Day 65 - Wednesday, January 14 - Off to Edinburg, TX for Repairs

 We left the campground at 6:30 AM, arrived at US 281 Truck & Trailer Repair in Edinburg, TX at 7:20 AM. They are working on our two faulty levelling jacks. Mid afternoon they sent them off to a hydraulic place for repairs. The repairs won't be done until late tomorrow afternoon. Current plans are to stay here, parked on the road/street, for two nights.

We arrived at sunrise, a few minutes before they opened. There is LOTS of this heavy duty  fence all over the place around here.

Looking from the entrance gate.

From the other side, where we were parked for repairs.

Looking through our windshield.

There is lots of interesting stuff to look at. I  wonder how old these tractors are.

Interesting old pickup. Someone has already changed out the rear end.

I wonder how long the old flathead well remain in it.

One of the things they do here is "stretch" the frames on semi tractors. These look like salvaged frame sections waiting to be used.

I wonder what this will turn out  to be.

I hope you  can make out the panel of toggle switches on the dash.

This place is out in the country. We drove over to a restaurant about 10 miles away, for lunch. I don't know what the soup was, it came with the meal. Beans, pork side meat and other stuff in it. It was pretty spicy, and good.

Kathy's Bistek tacos were disappointing. My hamburger was different. A thin hamburger patty, a slice of some type of lunch meat, cheese and lots of other stuff on it. It was okay, but I wouldn't order one again. The fries were great. $21 total.

Then we drove another 6 miles to the HEB grocery. For some reason it reminded me of grocery stores in California. Maybe because it seemed so light and airy.

Back out on the street, parked and waiting for parts.

The folks here are great. Miguel, the mechanic, said we could come to his house for the night. Gabriela, the office lady who I think is connected to the ownership, told me she lives just a couple of miles away. She gave me her personal cell number so that I could call her if we had any problems.

I wonder if they think we are concerned because we aren't that far from a jail/prison complex, we aren't. We are parked on the Pennzoil Loop, straight down from the blue dot marking US 281 Truck and Trailer.

The jail and prison complexes are off on the right.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.

Days 63 & 64 - Monday & Tuesday, January 12 & 13 - Errands & Lunch

 We wondered if Monday's Informational Meeting was going to be exciting, it wasn't. The entertainment, Sunday's singer, was a pay to attend event. Some discounted tickets were sold in advance. Those who bought tickets at the "door" were supposed to pay full price. The Campground Activity Director was supposed to be here to collect tickets/cash at the door, she didn't show up. Tickets weren't collected and no one paid at the door. There must have been a back room meeting before the 9:30 Informational Meeting. An announcement was made stating that there was a hiccup and that everyone who paid for a ticket would get a refund.  I went over, got a cup of coffee and a donut before the meeting started. I visited a little while eating my donut and then I went to the Puzzle Room until the meeting was over.

In the afternoon my back was feeling decent so I spent 90 minutes at Planet Fitness. I stayed away from the leg press machine. No ill effects.

The other "excitement" for the day was the Monday afternoon visit by the "Veggie Man". He drives through the campground blowing his horn before parking at the clubhouse and opening up his trailer. We bought grapefruit, bananas & green onions.

Today/Tuesday I had an 8AM appointment in McAllen, to get my right hearing aid back, after repairs. I had to leave the campground by 7:15 so it was an early morning.

When I got back home we went to La Playa for lunch, it was the first time we have eaten there. I had a Chimichanga. I'm not sure what Kathy had. Both our meals were really good. We will go there again.

We also straightened out some prescription problems; Kathy's with Walgreen's and mine with Sam's. 

We went over to today's Jam Session. I stayed for the first hour. Kathy stayed was over there for several hours. I'm sure she wasn't in awe listening to the music. When I left she was visiting with a couple of ladies. 

In the evening I got in a leisurely 30 minute bicycle ride around the campground, 2.9 miles.

The weather has been cool, highs in the mid 60's, lows in the low 50's.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.

Days 61 & 62 - Saturday & Sunday, January 10 & 11 - Spanish Lesson

 The most interesting thing that happened Saturday was that I attended a half hour conversational Spanish class that just started. The lady leading it has spent 30 years in the Valley, on and off. It is very informal. She has a Power Point presentation. Each slide has some Spanish phrases in Spanish, then English and then the phonetic pronunciation of the Spanish phrase. She gives out copies of the file so that those who want can print out the information. She plans on the class running through late March or maybe mid-April.

The first phonetic spelling is from class, the second is from an online English/Spanish dictionary.

Bienvenido - Welcome – bee n vin need doe – byehm beh nee doh

Aqui se habla espanol –  Here we speak Spanish (Spanish spoken here) -ah key say ob la s pan yol – ah kee seh ah blah ehs pah nyohl

Hola – hello – o la

Buenos Dias – good morning – when ose dee us – bweh nohs dee ahs

The above is from 1 1/2 of the 7 slides from the first class.

My back was back to about 90% so in the afternoon I did 20 minutes on the campground treadmill. The day was cool and windy. The high was 70 degrees at midnight Friday night. By mid day it was in the low 60's. The wind was blowing 15-20 mph with gusts of 25-30 mph. We pulled in the slide with the ripped slide topper.

Sunday was different for us. After services the Cowboy Church was holding the final Buckle Series contests for the youth. The regular campground Pastor and his wife were back in Kansas for a week. The retired Pastor who led our coed Bible study last week was scheduled to preach at the campground. Kathy was leading the music. They were doing songs that I really like. I had planned on listening to Bill preach here and then going to the Cowboy Church and staying to watch the kids, it is great fun watching them sort cattle, barrel race, etc.  Kathy put pork roasts on to cook at 6:30 AM and needed to tend to them during the day. Also, she was not interested in sitting out on open bleachers watching the kids on a cold windy day. The high for the day was forecast to be a cloudy, windy, 59 degrees. I intended on going to the Cowboy Church service and staying for the event. I got up around 7 AM and didn't fell well. I felt better and went to the 9:30 AM campground service but did not go to the Cowboy Church.

 Kathy stayed after church to tend the roasts, came home for lunch and then went back to the clubhouse. We had a football game on the TV and did some reading. I spent a little time looking at the Spanish slides on my computer. A little before 4 PM I went back to the clubhouse for the Christmas for the Children fund raiser. A pulled pork sandwich, a bag of chips, desert and a drink for $7.  They served 40-50 people from 4:00-5:45. A singer came in and provided entertainment from 6-8. He sang mostly older country & western. By older I mean I knew at least some of the words to every song he sang, and I don't know any country and western singers newer than George Strait/Alan Jackson/Vince Gill/Garth Brooks/Josh Turner. His voice reminded me of Josh Turner when he sang Long Black Train. Kathy even liked him. We stayed for the first hour. He had quite a few old folks out dancing. I counted 12 ladies out on the floor line dancing during one song.

By the way. Bill delivered a very good message, about prayer. 

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.

Days 59 & 60 - Thursday & Friday, January 8 & 9 - Nothing Exciting

 Nothing exciting to report. The high temperatures have been mostly sunny mid to upper 80's, unseasonably warm for this time of year. This time of year the normal temperatures are highs of 70 and lows of 53. Thursday was windy enough that we pulled in our big slide for the day. The wind was really  rocking the coach.

Thursday my back felt back to 90% so I did 40 minutes of walking on the campground treadmill, no issues.

Meet & Greet was at 4PM at the clubhouse. Snacks and a time of fellowship, especially for new folks. One new couple came. They had just pulled in around noon. They are a just retired couple from Massachusetts and are relatively new RV'ers. They have a travel trailer. This is their first big trip. They seem nice.

Friday we went to a different Chinese place for lunch, they had a buffet. I like it Kathy not so much. Actually when I east at a Chinese buffet all they need is decent Egg Drop soup, fried rice and some type of breaded fish, to make me happy. Kathy likes a lot more variety. We had put the big slide back out Friday morning. When we pulled in to park behind the coach we saw that the Texas wind had finally started ripping the 17 year old slide topper. I got the ladder out and put some duct tape on the rip, but I doubt it will hold. Drew, our son who lives in Oakland, and I replaced the fabric in one of the slide toppers on our Dutch Star, in the spring of 2012. I'm no where near in good enough shape to replace this one. I will ask around the campground to see if someone can recommend someone to replace the fabric on all the toppers.

As I walked around the coach the two couples who have the tag axle Entegra's next to us were out. We visited and they went through a list of all the problems they were having since they left Delaware. (I saw a "new" Anthem model, with 756 miles on it, on sale for $570k, sticker was $815.) Makes the cost of maintaining our coach seem much more palatable. ($500k@5%/12=$2,083 monthly interest on loan)

 Theirs are the two coaches on the left.

Friday my back felt back to at least 95% so in the afternoon I went to Planet Fitness. I now know it was the leg presses that caused my back problem. I had been doing 20 reps each at 160#, 180# & 200# on both the back extension and leg press devices, with no problems until a week or so ago. This time I was being careful and did 20 reps of back extension at 80# and 20 more at 100#, no problems. Later in the routine I did 20 leg presses at 120#, my back did not like that. I "paid for " those Friday evening.

God is good. I pray that He bless you and yours. He has blessed me.

 

Day 58 - Wednesday, January 7 - Bible Study

This morning we went to a coed Bible Study class that just started. We meet at the clubhouse. Nine people attended. We had a good discussion.

Back home Kathy started cooking up hamburger to use making Nachos for a Christmas for the Children fund raiser. At 1:30 I helped here get the meat, chips, cheese, etc. over to the clubhouse. She stayed there, I  came back home. At 2:30 I went back over and got in line to buy Nachos. They served 69 people. A singer came in to provide entertainment from 3-5. He sang mostly country & western but threw in a few oldies from the 60's. By 5 we were back home with the leftovers unloaded.

It was foggy here this morning. I think we had some brief, very light rain showers. Todays high was a mostly sunny 83 degrees..

God is good. I pray that He blesses you  and yours. He has blessed me.

Days 56 & 57 - Monday & Tuesday, January 5 & 6 - Hearing the Spirit & Campground Dinner

 Monday - I forgot to include a photo of the Delawder family with my last post. Dad, the Barney Fife impersonator, daughter & Mom. He doesn't look a lot like Barney but he sure has the voice and mannerisms perfected.

Kathy wasn't feeling well so I went to the Monday morning Information Meeting, nothing exciting. It was a nice day but neither of us felt like doing much. In the early afternoon one of the maintenance guys knocked on the door and asked me to move our car so that someone could pull in next to us. I moved it, but wasn't happy about it. I noticed a big Class A had pulled in a couple of sites down from us. After I moved the car a similar looking one shoehorned himself in next to us.

I was fussing and fuming because there are a LOT of empty sites and this guy had to squeeze in next to us. Even though my back was still hurting I went to Planet Fitness for a half hour just to burn off some energy. While I was gone Kathy was sitting outside. She talked to the lady in the coach. She learned that the coaches are owned by brothers on their was from Delaware to the Grand Canyon. They will be here two weeks. I was still sputtering and mentioned that I wouldn't be talking to them, or if I did I wouldn't be very pleasant (I was really throwing a childish tantrum). By then it was to late to go to the front office but I told Kathy I planned on being there first thing Tuesday morning to pitch a fit (I didn't actually say pitch a fit, but that is what I intended on doing.)

Tuesday/today - This morning, while Kathy was at Ladies Bible Study, I read my daily devotional and read some more of a Francis Chan book on the Holy Spirit. BANG! I got hit right between the eyes. Some people doubt that God still talks to us, I'm sure that He sometimes "talks" to me. This morning was one of those times. Nothing I read addressed my childishness but I believe reading and thinking about the Holy Spirit put my spirit more in touch with Him.  I know that God watches over Christians, I know that nothing in our lives is to small for Him care about. I know He works for what is best for us. Sadly I to often forget that I know some of this. 

Sitting in our coach the thought came to me that the coach next us might be there for a reason. I claim to be a Christian. God's light is supposed to shine through me. With my attitude what type of light were the couple next door going to see in me, not God's light. Then I remembered our neighbors when we lived in Niantic, IL. They were an wonderful, downhome, Christian couple. Jesus just oozed out of them. They were a significant part of my accepting the Lord as my Savior. They didn't know a stranger. I thought, "What would Sunny & Francis do in this situation?" The answer was they would  already know the people in the coach and probably invited them for coffee. My attitude got a major adjustment.

I did go to the office and politely asked why they put someone so close to us. I received a reasonable explanation and an apology for them having to do so.

I haven't had time for a significant conversation with these folks yet but did say hello to the guy while he was busy adding several gallons of DEF to his tank, and I was carrying groceries into our coach. I will make it a point to strike up a conversation when I see him.

This morning we went grocery shopping, hitting both Sam's and Walmart. At 4 PM the campground hosted a "Welcome Back" meal for those of us who have returnees. There were around 100 people there. When we got back home we sat outside and enjoyed the evening.

Shortly after I took the photo our neighbors on the other side, who lived in Maryland prior to retirement and moving to Vichy, MO, were walking by. They  stopped, sat down and we visited for an hour or so.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you. He has blessed me.

Day 55 - Sunday, January 4 - Sunday, Cowboy Church Day, Busy Day

 Kathy went to campground church and then we went to Cowboy Church. It didn't seem quite as crowded as last week but they again had to ask people to move together and fill up empty single seats. As usual the Spirit was good and Pastor Chris delivered a good message.

We went home for lunch. We turned on a football game for noise and didn't do much for a couple of hours. Actually Kathy took a long nap. At 4PM I went over and had a couple of scoops of ice cream at the Ice Cream Social. I hung around and visited with folks until 5PM when a gospel group from West Virginia provided entertainment until 6PM. 

The gospel group was the Larry DeLawder Family. They performed here last year and I thought they were one of the best, if not the best group, I saw here last season. Their vocals are good but the real treat is Larry's harmonica playing and his Barney Fife imitation. He doesn't look like Barney Fife but he comes out dressed in Barney Fife style uniform. When he has the hat on he is Barney, when the hat comes off he is Larry. https://itslarry.com/

By the time I got back home Kathy was up from her nap. She had been doing laundry.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.