09/30/11

Good news!  We just found out that the first couple we met in San Leon, TX when we started full-time RVing in mid-May will be workampers thru the winter on Waco Lake (within 30 minutes of us).  How neat is that?!  We have been following their travels since June and should see them again in the next week or two.  This is part of what we love about this lifestyle!


We also took today to re-organize our patio.  When we brought Liberty Belle home the other day we were able to park so that we had more space.  Dinner tonight: Grilled marinated pork chops, Baked Beans (our recipe) and potato salad.
One of these days we'll learn how to cook for two!

Judy must have really felt weird standing next to the grill!

09/29/11 10:30 A.M.

WOW!~ Never realized just how inefficient the basement AC was! We slept great and the temp held true all night. Today it's supposed to go up to 101°F so we're going to find out how well it holds through the heat of the day. The plan is to set it for 68°. That's not our long-term plan, just today. Will post more later!

Our new AC look!  They feed directly into the existing duct work!

09/28/11

Well it's after 1 P.M. and we still have not received the "job done" call from Ken. We told him we wouldn't bug him but...

Picked Liberty Belle up this evening and got the "drive-thru" of the installation. Ken still has a few tweaks to make, but it's 10 PM now, and the front living area has never been this cool before. Tonight we are going to add a blanket and enjoy a night's sleep at 69°F. By this weekend I'll have the bay that originally held the basement AC converted into a tool bin.

Because it was so late by the time we got settled in again, we paid a second visit to The Pizza House of West. A neat little college hangout that isn't a college hangout - just a great place to eat good homemade pizza, spaghetti, fried catfish and their specialty Skunk Eggs. These are made up of three cheeses, bacon, chicken, jalapeños and only God and the cooks know what else, all battered then fried into a five-inch egg shape that is a meal unto itself (a very rich dish).

9/27/11

Dick took Liberty Belle in to the shop today. The new AC units look great and tie directly into the existing duct work.  Before it was all done, however, Mott's Corallary to Murphy's Law popped it's ugly head. This corallary simply states that our friend Murphy was an absolute optimist. Somewhere in all the wiring that was done, the control unit was not communicating with the "brains" of the two AC units. Bottom line is tonight we spend the night in one of the cabins at the campground so Ken can get with the manufacturer and get this cleared up first thing in the morning. Heartfelt thanks to Charles Stanley and Mindy Ray!

One of the cabins at Waco North RV Park

9/25/11
We got a visit from our long-time friend, Dave Haensly today, on his way home from the Houston area. It was a short but really good visit. Hopefully we can get together sooner than later again, but who knows? Dave is a commercial pilot and his schedule doesn't really lend itself to regular get togethers. He was in the mood for bar-b-que so we headed up to a local restaurant called "Up-In-Smoke". Good food, great company, so what more could anyone want?

Dave & Dick enjoying the warm breeze under our canopy since the AC was down.

09/24/11

Unfortunately, we have again had additional equipment failure – this time, the air conditioners.  We are waiting for 2 roof AC units to be installed, hopefully, by Tuesday.  Fortunately, we have an extended warranty on the RV, so it’s best to get all of this out of the way before next spring and summer.  Also, the weather has been cooler (especially the nights), so it has been livable!  Daytime temps are again in the mid-90s and expected to be 100 today, and we have an extreme fire danger again due to the dry weather and winds.  Time for cooler temps and some rain!  The 2 nights last weekend are just memories!!

9/17/11
Today we went to the Waco Mammoth Site just outside of Waco.  In 1978, two guys looking for arrowheads in a dry streambed came across a huge bone sticking out of the creek bottom near the Bosque River.  Knowing it was too large to be cattle or buffalo bone, they took it to Baylor University for evaluation.  Baylor opened up the excavation and found the remains of a full herd of the animals (bones) still in a protective circle, much like modern-day elephants form to protect their young.  Evidently, some 70,000 years ago they had been buried by mud from a flash flood which provided great preservation for their bones.  For the full story, check out this link! This site should be on everyone's "must do" list when in Waco.

09/16/11
We have also been sampling the area restaurants, including Wild Bill's Outlaw Steakhouse (pricy and food is OK, not great), Nors Sausage and Burger House (really good burgers) and The Czech American Restaurant (retro 1950s style daily "blue-plate special"- type meals for only $7.50).  So far, The Czech American Restaurant is by far our first pick.

09/15/11

Since being in this area of TX, we have been exploring and Dick is searching for areas to look for arrowheads.  We visited a ranch in Moody, TX and were escorted around by a dog, who appeared to be making sure we stayed on the road and only went where we were supposed to go.

A herd of wild burros

He stayed with us the entire time!

2,000-year old kitchen midden - hundreds, maybe a thousand years of habitation
 next to a limestone creek bed near Moody, TX

09/09/11

For Dick’s 66^th birthday, we had his guitar restrung and tuned, and he will hopefully learn to play.  Having 4 days off (currently Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday) and only working in the store for 15 hours per week gives us lots of personal time, which is what we had hoped for.  We are meeting some awesome people along the way, too!

09/05/11

Mike, April & the grandkids stopped by again on the return trip Monday (Labor Day), and we had a 2-hour visit with a barbeque lunch from Up In Smoke.   A very special visit!!

09/02/11
We had a surprise visit from our son Mike and his family, who were heading to Fort Worth to visit friends.  The fact that it was our 44^th wedding anniversary made the 30-minute visit even more special!

09/01/11

Met our next-door neighbors today! 5^th wheelers Richard and Barbara Chapla.  Judy and Barb seem to have hit it off instantly and have started visiting back and forth.  Turns out, they are both retired corrections officers and Richard is going to TSTI for diesel mechanics and will be here for the next two years.  Also found out that she is in jewelry sales.  They have two beautiful boxers, Tyson and Hanna – magnificent animals!  They liked our lamp post so much, that Richard built one for Barb – really did a one-upman on me (lol).

08/29/11

We arrived at Waco North/Hillsboro KOA in West, TX yesterday afternoon, checked in, found our site for the next few months (until April 1, 2012) and set up our home.  Our first week is to be spent getting settled and training for a 15-hour per week volunteer position in the camp store.

8/28/11

Friday, Michelle and Logan joined us at Margarita’s in Huntsville for Mexican food to celebrate her brother’s 43^rd birthday. We had an awesome weekend with our kids and grandkids before they went home and we began heading out to Waco.

8/25/11

We took Liberty Belle in for the repairs today.  For a change of pace, everything went smoothly. We returned to camp just as our son Mike, his wife April and our grandsons Colby and Ben arrived with their trailer for a 4-day visit.  

He doesn't do this very often!

All three grandsons having a blast playing in the mud

8/20/11

Saturday: Today, we drove to Pasadena, TX to see our new great niece Elena and bring Logan back to his Mom to get ready for school on Monday.  We also visited and had dinner with my sister Betti and her husband Jim.  

Our Niece, Ashley with our new Grand Niece, Elena.

8/18/11

More bad news! This morning we were up bright and early to make the run to Convenience RV and found the slide-out would not retract.  We can hear the solenoids engaging, but nothing happens.  Called the guys at Convenience and a crew is coming out to see what is wrong.

Why me!@!*  Turns out the pump for the hydraulics that controls the slides and jacks has gone out.  About a week for a new one.

Wow! These guys are great!  The Service Manager tells me he will get the pump motor covered under the same deductible.  God is good!

8/17/11

Good news! The inverter will be covered under warranty and they tell us that they can get the jackstand covered under the same deductible. It turns out the jack-stand was damaged so they replaced it when they fixed the line.  The inverter will be in tomorrow and we will have both problems fixed.

After the inverter was ordered and work completed on the jacks, we drove back to set up camp, only to have the jacks lower and then immediately retract.  We were told to bring the RV back the next morning.

8/16/11

Yesterday morning we went to Convenience RV to see when we could bring Liberty Belle in for diagnostics and set it up for first thing Wednesday. In the afternoon, Judy took Logan to Incredible Pizza in Conroe, and that was probably the highlight of his visit!