Our Travels during 2020

We were in Houston for Christmas 2019 and stayed until January 5, 2020, before making our way back to Tres Rios. In the middle of January we left our rig at Tres Rios and drove to Houston to stay with Ellie & Jason while Josh and Karen went to Las Vegas to celebrate Josh’s 40^th birthday. They had a good time but said it was really expensive. Our week was a bit trying. Got there on Wednesday even though they weren’t leaving until Thursday afternoon. It’s a 5 hour drive down and I knew we would not make it before they had to leave on Thursday.  We had one free day on Friday when they were at school; on Saturday afternoon we went to the Flight Museum. Sunday we took a walk on the greenway and Ellie & Jason rode their bikes. It was a beautiful sunny day and I enjoyed our walk. Jim had a hard time with both Lola and Kayla, but he did OK. Monday was a holiday and a front had come through making it cold and windy outside, so we stayed inside. Josh & Karen came home about 8pm, and I had the kids shower and get their jammies on so they were ready for bed when they got home.

 

Tuesday was our drive back to Tres Rios, and we are really glad to be back “home.” The dogs seemed to be really happy that they did not have to share their beds with Lola and Kayla anymore. Jim’s dupytrene’s contracture surgery is set for Wednesday, January 22 at 2pm. He is having his left hand done first, which is the worst one. We are getting a buy out for next week and will be here until the end of February. 

January 30, 2020. This picture was taken 8 days after the surgery.

March 12, 2020. Back at Tres Rios for the next three weeks before heading off in April for our summer trip. The whole world is going nuts over the corona virus – events are being cancelled, cruises cancelled, schools closed, and now Trump stopped air traffic from European countries into the U.S. 

The market is tanking and has officially hit bear market territory even though the economy is still doing good. This whole virus thing is being blown so much out of proportion and I think that is what is causing the market to tank. And the Dems are still blaming Trump for not acting sooner?? He started thinking it would come to something back in January and wanted to curtail air traffic and was laughed at by the liberals and did not allow him to do it.

I did not think the market would react this aggressively since it did not during any of the other virus scares. The flu has even caused more sickness and deaths than the corona virus is. It’s crazy right now.

Jim did his at home sleep study last night. Had a device hooked around his chest, a hose in his nose and a plug on his finger. Hoping it all turns out OK as they need at least 5 hours to get a good determination of his sleep apnea.

In March the World was hit with the Corona virus, which many believe came out of a laboratory in Wuhan, China. However, I did read another version which said it could have started during 2014-2015. A study called the Gain of Function Research was being done at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. They were trying to make something that could potentially cause harm and make it more harmful. There are always questions about research, so I put a link to that here so you can read it for yourself. In addition, in 2015 Fauci was involved with $3.5 million being transferred from the NIH to the laboratory in Wuhan - something fishy there.

Our time out from Tres Rios began on February 24 and I decided to go to Lake Texoma Thousand Trails for two weeks. Their website said they had pool tables, but upon arriving and looking for them, and not finding them, I called the office only to find out that they were taken out due to abuse.  Jim was very disappointed at that.

Then while we were at the laundry mat on Wednesday we came back to find a note telling us to take the Confederate Flag off of the trike. What?? So I took the note they left and wrote a letter back to them complaining and giving them our opinion. I will also cc: the corporate offices.

On February 28 we drove up to Gene Autry, Oklahoma to visit the Gene Autry Museum, only to discover that it was closed. Their website did say that it was supposed to be open, so I left them a nasty voice message complaining about their hours.

To make sure that this was not a lost trip, we did go to the Greater Southwest Historical Museum in Ardmore. Jim seemed to like this museum better, it was in fact in a nicer building and kept up very nice. It was clean, well laid out, and very informative. 

 

March 17, 2020. This country is going insane. The government is shutting down state parks; telling restaurants they cannot serve and only do take out; people are hording toilet paper, Kleenex, paper towels, detergent, bread, meat, etc. Buying cases of toilet paper at a time. It’s the craziest thing I have ever seen. Sports events have been cancelled; schools closed; people are working from home instead of going into work.

March 19, 2020. The corona virus is wreaking havoc on the whole country. Josh said he now has to work from home; Karen’s gym is closed, and the kids are home as well.  Governor Abbott has shut down work out centers, restaurants, schools etc. Gatherings cannot be larger than 10 people. Here at Tres Rios we cannot have more than 10 people in the clubhouse at one time; all activities have been cancelled. So far, the park is staying open. 

March 27, 2020. Corona virus still slowly spreading around the world. It originated in China and many of us are speculating that they let it loose on purpose to punish the U.S. for the trade wars. Who knows? But it is ruining our country as there are so many people out of work. Josh is working from home and Karen is not working either. At least Jacklyn works from home and can keep going. Many of the surrounding counties have issued stay at home orders, however, we here in Somerville County have not yet been given those orders. We are scheduled to leave here Tuesday for our week out, and are concerned that if they do issue the stay at home, can we come back on April 7 when our week out is over. We do have reservations to return, but need to talk to the manager to ensure our return. 

The stock market has been going up and down, mostly down. It did go up that couple of days and in one day our portfolio went up over $13,000! I just wish it would keep going back up.

Jim is going on Monday to the medical place to get fitted for a CPAP. It has a $300 co-pay and then a monthly co-pay of $10 for stuff. I’ll have to find out more on Monday.  

We were at Lake Whitney Thousand Trails in early April 2020 when the country started shutting down. We could have stayed there until the end of April, but we decided to go back to Tres Rios for our three week stay there. Needless to say, I cancelled our entire summer trip. States started implementing a quarantine period, campgrounds shut down, companies closed, restaurants closed, and people were told to stay indoors. Stores ran out of toilet paper and paper towels because people were hoarding them and buying more than they needed.

Our clubhouse and Lodge were closed but we still played cards at the pavilion. We sat at the picnic table and stretched ourselves out about 5 feet apart to play. We were in our own small world and spent a lot of time together. During the whole spring and summer we did our normal things ~  three weeks at Tres Rios, one week out; shopping in Granbury and hanging out together. 

May 28, 2020. Our daughter called on Mother's Day to let us know that she has decided to fly from Florida to Texas to visit, so course, we drove down to Houston to visit as well. We decided to try out a new RV park, which is 3.5 miles from Josh & Karen's house. We usually stay at Green Caye, which is about 11 miles away and takes almost 30 minutes to drive to and from. Jetstream RV Resort is a new park near Ellington Airport. It is mostly concrete with a small portion of grass next to each site and took us about 10 minutes to drive to their house.

Soon after we arrived and set up a terrible storm blew through. There was so much water we had a 4" stream running through our site, washing away everything in site. I had some bins under the trailer and they almost got washed away. We were doubtful if we were going to make it to Josh’s house, but then the storm blew through and the weather cleared. We went over later in the afternoon and he cooked salmon on his grill for dinner. Jacklyn had arrived early that morning, and it was really nice seeing her again.

Jetstream RV Park, Houston, Texas

The average nightly rate at this park is about $75 but luckily it is a Passport America campground and we were able to stay there for 50% off the daily rate. Well worth it. We were right next to the clubhouse and pool area. They have an area for guests with picnic tables, grills, big fire pit, corn hole game. In the clubhouse they have a shuffleboard table, game room, small kitchen area with tables. Also right next to the picnic area is a gate going out to a water runoff area where I was able to take Lucy for a run.

Josh and Jacklyn came over Friday afternoon so Jason & Ellie could go swimming. They had a blast in the pool and wore themselves out running and playing. They needed the exercise after being cooped up in the house and yard for so long. Karen came later in the afternoon. Josh wanted to cook out at the campground and brought over food to cook. Karen also brought over s’mores fixings. I finally got the fire pit going and we had s’mores for dessert. We were also blessed by a fabulous sunset.

Ellie had Kuk Sool black belt testing in the morning, which lasted for about 1-1/2 hours. She was pretty tired after that. Unfortunately that night she got a fever and it did not let up for the rest of the time we were there. 

Since she was sick, there was no more swimming at the park, and she spent most of her time laying in bed, and thus no sightseeing or visiting places in the area. They did have her tested for the Covid and it came up negative.

We did play Jenga and ladder golf. Jason got quite good at ladder golf and almost beat Grandpa.

Jenga

We were able to sit outside a lot and enjoy each other's company. Jacklyn spent a lot of time with Ellie, reading to her and being read to. Grandpa and Ellie had a good time goofing around together.

Josh and Jacklyn took their turn at playing ladder golf, as well as Jim and Josh taking a turn at playing. Jacklyn and Jason also had a lot of fun tossing a football back and forth.

Even though Ellie was still running a fever, she came outside for a short time to visit with us.

And of course, I had to get a picture of our pets ~ all black dogs, the oldest being Kayla with the grey face, then Lola, the youngest at two years old, and our Lucy, who is almost 9 years old.

Quote for the day: There is no doubt that it is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues, the most dominating virtues of human, are created, strengthened and maintained. ~~ Winston Churchill

June 6, 2020. While in Houston, the flange holding our toilet to the floor ended up breaking altogether, which meant that it had to be fixed right away. It took us two full days to get it done because of how much work was involved. I had to rip out rotted wood that holds the toilet up from the black water tank. They had to be dipped in wood restorer and glued together. I had to screw in the flange to the black water tank to see how much needed to be built up underneath it to make it level with the floor.

In an earlier repair, I had put fiberglass and resin all around the hole to fix the rotted wood. This photo shows the Durham rock hard that I had to put underneath the flange, let that dry and then we had to put the floor back on. 

The park keeps letting people in from Fort Worth and Dallas and surrounding areas every weekend, but we do not associate with any of them. And then comes July 4 weekend and the people are still streaming into the park every weekend. None of the guests wear masks; the sales office is still holding tours, and no one wears masks. And guess what ~ NO ONE IS GETTING SICK!

The cases are going down yet we are supposed to wear masks. You go to stores and get the evil eye if you don't have a mask on. There is so much misinformation out there - one talks about why the masks do not help keep you from getting the virus and others say it helps. This article on masks talks about the discord mask mandates instill.

Between June and July our front window had started to split, and then one day it split all the way from bottom to top. I tried putting it together with Lexel but that did not work at all. So I took off all the sealant from around the outside of the window, and then researched how to fix the crack. Finally decided on an acrylic cement. So we bought some 

Then I started to make some alternative travel plans just to get away from this 100 degree heat by heading to the NRA Whittington Center in New Mexico then north into Colorado. Jim then informed me that we needed to get the brakes replaced on the trailer. Tried calling numerous RV mobile guys to see if they would come and check our brakes, and I finally decided to order new brakes instead of spending money getting them checked, and then told yes, you need new brakes. I keep track of the mileage on the trailer and during our eight years of traveling we put 62,000 miles on the trailer and during that time the brakes were never adjusted or checked. I bought new brake assemblies as I thought that would be our best route. We have electric brakes and the brakes come as a complete assembly - old comes off, new goes on.

August 4, 2020. Early this morning we decided to tackle the brakes, borrowing tools from neighbors and renting a socket from O'Reilly's to get the spindle nut off (36mm). A friend here in the park said, let me get my work clothes on, and he came back and did the whole job himself, with help from Jim and I. It was wonderful that he jumped right in and did the work, and we truly appreciated him doing the work. I was all ready to do the work myself, but now I see how hard it would have been for me to do it. I watched YouTube videos on how to change the assemblies and get the hubs off, and that helped us get the work done. The brake drums were still in good shape, but the magnets were worn down to the point of not working. Doug pulled off the tires, got the hubs off, and then the brake assemblies. He put the assemblies back on and I hooked the wires on the back.

August 21, 2020. We are here at Lake Whitney Coast to Coast for our week out. We decided to go to the Coast to Coast because Jim can ride his trike around the park as it is large and pretty flat. The only bad thing is that we are out in the sun as there is a huge lack of trees here. It's still hot though, and he has to wait until later in the evening before being able to ride.

On our way here we stopped at the Republican headquarters for Johnson County and got two yard signs and I bought a shirt to wear on Fridays in support of our troops. (You recall, Red Shirt Friday?)

August 22, 2020. Found out that Lake Whitney was going to have a Trump boat parade on Saturday, so I donned my red shirt; Rhonda and Wayne drove us out there Saturday morning so we would know where to go to see the parade. We left right after lunch so we could get a parking space at the park. Met a couple that live here at Coast Resorts so we sat with them under a tree to watch the parade. I walked down to the water's edge with my camera so I could get some good pictures. It was exciting to see so much patriotism for our President. The patriots and silent majority are coming out of the woodwork now and showing their support for the President and the USA in retaliation to the looters and rioters of Antifa and the BLM. 

August 28, 2020. Watched most of the RNC speakers during their convention. What inspiration! So many speakers who were just ordinary citizens ~ it was so refreshing to hear from Americans with exceptional stories ~ it was so uplifting. I'm glad they did not have just politicians speaking. The remarks from former Democrats that I read on C-Span and citizens give hope for America.

Also kept an eye on Hurricane Laura on Wednesday as it came up through the Gulf and hit the border between Texas and Louisiana. Josh and Karen were thinking of evacuating, but then did not as the hurricane was turning toward the east and not hitting Houston directly.

Hurricane Laura

Visiting with neighbors

September 15, 2020. Our time here at Tres Rios has come to an end and tomorrow (Wednesday) we will be on our way to Amarillo for a short two week vacation. It was about time to just get away for a bit; this whole summer all we did was spend three weeks at Tres Rios then one week at either Thousand Trails or Lake Whitney Resorts. The one week we spend in Houston was a welcome reprieve from our not getting to travel this summer.

We have not even done any traveling around this area; funny how there does not seem to be enough time to do things, even though we are "retired." I think some of that goes to playing cards and pool every afternoon from 2-5pm every day. 

September 19, 2020. Took two days of driving to arrive in Amarillo on Friday afternoon. Got set up and even met some of our neighbors. We are staying at a Passport America campground for $14 a night. No frills or facilities but the site has good electric and water. It was pretty uneven left to right so we were able to try out our new levelers for the first time. They actually work very well. The only thing I am concerned with is going off of them as we do not want to go forward – only backward. 

September 20, 2020. Made a reservation to take the tour at the Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument. We have been through this area so much and since I like going to monuments and national parks, this was on my radar. We booked the 1pm tour and was able to look through the visitor center before heading out for the hike. It was a two hour hike up the mountain (lots of well made stairs) and around the top where the quarries were worked. We had a good group of people going and the Ranger took us up and told us all about the area, the flint, and the people who used the flint years ago.

We left Lucy in the truck as we went on the tour and we heard her crying all the time we were on our walk. She is used to being left in Walmart parking lots, but this was something quite different as she watched us walk up a hill and out of sight, 

September 22, 2020. Today is our Anniversary – 41 years – so we decided to go out to lunch and then to the Texas Air & Space Museum. While talking to a neighbor they had mentioned going to the Georgia Street Taphouse, so we decided to try it.  We are very glad we did. It was really good and a fair price. The Texas Air Museum was very good as well. It did not have a lot of big planes, but a few exhibits and some airplanes outside which the volunteer had to take us out to see.

September 23, 2020. Today I decided we would take a trip to Palo Duro Canyon State Park. Had to make a reservation online and pay for our trip in advance. We went to the Visitor Center and looked around the museum and then drove through the park; stopped for lunch and then found a short trail to take a walk. Found the Cowboy Dugout, which was a wooden cabin dug into the side of a hill. After that we got back in the truck and drove the rest of the way around the park. They must get a lot of water during a heavy rain as the rain gauges next to the road went 5 feet higher than the surface of the road. The park is down in the canyon as we drove down a 10% grade a few hundred feet from the top. The canyon mountains were OK, but I think I like Caprock Canyon mountains and vistas better. We will have to re-visit Caprock, and maybe I can get Jim to take a hike with me.

On September 26 we drove out the CadillacRanch, which is a sightseeing place that brings throngs of people. Once upon a time the cadillacs were just stuck in the ground, but over the years people started spray painting the cars, so now they are covered in graffiti. I wrote our names on one and were able to get a picture in front of it. Then as soon as we did that, someone else came along and painted over our names. They also wrote profanity (F-K Trump), and I called them out on writing it, saying that this was a public place with children who came and profanity was not appropriate. The girl then saw Jim’s Trump hat and immediately started screaming at him saying he was rascist, etc.  It was quite something. We tried to go to the Sizemore RV museum after that but got there at 3:10 and they said they closed the museum at 3, even though the store stayed open until 4. So we did not get to see it.

September 30, 2020.  Anyway, going to the Cross of Our Lord Jesus was quite interesting. There were 15 stops around a large circle and in the middle of that circle was a 19 story cross made out of steel.

November 5, 2020. The Presidential election was held on November 3. We usually vote by absentee ballot, but wanted to make sure our vote was counted so on November 3, we decided to drive to our voting county, which was a three hour drive. However, since I had already filled out our absentee ballots and sealed them, we could not vote in person. They already knew we had the absentee ballots, and could not rip them in half because we would then have to do a provisional ballot. Our only recourse was to put the ballots in the mailbox, which we did. Then we drove three hours back to Lake Whitney. That was a learning experience.

It took over a week for all the ballots to be counted, including the mail in ballots. However, when it showed that Biden got more votes than Trump, even though Trump won Ohio and Florida, we all knew something was amiss. I did a whole blog on the election fraud, so that is all I will say here.

November 19, 2020. When we left Tres Rios we drove to Willis, Texas to stay at Water's Edge RV Park for four days before heading to Houston. I did not like Water's Edge very much. It is a Coast to Coast park, and right down the street from the Thousand Trails. We drove to the TT to check it out and see what changes have been made there. The wooded path where I used to walk the dogs has been turned into a bunch more RV sites. These are concrete with small grass yards. There are also a bunch of new houses around the lake.

On November 21, we drove up to the Texas Prison Museum for a visit.

Also while we were up there, my laptop decided to die. It got the "white screen of death" and I could not get it to change at all. Also, our TV started messing up more with the remote not working. So when we got down to Houston, our first trip was to Best Buy so I could buy a new laptop and we could also buy at new TV. I did find myself a nice HP with Windows 10. Also had to buy a new Microsoft program to download Word and Excel. I was going to have Best Buy transfer the documents from my old computer to the new one, but they were going to charge me $100 and take one week to do it. I was lucky to find a computer store just down the street from Best Buy to do the transfer for $50 and a one day turn around.

We also found a new TV - an LG with several USB and HDMI ports. Unfortunately, they did not have it in stock so we ordered it. It was finally delivered after we left and we had to have Josh go pick it up for us. 

November 20, 2020. We arrived at Jetstream RV Park and our first stop was Best Buy. It did not take me very long to find a new computer. So I ended up with another HP with Windows 10, and then I had to buy the Microsoft Word program so I could have Word. Jim looked at TVs while I was searching for a computer. He found one and we looked at a few different ones and ended up with an LG which was the best out of the ones we looked at. Best Buy did not have it in stock so we ordered it, to pick it up Saturday.

Jim put the big TV outside where we could get to the controls easier and put our little 12 volt TV inside for the time being.

November 22, 2020. Tuesday Jason & Ellie came over for the day. They watched a little TV and then after lunch I took them to the pool. The sun was in and out but the water was not very warm and they got cold fast, even though they ran around. Jason’s teeth were chattering so hard I thought he would crack them. We painted some rocks, which I was not real happy with. I had oil paints which had to be cleaned with mineral spirits, and did not dry very fast.

November 23, 2020. Wednesday we stayed at the trailer. I did laundry, then we went grocery shopping. After lunch I baked more cookies and two pumpkin pies. The pies did not bake like the directions. Since I had 2 pies in the oven, it took a lot longer for them to bake.

Jim had two crazy encounters this evening. He had gone out for a ride and when he came back our neighbor was just getting home so he asked her if she needed any help. He said she tried to entice him into her tailer, and when he extended a hand to her, she took his hand and put it on her boob. He kept saying that he was happily married, but she said that was OK, why should that stop you. He did get away from her and when he walked into the trailer to tell me about it, a knock came on the door.

The person turned out to be TK, the father of two kids that Jim stopped in the golf cart and was talking to them because the cart did not have a light on the front, and he was asking them other questions. I guess mom and dad were wondering what was taking the kids so long and called them. Soon after they got home, TK was at our door to find out what kind of person Jim was. He wanted to make sure Jim was not a pedo looking for kids. They stood outside talking a while, and then I went out to see what was going on.

I talked with Jacklyn on my birthday and she indicated strongly that she would like us to come to the TCT rally and then stay for a week to visit with her and Sean. She wants us to meet Sean. They already spent a weekend at Bill & Julie’s house, and Sean got a two thumbs up from Bill. So I think it would be good to go and meet him. 

December 1, 2020. We spent a week in Houston for Thanksgiving. We obviously are not letting the Covid Crap keep us from visiting with our family. Karen's brother and family flew in from Arizona to visit with us for the weekend, and our nephew Jonathan flew down from Chicago to spend Thanksgiving with us as well.  We stayed at Jetstream again, and one day Ellie & Jason came over for the day. They went swimming one day, even though it was near 80, the water was still cold and they were freezing! I have a video of them but could not get my phone to transfer it via email.

Since my birthday always falls around Thanksgiving, they bought me a wonderful cheesecake and Patty made a delicious chocolate sauce and Karen put on strawberries and blueberries on top. OK, I'll tell you my age - I turned 69. Sounds old, but I sure don't feel that old.

We took a family picture before we all left, which I really like having:

December 9, 2020. Sale of the property is ready to go through. Got the closing documents via email today. Thursday we will head into town to get them notarized, then straight to the Post Office to get them in the mail.  Closing is still set for December 15.

December 13, 2020. This is our last week back here at Tres Rios. Saturday we start heading back to Houston to celebrate Christmas with our family. We will be there for two weeks, and then will start heading east toward Florida.

December 16, 2020. There is always something in the life of an RV. Our RV is 20 years old and our refrigerator had a good life, but it's time came to an end. I worked on trying to fix the frig but then Jim started looking at it closer and was one the phone with a Dometic person and discovered yellow in the outside compartment. That is the death signal - the freon leaked out. So we took the food out and put it in the frig in the clubhouse so we would not lose it all. 

December 17, 2020. Thursday while playing cards we were talking with our friends trying to decide what to do. I found a new frig like the one we had - dual electric and gas. These are quite expensive - over $1500. Some of our friends tried to talk us into a residential refrigerator which we could get at Lowes or Home Depot. 

Then Jim went out to talk with others in the campground and while talking to one person he said that he knows a guy at United RV that sells scratch & dent appliances. He gave the guy a call and he ended up having one which he would sell us for $750. If we paid in cash, we would not have to pay tax. Getting the $750 cash is a story itself. 

December 18, 2020. The sale of the property went on without a hitch. Dawn drove down to the title office on the 15th and they sent out the check to Josh’s house, which arrived today, Friday.

Wednesday night I think the refrigerator started going kerplunk. By Thursday morning I started looking at it and trying to figure out why it was not working. I started researching the internet; learned that the coils on the outside were supposed to be warm and ours were stone cold. The lights on the panel went off and I could not get it going. Then Jim called Bennett’s and talked to someone in service and they tried to trouble shoot what was wrong. Ended up that the freon leaked out and that shoots the whole refrigerator. It was 17 years old, so it did us good over the years.

Thursday afternoon during cards we started talking to people and trying to find a refrigerator. PPL had a new one for $1550, but then Jim went to talk to friends in the park and one guy, Tony, said Oh I have a friend at United RV let me give him a call. Found out that they had a scratch & dent one for $750 cash. What a deal!

So Thursday night we went to Prosperity Bank ATM to take the cash out to buy the refrigerator. Holy Cow! The ATM did not give us our money. Luckily there were still some people in the bank, and we talked to the manager who said that actually it does not give out more than $600 at a time, and the money got stuck in a separate chamber. She said that the money should eventually get back into our bank account. She could not do anything that night, but said to all her at 8am Friday morning. By Friday morning the money was still not in our account, and I told her that I was coming down and wanted by $700. She could not do anything with the ATM but said she would give us $700 cash from her own account. WOW.

Friday morning we went back to the bank; I wrote her a check for $700 and told her (and even showed her my bank balance) that there was not enough money in there to cash the check. She gave us the $700 cash from her own account and I told her that as soon as the money got back into my account. I would call her when I got money in the account so she could cash the check.

After we left the bank, we drove to Granbury as Jim had an appointment with Shannon Mueller to look at his feet. His toes curl a lot and he was worried about their condition. Learned that most of the problem is him wearing sandals. He grips with his toes so much it is causing them to curl. So periodically I have to massage his toes and try to straighten them. He also has to stop wearing his sandals.

From the doctors we drove to United Rental, which was somewhere in Fort Worth to pick up the refrigerator. Got back here about 1pm, and since I sent him a message about what time we would get back, and by the time I got back from walking Lucy, he was there ready to get to work. While Jim and I ate some lunch, Doug was outside starting to take the parts apart. Then he came in and we got it unscrewed and taken out. We all worked about 3 hours and finally got the new one in.

Jim even called the cabinet worker up the road and he was actually at work, so I drove up there and he cut some panels since the panels from the old refrigerator did not fit the new one – they were too small. Tim the cabinet maker cut them right away and charged us $20 for the two panels. I then headed back to the trailer and Doug and Jim put the doors on and then slid it into place. It then got bolted down and I put the shelves in. Figured all that out as well. I am missing a long shelf in the freezer so will probably order one.

We were so grateful for having Doug around to help us out that we decided to take him to dinner. Jim wanted to check out a new restaurant, so that is where we went.

We went to the Feed Mill on Grace Street. It was OK; but the music was too loud and I asked them to turn it down. The food was really seasoned and not too spicy but to many different flavors. Don’t know if we will got back there.

December 23, 2020. Karen’s Dad also drove down from Waynesville and got here the same day as we did. In fact, as we were pulling in, he was trying to get through the gate and having a difficult time doing it, so I got out of the truck and went and put in the code for him, not even realizing it was Phil. I was about to go back to the truck when I realized who it was, and went back and gave him a hug.

Sunday (20^th) was Karen’s birthday, so Josh took us all to a Japanese restaurant in celebration. Jacklyn flew in Thursday morning, just in time to go to church service with us.

December 25, 2020. Christmas Day. Yesterday we went to an early service at Hope Luthern. Josh, Karen, Ellie & Jason all played a part in the service. Josh got up and said two passages; Ellie laid the baby Jesus in the manger, and Karen and Jason got up and did a little skit about presents. It was very cute. Jason said he was nervous, but he did a great job. Jacklyn had flown in on Wednesday, right before Christmas for the weekend.

Jim and I are still trying to learn our new “smart TV” – good gracious. It is smarter than we are, and both of us wish we had our old TV back. At least we could figure it out.

Yesterday before going to church our next door neighbor here at Jetstream was trying to fill his RV tires with a little air pump that sounded like it did not put out much. So I mentioned to Jim to loan him our air pump, which he did as well as the air gauge. He was so grateful for Jim’s help that he gave us a bottle of wine and a bottle of Woodford Reserve. I had baked some blueberry cookies and chocolate chip as well so I put some of those in a bag and taped them to our neighbor’s RV and said Merry Christmas.

Christmas Eve service at Hope Lutheran ~~ Karen, Ellie & Jason did a small play. Ellie brought in baby Jesus and Karen and Jason talked about gifts. 

One day Karen, Jacklyn, Ellie & and I drove to a place to get Ellie's ears pierced. Jacklyn decided to get another hole put in her ears. I already have 2 in each ear, so I did not get any more holes in my ears.

Christmas morning we are going to head over to Josh & Karen’s for breakfast and then open presents. Josh is smoking a brisket for dinner, and we will just hang around there for the day.

Lola saying Hi to Jim

December 31, 2020. Enjoying our last week here in Houston. We went over to Josh & Karen’s every evening to visit, but this evening we left right after dinner. They had plans for New Years Eve and we wanted to get back to the trailer. We had to leave Jetstream and go to Green Caye for the week. Boy was there ever a lot of fireworks that went off around there. Green Caye has changed a lot. They put sheds up on every lot which takes up room and makes it hard to get out of the truck. I doubt we will stay here anymore.