I slept well and woke up at a reasonable hour, for us anyway. After a quick shower and change of clothes I was ready to face another day. The dogs are always ready, so we harnessed up and out the door we went. We have this system whereby I stand on the top step of which there are six total, with the RV door closed and put on my outdoor shoes, grab my keys and if it is sunny, my straw hat and sunglasses. Then I harness up the dogs in no particular order although if I do not harness Sandy first, she is constantly dancing until I do. When we are ready to go, I turn and brace myself holding tightly onto the leash and open the door. Both dogs immediately fly down the steps and if I were not prepared, I would end up in a heap at the bottom of them. We have this ritual every time we go out for a walk. If their double leash were a foot longer, we would not have this problem but as it is, they almost jerk me down with them in their haste to get outside. All part of the fun. 

We wandered around and looked for the white kitty but did not see it anywhere. It has cooled off considerably and quite pleasant walking even in the sun. Sandy, as usual leads the way and dragged us all over the place with a gentle nudge from me, here and there, to keep us in some sort of direction. We walked alongside a travel trailer with the man and wife outside talking in loud voices. I stopped and enquired if everything was OK as apparently, they were getting ready to move out. They explained they were having trouble with their awning and were having to use an electric drill to close it. I stopped to see if I could be of help and offered them my ladder, but it would not work so I suggested they use the table that is at every campsite to reach the awning to wind it in with an electric drill, which they did. They were arguing the entire time the way that long time married couples do and at the same time, talking to me telling me that they were heading for Arizona for the winter and complaining bitterly about the fact that the RV was brand new, and they have had nothing but problems with it. I sympathized and told them that is why I buy used RVs with the bugs already worked out. I did not tell them of the one new one that I had bought that also had problems through both poor workmanship and even worse, quality inspection.  

I mentioned that I was eventually heading for Texas and as there was nothing, I could do to help them, I wished them a safe journey and we went on our way and a bit later, they passed us on the way out. I started thinking about them and how they react with each other talking in raised voices as they worked to fix the problem and wondered if their entire existence is like this or just in times of stress. Dismissing those thoughts, I told the dogs that I was incredibly grateful they do not answer me back or question anything I say or do and leave it to me to make all the major decisions, right or wrong and if I get it wrong, I never hear a critical word out of either of them. 

We had breakfast and settled down to answer a few emails. It seems that as fast as I delete and check the unscribe box, just as many more new and different ones appear usually of things that I either have no opinions, no interest or plain, do not care about. Some even look suspicious and are quickly erased without opening them. You just cannot trust anything or anybody nowadays.  

With today being Friday, I would think that the weekenders will be coming in later. It is getting close to when the kids go back to school so maybe their camping is over for the season. As though to prove me wrong, a Class A pulled in a couple of spots away from me and I watched as the driver expertly backed it in directed by one of the campground attendants. His rig is bigger than ours and is nice looking. Turns out to be another older couple. 

I decided to go into town to the nearest Walmart’s which is one I have not been to before. It is the smallest of these stores that I have been in yet, but it did have everything that I needed. I had to do a lot of searching as things were not where they were supposed to be according to the aisle labels. The clerk that checked me out, an older and very talkative lady gave me a running commentary on the articles I had bought which I found amusing and I paid up and walked back to the car. Again, she asked for my ID because of the wine in the cart which I found amusing. 

After putting the groceries into the back of the Jeep, I did some research for the nearest coffee shop and it gave me directions to Starbucks but as I was pulling out of the parking lot, there was a coffee shop right in front of me, not a Starbucks but coffee is coffee, and I took full advantage of ordering my usual Latte. When I drove back onto the road, I passed a Starbucks no more than 200 yards away. Keep that one in mind for next time although the Latte that I had in my hand tasted perfectly fine and as a bonus was a bit cheaper. I did have to dig out some cash though to pay for it instead of using the Starbucks card. The drive back to the RV was not far and although I had brought my camera with me, I was not able to take any pictures of the various weird and wonderful offerings because the traffic kept on moving. I need a co=pilot to do that. It is not as though I could easily pull off as these places come up quick and fast and are just as quickly in my rear-view mirror 

Back in the RV, I was greeted by my two little friends who insisted on helping to put the groceries away. Or at least, they had their nose inside every bag as I unpacked them, checking out all the new and wonderful smells. With everything stored away, I harnessed up the dogs, grabbed the bag of plastic shopping bags that I had just collected to take to the dumpster as I have so many, I will never use them all. On the way, I noticed the new arrivals sitting outside and said hello in passing and jokingly asked if they needed trash bags waving the bundle at them, at which they smiled and shook their heads. We continued our walk with the dumpster being the first stop and wandered around staying in the shade as much as possible before returning to Quatro where I sat and caught up on a few things including the blog. 

When I passed my neighbors rig, I noticed that they had already covered their tires to help prevent the sun from damaging the rubber and remembered that was one thing I had not yet done. When we got back after the walk, I pulled out the tire covers and placed one on each wheel. It made sense to do this as we are here for another couple of weeks. Yesterday, I had started the motor of the RV and let it run for 5 minutes or so to make sure that the batteries are charged and that things stay lubricated, something another camper had told me I should do. Not all camper’s advice is sound as some is either a whim or something they heard along the way, but the tire thing is for real as I have also read about how the sun can cause the tires to deteriorate as starting the RV to keep the engine lubricated also makes sense. If I really wanted to do it right, I should lower the jacks and move the RV forward and then back to its original spot to lubricate everything. Nah… that is way too much trouble… 

The sun was going down when we went out for the final walk of the day not that I needed the exercise as I got mine walking around Walmart’s with the added bonus of being in the air conditioning. The dogs like to go out and who am I to spoil their little bit of fun… 

Written 08/05/2022. Read my other blog at https://pondblog2011.com