Showing posts with label RV-Dreams Rally. Show all posts
Showing posts with label RV-Dreams Rally. Show all posts

Sunday, April 29, 2012

"X" Revisited plus Update on Rally -- Sun., Apr. 29

Fort Worth, Texas:
Zipper, a great invention that replaced hooks and eyes and, in some instances, buttons and buttonholes. Instead of individually fastening hooks and eyes, you do one zip and you are securely in your clothes!

The other Zipper that I love is a ride at a fair. You are locked into a cage with a lap bar. Before the ride starts, you can rock your cage and get it going around 360 degrees. My sister and I love this ride. When your cage is spinning at the beginning and the ride starts you spin around and around with great centrifugal force. We scream and scream, but love every minute of it! And no, we don't get motion sickness.

ZZZZZZ's equal Bob's head hitting the pillow after a day of driving, hiking, anytime he watches sports or starts to read a book, or when I'm driving and he's a passenger.

The A-to-Z Blogging Challenge for the month of April is finished. Now I've done my ABCs, tell me what you think of me.

Update on our status: I could not do laundry last night as we didn't have quarters. Bob went into town but apparently no one would sell him quarters. (Must have been a busy laundry night somewhere!) I did laundry this morning and had the laundry room to myself.

Bob had the pick up truck weighed on Friday, and the truck/5th wheel combination weighed this morning. Howard and Linda of RV-Dreams weigh each wheel of the tow combination independently. They want us to make sure we're towing a safe weight for our pick up's towing capacity. Our tow combination passed with flying colors. We were about 1,500 pounds underweight. Now we can stock up for gate guarding and not worry about overloading. They suggested we might lower our tire pressure a bit.

This morning, we moved our RV back to Armadillo Junction RV Park in Ingram. We have reservations for two nights.

My Escape pod started making scary noises today. When I shift from park to drive, then turn the steering wheel, it makes a loud clunking noise. I hope nothing is wrong with my steering or suspension. This evening, the air bag light came on after a couple of loud clunks. Uh-oh.

Driving around Texas, I've made a few observations about how Texas is different from Oregon.
  1. In certain areas there are long frontage roads next to freeways. You need to know ahead of time what exit you need because you may have to go a mile on a frontage road to get to your destination. If you miss your exit, it may be three or more miles to turn around and get back to where you wanted to be.
  2. Many, many goats being raised. In one town the headline on the local paper was "Goat Cook-Off." I don't think they meant old goats cooking.
  3. Texas has Mesquite trees, cotton and pecan orchards, Oregon does not.
  4. Texas is huge...it takes a long time to drive across it from west to east or vice versa. You can drive across Oregon in one day.
  5. There are exotic animal ranches. These ranches are helping repopulate some of the endangered species from Africa, India, Pakistan. They allow controlled hunting on most ranches.
  6. The speed limits are 75-80 mph on unpopulated stretches of freeway, 65-70 mph on US and state highways (lower speed limits through cities).
  7. There are nice picnic areas along interstates, US, state, county, farm-to-market roads, etc.
  8. Scads of historic markers; it seems like a third of them tell about cemeteries.
  9. Gas is cheaper. We saw gas for $3.49/gallon today.
  10. They use "ma'am" as a sign of respect.
We are in the South, y'all.

That's all I can think of for now. Travel Bug out.

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Young at Heart

Kerrville, Texas:

Young at Heart
 Sung by Frank Sinatra
Songwriters: KING, RILEY B.

Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you
If you're young at heart
For it's hard, you will find, to be narrow of mind
If you're young at heart

You can go to extremes with impossible schemes
You can laugh when your dreams fall apart at the seams
And life gets more exciting with each passing day
And love is either in your heart or on it's way

Don't you know that it's worth every treasure on earth
To be young at heart
For as rich as you are it's much better by far
To be young at heart

And if you should survive to 105
Look at all you'll derive out of being alive
Then here is the best part, you have a head start
If you are among the very young at heart

And if you should survive to 105
Look at all you'll derive out of being alive
Then here is the best part, you have a head start
If you are among the very young at heart
© Universal Music Publishing Group


When I was young, my parents used to play this song frequently. To this day, I know most of the lyrics. And my mom is very young at heart. I think the words rubbed off on us. I am young at heart too.


Update on our RV-Dreams Rally:

Our RV Rally is so much fun! Thursday night we had a potluck. After-dinner entertainment was a game about RVing based on "The Newlywed Game." We laughed until we cried, it was so funny. Bob and I were one of the four couples on the RVing-under-one-year team. We did OK, but another team beat us and went on to the finals.

Yesterday we had seminars on "Selecting a 'Home Base' and Insurance Considerations," "RVing Basics," "Basic RV Maintenance," and "Driving an RV to Alaska."

 

Friday afternoon, I got my hair cut before we spend 2-1/2 months gate guarding. Our new job starts Friday, May 4.

 


Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Wanderlust, Workamping and Walmart

Kerrville, Texas:
Wanderlust to me equals traveling for the fun of traveling, getting "lost," making new discoveries, wanting to see what's around the next bend, making friends along the way, finding good places to eat, and learning interesting history and facts. Bob likes to go on "walk-about" or long wanderings.

Workamping, for those of you not familiar with the term, entails working in places you travel to or traveling to places to work and living full- or part-time in your RV. Working while you're RVing may be out of financial necessity, or to keep from becoming bored, or even to volunteer. You can learn more at workamper.com. Many RVers are workampers. We workamp because we cannot afford to completely retire. This gives us the best of all worlds--working, camping and traveling.

Walmart, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways:
  1. You are nationwide
  2. Good pricing
  3. You allow overnight RV camping (at some locations)
  4. You have almost everything an RVer could need including:
  • RV supplies
  • Groceries
  • Medicine
  • Clothes
  • Kitchen stuff
  • Music
  • Books
  • Shoes
  • Delicatessen
  • Cards
  • Gifts
  • Sundries
  • Puzzles and games
  • Pet supplies
What else? Part of our wanderlust has brought us to the RV-Dreams Rally in Kerrville. The seminars are informative, practical and witty. Having lived in our RV for six months, we are learning what questions to ask. Many of our questions are being answered here about wi-fi internet, RV maintenance, satellite TV, insurance, helpful gadgets, workamping, budgeting, and full-time RV strategies.

Here are some pictures of Buckhorn Lake Resort where the rally is being held.
The private club where RVers have their own cottages.
Bridge and waterfall--private owners' club
Our site

How closely we're packed in.
Ours is the second RV back.
Nice touches--windmill, tractor with flower cart.
The exercise building
Back deck of exercise building overlooking lake.
Ponds

River on property

River with white picket fence
Patio cafe.