Texas is Getting Cold

Cool weather has landed in S. Texas.  Last night the furnace actually ran several times, even though Mark keeps it set on 55 during the night.  Fortunately we have dual controls on the electric blanket - mine is set on 10; Mark's on 2.  Even our little weather guy "Ned" had to put on a coat and scarf.

It actually got down into the 30s, but we slept in until 9:00 so it had already warmed up up to 46.

Yesterday after posting the blog we went to the pool.  Since it was so windy, we opted to not have the owner turn on the hot tub.  We got in the pool and realized that the owner had accidently turned the pool into a gigantic hot tub.  The temp was 95, and still warming up. Not good for his electric bill, but fabulous for us.  Mark said it was too hot, I thought it was perfect.

                                   

We always get in the pool first, then run outside to the hot tub, then run back inside to cool down before leaving.  It always amazes us how we're usually the only people in this park who ever use the hot tub. 

No canasta or Joker tonight.  After playing for the past six nights, I think we're all ready for an evening of staying in.  I'll be working on the Christmas stocking for our soon-to-be new daughter-in-law.  

Catching Up

We've been busy, but that's no excuse for no blog.  Will try to be better about it.  The problem is, we play games every night until 9 or 9:30, and then we're both too tired or lazy to get the darn thing written.  I think a daytime post is going to be the new norm.  Now I must remember what we've done for a week.

The day we pulled into the park we were hit up by a 14-year old girl who we just adore, Elena, to buy tickets to her fundraiser dance/BBQ.  She lives in the park and is a freshman in highschool this year.  Her High School Ballet Forklorico Fundraiser was last Sunday at Mario's Ballroom.  It was quite a stretch to call this place a ballroom.  It was in the worst park of town, with bars on all the windows.  Once inside we couldn't  get out fast enough.  We sat with others from the RV park.  The conversation among all of us quickly came to, "Doesn't this place remind you of all the news stories - dance hall burns while hundreds die trying to get out."  It brought back memories of the old American Legion Hall back home that we used to go to with my parents, only this was a thousand times worse.  Mark had the misfortune of checking out the men's room - said the trough was disgusting! 

We quickly ate our BBQ plate and waited for the dancers.  Elena was in the first group of dancers, and she did very well. 

The costumes were beautiful.  We cut and run after the solo dancer who was next.  The fear of fire, trampling, etc. was too much; besides it was a gorgeous day and too nice to be indoors.

We came across this RV park on the way back to our very nice RV park.  You could save money on meals since you can catch a catfish right in this park.

Monday was supposed to be a guys golf outing, but they were short one, so I went.  I am happy to report I was 9 shots better than last week's round.  Mark also did better. 

While Mark golfed with the guys on Wednesday, I spent my day doing paperwork and cleaning.  I also realized a had a coupon from Snapfish for 100 free prints, so I quickly (it took two hours) went through the 650+ pictures from Dennis and Ann's wedding and chose which ones I wanted.  They brought back great memories of a wonderful day. 

I'm still walking 2-3 miles a day in the park and biking some more.  There are lots of people coming in and out of the park this month.  One guy left Thursday to go back home to Chicago and got caught in the ice and snow.  Another guy left yesterday for North Dakota.  We're sure he never even made it north of Dallas because of all the bad weather. 

We've been playing canasta almost every night. 

Last night's game.  The guys soundly beat us!

The weather turned cooler on us today.  After rain last night, we started out at 68, but it's supposed to be down in the 30s tonight.  Of course, the weather people are not very reliable.  We never did get the terrible thunderstorms at 4:00am today.  The sun is now out and shining brightly - we're off to the pool.

Some Laps Take Longer Than Others

Friday was another beautiful day in Victoria.  We had five items on our "to-do" list, and two of those were phone calls.  By day's end, we had only gotten done one of those items.

Since the weather was fabulous, everyone was out and about.  Our first chore was to get the satellite dish up and working.  Even though we have cable tv that works wonderful, it doesn't have Fox Sports Net.  After much aggravation, and phone calls to my brother-in-law in Atlanta, we finally got it up and running.  It never gets easier.  Too bad we can't get the local channels on satellite. 

The next chore was to get the awning opened up and dried out.  We had people stopping by the trailer all day long.  One couple stopped by and didn't leave!  Every RVer has horror stories about traveling with an RV, but Jim and Ida can top every story anyone has ever told.  They made our blow-out, fallen underbelly panels, etc. seem minor at best.  They were entertaining us for three hours with stories that would have had us putting it all up for sale and calling it quits.  We finally got to eat a sandwich at 2:30p, just in time to go get popcorn and soda (the park's "Happy Hour") at 3:00p. 

Since lunch was not much, we had an early dinner in time to get to BINGO at 7:00pm.  I had a bingo in the second game, but had to split it with four other women.  Mark did not win, and has decided it was his last Friday evening to play the game.  It moved way too slow for him, and the gal next to him was a royal pain in the butt.  She had to tell the entire room which numbers she was missing!  Who cares?

Today I tried to get in a walk -- something I've been too busy to do for the past six days.  First we had to go find golf shoes for Mark (on the to-do list).  The trip to Academy proved successful, plus they had the golf balls we play on sale - normally $15 for a dozen.  These were marked down to $4.98 so we bought three dozen.  This should last us the rest of the winter.

Once back in the park I set out to walk.  I got in 1 mile in about 20 minutes until my phone started ringing (NOT a complaint - I was catching up with the kids).  Mark then came out to go bike riding.  In an hour and a half, we hadn't even made one lap around the park - it usually takes less than two minutes. 

We had a great time catching up with everyone.  Now it's off to Canasta.  Hopefully we will remember what we were taught on Thursday night.

The Games People Play

What a Day! Today started warm and just kept getting better. This morning Diane and I headed to the local public golf course. The other players in the park were playing at the local country club but we wanted to walk today instead of riding. We had a great time although some of my clubs just weren't behaving. In fact the putter was acting so poorly that I had a new grip put on after the round to try and fix it. By the time we finished the temp was 87 unfortunately my score wasn't.

After arriving back at the RV park we joined everyone for the popcorn and soda happy hour. We hoped to use the pool but it was one of those days when everyone was out of their trailers and walking around the park. Several of our friends stopped by to talk and by the time thay left it was too late for the pool but we managed to get in about 30 minutes in the hot tub before meeting at the clubhouse for the evening games.

Tonight  Diane and I learned how to play Canasta (Hand and Foot). We've been watching several of the work campers play this game for a couple of months and finally decided to give a try. It turned out to be fairly easy to learn and as usual the men won. Tomorrow we plan to set up the satellite dish so we will be ready when Cardinal spring training gets started and the preseason games get under way.

A Day Apart

Mark
This morning I golfed with several guys that came into the park since we left in November. We tried to get Diane to play but she had other plans. It is very obvious why we come here when you have a January day like today, 48 deg to start the morning and a high of 75 deg by noon. Great golf weather and a good round followed by a trip to Wild Wings for lunch.

Diane
While Mark was out golfing, I walked a couple of miles while checking out all the new trailers in the park.  Today was "Ladies Lunch" so I knew I had to do some kind of exercise.  Thirteen of us went to the Sky restaurant at the Victoria Regional Airport.  My half-pound burger with portebella mushrooms, bacon, and pepperjack cheese was delicious!  I could only eat half of the hand-cut french fries.

Once Mark got back from golf, we went for a swim.  Our routine is to jump into the pool, which is now under the bubble, then the hot tub, and jump back into the pool.  Unfortunately, when I went to jump into the hot tub, I discovered that the heat was not on.  Fortunately the owner was standing right there, and fixed it.  Never again will I trust the word of others. 

After a quick dinner we joined two other couples for yet another version of "Joker".  Men 3; ladies 1.  There's always tomorrow.

On and Then Of the Road Again

After an eventful seven week trip home we are back in Texas for the remainder of the winter. As many know we had a tire blowout on the way to St. Louis which caused some damage to our fifth wheel. Then the black tank drain valve refused to operate and it needed replacement. After spending a very enjoyable Christmas with our families we began the process of repairing the trailer and getting new AMERICAN made tires installed. Two days before our planned getaway the gas portion of the refridgerator refused to work and unfortunately this required a trip to the dealer. Luckily they were so focused on the coming RV show that the mechanic had time to work on the rig that day. Finally everything and both of us were ready to hit the road.

The first day was long but mostly uneventful. We got to Canton, Ms. late in the day, ate dinner and hit the sack. Day two was very different. We headed out with cloudy skies and a forecast of 100% chance of storms. We stopped for fuel in Hammond,La and Diane notice a gasket that seals the main slide was sticking out about 4 feet. Since we were at a truck stop we had to immediately pull away from the pumps when done fueling; there was nowhere to stop and fix this gasket so we pulled onto the highway entry ramp (I-10). There was plenty of room to pull on the shoulder so I could get on the roof to fix the problem. While I was up on top Diane saw a large piece of metal (14" long) stuck to the fender that would have torn up one of the new tires had we pulled back on the highway and I noticed a full box of of insulating pipe wrap that had fallen off a truck. We picked up the pipe wrap (you never know when winter will return), hit the highway and felt that the RV gods were smiling on us. Not so!

As we drove along I-10 towards Lake Charles,La the storms hit. We were down to 40 mph and could barely see. This lasted until we got to our exit for the night. As we left the highway were heard a noise coming from behind so we pulled over on the shoulder to make sure all was ok. We found that two of the heavy plastic panels that protect the underside of our trailer were dragging the ground, as was all the insulation for the trailer. (Remember we had a tank valve replaced!) Since these panels cover the hydraulic lines, electrical wiring, and the holding tanks, it was important we saved them. After 30 minutes of life-threating work on the shoulder we got the panels inside the trailer and headed for the campground. The next three hours were spent determining why they came off and repairing the problem (after a trip to Lowes for insulation that we thought we could use--turns out we had to throw it all away also, as it wouldn't fit!).

Not great working conditions.

One of the panels had a few holes in it.

This was a strange group of campers around us because no one came outside to see what we were doing and offering unsolicited advice on how to do it better. Very unusual!

As a congratulations to ourselves on learning yet another RV repair skill we headed to the L'auberge Casino for buffet dinner. This was absolutely the best seafood buffet we had ever eaten. This was the first time we had seen king crab on a buffet. We truly got our moneys worth! The final stop of the evening was to try our hand in the casino. We actually won enough to pay for the buffet. Things were looking up.

Day three on the road was pretty anti-climactic after day two. We had to fix the slide gasket a couple more times but in parking lots, not on the side of the road. We finally reached Victoria,Tx about 3 pm. We spent the time until dark setting up and then headed to the office for Ice Cream Social Night. Nothing more relaxing than ice cream and card games, and the fact that we didn't have to get in the truck and drive the next day.

We will start trying to permantly fix the problems with our rolling home tomorrow or maybe just play a little golf or maybe just decompress for a few days.