Thinking about life and how it has changed with the passing of time over which we have no control and must hope that things work out fine when they do life is good as we go along our way but when things go bad our whole lives change even if for only a day life’s ups and downs are a part of daily life and what we know how we react and what we do is how our characters show because of our different complexities and how we live this life there is no way throughout the day there will not be strife it may not be very big and is easily repaired just an aggravation maybe with others shared for as we go along this road towards an uncertain end the only things that are for sure that we really need our friends to help us in our times of need when we are under stress someone to listen a shoulder to cry on they are the very best and if we choose to go through life living on our own that does not mean we have no friends, and we are alone it just says about our lives we prefer our privacy for some of us find it hard to live in close proximity and choose to live a solo life not sharing it with others except the friends that still are there who know our characters I am certainly one of those and what few friends remain know that I appreciate the fact they are the same and grateful to them I will always be for understanding me as I did not choose this way of life rather it chose me.
Quatro in his new home. Notice the blocking under the front wheels.
We took a walk around although there is not a lot of area that we can cover. The pond is fun to walk around but I am a bit concerned as I thought I saw either a big dog or maybe even a coyote disappear into the trees as I was looking out of the RV front window. It was gone before I could get my binoculars out for a closer look, and we certainly do not want to be confronted by either. If it is a dog, it might be friendly but if it is a coyote, it would view Sandy and Mikey as dinner, and I don’t want to fend off an attacking animal. Animal bites are painful and sometimes require rabies shots and who needs that.
Back in the RV and following breakfast, I looked at yesterday’s booking mess and tried a couple of calls only to be met with,” Leave a message”. More frustration but I guess I just need to be patient. I worked on the blog and then on some photos of this park that I have taken. I usually load them into Lightroom and make a few adjustments and add my signature before posting them anywhere. This time though, Lightroom would not recognize and upload the pictures which was odd until I discovered that the usual JPEG had changed to JFIF which I had never seen or heard of before. I had to do some research to figure out how to get over it and after must frustration and bouts of cussing under my breath and even out loud, I managed to get everything worked out and was able to work on the pictures. Jeeze, why me… After uploaded a couple of pictures into the blog along with the last two days of writing I looked around for something else to do.
While I was sitting, there came a knock on the door and the one of the park owners was standing there. She offered me a bowl of homemade ice cream which I accepted gratefully. I put it in the freezer and walked over to where she and a few others were sitting to mix and mingle a bit. We spent a couple of hours most of the time listening to the husband who is also a park owner, telling some great stories in his Texas drawl. It made for a very interesting time, and I learned a lot about the park and the area and a few other things as well. This park is only a sideline for them which probably accounts for the small number of RV’s.
Back in Quatro, I sat and wrote for a bit before harnessing up the dogs for their walk. Incidentally, one of the guys confirmed that yes, there are coyotes here and to be careful with the dogs so we will not be skirting the trees anymore. Maybe, I just might start carrying one of my walking poles, just in case.
The rest of the day was spent in the usual fashion, eating the evening meal all around and then watching TV. I had to find another show and settled on “In the Heat of the Night”. More on that later.
Hawks Nest RV Park, Atlanta, TX- Day 4 07/04/2022 Monday-Independance Day
We got up around the usual time and walked around the park and on the road outside of the park. A motorcyclist passed us and had the decency to slow down as he went by. Not too many people do that nowadays. I waved thanks to him, and he waved back as he passed. Back in Quatro, I fixed breakfast for us all with the usual results. It looks like the milk is off as my Latte not only tasted different, but the foam is so thick, you can cut it with a knife. I spooned out the solid block of froth and just drank the coffee, but it still tasted awful. Not a good start to the day This means a trip into town to buy fresh milk or drink it black. The jury is out on what we will do as I really do not need anything else.
The lady from our next stop, Treasure Isle RV Park in Hot Springs, AR, returned my call and we straightened out my booking mess. I cannot believe I screwed up so badly on this. It must be RV Trip Wizard as it cannot possibly be me…With our next stop all set, I returned to checking and dumping emails although there were a couple that called for my time. With those out of the way, I moved on to the blog although, this early (sort of), there is not much to write about as I am caught up on both writing and posting. I figured out what we will do from now on to get over the 7-day blogs versus 5 entry days to stay caught up. On Fridays, I will include Saturday in the post and on Mondays, will include Sunday. The rest of the week will be single day blogs. That should keep BJ Happy. Currently, we are now only 4 days behind on the actual date from posting to viewing, which does make me a bit nervous.
I unhooked the Jeep from Quatro as I had decided to go into the nearest town to do some grocery shopping. The unhooking was simple, and it slipped back into gear effortlessly. It had raised itself just before we left to the high position for 4 wheeling, so I pushed on the controls to lower it back to the normal position. The trouble with the high mode is that it is a big step down when getting out. Caught me by surprise the first time it happened. I was in a shop having some keys cur and one of the desk clerks walked in and said to me, “is that your car? I swear I just saw it raise up”. I laughed and said that it does that sometimes and it’s the setting for 4-wheeling.
I said goodbye to the dogs after we walked the park one more time. It was hot out there and they were glad to get back into the A/C. They gave me a quizzical look when I did not get back into Quatro along with them and I had to explain that we needed groceries. Hell of a thing when you feel compelled to making explanations to two little dogs.
It turns out that Atlanta is only 3 miles away and it did not take very long to get there. This was one of the very big Walmart’s, so I got in a of mile of walking by going up and down every aisle even though I did not need a lot of stuff. At least, that is what I thought but by the time I walked out and paid my bill, it was $183.00. As I explained to the clerk checking me out, I only came in for milk… Pretty expensive bottle of the stuff. For someone who did not need anything else, go figure. That was not true of course as I had a list.
I checked my phone for the closest Starbucks but this time I was out of luck as it was 23 miles away and I was not about to drive that far for coffee even though my Morning Latte had been ruined by sour milk. I spent the rest of the afternoon writing and catching up as usual waiting for it to cool at least a couple of degrees before we did take that long-awaited evening walk.
Travel Day so we got up early although we had already completed most of the prep work yesterday, including hooking up the Jeep. Today was the usual final parts to moving like pulling in the slides and unhooking the water, sewer and finally the power. Prior to that, I had the automatic levelling system perform the task of lowering the RV back to the ground and on its own 4 wheels. That is 6 wheels as the back are doubles. Then, we were ready to roll. I opted to use my iPhone instead of the tablet for no particular reason and it has its own little holder not too far away.
Prior to that, we had taken a walk around the park and ran into both Frieda and Jimmy and said our goodbyes before continuing with our walk, probably, the last one we will take around this very nice park although they would like me to return and make it my home base. Trouble is that it is a long way from Austin and all my doctors. Incidentally, we had a brief but heavy shower yesterday that probably dumped at round a half inch of the wet stuff. This morning, the ground was almost dry and much to my surprise, no mud.
We took off and started driving Northwards with RV Trip Planner showing us the way. I knew I needed to fill up as there was only about 150 miles left in the tank, so I was driving keeping an eye out for gas prices. We passed several that had gas marked down quite considerably but I could either not pull off in time or the station would not accommodate Quatro. I did stop at one station and pulled into the pump, but my way was blocked by a Fed Ex truck with the driver inside the store and he did not come out. As the RV is just not very maneuverable, I had no alternative but to move on to the next gas station.
After several miles, I spotted one which was selling gas cheaper than the next guy.
This time, when I pulled up to the pump, almost without exception except for the few cars that were pumping gas, the pumps were shut off with red flags to designate that the gas storage tanks were empty and the pumps not in use. Quatro, as big as he is, just does not do well in tight spaces especially towing the Jeep so again, I had to move on. Finally, after quite a few more miles, I found a station that was not as busy and went to the nearest row of pumps, which was my first mistake as these were all diesel pumps and did not pump gasoline. I moved over to the gas/diesel pumps and managed to finally fill up Quatro. It took two attempts as the pump shut off after $125.00 for the first 29 gallons. I started over and the second time, it shut off with a full tank at $122.65. Altogether, it took 55 gallons to top-up the tank. The price was for $4.24 a gallon. The one that was sold out was selling for $4.15 a gallon. No wonder the pumps were empty. Almost too good to be true.
We continued our way and I noticed that Quatro swayed a bit more with the additional almost 500 pounds of weight in the gas tank. I might need to spend some time redistributing the cargo weight to even it out. Too much on the back end. I had been thinking, prior to filling the tanks, that Quatro did not have the wind or sway problems that both Miss Daisy and George had but now I am not so sure.
The RV Trip Planner came through yet again and after about a little over a 4-hour drive without being on any interstates, we arrived at our destination. This is a very small park with around 7 or so permanent RV’s and space for two travelers like myself. I remember when I was on the phone making the arrangements, the lady told me that there are two spots both straight ahead when I pulled in the gate, and both marked with a cone. I got out to see which I wanted and was met by Frank, a ex vet who was using a throat transponder to talk which made it exceedingly difficult to understand him. I had to keep either nodding my head in agreement or asking him to repeat it. Then another guy came and interpreted, and I understood what he was telling me. Finally, the lady who had booked me in over the phone showed up and we had a brief conversation. So far, all the people I have met are all retired and a couple with handicaps.
Setting up was easy although the front wheels are off the ground by at least 6 inches. I was able to pack them with wood blocks and the plastic wedges that I have for such occasions, so the wheels are not suspended but are at least supported. The rest of the setup was normal routine stuff although the sewer standpipe is high, and no way will the sewer drain without assistance from me. As that only happens every 4-6 days, no big deal. My assistance is to raise the hose, so it drains, and it remains connected all the while.
We went out for a walk around the pond that is on the property, but the humidity was extremely high making it feel uncomfortable. In fact, I was soaked by the time we got back to the RV and had to change clothes. Incidentally, the lady, when I was talking to her, pointed out the laundry room which has two washers and two driers all on the honor system of $2.00 per use. There is a lot to be said for a small park and I bet everyone knows everyone else.
Before we retired for the evening, we sat on the small swing that is outside my door just enjoying the evening. It is very peaceful here almost to the extent of boring. I still need to unhook the Jeep but as the site is so long, I do not need to until I am ready to go into town, wherever that may be.
Hawks Nest RV Park, Atlanta, TX. Day 2 Saturday 07/02/2022
We slept late probably due to our travel exertions from the day before as driving for any length of time, is by itself, tiring due to the concentration needed. We did get a break when we filled up with gas as that took almost 20 minutes. We wandered around the park and out onto the road and even sat for a while in the swing before returning for breakfast and coffee.
We have no plans or the need to go into town wherever that is, so we sat in front of the computer to write and catch up on emails. I was pleased to read that my friend BJ and her daughter had returned from Vermont and apart from running to catch a plane at the end, had a very nice time. I do not have the nerve to ask her how much weight she put on eating all that tasty food. The price of enjoyment…Today, it is cloudy with a chance of showers and the temperature is only 85 degrees, an enormous difference from the last park.
I worked on RV Trip Planner for our next stops and found a couple of parks that I thought might be interesting. It is always a bit of a gamble choosing a park as you are never quite sure what they are really like. Sure, I read what others have to say in their comments and if they are at all negative, I skip that one and move on to the next. A lot of times, the comments are old and not recent, and a lot can happen in a few months or in some cases, a year or two. I am not big into exotic parks with swimming pools and entertainment preferring more of the quiet laid back, relaxed places especially with some trails that we can walk.
For some reason, the trip planner was giving me some problems and not organizing as it should, and I found out that two of the parks were not in order with me travelling to the furthest one first and coming back to the closest one. It took me a while to figure out there was a problem and for the program to perform right after a couple of restarts. By then, I had already called and made reservations. The trouble is they are backwards and need to be reversed. By then, it was too late to call and will need to get things corrected tomorrow.
We went out for a walk so the dogs could exercise and for me to get the cobwebs out of my frustrated brain. We wandered around the park and out onto the road for a bit and then sat on the swing just enjoying the cool breezes. It is quite a bit cooler here than at the last park although still hot and with a bit higher humidity.
The rest of the evening was spent in the usual way with food and a glass of wine watching the final episode of “Rookie Blue”. It was an OK series to watch but as I mentioned before, way too much sex and interaction between the different characters. Now, I must find another and different series to watch for the rest of the summer until the English Premier League restarts in August.
I stood and slowly rotated 2/3rds of a circle and these pictures are the view. Those are all camping spots with no campers. The last 1/3 behind me are the cabins which I did not include. Quatro is in two of the pictures.
We got up at a reasonable hour compared to yesterday and went out for the first walk of the day. My other close neighbor has also pulled out and now, we are completely on our own. One RV surrounded by vacant lots. There are two RVs way off in the distance and of course, the permanent campers who have their own area. This must be the emptiest park we have encountered yet. As I mentioned before, it will probably fill up this 4th July weekend although we will not be here as we move out on Friday.
Back inside Quatro, we had our usual breakfast, well I did as the dogs ignored their food. I followed this with reading emails which are dropping in number as I systematically cancel those that do not interest me. I had already planned on going into Gun Barrel City to the Walmart’s there to do some shopping and fill the Jeep with gas as it was the cheapest place around at $4.45 a gallon. Half a tank cost me $72.00. I do not like paying these high prices, but they appear to be the new norm, so I had better get used to it. Can’t wait to fill Quatro with its 80-gallon tank…
I wandered around and found most of the things that I had on my list with the exception a certain vitamin and the body cream with the added sun burn lotion. I found the pickled beets that I like to eat with the cold meat for the evening meal and bought a half dozen jars of it. On the way through the checkout, the young clerk asked me about them as she had never seen anyone buy so many before. I told her how I eat them, but I do not think she was impressed. Never mind, I like them and that is all that matters. Across the road was a CVS store so I stopped in to find the missing items but with absolutely no luck at all and walked out empty handed. I could not find another Pharmacy that would have what I wanted.
The drive back to Quatro was uneventful and we recrossed the bridge that is being reconstructed. That is quite a project and as a former construction man, it interested me to see how they build these bridges, something I never worked on in my long construction career. The rest of the drive was uneventful, and we quickly reached the park to be greeted by my excited little dogs. When I pull in, they are usually sitting in the big front window looking for me and when I appear, jump down to greet me at the door. With their uninvited help, I unload the groceries and we put them away.
We went out for a walk even though it was earlier than usual to help them get over their excitement. Sandy leads the way, and we go this way and that in every direction with me giving a gentle tug here and there to keep her in somewhat of a straight line. Mikey, like me, just follows along smelling the roses as he walks with the occasional stop if he finds something of real interest. The family that has one of the RVs that still remain, were climbing out of the lake and wandered back to the RV chattering the entire way. As there were four of them, two women and two young girls, why am I not surprised? We finished the walk with some gentle tugging on my part to persuade Sandy that we needed to go back and spent the rest of the time working on the blog. Now, with the laundry and the shopping done, tomorrow, I can concentrate on preparing for our trip, storing things inside the RV to make them travel safe and hooking up the Jeep. This time, I will make sure the brakes are off…
Later that evening, we went out for another short walk much to Sandy’s delight. Not sure what Mikey thought but he went along as he did not want to miss out on anything that she might get or do. The rest of the evening was spent in the usual way.
Today is our last day here at this park which I have thoroughly enjoyed. For one thing, even though the temperature went through the roof at 105 degrees on one day, there are so many trees that we were never in the full sun and so, the RV stayed nice and cool. The big windshield was shaded nearly all the time which makes a huge difference. Hope we are as lucky at the next site.
We went out for our first walk of the day. I was going to say early morning walk, but sad to say, that unless it is a moving day, I do not know what early mornings are…We ambled around the park in no particular direction and eventually landed back at the RV. The park is empty, and I mean empty with just the permanent residents and 3 RV’s including mine.
Back in Quatro, we ate breakfast and then I settled down to answer emails and write a bit before deciding that I should go outside and hook up the Jeep to the RV ready to move out tomorrow. It went smoothly for a change and this time, I remembered to release the handbrake. Shades of leaving the last park. Back inside, I put a few things away and set some chicken breasts on the indoor grill to cook and put away a few things. I cannot do everything as we need some of the things for the evening meal and breakfast and such but all it will take is 15 minutes of work to finish making everything safe for the journey. As can be expected, things move around as we jolt down the road and need to be made as secure as possible.
With as much done as I can do today, I turned my attention to writing the blog as I want to be as caught up as much as possible. There will not be much time for writing tomorrow as we have almost 200 miles to travel, at least 4 hours of driving, plus a stop for gas so maybe longer. We need to try for an early start.
While I was writing, a fifth wheel pulled up across from me and in no time flat, the two guys had it set up. Obviously, not newcomers. I wrote a very favorable review for this park in RV Life Trip Planner and posted it along with pictures so that others can come and enjoy this very nice park.
We went out for the last afternoons walk we will take in this place and wandered around just enjoying the park and the lake before heading back for the usual evenings food and entertainment.
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.
July 4th what is this day, what does it mean, what do others say most Americans and others too see it as a day of rest, a day they can celebrate and play and so instead of work for most today is a holiday.
History shows that on July 2 in 1776, the Second Continental Congress declared that it was time to end the war against the British, which had gone on long enough so Independence was declared from King George 111, who at that time the ruler was of Great Britain and the lands across the sea one of which is the land then known as the American Colonies.
On July 4th way back then, the Declaration of Independence was signed by the Thirteen Colonies that were around at that time in 1776 and with everything fine they declared Independence for the very first time. the risks were enormous for these brave men as pen to paper they signed on the line.
Since then July 4th as it is known is a symbol of our greatness when our forefathers bravely made the decision not to surrender has led to this nation the United States of America to become the greatest nation and World administrator.
Franklin, Jefferson, Adams and Hancock, famous names all their signatures did add, and fifty-two others too numerous to say, who they all were but they all signed that day and because those brave men did take the risk of declaring Independence that other might say Today is July 4th, our Independence Day, what shall we do in a celebratory way shall we go to the lake our boat towed behind and drift around for others we’ll find will have the very same idea and crowded it will be as others are boating on this special day trying hard to celebrate in their own way.
How about a barbecue with family and friends a get together in the back yard drink beer, cook steaks and hamburgers too as we all are determined to enjoy our day off from work whatever it is for a day away from the usual grind celebrating in whatever way appeals to us all and of this we are sure we live for today and most will forget the reason we are celebrating July 4th.
I wonder if those great men back in 1776 did envision the way the people would mix how they would celebrate and the things they would do with fireworks tonight as they are on the list just as those special men way back then did take that step for fireworks of their own did provide as the Document they signed that gave us this day so we can celebrate in our own way.
Not everyone is lucky to have this day off as trucks drive by and the pharmacy calls come pick up your stuff we are open today which means that others are working their service to provide and for them no special meaning this day as that is the American Way. or maybe the short straw they did draw or are single with no family to tie them to a particular place or maybe from a foreign land they do come and Americans yet have not yet become so for them to work is a choice they will make so that others with families and Americans all can celebrate in their own way this special day.
Me? I am American although not here born this country I call home for the last 45 years has treated me well and although it can be said to King George 111 my allegiance should be as English in fact is originally me back in 1976 my allegiance did declare so that I could vote and have my say and have the rights that is a citizen’s way and I can say my piece for a free country is this and freedom of speech is precious to all in the way the country now runs things and I think back to those great men on this day did give me the chance my fortune to find over here in America, the great USA.
We are at a new campsite a very small one that delights the people that are living here who greet me with good cheer and make me feel that I belong even though we won’t stay long when we meet they say hello and ask how did my day go spend time to chat as I pass by walking the dogs as we try to get some exercise each day and walking is the only way as it is way too hot to think of hikes or even shop so we limit our time the sun to evade always walking the park in the shade of the very few trees that grow here and in the dog run with shadows so dear until they decide they have had enough of being outside in this sunny stuff and back inside of our RV we rest and relax in our own company glad that we spent some time outside but happy to be cool where we reside.
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.
Our time here is drawing to a close as we pull out on Monday to head to Shiloh on the Lake in Carly City, still here in Texas. This is a very nice park with friendly neighbors and if there are any complaints, it is the complete lack of any form of shade over the RV’s. Still, this is what camping is all about and you take the good with the bad. We went out walking ending up in the dog run and even Mikey excelled himself by getting off the bench on which I was sitting and doing some exploring of his own. Wow wonders never cease.
Back in Quatro we ate breakfast or at least I did. The dogs did their usual, sniff and turn away procedure. They are very hard to please so I think I will just not feed them in the mornings, and they can eat the kibble that is always available. We have nothing serious planned for today except to stay cool.
I turned my attention to my EPostal system knowing that I have some mail that I would like forwarded on to me at my next stop. It took a bit, but I finally figured out how to get EPostal to do that. Now, hopefully, I have mail items that will arrive at the next park. This is the first time I have used this part of the mail system so hopefully; it will work. Luckily, I do not get much mail of the physical kind and parcels and packages, and such are usually delivered directly to the campground by Amazon and other vendors, that I am staying at the time. Timing is everything as it must arrive before I leave. Interestingly enough, USPS would not deliver to Henly RV Park for reasons unknown to me and any packages that were inadvertently addressed there, was returned to the sender without any notification from USPS to the intended receiver.
I spent the rest of the afternoon working on a tentative plan for the rest of this trip using RV Trip Planner. It is not set in stone as so much depends on campground availability and any whims in changes of direction that I may have and many other factors including the weather. The plan is to end back up in Henly on December 1.
The dogs were bugging me, so we harnessed up and went out in the very hot sun trying to find shade to walk in. There is not much at this park although the dog run is shady, so we always head over to it. As usual, Sandy sniffs as she explores around. Mikey sits by me on the bench. I think he is afraid that he might lose me. Back in the RV, we finished the evening in the usual fashion.
We all slept well waking at a reasonable hour and taking the first walk of the day. Our walk was along our usual path following the shade wherever we could find it. The dog on the other side of the fenced hedgerow kept pace with us barking intermittently. Mikey wanted a confrontation, but I dragged him away and we moved on around the park as far as the dog run where we spent some time. Me and Mikey sitting on the bench and Sandy wandering around and sniffing and marking.
Back in the RV, we had breakfast and read emails before settling down to write. I have nothing planned today except maybe to put away a few things for safety in preparation for our trip on Monday, which is only about 100 miles, a couple of hours of driving. I try to limit our driving to 200 or less miles a day and usually somewhere in between. I do not have much time to appreciate the beauties of the countryside when I drive as it takes all my attention on the road in front of me especially in heavy traffic besides having to concentrate on the map finder showing me the way. The only time I can relax a little is when the Map finder tells me, “Drive 30 miles on this road” or something similar. I have two systems that I use, both with RV Trip Planner. One is on my iPhone and the other on my iPad. Both show the same route using the same system. The phone talks to me but the iPad has a bigger display. I had trouble with the iPad holder, so I did some research and sent away for a new one to be delivered to our next stop at Shiloh on the Lake in Malakof.
I tidied up a bit and put a couple of things away, but I really cannot do very much until tomorrow as we do have two more days here. It usually takes me longer to hook up the Jeep than it does to break down the campsite. I was checking the weather forecast just for the hell of it and it show temperatures going up to 113 degrees next week. That is crazy and I sure hope that the next site has some shade as there is none here. While I was at it, I wrote a review for RV Trip Wizard and attached some pictures so that others can come and visit this very nice little park.
We went out for the evenings walk but it had not cooled down very much and the dogs were not that interested once they had done their business. We returned to the RV for the evening for food and entertainment.
The OfficeMap of Tranquil Gardens. We were in site C2
One day to go before we move on. Even driving Quatro is a part of the great adventure and takes me back to my trucking days when I drove a tractor-trailer towing 6500 gallons of heating fuel to schools all over New England, over several winters which by itself, was quite an experience. New York winters can be brutal. Unless I make a serious mistake in my planning or something unexpected happens with the weather, I do not plan on being anywhere near major ice and snow. Hard to think about that when it is 100 degrees outside and not a cloud in the sky.
In between eating breakfast and drinking coffee, I had a load of laundry going on which needed a couple of trips back to the Office/Laundry Room/Bathrooms/Showers/Toilets all packed into a very small building. I was the only one in there and as I watched a couple of cars drove out presumably to attend the church located right next door. The occupants were too well dressed for an everyday occurrence. I noticed in my walks, that several of the ladies when I do see anyone, are wearing nice dresses at the campsite while the guys are the jeans and tee shirts or in many cases like me, shorts and tee shirts routine. With the weather as hot as it is, most people are indoors where it is cooler when they are home.
I settled down to the usual routine of emails before writing the blog. I am trying to cancel as much of the junk stuff as I can so as not to waste my time even checking them. I would be very happy with just 5-10 emails a day if they were mostly important or interesting.
The rest of the day was spent in preparing Quatro for the drive, storing stuff away to prevent movement and where needed, installing expanding rods to prevent things falling off the shelves in the refrigerator and cupboards. I have a travel preparation routine that I follow which enables me on moving day to get up, take a quick walk, drink coffee and then store the coffee maker, make sure everything is secure inside of the RV before turning my attention to the outside. With not having to load the wicker divan and chair, this will consist of emptying the tanks and storing the hose, shutting off and then storing the water hose and before unhooking the power, bring in the slides. With the RV unhooked from everything, lower the jacks, pick up the leveling blocks and then hook up the Jeep which will take the longest to do especially if the ground is uneven, as things are not lined up perfectly. Then, we are ready to roll. In theory, it sounds simple. In practice, it takes a bit longer, around a couple of hours.
Today was one of those days when it was way too hot to venture outside unless I had something specific in mind and to be truthful, the only thing I was thinking about was tomorrows move. I had taken care of everything inside the RV that I can do until we finish tomorrow’s breakfast and coffee and then I can put the toaster and coffee maker in a safe travelling place, usually on the shower floor with the doors closed. All the counter tops spaces must be cleared except for the dish rack which is substantial enough to not move around and anything else on a flat surface needs to be secured. Having taken care of just about everything inside, I was at a bit of a loss as to what to do for the rest of the day. I kind of snoozed for a bit but the dogs would not leave me alone long enough to take a real nap. They did not like me sitting around as it is not normally my style, but it was way to hot to spend time outdoors.
As I sat contemplating on what to do to amuse myself, an Allegro Motor Home pulled into the lot next to me driven by an older gentleman. Interestingly enough, he too was towing a Jeep Cherokee which looked like the same model as mine. The way of life in RV parks, people come and go all the time.
Sandy was being a bug as she really wanted to go walking. It was still early in the afternoon by our usual walking times and bloody hot out with the temperature hovering close to the 100-degree mark, but we harnessed up and wandered around the park. I spent some time talking to the Super, just chatting about the world in general before heading back to the RV for the evening meal and to watch TV.
Living in our RV and travelling when we see that it is time that we moved on new roads to drive to sing our song as we have no place in mind wandering around following the signs that the map shows us the way as we drive from day to day staying at an RV Park one that I had already landmarked to be our stop along the way as we decide how long to stay driving an RV is not really fun no time to sightsee as we run along the highway as fast as we can to stay with the route that we have planned and get to the campground of our choice to arrive on time so we can rejoice in the fact that we made it safe and sound to rest for a while before we rebound and pack up and move all over again driving the highways as fast as we can until the next campground draws nigh and we rest and relax as time passes by and then in a week we will do it again as we travel the roads like circus showmen.
I watched TV way too late or too early depending on your point of view and consequently woke up around 9:00 am. It did not really matter that much as we have nothing planned. I harnessed up two very excited and eager to get outside little dogs and we went for our morning stroll. I have given up the idea of walking for exercise at this park as it is so small that I would need to spend half a day just walking to make even a mile going round and round in circles. We ran into the owner and stopped to talk for 15 minutes or so. He is an interesting fellow to talk to and Sandy, as usual, quickly made friends with him. We went to the dog park, and I let the dogs off their leashes. Sandy at once went exploring while Mikey jumped up on the bench and sat guard in case something came to get me. He did keep a wary eye out on Sandy just in case she discovered something of interest.
We moved on back to the RV where I put the dogs inside and spent time on household chores like emptying the tanks. There are gauges comprising of lights that are supposed to tell you when the tanks are full but invariably, they do not function well. Even on my brand-new RV that I previously had, they did not work properly showing full even immediately after the tanks were emptied. It is a well-known and well documented problem in RV’s not to rely on these gauges. A much more reliable way to tell is when the water is puddling up around your feet when taking a shower and will not drain. When this happens, needless to say, the shower is quickly finished so as not to flood the bathroom. Incidentally, the Grey tank is usually the one that fills up first. The gray water is from the sinks and showers. The Black tank is strictly from the toilet and had to be maintained to keep it clear by dropping in additives from time to time to break down the solids. It is also important to only use single ply toilet paper that also quickly breaks down. This is all normal RV maintenance.
BTW, that is why I always try to find campgrounds that have full hook ups which include electricity, in my case 50-amp, water and sewer hookups. Many only have electricity and water and do not have sewer hook ups but may have a dump station to be used as needed. The only problem is that it requires lowering jacks and such to drive to the dump station and then back and reset back up all over again. Bit of a pain and I had to do that at the last campsite at Bastrop. It also means that you must watch water usage and such and not be extravagant with it. In those sorts of cases, showers become a luxury.
With the household chores out of the way and the RV tidied up, I settled down in front of the computer to read my emails. For those of you that do read my blog, you have heard me complain many times about emails wondering why I bother as I rarely get anything of either interest or importance and a lot I do not even bother to open and read other than the title. One click and they are gone. The trouble is that I need to at least check everyone just in case it does fall into the attention category. With that chore out of the way and true to form, nothing of interest, I worked on the blog. Luckily, I am very much up to date which is a good thing as my recall is not so good nowadays.
My friend BJ is still complaining because she is reading blogs that are recounting what we did three weeks ago, and she wants more up to date material. We are catching up though by posting blogs that contain three and sometimes four days’ worth of events. I will never be truly caught up as I need a cushion in case I do not write for a couple of days. Heaven forbids that my readers, if there are any, should go a day without hearing from me…Anyway, if I do not write every day, I cannot remember what I need to write about. Writing does two other very important things at least for me. One is that it occupies my brain, and I must think about things that I write about. The other is that it also fills in the time on these bloody hot days when I do not want to go outside at all, and I refuse to watch the television during the daytime. That, to me, is an utter waste of my time which already is in short supply…
I spent some time doing research on the front window covers that I really need to have installed to keep out the heat from the sun especially on these super-hot days. I could probably do it myself but am somewhat reluctant to drill into the outside of the RV to attach the clips that hold the shades in place. I found a place that manufactures them for the exact model of the RV, which is important but have left it too late to order them to be delivered here at this park. Something else to work on.
We went out for our final walk of the day. The guys had spent most of it sleeping under my feet and were ready for some exercise although to them, sniffing every bush and blade of grass and peeing on everything, is sufficient.
The rest of the day was spent in the usual way, food and a glass of wine and watching television.
We got up around the usual time and went out for the first walk of the day. I watched as my next-door neighbor walked over to the fence where the cattle are, calling and waving at the two cows in the field and both came over to her. She gave them treats just like one would a dog and they both nuzzled and made a fuss of her. I wandered over to chat and she said there used to be a lot more animals. When I suggested they went to the big pasture in the sky, she agreed but said that she did not want to think about that’s what happened. I agreed with her not being much of meat-eater myself. We chatted for a bit and then we continued with our walk.
We wandered around the park and Sandy directed us to the dog run. She can be quite determined when she has somewhere in mind that she wants to go, pulling strongly and even laying down to prevent my efforts of direction. It’s all good fun and I generally let her have her way unless there is something dangerous that she wants to explore. Mikey, on the other hand, just follows along and goes wherever I go. Occasionally, he will discover something that requires his attention, and we go in the direction he wants. Inside the dog run, I take their leashes off, and they are free to explore while I sit on the bench and keep watch. Sandy is the explorer, Mikey, not so much unless she discovers something and then he must go and give his opinion. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, these walks are not for real exercise as the park is so small, so we walk slow in many circles and backtracks for the dog’s enjoyment.
Back inside of Quatro, I fixed breakfast for all of us which of course, the dogs turned their noses up. Even though they look for food, they do not appear to like anything much I put in front of them. They always have access to hard food, so they never go hungry, just fussy. There tastes are for pork tenderloins or chicken and to hell with the canned food. Of course, they are not spoilt…
Talking of pork tenderloins and chicken, I had a large packet of chicken breasts that I put on the indoor grill to cook while I wrote. Sort of doing two things at once although one was simple requiring only that I open the lid, lay the chicken on the grill and close the lid, turn it to the desired temperature and go back to writing. The hardest part is cleaning the grill after the cooking. Today, is a cloudy day, thank goodness and is much cooler with a slight breeze. The new fan I recently bought, is doing a good job and helping to keep the place cool. I did more research on front window covers for Quatro and they are easy enough to buy but I have not had any luck in finding a place local that installs them.
It occurred to me that the July 4th weekend is coming up and I need to review the trip that I am planning in RV Trip Planner. Although I have sort of a trip planned with a general direction and hopefully sites picked out along the way, I do not call to make reservations until a few days before I am ready to move just in case something comes up. However, now that RV’ing is so popular and that it is Summertime, many campgrounds are full and are not taking reservations. With the July 4th weekend coming up very soon, I started checking around. I am here at this campsite until the 20th when I pullout to stay at Shiloh on the Lake thru July 1st and I realized that it might be a problem for the holiday weekend. Luckily, I found a place that caters for older people that had a spot available 100 miles further up the road but still in Texas, Hawks Nest RV Park that had an opening which I jumped on. I plan on staying there thru July 11th or maybe even longer. It can be a scary thing planning a trip. You never know of site availability or the quality of the campground. That is one reason that I like to stay at least a week or longer if the campground is nice or even OK. Once you pull in and pay the money, you are sort of stuck as very few parks will give back a refund if you pull out early. Although you are driving or towing your house, it still needs a place to stay overnight even if it does not have any hookups. You can’t just park on the side of the road hence all the planning.
The Park that I am in now caters for older long-term residents although there are a few younger ones that still work. It is a small park with only 25 sites, 23 of which have permanent residents with only 2 sites for travelers like me. There was another RV in the other site next to me when I pulled in, but he has left already. Just a weekender and not a full timer. It is an older park with gravel roads and gravel sites, but it does have water, electricity and sewer hookups which is all that really counts. The biggest problem is the lack of shade as there are no trees to talk of and the few there are at the front end of the park and not where the RVs are. Hence the fussing over finding the shades for Quatro that I need. Incidentally, the other Class A parked a few sites away is bigger than mine. I was talking to the lady of the house about the window covers that they have, and she told me they came with the unit. She was also telling me that they are here full time at least for a while and that once a month, they must raise up their jacks and drive forward 10 feet and then back and set up again to keep everything lubricated. In my view, it is a very expensive rig to be parked full time as it is not only bigger than Quatro but cost quite a bit more. When the time comes that I find a place to park if I no longer can drive, then I will trade in Quatro for a large 5th wheel and park it permanently somewhere, God willing, and the creeks don’t rise…
Satisfied that we have a place to stay through mid-July, I returned to writing the blog this time with the safety of having reservations for the next few weeks. Thank goodness for RV Trip Planner. All the time I was writing, both dogs are asleep at my feet and looking very relaxed and comfortable. Of course, the minute I make a move to stand up, they are wide awake and ready to go.
We spent the day inside in the cool until Sandy began to remind me that it was time to go out walking. We harnessed up and followed out usual walking routine ending up in the dog park where I let them off their leashes. Sandy explores and pees a lot, marking het territory, Mikey sits on the bench with me acting as my personal bodyguard.
We got up at a reasonable hour and the dogs somewhat impatiently waited as I showered and changed clothes before we headed out the door for the morning walk. There were several neighbors out by their RV’s watering their gardens or just sitting outside. Many of the permanent residents have small flower gardens surrounding their RV’s giving them a more homely effect and also take care of the little patch of grass. Makes for a very nice and personal appearance. Two Sheriffs cars pulled in and toured the park and I got to chat with one of the officers. He complimented me on my rig and proudly explained that he had a small travel trailer that he and his 5 kids go out camping whenever they can. He said they were in the park to check for a “missing” relative who had called in worried because they had not heard from that person. Apparently, the individual has moved on.
I did some chores around the RV, well actually in the Jeep, taking the pictures that I had hastily stuck in the back, putting them into a tote and then putting them in the storage space in the RV. I really do not know what to do with them as I cannot hang them in Quatro unless I drive hangers in the wall. They are too heavy for the stick-on kind. After all, the RV is not a house permanently located in one spot. I also put the collapsible outside garbage container in the car and made the trip to the dumpster.
With the chores out of the way, we adjourned back indoors for breakfast. Again, the dogs are just not interested in what I offer them, so I have given up and they can eat the hard food that is always available to them. My own breakfast was substantial enough but not particularly appetizing except for the Latte which always hits the spot. Gone are the days of fried eggs, hashbrown and bacon. Nowadays it is toast with something on it, maybe cereal or even a breakfast taco. Times and tastes change. At least, I am able to control my weight this way and with not much activity, watching what I eat is important. I am managing to stay at 162 pounds which is only 4 pounds more than when I was at my fittest way back when. Of course, most of that is fat with very little muscle left anymore. I hate growing old but when I think of the alternatives, I settle for what I have.
We settled down, the dogs to sleep and me to write in our respective places and then followed the usual routine of reading the latest news to see if the end of the world might have happened in the night and then checking and responding to emails, which nowadays, is an easy task. Over the years after retirement from playing team sports and eventually followed by living full time in an RV, I have lost touch with pretty much all my former friends and acquaintances. Except for a couple that still stay in contact, my only other means of staying in touch is through Facebook and relying on my good friend BJ to keep me filled in with whatever is going on. I am a loner anyway and am quite comfortable with the current state of events. Not sure if I could stand close contact or living with another person for very long, anyway.
With the emails out of the way, I turned my attention to writing the blog. I noticed that I am only scheduled out 9 days ahead, so we are catching up which will make BJ happy. She complained about reading stuff that was a month old and wants to know what we did yesterday. The only problem with that close of scheduling is if say on travel days, I do not have time to write and then fall behind and with my memory as bad as it is……
I worked on some other stuff that I had been intentionally ignoring and finally got it out of the way. The outside temperature is at 97 degrees and bloody hot. Way too hot to be outside without a very good reason and right now, I cannot think of one. We will have to go out walking but not until a bit later when it cools down by a couple of degrees. Maybe, just maybe the next campground will have more trees and shade.
We got up early and went walking around the LCRA park for the last time before returning to start putting things away ready to travel. We ate breakfast or at least, I did. Cannot seem to get the dogs interested in food in the mornings unless it is a pork chop or something real and meaty. They are just not interested in doggy canned food. Today is the big day when we need to pull out of this site and head to Salado. Unfortunately, it has been one mix up after another here and now I must move on. Luckily for me, I have located a site that is available in a quiet park off the beaten track which will be good for us to recuperate from the reservation problems at Bastrop LCRA North Shore Park. Plus, it has full hookups. Yeah.
My friend BJ came over as I was halfway through the moving process. We sat and talked for a while and as we did, I realized just how different our lives are. She is a happily married lady of many years but has different interests than her husband, the same interests of where I used to be a couple of years back. Our mutual like of ponds and all things related is what spurred our friendship. That and BJ is an eager to help sort of person and I need all the help I can get. I am lucky in the sense that we are simply good friends and nothing more and in fact, she is one of my Executors.
When she arrived, other than lowering the jacks and stuff, I had everything ready to travel. She helped me attach the Jeep to Quatro which was difficult for some reason, but we eventually got it worked out and started on our way. BJ went on by and I followed the map builder on my phone to head off to Salado.
I use RV Trip Planner to guide my way and asked for it not to include highways which it did not. My route took me through little towns and a lot of countryside where at times, I was the only vehicle on the road which seemed like for miles. I may have been, and it took longer but was well worth it. Very little traffic and lots of scenery. We eventually arrived at Tranquil Garden RV Park, and it was clear that this is a small park. I had to call the owner to get him to the office to check me in and when we he arrived, it took a while to complete the paperwork. I paid my bill for the next 10 days giving me a chance to review our progress so far. To be truthful, I have no real goal and just want to wander wherever as we travel around.
After setting up with little difficulty even though the sites are gravel, they are fairly level and did not require any supporting blocks. My next-door neighbor who looked as old as me, came out and asked if I needed help. I thanked him profusely and passed on his offer. Not much he could do anyway once the RV is situated. Then it is just a question of leveling (Automatic) and hooking up the services. It was hotter than hell and the humidity was high making for an uncomfortable time outside. I finished all the hookups in no time flat getting to be an old hand at it and went back inside to straighten up. I must have left the door of the Jeep open as one of my neighbors knocked on my door to tell me so. I thanked her as she said she would close it for me. I got a few complements on Quatro as it is a nice-looking RV. It appears that we are facing the wrong way, not that we have any choice, and get the afternoon/evening sun directly on the windshield and even with the blinds down and the small fans running plus the A/C, it was extremely hot inside of the RV, and it did not cool down until the sun went down. There is no shade as there are no trees.
We went out for a stroll around the park just to see what was going on, but it is very small and quite obviously made up of permanent residents as they have all kinds of plants and such surrounding their RV’s. We are going to have to make several circuits to get any exercise. Following the walk, we retired to the RV for the evening.
Tranquil Garden RV Park, Salado-Saturday 2 06/11/2022
One of three roads
We slept late and I could not get any hot water when I tried to take a shower. Then I remembered that I had the propane tank turned off for the journey and I had not turned it on when we parked. The cold shower really woke me up, fast. We went out for a short walk as most of our walks will be in our stay here as there really is nowhere to walk and with the park being so small…. There is a dog park, but we have not found it yet.
Back in the RV, the first thing I did was turn on the gas at the tank. Better late than never, before fixing breakfast. As per usual, the dogs ignored the food I put in front of them. My toast was not particularly tasty either so maybe it is time to find something else to eat. Following breakfast, I tidied up the place before settling down in front of the computer. Only a couple of messages of any interest and quickly taken care of before recounting yesterday and today’s events.
One thing I have noticed on the drive up that Quatro does drive better than the previous RV, Mr. George. There is not as much sway although to be fair, we were not on the Interstate with the large trucks roaring by and creating their own wind forces. I use RV Trip Wizard to plan the trips and I must have inadvertently clicked the “No Interstate” button as it indeed, kept me off them and on less travelled roads. At one point, I travelled the frontage road for 8 miles with IH 35 right next to me but as I was making good time with much less traffic, I chose to stay on it. The reason I made good time was that I was the only vehicle on the Frontage Road that I could. At the very end, I worried about the last road we were on as it was a bit narrow, but it did not have any traffic and it led us to the campground.
I had to press a button to summon the owner who quickly appeared, and we took care of business. At least, this time, I have a sewer hookup even if the sites are gravel and close together. Incidentally, the “office” also has two washers and dryers which I will need to use, ASAP.so I grabbed some quarters in exchange for the last of my $2.00 bills.
Back in Quatro, I received a call from LCRA, and we discussed the scheduling problems that I had. I told my side of the story, and if my original booking had been correct and apart from changing sites, I could have stayed there through the weekend. The lady on the other end of the line was very apologetic and said she would issue a refund for the days I did not stay. How much is yet to be decided.
With Quatro facing into the sun, the front of the coach is very warm even with the A/C and two fans going full pelt. The bedroom, which is located at the rear of the coach and has its own A/C unit, is much cooler. Normally, this is not a problem but with the outside temperature hitting 106 degrees with the humidity and the same is forecast for the next few days. 100 plus degree temperatures are forecast to last a while. Cannot wait to hit the mountains in Colorado. We adjourned to the bedroom for a while and took a nap before venturing out to write some more. The dogs kept pestering me, but I tried to put them off as long as I can for it to get a bit cooler. Not all parks are created equal and this one does not have any shade trees. It cooled off quickly as the sun went down and we went for that stroll around the park. We found the doggy run and explored every inch of it before returning to Quatro for the evening.
Tranquil Garden RV Park, Salado-Sunday 3 06/12/2022
The one vacant lot next to mine
I got up early as I wanted to find the Walmart’s that my phone brought up. We went out for our morning stroll walking in the shade as much as possible before returning to the RV. I said goodbye to the dogs after giving them different treats which, incidentally, they turn their noses up and used my phone to find the closest Walmart’s which it said was 9.5 miles away. It was a long 9.5 miles and I think I must have been redirected for missing a turn.
I eventually found it and it was humongous. I wandered around and bought food and drink before checking out. The Cashier approached me and said I had to wait a couple of minutes before checking out the bottle of wine due to Sunday liquor laws. It took me that long to check out the rest and she gave me the green light for the wine. Something was nagging at me, and I knew it was important, but I could not for the life of me remember what it was and drove home. Of course, when I was in the RV, I knew what I had driven all that way for in the first place and that was the added fan. Stupid me. Maybe next time and I will write it down. I passed a couple of Parks and had a splendid view of Cedar Creek Reservoir and even drove over the dam so if I get the urge, there are places to go. A bit hot for that though. I thought about going back to Walmart’s for that fan but so far, it is not as bad as yesterday so I will wait until tomorrow or the next day when I will need other things as well.
I looked up online to see about the covers that are made that fit the front of a Class A to help block out the sun. They are not that expensive, less than $300.00 but the installation requires drilling the bodywork to install the snap on hooks. Maybe I can find a shop that will install them for me. It would certainly be a big help to keep out the sun’s heat.
Back at Quatro, when I opened the door the first time, I noticed that my neighbor to the right had moved on. I did not hear any activity of his packing up, but neither was I listening for it and the A/C units are very noisy. As quickly as he had packed up, he obviously knew what he was doing
I decided that as I had nothing to-do, it might be a good time to do laundry and after gathering everything up, I drove over to the laundry room. I got lucky as nobody else was using the machines considering there are only 2 washers and 2 driers. I packed my clothes into both washers and then went back to wait it out. I realized that I did not have enough quarters for the drier and called the Super. The phone was answered by his assistant who met me at the Laundry Room and gave me the quarters for the drier. I drove over to fold the laundry even though it is less than 100 yards away. Too hot to carry it although the car was also hot. Lesser of two evils. With the laundry folded and put away, I wrote some more while waiting for the sun to go down so we could take that last walk of the day. Texas summer has hit us with a bang, and it reached 102 degrees here in Salado.
Tranquil Garden RV Park, Salado-Monday 4 06/13/2022
This is the Supers RV
I crawled out of bed after a very restful night’s sleep ready to face whatever today might bring. We went walking and stayed in the shade as much as possible as it was already up to 90 degrees outside. This at 9:30 in the morning. It is going to be another scorcher. Well, this is Texas after all although it has not been this hot this early in several years. Last year, we only hit 100 degrees on a couple of days, and we have already had several this summer with more forecast for the rest of the week.
I skipped breakfast but I did feed the dogs before I left to go back to Walmart’s to buy that fan. I found a Walmart’s a bit closer to us that is not as big and is mostly rows and rows of groceries. They did have a small area of everything else and I was able to find a fan. I had my choice of them and settled for a 24” with 3 speeds. I restocked up on Seltzers while I was in there and bought some dog food in the hope, they might be tempted with this one. Probably not…My dogs are either spoilt, very well fed or not hungry and add fussy eaters to that list.
I stopped at a gas station as the Jeep was showing low air in one of the tires and wasted $4.00 on a air pump that did not do any good. When I got back after a very pleasant drive through beautiful countryside with hardly any traffic, I found my own Ryobi air inflator and finished off the job on the Jeep’s tires. With the outside work taken care of, I adjourned to join the dogs inside of Quatro which, incidentally, was nice and cool at least for now. Late afternoon will be the real test.
There is one other Class A parked here and it has the window covers installed on it. It is here in the permanent section, so it makes sense to have them. Putting them up and down is easy except it requires a ladder to reach any part of them which of course I have with my expanding ladder.
I did a load of laundry yesterday and was the only person in the washroom which, incidentally, is in the one very small building that is the office, laundry room, bathrooms, and showers and whatever else they can cram into it. The park is small with only 26 sites, 24 of which are classified as permanent. Mine and the one next to me are for travelers so I was lucky to get a spot. My neighbor pulled out yesterday, another old guy like me…
The countryside is beautiful with lots of green pastures and hills covered with trees and cows everywhere. Probably not cows, more like the castrated kind that get eaten. The Stillhouse Hollow Lake is close by and I drove over the dam yesterday. If it was not so bloody hot outside, I might consider visiting one of the two parks close bye, but this heat just drains me. That is not true as it is more of a mental thing than physical. Of course, I get hot, and the sweat pours off me, but it is all in the mind and mine says, “Stay inside Quatro in the relatively cool air.”
I took my own advice and worked on some pictures that I had taken plus spent some time in organizing some of my files on my computer that are all over the place. I now have them in some sort of order but of course, cannot find anything I want. At least previously, in my own disorganized and muddled way, I knew where everything was…
I left it as late as I could before taking the dogs out walking. They were bugging me by giving me “The Look” which interpreted from dog to human means, “We gotta go.” We harnessed up and went for the evening walk around the park which usually involves spending time in the dog run where I can let them off the leash. Sandy takes full advantage and wanders around smelling and leaving her own mark on everything. Mikey stands next to me most of the time. He sure is a funny little fellow and is either very scared or very protective.
We adjourned for the night back in Quatro with the usual evening meal and television.
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.
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.
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.
We slept well and woke up to the sound of rain on the roof, so I rolled over and went back to sleep getting 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 as 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. It is a very well-maintained park with extremely helpful hosts. I figure that credit should be given where it is due, and that park deserves as much credit as is possible.
When I first started writing this blog, I wrote it using Word and then transferred it to the blogsite. This month, I decided that I would write directly in the blogsite but much to my dismay, it does not make the same corrections that Word does so I have switched back to writing in Word and then copy and paste into the blog. It is a bit more work but at least, the finished product should pass the test of any critical English Majors that might happen to read it although, to be truthful, I do wonder on the corrections that Word sometimes wants to make.
I decided that I needed to go into the town of Bastrop as I need a second backup set of keys for the RV. For some reason, there was only one set this time. When I purchased Mr. George, there were two sets of all kinds of keys, many of which I had no clue to what they opened. It is a well-known fact that many RV keys fit other RV’s especially in the storage areas. The drive in was simple enough and eventually I found the Lock shop only to discover they are not open on the weekend. Strange really, but I guess they did not get the business that warranted keeping the shop open. I looked on my phone and discovered another one and followed the directions that brought me to a Walmart’s parking lot but no Lock shop. After several frustrating drive arounds, I parked and lo and behold, the lock shop was a machine to make your own keys located inside of Walmart’s. This would not work for me so I guess that it will happen on Monday. Since I was at Walmart’s anyway; I took advantage and did some shopping. Incidentally, because the HEB is so big, the Walmart’s is even bigger. Cannot be outdone…
The drive back was uneventful, and we harnessed up, after putting the groceries away for the evening walk. I discovered another trail and we walked it which brought us back to within 100 yards of Quatro. Altogether I covered a little over 2 miles for the day. We finished the evening in the usual fashion with the evening meal and watching TV.
We took our first walk around the park and saw many campers breaking down their campsites as they prepared to go home to their “bricks and sticks” houses. My guess is that many are locals and come here for the fishing and boating that the park is noted for. With the weekenders gone, many of whom have their campsites reserved for months in advance, the park looks comparatively empty as there are very few, if any, long term residents and those are all employees. This is a holiday park and does not cater for long termers. My neighbors on either side and in front of me have left although a very nice Airstream pulled in later in the afternoon.
I drove over to the office both to empty my trash bin and to see if I could make changes to my site as it occurred to me that I had a doctor’s appointment in of all places, Dripping Springs, the same day that I am scheduled to move to a different site. I was finally able to work something out involving me staying at this site for one more day before changing, enabling me to keep the Doctor’s appointment.
With business out of the way, I drove back to be greeted by the dogs who looked at me as if to say, “How dare you not take us with you.” I did not feel guilty one little bit and fixed breakfast for us before settling down to write. I was looking at RV trip Planner, the program I use to find out where I might want to go next, and my second stop was scheduled for Tranquil Gardens RV Park in Salado. When I first booked, they had only one spot for two nights which I took, and they promised to call me back if things changed. While I was looking at the RV Trip Planner, the phone rang, and it was them doing just that. I was able to book for 7 days total. Great timing on their part. It seems that even though I can plan a trip out, I cannot make reservations until the week before in case things come up as they did here. That also gives me time to adjust if I cannot get into a desired campground. All a part of travelling in an RV as you cannot just park anywhere, especially in Quatro which is 36ft long and the size of a bus.
I also worked on one of the tablets that I have and uploaded RV Trip Wizard and was able to pull up the trip I have planned. I will use this as well as my phone when we travel to show us the way. The trouble is that neither of them will show me that the road signs that are pointing in the wrong direction like we encountered coming into this park.
I looked at the clock and it was time for me to drive over to BJ’s house for the Pond Tour. I arrived and parked next to the house being a special guest and all. BJ and Sam gave me a warm greeting and we sat around taking for a bit along with others from the Pond Society, catching up on old times and such. There was a steady flow of people coming and going all “oohing and aahing” over BJ and Sam’s beautiful garden and ponds. BJ showed me where a baby fawn was laying in the bushes waiting for its mother to come and pick it up. We kept an eye on it and a couple of hours later, the doe came back and the next thing, the baby jumped up and raced after it is Mother. Wonderful sight to see Nature up close. Seems fitting somehow as we were there to enjoy Nature albeit with a bit of help from BJ and Sam and Mother Nature joins in to put on her own little show.
People were coming and going all afternoon and I got to meet many old acquaintances in that time. The last ones left just after 5:00 pm and I took that as my cue to leave also. I said my farewells to BJ and Sam and drove back to Quatro. We immediately went out for the evenings walk for just a short trip before retiring back to Quatro for the evening.
We came across this little group of Armadillos all scampering around chasing bugs. The did not know we were there until the very last minute.and I could have grabedd one of I had the urge. The dogs just looked at them.
We have nothing planned for today, but we got up at a reasonable hour for us to take the first walk of the day around the park. There are a lot of empty spots now that the weekend is over and as we walked by a couple of others who were preparing to break camp. We had breakfast, which some consider to be the most important meal of the day. For me, the coffee is the most important part with the food, not so much. As coffee has little nutritional value, then it must be accompanied with something solid.
Following breakfast, I made plans to get the dogs to the vets for their annual shots and as I already have a doctor’s appointment in Dripping Springs of all places, I managed to arrange for both dogs to visit my vet that I have been going to these past 30 years. In that time, I have seen several veterinarians come and go including the original owner who retired many years ago and Dr Donop, my long-time vet, who retired recently at an early age. The plan is to drop the dogs off on the way to Dripping Springs for my Doctors Appointment and then pick them up on the way back. With all these arrangements going on, I need to find a hairdresser for me as what hair I have left is long and untidy although I am not restricted to any of the local hairdressers and can get it cut about anywhere. Vanity has long gone out of the window with old age… I suppose that with my hippie lifestyle, I could let just it grow long to look the part.
With Thursday’s arrangements all made, I spent a couple of hours working on the pictures that I have recently taken including the fawn. Cute little guy. I wrote in the blog, but my mind was elsewhere planning my next move. I knew that I had to move on Friday to what I thought was the site for over the weekend. I also planned that when I moved, I would stop at the Dump Station to empty the tanks as we are not hooked up to the sewer on this site.
The rest of the day was spent in the usual fashion although, I had quit writing early as I tried to get used to the wrist brace. It gets in the way especially when I try to move the mouse as my wrist is no longer level with the table being raised as it is by the brace. I tried working without it, but the pain was too great, and I had to put it back on. I never realized just how right-handed I am but am finding out really quick. My left hand cannot do half the things that my right hand can.
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.
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.
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”.
It has been said time and again that the best laid plans of mice and men do not always work out the way for the people who had their say when that happens the only course is to lay new plans in a different force and change the way it was going to be another way for your destiny to make it different into something new to be shared with but a few no one knows what is instore as they open up life’s doors and sometimes things that are revealed would be better off concealed as things do not always work the way that people would choose if they had their say.
I got up really early at 6:00 am. I have not been up this early in years and forgot just what it was like. Quite honestly, although it was a bit cooler and much nicer for walking, I did not notice much difference. Maybe that is because I was stumbling along with my eyes half closed trying to sleepwalk my way around the park. Today, of course, is the big day when we trade in Mr. George and pick up Quatro.
We hurried through breakfast, and I forgo the coffee for grapefruit juice probably because the coffee maker and all other utensils are packed away. I moved the Jeep to the temporary parking which is right next to the laundry room and hurried back to Mr. George to go thru the pre-moving process, lowering the jacks, moving in the slide, disconnecting the water, sewer and finally the electric power. The final act was to ease Mr. George forward a bit, jump out after turning off the truck engine and check that everything was OK and hit the road. It was about 7:30 am and the traffic was light as it was not a workday. I made the turn onto Ranch Road 12 without having to use the detour that I had as a backup and we trucked along, making good time until as I rounded a bend, the County police had the road blocked. Something must have crashed but it was no longer there, and the local fire department were busy washing off the road which, incidentally, took forever. Well at least 20 minutes of frustration before I was back on my way. I had already called Crestview to tell them of the situation so they would know I would be late. Time is money and all of that…
I arrived and parked Mr. George for the last time without an ounce of regret as he just did not measure up or maybe, I was just too picky, and hurried into the office to be met by my salesperson, John Giguere. We quickly went through the paperwork. I told him I wanted to keep the mattress from Mr. George as I had previously bought it. He said he would look to see if the one in Quatro was the same size and would change it out if it was. He hurried off and the very nice lady from the office called me in and we went through the paperwork. I signed what seemed like 50 pieces of paper with her rattling on that this was for xxx and this for yyy. I gave her my cashier’s check for a large sum of money and then I was the proud owner of Quatro. It would be great if this was the end of the story after I had transferred the few remaining things, but it was not to be as the step which automatically closes or opens depending on the door, stopped working. A whole army of technicians descended on us they went to work trying to fix the problem. Almost 2 hours later they had it working again, and they had to steal the parts off another RV as they did not have them in stock. I finally pulled out of there and made my way back to Henly. I had been in communication with my friend BJ, who had offered to help transfer the stuff into Quatro and told her to not bother because it would be late by the time I got home.
The trip back was uneventful except for one motorist honking his horn at me as I made a turn at a stop sign. I had to take a wide swing because of the off track due to the length of Quatro at 36 ft and he did not approve. Too bad. I could have just run into him and then see how he would like that. Upon arriving at Henly, I proceeded to back into the site, getting it right the first time without any adjustments whatsoever. Next was to plug in the shore power, lower the jacks after placing leveling boards under the jack feet, connect the water and sewer and we were all set and ready to go. I let out the slide and we went for a short walk before returning to start work. I tied the dogs up outside so they could see what was going on and started to carry in boxes from under the tarps outside. We worked diligently for several hours before calling it quits and finding some food for us all. I tried the TV but could not get it to work and gave up listening to an Audiobook instead before hitting the sack early as my body was so tired and sore and slept like the proverbial baby.
I slept like a log not waking until around 8:30 am this morning. I got out of bed immediately and we went for a short walk around the park. The steps are making grinding noises when I open them, and it looks like trip back to Crestview although I will wait until I pull out of here on Wednesday, the 1st. They are set up wrong anyway as they are supposed to stay open if the screen door is open and latched and only close when the main door is closed. I did not bother with breakfast and had to settle for instant coffee. Better than nothing though.
We went to work all day carrying in loads of boxes and storing the contents away until, I determined that we had done about as much as we could but had hardly made a dent in the stack outside. With so much more storage space, I had the luxury of picking and choosing which drawers or closets to store stuff. The bunk is proving to be very useful as it will never get used for sleeping and consequently makes a fine storage space for totes and such.
Sandy was due to be groomed and this time, her groomer stopped by the RV to pick her up, bringing her back a few hours later looking clean and sharp. I thanked the groomer whose name is Bethany, and we went back to work. Around 7:00 pm we called it a day and found food for us all. I had bought a roast chicken which is the dog’s favorite when added to their other food. I ate mine with steamed vegetables which I recently discovered.
I worked on the blog site and all of a sudden, the computer crashed with a warning that it was infected with a bug and the only way to fix it was to call a certain company to get them to clean it up. Bottom line and a couple of hours and $799.00 later, the computer was fixed. I suggested that I buy another computer, but it is something to do with my assigned IP address and even a new one using the same IP address would also be infected. My only option was to pay the fee to get it cleaned up. I have no idea how I got the bug as I do not open things I don’t recognize and am very careful, but it does not appear that any information was stolen. I have programs that are supposed to stop it like Malwarebytes and others, but I guess it was a different problem. Not my day after all. I did pay with my American Express card just as a safeguard.
I still have not hooked up the Roku stick, and the TV does not work using the other remotes that I have so we sat and listened to an Audiobook until it was time for bed.
I slept well probably because the work I did yesterday moving stuff into Quatro. It is tiring walking up and down the steps plus the heavy lifting is not what I am used to but I did manage to cover 1.8 miles for the day. We got up and took the first walk around the park running into a few other campers most of whom said hello. I did not even bother with breakfast or coffee and jumped straight into the work. Today, I spent a few hours loading totes into the outside storage in Quatro. Stuff like tools and supplies and such. It was amazing by working along at a steady pace, how much I was able to accomplish and before long, all of the outside pile was gone, the mat was back in place with the couch on it. Everything was stored away and I still have quite a bit of storage space left even after storing the extra, now empty, totes. What I will do in the coming days is to redistribute where the different items are stored to even out the weight a bit but there is no hurry for that. Incidentally, the Jeep is also empty, more or less, although there are some things I carry permanently in it.
Back inside Quatro, I sat for a while after stripping off and changing my sweaty clothes, just to relax a bit before going back to work inside trying to organize and straighten up. I received a call from Crestview and had a conversation with the manager regarding the steps and have an appointment on June 1st to get them fixed. I am leaving this park on that day anyway, so it is a detour on my way to Bastrop and hopefully, should not take too long. I spent the rest of the day straightening and tidying things up inside the RV. I even worked on the television and installed my Roku stick. Although the TV lit up. it kept telling me “No signal”. I messed around without a clue of knowing what I was doing, and I got lucky, and everything opened up. The screen is huge, probably at least 48 inches and maybe more. It will be fun to watch the soccer games on it.
We are pretty much all set for the move on Wednesday. Tomorrow, I will load the Jeep with the wicker couch and table and the other sundry other things that I carry there when we travel. I cannot hook it up yet as I will need to pull Quatro out of this parking space to do that so that will happen early Wednesday morning. We went out for the final walk of the day just around the park. It seemed hotter than ever even with a steady breeze, and I was glad to get back to the A/C. I finished writing this blog before getting it ready to post.
We all slept well, and I am glad that I had them swap the mattress from Mr. George as the new one is really comfortable especially with the additional 2 inches of mattress topper on it. I got up at a respectable hour for us as I knew we had a busy day ahead. We went out and walked around and ran into Daniel, back from his weekend vacation. He said they had a wonderful time swimming, canoeing and fishing along with eating and drinking. I showed him around Quatro, and he said he really liked it. He liked the additional space and the layout plus all of the storage. I think he was being honest and not just being nice. Back in the RV, we had a quick breakfast and this time I was able to make a latte along with a couple of slices of toast having got everything set up.
Then it was time to go to work. I harnessed the dogs to the table so they could watch and then proceeded to load the usual things in the Jeep carrier, outside mats, wicker couch and table and some of the wood blocking we use for levelling under the RV feet. The cushions and a couple of other things were put in the back of the Jeep. With everything outside put away with the exception of the water hose, sewer hose and electric power cable which will be the very last things after we pull in the slides, we adjourned back inside of the RV to the air conditioning. It was hot outside as the temperature had already reached 90 degrees.
Back inside, I put away the last of the things from outside and changed a couple of other storage locations for other stuff and noticed that I had overloaded a drawer and the bottom had parted company from the sides. Something else to work on. I did find a new home for the drawer’s contents though as I have that much space. I still need to get Quatro ready for the road by clearing off the counter tops of all moveable items and any others located throughout the coach. We do not have to be at Crestview until 11:30 am which means leaving here around 10:15 am or so I have a little time for the final packing. I do have to hook up the Jeep which takes about 15 minutes and will be the last thing I do before driving off.
I sat around for a while messing around with different things as I thought about them until about 6:30 pm when we went out walking around the park. We also walked the road that is part of the loop and that leads to Hwy 290 and saw a few exotic deer in the Preserve before returning to the RV. We managed to cover 1.6 miles for the day. On the way out on our walk, Malinda and Daniel were sitting outside of their RV and we wandered over so my dogs could say hello to their dogs. I sat and we chatted for a bit mostly about the upcoming move and the tenants of the park. We discussed my moving to their site when I come back which will be good for me as I will not be facing the sun like I do in this one.
It was still too hot to sit outside and anyway, I had nothing to sit on having put it all away ready for the trip, so we headed back indoors. The dogs immediately crashed while waiting for me to prepare their food knowing that as I was busy writing, it would be a while before I turned my attention to them. I finished the blog for the day and fed the dogs before feeding myself and then watching TV on my huge, screened TV set. Tomorrow is the day when we start yet another new adventure.
I awoke early as I was not sure if James would show up to do the repair and I checked my phone in the hope that he may have left a message. No luck though. We went out for the usual walk covering around a half mile. We did not see any other campers while we were out and it was not until we were almost home, that we ran into one of my neighbors who was getting her RV washed. We chatted for a while and she told me that as soon as the storm blew in, she phoned a friend and spent the night with them.
Back at Mr. George, I inspected the covered outdoor pile of all my worldly belongings, and it seems to be OK although the only way I will know of any water damage to any of the contents will be when I start to move the pile into Quatro, hopefully Saturday afternoon. It is amazing how dirty the rain is as Mr. George’s windshield is absolutely filthy. The temperature has dropped, and it stands at 64 degrees at 10:30 am. Almost unheard of for a Texas summer day.
Following breakfast, I sat and wrote for a while wondering what the rest of the day would bring. I am really hoping that James will show up and do the repairs so that it is out of the way, and I can concentrate on the move. I was checking the posts that I had already scheduled and noticed that I had made an error in posting one of them and had to spend quite a bit of time making the corrections. I am so far ahead that I have now resorted to posting three collective blogs a day in the hopes of catching up closer to the current date. The problem is created by blogging for seven days and only posting on five with Saturdays for poetry and nothing posted on Sundays. Consequently, I am always playing catch-up. I would like to bring that closer to say three to four days ahead just to give me a cushion. I was straightening out the blog when James, the repair man showed up. I hurriedly shut down to meet him at the door and we chatted for a bit before he started to address the problem. Working on the slide was no easy task and he worked diligently changing cables and putting in new ones for almost 4 hours before he was satisfied, he had it fixed. To be sure, he ran the slide in and out several times. I happily paid the bill because it brought me one step closer to getting Quatro although it does not change the pickup date and angry that it broke in the first place. James drove off to work on somebody else’s RV in the same park and I put a few more things in the Jeep. About the only thing left, what is in the fridge, which is very little as I am eating most of it, the coffee maker, the contents of the desk and the clothes on hangers in the wardrobe. Changing RV’s will be relatively easy this time around as it will take longer to do the paperwork than to transfer the contents.
With the work on the RV complete, the dogs, who had been tied up outside the entire time that the work was ongoing, now had their chance to make a fuss of me before we went out walking following our usual pattern, first the park, then the lane before returning to work on the blog. The dogs were tired probably from being tied up outside for 4 hours as well as the walk and they quickly settled down to rest. The evening followed the usual pattern of food and wine. and television.
We got up at a reasonable hour and went out for the morning walk around the park. It was quiet, peaceful, and we only saw one other camper, Jeanette, with her little dog off in the distance. I waved to her as we made our way back to the RV for breakfast. We have nothing planned although I have a few things to do around Mr. George in preparation to trade him in as I am trying to get the transfer itself as simple as possible by leaving everything here in the park and in the Jeep. It is much easier, and I will have a couple of days to put everything back into Quatro
Breakfast comprised of toast made in the microwave which although crispy was not brown. Still, it did the trick. I also had to drink instant coffee having run out of milk and not wanting to replace it until we have the new RV. Plenty of time to stock up the larder and freezer then. I am really scratching for things to eat but at least the refrigerator, especially the freezer, is almost empty and it looks like all that will need to be transferred are things in jars and bottles. I have at least one more breakfast and two evening meals to go. Not to say that it is food I would normally eat by choice and that is the reason it is still left in the fridge and me wondering why I bought it in the first place.
I wrote in the blog for a bit after answering a couple of emails. I also contacted my insurance company to add the insurance for Quatro to start early Saturday morning. I cannot cancel the insurance on Mr. George until after I no longer own him. Then we went about the task of packing and placing a couple more boxes and such under the tarps outside. Prior to that, I exchanged the electric door lock that I had purchased a while back and put the original lock back on. It took a while to figure out which keys operated this lock and which ones are for the electric lock which I will keep until I get the new RV. I thought I noticed an electric lock already installed on the new one but if I cannot find the code anywhere or figure out how to reprogram it, then I will exchange it for the one I have. If it fits the same hole in the door, that is. I also took off the elongated door handle that I had installed as I will need that on Quatro. Not as mobile as I used to be, especially with my bum knee. I go up and down one step at a time hanging on to the handrail. Unfortunately, long gone are the days of bounding up and down stairs. Come to that, I don’t “bound “anywhere. More like slow walking getting helped along by Sandy’s constant pulling on the leash. At least, she keeps me moving with poor little Mikey bring up the rear. His choice, by the way although it is as if he has had some training and walks to heel automatically.
I was back to the point of not having anything else to do or at least, that I could do immediately. I had already determined that I still have the contents of the desk left which will be the last thing I pack up, but I had run out of totes and tomorrow is Friday and the very last day to be able to pack anything with the early start planned on Saturday. I drove into Home Depot in Dripping Springs to get what I needed but before going into the store, I test drove a route that I had planned for Mr. George as the turn onto Ranch Road 12 from Hwy 290 is very acute and Mr. George, being so long, a bit like a tractor trailer and requires a large turning radius. I was concerned that my approach and with the traffic already making the turn at this remarkably busy intersection, I would be in trouble. I think that the route I have picked out will work much better and I will have straight run onto Ranch Road 12.
I wandered into the store and took a while making up my mind which totes, I should buy. I am thinking that I need to keep as many totes as possible when the switch is done and not give them away as I did before. Then again, I have been smarter over which sizes I bought with that in mind. The only other thing I needed was a packet of screws to fill the holes left where I took off the door handle. My next stop was Starbucks and because it was so hot, I ordered my Latte iced for a change. It still tasted good. From there, it was back to Mr. George and the dogs but before we went out walking, I filled up the washer fluid tank on the Jeep having discovered it was empty on the way in to Dripping. I do not know if it is blowing dust or dirty rain or a combination of both but in either case, both the Jeep windshield and that of Mr. Georger are filthy. I packed a couple more items into the Jeep and have only the passenger seat left which I will fill with the clothes that are currently hanging in the wardrobe and that will be it. No more “Room at the Inn’ or in this case, the Jeep. I will park it next to the dumpster in the overflow parking site on Friday so it will not be in the way when we pull out and when we return with Quatro on Saturday.
We went out for the final walk of the day around the park and on the outside road. Traffic, or rather, lack of it, has improved immensely now that the road construction has finished, and it is much safer to walk out there. Back at the RV, I spent time writing before we ended the evening in the usual fashion of food, wine, and English football on the television.
We got up early to practice for tomorrow when I plan to crawl out of bed around 6:00 am. or so to get that early start on the road. My appointment is for 9:00 am and I want to get there a bit early as it takes about an hour to drive. The walk around the park was uneventful except for running into Daniel with Uzi on board just driving around and checking things out. Daniel, along with his family, is taking a trip this weekend, it being Memorial Weekend and all. They are going kayaking and taking his 4-wheeler as well. Sounds like fun. The park was quiet with not much going on but that might change as Friday is the day when weekenders arrive although, being Memorial Weekend, it may be different.
We arrived back for breakfast of whatever was left in the fridge and instant coffee. The dogs just sniffed at what I put in front of them and went back to sleep. Fussy bunch. Mr. George is looking extremely bare, with most of the stuff either under the tarp or in the Jeep which is almost full. I have room on the front seat for the last two boxes I have packed which are currently sitting in Mr. George. I decided I should do a small load of laundry as I had the time, wandered over to the Laundry Room, and grabbed a machine. This time, instead of using the App, I used the quarters that I had collected just to use them up and consequently, could not rely on the App to tell me when the laundry was complete. I guessed when the wash was done and walked back over to throw the things in the dryer which takes about an hour. Compared to my usual wash, this load was light and only required one machine. An hour later, I folded the small amount of clean laundry and walked back to Mr. George. Incidentally, I was the only person doing laundry at that time which is a first.
As regards Mr. George and the swap over, I think I have done all I can do in preparation. Everything is packed except for eating utensils for the final meal this evening. My last action will be to remove my Roku stick and sound bar from the TV before going to bed. Tomorrow, I will move the car to the temporary parking site and can drive straight out after moving in the slide, lowering the jacks, and disconnecting the power, water, and sewer hose. I received a call from Crestview just to confirm that in fact, I was still coming at the allotted time which, of course, was answered in the affirmative. Excitement indeed.
