Up at the usual time and into the shower while the dogs paced nervously up and down waiting to hit the park. They are very impatient especially Sandy. Whether that is because they got to “go” or just plain excitement to get out, probably a combination of both. The park is very empty as I commented yesterday as we wandered around this time not having to avoid another camper’s space as there are no campers. There is an unwritten rule in campers’ etiquette that you do not violate other camper’s space by walking through what is designated as their campsite. Most campers abide by it except a few kids here and there. It is just common courtesy especially if the campsites are very close together.
Back in Quatro, we had breakfast before settling down to write. With not much going on throughout the day, neither is there much to write about. I have almost caught up with the posting of the blogs and now are only a couple of days behind. There is not much to blog about either all the while I do not leave the park. As regards posting the blogs, I always need a cushion just in case I do not post for a day or two. I caught up by posting three days’ worth of blogs at the same time which I will drop off to two or maybe even one. It is the weekends that mess up my system as I post a poem on Saturdays and nothing on Sundays but blog all week long. This means that I have two extra days to double up on somehow. It is a tough life when all I must worry about is when to post my blogs…
I thought about things and decided that I should do a load of laundry, so I threw everything together, stripped and remade the bed with the other sheets I have and drove over to the laundromat which is situated in the office. This one has 4 washers and 4 dryers, and I exchanged my $10.00 bill for quarters with Frieda and chatted to both her and Johnny who happened to be in there at the time.
With the wash doing its thing, I drove around the park for a bit before returning to Quatro to wait for the wash to complete. 45 minutes later, I drove back to the washroom theoretically to put the wash in the dryer but in fact, for reasons unknown, I put it in two different washing machines, and popped in the quarters before realizing what I had done. Consequently, the laundry was washed a second time. Cursing at my stupidity, I had no recourse except to return to Quatro moaning the entire time. I sat and thought about my actions but could not make sense of why I did it. After all, I know the difference between a washer and dryer, or do I?
Another 45 minutes passed, and I was back in the laundry room putting the double washed clothes into the dryer trying to avoid holding a conversation with Frieda. Hopefully, she was not paying attention to my number of trips as I still had to come back and fold the clean laundry which I did an hour later. I did not notice any difference in how the clothes looked or felt with their double wash.
Back in Quatro, I put the clothes away and tried to put it out of my mind. I am always worrying about these sorts of incidents just in case I am literally losing my mind although usually, it is nothing more than forgetting someone’s name and hopefully, this is a one-off.
We went out for the evenings walk and both dogs enjoyed themselves sniffing and peeing to their little hearts content. Me, I let them drag me around all over the place in their curiosity. If one discovers something, the other rushes over to check and vice versa. I am the watchman on the lookout for any snakes or varmints that may be lurking although with the short grass here at this park, they should not be a problem. Unless you count the squirrels that wait until the very last minute before jumping up the closest tree. I think they do it on purpose just to aggravate the dogs.
Back in the RV, we finished off the evening in the usual fashion with food and drinks and watching more of “Rookie Blue”.
Shiloh RV Park, Malakoff. Day 9 Tuesday 06/28/2022
I slept late and it was 10:00 am before I crawled out of bed. No idea why I was so tired unless the laundry incident was still on my mind. If this was the case, you would think I would be wide awake not asleep. We went for a stroll around the park. The Class A that pulled in a couple of days ago and was parked next to us has moved on and we are alone again. Kind of nice to have this part of the park to ourselves although I only saw the occupants one time. I think a couple of cabins may still be occupied.
Back in the RV, I fixed breakfast for myself and did not put anything down for the dogs as they have not been eating their morning food. It does not get wasted as I add fried chicken pieces to it in the evenings and then they gobble it down. Of course, they are more than willing to eat anything I give them from my own breakfast.
We sat and did the usual thing of answering emails and then writing in the blog. I debated as to the need to go into Gun Barrel City (just love the name), to the Walmart’s today or tomorrow as I need to stock up ahead of the next trip. Somehow, I have gained a day as I keep thinking today is Wednesday. When I was doing laundry yesterday and talking to Frieda and Jimmy, they were both doing their best to persuade me to make this my home site. It is a lot cheaper than Henly by about 40% for long term residents and might be worth considering. I do have a month’s credit I need to use up at Henly before making up my mind. My big concern is just how muddy this place will get when it rains as there are no gravel pads, just dirt and not much grass either.
We went out for the evenings walk around the park which is strangely empty. Lots of vacant sites waiting for this weekend, no doubt.
We got up at a reasonable hour and took a quick shower before heading out for a walk around the park. The weekenders were active with some already in the water either swimming or in boats which were either tearing around the lake at breakneck speed or anchored as the occupants sat with their fishing lines cast out. Might as well enjoy every minute and it got me thinking just how lucky I am that this is my way of life every day and they can only do it on the weekends.
We returned for the usual breakfast attempts which resulted in the dogs ignoring their food. I ate mine and enjoyed it along with the morning Latte. We have nothing planned for today except to stay cool.
I sat in front of the computer and quickly went through the few(er) emails that I had including one from BJ describing her luxury hotel lodgings. Sure, is a tough life for her on this vacation and her form of “roughing it’ is much different than ours although ours does have a very high level of comfort and convenience. No hotel staff to wait on us, as with me by myself, it is all self-service. The dogs are absolutely no help whatsoever except for their love and companionship and acting as though they are important with their constant demands for attention.
I worked on compiling a log of our latest trip just for the record including campground costs and such to see what this trip will actually cost me when we finish. We went out for the final walk and wandered around for a while not going in any specific direction. I let Sandy lead the way and only occasionally redirected her to go close to where I wanted. It made for interesting walking.
Back in Quatro, we had our evening meal followed by the usual television and relaxing. That is a strange statement as my whole life is one of relaxing even when there are chores to do.
We went out for the morning walk and when I opened the door, the first thing that I noticed was just how empty the park is. Most of the weekenders have gone and even those staying in the cabins have left. As far as I can tell, there are only 5-6 semi-permanent RV’s left in the park and 4 of the temporary ones like us. There is only one cabin occupied. Late in the afternoon, another older Class A pulled in 2 sites away from us. That will all change this coming 4th July weekend when I imagine nearly all the sites and cabins will be booked. We, hopefully, will be at Hawks Nest RV Park in Atlanta, TX. At least, that is the plan.
We had nothing planned for today and generally lazed around a lot. I spent a couple of hours listening to a story on Audiobooks, which although the story itself was interesting enough, was not very well written and was a bit frustrating at times. The day drifted by until it was time to go out for the evening walk around the park. This is a very large park, and we easily get in our mile a day although I keep forgetting to bring my phone along. Not a good thing if there is an emergency of some kind. While we were out walking, it became obvious just how empty the park really is as there are empty lots all over the area.
Back in Quatro, I fixed us our respective evening meals before settling down to the usual routine of watching TV. I am currently in the middle of a series called “Rookie Blue” which is all about 4 Rookie cops in I believe, NYC and the antics they get up to. For some reason, the writers have included a lot of live romances with some sex scenes between these same Rookie Officers. That is Ok except that it is taking at least 50 percent of the story wrapped around these individuals’ private lives as they keep swapping partners taking away from the actual policing part of the story. Do these writers really believe that so much of the characters private lives is good television? I would have thought that the NYPD would have a policy of no personal relationships between the individual cops although that might be hard to enforce.
Jeez, I must be growing old if I no longer enjoy watching a raunchy sex scene….
I typed in the heading and noticed it was already Thursday. I have no idea where the time goes as it is simply flying by along with whatever remaining years I may have. Still, I cannot worry about what may lie ahead and can only enjoy the present which we do. Me and the dogs, that is. We went walking and found the dog run which is not really a whopping success. You would think that being off the leash, both dogs would scamper around smelling all the new scents available to them and generally doing what dogs do. Mine, not so much. Sandy may wander around for a bit before returning and flopping on the ground. Mikey barely gets more than 5 feet away and invariably sits right next to me probably guarding me from whatever he imagines is out there. As soon as I say, “let’s go”, they rush over to be clipped onto the double leash we use and off we go wandering this way and that and stopping a thousand times to smell the roses. I think that the heat gets to them too just as it does me and they prefer the A/C in Quatro.
Following breakfast, I settled down to write. I do not have any plans or need to go into town, and it is forecast to reach 102 degrees today which along with the humidity will make it at least 105, way too hot to be outside. As well as writing, I also cooked some pork and chicken that I had bought in Malakoff. I say I cooked it but in fact, all I did was to place it on the indoor grill and forget about it until it was done. Pretty simple and very tasty. I made a few phone calls and worked on a few pictures to pass the time. I watched as the park Personel are going about their usual activities. I do not know how much involves outdoor work as all I see is them rushing around on their 4 wheelers although one of them was riding a large mower. This current heat wave is supposed to end on Sunday, and we may get to have normal high 90 plus degree temperatures.
We went out for the afternoon/evening walk as the temperature had dropped at least 2 degrees maybe even 3 degrees but whatever, it was still hot and humid. We wandered around going in no particular direction with bossy Miss Sandy leading the way as she usually does. The cabins are beginning to fill up as people come in for the weekend but so far, we are still on our own. Our closest neighbor is at least 100 feet away.
The evening was spent in the usual fashion, food all around, a glass of cheap wine for me and watching television with the remote in my hand to control the volume as it was late. It seems that nowadays, all television can no longer have quiet periods unless it is part of the plot. Just about all the shows I watch have music playing in the background even when people are talking the music always rises in volume in between the different scenes. So annoying and does not do anything to add to my entertainment. It does not help the quiet time imposed by the Parks either. RVs are not exactly soundproof…
We did not wake up until 10:00 am before going out for the mornings walk around the park. We wandered around and noticed that the number of cabin tenants had increased by quite a few. Today is Friday after all and these are the weekenders. We tried the dog run thing but that is almost a waste of our time as regards the dogs having some independence off the leash. Sandy wanders and sniffs for a bit before returning. Mikey, well Mikey stays by me all the time. They are always happy to have the leashes clipped back on, and we get on our way. There are a lot of squirrels here in this park which annoys Mikey to no end as he knows he cannot chase them because of his leash. They are very bold and wait until the very last minute before dashing up the nearest tree which only aggravates Mikey more. So near and yet, so far.
We sat down for breakfast which at least I ate mine. The dogs did their usual sniff and turn away before I settled down to read and write. We have nothing planned and the day is ours to do with whatever we want. Gone are the days when there was something that needed doing every day like cleaning filters or cleaning out the ponds, even things like cleaning the house have dropped from 1800 sq ft to a little over 350 sq ft inside the RV. I have a lot more time to do things or just do nothing.
I received notification that I had a letter in the office which I was expecting and drove over to pick it up and at the same time inquired about the times the washing machines are available. They do not have a change machine and I need to be sure that I go over when the office is open. Laundry can wait for a few days. I called our next stop just to confirm that the booking was OK and got their approval with a,” See you next week”. Our next move is scheduled for July 1 to Hawks Nest RV Park in Atlanta, Texas a trip of about 180 miles.
The rest of the day was spent in the usual way until it was time to go out walking. We strolled around the park which is noticeably a lot noisier with the input of the weekend campers and their kids.
I got up early as I was trying to get out of here by 11:00 am. I had taken care of most things so there was very little left to do in the way of preparation and I did not move as fast as I should. We went out for the mornings walk and ran into the Super who was working on his flower garden, I spent 15-20 minutes talking to him which I had not planned on. Then after everything was complete and we were ready to go as I turned the corner in the park, one of the residents’ cars was sticking out into the driveway and it was very tight, and I was afraid I would not make the turn. I knocked on their door, but they were not home, so I called the Super who came over to direct me. Then, as I started to drive. We both noticed that the back wheels of the Jeep were dragging. I fiddled around and tried a couple of times of going through the gear routine to disconnect the gearbox with no success. In the end, the Super noticed that the brake was on although for the life of me, I cannot remember doing that. I had already driven 50 yards up to that point with no problem. With the handbrake off, I waved goodbye to the Super and we started on our way.
It was a very strange drive. We started off by getting onto IH35 which made sense and drove on it for about 45 miles. Then, we started on County roads which seemed to take us all over the place and I was beginning to worry that we had a problem. But no, RV Trip Planner came through again and we hit the small town of Malakoff made another turn and we arrived at our destination,
I checked in at the office and was warmly greeted by Frieda, the lady behind the desk who checked me in. I had forgotten that I had already paid and was ready to do it again, but Frieda cheerfully reminded me. Johnny, the park repair person was ready to show me to my site and I followed him to site E-4 which is an exceptionally large tree shaded pull through currently with nobody on the one open side. This is the best site I have had for a long time, trees everywhere and lots of shade, wide open spaces with my nearest neighbor currently at least 50 yards away. That may change of course if someone moves in next door.
It took me about an hour to set up. Lowering jacks, connecting power, water, and sewer, and then disconnecting the Jeep which went surprisingly well. The humidity was extremely high, and the sweat poured off me. I have not sweat like this in a long time. I sat for a while but decided that it would be better to go walking sooner rather than later as both dogs just had an exciting and trying experience with the trip. They never really settle down and sleep or anything like that and are on the lookout the entire time. Consequently, they need to walk to relax after any of our journeys.
We harnessed up and took a quick stroll towards the lake which is maybe 150 yards away. I had been told that dogs are not allowed in the swimming area, so we made sure to avoid that. We spotted a big blue heron waiting patiently by the shoreline for his evening meal. It is a tough life when the only way you eat is to catch your own food. Maybe us humans need to do that again as we are so spoilt. We strolled back to Quatro who, by the way, had received several complements from a few people passing by and Johnny, the park repair person.
We spent the evening relaxing and mostly cooling down. It is interesting to note that although the humidity is high and the temperature is hovering just under the 100-degree mark, the RV is doing fine with its own A/C units without the use of the auxiliary fans that I have. The shade trees are an enormous help in that regard.
I slept like a log and did not wake up until 9:30 am. Must have been all that hard work of breaking camp, driving for 100 plus miles, and then setting up all over again which made me tired. That plus the aggravation with my stupidity with the Jeep when we were leaving. We went out walking and discovered the dog park which is actually two dog parks adjoined with access to both through gates. This way, a couple of dog families can walk at the same time and still be separated. I stopped to talk to the repair person who does like to chat. That is OK as I get to learn about things that way. He told me that the closest grocery store is in Malakoff, 3 miles up the road.
I made breakfast for myself and the all-important coffee and fixed the dogs something as well but as usual, they completely ignored what I offered them. The email situation is getting much better thanks to my efforts of unscribing from those I do not want. Now, it is almost manageable.
Following the brief stint on the computer, I decided that I really should go into town grocery shopping. Malakoff is not very big and really comprises of one main street with a Brookshires and a few other stores like Dollar General and such. The population is not very large, and the lake is the main attraction bringing in travelers from miles around. I stopped at the Brookshires Store and wandered up and down the aisles finding nearly everything that I needed and a few things that also caught my eye. As I was leaving, a young employee offered to push my cart and unload my groceries, but I decline because my pride got in the way. I did not realize they do this for every customer and not the aged and infirm. I really got to take a long look at myself in the future…
I drove across the street to the Dollar General as I was looking for a Sun Visor for the Jeep. I wandered around but could not find one and jumped back into the Jeep. On the way out of town, I spotted an Automotive Store and thought that surely, they would have something like that, but no, they did not have one either. With nothing that I could do about that particular item in this small town, I drove back to Shiloh on the Lake.
Then disaster struck. I got out of the Jeep and searched in my pocket for the keys to the RV, and I could not find them anywhere. I know I had them when I left as they were in my pocket after locking the RV along with the keys to the Jeep. I almost tore the Jeep apart in my efforts but with no luck and concluded that I had dropped them somewhere. With no alternative, I drove back first to Brookshires, but they did not have them and then on to Dollar General. This time, the Gods were with me as the counter clerk searched in his drawers and came up with them. Apparently, I dropped them in the Parking Lot, and someone turned them in. I thanked them profusely and drove back to Shiloh on the Lake which, incidentally, is only 3 miles from Malakoff and the road crosses one of the damns over Cedar Reservoir with its spectacular views……..
Back at Quatro, I was met by two very happy little dogs who had no idea how close they had been to having to wait it out until I could find a way to get in, whatever and whenever that was. Incidentally, I have two spare sets of keys already cut and in magnetic boxes that I have not yet installed on this RV and on the Jeep. You can bet I will find time to do that at once, although, by not having that done, it did force me to go back for the original keys.
I put the groceries away which by now, any frozen stuff had probably thawed out, helped by the dogs who wanted to smell everything. Then I harnessed them up and we went for a short walk by the lake as a reward for finding the keys before returning to Quatro to write and relax or in my case, unwind from the stress of losing the keys. I was tempted to have an early glass of wine but instead settled for a seltzer. I wrote for a while and noted that even though it was 101 degrees outside in the sun, the RV was nice and cool only using its own AC units without the added use of any fans. Amazing what a bit of natural shade will do. I think it is estimated the shade can reduce temperatures by up to 10 degrees.
We took yet another walk later in the day as a special treat and for me to continue to unwind from the mornings experience before settling down for the evening’s meal and entertainment.
Shiloh on the Lake, Malakoff, Texas Day 3 06/22/2022
We slept late probably because I was having bad dreams and woke myself up thrashing around trying to kick the bad guys. Must be a throwback to my soccer days that I always use my feet when I have those sorts of dreams. Way back then, my legs were the strongest part of my body, and my aged brain remembers it. I finally settled down to sleep and when I did wake up in the morning, Mikey was pressed as close to me as he could possibly get as if to say, “I got you covered, Dad, I will protect you from the bad guys of your dreams”.
We got up and visited the dog park and wandered around to get some exercise. It was already in the low 90’s and is going to be another scorcher. I had a couple of chores that needed attention before going inside of Quatro for breakfast which, incidentally, was a fried egg on toast. The egg was cooked in the microwave and only took a minute. This was of course accompanied by the all-important coffee and to feed the dogs but as usual, their food was ignored.
I settled down to answer emails and write about our experiences which may be of interest to a few of you out there. The number of emails has dropped off, so my efforts are working. Many go back to my earlier life which of course, no longer exists as essentially, I started a whole brand new one when I started RV’ing. That has been the story of my life and probably everyone else’s too. We live our lives in phases each one lasting from a few weeks to a few years. I am not talking being married and all that goes along with married life but more of our interests as we age. My early years were spent playing sports, soccer in particular which I played until I was 72 and only quitting then because I had knee replacement surgery. Small price to pay for all those years of enjoyment. Some might disagree but that is how I feel about it. Along with the soccer, I had a large aviary and raised parakeets and finches for a few years. That was a throwback to my life in England as I did that over there as well. My next big thing was fishponds and I built 5 of them in my backyard and when I sold the house, they went along with it minus the huge Koi that I had donated to Zilker Gardens in Austin. With the house gone and the responsibility of the fish and birds also gone, now it is just me and two little dogs. I should mention that all my life I have had dogs as a part of my family and to date, have loved and lost 28 of them. I miss them all.
I went into Gun Barrel City, yes that is its name, to return a package of a complete trucker’s map of the US. I thought it might help plan our travels, but it is way too complex and expensive for our needs costing $75.00, so I returned it to Amazon via UPS. I was worried that because I had thrown away the original packaging, there might be a problem but that was not the case, and everything went smoothly.
Across the street was a Walmart’s where I stopped to do some shopping primarily to get a sun visor for the Jeep to try to keep it a bit cooler. It sits a lot and is out in the sun some of the time. I did a bit of grocery shopping but had already done most of it yesterday in Brookshire’s although I did find a couple of things in the drug section. One thing I am having trouble finding is the body lotion I use that has sun screen lotion in it. Cannot find it anywhere and, not even with the brand that I have now that does contain it which is fast running out. I bought 3 containers of it the last time I found it because it is so hard to locate.
That was not the end of my lucky day as next to the Walmart’s was a Starbucks. I have not had a Starbucks fix in a long time, so I really enjoyed this one. It lasted me all the way back to this park. I stopped at the office and picked up my latest delivery from Prime which is a tablet holder for when we travel. When we started this part of the journey, I had both the tablet and the phone giving me directions. Both were tuned in to the same trip that I had planned on RV Trip Planner. The problem was that although the directions were the same, the voices were not synchronized, and both were telling me different things at different times making for a very confusing trip. In the end, I switched off the phone and used my tablet, but it was between my legs on the seat as it did not have a special tablet holder. Now I do so hopefully, life will be a bit simpler.
We went out walking around by the lake and in the park as the dogs had been on their own for a while before returning to write. With the humidity, it was 103 degrees and felt like it. The humidity is the killer. Incidentally, on the way coming in, we drove through a bridge construction next to an existing bridge over the Cedar Reservoir which is the name of this lake. I had noticed a smilar construction at another bridge that I had driven over a couple of days ago. I guess they have a reason for the new construction. Not like there is that much traffic on these roads…One problem might be that the exisiting bridge does not have any shouldres and if a car or truck was to break down, it might cause a major problem. As I am just a visitor to this part of the country, who am I to judge.
Back in Quatro after the walk, I settled down to write some more and the dogs zonked off. Great life being a dog in a home they are well loved. I would settle for that except their lives are so short.
