Nov. 30, 2009

From Las Vegas, Nevada.
It's been awhile since I posted. We have been at the house in Las Vegas for a little over a week. Not much happening of note. I did have good news from my doctor's visits. My eyes are doing well no shots needed to hold off the macular degeneration. There was no change in my kidney function so the doctor reduced my prednisone dosage. I see my urologist tomorrow.
there are good things about being at the house; Grandkids, Grandkids and our Church Family.
I have noticed it's a lot further from the bed to the bathroom, an important trip for us old guys. The house being larger gathers more dust faster than the motorhome.
The frenzy starts soon. Decorating for Christmas. We ordered a new tree and it should be here later this week.
Before we left this summer we sold Gerri's Cadillac. Now we are car shopping, she has her eye on a Lincoln MKT. I swore off Fords in 1988 due to problems with a Lincoln Continental we had for two years. It wasn't the car so much as the dealer's service. I won't consider a foreign brand, even ones built in this country. GM and Chrysler are out of the question. Buying one of those brands means I pay twice and would validate both their bad business practices and the government bailout.
I still have the power reel problem to resolve with the coach. Other than that no problems, life is good.

I don't know what newspaper this was in, but it's clever:
From today's letters to the editor:
I don't understand why the White House is so upset about the two party crashers at Barack Obama's steak dinner the other night. Is it really appropriate and politically correct to call them party crashers just because they trespassed on Mr. Obama? Does that make them criminals? Isn't that discrimination? Shouldn't they be rewarded for such bold and brave behavior? Maybe they were just trying to feed their family? I would suggest that it's more appropriate to call them "undocumented guests." Just because they weren't officially invited doesn't mean they should be treated like criminals. Maybe they should get free health care, free housing, free legal services and free White House green cards so next time they can enter legally. And they should be able to bring all of their relatives and family members, too. How can Mr. Obama be mad at them just because they crossed over some arbitrary man-made border? They were there only to do the things that regularly invited guests didn't want to do. (Like hang out with Joe Biden.) How can the White House punish these poor oppressed undocumented visitors?
Brian K. Shoemake

Nov. 20, 2009

From Las Vegas, Nevada.
Day 153, the last.
The weather in Tucson was perfect for sleeping. But since we had about 430 miles to go, we got underway at about nine.
Headed toward Phoenix, the road was good and like I said yesterday this coach runs effortlessly at 75 mph. This was the easiest drive I have ever had through Phoenix to pick up US-93 to Las Vegas. It has always amazed me that no Interstate connecting these two cities. Actually there has been a lot of work on 93 north of Phoenix, it may be four lane divided in 10 or 20 years.
We stopped for dinner at the Cracker Barrel in Kingman, Az. This is the closest one to Las Vegas so we indulged ourselves.
A short jaunt on I-40 brought us back to US-93. The road is now under construction from the Lake Mead Recreation Area boundary to the dam. It looks like it will be four lane divided all the way to Kingman about the same time the bridge downstream from the dam is completed. The check point has moved from the old rest stop to about where the road to Kingman Wash is. The stop and inspection didn’t take five minutes and sure beats going through Laughlin to get to Las Vegas.
By the time we got across the dam it was dark. We got to Henderson just in time for rush hour traffic. The coach may be a dream to drive on the highway but I don’t like the stop and go especially in the dark. It was slow all the way to the house
We got to the house at about 6 PM. A little while later Curt and Dana brought the kids over. We really missed them and enjoyed a couple of hours of them tearing through the house.
We didn’t do much in the way of unloading. We will leave that for other days.
I doon’t know if I will keep up the Blog daily now that we are off the road. The next week or two will be just doctor appointments and getting squared away.
Our next planned trip is to the Rose Parade.
I love to travel, but Home Is Nevada.

Nov. 19, 2009

From the Voyager RV Resort, Tucson, AZ. N32° 5.633 W 110º 50.332.
What a noisy night at the rest stop. I must have slept some but not much. The trucks on the Interstate were very loud. The ones driving through the rest stop were even noisier. Then tere are the ones in the rest stp that don't buy thier own fuel, and leave the engine running.
We were up and out of there before 8:30 AM. One thing about Texas, the speed limit was 75 mph until we got to El Paso County where it dropped to 65. I don’t know about fuel consumption but this machine we call home will run effortlessly at 75 and without wind is a dream to drive. Engine load seldom reaches 60% except on steep hills. Passing into New Mexico and then Arizona the desert landscape I love flowed by in an unending panorama. For as little sleep I had last night, I wasn’t as tired as I expected.
By five we were in the Tucson area, Gerri spotted a billboard for Voyager RV Resort at exit 270. The bill board claimed it has top rating in the country. Funny I never heard of it. When we turned in a gate guard greeted us and directed us to the check in area. The registration area looked like a hotel lobby. I could hear the couple ahead of us give information and be charge $55 for the night. They were driving a Class C motorhome with no towed car. They also took a back in spot. I don’t know what I said that was different, I got a pull though site and they charged me $39. Another guard escorted us to our site and guided me in. The park is extensive. There are RV sites, Park Models and what looked like apartments, there is also a grocery store and a restuarant.
Anyway we were set up and relaxing by 5:45. The rest of the evening was relaxing and watching TV.

Nov. 18, 2009

From a Rest stop along I-10, just east of Van Horn, Texas. N 31° 2.527 W 104º 45.267.
We got started from Paul and Ann’s house in Spring Branch, Texas at about 10 AM. It was only few miles before the adventure began. When I was planning the route the DeLorme program showed the route to be US-281 north to US-90 near Johnson City and then west to I-10. The Gremlin showed a turn on Texas FM 473. I took to turn. Not a bad road but a lot of curves and dips. The coach suspension got areal work out what with the load shifting so often. We intersected I-10 at Comfort. The route was shorter but I’m not so sure about quicker.
As we left Hill Country in the afternoon, I noticed a jagged purple line on the horizon. Mountains at last. It made me very comfortable when we got further west and I could see mountains near with rows of taller ones in the distance. Of course the landscape turning form trees and other green foliage to desert brown with muted green helped me feel more at home every mile. I love the desert, the bare craggy mountains and the chaparral.
The Gremlin acted up again just before we got to the intersection with I-20. It gave directions to turn north, but I know this road and didn’t fall for it this time.
I drove until about 5 PM. We stopped for the night at a rest stop on I-10. It’s pretty close to the Interstate with traffic noise, but we will get some sleep and make an early start in the morning. We had a pretty sunset with the few clouds making bands of goldish orange. As it got darker we could see the lights of Van Horn a few miles away.
We should be out of Texas before noon tomorrow.

Nov. 17, 2009

From Spring Branch, Texas.
This is our last full day at the Conner’s Ranchita. After Coffee I went to Walgreens for a prescription. Afterwards I did seven geocaches in the area of Paul’s house. They were all in a series named after governors of Texas
Today is pauls birthday so we were invited over for supper. Jim and Vivian Boylan were the other guests. Ann had fixed beer can chicken. And of course we had corn, on the cob this time. The corn has become a joke. We sometimes call Paul Corner instead of Conner because of his taste for corn at every meal.
A pleasant evening topped off by a little on line time, Facebook for Gerri and WoW for Paul and me.
I went to bed at about 11:15, hoping to get under way in the morning by 10 AM, I hev to get fuel before going too far.

Nov.16, 2009

From Spring Branch, Texas.
We hadquite a light show with thunder and rain about 2:00 AM. The wind blew most of the day and it was the coldest day we have seen in Texas.
Pretty lazy day. I got a couple more reoccurring payments switched over to the new Master Card. We are having trouble with the Cox SMPT server again. I did set up a Hughes.net account so if you get e-mail with server don't be surprised, We can sent through Hughes but if we try to reply ton e-mail sent to us at our Cox addresses, the reply won't send. We'll see what happens when we leave her.
we went for supper at Milagro's Mexican Restaurant. They don't have an extensive menu but what the serve is excellent.
Back at the coach; Gerri resumed Facebook, Glenna read and watched TV and I played WoW on line with Paul.

Nov. 15, 2009

From Spring Branch, Texas.
Today was the day we planned to pick up my mother in Corpus Christi. We got up a little earlier than usual and were on the road around eight. Corpus is abot 190 miles. The terrain changes from the hill country to thick brush and then the coastal plain. I tought Indiana was flat untill were got close to Corpus. Gerri drove all the way and I napped most of the way. When we left spring Branch the GPS couldn't find my Uncle Curtis' address so I had just entered the city. We got to Corpus Christi at about 11:30 and stopped at a Cracker Barrel. I called but got a recording, they were in church. Gerri shopped until the call was returned. After getting the directions it only took a few minutes to get to the house. The problem with the address was the street is private property. Once I had the address of the complex it was a piece of cake.
During their visit the sisters had played bowling on the Wii game. Aunt Gloria demonstrated the bowing game and others on Wii. Guess what we aregetting for Christmas.
After lunch we gassed up and headed back to hill country. Gerri started driving, afetr about a hundred miles I took over so she could nap in my place. Gerri always says that when I drive the Jeep I jerk a lot. I tried to not be jerky and must have done ok. She slept most of the way to San Antonio.
We got back to Pual and Ann's about seven. After some TV and computertime we retired. As is her habit Glenna read for awhile before turning things off and going to bed.

Nov. 14, 2009

From Spring Branch, Texas.
Not much going on today. Paul went to a meeting and ride on an Air Force C-5. Ann Was busy and gone all morning.
We have been here a little over a week with no sewer hookup, So Gerri and I rolled everything up and drove to a nearby RV Park and dumped the tanks.
After Paul got home, he had a couple of delays which made him several hours late, we went to the San Marcos Veteran’s Day Dinner and Hanger Dance. So called because the event is held in the hanger of what used to be called the Confederate Air Force. Due to political correctness they were forced to change the name to the Commemorative Air Force. They had old airplanes on display but it was dark by the time we got there. Actually we arrived at a good time for supper, the lines were over and we were served quickly. The hanger has a WW II museum, mostly items related to flying. The event was a fund raiser for the CAF and included a silent auction. Of course there was a band playing music from the forties and a jitter bug contest. W got back home at about ten and I plan to hit the sack early. Tomorrow we make a whirlwind drive to Corpus Christi and back to pick up Glenna.

Nov. 13, 2009

From Spring Branch, Texas.
I started my day in a way that I shouldn’t have. I received our mail yesterday. On of the prices paid for our lifestyle is late mail. Many full time and part time RV’ers use some type of mail forwarding service. Our arrangement is that our daughter-in-law, Dana, bundles the mail up and sends it to us when we give her an address where we can receive mail. In our case the mail is sometimes over a month old when we get it. Most of our reoccurring bills are either paid either by the bill payer service I set up at our credit union or applied automatically to one a credit card. In the case of the credit union I am notified by he mail when one of the payments I have scheduled goes out. With the credit card I go on line and check what has been charged, I usually do this every couple of days. Most of the bills we get in the mail forwarded by Dana are already taken care of. Others like medical co-payments have a small balance owing, which I go on line and pay with either bank draft or credit card. A problem comes up when the payment is made after a second notice has been sent before they receive the payment. Going through the mail this morning consisted mainly of verifying that I had paid or making the payments. Two of the letters this morning were from the ambulance company in Las Vegas, another salvo in the battle that started in early April when we had to fly my mother from Mexico to Las Vegas by air ambulance. We paid, and dearly, with a company to transport her from the hospital in Cabo San Lucas to Southern Hills Hospital in Las Vegas. Apparently that company has never paid the company in Las Vegas for the last leg from Henderson to the hospital. So far the battle as been cordial and only a little annoying. Of course it may heat up. I topped of this exciting morning by reconciling our credit card accounts.
Around noon Paul took me to a Comal County yard where he picked up a load of mulch for the trails he has constructed around his property. He got about four yards and it’s free. Landscaper and others who clear brush and trees drop them off at the yard and a county crew grinds it all into a mulch. The interesting part of this is that the person dropping the stuff off pays a fee, the person picking it up doesn’t. This oversight probably won’t continue for long.
After lunch Paul and I drove down the road to check out an RV park. The one thing we don’t have at his place is a sewer dump. It’s been over a week, all you RV’ers know what that means, and we will be here until Wednesday morning. The closest park is about eight miles and they only want seven bucks to dump. It’s an easy in and out. So you know what my morning chore will be tomorrow. I am considering buy Paul one of those blue tanks on wheels, then I could use it to wheel our waste over to his septic tank. Mmm, is that really a present for Paul?
Now the fun part and one of the reasons we love to travel. In the evening we went over to Bulverde to visit Gerri’s old friend Bernadette. I don’t mean she is old, but that Gerri has known her since before we were married. After a pleasant visit and catching up on happening in both families we went for supper at a nearby restaurant. Pappa Gallo’s is a family owned Mexican restaurant. Not long on ambiance but very good food served hot and fresh. After supper we returned to their house for a much unneeded but delicious dessert with coffee.
We got home about 10 PM. Sean called and wanted me to play World of Warcraft with him. Since it is a Friday night he gets to stay up till 10 o’clock, Reno time. By the time it was his bedtime my eyes were really dropping and I went straight to bed.
For Friday the 13th it was a very good day. I should have noted the date before I started with the mail.

From Spring Branch, Texas.
This morning I puttered around on the computer. I went with Paul to his Kiwanis Club meeting With Paul and a friend, Clay Blanton. On the drive to the meeting we learned that Clay retired form a high position with Caterpillar Equipment. I ask him if had known Jim Cashman who ran the Caterpillar Equipment in Las Vegas. What a small world to find a stranger in the middle of Texas with common acquaintances. I phrased the question as had known because Jim died several years ago with a sudden heart attack.
We had a good lunch at the club meeting. The restaurant, Anchor’s Landing is on the opposite side of Canyon Lake in Startzville. The speakers included a group of young ladies from Canyon Lake High School who were part a group at the school involved in community service. The two ladies that spoke were very impressive. After the meeting Paul showed Clay around his place and I gave him the nickel tour of our coach before driving him home.
While we were at the meeting Gerri had left on an errand to Walgreen’s to pick up prescriptions. The closest Walgreen’s is about forty miles away. She got back and I ask if all my prescription came in. With a surprised look she admitted that she had picked up her and my Mom’s but forgot about mine. So it was back to Walgreen’s. The trip took longer this time, she got stuck in rush hour traffic coming out of San Antonio on S-281.
Before supper Paul demonstrated his potato gun off their back porch. The potato gun is basically a long piece of PVC for a barrel, a larger PVC combustion chamber with a screw on cap and an igniter from a BBQ grill. The potato is forced down the barrel, then he uses a shot of aerosol carburetor cleaner in the combustion chamber, screws the cap, aims and ignites. The piece of potato goes about a hundred yard if everything is timed right. Then the potato becomes deer food.
Paul and Ann prepared a spaghetti dinner for my birthday. Does anyone remember an old antacid where the guy says, “Thatsa some a spicy a meatball?” These were spicy but just right.
I got a lot of calls today from friends and family with happy birthday wishes. I could believe how many of my ”friends” from Facebook sent me greetings. A fine day except for the reminder that I am advancing into old age. By the way, I have pushed the threshold of what constitute old age further up the age scale.

Nov. 11, 2009

Another beautiful day in hill country. Thank you Texas for the great weather. The days have been warm, the nights perfect for sleeping with a light blanket.
I did nine geocaches in the middle of the day. Saw a lot of the countryside. After a relaxing afternoon we got ready to go to the Riverwalk in San Antonio for supper. It’s about forty miles and we were glad we were going in instead of coming out. Why do we call it rush hour, no one was going north very fast.
We walked around for awhile deciding on a restaurant. The host or whatever at all the restaurants comes out to the sidewalk with menus trying to get you into their place. The only other US city I have seen this is New Orleans, it’s common in Mexico.
We decided on a Mexican restaurant named “The Original Mexican Restaurant.” They claim to be the oldest in San Antonio. We are a pretty boring group, after the waiters description we all ordered the chili rellenos dinner. It was a lot of food. Two chili rellenos with rice, beans and squash. This restaurant doesn’t batter the rellenos and fry them. They stuff them with seasoned meat, one with chicken the other with beef, and bake them in a red sauce.
Being stuffed made it hard to stay awake on the ride back to Spring Branch. We retired to the motorhome. After checking my e-mail, Paul and I played World of Warcraft for a couple of hours.
Like I said in the beginning the weather was perfect for sleeping.

Nov. 10, 2009

From Spring Branch, Texas.
Another gorgeous day in hill country. Paul and Ann had a golf tournament and meeting during the day. Ken and Sylvia Harwood came up from San Antonio. We went to a bar and grill on US-281 for lunch. The Shade Tree wasn’t very busy in spite of the number of cars parked out front. Turns out there is a parking lot for motorcycles on the side , that’s where the real customers park. This is a biker bar. We sat on a porch like area. The lunch special was a Rueben Sandwich with homemade potato chips. We all had the special, it was one of the best Rueben’s I have had. Toasted to perfection and piled with kraut and corn beef.
Glenna called and we chatted for awhile. I guess she wanted to make sure we weren’t planning to leave her in Corpus.
I went geocaching in the late afternoon. Since I have been here a couple of times the nearest caches weren’t very near. I bagged two and couldn’t find one. There is a geocaching event this Saturday, but we are committed to a dinner honoring Veterans. One of the caches I found was packed with travel bugs in preparation for the event. I discovered them all except one that I couldn’t read the number.
Ann had a book club meeting, we never saw Paul. In the evening Paul and I played WoW.
Maybe it was because today is the 234th anniversary of the founding of the Marine Corps, I noticed how the setting sun lit up the flag we fly above our coach. The sun actually lit up the flag, it’s nylon and the light passes through. I thought of all the Marines, and all veterans, who have served this country. So many sacrificed all so that we can enjoy our liberties and freedom. There are many who sacrificed limbs and health, we owe them all a debt of gratitude. I think everyone knows the Marine Corps’ motto; Semper Fidelis. As beneficiaries of their service, that should also be our individual and collective motto, Always Faithful. Faithfull to the promises that were made the men and women when they agreed to serve and swore an oath to defend this country and it’s constitution.
I thought too of a special Marine. Theodore Eugene Wisnewski, my step father. He left the coal mines of West Virginia to join the Marines. He fought through out the Pacific and made a career of the Marine Corps. He served during two other wars and most of the cold war. I also thought of another veteran today and his influence in my life. Arvid J. Barnhart, my father-in-law. He was an Air Force veteran of three wars. These two men, so different in personality, education and background shared so many things. Both loved this country, their families and set examples of hard work and responsibilities. These two heroes, along with so many like them, are gone but remain in our hearts and minds.
I pray that their sacrifices were not in vain and the leaders of this country adhere to Semper Fidelis. Faithful to the constitution and foundations of this country, and turn from embracing socialism. If not our veterans served in vain.

Nov. 9, 2009

From Spring Branch, Texas.
It was an early morning. I got out of bed at 7 and Gerri was already up. Gerri spotted the sunrise and tried to get a picture. After this one was taken the sun rose into a cloud layer.
We are boring bunch. We didn’t do much in the morning and even less in the afternoon. Gerri and Ann did go to a nearby shop. By 2:30 I took a nap.
We went to the Grist Mill in Gruene for supper. Interesting place. Like the name implies it’s an old mill converted to a restaurant. It’s right on the Guadalupe River and next to the Gruene Dance hall. The dance hall is billed as the oldest dance hall in Texas.
Back at the house we split up. Paul and had I planned to play World of Warcraft. There was a major patch to download that took forever to download. Pauls DSL was faster than Verizon Broadband. The download hung up and I swtched to the MotoSat. The whole process took a cople of hours.

Nov. 8, 2009

From the Texas Hill Country.
Today’s narrative will be pretty short, unless I write in detail about the rain that started in mid morning. I started the day at about 7:20. I spent a little time making sure the bills were caught up and trying to change our credit card number with places that bill it on a recurring basis. Some of these folks have websites that are very difficult to maneuver. I’m tempted to just wait until they contact me after the charge won’t go through. I’ll miss some and that will happen that way anyway.
Paul and Ann left for their golf game at about 8:30. The rain started at about 10:00. It came in waves, heavy for a few minutes and then it would slacken for a few minutes, rinse and repeat. It was never as heavy as we experienced in Garrison. Of course Paul and Ann were rained out and came home earlier than they expected.
I called my mom who is visiting with her sister in Corpus Christi. We had originally planned to pick her up on Tuesday and now we have changed that to Sunday. That will give her more time to visit Gloria and she won’t feel like a 5th wheel when we are visiting friends here in the Hill Country. Of course I have been chided for not scheduling the pick up for next Monday. Ann is scheduled for jury duty that day and if she isn’t called for that day she and Paul have a golf tournament.
The afternoon was spent visiting and Gerri giving Paul more encouragement on Facebook. By the time we were ready to go to supper the rain had slackened. We went to an Italian Restaurant in Spring Branch. Now I don’t want you to get the impression that Spring Branch is like a city or even most small towns. Unless I have missed something, it covers a lot of rural area with scattered homes and businesses. The food was very good. Now you have to remember that for me a meal that I don’t have to help prepare or clean up after has to be pretty bad before I complain. This meal was very good. If you are ever in Spring Branch check out the Tuscany. If you don’t care for Italian there is a Mexican restaurant next door.
We went back to the house and to our own facilities. Paul and I logged on to World of Warcraft and knocked out some quests and both of us advanced a level.
Another good day. “ This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it,” Psalms 118:24.

Nov. 7, 2009

From Spring Branch, Texas.
I got out of bed this morning at about 8;30 to see a light fog outside. It cleared but there were scattered clouds most of the day. Weather wise the day was good, the temperature comfortable and although cloudy there was no hint of bad weather.
Paul and Ann have a beautiful place and it is obvious they have put in a lot of hard work. The parking place for the RV is well done with 50 amp electrical service and water. Paul installed a light that flies a pennant, TEXAS PROUD.” Looking out the windows of our home we can see their house, and the landscaping which includes numerous oak trees and shrubs. They say they have a constant job of keeping the tree from eating small trees and shrubs. When I step out the door I can see a wedge shaped part of Canyon Lake. The parking pad doesn’t have a sewer dump. Their septic tank cleanout is about 200’ away. They have a circular drive that goes within about 30’ of the cleanout. They use that when they need to dump the tanks of their fifth wheel. For some reason Paul and Ann think our coach is too large to go around the drive. From what they said some delivery trucks have swung around the drive and broken tree branches. I walked the drive and although there are a couple of low branches but I think I could avoid them easily. The only problem I see is that the coach would go over the concrete apron in front of the garage and I don’t know if it would hold the weight or crack. I’ll talk to Paul about it if we need to dump.
The Conners left about 11 AM to go hit golf balls in preparation for a round of golf tomorrow.
At about two we left for a visit and supper with Ken and Sylvia Harwood. They live in San Antonio and we met them Last year at Horseshoe Lakes in Indiana. Sylvia is the one responsible for us seeing the Allegiance at the FMCA Convention in St. Paul. We also spent the second week of this trip with them at Whaler’s Rest near Newport, Oregon. They travel in a 2001 American Eagle and still have the house they have lived in for thirty four years. Supper was salmon that Ken grilled with trimmings prepared by Sylvia. We had a pleasant evening talking of cabbages to kings. Man that came up from the far reaches of my mind. It’s from Lewis Carroll’s “The Walrus and the Carpenter.”
"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."
There is speculation that Mr. Dodgson was on drugs when he wrote pieces like “Alice in Wonderland” and other stories under the nom de plume of Lewis Carroll. Ooops, I wondered off there. But I digress. The drive back to our coach was about an hour and after a little Facebook time by Gerri and WoW time by me we turned in.

Nov. 6, 2009

From N 29° 56.860’ W 98º 19.108’ Spring Branch, Texas.
We left Lake Conroe at about 10:30 AM. We headed to Paul and Ann Conner’s home near Canyon Lake in Spring Branch, Texas. About 250 miles to travel today. I choose the route that had the most Interstate, so we went south to Houston and picked up I-610 west and the west on I-10. We left I-10 at a point that took us to San Marcos. We stopped at the Wal in San Marcos to stock up. The only other stop we made was at a rest stop earlier for PR. After leaving the Wal I missed a turn on Texas 12. The cross street were to narrow to just go around the block so I continued on the mistaken route until the GPSR recalculated. The new route took us a little further and only made the trip about 10 miles longer.
At about 4 Pm we turned onto Paul’s street, make that road. Although the area has built up it’s still kinda country with the houses situated a good distance from each other. I saw lights flash ahead, Paul was waiting on his golf cart to guide us in. We hadn’t seen Paul and Ann since Sept. 2006, of course I talk to Paul when we play world of Warcraft. After greetings we got the coach set up in the most excellent RV site #1 that Paul set up. We have water and 50amp power. Paul had just finished installing an automatic light a few days ago. The site is very close to level and solid as the rock a fraction of an inch below the topsoil.
Cenábamos delicioso del alimento mexicano. Si tenemos comida mexicana más a menudo tendré que escribir esto en español. Oops; We had a delicious supper of Mexican food. If we have Mexican food more often I will have to write this in Spanish.
Before and during supper Gerri had ragged Paul about not being on Facebook. So after supper they spent some time getting him signed back up and showing him how to avoid some of the content he doesn’t care about.
After we went back to the coach for the evening Paul and I signed onto WoW and Paul helped me with some group quests. My Warlock is now level 64.
A great day with better to come.

Nov. 5, 2009

From the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails Preserve, Willis, Texas.
After a morning of hanging around thr coach we drove to La Porte to visit Gerri’s Uncle Glenn Barnhart. We visited at their house and then went to supper at the El Toro Restaurant about two blocks away.
After we left La Porte we rendezvoused in Houston with a classmate of Gerri’s from High school in Mississippi.
We got back to the coach at about 10 PM. Tomorrow is moving day so we want to get to bed earlier than usual.

Nov. 4, 2009

From the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails Preserve, Willis, Texas. This was another down day, not even cleaning or laundry. I did meet an RVer with a 2003 Tradition that he just bought and sold him the surge protector that I no longer needed. This coach has surge protection built in, the ’03 didn’t.
We were set to leave Lake Conroe tomorrow but I got an e-mail from Ken and Sylvia Harwood that they couldn’t make it to Medina Lake. We also got a call back from Gerri’s Aunt in La Porte. We decided to stay another day at Lake Conroe. Tomorrow we plan to drive to La Porte to visit Gerri’s Uncle, Elbert Glenn Barnhart. Friday we will drive over to Spring Branch and park at our friend’s, Paul and Ann Conner. We will use their place as a base to visit with them, the Harwoods and Gerri’s old friend Bernadette Dass.
I went to the ranger station and got the permission fo the extra day and also cancelled the Medina Lake reservation.
This afternoon I got a call from Chase security, we have a credit card with them. Someone had charged $209 on my account and then tried the same amount three more times. After a phone conversation I had to cancel the card. Chase will issue me another with a new account number. It should get here tomorrow. The big hassle with this is all the bills I pay with this card that are deducted automatically, oh well I'll eventually hear from them all.Gerri and I went to Pappadeaux Seafood Restaurant to have supper and to celebrate our birthdays. Today is Gerri’s birthday mine is next week. We had Oysters Pappadeaux for appetizers. For an entrée Gerri had filet mignon and lobster, I had pasta Mardi Gras. Gerri’s came with mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus. My dish was linguini with crayfish, shrimp, mushrooms and spicy sausage in a cream sauce. All in all a very good repast to top off a good day.

From the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails Preserve, Willis, Texas.
Another beautiful day. Our only plan was to have supper with some of the cousins.
Gerri had a conversation with one of her Facebook people who wanted to meet her. Gerri does an egg hunt thing and a scavenger hunt and interacts with a lot of other players. Now I have to tell you I’m very skeptical about meeting people from internet contacts. The rendezvous was arraigned for later in the afternoon at a Gelato shop in Spring. Of course I planned to go with her, who knows when a big ugly guy is going to be needed?
She also had a request from another Facebook contact to take a picture of the church she was married in 57 years ago.
I went out for a few minutes to drop a travel bug at a nearby cache, I found another cache while I was out.
Back to Gerri’s missions:
First the church search. Betty Bond was married 57 years ago in the small Conroe Church of Christ. Gerri found the address o the internet and away we went. When we saw the building we knew it had been remodeled. Make that rebuilt. It is now a very large modern building with acres of parking. We took the requested pictures.
Next we headed to Spring and the Gelato shop to meet Veleen Simms. We arrived first and saw her turn in, she had told Gerri she would be driving a Ford Explorer. After introductions, Veleen brought her daughter and son. Gerri and I both had Gelato and coffee. Not to bad but no better than Blue Bunny. We had a good time talking about common interest including Boy Scouts, geocaching and of course Facebook. I was impressed with her children. They were both congenial, capable of and comfortable with conversations with adults. Gerri has been talking about getting a new phone with internet capabilities, Veleen showed us her i-Pod and some web pages on it. It is a must have now.
After that visit we headed to cousin Lawanna’s house. We decided to go to a Salt Grass, basically a steak house. The party consisted of me, Gerri, my cousins Lawanna, Lael, Mark and Karla and Lawanna’s husband John. We had a good meal. After the meal we sat around for a long time. We talked about things we have seen, methods of travel and somehow got on the topic of things that had scared us as kids, especially movies. The Wolf Man, Frankenstein, Night of the Living Dead, and the like which had seemed so scary at the time but are now campy or hokey.
After dinner we said goodbyes to Lael at the restaurant, she had to head back to Houston. Back at Lawanna’s we said goodbyes t everyone else and headed back to the RV park.
Another good day. Tomorrow is Gerri’s birthday.

Nov. 2, 2009

From the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails Preserve, Willis, Texas.
This was a down day for us. No visiting. Geri did wash and I washed the Jeep and the front of the coach. We didn’t do much else. We did go down to the lake at sunset and took a few pictures.
Gerri fixed supper at home and we watched TV during the evening. Ok there was some Facebook and WoW time.

Nov. 1, 2009

From the Thousand Trails Preserve, Lake Conroe, Willis, Texas.
Retired people shouldn’t have clocks. The plan for today was to take my mom into Spring this morning at 9 AM. She is going to visit with her sisiter in Corpus Christi for a week or so. I got the alarm set for AM and got up when it went off. I made my coffee and while checking my e-mail noticed the time on my computer, a little after 4. I didn’t hear Gerri when she reminded me about fall back for the end of day light savings time.
With that extra hour we got to Lawanna’s house in Spring on time. We went to a Mexican restaurant for breakfast. I had been warned about the huevos rancheros so I ordered a pancake breakfast. Very good food. We took some group pictures and the group split up. Back at Lawanna’s I got Glenna’s things into her sister’s car and off they went to Corpus.
Lawanna, her husband John and I shot the breeze for awhile before I headed back to Lake Conroe.
Since Friday evening we have been unable to send e-mail. We can go on the net and receive e-mail but not send. In the coach we can use either Verizon Broadband or Hughes Net and the park has WiFi. We can’t send from any of them. I was on the phone with Cox for more than an hour. The tech had me change some setting but the problem was never resolved. We are now sending out e-mail using Spamarrest. Off and on this summer we have had sending problems but were always able to switch networks and send. Not this time and it affects both computers. The tech from Cox tried to lay the blame on Outlook or Norton. I can’t buy that, we haven’t made any changes and the problem is with both computer, what are the odds?
I puttered around for awhile and then did a search for nearby caches. There were several. I found six within a couple of miles. One was chained to the Thousand Trails sign at the entrance of the preserve. I didn’t find one in a nearby cemetery, cemetery caches are common in Texas and a few other places but I still feel uncomfortable searching for them. I don’t worry about the occupants just their still living relatives and friends. Nowadays I consider six finds in a day very good.