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October 2006

Sunday, October 1 – Friday, October 6:

Not too much to report for these days; we just enjoyed visiting with the family and doing the regular family routine. We also got a lot of work accomplished while the girls were at school and Tina was at work.

We are so very blessed that we’re able to travel around and have extended visits with our family. We get to spend time with them and get to know them. If we weren’t living this lifestyle we’d only get to see the family during vacations. This is the best way, we’ve been here now a little over two weeks and we’ve got to spend a lot of time with the family and because we have our own RV just outside we can sleep in our own bed or even retreat to the RV when we feel the need for privacy. But we must get down the road so the visit has to come to an end. The leaves are turning, the mornings are nice and cool, the geese are flying south and so must we.

Saturday, October 7:

So we left this morning after spending some time with the family and saying long good-byes. We all tried not to cry and we did a good job this time in front of each other. I’m not saying no tears were shed but at least this time it was done in private.

Each time we’re at a place we’ve been before we try to take a different route to our next destination. So today we’re going down roads we haven’t been on before as we’re heading towards our next long stop at Livingston Texas. Though I must say that one of the roads we went down today was an accident. Mac was talking away to me and missed a turn so we had to adjust and take a different route. This is all part of the adventure. It was only a short detour and we got to see places we’d never seen before.

We drove to Sikeston Missouri and spent the night at a Wal-Mart. There weren’t as many RVs around as we’ve seen in some of our overnight stops at Wal-Mart. I think we only saw 4 or 5 tonight.

Sunday, October 8:

Today our drive is taking us further south and we see many cotton fields. Some still have cotton and the fields look like snow. Other fields have already been picked; is that the correct word to use when the cotton is harvested by machine and not picked by hand? We remember back in the spring when we were in Tunica MS and seeing the cotton plants that were just coming up and now we see cotton being harvested.

We drove to Shreveport LA and spend the night at the Horseshoe Casino. Of course, I had to go in and give them some money. I was hoping they’d give me some back but so far no money was brought back with me.

Monday, October 9:

Most of the day was spent working, Mac worked so much today that he wasn’t through until late afternoon. So we didn’t leave today to head to Livingston. We stayed another night at the casino and lost a bit more money to them. We did have enough food comps though that we ate dinner at the casino. There is no comparison, southern cooking is the best, even in simple items. I had country fried steak with mashed potatoes and gravy and it was so good. I’m going to enjoy being back in the south just for the food.

Tuesday, October 10:

Worked this morning and after checking the weather forecast we decided to get on the road. Rain and lots of it are heading this way from the direction we’re heading. We quickly got everything ready to go and hit the road. I drove so that Mac could continue to get some work done.

We soon drove into the rain that was headed our way, it was pouring at times. At least it wasn’t raining so hard that the wipers couldn’t keep up. We pushed on and arrived at the Rainbow’s End, Escapee Park before closing time. We arrived between showers of rain so we got set up on our site as quickly as we could. But Mac still got wet when the showers started again before finishing hooking up the water and electric.

Wednesday, October 11 – Saturday, October 14:

We’re working during the day and then visiting with my parents after work. We’re also working on the list of chores that they have for us to do while here. We’ve also got our own list of chores that we want to do while here, some of the items though are unexpected.

Wednesday evening while preparing to watch one of our favorite TV shows I started to make some microwave popcorn. I’d put the bag in and very soon after it started popping I said something doesn’t smell right. Black smoke quickly came out of the vent and we turned off the microwave. Mac checked it out but we need a new microwave. So add that to the list of unexpected items to do. Here we are on full hook-ups where we can use the microwave and it decides to bite the dust. We’ll be getting a new one very soon.

Mac took measurements and we’ve shopped around here in Livingston for a new microwave. We wound up buying one from Wal-Mart. It’s smaller than the old one so we’ll have to do some decorative venting around the space. But this one is stronger than our old one and has a turntable so we feel we made a good decision with this purchase, even though it isn’t a perfect fit. What is a perfect fit in life anyway?

We had the fun chore of washing my parent’s travel trailer on Saturday. Our rig is beige and theirs is white. When we wash ours usually it’s hard to tell it’s been washed, just a lack of bugs on it is what looks better. Since theirs is white it was obvious that it was clean; so we had a good feeling from a job well done after washing it.

One of the greatest things here at the Care Center where my parent’s are staying is the volunteers. The volunteers do a lot of work around the center, they drive the bus to take the members shopping, and they do little chores for the members according to their skills. They’ve washed the rigs, mowed lawns, drove members to doctor appointments, cook meals, etc. the volunteers do a lot of work. Thank you! to all the volunteers who help make the Care Center work.

I’ve done a little more going through my clothing and sorting out what to keep and what to get rid off. I filled a big bag of items to donate. It’s silly to carry these items if I’m not going to wear them; so anything that I haven’t worn in a year was tossed in the bag. I’d done this a few months ago and this was the final weeding out of all items that I really don’t need or want to carry around. Now if I can only get Mac to go through his clothes too; the man has way too many clothes.

Travel Plans

You may have noticed that our travels take a familiar path during some times of the year.  Visiting family is one reason, and our annual pilgrimage to Las Vegas and Reno is another.  Of course, we visit new places every year too.  This year the Oregon and California coast, Napa Valley, Lake Tahoe, etc.  Even when visiting the same locations we try for a little variety, like taking a different road, or seeing sights we missed the last time. 

Our plan for the balance of this year includes some new routes, new sights, and new events.  Our next stop is Buckhorn Lake RV Resort in Kerrville, TX for the DataStorm Users Rally.  We're breaking with our general rule of avoiding places with the word "resort" in the name :-).  The whole park is sold out for the week to our group, and I'm looking forward to the events. 

After that, we're heading East along the Gulf Coast, and will visit parts of southern Mississippi for the first time since Katrina.  We plan to stop at Hollywood Casino Bay St. Louis (formerly Casino Magic), and then spend a few days at the Keesler AFB famcamp and explore the 4 or 5 Biloxi casinos rebuilt so far.  After that we're taking a new route to the SKP park in southern Alabama, and then on into Florida. 

Plans get a little fuzzy then.  We have a few options and our choices will depend largely on the weather, and on time.  We have reservations November 13th at a park near our daughter Nicole.  Then on December 1st we move to MacDill AFB for a month, then on to Key West and Sigsbee NAS for the worst of Winter.  While at MacDill and Sigsbee we plan to see some new sights and do some things we couldn't do the last couple of years because of Chris' knee.

We also have a few projects planned.  I'm replacing all the reading lights in the RV with halogens.  We plan to rip up the old carpet and install a vinyl tile floor, etc.  So that's the basic plan for the rest of the year.  Hope you enjoy visiting with us as we travel along.

Sunday, October 15 – Friday, October 20:

It rained quite a lot this week; there was much flooding in Houston and standing water in ditches around here at the park. There was much flooding in the RV too. We found a few leaks and had to clean up the mess from them. The leak that concerned us the most was found inside our pantry area. We were extremely fortunate that our computer/internet equipment that’s in there didn’t get wet. The leak was discovered just in time to move everything out of that cabinet. We did have some food that had to be tossed because it got wet but thankfully there wasn’t very much. Mac went up and caulked around where the water came in so hopefully we won’t have any more leaks from that location.

On Tuesday my mom and I drove over to Conroe to visit some thrift stores. I didn’t want to go to Lufkin again; I feel there aren’t very many stores there. It was farther to drive to Conroe than to Lufkin but there were a few more stores. I’m really going to have to drive to Houston the next time we come here to visit even though the drive is even longer. Smaller towns just don’t have any selection and the prices are higher than in a larger town.

We’ve continued working on the list of chores that my parents have for us to do. Some things though we’ll have to do the next visit. There are some items that we’ll purchase for them and bring back with us to install. They’d like stronger lights and those aren’t available around here. They’d also like better lighting for the outdoors area and we’ll have to bring that back with us too. Otherwise all the chores are done. I even cleaned their carpet for them and I think it looks nice.

I’d mentioned previously that we’d bought a new microwave. What I forgot to mention was that Mac also purchased a new laptop computer for us. His laptop, which was our newest one, is not portable anymore. He’d broken the lid on it, and the battery won't hold a charge.  It still works great especially locked into the Jotto Desk that he’d installed; but taking it anywhere didn’t work too well. He’s shopped around and bought a Compaq that is very lightweight. Now he’ll have one to carry with him as needed.

Saturday, October 21:

We’re leaving today and heading to Kerrville Texas for a DataStorm Users Rally. We plan on driving leisurely and not rushing ourselves. We took our time this morning getting everything ready to hit the road. We also went down and visit some with my parents and said good-bye. After checking out and paying our bill we finally hit the road by noon. Yea! On the road again!

In Livingston there are two gas stations with a price of $1.96, that’s a great price. Both are packed when we drive by and we decided to continue on down the road and buy gas later. We should have stopped there and waited in line. Nowhere else have we seen gas as low as it is in Livingston. We can’t figure out why the gas prices are so different in the same state. It can’t be taxes so why aren’t the prices more uniform? We stopped at an easy to get in and out of station and the price was $2.01, not a bad price at all. That’s also one of the better gas prices that we’ll see on the trip to Kerrville.

We drove to Austin Texas and spent the night at a Wal-Mart. There is a Goodwill Thrift Store within sight of our parking spot. I of course, must go check it out. Mac decides to go with me because the store also has a computer store in addition to their regular thrift store. He had a good time in there looking around. I looked around in their retail store but didn’t find anything to buy. I thought their paperback books were pricey with prices ranging from $1.99 to $2.29; that’s just a bit much for me. I know I’ll find books elsewhere much cheaper. I probably would have paid that price though if I’d found a book that I just had to have but I didn’t.

We went to Wal-Mart and bought a lot of supplies. We’d gotten very low on many items that we’ll need, such as toothpaste, shampoo, wet-wipes, etc. Mac bought another towing safety cable also; we’ve been using only one since one of ours broke somewhere on our trip from Salt Lake City to Rushville Illinois. It had finally worn through and broken from being dragged so many times. Sometimes we bottom out and drag the receiver hitch so the towing cable and the wires for the towing lights will receive damage. I feel better knowing we have two cables now.

Sunday, October 22:

Sunday, we had a leisurely morning, drinking coffee, goofing off on the internet, etc. but we finally decided to get on the road. We did manage to leave before noon but not by much. I really enjoy riding in the RV and just seeing the landscape. It has changed quite a bit since we left Livingston. We’re in Texas Hill Country now and it is so pretty. I really love it.

We stopped at a picnic area beside the road and had lunch. Later we stopped at an actual rest area and got out to walk around. It had some very pretty flowers planted some especially to attract the butterflies. We saw many butterflies there; we were told later that there are so many because they’re migrating.

While at the rest area we were interviewed by a Camille Wheeler, who is a freelance writer. She’s doing an article about Texas rest areas. So we had a nice talk with her about rest areas, Wi-Fi, traveling, etc. She told us that Texas is working on improving the rest areas that are already in place. I’ve noticed that on the interstates there are plenty of rest areas but on the other roads there aren’t very many rest areas at all. There are plenty of picnic areas but not many rest areas. With so many people traveling, even on short day trips or weekend trips, there should be more rest areas. We don’t personally need the "facilities" at a rest area, but there are many people that do need them.

On our trip to Kerrville from Livingston we’ve seen miniature horses, horses, scissortail flycatchers, sheep, goats, and plenty of cows. We’ve seen some cows with big long horns, some with a huge hump on their necks, some that almost looked pink (I wonder if that's where strawberry milk comes from?). Who knew there were so many different cows?

We finally arrived and got checked into the Buckhorn Lake RV Resort. This is a nice park; each site has a concrete slab to park on, a picnic table set on a concrete slab, and a nice grassy yard area. The official start of the rally is on Monday but there are many DataStorm Users here already. With so many blue lights shining from the top of the rigs at night it looks like a convention of UFOs communicating with the mother ship.

Monday, October 23 – Friday, October 27:

Monday evening there was a big gathering of all the rally members. A meet & greet and bring your own meat type of dinner. Everyone brought a dish to share with others and also brought your own meat to grill out. I made some broccoli salad to take and we took a couple of small steaks to grill.

We met a lot of people while here. We met other couples who also blog and have included a link to a couple of the blogs. We met Joan and Jim www.joanontheroad.com/blog/.  We also met Jim and Chris www.jimandchris.com they taught some classes at the rally. Both of these blogs have been put in my favorites and I plan to continue reading of their adventures.

Tuesday and Wednesday I got sick and didn’t leave the RV. Mac attended some of the classes he wanted to attend. He also brought me some food, what a guy! He’s having a good time here but it’s hard to attend everything he wants to, visit with all the people he’s met online and try to get some work done too.

On Thursday I felt somewhat better so I decided to head to Kerrville and do the laundry. I found a great laundry on my first try. It was very clean and had the front loaders that I love. I took full advantage of those too; I had a double-loader filled with whites, a triple-loader filled with colors and a super duper HUGE front loader filled with all our bedding and towels. I can honestly say I only did 3 loads of laundry, not bad for not having washed in three weeks. Of course, I had many more than 3 dryers, I think I was using 12 or 13 dryers.

After I finished the laundry I decided to check out a few thrift stores. It was quite easy finding the stores too, most of the stores are located on Hwy 27, with only a few located on side streets. Thursday, I only visited a couple and on Friday I returned and visited several of the stores. I found some nice items too; I found several pairs of especially nice costume jewelry earrings for my mom at less than $1 a pair. At the Humane Society Resale shop I had a great visit with the store mascot, a very friendly yellow tabby cat. He followed me around the store, flopping on the floor at my feet and exposed his belly for a good rub. I obliged him and gave his belly a rub and a good scratch behind the ears. He made it hard to get any shopping done though; he’s such a friendly cat.

I also stumbled across a used book store, Books to Share; I found several books there that I’d been looking for. They have a different way of trading than others that I’ve been to. Any paperback book is half-priced but if you bring in a paperback book then you only pay one-fourth of the price. Fortunately, I had a bag of books in the car and was able to trade some books for the books that I wanted.

I saw several RV parks in and around the Kerrville area, right on Hwy 27, so they are very close and convenient to Kerrville. When we return this way again I’d like to check some of them out regarding rates. Buckhorn Lake, where we’re currently at, is a nice park but it’s got a few drawbacks. One being the price, it’s over $30 per night, we only paid $24 with the rally, and even that is a bit pricey to us. Another negative is that it is right by the interstate and you can hear the traffic. It does have some nice features, which I mentioned previously, but I don’t think we’ll stay here when we come this way again.

Friday evening Mac went to the final dinner of the rally. I didn’t go; I’m not a "big social event" kind of person (better in small groups). So I stayed at the RV and did some much needed cleaning while he was gone. It’s hard to do any deep cleaning while he’s underfoot so when he’s gone I take full advantage of it. I did some vacuuming and also cleaned the carpet in the bedroom and hallway. I wanted to clean the living room carpet but ran out of time and energy. So it’s on my list for next time.

Saturday, October 28:

We left Kerrville this morning and we’re heading for the Mississippi Gulf Coast. We plan on staying there for about a week and then heading on to Tampa Florida, our home-base I guess we can call it.

We plan on staying on I-10 instead of taking any of the more scenic routes. We’ve a long way to go and we’d like to get there Sunday evening to be ready for the workweek on Monday. We stopped at the Guadalupe County Rest Area about MM 620 on I-10 for lunch. Mac also made a few business calls while we were parked there. This is a fairly new rest area, large parking area for trucks and RVs, nice picnic area and information regarding the history of the area inside to look at while stretching the legs.

I got to be the driver through the Houston area, oh what fun and joy!  It’s a mess too, even on the weekend. I-10 is being enlarged to something like 16 lanes but currently there were only about 3 lanes heading east. Traffic was backed up, stop and go, the north bound on ramp for the 610 was closed and I wound up in the south bound on ramp with no way to get back over. So we drove south bound for a couple of exits and then got off and made a u-turn to get back on going north bound. I don’t like driving in big cities but who does. Thankfully that was the only problem we had there, once we got on 610 we had no delays and were able to drive around the mess of construction and then get back on I-10 with no further delays.

We bought gas this morning around San Antonio for $2.04. On this trip we’ve seen gas for as low as $1.94, that’s a really great price. We’re hoping that the prices continue to come down. Of course, it would have been wonderful to see these prices in the summertime when we were paying over $3+ for gas.

We drove to Beaumont Texas and stopped at the Wal-Mart store #651 for the night. We decided to start adding the store numbers instead of just city names. We’ll include information regarding the area so that we’ll know in the future if we want to stop at that location again. This store is not easy to get to; you have to drive through many blocks of shopping areas to get here. There are 12 foot height barriers up; turns into the parking lot are tight for our big rig. We won’t stop at this one again.

We had a nice dinner, relaxed for a bit and then went into Wal-Mart to pick up a few supplies, along with some ice cream, an item that our waistlines could have done without, Mac also picked up some cookies. After we got back to the RV he took 2 cookies and put ice cream between them, covered that with chocolate magic shell, wrapped in saran wrap and put in the freezer to harden. He’s trying to recreate "It’s-It", the great ice cream treats that he had while we were out west. Hopefully, it turns out good.

Tuesday, October 31

We stopped Sunday night at the Hollywood Casino Bay St. Louis.  The RV park is in great shape, and with a comp it's still a good value, $27+ if you pay full price.  We dry camped in the ample parking lot.  The new casino is very attractive inside, and the buffet upstairs is largely unchanged from before.  Still a very good buffet with variety.  On the other hand, the video poker paytables are awful.  Most of them are 98% and some much lower, even at the dollar level. 

Monday we pulled into Biloxi, and stopped at Keesler AFB Famcamp.  We plan to dry camp here for $5 a night and visit some of the area, including the casinos of course :-). 

And here's the end of month camping costs report.  We're on track to a less expensive average cost per night, but we're dry camping less this year.  Several reasons for this, we'll wait until year's end for a thorough analysis. I predict we'll slip in under last year's $9.57 a night!