Our Last Day "at Camp"

Today is our last day in Rockport and although I’m looking forward to some time back at our home base and doing pet therapy at OU Medical Center, it’s a bit sad to be leaving.  I would compare it to when we were kids and summer camp had come to an end and you had to say goodbye to all the new friends you made.  Many of them have already pulled out, but there are a few stragglers still here.  I’ve figured out that even though many of us were scheduled to pull out April 1^st, it’s all about watching the weather and picking your ‘real’ travel dates.  Some are still returning to cold weather and maybe even snow.  We are watching for storms and tornados as Oklahoma is our destination.  After watching the weather forecasts for days, it appears that we have a 2-day window with no storms along our drive to zip home so we pull out tomorrow – 2 days early.  Yes, we have a storm cellar on our RV lot.

Yesterday we started to pack up things.  After sitting for four months you tend to spread out a bit.  We took the weather station down and, of course, we had probably the highest winds we’ve had the entire time here and no way for me to see how bad it was.  I'm afraid of high winds.  My guess is we had 20+ mph winds hitting us.  We were rocking and John slept through it all!  I probably fell asleep about 2 am.

John thought he might caulk the roof, which needs to be done at least annually, but when he got up there to check it out it was covered in greenish-yellow pollen.  Since it wasn't Thursday, we couldn’t wash it off (a city rule) so we had to let that job go for now.  These live oaks shed these hard, small leaves all winter and then comes these fuzzy looking things and tons of pollen.  It’s all over everything.  The good news is my allergies slowed way down when that switch was made.  I would have thought the pollen would have done me in.

This morning the rain finally started in but I think it will clear up late morning and we could end up with high heat and humidity the rest of the day.  At least things should dry out.  We will finish packing up the things that go in the Jeep and on the cargo hauler this afternoon so getting out of here in the morning should only take about a half an hour.  John and I have this down to a fine art because we’ve done it so often that it doesn’t take us much time. We will head to the gas station first and fuel up the RV then to a shopping mall lot across the street to hook up the Jeep and check that everything works and the steering wheel really doesn’t lock up when it’s turned off as we’ve been told.  Since we bought this Jeep here, we’ve not had a chance to test it out behind the RV so we are praying all goes smoothly.

I found a new route to head home.  Rather than head up through the Ft. Worth area and then up I-35 to Sulphur, we are going to head north and east to Palestine, TX for the first night, which is north and east of Houston.  We will completely miss Houston – Yea!!!  Then stay on state highways east of Dallas up to Lake Texoma and to Cedar Blue and completely avoid Dallas – Yea!!  I hate traveling through big cities.  If this works well, we will stick with this route.

We’ve had a great winter here at Wilderness Oaks RV Resort and Rockport, TX and look forward to returning in about 8 months.  After 10 weeks in Sulphur, we will be heading out on our next big adventure - 6,000+ miles through the NW quadrant of the country and Banff.  Yep, there will be lots more photos coming on Facebook.  Please keep us in your prayers for safe travels.

Magnificent Texas Coastal Bend Sunsets and Sunrises

In Rockport we are located on a peninsula with Aransas Bay on the east and Copano Bay on the west and both are a very short distance from the RV park.  We always thought that the sunrises and sunsets in Oklahoma were beautiful but what we’ve seen here in Rockport is indescribable.  To really appreciate them, we do need to actually go to the water’s edge.  It’s not uncommon to arrive at the water only to find lots of clouds giving the impression that there won’t be much of a show.  What we’ve learned is to just sit it out and even if it’s when the sun is at the horizon and almost gone, it may peak out from the cloud cover and produce an amazing show.  When shooting over the water and with some clouds, the reflections and explosions of light into the sky are breathtaking.  Sometimes you miss the sun altogether because of the clouds but then they move away and there’s still an impressive show of color and rays.  Patience and perseverance is the key.  We’ve spent a great deal of time exploring around these bays looking for places to shoot with other interesting forms of nature for the pictures.  Our favorite place for sunsets has a small sandbar a few yards from the shore that fishermen wade out to in the evenings with their chairs and poles.  Fishing piers with some interesting detail around them or marshes with birds are always nice.  So here’s some of the pics that John has captured.

Sunset

                Sunrise

New Jeep, Towing Vehicles, Salt and the RV and Killing Fleas

The week started with losing an hour of sleep when daylight savings time started.  Not sure I’ll ever get used to that.  Usually I wake up about 7 am and then just lay in bed and watch TV for an hour before getting up and getting my day going.  Well we are a few days into the new time thing and I’m slowing working my way back to waking up at 7 instead of 8 am.  But, hey, we’re retired, so does it really matter?

We’ve been saving up with the hopes of upgrading our jeep from a 2-door to a 4-door with more storage in the back end.   Well we finally reached a financial point that I could start looking around.  For a few months now I’ve been searching the internet for just the right jeep – you know, low mileage, low price, but bigger than ours….  I’ve been watching for them back in the Oklahoma City and Sulphur area but just for fun started looking at the Corpus Christi area as well.  Then BAM, there it was one day sitting on a BMW lot in Corpus!  Everything we were looking for as well as a great price and low mileage plus two years newer than ours.  I spent time in prayer over this and God just kept the door open.  In the end, we got more than I expected for a trade and the price on the jeep we bought was well under book. 

On Monday we cleaned up our old jeep and cleaned everything out of it and on Tuesday went to Corpus to make the deal.  We had to take the old jeep to a hitch place to have the tow bar removed and next Monday we will go back with the new jeep to get it reinstalled.  Then John will add some things like a quick disconnect on the battery and some things we need to hook up our brake system for towing.  Glad he’s so handy.  See my info on towing a vehicle at the end of this blog.

 On Wednesday we made a trip back out to the Aransas Wildlife Refuge to check out some more areas we hadn’t walked into.  We were looking for a place we had heard had several gators and when we thought we found it, I stayed in the car with the dogs while John trekked around it.  Sure enough, he found 5 of those bad boys and at least one was resting with his head facing the walking path about 5’ away.  John agreed, no dogs on that trail whether they are carried or not.  Gators can move very fast and we are not interested in them having our girls for dinner.

The fleas in south Texas are horrible!  Our girls have never had fleas but they got them here even with Frontline Plus.  The vet in Rockport said the topical treatments don’t seem to work.  I guess the fleas have become immune.  They don’t have a cold enough winter to kill them off either.  So, she gave us Nexgard, which is a chewable.  After reading about it we were hesitant to give it to them for fear of seizures or even death but finally we felt at peace about it and gave it to them this week.  Thank goodness they didn’t have any adverse reactions to it so they should be flea free now.  Yea!!  We’ll definitely have a chit chat with our regular vet about this.  I had just purchased 6 months of Frontline Plus and don’t want that to go to waste.  Hopefully, I can use that up when we get back north and then we may need to move to Nexgard.  It isn’t cheap though.

Thursday was cleaning day.  Even though we aren’t right at the water, the salt water still gets on the cars and RVs so we had Scrub Monkeys come out and give the RV a good washing.  We topped that off with putting on a roof treatment to keep the roof in good shape.  Now John just needs to get up there and check all the caulking.  I headed to the laundromat with all the bedding, rugs, dog beds, and blankets to deflea all those things.  It’s going to be nice to be rid of all that problem.

Even though we don’t own a home, there is still maintenance that needs to be done to the RV and if it’s a motorhome, there is maintenance with the engine, chassis, tires and keeping the wheels balanced.  Once a year we take it into a truck place for routine preventive maintenance and a truck tire place to check the tires and the wheel balancing.  We also have to maintain the generator and change the oil in it as well as check the coach batteries, which often need distilled water.  Right now we are dealing with a refrigerator that has problems and the first company we hired just walked away from us as they didn’t want to mess with it.  So now we are waiting for a second company to come and take a look.  We prefer to use mobile RV repair folks so we don’t have to move out of it for days at a time.  So more to come with that.   John is learning a lot of things himself thanks to online videos.  In fact, an RV group offers an RV technician school that we are looking at.  You can either attend it in person or purchase the videos and materials and do it at your own pace.  May be worth it.

Towing a Vehicle – We used to bring a car and a motorcycle with us on the road and had a huge trailer that the bike would sit crosswise in and the front wheels of the car went up on the back of it.  It was a front wheel drive vehicle so towing it that way was not a problem.  The problems came with the two straps that went over the wheels.  We went through several of them as they would wear out from the wheels moving around when we turned.  Maybe we just weren’t getting them on right, but as we got older loading all that up and having to push that trailer around became more than we wanted to deal with so we sold all of it and bought a Jeep Wrangler. 

The Jeep can be towed with all four wheels on the ground.  BE AWARE – not all vehicles can be towed this way and it is imperative that you check the manual or go online to find the vehicle you want to tow in the Motorhome Dinghy Towing Guide.  For those that can be towed this way, there are still lots of instructions – some are limited to how fast you can go, some must be started after so many hours, how do you get them setup with the transmission and battery so they can be towed and so on.  We have a 4-wheel drive automatic Jeep Wrangler and it’s a breeze.  The battery must be disconnected so we put in a quick disconnect.  With the key turned to on you put the regular transmission in neutral, then the 4-wheel into neutral and then the regular transmission into park.  Start the vehicle up and put it in drive or reverse and see if it moves – hopefully it doesn’t.  Then hook up and you’re good to go.  There are no speed limits or driving time limits on it.

Also know, that in most states if you are towing a vehicle over 3,000 lbs. you will be required to have a brake system of some sort in the vehicle.  Some states require it regardless of weight.  There are several different types to choose from so you will need to do your homework. 

That’s all for now.  Have a great day!

Our 26h Wedding Anniversary

It’s a much needed rainy day in south Texas today so we’re going to need to keep busy with some inside things.  Might even try some 2-handed Hand and Foot cards.  John has gone off for another therapeutic massage for his back.  He says they are helping a bit with his usual back pain. 

Yesterday we celebrated our 26^th wedding anniversary!  I cannot believe all the things we have done in the past 26 years.  We have had such wonderful experiences traveling as well as involvement in various church

ministries.  Now we are living our dream of being full-time RVers and not having to work.  Last night we enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Charlotte Plummer’s restaurant on the coast of Aransas Bay.  It was overcast but still the view was very enjoyable.  We still need to go down to one of the bayside restaurants for drinks and appetizers one day about 4 pm to see all the fishing boats come in.  This time of year they are hauling in oysters.  This was our first visit to this restaurant and the food was wonderful. 

John had blackened redfish and I had crab and shrimp stuffed flounder. We also enjoyed a shrimp and crab dip appetizer and finished a wonderful meal with a very good bread pudding.  I still say the bread pudding at the Bourbon Street Café in Oklahoma City is the best I’ve ever had, but this one was a close 2^nd place!

This past week the park managers and staff put on a
good-bye party for all the winter Texans and it was a huge success.  It was a western theme.  They built a chuck wagon topper for one of the tables to serve the food from and served hot dogs, beans, potato salad, deviled eggs, fruit and the cutest cupcakes with solid chocolate cowboy hats on them.  There was some line dancing, races, bean bag toss and lots of fellowship.  The staff and guests are all such great folks.

Just Enjoying Life

Yesterday several winter Texans pulled out of the park to head toward home or other areas of the country.  It was a bit sad to see some of our new friends go but, thanks to Facebook, we will be able to stay in touch.  We have felt so at home at Wilderness Oaks RV Park and Rockport, TX this winter.  I’ve had a chance to get to know our neighbor, Carrie, and have so enjoyed becoming friends.  Amazingly enough, she and I were born in the same hospital in Rochester, MN!  What were the odds of that happening? 

I’m finding many of the folks in the park inspiring.  A lot of them are several years older than me and many are dealing with physical and medical issues including cancer, but they continue to come for the winter and not let these things get in their way.  Some of these folks could easily outdo me when it comes to physical activity.  Some get in the outdoor heated pool three mornings a week for exercise regardless of the temperature – and some mornings have been in the 40s and 50s. 

I came down here with big plans of losing weight and that has not happened.  My intention was to use the workout center regularly and really focus on that but alas that has not been the case.  There are so many restaurants and gatherings with food that I've just set that plan aside.  So now I've gained weight and it's time to get serious.  I joined Weight Watchers this week and am tracking my food and so far I'm down a few pounds.  Yea!  Now to keep it up.

It has also been wonderful to encounter so many Christians from so many different denominations.  Several of us had been getting together weekly for a Bible study which was led by a wonderful lady.  Unfortunately, she was recently diagnosed with cancer and her treatments weren’t working so she had to head back north to a cancer center.  She had such a sweet spirit and my prayers are with her and her family as well as for somebody to lead our Bible study next year.

Just walking through the park with the dogs or just by myself is a blessing.  There are always folks outside and they all have smiles on their faces and greet you with a wave or “good morning” or actually stop to visit – especially if we both have dogs with us.  The dogs also like to greet everyone. 

Have a great day!