Gosh, we slept past 7 AM.

After coffee, reading news from home online, and eating breakfast, Kay washed and dried clothes.  We drove to the RV park where Bruce and Jeannie were staying, then through Rockport where we stopped and photographed some pelicans sunning themselves on a jetty.  We checked out a number of RV parks in the area for future reference, and saw small tree loaded with oranges on one of the yards along the street. We drove by Southern Oaks RV Park where Jim and Ginny were staying and were “caught” by Jim. We visited with them, and found that we really enjoyed their company. After whiling away the afternoon, we returned to the motorhome to read and relax, make a few phone calls, and generally do nothing.

After dinner we downloaded photographs and updated the journal.

NOTE 1: For Christmas I received a Kindle Fire. After a frustrating week of trying to connect to our home network I was ready to trash it, but finally succeeded after reading a forum entry and changing the security settings on our router. I find that I am using the Kindle Fire more and more, particularly for reading e-mails, online papers, and forums; consequently, the notebook computer is being used less and less.

NOTE 2: As you read in the journal a few days ago we now use Tailgater dish for receiving satellite television (as you may recall we spent the summer in Idaho without any television, and found it impossible to use DirecTV with our current equipment at the time). During our very brief stay at Redfish Bay RV Park, the Tailgater is a conversation piece and two different folks have stopped by to inquire about it’s ease-of-use, and the various programming options available. We very much like the Tailgater, and have given it a good a recommendation.

The first night in a new location is always a difficult one during which to get sufficient sleep, thus waking up at 4 AM. We didn’t have plans today, except to drive around the area, get our bearings, and decide on what we wanted to spend our time.  After coffee and breakfast I put Kay’s bicycle together for her enjoyment around the area—my work for the day! 

Some friends from our RV club back in Arkansas called and invited us to breakfast at a local Taqueria (they specialize in tacos), joining two other couples from the RV club. Bruce, Jeannie, Jim, and Ginny came by for a brief visit and to look at our new motor home. We have enjoyed meeting and knowing these folks through RV club activities. We followed them to the restaurant and had coffee (Weight Watchers, you know) while the others had breakfast. We made plans to meet again in the afternoon to attend a science lecture at one of the local museums.

Kay and I returned to the motorhome, dug out the hose, bucket, car wash, and brushes, and washed and dried the RV. Our drive yesterday from La Grange, Texas, to Aransas Pass was in a misting rain, and the RV was really dirty. We came in from the wash job only to find the refrigerator not working. Kay immediately tried calling Norcold, but got put on hold. She then called the RV dealership where we purchased the motorhome and they gave her the names of some Norcold service centers in the area.  The first one she called could not make a service call until Saturday, but she scheduled it anyway.  She then called another service center and they did not make service calls but would evaluate the problem if we brought the RV to their shop; this would be a major effort for us, however, we needed the refrigerator and were prepared to drive the RV to the shop. She then called Norcold again, and they told her that it was possibly a recall item, checked our serial number against the recall and said that the refrigerator had had the necessary parts exchanged prior to leaving the factory. They further told her that if indeed it was a warranty/recall problem, then the service center would have to call them and a part would be shipped to arrive in 8 to 10 days. I had read horror stories about Norcold, but had hoped to not ever experience any ourselves. The manager/owner of the RV park had given us a card of a repair technician, so as a last resort Kay called him, he said he thought he knew what was wrong, had the part, and was certified by Norcold to do warranty service. He also said that he didn’t know whether he could make the service call today but would come tomorrow if he couldn’t make it today. This sounded too good to be true.

Meanwhile, Bruce and Jeannie came by to drop off some oranges and during our visit, the repair technician dropped by, quickly looked at the refrigerator, went outside to look at the back of the refrigerator, asked us to turn the refrigerator off, and in a couple of minutes asked us to turn it back on, and it worked! He came in, with a bad module in his hand, got Kay’s signature and the serial number the refrigerator, and was gone in less than 15 minutes after arriving. He was not one for small talk, but did an excellent job of repairing the refrigerator.

After the stressful afternoon, we grilled pork chops and zucchini, baked sweet potatoes, had dinner, and took it easy the rest of the evening.

Colorado landing was a pleasant surprise, especially when we found out that La Grange Texas was home to the famed chicken ranch.

Today was to be our last day of travel for couple of weeks, as we were going to be staying in Aransas Pass, Texas, until February 1. Our drive today was approximately 160 miles, and we got an early start, bought gas just north of Rockport, Texas, and arrived at Redfish Bay RV Park in Aransas Pass, Texas, at 12:30 PM. The office was closed until 1:00 PM so we unhooked the Honda, and waited to check in.

Our site is on a concrete pad, level, with full hookups. After parking, putting the jacks down, and extracting the slides, we were ready to make this our home for the next two weeks. The temperature was slightly warm, so we turned our air conditioner on. Redfish Bay RV Park is a relatively small Park, but quite full. The Honda was covered with road dirt from being towed in a misting rain, so one of our priorities was to find a car wash. Being hungry and without some vital groceries, we drove towards a restaurant, stopping to wash the Honda on the way. The restaurant, Blackbeard’s, had wonderful fish tacos. It was then off to the nearest Walmart only to find their computer systems down—they were only taking cash. We shopped anyway, buying the much needed groceries and RV washing supplies.

During our absence our new friend from Henry’s Lake, Idaho, Jack, had dropped by and left his card. When we returned we call Jack to let him know we were “home" and he came a few minutes later for a visit. It was so good to see him. Jack has become an artist of sorts, weaving baskets out of pine straw, and they are extraordinary works of art. After his departure we settled in to make this our home for a couple of weeks.

Downloading photographs, I discovered one we took at the US Army Corps of Engineers campground, Maumelle Park, in Little Rock of a cute couple on the mobile scooters “walking” their dogs.

After a good night’s sleep, albeit a warm one, we awoke ready for the morning news and our first cup of coffee. Today was to be our longest driving day at 334 miles, but we were in no real rush to depart.

We ate one of our usual Weight Watcher breakfasts of hash browns, onions, green peppers, Canadian bacon, and egg substitute all scrambled together, sort of like an egg hash, complemented with toast and raspberry jam (a total of 9 Weight Watcher points). We washed and dried dishes and readied the motorhome for travel.

We decided to give one more shot to finding the Louisiana pelicans, so drove to the point where we saw them last night. There was a single pelican on the water that arose and began flying towards the south shore, and then we noticed many others flying single file in that same direction. After a couple of photographs we jumped back in the car and drove to the southern point in the campground and again saw even more pelicans flying single file in a southerly direction, and then noticed a huge group that had landed on the shore. Apparently they were all congregating there; it was the site to behold.
We returned to the motorhome, unplugged the power cord, withdrew the slides, and retracted the jacks. We drove to a straight stretch of road within the park, and hooked up the Honda for towing. We left the campground at about 9:30 AM, driving south on US Highway 59, then Texas Highway 43, then US Highway 79 for our nightly destination of La Grange, Texas.  Despite the roads only being two lanes, the shoulders were wide enough to pull over and allow vehicles to pass. Also, despite the fact that Texas has a significant petroleum industry and lots of heavy trucks, their highways are in remarkable shape compared to those we drove in Arkansas. Kay and I both are embarrassed at the state of our roads and highways, given the high degree of taxation we suffer. We made several stops along the way, and filled up with some $160+ of gas, our largest purchase of fuel so far. We battled a 20 to 25 miles per hour headwind the entire day, and our miles per gallon was only a meager 6.1.  We’ve now driven the motorhome a total of about 1200 miles since purchasing it new, and except for yesterday’s 140 miles, have faced headwinds in excess of 15 mph the entire time.

We arrived at Colorado RV and mobile home Park in La Grange Texas, at 4:30 PM. Kay registered us while I unhooked the Honda.  We were assigned a nice site right by the Colorado River, quickly set up, and walked along the river, amazed at the number of large cottonwood trees along the bank, and also the clarity of the river. Some of  you may have heard of La Grange, Texas.  ZZ Top sang a song about La Grange in a 1973 release, and more famous than that was Mrs. Edna’s Chicken Ranch, made famous in the stage play, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and a movie by a similar title.  I digress.  After several photographs, we drove to Schulenberg, Texas, for some authentic German food. This well-known restaurant had a good buffet, but lacked the typical German food we expected. However, we did have excellent sausages, sauerkraut, and fresh made salsa.

With Wi-Fi for the first time in five nights, we spent the rest of the evening reading and sending e-mails, downloading photographs, and updating this travel blog.

By the way, we now have our air conditioner on! Is this a great world or what?

I awoke this morning again to very cold temperatures—in fact it was 25° again. Hopefully, today will be the last day we suffer through the cold of this winter of 2011-2012.  Having slept a bit later than usual this morning, I rushed out the door about 7:30 AM for the drive to Maumelle to see Kay and Ridge, picking up our breakfast of Egg McMuffins on the way.  Kay was awake but Ridge was still asleep when I arrived, so we ate our breakfast and read the Sunday newspaper.  And then Ridge awoke, badly needing a diaper change, but was in a playful mood.  He drank one and a half bottles and then lay on the floor enjoying his toys. Karyn called saying they were departing Hot Springs at what we thought was 10 AM so we continued playing with Ridge and finished reading the newspaper. Shortly after 10 AM Karen and Matt arrived, glad to be home and to see their little one.  Obviously, we didn’t fully understand the phone call!  Kay and I left their house, drove to Maumelle Park Campground, and prepared the RV for a short travel day.

We left the Little Rock area at 11:30 AM driving south towards Rocky Point Campground at Wright Patman Lake near Texarkana, Texas. On the drive down we saw two different over-the-road truck drivers reading paperback books and driving at the same time.  And, one was also smoking a cigarette; it appears one has to be multifunctional to drive a truck—kind of scary isn’t it?  We arrived at the campground about 3:00 PM, was assigned our site, and quickly unhooked the car and set up the motorhome. Both of us were hungry and so we ate leftovers we had in the refrigerator. Being further south the temperature had moderated some what, and it was a nice day for walking.  Kay and I walked the campground, occupied with a surprisingly large number of campers.  We had forgotten that tomorrow, Monday, was a Federal holiday, i.e. Martin Luther King Day.  At a point jutting out into the lake, we saw a number of gulls and Louisiana pelicans on the water, but neither of us had brought a camera.  We completed our afternoon walk, with Kay checking out the toilet and shower facilities (they were warm and clean), and we noticed that each toilet/shower building had a dryer (the washers had been removed for the winter season)—another first for us.  But not to fail, we also saw one camper who had pulled an open flatbed trailer, installed a canopy, and had hooked up a washer that he had put on the trailer.  In combination with the book-reading truck drivers, I suppose we have just about seen everything.

We walked back to the motorhome where Kay picked up her shower accessories and I grabbed a camera with a telephoto lens. We drove to the shower house where I dropped Kay off and then I drove to the point where we had observed the pelicans earlier; they had flown away to a small bay on another arm of the lake, but was able to get a couple of nice sunset photos.

After returning to the motorhome, we quickly read e-mail, I watched part of a football game, and Kay finished drying and rolling her hair. By then it was time for the Golden Globes awards, so we watched all the Hollywood types patting each other on the back and saying and doing the things that Hollywood types do (I had to edit out what I wrote because of Kay’s raised eyebrow and imperative that I keep politics out of this blog—drats).  Time to go to bed!

No, it’s not what it seems.  This is Kay’s big baby-sitting weekend while new mom and dad take a day and night off to go to the horse races in Hot Springs.  And, according to US Army Corps of Engineers rules, RVs in their campgrounds have to be occupied, so I’m staying in the RV. 

We had another cold night, though just barely below freezing.  Heating the new motorhome with propane (the heat pumps don’t work below freezing) is proving costly (well, not really, though the amount of propane has dropped considerably).  It’s still better than repairing/replacing busted water lines, valves, and pumps.

Breakfast this morning was on McDonald’s; their Egg McMuffin is within our Weight Watchers diet at only 8 points each.  We arrived at Karyn and Matt’s about 9 AM, and played with Ridge and caught up on newspapers, email, and internet while they prepared for their big day and night on the town.  After noon, Ridge went to sleep for his first afternoon nap, so I left Kay to fend for herself with Ridge, though I’m only a call away.  Back at the motorhome, I took my first afternoon nap as well—there’s nothing quite like a nice nap—and got warm for the first time in several days.  Afterwards, I walked, washed dishes, and cleaned windows; it’s always something.  Meanwhile, Kay fed Ridge, changed diapers, and repeated this cycle several times.  Just thinking about it, Ridge eats, sleeps, poops, then eats, sleeps, and poops, and repeats this process over and over again.  By golly, I think he’s got being retired down pat!

Last night was cold, and early this morning low temperatures sank to 25 degrees.  Even though the motorhome is equipped with both heat pumps and gas heat, some of which is ducted to the “basement” where the water tanks, pumps, and some pipes are located, we were concerned about water lines freezing and other cold weather hazards related to RVing in the winter.  Consequently, I didn’t sleep well, and kept checking the temperature in the compartment most of the plumbing is located (we put a temperature sensor in one of the compartments to monitor the low temperatures).  A quick look at the thermometer each time I awoke was the order of the night.  A check at 4 AM indicated a compartment temperature of 38 degrees, the lowest of the night, so we successfully made it through coldest night of our RVing lives. 

Wide awake, we watched national and local news, had a cup of coffee, and took a short nap before re-awakening at 6:30 AM.  We saw a beautiful sunrise outside our bedroom window at about 7:30 AM, and we were able to photograph it with Kay’s IPhone.

After breakfast, we departed the RV park for “big city” shopping at Sam’s Club and Walmart to pick up a few things not available at home.  This proved to be one of the high points of the day (hey, it’s all relative).

Kay enjoyed afternoon shopping with Karyn, her daughter, and I continued accessorizing the DISH Network satellite receiver by hooking up an external hard drive to it via the USB port; it worked great.  Kay returned to the campground early as her expected dinner with old girlfriends fell through due to some scheduling conflicts.

We spent the remainder of the evening watching television.  As you saw by our shopping trip to Sam’s Club and Walmart, it doesn’t take much to entertain us.

After a good night’s sleep, I awoke to bitter cold with accompanying winds up to 40 miles per hour.  Because of the cold temperatures, the heat pumps in the motorhome ran almost all night trying to keep the coach warm.  While Kay slept, I slipped into the main living area, made a cup of strong coffee, and enjoyed local Little Rock news.  I’ve been away so long that most of the stories lacked familiarity, particularly since we watch Springfield, Missouri, television stations at home.

After reading email on our phones, we had a “modified” country breakfast of hash browns, onions, peppers, chicken sausage, and egg substitute, served in a warm tortilla.  We walked a short while, but turned back because of the cold and wind.  A mid-morning, we drove to a home store to exchange a Christmas gift, looked for a bike carrier at a bike shop, and met Kay’s son, Ron, for lunch at Homer’s near the airport.  Homer’s is a longtime favorite in the Little Rock area and is known for serving home-style meats and veggies.  After lunch, we drove to Camping World, but didn’t find anything we couldn’t live without, an by then we were tired of our day on the town and returned to the campground.

I decided to install our new satellite dish and receiver.  It’s called a Tailgater, and in combination with a companion receiver, is supposed to provide Dish Network satellite television  After connecting the RG-6 cable to the portable satellite dish (it’s the little white cube near the electrical post) and the motorhome, I plugged in the receiver and it began the setup process.  I phoned Dish and got a very helpful young man in Mexico to authorize the account and assist in setup.  We were surprised to receive HD at no extra cost, are able to plug in an external hard drive to record programs at no extra charge and are receiving our local, i.e. Springfield, Missouri, television stations and Arkansas PBS, again at no extra cost (actually the PBS station is less than $3 month).  Our service is pay-as-you-go service and we receive satellite television as long as we pay.

The remainder of the afternoon saw us reading email, and trying to keep warm.

Kay visited her daughter, grandson, and son-in-law again tonight, but I stayed home due to a bit of a stomach virus.

We’re hoping the low temperatures tonight (about 20 degrees) doesn’t freeze any of our pipes or water connections! 

We’re off to the Rio Grande Valley in Texas again after a 2-year absence.  We missed going in the winter of 2009-2010 due to 4+1, the Southern gospel quartet in which I sing, making it’s first CD, and we didn’t go in 2010-2011 due to my prostate cancer surgery and recovery.  During the stay-at-home process, Kay said we were not going to spend another winter in the cold weather!

We’ve spent the last couple of weeks getting ready for this trip, basically starting from scratch in packing our new motorhome.  We picked it up in early November in northern Iowa, but didn’t take the time to pack it or do a shakedown trip once we arrived home.  Our lengthy packing process resulted in us bringing way too much stuff, but we’ll use the next several weeks to sort through things.

I digress.  We departed home about 10 AM today, driving south to Mountain View, then across the mountains to Shirley, then south again to Little Rock.  This is the first of several legs of our trip to the Valley.  We’ve taken this route several times, but the roads were worse this time than either of us could remember.  Heavy trucks from the oil and gas exploration industry have rutted the pavement, and lack of repair has resulted in many holes and peeling of pavement.

We finally arrived at Maumelle Park, a US Army Corps of Engineers facility in west Little Rock, just before 2 PM with sunshine and moderate temperatures.  We got a campsite adjacent to the Arkansas River, and were surprised to find most of the riverside sites either occupied or reserved.  It didn’t take long to set up, and it was warm enough to open a couple of windows.  A couple of Kay’s longtime friends visited in the late afternoon, and after dinner, we drove across the river to visit Kay’s daughter, new grandson, and son-in-law.  Babies change very rapidly, and Ridge seemed to have grown a bunch in the two weeks since we had last seen him.  His body has elongated, and is becoming more proportional, though he’s still a big “little man”.  He entertained us for a couple of hours, after which we drove back to the campground in high winds and cooling temperatures, eager to crawl under the covers for a good night’s sleep.

This morning is overcast, with lots of wind.  We hooked up the Honda and began the final leg of the trip home.  Once again, we faced a strong headwind, and Saturday morning traffic in Kansas City was heavy.  We stopped in Peculiar, Missouri, for gasoline, and found that our first tank yielded 6.25 miles per gallon.  We rationalized this by considering the headwind all day yesterday to be the primary contributing factor.  We stopped again some 40+ miles north of Springfield, MO, for a bathroom break and weighed the motorhome; Kay has 3,000 pounds of remaining storage, for clothes!

We stopped one last time in Gainesville, Missouri, to fill up with gasoline for winter storage; averaging 6.15 miles per gallon for this tank, but again, headwinds were even stronger than yesterday.  We arrived at Quarry Park near home about 5 PM, and parked to complete the initial shakedown before winterizing.  It was good to be near home.