Our visit in Maryland was great! I love getting to spend time with my oldest son. He is very busy with a developing professional life and finishing his Masters Degree, but he always makes time when I get the chance to come to see him.
We are currently in Zellwood Florida. It is almost 7 am and the sun is rising in the east. We've been here since Oct 10th in the afternoon. The weather has been perfect, high 80's during the day and high 60's at night. We have had the AC on in the rig since we got here and got hooked up to electrical.
Prior to coming to Zellwood, we had 3 days to visit with Tonya's oldest friend. The visit was very nice and we always hate to see them end. I personally loved the good humored banter between the children and their mother and father. It was very clear that they are a close family with lots of respect to go around. It was refreshing to see how well they all got along. But like all good things… well you know the saying. We stayed at a nice little campground in Jacksonville where we were able to have full hookups for a reasonable price. While I was there I noticed that the front of the roof didn't look quite right. So I climbed up and took a look.
The Water & Ice shield that we had covered the front part of the roof with was coming up and peeling off. It was not a pretty sight. Thankfully our friend was there with her van and I hatched a quick plan to repair the roof. After some thought about the problem, I decided that we'd put a new piece of plywood down on the roof and do the best we could to seal it to get us through to Texas. I'll tell you I was sure glad that I kept my skill saw with me. I had thought about not bringing it due to the space it takes up. It was sure nice to have that to cut that plywood to fit. So far the roof repair seems to be holding up fine, although we have not had rain as of yet to see if there will be any leaks. It should be good but you just never know until you have had a rain to test it out.
The plan today is to assist with the owners of the land we've been camped on for the past 2 days with the clean up after yesterday's concert. We didn't get pictures of the concert. That is something Tonya and I have to get better about. We both don’t think of taking pictures until it is too late. I managed to get a couple of pictures today of the stage and sound system that was set up here. All in all it was a pretty good turn out for the day. We had several different bands play throughout the day starting at about 1 pm and there was constant music until 11 pm. This was a free event to the public and my good friend Dennis Moro committed so much time, money and energy into putting this together. Chuck and Carol hosted the venue and worked tirelessly to set up the sound system, stage and to run sound for all the bands. Dennis had band members who came from all over the United States to play this reunion concert. People came from California, South Dakota, Illinois, West Virginia… well you get the idea.
Once we've assisted with cleanup we will be headed toward Texas. There will be some stops along the way for rest, but for the most part the "Vacation" part of our journey is coming to an end. Its time now to get where we are going for the winter and get organized to start work. We’ve met lots of talented and interesting people over the past few days and had a great time socializing and enjoying their talents.
Trip From Florida to Texas
The trip from Florida to Texas was a tiring one and an exciting one. We kept to our word and only traveled 250 to 300 miles per day. The winds were crazy, which did not help our gas mileage at all. We average about 6.25 miles per gallon in high winds while towing the car. Needless to say, when I was told that our rig got 13 miles per gallon, I was mis-informed. But, like everything else in life - you deal with it as it comes and move on. We left Florida on Sunday afternoon. We spent some time helping to clean up the site where we had the concert, it was the right thing to do. It amazes me how people will go to a free event like this and just throw their trash on the ground for others to have to clean up after. Anyway, we helped the guys break down the sound system, wrap cords and generally get things put away. They said that they've never had anyone help break things down after and were truly appreciative of the help.
After some rest Sunday night, Tonya and I set out again on Monday headed for the Alabama and Mississippi State lines. We crossed into Mississippi and got a warning on my phone that there was a Tornado Watch. We pulled off of the highway into a rest stop and stayed for the rest of the night. The winds were high and the rains heavy, but no Tornado! We did however discover another leak in the back window of our rig right over the bed. Luckily we caught it before everything was soaked and were able to take some actions to keep the wetness to a minimum. It just made sleeping a little more difficult. The skies cleared up on Tuesday morning and we hit the road again to cross Louisiana.
Crossing Louisiana was fairly non-eventful. The Bayou's are interesting places I'd like to come back to at some point in the future just to investigate a little more. Tonya kept a lookout hoping to spot a Gator, but she had no such luck. We drove until about 5 pm and found a Walmart that we thought we may spend the night at. We pulled up and there was this old man there sitting in a camp chair outside of his Chevy Conversion Van. He had a sign on the front and back saying: "Need Job, or Dog Food, Or Food… No Alcohol please." Tonya and I did a little shopping for snack foods at the Dollar General and bought him a bag of dog food for his dog. Tonya said she'd cook dinner consisting of pork chops and green beans with Coscoos (not sure how to spell that food). She said that she'd make a plate for that old man as well. So I brought him over the dog food and met Sparky his dog. He was a friendly old guy with a strange name that I can't remember now. We chatted and I told him that he could have dinner with us and that Tonya was making him up a plate. He declined to come inside the camper for dinner - which I suspect is a safety rule of his - which I can certainly understand. So I brought him a plate to his Van and we conversed a short while after.
I have to say that my faith in humanity was restored and perhaps improved by this experience. In the couple hours we were there this man had like 5 different cars stop to give him food for himself and his dog and some gave a few dollars as well. One woman came back and asked him to follow her to the gas pumps so she could put gas into his van. People were very kind and generous. It was nice to see people helping their fellow human. However after he got gas he returned and while talking he said some things that caused Tonya to become uncomfortable, like perhaps he may try to take from us during the night if we stayed. At first she didn't say much about it but it was clear that she was not all that comfortable. I finally asked her straight out if she wanted to move on down the road to try and make the Texas boarder and she replied that she would prefer to do that. While driving I told her that I need for her to just come out with it if she's feeling uncomfortable in ANY situation so that we could take corrective action. My gut is pretty good at judging people but it is not infallible. We drove to the Texas border and stopped for the night at the Texas Welcome Center.
After setting up our second battery in series with the first house battery so that I may get a solid 6 hours of sleep we slept at the Texas border. I got to sleep for 5 hours straight for the first time since we left Florida. The next morning (Wednesday) we headed out for our final destination which was about 80 miles away. When I did wake up to start the rig to charge batteries, we got a loud knock on our door at about 3 am. This woman was asking for help with gas. She said her husband was abusive and that she was leaving him and was almost out of gas. I think she was looking for a cash handout, but she could have possibly been a prostitute - I am not sure. Either way, I told her I could help with a couple gallons of gas for her truck. I don't think she expected that I was actually going to put 2 gallons of gas in her truck. She thought I was going to hand her money… No Way! That could be way too easy to misconstrue what was really going on. I unlocked the generator compartment of the rig and actually put 2 gallons of gas in her truck. After she saw that I was giving her actual gas, she started talking about how hungry she was. Sorry but there was no way I was opening my wallet in front of her or giving her cash.
We arrived in Cleveland Texas which is about 17 miles outside of Coldspring. We called our friends and the people who were going to give me a job. When I got on the phone with them they gave directions to where they were and we were off again. The same people who have given me a job have been so gracious as to also give us a place to park the RV with water hookups and electric. So we visited for a short while and I found a place up the road a few miles who would let us empty our holding tanks for $7.00. I made the short drive after unhooking the car and tow dolly and emptied the tanks. I returned and parked under a metal car port which is plenty large enough to cover the RV. I plugged in and hooked up the water. I discovered that the water hookup was leaking quite a bit so I decided to replace the water connection to the RV the following day.
Susan took us out to eat a a local eatery and showed us around this little town. She kept saying, "There's really not much here to do, it is a quiet little town." That is something Tonya and I are really okay with. We'd prefer a quiet little town.
Unfortunately, Susan's husband Mark is not here. He is in NC doing Electrical Transmission Line work. I wish we had known that when we were passing through NC because we certainly would have made time to visit with him before moving on. Hopefully we will see him around the holidays at the very least.
So I began work the day after we arrived and went on several service calls with my new company that I work for, Bear Heating, Air Conditioning, and Appliance Repair. I don't know at this point the extent of my work week. It may be some weeks part time, some weeks full time. We DID arrive in Texas when the temps are cooling down and therefore it is their slow season. No problem anything is better than nothing. We are looking forward to settling in for the winter and getting to know this part of Eastern Texas on a more intimate level. The weather is perfect. The days are warm and in the lower 80's and the nights are in the 50's & 60's.
Yesterday, (Friday) we went to Houston to visit with my Niece, her husband and their daughter. We had a very nice visit and did a BBQ in their back yard. It was nice to see them and see how well they are doing. They've lived in Texas for a couple of years now and seem to have fit right in. It was really nice to be able to catch up with them and visit.
For the rest of this weekend we are planning on attending a car show here in Coldspring (Population 800-something). This is a nice little town with sidewalks that roll up around 8 pm and it is very quiet. That suites us just fine. There are several other little towns that are just a few miles away all very small and quiet. If we want the Big City Life, well Houston is about 50 miles away. We saw gas in Houston yesterday for $2.79 per gallon so that is always a welcome sign. I have to say however, that I think it is the calm before the storm. I would be surprised if gas stays that low.
I am sorry this blog post was SO late in coming out and being published. The travel days can be really difficult to find the time to write. I will get this down to a science as we go on. I look forward to getting some photo's for our next blog post so ya'll (sorry - just had to do that) can see a little bit of the town where we are. Until then… Stay safe, stay warm, and keep on living your dreams - whatever they may be.
Soaring Eagle…
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