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.

Sunday November 6, 2011-Rayford Crossing RV Resort

We decided to go to Furr's for breakfast this morning before we took Tyler back home. Cameron has a baseball game at 11 and another at 1:30 if they win the first one, so we got a move-on this morning and had the dogs walked and were at the restaurant by 9. After another delicious breakfast, we were on our way to Texas City. Again, traffic was bad on the Gulf Frwy. and we were late getting to the game (more on this later!)

Cam's team had beaten the team from Galveston a day or two before by a score of 13-1, so they must have been overconfident and got beaten this morning 6-4. It was a crushing defeat for the young men because they didn't get to play any more today but their season isn't over yet so there's next weekend for them.

We went over to Kim's house to watch the football games and hang out for the rest of the afternoon before we drove home. That's what I want to talk about, the drivers that we have been encountering. Is it just me, or are there a lot more crazy drivers on the road these days? As I said in another post, this is the Lone Star motorcycle rally weekend in Galveston and all weekend we have seen lots of very fast bikes weaving in and out of traffic in a big hurry to get to Galveston but why did we see so many today, going back to where they came from? They are not only down here; just the other day I was passed by a small blue car. He continued on until he was about a quarter mile ahead of me when all of a sudden he began to spin around in the road. He didn't hit anything or anyone else, but I'm sure that he had a mess to clean up after that... just sayin'

We made it back home without any incidents and stopped by the grocery store before coming back home.

So long.

Saturday November 5, 2011-Rayford Crossing RV Resort

I woke pretty early considering that we were up very late last night to go down for coffee with the guys. I'm glad I did because Bill came by this morning with donuts. He and his wife bought a house over in Fulshear but they lived here at Rayford for several months and we became good friends.

After coffee, I returned home and managed to get Tyler up and about so we could leave for Center TX and the 80th birthday party for my Aunt Barbara. We had a good trip up there and only stopped for a donut for breakfast and for a rest stop around Diboll. When we got to town we went to Janie's house for a burger with her and Gail and then a pretty short visit with them before we had to leave for the party.

It was good to see so many family members and to visit with them. I was rather surprised at how many of them knew of our travels and it was fun to talk about some of our trips. Everyone was surprised at how tall Tyler has gotten. The last time Janie saw him, he was about 3 years old, so it was quite a change in him. The party didn't last all that long before it was time for us to make the long drive back to Houston. I forgot my camera, so I didn't get any photos of the party, but it was a good time and we enjoyed it.

We had an easy drive back and went through Livingston to check out a new RV park there that I had been recommended to look into for a park hosting job. We looked at the park but were not too impressed with all the bare dirt in the sites and the fact that there are many trees that need to be trimmed back to make it easier for patrons to get into their sites. I think we'll pass on this one, at least for now...

We made it home before 7 and again the doggies were very glad to see us. They remembered Tyler and didn't bark at him at all. Maybe he made a better impression than I thought, or maybe their memories are better than I think. He's a pretty memorable young man...

So long.