On the Road to New Braunfels

We packed up this morning and headed north on US 281, planning to stay at the George West Truck Stop. We passed the border inspection station, where the officer with the drug dog asked where we were going. We said, "George West," and he waved us on. We stopped at the nice rest area in the median just south of Falfurias for lunch.

In the past, we have always stayed in Three Rivers, but the oilfield workers have taken all the sites at Tips Park. We also called a couple of parks in George West and found nothing available--so the truck stop was plan D or so. It turned out to be a non-starter.

The lot was unpaved, messy, pot-holed, and unlevel. We went over to the DQ across the street and had a coke and asked about staying in their lot. They said sure, but their lot turned out to be very unlevel too. We have leveling boards, but all of them together wouldn't have helped that situation. Besides, it was mid-day and 95 degrees with no shade in sight. We decided to head farther north.

At one of our stops to change drivers, we found a small picnic area where we enjoyed the wildflowers and watched the horses in a nearby field. Along our route today, we saw only a few bluebonnets, but lots of other varieties like the ones here.

We stopped at a Subway in the San Antonio area, just off I-410. After supper we drove past the nearby Walmart, but it had a sign prohibiting extended truck and RV parking. So we ended up at a very nice Walmart parking lot in New Braunfels. Along the side where we parked, we found a memorial saying that the Walmart associates honor the home-town veterans.

It has cooled off nicely, and we are cozy in our little home, listening to the birds chattering and chirping outside. Yup, even at 11:30 p.m., the birds in the Walmart parking lot are wakeful. Maybe it's the lighting?

While we were plotting our route today and looking for a place to spend the night, I noticed that Google Maps has a new feature: I was invited to start my Quest! WooHoo (and April Fools from the folks at Google).

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Time to Move On

Tomorrow is the end of March and the end of our stay in the Valley. We'll be moving on, heading north towards Austin. So most of the day today was spent getting ready to move. We did our laundry, got our bikes up on the rack, took up our patio mat and cleaned it, and all the normal preparations for a move. We've been here a while, so we had lots spread out to put away.

We did take a break to go soak in the spa and say goodbye to friends.

We are also working on going through things and clearing out. We managed to downsize our cable collection and weed out some old software and manuals. It's an ongoing project.
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Storm!

Tonight was our last square dance of the season, and we were dancing the final tip when a storm broke outside the building. We could hear rain pounding the roof and saw lightning stabbing the sky. Then a crash of thunder and the lights went out--and of course, so did the music and Darryl's mike.

Fortunately, the hall had some emergency lighting, so we weren't left totally in the dark. Everyone was watching the storm and waiting for a break before leaving--but no break came. The storm intensified, and National Weather Service reports indicated funnel clouds and hail in the area. We watched as the tall flagpole outside the clubhouse at Tropical Valley Acres crashed to the ground (missing our truck by about 8 feet). The atmosphere was tense, and people were worried about their friends and homes and pets.

After about an hour, the storm abated, and people began to leave. Finally we were the last ones in the hall, and we decided to head out too. The roads were beginning to flood, but fortunately the truck has high clearance, so we continued on. We saw some accidents and cars overwhelmed by the flood waters. Visibility was poor, and everyone was crawling along with four-ways flashing.

Finally we decided to pull off the expressway, and we found an overpass to shelter under, but the water there was deepening by the minute, so after a bit we headed out. I was reading National Weather Service recommendations to abandon mobile homes and take shelter immediately!

This is a photo of the access road taken from our truck window (no, it's not a river).

The trip home was truly frightening, but we made it safely and found our home intact. After we got inside, I realized that I was trembling. It was the worst storm we had ever experienced.
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Boxes

Today we made a start on collecting boxes for our move. You can't just go behind supermarkets and liquor stores and pick up boxes anymore. When we were tossing our trash in the dumpster, we noticed some pretty good looking boxes in there, so we decided to scoop them up. Actually what we did was pull one box out and then go back to our rig and load a step stool in the truck and drive over to the dumpster. Ken stood on the step stool so he could reach the boxes. Yay! We have some boxes. (It doesn't take much to make us happy.) Then we stopped by the office and talked to Frank about boxes. He very generously gave us two nice boxes--the kind with carry hand holes that are used for copy paper. They'll be great for hauling some of the heavier stuff.

This morning Gary Floyd called to give us an update on our truck. It turns out that when the dealership was bought out, he went to another dealer and was immediately hired, so he'll still be handling our truck delivery. We'll be able to pick it up in Junction City, so it will really be more convenient for us than going to Manhattan, KS, which is where the dealership we were originally working with was located. He'll call us back to let us know what he finds out about where our truck is now and when it will arrive in Junction City. He was reassuring that there was no problem and the truck will be there on time, but it will be very comforting when it actually arrives.

The other progress we made was booking one of the shore excursions we want to go on during our cruise. It's a tour of Butchart Gardens called "Enchanted Butchart Gardens Evening." It will be a quick visit, since we're only in port at Victoria from 6:00 p.m. to midnight.
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The People's Choice

Tonight was the final concert in the McAllen Town Band season. We arrived at 7:00 p.m. for the 7:30 p.m. concert, but as soon as we walked inside, we realized that we were too late. All the center section seats were filled already. We decided to try the balcony, and we were lucky to find two seats near the middle front. The man who let us pass to get to the seats said, "I saved them just for you." While we waited for the concert to begin, we chatted. He asked where we were from, and that led to a nice talk about their six years of full-timing. It turned out that they had fallen in love with the Valley, bought property, and had a house built, so they were no longer on the road.

The program was billed as "People's Choice." We enjoyed all the pieces, but some were really special. "Satchmo!" was a medley of familiar Louis Armstrong songs that worked really well in the arrangement for the band. "Trumpeter's Lullaby" by one of our favorite composers, Leroy Anderson, featured a guest performer, a local high school student who displayed real talent and received a standing ovation.

During the intermission, we stood up to stretch and walk around. We tried to spot some of our friends. It turned out they were on the main floor in the center--they must have got there earlier than we did.  Here they are smiling and waving up at us.

After the intermission, we especially enjoyed "In the Miller Mood." We decided that the balcony wasn't our favorite place to sit, but it was convenient to get out to the parking lot quickly after the performance.
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South Texas in the Civil War

The big news today is that our new coach was sent out for painting to Forest City, IA. CDI, the company that paints New Horizons coaches, also paints Winnebagos and is nationally known for its quality work. The round trip from Junction City to Forest City is over 900 miles, so New Horizons must really value the great paint jobs that CDI does. Our full body paint, including the graphics, will be protected by four coats of clear coat. Many of the decals on our Excel are faded and peeling, so we're very glad that we won't have decals to worry about.

Tomorrow we'll be three weeks, 21 days, from our arrival in Junction City, and it sounds like our new home will be ready for us to move into.

This afternoon we went to our last Monday afternoon C-1 workshop with Darryl. It's easy to tell that the season is winding down. We've had ten or eleven squares, but today we were down to five squares, and many of those dancers (including us) will be leaving soon. We said our goodbyes to some of our friends we won't be seeing until we come back in the fall.

After the dance we stopped by HEB and Office Max to see if we could find some boxes. At both places we were told that we'd have to come very early in the morning to get any boxes before they were broken down and bailed, and in the case of HEB, we'd have to call after 11:00 p.m. to talk with the night manager and make our request. Hmmm. We'd have to get up really early to get there, so we're hoping to find some other options.

Then we drove out to UTPA, where we were planning to meet Hardy and Judy and Steve and Jan for a talk on the Civil War.

Monday, March 26 from 7 – 9 p.m. Dr. Jerry Thompson from Texas A & M International in Laredo will speak on “South Texas in the American Civil War”. And as the perfect complement to this LTAI program, Alexander Mendoza, history lecturer at North Texas University will open the program at 6 p.m. talking about “Tejanos and the Civil War”. The presentations will be at the UTPA Library Auditorium.

Dr. Thompson is the author of over 20 books (most of which are held by UTPA Library). He is nationally known as a Civil War historian and a lively speaker not to be missed. He will be bringing some of his books which will be sold by the UTPA Bookstore.

And as a special photo opportunity LTAI participant Ruben Cordova and other Civil War re-actors will be at the programs in their Civil War uniforms!

Dr. Thompson is indeed a "lively speaker" and very gracious, engaging, and informative. He talks about events and people in the Civil War as though he had personal experience with them.

Afterwards we went to the DQ to hash over what we had learned. We talked about the closing of Angels, our favorite breakfast place, and what our options are for Sunday morning breakfasts in the fall.  We'll definitely miss the nice extended family and the comfortable atmosphere of Angel's--and the regularly filled bottomless coffee cups.

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More Sunshine (and Ants)

Today was another hot muggy day, and the breeze pretty much refused to blow. We decided to make our own breeze: instead of walking this morning, we biked for a while, enjoying the feeling of air moving across our bodies.

We saw a bunch of ants today, but fortunately they weren't in the house. A swarm of them were roiling around on the patio mat, so we moved the Terro ant bait right next to them. I think I distinctly saw one of them turn up its nose at this offering. They don't seem to be attracted to sweets. The nasty poison spray does seem to be discouraging them from taking up residence in the trash can anyhow. We haven't seen any inside for a couple of days.

When I was talking with Carol today, I said, "We'll see you a week from Thursday." That brings home how soon we'll be moving on from here. We're down to only 23 days until we arrive in Junction City.
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German Dinner

Our gang has been talking for a month about having a German themed get-together. Tonight we all gathered at Jean's place to enjoy beer soaked brats and other such German delicacies. We also got to tell tales and laugh a lot. That's the best part.

It's been a while since we saw Hardy and Judy. They've been off in Gun Barrel City packing up his mom and dad for their move to Kentucky to live with his sister. So we spent some time catching up with their experiences. Jean's daughter, Connie, and her two grandchildren, Brooke and Brandt, arrived yesterday for a visit, and they had already been to Progresso today. They ate at the Red Snapper, and the kids did a lot of shopping. They have plans to go bay fishing on Monday (and Steve will join them, of course--can't keep a good fisherman down!).

Sandy brought along some creative things to share. Steve wants to learn how to do the beading that Sandy has been doing. She gave him a demo and started him on his way. He wants something to keep busy during the slack times while he and Jan are workkamping this summer. They did run into one snag: they couldn't get the tiny needle threaded. Hardy came to the rescue. He's nearsighted, which gives him an edge at close work. Sandy shined a flashlight on the needle and thread to make the job easier.

Sandy also brought some very colorful and fancy "yarn"--called "trellis yarn." She had several different colors and was teaching folks how to make necklaces using a simple chain stitch. I say "simple" because everyone else seemed to find it easy to do, but I seemed to be all thumbs. Sandy very graciously made a lovely necklace for me.

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Happy 40th Birthday, Jeff!

Well, today Ken became the father of a forty-year-old. Ouch! Sure brings home how old we are (my youngest is 44, so I know what it's like!). Jeff is celebrating with Tiffinie today, and they're looking forward to our visit in May. In August the Air Force is sending him to Korea for a one year unaccompanied tour of duty. He's not looking forward to being separated from Tiff for that long.

It is hot here in the Valley--91 degrees, sunny, humid, and no breeze today was enough to wilt me! We did most of our walking after dark. We are still enjoying the crystal clear dark skies, especially recently with a new moon. Venus, Jupiter, and Mars are shining brightly as we walk and wonder.

We didn't go to the trailer trash dance tonight, but we did peek in the windows to watch the dancers and listen to Ruthi sing. She is so talented. When we stopped by earlier today, the tablecloths were all adorned with quotes that could have come directly from Jeff Foxworthy (and probably did!).

"Decorations" for the trailer trash dance
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Blue Sky

Well, the world woke up to spring--only in the Rio Grande Valley, it's apparently moved right on to summer. Today we had a cloudless blue sky and a high in the upper 80s. That's just the kind of weather that goes with soaking in the hot tub and lazing in the sunshine by the pool.

We got an update on progress on our Majestic today: "Now with the walls, roof and slides all in, it is really taking shape. The kitchen island is in place as are all the frameworks for the various cabinets. Tile in the bathroom is done. Refrigerator is in the kitchen ready for placement." It is now 26 days and counting until we arrive in Junction City to finally see our new home.

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Last Dances

Our friend Rich has a programmable LED message badge, which he often wears to dances with apropos scrolling messages. Today he said he was displaying the saddest messages: "Bye Bye, Auf Wiedersehen, Au Revoir." We danced with Carol and him this afternoon at Jerry Story's C-1 workshop and again this evening at Joe Saltel's C-1 workshop. Jerry and Joe are doing a square dance cruise of the western Caribbean next week.

Since we'll be leaving the Valley on March 31, we won't see either of them again until Nationals in Spokane in June. They're both great callers and a lot of fun and most important of all, genuinely nice guys.

After Jerry's dance this afternoon, I went to M&H Beauty Shop for a haircut by Mary. She's the woman who cuts Pat Boink's hair. I wanted a very short cut like the one Pat wears, and I got one! It will be a while before I need to get my hair cut again.

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Outlets

We decided to go to the Rio Grande Valley Outlets in Mercedes today. We walked through lots of stores and checked things out, but in the end, the only thing we bought was a sling bag from Eddie Bauer for Ken. We were disappointed to find almost entirely clothing and shoe stores. I had hoped for kitchen and home and sporting goods stores. There was one kitchen store and one home store we had never heard of (Kirkland).

At Lowe's, we found some zip ties and some Terro Liquid Ant Bait. We're going to get those little suckers!

The clubhouse is being decorated for the Trailer Trash Dance this Friday. Now we know what the two toilets by our neighbor's site were really for. You can't read the titles of the paperbacks in the photo, but rest assured, they're definitely trashy novels!

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Off to the Movies

Our neighbors have some interesting site ornaments:

Ken asked the guy about them. He said that his wife had been bugging him about wanting two toilets, so he decided to be accommodating! Actually, two toilets would be nice, but we've never seen a fifth wheel with two. Some motorhomes do have a guest powder room in addition to the master bath. The longer New Horizons Majestics have a second vanity sink in the toilet room. That would be great too, but it would require buying a longer coach, and we're already well over our intended length limit!

We danced C-1 at Darryl's this afternoon, and our group of friends made plans to go to Movies 8 to see War Horse at 6:50 this evening. Since the dance ended at 4:00 p.m. and we had some shopping to do, we decided it would be best to stay in town and stop at Subway before the film. Our timing was perfect: we arrived at the theater just after 6:30 p.m. and met Bob and Pat and Steve and Jan. On Mondays, groups of three or more pay only 75 cents each to see a movie at the two discount theaters.

The whole group enjoyed the movie. Ken was very impressed with the cinematography (and so were the rest of us). We all laughed heartily at the comic relief bits. Despite the movie's implausible plot contrivances, cliches, and predictability, I found it very emotionally engaging for the most part. We definitely got our money's worth!
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Taxes

We had a lazy day today. About all we accomplished was getting our 2011 federal income taxes ready to mail. We owed a very small amount, so no real motivation to file early this year.

This afternoon we played a couple of games of pool. As usual, we were glad not to have an audience when we showed our lack of skill. I won both games on technicalities. The first one I was about to win anyhow--but the second game was Ken's all the way until the cue ball fell on his last shot. We just don't play often enough to develop our skills, so we're pretty spotty players. Maybe we'll try again later in the week.

We started to watch Little Dorrit on Masterpiece Theater. We have several episodes TIVO'ed. It aired on PBS originally in 2009, and we recorded it then but never got around to watching it. This time maybe we'll follow through.
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Going to Don-Wes

It's a bit of a ritual for us to go to the big Don-Wes flea market at least once during our stays in the Valley. We haven't made it since March of 2010, so we decided it was time. We met Steve and Jan at the entrance and proceeded to walk through the rows and rows of stalls and check out the vendors in the large building. It was fun to chat with our friends.

The sheer amount of stuff is overwhelming! Much of it is the sort of things you might find at a leftover garage sale, when the stuff has been sitting in the barn for a few years. Some is cheap gadgets like dollar store items. But you can certainly find some bargains and things you didn't even know you needed. Our total haul was 1) 11 black zip ties, 2) 2 large clamps, 3) 3 red rubber coated hooks, and 4) a Camco super wheel chock, plus some produce. Steve found some faucet aerators he was looking for. He had hoped to get some decals, but didn't like the ones he saw.

Jan looked at the Talavery pottery. She has several pieces and plans to buy more to add to the landscaping of their lot in Green Gate Grove. After tramping through lots of stuff, we all took a break to sit down and have a cold drink. We're glad we went, but we sure don't need to go again very soon.

It's one month--31 days and counting until we are due to arrive in Junction City to pick up our new truck and coach. It's really taking shape.
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Combining Business and Pleasure

We have been planning to have our teeth cleaned in Mexico this month, before leaving the Rio Grande Valley, whenever we went to Progreso with our friends, and today turned out to be the day. We made appointments with the Bucardo Clinic, which G.W. and David use and recommend. We made our appointments at 11:00 a.m. because we planned to meet our group at Jessica's around 1:00 p.m. We got to the clinic at 10:30 a.m. and filled out the paperwork.

Then we waited . . . and waited. Around 11:30 a.m., I was taken back to a chair, leaving Ken in the waiting room. Dr. Castellan did my cleaning. His assistant was unsure what I meant when I asked for a bite block, but we finally communicated. (A bite block holds the jaws open, preventing strain on the temporomandibular joint or TMJ.) Dr. Castellan used an ultrasonic scaler, followed by some manual scaling. All in all, my cleaning took almost an hour, and I thought it was very thorough.

Ken didn't get called until 12:45 p.m., and he had a different dentist. He was less pleased than I was by the cleaning. When he got out around 1:30 p.m., we were obviously late in meeting our friends.  We hurried over to Jessica's, which is nearby, and pulled up some chairs.

The occasion we were celebrating today was David's birthday, and there was quite a crowd, including some folks we don't know. George and Zeta joined us for the first time, and we sat by them, so we got to chat a bit. Zeta is from Eugene, Oregon. She has breast cancer and is not doing too great, but she was laughing and enjoying herself. George has just bought a place in Mission, so they have been able to come to our Sunday morning breakfasts.

Drinks and snacks at Jessica's

Fred, Zeta, Lee, Bob, Pat, Steve, Jan, Jean, Kurt, and more.

The birthday boy at the Red Snapper.

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Another Nice Day, More Dancing

This morning it was foggy and overcast, but as the day went on it cleared up and turned into a beautiful sunny day. We got a new neighbor: a motorhome with Canadian plates moved in next door. We haven't met its owners yet.

We did our laundry and walked and ordered a couple of things. First was a replacement coffee maker from Amazon. The second was a Truxedo Deuce tonneau cover for our new truck. We're having it shipped to New Horizons so we won't have to worry about how to transport it.

We went to Darryl's dance tonight. We still had nine squares, even though some people went to a band concert tonight. We have only four more Darryl dances before we leave our winter home and head north.ht
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Happy Pi Day!

March 14 each year is celebrated as "Pi Day"--since 3/14 reminds us of 3.14, the first digits of the famous Pi (the ratio of the circumference of a circle and its diameter). Only real geeks would care.

Although we had lots of clouds in the sky, the sun was out most of the day today. It was quite warm again, but we had some nice breezes. We walked around El Valle del Sol for a while before Jerry's dance. It's an older park, so the plants have had plenty of time to grow. We were especially impressed by the huge cacti, some as large as trees. They seem to be just on the verge of blooming.

We had six squares at Jerry's, but only three at Joe's tonight. The reason was that lots of dancers went to the Cirque du Soleil performance of Dralion tonight.

Next week will be the last week for our Wednesday dances for this season. Jerry and Joe have a Caribbean square dance cruise sailing from Galveston the last week of March. We'll head north the end of March, so our stay in the Valley is coming to an end shortly.
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Thank You Dinner

Definitely summer today, with a high near 90 and plenty of sunshine. Fortunately we also had some breezes to keep us cooled off when we walked around the park. This evening we stopped to talk with Dan and Laurie who were sitting in their lounge chairs with refreshing beverages and watching the birds flying in to the resaca for the night. They commented that they think the population is down this year. We watched several egrets glide in and a cormorant or two.

This evening was the annual owners' appreciation dinner, held at this time of year because many people are getting ready to leave the Valley and head north for the summer. It was catered by Furr's Restaurant again, and the food was delicious. There were four serving lines, and all 200 or so people were served in less than 20 minutes.

We got to visit with Bruce and Mary Sue and admire the decorating handiwork of some of our neighbors. Jack has been out this week at his picnic table next door, diligently cleaning some large round cactus "leaves." We've been curious about why he would be doing this. Tonight the mystery was solved: the cacti formed the bases of really cute table decorations, adorned with US and Canadian flags, Texas cowboy hats, and flowers, with "Thank You" balloons in the center. Read more!

Repairs and Dancing

This morning, we took Venture back to Mid Valley RV, where we had had it last December. On the way we ran into a major accident with downed power lines. The road was closed indefinitely, so we U-turned (fortunately the road was wide) and called to tell Mid-Valle we'd be late. When we arrived, they pulled Venture into a bay and started to work on it right away.

At first they didn't think we actually had much of a problem. The tech ran some water into the tank, but actually not enough to have much effect. When I poured a couple of bucketfuls of water in, the problem was much more apparent. The tech dismantled the valve and located the source of the problem. A piece of heavy rag-like material was jammed in the valve so solidly that he had difficulty removing it. It's hard to be sure, but I think it was probably something like a wet wipe. Of course, nothing like that should ever be put down an RV toilet, and it's a mystery how it got there.

A new valve was installed, and we were good to go. Phil actually wasn't going to charge us, but we said we needed to pay him something, and he decided to charge us only for 1/2 hour of labor, $50, and no charge for the parts. Now that's a really nice service manager! We drove out of Mid Valley and made it home in time to set back up and eat lunch before heading out to Darryl's 2:00 p.m. dance.

After the dance, we picked up my bike from Bike Masters. We'd been quoted $15, but the bill was $33 and some. I made a comment about the discrepancy. Further investigation led to their deleting some of the charges for parts because the repair guys said they hadn't replaced those parts and a reduction in the labor charge. Much better.
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Bad Day

Today started off okay. The clock sprung forward, but we slept blissfully unaware of its lurch. I made a crab and broccoli quiche for brunch, and we had a nice exercise walk. The weather was improving.

This evening we met friends at Cinemark Movies 6, and that's when things started going wrong. We saw Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. We enjoyed the television show in our youth, and Rotten Tomatoes said that the movie had nearly unanimous critical approval. Well, shortly after the feature started, with unbelievable feats (the hero shoots two enemies as he is falling off a building and survives a crash landing) and lots of slam bang action and loud sound effects. I guess we're just not the target demographic for this sort of film--long on spectacular stunts, loud, fast paced excitement, and star power, but short on character and plot.

After the movie we went to a nearby McDonald's to have a chance to visit with our friends. When the group broke up and we headed for the truck, that's when the day went down the tubes for me. My Droid was nowhere to be found. I remembered pulling it out to play Words With Friends during the trailers, so after checking the restaurant, we headed back to the theater to see if it had been turned in. It hadn't, and a search of the area we had sat in was fruitless (and also darned difficult since another movie was in progress and people were sitting in the seats around where I thought we had sat.

Of course calling the phone wasn't likely to help a lot, since I had complied with the request to "please silence your cell phone." Then I remembered that I have a nifty security app installed on my Droid. It's called Lookout, and it promises to locate your phone via GPS and to make it "scream." The problem was that I hadn't really learned how to use the app to do those things. We downloaded Lookout to Ken's phone, and I logged in. The app offered to add a new device (Ken's phone) to the account, and I agreed.

That was my first mistake. The "locate" function wasn't very precise (within 1700 plus meters), but it showed the phone a few blocks north of the freeway, and we were south of the freeway. Then the Android interface on Ken's Galaxy kept reverting to finding his device instead of mine--very frustrating! I sent a scream command to the phone, and when that didn't help, I sent a "lock" command. Actually the phone was already locked, because since I lost a PDA some time ago, I always keep my devices password protected.

Finally, I gave the woman at the theater our card, and she promised to call if the phone was turned in or found when they cleaned the auditorium. We headed home. On my laptop, I was able to select my phone, and I decided to sign up for the premium service so I could wipe the data. I sent a wipe command, but the software just kept trying to connect. Maybe by now the thief had turned the phone off.

Then I made my second and more serious error. I decided to activate Ken's old Droid on my phone number--not realizing that this move would make it impossible for me to ever wipe the data on my old phone, since it no longer had the phone number associated with my Lookout account. Drat and double drat!

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Coffee Maker Fails

When we got up this morning, our new Melitta coffee maker had just died. It was plugged in, but the display was dark, and it wouldn't brew coffee. Darn! I improvised by boiling water in the teapot and pouring it over the grounds, so we did have our morning coffee anyhow.

Then I looked up the warranty, only to find out that the purchaser is responsible for shipping the coffee maker back to Hamilton Beach and then for shipping the repaired/replaced item back. Even though we paid $70 for this appliance, it would hardly be worth our while to pay to ship it back--probably $40 anyhow, plus I just recently recycled the packaging (wouldn't you know?).

Meanwhile, I plugged the pot back in, just to see what would happen. Nothing. I forgot to unplug it, and after a bit I heard a strange buzzing noise. It was the coffee maker. The display was still not lit. I immediately unplugged it. After a bit I plugged it in again. Voila! The display came back, and it seems to be in working order again, but I'm afraid to trust it, so I'll only plug it in to make coffee.

Actually, that's what Hamilton Beach recommends in its safety information. Not ideal for a "programmable" coffee maker, but we'll see.

It was definitely chilly today, so we bundled up for our walks. We stopped to talk with Bruce about Terro ant bait, which he had recommended after reading our litany of woes about our ant invasion. He gave us an intriguing little item that contains Terro liquid ant killer, a "bait station" that draws the pests to ingest the poison, which is actually borax, and take it back to their colony. Bye bye ants! We'll try it out the next time we see any of the little buggers.

Then we stopped to talk with Rebecca and Will, who recently purchased a used New Horizons Summit model. We wanted to get some tips from them, and of course we were eager to see their rig. It's a 2006 model, but looks almost new. The previous owners traveled only in the summer, and of course New Horizons units are all well made of quality materials. We can't wait to see ours.

We got an update on progress from Marty yesterday. It's exciting to hear the blow-by-blow.

The guys have been really busy with your coach this week. Furnaces were going in today when I went out to look at it. One wall is up and the other side wall should be placed by the end of today. Shower is in and frames for cabinets in the bathroom. The roof will go on probably early next week and then the front end cap will be placed after that.

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Winter?

The seasons seem to change rapidly around here. Yesterday it was a hot sunny summer day and we were sitting by the pool. Today it's cold and windy and rainy, and everyone is cocooning.

Since we're interested in birds and enjoy watching the colorful species that frequent the Rio Grande Valley, and especially Bentsent Palm, some of our friends thought we would enjoy a DVD they had of a movie called "The Big Year." We watched it tonight while we drank our hot chocolate and congratulated ourselves on being warm and dry inside. Despite starring Steve Martin and Jack Black, it really isn't terribly funny, but it does have some sweet moments, and the bird sightings and outdoor scenes are appealing.

Today is my sister-in-law Kathy's 65th birthday. When I called tonight, she was celebrating with daughter Stephanie and granddaughter Aria. They were watching a movie too, but they were watching "The Help." Now that's a movie I'd really like to see. Jeff took his mom out for dinner on the town last night, to a restaurant where his best friend is the executive chef. Michelle and Steph got her beads for her toe bracelet. That was a new one for me: I've heard of ankle bracelets, but not toe bracelets. Read more!

No Bike

We planned to pick up my bike this afternoon before going on to Darryl's dance, but no luck. It won't be ready until tomorrow, and we're not going near the bike shop until Monday--so no bike until Monday. Darn it!

Steve and Jan were at the dance tonight. They're leaving early in the morning for Houston to visit friends there. We don't have anything planned for the weekend except the usual, but we're thinking of making a trip to Don Wes--the big flea market.

We've had an invasion of tiny ants. We sprayed around the outside of the rig last week, but they seem unfazed. Today we sprayed around the window frames and Ken smeared petroleum jelly around the likely entry points, like the electric cord and jacks.
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Bike Repair

We finally coordinated with Jerry at El Valle del Sol, who has a card posted on the bulletin board where we dance there offering bike repair services. We dropped my bike off before the dance this afternoon and went to Jerry Story's dance. After the dance, we went back to check on the bike. Jerry apologized that he wasn't able to fix it. He said that he does fine working on the older bikes that residents of the park bring to him, but that my bike was newer. He took the front shift apart, but wasn't able to fix it.

He suggested that we take it to Bike Masters, which is nearby, so that's what we did. We're supposed to pick it up tomorrow, before they close at 6:30 p.m. We'll be on our way to Darryl's dance at 7:00 p.m. around the corner. Here's hoping this works out okay.

We danced to Joe Saltel tonight. As usual we had plenty of challenges and lots of fun.  Marion and Velma were there--they are leaving the Valley in a couple of days. Judy and Jean and Sandy and I were talking about our plans for a German dinner. We've tentatively set March 24 as the date.
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Yard Sale

Our park had a yard sale today. Ken and I looked through everything--surely there was something we needed. I finally found a really small travel hair dryer, something I will enjoy using both when I travel and when (as happens occasionally) I take a shower in a campground shower house. That cost me a whole dollar. Then I found some Eucalyptus Spearmint Aromatherapy Body Lotion from Bath & Body Works (original price $13.00--my price, 50 cents: score!). I guess someone didn't care for the aroma.

We spent some more time today looking at possibilities for excursions on our Alaska cruise, but our internet connection was frustratingly slow and unreliable. We have some good ideas about Juneau and Victoria, so the remaining issues are what to do in Skagway and Ketchican.
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Nice Day

Today was a lovely sunny day. Our neighbor pulled out, a couple of other rigs pulled in--an ordinary day in an RV park.

We danced this afternoon to Darryl. Our friends were there, and we had ten squares--a good group. Jan still has laryngitis, but she's feeling pretty good.

It's been very nice walking in the evening to have a view of Jupiter and Venus in the west and Mars in the east. Most of the park is dark enough to allow a clear view of the sky.

We spent some more time looking for places to stay between Spokane and Seattle. We've located a BLM campground that looks good, but we can't find reservation info, so we'll call in the morning and see what we can find out.
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Poolside

It was warm enough this afternoon that we went and relaxed by the pool and read for a while. It was bright and sunny, but we stayed in the shade.

Our neighbor has an Open Range fifth wheel with a unique feature: sliding glass doors in the lounge area lead to a nice sized deck.

He invited us in for a tour today. It's definitely a luxury unit, with a double door residential fridge with ice and water in the door. The guy is a musician, and he has a piano in the living area, which he plays beautifully. He's leaving tomorrow, heading for Key West, where he's going to sing in a production of Forever Plaid. A fascinating person: his hometown is San Diego, he's a Vietnam war vet, and a pilot for Continental (retired).

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Fish Fry

When we got up this morning, a north wind was blowing and the air was chilly, but as the day went on, it warmed up. That worked out well for the annual fish fry that Steve and Jan put on for a bunch of friends. There were eleven of us: in addition to Jan and Steve, we had Hardy and Judy, John and Sandy, Bob and Pat, Jean, and of course us. Jean returned just today from a ski trip to Aspen. She brought the last four bottles of John Wayne Pudding with her.

The party was at Hardy and Judy's house, because the Spauldings' Texas room is torn apart for remodeling. It was very pleasant sitting and eating in Pottingers' screened in porch. Their house makes a great place for a party.

After dinner, several of us went for a walk around Green Gate Grove. Then back to the house for more time with friends and lots of laughs.
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Hot Day

Don't know what the official weather was today, but it was sure hot! Our outdoor thermometer read 94 degrees this afternoon. And did I mention it was humid?

We did our laundry this morning, so now we have all clean clothes again. You can tell we had an exciting day. One bright spot was the "ribbon cutting ceremony" for Sandy's Bar--a new gathering spot in the park. We toasted with tiny cups of warm champagne, and then headed back home to get in the air conditioning. The good news is that the air conditioner didn't freeze up.

We spent some time looking at travel planning. We're trying to figure out where to stay and what to do between Spokane and Seattle--with the complication that the Wednesday of that week is fourth of July.
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Moving Day Again

Today was our first moving day after staying three months at Bentsen Palm Village. We felt a bit like novices at this game--definitely out of practice--but everything went well. We did have one glitch: our super slide usually just barely clears the ceiling fan in the living area.

Today I was watching as I pulled the slide in, expecting to see the usual slight adjustment of the blades to accommodate the top of the slide. This time the blades did not move out of the way. Instead, the slide was bending one of the blades! I reversed the slide and went to check on the fan. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, except that the slide was definitely not clearing, so I reached up and moved one of the blades up over the top of the slide. After that, it went in without incident.

Ken says that he thinks we are having more problems with our black water tank valve not closing. We'll have to check that out tomorrow.

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