Springtime in Texas!!

Tuesday 29 March 2022

   Last day to work this shift.  Again, not much happening Diane did rounds I cut up several logs lying around the campground into campfire sized pieces.  I finished and returned for a break by the time Diane made her afternoon rounds almost all of the wood I sawed up was already gone.  The campers must have been waiting like vultures for me to leave.  

Wednesday 30 March 2022

   Things are warming up nicely here now temps are up in the high 70's low 80's spring is here.  But with the warm temps come the spring pollen and strong winds.  The pine pollen is terrible now and wind creates a green fog to say nothing of trying to keep the vehicles clean.  Poor Rudy had to hide in between the stacks of firewood to get out of the wind. We have been trying to get some extra campfire time to use up the wood we collected but wind has not been cooperating.

It must have made him feel better.  He was still in the sun, but out of the wind!!

Thursday 31 March 2022 

Today the Moho goes to the shop to have the transmission checked.  We have had an oil leak and wanted to get it checked before we started our trip east.  So, we were up early and on the road around 9am heading to Alexanderia Louisiana just 90 miles away.  Diane mapped our way making sure we did not get on the same road we took coming here in January with 12' 3" bridge.  There weren't many options just one road, a two lane road that winds around the lakes and through all the little towns.  The first half was very rough and bumpy. The speed limit was 65 and 70 mph but I had to stay around 55 or slower to keep the dishes in the cupboards and Diane in her seat. But we made it! Arrived at lunch unhooked the truck and headed over to the transmission place.  The people seemed nice, Diane picked me up and we headed to the first restaurant we came to, it was now almost 1 o'clock and we were starved.  Food was good.  We hit a few antique stores and before we knew what happened it was 4:30 and time to check on the Moho.  It was finished and ready to go, Oh Yea, leak fixed!! We hooked up the truck and headed home. A long day but we are relieved to know the tranny is good to go.  When we hit the rough and bumpy road we stopped for a break before the last 40 mile.  We were talking having a good time when Diane says this road does NOT look familiar. We missed our turn and are now on a very narrow county road, can't turn around.  Well she got us back home without going under the low bridge and only added 30 miles to the trip. Back, parked and hooked up before dark! Wine for dinner!

Friday 1 April 2022

   It was after 7 when I got up and still wore out. Diane was up by 8 and we enjoyed a nice breakfast. We finished up breakfast Diane started planning our trip back looking for campgrounds and making reservations while I started cleaning up a bit for our cross-country trip. The first thing to go is the huge piece of cardboard I was using to crawl under the Moho to check transmission leak.  Well crap, crap and double crap.  Wouldn't you know we are still leaking transmission fluid.  I went in told Diane she hung up the phone as the day went from wonderful to just wandering in a flash. I took some pictures sent them to the transmission guy, he texted back "they're thinking we need a new boot" and he would call when he found one. Five O'clock somewhere time arrived and no answer so we had a big glass of wine with dinner.

Saturday 2 April 2022

    Another nice day. We headed up to Lufkin to hit a bunch of antique stores we missed the last time. First thing of course was lunch, first we found a nice bistro but all they were serving was breakfast next little place had a nice selection but no dining area.  The place we found was Mom's Diner just a little place you stand in line to order, and they delivered to our table, Diane had a chicken quesadilla and I had a grilled chicken fajita. Done eating we hit the antique stores and found one item so the trip was a success. Back to the Moho, walked Rudy, left overs for dinner.

Sunday 3 April 2022

    A nice day today and Diane wanted to take advantage by steam cleaning the Moho floor, on yea. But it needed done why, you ask, because I spilled coffee creamer during our return trip from the repair shop and the floor was still sticky. We were done by the middle of the afternoon Diane went to the store while I finished putting the rugs and stuff back in the camper.  I called Diane but she couldn't talk fire trucks and such passing her, wondering where the fire was.  Turns out it was beside us.  The pit where we dump ashes and fire pit debris had caught fire and spread to the surrounding woods.  It did come very close to the volunteer's camper, luckily the fire department put it out quickly.  We had hot dogs and hamburgers today, hot dogs for lunch and hamburgers for dinner they just seemed to go together. Another nice day.

The fire is still smoldering 2 days after the original fire.....we are keeping an eye on that.  

Monday 4 April 2022

   Back on duty today a lot of campers leaving and only 4 checking in.  That's the way it goes we fill up on Thursday and Friday and empty out on Sunday or Monday.  There was a Grand Design rally down the road at the KOA, so this weekend and both us and the KOA were packed. Diane did the rounds checking people in and out while I went around pulling out signpost that were loose, the COE are replacing them all and we are just helping.  I did get ahold of the transmission guy and have tentatively scheduled transmission rework for Monday the 11th as we head home.  Certainly hope they get it done right this time.  Diane had to run to headquarters to do paper work and picked up wings for dinner on her way back. Sat by the fire with a glass of wine.

Springtime has arrived in Texas!!

 

    

Side trip for us, off to Louisiana!!

Tuesday March 22, 2022

  I nice day today.  We spent most of the day getting ready to for the drive to visit Buddy and Thresa.  I packed up outside and locked the big stuff up.  The others host told us a few things have disappeared over the years so we took/locked everything, except the sewer hose nobody will touch that. Diane ran into town to get groceries and anything else we needed for the trip.  Just sausages for dinner and we called it a night.

Wednesday March 23, 2022

  Quite a bit breeze today as we packed and headed over to Walker LA to visit with Buddy and Teresa.  We picked out what we thought was a good route to take.  There is no main highway down to I-10 so we angled across Texas  to Baton Rouge.  While the first couple of hours went well things took a turn.  We found a spot to stop for lunch(a rodeo arena) had lunch a cup coffee and headed back out.  Not long after that the road narrowed just a bit then a bit more. Soon there was no berm. The last cup of coffee kicked in and I needed to pull over, can't!  By now we are in the middle of rice paddy farming country, absolutely no berm at all just irrigation ditches. Diane mapped us down to I-10 and found a truck stop and I got to go the bathroom. We get on I-10 rolling to the Baton Rouge KOA, arrival time 4pm not all that bad, enough time to have a drink with Buddy and Teresa.  About a hour out my luck kicks in and traffic starts to slow down and soon comes to crawl.  It was almost 6pm until we parked. much of that time we spent sitting on the bridge over the Mississippi River.  The bridge is really old so every time a truck passed, the Moho would shake and sway. couldn't wait to get off of it.  No visit tonight! We were frazzled we had a large glass of wine with burgers and called it a day.

Sitting on the bridge over the Mississippi River.

Thursday March 24, 2022 (Happy Birthday Shari)

   After a cooked breakfast we packed up Rudy and headed over to visit with Buddy and Teresa.  The sun was out and it was warm as I cooked breakfast, so just before we left I put on shorts wasn't long until the clouds rolled in and I was froze most of the day.  We haven't seen them since before covid and Teresa had and is just now over a very serious bout with breast cancer.  It took awhile to catch up on everything and before we knew it, it was 2pm and I needed something to eat.  Teresa made 2 boxes of toasted raviolis and the four of us ate them all.  We were planning on home made pizza for dinner and with eating that late we were not that hungry.  We played a game of Mexican train which took some time and by 7pm we were hungry, so Buddy made us our pizza.  One everything and one for Diane and I sausage, mushroom and onion. Buddy's learned to cook at his family's restaurant and he is good.  He chopped and cooked all the topping for the pizza while talking with the rest of us.  The pizza was great by time we were all done and ready to leave it was after 9pm and well after my bed time when we got back to the Moho. 

The pizza was delicious!!

Friday March 25, 2022

    Our second and final day to visit with Buddy and Teresa so we only had yogurt for breakfast. After yesterday's food fest we had to cut back.  We were planning a to go look at a RV they were interested in but decided to just hang out at their place again.  A much nicer day today but still windy,  I didn't take any chances I wore jeans and took a sweatshirt along just in case.  Diane braved it again with shorts and turn out she made the right choice.  We talked a lot, checked out the new floor in their motorhome, ordered wings for lunch.  After lunch we played another game of Mexican train. We finished (Buddy won again) in time for Buddy to cook us up a stuffed deer loin.  OMG was that good and a baked potato to go with it.  By the time we were done eating, drinking and saying goodbye it was after 9pm.  Even Rudy was worn out.  We had a good day.

Our dear friends, it was so good to see them!!

Saturday March 26, 2022

  Travel day back to Mill Creek Texas.  We were up moving by 7am but until we had breakfast at the campground, everything packed, the truck hooked up and the dog walked it was almost 10:30.  A nice day though sunny and 80+ degrees by afternoon and it is a Saturday so there was a lot less traffic.  We rolled out, picked up I-12 to I-10 traffic was good and we drove non-stop to Lake Charles (150 miles) before stopping for lunch.  After a nice lunch of salad or as nice as they get in a Wal-Mart parking lot we headed on home.  Diane was navigating us the back roads to Jasper. First road for 50 miles was a nice 4 lane road just enough red lights to keep you paying close attention. Now the second road had no route number marking when we turned onto it.  But I must say it was a decent two lane road for awhile little by little the curves got sharper and the berm faded away. We passed a little town having a craft festival and everyone was looking at us and you could imagine them saying "they must be lost".  But we came out the other end back on the main road and into Jasper.  We pulled into a truck stop filled up ($5.00 a gallon) unhooked the truck Diane headed to the store while Rudy and I headed home.  We were parked, set up and grilling dinner by the time Eric brought the camp host buggy over at 6:30.

Sunday March 27, 2022

   Another hot day today sunny and 85 degrees.  First day back on duty we have 35 campers leaving but only 12 arriving. We were busy Diane did all the rounds checking in and out the campers. I washed the windshield it was covered with bugs, washed the truck it was green with pollen and brown from road dirt.  A hour after washing it was covered with pollen again but at least you can see out of it. By afternoon it was so hot you had to work in the shade so I worked on making a sign holder for our on camp host sign.  we did have a fire but didn't sit by it just enjoyed from afar.  Chicken and grilled asparagus with a glass of wine for dinner.

Spring Break in Texas.

  First, we were on duty for four straight days, the 10th thru the 13th, with spring break in full swing the campground is busy.  We had at least 30 incoming and 10-15 checkout every day.  Things are starting to pick up quite a bit, the campground was absolutely full this week.  It was almost full last week as schools went on spring break and in the over lapping week we filled every site.  We even filled our three emergency sites.

Diane goes for a walk most
days and looks for the turtles!!

   Well, this is the first attempt using voice to text to post the blog, so here we go.  We have to add the punctuation later, so who knows what we might end up with.

   We did manage to squeeze in some fun trips, we drove over to Leesville, LA to Fort Polk to get Diane a new ID card and of course we had to hit a restaurant for lunch.  We ate Thai food and hit two or three antique stores and the exchange and commissary.  It was a nice day for a drive.  We half hated to waste the gas but we needed to get her a new ID card her, old one expired over a year ago.  We were surprised (pleasantly) with the price and selection at the commissary and filled our little cooler up with meat.

    Saturday the 19th we went into town to the azalea festival expecting to find a lot of azaleas and such for sale but only one vendor was actually selling azaleas.  It was more just an arts and craft show they just happen to have when the azaleas are starting to bloom.  The normal food trucks were there but nothing we wanted to consume, giant fried corn dogs and fried shrimp on a stick just to name a few. So after  listening to a local radio station and of course we believed everything they said "gotta be true if it is on the radio" well, I think they kind of over rated their advertisers.  We went to the Cedar Tree restaurant "best seafood" around, no it wasn't, everything was fried shrimp, catfish, clams and even their stuffed shrimp was breaded and fried.  And almost I forgot, it came with french-fries and fried hush puppy's. When we got back to the Moho I started to wash the outside and Diane cleaned inside, getting ready for a trip to Louisiana to visit with Buddy and Theresa.  

The Cedar Tree restaurant had 10 of these glass walls and they were full of Salt and Pepper shakers.  No, they wouldn't sell any to Diane.

  Sunday the 20th another beautiful day sunny 75 degrees.  We went right back to work cleaning and washing the Moho after breakfast and coffee so right around 10:30. I wore out by 3:30 and started putting my stuff away.  I must be getting older cause all the trips up and down the ladder had by knees aching.  I went in to take an Advil when I noticed 2 Shiner Bock beers sitting alone in the frig. By the time I finished the second one my knees started to feel a little better.  Diane cleaned most of the windows and screens before joining me with a glass of wine.  Grilled pork chops, a fire and the day was over.

Feet are up and we are enjoying our fire....we only have about 6 people in the campground, it has cleared out.

A Little Slow, but keeping busy!!

 Not much happening in the last ten days or so but here are the highlights anyway the best we can remember. Pay attention to the gas prices. 

Wednesday 23 February 2022

Today was a fun day.  We went to Lufkin ate lunch Tia Juanita's it was pretty good, hit a coin store, antique store, Walgreens, truck accessory store. Home Depot and lastly was gas at 3.15 gal 

Thursday 

Ranger Sophie dropped off four site marker posts and equipment to pound them in. I guess she didn't want to overwhelm us with supplies for 110 sites. She is in her mid 20's probably figures we are old or something.

Friday

Diane had P/T Cold and windy spent the day in the Moho.

Rudy won't let me
throw the old bed
quilt away!!

Saturday

  Cool with drizzle and wind.  We were hiding in the Moho most of the day but couldn't take any more. We finally went out and put in 24 site post just to get out of the Moho.

Brad can finally keep himself busy!

Sunday

    Cold rainy, drizzle, windy again stayed in the Moho most of the day. I went out long enough to clean the grill thoroughly took about an hour.

Monday

  Worked, started our three-day stint.  We cleaned off pads for section opening March 1st.  We found 3 sites with no electric, not even an electric box and all three have reservations next month.  This should be good trying to rearraigning people as they show up.

Tuesday 1 March 2022

Workday.  The weather is getting nice, so we worked outside all day.  I worked on signposts and Diane made all the rounds and did check ins. First day and she had to rearraigned two campers that had the sites with no electric boxes. She had to make an emergency run to local store for wine somehow, we ran out.  Very nice day, we had a fire and enjoyed the evening.

There is a boater in this pic,
out for a little evening
fishing!!

Wednesday

   The last workday this shift and another gorgeous day.  We worked on signposts just to stay busy, it makes us feel like we are contributing.  So far, we have put in 65 or so posts with about 45 left to go.  It's not hard and we get to talk to a lot of the campers.  Starting March 1st there is a paid contractor who cleans restrooms, firepits and mows around the campsite so we need something to work at.

 Thursday

    First was P/T for Diane. Grocery day, phone call day and just catching up kind of day.  I found a tree to cut up for firewood.   Another campfire and Burgers for dinner.

Friday

   

   The good weather is still holding up.  Diane went to get her hair done and I just puttered around the Moho.  The campground is starting to fill up, 17 checked in yesterday and 27 today and kids everywhere you look.  In the afternoon we went to put numbers and clamps on some posts just to see how it worked, not so well.  Of the first eight post we did we had four of the clamps on backwards and had to drill them out.  But by the time we hit 20 we had it down pat.  Wine by the campfire and Chicken on the grill.

Saturday 5 March 2022

   We were up and rolling out of here by 10am, not bad for us.  We were heading to San Augustine for some antiquing.  But first I wanted to stop by a flea market in Hemphill, but they were closed.  But since we were already off track we drove over to Louisiana for lunch.  What a find The Fishermen's Galley Diane had the catfish platter and I had...the chef's Cajun Grilled Catfish Special, catfish topped with crawfish etouffee over rice. Then we hit a flea market, three antique stores, coin shop and before heading home I filled up with gas.  $3.69 a gallon, go back to the start of this post I paid $3.15 a gal.  Thank you president O'Biden 50 cents increase in ten days.

I found this on Facebook,
had to re-post it!!

Happy Valentine Day!! 💘💘 Some Interesting Days!!

 Monday February 14, 2022, HAPPY VALENTINEs DAY!!!

   Diane headed into PT like any Monday. They worked her hard today trying to get her back into shape before the sessions run out.  We relaxed most of day and made these huge T-bone steaks for Valentine's Day meal.  And no, we didn't eat it all, close, but not quite, enough left for on a salad tomorrow.  We were sitting inside just after dark when Diane hears a noise, I run out trying to keep the coon/cats, whatever from getting in the grill. I was too late; we were already raided.  But being in such a hurry to get out the door I broke the plexiglass slider in the door. Something else to fix!

Tuesday February 15, 2022

   I headed into town right after breakfast for a piece of plexiglass and to look for a ladder, a good study 8-footer so I can safely wash and wax to Moho. I couldn't make my mind up and couldn't find anyone to get help from, so I came home without a ladder.  We put the trail camera out to catch the critter in the act.  The first time they almost knocked the grill completely off the table and now they barely move it at all.  We will find out tonight.  In the meantime, Diane ordered us a roll of the felt we need for the edge of the plexiglass, for now I have one old piece and one new piece. It works.

Wednesday February 16, 2022

    Diane goes in for PT, her last scheduled session.  She is doing so well, now walking without a cane or anything.  She gets done and they tell her they would like to see her one day a week for four more weeks, for strengthening and just make sure she is not regressing.  She gets home and we get the camera card to see who the guilty party is.  As we look through the pictures it turns out the coons now can remove the grease pan clean it out without disturbing the grill at all.   BUT we also have a couple cats and the neighbor's dog visiting during the night. It seems we will have to shift some blame to the other critters. 

The neighborhood cats, raccoon and Frisbie the dog, all visiting

our site, we are the only ones that cook out.  

Thursday February 17, 2022

   We went to town, stopped at Martin Mexican Restaurant for lunch, it was good but nothing over the top. I dropped Diane off at the grocery store, went to a computer repair store picked up a fan to put in the electronic cabinet, then over to Lowes for my ladder and back to pick up Diane.  I have enough projects going, somedays I don't know which one to work on.

Friday February 18, 2022.   This would have been Shawna's 50th (we miss her)

     Workday today and our first busy weekend 17 campers coming in. I got busy checking campsites and restrooms while Diane went to the Verizon store to switch her old phone over to me. Despite the fact she spent two hours there 2 days ago getting her new iPhone, she had to start all over again and spent another two hours in the store today.  At least it was no cost.  Then she had to go to a phone repair shop to download my phone data 'cause my iphone4 was to old for Verizon to work with. Then she headed to pick up a chain saw that I looked at last week.  It is just a small electric one to keep in the Moho. 
     I made all the rounds in the campground, had everyone checked in and taken care of.   By the time Diane made it home around 5pm.  The temps dropped as the wind picked up quite a bit. We made the last round people were all huddled around campfires, and some had "interesting" devices to block the wind and stay warm.   I guess the holiday weekend got everyone out. 

When a campfire isn't enough, bring the heaters out,

and on a windy day, build a wall!!

Saturday February 19, 2022

    We made our rounds, cleaned the restrooms, picked up some debris that blew around the campground.  After lunch I went to saw up some limbs and downed trees that need to be removed.  Diane says I was playing with the new saw.  I can neither confirm nor deny the actual reason, but the saw works well, and I was happy.  The wind finally died down, the sun came out and campers were out and about.  Kids everywhere!!  The temps only made it into the 50's but the sunshine made it feel warm.  Everyone was having a good time.  In between rounds Diane put the felt on the windows and I installed it and guess what, the felt was too thick you couldn't slide open the slider.  Figured I'll trim it up tomorrow. It was a good day! 

Sunday February 20, 2022

    I got up had a coffee took Diane a cup of coffee to her in bed and poof the day went to crap!! Diane spilled her coffee (which was in a sippy cup) it ran over the ledge, down beside the mattress and came to rest under the bed frame.  That was it! We spent most of the day tearing the bed apart along with the bed frame and then putting it all back together. And when we made it to the bottom, cleaned everything we noticed there appears to be mold along the outside edge of the platform.  I wanted to work on the plexiglass but spent two hours looking for my razor knife which I never found. Just another adventurous day of living in the Moho. The weather was nice today and the ground was busy with outdoor gatherings/parties.

The suspected mold under the bed!  UGH!!

Monday February 21, 2022

    Workday today and even with the holiday, not much going on.  The kids are out early this morning riding bikes, playing on the playground just happy to be out of the campers. Another nice day! It was warm we actually had shorts on all day. We made our rounds visited with some campers and enjoyed the sunshine.  Diane ran to Dollar General for a few items and to get me a new razor knife they didn't have any anyway.  We have chicken on the grill sat outside until dark. A really nice day.

Tuesday February 22, 2022

    Another warm day today but wind was terrible overnight and throughout the day.   First was breakfast on the grill, been a long time since it was warm enough to grill breakfast.  We heard a tree crash last night and found a large pine had broken off and feel onto the boat parking area.  I grabbed the new chain saw and headed out.  The tree was already dead and just kind of blew apart when it hit the macadam.  We cleaned it up and yes, I had to saw a few pieces off to clear the area.  We were going through Diane clothes container in the basement storage she looked down and says there is your knife lying.  I don't know why it wasn't in my toolbox but there it was. With knife in hand, I finally got the plexiglass back in the screen door.

I've missed a few projects, so I'll sum then up.

The steps, I spent hours upon hours checking the wiring on the steps made several phone calls to manufactures and watched ten or more u-tube videos.  ...All done the steps work well BUT when you hit the remote lock the steps come in and out.  I quit.

The plexiglass, a simple job but it took me all week, two trips to town one, online order, countless hours looking for my tools.  All done looks good just took way to long.

The ceiling lights.  Two ceiling light were blinking so we (Diane) researched part numbers called Winnebago and ordered two new ones.  Another easy job took one to the bathroom, got the old one out hooked up the new one and it is just a mm to big.  Go get 10 more tools cut a little, bent a little and finally installed the new one.  Next the kitchen light. I can't get the lens off to even start.  Watch a video, posted on FB and checked with co-worker none of the ideas worked. Still lying on the dash.

The bed.  A simple job of cleaning up some coffee turned into an all-day job. I watched a video on dismantling the bed frame, I needed drill, screw drivers, flashlights, vacuum and of course some rags. And when we were done, we still have the suspected mold to deal with. Another day for that.

I get a lot of things started. They take 10 times longer than I think and often find something else to fix while I'm working.  I love RVing!

A slow but productive week.

Week 7 -11 February 2022

  Not much happening this week.  The weather finally turned nice and we had four days that it reached into the 70's.  As luck would have it, we worked three of those days Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Diane had p/t Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  With the nice weather we grilled out a few times and sat by the fire two evenings. 

     The big accomplishment this week was cleaning and fixing the slide topper and cover on the big slide out.  The slide is 25 feet long and collects a lot of debris over time.  We cleaned it last fall and noticed the end cap was broke but I put it back together enough to hold to get us out of PA then I forgot about it.  In the last blog I mentioned the tension on the spring.  Diane did some research on how to retention the spring correctly for the length of the slide, eight counterclockwise turns.  Wednesday we were surprised(pleasantly) when our part from Carefree Awnings showed up much earlier than we expected.  They said 3 weeks or more, it was here in a week.  So, Thursday I got the pressure washer out and started the task of cleaning out the debris, it was a little harder than I thought it would be, the stuff was packed in so tight I had to dig some out with my hands.  Diane was my safety observer, she sat outside reading her book, but with her phone handy in case things went south.  Everything went well it took over 2 hours to get it cleaned and another hour to clean up the mess.  I was hoping to get it all back together but that will have to wait.

The mess in the awning cover,
how does that stuff get in there?

Brad cleaning out the mess.

The mess left on the patio, YUK.

All cleaned up and ready
to put back together.  

    Friday after Diane's p/t and after rounds in the campground it was time to tackle the spring and end cap issue. It is the last warm day for a while so we had to get-er-done. I got the ladder and all my tools read while Diane got her book and chair, but today she was helping more than reading.  As I dropped wrenches and screws over and over, she would find them and hand them back up.  First try didn't go well and the re-tensioned spring got away from me, on the second attempt we made it.  The story doesn't do it justice because it took two hours or more with lots of frustration and nervy situations, but we made it. As the last screw went in the Shinner Bock came out. Oh yea!  

Saturday 12 February 2022

  This is the story of me getting a pair of $450.00 sneakers.  Sitting by the fire last night after climbing the ladder umpteen times we noticed they my sneakers were coming apart in the front.  So, we headed out for sneakers.  We left this morning at 8:30, guess what we did first, yep stopped for breakfast at Stumps, back in the truck next was gas, then to the shoe store, after we stopped at an antique store where Diane found two items she had to have.  Then the shoe store where I found a pair of Skechers right off while Diane shopped around a bit.  We left an hour later with three pairs of shoes.  We headed back into town, it was after 1:00pm so we stopped at Shrimp Boat Manny's for lunch.  I researched a few silver dollars while waiting for lunch.  Food was great but it was 2:30 until we were done.  I dropped Diane off at an outlet store and went back for my silver dollar at the antique store.  I picked her up and we headed home with my sneakers and all the other goodies we purchased today.  So, the trip for sneakers cost us breakfast, gas, lunch, two extra pairs of shoes, two trips to the antique store totaling $450 plus the sneakers. It was good day and besides, we had fun.

  Back to the Moho poor Rudy must have had his legs crossed, he ran out the door. 

PT, PT and more PT and a then a bit of sight-seeing!!

 Monday 31 January 2022

  Diane headed in for PT while Rudy and I finished packing up the Moho.  We pulled out at 9:30 and arrived in Jasper just as Diane finished up with PT.  After hooking up the truck we headed to Houston to sign the paperwork on our new/next Moho.  We parked at our campground around 3pm.  It rained most of the way down, let up while we parked and walked Rudy, then rained most of the night.  We were a bit nervous about tomorrow activities.   We ordered wings and talked about how we would fix up the new unit. 

Tuesday 1 February 2022

     We were up early and despite the fact that we were only 25 miles from the dealership, we were still late arriving, who would have guessed. Once we arrived we walked in/through/around the new unit, checked where stuff would or would not fit.  Found several more broke, worn and not working items. We sat at the table and almost simultaneously said we wanted to keep ours. Into the office told them we changed our minds. They were very nice about it; said they understand it is hard to trade to an older unit. So off we go back to Sam Rayburn.  We got back by 5pm hooked everything up and started a list of things to fix/upgrade on the Moho and promised we won't go look at another Moho. The other hosts were over to see what the decision was.

It's a 2010 Ventana, just couldn't do it.  

Wednesday 2 February 2022

   Diane went to PT, it was just plain miserable cold, raining and windy.  She came home and we stayed in. Diane baked a cake (Keto) to help keep the Moho warm (or herself entertained). When the rain quit I started in on my first Moho project, replacing the broken end cap on the slide topper (the big one).  I loosened the back endcap and opened the metal cover I moved to the front one and as I loosened the one remaining screw the whole thing broke loose. The spring which was fully tensioned with the slide being out left loose. Luckily all my body parts were out of way and no injuries, but the noise scared Diane, she thought I fell off the ladder. She ran out (as fast as she goes) to check on me. Now I have one more thing to do, try to find out how to retention the spring while installing a new end cap.  In the meantime we can't bring the slide in until it is fixed.  Three weeks at least until new part arrives. Now we are having fun.

Thursday 3 February 2022

    Today was the long awaited volunteer luncheon.  The rangers provided all the food all homemade.  The food was great, one of the best items was beer bread.  We hung out and met some of the other volunteers from all the campgrounds scattered around the lake. We got back to the Moho about three walked Rudy several times.  He didn't need the walks but we did.   

Friday 4 February 2022 

   The coldest day yet 26 degrees this morning when we got up.  Dallas just above us got hammered with snow and ice, luckily we didn't get anything.  Diane was getting ready for PT and as she walked back to get her phone she stepped on Rudy's paw, he yelped but she couldn't pick her leg up very quick and after the second yelp he nipped her pretty hard. She moved and he crawled all over her licking her leg, I'm sure he was feeling bad.  They both felt bad and made up quickly.  She headed to PT early just in case the roads were icy, but they were dry.  We stayed home as the counties around us all had icy road issues.  

Saturday 4 February 2022

   A nice sunny morning but only 29 degrees. After a nice breakfast we headed up to Hemphill, Texas.  First stop...are you ready... was not lunch! It was a NASA Museum for the Space Shuttle Columbia, which blew up and crashed right near were we are staying, on February 1st, 2003, 19 years ago. It is a small museum but full of a lot of history and information.  Many stories of how this very rural town of less than 2000 pulled together to feed and house some 10,000 people, both government and civilian that came to search/collect debris over a 100,000-acre debris field.  To best sum it up people who were away from their homes for whatever reason called back and let workers stay in their home for as long as they needed it. Food came from private citizens, homemade casseroles local eggs and meats, enough to feed everybody for days, until supplies came in.  The bodies of all seven astronauts were found. Best part, our museum guide was part of the first searchers in the fields and was present when one of the astronaut's remains were located.  A very moving and informative visit. We would recommend to anyone in the area.

   Next was lunch at a small coffee shop in old town Hemphill.  We split a chicken and basil panni and it was good.  Best part is the decor/atmosphere of the place was very veteran oriented. We took a bunch of pictures and I'm sure Texas is one of only a few states you can sell toy guns in a family restaurant. Go Texans. And of course, it wouldn't be a complete day without hitting all the antique stores which we could find.  Four stores but no purchases came close on a few items but went home empty handed.

   It was nice to get back into our old routine especially with Diane walking almost unassisted just using/carrying a cane.

Our tour guide at the museum,
was part of the rescue crew and
a wealth of information!!

The restaurant had a lot of military honor displays,

but on the side, they sold pop rifles for kids!!