Time seems to be flying by exponentially; of course, we’re doing lots and staying busy.
Early in this reporting period, we had a great visit with Harper, Jenny, and Brian.  Harper has matured so much in just a couple of months since Christmas 2015.  She is particularly fond of KK and they enjoyed each other’s company.  We all had lunch at Olive Garden (the soup and salad were okay for our diets), and because Harper was getting sleepy, we said goodbyes there.  We went to Costco to cash our “cash back” check for the year, filled up with gasoline, and began the drive home.  After only a couple of miles on I-40, we came to a complete standstill, and it took us over an hour to travel 4 miles; seems like a 5th wheel RV had overturned, essentially blocking two lanes of traffic at a major interstate intersection.  Consequently, it was dark before we arrived home, and we immediately went to bed—even before setting the clocks forward for daylight savings time.

The last twelve days have been filled with golf, medical appointments, club meetings, and social activities, leaving little time for television.  I’ve played golf four times, including this par 3 shown below with the flowering trees lining the green at Desoto Golf Club, and we had a combined lesson; added together, we’ve had five doctor’s visits; there have been Village Mac User’s Group and Audubon Society events, including a bird walk on one of HSV’s trails (shown in the photo below the golf course photo); and casino night, book club, a concert, and Animal Welfare League’s Girls’ Night Out.  Add in landscaping, fitness walks and exercise, and it makes for a full twelve days.

We finished unpacking Thursday morning, Kay cleaned the inside of the motorhome, and we de-winterized the hot tub and filled it with water to heat.  A trip to the Apple Store in Little Rock was in order to have the MacBook Pro repaired; seems like when the new hard drive was installed in November, they did not replace the bad cable. I was able to wait while it was repaired and arrived back home by mid-afternoon, leaving the rest of the day for golf at Coronado Golf Club.  The course was very wet, and many of the balls plugged (sunk in the ground) when they landed, but Kay and I had fun nevertheless.

A much needed haircut was on the calendar for early Friday morning, and it sure felt good to have a trim. Returning to the house, The slides were pulled in on the motorhome, the leveling jacks lifted,  and shore power disconnected; it was then taken to the storage facility for dumping and flushing the tanks, and stored until next use, officially ending our Winter Texan season.  We were invited to dinner at Mulligan’s with Charlie, Linda, Rick and Pat, Estrella Lake neighbors, and the all-you-can-eat catfish was very good.

Anxious to see the grandkids, a trip to Central Arkansas was made Saturday morning, and we enjoyed several hours playing with Ridge and Aker and visiting their mother. It’s amazing how much the grands mature in just a couple of months—Ridge’s vocabulary has increased significantly, and he’s so stinkin’ cute, and Aker is taking her first steps! We enjoyed a quiet afternoon resting and relaxing.

Church on Sunday was followed by golf with Jim and Fred at Coronado Golf Club. The course had dried considerably since Thursday, but it was still cart path only golf. I tired after 15 holes and we called it a day.   Kay and I sadly watched the last episode of Downton Abbey Sunday evening as it ended it’s six-year run as the most successful Masterpiece Theatre show in PBS history. It’s hard to believe we started watching it in 2010.

This is what we woke up to Monday morning—beautiful, but a portend of significant rain the next several days.  We’ve pretty much returned to normal back here in Hot Springs Village after our winter in Texas.  Kay is exercising on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and we both started the DASH diet to lose a few extra pounds put on over the past year. Additional deck furniture was ordered as well as a leather chest for the master bed room.  Next will be furnishing the “office”.  We met with a landscaper to get an estimate for installing a couple of additional beds and to freshen and replenish mulch in the existing beds.  The 2004 Ford Expedition, almost 12 years old now, got an oil and filter change, new windshield wipers, and new brakes—a rather costly endeavor but still cheaper than a single monthly car payment!  And, I have been working—more like piddlin’— in the garage shop area, packing things for storage in the crawl space, throwing things away, and generally tidying up the “work” bench.  And, I replaced a flat tube on the Winter Texas bicycle; two flats this year, one on the front and the other on the rear.
Wednesday evening Kay and neighbor Linda attended a lecture by a holocaust survivor.  She had an interesting story, much like that of Anne Franke, as she was hidden, passed from house to house, and “converted” to Catholicism to avoid being taken to the concentration camp.
Rain continued Thursday, negating any outdoor activities; Kay and Pam drove to Benton to shop for furniture and see a movie.  It rained Friday as well, though we spent a marathon day shopping in Hot Springs, buying a desk for the office via telephone based on Kay’s previous day shopping.

Kay and I seriously “simplified” packing for the winter in the Rio Grande Valley, e.g. no satellite antenna (aka Tailgater), no satellite receiver, no water softener, fewer outside chairs, etc.  In turn, that eased our set-up upon arriving in the Valley, and consequently allowed us to be less dependent on THINGS.  Another real positive is that in readying to depart the Valley, we had very little to do in terms of packing away outside items, and Kay quickly got things ready inside, particularly the kitchen and pantry, for traveling.  We were pretty much through packing by mid-morning, allowing time to say goodbyes in the afternoon.  Many of the folks at the resort have been coming for years; we have developed a tight knit community and it always takes a good day or more to bid farewell.  This year proved to be more difficult than most as we said goodbye to Al and Sharon who do not plan to return to South Texas.  We will miss our golf rounds together, our weekly bridge games, and happy hour, but hopefully we will see them again.  Having packed everything away, we dumped the tanks and disconnected the sewer hose, hooked up the Honda “toad”, and fastened the bicycles in their rack on back of the Honda; we were ready to travel.  Happy hour was full of goodbyes, good wishes, and a few tears.  Afterwards, we attended a steel drum concert by the Pan O’ Steel Steel Drum Band of McAllen, Texas, High School, and returned to Circle 3 palapa for more goodbyes, effectively ending one of our (certainly my) happiest winters.

Tuesday morning, we were up early and departed the resort by 7 AM.  Most of our neighbors were still asleep (we told them we were leaving at 8:30 AM), so we didn’t have to go through the emotional torture of saying goodbyes again with teary eyes—we’ll sure miss our Winter Texas friends until next season!  Our day’s travel took us north over 400 miles to Franklin, Texas, east of Killeen and Temple, where we spent a quiet evening and night.

Wednesday morning, we were on the road again just before 7 AM.  The almost 400 mile drive to Hot Springs was uneventful; in fact, the entire return trip to Hot Springs Village was uneventful which is just the way we like it—no motorhome problems, breakdowns, etc.  We squeezed into the driveway, with maybe a foot and a half to spare, hooked up shore power, leveled the coach, opened the slides, and began unpacking.  At the house, the internet had gone down requiring re-powering, and the thermostat had to be turned up for more heat; otherwise, all was well.