Hallelujah!

It's raining at Lake Georgetown! Sounds great. Our TV dish just fell over because of the rain but that's OK. The a/c is actually kicking off because it's cooler outside.
We found out that we have to have a Class B license to drive our home! We read it on the Tiffin site. So we've been trying to study the rules on the DPS website. How are you supposed to pass the tests if you can't drive these behemoths beforehand? I know Gary can pass the test, but I've never driven our home!
We're getting ready to leave tomorrow. Stowing things away, etc. The RV rides so easy that it doesn't jiggle much stuff around, but things do shift when the brakes are hit or turns are made. We'll miss our children and grandchildren, but it's exciting to see new places. We'll be back in a few months. Our route this time is slightly different so we are going to go through new areas that we've not seen before.
We are headed to Mayhill, NM, which is on the eastern side of the foothills of the Rockies. Our friends Larry and June are there. They both were highschool classmates of mine, so we go way back! I'm looking forward to playing my banjo with Larry, who plays the mandolin and guitar. Just not at the same time. Although he's pretty talented.
The cat just climbed onto my lap, so I'm having to hunt and peck since she's restng on my right hand!
More later!

Family time, good food

There's not too much new since my last post. Yesterday we had the pleasure of having Gary's daughter and her family over for a barbeque. Food was m-m-m good. We had a great time and I brought the banjo out. The grandson had a blast trying to play it and vows he's going to learn how to play one.
Today I had the pleasure of eating at one of my favorite establishments, Chuy's on Barton Springs Road in Austin, TX--wonderful Tex-Mex food. I had a delicious Chili Relleno which proved to be too much so I brought a "doggie bag" home and enjoyed it again at dinner. Gary ordered a "Wild Burrito" which was absolutely huge, so he brought half his meal home, also. We took my daughter there for her birthday, which is on August 1. We'll be leaving for New Mexico and the cool mountains on the 31st of July, so we took her out since she works almost every day and was off today.
The blistering heat is back. We discovered that if we turned off all electrical appliances including the electric hot water heater, and ran the refrigerator on propane, that we could run both air conditioners without popping the breaker. It has made a tremendous difference. Some rain is possible tomorrow but we've not seen a drop here at Lake Georgetown. The roadsides and fields are brown and extremely dry.
It's been a very special weekend for me, although we unfortunately could not see all our children and grandchildren who live here, for various reasons. I am thankful for the visits we have had.

Rain Dance

Perhaps we should learn a rain dance or two. It's still dry here at Lake Georgetown. The rain clouds seem to separate north of Waco and go to the west of us and to the east of us. That's OK, though, because it's been mostly cloudy and the a/c works quite well if the sun is not beating down on the RV. We went to Killeen yesterday for a dental appointment and shopped at the PX. Fort Hood is even more crowded than I remember.
We had some family visit yesterday and had a great time. We enjoyed meeting Gary's daughter's husband. He just seemed to belong in the family from the moment we met him. We are very happy for Janell.
Today my 20 year old granddaughter is coming to visit on her way to College Station, and we are really looking forward to seeing her, too. She's a senior at Texas A&M, and we are very proud of her. She's really been studying and working hard, as evidenced by the fact that she will have a bachelor's degree at 2o!
That's all for today!

a reprieve

The temperature is a little better today. It was in the low 80's this morning, cloudy, with a nice little breeze. Gary and I spent some time outside at the picnic shelter and enjoyed the morning. Here are some pictures of our campsite at Cedar Breaks Park, Lake Georgetown, TX. Wish you could hear the locusts in the background!

That's Gary under the picnic shelter.

It's about 93 outside now; that's ten degrees cooler than yesterday at this time. We have a possibility of rain for tomorrow. Yay!

To backtrack

Here is a picture of the campground outside of Benton, AR, where we were a couple of nights ago. Pretty pine trees!

Also, here is a picture of the Allegro campground at Red Bay, AL, where we had our RV work done. Looks bleak but we had full hookups, 50 amp service, that means both a/c's worked at the same time, and good wifi!

From Georgetown, TX

We made it to Georgetown, TX, today, safely. We are camping at a Corp of Engineer Park at Lake Georgetown. We chose the shadiest site we could find, but unfortunately, only 30 amp service is available, so we can only use one a/c at a time. We are using a fan in addition to the a/c. Outside it was 102.5, and in the RV, it cooled down to 84 degrees. Whew! The sun is finally down and it is feeling a little better in here.
We will rest well tonight...I hope.
More later---

Work done!

Finally, we got all the work done today. The technicians were professional and did a great job. They even fixed our Kingdome, so now we can get all our satellite stations without setting up the dish.
I have been playing the games on Live Search (retired people don't have much to do), and finally earned 38,500 points! I ordered the Zune player. It is supposed to be shipped in 8-12 weeks. I'll have to see it to believe it.
We leave tomorrow for Texas and the extreme heat. We've had cloudy weather here today, along with some thunderstorms. The a/c is doing a great job keeping the RV nice and cool.
Tomorrow night we are planning on staying at Benton, Arkansas, then on to Texas the next day. We plan to stay at Lake Georgetown Corp of Engineer parks for about 15 days, then on to New Mexico mountains where it's cool.
Went to the Methodist church here in Red Bay yesterday, and enjoyed a very nice service. People here in Alabama are certainly friendly and polite.
See ya in a couple of days!

Blog or Glob

Nothin' new today. We did manage to find a CBS station on the tele. Saw a bit of Letterman last night.
I'll probably make some pizza dough and have pizza this evening.
I may rename this Glob instead of Blog. ha.

Hurry up and wait

We are sitting here in the Tiffin Motorhome campground, waiting to get our rig worked on. The campground itself is an abandoned airstrip, and the motor homes are worked on in the hangars. We have full hookups, 50 amp service, and even WiFi. Camping is free as long as the work is covered by the warranty. We still have quite a while to go on our warranty. The scheduled appts are booked up until some time in 2010. Wow that sounds like a long time in the future but it's only next year. We will be "worked in" as time is available. You know how that goes...at the doctor's office. We'll "work you in" when the doctor has time. Wait, wait, wait.

I have been watching dirt devils swirl around the campground. Sigh. I hate hot weather.

Antenna TV is limited to a few PBS stations, and some Fox stations. We haven't been able to get any NBC, CBS, or ABC. I hate missing my daily programs, like the Today show, and late night with Conan, or David Letterman. We're finally back in the central time zone and still can't watch the late night shows! We have a King Dome on our RV but it doesn't work since we had our TV box upgraded to Hi-Def. Some kind of rigamarole to get the King Dome set up for Hi Def. Which Gary hasn't done yet.

It's been exciting watching all the big, shiny motorhomes go past to the service bays. I've had plenty of time to practice the banjo. I don't seem to be making much headway with it.

That's about it for today. This is SUCH a boring place. I'm glad I don't live around here.

Natchez Trace Parkway

7/9/2009...Today we headed south from Cave City, KY, through Nashville, TN. We got on the beautiful and historic Natchez Trace Parkway. The Parkway follows the trail from Natchez, Mississippi, to Nashville. It was an Indian trail and at one time much of it belonged to the Chickasaws. We saw Meriwether Lewis' grave. He died in 1809 at the tender age of 35, under suspicious circumstances while traveling on the Natchez Trace from New Orleans to Philadelphia to make some corrections/additions to his famous trip out west.

Natchez Trace was also used by Mississippi boatmen, who would travel down the Mississippi, and then sell or scrap their boats, then would travel back north on the Trace.

We arrived in Red Bay, Alabama, at the Tiffin Motorhome repair facility, to have some minor repairs done on our rig. It is SO hot here; very difficult to take after the cooling breezes of Pennsylvania. We should find out tomorrow when our repairs will be done. I'm sure we'll be here over the weekend. There's not much to do here. Then it's off to Texas!

July 8, 2009

We left the lush green hills of PA today and drove over 500 miles. We decided to go to Cave City, KY, and we are wiped out!
The campground owner gave us some fresh produce out of his garden. We had hot dogs, fresh corn, fresh cucumbers, banana and jalapeno peppers. It was a veritable feast!

Leaving tomorrow

After three months in PA, we are leaving, slowly making our way back to Texas and then to New Mexico for the month of August. We are headed for Grayson, KY, tomorrow, and then down the Natchez Trace Parkway to Red Bay, AL, to get some work done on the RV. We'll be out of internet reach for a few days but we'll return with pictures along the way.
Check out my Facebook page for pictures of our campground here in PA.

In memoriam

A couple of weeks ago, Michael Jackson died unexpectedly. The grief and media hype have been astounding, to say the least. However...

About a month ago, a man passed away. There was no great outpouring of grief and emotion from strangers. His passing would have gone unnoticed except for the fact that he left a wife of 63 1/2 years, and five strong, healthy sons who each have families with families of their own. He left a neighborhood where he was well known and loved. He left behind a church family who loved and respected him, also.

He was proud of his Belgian heritage. He never had surgery to change his appearence or to hide where he came from.

Like MJ, he had a fine voice, but he sang for the Lord in the church that he loved.

He respected and loved his wife, and never thought of her as someone who could produce children for him to have for his own entertainment. He was never accused of abusing anyone, but he regretted spanking his children when they were small to discipline them. Each of them have grown to be wonderful, loving fathers and husbands. He never took an illegal drug or smoked a cigarette in his life.

He lived simply, and because he was an accomplished horticulturist, raised much of his family's own food in his beautiful garden. He disciplined himself to save his money instead of frivilously spending on material goods which fade away.

During World War II, he served in the US Army and fought in the European theater, and at the age of 30, when the war was over, he left the Army with the rank of Master Sergeant. After the war, he worked for Alcoa Aluminum and retired after 40 years.

He was true to his wife, his family, his community, his country, and to God. He was respected by all who knew him.

Now I have to ask you...which man was more important and should have been valued more?

Remember, man looks on the outward appearance but God looks at the heart.

To begin...

We are full time RV'ers. Calling us trailer trash, gypsys, or whatever, doesn't offend Gary and me. It's just the way things are with us. We chose this lifestyle because we love the outdoors and appreciate the beauty of our great country.

We do have our moments, though. It seems we are always saying "Goodbye" to someone we love. The sadness we feel as we leave is soon replaced with the excitement of traveling, going places we've never been and seeing new sights. Since we have our house and all our possessions with us...we're never without what we need. To your left, you will see a picture of our new home. It's comfort personified.

Hopefully, if I can figure this thing out, we will begin to post pictures of our visits so we can share our good times with our friends and relatives...our loved ones who always remain in our hearts despite being far away.