Finally on the Road

After an extended stay in Brownsville with recovery from hip surgery we are finally in the rig and on the road exploring America, 200 miles at a time. The freedom of the open road is so addictive and having a new front yard every day has been wonderful. As I write this entry, we are in South OKC at the Road Runner RV Park. More on this later. We put Brownsville in our rearview mirror Monday morning around 9:00 and took to Interstate after topping off the tank at Sam’s club. As per the doctor’s orders, we are limited to no more than 200 miles in a day driving so our first stop was in George West Texas at the Flying J RV park. A mom-and-pop operation where you left the fee in an envelope and found a spot. All were paved pads with full hook-ups, and it only cost $20. The bit of excitement we had there was as I was paying, the skies opened up with a full blown 5-minute gully washer. It had just started raining as I walked to the office to pay, and then a flash of lightning and the deluge began. So I sat on the porch of the office, called Vicki and let her know I’d be a few minutes until the floods had passed!

We had our first bit of 1st world problems when we got ready to leave. As we slid in the wall slide, there was a horrendous thunk, meaning only one thing. Our slide had become misaligned. The back of the wall sticks out about 1 inch. It is still sealed and watertight, but my guess is that some of the teeth in the mechanism have broken just like before. So with the back air conditioner TU, we now have a couple of issues to have repaired when we get to Washington. We’ve made an appointment at Blade RV to have the AC replaced, the ice maker serviced and now the wall slide out fixed. The life of an RVer is a never-ending battle with minor repairs. Nothing serious, just annoying at times.

From George West we jumped back on I-37 and headed north. We skirted San Antonio and avoided most of the traffic, but discovered many wannabe NASCAR drivers! I think people don’t realize that big rigs need extra room to stop and slow down. Dumped a few things out of cabinets with sudden slow downs thanks to assholes who don’t know how to merge on the freeway or try to make an exit at the last minute. But I’m on a tangent. Our next stop was Jarrell Tx at the Valley View RV park. Very nice concrete park, nothing really noteworthy, other than the fact that it was really hot. We were next to the dog park which made the girls happy but walking around the park there were still lots of stickers which made the girls walk around a bit of a challenge.

Off to Bridgeport TX and we celebrated Vicki’s birthday with a 2 day stay at Bay Landing 1000 Trail resort. Have to give this a 4-star review as the only drawback was the bit of a rough road getting in. We celebrated her birthday with a drive and dinner from Arby’s and the girls were with us and enjoyed a puppichino. We relaxed and made a Lowe’s run to get string to unlock our washing machine. I forgot to mention, we had a minor issue with washing machine as the door would not unlock. So where does one go to get ideas to overcome this dilemma? Why YouTube of course! At Lowe’s we got string, a hammer, knee pads, a volt meter, and AAA batteries. Apparently, when you own a motor coach, going to Lowe’s is like going to Costco for ‘just toilet paper’.

Bay Landing actually had a site with full hook-ups and 50-amp service so we jumped on that like a duck on a Junebug. Another tangent here but it fries my butt when people with 12-foot trailers take a 50 amp site. I get it’s first come first serve, but really? All that makes you is an asshole!!! Back to the story. Vicki is walking each day now and listening to audio books as she does. So proud of her. We use fit-bits to track our progress. The only downside is that it’s confused when we are in the RV and records psuedosteps as we go down the road in the RV. Yesterday according to the fit-bit we walked over 25K steps. The hip is recovered, but not that much!!! LOL Anywho, Vicki now thinks she has rabies after turning 65. As we were leaving Bay Landing, she accidentally turned off the coach battery while turning off the steps and the whole coach went dark. I eventually figured out the issue, turned the coach back on and then got us going. I’ve been teasing her ever since. Not only is she on medicare, but rabid too!! LOL

As we proceed north, the sun is intense, but not quite as bad a Texas. We arrived in OKC and called Vicki’s baby Aunt Teresa. We met them at one of our favorite low fat restaurants, Del Rancho’s. Where we devoured a steak sandwich and fried okra. Nothing better than a super tender steak, battered, deep fried, and served on a bun with lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, and artery clogging mayonnaise! Also got to see Amber and her fiancé Brandon along with her precocious son Brayden. Had a wonderful visit and then drove around and looked at all the places we used to call home. Didn’t recognize most of the places as time had changed everything. We are heading north to Kansas today so will update probably after the weekend.

Hope this finds everyone well and know we are thinking of you always. A special shout out to Robert and Kristy, and Dan and Becky who took such great care of us after the surgery. And by the way, did I mention we are still loving retirement!!!!