I awoke late after a good night’s sleep and rolled out of bed. I took a shower and changed into a clean set of clothes and took the dogs out walking. Daniel and Jeff were out picking up the piles of branches and leaves I had raked up a couple of days ago and we chatted for a bit.
We wandered around and onto the outside road to complete the circuit but did not see any other campers walking their dogs. Back in Caboose, I fixed breakfast and that all important coffee for me before settling down in front of the computer to read and trash emails. I did catch up on world news and events with nothing exciting or different that had not happened in the days before.
Then it was time to write again, completing yesterday’s events, which for me was the excitement of installing and using the washing machine the day before. Doing laundry took up most of last evening as I learned the idiosyncrasies of the new machine, one of which was to not leave it unattended in spin mode or it would bounce right out of the door.
Next up was to make a trip into Austin as I had an eye appointment later in the afternoon. Initially, I had to stop at my long time Ear Doctor to drop off one of my hearing aids that needed repair or replacement and then headed to Far West Blvd to pick up my mail. I drove the 15 odd miles to the Postal place which was uneventful even though it was a long way. I sat out in the car and checked to see what I had and thought about where to go next.
The original plan was to hit Walmart’s but somehow, time slipped away from me plus the Austin traffic was bloody awful, and I headed directly to the Optometrist’s Office in a different part of town but at least, on the way home. Along with my ear doctor who I first started to see after I broke my nose playing soccer back in 1978, you could say that we have all grown old together as I have been going to see my eye Doctor for around 30 years. I even coached his kid in the finer arts of playing soccer back in the day.
It was a long drawn-out process with all of the testing and such and they were getting ready to shut up shop when I finished my business. While there, I treated myself to a new set of glasses which set me back a bit. Hopefully, I will not lose these as I did the last new pair I bought.
I found a Starbucks on the way home and bought my usual Latte for the long drive. Incidentally, I had received a phone call from Crestview telling me that the door handle for the RV was in which I will pick up tomorrow. I have no idea where today went but it has flown by.
We went out for a walkabout just around the park as it was getting late, and the evening was closing in fast when I arrived back at Caboose. The rest of the time was spent in the usual fashion with food all around which I ate while catching up with the blog.
Taho and his family have moved on. Such a lovely and friendly ball of fur.
I got up early around 7:30 am because I just could not sleep anymore. Maybe, it had something to do with going to bed a little after 10:00 pm last evening which is at least an hour earlier than I am used to. We went out walking around the park before returning for the usual breakfast and coffee. While we were out, we ran into Daniel, and I asked him to drop off a rake so that I could work on the leaves scattered everywhere which he did.
With nothing planned for today, I grabbed the rake and started work on my site, raking the leaves and branches in piles for later pickup. Once I got started, there was no stopping me. Well maybe that is not really true as Daniel asked if I was ready for a coffee break, which I was. We sat and drank our coffee and Daniel regaled me with stories of his younger days. He is an amusing storyteller, and we spent a half hour just sitting there.
Then it was back to work, for me, raking and for Daniel, whatever he was doing before. I spent the next 4 hours or so raking leaves and small branches throughout the entire top area of the park on about 25 different sites. I did not have to worry about the bottom section as it does not have any large oak trees. I finished work around 4:00 pm, one tired individual but happy to have helped out and I needed the workout. Luckily, I am not the one that has to pick up all of my piles as that is Daniels job. That is, unless he asks me to help.
I spotted the Amazon delivery truck just as Daniel pulled up alongside me and he drove us to the Office. Luckily for me, they were delivering the new washer/dryer that I had ordered, and Daniel had them load it onto his 4 Wheeler. We drove back to the storage area and unloaded it with the help of another friend, Jeff for later installation.
By then, the day was almost over. I went back to the RV, now named The Caboose, and harnessed up the dogs. I needed some stuff from Quatro, and we stopped to pick things up before just wandering around wherever Sandy took us. I was tired but humored her until we arrived back at Caboose to sit outside and watch the world go by. Incidentally, I covered almost 5 miles for the day with all of the leaf raking.
When it started to cool off, we adjourned back inside of The Caboose for the rest of the evening spent in the usual fashion.
We went out walking and the first person I saw was Daniel, but as he is not my type, I will discount him as My Valentine. I did not see any members of the opposite sex, so I am Valentine free this year, as usual…
We wandered around and made a stop at Quatro to find the small folding dolly that I have. I figure we can use it inside of Caboose to help move the washing machine. I also found a paper towel holder that I knew I had but had been unable to find. Overall, a good start to the day.
Back in Caboose, I made that first important coffee and breakfast and sat and read emails as I ate. Nothing of major importance and just the usual junk. I did get one from BJ who likes to send me interesting tidbits from time to time. I turned my attention to the blog, but I was already caught up. Must be nowadays as I have a tough time recalling any events after a couple of missed days.
I posted yesterday’s blog after adding pictures and with today already written, looked around for other things to do. Finding nothing of importance, I sat on the couch and made a fuss of the dogs and almost dropped off to sleep. Luckily, Daniel pulled up accompanied by Jeff and announced they were ready to install the new washing machine. This woke me right up and I jumped up ready to put in my 5 cents worth which as about all I do contribute nowadays. I hate being old and useless but, in my mind, I can still do everything. Others view me differently and that as an old and physically useless man.
I have learned to step back and let the younger generation do their thing by compromising with myself…
An hour or so later, they had the new washing machine installed. The tricky part was just getting it into position. They both roughly moved the machine up the steps and into Caboose, set it on a small carpet and then dragged the carpet to slide it into position manually at the very end. Incidentally, they had to remove the toilet to make room to get the new machine in the closet, which, by the way, was already set up to take a washing machine. I helped where I could but mine was more of a “Hand me a wrench” type of help or finding another tool that was needed from my own totally disorganized tool kit.
I thanked them both profusely and they refused my offer of payment. Instead, I told Daniel I would buy him beer to which he readily agreed. They left and I at once put a small load in to try it out. It is a combo unit that washes and then dries so it will be interesting to see what happens when we reach the drying stage.
I was sitting and writing, and I heard the washing machine start banging away. I guess it was on a spin cycle as it literally nearly took off. I had to sit on the john, with the cover down of course, and hold the machine steady while it went through that spin cycle. Then it went into the dry cycle which was much calmer. If it is that aggressive on the spin cycle, quite obviously, I will need to be on hand when that happens. Good to know. Small price to pay for the luxury and convenience of having my very own washing machine. No more wandering over to the Laundry Room only to find that all the machines are taken or worse yet, some inattentive camper not keeping an eye on the clock and his/her laundry is taking up a machine although the machine is now idle. That is really aggravating…
With my new toy in full action mode, I sat and wrote as the laundry was being done. Incidentally, the machine timer and actual time are somewhat different with the machine timer running really, really slow. Whatever.
We went out for a walkabout, but I did not leave the washer running. When we got back, I restarted it with another load as I am still figuring it out…I had already noticed that when the machine is in the spin mode of the washing cycle, the unit vibrates tremendously, enough that it moves about. I decided that in this particular mode, I need to be close by just in case…When the machine had finished drying, I left that load in the machine ready to fold in the morning and went to bed.
I went into town today just so I could have my say on the things that I would buy for the RV and the reason why is that I needed extra sheets in two RV’s a set to keep so that I have a spare just because I really care that I do not turn into a slob and not launder them which is my job for after a week they need a change as sleeping in them cannot be the same.
It is just not the bed that has me concerned for over the years I have learned to keep an eye what’s in the fridge so that there is something when I get the itch to eat a meal or maybe a snack with the refrigerator bare things are out of whack I search high and low for something to eat and usually end with what’s within reach and so, my meals are a chancy thing depending on what my searching will bring.
Luckily for me food is not a game and things I eat are sometimes the same gone are the days of eating out for a steak or chops or even a trout now I make do with what’s in the fridge or even a can if it’s within reach to fill the tummy is the goal and not savor the taste or please the soul but to eat enough to stay alive Whatever the taste I will survive.
I awoke early, for me, and crawled out of bed after a very good night’s sleep. The sun was shining although the wind still had a bite to it. We wandered around the park and then walked the length of the bottom road covering a mile in the process. A very good way to start the day.
I spent some time remaking the bed as somehow, I had not aligned the top sheet up properly and it did not reach up to my shoulders resulting in me being cold in the night. With the bed made, this time to my satisfaction, we went out in the kitchen area to make breakfast and drink that all important, first cup of coffee. Unless I hit a Starbucks out on my travels, it is the only cup of coffee for the day. I made breakfast, this time a meat patty on a bun which tasted OK. Sandy liked her bits and pieces, but Mikey just ignored his as he usually does. Not much of a one for handouts, is Mikey unless he is in the right mood. Such a funny little dog…
With breakfast out of the way, it was time to read the World news mainly to see if we still had one, World that is. Heck, you never know as the end of the world may have come and gone and I missed it. Noting that it was still here even in it’s totally screwed up state, I read a few emails and trashed the rest and then turned my attention to the blog.
Accounting for my daily life, although probably not very interesting to others, is a way to keep my brain exercised and active. Lord only knows that my memory is not what it used to be, and recall is not sharp anymore. It is embarrassing If I am talking to somebody and cannot remember their name or something within the conversation that we are having. I umm and ahh and make apologies and we move on. Important stuff like addresses and phone numbers are on my phone for reference.
I think, between BJ and me, we may have come up with a name for the unit. Officially, it is a Jayco Bungalow so a short combination of that is Jacob. As my friend BJ is quick to point out, it is a very masculine name as is the unit. We finally agreed on The Caboose so as not to differentiate between Masculine and Feminine Gender for the unit. A Caboose is the last carriage on a steam train. As this is the very last RV, I plan on buying which makes it the end of the line, Caboose it is. Hooray, now I no longer must refer to it as “the RV”. I like it!
Having finally achieved something for today with the help of my friend BJ, I looked around for other things to get up to. My efforts at hanging pictures a couple of days ago were not very successful because of the type of stick-on hanger I used, and I need to come up with stronger ones to take the weight. Now, I also need two more frames to replace the two that crashed in the night plus the other one that is way too heavy to hang using the stick-on method of hangers.
With that in mind, I drove into Dripping Springs to both the Home Depot and then HEB. In the Home Depot, I spent time perusing the different hangers available and found some that are a bit different but might work. From there, I drove to HEB which is almost next door and did some grocery shopping. I only needed a few things but even then, managed to spend $70.00. The price of everything is very high now and will probably stay that way forever, that is, until it goes higher. Unfortunately, even though prices rise through different circumstances, they never seem to go back down when those same circumstances are taken care of. Go figure. The greed of the different corporations involved is bottomless. No wonder there are so many Millionaires and Billionaires in this country. All at the expense of the little man, the lowest man on the totem pole.
On that same subject, when I was leaving HEB, there was a family of 3 kids and Mother and Father standing by the roadside looking for handouts. It takes a lot of guts, and the family must be desperate to do that. I know that some people make a living out of it but obviously, there are others who are really and truly in a bad situation. I drove past them and pulled into Starbucks next door and could not stop thinking about their plight. Here was I, a retired man well enough off to do what I wanted with my life and then there was this young family who had to beg for food, and I was stopping to spend $6:00 on a Latte.
Without further ado, I paid for my drink and drove back to the family and gave them some money. The gentleman was very thankful, but I was the one who should have given thanks as the giving made me feel a lot better and eased my conscience. It might have been a scam and if so, it worked. On the other hand, it appeared genuine and at least, I felt good about it.
I drove back to Henly, and the dogs helped me with the couple of bags of groceries and we harnessed up for the last walk of the day. Wandering around the park, we stopped at Daniels RV and the dogs sort of made friends with Daniels dog and I chatted to the couple of people that were visiting with Daniel, both of whom I recognized from earlier encounters. I was invited to watch the Super Bowl with them in the clubhouse later in the afternoon.
I had to think long and hard about that as American Football is not my sport. For one thing, it is not named correctly as the only people that use their feet are the Kicker and the Punter. Everyone else is too busy obliterating the opposition. It really is a rough sport which is probably why Americans like it so much as in my estimation, this is a violent country one way or another.
I decided to go over to the party as I could pretend interest in the game. I only had to wander over less than 50 yards to the Clubhouse, and it turns out, there were only 4 of us, Daniel, Jeff, Dolores and I, with more food than we were ever going to eat. To top it off, no one was able to get the TV to show the Superbowl (thank goodness) and eventually after about an hour and we had eaten our fill, the party broke up with my parting words to the group, “Now I am going to watch some real football that is actually played with the feet”. American Football just does not make any sense to me.
So that was the end of the evening. I watched a soccer/football game which is really my sport for a bit but went to bed early, very tired for whatever reason.
The view towards the bedroom. Note the large TV over the electric fireplace, which does throw out some heat.
I got up early and we went out walking. It was very cold out and none of us wanted to be out longer than we needed to be. Back in the RV, the heat would not come on, so I went outside, and I quickly switched the gas bottles by turning the lever to the opposite tank and we were back in business. I have a spare bottle of propane to replace the one that has just run out but did not change it as it was too cold outside. The bottle I just switched on will last several days. By then, it will have warmed up. Anyway, I am still waiting for the valves to come in that will show me how much gas is in each tank. Then I can do everything at the same time.
The heaters fired up and it was not long before it was warm and toasty inside of the RV. I wrote for a while and posted yesterday’s blog and then looked around for something else to get up to. I remembered that I needed to go into Buda to Crestview and order the broken door latch. Without further ado, I gathered up all the things I needed which included serial numbers and such that I had forgotten the last time and headed for Buda.
It is about 25 miles going the back way through country roads and not an unpleasant drive at all. On the way in, I came across a flock of what looked like Pheasants or some other large bird who were aggressively chasing each other around and very close to the road. I stopped long enough to get a picture and saw that the birds were heading back through the gate to the safety of the property.
Traffic was light and I made good time reaching Crestview in about 45 minutes. I conducted my business and ordered the parts needed which will take about a week to get here. Thanking the gentleman that helped me, I wandered around the store to see if there was anything else I might need but although they had step mats, they were a different brand and color to the ones I bought yesterday. I need to get mine from Walmart’s to match.
The drive back was uneventful, and I made good time and even managed to avoid stopping at Starbucks although the urge to do so was very strong. As usual, I was greeted by my two little friends who were not only glad to see me but also wanted to go walkies as well. We harnessed up and wandered around the park stopping to talk to Daniel who had been in a Propane Certification Class all morning. He said he and Jeff from the sister RV Park 15 miles up the road, passed and are now licensed for another 4 years. Good for them (and us).
Back in the RV, I sat and wrote for a while catching up with the day’s events. It was very nice to be indoors and out of the cold wind. I had some framed pictures that I had brought with me from my old home when I had one and decided to hang them in the RV to brighten the place up. I had previously bought a packet of stick-on hooks especially for the job and went about the rig picking various spots to hang them.
I had to wait an hour for the hooks to adhere to the wall before hanging the pictures. One of the frames was much too heavy to hang and the other did not have the right setup, but the rest looked pretty good and brightened and personalized the place up.
I received notification that my gauges had been delivered so we harnessed up and wandered over to the Office where all of the delivered articles are left standing out on the porch. Back at the RV, I tied the dogs up so they could watch and be outside and went about the business of installing the gauges on the two gas tanks. I had to do some juggling to get the tanks situated so that the cover could fit back on them with the gauges installed but I got it to work. Luckily, as this is not a travelling RV but a Park model, securing the tanks is not a necessity.
Satisfied with my work, I went back inside and checked that we had propane in the system by turning on the gas burners on the cooktop. Everything worked and just to prove a point, the house heaters came on. They are propane powered.
We went out for another short walk to the dumpster and on the way back, Daniel stopped to chat. He said that there was only one washing machine available as the other three had broken down. I told him of my expected delivery on Monday of my own washer/dryer combo and he said he would help me install it. That is good news as I could use the help.
I went back online and found the outside stair mats I wanted to match the ones I already had and ordered two online. They should be delivered in a couple of days.
The rest of the evening was spent in the usual fashion of the evening meal and then watching a Premier Legue game before going to bed. Incidentally, I woke up around 2:00 am and had a hard time dropping back off to sleep. The reason I awoke is that one of the stick-on hangers that was holding one of the newly installed pictures, let go and the sound of breaking glass is what awoke me. I got up just to check that there was no shattered glass everywhere. It had broken into two pieces, so I left it to clean up in the morning and went back to bed.
The Adventures of an Old Man and an RV. Henly RV Park, Dripping Springs, TX Day 73, Saturday 02/11/2023
The large birds aggresively chasing each other close to the road. Not a very good picture but the best I could do under the circumstances.
After a restless night due to pictures falling off the wall and then not being able to drop back off to sleep, I got up around 9:00 am. We went out for the first walk of the day around the park, not meeting anyone else on our travels. The wind was cold, and I was glad to get back to the warmth of the yet unnamed RV. So was Mikey but Sandy was very reluctant to go back inside wanting to walk more. I persuaded her with a gentle tug on the leash that this is what I wanted, and I am the boss, right?
She came around when I shared my breakfast with her as her desire for food is greater than her wish to be outside, walking. I settled down to write the blog and work on a couple of pictures I had taken. From where I sit inside at the table, I can see the bird feeders. There is a constant stream of birds all vying for a place on the feeders or failing that, on the ground under them. At least, I think I may have found a way to stop the deer from emptying the feeders by tipping them sideways.
I was sitting and writing in the blog, and it was not long before I was all caught up. We have no plans to go anywhere or do anything special today and I got to thinking about moving some of the stuff from Quatro to the new RV where it will stay permanently. The plan is to only have enough stuff in Quatro that we will need if and when we travel in the Spring. Everything “permanent” will be in the new stationery one. You know, the one without a name.
I harnessed up my two little buddies and we all jumped in the Jeep for the short ride to Quatro where I sorted through stuff deciding what stays and what goes. The “goes” stuff I loaded either into the back of the Jeep or on the carrier for the short trip back up the hill to the new RV where I unloaded everything and put boxes either in the tool storage area or in the other half of the huge clothes closet. I still need to go through everything to see exactly what I want to keep. Notice the word “want” instead of “need”. I confess to being a bit of a hoarder keeping things “just in case”. Invariably, I end up throwing or giving them away after “just in case” has turned into forever.
With everything put away at least temporarily, we went out for one more walk. This time, we hit the outside road of Henly Loop which leads to Hwy 290. None of the exotics were around, which is not surprising as the wind had a chill to it. Altogether for the day, we covered 2.0 miles.
Back in the RV, I sat and caught up with the blog before we went about our usual thing of evening’s entertainment and the meal of whatever was at hand.
I awoke to the sound of heavy rain on the roof and knowing that both dogs refuse to go out in the stuff, rolled over and snoozed for a bit. I eventually got up and by then, it had stopped. We did not go very far as everything was damp and the trees were still dripping.
For some reason, I could not lock the RV door when we stepped out and when I started to play around with it, the key got jambed in the lock. Daniel happened to walk past and stopped to look. Bottom line is that he managed to take the door apart and recommended that I go into Home Depot and buy something similar. I drove into Dripping Springs to the Home Depot there and after a long conversation with an employee, decided that they did not have what I needed.
I had no choice other than to drive into Austin but before I did, I checked my phone and asked Siri to find a locksmith. The phone directed me to one in Dripping Springs which turned out to be a dead-end street of residential houses. Her next offering took me into Austin on a wild goose chase right into the heart of downtown where I had not been in years. After a couple of minutes, I remembered why…
I escaped from Downtown and drove to Ben White where I knew there was a Cothron’s that I had used before and stopped to see if they could help. A young gentleman aided me but was not able to work on the problem straight away and suggested that I leave it and he would call me in the morning. After leaving my information, I jumped back in the Jeep and headed for Walmart’s and grabbed a few things. $60.00 later, I walked out of there with a few bags, groceries and bird feeder stuff.
Incidentally, another reason to head to Walmart’s was to return the broken plumbing part and another piece that I did not need so it was not a wasted trip. I stopped at Starbucks on the way home after realizing that not only had I missed breakfast, I had also missed that all important first cup of coffee. Maybe I do not need it after all…
The drive back was uneventful, and I pulled up to be greeted by my happy little buddies. After putting very few groceries away we went out for the final walk of the day. Incidentally, prior to walking, I had tried to get into the only storage area on the rig only to discover that the one and only key that fits the non-functional sliding door part that is now with the locksmith, also fits that same storage area. So much for that effort.
We adjourned indoors for the evening, and I played catch up with the blog outlining today’s interesting events. One thing you can count on, there is never a dull moment living in and RV.
The Adventures of an Old Man and an RV. Henly RV Park, Dripping Springs, TX Day 71, Thursday 02/09/2023
The view towards the kitchen area of the new RV. The table is my desk.
I awoke to a beautiful sunny day and we had a very pleasant walk around the campground before returning to Quatro for breakfast and coffee. I have a busy day ahead of me which entails going to Austin. I started it off by arranging to pick up my mail. Technically, I am supposed to schedule a pickup time, but I have done last minute walk-ins and they always come through. I am already scheduled for a Dentists appointment at 1:30 pm which is the main reason for going into town.
I allowed myself plenty of time and arrived at PostNet around 12:15. The lady behind the desk recognized me and went back to collect my mail. There seemed to be a lot of it, and I sat in the car and sorted through it just to be sure there was nothing with a time schedule. Satisfied that everything could keep, I drove to the closest Walmart’s to see what they had in the way of RV stuff.
I found step covers that I had been searching for and grabbed 4 of them. I need a total of 6 but the last one on the shelf was a return item and was missing the springs, so I left it. Now, I still need two more, but I have enough to complete one set of steps. That was the only thing I bought in Walmart’s.
My next move was a few blocks away to the Dentist’s office that specializes in matching teeth colors. I had been instructed to sit in the car and wait for them to call me after having made the first contact, which I did for about 10 minutes. When I walked in and sat down, the entire process of matching colors took all of 5 minutes and I was out of there. I will get a call from my Dentists instructing me when to come in for the rest of the work in about a week.
I was all finished with my business up at the North end of Austin and made the long drive down Mopac along with all the other heavy traffic with the same idea, to reach Ben White at the South end of town. There, I visited Cothron’s to see what, if any, progress they may have made with the RV lock. Sad to say, the answer was none, and they handed it back to me saying I needed to buy an entire locking unit. I did have them make me a new key while I was there.
I thought about it for a bit and decided to drive to Kyle, where Crestview is located, to see if they could help. The clerk behind the service desk started asking me questions about the unit that I could not answer without my notes which I did not have with me. Telling him I would return in the morning, I left for the long drive back to Henly.
I made good time stopping only at Starbucks in Dripping Springs before heading back to Henly where I was greeted by two very excited little dogs. I unloaded the Jeep and harnessed them up and we wandered around for a bit stopping at Quatro to pick up a couple of tools for the job ahead. Daniel stopped me and we chatted for a bit as he had been away all day on another project.
Back at the new RV, (please, someone come up with a name for it), I installed an exterior handle that I had bought for an earlier RV, on the door from the bedroom we are now using because of the problems with the lock on the sliding glass door. At least, on this RV, I have the luxury of two separate entrances and have closed one because of the lock problem.
Then I turned my attention to installing the mats I bought this afternoon on the steps from the bedroom which is now our primary exit/entrance. That went well except that the hooks are spring loaded and kept flying away as I lost my grip on them. They usually ended up under the RV and I had to use a long handled broom to get them out. In the end, I got them installed. These covers make the steps much safer.
Figuring that we had done enough for one day, I put everything away in the one solitary outside storage area including the stuff I had brought up from Quatro and now with a key that would lock it in a safe place, did just that and then adjourned inside for the evening.
There, I sat for a while catching up on the day’s events and wondering how to handle the hardware problem for the screen door. Daniel had suggested that I try to find something online which I did but everything I looked at did not have the right dimensions to act as a replacement. I’m thinking that I need to make the trip back to Crestview tomorrow and let them find the proper replacement.
The rest of the evening or rather, what was left of it was spent in the usual fashion, food all around and then watching some aimless show on television. I did not watch for long, finding myself dropping off to sleep and went to bed instead.
I got up early and took a shower, reveling in the hot water and all the room within the shower unit. With a change of clean clothes, I felt like a new man. We harnessed up and wandered around the park making another stop at Quatro to pick up nail clippers.
Much to my surprise, I was able to find the clippers, and we continued with our walk. We did not stay out for long as it was a kind off damp and drizzly sort of a day and being outside was not very pleasant before heading back for breakfast
It was time to do laundry and I collected up my stuff and wandered over to the laundry room. Two machines were broken and the other three were busy so, I made my way back to the RV. An hour later, when I judged that the machines would be available, I wandered back over but again, all the machines were in use, incidentally by the Hispanic workers that live together, all doing their laundry at the same time. I wonder why they are not working on the job instead of being at home?
This got me thinking that my RV is set up already for a washing combo or a separate washer/dryer and why am I waiting to use the laundry room? Without further ado, I looked everything up on my computer screen and ordered a combination unit that will fit into the space available that is already set up with all the fittings. It should be here on Monday. No more waiting for someone else to finish in the laundry room. Heck, as it is only a couple of days away, I think I will wait for it to come and then do the laundry. Going to have to try it out, right?
I also ordered a couple of propane indicator fittings to use on the propane tanks and they should be here on Thursday.
Feeling pleased that I had made both purchases, I looked around for other things to do. I need a haircut but that means going into town and I really did not want to do that unless I could combine it with other things. I do not need groceries or anything from Home Depot so I guess the hair can grow for another couple of days. Not like anyone notices anyway.
It really was a very dull and overcast sort of day. One to curl up with a good book in front of a fire. I have a fireplace with an electric faux fire but do not have any books although I could just listen to an Audiobook instead. Or just take a nap…Listening to the Audiobook will probably make me doze off, anyway.
I turned on the TV and watched a soccer game which was very exciting. Then I watched another one and by then, it was time to take the dogs out for their last stroll of the day. We wandered around the park before returning to the RV for the evening. My friend BJ called, and we chatted about things and caught up with each other’s news.
By then, it was time to eat, and I fed first the dogs and then myself. I seriously would not mind one little bit if food was not a necessity…I suppose because I am old, my taste buds are worn out or something as most food tastes like whatever I ate before the current meal. Except for things like ice cream and chocolate and such.
I watched more TV before it was time to crawl into the sack.
Notice the piles of branches waiting to be picked up.
I got up at a reasonable hour, at least for us. I’m not sure how I would adapt if I had to go back to work and be on the job ready to start work at 7:30 am. I would probably be late every day…It does not really matter that much as we have nothing planned that requires being anywhere at a given time.
We went out for that all important first walk and just wandered around. I was ready to go back indoors, and her ladyship had other plans and we ended up walking the entire park. Still, I did not mind but I do not think that Mikey was very happy with having to walk further. When I got back, I refilled the bird feeders with the seed I bought yesterday so that now, at least, I can watch the birds as they squabble over the food.
I installed the water filter which I also got at the same time and tried to use a splitter fitting that I had bought especially so that I can hook up two hoses, fresh water and and a flush hose. When I turned the water on to test it, the fitting itself leaked water through the shut off. So much for quality control. Now, it means a trip back to Walmart’s to exchange it for a different one or maybe get my money back as I already had a spare of the one needed.
I fixed breakfast and that all important coffee and sat down in front of the computer to post the most recent blogs. Currently, I am in good shape blog wise but that can change in an instant as I only have to miss a couple of days and then I am scrambling, again. Yesterday, I managed to get the brain working enough to write a couple of poems and I spent some time posting them today.
It occurred to me that I had not insured the new RV probably because I was not driving or towing it anywhere. I at once got on to Good Sam that I have Quatro, and the Jeep insured with and went about the business of getting the new RV covered. It was much cheaper than I expected probably because it is in a fixed location. Now, I feel much easier knowing that we have insurance. Nothing like being prepared, right?
I decided to work on the TV to try to get it working. Not much sense having a big screen TV if I have to watch football games on my computer. I played around and managed to get the picture to come up, but it still did not have any sound. I had brought the sound bar from Quatro to see if that would make a difference, but it did not help.
Puzzled and exasperated both at the same time, I sat and thought about it, trying first this and then that and suddenly, it worked although I still cannot get the sound bar to work. Still at least I can use the TV now using the TV sound controls instead of watching on my laptop.
By then, it was time for the afternoon walk and we wandered around the park in no particular direction.. We did stop at Quatro to get a couple of things I needed and finally ended back at the RV.
With nothing of major importance in mind, I sat in the easy chair and watched a football game. It did not take the dogs long to figure things out and before long, both were snuggled up on my lap. Mikey will stay there forever but Sandy either gets too hot or maybe too uncomfortable and generally gets down and climbs up on the couch instead.
With the game over, I fixed the evening meal for all of us, not the same thing of course as I am not yet desperate enough to eat canned dog food and then we watched more TV until it was time to go to bed.
We have just had a major storm with freezing rain and ice galore breaking limbs and damaging trees the worst we have had in our memories we usually get this once a year with ice and snow making us fear not wanting to go out in the stuff to sit inside and watch is enough usually, it is just snow a couple of inches which is the low accompanied by a lot of frost temperatures so cold that all is lost driving is a hazardous task going slow and not very fast hoping to stay on the road otherwise, we could end up towed just as suddenly as it begun a couple days later out comes the sun and the ice and snow all disappear the green grass shows bright and clear and a few more days of Nature’s warm and though the trees may now be deformed with broken branches here and there as Nature does the damage share and Man is left to clean the mess that Nature caused and not in jest hopefully this has come and gone and we will be able to carry on with the life that we know without this winter’s ice and snow.
The sun was shining bright, and it was warm, so different from the past few days when we were all caught in the winter storm. Hopefully, that is our once-a-year event,which has been true for the past 3 years and even though we will still get the occasional frost overnight, it should be nothing like we have just experienced. The biggest problem for us was the freezing rain which just loaded the trees, bringing them down a branch as a time. Such a shame to see all the damage the storm caused.
I took the first shower in our new abode, and it was great to have a good supply of hot water. This RV has a 10-gallon water heater which is a decent size. Quatro only has a 5-gallon unit. I changed into a complete set of clean clothes, and we went out for the first walk of the day.
We wandered inside the campground for a bit before heading to Henly Loop and walking it towards Hwy 290. We did not get to see any exotics, but it was fun walking anyway. Back in the RV, which, incidentally, had really warmed up in the morning sun, enough to turn on the A/C, had breakfast and that all important coffee and settled down to write.
I wrote a poem about Winter and what has just come and gone and then sat back to think what I should do for the rest of the day. I thought about a couple of things that I needed which I could only get from Walmart’s and then made the trip into Austin to pick them up. I was lucky and managed to find almost everything I had on my list except for LP valves which I will probably have to search around for. There has been a run-on RV type equipment due to the freeze. Luckily, they are not pressing, just nice to have so that I can see how much LP is left in the tanks instead of using the old-fashioned method of lifting and shaking each tank and then making an educated guess if they are empty enough to refill.
I drove home the back way so that I could grab a Latte for the trip which was uneventful. I stopped at Home Depot in Dripping Springs to see if maybe they had what I wanted but to no avail.
I eventually arrived back home to be met by my very excited little dogs who, as usual, helped to put everything away knowing they would go out walking at once after. We wandered around the park and in comparison, to yesterday at this time, I was still in my shirt sleeves.
Altogether, I covered 2.7 miles for the day. The rest of the evening was spent in the usual fashion although I am still watching the Premier League games on my computer.
These early nights are making me rise earlier than I have been used to. I guess, if I get so many hours of sleep the body says, “It’s time to get up” so I crawled out of bed and surveyed the scene which was one of a nice sunny day with very little signs of the icy weather we have just had. Of course, there were still piles of broken tree limbs and such that needed cleaning up and leaves everywhere but I am sure that Daniel and his merry band of workers will have it cleaned up in no time.
We went out for the first walk of the day with the first stop, the dumpster before just wandering around the park. Daniel stopped over and showed me how to straighten up the house battery from the lop-sided position he had put it so that I could hook the Jeep up to it.
He left and I rehooked the water hose back to the spigot, so we are now back on city water. I had to undo and discard the filter as it had frozen and broken as they usually do under icy conditions. Time to buy a new one the next time I am in town. I have only myself to blame for not unhooking the hose from the RV and taking off the filter in the first place.
I was sitting writing and Delores, one of my neighbors stopped by. I invited her inside and she looked around the RV making complimentary remarks before announcing that the real purpose of her visit was to invite me to a potluck dinner at 5:00pm in the Clubhouse. I accepted gratefully and she left.
I spent time writing the blog to bring us up to date and then made a list of things that I needed from Quatro. This time, I left the dogs behind and drove the Jeep down the hill to Quatro. I searched around and found most of what I wanted and loaded everything up for the journey back up the hill. One of the things I wanted was some framed photos that I have taken over the years to hang in the new RV to personalize and brighten it up a bit.
After unloading everything, the dogs were giving me “the look” so we harnessed up and walked Henly Loop towards Hwy 290 in the hope of seeing some of the exotics but with no success. Back in the RV, as yet, still unnamed, I sat and caught up with the blog waiting for 5:00 pm to come around.
I wandered over the 30 yards to the Clubhouse at the given time. Delores, Malinda and Daniel were already there along with Gary, another camper friend. Delores served up stew for everyone which tasted pretty good and certainly “hit the spot”. I drank a beer although I had the offer of wine. I thought that the beer would be different seeing how I drink wine but only in the evenings and then it is only a single small glass. The beer actually tasted pretty good, and I made it last the full hour and a half we were sitting there visiting. Another camper gentleman walked in and joined in the conversation as by then, the food was all gone.
Eventually, the party split up and I wandered back to the RV very pleased to have been invited to take part. With the TV still not working as all I get is a picture and no sound, I had to resort to watching Brighton and Hove Albion and My Great, Great Grandson, Solly March win their game on the computer…again. I really got to work on that television set.
When the game was over, I opted to go to bed as I was tired for some reason or another.
I got up early again so that I could turn off the Jeep. Once up, it made no sense to go back to bed. It had thawed a lot and most of the ice was gone from the trees and grass, making it safe to walk around. We harnessed up and wandered surveying the damage as we did. There were branches down everywhere and the one close to my RV had fallen just brushing the slide a bit apparently, without causing any damage.
Daniel and Malinda and a couple of others, from Sunset, the other RV Park, were already out working dragging the downed branches into orderly piles ready to be picked up. They had a chain saw run by one of the other guys who was cutting off the branches that had fallen but not broken off completely. I considered going over to help but they appeared to have a good system going and I would probably just get in the way.
The power was still off, which meant that I had very little that I could get up to in the way of writing or of anything else. I sat there thinking about things and managed to drop off to sleep. I took a short nap and when I woke up, decided to check the gas level in the Jeep. Good thing I did as it was almost empty with the danger warning showing.
Hoping that I had enough to get to the nearest gas station about 10 miles down the road, I drove that distance and pulled into one of the pumps only to discover that it did not have any power. Silly me, I should have thought a bit before just tearing off. If the campground did not have gas, then anything going away from town would probably be in the same boat.
I passed a couple of gas stations as I headed back into town and finally stopped at HEB where the gas is a little cheaper. There was a line at every pump, and I joined one of them. In front of me was a big truck and much to my annoyance (of course), the driver kept messing with the pump trying to squeeze that last all important drop out of it. He finally drove off and I pulled up to the pump. For some reason, my pump kept shutting off even before I started pumping gas. I told the lady waiting in line behind me what the problem was and marched up to the kiosk window. The attendant came out and fiddled with the pump and got it to start pumping complaining about it the whole time.
I finished filling and the same lady was still waiting. I waved to her and drove off. As I was in the HEB pumps, and even though I had not planned on it, I figured I should get a few groceries especially wine as my stock was nonexistent. I was also out of a few other things as well, like food…
HEB is right next to Starbucks, or is it the other way around? To me, it made no difference as I pulled in for my usual Latte and then started the drive back to Henly. By now, nearly all the frost had disappeared with only the occasional patch in some shady areas. I stopped at Tractor Supply hoping to find a couple of gauges for the Propane tanks, but they had run out, so I continued down the road. Traffic was light and we made good time arriving back to two very excited little dogs.
They helped to put the groceries away as they usually do, and we harnessed up to take that final walk of the day. I had not been in the house for 5 minutes when I heard a click and the refrigerator and a couple of other things burst into life meaning that the electricity was back on. Luckily, I had not hooked up the Jeep yet, meaning that I did not have to.
Pleased at the turn of events, we took another short walk around the park before returning to a warm and cozy RV. The TV even came on right at the spot I had been working on when it went off yesterday. The thing is that although there is a picture, there is no sound. Something else to mess around with.
I answered a couple of emails and discovered, much to my dismay, that I had missed a day in posting the blog. The lack of a computer for a couple of days really wrecked my posting schedule and I had been running it close anyway. I went to work on finishing the last couple of days and added some ice pictures I had taken and then posted them changing my routine from posting poetry on Saturdays to posting the blog instead. That will give me time to play catch up.
With the blog in a reasonable condition again, I called it a day and went to bed.
I got up early after a good night’s sleep. We still had heat inside of the RV so Daniels trick of using the Jeep to keep the batteries recharged, was a good one. I turned the Jeep off, making it the first thing I did. I knew the coach batteries would be good for a while and I was trying to conserve whatever gas that was left in the Jeep.
It had started to thaw out just a bit as we walked around the park on our first walk although all of the trees and grass were covered in a layer of ice almost an inch thick. Branches were sagging under the weight of it and in many places had completely broken off. There was one that was overhanging the RV and I was concerned that it might cause damage if it were to fall.
We slipped around and walked mostly on the icy grass to save from falling, me that is, not the dogs as they got around just fine. We did not walk very far before returning to the RV. Even Sandy did not want to stay out for too long.
I started the Jeep again to keep the house batteries charged and for the rest of the day, we just sat around. Even though we had lights and heat, none of the outlets were working so I was unable to do any writing or even work on pictures as my laptop was not plugged in. Well, it was but with no current running through the outlets, it might just as well not have been.
There was a steady thaw all day but with so much ice on everything, it was dangerous to be out under any trees as both ice and branches were coming down. I watched as Malinda, concerned about damage to her own RV, was using a 10ft length of 2-inch plastic pipe to beat on the branches to free up the stuff. When we were chatting later, Daniel tried to claim that he had done the beating but both Malinda and I reminded him who had really done the work.
Later, we went out for another short walk and chatted to a couple of other brave souls doing the same as us. The evening was spent just sitting after preparing and eating the evening meal. I had no reading material to talk of and no TV and after a while, we went to bed around 8:00 pm, an unheard-of hour for us.
The freezing weather was even more noticeable when we awoke this morning. Everything, trees, grass roads and whatever else were all covered in a thick layer of ice. Even though the salt that the other gentleman had put on the steps cleared them of ice, the rest of the area around the steps had a thick layer of the stuff making it difficult to walk on.
The trick was to try to walk where there were handholds of some sort, whatever they were, outside chairs, stair steps, the underbelly of the RV, anything to remain upright. A couple of times I felt my feet slipping and grabbed onto the nearest whatever and just hung on. It did not look very elegant but better than banging myself up.
I had already harnessed up the dogs and they had no trouble in negotiating the difficult walking, ice, and all. They were showing me how it should be done. Because the ice covered asphalt was too dangerous for me to walk on, we walked under the trees and in the grassy areas although it too was covered in ice. The difference was that it was not a solid sheet and was comparatively easy to make some headway. Needless to say, with the ice and the freezing weather, we did not stay out very long. Incidentally, many of the trees have lost branches and Daniel has a big clean up job in front of him.
Back in the RV, it was toasty and warm, and I fixed breakfast all around and that first cup of coffee for me and then settled down to read emails and write in the blog. The heaters were doing a good job although it appears that there is a leak in the slide out seals as there was a very slow drip on my desk. I had not discovered it before until I heard it and then noticed that both my check book and address book were both totally soaked.
I grabbed them both and stood them over the floor heater vents and after a bit, everything dried out although nothing folded as it should. Angry at myself that I had not noticed earlier, I sent Malinda a text as if it is a major problem, the original owners will pay for it.
A little while later, both Daniel and Malinda stopped by to look at the leak and Daniel inquired if I had a generator running. When I stated that this RV is not equipped with one, he did not understand how the heaters were working along with lights and such. He must have noticed the blank look on my face as he said that there was a power outage, and the rest of the campground was either using generators or were shut down.
He pointed out that eventually, the battery would run dry, and I would be without power on a very cold night coming up. Then he mentioned Quatro who is equipped with a generator and suggested that I spend the night in it which made a lot of sense. They had other business and said they would return shortly and to get together whatever I needed to stay in Quatro. I gathered some food and a couple of other items and then stripped the bed so that I could take the covers with me.
We walked down to Quatro and after unlocking it, Daniel fired up the generator and I started the Coach’s engine so that we could defrost the windshield which was covered with ice. We left the coach defrosting and with the heaters on and walked back to the other RV.
In the meantime, Malinda had been working on the Jeep which had a half inch thick layer of ice all over it, making it impossible to even open the doors. I went to help her and after about a half hour’s work, she managed to get the driver’s door open. Luckily, the Jeep had remote start and we had had it running all the time we were working on the ice, and it was thawing out the windshield from the inside. We managed to scrape enough off that I could just see out and after loading in my stuff, I drove it down to Quatro. We unloaded the Jeep and a couple of my new neighbors came over and both brought me food for the evening meal which was very nice of them.
I started to settle in and decided to take the dogs for a walk as they did not get much exercise during the day. Daniel was approaching me from the opposite direction and told me that the campground had power again and what did I want to do? Without any hesitation, I opted to move us back to the new RV and continued walking to put the dogs back inside.
I walked back down the hill, and we did everything in reverse bringing the stuff back. They helped me unload the Jeep again and once more, we settled down in our new abode. I remade the bed and put the food away including the goodies that the two neighbors had brought me and thought to myself, how quickly my loyalties change. Not so long ago, Quatro was my pride and joy and still is when we travel but with the newcomer, I prefer it for long term permanent living. I just got to find a name for it…
The weather had turned very cold, and the campground power went off again. This time Daniel showed me how to use the Jeep as a “generator” by hooking the Jeeps battery to the house battery. The only thing was to keep the Jeep running for a couple of hours at a time to recharge the RV battery.
The evening was spent in the usual fashion. I ate the sandwich the other couple had given me which, incidentally, also included a bowl of fruit and then turned my attention to watching some TV. I have still not found time to figure out the new TV resulting to having to watch on my laptop.
I went to bed at 8:00 pm and left the Jeep running all night.
I awoke early and got up although not straightaway choosing to laze around for a bit. We crawled out to discover that it was gently raining, more like a heavy mist than rain but still freezing when it hit the ground. My metal steps especially were ice covered and dangerous to an old fart like me.
The dogs slipped their way down and I followed only much more carefully holding on for dear life and safely made it to the bottom. We wandered around the park and and did meet a couple of other dog walkers before heading back to the RV.
Daniel stopped by and asked me to ride with him as he had some chores to perform plus, he wanted Quatro to be winterized. I grabbed my heavy jacket after putting on my boots and we headed down to the RV storage area. It was freezing and the drizzle was turning into ice. Our first move was to start up Quatro and drive him to an empty space. There, we hooked him up to the services and drained all the tanks and other sundry stuff as part of the winterization. While doing this, I let Quatro idle hoping that the frosty ice-covered mirrors would clear.
We had a couple of other chores to do while we waited for both the mirrors and the tanks to get drained and then turned our attention back to Quatro and I drove it around the block so that I could back it into the assigned storage space. It was an interesting park job as I had to keep fighting the urge to look in the frozen mirrors and instead concentrate on the directions that Daniel was giving me from the front of the unit. Between Daniel, Malinda and I, we had it parked in no time flat.
Both Daniel and Malinda took turns hooking Daniels truck to the remaining three other RV’s one by one and moved them closer together to make room for a couple more coming in. With that done and Quatro winterized and stored, our work down at the storage area was over and we turned our attention to more pressing things like filling propane tanks for this current cold snap. Before doing this, we adjourned to the break room for a well-earned cup of coffee both for something to drink and to warm up. I forgot to mention that this whole time, the temperature had dropped to around the freezing mark, enough that the drizzle was turning into ice rain.
Our first move was to drive around the park and between Malinda on one vehicle and Daniel and I on the other, in all, we picked up 15 tanks needing Propane refills. With Daniel doing the filling and Malinda working the power switch and noting tank owners for later billing, me, the grunt, placed the empty bottles to be filled and then hoisted them into the two ATV’s that they both use, for deliveries.
With both ATV’s loaded with Malinda with the small bottles and Daniel and I handling the big ones, we drove around the park and delivered them to their respective owners. In only one case did Daniel stop to hook up the refilled tank and that was to an older lady who lives by herself.
With those chores completed, we each made our way back to our respective RV’s, Daniel and Malinda both driving off in their ATV’s after dropping me off. By then, it was something like 2:00 pm. All in all, we had carried out a lot in the freezing cold, winterizing Quatro, moving RV’s around to make more storage room and finally filling and distributing propane bottles to needy RV guests.
I was sitting in the warmth of the RV writing the blog and there was a knock on the sliding door. It was another camper doing a very good deed by going around and asking if my steps required salting. When I replied in the affirmative and told him how close I was to breaking my neck, he went ahead and salted them. I thanked him immensely and he went on to the next RV. What a thoughtful man.
I had no more than settled back down in front of the computer and heard another knock. Incidentally, Mikey always barks like crazy at any such interruptions, especially now he looks at the intruders almost on eye level through big glass sliding doors, so I am always forewarned. This time, it was one of my neighbors bringing me another loaf of bread from her baking business. We chatted for a bit, and I invited her in to see the new RV which impressed her with the amount of room it has. She has a husband and two teen age daughters plus a medium sized dog all living in an Airstream.
She left and I turned my attention back to the blog trying to recall everything that has happened on this very miserable day, weatherwise but otherwise very busy and productive. I was glad that I was able to help both James and Malinda as they went about their chores.
I finally settled down and completed the blog. With the interior heating running, it is nice and cozy here. Sandy kept nudging me and giving me “the look” this time, interpreted to mean, “I am hungry. Feed me”, with no thought that Mikey might be hungry too. Dropping everything to suite her majesty, I filled their bowls. Sandy at once ate hers and Mikey sniffed his, saving it for later. He will probably eat it right in front of her…
I spent time on the blog after fixing myself a frozen dinner. Fitting for the weather outside, don’t you think? As I still have not yet got the TV working, I watched a movie on my computer. Same picture but on a smaller screen.
We went to bed, glad to snuggle under the covers where it was warm.
The Adventures of an Old Man and an RV. Henly RV Park, Dripping Springs, TX Day 61, Tuesday 01/31/2023
The last day of yet another month. We have been here two months already which is hard to believe.
I awoke because I was cold and had to dig out the heavy woolen coverlet which improved the situation no end. By then though, I was wide awake and crawled out of bed to face the day which was not a pleasant sight when I looked out of the window. Everything was covered with a frost giving the appearance of snow. It was also bloody cold out.
Daniel stopped by to check on us and we discussed the Propane problem. He looked at the bottles and made a couple of adjustments and lo and behold, the furnace kicked back on, and we had central heat again. Good thing too as my two space heaters were struggling to keep the place warm.
I harnessed up the dogs and we ice skated around the RV to check on the Propane cylinders. Then, when I was ready to take that walk, Sandy surprised me by going back inside of the RV and refusing to come back out. One sniff of the cold was all she needed to decide she did not want any part of it.
I unharnessed the dogs reminding myself to keep a close eye on them in case they do have to “go”. Incidentally, I forgot to disconnect the freshwater hose last evening and now the hose is frozen solid resulting in us not having any water at all inside the RV. I have not filled the freshwater tank on this RV before and had to do a bit of research figuring out the right moves.
I wrote for a while, all the time thinking about the water problem or rather, lack of it and decided to go outside and look. While I was kind of staring into space, deep in thought, Jeannette’s boyfriend from the RV next door stopped over and inquired if I needed any help. I explained the situation and that I was about to undo the frozen hose and attach the spare one to fill the tanks. Without another word, except, ‘Wait a minute”, he went back to his RV and came back with an adjustable wrench and went ahead and unhooked the hosepipe. Then he found the tank fill and went ahead and filled the freshwater tank for me. Prior to that, he had called out to Jeanette to ask her to bring a pot of boiling water to unfreeze the valve. He had asked me to get it, but I explained to him that I did not have any water, let alone any of the hot variety.
I thanked them both profusely for their help and they went back to Jeannette’s RV. With a full tank of water, we are all set for the next couple of days of this nasty weather and hopefully, by then, I can hook the water hose back up. If not, we refill the freshwater tank again. The hoses will need to be disconnected for the next few evenings anyway when the temperature drops down below freezing.
Back inside, I had just settled down to write and Daniel texted me to come over for coffee in the breakroom. I texted back and wandered over, a distance of maybe 50 yards. Much of the ice had melted so walking was not too bad. Malinda and James were already in there and had a hot cup of coffee waiting for me. We spent the next hour just shooting the breeze and both had some very interesting stories. Turns out they have been in the RV Park business for several years at different places. About an hour later, I told them I had to walk the dogs and bade my farewell. They also had chores, like filling propane bottles.
Back in the RV, I harnessed up the dogs and we wandered around the park for a bit. Taho was outside and was in high spirits playing with his ball and even barking at nothing. His owner came out and we chatted for a bit, and he said that Taho prefers outdoors to being in the RV even when it is cold. He certainly appeared to be enjoying the cold weather, but he does have a thick coat.
We moved on and eventually ended up back in the RV where it was nice and cozy. I sat and finished the blog for today as we welcomed in the evening by drawing all the shades and shutting out the very cold weather.
I had a restless night probably due to the change in surroundings plus a new bed and eventually rolled out around 9:30 am. We harnessed up and wandered around the park and down the hill for a bit. It was not exactly raining but the air was damp and uncomfortable, and we quickly turned around and headed back home.
I changed out the gas bottle as I could not get the heater to work in the RV, but it turns out that was not the problem. Both Malinda and Daniel stopped by and Malinda showed me how to get the heaters to work through the thermostat. Daniel inspected my bottle change out and pointed out a couple of things for future reference.
I made a quick breakfast and then started on loading stuff from one RV to the other. I kept confusing myself over what was where in both RV’s as my mind struggled to adjust to the two different storage layouts. Most of the stuff in the actual storage areas on Quatro will remain there. It is accessible to me any time, less than 100 yards away. Most of what I was moving was everyday items.
I worked on this for the rest of the day before harnessing up the dogs for an afternoon walk around the park and out onto Henly Loop. We were lucky that a Zebra was close to the fence and a couple of deer were just behind him. We took a couple of pictures, well I did. The dogs just stared at the animals. For us, it was another great walking day as we covered 2.7 miles.
My next-door neighbor from one of our earlier sites stopped in his car as we were walking, and we chatted for a while. He, like most others, wanted to know what were my plans with the two RV’s. I explained that the new one is my permanent home and that Quatro is for travelling.
With the day ending, we adjourned back to the new RV for the usual evenings meal and entertainment watched on my laptop as I have not got the TV working yet.
The new RV. Notice Quatro parked temporarily behind it as I load out my stuff.
Our first night in our new RV was uneventful although I did wake up early, for me. We wandered around the park for a bit before returning to the RV for breakfast. This time, with no interruptions and I actually did eat some, shared with the dogs, of course.
Daniel was away on business and Malinda stopped by to see if she could get the bedroom slide, working. We were expecting James, the RV technician, to show up and sure enough, he rolled in about 10:30 or so. With Malinda as his helper, he crawled under the RV and between them, they got the slide extended. Turns out, the motor is bad and needs a new one which has to be ordered. Incidentally, none of these repairs cost me any money as they were transferred to the original owner, who had passed away. In this case, we were dealing with the son of the original owner who was making the sale. At least the bedroom slide is fully extended, and I was able to make the bed by putting on a clean set of covers. I took the mattress topper off of the bed in Quatro to soften the new mattress up a bit.
Malinda stopped by again and said the Park Owner was complaining about the two RV’s parked on one site and suggested that I move Quatro somewhere else, like in the storage area at the bottom of the field. I think Malinda must have put up a bit of a fight as I was able to move it to an empty site right next door although I need to have everything moved to the storage area by Sunday. I quickly hopped into Quatro and parked it in the new site.
I spent the rest of the day transferring items between both RV’s and putting them away in the new one before deciding that I should do laundry. I gathered up my “stuff’ and wandered over to the laundry room. I had the place to myself with the choice of washing machines and chose the one next to the window and then the second one over. The App worked fine on No 1 but not on No 2. After a couple of attempts, I gave up on that machine and as I was still alone, transferred the laundry into number No 3, which worked just fine with the App.
An hour later, the laundry was ready for the dryers, and I went back over and transferred the clothes into one machine. This time, the App worked perfectly, and I walked back to Quatro.
Another hour after that, the laundry was dry, at least, that is what the App told me, and I wandered back over, folding the clothes and putting them in my bag. I had the place to myself, which was nice as that way, I did not feel rushed to free up a machine for the next waiting person. I found a couple of odd socks that were not mine and left them on the counter.
Back in the new RV, I put the clothes away and settled down to play catch up with the day’s events. I had trouble with the house heaters and had to resort to my portable ones. We may be out of gas which I will check tomorrow. I have a full 30 gallon bottle waiting to be lifted into position and then hooked up. Nothing like being prepared.
The rest of the evening was spent in the usual way except that I had to watch the English Premier League on my computer as I have not got the TV to work off my Roku stick, yet. Come to that, I have not got the TV working, period.
The magnificent Oak tree lower down in the outside lane. The little dog is guarding it from all and sundry.
I took the dogs out for their morning walk around the park and ran into Daniel. He asked if I could be ready in 15 minutes to go and pick up the new to me, RV. I hustled the dogs back and gave them each a treat and stepped out of the door foregoing both breakfast and coffee.
Daniel, accompanied by Malinda and myself, drove the 15 or so miles to Sunset RV Park where the RV was located. Between the three of us, we got it hooked up to Daniels truck and made the way back to Henly.
I moved Quatro out of the way further down the road and parked the Jeep in the Washroom driveway and Daniel, expertly backed in the new RV into the spot just vacated by Quatro. After some juggling around, we were all finally happy with the RV’s location and then we spent time leveling the thing. It does not have power jacks as it is designed to be put in one place for any length of time, but it did not take too long to get it level.
I then backed Quatro, so it was almost touching the new unit, and off the road for the few days I needed transferring some of the stuff. Then it will be put in the storage area until we hit the road again. Essentially, I will almost need a couple of sets of everything like plates, cups etc. One in each unit.
Daniel and Malinda worked on several different things with one big item, the bedroom slide, not extending. Everything else is in good working order. James, the Traveling Repair Man is coming out tomorrow to work on it.
By the time they finished, it was getting late, and Daniel suddenly remembered that he had Propane Tanks to fill, and they both rushed off. Me and the dogs went out to stroll around the park. Somehow, I covered 3.4 miles for the day.
When we got back, I spent time moving some stuff to the new RV. Things like the contents of the refrigerator in Quatro which was beeping at me to tell me it was not working. Quatro was no longer hooked to shore power and running off the batteries. The plan is to have enough of all the necessary items in both units except for those we can transfer on moving day when we hit the road.
I was going to spend the night in Quatro but remembered we had no power and turned my attention to the new RV, yet to be named. I had enough food in the fridge for an evening meal, making sure that the dogs had their usual food. Making the bed was a bit of a challenge as the slide not working, made it difficult to walk around it. In fact, I couldn’t and had to climb over it to get to the other side.
It had already been a long day and by the time we went to bed, it was already 11:00 pm.
The Diary of an Old Man and an RV. Henly RV Park, Dripping Springs, TX Day 58, Friday 01/27/2023
The new RV. Notice Quatro parked temporarily behind it as I load out my stuff.
Our first night in our new RV was uneventful although I did wake up early, for me. We wandered around the park for a bit before returning to the RV for breakfast. This time, with no interruptions and I actually did eat some, shared with the dogs, of course.
Daniel was away on business and Malinda stopped by to see if she could get the bedroom slide, working. We were expecting James, the RV technician, to show up and sure enough, he rolled in about 10:30 or so. With Malinda as his helper, he crawled under the RV and between them, they got the slide extended. Turns out, the motor is bad and needs a new one which has to be ordered. Incidentally, none of these repairs cost me any money as they were transferred to the original owner, who had passed away. In this case, we were dealing with the son of the original owner who was making the sale. At least the bedroom slide is fully extended, and I was able to make the bed by putting on a clean set of covers. I took the mattress topper off of the bed in Quatro to soften the new mattress up a bit.
Malinda stopped by again and said the Park Owner was complaining about the two RV’s parked on one site and suggested that I move Quatro somewhere else, like in the storage area at the bottom of the field. I think Malinda must have put up a bit of a fight as I was able to move it to an empty site right next door although I need to have everything moved to the storage area by Sunday. I quickly hopped into Quatro and parked it in the new site.
I spent the rest of the day transferring items between both RV’s and putting them away in the new one before deciding that I should do laundry. I gathered up my “stuff’ and wandered over to the laundry room. I had the place to myself with the choice of washing machines and chose the one next to the window and then the second one over. The App worked fine on No 1 but not on No 2. After a couple of attempts, I gave up on that machine and as I was still alone, transferred the laundry into number No 3, which worked just fine with the App.
An hour later, the laundry was ready for the dryers, and I went back over and transferred the clothes into one machine. This time, the App worked perfectly, and I walked back to Quatro.
Another hour after that, the laundry was dry, at least, that is what the App told me, and I wandered back over, folding the clothes and putting them in my bag. I had the place to myself, which was nice as that way, I did not feel rushed to free up a machine for the next waiting person. I found a couple of odd socks that were not mine and left them on the counter.
Back in the new RV, I put the clothes away and settled down to play catch up with the day’s events. I had trouble with the house heaters and had to resort to my portable ones. We may be out of gas which I will check tomorrow. I have a full 30 gallon bottle waiting to be lifted into position and then hooked up. Nothing like being prepared.
The rest of the evening was spent in the usual way except that I had to watch the English Premier League on my computer as I have not got the TV to work off my Roku stick, yet.
I slept very soundly despite the previous days’ Dentist form of torture. It was not that bad, just uncomfortable. It was raining hard when we went out for that first walk of the day, so our walk was very brief, enough for the dogs to do their thing and then a mad rush back to Quatro. I had to dry them off as they got very wet, very quick. I too was wet and had to change into another pair of shorts and socks as everything below the bottom of my poncho was soaked.
I was preparing breakfast but before I could eat it, I got a text from Malinda asking if I wanted to have coffee with them. We met over in the Park’s Day Room, and they brought up the subject of the permanent RV that we had been discussing yesterday. We sat and chatted about it and other things and then opted to go and look at this park model, which was at another camp site, Sunset just outside of Bee Caves, also owned by James.
Malinda and Daniel stopped by to pick me up and we travelled several miles to the other campground. They showed it to me, and it is exactly something that I want when my travelling days are over, something permanently parked built more like a regular house. I wandered around inside which was very roomy, and Daniel showed me some of the extras that it had. It is large and spacious even with the slides retracted and the view out of the front windows is just awesome. The TV is not as big but that is a minor problem as TV’s are cheap. I decided that this would do me for the future, following the last planned trip with Quatro and we headed back to Henly
On the way, we stopped for lunch at one of the local diners which was very tasty. I cannot remember the last time I ate lunch of any kind, usually foregoing that meal. Daniel insisted on paying for mine despite my protests. We headed back to Henly, and they dropped me off at my RV. I wrote them a check for a $500.00 deposit on the new to me RV and then we went out for another walk, dropping the check off along the way.
We wandered around for a bit, but it was cold out and not too pleasant, so we did not walk far. I was glad to be back in Quatro and in the warmth of the heaters. I sat down to catch up on the blog and contemplated the interesting day so far. I now have access to an RV built as a stationary model except for the initial set up and towing. This will be our permanent home for as long as we are able. Malinda told me I could set it up on the same site as we are now and if I want, build a deck to it.
Excited as to how the day had turned out, I sat and thought about what I needed to do to keep things moving. Next stop will be the bank to get their advice, which I hope to do tomorrow. Then I had another thought that instead of putting the new unit down in the bottom storage considering that it is built for stationary living and not travelling, why not reverse that and put Quatro down there and live in the “new” RV.
Brilliant, quite brilliant. The brain does work sometimes. That way, I can spend time making the new RV a home and build a new deck and steps. I still want to take that last trip, but it will not be until later in the year. Another good thing about it is that I can transfer the permanent stuff at my leisure and dispose of anything I do not want, leaving only the bare necessities in Quatro for when we travel. Then, when our travelling days are done, I will sell it wherever that may be for whatever I can get for her.
Sandy was doing her thing and we went out for the final walk of the day. It had really cooled off and I was glad of both the shirt and jacket I had on. We wandered around and then took the outside lane that leads to Hwy 290. The deer and zebras were active on the other side of the fence, and I managed to take a few pictures. Unlike wild deer, these pose for their pictures and even the sight of the dogs did not frighten them. We managed to walk 1.5 miles, which was good considering how hard it was raining this morning.
The Diary of an Old Man and an RV. Henly RV Park, Dripping Springs, TX Day 56, Wednesday 01/25/2023
We got up at a reasonable hour but only because we had an appointment in Austin. We wandered around the park and although it was sunny and bright, the wind had a chill to it. Our first walk was on the outside road leading to Hwy 290 although we did not see any of the exotic animals.
Back in the RV, I fixed myself breakfast and coffee and thought about our plans for today. That should read, my plans as the dogs were not included and although they did not know it, were destined to spend a few hours on their own.
I gathered up everything that I needed and hopped in the car to drive into Austin and to my bank. Walking in, I explained to the cashier what I wanted to do, and he immediately said we could not do it that way. So, back in the car I called Malinda, and she made some suggestions. The bottom line is that I am now the proud owner of a second RV. This one is a park model, more like on the lines of a Tiny House, not built for travelling but more spacious with a much more solid construction. It is not made for consistent towing as it is too heavy but to be set up in a park on a more permanent basis.
I am looking down the road to the future when I finally quit driving the current RV around the country. I plan on one more long trip driving around before selling that unit. In retrospect, driving from one campsite to another is not particularly glamorous as the driver is too busy concentrating on the job at hand to sightsee. It is great for passengers but not for the driver who only sees the road in front of him. A second driver would help but as the dogs cannot drive, I am stuck with the job.
The aforementioned RV came on the market, and I was notified through James and Malinda about it, who, incidentally, were a tremendous help in making the acquisition. What I plan to do is to set it up on this site and live in it permanently and move Quatro to the RV storage area until we hit the road in a couple of months. At the end of that trip, I will sell it as my travelling days are almost over, and I can think of no better place to stay than at Henly RV Park for as long as I am able.
I finished my transactions with the bank and then headed to Walmart’s for some groceries before driving to the closest Starbucks for that inevitable Latte to see me home where I was welcomed by my two little friends. As usual, they “helped” with the groceries before we harnessed up to go walking.
The tree trimmers were at the park working on one of the incredibly old live oaks rumored to be 400 years old. Like everything in this world, some of it had died and it needed trimming to extend the life of the rest of it. Both Daniel and Malinda came over as I watched, and we discussed the various activities and marveled at the strength of some of the workers as they hoisted heavy logs onto their shoulders to toss them in the trailers. Oh, to be young and that fit, again but alas, that time has long passed.
We continued walking around the park and just as Mikey and I were ready to go back indoors, Miss Sandy decided that she had other places to go, and we ended up walking around the bottom of the park. I managed to sort of guide her back to Quatro and we went inside. Prior to that, I filled the bird feeders with seed in the hope that some of the birds would get fed before the deer got to it.
I was glad to get back inside where it was warmer, and we finished the evening as we normally do.
We passed this on our drive yesterday. The angle of the car caused the picture to look off and I was unable to straighten it out in Photoshop. Quite a work of art.
It had turned much colder when we took the first walk of the day and I was extremely glad of the jacket I had on. We wandered around and then Sandy led us to Henly Loop outside of the campground heading towards Hwy 290. There are the remains of a dead deer on the side of this road, nothing much more than bones and fur. We had passed it several days before and it looked like it was already picked clean with nothing, but the fur and bones left. This time, in the distance, I could see at least two buzzards feeding off the carcass or what was left of it.
Buzzards serve an important purpose of cleaning up roadkill and such and although not the prettiest of birds, do their job well. I decided that rather than scare them off for obviously, they were hungry picking at an already stripped carcass, we turned back and headed down the hill towards the bottom park entrance.
We had just turned in and Daniel and Malinda pulled up alongside in his truck. We chatted a bit and I inquired as to why they were back early. His response was “You know,” Grandkids” and I understood exactly what he meant. I kept on walking and caught up with Malinda and her little dog outside of her RV. All three dogs are sort of friends, at least they do not go after each other but do a lot of sniffing.
We headed back to Quatro and spent time working on cleaning the indoor grill parts that I had left soaking. That gunk is hard to get off. Then it was time for breakfast which today was cereal only because I had a couple of bananas that needed to be used up. Like most other foods, cereal is just not that appetizing anymore. My taste buds are wearing out…along with everything else.
I turned my attention to the world news…depressing, and then to the blog posting yesterday and then starting today. With that out of the way, I decided that as I had veggies left over from the stew, we made a week or so ago, why not make a veggie stew and not bother with the beef part of it. The last one did not taste as good as I had hoped probably because I added garlic to it so this time, leave out the garlic.
I got everything together and then spent 15 minutes or so in the preparation, throwing it all into the Insta-Pot. I set the timer for a slow cook and now, all I must do is wait…With that out of the way, I was really searching for things to get up to. It was a bit too chilly for any long hikes, that is, even if I found the park, but it was OK for a quick walk around the campground.
We spent time with Taho and my dogs’ made friends with the orange kitty, Taho’s friend, who was also on a leash and tied up outside. Mikey was really interested in the cat and maybe it conjured up memories of an earlier life than with me.
We moved on and finished the walk walking the bottom road with no sign of the other big dog. Hopefully, he is in a different enclosure closer to the house.
Back in the RV, we caught up with the blog and then checked on the stew which was doing its thing in the Insta- Pot. The gauge said it had an hour to go so I went ahead and found something else to eat for the evening meal. This was followed in the usual way of watching the English Premier League.
The Diary of an Old Man and an RV. Henly RV Park, Dripping Springs, TX Day 54, Monday 01/23/2023
I got up reasonably early knowing that I had a Dentists appointment in Austin. If I had to be late or miss an appointment, that would be the one although Dentistry has come a long way over the years. Apart from the first prick of the hypo, from there on out, the only discomfort is having a block of some material which feels like it is 4 inches square, stuck in your mouth for some length of time, to keep your jaws open.
We walked in the park, and I had time for breakfast, shared with the dogs, before heading into town figuring on two hours from leaving to sitting down in the Dentist chair for that 1:00pm appointment. As it happened, the traffic was light as I made the preplanned trip to Far West Blvd to pick up the mail. Consequently, I had time on my hands after arriving at the Dentist’s Office.
Sitting in the car, I read the mail I had picked up with nothing of major importance and then listened to an Audiobook to pass the rest of the time. When I walked in, I was the only patient in the waiting room and was quickly called back to the dreaded Dentist chair.
There were three molars that had gone bad on me, a couple of which had been capped many years before by some other Dentists probably long gone. After three and a half hours, the Dentist and his very competent assistant were through. In that time, I had five-bathroom breaks as all I did while sitting there was think just how badly I needed to “go.” Luckily, the Dentist, being an older gentleman, understood the needs and requirements of old men and at least it took my mind off what was going on.
I paid the bill knowing that this was just the first step and that the teeth they had installed were only temporary. It will require a second visit to a separate unit that specializes in matching teeth colors. I received an appointment to that facility while still at the Dentists, but it is not for another month.
I got back in the car and headed for home with no other planned stops except for Starbucks, of course. By then, it was almost 5:00 pm. On the way home, I received a call which was from Malinda worried about me and wondering if I was OK. She also inquired if they should take the dogs out walking. I thanked her for her kindness and explained about the Dentist and the time it took which I had not planned on and told her that I was on the way home.
Arriving back, 30 minutes later to be met by my excited little dogs, we quickly harnessed up and went out for that final stroll around the park. It was getting dark by the time we got back to Quatro, managing to get in 2.3 miles for the day. We finished the day in the usual fashion with food all around and then watching TV.
