Thursday December 1, 2011-No. Houston KOA

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So long.

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

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

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

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

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

More to come in the next few days.

So long.

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

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

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

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

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

So long.

Sunday November 27, 2011-Rayford Crossing RV Resort

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

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

So long.

Saturday November 26, 2011-Rayford Crossing RV Resort

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So long.

Friday November 11, 2011-Rayford Crossing RV Resort

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

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

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

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

So long.

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

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

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

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

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

So long.