Sunday Day 53

10/30/2022

It was very cloudy and overcast when we rolled out of bed. It looked like rain and there was some in the forecast, so we quickly harnessed up for that first walk. We wandered around stopping to chat with a couple of residents who were either working on their RV’s or getting ready to move on. One lady had the cutest little ball of fluff that was very friendly and even Mikey came over to check it out. It was a truly adorable little Lhasa Apso. 

We made a short circuit around the park and managed to cover our usual 4/10’s of a mile before returning to the RV for breakfast and coffee. I really am having a hard time finding food that appeals to me as much of it is very bland and tasteless. It is probably my aging tastebuds and not the food. Oh well, at least I still need food so that is something. When I stop eating, then I really am in trouble… or maybe not. 

My front window looks out on Hwy 71B and there is always a constant stream of traffic going up and down it. Today on the few times I looked up, there were at least a dozen or more RV’s that passed by. Those were the ones that I noticed and there were probably more as I am not constantly looking out of the window. We are hoping that in a week’s time, we too will be joining them as we make our way back to Henly.  

I got to thinking about weekend travelers and why so many campers like to travel then. Many are just that, weekend campers and need to head back to their permanent homes but others, like myself, are full timers. I prefer to move out on Friday’s or Mondays to avoid the weekend traffic as much as possible although I have no idea of what percentage of drivers are on the roads on weekends as compared to weekdays and if it even makes a difference. 

I spent time on the blog, posting the latest before turning my attention to doing a bit of housecleaning. With that out of the way, I looked around for something else to occupy my time. Finding nothing of importance, I opted to watch another of my favorite teams, Brighton and Hove Albion, the one my Great, Great Grandson Solly March plays on, beat Chelsea, the current Premier League leaders, by a resounding 4-1 score line.  

Convinced that it was not going to get any better than that for the rest of the day, I harnessed up the dogs and we went out for the afternoon walk. This time, instead of walking around the park, we hit the outside sidewalk that runs the full length of the Tyson Meat Packing Plant, a distance of at least a half mile. This sidewalk has a grassy strip that protects it from the road traffic and is much safer to walk on than the other sidewalk we sometimes use. Altogether, we covered 1.7 miles for the day. 

Back in Quatro, after the usual food all around, I sat and watched yet another Premier League game before retiring at a reasonable hour. 

Written 10/30/2022. Read my other blogs at https://pondblog2011.com  

Southgate RV Park, Fayetteville,AR Monday Day 54 10/31/2022

Today is a Monday and is also the last day of the month, again. It seemed like only yesterday that I said that about September. Time sure does fly by. We are hoping this will be our last week here and that the promise of the Jeep will still be good for this coming Friday. I cannot even complete our next stop as we make our way back to Henly for December 1, just in case that date changes.  

We went out for our usual morning stroll around the park which is now very empty again although it will fill up towards the end of the week as the “Razorbacks” have a home football game. Our friendly big dog and the little ball of fluff had gone and there were no other people or dogs to visit with. 

Back in the RV after the morning breakfast and coffee, I settled down to complete yesterday’s blog and make a start on today. This was after reading the morning news and answering or in my case, trashing most of the emails. I read an interesting piece on using specially made airbags to place under and around the RV in the winter to keep the temperatures a bit warmer and prevent freezing. It looked promising although not cheap. Then again, anything RV related is not cheap. For my semi-permanent winter stay in Henly, which I do every year, this might be a worthwhile investment. Then again, South/Central Texas does not have that much of a winter although I did have a freeze problem with a couple of the pipes this past winter. Those repairs cost almost a thousand dollars so maybe spending an extra thousand might be worth it. Something to think about as the weather does seem to be changing for the worse with Climate Change. 

We had nothing planned as is our usual custom, not even a trip to Walmart’s and I took a look at RV Trip Planner and get a rough idea of where to go as we headed back to Henly for the winter. I played around and came up with a couple of ideas. If we do manage to get out of here next Monday, that will leave us with about 23 days to make our way back for a trip of a little over 600 miles. So, maybe 3 stops with about 150-mile drives and then a final drive to Henly. I have decided to wait until we get back to Henly to get the RV repaired. It does not affect the driving and the repairs are purely aesthetic. There is probably a waiting list anyway. In any case, I would need to rent a room in a Motel while the RV is being repaired so it is imperative that it not take too long.

The spammers are at it again as they keep calling with their Toll Free Numbers. After a couple of repeated calls, I blocked them, but this is only a temporary measure. There are no permanent cures for this problem. I hate those bloody spammers with a passion, and they can all rot in hell. 

It was too early to go out walking and I searched around for things to do. I settled on watching my other favorite team, Manchester United play against West Ham. It was an interesting game, and, in the end, Man U squeaked by 1-0.

It was time to take that final walk of the day. We started off wandering along the fence between the properties and came to the spot where both Sandy and especially Mikey, “attack” the dogs on the other side of the fence. They play this game every time we walk in this direction. Only trouble was that Mikey in his enthusiasm, managed to catch a toe nail in the wood resulting in his turning and limping back to me. I saw what happened and made a big fuss of him which consoled him a little. It was obvious that it hurt, and he made the most of it, limping along with a sad look in his eye knowing full well, he would get a lot of extra attention. 

I wondered if we should carry on of go back to the RV and decided on the former. Mikey did not appear to have any trouble walking. I did take pity on him, and we hit the sidewalk that goes in front of the Tyler Processing Plant. This is both easy walking and safely placed from the highway. We covered half our normal distance before I turned back to the Quatro where both dogs found their sleep places and zonked off. I checked Mikey’s paw but could not see any major damage so maybe it was a splinter from the wooden fence, that stuck him. 

I prepared the evening meal for us all then settled down to watch yet another English Premier game. We finished the evening watching a detective series that I managed to find.

Written 10/31/2022. Read my other blogs at https://pondblog2011.com