Getting ready to roll westward

Well, we're starting to find a rhythm in our new life. 

We'll we heading to Hondo TX tomorrow so today was spent getting things ready.


I did up all the laundry and Left Brain put away the larger outside carpet, washed the car and picked up the mail.

another shot of our friends BIG rig

After doing the dusting, bathroom cleaning and vacuuming we are enjoying a lazy day reading and enjoying the use of the internet. 

We've had a crappy connection until yesterday so we'd like to thank who ever it was that has a good connection that we were able to tap into with our Wi-Fi Ranger.  It's been so good to be able to check email, play on Facebook and not to have wait and wait and wait.  We will never take the internet for granted anymore, it's precious and we love having it...even if it's not at the speed of light.

Tonight will be left overs for supper and showers to prepare for tomorrow's drive.

Yesterday I picked up some red thingees to put on the seat belts for emergencies.  Before we left Wisconsin we both had CD's of our medical records made.  I'm hoping I can open these to copy to a small flash drive.  If so, then we'll put one in the car and one in the motorhome.  It has a little pocket inside to place emergency information such as allergies and how to contact.

I had learned about them in our Boot Camp but haven't found them until recently.  This way in an emergency the EMT's know where to look for the data to help us.  Hopefully it will never be needed, but since we are going to be all over the place it just seemed like a good precaution to me.

I played with some photos I'd taken the other day.  Thankfully Left Brain never questions my odd subjects.  Like this lovely blue cracked texture to be used for overlays on future photos.  This was from a handcapped parking spot.

This lovely yellow is the line painted on the asphalt to mark the parking spots.  I have so many great ideas for how to use these guys!

Long Live the Queen of Odd Photos

Water world in an RV

There are so many things different about this new life.  In the Big House I would just turn on the water faucet.  I never gave any thought as to where it came from or where it went.  I had an inkling...but didn't give it too much thought.  

Here's how it shakes down in the RV world.

Water choices come in two ways.  You can hook up your hose to the water spigot in the RV park or campground or use the community water source to fill your tanks if you aren't fortunate enough to have water on site.  Each way has it's own considerations.

Hooking up at the source is our preferred method as you have a constant water source.  Since we never know what the quality of the water is or how clean the connection is, this takes extra consideration.  Having seen dogs (and possibly other small animals) drinking from a dripping connection, as well as people (and I use the term loosely for these idiots) who will wash their sewer hoses at the connection, we find it is a good idea to sanitize the faucet at the connection before attaching our water hoses.

Next comes the pressure regulator to protect your hoses and RV from weird water pressures since we are always in a different spot.  This restricts the water flow to prevent damage as well as to conserve water.  You can add a water filter also to assure cleaner water.  Our RV has this built in and we only need to clean or replace the cartridge.

We then attach our drinking water hoses (not just garden hoses) to the connection.  These hoses are always stored connected in our outside bays to keep both ends clean.  One end gets hooked to the outside faucet and one end gets hooked to our RV.  The remaining hose is coiled and stored under the RV to prevent damage from UV rays.

If this kind of connection is not possible then we must fill the water holding tanks.  You never want to do this before travel as it adds extra weight is is hard on the tires as well as decreasing gas mileage.  But you want to carry "just enough" water to be able to turn on the water pumps for flushing the toilets and washing hands.  If we are going to do any amount of dry camping (or boondocking) we will use paper plates to eliminate as much need for dish washing.  Not just because we're lazy (although that is a fair assessment), but to conserve water.

Then there is the matter of where the water goes.  We have two storage tanks - one for grey water and one for black water.  The grey water comes from the kitchen and bathroom sink as well as the shower.  The black water comes from...well, the toilet.  Use your imagination.  No wait!  On second thought don't!  It's just too disgusting to think about.

Being careful with water usage is really important when you don't have hook ups.  So the showers have a cut off valve at the shower head.  You get wet, shut off the water...shampoo or lather up (depending on if you have hair), turn on the water again to rinse, etc.

When boondocking it is common to use a dishpan for washing dishes so this can then be used to flush the toilet or thrown on any thirsty looking plants you might see.  Needless to say we never let the tap run while brushing our teeth or washing our hands.  But then we didn't do that before either. You can even install a straw like device that only allows water out when you push up on it, but we prefer to just turn it off and on.

When the tanks are full you need to drain them into a sewer facility.  Sometimes you will have this at your site (for an extra fee, of course) and we really like this.  Then we just watch the levels on the tank monitors and when both the grey and black water levels are getting high, you pull the lever first for the black water and then the grey water to help flush out the hoses.  The following video is NOT us and I hope is entertaining.  Due to a slower connection I was not able to get it run all the way through so I hope it's nothing overly offensive or with bad language. 

If you are not at a full hook up site you do this as you exit the campground and need to stop to hook up the sewer hoses first and then clean them afterwards.  Most dump sites will have a hose with non-potable water for cleaning up.  It's always a good idea to place a rock or your foot over the end of the hose going into the dump station to keep it from coming lose and spewing all over your shoes and clothes.  Not nice.  

For the best view of this, rent RV with Robin Williams because you're sure not going to find a You Tube video of the Queen and Left Brain reenacting this for you.  I'll do a lot for my readers, but I do have my limits.

Long Live the Aqua Queen

I've been a Texan for a week now

 

Things just keep falling into place each week.  We just took care of our last time sensitive issue of arranging for our absentee ballots.  It is required that they be sent to us at an address outside of our county.  Then we will receive them and return them to Polk County for voting.  We haven’t received our voter registration cards yet, so are hoping they come in time.

Yesterday I joined the line dance group for a while and then Left Brain and I went on a tour of the Escapee Park and learned more of the history. The highlight of the tour was going through the mailroom.  Unfortunately photography was banned so I can’t show you any it’s features, but it is HUGE.  The sorting machine zips the letters through at an extremely fast speed.  The mail truck (and we’re talking the semi sized truck) comes twice a day, once to deliver the mail and once to send it out.  The Escapees RV Club mail service is so large that they have been assigned their own zip code and our mail goes from here straight to Houston TX.

Today we took the tour of the CARE center.  This is a day care facility for those recovering from surgery, undergoing rehabilitation and for those with dementia.  It provides the caregiver an opportunity to rest and take care of other business during the day.  At night the patient goes back to their RV with the family member.  It’s the only care facility designed specifically with the RV lifestyle in mind.

When the founders began this RV park they used machetes to hack through the dense undergrowth to clear away the space for an office and 13 campsites.  They figured that was all they would need.  Boy, were they wrong!



I liked the tenacity of this tree determined to
grow, even if it meant coming up through
an abandoned silo.

I made some changes to my control panel on the computer and managed to get my Sprint hot spot to work again.  But I still opted to run into town as I wanted to redo some storage things in my closet so needed to revisit Wal-Mart again.  So today’s lunch was at McDonald’s.  My library card for Livingston just arrived today so tomorrow I’ll probably go there to work on the blog and catch up with things.

I made an attempt to download a book from the library for my kindle but it failed miserably.  I may take the info in with me to the library and see if they can help me with it.

Our neighbors spent the better part of the day yesterday going through the process of becoming Texans also, so we got to hear their horror stories.  It was kind of fun to hear somebody else’s tales of woe in how they were run around in search of multiple documents in this process.  I’m sure glad that’s done.

We spent a quiet day around the RV. He cleaned up the car and I worked on the inside of the RV.  For supper I made stuffed Italian shells.  He wants to grill something one of these days, so I guess I’ll have to let him play chef for a while too.

 Tomorrow I will go play with the line dance people again and if the weather is nice we’ll check out Lake Livingston and see what it has to offer.

 

Long Live the Queen of Texas

Goodbye to our friends

Scooter

On yet another rainy morning we said goodbye to Sandy and Jerry and their dogs, Scooter and Sassy.

You can imagine my surprise when I was greeted at the door by these two adorable creatures all decked out in their little raincoats.  Okay, Sandy looked cute in her yellow slicker, too, but the canine members of the family were just too cute!

This couple has a heavy hauler for their fifth wheel and will be getting a new fifth wheel by the time we see them again in Quartzite AZ.  We camped near them during the rally and were fortunate to have them as neighbors again here at Rainbows End in Livingston TX.

Sassy

They keep trying to give me Scooter, I’m not sure why.  But they keep stressing that his medical records are all up to date and he comes with a closet full of little sweaters and the like.  Hmm. This makes me wonder about my buddy, Scooter.

Add to that the offhand comment Jerry made about the next time they attended the Mass that offers blessings for the animals he was going to consult with one of priests about a possible exorcism for Scooter.  I’m pretty sure he meant Scooter and not Sandy, but I can’t be positive.

Jerry & Sandy's heavy hauler

There was nothing to do today and we did it very well.  We were finally so desperate for any activity we took a walk about the park in the drizzly rain.  Oh well, I needed a shower anyway. 

I spent most of the day on the computer organizing files, getting photos ready for our daughter and creating new cards with our information on it. 

Jerry
 

Left Brain amused himself with watching golf and football on TV all day.  I had put together a German pot roast in the crock pot this morning, so we feasted on it for supper. 

It looks like a good night for reading and listening to the rainfall.

Long Live the Queen of Lazy Living

 

Cajun food down south

Twas another rainy day making the internet was soggy and slow, so I went off to have lunch at the Whistle Stop Café to check out their free Wi-Fi.  The café was much larger than I would have guessed the internet fast and the Reuben was good.  It’s gonna be a good day.

I managed to get caught up on my blog reading and posting, going through all the Facebook news and even played a game or two.  Then it was back to the RV about 2:00.

Since there wasn’t much to do, Left Brain and I picked a movie to watch.  I have a selection of DVD’s that I want to watch before I decide if I keep them or not.  If I keep them I toss the plastic cover and put them into one of the sleeves with the other media.  If I don’t want to keep it I will try to pass it off to someone or put it into the Good Will pile.

We watched “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” with a very young Jack Nicholson and Danny DeVito.  It was a very good movie but pretty intense so I don’t think I’ll be keeping it.  If anyone wants it, just let me know and I’ll ship it out.

For supper we met up with Jerry and Sandy and two other couples.  They are all members of the Heavy Haulers BOF (Birds of a Feather).  I thought Jerry and Sandy’s rig was huge but the business card presented to me by Bob & Sue Guthrie blew me away.  They have an extended cab that pulls their Fifth Wheel trailer and their cute little Smart Car rides up on the rig behind the cab.  Yikes.  I’ve attempted to insert a photo of their card here.

We met at Shrimp Boat Manny’s, home of Cajun cuisine.  I was determined to order something I couldn’t pronounce and have never had before.  Not hard to do here!  Left Brain had the Cajun Two Step featuring fried crawfish and crawfish Etouffee.  I had the crawfish piroque with ettouffee on top of it with some fried crawfish.  It was interesting and tasty but not something I can see myself craving.

It’s a sure sign of a different cuisine down south when the Kids Menu features shrimp, chicken, crawfish, catfish or a corndog.  There is no alcohol served here, just soda, lemonade and ice tea.

Long Live the Cajun Queen