A Declaration -- Fri., July 20

San Antonio, Texas:

I declare I intend to eat healthier. With all the hiking we're about to embark upon, I'm thinking the pounds have to start melting away.

What good fortune came our way today. I needed a few items and tooled down the road to buy them at Super Walmart. While there I checked out their fruit and veggies. My, oh my. Good stuff...so I stocked up. Cantaloupe for $1 each, fresh ripe peaches, Washington state Bing cherries, bananas and golden Delicious applies. I found some very fresh broccoli and cauliflower and bought those too. Our little 5er fridge is chock full of healthy food. 

My plan is to use the fruits as my "go to" food when I have a craving for sweets. As soon as I made my way back home and washed the fruit, I had cherries and a slice of cantaloupe. Yum. 

For dinner we're having Sloppy Joes on whole wheat buns with steamed broccoli and cauliflower. Guacamole is on the menu too (found just-ripe avocados and tomatoes at the store) which I will serve with "Food Should Taste Good All Natural Multigrain Tortilla Chips" from Costco.

The 5er repair guys were supposed to return today, but apparently one part has not come in. They've got Monday to finish before we skedaddle to points west. I know they'll show because they said they'll collect payment when they finish! They can't collect payment if we're not here.

Tomorrow we will do another Volkswalk, we're thinking the one to four missions which will probably take a good portion of the day by the time we read all the history and I take a mess of pictures. Temperatures are supposed to reach 98 F.

On Sunday, I want to do the Broadway neighborhood Volkswalk which spends some time in Brackenridge Park. I'm thinking shade under the big, old trees. Temperatures are supposed to reach 97 F.

Bob found some glitches in his work's 2011 year-end report yesterday and spent until 2:00 a.m. at work trying to sort through the books and find supporting documentation. He was hoping he'd have everything worked out with the accountant and the report would be finished today. The accountant leaves on a two-week vacation tomorrow and we leave for six weeks on Tuesday. At least Bob will be available by phone and internet.

Today I received one of two FedEx boxes I've been waiting for. It's a bird feeding pole which has five arms for hanging bird feeders, suet, and a water dish. The other package I'm expecting has a bird feeder and a shower squeegee. Here's hoping it makes it before we leave. 

Somewhere in our 5er basement I have a hummingbird feeder that has lived down there since last October. Finally, I'll be able to hang it up! Who has a good recipe for hummingbird feeder nectar? Please share.

Bob is finally showing some excitement about our upcoming trip. Maybe working until 2:00 a.m. knocked some sense into him.

Before we leave on Tuesday, we will make one last Costco run for bottled water and to stock up on dry cereal. Oh, and a Petco run to stock up on Sunnie's wet food. (Sunnie and Bowie eat different wet food and each doesn't like the other's wet food. Spoiled rotten fur-kids.)

For those of you without RVs who are thinking of full-timing, here are a few pics of a lived-in 5th wheel.

Our kitchen with the slide out.

Slide out wall of kitchen.

A slide out pantry--wonderful, wouldn't be without one.

Washer/dryer closet--used for cat box, mops, brooms, vacuum.

Kitty play time:

Gozer gozerian. ("Ghostbusters" reference)

 

"Shall we take this outside?"

It's so fun to watch them play. They leap over each other, fly over the stairs and go at it for about 10-15 minutes. Very entertaining.

Travel Bug out.

Australia Planning! Thunder! Lightning! -- July 18

San Antonio, Texas:

Who knew? Wednesday is exciting after all. 7:30 a.m.: We dropped off the Escape pod at the Ford service center and Bob gave me a ride home.

The morning was spent planning our time in Sydney, Australia. Have you ever read TripAdvisor.com? I started out with the review on our hotel. On that page were links to reviews of tours. So after clicking on one tour and reading all the reviews, I was on to another tour and reviews, and another tour and reviews...you see where I'm going with this. When the RV repairmen arrived I was STILL reading reviews of tours. 

Our hotel--for the first three nights before our timeshare starts--is in the heart of Sydney's CBD (Central Business District). For sure, on our virginal day in Sydney we will go on "I'm Free Tours." They offer free walking tours: three hours for downtown Sydney, 1-1/2 hours for The Rocks area in the evening and, if I understand correctly, there is a three-hour afternoon tour. Tips are encouraged if you like the tour. All the reviews I read gave it four (very good) or five (excellent) points. Other tours that sound good are Sydney Architectural Walks (SAW) and a small bus tour to the Blue Mountains. That last tour is pretty expensive. I say we drive ourselves to the locations the tour bus goes to because we'll have a rental car. (Note to ourselves: Remember to drive on the left side of the road. How could I forget when the steering wheel is on the right? Random thought: How do countries originally decide which side of the road to drive on?)

Our RV repairmen arrived about 12:30 p.m. and were here until 1:45 p.m. The owner needed to go to his brother's funeral at 3:00 p.m., so they will return on Friday to finish up three remaining items on the list.

Today has produced some thunder which started off slowly this morning--a tease. The "100 drops of rain fell" and then stopped. When the RV repairmen came and were working outside on our electrical plug-in, more rain came, then stopped.

The teasing stopped and now there is a full-on frontal assault with loud, cracking and rolling thunder, lightning and real rain. I love a good thunderstorm! Just checked NOAA's latest forecast, 40% chance of thunderstorms (check, I can say in confidence we're having 100% of a thunderstorm), heavy rain up to 2" per hour possible and a flood advisory. And here I am listening to Jimmy Buffett's "Cheeseburger in Paradise." What a contrast to what's going on outside right now, although it is HOT out there. I went out to get you some pics of the storm and witnessed a large flash of lightning. Yikes! Wish I would have caught that in my pic! For over an hour the thunder has been loudly rolling and rumbling. More lightning!

The Ford service repairman called me to report the "clunking" noise is most likely coming from the steering column. They are about to check it out. He'll call me back with a diagnosis and estimate to repair. Other than that, the Escape pod just needed routine maintenance.

Robert at Grande Ford Light Truck Service called me back. He had to go into Ford's technical data to find out what the clunking noise was. He read to me that the noise occurs only at the far end of wheel travel when the wheel is turned when stopped or on sharp turning, such as getting into a tight parking space. The tech report states this is normal in Ford Escapes built before 2009. He told me if it really bothered me they could replace the steering column for $1,000. "What? Are you crazy?" No I didn't really say that. I politely said, "Oh that's good to know. I don't see any reason to replace it." We can pick it up tomorrow morning.

Warning: Kitty best buds pics follow...Stop reading now if you don't like pet pics.

Sonnie is helping himself to part of my chair.

"You wash me, I'll wash you."

Kitty contemplation. Don't you wish you knew what your pet was thinking? I do.

Cozy cats.

"Let me clean those ears for you."

Travel Bug out.