After returning in early February as Winter Texans, we experienced 1 tornado, 2 large snows, 2 ice storms, and 2 historic floods, all at or near our home base. With our US Army Corps of Engineers Upper White River Basin lakes at historic levels and several business items to take care of in central Arkansas, we decided to escape to the Little Rock area for a short RV trip. We packed up DunnGone and headed toward Little Rock for an extended ‘week’ of wedding shower, memorial service in Lake Hamilton, and Kaden’s band concert in Benton. We decided to take the motor home and stay at Maumelle Park as our ‘base of operations’ for these activities. Kay drove the Expedition and traveled down Arkansas Hwy. 5 and Donald took the RV down via US Hwy. 65. After an arduous 3-1/2 hour trip in the rain, we pulled into the Corps’ Maumelle Park. Except for cable and sewer hook-ups, it exceeds any commercial campground we’ve ever seen. It overlooks the Arkansas River in West Little Rock, but is absent urban noises and distractions. We parked with the "big boys" in the "B" section. Setting up was a breeze, including the satellite with our homemade PVC base, though Little Rock has HD stations available over the air and easily received by our antenna. The park was fairly full, especially along the river side of Sections A and B. We stayed in B25 with a view of the river out our front window. The RV sites are very large, each one almost has its own ‘yard’. There were a lot of ‘fulltimers’ at the park – mostly class A’s. Donald set up the satellite and got it working but we used the antennae because we got HD local channels from Little Rock. Kay wanted a fire sometime during our stay, so we rummaged firepits of vacant sites for firewood, collecting enough for a couple of nights. We walked the immediate campground to get a lay of the land. Thursday night there were at least two parties near us. One was apparently a reunion of several women from the LR area who all came out to the RV site of one of the women. There was much visiting and some drinking too. Another group seemed to be a group of Lesbos with several travel trailers and tents who had come to celebrate one person’s birthday. Kay attempted to reheat some chicken parmesan and spaghetti, but the microwave would not work despite several attempts. She heated it on the stove top, we ate, and settled in for the evening.

Sunday, February 3, 2009 (DAY 38) Departing Marshall, TX, at 6:30 AM, we arrived home, in Norfork, at 2 PM, stopping to dump the tanks at Quarry Park. It was a good drive, with controlled access, 4-lane highway all the way to Batesville, AR. We averaged an amazing 11.7 MPG, driving a relatively constant 60 MPH. We found things in Norfork much like we left them, with some residual snow in shaded areas and on the side of the road. The house was warm, thanks to my dear friend, Wayne Bodenhamer, and exactly like we left it with Christmas stocking stuffers still on the bar. The cars and truck started fine, with no mice damage.

Our trip to the RGV was good, as we met new friends and saw a different way of retirement. One more item checked off the bucket list. God has truly blessed us! And now, Alaska awaits…

Saturday, February 2, 2008 (DAY 37) Departure day! I didn’t sleep well in anticipation of the trip home and had difficulty getting up; however, Kay was up about 6:45 AM and ready to go. After a quick shower, we brought the slides in, unhooked the electrical "umbilical" cord, removed the leveling blocks, and were ready to go at 7:30 AM. We stopped in Victoria for gasoline, food, and sodas, and averaged 9.8 MPG. We drove all the way to Marshall, TX, for our next and last stop of the day where we filled DunnGone with gasoline and ourselves with a Subway sandwich; DunnGone averaged 10 MPG from Victoria to Marshall. It sure is nice for Kay to have a bathroom on board. We boondocked at Wal-Mart for the evening. Tomorrow, we plan to be home in time for the Super Bowl.

Friday, February 1, 2008 (DAY 36) We’re leaving tomorrow, for sure! The Twin Lakes area received 7 inches of snow yesterday and last night, so we wanted to give it an extra day to melt before venturing up there. We will depart early tomorrow AM, and hope to arrive immediately prior to the Super Bowl game on Sunday. Having made that decision, we enjoyed our last day in the lower RGV by walking around the park, and playing a last game of shuffleboard. The weather was very nice, with clear skies and 70 degrees. After our walk and shuffleboard, we relaxed, then readied DunnGone for the trip home. I worked on an itinerary for our hopeful Alaska trip this summer, and after a quiet evening, we headed to bed.

Thursday, January 31, 2008 (DAY 35) This was our rescheduled departure day, BUT snow at home has delayed us for at least a day, and neither of us seemed to mind too much. Kay had previously purchased a ticket to the fashion show luncheon at the park, had given it away when we planned to depart today, but was able to obtain another. I continued reading about Alaska camping by Church and Church in preparation for our planned trip this summer. Larry and Vicky invited Lynnette, Kay, and me out for Italian food, and it may have been the best food of our trip to the RGV. Upon returning to the coach, we watched television before turning in for the evening. A cool front had moved through during the day, so it was going to be great sleeping!

Wednesday, January 30, 2008 (DAY 34) The leak continues. This time it occurred while Kay was washing dishes, but I could not find any wet connection. This is really puzzling. Oh well, it didn’t leak all day, so we’ll see. This morning, over coffee, we took a picture of the 8:00 AM Pine to Palm bicycle ride through the neighborhood. We turned the rental car in in early afternoon, and will sure miss it. We liked it so well, in fact, we’re going to try to sell the truck and buy one. After turning in the car, we went to lunch at Pepe’s On The River with Larry, Vicky, Jerry, Doris, Wilbur and Diane. It’s a joint with pretty good food and great music and dancing. We arrived about 1:00 PM and had lunch, and at 2:00 PM when the music started, it got really crowded. In fact, T.G. Shepard is to appear there Saturday evening. Our friends insisted we dance before we leave, so we waited for a 2-step and danced one song. We returned to Pine to Palm Resort Park to ready DunnGone for the return trip home. It began misting, but I unhooked the water hoses, drained and flushed the tanks, and stowed the various hoses. In the meantime, Kay got online and noted the forecast for 1 to 3 inches of snow in northern Arkansas Thursday evening. She made an executive decision to stay at least one more day, which was the smart thing to do, since we don’t have any other commitments. This will put us in Saturday evening. If snow does occur, we may wait still another day. I’m having to really practice being flexible, but it’s kind of refreshing

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 (DAY 33) This was minor repair day for DunnGone. We were up fairly early, unhooked all the utilities, brought the slides in, and were ready to go a half hour ahead of time. We arrived at the RV repair shop at our appointed time, and the service manager was not there, and was going to be late. After a few minutes of my pacing back and forth, the lead mechanic began looking for the leak. After an hour, a cup of coffee, and a fast food breakfast, we finally left to look at other RV parks in the lower RGV. We found several we really liked, including Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort in Mission as our favorite, followed by Seven Oaks and Hidden Valley, both in Mission, and Llano Grande Lake Park Resort in Mercedes, though the latter 3 in no particular order. After our RV park searches, Kay visited the outlet mall, and bought a pair of really nice Crocs, regularly $49.95, for $24.95. Then, after "wasting" much of the day, we returned to the RV, and to our surprise (yeah, right), no one was working on it. Kay picked up the laundry, we came back to Pine to Palm, Kay did laundry, and I watched the Pine to Palm park shuffleboard trials for the lower RGV Olympics. These guys were awesome. After laundry, we picked up the RV and sure enough, they couldn’t find the leak, nor fix it; no surprises here! As luck would have it, it took no time to drive back to Pine to Palm Resort Park and set DunnGone up again. After cooling off, literally, we danced our final time in the lower RGV at Victoria Palms with my cousin and her husband from Houston and another couple from Judsonia, AR. The band was great and the dancin’ was super as well. We had a wonderful time! Tomorrow, the rental car goes back and we prepare for our trip home. We both are now wishing we could spend some more time down here as temperatures in the high 80s are very appealing.

Monday, January 28, 2008 (DAY 32) It was another beautiful day in the lower RGV. Our nuisance leak under the kitchen sink still persists. Kay called both our Emergency Road Service and Jayco, and we found a Jayco dealer who does warranty repairs. He boasted that he hasn’t seen a leak yet that he couldn’t fix in a day, so we made an appointment for 9:00 AM tomorrow. We killed time most of the morning with Kay going grocery shopping while I took some pictures of Pine to Palm Resort Park, as promised (see photos). We have been a litle disappointed with the park bcause of some trashy trailers that have been converted into semi-permanent dwellings, and I use the term loosely, the lack of other RVs, and the restrooms which stay moist and dirty. The park is friendly and has a lot of activities, though. After lunch, we sat in the spa for a half hour, then sun-bathed for an hour or so—enough for me to get a little sunburned. Kay had discovered a pottery shop on the way to Mexico, so we shopped for pottery, silver, and other gifts for friends and kids back home. While shopping, we noted another similar store across the highway, so we went into that store and it was more upscale, and served frozen margaritas; they had beautiful hand-painted pottery, masks, figurines, jewelry, and clothes. We managed to make it out of there for under $50. Back at the park, we enjoyed our last pancake supper, then played a game of shuffleboard with Vicky and Larry. Then it was the President’s State of the Union Address, or bedtime. Guess what we chose?

Sunday, January 27, 2008 (DAY 31) This is the longest we’ve been away from home, RVing. Our last long-term endeavor was for 29 days in August 2007 to Wyoming and Montana. We’ve enjoyed our stay here in the RGV, but the weather has been a little damp and cool the last few days, and we’ve endured each other in a pretty confined space (DunnGone is only 29 feet long). Fortunately, Kay has a wonderful personality, and accepts my little quirks. We sang He Made a Change in church today with Jerry, Doris, and Vicky, and it sounded good. After lunch at Luby’s we settled in for the afternoon. I enjoyed a nap, and then worked again to find and fix the leak under the sink. If it doesn’t stop tomorrow, DunnGone will be headed to the shop! As the sun came out late in the afternoon, Kay wanted to play shuffleboard, so we managed two games. Kay has a great eye and could be a very good player with a little practice. It’s just about time for bed, and tomorrow we should have another full slate of activities. I’ll take pictures of Pine to Palms for posting.

Saturday, January 26, 2008 (DAY 30) Our lives have slowed so much, we may be going backwards! It was still cool and overcast in the lower Rio Grande Valley. Kay went to Nuevo Progresso, Mexico, to help with Kids’ Church at one of the churches Pine to Palms Fellowship Church sponsors; I remained behind and cleaned DunnGone. After dinner, Kay discovered a leak in the cabinet under the kitchen sink. Because there were no drips, we couldn’t pinpoint the area of the leak, but cleaned and dried the floor and side walls. After a bit, we noticed a small wet spot on the floor in the cabinet, and having had a similar problem in our travel trailer, I tightened up a connection under the sink, and that seemed to fix the problem. Later in the night (I couldn’t sleep), I heard the drip, drip again, and it was coming from the same place. Re-tightened the connection and will see if this is a permanent fix. That was pretty much it for an uneventful day.