept in this morning. We went to breakfast with the group to El Bosque mexican food for their buffet breakfast. We had a really good time at this outing and hope that there will be another one before we leave. After breakfast we went shopping for some of the Christmas gifts that we have to buy. I say "we" went shopping when it was Stella that went to the stores. I stayed in the truck to make sure that the truck didn't get stolen or broken into and read in the Kindle.

Sunday we ate a quick breakfast before leaving for Bill and Alena's house in Fulshear. They had stayed at Timber Ridge and Rayford after moving down here from Chicago. They bought a huge house and got moved in during the past summer and have been making improvements since then. They put in a beautiful pool and hot tub and just finished up on their outdoor kitchen. Tommy and Susan came up from Deer Park and we all had a great time visiting after touring their house. We took our doggies with us to play with Bill and Alena's dog Anya. Anya has recently been diagnosed with a tumor, so it was a bittersweet visit. Cassie and Tramp enjoyed exploring the new house and yard and were tired out when we left. While there we watched the Houston Texans triumph over the Cincinnati Bengals in a real nail biter of a game. Congratulations to the Texans for their best season record and winning their division. We hope to see Bill and Alena again when we return from our summer trip. Bill wants to go to the valley with us in January and I hope this works out. I will introduce him to my dentist over there. I am looking forward to getting mine finished up.

So long.

Sunday December 4, 2011-Moving day-No. Houston KOA to Rayford Crossing RV Resort

2011-12-05T08:43:00.000-08:00

We woke this morning to cool temperatures and rainy weather. I put off getting started in getting things ready to leave for as long as I could but it quit raining long enough for me to get everything done. I did get to go around and speak with many of my friends as they got ready to leave, and we pulled out about 11 o'clock. It only took about 45 minutes for us to get back to Rayford and after a very short time we were again hooked up and going.

I came inside when it began to rain again and we watched football on television all afternoon. It was nice to spend the afternoon watching TV with the fireplace keeping us toasty warm. I saw a few of our friends here during the afternoon, but it was a good day to stay indoors.

We are back here and not doing much, so please don't be disappointed if I get behind again. I think I will do as one of my friend does on her blog (thanks Karen) and jot down some notes daily and post once a week. We'll see how that works.

So long.

Friday and Saturday, December 2 and 3, 2011-North Houston KOA

2011-12-04T17:57:00.000-08:00

This was the Boomer rally weekend and it was good to see some old friends from the group. We were in the last site in the reserved group of sites and were surrounded by several of our original Houston Area Boomers group members. Seemed like old times....

This was the shelter that was beside Harry and Judy's and across the street from us. Most of the chairs belong to us but everyone brought chairs over to hang out with us. We had a nice campfire on Friday night after the gumbo dinner. Harry and Judy fixed us a great big ol' pot of sausage and shrimp gumbo and it was GREAT!!!

We had a "mini rally" with our trailer and Dan and Connie's Bighorn beside us. Jodie and Larry also have a Bighorn and another couple have a North Trail but they weren't parked beside us.

Here is a shot down the street showing some of the Boomer rigs. There was a total of 51 rigs present for this rally and many of them are new folks since we were active members about three years ago. Our friends Mike and Patrice weren't able to make it because a tree fell on their truck and trailer! Luckily no one was hurt but it sure messed up their travel plans. Another couple that didn't get to come was Alan and Jennifer, who had some electrical problems. This was to have been their first Boomer rally and maybe they'll be able to make another one in the future.

Here is a happy group sitting outside Larry and Vickie's trailer. L & V had some friends that came in after dark on Friday and I went down to help them get set in their site.

There was another rally of "beer can trailers" (Airstreams) in the park this weekend. There was probably 20 or 25 of these in the park. They were not a very friendly group but there were lots of them!

Madame Boomer put together another good rally. She had planned a get-together on Friday night but we stayed around our rigs and ate gumbo. Saturday morning we had a potluck breakfast and supper that both went pretty well. Don had a Texas Hold 'Em tournament on Saturday and Ted was the big winner and got to take the huge trophy home. I don't play poker and after seeing the big trophy, I'm glad I don't! No place to store and carry that big thing.

We have changed our plans and will be leaving Rayford at the end of this month to go to Louisiana for New Years Eve. We went there a couple of years ago and had a great time and are looking forward to going back. We'll be back to Rayford in April for the Heartland rally and will begin our summer trip after that. Looking forward to it!

So long.

Thursday December 1, 2011-No. Houston KOA

2011-12-03T10:32:00.000-08:00

Today was the first day of arrival for many of the Boomers but we went for a ride with Tommy and Susan to explore the area.

It was pointed out to me that I haven't put up any pictures of the new trailer, so here one is! We are really enjoying this new "home".

It is so sad to see the lakes so low, and here is an example of people that bought waterfront property but now have beachfront property. I would be really upset if I had bought an expensive house on the lake and had this happen to us.

I would also be very upset if I had a business with a boat gasoline pump and it ended up in the mud.

The shallow-non-existent-water goes to both sides of the lake. I wonder what they did with all the fuel in the tanks?

Many of the Boomers arrived today and it was good to see them again. I will post more pictures of them and their rigs later in the week. A large group of us went out to eat mexican food at the Rancho Grande restaurant. The food was very good and we didn't overwhelm the staff because Madame Boomer (Sandy) called ahead and warned them that a large group would be in.

It would have been a good night to sit outside but everyone was too full, so we all retired as soon as we got back to the RV park. It was a great way to begin the rally.

So long.

Wednesday November 30, 2011-Moving day-Rayford Crossing to North Houston KOA

2011-12-01T04:15:00.000-08:00

Today was the day that we moved from Rayford Crossing to the North Houston KOA in Montgomery, a distance of about 30 miles. We were in no hurry at all this morning, but I overslept and didn't make it down to coffee. My friend Bill drove over from his home near Katy and brought donuts for us all and luckily he called me to wake me up and I made it down right away. When we finished up the coffee, I took a couple of the donuts to Stella to keep me out of trouble with her.

After my breakfast of coffee and donuts, I went back home and finished catching up on some blogs and other computer work. We didn't begin to get ready to leave until about 10 o'clock because we didn't want to get in too early and have to pay for an extra day for an early check-in. We left around noon and made the grueling drive north, making it here before 1. Tommy and Susan were already here and just after we got pulled into our site, who should drive up but Ted. He was in the neighborhood and decided to stop by. He and Donna will be up tomorrow but it was nice of him to stop by to see us.

We are here for the Texas Boomer Christmas rally. We have been members of the Boomers since about 2004. I was the Houston area leader for about three years and got my start with being the wagonmaster for rally groups with them. We always have a good time with the Boomers and we are looking forward to seeing a lot of old friends.

As soon as we got set up we all decided that we needed to go eat a good lunch, so we went to Vernon's Kuntry Catfish in Conroe. Along the way we all noticed the very low levels of the lake. I didn't have my camera but will take it with me tomorrow and take some pictures of what was once waterfront properties that is now beachfront property. This drought has called unbelievable damages in Texas!

More to come in the next few days.

So long.

Monday and Tuesday, November 28 and 29, 2011-Rayford Crossing RV Resort

2011-11-29T14:29:00.000-08:00

Monday was another cold morning, the coldest of this winter season and of course, the coldest night in the new trailer. We have been impressed with the new trailer. It seems to be much better insulated but the rain sounds louder somehow. As you know, we had a small water leak but a couple of hours in the shop and that was fixed. The air mattress in the couch had an air leak but Stella and Tyler repaired that. They couldn't find a reason for the leak, but we'll keep an eye on it. The only other problem that I am aware of is a "popping" in the hydraulic levelers but I believe that this is caused by air in the lines. I am hopeful that the more we use them, the popping will go away.

I took Stella down to the washateria to wash our clothes and all the linens and towels that the boys had used. It took her a little longer because of all the additional stuff but she got it done. We have talked extensively about buying a washer and dryer for the trailer but she'd rather spend a couple of hours in a washateria once a week than to have to wash every day in the trailer. None of the washers available will wash a full load, so it doesn't make sense to spend the money on a washer/dryer along with the expense to run them.

Tuesday was another cold one, not quite as cold as yesterday but still in the high 30's. We've been having good crowds at coffee and there are still a couple of Canadians that haven't come south yet.

We went to the grocery store today, buying ingredients for this weekend's Boomer rally. It has been a long time since we've been to a Boomer rally and we are looking forward to seeing a lot of old friends. Tomorrow's pack-up shouldn't take too long but we don't need to leave here real early. It's only about 30 miles to the park. The truck should barely get up to a normal operating temperature.

So long.

Sunday November 27, 2011-Rayford Crossing RV Resort

2011-11-28T15:48:00.000-08:00

We woke to cold temperatures this morning but soon had the boys loaded up and ready to go home. We stopped and picked up some donuts for breakfast and ate on the road. We made really good time to Texas City and got there in time to watch the football game between the Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars, which Houston won. Congratulations to the Texans.

After the ball game, Stella and I came back home, alone at last!! Their stuff just seems to junk up the trailer, mainly because they are so sloppy. We don't have them enough to try to work on that, and I really don't want to make a stay at Me-Maw and PePaw's house a training camp. We love 'em, but thank goodness they're gone.

So long.

Saturday November 26, 2011-Rayford Crossing RV Resort

2011-11-26T10:59:00.000-08:00

I know that I am very far behind on this, but there really hasn't been too much going on that is very interesting, so here goes. One other thing that happened to me today was that I was sent two spam comments to my blog and I suspect it is because I haven't been very active.

We have had several events here in the park and we went to several of them and had a good time. Frank has begun fixing a breakfast on Saturday mornings again, so that will be getting back to normal.

We went to Texas City and picked up Tyler and Cameron last weekend and they have been with us all week. We love them and want them to come as often as they want, but they sure do make a mess with all their stuff.

Wednesday Ted and Donna and Mike and Patrice all came in for the weekend. Our old friends Rick and Brenda came over from their work camping job at the Livingston State Park and we all went out to eat at a new place called Tewbeleaux. Its a sports bar that specializes in cajun food and was very good.

Of course Thursday was the big Thanksgiving feast here at the park. There weren't as many people as we expected but there was plenty of good food. We are all thankful that the park furnishes the turkey and hams and hope that the turnout doesn't affect their participation.

Friday, instead of shopping all day, we stayed around here and Donna and Patrice furnished us our supper meals. Donna made a taco soup and Patrice fixed a roast with all the fixin's. Stella made cornbread, so we all had plenty to eat and some good visiting. It's always good to be back with old friends. We played bingo that night and Cameron won the big pot. He was a proud boy!

It rained all day Saturday and started turning cooler, so we all stayed inside most of the day. We all went to Furr's for breakfast and had a very good meal there. There were several activities for kids today so that kept Cameron busy. Saturday night there was a "hobo stew" meal that we all brought ingredients for. Rayford furnished the meats and we all brought a variety of veggies and it turned out very well. After eating, we all had bought tickets for a drawing for several items and of course, we didn't win.

The boys are going home tomorrow, so things should get back to normal soon.

So long.

Friday November 11, 2011-Rayford Crossing RV Resort

2011-11-12T11:40:00.000-08:00

I woke to another cold morning, down in the upper 30's today so it was a cold walk down to the Lone Star room for coffee. At least I didn't have to hurry this morning because I only had to wait on Tomball Dodge to call me about my truck being repaired. When 10 o'clock rolled around, I decided to call them. When I called, the service advisor told me that he was just coming in to call me because "the repair had just been finished". Now let me see, the parts had been shipped and should have been received at 2 o'clock yesterday, and it took them until today to get the parts installed? Hmmm

We drove over to pick up the truck, and it was a good thing I called them when I did. The time on the delivery of the rental car was only about 45 minutes after we got back to the dealership, so we were close to having to pay for another day's rental of the car. It wasn't my fault that they were slow in installing two small parts... just sayin'

Then when I got the receipt for the work that had been done, there was an inspection that they had done that mentioned "rec. the rear differential", "ck alignment of front end" and "air conditioner service". None of these suggested repairs had been mentioned when I spoke to the advisor. If he had told me about something needing service, I would likely have told them to do it since the truck was already there and we had a rental car, but nothing was said, so the work didn't get done. That would have made an easy sale for someone, but they didn't take advantage.

On a happier note, we played bingo and I WON!!! I only won a small pot, but it was enough that we got to play for free, but it was nice to win. There was a low turnout and I don't know why. Most of the winter Texans are in but only a few came to play. Oh well, there's always next week.

So long.

Monday November 7 thru Thursday November 10, 2011-Rayford Crossing RV Resort

2011-11-10T18:09:00.001-08:00

Well, we are back into our normal routine here at Rayford. The only difference is that Stella no longer has to go to work at Timber Ridge but we're doing okay. We're staying here most of the time and I'm proud of us for not going out to eat so much. The only times that we've been out to eat was when we went to eat breakfast at Furr's with Tyler on Sunday and yesterday when we stopped to get a snack at Denny's while we ran errands.

Monday afternoon was the first of the winter Texan meetings/block parties. Gwen made some announcements and introduced the staff again, including the new girl that is working at Timber Ridge. Last night was the potato bar in the Rayford room, and as usual, it was a lot of fun and good to see everyone back together again.

We took the truck over to Tomball Dodge today to have the leaking windshield washer reservoir repaired and a small plastic trim piece replaced both under warranty and to have the tires rotated under the maintenance contract that we bought. We were there at 8 o'clock in the morning (forgot how hard it is to get up that early!) and sat in the waiting room until about 1, when one of the service advisors told us that they needed to order some parts and arranged for us to get a rental car to drive home. The parts should be in this afternoon, but we didn't want to wait any longer. We got our rental and came on back home.

Please hang in there with me because there isn't too much for me to talk about, so it may be a few days before I add anything here. We'll only be here until the 8th of January when we leave for the valley again, and there will be plenty of things to talk about then.

So long.

Sunday November 6, 2011-Rayford Crossing RV Resort

2011-11-08T07:28:00.001-08:00

We decided to go to Furr's for breakfast this morning before we took Tyler back home. Cameron has a baseball game at 11 and another at 1:30 if they win the first one, so we got a move-on this morning and had the dogs walked and were at the restaurant by 9. After another delicious breakfast, we were on our way to Texas City. Again, traffic was bad on the Gulf Frwy. and we were late getting to the game (more on this later!)

Cam's team had beaten the team from Galveston a day or two before by a score of 13-1, so they must have been overconfident and got beaten this morning 6-4. It was a crushing defeat for the young men because they didn't get to play any more today but their season isn't over yet so there's next weekend for them.

We went over to Kim's house to watch the football games and hang out for the rest of the afternoon before we drove home. That's what I want to talk about, the drivers that we have been encountering. Is it just me, or are there a lot more crazy drivers on the road these days? As I said in another post, this is the Lone Star motorcycle rally weekend in Galveston and all weekend we have seen lots of very fast bikes weaving in and out of traffic in a big hurry to get to Galveston but why did we see so many today, going back to where they came from? They are not only down here; just the other day I was passed by a small blue car. He continued on until he was about a quarter mile ahead of me when all of a sudden he began to spin around in the road. He didn't hit anything or anyone else, but I'm sure that he had a mess to clean up after that... just sayin'

We made it back home without any incidents and stopped by the grocery store before coming back home.

So long.

Saturday November 5, 2011-Rayford Crossing RV Resort

2011-11-07T10:20:00.000-08:00

I woke pretty early considering that we were up very late last night to go down for coffee with the guys. I'm glad I did because Bill came by this morning with donuts. He and his wife bought a house over in Fulshear but they lived here at Rayford for several months and we became good friends.

After coffee, I returned home and managed to get Tyler up and about so we could leave for Center TX and the 80th birthday party for my Aunt Barbara. We had a good trip up there and only stopped for a donut for breakfast and for a rest stop around Diboll. When we got to town we went to Janie's house for a burger with her and Gail and then a pretty short visit with them before we had to leave for the party.

It was good to see so many family members and to visit with them. I was rather surprised at how many of them knew of our travels and it was fun to talk about some of our trips. Everyone was surprised at how tall Tyler has gotten. The last time Janie saw him, he was about 3 years old, so it was quite a change in him. The party didn't last all that long before it was time for us to make the long drive back to Houston. I forgot my camera, so I didn't get any photos of the party, but it was a good time and we enjoyed it.

We had an easy drive back and went through Livingston to check out a new RV park there that I had been recommended to look into for a park hosting job. We looked at the park but were not too impressed with all the bare dirt in the sites and the fact that there are many trees that need to be trimmed back to make it easier for patrons to get into their sites. I think we'll pass on this one, at least for now...

We made it home before 7 and again the doggies were very glad to see us. They remembered Tyler and didn't bark at him at all. Maybe he made a better impression than I thought, or maybe their memories are better than I think. He's a pretty memorable young man...

So long.

Friday November 4, 2011-Rayford Crossing RV Resort

2011-11-07T08:48:00.001-08:00

It was nice and cool again this morning. I guess we're good luck because everywhere we've been since coming back has either had rain or cool weather soon after we arrived. Perhaps we shouldn't have left this summer and Texas would have avoided the drought and high temperatures...

We had "orders" from Tyler to come to his football game tonight to see him march in the band down Palmer Highway for the last time. The band hall is across the street from the football stadium and it has been a 50 year tradition for the band to march on Palmer Hwy. to the game but tonight is to be the last time. We were glad to be there for this historic event, so we left in plenty of time (we thought) to drive down and pick up Cameron to go get something to eat before the game began. I forgot that this was the Lone Star motorcycle Rally weekend in Galveston, so traffic was awful all the way down. We left at 3 o'clock but didn't make it to Texas City until about 5:30 and had to be at the stadium at 6 to watch the band, so we barely had time to pick up Cam and get him home to put on some warmer clothes and go.

We made and got to see Tyler march and then followed the band into the stands. We sat right beside Tyler's row and it was fun to watch him and others in the band dancing and having a good time. Tyler also was awarded the "Freshman of the Week" award tonight. This is something that is given to a different freshman each week and I learned that Tyler had said that if he won, he would like to have it awarded on this week when we would be in attendance. It was an honor for him to win, but especially to have it on the week that you asked for. We are so proud of all our grandsons, but especially when they win an honor like this.

Sadly the Texas City football team lost the game with Friendswood 35-34 but it was a really good game. It has been a long time since I've been able to go to a high school football game and just watch. For the last 30-something years, I worked the games and couldn't watch.

When the game ended, Cam and I came back home. Kim and Stella had left after the half because Kim was cold, but Cam and I stayed to watch the end of the game. Tyler had to stay after to put all the band equipment away but as soon as he called, Jeremy went to get him and we soon came back home. Cameron had a big baseball game tomorrow, so he couldn't come home with us. It was very late before we got back home, but at least there was no traffic through Houston. We are going to Center TX for a family birthday party tomorrow, so we all were in bed soon after getting here. Tyler liked the new trailer and the brand new air mattress bed. We all slept well tonight.

So long.

Thursday November 3, 2011-Rayford Crossing RV Resort

2011-11-03T18:22:00.000-07:00

Man, it turned cold overnight! Stella told me that it rained a little bit, but when I woke up the wind was blowing and the temperature was dropping. I knew the front was coming through tonight and it sure did! It was 53 when I went down for coffee and 49 when I returned home.

We can sure tell that the winter Texans have returned because there were 14 for coffee this morning. We had one man, Andy, that no longer lives here and even sold his motorhome, but he still lives nearby and comes once a week for coffee with us.

We didn't do much today and didn't leave the park. We did change the chairs with the couch to make the trailer more livable. It will take some getting used to, but we like it so far. We put the couch on some sliders that we recently bought to make the move easier and we already had the two recliners on a slider, so the move was pretty easy.

Later in the morning I got a call from Joe French, our friend that is the General Manager for Ron Hoover RV's. He told me about an offer for someone to put on a seminar at the next Boat and RV Show in January. I called and after learning what they wanted, I agreed to put on the seminar on full-time RVing on Saturday January 7th at 3 PM at the Reliant center. If you're going to the show, please stop by and say hello.

I promised to do a recap of our summer trip through Michigan, so here is a part of it. We traveled a lot of miles this summer but I'm not sure exactly how many. I had kept one of the trip odometers on my truck that recorded the miles for the entire trip but at the last oil change/service, someone at the Ford dealer in Canton that did the work reset the trip odometer for some reason, so I lost the mileage count. I believe that we traveled over 11,000 miles this summer.

We covered a lot of new territory in Michigan, Wisconsin Ohio and Pennsylvania and met a lot of new people at local Heartland rallies in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, the RV-Dreams rally in Hershey PA, the huge Hershey RV show that we worked in the Heartland Owners club booth, the Heartland National rally in Goshen Indiana and the Passport America rally also in Goshen IN. We also helped the local Heartland dealer in Elkhart with a small RV show. They actually sold 27 trailers at the show and we met some new friends there too. We returned to Texas and hosted our chapter rally in Canton TX and had a good turnout. This rally was also instrumental in the formation of the new Oklahoma chapter of the Heartland Owners club.

Of course, the high point of the trip was when we came back to Houston and bought the new Landmark. We tried to make the purchase before the rally so that we could surprise everyone with our new trailer but we just couldn't pull it off. Mike and Patrice did surprise us with their purchase of a new Landmark at the rally and I thought it would have been funny if we had been able to get ours too. Too bad it didn't work out...

That's probably enough of a recap for today but I'll put some more information together and share it with you soon.

So long.

Wednesday November 2, 2011-Rayford Crossing RV Resort

2011-11-03T17:13:00.000-07:00

I went down for coffee with the guys this morning and we had a pretty good turnout. Since so many of the winter Texans had come in yesterday, we had more takers of coffee than Jim had prepared for, so we had to make some more coffee. We all know where all the ingredients are, so it wasn't much of a problem. It was good to be back with the guys...

We had chores to do today and errands to run, so we were up and had breakfast pretty early. We were on the road before 10 o'clock and finished up our errands around here pretty quickly. We went to the bank, the post office and were on our way to Bellville to get new license tags for the truck. We had been out of the state when the tags expired, so we had to go to the county courthouse to get the tags. On the way we stopped off at the Stephen F. Austin state park to get some names for references for future park hosting applications. While there, we took a short ride through the park because the office was closed for lunch, even though their time was up. When we worked there the office didn't close for lunch but I guess things have changed. They have certainly changed in the appearance of the park. There were hundreds of trees and large limbs down throughout the park and it looked very bad. It has always bee a state policy to not allow visitors to pick up fallen trees and limbs for firewood but it certainly detracts from the look of the park.

We soon found Carmen at work in the office but saw no one else out in the park. She gave us the information that we needed and we verified that they do not need anyone to work there, as we had heard, so we took off. We went to Bellville and got the tags in short order and returned to Sealy where we stopped off at Tony's restaurant for a quick snack of coffee and pie. They have some of the best pies that we have ever eaten and today was no exception. After our coffee break, we went to Ron Hoover RV to pick up the license plate for the trailer. We also needed to get some advice on a couple of issues that we had found on the trailer and to pick up some replacement light bulbs. The new trailer uses halogen bulbs in most of the lights in the trailer and four of them have burned out along with two spotlight bulbs. We got most of the items we needed except the bulbs which were out of stock.

We had a nice chat with Joe French while we were in the store and he asked us to do a short video about our purchase for their company website. The video hasn't been posted yet, but if you want to check it out, please do and let me know how you like it.

We came on back home and the pups were very glad to see us. We hadn't planned to be gone all day but they were fine when we got back and were soon taken care of. We just relaxed for the rest of the evening. Jim and Reta came over to see our new trailer and liked it. It was good to be back at Rayford and we'll miss it when we leave.

So long.

Tuesday November 1, 2011-Moving day-Gateway to the Gulf to Rayford Crossing RV Resort

2011-11-01T18:48:00.000-07:00

I got up pretty early this morning to cool weather. Stella had set the coffee pot to come on, so the coffee was ready. I had one cup and Stella woke and after having her coffee, fixed us some sausage and egg breakfast sandwiches. She began getting things ready to leave inside and I went outside. I noticed two men walking down to the office and found that they have men's coffee in the morning here. I went in and was welcomed by the three guys that were there this morning. After a short visit with them, I returned to the trailer and did my chores to get the outside done and we were ready to go about 9. After hugs and handshakes with Dan and Karen and our new friends Larry and Ginnie, we pulled out about 9:30.

It is only 124 miles to Rayford from here, so we didn't make any stops along the way. I had thought about stopping at the Buccee's in Wharton but there was no need, so we just sped on by. The truck and trailer were very dirty and dusty, so I decided to find the Blue Beacon truck and trailer wash on the 610 loop in Houston. After enduring some traffic and construction delays, we finally got in line for a wash. After an hour, we had our truck and trailer washed and treated with a Rain-X rinse. I thought it was a good value for only $37, so we were soon on our way with a sparkling clean truck and trailer. I knew the guys at Rayford would admire the clean rig.

When we arrived, we found that there were four of our friends that also arrived today, so we had a nice reunion with several of our friends. Men's coffee here will be fun tomorrow. We will have a lot to talk about.

I am going to recap our summer trip in the next few days, so you might want to check back. Excitement will be running high!!

So long.

Monday October 31, 2011-Moving day-Mission West RV Park to Gateway to the Gulf RV Park

2011-11-01T04:11:00.001-07:00

Today was the dreaded moving day for us to go back toward Houston and Rayford Crossing, our former home base park. Things change...

We got started about 7:30 and found that many things were much better to pack up in order to leave. We were ready to go a little after 9 and after hugs and handshakes from Tom and Judy (no hugs from Judy-she's still sick) we pulled out. I still marvel at how easy this new trailer pulls. Even my fuel mileage is up, with over 11 MPG for most of the trip today.

We only made one stop today when we found a Subway just outside Raymondville. We picked up breakfast sandwiches and coffee and went on our way to Victoria. We made good time and pulled into the Gateway to the Gulf RV Park about 2 PM. Our friends Dan and Karen, the folks that we had stayed with in Michigan, were here waiting for us to arrive. We were excited to be able to show off our new trailer as well as seeing our friends.

We also met some new friends here, Larry and Ginnie. They are also from Michigan and had met up with Dan and Karen here yesterday. They are all going south to Aransas Pass where they will spend the winter. We will see Dan and Karen again in Mission when we have a couple of get-togethers in February.

Karen and Ginnie had made plans to have hot dogs and brats for a mini-potluck dinner. We contributed some of Stella's goulash and we all had a fine meal. We sat outside and chatted for awhile after eating, which was nice with our new friends. It was a good travel day.

So long.

Sunday October 30, 2011-Mission West RV Park

2011-10-31T04:43:00.000-07:00

We woke to another chilly morning down here but had made plans with Tom to go eat the big breakfast buffet at Furr's this morning. When I went outside just before 8, Tom was up and rinsing off his truck but Judy was still in bed and not feeling well. Tom still wanted to go eat, so off we went. After a delicious breakfast we decided to stop by the Don-Wes flea market again to see if any more of the vendors had opened yet. They hadn't, but we should have known when we drove up into the parking lot and there were on a handful of cars there at ten o'clock in the morning. We didn't stay long but did ask again about some card shufflers that Donna wanted for her card-playing group. A nice lady who owns a game shop told me that the only shufflers that came with metal "fingers" that held the cards never worked and that she had to send them back. She said she has been selling toys and games there for about 30 years (yikes!) so she should know what works and what doesn't.

We stopped off at the grocery store to pick up some fresh meat so Stella could fix her famous goulash later this afternoon for us. We returned home in time to watch football for the rest of the afternoon. After watching the Houston Texans win their game, I went outside to find that Judy was feeling a bit better and was sitting outside. The weather is just about perfect right now, so we all sat out under the clear blue skies and enjoyed chatting. Stella's goulash was ready to eat soon, so the four of us sat outside our trailer and ate supper. Judy and Tom enjoyed the meal and took enough of the leftovers for another good meal. I know how good that soup is much better the day after it has been prepared, and am sure that they will enjoy it. There isn't a much better way to get over a cold or the flu than with home made soup.

Tom showed me how to lubricate the new pin box on the trailer and later he and I made very short work of taking the porch and steps down in preparation for leaving tomorrow. We will be sad to leave but at the same time, glad to be returning to see our friends at Rayford again. The winter Texans are coming in soon and some are already there. We will miss them after this season.

So long.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday, October 27-29 2011-Mission West RV Park

2011-10-29T15:14:00.000-07:00

Three more easy-going days in the valley here. I did get my stitches out at the dentist office in Mexico yesterday, but that didn't take too long. Stella and I were up early to go over and were surprised at the lack of traffic on the roads at 8 o'clock in the morning. We made great time to Progresso and were actually about 15 minutes early for my appointment. We got started right away and again I was impressed with the care that they took for me. Every step of the process was explained and I was through in less than a half hour.

We had thought about going to eat a burger at the Gonzales Burgers but I got out too early for that, so we went to Martha's for breakfast. It was delicious as usual and we had a good time chatting with some of the other winter Texans that had come in to eat. It had turned chilly this morning and we were sitting right beside the front door, so we got a blast of cold air every time the door opened, but it wasn't that bad.

There hasn't been too much to report going on down here in the valley but we will be leaving here soon and then perhaps we'll have more to talk about.

So long.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, October 24th-26th, 2011-Mission West 1rv Park

2011-10-26T12:20:00.000-07:00

Three more pretty slow days around here. Monday the four of us went to Mexico so that I could have an adjustment made to my dental work. I am still amazed in this doctor. We walked in, unannounced and I was taken into his office and within 30 minutes, we were on our way again with my mouth feeling much better. We did a little shopping and talked to an optometrist to get a price on some new eyeglasses but didn't buy anything. We were back on American soil soon. We stopped off at Fat Daddy's Bar B Q for a late lunch and found it an okay place to eat. It was my first time to eat "hard" food and it went pretty well. We did a little shopping including a grocery store before we came back home.

Tuesday Tom had to take Judy to a doctor's appointment and Stella and I went to visit Dustin Hoover at the Ron Hoover dealership where we are having an open house event in February. We talked out some of the details of this event and after leaving Dustin's office, we did a little shopping in the parts department. We ran a few errands and stopped by a Luby's restaurant for a snack, which was a mistake. Their prices are outrageous but lesson learned! We returned to the park and hung out with Tom and Judy for the rest of the afternoon. Of course, you know what Tuesday night is, yep, NCIS night. I got to watch my show and was a happy camper...

Wednesday we didn't leave the park all day. I got caught up on my blog and took care of a lot of Heartland business both online and on the telephone. Stella worked on getting some boxes of assorted things that hadn't been put away yet taken care of and we enjoyed a day of just hanging out at home. The dogs loved it too.

I learned today that we'll be starting a new work camping job at the Caddo Lake NWS park in February. We're looking forward to a new adventure there. More to come...

So long.

Sunday October 23, 2011-Mission West RV Park

2011-10-24T16:14:00.000-07:00

Today was another slow day around here in Mission. We stayed around the park all day and watched football on television. Congrats to the Houston Texans and Dallas Cowboys!

Our friends Ken and Maureen came over in the afternoon and brought our supper of baked spaghetti. Stella and Judy made a salad, garlic bread and a dessert, and it was all yummy! We had a nice visit with them in Tom and Judy's trailer and after eating the girls went outside to play Pegs and Jokers and we guys stayed inside and watched the end of the football games. After they left, we all sat outside in the cool evening breezes for awhile before getting tired from the day's activities. Another great day in the valley!

So long.

Saturday October 22, 2011-Mission West RV park

2011-10-23T11:58:00.000-07:00

The only thing we did today was go to the Don-Wes flea market. The flea market gets its name from the cities of Donna and Weslaco and has been here for many years. When the vendors are there and everything is running well, its a fun place to go but today, most of the stores and booths were closed. I believe that this is their first weekend to be open but none of us knew that this many vendors wouldn't be there.

We went for a long ride down to Hidalgo and the Mexican border there. I didn't realize that there are many small houses that literally have the border fence in their back yard. There are huge fields of vegetables, fruit and sugar cane, most of which have made it through the hot weather and drought. I expect that we will all see much higher prices for fruit and veggies because of the bad weather. Only time will tell.

Ken and Maureen, some friends that used to stay here at Mission West came by to visit when we returned home. It was nice to see them again after running into them in Ypsilanti at one of our first stops in Michigan. We had a nice meal with them in Michigan and planned another meal together tomorrow afternoon. Maureen said she will make some baked spaghetti, so Judy will fix a salad and we'll make garlic bread and a dessert. Can't wait for some yummy food!

We sat outside in the cool breeze with Tom and Judy after Ken and Maureen left. We stayed out until darkness fell but the skeeters didn't bother us tonight. I guess the breezes kept them away, but whatever it took, it was very nice to be out again.

So long.

Friday October 21, 2011-Mission West RV park

2011-10-23T10:51:00.000-07:00

Today was another nice day for us and an almost exact opposite of yesterday. It has been delightfully cool in the morning, and today was no exception. It has been in the low 60's each morning and Tom and I took advantage by walking around the park a couple of times. It is still strange to me to have so few people here, but I am being told that they are on their way. We are planning to return in January and it will likely be here again.

Ken and Kathy came over here this afternoon to see Tom and Judy's new Mobile Suite trailer and of course, our new Landmark Grand Canyon. They liked both units, but I like to think they liked the Grand Canyon better. The MS is a very nice unit but I really can't see the price difference in the two. Well, maybe I am just a little bit slanted...

After they left, we sat outside with Tom and Judy for awhile until the skeeters ran us back inside. Another nice day in the valley.

So long.

Pictures...

2011-10-23T08:13:00.001-07:00

Here are some photos taken at the rally lunch at the Explore USA store and the Paradise Lake RV Park in Nacogdoches. Sorry for the delay in posting them.

Here is the dealership in Wills Point, about five miles away from the RV park.

Here are the sales guys, hard at work getting the fish fry ready for us. They did a great job and it was a delicious meal.

The hungry crowd, ready to eat.

This is a picture of Paradise Lake that I took in May at the beginning of our summer trip. See how nice and full the lake is?

The same lake in September. The Texas heat and drought have really taken a toll on this lake.

Thursday October 20, 2011-Mission West RV Park

2011-10-21T10:58:00.000-07:00

We had a very laid-back, relaxing day today. Tom and I walked around the park a few times during the day and we went over to see our friends Ken and Kathy at their casita home at Retama Village. We dropped by but they weren't home so we left and went to see some other friends at another park. None of us were familiar with their park and we were never able to find the front gate, so we finally blew off that visit.

We need a new lamp for the trailer, so we stopped at the Wal Mart to shop but didn't find one that we liked and will keep looking. We stopped at the HEB store and Stella and Judy picked up a few items. When we got through shopping, we decided to stop by Ken and Kathy's house again and this time they were home. We had a nice visit with them and they were surprised to learn that we have the new trailer. After a very nice visit, we left to go eat supper. I decided to eat better but still try to stay with soft food. I did okay but my mouth did start to bother me, so I learned that I'm going to have to be more careful about my food for the next few days.

After a very nice day we returned home about dark. We have missed our friends.

So long.

Wednesday October 19, 2011-Mission West RV Park

2011-10-20T10:02:00.001-07:00

Today was a day of recovery for me. I stayed inside for most of the day and rested up. My mouth was sore this morning from all the work done but I took my medications and felt a little better. I went for a short walk around the park in the afternoon and sat outside with Tom and Judy in the later afternoon. We decided to go to Dairy Queen for supper, but since I'm on a liquid diet, all I had was a malt. Its good to be back with our old friends.

The interesting thing today was the news that a man had let out "dozens" of exotic animals including lions, tigers and bears. Police officers had to kill most of these dangerous animals, which was sad, but necessary. The interesting thing for us was, that was one of our stops on our way back toward Indiana. As near as I could tell, we were about 5-6 miles away at the Wolfie's Campground. Glad we came back when we did!

Not much to report today, but at least I'm back on track on the blog.

So long.

Monday and Tuesday, October 17 & 18th, 2011-Mission West RV Park

2011-10-19T10:28:00.000-07:00

Today was our first full day here at Mission West. This park is almost empty with only three or four sites filled, not including ours or Tom and Judy's sites. I'm sure that things will pick up around here soon.

Stella and I crossed the border into Mexico this afternoon for my first appointment with Dr. Flores, my dentist. We went over the plan for my teeth and he took impressions for the work to be done. We made an appointment for tomorrow to begin the work, which was much quicker than we had thought. I guess it was because there are so few winter Texans down here, but he accelerated the process. That's okay with me because we'll be finished sooner.

We returned on Tuesday morning for an 8 o'clock appointment. Man, I had forgotten how early that is. Been a long time since I've had to be somewhere this early. Dr. Flores didn't waste any time, and almost before I knew it, we were done. I was very impressed with the doctor and his staff. They took great care to insure that I was comfortable and in no pain. I know that is has been pretty controversial for American citizens to have dental work done across the border, both in Mexico and in Canada, but my experience has been very positive. And that isn't taking into consideration the amount of money I saved by having my work done here.

We came on back home before noon and I rested, taking my medications. My mouth was sore but I was glad to have it done. I will be on a liquid diet for a day or so and I am not looking forward to that, but the outcome will be worth it.

So long.

Saturday and Sunday, October 15 and 16th-Moving day, Ron Hoover RV to Mission West RV Park

2011-10-19T05:44:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning we woke and after moving a few more items into the new trailer, we were finally done! We ate our breakfast of cereal, planning to leave as soon as the store opened. Before leaving, we went over a few things that are new to this trailer and discovered that the ice maker wasn't working. I told Tony, who came over and found a kinked water line that kept water from going to the ice maker. A quick fix and we were ready to go.

We ran into some friends, Jim and Sina, who have been to a couple of our rallies before. They are picking up their new Landmark Key Largo this morning, and there was another couple that were picking up a new Big Country that wanted to talk to us. We waited for this couple to get done with their document signings and talked to them about our chapter rallies and gave them information on joining the owners club and forum.

We were finally on the road about 11 o'clock and man, what a difference this trailer is between the Bighorn. It pulls like a dream, and I literally didn't feel it behind me. We had thoughts of driving straight through to Mission, but since we both were so tired from the move, decided to stop in Victoria at the Gateway to the Gulf RV Park. This would have been a very easy-in park except that I drove right by the exit for the park and had to drive another couple of miles to turn around.

We had so much stuff that was stacked on the bed and in the bedroom that we only moved the necessary things to get into the bathroom and slept in our recliners. Actually, I made the doggies move from the couch and slept there for a few hours. I don't think either of us slept very well, so we left pretty early for Mission.

We made an easy drive to Mission and pulled in here about 2 o'clock. This place is virtually empty because of some internal squabbling over the previous manager and some of the contracts he entered into. Our friends Tom and Judy are here and we pulled into a nice concrete site right next door to them. I can't believe how easy it is to set up the Landmark. Everything is electric or hydraulic and it only took me about fifteen minutes to get everything set. Gotta love it!

Tom and Judy took us to one of our favorite restaurants here, Furr's Fresh Buffet, for supper. It was good to be back with our friends and back in the valley.

So long.

Thursday and Friday, October 13 and 14th-Ron Hoover RV

2011-10-19T04:38:00.000-07:00

We pulled the Bighorn over to Ron Hoover RV on Thursday morning. We did the walk-thru with Miguel, one of the top technicians at the store before signing the papers to take delivery of the new Heartland Landmark Grand Canyon. Wow, what a stack of papers!

We finally got through and began to switch our belongings into the new trailer about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. I had made arrangements to sleep on their lot tonight, but when closing time neared, the store's forklift wouldn't start to move the Bighorn so they could close the gate. They had parked the two trailers door to door to make it easier. Since it was now impossible to secure the lot, I told them that I would block the lot with my truck and would keep an eye on the lot during the night. Stella and I worked until after midnight before stopping for the night. We finally got to bed about 1AM but were woke up by the Houston Police who had noticed the truck parked in the drive with an open gate. We were glad that he had stopped by to check. I have been in similar situations countless times in my career and know how dangerous this can be.

We went out and had a good breakfast before getting back to work. We spent all day again moving stuff from trailer to trailer. At least they had a wooden bridge that made it easier to walk between the trailers and keeping me from having to walk up and down the steps. We were still exhausted but we got it done. We didn't actually get finished moving until early Saturday morning, but the Bighorn was empty at last! I didn't realize how much stuff we had accumulated in the last couple of years. Some of it needs to go away and we'll work on that soon.

So long.

Monday-Wednesday, October 10-12, 2011-Moving day, Mill Creek Ranch Resort to Rayford Crossing

2011-10-18T17:13:00.000-07:00

We woke pretty early on Monday morning and began seeing our friends as they left. We were glad that everyone had a good time, but were sad to see them go. We finally got everything put away and pulled out about 11:30. We drove over to Nacogdoches to the Paradise Lake RV Park where we had gone at the beginning of our trip. We stayed there one night so we could spend some time with my Aunt Janie, and we couldn't believe the difference in the lake! It is almost empty now due to the drought with dead or dying trees everywhere.

We only stayed one night in Nacogdoches before traveling on to Rayford Crossing in Spring. We surprised several people there by dropping in. It was good to see the friends that are either already back for the winter season or didn't leave this summer. I enjoyed having coffee with the few guys that are there.

On a sour note, I learned that we are not working at Timber Ridge any more. We began running the park for Gwen a couple of summers ago and knew all along that they wanted someone to work at the park year-round, but Stella had talked to Gwen about six weeks ago and was told that they were still filling in with girls from the Rayford office to run it, so we both assumed (I know what that word means) that we would still be working there when we returned, so it was a shock when I was told that someone else is now working there. We should have been told.

We stayed two nights at Rayford and left for Ron Hoover RV on Wednesday to pick up our new trailer. WE ARE EXCITED!!!

So long.

Sunday October 9, 2011-Mill Creek Ranch RV Resort

2011-10-18T16:52:00.000-07:00

Sunday is always the saddest day of a rally because it is the day that most have to leave, and this was no exception. There were about 11 rigs that stayed after, but we wished everyone that was leaving good luck in their travels. Many hugs and handshakes later, we went inside to watch some football. We are glad to be back in Texas for many reasons, but pro football is one of them!

After the football games were over, a group of us decided to go eat some pizza at the local Pizza Inn. We all had a good time and had plenty of pizza to eat later. I forgot to tell you that it had begun to rain this afternoon and continued into the night. The rain cut down on our sitting outside, but it had been a good weekend and the rain was very much needed. Lets see now, since we came back into Texas, the weather got cooler and now it is raining. We probably should have come back earlier...

So long.

Friday-Saturday, October 7 & 8, 2011-Mill Creek Ranch Resort

2011-10-10T17:51:00.000-07:00

This was one of our better rallies, if I do say so myself. We had a good turnout with 26 rigs and all were Heartland Owners Club members! The park staff is wonderful and showed us what a nice place Mill Creek Resort is. The weather was great and everyone had a good time.

Although many had already arrived, there were still some that didn't arrive until Friday afternoon/evening, so we all decided to go out on our own to eat supper and then return to the park to "meet and greet" in one or more of the sites. We had a good group at our site and sat outside until almost 11 o'clock, chatting and enjoying ourselves.

Saturday was another good day, thanks to our new friends at Explore USA. We had planned a good breakfast, but Explore offered to fix us a fish fry with all the trimmings, so we took them up on it. We looked at several new trailers and had a good meal. We are glad this worked out and everyone had a good time. Congratulations to Jim and Sheila & Rex and Stacey for winning the two 32" televisions that were donated by the dealership.

Saturday afternoon we met in the rally hall to talk about some new chapters in Oklahoma and north Texas. There was a lot of interest in the OK chapter and later discussion of co-leaders in the north Texas area. I hope these two new chapters take off!

Saturday night we had our potluck dinner, which was delicious. Potlucks are probably my favorite meal because there is so much good food. Some stayed after the meal and played games and the rest went out to sit outside with new friends. We had originally planned to use the nice pavilion for our gathering but there was a class reunion on Saturday night that used it, so we had to change our plans. It all worked out very well and all had a great time. We are looking forward to the next rally in April.

So long.

Sunday-Thursday, October 2-6, 2011-Mill Creek Ranch RV Resort

2011-10-03T00:55:00.001-07:00

It was amazing, as it always is, to watch the park empty on Sunday morning. It just makes us thankful all over again for our lifestyle of being able to watch others that have to leave to go back to work.

These few days were spent hanging out with our Heartland friends both old and new. There were five rigs from Oklahoma that all came in together and it was nice meeting them. They will be the nucleus of an Oklahoma chapter, so we will be looking forward to that.

Stella fixed some pancakes one morning for everyone but the GFI circuit went out in the trailer. The GFI circuit covers the outside plugs, and the refrigerator, so it is something that I will have to get working again soon. The fridge works on propane but thats pretty expensive. I later went to Wal Mart and bought another plug but that didn't fix the problem so I found the breaker for the circuit was weak. I located a breaker and Mike and I installed it but again, it didn't fix the problem. I got one of my new friends, Jim Hutt, to help me check out the individual plugs on the circuit but they all checked out okay, so I am at a loss about why it won't work. I was able to run an extension cord to the fridge to power it, so all is well for now, at least for the fridge. We moved the coffee maker inside to another plug, so we'll make do. You may as well hear it now, we've bought a new trailer, a 2011 Landmark Grand Canyon. We'll pick it up next week!

Bill and Ornell made some delicious gumbo on Wednesday night. We all enjoyed it but most of all, it was nice to sit around with our friends and visit. The weather has turned off pretty nice with cooler temperatures at night and in the morning, and we even had a little rain. Not enough to catch up with the drought, but rain anyway. Its a start!

We drove over to Nacogdoches to meet Janie on Thursday and it was nice to see her, as always. We spent a couple of hours with her at an oriental buffet restaurant and had a very nice visit. On our way back to Canton, I stopped to check on a fellow that had a blowout on his Big Country trailer. Since it's a Heartland trailer, I thought it might have been someone coming to the rally, but it wasn't. The man had called for a road service to come help him out, so we continued on our way back to Canton.

I'm sorry for the delay in getting this posted, but we've been very busy lately. Thanks for following along with us and I'll get all caught up in the next few days to bring you up to date on our adventures.

So long

Friday and Saturday, September 30 & October 1, 2011-Mill Creek Ranch RV Resort

2011-10-02T08:50:00.000-07:00

These two days were pretty-much devoted to going to the First Monday sales here in Canton. Friday morning we got up pretty early and were on our way to the HUGE sale area with Mike and Patrice. We shopped hard all morning and broke for a lunch of the usual cajun food which was pretty good, but it was just a big relief to sit down for awhile to rest up for the afternoon's shopping. We stayed out shopping until about 3 o'clock when we all ran out of gas to walk any longer. I think we had walked 978 miles but my pedometer might have been off by a little bit.

We returned home and hung out inside the trailers, resting up from the mornings shopping spree. The only buying we did today was a couple of tee shirts for me. Stella couldn't find anything she wanted but we'll be back...

None of us were hungry this afternoon, so we just ate some cheese dip that Mike had made up and Patrice warmed for us. It was good to just sit outside in the pleasant weather (for a welcome change!) and just snack.

Saturday morning, Jennifer, Melissa, Jay and Ian were supposed to come over to the sale, but they ran late. I was expecting them about 9 o'clock but they didn't come over until almost noon! Stella and I had ridden the shuttle over because Patrice wanted to get an earlier start, but we all met up at the Arbors area and walked around for a bit before we all decided that we had enough of shopping and came on back to the park. Of course, as soon as I got home and relaxed, Jennifer called to tell me they were here and wanted me to come back over. I rested for a few minutes and caught another shuttle to go back over to the sale. I got there and finally found them-its very hard to find someone in hundreds, maybe thousands of people-but I got 'er done. I did a little shopping with them before Ian needed a nap and I volunteered to take him back to the trailer. None of us really thought he'd go with me but he surprised everyone by taking my hand and going with me. We caught another shuttle and rode home. Ian was reintroduced to Tramp and Cassie and after a short time, he was asleep in the bed.

I wish I'd taken some new pictures of Ian because he has really gotten tall! He's a good little boy but a bit of a handful at times. I had forgotten how active a three year old can be. When he woke from his nap, I took him outside to sit with our friends and he was constantly up and looking around for things to get into, but overall, he was very good. His Mom and Dad and his aunt 'Lissa soon came back from shopping.

We decided to go to eat at the Papadales restaurant again and again had a good meal. We had a nice visit with the kids and everyone left full and happy. It was good to spend time with them, especially Ian whom I can't spend enough time with. Monday is Jennifer's birthday, and I promised to give her a call on her big day. We brought them back to the trailer to get some gifts of Hershey's chocolates that we had bought for them and after hugs and handshakes, they left for home. It had been a very good day.

So long.

Thursday September 29, 2011-Mill Creek Ranch RV Resort

2011-09-30T05:12:00.000-07:00

Its good to be back in Texas, but man, is it hot! Its supposed to cool off tomorrow, so we'll see how that works out. We've been teased before by the weather.

Stella wanted to wash the sheets on the bed and decided to go ahead and wash the clothes today, so I took her to the washateria that is only a short distance from us. We have been very impressed with this place so far, and I'm sure we'll have a great time when the rally-goers arrive.

Speaking of arrivals, Jim and Sheila Gratz came by a little before noon to tell me that they had arrived. They have been coming to our rallies from the very beginning, and it was good to see them again. They had decided to go over to the First Monday sale area but I told them that I didn't think we'd be over there today. Not long after they arrived, Mike and Patrice Fogarty arrived in the brand new Landmark trailer. They had just picked it up last weekend from the dealership that is just down the road. What a surprise!

We hung out with Mike and Patrice for the rest of the afternoon, and since today was Mike's birthday (Happy Birthday buddy!) he got to choose where we went to eat supper. He took us to Papadale's Grill where we had a very good meal. We returned to their new trailer and chatted with them for awhile before turning in for the night. It's good to be back with our good friends that we have many good memories with.

More of our good friends will be here for this weekend, so the fun is just beginning.

So long.

Wednesday September 28, 2011-Mill Creek Ranch RV Resort

2011-09-29T11:47:00.000-07:00

Our first day at this park was very peaceful and calm. We stayed home all day because it was soooo hot outside, we didn't feel like getting out to do anything. At one point in the afternoon the thermometer went to 111!!! We have been out of state all summer and are not accustomed to this kind of heat, and there was nothing pressing that we had to do, so we stayed in.

We could not believe the drought damage that we saw as we came here. There were many dry ponds and cattle tanks that we saw and a lake that normally comes to the edge of the highway was about a quarter mile away due to the lack of water. I'm pretty sure that we'll see plenty more damage when we travel further south. This is not to mention the terrible fires that have ravaged the state.

Our friends will start arriving tomorrow, so there should be more to talk about then.

So long.

Tuesday September 27, 2011-Moving day-Sunrise RV Park to Mill Creek Ranch RV Resort

2011-09-28T06:32:00.000-07:00

We woke this morning, knowing that we will be back in Texas this morning. We decided to eat breakfast at the nearby Flying J truck stop, hoping that they had a good breakfast sandwich shop inside, but it was not to be. Again, we were in no big hurry to leave this morning, so after the short tear down we were on our way. The Flying J was a disappointment, with only a Denny's sit down restaurant, so we just picked up some of their ready-made sandwiches and were on our way about 9:30.

About ten minutes later we were BACK IN TEXAS!!!

This was the longest either of us has been out of state, and it is good to be back "home". We made good time down the highway and only made one brief comfort stop. I did try to find a truck/trailer wash that I had seen on a billboard but it was somewhere off the road and we didn't take the time or the trouble to find it and we continued on. Maybe I can wash the truck and trailer after we get to the park. I forgot about the water rationing that was going on because of the extreme drought.

We got all checked in and processed and while setting up, Wendy Matthews, the rally coordinator for the park, dropped by to say hello. It was nice to finally meet her after talking to her so many times on the telephone to set up this rally. She invited us up to her office in the Grand Ballroom and when we got there, we were blown away with the beauty of this facility. They really have their act together here!

When we got through in the ballroom, we took a ride to look at the outdoor pavilion and have decided that this is where we will spend much of our time with the rally here. We came on back home and since we were tired from several days of traveling, we just stayed inside and relaxed. It was really too hot outside to do much else. Welcome back to Texas. Its supposed to cool off for the weekend and hopefully next week as well.

I got on the computer and let everyone know that we have arrived. We have some friends that will be in for this weekend's First Monday fun, so I hope I will be able to keep up. Wish me luck1

So long.

Monday September 26, 2011-Moving day-Hinton RV Park to Sunrise RV Park

2011-09-26T17:11:00.000-07:00

We both woke up pretty early and had our coffee and cereal put down quickly and were actually ready to go by 8:45. Wow! It was a beautiful day for traveling, cool, about 54 degrees when we left, and clear. A welcome change from yesterday.

We made good time down the highway and when we programmed in our destination, the I-30 RV park in Benton Ark. we realized that we would be there before 2 o'clock. We decided to push on to the Sunrise RV Park in Texarkana Ark. We have seen this park a few times on previous trips and thought it would be a good place to stop. It was one of the nicest parks that we have stayed at since we left Rayford in May! It has full hookups including cable and free wifi Internet service. NICE....

I neglected to mention a couple of days ago that I had received an invitation to stop by and stay at Sam and Donna Weibel's house in Missouri. Sam is an ex Chief of Police and writes a nice blog that I follow. It was nice to get the invitation but we were not traveling in their area, so we had to pass. Sam and Donna are making plans to go full time at some point in the future. I wish them all the luck that we have had in our travels.

I plan to make a recap of our summer travels in the next few days. If you haven't read everything I have written or if you just joined up, please stay tuned.

The best news for us is that we are nearly back in Texas. Tomorrow's return to Texas soil will mark our longest trip out of state ever.

So long.

Sunday September 25, 2011-Moving day-Heartland Resort to Hinton RV Park

2011-09-25T16:56:00.000-07:00

This morning's move went very well. It was cold and raining when I woke, about 6AM, so we stayed inside until the rain stopped. It was still chilly but it had to get done, so I went out and got started about 8:30. Even with a short chat with Mack, we were ready to go about 9:30. After hugs and handshakes with Mack and Matti, we pulled out. It had started to rain again when we pulled out and it continued to rain on us all the way across Indianapolis

It stopped raining somewhere between Indy and Terre Haute IN but it didn't take long for it to start raining again. It rained on us most of the way to our destination at Sikeston MO. We got here about 3 o'clock, but remember, we gained an hour due to the time zone change. This park is pretty nice and we have stayed here several times before.

Not too much else to report, just cool weather and wet roads. I hope the rain stops overnight!

So long.

Saturday September 24, 2011-Heartland Resort

2011-09-25T03:02:00.000-07:00

Today is our last full day here and we have had a great time! Our friends Mack and Mattigene have done a great job of showing us around the area and their home, and although busy at times, it has been very relaxing for the past few days.

This morning Mack and I decided to get out early and build a fire to sit beside and drink our coffee. Mack spent all summer remodeling his house and had a lot of wood left over and that is what we have been using every night to burn in our campfires. We finished it up this morning! It was nice to sit out by the fire and chat. Stella even came out to sit with us for awhile.

After coffee, Stella wanted to go to the washateria to wash up our clothes in preparation for leaving tomorrow. I came back home and kept the dogs company and watched a little television between naps. .

When Stella got through washing, I went and picked her up and Mack came over to say that he had some errands to run. I told him that I wanted to fill the truck before we left, so we all piled into the truck and we took off. I don't know why Indiana service stations are allowed to advertise no tax fuel, but they do. I had noticed diesel fuel for about .30 per gallon cheaper at a nearby truck stop, so we went to check it out. Of course, the actual price was in line with everyone else in the area but we did save a few pennies and went ahead and filled up. We then went into Carmel to run errands and to get something to eat.

We went to the Ponderosa Steak house, which Mack said had started in this area. The chain of restaurants has grown to 225 locations and the food today was very good. We had another nice meal before we left to do a little shopping. We returned home and I took down our porch in preparation to tomorrow's leaving. We soon went over to Mack and Mattigene's motorhome to play a domino game called Train. Mack and I had played one game at Rayford and Matti had never played, so Stella and I gave them a short instruction on the game and we all had a good time. I actually won the game, but we all played pretty well and had a great time. We will look forward to more games when we all get back to Rayford.

It was a good thing that we hadn't planned another campfire tonight because it started to rain as soon as we got inside the motorhome and rained pretty hard until just before the game broke up. Its supposed to be another chilly night here. Wish the folks in Texas could get some of this rain too.

So long.

Friday September 23, 2011-Heartland Resort

2011-09-23T18:52:00.000-07:00

A very pretty sunset overlooking the lake behind our site.

Some nice colors in the campfire.

A very warm campfire that felt really good tonight.

This morning Mack and I went to the Camping World south of Indianapolis to pick up a new sewer valve. I had broken mine a few days ago when the long sewer line had gotten stuck and I had to force it off. We had looked at the RV store near this park but they didn't have one in stock, so we had to drive over to the store to get one.

We returned to the park and picked up Mattigene and Stella and drove over to their home in Carmel, about ten or fifteen miles away. They have a beautiful home and I got to see Mack's old Ford Model 'A' that he is very proud of. We drove around the city and pointed out several interesting buildings and sights in their hometown.

As you can see from the photos above, we had another nice campfire tonight. Mack did some extensive remodeling at his house this summer and we have burned up the scraps of wood that he had left over.

We have had a great time with Mack and Mattigene this week and look forward to more time with them when we all get back to Rayford next month.

So long.

Thursday September 22, 2011-Heartland Resort

2011-09-22T17:37:00.000-07:00

To begin today's record, I wanted to show you a photo of the finish line at the Indy 500 race track that I took yesterday and omitted when I loaded the pictures. This is the last of the old original bricks at the track and stand in honor of the past winners.

We went into downtown Indianapolis to see the canal that was originally dug as another boat route from the Great Lakes to the Ohio River. Only eight miles of the canal was completed before they ran out of money.

Near the canal, the city erected a monument to the attack on New York city on September 11, 2001. Two columns from the World Trade Center were mounted at a high point overlooking the canal.This is the larger of the columns with an eagle on top of it.

This is the monument that was erected. We were traveling through the area near Shanksville PA where Flight 93 crashed on September 10th, the day a monument there was dedicated by Presidents Bush and Clinton. Of course, we didn't visit the site on that day, but we were nearby.

This is the view out our back window out into the lake behind us. This park could be improved upon and a really nice resort could come about. Mack and I walked around the park this morning before we left and believe that with some work this could be a great place. Of course, neither of us wish to work hard enough to bring this about, but its just a thought. If any of you have some money laying around, this place could be a good investment. If you do decide to buy this place and make a fortune from it, you can send me a few thousand dollars for a finders fee.

So long.

Wednesday September 21, 2011-Heartland Resort

2011-09-21T18:25:00.000-07:00

Our first full day here in Greenfield IN was a nice one with a cool morning and sunny skies. Mack and Mattigene took us to the Indianapolis 500 Speedway and the museum there.

Here is our new yard sign that we bought at the Hershey show. It has our names, a fifth wheel trailer, our Heartland Owners club sign and even a pink flamingo from the Texas Boomers.

This is the Indy 500 museum building. There is a very impressive collection of Indy cars as well as other interesting vehicles and photos of all the Indy 500 race winners.

A little explanation of the speedway.

A display of one of the old pit areas, complete with tools, a racing suit and an old car as it would have been found back in the day.

A huge sterling silver trophy from the initial 1909 race. The trophy stands eight feet tall and weighs 500 pounds. At today's price of silver, the trophy would be worth $140,000!

They even have a replica of a race car for people to get into. It's a tight fit but I made it. I don't think I would be willing to drive 500 miles in this thing but am proud that I could get in and better yet, get out of it.

A large collection of motorcycles including Harley Davidson, Indian and a three wheel cycle named Bollee that was built in France and set a world speed record in 1896 by traveling 62.137 miles in one hour and fifty eight minutes.

One row of the Indy winners. I believe these from the 1970's-1980's

Another row of Indy winners from the 1950's-1960's. Note the drastic difference in body style.

It was a nice day at the museum. We rode into downtown Indianapolis after the museum tour and Mack pointed out some of the interesting buildings including the state capitol, Lucas Oil stadium and others.

Stay tuned for more adventures in Indianapolis.

So long.

Tuesday September 20, 2011-Moving day-Wolfie's Campground to Heartland Resort

2011-09-20T18:23:00.000-07:00

We moved today from Zanesville Ohio to Greenfield Indiana to the Heartland Resort. This place is a resort in someones mind. It does have full hookups and gravel sites, but the grass is unmowed and the place has a stale look about it. I am told that it is one of the best in the area which tells me something about this area. Don't get me wrong, its not a bad park, just not a resort in my opinion.

We left Zanesville in a light rain that continued much of the morning. It is much better than yesterday's trip in much heavier rain. We got away around 9:30 and made a couple of stops and arrived here about 1:30. Mack and his wife Mattigean, some of our winter Texan friends from Rayford are here in the site next door. We back up to one of the lakes and if the grass were mowed, it would be very pretty.

After we got all set up, we sat outside chatting with Mack, exchanging stories about our summers. Mack has spent his summer remodeling his house, while we have been traveling. When Matti got back from a shopping trip, we decided to eat at the El Nopal mexican restaurant that is near the park. The food was very good and it was like being back in Texas.

We came on back to the park and I was able to watch most of NCIS. This is the first show of the new season. Its not a big deal because I'm sure it will be released as a rerun next summer, so I'll eventually get to see it all.

We are making plans visit some interesting places while we are here. Stay tuned for the fun.

So long.

Monday September 19, 2011-Moving day-Hershey Conewago campground to Wolfie's Campground

2011-09-19T17:34:00.000-07:00

We woke this morning at around 7 o'clock and made our coffee and a small breakfast for me. Stella decided not to eat now but picked up something on the road. We started getting things ready to go about 8, and were ready to pull out a few minutes after 10. Pretty good.

We had been on the road for about an hour when it began to rain on us. It rained harder as we got closer to the border between Pennsylvania and West Virginia but it soon dropped off to just a steady rain that stayed with us all the way into Ohio. We made several comfort stops during the day today and pulled into our new overnight stay in Zanesville Ohio about 5:30. We have learned that it is much better to stop when the urge strikes than to push on and try to make better time. We are more relaxed and an all day drive is much easier to do.

I had to laugh at one of the other campers in the park. He and his wife had a major fight on Friday night when they got in, over his lack of backing abilities. The wet ground didn't help anything, but they put on quite a show. They continued today as they prepared to leave. He yelled, he screamed and she yelled and screamed back at him. Stella and I just shook our heads at them. It takes antics like this to make our day!

So long.

Saturday and Sunday, September 17 and 18, 2011-Hershey Conewago campground

2011-09-19T17:12:00.000-07:00

These two days were just more of the same, get up, go to the RV show to hang with our friends and come back to the park. Saturday night we had a very nice potluck dinner with our friends here at the park and some other Heartland owners that had come over for the show and stayed for supper. After supper we had a nice campfire that felt goooood! It was another chilly night and we all enjoyed the fire.

Sunday we went to Chocolate World to see how the Hershey chocolate is made. We rode a small tram through a miniature version of the plant. It was designed for kids, but it was kind of interesting to see how the cocoa beans are processed into chocolate.

I know, I know, this photo should have been included in one of the first group of pictures of Hershey PA, but I just didn't stop to take the shot until today. Welcome to Hershey!

The entrance to Chocolate World.

When we came back home on Sunday afternoon, I started taking things down in preparation for leaving tomorrow. Jim B. was doing the same thing as they are leaving tomorrow too. We went out to dinner with Ken and Kathy and some friends of theirs Bill and Kathy from Retama Village in Mission TX. We went to T.J. Rockwell's American Grill and Tavern. The food was very good and we enjoyed our last night in Hershey (Elizabethtown) PA. It was a great way to end the week.

So long.

Tuesday September 13 thru Friday September 16, 2011-Hershey Conewago campground

2011-09-15T14:34:00.000-07:00

The show actually began on Tuesday but it was only to the trades today. The public will be here tomorrow. We went over with Jim to help get things set up in our table, which didn't take very long. We walked around and looked at some of the trailers and spent a short time with Ken and Kathy in the vendors area. Jim invited us to go eat lunch with him and we went to the Red Robin nearby. After lunch we came back home and hung out for the rest of the afternoon. We went to eat tonight at Duke's Bar and Grille with about 20 of our friends. Cheryl and her husband Jim had made us reservations here and the entire group, even Doug and Judy, who were staying at another park, came to eat with us.

Wednesday we were on the schedule to "work" the show from 9-1 with our friends John and Debbie. We had worked with John at the rally in Goshen and it was good to see them again. We talked to a few people today and mostly visited with our friends as well as other Heartland owners that dropped by. The day went well and we enjoyed ourselves again. We even hung around after our relief got here. It wasn't much like any work I ever did!

We sat outside John and Debbie's place at their fire but it began to rain and we were chased back home. It stormed all night long with heavy rain and thunder and lightning. It sure made good sleeping!

Thursday it continued to rain but we went in anyway. The rain was slacking by the time we got to the tables but we had a few people that came by. We talked for a long time to Bob and Kathy and another couple that we had met at the RV-Dreams rally. We had another nice day at "work" and Jim again rewarded all of us with a pizza lunch. We went home and hung out until time for another campfire at John and Debbie's place. At least the weather made it worthwhile to have the fires. It's getting to be the fall around here with leaves falling and temps in the upper 40's in the mornings and mid 70's during the day.

We were off again today but went up to the show to look at some of the other brand trailers and to buy some more LED light bulbs. Oh and I almost forgot that we picked up a new yard sign that we had made here. The signs are plastic so they should last a long time and the lady that is selling them hand paints everything, sometimes while you wait. We had chosen to have ours done and picked it up the next day and today was the day! I'll take a picture of it and show you how it worked out.

Tonight we went to a nearby town to a place called the Shady Maple Smorgasbord. They have the largest buffet lines that I've ever seen. Most of the food is fresh from the area and delicious. I think there were 23 of us tonight. I wish I'd had my camera with me to take some photos but trust me, this is the biggest and best buffet we've found.

Here are a few pictures from the week

Our trailer with one of our banners suspended from the awning.

Part of the group at Duke's Bar and Grille.

The booth at the show. I think people enjoy talking to other owners of a brand and not salesmen. Of course we can't talk prices with folks, but we can turn them over to a salesman for that.

It was a nice week with friends and we had fun.

So long.

Monday September 12, 2011-Hershey Conewago campground

2011-09-14T13:51:00.000-07:00

We went to breakfast with our friends Doug and Judy this morning. They came by and picked us up and we went to Martin's Country Cafe where we had eaten supper on Saturday night and the breakfast was better than the evening meal. I tried scrapple this morning, which is a specialty here. It is a pork-based meat that is fried and was actually pretty tasty.

After breakfast, we drove over to the Amish country in the area, Bird-in Hand and Intercourse PA. We saw many Amish in their customary buggies and wagons and working in the fields, much like what we have seen in Indiana. We went to a shopping village with many hand made items. We all enjoyed an ice cream sold by a lovely young Amish girl. We enjoyed listening to some local singers that entertained everyone in the square area. They were pretty good and we stayed there about an hour.

The interesting names of the towns was worth some research. Bird-in-Hand was founded in 1734 and got it's curious name from a legend of two road surveyors who were working in the area discussed whether they should stay in their present location or go into the hotel in Lancaster. One remarked that "a bird in the hand is better than one in the bush", meaning that it is preferable to having a small but certain advantage than the mere potential of a greater one, and so they stayed. The sign in front of the inn supposedly portrayed a man with one bird in his hand and two birds perched in a bush and was known as the Bird in Hand Inn. Variations of this sign are seen in the town today.

Intercourse PA was founded in 1754 and originally named Cross Keys. The theory of he name Intercourse is that it was named for the crossing of two famous roads, the Old Kings Highway from Philadelphia to Pittsburg that ran east and west through the center of town. The road from Wilmington to Erie intersected in the middle. The joining of these two roads is claimed by some to be the basis of the town name of Cross Keys and eventually Intercourse. A final idea is the language used during the early days of the village. The word intercourse was commonly used to describe the 'fellowship' or 'social interaction or support' shared in the community of faith, which was much a part of rural villages such as this. Now, because of the unusual name, the town signs are the frequent target of thieves.

It was nice to spend time with our friends and we had a good time with them.

So long.

Sunday September 11, 2011-Hershey Conewago campground

2011-09-13T03:49:00.000-07:00

We woke to our first morning here in Hershey PA to warmer temperatures but still not bad. At least its not raining and most of the flooding is gone now. We ate a little breakfast and watched the very moving 911 memorials on television.

Around noon, we went to the RV-Dreams rally that is being held at the Thousand Trails Hershey Preserve campground. We have been invited to the rally as Heartland Ambassadors.

We met Howard and Linda about five years ago at one of our Texas Boomer rallies at Rayford. They were just getting started in their full-time lifestyle and we have kept up with them since then through their blog and by running into them a few times at different locations. The latest time to see them was when they weighed rigs at the last Heartland National rally in Goshen.

Here is Stella sitting at our display table. We had brochures from 15 different Heartland brands and everyone that came by had a look at them. The most popular units were the Landmark and Bighorn and we actually ran our of Landmark brochures at one point but luckily we had more in the truck.

Linda firing up the crowd and getting the rally started. They have been doing rallies for a few years now and really have it down!

The crowd, sitting patiently waiting to begin eating. The catered meal went very well and everyone had a good time. I know we did! We met a lot of new people and hopefully will be able to keep in touch with them in the future.

They played a couple of games and we gave away our door prizes, and everyone was having a great time at the rally. When we got ready to leave, we found that it had started raining which made our drive back home a bit of a problem, We were on narrow unfamiliar roads, after dark and raining, so we had a miserable drive back, but we made it.

So long.

Saturday September 10, 2011-Moving day-Ridge Ranch RV Park to Hershey Conewago Campground

2011-09-10T19:29:00.000-07:00

It rained all night long in Newton Falls. I must have been up and down a dozen times with the sound of rain and thunder during the night and finally got out of bed around 4AM because I couldn't sleep well, so I just got up. I must have dozed some in my chair because the next thing I knew, it was 7:30 and Stella was waking up. We had our coffee until the rain let up some and went to work. Again, we weren't in that much of a hurry, so we finally got ready to pull out a little after 9.

After dodging the trees, we made our way out of the park and back onto the toll road heading toward Pennsylvania. We made a couple of pretty long pit stops including one for a lunch break, At least the rain had stopped! We were very apprehensive about the weather when we got near Hershey because of all the flooding. We are meeting several other heartland owners here for the show and some of them that were planning to stay at the Hershey Highmeadow Park are having to find another place to stay because the park was flooded and will be closing. I understand that a couple of them are coming to Conewago where we are but it's already full.

We will be meeting Howard and Linda Payne at their RV-Dream rally at the Thousand Trails on Sunday. It will be good to see them again and we should meet some really nice people at their rally. The group here will start to arrive on Monday and the fun will begin!

Now to a more somber note from history. No, not the 911 attack on the World Trade Center that is all over the news now, but back to 1961 when Hurricane Carla struck the Texas Gulf coast on September 11th as the most intense storm ever to that date with sustained winds of one minute or more of 175 MPH winds. Hurricane Audrey in 1957 was the same intensity as Carla but lacked the size. Hurricane Camille in 1969 exceeded Carla in intensity but not in size. Recently, Hurricane Katrina, famous for the huge evacuation of the Gulf coast ranked well under Carla in intensity and size. As a teenager in 1961, my family and I evacuated from Galveston from Carla but our house didn't suffer any damage. Others in Galveston didn't fare as well and somewhere between 6 and 12 (sources vary on the exact numbers) lost their lives on the island. I am proud of the fact that I have experienced and ridden out all of the hurricanes in my life but I don't want to do it again. I plan to leave the area-if I'm here in the late summer at all-and will avoid any storms that come up.

May God Bless us all.

So long.

Friday September 9, 2011-Moving day-Elkhart Campground to Hershey Conewago Campground

2011-09-09T15:35:00.000-07:00

We woke this morning to rain again, so we put off getting started to leave for awhile. Stella had set the alarm for 6 AM but we both snuggled back in where it was warm and dry. I got up a little before 7 and started the coffee pot brewing, and we were both up about 7:30. We finally got started about 8:30 after the rain stopped. We didn't break any records in getting ready to pull out and left a couple of minutes after 10, so it really wasn't all that bad. I had put on my sweat pants, thinking it was going to be cool outside, but soon learned that it was warm and had broken out into a good sweat. Sweating in sweat pants? Who'd 'a thought it?

We jumped up on the Indiana toll road and made good time into Ohio. We stopped at the first Service Area (rest stop with extras) because we knew that some of the stops had RV hookups and we had decided to stay in one tonight. We learned where we needed to exit for the last stop with hookups-near the Pennsylvania border-and made our plans. I thought the cost was $10 per night for electricity and water, but when we got there, we learned that it was actually $20 and all of the "sites" are back in's that wouldn't take our trailer-much too short! Stella called ahead to the Ridge Ranch RV Park and made us some reservations. It was only about 15 miles to the park, so were soon there.This park is not a favorite of ours but it will do for one night.

Here we are, all tucked into our site. Maybe I should have said shoehorned into our site!

This tree made Stella say bad words to me, but I got us in and didn't bend or scrape anything! Just barely made it in, but we're there.

They have a nice little playground for the kiddies. Too bad we don't have any with us.

There is a very nice lake that they allow fishing in. Too bad Cameron isn't with us.

They rent boats, kayaks and something called an Aqua Bike.

It's kind of a good feeling to be back on the road. We're hopeful that everything works out in Hershey PA, our destination for this trip. There has been a lot of flooding but our park is high and dry as of this morning. We'll find out tomorrow! Stay tuned.

So long.

Thursday September 8, 2011-Elkhart Campground

2011-09-08T17:35:00.000-07:00

We began the morning with another cool temperature. Not as cool as it has been, but 53 or so. Stella said it had rained during the night so it was damp this morning, and making it seem even colder. We ate some breakfast here and went to the mall in Mishawaka so Stella could buy some more tennis shoes. While she was inside, it began to rain. Not a hard rain but a steady, soaking rain that would be good for crops if I was a farmer. Since I'm not and we are leaving tomorrow, I hope the rain gets out of the way today so its nice and dry tomorrow.

Speaking of wet, we learned this morning that there is flooding in Hershey PA near to where we are going. i called the park and learned that it is still raining there but the park is not in any danger. One of the access roads into the Giant Center where the show will be held was buckled by water over the road and is apparently impassible. I monitored the situation throughout the day and everything is still a "go" for our next destination.

One thing we did learn about the Amish while we were here is that they are allowed to have telephones in their homes but can have one in a separate building. We had noticed the small buildings beside the driveway near the street and thought they were for the children waiting for a school bus to sit in. When we heard this, I noticed a telephone box with cables coming from it in all the buildings. And all that time I thought the Amish avoided most of the modern conveniences.

I came back home and started putting things away in preparation for leaving. I got the porch taken down and the lawn chairs packed up and put away, but soon after I got through, another Heartland owner, Tony and Joan from Maryland came over to visit. We sat outside talking to them for over an hour until it began to rain again. The temperature never got above 58 today, so it was starting to get chilly sitting outside and we were all getting hungry, so we bid them goodbye. It was nice to meet them but we wish we had met them earlier. They will be leaving here soon to go to Albuquerque for the balloon festival. We told them of our experience there and gave some pointers about places to go and things to do there.

So long.

Wednesday September 7, 2011-Elkhart Campground

2011-09-07T16:15:00.000-07:00

I woke to another 49 degree morning but it was nice inside. We had our small reciprocating heater on in the living room and it is doing a good job of keeping the trailer warm. Again, it made the sleeping really good this morning.

We went out for breakfast this morning at the Middlebury Hills restaurant. Remember we found this place through our new friends Jim and Dee, but our favorite waitress, Lisa Marie, was off today. We had a delicious breakfast and went on over to Shipshewana to Yoder's Meat & Cheese Mkt. because Stella wanted some of the Amish foods that they sell. We also stopped off at a cheese-making factory and watched two different batches of cheese being made. It was very interesting, but they are very busy in the store and there is no one to point out what is going on with the cheese-making so we watched for a bit and moved on. We came on back to Elkhart and I ran a couple of errands for a few things I needed and we came on back home.

Of course we have been monitoring the temperatures back in Texas and are happy to hear that the heat wave has broken, at least for a few days, but now we are concerned with the wildfires that are burning in several areas, some near Spring where we will be returning to soon. We will continue to follow the reports and wish everyone well that is affected by the fires.

We only have one more full day here and must say that we have enjoyed our relaxing time. We are still unsure of whether we are going to get the hydraulic leveling system, but if we do, can't wait to show it off to everyone soon.

So long.

Saturday September 3 thru Tuesday September 6, 2011-Elkhart Campground

2011-09-04T07:00:00.000-07:00

This post will cover several days of our stay in Elkhart. After the hassle of staying a hotel for a few days, we wanted some "down time" in the trailer to just hang out and not do too much.

Saturday

Another warm morning here. It was in the upper 70's this morning and only went up from there, to the mid 90's again today. We didn't do too much except get rid of some more clothes. I believe that we have removed somewhere in excess 250 pounds from the trailer and we have a few more things to look at.

We went to the grocery store which wouldn't have been too noteworthy but Stella left a sack of the groceries on the rack. Well, it wasn't really her fault because whoever sacked it up for her didn't put it in the basket for her. I didn't have anything to do with it because I had gone to the truck so don't blame me!!! When we got home and she realized what had happened, she called the store and they found the sack with our stuff in it, so I drove back over and picked it up. They must have taken pity on the forgetful old woman (DON'T YOU DARE TELL HER I SAID THAT!) because they put an extra portion of the sliced ham in the sack for MY trouble.

Sunday
Hopefully this will be the last of the warm mornings that we have here. It was still pleasant outside but the low 70's are not as nice as the low 60's. Luckily for us the temperature never got above the 70's, so we sat out in front of the trailer and read. It was very nice sitting under the awning in the shade.

My friend Bob had returned after having the Mor Ryde work done on his trailer but they pulled out this morning. He said they were going up into Michigan and then over into Canada before heading west for the winter. I envied him the new Landmark trailer and wished him well with the new rig. He pulls it with a Freightliner truck that cost more than my truck and trailer together, but it's sure a nice rig!

We came back inside and watched some pre-season football on television and just hung out all afternoon. We are enjoying our laid-back days here.

Monday

It was cold this morning! When I got up about 6AM it was 49 degrees outside and 60 in the trailer. THATS why the blankets felt so good. I turned on the little heater, glad again that we had brought it along for the trip. Stella fixed us some delicious pancakes this morning and then went to work for one of her clients. She spent most of the morning working on the computer and on the phone with Eric and they got a lot accomplished. I sat outside in the cool air and read on my Kindle. Some of our friends from the Pennsylvania rally that we went to came in this afternoon and came down to see us. I guess the cooler weather today spurred me on to walk more today. I went for three walks around the park today.

Tuesday
When I woke this morning, it was 45!! degrees. I had gotten chilly in my recliner before I went to bed and had turned on the little heater and was glad I did this morning. It was still on and the temp inside was a toasty 73!

I took more walks today and read a new book on the Kindle-the entire book! It's been a long time since I've done that. We didn't leave the park again today. Stella worked on the computer for her client and in the afternoon she defrosted the refrigerator and freezer. It always worries me when she does this because it takes several hours for the fridge to cool back down.

This park is weird. This morning there were several rigs that pulled out including some of the long term residents. I guess its getting late in the season and the summer seasonals are leaving for their winter homes. This afternoon, several rigs came in and the place is almost filled up again.

We also noticed that its fully dark at 8:30 instead of 10 like it was in June. We can feel winter coming on...

So long.

Friday September 2, 2011-Elkhart Campground

2011-09-02T18:22:00.000-07:00

It was another hot one here today, back into the mid 90's this afternoon. We stayed around here and began on purging things that we haven't used to rid the trailer of some of the weight. Stella and I both still are in the mindset of having entirely too many clothes, so most of the older ones went into the Goodwill bag. Since we've retired, we've given so many clothes to Goodwill and other organizations, they should name something after us.

Stella gathered up three big trash bags full of our clothes and I removed several large boxes of stuff from the under belly storage, so it was a productive day. As long as the weather stays hot, we'll just stay inside and work on stuff in the trailer. We may as well be back in Texas.

I see on the weather channels that there is a tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico and hope that it doesn't do anything but drop some needed rain on the Gulf coast region. I know that they need the rain but not any damaging winds or high tides, so hopefully it will only do good things.

So long.

Thursday September 1, 2011-Elkhart Campground

2011-09-01T16:06:00.000-07:00

Well, those of you from Texas have the laugh on me today. When I woke, it was already 73 degrees outside and the temp went steadily up from there. It got up to 96 in the middle of the afternoon, so I acted as if I was in Texas and stayed inside most of the day.

We went down and saw Jim and Linda before they left. It was interesting to watch them put everything in a precise place and tie everything down, not throwing things in place like we do. That's not really true because we are careful with our things, but they have not had time to acquire as much as we have. That too will change because we have to put the trailer on a huge diet and get rid of as much as we can. We plan to work on that in the next few days.

I worked on the computer all day today, getting caught up on my blogging and reading several other blogs. I've noticed that my readers that are following this blog have recently increased, so thank you! I hope that our travels and adventures continue to be interesting to you. Please don't hesitate to leave a comment or email me if you have a suggestion.

So long.

Wednesday August 31,2011-Elkhart Campground

2011-09-01T10:06:00.001-07:00

We were up early again this morning to take the trailer in for what we hope is the last time. The only thing we had to get done today was the running light problem, so we didn't expect it to take very long. We dropped the trailer off and went for breakfast, this morning at the Cock-A-Doodle restaurant that we have been to a few times before. We had a good hearty breakfast and went back to the dealership to check on the trailer.

The young technician that was working on it was having trouble figuring out where the line break. He had determined that someone had drilled a hole into the frame of the trailer and nicked one of the electric wires that ran to the running lights. He finally went for help and said that our truck was wired different than their shop truck. I gladly moved our truck into place in front of the trailer so that he could run down the problem. He finally found the problem but said he would have to take the bottom of the trailer loose again to make the repair. That didn't make me very happy but if it gets fixed, thats all that matters. He finally got everything done about 2 o'clock and we went back to the park. We were set back up in less than an hour, including the porch being set up. We had felt that as long as we were moving the trailer as often as we were, it was unnecessary to set it up.

Our friends Jim and Linda came over and we made plans to meet them at the Texas Roadhouse for a farewell dinner. We had a fine time with them and will miss them when they're gone. We came on back home and sat outside for awhile until the skeeters ran us back in. It had been a long day and we were glad it was finally over.

So long.

Tuesday August 30, 2011-Elkhart Campground

2011-09-01T05:36:00.000-07:00

I woke to another cool morning, 52 degrees this morning. We started packing up to go to the Heartland service center to have the work that had been done at RV Capitol checked over and to have a Trail Air pinbox installed. We were there a little before 9 and got the trailer dropped off. We had received instructions that we were to stay out of the shop due to insurance regulations. We have heard that before but it is new at Heartland.

We went to have breakfast at the Bristol Cafe, a small family restaurant and had a good meal that wasn't too expensive. Has anyone else noticed how expensive coffee is now? Wow. We only paid $1.25 per cup here, but thats very cheap compared to many other places. After breakfast, we went back to the park and sat under a shady site and read or played games for a couple of hours. The dogs enjoyed the time with us in the truck. Around 2 o'clock, we got the call that our trailer was being finished up and we could go pick it up. Keith was just finishing up the new caulking job and I got a chance to talk to Jerry, one of the welders with Lippert. He said that all the work that had been done should take care of our problem and he also explained the use and care of the new hitch. Jerry told me I have the ultimate in fifth wheel hitches in the Trail Air with Tri Glide. We are excited about the repairs and new hitch.

There were a couple of things that RVC had left off our trailer including the running lights not working. The brake lights and turn signals work fine but the side lights don't. We went back over to their shop but they were busy and couldn't take care of everything today and asked us to come back tomorrow. We weren't thrilled over coming back over in the morning, but knew we had to do it. We returned to the park and didn't even unhook the truck so we could get an early start in the morning.

Bob, our new friend had damaged his new Landmark and was also at RVC to have some painting done there. He wasn't very happy about the work that had been done but they were still working on it and later got it fixed to his satisfaction. He too returned to the park and I got a chance to talk to him again. He leaves tomorrow to have the Mor Ryde system installed.

We sat outside with Jim and Linda until it got cool and the skeeters came out again, but we enjoyed our time talking to them. They leave for the first time in their new trailer on Thursday. Its an exciting time for them and we can remember our first time in a new trailer. Memories...

So long.

Monday August 29, 2011-Elkhart Campground

2011-08-30T16:08:00.000-07:00

I guess its getting to be the fall season up here. It was 54 degrees this morning and the quilt felt really good! Its amazing how snuggly the normally aloof dogs get when it gets cool. It warmed up soon and became a very nice day.

I didn't do a lot today but Stella worked on her client's taxes so she can be ready to send them in. I know that she later purged a lot of records and shredded three large sacks. Maybe she's actually working for the government.

I met some Heartland owners tonight that just came in. It is always interesting to meet new folks and tonight was no exception. John, a 4 year old Sundance owner, was initially upset with his cabinet doors swinging open and the coat closet door that broke on the way down here today. I suggested that he should be more upset at the condition of the roads that we all drive on that actually caused the problem, and he finally agreed that it was not the trailer's fault. He had another complaint about his sewer "leak" when he takes the cap off. I showed him how to solve this problem with an exterior valve, so he left in a much better frame of mind.

Bob has a brand new Landmark Key Largo that he bought at the Good Sam rally in Redmond Oregon. He is very satisfied with his trailer but had some problems with his satellite installer. We traded stories about RV service men and had a nice chat. He is having the Mor-Ryde independent suspension and disk brakes installed on Thursday and Friday. I told him of our treatment at their shop when we visited some friends there. They offered to buy our lunch even though we weren't buying anything from them. They buy all customers their lunch while they are waiting for the work to be done, which is a class act. We were very impressed and I told Bob to expect the same.

Jim and Linda came by and we soon went back to our place and sat outside and had some long talks about our travels and since they are just starting out, they were very interested. Linda has written down several of our suggestions for parks and routes. We sat outside until it got chilly and all turned in for the night.

So long.