Our Travels for 2025

January 1, 2025. New Year’s Day is on a Wednesday this year, and I will be heading out to do laundry in a few minutes. But upon arrival at the laundromat, I find it is closed for the day, so now laundry has been pushed off until Thursday morning.

Space Center Houston RV Park, Houston, Texas

Josh and Karen will probably be watching football ALLLL day so I doubt we’ll go over very early. Phil is flying back into town this afternoon, so maybe we’ll go over for dinner. We have been in Houston since just before Christmas, and will be staying until January 12 before heading to Rockport for a week.

January 3, 2025. Jim talked with Carlisle a couple of weeks ago about the tires on the trailer and what they think should be done. They have not called back yet, so he will call them early next week to talk with them again. In the meantime, I ordered a new Reece friction sway control bar. Our old one is very rusted and does not seem to work very well anymore. Jim does not think that is going to solve our sway problem though.

He also talked to his cousin Jay who now works for a garage doing oil changes, etc. Jay said he would talk to his boss to see if he can offer any help.

Jim tried out his Ninja smoker today; he was very anxious to smoke something and wanted to try “cold” smoking, so I cut up the rest of his braunschweiger and he put them on the smoker for a little over an hour. We won’t know how good they turned out until Jim has one of the slices for lunch.

The drain on the tub was leaking again. It’s been weeks since it leaked so I have not been checking it lately. There was quite a bit of water in the plastic tub under the shower, so I cleaned that out, dried the drain and put more caulk on the shower drain. I don’t know where else it would leak and don’t even know why it would leak. Hopefully this does the trick.

January 9, 2025. Bill and Julie arrived last Sunday (5^th) and since Josh and Karen had a church function to go to during the afternoon, the four of us went out to dinner at J. Henry’s and then went over to their house to visit for a while.

Monday was grocery shopping and then we just got together with them in the afternoon before heading to Josh’s house for dinner. Tuesday afternoon we went to the Lone Star Flight Museum and then to Josh’s house for dinner.

We had been dealing with Carlisle about our tires and needing to go back to a Load Range E. Jim talked with the manager at Mavis where we bought the tires and they essentially told us that we were SOL and would not do anything to assist us. Jim then called Carlisle back again and they agreed to take back our tires and exchange them for the Load Range E. There is a Discount Tire here in Webster and they talked with the head honcho at Carlisle and we got an exchange for the tires. It was a costly mistake but not as costly if we had to pay the $500 for the new tires. But as it was, we paid for the labor for the new tires and got a warranty on them as well.

I had also ordered a new Reese weight distribution trailer hitch sway control bar. Our old one was so rusted that it did not move anymore. I ordered a new one hoping it would help with the sway issue. But since we got new tires, that probably solved the sway problem, but along with the new sway bar, we were set.

While we were getting the new tires, Josh took Bill & Julie to the San Jacinto Monument and then in the afternoon they went on the Ship Channel cruise. Wednesday night we went out to dinner at Rouxpour. My favorite meal here is Stuffed Shrimp Rouxpour with Tremé sauce; served with mashed potatoes and green beans.

Today (9th) Thursday we are going to the Johnson Space Center, and then over to Josh’s for dinner.

Julie Mars with Jason & Juliella

January 12, 2025. Bill & Julie decided to leave on Saturday as there was rain coming in for Sunday. Juliella and Jason had swim meets all day Saturday, but I spent the day cleaning and putting everything away so it would not get wet when it rained on Sunday. We did go over to their house on Saturday night as it was going to be our last night in the area.

I’m going to miss going over there to visit. Even though the kids did not spend much time with us, it was just knowing they were there, and vise versa.

Sunday did dawn with rain coming in, so I was glad to have gotten most everything put away, except the stuff that goes in the trailer. We finished up near noon and then got on our way. Our ride today was only 1-1/2 hours to Bay City staying at Bert’s Propane and RV Park. I picked this city because it’s big enough to have a Walmart and other shopping. It’s a small park but there is a city park across the street where Lucy and I will take our walk.

The drive down here was smooth with our new Load E tires and new sway bar. The sway bar was even creaking since it’s actually working now and not rusted open like the old one.  We left the old one sitting on the cement curb inside the dumpster at Space Center Houston.

Bert's RV Park, Bay City, Texas

January 13, 2025. There is a park across the street from Bert’s RV Park, where Lucy and I went for our morning and evening walks called LaTulle Park. We had to cross the busy street but at least it’s divided by a large median so it was not difficult to cross. The park is pretty big with a huge lake and a playground for the kids. They also have disk golf all over the park. I was able to almost get my two miles in this morning. Met a nice gentleman there with his dog who Lucy met.

LeTulle Park

January 15, 2025. We left Bert’s on Tuesday and drove 100 miles to Rockport to Bay View RV Resort. The site they were going to put us in was totally unusable. The utilities were way in the back of the site and the sewer was up along the side, making all of the inaccessible. Called the office and they sent out a worker who found us another site with all the utilities together. We actually like this site much better than the first. I realized that I should have asked for Site 167, which was where we stayed the first time we were here, but I forgot. Anyway, we are in Site 158, which is just fine.

Bay View RV Resort, Rockport, Texas

I decided to order a new gas valve regulator for the furnace. It works but the air coming out is just not very warm and Jim suspects a blockage in the valve where the gas comes out. Listening to some YouTubes on the subject, that is what I would suspect as well. So instead of trying to clean it or test it, I just ordered one to be sent to Lazy Palms.

Today it rained and misted all day; it was chilly and unpleasant. I went to do laundry in the morning and we just sat around the rest of the day.

January 16, 2025. Tried to find a good seafood restaurant for lunch today and settled on Paradise Key When I posted on Facebook on the “check in” section, it said that Pat and Brandy have been here. What a great RV world.

 

After lunch we went to the Texas Maritime Museum. The last time we were there was in 2016 but I did not take many pictures and did not do a blog. This time I took a bunch of pictures and also copied the 2016 pictures into the new pictures and will be doing a blog on the museum this time.

There is supposed to be some cold weather come to Rockport on Tuesday morning. Showing a high in the 30’s and a low of 26. At least we will not be here as we are heading to Lazy Palms on Sunday. It will be cold there, but not as cold. The part I ordered for the furnace should be there today, but with rain coming on Monday, I don’t know when I will get it installed.

January 17, 2025. Lucy and I had a great walk this morning even though we just walked around the park. Bay View is actually a pretty big park with two sections to it. I took the sunrise pictures from the dike separating the two lakes on the park; no vehicles allowed on the dike, so it’s a good place to walk from one section to the other.

I also found these two wooden houses with metal roofs that I like; this type of house would go great at our Whitney residence. I just have to find out who builds these. After talking to one of the residences who owns one, I was told they are an Athens model.

January 19, 2025. Been out to lunch a few times while in Rockport. Saturday we went to Fulton’s Irish Pub for lunch. I had a Shepherd’s Pie and Jim had a Rueben. Then to top it off, I also had a piece of chocolate cake. But the thing about eating in Rockport though, it’s expensive. We have spent at least $60 to $70 for each meal.

Friday we went to the Fulton Mansion, which was built in the 1800s and due to how well it was built, has survived a multitude of hurricanes. It sits right on Fulton Drive, on the bay.

Today we left Bay Village and drove 2-1/2 hours to Lazy Palms. We are staying in our “year lease” site until January 31, and then we are going down to Alamo Palms Thousand Trails for two weeks.

Lazy Palms RV Park, Edinburg, Texas

Since our furnace was not working sufficiently – it was not getting hot at all. Jim determined that the gas valve was clogged and maybe the solenoids were stuck. So I ordered a new gas valve structure and tried to replace it today when we got to Lazy Palms. There were two fittings that needed to unscrewed from the gas valve fitting, which neither Jim nor I could get apart. When Jim was trying, he shook the fittings and may have unstuck something. I was using the wire brush to clean the fittings, and also unclogged the small hole that the propane goes through. I decided to put the furnace back together since we could not get the fittings off.

Low and behold the furnace now works! I decided to test it and evidently what we did took care of the problem because now we are getting Hot air from the ducts. So now we will have a working furnace when the cold comes in a couple of days.

The whole country is undergoing a huge cold front with rain and snow. Glen Rose is having highs in the 30s this week and lows in the 10s and 20s. Down here in Edinburg the real cold is coming Tuesday with a high near 39 and a low of 25. After that it’s going to start getting warm again and by next Sunday it’s supposed to be 80!

January 20, 2025. What a great day – Donald Trump will be sworn in as our 47^th President. He already has 200 executive orders ready to be signed into action; closing the border; drilling the Keystone pipeline again; pardoning the J6 prisoners.

The inauguration has been moved indoors because of the cold weather, which has been sweeping down over the entire country, bringing freezing temperatures, rain and snow.

January 23, 2025. Monday was cold and rainy so I left Jim and Lucy home and drove to Walmart and Specs alone. It was in the 30s which is too cold to leave Lucy (and Jim) for any length of time sitting in the truck while I shopped.
 
The caleche they put on the roads is awful stuff – it sticks to everything, does not come off, and when dry still won’t come off. The soles of my shoes were gooped full of it and it was hard to scrape off. The tread on the truck tires are full of the stuff; hope it comes out once we drive on regular pavement.

 
Tuesday we had a freezing front come through and it got down into the 20’s throughout the night. The furnace came on and IT WORKED! It now keeps the trailer very toasty. The rain had ended by the time Lucy and I went walking at 7am, but there was frost on the grass. We just walked around the park once and then went back in.
 
It has been very cold in Glen Rose and Whitney, so I’m glad we are not up there during this winter weather. It snowed three inches in Houston and our grandchildren were out playing in the snow.

 
The weather is slowly warming up. Today the wind is still coming out of the north with highs in the mid 50s, but it feels colder than that. 

February 1, 2025. Have not been doing much around Lazy Palms except for walking with Lucy and working on my pictures and reading. The last day of January we left Lazy Palms and headed south to Alamo Palms Thousand Trails in Alamo. This is a huge park with lots of northerners here for the winter as well as many who live here year round. There are lots of manufactured homes for the residents. They have a multitude of activities going on every day. They have two dog parks, but there is no way to get out of the park. There are two gates, but both are chained shut. So, all Lucy and I will get to do is walk around the park.

Alamo Palms RV Park, Alamo, Texas

There is also a travel advisory right now because of the arrest of cartels in Mexico, just south of where we are as well as a round up of cartel leaders in Hidalgo. Cartels are placing explosives along the roads (but I don’t know which roads).

There are a few museums I want to visit in the area, which I guess we will go next week and the week after. We are here for two weeks, so I am hoping we will get to see something. There is a school right next door to the park, so it can’t be all bad around here.

Jim cooked some beef ribs on the Ninja last night. He followed recipe directions, so I just put salt & pepper on the ribs and he smoked them at 250 for two hours. The fat leached out of them and the crust seemed burnt and hard to eat. They were OK, but I was not impressed with the smoking of them. Next batch he will do differently.

February 2, 2025. Today we went to the South Texas Motorcycle Museum. I thought going at 1:30pm was not going to give us enough time as it closed at 3pm. But, it is a very small museum; just one room with cycles around the perimeter and some in the middle of the room. It took us about 30-45 minutes to go through it. The people who own it are very nice; the women behind the counter takes care of the Facebook page and does a very good job with it. She came in and took pictures of me and a couple of other women who were there today.

 

Later that afternoon we went into the Rec Hall because they were telling people what was going on that week, celebrated birthdays and anniversaries and then we had cake and ice cream. There are a few women who bake cakes – all different kinds – and dish them out to the members. Our neighbors behind us – Myron and Carol – have been coming down here about 20 years and she came up to where they collect the money and since this is our first time here, we got our ice cream for free.

Today we have to go to LabCorp because Jim needs to get blood work to get his PSA checked (and maybe the other tests that I requested??) before heading to Walmart and Specs. This Friday Jim has a Telemed conference with Dr. Cavey to talk about the PSA results. I gave Jim 444mg of Fenbendazole last week for five days to get rid of any parasites he might have in his system. Recommendation is to wait for a week and then do it again.

February 10, 2025. Jim’s PSA test came back at 0.5 and his testosterone is 23 – both very low. But as we discussed with Dr. Cavey on Friday, how can we know what is accurate when the Camcevi shot alters the results so much. He agreed and we told him Jim did not want to get another shot, which would be due in June. So instead, Dr. Cavey is going to schedule another PET scan to check Jim and then another meeting with him after that. If we are traveling this summer, we will do the PET when we get back to Whitney.

We visited the Museum of South Texas History on Friday but have not gone anywhere else. Jim’s hip has been hurting him so much that I scheduled another appointment with the orthopedic at the end of February. He has spoken to a few people who have gotten a hip replacement and they said DO IT. So, we will find out what the doctor is going to recommend.

February 15, 2025. Did not do any more sightseeing as Jim’s hip was not getting better and he could not walk. He did not even walk anywhere around the campground; just basically sat inside or outside without getting any exercise.

Wednesday the 12^th was the last warm day; walked at 6:30am in shorts & t-shirt. Wednesday night a front came through and it was in the low 50’s by morning, so out came long pants and the winter coat.

The weather is not going to warm up any time soon. We might have one or two days of warmer weather, but there is a polar vortex coming down through Texas way down into the Rio Grande Valley. By next week we will be in the 40s with lows in the 20s.

Friday the 14^th we left Alamo Palms and drove 2 hours north to Mathis, Texas to Wilderness Lakes RV Park. We are here for two nights on Passport America. They have a nice trail through the woods where Lucy and I walked Friday afternoon.

Wilderness Lakes RV Park, Mathis, Texas

Saturday morning dawned very foggy and misting. Lucy and I still got up and out the door around 6:30 am to walk the trail. I took some orange tape to show the trail as their signs start at the other end from where we started. We walked some new routes and found their pet cemetery and a praying area with flag, bench, plaque and mail box where people can write prayer notes.

Pet Cemetery

Praying Area

February 17, 2025. The trail through the park at Wilderness Lakes was wonderful. Lucy and I walked it one way then turned around and got in our 2 miles. The park itself was very nice; they sell structures just like Whitney and then rent the land, which I heard was about $5100 a year, which is what we pay at Whitney.

On Sunday we left Wilderness Lakes and headed to Hondo, Texas where stayed at Quiet RV Park. The site (10) they wanted to put us in was a very weird layout for a pull through. It was almost like half a lot with the hookups on the opposite side where ours would be. So I called the office and they let us go into another spot. 

Quiet RV Park, Site 10

The new spot was weird too – I had to put 3 blocks under one side just to get us fairly level. The sites are all gravel so there would be no way to put out the awning, even if we wanted to. 

Quiet RV Park, Hondo, Texas

The only thing I liked was walking down the road which was very quiet and then we found a dirt road by the electric lines where I was able to let Lucy loose to run. She really enjoyed that.

Monday we stopped at Walmart on the way to the campground in Fredericksburg. There is no place to walk here at Oakwood RV Park. Maybe we’ll try walking up the street.  I’ll look to see if there is a sidewalk to walk on. But, we got it for PA price and are here to see the Pacific War Museum.

Oakwood RV Park, Fredericksburg, TX

Unfortunately, we are going to experience the polar vortex that is going to descend on us Tuesday night. I’m putting insulation on the hose and all around the filter and hose. We’ll still let the water drip though.

 

February 19, 2025. The polar vortex started yesterday afternoon and continued throughout the night. The furnace is working perfectly. So glad I was able to get it working without any issues. However, the park experienced a water leak so they shut the water off this morning, and even though we had the water running outside, everything froze. I got the Y valve unfrozen from the campground’s faucet using the heat gun, so I turned that off, but I don’t think we were able to get the filter drained so it may be frozen inside. Cannot tell as I have it totally wrapped up with reflectix. 

Luckily I reminded Jim to fill the water tank last night or we would not have any water at all. The temperature right now at 10:15am is 20 degrees, and it is not expected to get over 30 today. Tonight’s low will be 16 and tomorrow’s high is expected to be 34. 

February 22, 2025. Jim put water in the tank Wednesday night and it’s a good thing too because even though he had the water dripping, the campground had numerous water leaks and had to shut the water off. It was too cold Thursday and Friday to work on the water as everything was frozen. I left the gray water valve open and it froze open. The sewer hose had water in it, which also froze. On Friday it started warming up and I was able to unfreeze the gray water valve to close it and took the sewer hose off. I think the filter came out of it OK as the hose squeezed all the water out when the water got turned off.

The manager said they had over 40 water breaks that he had to fix on Friday and by late Friday afternoon, they got them all fixed and turned the water back on. We hooked it all back up and I was able to take a shower Friday night and then Jim unhooked the water as it was supposed to freeze again.

Saturday as we were getting ready to leave Jim stooped down to pick up the stand we put the refrigerator on and his knee gave way and he fell down, hitting the back of his head on the corner of the picnic table seat. There was no blood, but he’s got a good knot there now. But, he did a number on his knee – it’s the one that he got “fixed” years ago and has screws in it. He had hit his knee a few weeks ago and it’s been hurting him ever since. So that was the knee that gave way and now it’s swollen and really hurts. He took 4 ibuprofen and now has an ice pack on his knee.

We are stopping for the night at Little Lucy RV Park in Lampasas and will be back at Whitney on Sunday the 23rd.

Little Lucy RV Park, Lampasas, TX

February 26, 2025. Jim had an appointment with the orthopedic doctor in Cleburne. Before that, Jim had blood work done. They took 4 vials out of him to check for all the stuff I requested, besides the normal CMP.

 

The doctor at the orthopedic center was not much help. We originally went to see her again because of Jim’s hip, but in the mean time he had fallen and wrecked his left knee. Took x-rays but those only showed that there was arthritis, which did not help much. She did not offer any suggestions or help. I even mentioned to her that she does not watch Jim walk or see how he is standing; she just looked at me an smiled and then did NOTHING. Kind of pissed me off. How is she going to offer suggestions if she does not look at everything.

The only thing she recommended was therapy; so we have an appointment with a therapist today. They said it’s more of a consultation rather than actual therapy, so we’re going to see what they recommend. I had to fill out a couple of questionnaires online to give them some information on Jim’s knee.

I bought patio furniture – a table with four chairs. Got them off of Amazon because looking at Lowe’s or Home Depot, I could not get a rectangular table with 4 chairs. So I ordered them separate through Amazon. The chairs were a little difficult but after the first one, I got the others together easier. Joe helped me with the table.

March 4, 2025. Had a horrible wind and rain storm come through Monday night. It was blowing everything all over the place; blowing at up to 30mph with gusts of 40-50mph. It blew the 150lb magnets off of the beams holding up our black screen. The only places that held were the two ends where I tied the screen up. What we decided in the end was to get tie wraps and use the magnets and then the tie wraps through the grommet and around the beam to hold it up. If it breaks now, the wind would have to break the tie wraps.

Also, our friend Andy Norris who we met at Wheels Through Time Museum came to visit. He got stuck in the weather on Tuesday as he rode his bike here from Houston. He’ll be here until Friday and then take off for home.

March 6, 2025. Jim wanted to take Andy to 3B’s and to Tres Rios, so we headed out about 10:45 and went to 3B’s for lunch; then we stopped in downtown Glen Rose and walked around the square to look at the stuff there. 

Andy & Jim

Afterwards we went to Tres Rios to show Andy around. We drove around the park and ended up at Jeannine’s trailer; Joe was there along with Jim & Paula. I took Andy for a walk down along the Brazos and Squaw Creek and then back up. We sat there talking for a couple of hours and never did make it to Texas Hall.

March 12, 2025. Still have not received Lucy’s Nexgard from Equine. It was supposed to be at Valley Mills, Texas PO on March 4. I tried calling multiple times and never got an answer, so Tuesday I decided to drive down there to get the package. They told me that on March 4 they sent it back to the Fort Worth Distribution Center and had no idea why the tracking had not been updated. As for the phone, their number was changed but it was never changed online.

When I got home I decided to look up how to trace a missing package and went online and filed a missing mail with the USPS. This is nuts that it is taking so long for the package to get to me.

Cliff & Deborah came to stay in their teardrop in our back yard for a couple of days. They are on their way back to Tres Rios but I guess did not want to get their on Sunday, so they stayed here. Deborah really liked our living room and spent a lot of time in there; she was tired of living out of the teardrop. We took them out to dinner on Monday night to Tres Hermanos.

Jim’s knee is still hurting him pretty bad. He canceled his therapy for yesterday and today we have an appointment at the orthopedic office to talk about knee braces. We did talk to the guy who does orthodontics and he said he could not do a brace because the notes from the doctor said that his knee was “stable” so no brace. But since on March 2 when Jim’s knee “buckled” it swelled up along with his feet and is very, very painful to the point where he cannot walk without his walker.

So while at the orthopedics we showed them what his knee and foot looked like and got squeezed in to see Dr. Haynes without an appointment. She looked at his knee, at the x-rays, and felt around on his knee. Said that when he hit his knee the bike rack in Houston may have set things in motion leading to the fall and pain. He pulled something along the outside of his knee and the blood vessel going down to his foot is crimped, causing the swelling. He also has bone on bone on one side of this knee joint. She said to do the PT and then we’ll have to see about another appointment with the orthotics guy after he gets an updated report on Jim’s knee. 

Cortizone Shot into knee

March 16, 2025. Jim did go to PT on Thursday the 13^th and actually was glad he did. We told the PT lady what was going on, and she knew exactly what needed to be done to help his knee get better.

I’ve been cleaning up the trailer, getting rid of some stuff not needed and putting it all in the laundry room, filling it up. Then I’ll have to go through the laundry room to get rid of stuff there.

There has been a stray lab looking male dog wandering around the back part of the park lately. He was looking pretty thin with ribs showing so I started putting some food and water out for him. He is very skittish and scared; runs when anyone comes near and hides in the woods in TT next door. Jeff down the road said he is looking for a place to call to see if they can get the dog and take care of it. (Update: He was finally caught and taken to the local no-kill shelter, which then sent him off to Chicago to be trained as a service dog. A good ending for a good dog.)

March 17, 2025. Jim’s knee is not getting much better; still hurts him a lot. Going to PT is helping to strengthen his arms and legs and that should help his knee. We have an appointment with the orthodox guy next Wednesday to get him measured for a knee brace.

March 23, 2025. Took the coroplast panel off the bottom of the trailer to look at what is going on under there. I did order a new valve for the gray water tank, but ended up buying one for the black water as well. Also had to order extensions as the stems on both of them are longer than what comes with the valve.

Discovered that there are two companies who make valves for the tanks – Valterra and Bristol and that we have the Bristol model, which screws are on the outside of the frame as shown.

I also swept off the dust from around the frame and then the panel itself. It’s going to be raining a lot this week so I don’t know when I’ll be able to work on the valves.

March 30, 2025.  Had a huge rain storm last night with lots of thunder and lighting. We worried about hail so we put the truck under the awning just in case.

I had pulled a bunch of weeds from the lawn; boy there was a lot of them. So much that I filled the 30gallon trash can completely full. Now all we have is stones on one section and some grass on the other. Cannot understand why the previous owners put so many stones on the lawn, and only on one half, leaving the other half with dark loamy soil and nice grass.

Jim’s knee is coming along good; the PT must be helping as he is not moaning in pain all the time.

Lucy’s Nexguard was finally delivered to us on March 26. I really think had I not put a missing package request in that we never would have gotten it at all.

We have been here at Whitney for one year already. We bought in last April and moved in something that month, and now it’s April 2025. Our yearly rent went up $213, making it now $5413.

April 3, 2025. I’m still trying to get work done on the trailer. Got both the gray and black water valves ordered. It’s supposed to rain this week and then a cold front arrive, so I think I’ll try for next weekend to get them replaced.

Gray water valve

Black tank valve

Also trying to fix up the yard by pulling weeds and transplanting some grass from the flower bed to the yard. There is so many rocks that I don’t think anything is going to grow. But I’m trying. I do need to plant some flowers. Our rose bushes are going crazy. We’ve had some bouts of rain so they are enjoying the water.

We talked with Rodney about wanting a cover between the main frame and the cottage so we could walk there without getting wet, and also put up a garden shed. 

April 10, 2025. The drip from the black water tank is getting worse, but at least it is dripping into a pan and not on the ground or the panel that covers the underbelly. Since I have the gray and black water valves, that is my project for today.

Jim went to shoot pool at 1pm as it is on our calendar. While he was gone shooting pool, I got under the trailer and removed the black valve and then the gray valve. It took a while to get the black out and I should have loosened the gray valve first because it would have been easier to get the black out then. However, I did get both of them out and put in the new valves. Our trailer is a 2003 model and the valves have never been changed since we bought it. I think it was about time it was done.

 

Gray water valve removed

Black tank valve removed

New gray water valve

New black water valve

Jim has been doing good with PT on his knee; he is getting stronger and they want him to keep going for another five weeks. Yesterday afternoon we went to pick up the knee brace that was custom built for him. Maybe it will help his hip, as that has now been hurting him a lot.

Trump issued tariffs around the world with the most on China at 125%. The rest of the world came to negotiate so Trump lowered their tariffs to 10%. However, when he did that the stock market took a huge tumble, down from 43,000 to about 37,000. Right after he changed the tariffs, the market went up over 2,500 points. Of course, our portfolio went down about $30,000 but it’s not going back up as fast as it went down.

Still trying to fix the Excursion since the air does not want to come through the dash vents anymore. We changed out the EGR solenoid and that only helped a very little. Now I have ordered a blend door actuator and am hoping that will solve the problem.

April 16, 2025. Finally got our taxes done. I was procrastinating and waited until last week before doing them. When I got my RMD from my IRA last year, they took out taxes before sending me the distribution. It turns out that we did not have to pay any taxes at all and we were refunded the taxes that were taken out. I was certainly happy about that. Seniors should have to pay any taxes at all; we have paid in enough over our working years!

We received the blend door actuator last week and installed that. It was an easy install, but did not solve the issue. I read that this device is supposed to change from heat to cold, which we do not have an issue with. Oh well. The next device I was reading about was the panel/floor vacuum control motor, which sits right next to the blend door actuator. That is currently enroute to us and I will hopefully get it installed over the weekend.

Don’t know if I will be able to though as it is supposed to rain and also, Josh and family is coming up over Easter Weekend to visit. The only dry day next week is Monday and then rain the rest of the week. I’ll have to pull the Excursion way under the awning to get it installed.

April 17, 2025. Received the vacuum control module from Rock Auto and installed it in the Excursion. While doing that, I noticed a plug underneath the glove box that was just hanging there. I put the glove box back together and looked at the plug; it was disconnected from a vacuum plug. Was this our problem all along? Somehow this plug got disconnected, so I put that together too. Well, what do you know? The vents air now works! 

Jim has to renew his driver’s license in person this time. We only get a few times to renew online here in Texas, and now it’s time to go in person to get a new one. Hope it all goes good. Someone said he may have to take an eye test, and with him seeing double, I hope that does not interfere with it.

April 23, 2025. No problem with renewing Jim’s driver’s license. Had an appointment; got there and no one in line before us. Had to fill out a form and then show his Passport, took his picture, and that was it. His new license will be mailed to our Livingston address in about two to three weeks.

Josh and family came up over Easter weekend. They brought their big tent so they could have their air mattress. Josh put down the extra panels on the stones in front of the trailer and they put the tent up there so they could be mostly under the cover. It did rain during the night both Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday morning I cooked bacon, eggs and pancakes on the Ninja. I had ordered a cast iron griddle for the Ninja just for this occasion. They all turned out delicious and I was quite pleased with the results. I have a very good recipe for pancakes, made from scratch.

I thought we were going to have a wash out on Saturday as the weather showed lots of rain at one time. It rained during the night, but daytime we had good weather. So on Saturday we drove to Waco to visit the Waco Mammoth National Memorial and then to the Suspension Bridge.

Waco Suspension Bridge

We came home after that; I walked Lucy and then we headed to Los Verdes for dinner. Back home, Jim and Josh put together a fire in our fire pit and we sat on the concrete patio watching the fire. The grandchildren stayed most of the time in the Living Room watching TV and enjoying themselves. Glad we had that for them.

Easter Sunday we went to the local Lutheran Church, where I met some of the residents that live here at Whitney.

Sunday afternoon we went down onto the golf course so Josh and Jason could hit some golf balls. 

Jason

Josh

Josh was driving and went through the high grass looking for golf balls. All of a sudden the golf cart stopped – died. We pushed it onto the walkway and then Josh & Karen walked back. Jason stayed with me at the golf cart for a while and then decided he wanted to walk back, so he walked to the club house and then took the road back.  I tried calling Pam to get Garner to come get me, but she never found him. Jim eventually got Kenton to come down to tow me home.

Did some research on the golf cart and what may have gone wrong. Kenton said that the forward/reverse gearbox goes bad, and that may have been going that way for a while as there were many times the cart quit and we moved the forward/reverse arm back and forth and it started again. From watching YouTube videos I found one that said to look at the gold screws to see if one or more was black, or burned up. Sure enough, one of the screws was black, which means the box overheated and burnt up the gear box. I found one on Amazon for about $60, which will be here on Friday.

Jim’s feet are swelling again, and we cannot figure out the cause. He decided to stop drinking bone broth with an egg, and try coffee again to see if maybe the salt in the bone broth is causing the swelling. 

 

Bug-A-Salt had a contest to name the video about their Shred-er device. Jim won the caption contest and won a Shred-er gun: Now that is impressive "shooting from the hip "! The prize was Jim getting a free gun!

Jim with the Shred-er

April 28, 2025. Jim borrowed Joe’s pressure washer and spent the whole day on Saturday washing the deck. He did a great job and it took him all day. That was a lot of work for him and he was quite pooped by day’s end.

The golf cart gear box got delayed – it went from New Mexico to El Paso and made a side trip to Louisville, Ky before heading back to Dallas. It was in Waco on Sunday and was finally delivered to us on Monday. Our task for Tuesday is installing the gear box.

We have also been trying to decide when to paint the deck. The weather is just not cooperating as we need the deck to be dry with no rain in sight before painting. We also have to clean the cracks on the upper deck and then maybe TSP the whole deck. After washing that off, it will need to dry about 24 hours before painting. I’m looking at Sunday May 4 to paint. By Thursday we will have cleaned out the cracks and cleaned the deck again. It’s supposed to rain on Friday, but should be dry enough by Sunday to be painted. It will need two coats with 4-6 hours between coats and 24 hours to dry before furniture goes back on. The next rain event after Sunday is Tuesday, May 6-7.

 

April 30, 2025. I was trying to make a reservation at Space Center Houston to go down for Juliella’s confirmation. Did not get anywhere online so I called them only to find out that corporate decided to make this park an “annual only” park and will not take any more short term campers. Now I had to look for another park. There is one that is one park 7 miles away, but it's at the bottom of where I-45 and Beltway 8 connect. I thought that place would be pretty noisy, so I started looking around more. I did not want to drive down to Green Caye or Safari, so I started looking more and found one straight out Clear Lake Blvd about 9 miles called Harvest Acres. It’s a fairly new park and out past Friendswood in Pearland. It looks very quiet and is only $280 per week.

We are talking with Rodney to have another roof put between the main cover over to the cottage. He quoted us under $4,000 for the roof, which we thought was quite reasonable. We will also buy a mini split to install in the living room and get rid of the hole in the wall A/C that is not very effective. He is out of town this week, but I’m hoping his crew can get the roof done in May, before we head out of town.

May 2, 2025. On our walk this morning on the golf course, I came across a tiny opossum that was quite injured. I guess a bigger animal got it around the neck and tore the skin away. It was still alive so I bundled him in some napkins that I carry and brought him home. I wrapped him in a towel and put him in a 99 bucket with a towel on top to keep him warm. I cleaned the would with hydrogen peroxide and then put some Neosporin on it. Later in the morning I cleaned it some more and put some of Kimmy’s magic salve on the wound. I was calling around trying to find some place that would take the animal, someplace that knows more about treating wild animals. I finally found a place in Waco – Waco Wildlife Rescue, so right after lunch I drove to Waco to give the little guy to them to help. I don’t want to know how it turned out; I’d rather just think it worked out. 

May 6, 2025. Got the gear box installed but we are still having issues with the golf cart just up and dying, even as we are driving along. I’ve been doing more research and the next thing we need to look at is the ITS which controls the gas pedal. When we step on the gas pedal it seems to jump or not work at all. We just need to get the two screws out along the floor board as the ITS is in the pedal box which is under the floor board. I tried unscrewing the nuts, but they are in very tight, so I sprayed some oil to loosen the screws.

I then put some more dyalectic grease on the connections in the gear box and it started working again, so we decided to take a ride tonight. It died before we just got out of the driveway, but then started up again so we went to the trash, the mailbox, and then started into the circle and it died again. Jim got it going in reverse so he drove the cart in reverse all the way back to the trailer. What we need to do now is check the ITS.

Also found out today that another one of our friends passed away. This time it was Orin Shugart of Madonna and Orin. We had just seen him a couple of weeks ago, sitting on their deck and talking. We saw Donna last week while sitting with John Downing at Myron & Lucy’s house. She said he was in rehab now but had fallen when trying to go to the restroom. I guess him falling was a lot more serious than it sounded. He did have a blood infection they were trying to treat; the medicine Donna was pumping into him made him ill and was not working so they put him in the hospital to treat them and then into rehab.

Got the deck painted on Sunday the 4^th, just as I was planning to do. The weather was great and it stayed warm and sunny all day Saturday and Sunday. Monday it rained a bit in the afternoon, but stormed most of the day on Tuesday.

Jim is doing great with PT; his knees and legs are getting stronger and he is much more confident walking. He still puts on the new knee brace every day when walking around. Wednesday is his last day and I guess they will do an evaluation and probably release him.

Had a horrible storm come through the area today; lots of rain and thunder, but by the afternoon it went away. We now have at least 10 days of no rain, with it slowly getting warmer by the 15^th. We are hoping Rodney will get his crew out here during this time frame.

May 10, 2025. We are having an extended roof installed between our main building and the cottage. We are also have one of the sections lengthened to match the other section. That way we will be able to walk from the trailer to the laundry room without getting wet, we can park the golf cart there when we are gone, and we can also buy a garden shed where we can store all of our gardening stuff. They are going to be starting on it next week and will be done within a few days. We are also getting a mini-split to install in the living room because the A/C that is currently there needs to come out as it is in the way of the gutter that will be installed. The total cost for all of this will be about $5,700. That’s not too bad, and it will make it easier to get out of the rain.

 

We are still having issues with the golf cart. Even after changing the forward reverse gear box, I thought for sure that would solve the stalling issues, but no, it did not. Whenever we go out, we always wonder if we will get stuck somewhere. We then looked at the ITS (Inductive Throttle Sensor) and the micro switch which is found in a compartment under the floor mat. It was a pain getting to that because the two screws and lock nuts holding the side panel were rusted and hard to get off. When we finally did get it off and looked inside the compartment, it all looked clean as a whistle. Looking at a YouTube on how it’s all supposed to work, ours did not quite match up.

So after reading more about the ITS and micro switch, I decided to order them and see if that solves our problem. Mark thinks it has something to do with how wires were bypassed in the charging box. He said he was going to come over and look at ours, so he’ll do that and I’ll change the other two units.

May 16, 2025. Yesterday I cleaned the battery terminals with baking soda and water on the golf cart; then put water in the batteries. The ITS and micro switch were delivered so I changed those out in the afternoon. We drove the cart around and it ran great. Reverse was a bit rough, but forward was smooth.

 

Jacklyn called Thursday morning to let me know that they had their annual home study on Wednesday and were given the name of another consultant to discussion adoption with. The new consultant said that she was surprised that it was talking to long for them to get a baby; that the agencies she works with usually have a couple with a baby within six months to a year. Her consultant fee is $4500, which is very expensive. They are at a loss as to what to do now. I recommended they go with her and sent them $2,000 to help with the fee. They will have to talk, talk with Sean’s Dad, and pray about it before making a decision.

This morning the guys arrived to start work on our expansion. I tried moving the golf cart and nothing. The solenoid was clicking, but when I stepped on the gas pedal, nothing happened. I am at a loss as to what is going on with the cart, and am ready to trade it in!

 

May 21, 2025. The guys came on Monday to finish the roofs and put up the gutter. The only thing that I want changed is the small silver covering they put over the beams does not cover the beam completely – it just covers half of it. The overhang needs to cover the complete steel beam so none of it is showing. 

Jason came this morning to paint the steel column in front of the cottage. I mentioned to him if he saw Rodney about the overhang over the steel beams.

 

The golf cart has been sitting for a few days now and every time we tried it, it did not work. Press the pedal and nothing. We have been looking at new golf carts and have decided that we don’t want to mess with the green cart anymore and want Charles to take it back and work on it. So last night Jim decided to get in it and low and behold, IT RAN. We had already taken everything off of it that we wanted, so Jim just drove it down to Charles’ place. The next thing I saw was Jim and Charles in the front yard with the cart; and Charles sitting in the driver’s seat. They talked a bit and then Charles was able to drive the cart back to his place, presumably with no issues. Go figure.

Monday Jim was talking with a sales rep at Mission Golf Carts near Waco and Tuesday afternoon we drove down there to look at carts. They had gotten one in from a golf course, refurbished it with speakers and a newish lithium battery. We drove it around down there and decided that it was the one we wanted. We even took Lucy and she helped us make the decision. The battery has an eight year warranty on it, so I registered it with the manufacturer. They were supposed to detail it, but I don’t think they did much in that regard. The top is nice and clean, but underneath it’s not too clean. I’ll have to check to see the best way to clean the battery hold and underneath. It was delivered to us on Wednesday and of course, we had to drive it around the park.

Our new golf cart

We took the Excursion to Pat’s Automotive to have a diagnosis done on it as the ABS light came on and while we were driving to Waco yesterday, the Check Engine Soon light came on. I called them late this afternoon as I had expected to hear from them, and was told that they did not have time to get to it, but will do so first thing in the morning.

May 26, 2025. Memorial Day ~~ we participated in the annual golf cart parade here at Whitney. I took some pictures and also a video of the carts while the Marine song was playing.

Getting ready

Got our Excursion back from Pat’s on Friday. It seems the left tire hub was bad and they had to replace it. They also researched why the check engine light was on but could not find anything wrong. I am glad we got the hub fixed as I was hearing a rattle when driving and since we will be towing the trailer for the next four months, it needed to get fixed.

Since giving the green golf cart back to Charles, he has been messing with it and we see him driving it around the park with no issues. He said he will still take it to the mechanic in Hillsboro for a thorough going over.

We have had wasps building nests in various parts at our site. I picked up the ladder one and discovered a nest in the ladder – I got bit on my finger and boy did that ever hurt. So I put ice on it and then Cortizone 10, which helped the itch and swelling go away. I got rid of that nest, but we had one under the arm of one of the adirondock chars. I saw them swarming and sprayed one chair thinking I got them, but did not. When Chuck & Jeannine came to visit they swarmed out and we ran to the other deck. Lucy decided to go after the wasps and got bit twice. She was so scared – shaking and sitting in my lap.

We then discovered a nest under the table on the deck so we just moved the chairs away from it to get away from those wasps. Later that night after the wasps settled in for the night, we went out and sprayed them with wasp killer. I also sprayed two nests that were being built under the awning. I certainly did not want to take them with us when we leave.

May 31, 2025. Thursday I had Safelite Glass come out and put in a new windshield. There was a small crack on the driver’s side that went up about 6” but then after I washed the truck, the crack started climbing straight up where it started to interfere with seeing through the window. Since we are leaving on vacation, and Jim already sees double, I did not want any interference in the window that would alter his vision.

Friday morning the guys came to finish the roof that goes to the LR/Laundry. There were two large beams on the front and back side that they put a half cover so that part of the beam was still exposed. They had a sheet that put under the half sheet in order to cover the whole beam. It’s now all done and looks good.

Been working on my To Do list to get ready for vacation. Made some reservations already and did a bunch of chores around the place to set it up for us being gone. The golf cart will just sit under the cover by the LR along with our bikes. I have decided not to take my bike as I have a horribly hard time switching gears. The rubber cover over the gear is impossible with my right hand and I have to use my left hand to switch gears. That is even hard, but very easy with a wrench attached. Due to that and that we won’t be staying at any one place for very long, I have decided to oil everything, cover it and keep it here. Jim decided to leave his trike as well, but I’m taking his other exercise stuff.

Whitney had a “Block Party” down by the house with the Roosters; lots of people showed up with food and drink. We came late but Jim put on music with our golf cart and actually got some women up and dancing. Lots of people bought squirt guns and are going around have water gun fights. We have not bought ours yet, but I think that will be a purchase.

June 4, 2025. We were packing up yesterday and while putting up the septic, I listened into the pipe and there was running water. I shut off the main valve and the running water stopped. I kept thinking there was a leak in the line to the trailer, but Jim kept talking about the toilet in the LR running. I never hear it running, but this morning he pulled off the top of the lid, had me turn on the main valve and he discovered that water was constantly running. We did not hear it because it was just so subtle. Don’t know how long it has been running like it – could have been years.

The road the GPS took us though Waco was crazy. Got on I-35, but then it wanted us to get off on Rt 6, then do a U turn, just to get on Hwy 77 south. I’m going to have to really look at that route from Whitney to Caldwell next time we head that way. In November, however, I think we will be at TR (for doctor’s appointments) before heading to Houston for Thanksgiving.

I decided to check out a new RV Park – Rockdale RV Park in Rockdale, Texas -- on our way to Houston; it’s an Escapees park and not that far from Caldwell. It looked nice when looking at it with satellite, but now sitting here, I think we’ll go back to Brazos River in Caldwell in the future. The grass is not mowed; the roads are full of potholes. The manager claims that the mower is broken and the tractor is not working to fix the potholes. Our site is full of weeds, ants and sand spurs. I picked a huge pile of sand spurs to throw away. The site next to us (12) is nicer; it has a nice plot of grass, so since I have already paid for our return trip, I’m going to ask to go into that site. When I called the phone number when we arrived, I got the reservation center. The person had an accent, and when I asked the manager where that person was, he said the Philippines. They use Campspot for reservations, so that explains it.

Rockdale RV Park, Rockdale, Texas

May 5, 2025. Got to Harvest Acres late yesterday afternoon. Since we cannot get into Space Center Houston, I decided on this place even though it’s 9 miles from Josh’s house. 

Harvest Acres, Pearland, Texas

After setting up, I called Josh and he is in Rhode Island at a convention, so Jim and I decided to head to J. Henry’s for dinner. They had a lot of new beers, so Jim was able to test quite a few and then had two of them full size. He had fish & chips for dinner and I had my usual – Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Chicken (bacon, spinach, artichoke, cream cheese, balsamic glaze, sauteed serrano slaw and mashed potatoes). It’s quite a big meal, but very good.

This morning Lucy and I walked down FM 130 which is an unbusy street and we were able to get our 2 miles in. I miss the golf course, but at least we have some place to walk.

June 7, 2025. Friday afternoon Phil flew into town so he could be here for Juliella’s confirmation. He stayed at their house and flew out again on Monday morning. Saturday morning the kids had a swim meet, so I went to watch them, while Jim stayed home. From there I went to Goodwill to buy a nice pair of capris and a couple of blouses for church. Saturday night we all went to Hope Lutheran Church for dinner and the Confirmands to give their pre-confirmation affirmation. There were only five of them – four girls and one boy. After dinner we went into the church for a small prayer service so Pastor Josh could pray over each of the kids and give them their confirmation verse from the Bible.

June 8, 2025. On Sunday morning we had to be at church at 9am for the service, and more confirmation ceremony. We went to Josh & Karen’s after church and sat there the rest of the afternoon. 

Juliella wanted to go to Roux Pour for dinner, and we left about 4:30 to get there for an early dinner. I had my usual – Crab Stuffed Shrimp with Treme Sauce with asparagus and a piece of toasted bread. It is really good. From there we went back to their house so Juliella could open her gifts and then we had cake that Karen had baked.

We have been trying to decide if we wanted to stay at USA RV Resort which is located at the bottom of Beltway 8 and I-45, so we drove there to see how easy it would be to get to and from the park from Josh’s house. It took three tries before we got the correct road to do a flip around to get to the park (light green dot lower left). Both our GPS and Jim listening to Google Maps GPS got us confused and took us down the wrong road. After listening to Google Map’s direction, we figured out which road we were supposed to take. Once we got that right, I should have done the flip around, which would have gotten us right to the park.

But, all in all, it was so confusing and nerve wracking trying to find the correct road to take, and in the fall when it’s dark, trying to get to the park in the dark would really be hard. We both decided that it was not worth it; the traffic on the access road was awful and we decided that staying at Harvest Acres and how easy it is to get to the park is what we will do in the future. We will have to call Phil and tell him of our experience as he comes down in the winter for a month.

June 9, 2025. Took Josh and family out to dinner Monday night to J. Henry’s after our ordeal trying to get to the other RV park.

June 10, 2025. I was researching our itinerary and discovered that California is instituting a 65 cent increase per gallon on gas. Plus there are rioters in Los Angeles. I decided that we are not going to pay that much money in gas. Their average gas prices are almost $5 per gallon, then add the 65 puts it to $5.65 per gallon. It would cost us a fortune to travel into California right now. Going to put that part of our travels on hold for now  Going to put that part of our travels on hold for now so I canceled all of the reservations in that direction.

Started working on a new itinerary going north into Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming and then back south into Colorado, New Mexico and back to Texas. It will still be through September, but I think there will be things I want to see and Jim as well.

June 11, 2025. It started raining Wednesday morning while we were trying to pack up to leave. We left a different way than what the GPS took us to get to Harvest Acres. Leaving we went west and got on Hwy 35 north directly to Beltway 8. It was raining and misting and Jim did not have an easy time driving. By the time we reached Buckee’s the rain just about stopped and the traffic as well, and driving was a lot easier.

Unfortunately I paid for our stay at Rockdale RV Park for our return trip; this place is pretty run down. Grass still not mowed; potholes in the roads and I have no idea if they even have a bathhouse or laundry. Where we stayed the bathhouse was down; there was someone so close to us our awning almost hit their slideout. Needless to say, we will not be coming back to this location.

Rockdale RV Park, Rockdale, Texas

 

June 13, 2025. I guess you can say we have started our summer vacation when we arrived at Tres Rios yesterday afternoon. We really wanted to get our old spot back and was told that the whole electric panel was replaced, which panel covered the row that we went in. So we decided to take a chance; however, when we pulled into 129 as Jim was pulling over the connection area, water started spouting up from the ground. I called Angie over and she got maintenance to come look at it. Jim had to back up all the way out of the site and water was just pouring out and making a muddy mess out of the entire site.

Muddy mess at Site 129

Since it was going to take them about an hour to fix the pipe, I chose to go into another site. Turns out that tree roots were around the water pipe and when Jim drove over it the roots broke the pipe. We are now in site 131, which has a wonderful grassy area – no burrs or sand spurs, so I chose not to put the carpet out.  I did not want to kill any grass that is here.

Tres Rios, Glen Rose, Texas

I decide to test the electric before unhooking completely. I hooked up the electric and turned on the A/C, water heater and refrigerator all at the same time. According to the EMS, the voltage was showing at 124, which is very good and did not waiver. If there was still an issue with the electric (as happened last time), the voltage would have changed and the EMS would have kicked us off. I’m really glad to say that nothing changed; it looks like changing the electric panel fixed the issue!!

Went to play corn hole Thursday night; everyone there we knew. It was a lot of fun even though we only played for about an hour as not a lot of people showed up.

I did have an issue with the Starlink though. I set it up right next the RV and was not able to get a connection even though it had a clear view of the sky. So I moved it away from the trailer to the front of the RV where it could have space all around it. It did the weird thing where it goes flat and looks straight up into the sky looking for the satellites. It then did an update, and then looked again for satellites. It finally did find them and settled out and is now working good.

June 15, 2025. Lucy and I are getting out about 6:30am on our old trail along the Brazos River. Cannot get our 2 miles in, but got close to it -- 1.72 miles. We arrived right after a lot of rain had dumped in the area and Lake Granbury dam was opened up. The Brazos was really high for a few days. But as the week wore on, the temperature soared into the 90s and stayed there. 

Brazos River

Went to Karaoke last night; this one is club generated. It was fun; Jim had a great time singing with Cliff, and Rhonda sang a few songs as well.

June 19, 2025. We have been in this spot for a week and have had no electric issues. Boy, are we ever glad about that. I like this site with the large grassy area, but I think we’ll try to get our old site back when we come back in November.

When I went to do laundry Wednesday, I washed the new sheets I got from My Pillow. I had them on the bed once and during this wash they got these white streaks in them and holes ripped at those sites. This completely made me mad as I only brought the two sets for our vacation. Now we have to drive back to Whitney so I can get a couple of sets so we have sheets for the rest of our vacation.

Cliff and Deb brought Jim a new go-mobile that Deb’s mom used. It has a seat so when walking through museums, if Jim gets tired he can just sit down on it instead of trying to find a seat. It’s very nice and in good shape.

June 26, 2025. The Rollator that Cliff brought for Jim did not work out. The wheels were too small and Jim could not get it going in the grass or on the roads. So we bought one with large wheels that were all terrain. Had it delivered to Tres Rios and put it together for him. He likes it and it will help him walk around the museums with me. 

Jim's new Rollator

We left Tres Rios today on our way north. First stop was Sunset RV Park in Sunset, Texas. It’s a Passport America at $20 per night, but it’s not a very nice park. I think I’ll have to look for another park in this area if we come back this way. There are others but they are about double the price.

Sunset RV Park, Sunset, Texas

June 28, 2025. Friday night we stayed at Ole Town Cotton Gin in Quanah, Texas. It’s a Good Sam park with FHU. We have stayed here a few times when we headed west on vacation. It’s off 287 and fairly quiet. Nice back roads around the park to walk.

 

Ole Town Cotton Gin RV Park, Quanah, Texas

I had thought about trying to get a little closer to our stop in Liberal, Kansas so I called a park in Wheeler called Pinon. The owner said he had a spot for us and to come on (cost $30 per night). It’s 13 miles farther than the place I had originally picked out. Upon arriving we were told there were two spots open and to pick one. In both of them the water spigot was in a depression so filled with sand that I could not get it uncovered; one had dog poop all over it and the other had weeds covering it. I dug so much into the sand looking for this water spigot I finally gave up. I called the owner and told him that we were not staying and why. He was going to come dig out the water but I told him it’s too late, the maintenance should have been done already; the sites are not being maintained. So we turned around and drove 13 miles back to Shamrock to Lonestar RV Park.

Lonestar RV Park, Shamrock, TX

June 30, 2025. Had a pleasant drive from Shamrock, Texas to Liberal, Kansas. Drove up US 83 with barely any traffic through Oklahoma and then into Kansas. We are at a Passport America campground called Seven Winds. It’s pretty run down; lots of falling apart mobile homes; trucks and cars rusting in the woods; unmowed lawns. It used to be a nice looking park three years ago, but it isn’t any more. I picked a site at the end of the row with no one next to us, so it wasn't so bad. Set us up to be comfortable by putting out the rug and awning. It was about 100 when we pulled in here but a front came through last night and dropped the temps to the high 60’s and the high today in the upper 80s.

Seven Winds RV Park, Liberal, Kansas

There is a small subdivision just .3 miles from here where Lucy and I had our morning walk. It’s a gravel road with a few houses on it; and nice houses – nothing run down.  

We are here for three nights to grocery shop, see Dorothy’s House and the Land of Oz, and the Mid-America Air Museum. 

After visiting Dorothy's House, we made a stop at a liquor store and then talked about getting ice cream. Well, a train was blocking the road that we needed to go on to get to Braum's, but right next door to the liquor store was this really cute restaurant/ice cream shop, so we walked over there and had our ice cream.

Chikas Fresas

July 1, 2025. This afternoon we went to visit the Mid-America Air Museum. Lots of airplanes, helicopters and experimental planes. Jim had a good time riding the scooter around as it was a pretty large place and he would have gotten worn out walking. The scooter was provided by the Museum, which was really great of them to offer it. 

We then went out to dinner to Brickhouse BBQ; Jim got his picture taken at the sign outside of the restaurant, and then we stopped by the Railroad Park across the street. 

Rock Island Railroad Park

July 2, 2025. This morning we left Liberal, Kansas on our way to Dodge City, Kansas and Gunsmoke RV Park. The road from Liberal to Dodge City was mostly two lane with no shoulder. Jim did not like it much since if something should happen, there is no place to pull over.

We got a nice pull through with a huge grassy yard. I turned on the water pump and could not get it shut off; Jim tried too. Finally called the office and she was able to get if off, but not before it flooded out site. We eventually got set up and got a bit of rest. 

Gunsmoke RV Park, Dodge City, Kansas

Chester, 1829

Gunsmoke RV Park

Jim had a hankering for pizza and beer so we headed out to Dodge City Brewing.  What a great little restaurant – they even allowed Lucy to come in and sit while Jim had his flight of beers and we ate a Hawaiian pizza. I even enjoyed the pizza – it was thin crust and was very good. Two of the owners of the restaurant were sitting at the next table from us and we had a good chat with them while eating and drinking.

July 3, 2025. In the afternoon we took the Trolley Ride around Dodge City. The Trolley Ride was very interesting; we had a good tour guide who even took us out to the feed lots to show us just how many cattle goes through the area. Boy did it ever stink. There were thousands of cattle in the lots.

When we got back from the ride, we tried to do the walking tour. There is a lot of construction going on in the area around the Visitor Center, so I believe a lot of the statutes were removed due to the construction. Since it was not feasible to do the walking tour, we ended up at a corner ice cream shop, so we stopped in there for some before heading back to the trailer.

July 4, 2025. We decided on the Boot Hill Museum for today as there were lots of activities they had planned for the day. 

Just as we were beginning our walk around the museum, one of the wheels fell off of Jim’s rollator. Seems one of the star knob came undone and had fallen off somewhere and by the time we got in there the screw and rubber washer fell off. A lady standing nearby found the screw and washer, but I was unable to find the star knob. Luckily I had some red duck tape in the truck and was able to tape the screw into place so it would not fall out.

We finished our tour through the museum and then headed into the courtyard to watch the gunfight. But before that we went into the saloon to get some refreshment. While in there we met a couple – Larry & Lynn – who just befriended us and Larry paid for our drinks. Turns out they are camped at Gunsmoke RV Park, where we are. So we hung around with them for the rest of the afternoon at the museum. The gunfight was really cool and I got a few pictures. They even handed out a portrait of the whole group that participates in the gunfight.

After the gunfight we toured more of the museum which went through the buildings, and we ended up back in the saloon. One of the “girls” there wanted me to learn the Can Can, so Lynn and I donned our skirts and went up on stage to do the Can Can with the girl. It was a lot of fun and Jim was able to get a little video of us up there. Larry got a longer version and said he'd send it to me, but I have not gotten it yet. His version was too long and he said when he got home he’d send it, but he’ll have to shorten it. 

Larry sent me the long version through Amazon Videos. I downloaded it on my computer, but it's too long to download here, so the only way to view it is through this link.

Back at the RV Park, Larry & Lynn came over for a bit with their little dog, Bailey, the cutest little thing. They take him everywhere in a pouch that Lynn carries. Lucy seemed to like him OK, and did not growl too much when he went near her toys. Larry said he’s been working with the same company for about 40 years which deals in tires for large construction companies and other companies. He suggested a particular tire for our trailer and said he could hook us up with a good deal when the time comes for new tires. 

They live in Littleton, Colorado and suggested we get together for dinner when we get to the Monument Campground in August. 

July 5, 2025. Last night as Jim was getting up to come to bed he said his right knee just started hurting like the dickens. He said it felt worse than when he injured it; could not even walk on it. I decided to try some DMSO on his knee and rubbed that in. He said it really helped the pain go away, so I rubbed more on later in the day and then rubbed some on both knees. It helped so much that he was walking later that night. I took Saturday to clean the trailer and vacuum, and then we went out to dinner Saturday night to The Cowboy Capital Saloon & Grill.

July 6, 2025. Time to head out again; today we are going to High Plains RV Park in Oakley, Kansas. Pulling in I thought Yikes, not a nice campground but they put us way in the back on the end of a pull through with grass all around us. It’s actually a very nice site. It was bright sunshine and hot, so I put out the awning expecting some rain to come through later tonight. 

High Plains RV Park, Oakley, Kansas

However, around 6pm the wind started really blowing and the awning was flapping a lot even though I had six tie downs holding. I went out to lower it so it would not get blown so much and ended up taking it in because it was blowing that hard. I put the tables and chairs on the ground, Lucy's bed and all the other stuff in the truck, and the Ninja under the picnic table. So glad that I did all of that because not long after that the rain came and some hail with it. Pounded us good for about an hour or so; even rocking the trailer. Lucy was so scared she was shaking and tried to jump up into my lap so I went to sit on the couch with Jim and she crawled up between us.

July 8, 2025. Yesterday dawned bright and sunny with no rain in the forecast, which I am very happy about. I went grocery shopping in the morning and in the afternoon we went to the Buffalo Bill Cody Cultural Center to check it out. Was not very big inside but there was a lot of exhibits that I was able to get pictures of.

There is also a nice gravel road right next to the park where Lucy and I are able to get our two mile morning walk.

Jim was looking at his phone and it popped up that the Mingo geocache -- the Oldest Active Geocache in the World was right up the road from us, so I looked it up on my Geocache app and we drove up there today. Pretty cool.

This afternoon we will go visit the Fick Fossil & History Museum.

July 9, 2025. Time to head out north again, this stretch takes us to I-80 Lakeside Campground in North Platte, Nebraska. Had to drive in the back way as the main road into the park has been under construction for a few months now. Hidden Lakes Road that we had to come up is gravel and very dusty and soft.

I-80 Campground, North Platte, NE

Big Pond at I-80 Campground

The campground is right on the North Platte River but you can’t see much of it due to the trees. There is a path I found going down to the river where someone put up bird feeders. I’ll head down there early before sunrise to try and get a good picture of the river.

North Platte River

Jim suggested going out to dinner tonight so I would not have to cook after spending so much time setting up. There is a Beer Brewing Company called Pals Brewing Company not far from here, so went there for pizza and beer.

Washed the second set of My Pillow sheets again. The last time I washed them was on delicate with All Free & Clear detergent and they turned out good. Today I washed them again and got those white streaks with holes in them – in the pillow cases and fitted sheet. I will never buy My Pillow sheets again; what is it with them that they get these holes in them? Now I have to waste my time sending them back.

July 11, 2025. We’ve been a week already and went to see a few sights in the area. The first place we went was Buffalo Bill State Historical Park. Since it’s a state site, they charge $14 just to park in their parking lot. To tour the house and grounds was just $5, but in no way was I going to pay $14 just to park.

So, we turned around and left, and went to the Lincoln County Historical Museum. This place was really neat; it highlighted the 6,000 servicemen who came through the Canteen where the local women fed them coffee and food. The original Canteen was in the Santa Fe Depot, but since that was so close to the railyard, they demolished it, much to the dismay of the residents of North Platte. They even let Lucy come in with me to walk around.

There were lots of exhibits out back and they actually offered golf carts to those who could not walk around. So Jim got to get a golf cart to get around the exhibits.

July 12, 2025. On Saturday afternoon we took in two more sights – the Fort Cody Trading Post, which is just a glorified souvenir store. I was able to find some very nice things for the grandchildren. There was also some exhibits about Buffalo Bill. Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show in miniature was hand carved by Ernie Palmquist. There are 20,000 pieces and it took him 12 years to complete.

 

After leaving the Trading Post, we went to the Cody Park Train Museum. It took a bit to find it as the address they give was not the actual museum location, but the business address. Once inside the park, Jim was able to pull it up on his phone and we actually found it. Most of the exhibits were outside so I was able to bring Lucy along to see that as well. Jim mostly sat and talked with one of the volunteers, while I walked and took pictures.

We learned that there was a fabulous ice cream shop downtown, and we got 10% off coupons; the volunteer, Joe, was just getting off work so we followed him downtown where he went to see the car show that was going on, and Jim and I went into Double Dips to get ice cream. This ice cream was really good, and we both ate too much.

July 13, 2025. Sunday we went to the Golden Spike Tower. This place was really cool, and we were able to bring Lucy inside here as well. The first floor was the gift shop and we paid to go up in the tower. There are two places to look around; first one was an open deck where we were able to look around at the railyard. This happens to be the largest railyard in the world; it’s where all trains go to get their orders as to where to go. It’s about 2 miles wide and 8 miles long. It’s huge. The top floor had a volunteer who knew everything about the railyard so Jim enjoyed standing and talking to him. I walked around and took pictures of everything.

When we were leaving I failed to look in the side mirror and backed up too wide and backed into a car. Did not do too much damage; it was the weather tech bumper that hit the car. But we did not just leave; I went inside to find the owners, which turned out to be a young couple with three little girls (who asked to pet Lucy when we were upstairs). He came out with me to look at his car, and took a picture of our insurance card. I gave him a card and he texted me his name and phone number. I don’t have any idea when we will hear from our insurance company about fixing his car, or what will happen next. After exchanging information, we left.

July 15, 2025. Tomorrow is the end of our week here in North Platte, and tomorrow we head out to Scottsbluff, Nebraska. I put everything up tonight as it’s supposed to storm around 7pm for a few hours.

July 17, 2025. Arrived at Captain Critters Country Campground in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. I should have looked more closely at other campgrounds in the area. This one is right next to the railroad tracks, and specifically a crossing where the train blows its horn when going through. That is most of the day, but not so much during the night. The site is all rocks – she pulled out all the grass because she said the mower threw rocks onto trailers. There is really no good place to walk; the dog park is a joke, as it usually is in campgrounds. Along the grass on one side are little signs “no poop area” – so where are you supposed to walk the dog?? There is a bigger grassy area in the back, but I don’t know where the property ends. There is a little grass along the street on the other side of the tree line, which is where we walked.

Captain Critters Country Campground, Scottsbluff, NE

We are also in Mountain Time, which puts us back an hour and we were up before sunrise (5:30am). We walked across the main highway and across the tracks because it looked like a nice quiet road to walk on, but got to a point and it said “private property” so no walking there. There was a service road next to a canal that we walked on, but Lucy did not like it because she kept looking around and would not pee or poop. So we went back across the street and walked up to a field we found yesterday. She liked that much better and did her business.

Today is laundry day and also I need to pick a place to go visit. I have enough places picked for six days of sightseeing. There is one I may have to cancel as it’s an hour drive from here. That will be last on the list of places to visit. The weather is kind of crumby too – overcast, windy and chilly. It’s supposed to get into the low 80s later.  So today would be good for an indoor museum. The rest of the week is supposed to get into the low to high 90s.

After I got back from doing laundry, we went to the Legacy of the Plains Museum. There was a lot to see in the museum and spent a few hours in there. There are also exhibits outside, but we did not have time to see those. That will be another day.

July 18, 2025. Still trying to see the sights in the area. This afternoon we went to Scotts Bluff National Monument. We walked around the museum, and then drove up to the top of the bluff. Jim did not get out of the truck but sat and looked around while Lucy and I decided to walk to the north end, and then the south end. The south end had much better views of the bluff.

After leaving the monument, we went back to the Legacy museum to look at the outdoor exhibits. We parked in front of the Japanese Hall and went inside to look at the exhibits. There was a docent in there who was able to give us a bit of history on the Japanese who moved to the area. Her grandparents were actually part of the people who made Scottsbluff their home.

I tried to look at the other exhibits – the blacksmith shop and a home, but they were both locked up. I was told that they usually are not open unless someone is in the building, so we just left and did not get to see anything else. By that time though it was late in the afternoon and very hot. Lucy was getting hot as well, so we needed to get back and into air conditioning.

July 21, 2025. Saturday was cleaning day and Jim needed to take a day off from all the walking we had done. Sunday he had vertigo so we did not go anywhere Sunday either. Today was grocery shopping and then other stuff so we did not get out today. The temp is supposed to get to 101 at 3pm, so it’s really too hot to leave Lucy in the truck. But tomorrow we will need to get to Chimney Rock as we are heading out on Wednesday.

July 22, 2025. We were coming to the end of our week in Scottsbluff and needed to head to Chimney Rock, which we decided to do on Tuesday afternoon. The museum was not that great, but I did get pictures. After the museum we drove to the parking lot and Lucy and I took the short walk on the path that took us closer to Chimney Rock. We could not get very close, but at least I did get some pictures of it.

July 23, 2025. Time to head on our way to Cody. Our next stop was in Glenrock, Wyoming at Deer Creek RV Park, where we stayed for two nights as I had laundry to do. 

Deer Creek, Glenrock, WY

We went out to dinner so I would not have to cook; Jim wanted to go to Rosie’s Cantina (a throw back to our early Atlanta days), so after driving around Glenrock we eventually found it inside of The Higgins Hotel. We each had a burrito and they were excellent. And to top it all off, there was an ice cream shop inside the hotel, so we got ice cream for desert.

Deer Creek RV park was OK; we had a long FHU site with a concrete pad, but it was kind of useless as there was no picnic table to put on it. There is also a park next door and a rails-to-trail walk way that was part of the Mormon Trail.

Built by American Bridge Company of 
New York, c. 1911

Petrified Wood

July 25, 2025. Today we are headed out with our next stop at Cross Roads RV Park in Shoshoni. This park is OK as well; I booked a back-in but when we got there the owner said that we were too long to get in a back-in so he put us in a pull through. The only thing wrong with the pull throughs is that he put all these rocks all around the site making it hard to get in and out of the RV and put our chairs out. There was also a nice grassy area but I ended up putting Lucy’s bed on the rocks near the trailer. There was also dog poop from the previous person which I stepped in, and to top it all off, the grass sprinklers go off during the night, which got all my stuff all wet.

Cross Roads RV Park, Shoshoni, WY

There was a nice school within walking distance where Lucy and I were able to walk to. There was also a herd of antelope down there and Lucy got to chase them.

The day was very hot and the A/C had been working very hard to get the temp down. I turned on the water heater, and boom, the 30amp breaker tripped. I reset it, but then the A/C would not restart. The fan just hummed and it would not kick over. We turned it off and opened up vents and windows to get a breeze. Around 9pm after doing some research on A/C systems and humming, I discovered it was probably the capacitor. It also said that a non-functioning 30amp breaker could cause the A/C not to run.

I had previously purchased a new 30amp breaker, so we decided to change it. After removing the panel and Jim showing me how to change the breaker, I discovered a small piece of metal that was holding the breaker in place. With that piece of metal there, the breaker was not coming out. So I went and got the Dremel and Jim got on the floor to look at everything and dremeled the piece off. After he got that off he pulled the breaker out. After he got up I changed the wires to the new breaker but had a hard time getting it back in. Got the hook into the bottom but it was hard to push the lever on the top into the prongs. I eventually got it though. Showing the old breaker to Jim he was amazed that it was even working. The prongs that were on the new breaker were non-existent in the old one. He said it was probably arching a lot and said it was garbage. But even changing that did not fix the A/C.

The temperature went down into the low 60s and we had the breeze coming in over us while breathing.

July 26, 2025. This morning while Jim was still sleeping, I did more research on capacitors. From what I read, a faulty capacitor will cause the fan and A/C not to run. I went on Amazon and found the same one we have and ordered it. But it won’t be here until Tuesday and I’m having it delivered here to Cody. We are at Parkway RV Campground for the week. We have a nice back-in with a small section of grass and a nice picnic table.

Parkway RV Campground, Cody, WY

After getting set up, instead of cooking in the trailer and get it hotter than it already is, we went out to dinner. This place was very good. Jim met a guy there who opened the door for him so we ended up sitting at his table while he and Jim talked guns. He was finishing a Manhattan, and then got on his motorcycle and took off.

Getting back to the trailer we sat outside for a while, but now sitting in the trailer, it is 7:45 pm and still 93 outside and 87 inside. It’s going to get down to 57 tonight, so it will be nice sleeping weather.

July 27, 2025. Got up pretty early and Lucy and I walked down the street to the cemetery and walked around it; from walking down there around the cemetery and then back we got in our 2 miles.

We are at a little over 5,000 in elevation here in Cody. That's not too bad.

Today is Jim’s 73^rd birthday, so I posted a cute picture on Facebook wishing him a happy birthday. He got a call from Bill Mars and Jacklyn wishing him a happy birthday.

This afternoon we went to the Dug Up Gun Museum, but to get to it was up two flights of stairs and then he would not allow photographs. So I walked back down stairs to let Jim know. Because of those two things, we decided not to go. We went to the Visitor’s Center instead and looked around, and then started driving toward Yellowstone. We stopped at a cut off called “Place of Interest” about the Shoshone Canyon.

From there we continued driving to Buffalo Bill Dam and walked through that. We were able to drive almost up to the Visitor’s Center because Jim has the handicap plaque, and then got a golf cart ride the rest of the way. The Visitor Center was very interesting, telling the history of how the dam was built.

I celebrate Lucy's birthday on Jim's birthday. She just turned 14 and has been traveling with us for 13 years we've been on the road. 

July 30, 2025. We just hung around the trailer Monday and Tuesday. The laundry room is right next to us, so I got some extra laundry done beside the normal. Jim was not feeling great on Tuesday either. The capacitor arrived on Tuesday from Amazon. I had already gone onto the roof of the trailer and pulled the cover off. The fins were a bit duty so I cleaned them off, and took my vacuum cleaner up and vacuumed a lot of dust out. Following the directions from a couple of You Tube videos I found on capacitors, I changed it out. And Hooray! We now have our A/C back in working order. I decided to check the old capacitor with a meter, and sure enough, the fan side was dead.

Old Capacitor

New capacitor installed

But since we did come up here to see the Cody Firearms Museum, that is what we went out to do today. Jim was still a bit wobbly, and said he was dizzy, but he plugged through the whole exhibit. We had to leave about 3:45 as the weather was changing and the rain was coming. By the time we got to the truck, the rain had started.

There are all these quirky little statutes all over the city. I was able to get a picture of one of them as it's on my morning route to the cemetery where Lucy and I walk every morning.

August 1, 2025. Today is our last full day in Cody, so we went back to the museum and this time went through the Plains Indian Museum and the Buffalo Bill Museum. We went to see the raptor show this visit. They had three birds that they displayed and told us about. All of them were rescues from being hit by vehicles, even Jade, the bald eagle they had there.

.

Bald Eagle Nest

Jade

Golden Eagle

August 5, 2025. After leaving Cody, we stopped at Cross Roads RV Park in Shoshoni, Wyoming again for one night. It’s a nice park, but the rocks – goodness gracious – the rocks. There are two huge ones that sit on either side of the utilities, I guess so we don’t hit the utilities. Then there are more rocks that are along the grass on the curb side. They make it very hard to get in and out of the RV, and Lucy had a hard time walking on them. 

This is a video I did while driving from Cody to Shoshoni through the Wind River Canyon:

Our next stop was Deer Creek in Glenrock where we stayed for two days. I don’t mind this park; we had a huge pull through site with a concrete pad (but no picnic table) and a large yard. The park next door was a great place to walk.

On Tuesday we left and headed south on I-25 to Cheyenne, Wyoming to Terry Bison Ranch. I picked this one because it’s a Passport America and we get half price for it; half price is $29 per night. The site we have is small, full of rocks and weeds and not level. It was OK side to side but front to back I had to unhook and put the front up to make it level.

Terry Bison Ranch, Cheyenne, WY

Another thing that we did was drive higher in elevation than we were in Cody -- another 1,000 feet! 

Terry Bison Ranch is a working ranch with Bison, horses, turkey, chickens, and some other animals. I took these pictures on our morning walk.

Ostrich

Emu

Llama

Loose horses running around

Chickens

August 8, 2025. Arrived at Colorado Hts RV Park in Monument, Colorado on Wednesday, Aug. 6. It was not an enjoyable drive from Cheyenne to Monument. I wanted to go around Denver but we missed our turn off and ended up driving through it anyway. Jim did not enjoy the drive and was pretty stressed by the time we got here. We are now at 7288 elevation.

Colorado Hts, Monument, Colorado

I booked us for 2 weeks here to rest up; relax and see some sights in the area. This is a Coast to Coast campground so it does not cost us anything to stay here. Jim thought we’ve been here numerous times but since I keep track of all the campgrounds we’ve stayed at, the only other time we were here was in 2018 for 2 weeks. That was the year we were in Cody (the firearms museum was closed) and my brother called to let us know that his wife Cindy passed away. From Cody we booked it fast to this place since I knew we could stay here at no charge, and I could get on a flight to Ohio to be with my brother. I had to leave Jim here with the 2 dogs. When I got back we stayed for another week and met up with Pat and Nancy from Tres Rios. It just so happened that they were here at the same time we were

Our campsite at the blue dot

This morning Lucy and went on our normal walk up the Nature Trail and then down the trail at the back of the park. There is also a dirt bike trail where we walk, so we went up and around which took us close to the expressway and 7347 elevation.

Lucy & my walk in the morning

Mountains & traffic

This afternoon we decided to take in one of the museums that I had found in this area, that we have not seen before. We drove down I-25 to visit the Ghost Town Museum. It was quite interesting; all the buildings inside were originals from the 1800s when the area was first being developed. 

August 9, 2025. When we were in Dodge City we met a couple – Larry and Lynn VanOrsdale, that we just ended up hanging around with, plus they were at the same campground we were and they came over to our trailer to visit. They live outside of Denver so I said I would email them once we got to Monument so we could get together. They ended up coming down today to visit; we went out to lunch and then sat at the trailer for a while. It was great seeing them again.

Lynn, Jim, Larry & Gayle

August 12, 2025. Our next venture out was on Monday afternoon when we went to the National Museum of WWII Aviation. We took the “back road” instead of staying on I-25 down to the airport. There was a lot of traffic on Hwy 21. I could not believe the amount of housing all over Colorado Springs – mostly apartment houses. I don’t know where the single family homes are because we mostly saw apartments – a sea of apartments. No wonder there is so much traffic on the roads.

I ran into something else that Colorado has done that is really stupid. I went to Walmart Monday morning for grocery shopping and when I went to the self check-out I could not find any plastic bags to put my meat in. Come to find out, Colorado has banned all plastic bags to put groceries in. I asked the clerk there, what if I did not have my own bags, what then? Well, I would have to buy some. I said that was the stupidest thing I’d ever heard. They allow paper bags, which results from cutting down trees to make them, but they cannot recycle plastic bottles to make bags. This state is nuts.

August 14, 2025. Yesterday we went to visit the Western Museum of Mining. It was very interesting. We got there in time for the tour, and the docent was very knowledgeable about all the things that were in the museum and also turned some of them on.

Large buck wandering around the campground.

Buck walking through campground

Last night I noticed that the carpet next to the bed on my side was damp. I could not really decide if it was damp but when I went into the outside compartment, I discovered that there was water all over the floor under the bypass valve. I cleaned that up and then took the valve off and the white card that hid the valve. I then took a video of the leak and sure enough, it was coming out of the stem where the bolt holds the handle on. 

I could not tighten it to stop the leak, so ordered some that we hope will work. I could not find one that looks like the one we have, but I did get a copper one. It will be here Saturday, but in the meantime we have to keep the water off with no pressure so it does not keep leaking. I filled a few water bottles and my coffee pot, as well. The outside compartment door is left open to let air inside. But I have the valve stem wrapped with a beach towel to keep water off the floor.

We had talked about leaving early, but it does not look like we will be doing that now since we have work to do on Saturday. 

August 15, 2025. Instead of waiting until Saturday to see if the part I ordered would work, I looked up an RV Parks place around here and we drove there to see about getting a new bypass valve. First though I drained all the tanks and took out the old valve so we could match all the parts that we needed. Back home, Jim put Teflon tape on all the ends and then I installed it how the old one came out. The only problem was – we did not have any hot water come out. Something was obstructing the water from going into the hot water pipe. Jim thought it may be obstructed in some way, so he mulled that over for work the next day.

Old valve and new valve

Old install

Saturday came and he was still mulling it over and from looking at the old valve and the way the water flowed through it, he determined that the new valve was backwards and needed to face the tank instead of the wall for the water to flow the same way as it did with the old valve. So we drained the tanks again and he took the new valve a part to change the way the system fit together and we put it back in with the bypass on, filled up the hot water tank and turned on the water heater to heat the water. That done, we waited until the water should be hot, and I tried the hot water in the trailer and Success!! We have hot water.

New install

It’s a puzzlement as to how the water flows from the tank into the trailer and the water is supposed to flow, but it’s working and I guess we will leave it for now.

August 20, 2025. We decided that we were done with sightseeing around Colorado Springs; Pikes Peak was too expensive at $18 pp just to drive up there. The other museums were over 20 miles from where we are, so we just stayed at the campground.

Tuesday afternoon a terrific storm came through. I was in the process of packing up some of the stuff and got as far as putting the step stool away and folding up the rug as the rain started. I got everything put up off the ground, the rug into the back of the truck and Lucy’s bed in the truck too.

Then the hail hit; hard rain and hail. At least it wasn’t large – just the size of grapes, but it still pounded us and the water ran through our site like a river. I took a video but for some reason, I cannot get it to download.

Today I pack up the rest and we head on down the road to the NRA Whittington Center for a week.  

August 22, 2025. The drive from Colorado Springs to Raton was not very much fun. There was a lot of traffic through the city and even though there was not a lot of traffic after that, there was a lot of road construction and at one point the traffic was bumper to bumper, and when it finally let up, we could not see anything that would have caused the slow down.

When we hit Trinidad there was more road construction which made driving tough and challenging. Then as we went through the Raton Pass there was road construction the whole way. The right lane was closed and there was not much room on the thru lane. It was exhausting for Jim to drive pulling the trailer. It took us close to three hours to get to the NRA Whittington Center because of having to stop and the construction.

The first site we were in is one I reserved (site 41), but when I was setting up discovered a yellow jacket nest in the ground right near the utilities. Needless to say, I did not want to stay there so we moved two rows up to site 43. I like the front row in the East Campground because we have a clear view of the north sky for the Starlink and a wonderful view of the eastern mountain range.

NRA Whittington Center, Raton, NM

Raton, NM

From 7288 to 6549 -- we did not go down much in elevation. I think that the elevation is affecting us -- lack of oxygen and we get tired easier.

Thursday we drove around the park and drove down the main road toward the west past the cabins, most of the shooting areas, and primitive camping. At the end of that was the beginning of the road to the Van Houton Mines, which I decided to drive down because I wanted to see the mine entrance. We drove quite a distance down the road and there was a few plaques showing the history of the mine. We got to one point where I parked, but should have kept driving. Had I kept driving, I would have found the original No. 5 mine entrance. But instead we turned around.

We also drove down to the Santa Fe Trail display. We stopped there back in 2018 and I took a few pictures. They have added more to the display since then, so I took more pictures and blended the two trips together into one blog.

Today we decided to go shooting. We did not stay long because we took Lucy and she turned into a basket case hiding on the driver floor and shaking profusely. She hates loud noises – gun fire and fireworks. But I was able to shoot my new gun for the first time. It was very easy to shoot; easy to rack and load, and very little recoil. I enjoyed shooting even though I did not hit many of the targets. We will have to go back and shoot more, but this time we will leave Lucy at the trailer.

This place is a peaceful respite from the crowded conditions at Colorado Heights. Yesterday there was about 4 people in the park; then they all left and we were here alone today, when another trailer pulled in today. It’s really nice with no one here. It would be nicer if we could sit outside but the mosquitos are awful. They make sitting out side impossible. Cannot have a fire; there is a burn ban. It is dry, but rain is supposed to start on Saturday and rain off and on for a week.

 

Lucy and I still get up and out the door around 6am, just before sunrise. I must say that the sunrise over the mountains is beautiful. It just amazes me how the mountains change color as the sun rises.

Mamma with three babies

 

August 24, 2025. When we first got here to the NRA Whittington Center the electric voltage showed 124, however, two nights later the voltage spiked to 134 and cut off the electric to the trailer 4 times during the night. We have an EMS due to issues we’ve had at other campgrounds frying electric cords. Our EMS cuts off the electric from high voltage and low voltage. I then checked other pedestals around us and they all were running 130-133 volts. Second night here same thing happened – EMS cut off the electric which was showing at 134. I even checked the 20amp circuit thinking we should just plug into that, but it was also showing 131 volts, which really does not make any sense.  I’ve mentioned the electric to them – will they get it fixed? Who knows. 

Anyway, I’m heading down to talk with the manager to see about moving over to the West Campground. We drove over there and checked the electric and the ones we checked out showed the electric at 124 volts. 

Laundry room is OK; they don’t clean it very often and this trip they left the June bugs in one of the washers without cleaning it out. I’ve mentioned it twice, but it did not get done; then I was told that it's not their responsibility to clean the washing machine – that it’s the guests responsibility to keep them clean. WHAT??? Are they serious? 

August 26, 2025. I went down to talk with the manager the other day about moving to the West Campground since the electric has been knocking us off all Friday and Saturday nights. Sunday afternoon we moved over to the West Campground, and had a low voltage issue only once. I also mentioned what the girl said about the washing machine and was told she was not going to be working there any more. 

Also had to order a new sewer hose. I keep paying $25 at Walmart getting a Camco 10-foot hose that must not be made very well. I just discovered about three cracks in the newest one, and it’s not that old. This time I ordered a small Rhino hose. 

We did get to do some shooting. Finally I was able to shoot my new Ruger EZ. And it was easy – easy to load, easy to rack, and easy to shoot. I did not do very good hitting anything. Even a big human silhouette. But today after shooting my right thumb started hurting, which has been a problem. I also wore a little hole in my thumb. The arthritis makes my thumb curve and the knuckle pops, so shooting does not last that long. But at least I got some in. 

Got most of the stuff packed up today as check out is 10am and they said that if you stay longer than that, they will charge us an additional day. I don’t recall what we did last time we stayed here. But as I’ve got most everything done, it won’t take me long to finish. 

Lots of deer here and boy are they curious about Lucy. Some of them walk toward us and want to get close to her and check her out. Unfortunately, she does not let them as she chases them away. 

August 27, 2025. Had most of the stuff packed up yesterday. It rained most of the night but stopped by morning, which was nice. It then cleared up and we were out of the park at 10am – NRA’s checkout time. We headed south on I-25 to Las Vegas, New Mexico. We are staying at the KOA which is not a great park in itself. The sites are all gravel, and a lot are on hills. That’s where they put us first and I asked if we could go onto a flatter one so Jim would not have a hard time walking around the trailer. The weather has cleared. We had sunshine all the way down here and sunshine for the next two days.  

KOA, Las Vegas, New Mexico

Another angle to the KOA site

Lucy and I walked around the park this afternoon. One of the guys said there is a trail around the park, but we found part of it and then could not figure out where it went, so I gave up on that. Walked down the street and discovered we could walk down another side street – no sidewalk so I hope there is not much traffic in the morning.

Elevation in Monument, Colorado was 7288 and 6549 in Raton, New Mexico. Now we are at 6477. Elevation is going down slowly. Looking forward to getting down to near sea level.

While in Las Vegas, New Mexico we went to visit the Fort Union National Monument in Watrous. It was about 30 miles back up I-25, but there was not much traffic on I-25 down here, so the drive was not bad. Fort Union was built to assist pioneers traveling the Santa Fe Trail.

August 30, 2025. Friday morning we left Las Vegas, New Mexico and headed southeast to Santa Rosa RV Park for a one night stay. We stayed here once before back in 2016 and went to the Route 66 Auto Museum at that time. We just hung around the trailer this time and did not even unhook.

Santa Rosa RV Park, Santa Rosa, New Mexico

Jacklyn called this morning as we were packing up. She wanted to know about our schedule for this fall, if we were planning on heading to Florida to see our new grandson. I said I don’t know; we need to get our doctors appointments done and Jim has an appointment with Dr. Cavey in October. I do want to head to Florida but have not figured out if it will be during the winter months. Jim and I will have to decide on that one.

Saturday we left for Clovis RV Park in Clovis, New Mexico. Not going to do anything here as the only museum in the area – the Norman & Vi Petty Rock-n-Roll Museum is closed for renovation. But since this is Labor Day Weekend, we did not want to do much traveling, so we will just hang here, go to dinner and grocery shopping and leave out on Tuesday.

Clovis RV Park, Clovis, New Mexico

Sept. 2, 2025. Clovis RV Park was not too bad. Nothing to do in the park itself, but there was a nice walking trail behind the park with a gate to the trail at the end of the park. Lucy and I were able to get most of our two mile walk in the morning. The trail went around a small pond that had some ducks on it. Nice and quiet.

Today we head out again. We are heading east to a park just on the other side of Lubbock for one night. We’ll be back in central time and will have to get accustomed to that again. We are looking forward to getting back to Whitney. 

Sept. 3, 2025. We stopped at Twin Pine RV Park in Slaton, Texas, just south of Lubbock last night. It was a long full hook up site just for one night, so we did not unhook or anything. 

Twin Pine RV Park, Slaton, Texas

Today we are at Bar J Hitchin Post in Sweetwater, Texas. This is a GNP (Good Neighbor Park), which is part of the Coast to Coast system that we are members of. We will be here for two nights because we will be visiting the National WASP WWII Museum tomorrow afternoon.

Bar J Hitchin Post, Sweetwater, Texas

We have decided to cut out the last stop that I had planned, being The Hideout Resort in Brownwood. I had originally scheduled us for five days there, but we are both anxious to get back to Whitney, so I cancelled that visit and scheduled us for a one night stay at a park in Cisco, Texas for Friday night and we will be back in Whitney on Saturday.

Wild Country RV Park, Cisco, TX

I read something from Texas Storm Chasers talking about the remnants of Hurricane Lorena that is in the Pacific, affecting parts of Texas this weekend. They are showing rain in the western part of Texas for Saturday and all of Texas on Sunday. We will be back in our spot Saturday afternoon. 

Sept. 8, 2025. We did have some rain a while driving, then it cleared up but it was still a two hour drive. We got home about 1:30pm and what a mess the yard was. I could not believe how much the grass had grown and vines that covered so much. There was a huge wasp nest right under the 30amp hook up that I had to spray just to be able to hook up. We got the trailer set up on the blocks and a few other things set up.

Had some people stop by as we were setting up to visit, which was great. It’s nice to have people stop by. I then started looking at the yard and all the grass that needed to be weeded and sand spurs pulled out. I filled a whole huge trash can full of just sand spurs. I wish I would have taken a picture of the yard when we got back, before all the yard work that we did.

On Sunday Jim was doing some weed eating in his sandals and ended up stepping in two different red ant piles. His feet got eaten up and swelled up really bad. His feet just plain hurt. Even putting on his flip flops hurt when he puts them on.

Glad to be getting back to walking the golf course. The mowers did a great job on most of it; but they dropped the ball when it comes to mowing around the ponds and the trail from the ponds to the Event Center.

This morning Lucy and I saw a large herd of deer, and it even had some bucks in it. I have not seen bucks in a long time; it’s mostly doe and their babies. But maybe mating season is coming up and that’s why the bucks are mixed in.

Sept. 11, 2025. Not only is today the 24^th anniversary of 9/11, but last night we lost one of the best podcasters of all time. Well, that was Rush Limbaugh, but last night it was Charlie Kirk. He was at Utah College and there was a huge crowd. He was talking with the students as he always does, and someone (they claim they caught the shooter), hit him in the neck with a high power rifle. He probably died right away as the blood just spurted out of his neck. There are a lot of things about the whole issue that just do not add up, and I wonder if we will ever learn the truth. I changed my FB cover page to honor his company Turning Point.

Sept. 13, 2025. Went to a private museum of Frank’s Memorabilia in downtown Whitney. He has an obscure huge warehouse filled with his collection of stuff from license plates, nick Knacks, cars, cookie jars, hats, and so much more. I took some pictures and a video.

 

Sept. 16, 2025. Back a little over a week now – seems longer! Jim’s foot is getting better. I put a hydrocortisone cream on it, which really helps to dry the bites and keep his foot from hurting and itching.

Got back to playing pokeno on Tuesday and Fridays, in between trying to get my To Do list done. Does not seem to be going down very fast, and I keep thinking of more things that need be done. The yard is still full of dried out sand spurs. Lucy won’t even walk over to the deck anymore because she keeps getting the burs stuck in her feet. Every time I walk around they get stuck in the bottom of my flip flops and then I pull them off and into the trash. They seem to be never ending though.

On our nightly golf cart ride around the park and on the golf course, I got a couple pictures of the lake. Views like these and the ability to be out in nature are reasons we really love living at Whitney.

Sept. 22, 2025. Today is the first day of autumn and our 46^th wedding anniversary. We went to dinner last night at Bosque Restaurant as they are not open on Mondays. We have actually been together since 1977 so I did a YouTube video with pictures from 1977 (the first one when we were living in Charleston) through 2025. I found random pictures taken of Jim & me that I restored and highlighted, some even had the kids in them. I am working right now on putting music to the video.

Jacklyn wrote to tell us that the Birth Mom has a C-section scheduled for November 20. They are going to Orlando this Wednesday to meet her and then they will visit with Lisa & Justin while in Orlando.

In the meantime, I think we will just stay put for a while. We have not decided on Thanksgiving yet as we have doctors’ appointments at the end of October and eye doctor appointments the 3^rd week of November. Also, Jim still has his appointment with the oncologist on October 15. They were supposed to schedule a PET test, but they never called to schedule it. We will be getting our blood tests at the end of this month. I added a bunch of new ones to Jim’s blood work, and I’m hoping they will show if there is any more cancer.

We went to Sisters Gardens plant store the other day. I wanted to get some flowers to put in front of the laundry room to make it look nicer. I got some laundry stones from Keyo’s yard and placed them around it. Bought a huge Mum, which is in the process of blooming. I also got some snap dragons, pansies and one other flower I don’t know what it is. They look really nice there, and will look even better when the Mum blooms.

Sept. 25, 2025. Today I get to renew my driver’s license. Cannot do it by mail as we did that too many times, so now I have to go in person to the license place and get it. We got Jim’s a few months back and there was nothing to it. Just filled out an application, got a picture taken, and paid the money. 

A couple of days ago Google Blogger decided that my “Our Travels for 2025” contained sensitive information and put a flag on it. Naturally, they do not tell you what they consider sensitive, they just say it’s against their community standards. How on earth would my vacation and pictures go against their standards? Boggles my mind. I do have a link to our daughter’s adoption journey at the bottom, so maybe they think that’s sensitive information. Then this morning I notice that they took it off, and then a couple of hours later, put it back on. So, I put this message at the top of my Blog post – it’s the only way to get info to them as they don’t have an email to respond to: 

Well, later in the day the A/C seemed to not want to start again. I did order a new capacitor yesterday and it arrived today. But in the meantime, I went up on the roof and cleaned the fins and oiled the shaft from the motor to the two fans. It seemed to work but later in the evening the A/C would not kick over and the fan would not run either. So, I turned the system off and put on the fan like we did last time the capacitor quit. I bought a different capacitor this time, so I hope it’s better quality than the last. Tomorrow I put in the new capacitor.

Google Blogger also reinstated my Blog Travels for 2025. Never did tell me what they did not like about it. Boy, I hate being watched and censored.  I wish I could find a company that just leaves one alone.

Sept. 30, 2025. While clearing the dead vines from the fence, I inadvertently found a wasp nest which immediately stung me twice. One of the stings did not amount to much, but the sting on my thumb made it swell up and itched a lot. I took some Benadryl and also put some antihistamine cream on my thumb. Both helped to get my thumb better.

We signed up with a new meat/seafood company “Butcher Box” to get organic meats. We got one box so far and the steak and fish was excellent. I changed the next shipment to include some scallops and shrimp. I’m also getting some ground turkey for my breakfast sausage. Trying to make more recipes with these products and include some potatoes or white rice so Jim can get some carbs, which I have read he needs to increase his T level.

October 3, 2025. Drove to Cleburne this morning to get our blood work. While there, Jacklyn sent a ultrasound of Baby Justin. It was just his face, but a normal looking one. There are no abnormalities, just a healthy looking baby. We are very happy about that.

There have been three deaths on our little street – Alfa Drive. One very tragic – Laura’s husband Gene was coming back from we guess Brookshire’s Tuesday afternoon. He crossed the middle line and he was hit head on; his car flipped and he was killed. The person behind him saw it all and stayed with Gene until the ambulance came. And that was before Pam and Laura got home as they had flown to Las Vegas the week before to visit.

Then Becky’s mother passed away last week; I don’t know how old she was or if she was ill. Also, our next door neighbor Lori lost her son last week. We think he had epilepsy and had an issue; and then two nights ago her husband Paul passed away. Paul was going fast into dementia and was in a nursing home. Lori’s sister is also in a nursing home; she is very obese and can hardly walk.

I planted a whole bedful of wildflower seeds in the huge planter we have. I also planted the purple sweet pea seeds Julie gave me at Christmas. I also transplanted some Iris from the big tree to an area by the fence and around the rose bushes. Hopefully, all will come up in the spring.

I am still working on getting the fence ready for painting. That will happen next week sometime when the temperature drops. Also will need to change out the black water valve. 

October 8, 2025. The weather has been staying very warm, up into the high 80’s and even hitting 90. The mornings are still warm as well; Lucy and I are out the door at 6:45am and I can still wear shorts and a light jacket.

I’m waiting for the weather to cool down so I can paint the fence and change out the black water valve. 

I was looking at RV parks in Florida near Jacklyn & Sean for winter, but the prices are so outrageous, it’s not affordable. The RV park that we stayed at when they got married in 2022 was $559 + electric at that time; now they are charging $1,500 per month. That is more than a 100% increase. I asked them why it’s so expensive and was told that they do not set the price – that’s the owners. I checked other parks and the nice ones with amenities and things to do run over close to $900 per month. Then River Vista called back and said that since we are return guests they wuld give us a 20% discount. That still puts the monthly rate at $1200 per month.

As much as I would like to go see them, I cannot justify paying that much money for one month. I think we may just have to wait for the summer rates.  Jacklyn is even taking time off from when they get the baby until the middle of January. 

October 11, 2025. Dr. Cavey’s office called and said that Jim needs to get a PET in order to check to see about his prostate cancer. So we rescheduled his appointment with Dr. Cavey to Oct. 30 via telemed, which I like better. I am now waiting for Harris Methodist Hospital to call and schedule his PET. 

I also did not get all of the blood tests from Labcorp that I was hoping Schmidt’s office put in. Don’t know who dropped the ball on that one, but I did not get the info I wanted. Plus, I cannot get the cancer blood tests through Labcorp; don’t even know where I can get them. 

Somehow the Rove Dash Cam turned itself on and who knows how long it was on. The last time I drove the truck was Monday to the grocery store and I did not turn it on. So the dash cam turned itself on and drained the truck battery. I was going to go to Brookshire’s and then Trader Vic’s but I am now waiting for the battery charger to recharge the battery before heading out. This morning when I was looking at Jim’s phone it showed him connected via Bluetooth to the Rove Dash Cam (??). I don’t know how that happened; did he somehow turn on the dash cam? It’s all very puzzling. 

October 17, 2025. After the truck battery died, we got out the battery charger that Andy sent us and put the truck on charge. It took almost two days for the battery to come back up to full charge, but it works fine now. Jim left the battery charger hooked up so when the golf cart is not being charged, we hook the truck back up. 

Looks like I am not going to get all of Jim’s blood test results. Nothing came through on this testosterone, which I am not happy about. 

Jim’s PET has been scheduled for October 20 – Dr. Cavey does not want to see or talk with Jim about the cancer unless he gets the PET. This test will look for any cancer that many be in his body, so I guess it’s good as it will tell us about the spots on his ribs and will let me know if he needs to see another oncologist to talk about them. 

Bought two mini-split systems for the living room and laundry room. Went down to Trader Vic’s storage units where there is a guy who sells all sorts of tools and stuff along with the mini-splits. Some guy goes down to Mexico and buys them, brings them back up here and sells them. I got them for $400 each. I also bought covers for the hose and a bracket to put the living room condenser on that. I leveled out two cinder blocks for the one for the laundry room. 

Decided to start painting the fence. I started at the front by the street and painted to the edge of the bathroom. Then went around to the front of the living room area and picked it back up and painted until the other painted fence. I also painted yellow strips on the deck at certain points so the steps are visible and no one trips on them. 

October 25, 2025. We had a super thunder storm come through last night. I’m glad the rain held off until we finished our evening golf cart ride and we were inside for the night. There was lots of rain, thunder and lightning. It was a much needed rain as we have not had any for months.

This morning dawned rain free, which I was very happy about as Lucy and I were able to take our morning walk on the golf course.

Garner and Ted have started on the installation of the two mini-split systems. They have removed the A/C system from the living room wall. I had to buy a gray panel to cover the two outsides where the A/C systems were. They picked up the panel yesterday and so far have one put up in the living room. Both systems have been installed in the laundry room and now they are working on the living room.

I finished painting the fence last week, and will start on Don’s side of the fence shortly. Talked with him and he finally relinquished and said I could have the paver stones back. I will put them around the front of the laundry room after Garner is done removing the A/C from the wall.

I also replaced the black water valve on Thursday. I could see why it was leaking – the gasket was crimped and did not seal good. This time I was more careful installing the valve and made sure the gasket was in place. I tightened the bolts down but had to loosen them a little because I could not get the valve open or closed easily.

October 30, 2025. New picture of Baby Justin. Counting down the days until he comes into this world. It is set for November 13, and I’m hoping Jacklyn will be able to be in the room. Justin will have to stay in the hospital for a couple of days before he is released to her.

October 31, 2025. Had a conference call with Jim’s oncologist Dr. Cavey yesterday. He said that according to the PET/CT exam that Jim is cancer free. His PSA is at Zero, which does indicate no cancer. He also said that the spots on Jim’s ribs were gone. Maybe giving Jim Fenbendazole helped! I was giving him that on and off for the past year.

Garner and Ted finished installing the two mini-splits in the living room and laundry room. Now we have to figure out how the remote works. All I have is a sheet that tells what the symbols mean, and we have to figure out how to get heat and cool on Automatic.

The metal that we got from Jag Metals does not match the original color of the shed. We don’t know if Whitney gave us the wrong color, or if Jag made the wrong color. I sent an email to the sales rep with a picture of the front of the laundry room asking about the color.

Today Whitney is having their annual Halloween party. They are also having a pie/cake baking contest so I decided to bake a Tres Leches cake. I bought two square pans because we have to make two of the same cake. So instead of making two 9x12 sheet cakes, I made two smaller square cakes. They turned out very nice.

I did not win anything; Jim thinks my cake was not original enough as the people who won made cream cakes. Oh well.

They also had a costume contest. Here is Jim and some of the other people who dressed up.

Jim has a colonoscopy set up for November 12, so we will be heading to Tres Rios on the 9^th for two weeks. We will then head to Houston for Thanksgiving for a week.

November 4, 2025. Sent an email to Jag Metals with a picture of the color options to figure out what color we need. We came to the conclusion that it was Charcoal Gray that we needed. The lady at Jag said that they happened to have a sheet of that color that we could have at no charge. I jumped on that and said great – saved us $36 not having to pay for another sheet. Plus, Garner would head up there to pick it up.

November 7, 2025. I stubbed my toe on my sandal this week and it turned purple. I don’t think it’s broken because it does not hurt all the time; it just hurts when I walk with shoes on. But I’m not letting that stop me from walking our 2 miles on the golf course. 

November 10, 2025. Arrived at Tres Rios yesterday afternoon and was greeted by a few of our friends. Joe stopped by as well as Mike Brawley, Christy and her daughter. We were able to get our old site again (129) and are very happy about that.

Jim went to shoot pool last night with the guys and I guess had a good time. I was in bed when he got home, but this morning he said his legs were shot. He did use them a lot on Saturday – he rode his trike all over Whitney, which was a lot as he had not been riding at all. Between riding his trike and standing and sitting last night, he used his legs a lot. It’s no wonder he’s sore.

A cold front came through last night and it got down below freezing. This morning when I got up to take my thyroid pill I turned on the furnace. I really wanted to test it out before winter actually hit. The furnace worked great – no issues at all pumping out some really good heat. The air comes out high by the couch then seems to get lighter as it heads toward the bedroom, but all in all, I was happy to feel the hot air coming out. It’s going to be cold again tonight, but not in the freezing range. By Wednesday, it’s going to be back in the 80s, then cool down a little next week. 

November 16, 2025. Jim’s colonoscopy went smoothly. We won’t find out any results until early December. Don’t know if he had a bug or if the Fodmap diet we are on is working, as well as him not drinking for the past couple of weeks. He does have an enlarged liver and spleen and both of those can cause gut issues.

He's feeling better, has been out to play pool almost every night. I am playing cards during the day and did play corn hole Thursday night. Boy I was bad since I have not played in a very long time. My arm just seems to have a mind of its own and my throws go all over the place.

Our newest grandbaby (Justin Isaiah Peters) was born via C-section on November 13. Jacklyn drove up to hoping to be able to be in the room when he was born, but the BM decided to have her newest boyfriend in the room with her. It is now Sunday and she has yet to be invited to see the baby; supposedly the BM is supposed to sign the adoption papers this morning and then the baby is officially Jacklyn & Sean’s. I’m just waiting to hear from her on any update. 

The BM did sign the adoption papers Sunday afternoon, so Justin is officially Sean & Jacklyn's newest addition to the family.

The baby formula that I had ordered for her and what she wanted was recalled by the company due to some babies coming down with botulism from drinking the formula. Yesterday I was thinking about what she would be able to feed him and decided to order a different brand (with her consent) for her to be delivered on Tuesday.

She wants us to come to Florida pretty quickly, but we will not be able to leave until just after January 1 in order to get there the middle of January.  I have started making our travel reservations, which will put us into Ruskin on January 20, where we will be for one month. 

We still have a garden shed to put up when we get back to Whitney after our Thanksgiving trip to Houston. 

November 20, 2025. My eye doctor appointment went good; there is nothing wrong with my eyes – no issues at all. Jim’s eyes are not as good – he does not have any glaucoma which is good, but he has a lot of floaters in one eye that made it hard for Dr. Mueller to see inside. She said his floaters are not the normal kind; she explained them but I cannot recall what she said about them. She said that if he wanted them removed, he can, but she would not recommend it, but it’s his decision. I am going to buy some vision vitamins which should help with his floaters and dry eye. I should have bought a year ago, but I forgot.

Our newest grandson went home on Tuesday and on Wednesday had his first pediatrician appointment. He’s on the small side; was actually considered high risk and more of a preemie than full term. I found out that the BM vaped throughout the pregnancy and that caused him to have nicotine addition and is now going through a detox of that.

Jacklyn and I were able to face time on the ipad, which lets me see her and Justin while he’s eating/sleeping, which is the two things he does all the time. Face Time is neat; I’m glad we are able to do that.

November 22, 2025. Had a huge rain storm come through here a couple of days ago -- Thursday. Took Lucy for her afternoon walk and by the time we got back to the trailer it was pouring. I tried to dry her off outside and then I let her in. She immediately jumps on the couch and proceeds to tear it apart trying to dry off her face. And yes, she made a mess – all the things on the floor, pillows, blue cover – belong on the couch. 

After I picked up the stuff, I noticed that the floor was wet – great! The forward compartment of the trailer sits behind the couch so I went to check it out and discovered everything in there was a puddle of water. I pulled everything out and laid it over the chairs under the awning and got a towel to dry out the compartment. Took the rug from in front of the couch and put that outside as well.

I tried to get some of the water up with a towel, but that did not work very well. Friday we borrowed Joe’s wet/dry vac and Jim spent the morning sucking up water out of the floor while I drove to Whitney to pick up our mail, and then stop at Walmart on my way back to pick up the wet/dry vac that I purchased that morning. Luckily it was ready for pick up by the time I was ready to leave Whitney.

Tres Rios had their annual Thanksgiving Dinner for their guests. I made my cranberry sauce, which was a hit. There was a lot of food, turkey and ham. The Palace was packed, which I was happy of. The Grinch showed up and walked around the Palace. It was a great Luncheon and I’m glad we were able to be there to celebrate. A lot of our friends are here now and I am always so thankful to have so many of them at TR at the same time.

November 25, 2025. Left TR on Monday heading to Houston for Thanksgiving with Josh & Family. Our normal stop along the way was at Brazos Valley in Caldwell, and then the last trek into Houston. We are staying at Harvest Acres again as I could not get us into Space Center. The lady I talked to one day was pretty nasty so I decided not to pursue it. Harvest Acres isn’t so bad; it’s 9 miles from their house and a straight drive down FM 2531. The park has a good laundry facility; a pool table, and a big workout room with lots of equipment and weights.

Harvest Acres, Friendswood, TX

We got there Tuesday afternoon and after finishing setting up went out to dinner at J. Henry’s with Josh & Family. Going there for dinner is always a good meal – they have very good food and a huge beer selection. 

November 26, 2025. Went over to Josh & Karen's during the afternoon. Karen and Juliella went to see the second Wicked movie, and Josh decided to clean out his storage unit. Jim sat outside with his granddogs.

November 27, 2025. Thanksgiving Day we went over mid-afternoon; Karen and Juliella had been up early baking pies and goodies, along with everything else for dinner. Nate was in the backyard cooking the turkey and Josh was cooking brisket. Nate and Tammy live on the corner of Josh’s cul de sac and get together a lot with each other. Tammy brought ham, mac & cheese, and some other things. We had a great feast – it was all delicious. Topped off the night with dessert and a fire in Josh’s huge fire pit.

November 30, 2025. My birthday always falls right after Thanksgiving, and this year we went to The Rouxpour for an early lunch instead of dinner. It was very nice getting there at 2pm (the kids were able to get brunch meals), Jim had his usual oysters, and I got my usual of shrimp with crab stuffing and a crab sauce. Yum Yum They brought me a dollop of whipped cream with strawberry pieces for my birthday.

Afterwards we went to Josh’s house for dessert since there was left over pumpkin and apple pie. I face timed with Jacklyn for quite a while since I took over my ipad. She also talked with Jason and Juliella; Jayden and Juliella also talked together. Jacklyn ordered some cupcakes from Nothing Bundt Cakes, a local chain and had them delivered for my birthday. That was very nice and the cupcakes were delicious.

Then we played Scattergories – that’s a tough game. Makes you think of words that begin with a letter from a list of topics. They asked me to bring the Vegas cards to play Sunday afternoon.

Here is my 74th birthday picture:

November 30, 2025. Went to Hope Lutheran church this morning with Josh & Karen. I left Jim home, as 9am was a bit early for him. They had Sunday School afterwards, so Jim & I will go over this afternoon. They want to play Vegas, so I hope we don't lose all of our pennies since they are not being produced anymore. I'm going to try and buy some next time I head to Hillsboro for shopping.

December 11, 2025. We are back at Whitney for the month of December. It’s nice to be back but there is a lot of work to get done. We started having issues with the water pump as the city water pressure was too high and caused water to back fill into the fresh water tank. I bought a new short hose that connects the city water to the Culligan filter and then added a water gauge fixture so we know what the pressure is.

It's fixed pretty good right now but water is still back flowing into the fresh water tank. I bought a new water pump, so we will have to decide if and when we will replace it.

We are trying to decide if we want to put up the garden shed before we leave for Florida. We first have to get a base in which to put the shed on, which we are in the process of working on. We really have just two full weeks to get it done.

Since I was able to get a new sheet of siding for the laundry room that matched the color of the cottage, Garner took care of putting up the new sheet while we were gone. It looks really good now. My mum died though and the pansies are not doing very well. It will be time for them to go pretty soon. I'll plant more flowers next summer.

We leave for Florida on January 2 to visit with Jacklyn and Sean and meet our new grandson. We will be in Florida until the end of March and then head north.

December 15, 2025. A north cold front came through yesterday and last night getting the temperature down to 29 before starting to warm up again. To keep the water hose from freezing, we bought a “Freeze Miser” which I hooked up yesterday. It connects to the other side of the Y valve that is connected to the trailer. I turned it on and it is doing its job – it’s dripping the water just as Jim would do with the Y valve. I’m happy for that!

December 19, 2025. Jim went to shoot pool yesterday so I decided to defrost the freezer for the umpteenth time. What a pain that is – the seal around the freezer does not seal tight and dampness gets in and frosts up around the opening and on top of the door shelf. My freezer completely failed the “dollar” test. I put a dollar bill in the door and shut it. If the seal is working there should be some resistance when pulling it out – mine had NO resistance. 

I had read that using a hair dryer on the seal to warm and loosen it up could help readjust the seal so it stays tighter. So that’s what I did; but it did not work very well as my freezer still fails the “dollar” test.  There are frozen water drops forming on the inside of the freezer ceiling. I’m at a loss as to how to fix it. 

We had been trying to decide what base to put down for our garden shed; Jim at first wanted to pour concrete but then saw a bunch of landscape blocks and asked Rodney if we could have some. We got 15 of the 1x1 and put them down the other day. They look pretty good; now we just have to get the shed put together.

Whitney has its annual Christmas Party tonight; we all bring a finger food and a White Elephant gift. Then tomorrow is a golf cart parade where we ride around looking at all the decorations people have put up. I bought some red lights to put on the golf cart and Jim has his Christmas music picked out to play while we ride.  The temperature is getting up near 80 tomorrow afternoon but right after the sun sets, the temp starts to fall, but not too bad. It will be in the mid-60s for our parade.

December 21, 2025. Had a good time at Whitney’s Annual Christmas Party. The food was great – everyone brought a dish to share. There as a “same sex” gift exchange – pick a present; then the next person up can steal it or pick their own. Pictures were taken of everyone throwing their arms out – Jim and I got separate pictures and I was photo bombed by Pam and Karen. 

Saturday night we had a golf cart parade to ride around the park looking at the decorations. We also had to pick two for first and second places. Here are some of the decorations in the park:

 

The winner

Side view of Second Place

Second Place

The Grinch Stole Christmas

December 29, 2025. Whitney’s Christmas Luncheon was OK. They served a meager portion of ham and rotisserie chicken; they also had mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and a stranger version of green beans. Not the normal ones that I would make, but a flatter bean that looked like it was cooked for 12 hours and did not look very appealing. The dessert table was filled with goodies.

Been working on our garden shed all week. Friends came over Christmas afternoon to help with the roof; then Jim and I finished the doors on Friday, along with putting a wood base on and attaching the shed to the base.

Went out to dinner with Mark & RuthAnn Friday night. We went to the Bosque Restaurant and after this dinner, confirmed a decision we should have kept the last time we were there – do not go again. They had fish & chips, which was a very meager portion along with French fries and cole slaw. The burger I had at $14 was small and seemed like it was sitting for a while because the lettuce of wilted and wet. They came to the same conclusion we did -- won't be going back.

It's just that there are no really good restaurants in Whitney. We will have to drive to Hillsboro or Cleburne for a good place to eat. They drive to Granbury, but that’s 1.25 hours to just get there, and that’s too far to drive just to eat dinner.

Then on the way home the check engine light came on, so this morning I took it to O’Reilly’s to get it checked. It has been missing and that’s what made the light come on; coil 7 has been continually missing and the fuel mixture is low. So Jim did not want to start our trip with the truck messing up. It is now sitting at Pat’s and I’m hoping they will look at it today or first thing in the morning. Somehow I have the feeling that our Friday leave date will not happen. If that's the case and we have to leave next week, I will be revamping all of our travel dates and still arrive in Ruskin on January 20.  

December 31, 2025. Pat’s Automotive came through with getting us our truck back – they worked on it all Monday and got it done for us. We were able to get it back Tuesday afternoon. Now it’s time to start to work getting everything done in order to leave on Friday.

Tonight is Casino Night at Whitney. The festivities start at 5pm – do not know what to expect as we have never been to a New Years Eve party at Whitney. I doubt that we will stay until midnight as we will need to walk and feed Lucy before 9pm. 

They had a few Black Jack tables set up and that was all we played. Listening to them explain how to play was pretty confusing, but when I sat down and started playing, it was easier to understand. Jim did better than I did; we started out with 10,000 chips and he ended with 20,000 and I ended with 11,000.

We tried to bid on some of the stuff they had, but most people had more points than we did and we got out bid on most everything. Other than that, the evening was OK. Did get our picture taken though.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!