Back on the Road Again

Sherri and I are back on the road again...working. Once again we got up early this morning and got everything ready to head out to our next job. We got loaded about 6:30 and arrived on time. Not much to say about the days events other than it was not as much fun as walking up and down the beach early in the morning watching the sun come up over the Gulf.

We are planning on taking some time off here as soon as there is a break in the action and we will have some neat things to write about. Things that you will enjoy reading about and I will even have pictures to boot.

Stay tuned for the upcoming adventure to get better when we break away from the hum drum day to day work. By the way I finished a few of the projects at the lake and I will have to post them as soon as I return home and down load them to the computer. I left my camera at home this week so next week I will get everything loaded and let you see my progress.

Until that time Sherri and I will say so long for a while...We will return...

Somewhere in Time

Good Weather at Last

Sherri and I spent our last day off at our lake property. We woke up around 7:00 and enjoyed coffee together on the deck. We planned out some more improvements to the place and tried to project ahead and see when we might be able to afford the additional work. Time we always have been able to come up with...but money...that is a different thing.

We have to travel today but before we do we have to complete our wash and packing up all our clothes for the week. Sherri would not trade her new laundry room for anything. We have it all fixed up and we almost have all the stuff situated so she has room to work at her desk and relax in her TV room. Not much more work in that area and we will be done.

We made it to our next job and are tucked away in our Hotel room. Spending some time on the computers reading journals and Sherri playing her games. We have to go to work in the morning and hope to get off early. After work we plan on eating at Chuys...which is just down from us. Well that is about all the news from this side of town. Hope everyone is having fun...I will continue to read about it each night when I settle back here at the desk...

Somewhere in Time

The Storms Came and We Remain

We got home late last night and after we got the coach all set up we turned the TV on to see what the weather was doing. While driving in from Louisiana we had heard that East Texas was in the path of some real bad weather so we were concerned about high winds. Seems like we are having a lot of that lately.

Sure nuff we had some real bad weather Friday. Down town Wills Point had some straight line winds that tore off some roofs and pulled down some power lines. We are about 12 miles north of town and had some real strong winds but no damage to our property. Thank you Lord for sparing us one more time this Spring Season!

I have several projects to complete this week end and with the rain and the wind I was afraid I would not get them done. I was in luck...Saturday the wind did not blow and we got our deck finished and almost completed our rail around the deck.

We have this year to get our home base completed...while we still have income. Sherri will be retiring 18 months from now and we wont have enough income to build and travel so....we will finish all these home projects so when we come here to stay for a month or so we wont have to work.

Everything is coming together nicely and as soon as I have a chance I will put some pictures up of our progress. A little every weekend and before long it while all get done...

Somewhere in Time

Addition to the new Barn

Sherri and I heard the alarm go off this morning but did not move. She did turn over after several minutes and turn the thing off. We did not need to get up this morning so we just laid there for the longest time. Finally her phone started beeping...the battery was running low. OK we both decided to get up and start our day.

I went in and made the coffee and Sherri wrapped up in a blanket on the coach. It was actually cold this morning. After getting the coffee started I went over and turned the heat on. The thermostat said it was 60 inside so I put it up to 68. As soon as I hit the button it came on and before I could get settled in my chair with my coffee it was HOT.

I'll have to say one thing...we have a good heating system in our new home. Mater-a-fact we have two heaters in here. One heater in the front and one in the back and if they both kick on it gets hot fast.

This morning we are waiting for our man to get here to add some front panels to our barn. This will close the front in about 10 feet leaving us a 20 foot opening for a door. We will have to wait on the door but it will be ready when ever we come up with the funds to do it. Also on the back for the barn we are getting the gable lowered about 3 feet. This will block some of the morning sun off of us in the summer months if we are here.

If we are here is really what we don't know...We are not sure what months we will be staying here. I am not partial to staying in the summer because of the heat! The spring months you have the bad weather...maybe the fall months will be our best time to stay?? No mater what months we choose we will have to stay here at least 4 or 5 months a year to replenish our money for travel time. It is 9:03 and still no one has showed up to do the work? Hopefully they will show up...

Somewhere in Time

And they did...

Well we are back in Louisiana again! I think I just might move over here as long as we are coming here every week. We have several days here this week and then next week we are scheduled to come back here for one more week.
Sherri and I both were up early this morning but did not get off as early as we had planned. We had several items to get done before we headed this way. Clothes had to be washed and packed in the Jeep and that took some time. We had to have a cup of coffee too and then before we knew it was 10:00 am.
On the way to Louisiana we had to stop off in Longview and get the title for our truck and send it to Florida so the new owner can get his plates. It did not take long for them to sell the truck and trailer down there. Well I hope the new owners enjoy it as much as we did.
We stopped along the way to get some gas and eat a snack. We only took 30 minutes out of our drive time to complete this and then it was back on the highway.
We arrived here about 6:00 pm and hooked up with some of our co-workers for dinner. We ate at the Outback Steak House and enjoyed a real good meal. We left there and returned to our hotel for showers and some quality time on line.
Soon we climed into bed for some well needed sleep...for tomorrow will be back to the old grind...at work...

Somewher in Time

Our Kansas Family

 

Our Kansas family...

After working all day here I returned to the Hotel room to read some emails and visit some of my friends traveling around the country. One of the emails we received was one from our Son and his family in Kansas City. Brice and Jodi have two boys Evan and Brant. These boys are very special in our lives but we don't get to see them as often as we would like.

Brant was born 2 years to the day and just a few minutes apart from Evan his older brother. Now that is what I call family planning. We have not been able to attend the boys Birthday's due to our job schedule but this year we have made it our goal to get to Kansas for their Birthday no matter what comes up.

Brice did get to come down last year for a family get together and he brought Evan with him. We enjoyed their visit and it was good for Evan to meet his southern family. Evan is the same age as Kris so they had fun playing with each other. I hope that they will remain close over time. Family is real important to us and we all spend as much time together as possible.

My boys and my special little girl

Gruesome Twosome 

Dad keeping watch out as kids go wild...

My boys take a break from the action

Thanks for the pictures Son...keep them coming so we can follow our boys as they grow...

Somewhere in Time

Storms Storms and more Storms

 

Several times during the night the weather alarm kept going off telling us about storms coming in from the West. One line after another would come by and drop some rain and the wind would blow the lightning would split the night and the thunder rumbled all around.

It was quite a night of alerts...and when it was time to get up we both made our way into the kitchen to fix some coffee. We sat down and enjoyed our first cup and looked out the window at the low hanging clouds and the rain that fell off and on for some time.

Soon it was time to get dressed and start our day. We had several projects to get finished before we packed up and left for Louisiana. Yes today is the day we drive back to work. We really did not want to go but we knew that we had to. Sherri finished the wash and I finished cleaning the Jeep and loading all the luggage.

We went ahead and ate some lunch before we took off. It was a 4 hour drive and we planned on eating dinner in Monroe when we arrived. A little lunch before we left would tied us over until we arrived...

Somewhere in Time

Easter Egg Hunting

 

Visions of chocolate bunnies were dancing through my head as I was coming out of my coma. Easter is here and the Easter Bunny has dropped off some good stuff for the grandkids that are staying with us. Sherri and I tried not to disturb them when we got out of bed. I made the coffee and then pour it so we could enjoy a cup while we let the kids get a little more shut eye. Really we knew that when they woke up there would be no rest for either of us.

Wake up they did and Sherri made them aware that they had some candy in the kitchen that the bunny had left. Frankie our 3 year old wanted to know why a bunny would come by the house and leave eggs? Have you ever had to answer this kind of questions? Sherri did rather well with answering the question and it seemed to satisfy Franki for the time being.

 

Yes we had a great Easter Egg hunt  and everyone had a chance to hide and find. It took a while for the kids to calm down but they did and we got to eat some of that good food Sherri had put together.

After we ate the kids played some more and we got to visit some. We love to watch the little ones play and make be leave. We all stayed together until it got late and everyone had to call it a night. Tomorrow we all have to get back to the old grind. Sherri and I have to head out to Monroe for the week. The kids have to head back to school and their Mom has to get them ready for that time.

Sherri and I hope that all of you out there had a blessed Easter. Travel safely and come back to see us...

Somewhere in Time

Plenty of Work to be Done

 

Here it is Friday morning and I am trying to get up and make coffee. Knowing that making coffee will be the easiest thing I do all day... still does not make it that easy to get up and get going. We drank coffee and made the plan for the kids coming over. We talked each other up on how we would handle the two for two days! Our fears soon subsided and we were prepped for the coming event. Beds made ready and menus planned out. I think this will work out OK???

I built a fence around the side of our barn and came up a little short on the pickets due to a design change...some of you guys can associate with that so on the way home from the RV service center I had picked up enough to finish the fence and also some more 4 x 4 post for the barn's walls. I put an 8 ft post next to each upright in the barn 2ft in the ground with concrete to help sturdy them. This will help to cut out some of the sway in the gale force winds we get here in March and April. I still need 10 more to complete that part of the project. Digging all these holes with post hole diggers has been a daunting task.

Almost looks like I knew what I was doing.

The fence was a little easier to complete and I think it came out real nice...being this is the first fence I had ever built. It provides us with more privacy from the road. Now we can set out and not feel as though we are on display for the passer bys. Now that we have got this much done to our place we do not dread coming here for the weekend. Before we dreaded coming out here but now we really enjoy our own little campground.

I have to get everything in order today because tomorrow we have our two star borders coming for a two night sleepover. They will stay with us until Sunday and hunt Easter Eggs. Their big sisters and Mom will be over about noon time to eat lunch with us and then take the two little ones home.

Sherri and I both look forward to them coming but know that two night sleepovers can wear us down and leave us feeling sapped...

Somewhere in time

Back to Hays RV

 

We got up this morning and went down stairs to have some coffee. We are headed to Hays this morning to pick up our break system for the Jeep. they did not have the correct switch for it so we had to wait until today to get it. Not real sure how long it will take to get this installed but I am hoping that we will be in and out. I have several projects to complete at the Lake Lot and I would like to get started today.

Not much breakfast in the hotel but at least enough to get us started. We had coffee and visited for a short time and then it was off to Longview.

We arrived there a little late so we had to wait for the Tech to finish up someone that slipped in a head of us. He did get to us and we now have a break in the Jeep. They at first said that it would not work due to the fact the Jeep does not have a plug in that stays on when you turn the key off. We leave the key on when we tow...I guess to release the lock on the steering wheel? The book says we should undo the battery but I can't do that because the pump wont work on the break? I guess I will need to contact Jeep and see what I should do.

Well that is about all that happen on this day. We are back at the Lake parked in our new port and getting ready to relax for a while. Tomorrow I have to finish my fence and my patio cover. We are really settling in here and enjoying our place more and more each day. It will be a good place to come for free rent when not traveling on life's highway...

Somewhere in Time

Good Sam's Club Come Through

 

Sherri and I got up early this morning so we would have time to drink our coffee and visit for just a little bit before we had to pull out for home. We sat in the living room and sipped our coffee and recanted some of the stories we heard last night and laughed as we retold each story. It is so good to attend these reunions and visit with all the family once a year. I hope that next year some of our kids can go with us and meet some of their kin folk here.

While visiting with some of the family I learned that one of our cousins had called Good Sam's to get a tire changed. I am a member but never had to use them so I was curious to see how fast they came to the rescue. It was about 45 minutes and here they came. The guy pulled up to the MH and got right to work. In no time he had the tire off and the new one put on the wheel and back on the hub. Man I will have to say that it was very professionally done. Some papers were signed but no money changed hands and he was out of there as fast as he had arrived.

45 minutes and the guy was here to change the tire

Wham the tire was off and on the ground

Did not take long and the job was done.

I hope that I never have to have them come out for me but if they do as good a job for me as they did for our cousin then I will keep on paying for the service.

We stuck around until about 10:00 and then packed up...dumped...hook up the Jeep and we were on the road home. It was a 4 1/2 hour drive to the Lake and the wind almost drove me over the edge. I was so glad to pull into my barn when we got there. I was exhausted and ready to rest. Well the rest did not come about. I had to park level and load up the Jeep so we could head off to Tyler Texas for the week. This would be another 1 1/2 drive.

We arrived in Tyler late and checked in. Before we even unloaded our clothes we went out to eat. We then returned to the hotel and unloaded our stuff...shuffled up the elevator and unpacked. I took a nice hot shower and got ready for bed. I could not hardly hold my eyes open after such a long adventure...

Somewhere in Time