Time to Move Again

 

Sunday morning and Sherri and I are up and drinking coffee. We have to get the house ready to move to the service center for some more warranty work. I will give you a little hint on the weather here…Rain…Yeah… every time we have to pack up and move it rains. I have nothing in the back of the truck or in the bay that is dry.

It will take me most of next summer to clean up the mess we have here since it started raining and snowing. I wish we could have a little sunny weather so we could clean up some of this before it starts again. I say before it starts again…it has

Yes by the time Sherri and I started packing it up the rain hit once more. It only rained for an hour and soon after it stopped we could see some blue sky. That was our queue to squeegee the slide sides and start bringing them in. We were ready to leave about 12:00 noon. I had called the sales department at the RV dealer and they had opened the gate so we could pull in and drop off the RV.

We got everything unloaded and the RV parked at the dealership and we were off by 1:30. We had decided to grab something to eat down the road. The first place we stopped at was jammed and we looked at each other shook our heads and took off. No way we wanted to stand in line and end up with no where to sit. We chose to move to the other side of town and try the Red Lobster. It was better and being that we were on the company ticket we had a real good shrimp lunch.

We were off to Mt Pleasant about 3:00 and in about an hour and a half we arrived at the motel. It is a new motel and really nice! We have an indoor pool…workout center and a giant TV! I like this place. We will be here all week and hopefully will miss the oncoming snow. Yes snow…it is going to snow again today! Please let me go south next year!!

Better go…it is time…

Somewhere in Time

Time to Clean

 

We have been in bad weather for the past month now and everything is so dirty. Sherri and I woke up this morning and while setting there drinking our coffee we discussed how we were going to get things cleaned up. You know you have to have a good plan before you start a project.

Yesterday we took off for Oklahoma and spent the entire day in the casino. We did well there and only spent about $12.00 gambling. Our lunch at the buffet was $22.00 so overall we spent very little money for a day of fun. OK so we should have been cleaning then but you know all work and no fun makes one dull. We are no longer dull and ready to clean up some of the winter mess that has managed to collect inside and out.

We will start with some of the outside chores as long as the rain holds off. Yes it is suppose to rain again today. We have gone so many months with this wet weather. The mud is caked on the outside and the dust and grime on the windows…we just have to get ahead of it before it takes over.

Our home spent all last week at the dealership being serviced. We have one year left on our warranty and we have to make sure all the service work gets done. We have some things that have cropped up over the last year and now is the time to get it taken care of. We are taking it back Sunday and leaving it for the week again to get some more things seen to. I have an inspection scheduled and they are going to change out the HWH element.

We are headed to DeKalb Texas on Sunday as soon as we drop our house off and the service department. We plan to stop on the way at our barn on the lake and do a load of laundry. Then on to DeKalb which is located just north east of Mt Pleasant Texas. Actually we will be staying in Mt Pleasant and driving to DeKalb every day. This is a 5 day project so we will be staying until Friday…which at that time we will be returning to Lewisville to pick up our home.

OK nuff said I must get to work and try to head off the on coming rain. Much to do outside and so little time to get it done. I will take some pictures today and show you the progress we made as we clean…

Somewhere in Time

Spending Time in Magnolia Arkansas

 

This is a cool town to visit. We are staying in a Comfort Inn on the main drag here in town. We arrived last night about 9:30 after a grueling 4 1/2 hour drive from Hickory Creek COE park in Louisville.

We left the COE park there about 7:00 am and drove to the dump to clean out the tanks. I was going to rinse everything real good before we took of but found that my hose had frozen overnight and that was the end of that idea. We are taking our home by Explore USA for some warranty work to be done. I had wanted the tanks to be as clean as possible before they stored it there for the week while it was being worked on. I guess I will just have to postpone the thorough cleaning for later.

We plan on picking up the RV on Thursday afternoon and then return to the COE park there at Lake Louisville. I am sure that they will have to order parts for some of the work so a return trip there will be in order.

I really am not too cool on having to pack up my clothes and stay in motels but then I know we have to every once in a while. This time it is working out real good because we are getting some work done and we wont have to live around it being done. Everyone has to have this done and being able to go away and come back to a completed job is so much nicer.

We will park our home once more next week at the dealer so we can go to Arkansas. This time it is Pine Bluff we will be visiting. We have a full week there and will return back to Louisville to pick up our home. Once again we will stay in Louisville until the following week when we will leave for Crowley Texas for a week. Wow this will mean that we will be away from our home for 3 weeks! This will be record for us. It wont cost anything to leave it there so that is a good thing. We will sock away all that money we will save for those insurance payments Sherri needs.

We have to find us a place to eat tonight. Last night on the way here we stopped in Texarkana and ate at the Olive Garden. We had a 40 minute wait on our food so I thought they may lost our order? All was well because there was two wrecks on the Interstate and the traffic was backed up for miles. I don’t think we will eat Italian tonight…maybe some fish…or a good steak would be nice. This is on the company so I think I will shoot the works here in Magnolia Arkansas….

Somewhere in Time .

Helping Janet move

 

We are headed back to Carrollton to keep the kids while our oldest daughter moves to a new apartment. She has been in search for more room for some time and finally found a nice apartment complex that would afford her more room for the children.

We were up early and finished packing up all our inside stuff. We even had time for coffee and while drinking our coffee we looked out at all the snow that was piled up on the ground. We were both hoping that the roads would be passable into Carrollton and that we would not have any trouble driving in. Being Saturday we would not have to put up with too much traffic.

We left out about 7:00 am and were on the Interstate about 7:30. We had about a three hour drive ahead of us and we were both excited about getting to see the little folks. We had not seen them for a while and we had planed on them coming and staying with us at the park. We also had made reservations for the RV dealership to fix some warranty items for us. We will be in Springhill Louisiana next week working so we decided to drop the RV off at Explore USA and have them fix a list of things we had made note of over the past 7 months. Nothing real serious but things that if we don’t get them seen to now they could be serious later on.

We have really been pleased with our Carriage product. We have never owned one before but we had heard so many good things about them that we made this our choice when we went to buy. It has kept us warm all winter with no drafts that we could find. The double insulation that they provide in these units makes for a very warm place even in the coldest weather…which by the way we have seen plenty of this last winter. I hope next winter I will not have to rely on this RV to provide me winter comfort. I would like to advise anyone planning on buying a Carriage product to invest in the Arizona room slide. This addition will keep you warm in the winter when you can find sunshine. The sun shinning in through the glass on this room helps warm the inside of the RV much like the windshield in a car. We absolutely love it and would not trade it for anything.

OK so this is our last full day in Texas and tomorrow we will be in Arkansas. We are staying in Magnolia Arkansas and working in Springhill Louisiana. We will return to Texas Thursday and pick up our trailer and then find refuge at Hickory Creek Park for the weekend. Hope everyone else has a great week and returns to see us…

Somewhere in Time

Long Day Without Electricity

 

This is going to be a long day with out TV and Computer. I am on battery now but it is going down and I will have to go out and plug it up to the Inverter in the truck to get it charged back up. That’s right I don’t have an inverter in the RV yet. I don’t have solar panels either and I wish I did but my budget is not up there with all the other fulltimers.

I turned the generator on and will run it about an hour. This will charge my batteries and allow use to watch TV for a short period of time. I don’t want to use up all my propane because I need heat too. While I was seeing to the generator…Sherri was fixing us something to eat. We sat down and had soup and salad. It sure was good and filled us up just right. While we were eating the electricity came back on and just in time for us to watch one of our soap operas.

When we had finished eating and watching TV we gathered up all the clothes and went to the laundry to wash. Sherri had already washed some of our clothes in our washer but we had several more so we set out to get them done. When we got to the laundry we found it to be empty so we had our pick of machines. How nice that is for a change. We did the laundry in about 2 and 1/2 hours and then headed back to the RV. Sherri had removed the frozen food from out freezer before she left for the laundry and it was defrosted and ready for the frozen foods to go back in. I had set them in the back of the truck on top of the snow bank that had formed there overnight. The snow gave us a good place to store the frozen goods while we defrosted. Well some good came from all this bad weather. Fridge is now clean and defrosted. I can’t wait for the weather to clear up enough for me to clean the RV on the outside. It is so nasty from all this wet weather and no end in sight. I am so glad that I have kept in waxed over the summer so it sheds a lot of moisture and retains some of it’s original shine.

I mention earlier about the generator. We are so glad that we got that addition to our home. We have not had the opportunity to use it until now.. with the loss of our power. We can run it for about an hour and it recharges our batteries and allows us to watch TV. I guess if we were Boondocking this is how we would have to use it. From what I understand…at minimum load conditions you should get about 7 hours of generator out of a 40lb bottle of gas. I may have misunderstood this…but if that is so we would have enough propane for about 14 hours of straight usage. If we used it 4 hours a day we would get 3 days on two bottles. We will have to learn how to conserve this usage and maybe we could get a week out of the two bottles. I have to remember that we have to run the fridge cook stove HWH and depending on the the time of year the heater.

Slowly but surely we are getting a feel for our capacities and we hope to have a plan put together for staying without hook ups…

Somewhere in Time

Snow and the Electricity is out

 

Well here we are in Gladewater Texas and we have a foot of snow on the ground. We had hoped that we would miss the snow by sneaking off to east Texas but Old Man Winter found us here and not only snowed on us but knocked out the electricity too.

We worked yesterday and when we got off it was snowing pretty good. It was not sticking at that time so we thought we might have dodged the bullet on this storm. Much to our dismay we noticed last night before turning in that it was coming down even harder and it was starting to stick on the grass.

 

This morning when we woke up and looked out the windows we were surprised to see that the snow had accumulated to almost a foot! Well that just made our morning. It did look real pretty but then we new it would all melt and we would have a muddy mess here and that was not good. We are leaving tomorrow and I do not like to pack up in the mud. Everything is so wet and messy and you have to pack it all away and then when it dries out you have to clean up this mess…When will it dry out? How much wet mess will I accumulate before I get to clean it up?

I am working off battery now and hope that it stays strong until the electricity comes back on. We have a generator but I don’t want to use up all the propane on that when I will need it for the heat! Boondocking is for the spring or fall months…not during a snow storm. If we run out of propane we cannot have the tanks filled up because they need electric to run the pump. Well now isn’t this a fine predicament. 

We were going to finish up our laundry today so we would have all clean clothes to start out next week on. This wont happen today. They don’t have electric in any part of the park…or the town for that matter. All we can hope for is that the electric comes back on before we run out of propane.

Well all you Dreamers sitting in those warm climate places and sucking up all that sunshine…which we have not seen in weeks…just stop every once in a while and think about us Eskimo RV’ers here in the tundra. This will be our last winter in the north and you can take that to the bank….

Somewhere in Time

Here we are in Gladewater

Well here he is….Chucky Cheese

We got here to the RV Park in Gladewater about 4;30 pm and the sun was just about to hit bottom. I really don’t like to arrive that late anywhere but I had no choice. We had to drop  the G-kids off at their house and then get back on the Interstate east. We enjoyed the kids and the party at Chucky Cheese was just as many of my reader commented…something else. I would compare it to a little peoples New Orleans street party!

Kristi’s first birthday cake at the Chucky Cheese

Plenty of Pizza to go around

Kristi is live on TV

 

So many games to play where do we start???

Things started to calm down about 8:00

We survived the party…and made it to Gladewater in time to watch the Super Bowl. What a game that was. Sherri and I were on a football pot so we had a vested interest in this game. Sherri being from Louisiana was pulling for the Saints and I was pulling for my numbers. Well she got her wish but not one number of mine came up so I still have to go to work.

We turned in after the game due to extreme fatigue. Monday would be here all too soon and with us doing a full store set we had to be rested. The store is located in Hawkins about 17 miles from where we are based. We will have to get up at 5:00 to make it by seven. 

The weather as usual here sucks! It is raining and cold. What’s new you say… Which brings me to my next paragraph…

Weather men…now that is a job you can really BS your way through. I heard this morning one of them say that there was a possibility that it would not rain in some areas. Now tell me is that a prediction? So your saying that it could rain somewhere and then it might not rain somewhere and if it does rain you’re OK and if it doesn’t rain you’re OK… What is it with this 20% chance of rain? Boy can you imagine if you told your boss that there was a 20% chance you might make it to work or you might make your budget! How long would you have your job?

I have to laugh when I hear some of this stuff on TV. Even the news is getting ridiculous. Listening to these commentators talk about what happen and then how it happen…knowing they don’t have a clue. What is really bad about it is we all take it in. No matter what they say we believe it to be true.

The rain let up here and we are suppose to have a dry day tomorrow. Wednesday is also going to be clear but cold. Colder each day until Thursday and then snow. Might be as much as 6 inches and maybe less in some areas. Sleet could occur in some places and there is a possibility of some icing on bridges and overpasses. Roads may be hazardous where ice has accumulated….Duh!

Well I hope your weather is better than here and I hope to be there…

Somewhere in Time. 

This Working Sure Gets in The Way of Posting

 

We made it to Hickory Creek COE and we are now settled in. Sure feels good to be back to our favorite park. We have always enjoyed being here at the lake. The shopping is close by and also my oldest daughter lives in Carrollton and we get to see the grandkids.

 

We parked in one of favorite spots right on the lake

Kris and Maw Maw are driving the remote control truck 

Kris having fun with his remote control truck

This is his Rollie truck…Rollie let Kris set in his truck and now he has one too.

Nice view out our Arizona room windows…wish it was Arizona!

We were up early made some coffee showered and got dressed for work. We were headed to Super Target today to set up new Campbell Soup Racks.

I made my cup of coffee to go and Sherri drove to the store. We got to work about 7:30 and had a easy set up. We got checked out and we were on our way back to the RV.

Today we pick up Kris. We have not seen him in two months. He is at the day care and we will meet Janet there. She has to check him out and then we can take him home. Before we go home we have to stop by the store to by Kris’s sister Kristen a birthday present. She will be a year old this weekend. We are having a party for her at Chucky Cheese. Kris will spend the night with us and then we will take him to the party.

Sun coming up Saturday morning was sure pretty. Soon it was over cast and no more sun.

Kris showing off his RV.

Clouds came in and soon there was no more sun. It was nice while it lasted.

After the party Kristen and Kris will come back home with us and so will Sarah we will keep all three of them. This will be a first for us keeping Kristen. She has never stayed with us before so it may be interesting.

I will have a full report…well if we make it out alive!…

Somewhere in Time  

What’s up With Idol

 

Another world wind morning. Coffee made showers taken clothes…jumped into…Coffee on the go and we are off to Rowlett Texas.

This is a short hop today…only 45 minutes to this store and then a short change out. We were out of there before you know it and on the way to eat.

We returned home…and ready to move. We are headed to Hickory Creek COE Park. We have stayed here often over the last year and we love it. It is located right on the lake with great views. Located close to shopping centers and restaurants. You still have the feeling of being far out and each site is situated where it has some privacy.

We packed up and were on the road by 1:30. Coming into Dallas from the east we found the traffic light and made it across town with out too much problem. We had an reservation so when we pulled into the park it was no time before we were parked and relaxing.

We will be here for the rest of this week and then we move back to the east Texas area around Gladewater.

The rest of our day was spent cleaning the RV and settling in. We watched some TV…Idol to be exact. What is it with these people they have try out on that show??

I know that panel of judges do not view all those applicants that they show waiting to try out. They have to have a panel…maybe several panels that weed out the ones that will be on the show. How do they let some of those nut cases through. That must be part of the show to let some of these no singers try out just for a laugh. I sat there in awe trying to figure out how that person ever thought they could sing. I guess the show would never go over if it did not have these people come on. I know we have a good laugh watching it…how about you?

Better go now and get ready for bed. I will have to get some sleep so I can keep going….

Somewhere in Time

Making Plans to Move

 

This morning was a little hectic. The coffee got made but there was not too much time to drink it. I had to pour mine in a to go cup and take it with me in the truck. We were heading to McKinney Texas to set up some Campbell Soup Racks. We up and dressed in record time…trying to beat the Dallas traffic on LBJ.

We gathered all our S T U F F  and we were off and running. We hit the highway and all was well until we got to Mesquite and that is when the traffic started backing up. Oh my…we don’t like working in this part of the world. We still made good time and before we knew it we were at the Super Target on Highway 75. 

We drove by the front door…Grocery side….and noticed that they don’t open until 8:00. We had to park and walk up to the door and tap on it until someone inside saw us and let us in. I guess we could have gone around back and gone in the vendors entrance but this worked out OK.

We finished up in no time and then headed back home. I had not eaten any breakfast so I was hungry…who me…hungry…can you believe that? We found a Souper Salad and had a late lunch. We did not linger long and soon we were back on the road to the house.

We arrive home about 3:00 and started planning on moving to Hickory Creek COE park at Lake Lewisville. This will put us closer to our stores we are working and we wont have to get up so early to get there.

Well that is about it for this day. I will post when we reach our new location. Stay tuned for the move…

Somewhere in Time

Another Cold Day Inside

 

Good morning…we are still in cold weather and my computer is still suffering from a virus…so to speak. John Hatch sent me a WEB site that may cure it’s illness. We are going to load it today and try it out. I also noticed that many of my readers sent comments with the same site. Thanks to all of you that sent me cures!! I will give them a try and see what happens.

Sherri and I had our coffee this morning and pretty much decided that we were just going to spend time on our computers while the wash was being done. We are washing clothes this morning and then we will take them to the barn to dry. Our dryer is still out in the RV and we have not stopped long enough to have it repaired. I will have to remove it from the RV and take it to a repair facility.

While this is all going on we are contemplating doing our Income Tax on Turbo Tax…the free short form. We don’t have to go the long form anymore…Duh! No more than we make it is a wonder we pay any taxes at all! We want to get it done so we can take that big return and buy us a hamburger and cold drink.

 We had a good time with June and Jim

Last night we had company come to see us. Jim and June  came by to visit and we had a real nice dinner…Thanks Sherri for a great meal! June and Jim live in Hitchcock Texas just north of Galveston. Sherri and I love spending time with them. They are up here for First Monday Trade Days. They took off early to come and spend some time with us…thanks we really had a wonderful time.

Well in the time that I have been posting I guess my download has taken care of the Virus??? Well let me put it this way…no pop ups so far. I may have to tweak it somewhat to make it better. Thanks again to all my readers out there that contributed to this fix. Maybe I can chat once more and not be knocked off by that virus.

Our new driveway….will it ever dry out?

Better get the clothes together and get ready to head to the barn. We will dry clothes out there and I may piddle around in my shop for a while. Sure will be glad when my driveway dries out…

Somewhere in Time