Sand Springs, OK

Neglected to mention in my previous post that in the trip to Waco our dash air conditioner was pumping warm air. By the time we arrived the temperature in the RV was 91 degrees. So with that in mind, and after our debacle at Camping World with our wind guard, we contacted Freightliner near Tulsa which is on our way to our next destination, to see if they could help us with both. They are open 17 hours a day, 7 days a week, so we thought if we left Waco early, we could arrive early and give them plenty of time to fit us in. So I was up at 2:50 am, and we left at 5:15am. Our luck held true, in other words, no luck. We arrived at 11:30am, but they can't get us in until 7 am tomorrow morning. So another early day. Hopefully they can do the work and quickly, because we have a 3-1/2 hour drive afterwards to out next stop, which is seeing Bev and John in Butler, MO. We are staying at a little campground 7 miles away. Nothing fancy, but they are very friendly and got us a pull thru for the day. Temperature today was 89, with a feels like of 103.

Waco

Yesterday we left Marjorie and Mom to head to Waco. On the way we stopped at a Camping World to have a wind guard replaced. That is a plastic strip in front of the door that eliminates wind and rain from getting in the RV by the hinges. We had an appointment and the part which we got from Tiffin Motorhomes in Alabama. After 3-1/2 hours of waiting, thinking they were working on the replacement, they announced that they would need another 4 hours at a cost of an additional $800 to do the work. Apparently all that time they were diagnosing and conferencing on how to do the replacement. We said, well, nevermind what we said, but we didn't let them do the work. So when they said they RV was ready for us, we left. A couple miles down the road we realized the part wasn't returned to us. After a half hour on the phone they find the part and we returned for it. Then on to Waco. Actually, a small community known as Elm Mott, about 10 miles further north. Our campground is right off I-35. They have free breakfast every morning a made to order, a pool, dog wash, golf course and more.
  Today we slept thru breakfast. Went to Magnolia Market and the silos, made famous by Chip and Joanna Gaines of the show Fixer Upper. They have made a lot of changes since we were here two years ago. It is more developed and busier. They have free parking, but was surprised at the Baptist Church which is capitalizing on their reputation by charging unsuspecting tourists $10 to park nearby. Then we waited in line to enter Magnolia Bakery. All of the Magnolia buildings have door guards that only let in so many customers at a time. After that we went to Harp Custom Designs, made famous by Clint Harp, for his woodwork on Fixer Upper. We decided not to go to Jimmy Don's metalwork place, also highlighted in the show.
  So we drove across town to Magnolia Table for lunch. By then it was 1:50 pm. You have to put in your name outside and receive a text that your table is ready or the door guard won't let you in. The wait was an hour and 45 minutes so we went elsewhere.
  From there we went to the Texas Ranger Museum. We closed the place at 4:30 and were too tired to go the National Mastodon Museum. We decided to go in the pool, but someone let their kid poop in it last night without telling anyone. Anyway, the pool is closed till Friday. Then we wanted to wash the dogs, but someone backed into it last night with their RV, so that is out, too. A bad night for the campground. We are leaving early tomorrow and will head to Tulsa, OK. More then.
 

Update updated

Thank you Betty for letting me know something happened with the publishing of the last blog, so I will try to recreate it. In short, because it has been so long, here is what we did since the last update: rebuilt and painted two garden benches, helped empty out a garage, took stuff to Salvation Army, moved furniture, trimmed bushes and trees, helped repair a70 gallon fish tank, waited for builders who were installing custom cabinets and China cabinet-breakfront, celebrated Rob's 75th birthday at the home in Austin and again with the family, visited Rob several times, repaired and replaced parts in a BBQ grill. Then we celebrated Marjorie's 71st birthday, by going to the Tower of the Americas which was built in the 60s for the San Antonio Hemisfair. It is a 750 foot tall structure with a Chart House restaurant one floor below the top, which rotates once every 40 minutes. Lunch took 3-1/2 revolutions, but was delicious. Then to the observation Tower on top where they have panoramic pictures which are numbered so you can identify the buildings you could see oou of the windows. Then a memorial day BBQ at Marjorie's house with family and friends. Elliot and I did the cooking, while Mom, Marjorie, and Nancy did cooking set up and clean up. A very busy month here.

Update

We'll, it's been a busy week. Sunday we had a family birthday party for Rob, Monday

Happy Mother's Day

To all you ladies out there. Brother Ron came over today with his companion dog, Madelyn, an 11 year old Chihuahua. We then meet Jen and Jeff, Ben, Josh and Maddy and Jen's parents at a place called Stonewerks in Northwest San Antonio. We had a nice mother's day lunch and have spent the last few hours going thru old family DVDs. Man, did everyone look good. Does that mean we are getting old?

Back online

Not much to report recently. Our big thing yesterday was going in the RV and hearing a ringing sound, and neither of us had our phones with us. Turns out it was a warning telling us our batteries had a low charge. When we had the ac/propane fridge we never had a problem being connected with only 15 amp, but I guess now with the residential fridge the inverter can't keep up with the electric demand. So we called an electrician and had a 30 amp circuit and junction box attached to the house. We don't need 50 amp since while here we stay in the house, not the RV. Yeah, another expense, but it will be ready for us next time we are here. Also Marjorie is having the driveway redone in concrete, so we will be all set.
   Today we went to a Sabbath service at the Jewish Community Center in part conducted by our great-nephew Josh and
-niece Maddy and the rest of their first grade class.
  Afterwards, we did things backwards. Went to Baskin Robbins for ice cream with them and their parents, Jeff and (Dr.) Jenn and then a small outdoor kitchen and had pizza.
   News from Jeff, his part-time job with USAA was eliminated so he had to take a full-time position with them. But he accumulated enough acting work that he got his SAG (Screen Actors Guild) card which should open up a lot of opportunities for him. His show, Public Displays of Insanity, which he is producing and starring in, was picked up and should air on Amazon this fall, so watch for it y'all.

Rob

  Yesterday I finished getting those pesky bugs off the front of the RV. Never quite realized how high the front is until you are standing on the top rung of a fully extended Little Giant ladder while applying pressure to get the area clean. Very precarious!
  Nancy and I accompanied Marjorie (my sister) and Mom to Austin in the afternoon to visit Rob. For those of you who don't know, Rob is my brother (in-law) and 7 years ago he was diagnosed with Lewy body, supposedly. I say supposedly because it is the loss of mental functions, it's full name being Lewy body dementia. But in Rob's case, it is more a loss of physical function. His mind is still active, you can see him responding via eye excitement, some facial muscular and vocal expressions but he is unable to show more than that. The facility he is in is beautiful and the care provided is phenomenal. They have 12 therapy dogs that roam the facility for the residents. Rob had contacted pneumonia over the weekend so he was a little sluggish, but we played catch with him, sang songs, danced a little, and had a good time. It was very therapeutic, for us as well as Rob. It was hard though to see him like that as he was always very active, playing on a championship seniors basketball team, guitar, piano, and loving time with his grandchildren, and donating his time for various causes.
  On the way up we stopped at Buc-ees, a chain of convenience stores but the size of a Walmart, with about 50 gas and Diesel pumps, food, snacks, clothing, you name it. Large, as only things in Texas can be.
  Today we spent a lot of time helping Marjorie reorganize rooms and tossing things out. We have a few rooms and the garage to do so we have lots to look forward to accomplish.
  More tomorrow.

Love is in the air

...and all over the front of the RV. It's love bug season and they mate in the air and don't care where they fly. So they hit two at a time. We took out several thousand of them. There were so many on the windshield it created night out of day. We had to stop twice to get enough of them off the windshield so we could see.
  BTW, if you hadn't guessed, we were in Houston yesterday. We lost an hour of travel time because they closed Interstate 10 and it took that long to get off and back on further down the road. Then there was a bad accident about half way to Schertz, so another delay and detour.
   We made it to Schertz about 4 PM. We parked in the Wal-Mart parking lot so we could scope out which of the 2 roads into the development would be better for us to get to Marjorie's house. Marjorie and Mom were on their way back from Austin seeing Rob, so we waiting a little bit for them. Went out to dinner, then got the RV, fueled up and parked it at the house. Spent a 1/2 hour or more cleaning the bugs off the front of the RV, and now watched a video of my surprise 50th birthday party at Rich and Joanne's home in York, PA. Ronni was only 16 at the time, but everyone came except Stacey. She was at school in Massachusetts. What fun that weekend was!

Another campground, another state

  Our new campground is very nice. Paved roads, concrete pads, and it is an adult oriented campground. Kids can use the facilities but only with an adult. ANY infraction, and you're booted out. And the pool has adult only time, although we're too tired to use it. All for only $4 more than yesterday's place, which only had two styles: dump and pit. Fortunately we were in the dump. It was so bad even the alligators wouldn't stay there.
  We were escorted in, and while we were parking, the escort wiped off the electric box so there would be no dust on it. A very nice place!
  Had a thin crust pizza delivered for dinner; very enjoyable. Supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow so we are debating whether or not to stay for another day so we aren't driving in the rain.

Slidell, LA

  Well, here we are in Slidell Louisiana, after 404 miles. Our plans were to spend tomorrow in New Orleans, but we found out there is a jazz festival going on and the place will be packed. So we are going to forego the Big Easy this trip. Sorry Nancy, you'll get there some day.
   We were supposed to have an RV site at Pontchartrain Landing, right in New Orleans. We made a reservation 6 days ago and they sent us a reservation request number. Two hours away we called to confirm and they said"oh no, that was only a request not a confirmation". Apparently we had to call when we got the request number. The only thing they had left was a site for $160/nte. No thanks! So here we are at New Orleans East Kampground. Only $35/nte. Walked into the office and almost passed out. The resident dog had defecated everywhere and it was horrible!  It's an old campground. The one down the street (Pine Crest) has concrete pads, WiFi, and is gorgeous, but we don't know the rate. But since we are not going to N.O., it's fine for the night, then moving on tomorrow morning.
  

Farewell Crimson Tide

5:00 am came early today and saw us with the RV at the shop by 5:45, waiting for them to open at 6 to start our final (hopefully) repair, the replacement of the slide-out floor. What a job! They never told us what to expect and the first thing we had to do was empty all our cabinets on that slide-out. They removed the cabinets, the sofa, the refrigerator, the built-in table and everything in the way to replace the floor.
  When Nancy heard that they had to move the refrigerator, which was in its own cabinet enclosure, she mentioned to Kenny, the tech, that it was a shame because we were planning on coming back in October to have a residential fridge put in to replace our electric/propane one. We had been given a price for that one which sounded reasonable. He suggested we go to Lowes and look at some while they ripped the place apart, and if we found one, they would put it in for us. It's easier, he explained, to replace it when the floor is out as they just drop it through the opening, rather than, as later, by removing a window for it to fit through.
   Anyway, we went to Lowe's, Home Depot, and an appliance store, but they didn't have in stock what we wanted, black stainless. They could get it if we wanted to wait until Monday, but that wouldn't fly since the floor replacement was already in progress. Also, we were restricted in size since it had to go in an RV rather a home.
  So we went back to Lowe's and got a shiny stainless instead, much nicer than the one we had planned on getting in Red Bay, and the repair shop sent someone over right away to pick it up. It moved us from 12 cubic feet to 22, almost double the size. A cabinet maker created a new cabinet for the new fridge and it looks great. With all the discounts and installation cost, and even though they worked an extra two hours, we saved a bundle, 43% less than we would have paid in Red Bay and saving us a long trip in the process.
  To celebrate the completion of the repair portion of our trip we went to George's Steakhouse, a high rent joint in Sheffield. Then we came back and chatted with Dick and Pat, our neighbors since last week, for an hour. They are from Central Michigan and very nice folks. Tomorrow morning we leave for New Orleans.