Day 18 - Friday, November 28 - Motorcycle Trip to Walmart

 The highlight of the day was riding my motorcycle over to Walmart. I really don't like riding in traffic. It's only a 5 mile round trip. I rode the  "back way", staying off the Interstate. The city street traffic wasn't bad, the Walmart parking lot was a zoo.

I bought a couple of quarts of ATF for our hydraulic levelling system. I was hoping that the levelling problem was due to low fluid. After playing with the system for a couple of hours it seems that adding the fluid doesn't seem to have solved the problem. The valving on one of the jacks doesn't seem to be working properly. The jack will start down but won't go all the way. It seems that as soon as the pump quits "pumping" the jack retracts. It isn't the jack that I thought was leaking.

I visited some with the guy in the site next to us. They have been spending winters in the Rio Grande Valley for over 5 years. This will be their first winter at this campground. They are from Vichy, MO, about 65 miles from our home in Centertown.

Kathy left home this morning and headed south. She made it half way today. She is spending the night at a Hampton Inn somewhere north of Houston. 

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

Day 17 - Thursday, November 27 - HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

One of the great things about the holiday Thanksgiving is that it gives us a chance to consider how blessed we are. We are blessed to have been born in a country where we are free to travel and spend time with friends and family. We have roofs over our heads and food to eat. All to often I forget to thank the Lord for my blessings.

I joined 50-75 other people from the campground to enjoy a Thanksgiving potluck dinner.

Both the food and fellowship was good.

It was a nice day here, a little breezy but mostly sunny and in the mid 70's. I spent some time sitting outside both in the morning and in the afternoon. In the morning a jacket felt good. in the afternoon a tee shirt was fine.

I got in a 3.25 mile bike ride around the campground, to burn off some of the calories.

It was a good Thanksgiving Day.

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

Day 16 - Wednesday, November 26 - Rainy Day

 Between rains I unloaded my motorcycle and bicycle. 

Note how brown the grass is. One of the ladies over at the clubhouse told me that it has been very dry. I think we got a little less than an inch. We had enough wind with it to rock the coach a little.

When I unloaded my motorcycle I did manage a lap around the campground. In the afternoon I climbed on my bicycle and did a more thorough inspection of the campground, I did 2.25 miles on it. That is probably more than I rode it the entire time we were back in Missouri.

The refrigerator seems to be working OK (PTL), except for the icemaker. In a freezer at the clubhouse they have little 2# bags of ice that they sell for 50 cents. I walked over and got a couple of them. 

I did some research on the cooling units that JC Refrigeration make to replace the ones in RV absorption refrigerators. They make a replacement for the absorption units, but it seems that almost all RV'ers who fridges fail either replace them with a residential unit (it is difficult to find a residential refrigerator that fits the "hole" for a RV refrigerator), or they replace the absorption cooling unit with a 12v DC or a 120v AC cooling unit. If I was close to Shipshewana, IN I would strongly consider pulling in to their facility and having them install one of the 12v DC units. It takes them about 3 hours to pull you refrigerator out of the wall, lay it on the living room floor, change the unit, put it back in the wall and start it up. 

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

Day 15 - Tuesday, November 25 - Victoria to Harlingen

 Today I drove the 208 miles from the Victoria RV Park to the Lakewood RV Resort. The drive was uneventful.

When I stopped by the office Mary Beth, one of the campground movers and shakers, saw me and said, "Don't you leave until I tell you what table number you are to sit in for the Thanksgiving Dinner.", I checked in at the office and moved over to park in our site. Before I could get the electric cable plugged in Bruce, another mover and shaker, walked up to welcome me back and make sure I knew that they were having pulled pork sandwiches and entertainment at the clubhouse at 3:30.

Parked at Lakewood.

Looking west down the street. For some reason all the sites to the east were empty.

Typical weekly activities.

November and December activities.

It was HOT here today. A sunny 88 degrees.

It's good to be a winter Texan. We know more folks here than we did in homes we lived at for over twice as long as we have been coming here.

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

Day 14 - Monday, November 24 - Livingston to Victoria

 Nothing exciting today. I dropped of the rental car this morning and one of the guys gave me a ride back to the campground. I was on the road a little after 9:00.

From Rainbow's End to Victoria's RV Park (River Park) was 199 miles. I've put 1,311 miles on the coach since I left home. It's 210 miles from here to Lakewood RV Resort in Harlingen.

Traffic was bad except for a 3 mile section in downtown Houston. It took me an hour to drive the 40 miles through Houston, 20 minutes of the time was driving the 3 miles where I69 splits off and heads southwest.

Light rain fell in a couple of places , the crosswinds were brutal the last 60 miles.

Kathy and I have stayed here multiple times in the past. Victoria has some interesting places, which I won't be visiting this stay. Lord willing I will be in Harlingen mid-afternoon.

Below are links to a couple of blog posts from previous stays here, :

https://bertdsblog.blogspot.com/2025/04/day-124-tuesday-april-1-cuero-museum.html

https://bertdsblog.blogspot.com/2025/03/day-123-monday-march-31-harlingen-to.html

https://bertdsblog.blogspot.com/2024/12/day-16-saturday-december-14-enjoying.html (I remember Mumford's but had forgotten about Double Daves)

https://bertdsblog.blogspot.com/2024/03/day-93-tuesday-march-5-full-day-victory.html

The refrigerator is still running, but it isn't as cold as it should be. Looks like we will need to have it replaced.

Kathy is currently planning on heading this way on Saturday. It will be a 1,100 mile drive for her.

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

Day 13 - Sunday, November 23 - AWESOME CHURCH SERVICE!!!

We attended a service at First Baptist Church in February 22, 2015. I was impressed then and am still equally impressed. If you are interested you can read about my impressions at:  https://bertdsblog.blogspot.com/2015/02/feb-22nd-first-baptist-church.html

The Pastor's message, and the atmosphere then, left a lasting impression on me. I didn't remember his message until I scanned the post above and then it came back to me. One thing that wasn't in the post was he announced that the following Sunday there were going to be representatives from 5 local civic groups giving a brief description of their groups, so that church members could get involved if they were interested. As he was talking about this it occurred to me that he was opening up a "sea" for members to fish in. He was giving his flock a "sea" of opportunities to become involved in other organizations and to spread the Good News while they rubbed shoulders with others in those organizations. By the way, they still don't take up an offering, no mention of an offering was even made. As I was walking out I saw a small, unobtrusive kiosk where offerings could be dropped in a slot.

They now have 3 services. At 9:00 there is a contemporary service in one auditorium and a "classic" service in another. (I think they must have put on an addition since we were here 10 years ago.) At 11:00 there is a 2nd contemporary service. I felt led to attend the 9:00 contemporary service, I'm wasn't sure why since I prefer the old hymns to most contemporary Christian music. The Pastor preached "live" in the Classic service while those of us in the contemporary service watched him on the big screens. After the service I walked around a bit and saw the area where the Classic service was held. There was seating for about 200, with room to add at least another 50 chairs. There were probably close to 200 in the contemporary service, with room for at least another 200.

I wasn't in the best of moods this morning and almost didn't go to church. I've let myself get stressed over the problems with the coach and am not sleeping enough (my fault, I've always been a night owl, and just to dumb to get enough sleep). Yesterday evening the refrigerator quit working again. Am I glad I went! On the way into the building I was greeted by several folks, always a nice touch. As I walked into the auditorium and sat down I could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. In general the lyrics of the contemporary music did little for me, but a line or two in most of the songs touched my spirit. I knew the Holy Spirit was working on my spirit. 

Then came the Pastor's message. The core of his message was from Isaiah 41:1-10, with emphasis on verse 10 (NLT)

God's Help for Israel

[41:1] “Listen in silence before me, you lands beyond the sea. Bring your strongest arguments. Come now and speak. The court is ready for your case.

[2] “Who has stirred up this king from the east, who meets victory at every step? Who, indeed, but the LORD? He gives him victory over many nations and permits him to trample their kings underfoot. He puts entire armies to the sword. He scatters them in the wind with his bow. [3] He chases them away and goes on safely, though he is walking over unfamiliar ground. [4] Who has done such mighty deeds, directing the affairs of the human race as each new generation marches by? It is I, the LORD, the First and the Last. I alone am he.”

[5] The lands beyond the sea watch in fear. Remote lands tremble and mobilize for war. [6] They encourage one another with the words, “Be strong!” [7] The craftsmen rush to make new idols. The carver hurries the goldsmith, and the molder helps at the anvil. “Good,” they say. “It's coming along fine.” Carefully they join the parts together, then fasten the thing in place so it won't fall over.

[8] “But as for you, Israel my servant, Jacob my chosen one, descended from my friend Abraham, [9] I have called you back from the ends of the earth so you can serve me. For I have chosen you and will not throw you away. [10] Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.

I can't do a good job of conveying his message but he noted that we can't help being fearful (or getting stressed) at times. When those times do occur we need to focus on the God who has chosen us, the God who is with us, the God who will strengthen us. There was a lot of additional Scripture mentioned during the message. I haven't looked but I'm reasonably sure that the sermons are available online. I will look for it in a couple of days and listen to it again.

In the hour between services there are 14 different Classes you  can attend.

The First Baptist campus, thank you Google.

As I scanned my 10 year old blog post I saw the mention of Shrimp Boat Manny's. Lord willing I leave in the morning and have missed the opportunity to eat there again. Bummer! I checked, it is still operating.

After church I stopped at Walmart, Tractor Supply and a Dollar General looking for more magnets. The good ones were out of stock at Walmart and Tractor Supply and Dollar General didn't stock them. I took the exterior vent cover off the back of the refrigerator and again it looked dry. Even though it looked dry I ran a hair dryer over it for 10 minutes or so. I worked with the magnets I have and eventually I was able to reset the relay and get the refrigerator running again. After that I set up a 4" fan so that it was blowing on the back of the refrigerator, to be sure the area was dry and to get more air flow across the coils.

After that I made a hamburger for my lunch and took a 2 hour nap. About 3 hours had elapsed since I left the fan running. When I checked on it I could see droplets of moisture hanging on a couple of the wires. I have no idea where the moisture came from. It's 7:45, I just shut the fan off. No moisture is visible. The refrigerator is 47 degrees and the freezer is 27 degrees. It should be colder but that is sure better than not running at all.

I'm not the only one here with a motorcycle. 

This 5th wheel toy hauler is across the street from me.

This unit is next door to me. The trailer looks big enough for a small car as well as the motorcycle.

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

Day 12 - Saturday, November 22 - Trip To Diboll to Visit a Cousin

 Today I drove up to the Duncan Unit in Diboll, TX, about an hours drive, to visit a cousin who is incarcerated there. The Duncan Unit is designated as a "geriatric" facility by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The Duncan Unit is considered a small unit, with its 500 inmate rated capacity. 

We had not seen one another in over 55 years, but have corresponded via letters and email for the past 10 years. Jeff is about 7 years younger than me. His family moved from Michigan to Texas about the time Jeff graduated from high school. After high school he joined the Navy and was a member of a Underwater Demolition Team (UDT), a frogman. (In 1983 UDT's were redesignated as SEALS.) After 17 years of service he took a disability retirement (I don't know if I phrased that correctly. He retired with a 40% disability.) After leaving the military he worked as a Construction Manager.

Because I live so far away I was approved for a 4 hour contact visit, one where you can shake hands or even hug. The procedure for getting into the visitation room was interesting. As I entered the prison grounds I stopped at a small, one man, guardhouse. He asked for my drivers license and the name of the person I was to visit. I was then asked to open the glove compartment, exit the car and then to open all doors, the hood and the trunk. As the guard looked the vehicle over he rolled a mirror on wheels under the car a couple of places. I then signed in. 

I parked, walked up to the entrance and showed my license to a camera. The door was unlocked and I entered. Once inside I handed my license to the guard at a desk inside the door and again was asked the name of the person I was visiting, and signed in again. All you can bring into the unit is your drivers license, your car key and either up to $35 in quarters or a debit card. Everything is supposed to be in a clear plastic bag. The quarters/debit card are so that you can buy food items to take in to the visit. Food items where typical snack/candy items. Jeff had mentioned that he had not had a hamburger for a long time. I got a hamburger, a small pizza, several candy items and several cans of soda. They had a small microwave where I was able to warm up the hamburger and pizza. I was furnished with a box to carry the items into the visitation room. A guard then "wanded" me and patted me down, and accompanied me to  the visitation room. We went through two locked doors to get to the visitation room.

The visitation area was a room about 15'x30', with multiple tables and chairs. It was set up similar to a small, very plain, dining area in a restaurant. While we were in the room other inmates were also being visited. Most visits are limited to 2 hours so inmates and visitors cycled in and out of the room.

We had a good time catching up during the 4 hours. As I exited the I went through the same process with the car: exit the vehicle, open doors, etc. Jeff is an example of a guy who seemed to have a lot going for him but one stupid "act of passion" cost him 20 years of his life. He has done 17 years. He was first eligible for parole in 2019. So far he has requested parole, and been denied, least 4 times. He doesn't know why.

PS. Every one of the guards with whom I interacted was friendly.

All in all it was an interesting day.

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