Monte Ne RV Park, Rogers AR, Day 11 Sunday 09/04/2022

I slept like the proverbial log having dropped off to sleep in the middle of watching a soccer game, the evening before. No idea why I was so tired as we had not done anything physically different than usual. The dogs too were tired and made no effort to get up even after I did. They usually go with me to the little bathroom as they know they get a lot of petting when I am sitting on the john and tend to take full advantage of my temporary immobility by demanding lots of attention. Incidentally, not a lot of room in there when I am alone, and you can imagine how crowded it gets with the three of us. 

We went out for the morning walk around the park and as is our usual custom, covered a half mile. I noticed that the tent dwellers that came in yesterday, have already moved on. They did not stay long. Our other tent dweller with the two large dogs and three small puppies, are still here. I can see the dogs where they are attached to the outdoor table and the puppies frolic and play, barking and squealing and are very amusing to watch. It must be extremely difficult to camp, in a tent, with two adult dogs and three puppies. How do you keep them secure so they do not escape while inside and it must be awfully crowded in such a small space. Tent camping is so different than what we do. I did it a lot in my much younger days starting when I was a Boy Scout and later as an adult with various friends and sometimes, even girlfriends, but I would not want to do it now. Way too old and I like my creature comforts too much. Besides that, the ground is hard to sleep on even with an air mattress and it has creepy crawly things on it. Incidentally, only one of my three wives liked to camp, the last and the youngest. The other two preferred the comforts of four walls and a roof and a real bed with a soft mattress. Maybe that accounts for my love of this camping life.

This is our last week here as we travel out this coming Thursday. At least Quatro is drivable, and we await news of the Jeep although tomorrow is a Holiday so we will not hear anything until Tuesday at the earliest. I am hoping that I will be able to pick up the Jeep on our way out of town as we head to Southgate RV Park in Fayetteville on Thursday. It is only a 30-mile trip, and we are booked in for a month while we try to get our business with the car and RV, sorted out. 

I had some things to do in the RV like repair the small wooden file cabinet that I carry around with my life’s worth of “important” papers. Stuff like my will and insurance information and that sort of thing. It is not a big cabinet and is one of those self-construct units which came in a myriad of parts and pieces requiring assembly which was not a problem for me. It is wedged behind the passenger seat and when we travel, I need to put a couple of bungee cords around it to stop the drawers from opening. Needless to say, I forgot on the last trip and when the file drawer slid open with the heavy files inside, if forced the front off the unit requiring the repair that I did today. Of course, the drawer is loaded with no more room and I cannot find anything when I need it which, thank goodness, is not very often. Incidentally, it will not fall off again as now it has four, inch and a half screws holding it together. Gotta remember the bungee cords next time we travel. 

With the repair done, I tidied up the RV and settled down to write again as it was still early afternoon and not yet time for walkies. Actually, we do not have set times except for morning and evening and are more governed by the amount of shade to keep cool as we walk. Even so, a couple of circuits and I start to sweat longing for the air-conditioned comfort of Quatro. Mikey is like me and is always ready to head for home, but Sandy will go and go until she gets tired. Then she flops down where she is to rest for a couple of minutes. No amount of coaxing and cajoling will get her to move until she is ready. Mikey and I just look at each other when she does this and his look says “Women” although in her case it is “Bitch” … He loves her though and we all get along great although we both acknowledge that she is the boss. 

My thoughts turned to the fact that it is almost Fall. The plan is to head back to Henly in Texas to winter out and I have a spot reserved there for December 1^st. We plan on staying at the next campground for a month as we try to get the Jeep problems sorted out and then move on this time heading South as the cold weather will follow us back to Texas. When I lived in upper New York State after I and my family first came over to this country in 1967, it was not uncommon for the first frosts to arrive towards the end of September, and I certainly do not want to be caught driving on icy roads. I looked it up and the Farmer’s Almanac says that the first frost might arrive in Arkansas by mid-October. If I had to, I could scurry back into Texas in a hurry. That is, if the Jeep is fixed and towable. 

We went out for the afternoon walk and wandered around for a bit. I noticed that there was camp stuff at the campsite recently vacated by the overnight Tenters and wandered over to see what was going on. At first, I thought that they had left stuff behind and would be coming back for it but that really did not make a lot of sense. Then as I investigated further, I found a large cage that contained four very young kittens that could not have been much more than a few days old. I moved the cage into the shade wondering what I should do. Not having any other course of action, I left a message with the Camp Manager. 

The kittens worried me enough that I kept a close eye on them and happened to be standing by the cage when the Tenters from further down the street pulled up and explained that they were moving sites for various reasons and that the gear and the kittens were theirs. Breathing a huge sigh of relief, I chatted to the lady of the house (tent) for a bit, and she said they were moving because of lack of shade and muddy conditions. She had brought the mother cat with her and put it in the cage with the kittens. I went back to Quatro and placed a call into the Park Super to let her know it was a false alarm. In the course of the next 30 minutes, the Tenters had moved everything over and were all set up.  

Thankful that it was one less thing for me to worry about, the kittens not the Tenters, I did some chores around the RV and then we sat outside and listened to an Audiobook which was so good that we stayed out until almost 8:00 pm before going back indoors and settling in for the evening. 

Written 09/04/2022. Read my other blog at https://pondblog2011.com

Monte Ne RV Park, Rogers AR, Day 12 Monday 09/05/2022

I slept well only waking once for the call of Nature and dropping straight back off to sleep. We got up at our “normal” time of 9:00 am and wandered around for a bit. Returning to Quatro where we went through the usual breakfast and email procedures before settling down to write. I wrote for some time and worked on some pictures before posting a couple of the blogs and then went outside to do some work, or so I thought. 

We are pulling out of here on Thursday as per our original plans now that the awning is fixed, and the coach is drivable, and the plan is to carry the wicker couch on the carryall as we usually do only this time, it is now hooked onto the RV. I got to thinking just as I was about to load the couch that maybe I should wait at least a couple more days in case I may hear back about the Jeep repairs. If they fix it so that it runs, then I will stop by the Jeep Dealership that is doing the work and hook it up to Quatro. A lot depends on if the new tow bar comes in although, at a pinch, I could still us the old one for the 30 miles to the next site. If we go this route, then the carryall will go onto the back of the Jeep where it usually is and the wicker couch onto it. If the Jeep is not ready, then the carryall will stay on Quatro, and we will carry the couch on it. The availability of the Jeep is the unknown factor here. 

With that line of thinking, I decided that there is no point in doing anything until I get more information, hopefully tomorrow or at the latest, Wednesday. Without having to attach the Jeep, we can be ready to go in about 30 minutes and there is no point in taking the carryall off the RV until I know what the plan is. A lot of ifs, buts and maybes. Still, life would be very dull if it was always straightforward. Would be nice though… 

Even though it was earlier than we normally go out, we went walking the park and chatted to a couple of the residents. With today a holiday, nearly all of them were home and some were outside either working on their RV’s, sitting around or even cooking on the grill. The smell of cooking meat wafted through the air, not unpleasant at all. Certainly, made the dogs do a lot of sniffing. We got back and sat around outside listening to an Audiobook for an hour or so and watched people come and go until I decided that we should walk again. Sandy was all for it, Mikey, not so much but he came along anyway not wanting to miss out or to let Sandy have me all to herself. We wandered around and stopped to talk to a gentleman that was up on the roof of his RV fixing it before heading back. So far, we have covered 1.5 miles for the day and it is early yet… 

Back inside, I wrote about today’s happenings, but it was still early, one of those days when time passes slowly instead of whizzing by as it usually does so we went out for another walk. This was just a short one and at the end we covered the 2 miles we were aiming for. The rest of the evening was spent in the usual fashion, and I watched as my two favorite teams, Manchester United and Brighton and Hove Albion won their respective games. Very satisfying indeed. 
 
Written 09/05/2022. Read my other blog at https://pondblog2011.com