Wednesday May 11, 2011-Rayford Crossing RV Resort

Well today is our last full day here at Rayford. I went to the donut shop and picked up some kolaches for the guys this morning and of course, picked up some croissants for Stella to munch on. Tomorrow will likely be our last men's coffee until the winter Texans return in the fall.

I put away some of the outside items during the day and then washed the truck. Since Plum Creek in front of the park and Geneva is being re topped, it is muddy and dusty, and my truck was filthy. It took awhile, but I got it done. Of course, it looked like rain all day and in fact this evening it did rain. Of course, when we left to run our errands, they had come in and put fresh oil down in preparation for the asphalt that will probably be laid tomorrow. I only got a little bit of oil on the truck and it shouldn't be too hard to remove but I'll wait until we get to Terrell or maybe all the way to Tyler.

We took some more clothes to the Goodwill box and dropped off two sacks of paperback books that belong to Donna at her house. We missed seeing her but I'm sure we'll see them somewhere in Michigan later in the summer.

We ate supper at the brand new Furr's Fresh Buffet that just opened today on I-45. The food is as good as ever and I know we'll return there. Ironically, I met the new store manager, Gary Davis. Gary is from Galveston originally and told me that his father, McKinley Davis was the Principal of Ball High school around the time that my brother Phil was going there. It is indeed a small world.

I filled the truck up with fuel and returned home, now ready to hook up in the morning and pull out. I took the porch and steps down and put them away in the truck, so I am as ready tonight as I can be.

I am anxious to get back on the road, but also a bit apprehensive. It's just the routine jitters and worries about things breaking or falling off... I'll be fine as soon as I get out on the highway.

So long.

Tuesday May 10, 2011, Rayford Crossing RV Resort

This will be a recap of the time between the Heartland rally that ended on April 17th and today. Up front, I want to tell you that I apologize for leaving out something or someone but it's been a few days since I've added to my blog and the old memory gets a bit fuzzy sometimes.

On Sunday after most of the rally-goers had left, we went out to eat with our new friends Doug and Judy. This had been their first rally and they decided to stay for an extra day before moving on. We went to Cheddar's and were very surprised by the good food and great prices. They graciously bought our meal, which we didn't expect but certainly appreciated. We hope to see them again at the Heartland rally in Goshen.

On Monday afternoon, we took our New Mexico friends, Pat and Lori, to meet Tom and Marti at a new restaurant named Santa Fe Flats. We were all impressed with the Santa Fe motif and the good food that was served. We had a great time with our good friends.

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. Pat and Lori left on Wednesday but by then, Stella had gone back to work and we were back in our routine. Gwen gave Stella Saturday off, so we went out to eat breakfast at Luby's with several of our friends from Rayford. We all had a good time and good fellowship. Saturday afternoon, we went to the Houston North KOA, formerly Haven's Landing RV Resort, where we met Ted and Donna who were attending the Boomer Easter rally. It was good to see old friends, but there were a lot of new faces and the group seems much different now.

We took the trailer to Master Hitch to get it ready to go on our summer trip. We had the wheel bearings packed and the entire undercarriage checked out by the experts at the store. After dropping the trailer off, Stella and I went to eat breakfast at I-Hop and went to do some shopping.

Later in the week, I was invited to go with John and Jan on a group outing that their church put on. We went to the Washington-on-the Brazos park where we checked out the museum on one of the first capitols of Texas. We had a very nice time and stopped off to eat at Vernon's Country Catfish restaurant. I enjoyed myself with this group and wish we could have done more with them.

We stayed around the house on Sunday and Stella did laundry. On Monday, April 25, we drove down to Texas City to watch Cameron play baseball. He got a couple of good hits and made a few good plays in the field, but they got beaten badly. The team is much better than last year's team.

We ate a few times at Double Dave's pizza, sometimes with others from the park and sometimes alone. Tommy and Susan originally took us here and we are thankful that they did. Bill and his wife Alena took us out to eat one time to repay us for my walking their dog for a weekend while they were out of town.

We went back down to Texas City on May 2nd to watch Cam play ball again and the vehicle pictured below was seen on the freeway.

I think this was a Chevrolet van when it was built. It looks like the current owner tried to modify it to look like some kind of animal with a curved back and some weird sort of spine down the middle. With the curved back, it looks kind of like an armadillo crossed with a pre-historic animal with a pickup bed. Only in Texas...!

Later, we went to Gus's barbecue restaurant in Texas City. It was our first time to go there in their new location. Their old location burned. This had been one of our favorite restaurants in Texas City and the new store is nice.

Last weekend, we heard from our friends Ricky and Dee. We have not seen them in awhile and they invited us to come over to their house for supper on Saturday. We had already made plans to meet up with Tommy and Susan so I called Dee back and she said they were welcome as well. It was good to be back with our friends and we had a very good meal. Dee outdid herself.

This past weekend, we began to try to hang out with our friends here at Rayford. Thursday night we went to El Bosque with Ed and Sharon in celebration of Cinco de Mayo. The food was great but they had a mariachi band that was great! It was probably one of the best bands that we have heard. Friday night we went to Mel's Country Cafe with Ed and Sharon and Bill, who is temporarily batching it because his wife is out of the country visiting her parents. Saturday I took Stella to work and then helped her to get the place cleaned up and spotless. Today is her last day to work and we wanted to leave things spic and span. She locked herself out of the office, so I had to go to the Rayford office to get another key to let her in, but noooo, I didn't make any contacts.....not me! She was tired when she got off, so we went to 3-B's for hamburgers.

Sunday was Mother's Day, so we went to Texas City to spend some more time with Kim, Jeremy and the boys. We were delayed in getting to their house, but we did arrive and had a nice lunch with them at Logan's Roadhouse in League City. Kim got a little emotional when we talked about how long we'll be gone this summer, but she'll be fine.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms that are reading this.

Monday we ran a few errands in preparation for leaving on Thursday and Stella washed our clothes. We met Ted and Donna at Sweet Tomato and had another great meal with them. They are from Michigan and gave us some great advice on places to go this summer. When we got through eating, we decided to go down to Texas City to watch Cam again. He was supposed to have pitched tonight, but when we got there, he was playing third base and doing a fine job there. They got beaten, but Cam did spark a huge rally in the fourth inning to pull within 3 runs of the lead, but ended up losing.

This brings us up to today. We stayed around here most of the day and did a few preparations for Thursday. Stella took Cassie to the vet to get her shots caught up. We are going to a rally in Pennsylvania and have already been told that we would have to have up-to-date shot records for our pets. We are all caught up now and ready to go to the rally.

I almost forgot to tell you about my adventures with my computer. About three weeks ago, the computer stopped working for me. I took it to Rhino computers and learned that the mother board had gone out. I told them to repair it and in a day or so, it was repaired and back to me. Only a couple of days later, it again displayed the dreaded blue screen. I again took it to Rhino and learned that the hard drive had failed. They gave me a really good deal on replacing the drive and restoring my data, so I told them to fix it. They returned it to me in a couple of days, but it again "blue screened" me. By now, I was pretty upset, especially when I was told that the mother board had again failed. This time, it should be covered by warranty, but it is Toshiba's warranty policy for them to check the board out before replacing it. I had the choice of sending the old board back to them which could have taken up to two weeks or to pay for a new board, then when it was determined to be defective, my money would be refunded. I took the second choice, since I needed my computer back and besides that, we are leaving soon and might have been gone when it was returned. The thing is, I am still money ahead in the deal. The price for a comparable computer now is over $1,300 and even with the repairs, I only have a little over $1,000 invested in this one. I just hope this thing continues to work.

Sorry for the loong post, but it covered a lot of time.

So long.

April 15-17, 2011, Rayford Crossing RV Resort

Here is our happy rally group.

We had a total of 21 trailers in the park and had a great time. I think this was one of the best rallies that we have had.

Here is a shot of just a few of the trailers in attendance. We had many Bighorns and two brand new trailers, one Cyclone and one Landmark . Ron Hoover RV sent out two Landmarks, a San Antonio model and a Key Largo.

Everyone came over to my site on Friday night and cooked their choice of meat on the grill. We then sat around and chatted while we ate.

Saturday morning we had a potluck breakfast that everyone enjoyed. As always, there was plenty of food and fellowship.

This is one of the demo units from Ron Hoover, a Landmark Key Largo. Wish it was mine...

So long.

Friday thru Monday April 8 thru12, 2011-Rayford Crossing RV Resort

Friday was another routine day around here. Stella went to work and I stayed home. The only major event that occurred on Friday was that Roy and I went out to pick up the trash. Along the way, we were asked to escort a couple of motorhomes into their sites, which we did with no problem. Krystal came out from the office and asked us to take her on a site inventory, and just as we started out, a lady came out trying to flag a motorhome down that had one of it's jacks down. She asked us to go stop it, and when we made the turn at the pool, Krystal fell off the golf cart. Neither Roy nor I noticed that she had fallen off, and we kept after the motorhome and got it stopped. We discovered that the jack was merely slow in retracting, so we put the golf cart away and I went into the office and learned that Krystal had come in after falling. She was embarrassed but not hurt, thank goodness, so all was well.

Saturday was a routine workday for Stella and I stayed here in the park and helped pick up trash. The weather is getting hot, so it's good to stay inside most of the day. I still get in my walks but do them in the morning or afternoon. We've been trying to eat at home more because the Heartland rally will be here next week and we will be eating more and eating out much of the weekend.

Sunday we stayed around here and took care of things around here. Stella washed clothes and she cut my hair. We had just gotten started when a cold front blew in and dropped the temperatures a bunch. A pretty unexciting weekend!

Monday we began the day with taking Cassie to the groomer first thing in the morning. We went and had breakfast out before beginning our errands. We went to Sam's club where we bought the paper goods that we will need for the rally, and some new shorts for me. Gotta look good for the Heartland crew! We brought everything home and put it away and then went down to Texas City to watch Cameron play baseball. Tyler had forgotten about a homework assignment and had to take it to the ball field to get it done by school tomorrow. Cam's pulled it out and won their game 5-1. He played an 8PM game, which we don't agree with. It's too late for these kids to be up on a school night. It's too late for PePaw to be up too, especially when you remember we have an hour drive to get home. It was worth it to see the boys, Kim and Jeremy.

We were all set to eat at Uncle Chan's, Tyler's favorite place to eat, but they have closed. Tyler was bummed, but we went to China Star, so he got his oriental buffet after all.

It was a good weekend but our time is getting short here. We will be leaving in a month for our summer trip. Can't wait!

So long

Later in the day, our friends Pat and Lori, from New Mexico, arrived and we began the fun of the Heartland rally. We went out to eat with them tonight

Thursday April 7, 2011-Rayford Crossing RV Resort

Not too much has gone on between my last entry and now. I got up early and went down for coffee and then Stella left for work, pretty routine stuff. I did drive her to work so I could do my little bit of work at the park and so I could go for a drive up to the KOA in Montgomery, where we are planning to go to the Texas Boomer rally to meet Ted and Donna for the potluck dinner. The route between the parks is very easy and we shouldn't have any trouble. I saw a dead deer on the side of the road on one of the back country roads that someone had cut the head off of. I guess the deer had a pretty rack and they didn't want to see it wasted, so at least someone got a nice deer head to mount. I wonder, do you need to tag road kill? Can you be prosecuted for possession of a deer carcass out of season? I never got involved with game laws in my career and just don't want to take the time to research this law. I feel certain that no prosecution would be made for a road-killed deer, but I just don't know. My rant for today is for the stupid drivers that take so many chances with not only their own lives and property, but other people that are on the road too. I try really hard to drive defensively and courteously, but some of these people make that very hard! Today, after dropping Stella off, I had encounters with a couple of those drivers that seem to think that when they want to change lanes, someone better make room because they're coming in. The first one was lucky because I had restrained myself the first time she forced her way into my lane with barely enough room for her Mercedes to squeeze in and didn't blow the air horn at her, but when she did it a second time, I had to let her know that I was upset by her driving. I hit the horn button and nothing happened. I had apparently hit the switch for the air horn and it didn't blow. Of course, I turned the air horn back on, but the moment was past, so I didn't light her up. I should have though, I'd have felt much better. The second driver was one that frightened me when he pulled out of a convenience store. I was traveling on a five lane road in the inside lane when I approached him. He saw a small hole in the traffic going the opposite direction and pulled out, heading right toward me. He crossed the road behind me, but when he pulled out, I really thought he was going to hit me. We passed each other so quickly that I didn't have a chance to blow the horn at him, but he deserved it! I'll get off my soap box now. Our plans are coming together nicely for this year's trip. We will have a busy couple of weeks after we leave here, visiting Ian in Terrell, visiting Janie in Nacogdoches and then going to Tyler for more family visits. It should be a little hectic but fun. I'm starting to get "hitch itch" and am ready to go. So long.

Monday April 4, 2011-Rayford Crossing RV Resort

We are down to 6 guys at coffee now, and it's almost to the point that its too much trouble to do. I'll probably keep it going until we leave in May, but after that, who knows? I did make just enough this morning for everyone to have as much as they wanted, so that was a good thing. The bad thing is that I never know who is going to show up, so how much I make is only a guess. Hope my luck holds out. A cold front came in this morning and there was heavy rain and possible hail forecast. Stella was in the process of cutting my hair outside when the front blew in and again, it was fun to be outside when the weather changed. We ran some errands and went to the Louetta Upholstery store to check on having our recliners recovered and any defects repaired. The man in the store said they would only give an estimate if I brought the chairs in, and then told me that the labor alone to recover would be at least $450 not including the material which could run as high as $50per yard. We thanked him for his time and left. That's crazy... We returned home and while I was surfing the net, I noticed that the temperature here is still 71 degrees but it's a sizzling 102 in Mission! (where we just left in February) Not only that, but it's 45 degrees in Elkhart Indiana where we are going next month. Talk about a difference! We said goodbye to Bob and Peggy who will be leaving very early in the morning for So. Dakota. They had planned to leave on Sunday but the weather to the north kept them here. I also spoke with Dick, who is also leaving in the morning, but he's only going to Nacogdoches and plans to stay in the same park that we are looking at. I'm still working on our route and will let you know when we finalize it. So long.

Sunday April 3, 2011-Rayford Crossing RV Resort

The winter Texans have almost all gone now. Al and Joyce left this morning, leaving on Jerry and Diane (from Canada) left in the park. Last Wednesday, there were 7 rigs that pulled out, and we are feeling rather lonely. I helped Bill move into Warren and Judy's site after they pulled out. Bill is scheduled to stay there until November when they will return unless he and his wife find a house to buy in the meantime. I am feeling better now, but still have a nagging cough that I can't seem to get rid of. I am into my third week of this illness and have been told that it lasts from 3-4 weeks, so maybe I'll be able to kick it. I know it has been getting me down since I had it. We met Ted and Donna last night for supper. They have had a house full of relatives and have been entertaining them for the past week or so. It was good to sit and talk to them and we will be looking forward to seeing them again soon. I think we're going to just stay home today and relax. Stella's job, while an easy place to work, is starting to get to both of us. I have been letting Stella take the truck to work for the past couple of weeks to save on fuel costs and to keep from putting so many miles on the truck. It has worked, but I am tiring of being stuck here and dependent on someone else if I need to go somewhere. One thing that is going to help is our rally that is coming up. Our friends Pat and Lori are arriving next week, and it won't be long until the others arrive, and we will be busy getting ready to leave for our summer trip. I have scheduled having the wheel bearings cleaned and packed and to have the suspension inspected prior to leaving. We will decide if we need to replace the tires on the trailer then also. If we don't do it this year, we will have to replace them next year for sure. Stella and I are trying to figure out when we're leaving here and where we'll go. We're scheduled to go to the factory on June 1st for a repair and then to Trail Air for the hydraulic leveling system to be installed on the 6th. After that installation, we go to Pennsylvania for a local Heartland rally, then back to Goshen for the Heartland National rally. We're excited about the upcoming trip and will keep you advised about it. I plan to keep this blog up much better when we get back out on the road. We'll see how that works out. So long.