Monday August 31, 2009-Travel Day, Amarillo to Espanola NM

I slept late this morning, until almost 5:30! The cool (cold) weather here makes for good sleeping. Of course, the clean sheets on the bed helped. I helped Stella put the clean sheets on last night. Let me tell you, it's hard to wake up from a sound sleep in the recliner and have to go in and make the bed. I guess we better call the maid and tell her where we are parked so she can come in and clean up and make the beds.

Stella fixed us some frozen biscuits with sausage and eggs that were very tasty. She cooked enough for us to take one to munch on later in the morning. We like to do this because we can make better time and not have to stop to eat.

What was kind of strange was that after the oil leaks at Rayford, I found none on the pavement under the truck. Maybe the problem with the truck is not as serious as I first thought. I will have it checked when we get back in October.

It was kind of a boring drive except for the scenery. Stella took some pictures that haven't been downloaded to the computer yet, but as soon as they are, I'll put them out here for you to see.

Stella called ahead to the Cottonwood RV Park because she had heard that the GPS directions will take you to a dead end street. She wanted to make a reservation and to get good directions so we wouldn't go astray. With that done, we went through Santa Fe without a problem and pulled into the park about 2:00. I don't like this park and cannot recommend it to others. They are advertised on Passport America yet they don't give the discount until November. I'm sure that there are some folks that come to the mountains of New Mexico in November but I am not one of them. The park needs some serious grading of the roads and some of the sites and the sites themselves are very tight. They seem to cater to long-term stay rather than travelers.

I washed the truck and trailer since they were filthy from the road grime and the few showers we had run through. The showers were nothing more than little spits of rain that didn't even require the windshield wipers, but put water on the road which kicked up on the sides of the truck and trailer. During the first day of our journey, I had discovered that the mud flaps were hitting the pavement at times, and the bottom of them had been ground down. Not only was this hard on the mud flaps, it put the tine flecks of rubber all over the trailer; lots on the front under the overhang and quite a bit down both sides. They both look much better now.

We got three channels on the television, so we relaxed inside for the rest of the night.

So long.

Sunday August 30, 2009-Day of rest & laundry, Amarillo

We stayed home today and rested up. Stella made me some more sugar-free cookies this morning and I carried our laundry including sheets and blankets at the free laundromat here at the park. We decided that after two pretty hard days on the road, we deserved a day off and besides that, it's Sunday!

I didn't set up the Dish because we are trying to set out the minimum of equipment in these overnight stops. I miss the TV guide on the dish, but we have cable here and good reception on the regular channels on the batwing antenna. The regular channels are better than the cable because they are digital channels and the cable is analog.

We did meet another nice couple here in the park. We went for a walk around the park after supper and found a Heartland Big Country trailer parked a couple of rows away. We stopped in for me to give them one of my Heartland cards as well as one of our own cards and we had a very nice visit. Dean and Suzanne just bought the Big Country a couple of days ago along with their brand new truck to pull it. Their trailer has a very similar floorplan to ours, and so far they love it. They traded in a Monaco motorhome, which they had for several years. They retired about a year ago and have been traveling.

It is nice and cool here. The temperature was 68 at 9 this morning when I finally went outside, and only got to about 84 with a nice breeze all day long. It got windy in the late evening and we should sleep well. Another travel day tomorrow.

So long.

Saturday August 29, 2009-Travel day to Oasis RV Park, Amarillo

Here are some photos of some old cars on a trailer coming from a car show that we found in a truck stop where we stopped for a break on our drive today.

Both the car and the truck are very nicely restored and kept. Of course, I don't know who owns these cars but they are fine examples of the old "tin lizzies of many years ago.

Both carry license plates identifying them as "Horseless Carriages". I thought it was interesting and took these photos.

We didn't get up real early to leave this morning. We are so blessed and thankful over our choices in our retirement lifestyle. Even though we had 365 miles to go today, we were able to leisurely eat our breakfast and then go out and take everything down and still make it to Amarillo at a decent time.

I checked under the truck for any more oil leaks but didn't see anything. I don't understand how this is happening, but I'll take it.

The weather here in Amarillo is pleasant. It was warm but there is a nice breeze, so it keeps us pretty cool here.

We ate supper here at the park at a new restaurant that is in the rally hall. It was terrible! The barbecue is made somewhere offsite and brought in for sale. I had a brisket and sausage plate but the sausage turned out to be summer sausage, which doesn't make very good barbecue. Stella had ribs that she said were pretty good, but overall it was terrible. We had planned to eat breakfast there too tomorrow, but thank goodness they're closed on Sunday so we won't have that choice. Not only was the food bad, another patron had come in to get a to-go order. I saw him digging around in the open bowls of condiments to get out onions and peppers. Did he just dump his black water tank at his rig? I don't know either but I don't want to eat food that he's handled.

There are a couple of things that I didn't mention earlier this week, both on Tuesday. I finally got fuel in both of the tanks. I hadn't put any fuel in the big tank since July 15th, but had added fuel to the small tank in the truck twice. It is further proof that we made a good decision to install the big tank.

The second thing that happened on Tuesday was that Stella had found my Superman pendant that I had worn for most of my law enforcement career. Jennifer and Melissa had given a sterling silver Superman pendant and chain to me when we lived in LaMarque and I had had it remade in gold at the Space City Pawn shop that a friend of mine owns. He has a jeweler on staff that does custom work, so I had it done there. I had never taken it off except when swimming for over 20 years but somehow I had lost it. The chain was still around my neck but the pendant was gone. I was heartsick over the loss and had looked all over the house. I thought it may have come off while at work, so it was gone, but I always had the feeling that I could find it in the waterbed at home. Sure enough, when the bed was drained, Stella found it! On Tuesday I took it back to the pawn shop where it was repaired and I am now wearing it again. It kept me safe during many scary situations and I hope it will continue to give me luck from now on.

So long.

Friday August 28, 2009-Travel day to RV Ranch, Burleson

This is a sculpture of three deer that are in front of the office to the park. They add a lot to the look of the park.

A large horse reared up at the entrance to the new section of the park. The metal looks like rebar or some other type of metal rod but is not.

A smaller horse reared up on it's hind legs, another beautiful piece. I don't know who the artist was that did the work but it is well done.

A Texas longhorn sculpted out of metal. They spent a lot of money on landscaping at this park.

Here are some pictures of a trailer that burned on site. I'm not sure when the fire occurred. I did hear that no one was home at the time of the fire.

If you look at the roof, you can see that the air conditioner case melted from the fire coming through the roof.

You can't see in all that well, but the inside of the trailer is burned up!

There was some serious fire coming out these windows! It's such a shame that this was someone's pride and joy and looks like a pretty new trailer.

It looks as if the fire may have started in the bedroom. You can see the mattress laying out beside the trailer. I am glad that no one was injured, but the trailer is a total loss.

There was a fire in one of the trailers in the new section of the park.

They installed the tankless water heaters in the cabins, a very nice touch! This way no one in the building will run out of hot water.

This is a photo of some of the duplex cabins and their activity area behind the buildings. It is nice and shady and would be a very nice place to have a small party among the neighbors.

As you can see, we're right across the street from the rally hall. The Boomers are coming in next weekend for their Labor Day rally, so I guess you could say we're breaking the park in for the Boomers this year.

These are nice shady sites, but as you can see, I can't open my awning up all the way because of the tree. It is hot here, but there is a nice breeze, so it's not that bad.

We like this site. We stayed here on our way back from Albuquerque in April in another nearby site. We never got these nice sites when we came to the Boomer rallies in the past, but the nice thing about this weekend is that there are few people in the park because the kids are back in school.

Above and below you will see the oil spots that the truck made on the parking space at Rayford. I had it checked out and it's not as bad as I thought. We stopped off at Ripley's Auto Service but they said their diesel mechanic, a man named Jake, has opened his own shop. I called him and he gave me directions to his shop. When we got there, Jake said it is crankcase blowby and could be normal or it could be a result of wear to the piston rings. I'll have more testing done when we return to Houston.

We made good time on the road today. We only made one stop at the rest area near Richland. The Coke machine took my money and didn't give me the product, but I guess they needed that dollar more than I did. I won't make that mistake again.

I kept an eye on the temperature and oil pressure for the whole trip and nothing seemed to be out of range. I hope the truck continues to perform well. We really don't want to buy a new truck right now.

Tomorrow is another big travel day to Amarillo. We plan to stay there two days to do laundry and to rest up from two hard days on the road. From there we go to Espanola New Mexico for one night and then on to Priest Gulch. We are so looking forward to arriving in Colorado and its cool temperatures.

Wish us luck on the truck.

So long.

Thursday August 27, 2009-Rayford Crossing

We got up this morning and got ready to take Stella to the Orthopedist in Texas City to have her knee looked at. We stopped off at the bank and cashed my expense check from the state of Texas for testifying in Grand Jury and went to the Dr's office. After less than an hour, she came back out with her knee all better after a shot and a prescription for her disabled placard for the truck. Yippee, we can park close to the doors now! The placard is permanent and all she has to do is to go back in four years and have it renewed. This will help us when we go to the mall and shopping at Wal Mart.


We came on back to the park and stopped off at the Valero to buy some drinks for Ricky and Tommy who were coming to visit. We got back to the park and I put the beer and some sodas on ice to chill them down. Unfortunately, Tommy had decided not to come up this afternoon. He said he has been working hard and just wanted to rest. I can vaguely remember working hard, but it's a very dim memory, and one that I don't want to relive.

Ricky and Dee came over to visit before we went out to eat. Dee is all excited because they can leave next week instead of the week after. They are planning to go to Blue Spruce for three days before coming to Priest Gulch, so we will go visit them there. Blue Spruce is one of our favorite parks and I want to talk to them about workamping there. Did I say that we are excited about going back to Colorado?

While we were visiting at the park, I noticed some oil that had dripped of of my truck. It was fresh oil but I hadn't noticed any oil before, so I moved the truck to make sure it was coming from mine. I moved it twice, and verified that it was indeed coming from my truck. It was too late in the day to get it looked at tonight, but I will take it somewhere in the morning.

We had a nice meal at Hooter's and talked a lot about the trip. Since they are going to Blue Spruce, we could tell the exact way to go. They had thought about going to Albuquerque to spend the night, but that's about 50 miles-one way-out of the way. We showed them a better route and I think they will take it. They took us back home and we looked at my oil slick under the truck. I sure hope this is something simple (and cheap) to fix.

So long.

Wednesday August26, 2009-Moving day

We got up pretty early this morning and went back to the house to get the water bed drained. I had hoped for a miracle but the water bed was not drained! We kept trying to get the drain to work but it was hopeless. I then remembered that Ricky had used an electric pump to drain his water bed one time, so I called him. He said that he had gotten his from a tool rental store in the Woodlands but didn't remember the name. We went to the Superior Waterbed store and lo and behold, they rent pumps! We got one and went back to the house and sure enough, in less than an hour, the bed was as dry as we could get it. The man at the store had cautioned us that if we ran out of water and continued to leave the pump on, it would burn the pump up, so when it stopped pumping we were glad to stop it. We finished up the work in the bedroom and made sure the bedroom suite was ready to be picked up. We didn't have time to take it apart for Jackie, but after all, it's free, so I felt that they could do some of the work.

We went home and got the trailer ready to leave. We didn't get away from the park until almost 5 o'clock. When we left the park, I had been worried about hitting the post of the gate at the back of the park. You have to hug the left side of the gate to keep out of the ditch on the right, and I was worried about hitting that post all week long. I pulled up and stopped for the gate to open. When it opened, I got about 3/4 of the way through with the trailer when the whole rig just stopped! I immediately thought the worst had happened but ran around to the back of the trailer and saw that I was some distance from the post. Stella checked the other side and it was fine too. I got back into the truck and tried to get it out of the gate's path and managed to get it out into the street. Even though I was blocking half of the street, I got out and tried to figure out what had happened. We soon found that one of my blocks that I put under the jacks had rolled over, pulling the emergency brake cable and locking the trailer brakes. Let me tell you, those brakes work! I got the pin back into the slot and all was well. On the road at last!

We stopped by the house to pick up some groceries that we had bough and left there. When we arrived, Jeremy was there and had let Jackie and her husband and a friend with a truck in to get the water bed out. We didn't stay long, since they were having so much fun wrestling the mattress. We made good time going up the beltway and arrived at the park a little after 7. We got all set up and went to eat at China Bear because we were both hungry for oriental food, but it was so late the food was pretty bad. We like the China Bear because it has a huge buffet and is in an enormous building but don't get there late at night and expect fresh food. We were full but unsatisfied.

We came back to home and crashed because we were both tired out.

So long.

Tuesday August 25, 2009-Green Caye RV Park, Dickinson

Stella had to work at Eric's office today, so I took her to his office and sat downstairs in the lobby reading my book. When she got through, we went to the house and worked in the master bedroom cleaning it out and moving all the stuff that had gotten piled on the bed. Jackie, one of Dr. Gulde's employees was going to come get the waterbed and bedroom suite, so we had to get it ready to go. We left the hose hooked up to the bed, trying to drain it and went home to eat supper. We went back to the house and discovered that the drain kit that had been furnished with the mattress was not working. It may have removed a few gallons of water, but not enough to make a difference. We continued to work in the house and garage until late at night. The water hose that I was using was an old RV white hose that was old and very soft with several kinks in it, which may have caused the suction to stop. About 11 o'clock we went to Wal Mart to get a new hose to see if it would work. They only sell 50 and 75 foot hoses, not the old short, cheap ones like I wanted. I bought the cheapest 50 footer that I could find and we went back to the house to see if it would work. It didn't. We finally went home about midnight after a frustrating night.

We'll start fresh again in the morning. We are supposed to be going to Rayford tomorrow so we can leave for Burleson on Friday and our Colorado trip.

So long.

Monday August 24, 2009-Green Caye RV Park, Dickinson

Today was a run Stella all over the place for work day. We went to Dr. Gulde's in Dickinson to pick up some checks and drop off some papers, to see Dr. Gulde at Mainland Center Hospital, then to Wal Mart to pick up some printer cartridges for Dr. Merritt's office. I'm going to start charging them a mileage fee as well as my time for ferrying her around. Then we went to Wal Mart for us and then home. Stella fixed us some soup and sandwiches for supper and then she went down to the rec hall to wash clothes. She had gotten behind in her washing and it took her until after 10 o'clock to get through. I stayed here and entertained Cassie and played on the computer and watched some television.

Another day of running around gone by.

So long.

Saturday and Sunday August 22 & 23, 2009, Green Caye, Dickinson

These two days were very boring days. We stayed in the trailer and didn't do too much of anything. Stella worked on her client's books and I went over to the house and worked some. I brought the two big boxes of shred items back to the trailer for Stella to work on. We have certainly gotten our money out of that shredder. I wonder what the trash guys probably think about all the shredding we have done this month. We have had two or three big trash bags for them to pick up just about every day-Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I guess it all worked out okay though, we stimulated the economy by buying the shredder, we use more electricity by using it, and keep the trash guys busy picking up the trash. I'm sure we'll get a letter from your president commending us for our work. Now if I could just get him to buy the house everyone would be very happy!

I told you these two days were boring!

So long.

Friday August 21, 2009-Green Caye RV Park, Dickinson

I'm beginning today with some more photos of the rigs in this park. The top right picture shows someone that has all the comforts of home, their class C motor home, a storage shed beside it, and a carport for their toad vehicle. The other photos show innovative ways to add an air conditioner. I'm sure that some are extra air conditioners for the bedroom, but some may be the main

a/c unit for the rig.

Stella and I slept late this morning. We don't have the boys today, so we don't have to entertain them or fix them coffee and breakfast. She fixed us some of her pigs in a blanket and I added some fresh strawberries to mine. I bought the package of fresh strawberries for the boys to have, but they said they didn't like them. Of course, they haven't tried them before as far as I know. Jeremy has expanded their food a lot since he has been cooking for them. We had some delicious mushroom- smothered steak one night when they were here and believe it or not, they both ate it and loved it.

We decided to stay here and take care of things here, and Stella has an appointment to have her hair cut this afternoon so it is kind of pointless to go to the house and work up a good sweat and then have to stop. I dumped the black water tank, always a fun job, touched up some scratches and dings on the truck and worked around outside this morning while Stella slaved away on the computer, doing doctor work.

I took her to the beauty parlor and dropped her off and came back home and waited on her to get through. I went to get her and she decided to go shopping at the Penney's store. This weekend is the statewide tax free weekend, so it was a major mistake to go shopping. Traffic and parking were terrible and the stores were very crowded. I wouldn't have chosen this time to shop, but Stella wanted to go, so it's my duty to take her where she wants to go, when she wants to go. All husbands should be as good as me......

Stella couldn't find what she wanted at Penney's so we stopped off at the Wal Mart, another mistake. Wal Mart was even busier than Penney's and much more crowded. Let me tell you, don't get in the way of those little old ladies in the power scooters, they will run over you to get a bargain! If I had known I was taking my life in my hands, I would have come more prepared to defend myself.

We got what we needed and started to leave but Stella remembered that she needed to have her watch looked at so she went back into the store. She said she was almost run over in the crosswalk while coming back out to the truck. We had a bit of a problem getting out onto the street because of all the store traffic but we made it.

We made it home and listened to the thunder in the distance again. Every afternoon it has clouded up and thundered but it hasn't rained here in the park. After we had been here for about an hour, guess what, it rained on us. It has been raining for about an hour and a half and let me tell you, it's welcome. I'm sure the ground will soak it up like a sponge.

So long.

Thursday August 20, 2009-Green Caye RV Park, Dickinson

These two above have used fencing boards to enclose under the "overhang" of their fifth wheels for storage. They even used gate hinges to make doors on their storage areas.

This person made a homemade utility box on the back of his trailer out of corrugated metal. Pretty sharp!

The bottom photo is another home-made storage room behind the trailer. As you can see, the storage is butted up against the back of the trailer and houses their motorcycle. I don't know what they will do in case they have to evacuate.

Cam and I took Tyler to golf camp this morning and then rode around the park to see some of the interesting things that people have done in and around their rigs. This park allows people to "personalize" their site and they certainly have done so. I'll put more photos on later showing some innovative ideas.

When Tyler got out of his camp, complete with his certificate, we took them home. Tyler's stuff was already in a suitcase, so we took him to his friend's house to go to San Antonio. We dropped him off and went to the grocery store to replace everything the boys had eaten up. It's amazing how much those two can put away in no time at all.

We came back home and Stella worked on her client's work and I just relaxed. Cassie and I were exhausted from the boy's visit, so we took a nap. I didn't tell you about Tyler taking a picture of me, asleep in my chair with my computer in my lap. That kid's gonna get in trouble with that camera phone.

We got a new neighbor. I met Joe and his wife who are down here for a doctor visit. Right now they don't know how long they'll be here depending on how the visit goes. I hope all goes well for them.

So long.

Wednesday August 19, 2009-Green Caye RV Park, Dickinson

I took Tyler to his golf camp next door and went over to the house to get some work done. Stella and Cameron stayed at the trailer while she looked over some emails and did some work for her clients. I cleaned up some things in the garage and got a lot of things ready to take to storage, so about 12:30 I left and went to get Stella and Cam and we went to Texas City. We dropped off the stuff at storage and picked up some homework for Tyler to work on. He is in the Gifted and Talented classes in school and had a couple of book reports to get done over the summer. School starts on Monday. Where has the summer gone? I am so proud of Tyler for his schoolwork. He has been in the G&T class his whole time in school and just last year, in the 6th grade, he made his first B. He only made one and A's on everything else. He told me recently that he intends to take a half day of G & T classes in high school and go to the local junior college for the second half day. When he graduates from high school, he will have earned an associate degree at the same time. He can enter college as a second semester sophomore or a junior. WOW!!

We learned that Cameron is going to a new baseball school, the Wheelhouse Baseball School for advanced training in baseball. This school is staffed by former professional baseball players that will give these kids a class twice a week and at least 2-3 tournaments to play in every month. It is expensive but if it makes Cam a better player, especially if he can play professional ball someday. I hope he remembers his PePaw when that day comes. Maybe he'll buy me a new truck or trailer.

Kim and Jeremy came back to the trailer after Cam's baseball school and we had a nice little chat about the schools the boys were going to. Tyler is going to his last golf camp tomorrow and is going to San Antonio with a friend of his and his father to Six Flags after he gets out. We will have to take him home so he can go to his friend's house. Tomorrow may be a busy day for them.

So long.

Tuesday August 18, 2009-Green Caye RV

Today was the day that the "furniture guys" from the Disabled American Veterans were coming to pick up the majority of our furniture. We intended to be at the house by 8 o'clock because we were not certain when they would be there. Our intentions were good but we didn't get there until about 8:45. As it worked out, we were fine because they didn't get here until about 11. The only thing they didn't take was the waterbed (which we knew they wouldn't take), the old recliner, and the bed in Kim's bedroom. I was a bit surprised about the things they wouldn't take, but very thankful for the things they did take. It will make the clean-up of the rest of the house much easier.

We continued to work in the house until about 12:30 when we decided to take some items to the storage room in Texas City. We also went by the boy's house to get some things they had forgotten.

We picked up Tyler from his golf camp and came back to the trailer. Stella fixed a snack to tide the boys over until supper and we hung out here for the rest of the afternoon. I had called Kim and gotten permission to set up both boys with a G-Mail account. I got both of them done, along with a small contact list of family members and sent their information to Kim as she had requested. This way she will have all the information she needs to monitor both boys and their emails sent and received.

For several days, it has been clouding up and thundering but we have not gotten any measurable rain at the park. Apparently it has rained a few times at the house because the grass is in much better shape than this at the park. The grass here is very dry, brown and crunchy and I have been watering the front yard for a couple of days. Even though we are leaving in a week, I want to see if I can make the grass at least turn green if not growing. I know, why am I worrying about someone else's grass? I'm just trying to make the place a little better for the next person that comes in, and beside that, I don't have to mow the grass, so if I can make it green and grow, I don't have to worry about it.

That's what I like about this lifestyle, I have a big yard that I don't have to take care of.

So long.

Monday August 17, 2009-Green Caye RV park, Dickinson

Jeremy brought the boys over early in the morning so Tyler could go to his golf class at the course next to the park. They are quite a handful early in the morning, but we got it done! Stella, Cameron and I went to the house to get some work done. Stella worked inside, getting things taken out of the wall units because the Disabled American Vets are coming tomorrow to pick up the furniture. We want to be ready when they get here but they didn't give us a time, so we'll have to be here all day. At 10 o'clock, I took Tyler to the golf course for his class.

Cam and I worked on the yard and got it cut pretty quick. Cam pooped out because of the heat but I guess I'm getting used to it and kept after the yard. When I got through, I went inside and helped Stella and worked some in the garage. We have an old dining table in the garage that I would like to get rid of, so I cleaned it off. We worked steadily and knocked off at 2 when we had to go pick Tyler up from the golf course. He said he was learning a lot about how to play the game. I hope it works out for him. He will spend all his time inside playing on the computer if he doesn't have some kind of sport to play.

The rest of the day was spent at the trailer, chilling out from the hard work in the morning. Stella fixed us some supper and we had a nice night.

So long.

Saturday and Sunday August 15th and 16th-Green Caye RV Park

We have been told that Cameron plays baseball this weekend and that we are required to be there, as if we would miss his games. His team was playing fall ball in a tournament against other local teams. The tournament began with five teams playing, but two dropped out leaving only three teams to play. Cameron's team is 10 and 11 year olds, a team from Galveston is all 11 year olds and third team is 9 and 10 year olds. The Galveston team is another selected team and has been playing together for three years, so they are much better (not mention much bigger) than the other boys. They played over two days and the Galveston team dominated. They beat Cam's team in the first game 18-2. The beat the other team 22-4 but Cam's team came back to win their second game against the other team 7-6. They played the same team on Sunday morning but lost 9-7. We found out that the Galveston team won the tournament 22-6. We had left and went back home to cool off. It was HOT out there.

Sunday afternoon after the ball game, Stella and I went to Sam's club and the grocery store to buy supplies for us and for the boys, who come visiting next week. Tyler is going to a golf lesson school at the 9 hole golf course next to this park, so they are coming to visit us for the week.

We came back to the trailer and relaxed after a full weekend of getting sunburned and watching a lot of baseball. It was a nice weekend.

So long.

Thursday and Friday August 13 & 14, 2009-Green Caye RV Park, Dickinson

Thursday we went up to our storage room in the Woodlands near Rayford Crossing. We needed to clean out the room and move it to Texas City to our new location there that we will share with Kim.

Before going to the mini-storage, we dropped off some paper back books at the Rayford Crossing library. We have accumulated so many books that are still in good condition I hate to get rid of. I checked by at a used book store in Dickinson to see if there is a market to sell them, but learned that they only give in-store credit and I would rather give them away to other RV'ers. We had a nice visit with Gwen and stayed there much longer than we should have. WE changed our site for the rally from number 61 to premium site #74. I think this will work much better for the rally.

We picked up a truck load and took it down to Texas City and put it into the new storage room. This room is much larger than the one we had in Spring and or truck load looks tiny in this big room. We came back to Dickinson and stopped off at Keyworth's Hardware and had some more keys made to the padlock for Kim and Jeremy.

By the time we got back, it was after 3 o'clock and both of us were hungry so we came home and fixed something to eat. We weren't all that tired but had spent all day and didn't want to go back to Houston in the traffic.

Friday morning we slept a little later since we didn't have that much to do this morning. Man, the time just gets away. By the time I watched Jerry Springer it was time to go. I have told Stella that I will work on taking her to see Jerry in person but we'll have to go to New York, so I don't know when that may be. You've got to admit, that would be a real treat to be able to see the Jerry Springer show as it is being filmed. I'm such a good husband.....

It was more of the same when we got to the storage lot. We finished up with all of our stuff and stopped by the office to tell them we had moved out. The lady in the office was out running errands so we had to come back, but we got it done. We took our stuff down to Texas City and dropped it off, but when Stella tried the new keys, none would work. We took the keys back to Keyworth but they didn't have the right blank. We ended up going to a locksmith in League City to have the keys made. Again, we killed all day but at least we got the storage problem taken care of.

So long.

Wednesday August 12, 2009-Green Caye RV park, Dickinson

Today we had grandson duty. We stayed in the trailer all morning, cleaning up the trailer and the remnants of the shredding, and went to the karate school where the boys were, to pick them up. When I went in to get them, I asked them what they wanted to do for the afternoon and they both said they wanted to go play golf. Tyler has expressed interest in playing and of course, when Tyler wants to play a sport, Cameron wants to play too. We went by their house and picked up their clubs. Jeremy went online and bought a small set of two irons, a putter and a wood for Tyler and manager to put together a set for Cameron to use by cutting down some of his own clubs.

After picking them up, we stopped off at a storage lot in Texas City where we are going to split a storage room with Kim and Jeremy. They are supposed to be taking some of our furniture and of course we have storage in the Woodlands that we will move. There are some other items that we can store there too, so it should work out well.

The boys decided that they wanted to play golf as soon as they got here in spite of the heat. I didn't argue with them about it but it was soon very apparent that they had made a mistake of coming out at 3 o'clock in the afternoon to play golf. They stuck it out and played until about 5 when it clouded up and actually started to rain. All of the regular golfers had come in on their carts to avoid the rain and heavy lightning. We left and went to the local Pizza Inn for their buffet. It was pretty good but I've had better. The boys liked it, and thats all that matters.

We brought the boys home and told Kim about the storage room that we got. She said they would try to come over either tomorrow or Friday and get the items they want to take to storage. We'll see how that works out.....

So long.

Tuesday August 11, 2009-Green Caye RV park, Dickinson

We stayed home this morning. I've been eating cereal for my breakfast that is supposed to lower your cholesterol, and when I go for my doctor visit, we'll see. I went for a walk around the park this morning, another healthy thing I am doing. Ricky and I joked with Dee about our sites #104 and 105 at Rayford were a mile from the office/pool but I measured around the park and it's just over .09 mile around the entire drive area. I'm doing my best.....

Stella spoke with one of her client doctors and made an appointment to meet with her this afternoon. She also had to go by the doctor's office to meet with Jackie there, so we made a round trip to take care of her business. It worked out very well, because instead of her having to go into the hospital to find the doctor, when we drove up, Dr. Gulde was getting out of her car in the parking lot. Stella was able to just meet with her and give her some papers right there in the parking lot, so we weren't there five minutes. It seemed like a waste of time to go there for so short a time, but it was something that had to be done and she did get paid for it. Of course, me being her chauffeur didn't pay anything.

When we left, we went to a truck lot in Dickinson to look at some trucks. I don't really want a new truck but like to look. They showed us a Dodge 3500 that was equipped like we want but it had a lot of rust on the frame around the front seats. He then showed us a Ford F-350 that was also pretty much what we want but it had some cigarette burns on the front seat and Stella said the back seat smelled like a disinfectant. We thought both of these trucks may have had some water damage, so we kept on looking. I told Stella that it will take a lot of work to change out the accessories, the air ride for the rear axle, the fuel tank, the tool box with the air compressor and of course, my favorite toy, my air horn.

We came back here and she continued to shred papers. We had five large trash bags full of shredded documents for the trash man to pick up. Stella has been working hard on getting this done.

I've been keeping tabs on any storms that are brewing in the Gulf or Caribbean, so we can make a quick getaway. I told Stella that if a storm brews up and comes into the Gulf, we're out of here, no matter how how big or small the storm is. We're not taking any chances and I'm NOT going through another hurricane.

So long.

Monday August 10, 2009, Green Caye RV park, Dickinson

Both Stella and I slept late this morning. It was after 8 o'clock when I finally struggled out of bed!. I hadn't had my first cup of coffee when Jeremy called Stella because he had locked the keys in the Blazer and needed her to bring him another key. We got dressed and met him at the little convenience store near the house and gave him the key. It's a good thing that Stella had forgotten to give him the second key, but now we can't bail him out when he does this again.

Since we were out before 9, I decided to go get my blood work done at the lab near Dr. Merritt's office. When we got there, we only waited a few minutes before they called me back to stick my arm. I have always had deep veins in my arms and it was no surprise when the lab technician couldn't find one she could stick. She ended up using the back of my hand, which was much more painful for me, but at least I got the sample taken. Now I will make an appointment with the doctor to be yelled at.

We stopped off at the house and picked up the rest of the papers that Stella had pulled out so she can get them shredded. When you think of how much money we pay for checks and simply the cost of paper, she has probably shredded several thousand dollars in the past couple of weeks. This should keep her busy for a few days.

So long.

Sunday August 9, 2009-Green Caye RV Park, Dickinson

Today I got up and started cleaning up the trailer. Stella has been doing so much work of shredding papers and I felt that the least I could do was to help in cleaning up after her. She dropped many small pieces of the shredded paper, but I guess she didn't see them. She is old you know and her eyesight is getting bad.

Our friends Tommy and Susan came up for a visit this morning, arriving right about 11 o'clock. Tommy is very punctual; when he tells you he will be there at a certain time, he is there. We didn't stay here too long but went to get something to eat at a local seafood restaurant. It was good and we returned to the trailer. Tommy wanted to make a short video of Stella and I for his blog http://www.phaetonplace.net/Phaeton_Place/Welcome.html
Tommy is a professional photographer and has a beautiful picture of the Priest Gulch RV Park where we are going soon. We will meet them there about the middle of September. You will see more about that when we arrive on Sept. 1st.

Tommy, being the professional that he is, used a special filter on his video camera to make me look not so fat and not so old. I appreciate his efforts to improve me.

We sat around watching the rain clouds go around our park, but other areas around us got some rain. We need the rain very badly. I'm sure it will rain cats and dogs after we leave and my grass will be waist high again. Maybe the grass fairy will visit my house and cut it for me. In reality, I'm going to find someone to cut the grass while I'm gone. Tommy and Susan left about 2:30 after a nice visit.

Sunday was a day of rest for both Stella and the shredder because she didn't destroy a single check or document today. I'll get her up early tomorrow to start the new week out.

So long.

Saturday August 8, 2009-Green Caye RV Park, Dickinson

Today was another stay in the trailer and watch Stella work days. She shredded papers all day long, but did find some photos that brought back a lot of memories. Pictures of the family, lots of pictures of Tyler and three pictures of Ralphie, my puppy. We took him to Pets Mart several years ago and got him all groomed up and they took pictures of him. He hated the props that they had around him but he stuck in there and let them take his picture. He was the son I never had. We lost him January 24th 2007.

I surfed the net and watched television all day until Stella almost wore out the new shredder. I had to drop what I was doing, get dressed and take her to the Office Depot store to get some lubrication strips for the shredder. I told her that I could just squirt some WD-40 on it, but she said no. Women shouldn't have a say in mechanical things, but being the good husband I am, I put my computer aside and took her to the store. I came back and struggled to get back inside, exhausted from the physical exertion of driving her about 15 miles to the store. Whew, it makes me tired just remembering it.

I came in and took a well-earned nap.

So long.

Friday August 7, 2009-Green Caye RV Park, Dickinson

Another slow day down here. We went to the house and got some more boxes of bank records to shred. Remember, Stella was in the banking business since money was invented and believes in keeping every scrap of records that is ever printed. If it had our name on it, we kept it. What is interesting now is that we have found old records of vacations we took before we had a trailer and RV parks we went to that neither of us could remember. We found cancelled checks from a motel in Manitou Springs Colorado where we stayed in 1990. We didn't pay much more for the motel then than we pay today for an RV site. Of course that was 19 years ago when gasoline was about $1.00 a gallon. We also found a receipt from the Running Branch Marina and RV park. Neither of us remembered this place, but we had proof we had gone there. I looked it up and then instantly remembered that it was at Lake Limestone, near Jewett in Central Texas. My sister and her husband were trying to buy this RV park, but after spending a lot of money on the preliminaries, the deal fell through. .sounds familiar. The same thing happened to Jeremy on our house.....

We went to the grocery store this afternoon. It's amazing how often we have to go to the store for the essential items, and of course, I didn't usually go to the store before we started living in the trailer, so was not aware of this and the prices of groceries. Wow!!

We came back home and hung out here for the rest of the night. It's different in this park. The people here don't hang out in the morning and evening like they do in a resort-style park. Since this is a working park, they pretty much just get up and go to work and come home and stay inside. We still enjoy watching the golfers across the fence from us. I am surprised at how many are our in the heat of the day playing golf. I guess if you are a serious player, a little hot weather doesn't make any difference.I'm just glad its not me that's out there playing in the sun and heat.

So long.

Thursday August 6, 2009-Green Caye RV Park Dickinson

Today we woke later than usual, about 7:30. We ate our breakfast and drank our coffee and began cleaning up the trailer because we were having visitors. Bill and Ornell were coming to visit and to pick up a part for our tripod for the Dish antenna. I had ordered the parts and a mast for the tripod that I had gotten from Ricky. He had apparently discarded the mast when he got rid of the dish antenna they used in the trailer, so I called the company and ordered a new one.

This house was a MESS! The shredding had left many little strips of paper on the floor but I ran the vacuum and picked them up. We got the place all cleaned up and then Bill and Ornell got here and we sat outside under the awning (in a nice breeze) and had a nice visit. Bill has changed his medication and was feeling kind of funky, and was ready to get to the doctor and get his medications.

I am so thankful that I haven't developed any other medical problems other than diabetes. I get checked quarterly by my doctor and so far, my kidneys, liver and heart are fine. These are very common problems for diabetics but so far, I've been lucky.

We stayed in today and Stella worked some more on the papers to be shredded. We have given away probably 100 paperback books in the past couple of days. these are books that we bought and read and put into the book cases at the house. I tried to sell some to the Half Price Bookstore but didn't get anything for them, so I decided to just give them to the various parks that we visit. Most of the parks have libraries that their guests can use to get new books to read. I took one big box to the Via Bayou park where we stayed in May and are planning to stay in again in November and an even bigger box to the library here. selling books in a garage sale is such a hassle that I'd rather give the books to libraries for fellow RV'ers for their use and pleasure.

I contacted the Disabled American Veterans organization about picking up the furniture at the house. I had sent them an email over a week ago and had not heard from them, so I sent another email. We'll see what they tell me about picking up the furniture.

Stella made a corn chowder soup and baked a loaf of bread for our supper. The soup was very good but the bread didn't rise and was very heavy but I ate it anyway. the bread had a good flavor but was heavy.

It was a pretty good day although we didn't get anything done at the house.

So long.

Saturday August 1-Wednesday July 5, 2009-Green Caye, Dickinson

Not too much exciting stuff going on here. Stella worked all weekend on her client's work and I just piddled around here at the trailer. I spent a lot of time on the computer, reading some of the upcoming laws that are under consideration and some state laws that will be enacted, such as the police can now forcibly remove people from their homes in the case of a mandatory evacuation. Now, to me, what is going to be interesting is some person that just can't stand to leave some of their belongings behind, or in rural areas, have animals that need care, refuses to leave. When that mean old cop comes to the door telling they MUST leave there is going to be a problem. Some old rancher is not going to leave his cattle herd behind and so now what to do? Are they going to fine someone for staying in their own home and not bothering anyone? It is already understood that anyone that chooses to stay will not be rescued if they change their mind during the storm but now with the new law the government can assess the value of the service to come out and assist them. Too much government in my opinion. There are many other laws that are slated to go into effect on Sept. 1. I'm just glad I don't have to go out and enforce some of them.

Why didn't the state legislators pass some useful laws, like secession from the United States? I think this might be something whose time has come. Even if it was brought up for discussion, maybe someone in Washington would start to pay attention. We are the only state to come into the Union as a republic, and we can secede with a positive vote of the people. If we were successful, other states might just follow.

Off my soapbox and back to the blog. Monday we went to the house and made some progress with getting things out. I worked outside on the yard and Stella worked inside. Since getting the grass cut initially, it is not that hard to keep up. It's just that the heat is so bad it makes it miserable to work outside without many water breaks. Better to be safe than sorry I say.

Kim called and asked us to come over to stay with the boys while she and Jeremy went to Ron Carter Chevrolet to look at a car for her. They soon returned because the salesman never showed up. She had called ahead and gotten approved for the loan, so there should not have been a problem, but Todd never showed. They asked for him at the receptionist desk and they paged him but he just never met with them. After about 30 minutes they left and while leaving, he called. He said he had gotten tied up but they were already gone and didn't return. It was nice to spend the time with Tyler and Cameron and eat some pizza with them.

Tuesday was more of the same. Going over to the house and working and getting the receipts and papers together to bring back to shred. I loaded up several boxes of papers to be shredded, but we left them in the truck for now.
We will bring them into the trailer tonight to get them shredded. It's messy but its the easiest way to get rid of old papers with confidential information on it.

Wednesday was just another day of working in the house but we are starting to see less and less papers to destroy. Stella has been working on them a lot and of course, the trailer shows it. It is almost impossible to shred without some of the tiny pieces of paper to fall on the floor. Sine we no longer have a maid to clean up, it is up to us to keep things in line.

We did go back over to Kim's house to keep the boys while Kim and Jeremy went to look at the Avalanche again in Alvin. She had gotten a call from the Internet manager for Ron Carter who promised her that it would be worth her while to come look. This time they stayed longer, but came back in the same cars they took with them. The monthly notes would have been $800 on the new Avalanche and she simply can't afford that. Stella and I had another nice night with the boys and Kim even bought our supper. We went to Ryan's and had a good meal. We went back to their house and watched a little television before Kim got home.

So long.

Friday July 31, 2009-Green Caye, Dickinson

Today was a run errands and get things done day for us. After it took as long as it did to burn papers and receipts, we decided we would buy another shredder. I did some online research to see where we could buy the best shredder for the money and found that it was between Office Depot and Sam's Club. Office Max had some interesting looking units, but there weren't any store closer than Pasadena and we just didn't want to go that far. I also checked Wal Mart but everything that is in their online catalogue was only available online and not in stores. Kind of makes it hard to shop for the best one to buy doesn't it? Luckily for us, there is an Office Depot store in the same shopping center as the Sam's Club. We went to the Sam's store first and found a good looking Royal shredder but we wanted to compare to the others. We bought a few things at Sam's and went to the Office Depot across the parking lot. There was nothing there any better than the first, so we needed to buy groceries anyway, so we went to
Wal Mart. We made our grocery purchases and looked at shredders but decided that the first one was a better buy and went back to Sam's and bought it. Man, this comparison shopping is rough and it took all day! We were tired and hungry and came back home and Stella made us some Sloppy Joe sandwiches. We had not had any of these in years and they were very good.

While she cooked, I laid out a route for a trip next summer with Tyler and Cameron to the IRV2 national rally in Williams Arizona at the Grand Canyon for a week, over to Las Vegas Nevada for a couple of days since the boys can't gamble anyway, and then up through Utah to Island Park Idaho where we will visit the Yellowstone National Park for a couple of weeks. It was fun and pretty easy to use the sources online to map out the route. Since we will be somewhat of a time crunch because the boys will have to start back to school in late August, we will drive further at times than Stella and I would have driven if it was just us. We will drive 300+ miles on two days, but it will be worth it.

I later talked to Kim about the trip and she thought it was a great idea. She had gone to Yellowstone with a couple that had kept her when she was very young and we had stayed in touch with. She said she still remembers that trip and she was about 8 or 9 years old when she went with them.

I later talked to the boys about the trip. It was worth it to hear the excitement in Tyler's voice. He thought that going to that many states and the different locations that we will visit was "cool". Cameron was a little excited about it, but he's not really able to grasp this long of a trip. He didn't think too much about flying home from Idaho but there's really little choice. I could leave Stella in the trailer alone and drive them back, but it would take four days of 400+ miles a day and a stay in a motel plus meals and air flight costs $172 per person. Even if I had to fly with them, it would be cheaper to fly and of course, much faster. Even if I stayed overnight at Kim's house and flew back the next day, I would be back before I could drive through Colorado.

I am certain that there will be much more discussion and changes made to this trip. It's a year off and things will likely change before we leave.

So long.