Saturday March 26, 2022

 The time has come to leave the RGV for the season. Unlike so many other seasons, we don't have any more Heartland Owners Club rallies to attend. We have an upcoming Camp-Out planned for April 25th-May2nd this spring. We will likely host one last Rally next year (2023) but haven't planned any dates yet. Stay tuned!

I have suffered from a bad back, likely caused by 34 years of wearing a gunbelt and gear. I had X-rays taken of my back several years ago with a diagnosis of my L4 and L5 vertebrae being and apparently causing irritation to the nerves running through them, affecting my legs and hips. It caused great pain in the muscles in my thighs, somewhat relieved by various medications and anti inflammatory pain mediations. I have taken myself off the pain meds out of a fear of addiction but plan to seek a medical expert's advice when I return home.

With our season coming to an end, it is time to return to Dickinson. We began the packing on Wednesday. With a lot of help from friends we got the porch taken down and packed up for travel. 

Thursday morning I began the last part of the outside work, finishing up the outside decorations and accessories before doing the utilities. Again with help from my friends to help with the painful chores. It was much slower than normal, but we got it done! We didn't actually leave until about 11 AM but we only have about 230 miles to travel today. 

We saw more Texas Highway Patrol Troopers today than I have ever seen in one area. We traveled north on the 281 highway and there was a Trooper at every crossover. The Border Patrol was also active, having a U Haul truck stopped with several men in custody along the highway. The Border Patrol checkpoints have become a mere slowdown, with only one agent to check us as we came through. I guess the dogs and handlers are needed somewhere else? 

We made the obligatory stop at the rest area just after the checkpoint. I've often wondered if the placement of the checkpoint only a couple of miles before the rest area is on purpose. Perhaps some people need to use the facilities after contacting the Border Patrol and Customs personnel?? They weren't interested in us, so we continued on toward Victoria, our overnight destination. We made another pitstop for coffee (me) and a cold soda for Stella. This had to be the largest Love's Truck Stop in the world! I parked far out from the truckers, to stay out of their way but we had to walk about a half-mile out from the building. This was measured by Stella's phone. 

We made it into the Gateway to the Gulf RV Park where we had an uneventful night. This little park has gone down in the past few years. A piece of 2X4 covers the sewer connection on the site we were on. The park used to have decent Internet service, but no more. Just little things are the problems.

We pulled out late, so as to avoid the rush-hour traffic in Houston. It worked! We breezed through without slowing down, which was planned. We arrived here a bit after 2PM and had a pretty easy setup. Well do the porch tomorrow, as it requires a lot of bending and stooping.

I was tired from two days' driving and the pack up and setup, so I slept very well. We spoke with brother Phil and his wife Carol and made a date to meet for breakfast. We ended up at the Los Ramirez in Dickinson for a delicious Mexican breakfast. 

It's good to be back!

So long.

Wednesday March 23, 2022

 I have been asked by several friends to start blogging again, so here goes. Today's entry will give a bit of "catchup" to what we have been doing.

Soon after retirement, we began spending the winter in the Rio Grande Valley. We bounced around between several RV parks until we found one that we liked. We thought we had found one, Cottonwood RV Park because of the price, only $250 per month + electricity.  Several of our friends also stayed there, but after 4 years, I got tired of having nothing to do in the park. It was a good place to stay with friends, but there were no activities in the park, so in 2020 I found a place called Los Ebanos in Mission Tx. They offered a first-timer a special of paying for two days, with two extra days free, plenty of time to decide if we liked the park. When we arrived, everyone was very friendly and we knew we had found "the place to call home for the winter". We went ahead and notified our friends and the owner of Cottonwood that we had found a new park. The two parks are only 3 or 4 miles apart, so we can visit often. 

The 2020 season flew by and we returned to Split Rail in 2021 and we persuaded our friends Norm and Tammy Boyce to join us here. Norm had an EZ Up shelter that he set up behind his trailer (next to us) that we used for a meeting place for us to use. We had a great season with them and made plans for the next year's season with even more Heartlanders staying here. 

Split Rail has an Entertainment Association setup in place to control all facets of entertainment from professional groups, to local jam sessions and the different activities in the park for the enjoyment of the guests in the park. The association has an elected board and I learned that there was a vacancy in the Vice President slot. I met the President, Bob Pirtle, about running for the office and he told me to go for it. I signed up and got elected! I intended to use the skills that I had learned from 14 years with the Heartland Owners Club, 5 years as South Texas Chapter Leader and 2 years as Regional Director of the Central region of the United States and 7 years as Regional Director of the South Central region, consisting of the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana.

The 2022 season was our best one yet! We had recruited several new Heartland owners to stay at Split Rail. We were joined by Gene and Molly Coker Marc and Tammy Tubbs as well as former Heartlanders and now Tiffin motorhome owners Craig and Teena Burton, so we  had an outstanding winter with our friends. Marc and Tammy had an EZ Up that they attached to Norm and Tammy's so we had a very nice meeting place which we affectionally named "The Outhouse". Norm and Marc added some side panels which blocked the relentless Rio Grande Valley winds and with the addition of two propane heaters, gave us a snug and warm shelter, which we used daily for Happy Hour and several meals. 

Upon being elected Vice President of the Association, I learned that it meant a 3 year commitment, one year as Vice President, Promotion to President the next year and then one year as a Director. Since this is my year as VP, I asked Norm if he would run for my slot after my automatic promotion to President. He agreed to run and was elected. Now the fun really begins. We have some plans and ideas to help the park and can't wait to begin putting them into place. Wish us luck!

So long.

March 18, 2019-Moving Day-Whistle Stop Resort to Tyler Oaks Resort, Tyler Tx.

We were up early to pack up and leave Abilene after the rally. We had a great time here, meeting some new friends and reacquainting with others, as well as seeing our usual friends that go to most of the Heartland rallies.

Stella had done a good job inside, with many of the normal things that are laying around being put away. We had our normal coffee and a light breakfast of a blueberry muffin and got busy. 

My friend Mike Culpepper and I had re-positioned my water filter into the water control cabinet while we were here and it was a joy to simply unplug the water hose from the quick-connect on the filter without having to stow the filter in the box. Another simplification project completed!

We weren't traveling with anyone else on this trip and were glad when Stella took her normal medications today including a diuretic that caused us to stop frequently. We stopped at the first rest stop we came to, about 10 miles down the road as a precaution for her, the first of about 5 stops we made. I'm not complaining because it keeps her feeling better and that is a good thing. 

We made good time, even though we ran into a good bit of traffic in the Fort Worth and Dallas areas. It was only a 280 mile day, so we were here in Tyler before 4. This is our third time here in about five months, and I asked for frequent flier miles when we checked in. That got a chuckle out of Whitney, owner of the park, but no discount was offered. 

We went over to Aunt Janie's house for supper and a nice visit. We are looking forward to spending more time with her this week, as well as her daughter Linda, my cousin. Should be a good week.

So long.

Monday March 11, 2019-Whistle Stop RV Resort

Awhile back I made contact with a classmate, Jo Ann Wilson, from way back in the last century. Together, we cooked up a Facebook page for our senior class at Ball High School in Galveston and titled it "Ball High Class of 65 and Still Alive". At that time, she told me that she and her husband live in Abilene, which we had just left for their rally. I told her that we would stay in touch and the next time we came to Abilene, we would get together.

Today was that day! We decided to meet at Heff's Burgers. She had made a great suggestion and the sandwiches we ordered were great! We managed to get a table near the back of the restaurant and spent about 3 hours visiting and reminiscing about our class. Our class was a large one, though not as large as today's classes, but pretty big. It was interesting to compare our class to Stella's class of about 30. At any rate, we had a very nice time meeting her before returning to our park, just in time for happy hour, which we have every afternoon around 5. 

Our happy hour group is getting larger every day, and is always fun. We have a couple of drinks and sit around chatting and telling stories of our travels. It's a few days until the rally starts and it keeps us together. Rallies are so much fun!

So long.

Friday March 8, 2019-Whistle Stop Resort

We had decided to go over to Sweetwater for the Rattlesnake Roundup on Friday.There won't be nearly as many people there today but most of the activities will go on. There is a barbecue cook-off scheduled for Saturday but it was better with less people.

We got there about 9:30am and were glad to see that there weren't too many people there yet. This event was held at the fairgrounds, with the snake exhibits being in large circular pits with 5' high sides and Plexiglas windows in the walls for children to view the snakes and the men inside. The snake handlers are all members of the Sweetwater Jaycees and they did a good job with the snakes.

We saw one man that demonstrated the lightning-quick strikes by hanging a balloon in front of a large rattler and inviting him to bite it, which he did in very short order. We saw another booth that "milked" the snakes of their venom. The venom is used to make anti-venom for snakebite victims and probably saves many lives. Another display was the cleaning and processing the snakes after death. (all of the captured snakes are put down) It was interesting to note how skinny the bodies are after removing their skin. When the "innards" are removed, it was demonstrated that the snake hearts continue beating for up to 20-25 minutes after removal. The skins and rattles are kept for stuffing and sale.

There was a huge number of stuffed snakes in different poses. They are imposing and frightening to many including me. I have always had a revulsion to snakes and although I had several run-ins with snakes in my career, I never had a personal experience with them, to my happiness. One of the handlers came around the circle with a 4' rattler that he allowed anyone wishing to, to touch the snake. I did touch it as well as the rattles that were rattling loudly. I must say that it was unnerving to touch the thing!

It should be noted that even thought hundreds of snakes died this weekend, they reproduce very fast. Anywhere from 15-25 babies are born at a time, so it doesn't take long to replenish their numbers.

Last but not least, we ate some fried rattler. Debbie bought a plate of 8-10 pieces of friend meat, which turned out to be mostly bone and ribs. Only small strips of meat were found and like many people have said, it does taste like chicken.

We all bought tee shirts to commemorate our visit to the roundup. It is something that was on our bucket list and we are all happy that we came.

So long.

Wednesday & Thursday, Moving days-Cottonwood RV Park to Whistle Stop RV Resort

After several months, I am resuming my writing on my blog. I just needed some time off but now feel like writing again.

After spending some time in the Rio Grande Valley in Mission, it is finally time to leave. The rally season is starting, so we need to hit the road. We left on Wednesday and after an overnight stop, at the Whistle Stop resort in Abilene.

We traveled with Dave and Nancy & Lin and Debbie. For a change, Dave led the pack! He did really well, even when traveling through San Antonio, which is always a white-knuckle drive. We left right on time, at 9AM and made very good time. We only stopped once, near the Border Patrol checkpoint near Falfurias. We arrived in Boerne at the Top 'O the Hill RV Park about 3PM. 

We had a couple of close calls when entering the park to get to our site. The streets are very narrow with a tree on my right side and a pole in our site on my left. I had to cut pretty close to the tree and when I went back to look at my track, I saw that I had only been about a foot from the tree and had been even closer to the pole but we made it. We found that our Traveler antenna had a problem. The controller said that there was no power to the LNB, the signal receiver. Since I'm not allowed to go on the roof any more, we just did without TV overnight. It wasn't too bad without it and I got some reading done. We had no further problems in our site but Dave and Nancy had no 50 amp service and had to use 30 amp, which meant that they had limited electricity to use. We earned that Lin had been sick from some food that he ate in Mexico, so we didn't see him while we were there. 

We did get to see our old friend Ricky Cobb, who lives in this park. I walked the dogs and stopped by to see him and he later came down to our place for a visit. It was good to see him again.

We left Thursday morning about 8:45 with no further problems. I led on this trip, which was uneventful. We stopped at a truck stop for our break and made it to Abilene about 3. 

After getting parked, I checked the rooftop antenna and could see a wire that had come loose. I asked one of the park workers if he would go up and plug the wire back in and he agreed to. He found that the wire had apparently broken off from the base of the antenna and tried to tape it back together but it didn't work. When Dave finished with his setting up their trailer, I asked him to see what he could do to repair this problem. He was able to push the wire back into the connection and made it work for a temporary fix. At least we will have television!

Our good friends Mike and Peg had arrived here  from their home in San Angelo. They had prepared a delicious meal for all of us travelers of ham and scalloped potatoes. It was delicious and we thank them for thinking about us. Lin was still under the weather and couldn't eat. 

The weather had turned off cold and rainy when we arrived, so we weren't able to sit or eat outside with our friends, so we all got a plateful and came back home to eat.

We are expecting to have a great week here in Abilene with both old friends and new at this rally. Of course, we are going to the Rattlesnake Roundup tomorrow, so stay tuned for that report.

So long.

Friday September 21, 2018-Moving Day-Corral RV Park to Fun Time RV Park, Winstar Casino

We were up as usual this morning, and after having a quick breakfast and coffee, we were packed up and moving about 8:30, or right on time from an overnight stop. s soon as we hit the open road it began to rain lightly and continued all the way to Thackerville. Not only did we fight the rain, we had gusty winds to deal with as well. It certainly effected the fuel mileage today! Yesterday, coming down out of the mountains, we made very good mileage, showing almost 13 miles per gallon but today was much worse, around 8-9 mpg. 

It was pouring rain when we arrived and it didn't take me long to get soaked while I got the water and electricity set up. I came inside and saw some water on the floor from an apparent leak around the kitchen slide, but it was dried up quickly. I added a small puddle where I was standing, but it too dried up well.

Our friends, Tony and Erika were coming in from Cisco, where they live, and told us to do our own thing for supper since they would be later arriving, so we ate in and relaxed until they arrived. They got here a little after 7, and after hugs and handshakes, we again split up, then to get something to eat and us to stay inside, out of the never-ending rain!

It had been a long trip, in the rain, but we were glad to be here spending time with friends. 

So long.

Thursday September 20, 2018-Moving Day-Mountain Views Resort to the Corral, Dalhart Tx.

Today was a day that I dreaded and anticipated at the same time.This was about as long as we have ever stayed in one place and I was ready to go but at the same time, we had a great summer in cool Colorado.

I got used to cool temperatures every night and nice temps during the days with no humidity! I seldom broke a sweat and when I did, it dried up quickly. I got used to great weather for walking down a pretty little trail beside a nice creek (Oxbow creek) and for the last couple of months, I've been walking 5 miles a day. I probably won't be able to do those distances when I get back to Texas, but I'll keep up the exercises.

Today's trip began right about on time, with us pulling out about 10 o'clock. Not too bad for almost no work getting done yesterday. We spent most of yesterday getting the truck out of the shop at the Town and Country Auto dealership in Alamosa. The truck had developed a serious oil leak and when we took it in, they diagnosed the problem as a rear main oil seal leaking. That required an overnight stay in the shop for the truck, but they gave us a loaner car, so we were not afoot. After keeping the truck for an extra day because of a lack of parts, we got it back yesterday and it runs like a new one now!

Back to the story of today's travels. We made a couple of short stops, soon after leaving. The first was to completely close the door-side slide, which had accidentally been left slightly ajar. No problem, but we did have to pull over to close it. We then made a routine "pit stop" at a small rest area outside of South Fork Colorado. Our last stop was at a large rest area outside of Trinidad Colorado. We have been here before and it is a handy stop for us and the dogs!

It began to rain on us soon after the final stop and it continued all the way across New Mexico. We made good time and arrived here at Dalhart about 5:30. Remember, we lost an hour when we got into Texas and the Central time zone. In no time at all, we were checked in and set up for an overnight stay, just as it began to rain in earnest. I will add some pictures when the Internet is better.

So long.

Thursday September 13, 2018-Mountain Views at Rivers Edge Resort

We made a drive up the Batchelor Loop today and as you can see below, the scenery is spectacular! I think the colors are more gold this year, but that might just be my eyes...

I hope you can blow this up enough to read about the area. 

We went all the way to the top of the loop, and as you can see, we were almost 2000 feet above Creede. 

Maybe we'll be able to see more breathtaking sights before we leave.

So long.

Friday August 31, 2018-Mountain Views at Rivers Edge Resort

The annual Creede balloon festival began this morning. A crisp, cold morning here in the mountains is a beautiful way to begin a day.

Getting started!

First liftoff

The balloons dip down into the Rio Grande River

The balloons float right over our RV park

Beautiful

Wednesday August 29, 2018-Mountain View Resort

We made a drive over to Deer Creek, just past Slumgullion Pass. As you can see below, the lake is pretty high elevation 10,442 in the parking lot. We have seen moose here before and saw a total of 5 today, a deer on the way home. I saw two beavers in the lake but they wouldn't stick around for me to take their picture.

This is Deer Lake, where we have seen moose in the past, but we saw none here today.

This Mama Moose looked kind of bad today. She looked pretty skinny and seemed to have a problem with her left rear leg or hip.I wonder if moose have arthritis?

Her baby moose.

This Mama looked much better!

This moose cow was alone, or at least her baby was not in sight. It could have been camera shy or had been hidden by Mama.

We had a nice time today and will likely return here before we leave.

So long.

Friday August 24, 2018-Mountain View RV Resort

Today we made a trip to the Big Meadow Campground that is operated by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. This campground offers campsites with  fire ring and parking for an RV. No utilities are offered, but the meadow-like area is beautiful with a nice lake that is stocked with fish. A boat ramp is nearby as well as ample places to fish off the bank.

Our new friends Ronny and Nelda moved here after staying for some time parked beside us at Mountain View. They used to live in League City and we had several friends in common. 

I am fascinated by hummingbirds. I love to watch them flit around while they are feeding. I put out two feeders but so far, all I have attracted are bees and ants.

Here is a view of the lake below Ronny and Nelda's site. They have fished in the lake a few times since they've been here and caught a few fish.

Our other friends from Mountain View came up today to fish. Pam and Merle own a lot at Mountain View and are avid fishermen/woman. They have fished at several of the local lakes. Joe and Jan are also good at fishing but don't go as often. They all had a good day today, catching 10 fish together. They will have a nice fish fry.

Later tonight, we went with Pam and Merle to the Elks Lodge here in the park. This is the building where we have church services on Sunday, for a performance by Pauline Reese. She is a singer of some note, having been nominated for a Grammy award as was her accompanying guitar player. None of us were impressed with her "performance" and we left the show early. She was about 45 minutes late to begin with, and incessantly talked before each song that she sang. Three of the four songs that we heard were her own writing and her singing of "the Red River Valley" was nothing out of the ordinary.

There is a festival today in town that Ms. Reese is a part of, but we decided after last night not to go. I am writing this in the afternoon and it has been raining for about 30 minutes, so, unfortunately for the festival, they are getting rained out. Perhaps they will organize another one next year. We'll see...

So long.