Tuesday, October 30, 2007

We Have Arrived at the Rio Grande Valley

We are located in the same Llano Grande park as last year but in a different location. This is space 462. As you can see its across th street from the west pool and laundry.

I have gone on my on as my DW is working full time. She was worried about my traveling and doing all the hookup and un hooking by myself. As you can see I got here.

I had no problems getting hooked up and the inside of the rv ready to travel. I did all the things I was told to do and it worked out fine. I am a good listener.

These pics are of the space. The rv is pointed north and this puts the west evening sun on the drivers side. The small orange tree/bush is for kitty to watch the birds. I brought along a bird feeder to attach to the window. I will put this up tomorrow as well finish the setup. The wifi here is much better than last year and I may not setup our Hughes net dish after all.

We have cable here. I will get the King Dome working so the receivers can get the DTV signal and stay on line. If thy are off line very long, DTV will deactivate them and this will require a call to get them reactivated.

I hope the wash policy is still the same so the rv and suv can be washed. Both are dirty. Thats all for now. It was a 10 hour trip, 6 hours on Monday and 4 hours on Tuesday. I will be here 4 months hopefully.


Mileage: 544Publish Post
Gas: $197.10
Temp: 82 with a forecast 58 tonight
GPS: 26*7.730', 97*56.568'

Monday, October 29, 2007

On My Way to the RGV

I left this morning about 9:10 am and made it to the Wal-Mart at Schertz, TX, 263 miles, and got gas. This is one of those that have the sign up, "No overnight Parking". The exit is 175 on I35 just north of San Antonio. I have grandkids there so I'll have to find a RV park on my way back next year. So it was on I went.

I'm currently at the rest stop near Pleasanton, TX on I37. I will spend the night here and go on down in the morning. I met a couple parked next to me and they are workcampers at LLano Grande. He said they will be doing pool maintance. They were there last year also. So, I'll look for "Bob" when we all get settled in. I have about 200 miles to go.


Mileage: 339.8 to the rest stop

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Its Getting Close to Going to The RGV

So far the weather long range forecast for the last day of the month is sunny. If this holds we will leave on the 31st and stay over one night about half way and arrive on the 1st. Its a 544 mile trip which is to far for me and this rv. Its nearly 9 hours by car but closer to 12 with the rv. We travel at 55-60 in lien of the 70 by car. We will make a fuel stop and spend the night before going on. With the Saturn Vue, we must stop at 7 hours and start the suv and let it run for 3 minutes to get oil back into the transfer case. If we don't do this, the warranty will be void to fix the tranny. plus I don't wont to drive that many hours.

I have gotten the software for the satellite dish to install it when we get there. Depending on where we park at Llano Grande, wifi may not be available. Last year wifi was not available on the east side. This is where I hope to park as its closer to the buildings where the happenings are. You will know where we are parked soon after I get the dish up and our GPS and physical location are known. This will be the last trip for the rv and us. When we get back to Fort Worth, we will put the rv up for sale in a consignment lot at Motor Home Specialists. This is the same place we originally bought the rv. Its been a good coach. We have had to make some repairs but nothing really out of line. The only thing possibly unusual is the emergency brake last year. Other than that, its been normal wear and tear. To make the coach a better sale vehicle, I will have new carpet installed. This will run about $1000-$1200. Everything works and the outside dings have been fixed.

Stay in touch for the latest happenings once we get there. Pics will be taken and hopefully we will have a good, trouble free trip down and back. See you later on the 2nd of November.

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Its Getting To Be Fall Weather

The leaves are falling, critters are looking for food for the winter and the nights are getting into the 50's. Time to go south for the winter. I will be leaving at the end of the month for the RGV again. My current plans are to go to Llano Grande again and hope for better weather than last year. See the blog for last winter's weather.

I will be going by myself as DW will be working. I will be coming back the 1st of March and finding a place to stay in the area. Hopefully it will be getting warmer by then too.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

The Latest Happenings Here




The pics of the tree trimming as it progressed the next day. The company brought in a truck with a basket to get to the dead limb. Once the truck was in place, it was fast work and the limb was gone. The problem with the limb was it was over the 5th wheel and could fall in the wind or just rot to the point of failure. The park would probably be responsible for the repairs. Removal was the better way out.

We both got over the flu, took two weeks. I got a sever sinus infection and had to take antibiotics for eight more days. Some where in there I got an eye infection from putting in and taking out the contact lenses. I went for my yearly checkup yesterday and have more Rx for the eye to get that fixed. That will last a couple of weeks.

I have had a continual problem of breathing and it has gotten worse. Now the little exertions of vacuuming or making the bed leaves me gasping for air. The doctor says we can try several things but an inhaler is the first line of treatment now. He listened to my lungs and said I was whizzing, like I had asthma. We will use this for a month and see how I an doing. If not better then its back to him for more tests at the Dallas clinic. It could be the lungs and it could also be the heart or both. My O2 level in my blood is 96-97% which is good. My blood tests are negative for any infection.

Shirley has been taking care of her mom and dad since we have been here. He has had some problems with blood pressure being high and low. He had a pacemaker installed and is doing better with new meds for the higher end of the pressure. It was a good thing we came back when we did. Her dad was unable to drive for a while and her mom not driving put the driving to DW. That came to a halt two weeks ago when she went to work.

The RV sits now and hardly goes. The front a/c motor shorted out and I got a new one from United RV here and put that in. Cost $151.50 for the motor and $6.00 for new screws. The old screw are plated phillips pan head and rusted in place. finally got them out and replaced them with s/s hex head screw. No more rust and rounded phillips head. I still have one more to replace on the back a/c cover. Once I get that one out, I'll get the model, serial numbers and motor info on the unit. Its not run as much as the front a/c as its a smaller unit. I now run it at night and the front during the day.

Tom Cat is roaming the house. He looks out the windows at night and thru the screen door during the day. He does get bored with nothing to do. He never learned to play as a young cat being a stray.

Thats the latest from here. Its cooling down to the mid 80's from the near 100 it has been. Nights are in the low-mid 60's. We moved DW to an apartment in Fort Worth and I'm here in Weatherford. Staying here thru the winter depends on the winter forecast. Gas down and back is cheaper than fixing frozen water lines and the inconvenience of it all. I would like to stay at the Martin area in Mission, its much cheaper. They also have a golf course too. You can read all about that from last winters notes.

I also removed the Iveys blog as it has been taken down. I hope Patti got the rig sold and has been able to move on with her life. We will miss her and her late husband. Best wishes to you Patti and the family.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Its Tree Triming Time


This is the happening of the day. The tree trimming company came by and is cutting out the dead limbs. This guy is tied to the tree and is cutting out the dead limb you can see.

Our neighbor has this long limb over the rear of his 5th and over his built storage unit. The tree guy hooked a rope around the limb and started to pull himself up. As he was starting up, the limb bent and begain to crack. He decided that this was not a good idea and stopped going up. How do you cut this limb down without damage to the 5th.

Here we have the company owner, our manager and the neighbor watching the action. I decided this was a good photo opportunity and grabbed the camera and joined in to see what was going to happen.

As it turned out nothing today. They will be back tomorrow with more equipment for the job.














So stay tuned to the update for more action.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

We're Better But Not Over It Yet

DW is over the flu, I'm in the second week of it. The first week its head and chest with fever. The second week its lower bowels with lower bowel pain from gas and more fever. Not any fun for sure. Couple that with taking care of parents and Shirley is meeting herself coming and going. Her dad can't drive till he gets a pacemaker which the urologists and cardiologists must decide which comes first. We will be here till all this is taken care of. As Shirley said, we have enough income to meet our needs while she takes care of them.

No news on a job. Which means no calls either. With all thats going on here, thats good news.
ON EDIT, a call came in late today for a job fair interview with the city of Fort Worth.

My dad has been moved back to assisted living. His medical needs were taken care of in the nursing home and he could be put back to a better home that he enjoys. He is in the same home he was in prior to the move. He appears to be happier and he has more freedom.

Travel and enjoy the sights. We miss being out there and doing the same.