Tuesday, February 28th - Day 89

 Another warm day, the overnight low was 74 and today's high was 89. Looks like 2 more hot days and then highs drop back down into the low to mid 80's. The average for this time of year is 79/59, much more our style. PTL that we have the 2nd AC unit working again.

Kathy went to Women's Bible Study this morning. I regened our water softener, dumped and flushed wastewater tanks, and drained and flushed our fresh water tank. 

After lunch, and naps, we went lawn chair shopping. One of the two lawn chairs, that we have had since the other coach, 10 years, finally gave up. We have been looking for replacements but have not been able to find anything we liked. At Home Depot we found one that we think we can tolerate. On the way home we stopped at a Stars Drive In. My foot long chili dog was good, Kathy said her hamburger was good.

After we got home I walked down to the Activity Center for the Bluegrass fundraiser, for St. Jude's hospital. There were 6 people in the band. One from West Virginia, one from Texas, one from Ohio and two from Canada. I don't remember where the other guy was from. They have been doing this during the winters, all of them are snow birds, for the past 6 years. They have raised a total of over $50,000. There were 50-75 people in attendance.

They were OK but with my bad hearing I couldn't make out most of the words. I wasn't familiar with most of what they sang. The banjo player was adequate and the mandolin player was good The bass player who played most to the time was OK but when the guy from Canada took over for a couple of songs he was much better. The Canadian normally took a more active part in the show but he had throat surgery and wasn't back up to speed yet.

I think that in one of my previous posts I showed a front yard full of ornaments. Walking by it at night I saw that most of the ornaments were lighted.

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

Monday, February 27th - We Have Two Working AC Units - PTL!

Steve called mid morning to say that the AC unit arrived at his shop this morning. He said he would be over around noon to put it on. 

Last nights overnight low was 71. It was breezy enough (its always either breezy or WINDY here) that I sat outside to do my daily scripture reading while waiting for Steve. Kathy went to HEB and did some grocery shopping.

By the time he arrived it was getting hot. Today's high was 92. At 6:30 it still a humid (59%) 85 degrees.

Steve

He came by  himself, with the new unit and his tools and a ladder in the back of his Ranger pickup. The new unit weighs 95#. After getting the old unit loose he picked it up and threw it off the back of the coach. He said it weighed quite a bit more than the new unit. I helped him load it in his truck, I agree.

To get the new unit on the roof he sat the base of the unit against the ladder, tied a strap to it, went up on the roof and slide it up the ladder onto the roof. I did help him some from the bottom but there was no way I was climbing to far up his ladder.

By 3:00 he was on his way home. The new unit is significantly quieter than the original ones, great news since it is the one above the bedroom.

Now I get to do battle with the Service Contract company. They refused to authorize the full cost of the new unit, or pay the freight to get the unit here from Florida , or pay for his first service call. All in all they want us to eat about $500 when we have a $100 deductible policy. Still a lot better than having to pay the entire $3,300 cost for the replacement. (RV's parts are expensive) 

It is nice to sit here, in the cool, with no units needing to run. 

Today's New Testament reading included 1 Peter 1:14 & 15 (NLT) Obey God because you are his children. Don't slip back into your old ways of doing evil; you didn't know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God—who chose you to be his children—is holy.

What struck me was that before I was His child I didn't know better than to be involved with evil/sin. Far to often I get overly judgy. I need to remember that those who aren't His children do not have the Light, they are blind and deaf (Mt 13:13). I have the Light and I still screw up far to often. Instead of being judgy I need to compassionately pray that they receive the Light.

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

Sunday, February 26th - Cowboy Church

 We went to the 8:30 Cowboy Church service, at the campground, again. We really enjoy the preaching, and I really  enjoy the music 😀. I think, maybe after the first service we attended, that I said there were over 100 people in the service. I'm sure that this morning there were over 200 in the service. It appears that word is getting around in other campgrounds and people from those campgrounds are attending the service here. People clap during some of the songs and you can actually hear them singing. Kathy and I are really going to miss going to church and Bible Study here when we leave.

Chris gets right down close to the people to preach. The lectern just holds his Bible. He constantly walks back and forth making eye contact with people.

His 15 year old son usually runs the projector, to put the words for the music and the Scripture on the screen. Today his 5 year old daughter came with him. It was kind of cute watching him deal with his sister. Part of the time she was down between him and the cart holding the  projector. She kept bumping it, not on purpose, and he had to keep adjusting it to keep the Scripture on the screen.

Parked at our new site. We are liking it better all the time. If it wasn't so far from the pool we would stay here longer.

This is a unit parked across from us. Kathy noted that you can't see the AC units. I looked it up, its a Newmar Mountain Aire. I think they have "side rails" along the edges of the roof, to hide the rooftop equipment. Kathy and I have looked at Mountain Aires but the Aire series has to much glitz for us, stuff that we are not interested in having in a coach. This 45' coach lists for a starting price of slightly over one million. I'm sure it is nice but its just to fancy for our tastes. We think ours borders on being excessive.

While Kathy watched the NASCAR race I sat outside and read. I did come back in and watched the last 30 laps. After the race was over we went out and had pizza for supper.

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

PS. During your prayer time say a prayer for Tracy O'Loughlin, the Pastor's wife, and the rest of the family. She is having surgery tomorrow morning in Austin.

Saturday, February 25th - Health Screening

 Our month long deal here at Victoria Palms ended this morning. We checked out on that reservation and in on a new 4 day reservation using our Thousand Trails membership, which allowed us to stay 4 nights for free. Because of the change we had to change sites. Actually we like this site better. I forgot to take a photo. We were all set up at our new site, which is just around the corner from our old site, by 9 AM.

A guy at Texas Mobile Imaging is friends with Chris, the Cowboy Church Pastor. Every year they come to the Cowboy Church and do Carotid Artery Screening, Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Screening and Ankle Brachial Index (checking to see that you have good blood flow in your legs). The package is only $135 per person so last week we signed up. The screening was today. The results will be mailed to us in a few weeks. Since they didn't call an ambulance to come pick us up we assume that they didn't see anything to dramatic.

The actual church is the tan building the other 3 buildings from left to right are the restrooms, and two class rooms

The church.

Inside the church. There were chairs set up to seat around 200. It looked to me like it could easily seat 250. The black screens are stations that were set up for today's screening.

The restrooms are on the left. There are no restrooms inside the tan building.

The playground.

There is an arena and a bunch of different setups across the road from the church complex.

My dad built several horse trailers as a way to earn a few extra dollars. I know it seems strange today but, he and my Mom thought is was their job to raise their kids, even if it meant moonlighting to earn extra income. The ones Dad built were nothing like the one in the photo below.

We saw lots of animals at the ranch: llamas and cattle,

peacocks, and goats (no photo of the goats). We saw horses but they were in a field that was to far away to get any decent photos.

On the way home we stopped at Brady's Grill, in La Eeria, TX, for lunch. Mine was at the bottom of the photo; tamales and enchiladas. I don't remember what Kathy's was. Both were good.

On the way home we filled up, gas was $2.71/gal, diesel was $3.85/gal. Then it was back home for a siesta. 

Today's high was 89 again, temps are still running 10-12 degrees above normal. Tomorrow the high is forecast to be 83. We will have to break out our cold weather gear, but not for long, Wednesday & Thursday's highs are forecast to be 94 & 92.

This week I only went to the fitness center on Monday. After my nap I shamed myself into walking over and spending some time there. When I got back home, about 6:30 Kathy was sitting outside. The temperature was down to mid 80's and with the breeze it felt good to sit outside.

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

Friday, February 24th - Farm Truck Day

 Guess we are pretty boring folks when the highlight of our week is the Farmers Market folks who come Friday mornings 😀.

I'm a little fascinated by the pineapple coring device. Today you get a full photo spread on it.

First he cuts both ends off the pineapple.

Then places it on the device.

Pulls down the handle. (The lady in the background is the main cashier.)

And viola you have a cylinder of pure pineapple, with the core removed, No applause please.

We only bought radishes, green onions & carrots today.

After they left at noon we headed over to the T J Maxx, and then on to Golden Corral, to eat and be entertained by a Mariachi band. 

Then it was back home for a siesta. Its way to hot to want to do much. The high was ONLY 89 today. Our single AC unit kept the temp in the coach down to 79 quite tolerable. 

Our AC service guy has received approval to replace the unit, from the Service Contract people. I authorized him to order the unit last Friday. He was told that it would take 3-7 days to get it here from FL. He is hoping Monday will be the day. WE ARE TO!

On the other hand, if being a little warm it the worst thing in our lives we are a blessed couple, and we are.

Thursday, February 23rd - HOT, HOT, HOT

 The high temp for the day was 96 again. Our lone AC unit started running full time around 9AM and hasn't shut off. At 7:30 the temperature was still 80. The overnight low is supposed to be 71. These past few days are very unusual for here. The average high/lows are 78/58. The good news is tomorrows high is forecast to be 87. There isn't another forecast high of over 90 until next Thursday. No word on when our AC replacement will occur.

Kathy went to a quilt show at the Activity Center. She saw some very interesting designs. I stayed home and fought with my trash HP printer. We were checking out joining a group that allows you to stay at their campgrounds free. Their legalese documents are 38 pages long. No way could I manage reading 38 pages on my laptop. I got half the pages printed without a problem, then I could not get the other half to print. Several hours of messing with the printer and I finally managed to get everything printed. Then I had to read through the 38 pages. I didn't find any gotcha's, but I did find some items I wanted to ask about. Around 4PM Kathy and i went to the Activity Center and went through my questions with the lady who reps the group. We signed up.

When we had the other motorhome we purchased a small HP printer to take with us. It worked great. We left it at the "cabin" in TN and whenever we were there and wanted to print something it worked. When we sold the place we gave it to our nephew. The software/interface on the HP that I  bought last spring is JUNK! It refuses to consistently link to my laptop. It is supposed to be able to connect over WiFi but it seldom does so problem free. The most annoying issue is that even when I connect it to my laptop via a printer cable, something that should be childlike simple, it still often doesn't work correctly. I need to do some shopping and see if I can find another manufacturer who make a small multifunction printer.

Hopefully even the slight cool down tomorrow will make us want to be a little more active.

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

Wednesday, February 22nd - HOT!!!!

 Today was the hottest day we have experienced since September in Missouri (the high was 95 on the 19th, 96 on the 20th and 95 on the 21st). The overnight low was 72. Weatherbug says todays high was 96. Halfway back from the Costco in Pharr our car thermometer read 100 degrees for several miles. By the time we got home it was down to 96. At 6PM it was still 94. Now, at 8PM, it has dropped to 79.

We are still waiting to get our rear AC unit replaced. I need to check on the progress tomorrow. Hopefully it has arrived from FL. The front unit has run continuously from around 9AM. Its supposed to be down to 72 by midnight and 68 by 4AM. In another hour or two I expect it to get the temperature in the coach down to the point where the unit starts cycling on and off. The warmest temperature I saw in the coach was 82.

At Bible Study this morning we learned that one section of the campground has substantial electrical problems. I think its an area of permanent mobile homes. Not only don't they have AC the voltage fluctuations have destroyed 2 microwaves and various other electrical devices. They are not happy campers. The campground had an electrical contractor out and got a quote but now the folks have been told that they are waiting for a second contractor to come out and give them a quote.

The Pastor's wife taught Bible Study this morning. She did a good job. He was off working on something. One great thing about the group is that there is a fair amount of "audience involvement", a lot like our Life Group back in MO. I'm a little surprised at the number of people whose doctrine leans Pentecostal. We are quite at home with the group.

I didn't go to the Fitness Center today but was down at the Activity Center at 3:30. There were a lot of people in the pool.

The guys on the right were lip syncing YMCA and the majority of people in the pool were doing making the letters.

About 6 I sat outside for awhile. Even though the temperature was 84 the humidity was low enough, mid 30%, that it wasn't terribly uncomfortable. As I sat there I could feel the temperature dropping. As the temperature dropped the humidity stayed low, for a short while. Then the temperature dropped a few more degrees and the humidity climbed to over 50%. The low temperature with high humidity was more uncomfortable than the high temperature and low humidity.

The post sunset sky was pretty. The moon, and a star/planet, peeked out through the clouds for a short time.

PTL! The AC just cycled off for a couple of minutes. The temp in the coach is 76.

Tomorrow temps are supposed to hit the low 90's. After that they drop into the high 80's for a week. We are looking forward to some cooler weather.

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

Tuesday, February 21st - Mexico

 Hot again. 68 for an overnight low with a high of 86. It was WINDY today, average winds 20-25 mph with gusts 35-40 mph. At 9PM winds are down to 18 mph with 26 mph gusts. Winds are supposed to stay strong all night. At 10:30 they are 21 mph with 26 mph gusts.

It was decent out in the early morning. I found a place around the backside of the coach where the wind wasn't to bad, so I sat outside when reading my daily devotional.

When Kathy left for the weekly Tuesday morning ladies Bible Study I left for Mexico. She didn't feel like walking across the bridge just to see Mexico. Its a 35 minute drive from the campground to the Progresso border crossing. I parked on the American side of the bridge. I was surprised that it only cost $2 to park. The parked cars on the right are all in the lot. There are lots on both sides of the highway. There was a lot of traffic backed up waiting to cross into Mexico.

On the bridge into Mexico. There was a $1 toll to walk across into Mexico.

There is actually water in the Rio Grande here. 

Mexican customs for those entering Mexico. They direct all foot traffic in a door, down a short hall and out another door. Nobody questioned me about COVID. When we were in MI's upper peninsula during the summer we couldn't cross into Canada because Kathy had not been vaccinated. Even a negative COVID test wouldn't get you in.

It was crowded, shoulder to shoulder people. Booths on both sides of the sidewalk with people hawking goods.

Less than a block from the border I went into a big box store. The 2nd floor was all clothing, 80% womens, 20% kids. Below is part of the pharmacy section. There were multiple aisles full of pharmaceuticals. 

Once I was 3/4 of a mile from the border there weren't many people. This photo is looking back to the north.

Heading back into the US. The toll to walk across the bridge from Mexico was only $0.30.

US Border Patrol looked at my passport, took a photo of me, and asked if I had anything to declare before passing me through. Guess no one cares if you have been vaccinated if you are crossing the southern border. 

While in Mexico I had 50-100 guys ask me if I wanted my shoes shined. I'm sure I walked by 50-100 optometrists, 100-150 dentists, over 50 pharmacies, and hundreds of street vendors selling all kinds of things. From the time I left my car in the parking lot until I got back I walked a little over 2 miles and was gone about 90 minutes.

My "take aways" from my visit. There are a lot of old snow birds who cross the border every day. Not one time did I encounter a negative vibe from the people. There were no panhandlers, although I did walk by a little old lady sitting on the sidewalk and leaning against a building. I hardly noticed her as I walked by but I felt prodded by the Spirit to go back and give her $5. As I  think back I ask myself, why only $5, I don't know, it seemed to be the right number at the time. 

On one hand it is sad that Mexico, a country that is older than the US, has never been able to get its act together and provide a better environment for its people. On the other hand I am so thankful for the blessing of being born in the United States of America, the Land of Opportunity. It is easy to see why so many risk their lives to come here illegally.

It was to early to eat while I was in Mexico. On my way back to the campground I stopped at Nancy's Cafe in Weslaco and had one of their specials, some type of enchilada plate. It was great. It came with a cup of soup and when I was almost finished the waitress brought me a small piece of chocolate cake for dessert.

Back at the campground there was a Mardi Gras parade of decorated golf carts. We watched out the coach window. Below was the start.

Then came the "float" with the King and Queen.

Enlargement of float.

And the carts just kept coming, at least 25 of them in total.

No updates on the AC today.

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

Monday, February 20th - Its Going to be a Hot Week

 I'm almost wondering, "What am I doing here?" Todays high was 87. Tomorrow's high is forecast to be 85 with winds gusting to 40 mph. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday's highs are forecast to be 90, 91 & 87. We aren't forecast to get a remotely  decent dew point (below 60) until Thursday afternoon. If we come back here next winter I will need to remember to move somewhere cooler by mid-February.

There was a stiff breeze today and it actually was decent until mid afternoon. I sat outside, in the shade, most of the morning. About 2PM I walked the half mile to the Fitness Center, and back after exercising. The walk back was a little toasty.

We are still dealing with AC repair issues. This morning Steve, the repair guy, told me that the unit is supposed to be on a truck heading this was from Florida. I spent time on the phone with Steve, Jamie (the Service Contract Inspector) and two people with the Service Contract company. The Inspector is supposed to verify that the unit needs to be replaced. When I  talked to him he mentioned that he was not allowed to go on the roof, unbelievable. I asked him how he planned on inspecting the unit since both the supply and return is ducted. Nothing can be seen from inside the coach. He wondered if I would go on the roof and take pictures. I called the Service Contract people and asked to talk to a supervisor. I got virtually no satisfaction. About 4:30 I received a text from the Inspector saying that he was on his way to look at the unit. He wanted to confirm that we would be here. When he got here I was glad he wasn't going on my roof. He is about my height and weighs at least 300#. He brought his teenage son and sent him up on the roof. He complained that the cover was still on the AC unit. He thought Steve was going to make a trip here this morning to take the cover off and leave it off. I went on the roof and took out the 3 Philips head screws that hold the cover in place. When the young man was done taking photos I replaced the cover.

I have no idea when we will get word that the repair is a covered item. Actually it doesn't make a lot of difference because last week I told Steve that I would pay him and collect from the Service Contract people. Steve thinks he might have the unit installed yet this week.

Got is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.

Sunday, February 19th - Interesting Church Service

Weather - Last nights low was 48 and today's high was a partly cloudy 83. We set the thermostat at 64 overnight and the heat pump ran during the night. When we got back to the coach, a little after noon, the temperature inside was 81. We opened some windows. That worked for a short while but we soon had to close them back up and turn the AC on. About 7PM we opened the windows again. Tonight's low is forecast to be 67.

This morning we once again went to the Cowboy Church service, here at the campground. It was great, but with an interesting twist. One of the Pastor's children runs the projector to show the words to the songs and the scripture he bases his message on. There is a stock show in the area and his older children are showing livestock. Todays music was worship music was somewhat familiar songs. We sat up near the front and could hear a lot of people singing. He also didn't have his lapel mic setup so he had to walk around with microphone in his hand, he walks around a lot.

Chris has been preaching his way through the book of James. Today's message was on James 4. He told everyone to open their Bibles to James 4 and he read several verses. It was not the James 4 in my Bible. He started preaching on the verses he had read and was just getting rolling when one of the guys asked him what passage he had read. He walked back to the lectern and looked at his Bible. He had read from I John 4. He said obviously the Holy Spirit had something additional for us this morning. He made some more comments about not be influenced by false prophets and then went to James 4. Before he finished he wove his earlier I John comments into his message on James 4.

Kathy and I both enjoy knowing our Pastor is someone who is open to the leading of the Spirit. We eagerly await hearing his comments about this morning when we get together for the Wednesday morning Bible study.

After church we drove over to the local flea market, its only about a half mile from the campground entrance. We spent about an hour wandering around. There wasn't much of interest to us. There was a guy singing who was pretty good.

We did buy a $4 bag of grapefruit. We also bought a bag of cheese curds from a sausage and cheese vendor. 

In one of my previous posts I mentioned the device that cuts the "skin" off a pineapple and cores it at the same time. Below is a photo of one of them.

After the flea market we picked up more prescriptions from Walgreens (just routine drugs we take, all our prescriptions are due for refills about the same time). Then it was over to HEB for some groceries.

On the way back to the campground we stopped at a Mexican fast food place for lunch. My taco plate was okay. Kathy said her chicken plate was good.

We started watching the Daytona 500 but all the changes that NASCAR has made over the years make racing almost boring to watch. I don't think we saw any significant passing during the first laps. It was just two strings of cars running side by side around the track. BORING! On top of that it seem that more of the broadcast was devoted to commercials and fluff stuff than to actually showing the race. We both took naps. I woke up to to see the last 15 laps, Kathy woke up a little earlier.

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

Saturday, February 18th - Beautiful Day

 It started off cool, but sunny, this morning. The overnight low was 39 degrees. Todays high was a mostly sunny 72.

The only thing I got accomplished all morning was the cleaning of the coach windshield. Rain, and/or dew, cause it to streak badly. When the sun rises it shines right through the windshield. This is great because it helps warm up the coach on cool mornings, but it also really shows up the streaks on the windshield.

Mid afternoon people started parking cars and pickups in the empty campsites on either side of us. Kathy checked the campground schedule on her phone and learned that there was a fund raiser for the Kids in the Valley (we are in the Lower Rio Grande Valley) being held on the street behind us. It was quite a shindig. The street was blocked off, there was live music & food, and a lot of people. Its been quite for about an hour now but people are still packing up and leaving, at 8:30.

I took the photo below standing at the back of our coach.

I enlarged and cropped the above photo to do a better job of showing the number of people.

The live music was good. A mix of 50's & 60's pop & rock, along with fair amount of older country. When I walked over to make a contribution I saw that a good section of the street was being used as a dance floor.

Neither one of us strayed more than 100 yards from our site today. It was a great day to relax and enjoy the wonderful weather.

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

Friday, February 17th - Farmers Market Day

 Friday marked our 9th month of living in our RV full time. It was also the 78th day since we left Centertown in early December.

Outside temperatures were in the high 40's when I got up this morning. It was windy and cool all day.

The highlight of Fridays is the people coming in with fresh fruits and vegetables. They set up about 100 yards from where we are parked. I took this photo standing in the "checkout" line. A lady works full time as a cashier while a guy splits his time between "peeling and coring" pineapples and being a 2nd cashier. Another guy is constantly refilling boxes with produce off the truck, and sorting out any less desirable produce. Our purchases included 3 grapefruits, a bunch of radishes, a bunch of green onions, some cucumbers & a head of broccoli. 

Kathy says that in general their prices are a little higher than at the grocery store, but it is fun participating in buying from them. It is great to see people with a hard working entrepreneurial spirit. On top of that all three of them are very pleasant people. We normally check out with the lady and she always ends with  "Have a blessed day."

For months the spacebar on my notebook computer has often included two spaces when I hit it. I took it over to the guy who refurbished the charging port on my cell phone ($35) and he fixed (probably cleaned the contacts/keyboard), $30. When I arrived to drop off the computer he and another adult male were out in the parking lot, along with 2 kids (I assume they were the owners kids) and a manually powered "scooter". He was blasting around the parking lot on it.

 

There is a gatehouse at the campground entrance. Every time we have entered the campground there has been a guard on duty to look for the placard you are supposed to have on your dash. (If you come in during the overnight hours, when no "guard" present you have a code to punch in and open the gate. Two different guys seem to man the gate. They always have a smile.

Kathy and I were talking about this. This area is obviously economically distressed. The population of Hidalgo County is about 900,000 (554 people per square mile). 93% of the permanent residents are Hispanic/Latino. The median household income is $44,700 (national average $69,000) and 29% of the people live in households with below poverty level incomes (national average 11.6%). For comparison the following are some statistics on the last 2 counties where we have lived. Cole County, MO & Boone County, IN. Cole County population 77,000 (197/sqmi), median household income $64,700 & 11.6% below poverty  level.  Boone County population 73,000 (168/sqmi), median household income $94,800 (Zionsville $141,500) & 5.5% below poverty level. The main focus of our discussion was how pleasant, and happy (maybe not the right word) local people seem to be around a couple of rich (by local standards) white peope down here to escape the winter. 

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

Thursday, February 16th - Cooler - PTL!!!

 I woke up early and couldn't go back to sleep. I got up and went outside, in the dark, with my tablet, to do my daily scripture reading because it was a stuffy 74 in the coach. Outside it was a very humid 72, but there was a nice breeze. I wasn't outside 10 minutes until I started feeling a small drops of water occasionally hitting me. I didn't think it was raining, I thought it might be the wind blowing AC condensate around. After moving my chair I realized that it was a very light, misty rain. I stayed out for another 5 minutes before coming in, by then you could classify it as a light rain. The interesting thing was that I could feel the humidity dropping while I was sitting there. We received just enough rain to wet the concrete.

Morning chores consisted of dumping the wastewater tanks and flushing the black water tank. I also did some research on campgrounds, trying to decide where we go when we leave here on the 25th.

Breakfast was another Texas English muffin sandwich with 2 eggs, 3 Smokey Links and a slice of cheese. Dessert was a grapefruit. (Chuck, they are better with 3 Smokies, you need to lock up the dog before you start cooking.)

Mid morning we took off to look at some campgrounds around here. We probably drove around 50 miles by the time we returned. We only looked at 3 campgrounds, but we drove through some interesting small towns.

We had lunch in Santa Rosa, at The Oldies restaurant.

The "waiter" was a nice older guy who spoke VERY broken English. No menus, he described the two specials and told we could also order anything we wanted. Kathy ordered one special and I ordered the other one. We had only the vaguest idea of what we were getting.

Kathy wasn't fond of the spices used in her dish, it wasn't hot she just didn't care for the spices. I LOVED all of mine. I was considering licking off my plate when she gave me one of her tortillas to wipe it off. It was without a doubt the best restaurant meal I've had in Texas.

Back home I spent the afternoon doing more campground research. While sitting here with the window ajar, its 64 with 23% humidity, we heard music, then we saw the "parade". It was a Super Bowl tribute to Kansas City. There were a dozen or so golf carts following the car and trailer.

You  sometimes get to see some interesting things looking out the coach windows and watching the world go by.

I called the RV Service Contract people to find out why our repair guy hasn't been contacted by their inspector. I mentioned that having a broken AC unit when the temp was 89 one day and 85 another day was not pleasant. The guy told me the Inspector said the phone number he was given to contact our repair guy had been disconnected. He gave me the inspectors phone number. I called the inspector and gave him the repair guys cell phone number, it was not the number they were using. I was sitting across the table when the repair guy gave the Service Contract people two phone numbers, one a land line and the other his cell. I don't know if there was a problem with the land line or they just copied it down wrong. Bottom line is that hopefully we will get the guy out here to approve the work.

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