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.