06/07/2022 Tuesday

I awoke to an almighty pain in my right wrist. It was so bad that I could not move it without it hurting. With nothing else to do for it, I jumped in the car and headed into Bastrop to the Emergency Room. Where after two long hours and half a dozen x-rays, it was determined that I had developed Tendonitis and they fitted me with a brace, told me to take 600 milligrams Ibuprofen and sent me on my way. It was still hurting like hell. I made my way to HEB as I needed some things and could buy the Ibuprofen there. What I did not know and had to ask is that 600 milligrams are a total of three tablets at a time. I thought it came in 600 milligram single tablets. Silly me. I called BJ to let her know what was happening and she promised to keep tabs on me through the day. Nice to have a friend. 

I drove back to the RV complaining bitterly to myself and wincing with the pain in my wrist every time I tried to do something and stopped at the office …again. Good job that I did as what I had thought we had arranged just was not, in fact, what was going to happen. I was under the impression that by switching sites, I was going to be able to remain here through Monday but that was not the case. Apparently, even after switching sites, I must pull out on Friday before noon time. What a mix-up. 

Back at Quatro, I took the dogs for a short walk just to relieve themselves and then set to work in storing everything inside the RV for even with a short move, thing jostle around. I followed the usual procedures to get us ready to move but forgot to pick up the jacking blocks and when I did pull out, I ran over them breaking them into a thousand tiny pieces. I drove straight to site2 forgetting that I needed to empty the tanks enroute and only remembered after I had reset up Quatro. I lowered the jacks and drove over to the dump station and emptied both tanks before heading back to the site and resetting up all over again. It does not take long to set up the coach as long as the site is fairly level and takes longer organizing inside rather than outside. By the time I was finished with all these exertions, I was soaked, weary and tired and wanted nothing more other than sit in the A/C and rest a bit. By then though, it was time for dog walkies so off we went heading for the lake where we sat for a while enjoying the scenery and not doing a great deal of actual walking. 

I had placed a call with the Super at the next campground in Salado to see if they had a spot for me to come in early. He called me back later to say that they did, and he would see me on Friday. Thank goodness for that and now we have a place to go. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing after a very painful and tiring day. In fact, I relaxed so much that I woke up at 2:00 am still sitting in the chair. Apparently, I had turned off the TV and settled back down again instead of going to bed, which of course I did immediately and slept all the way through 8:30 am refreshed and ready to face a new day. 

Written 06/07/2022. Read my other blog at https://pondblog2012.com – 

LCRA South Shore Park, Bastrop Day 8

06/08/2022 Wednesday

After a very late night or more probably, early morning and with waking up at 8:30 am, we went out for the mornings walk and spent time just sitting on a bench and watching the lake. It was very peaceful and relaxing before returning to Quatro for breakfast. Luckily, there were no more painful surprises or trip to the Emergency Center. Following the walk, we had breakfast which the dogs ignored, and I settled down to play catch up on the blog site. Having to wear this brace does not help my typing skills which are not great at the best of times. The bottom of the brace is solid for support, and it raises my hands off the keyboard and the mouse making life just that much more difficult.  
 
Today is really the last day that we have any free time as tomorrow is taken with the trip to the Doctors for both me and the dogs and maybe that haircut if I can fit it in, Friday, we pull out to Salado, the start of the new trip to sights and places unknown. 
 
I drove into Bastrop to get some keys made after calling ahead to make sure they were open. The last couple of times I have physically tried, and they have been closed, out on a call. I also made a stop at Walmart’s to replace the wheel chocks that I managed to run over and crush into a thousand pieces, yesterday. Of course, I had to buy food and wine as well…On the way back, I stopped at Starbucks for an iced Latte which tasted good but did not last very long and incidentally, was an expensive drink at a little over $5.00 with tax. The temperature was 98 degrees and is supposed to reach that dreaded 100-degree mark tomorrow not that a couple more degrees make any noticeable difference although everything I touch is hot if it is out in the full sun even to the point of burning the skin. I have two A/C units and a couple of fans and they are working overtime mainly because the front window’s face the sun with absolutely, no shade. Drawing the blinds helps keep out the sun but heat is still generated behind the blind and finds its way into the RV. 

When I returned, we sat around in the A/C trying to stay cool before heading out for the last walk of the day which again, was a short one. 

Written 06/08/2022. Read my other blog at https://pondblog2012.com – 

LCRA South Shore Park, Bastrop Day 9

06/09/2022 Thursday

We got up early knowing that we had a busy day ahead of us. After a short walk followed by a quick breakfast, we loaded everyone into the Jeep and hit the road. The drive into Austin was with heavy traffic to be expected early in the day and our first stop was at Austin Veterinary Diagnostic Hospital, the one I have been taking my pets to for these past 30 years. Not knowing what the future may bring, it was with some nostalgia as I walked through the doors. So many memories and so many pets. Some to recover and others to pass on over the Rainbow Bridge despite the efforts of the veterinarians and staff. Each had a memory, and all had a lot of tears when they finally succumbed. Even the staff has changed with only one of the Office Managers and Dr. Vargas of the original staff. To be expected over 30 odd years that I have been coming here. 

I checked the dogs in much to their dismay and walked out of the door without looking back. This time, unless they discovered something drastic, it was for their annual checkup and all the necessary shots. I chose the best out of the three programs that they offered as to me; the dogs are worth it being my only companions this late in life. 
 
From there, I headed into Dripping Springs taking time on the way to call ahead for a hairdresser appointment. I had some time to kill and wandered around the Home Depot but did not find anything that I needed. So big a change from years ago when every time I walked into any Home Depot store, I wanted everything that they had to offer, almost. Times have changed…again. By then, it was time for that haircut performed by a young lady who claims to have cut it before. Maybe she has but all young women look alike nowadays. I paid her and left her a generous tip as she did an excellent job, and I am still vain enough to appreciate the workmanship even though the only ones who will see it are the dogs who do not care what I look like as long as I smell the same. 

Then it was time to see Doctor who I have been visiting for over 20 years. After I was checked in, I sat for a while in an almost empty waiting room before it was my turn. We went through the usual procedures and when we were through, I pointed out the thing on my arm that has been bothering me. My doctor took one look and said, “I will be back” which he did carrying an assortment of packages including a Hypo which I viewed with some distaste. Bottom line is that he cut out the entire growth to send off for tests, stuck a band aid on it and sent me on my way with the promise to call me with the results. 

I hustled out of there before he could find something else and headed to my car as the next step was to pick up my mail. Before I left, I received a call from my new vet who filled me in with the details and said it would be at least 30 more minutes. I told her that I would go and pickup my mail first before coming back to pick up the guys. The trip to Far West was long and frustrating as the traffic was so bad. All stop and start and a lot of crazy, impatient drivers. I was impatient too but driving like a lunatic was not the way to solve it. I eventually arrived and chatted to the staff while waiting for the mail and we discussed the upcoming move and how to proceed from there. 

I dove back to the Vets which is located just outside of Oak Hill and was met by two extremely excited and incredibly happy dogs. I paid my bill, which incidentally was over a $1000.00 and include a 6 month’s supply of heartworm and flea and tick pills but they got the full treatment. We all jumped back in the car with both dogs happy to be away from that awful place. It took a while for them to calm down enough for me to drive safely but we eventually headed home stopping at Starbucks for a Latte along the way. 

We arrived back at Quatro very late afternoon and went out for a short walk. After their busy day and getting pulled in every direction during their examinations, they were tired and not much interested in walking. Come to that, neither was I as it was almost 100 degrees out and bloody hot. We adjourned back to the relative comfort of the RV where the dogs immediately fell asleep. Incidentally, I filled the Jeep with gas and paid $4.36 a gallon for a total bill of around $75.00 and that was at the cheapest place I could find on the trip with some as high as $4.80 cents a gallon. Cannot wait to fill Quatro with its 8o gallon tank and maybe 8 MPG. 

The rest of the evening was spent in the usual fashion. Tomorrow, I will make the RV ready for travel, hook up the Jeep and try to be out of here no later than 11:30 am. It is less than 100 miles to the next stop where I plan to stay for 10 days. 

Written 06/09/2022. Read my other blog at https://pondblog2012.com – 

The day started off still at Henly as today was moving day from this very nice park. I cannot say enough wonderful things about how well I was treated here especially by the Supers, Melinda, and Daniel and how well the park is maintained.  
 
I had nearly everything taken care of and mostly all that remained to get Quatro ready was to lower the jacks etc. and attach the Jeep to the rear. I got up early after setting the alarm and we took a final short walk around the park for our stay this time around. We will return as I have a month’s credit due to a mix up that had me paying twice. 

It took a while, as usual, to hook up the Jeep as everything must line up perfectly. Bit of a pain, really. I finally pulled out of there a bit later than I had planned and consequently, I was late getting to Crestview. They immediately went to work while the dogs and I wandered around. There was no A/C in Quatro because the power was not hooked up and it was cooler outside. A couple of hours later, they had it operational again and this time, installed a brand-new step unit… While I was there, I got one of the mechanics to fix the drawer that had fallen apart the day before yesterday. Very satisfied with what they had done, we headed towards Bastrop. The trip was uneventful except for one idiot in a car that did not like that I changed lanes even though I signaled a long way before, and he did not want to slow down for me. He cut me off barely missing the front of the RV and slammed on his brakes within inches of me running into him. Bloody idiot. Road rage at its worst. Well maybe not worst as it could have ended up a lot different had his judgment been off and I rear ended him. 

I also had a problem as I was turning into the park.There was a NO Entry sign facing me and I sat there not knowing what to do. In the end, I drove through it and when I talked to the clerk that served me at the Reservation desk, she said it applied to traffic on Hwy 21. She said it must have gotten turned around and was facing the wrong direction. With enough scares to last a lifetime, I found my site and easily backed into it after unhooking the Jeep. I set up quickly and then decided that I should make a couple of adjustments and did it all over again. It would be simpler with a helper but as there is only me and the dogs and so far, I have not been able to train them as spotters. I would imagine they would disagree on what we should do next anyway… 
 
We were sitting around writing and I noticed a stream of water flowing across the floor and jumped up to find the shower was running and overflowing which meant that the grey tank was already full up. This all happened in the brief time that I had hooked up the water. I had no choice other than to empty the grey tank on the ground which is all clean water anyway. BTW, there are only a few sites with sewer hook ups at this park and mine is not one of them, but they do have a dump station. I need to conserve taking showers and such. This is a pleasant site, and I can barely see my neighbor. There are a lot of empty sites that will fill up over the weekend some starting as early as Thursday. 
 
I spent time in straightening up the RV, putting things away and doing some re-arranging. I still cannot find some things but they will show up eventually. I fed us all before settling down to watch more episodes of “Hell on Wheels”. So ended our first move with Quatro and with hopefully, many more to come. 

We slept well and woke up to the sound of rain on the roof, so I rolled over and went back to sleep rolling out of bed around 9:30 am. The dogs make no effort to get up and I wonder how long they can “hold it” after a long night. The minute I am showered, they suddenly are ready to get out of the door. We walked for about a half mile just around the loop before returning to Quatro for breakfast. And then settling down to write in this blog. 

I spent some time on RV Trip Wizard writing a very favorable review along with pictures on Henly RV Park from which I recently left and is an extremely well-maintained park with extremely helpful hosts. 

Written 06/01/2022. Read my other blog at https://pondblog2012.com

LCRA South Shore Park, Bastrop-Day 2
06/02/2022

We all slept well and got up early for the first walk of the day. I am parked on a loop, and we followed completely around walking past many open sites, some with Reserved signs on them for the weekenders, and discovered the lake not far away. Very pleasant sight indeed. Something about water in a natural setting. Back at Quatro, we ate breakfast or at least, I did. The dogs were in “not one of those eating” moods.  

I sat down and checked the emails but there was nothing of importance that required my time, and I quickly turned my attention to writing the blog. BJ called to let me know about what time she expected to be here which gave me time to pick up the place and make it look presentable. 

spent time working with RV Trip Planner picking out my next destination and cancelled my original next stop which was close to an RV dealership. As I now have Quatro, I no longer need to visit that RV Store. I found a park in Waco which I tried to book but could not get an answer. I also extended my stay here at this park through the 13th of this month to give me more time for a doctor’s appointment and a Veterinary trip for the guys. I will have to change sites but no big deal. I worked on the trip for a bit and then BJ arrived. And I spent the next hour showing her around and we sat and talked. The Austin Pond Society of which I was once a very avid member and the webmaster, is holding the Annual Pond Tour this coming weekend and BJ’s ponds are a part of the Tour. I appreciated that she took the time out of her remarkably busy schedule to visit with me. 

After she left, I decided that I should go into Bastrop to the HEB located there to purchase groceries and stock up. I had managed, quite literally, to eat everything in the freezer last week not wanting to go grocery shopping. Some of it was bloody awful and I seriously wondered why I even bought it in the first place, but before doing so, we went for a short walk around the park. With the dogs safe and sound back in Quatro, I jumped in the Jeep for the groceries trip. I kept careful track of my route so as not to get lost on the way back already having an idea of where the HEB was located. That store is humongous. It is by by far, the biggest HEB I have ever seen. I wandered around and found all the things that I needed plus a few more that found their way into my shopping cart. There is a Starbucks located right next door so for me, the shopping trip was a resounding success. I drove back the way I had come in without getting lost and ignoring the “One Way” sign, headed back to the park and to Quatro where I was met by two extremely excited little dogs 

After putting the groceries away with a lot of help from my furry friends, we harnessed up and managed to locate the trails that run around the lake and walked them for about a half mile before returning for the evening’s meal for us all. followed by the usual television. I received a phone call from the owner of the park in Waco apologizing for missing my calls and I was able to book a spot at his park. I walked 2.5 miles for the day, the dogs a little less as they did not walk around that humongous HEB. 

Written 06/02/2022. Read my other blog at https://pondblog2012.com 

LCRA South Shore Park, Bastrop-Day 3
06/03/2022

We got up early for us and took the first walk of the day. This time, after discovering the trails yesterday, we hit them again and covered 1.7 miles before breakfast. We passed one other group of people and our dogs combined in barking to see who could make the most noise. At one spot, I looked up and there was a large German Shepherd dog standing there. Mine started barking at it and it made a move towards us with its teeth showing but must have been well trained as when I shouted “No” at him, he immediately stopped and then went on his way without paying us any further attention. It could have been bad. The dog had tags and if I were on my own, I would have tried to make friends and grab it to contact the owners, but I did not dare to do that with my dogs at hand. Hope he makes his way home. 

Back inside of Quatro, I had breakfast as the dogs made it clear they were not hungry. They were both tired from their morning exertions and immediately crashed in their respective sleeping places while I ate and drank coffee before turning my attention to this blog. Incidentally, because we are in a different park, I have already taken a lot of fresh pictures. More like the good old blogging days of parks, trails, rivers, and lakes. 

While I was working, there was a lot of activity going on outside being a Friday and all. Many campers were coming in for the weekend and a couple of others packed up and left. For a while, there seemed to be a constant movement of RV’s both coming and going. My neighbors were working on their slide and then took the time to clean the inside of their truck. Made me feel bad with all their activity. I was going to suggest that they clean my Jeep if the felt like it… I worked on the pictures in Lightroom until I was satisfied, they are presentable. I really need to get back in the habit of carrying my camera with me since we have trails to hike here. One gets so used to the convenience of the cell phone, which to be fair, takes surprisingly good pictures. 

I went back to work planning the rest of the trip but without calling any of the campsites. Cannot do that until we are almost ready to move just in case something comes up. Currently, I have us in Colorado with about 12 stops in between here and there. Before I knew it, I realized that it was 6:30 pm and time to take that last walk of the day. We harnessed up and got out the door and took a completely different trail from the one this morning. We did not walk it to the end as I was not sure where it came out and we ended up turning back and retracing our footsteps. I got to see more of this park and the area we walked has rental cabins which all looked occupied for the weekend. We covered well over 2.5 miles for the day with no big box stores. Surprisingly good for us and we finished the day off in the usual fashion with food all around, a glass of wine and more of “Hell on Wheels”. 

Written 06/03/2022. Read my other blog at https://pondblog2012.com