Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope everyone had a Happy & Safe Thanksgiving. We know that our friends and family up in Maine had a rough day of it with some losing power for the holiday and getting substantial snow. We hope you all made it through the day with a minimal amount of discomfort. For us, we had a very quiet Thanksgiving Dinner together - just the two of us. Tonya made Turkey Breast (A whole bird would not fit in our oven) she made Mashed potato's and Gravy, and made the stuffing inside of a halved Acorn Squash. It was simply the best stuffing I've ever had! The great part for us was we were able to eat outside and it was a nice warm day. I know, I know, you are probably all tired of hearing about how nice the weather is here… I am really not trying to rub it in, but it IS why we left Maine, after all. It is the best part of what we are doing and a very important factor for us.

One of the benefits for me living here where the weather is nice during the day, is that my mood has been much better. Typically, around this time of year I tend to become rather depressed and don't want to get out and do anything. Here, however I feel pretty good and I am convinced that it is related to the warmer temps and the increased amount of sunshine that I am able to get. I do find that I miss our family and friends - especially on the holidays - I guess there are pro's and con's to every decision we make.

Tonya had a job interview last week with the local grocery store. It was for a part time position in their deli. She was hoping to hear by now for a second interview, however that has not happened yet. We did interview for a Work-Camper position and the "Rockin - E - Campground" which is located about 5 miles away from where we are now. We will be moving to that campground in the next few days. We will be provided a full hookup site in exchange for working a few days a week. There is a little bit of concern about this move as I am somewhat concerned that my work hours for the paid job may interfere with what the campground is expecting. But nothing ventured - nothing gained.

Our hosts here, Mark & Susan have gone to South Carolina for the week to visit with family for the Thanksgiving Holiday, so we have been watching things and taking care of the dogs while they have been away. Business has slowed down and I had very few hours this past week for work so that hurts financially. I am hoping business picks back up next week.

Today is our 23rd anniversary for Tonya and I. We are going out tonight (whether we can "afford" it or not), to dinner and to a little place in town that recently opened. They are having live music and so we want to check it out to see if our show would be a good fit for them. Hopefully that will open some doors and we may be able to get a couple of shows booked with them. That would be Great!

That is one of the most difficult parts of what we are doing. The places where there would be lots of music to play are in the bigger cities. And typically, the campgrounds around the larger cities are much more expensive so therefore a Work-Camper position requires a commitment of more hours worked in exchange for the RV site.

More hours for the RV site translates to less available time to work for wages. Plus the bigger RV parks around the cities are more likely to have far more noise and other distractions. As I've said before - this is a learning experience so we will eventually try someplace closer to a bigger city. That is the beauty of what we are doing - we can change it up at the drop of a hat!

Stay tuned for whatever comes next! As time goes on we will try to visit some different places and have some photo's and information for you about our adventures.

Soaring Eagle…

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Fall is Here in Texas

Sorry that I did not write an update last week. The truth is that we are all settled in down here and things are a little slow. LOL we are just simply working and not doing a whole lot other than that. Because work has not been full time, we have to watch our spending very carefully and therefore don't get out into the community to do other things.

We did have a nice visit with my Niece Angela, her husband Mike, and their daughter Trinity last weekend. Although it got very cold after the sun went down. Poor Mike was freezing and we kind of picked on him a little bit about being so cold. But we had a nice visit with them and look forward to our next visit, whether it be here or at their house in Houston.

The past week has been somewhat cold here in Texas. We don't have it as bad as they do up in the Panhandle. We are more central & eastern Texas so our lows have been reasonable. The lowest I've seen it here in Coldspring is 30 degrees. We've had this weather for the past week or so and while it is chilly, I've endured much worse in Maine.

Last week was a very busy week for the company I work for. With the cold temps people are turning on their heating systems and finding that they are not working properly. Some people are simply scared when they smell the dust that collected over the summer (there is LOTS of dirt and dust around here). Those calls are simple, we go we fire up the system let the dust burn off, ensure the system is running properly and that’s it. Sometimes we have to change out a part then its all good.

I ran my first 2 service calls on my own last Friday. It is good to know that I can start doing some of this to help the company keep up when it is busy and bring in a little money. For the most part though my work here has been part time. I've been able to make enough to cover my overhead for the month but will need to find other work to ensure we have what we need for the springtime travel back to Maine.

Some of the work that we do is located in a development where you have to stop at a guard shack on your way in. If the customer has not called them to alert them to your arrival you don’t get in. It is a very nice area, but I would not want to live in that type of controlled environment. Because their rules say that you cannot have guns or discharge a firearm in the development, the deer there are very overpopulated. Here is a picture of a deer grazing on a lawn. (Facebook readers will need to see the blog).

Picture of the Deer Grazing on people's lawns.

So last week I worked nearly a 40 hour week and Tonya helped out in the office while the owner spent a week away with her husband. It was a hectic week - but nothing to really write home about.

The weather is supposed to remain cold for the upcoming week and then return to normal temps for this time of year in this part of Texas which will mean cool nights and nice warm days. We can't wait although we are not really complaining about the weather we've been having.

So, with the hours not being full time Tonya has been looking locally for part time work (or full time). We are beginning to look at the ads on the Work-Camping Sites for work in Maine and/or New Hampshire for the summer 2015 season. We are hoping to find something close enough to work for us while we are in Maine for the summer. Someplace close to friends and family. Now is the time to start looking.

We are also watching for other opportunities here in Texas. If we were to find something which provided a RV site and paid hours we may re-locate for the remainder of the winter. We'll have to decide that on a case by case basis. It does no good to relocate if it is only going to provide 20 paid hours and 20 hours to pay for the site. There does not seem to be much close by for music venues although I continue to search for those opportunities as well.

So our lives have become somewhat dull in that we are simply working whatever hours we can scrounge together and looking for other opportunities. We have kind of just traded locations - but the weather continues to be better here than in Maine. We are still learning the ropes of what works and what does not work. It is becoming difficult for me as I have had the urge to travel more. But I realize that I must stay put long enough to make some money to continue on this journey.

All in all, we still do not regret our decision to embark on this journey. We are enjoying spending some quality time together. We are not driving each other crazy and we continue to get along very well despite the small space.

Soaring Eagle…

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A Little Cold Here in Texas…

Hello all. It is about 9 am here in Texas (that would be 10 am in the East). We had a chilly night last night. It got down to about 44 degrees. Well, we've had a few of them actually. I know Tonya posted yesterday on Facebook that it was chilly enough that she had to put on socks. LOL It has actually been chilly in the mornings here. I've had to wear a light jacket when I first head out to work for the past week. But it warms up rather quickly with most days topping out in the mid to high 70's. I am truly feeling sympathy for our friends and family in Maine right now. It is November 2 and you are already getting snow - and plow-able snow at that! I am so glad we decided to take this leap of faith and become full time RV'ers!

Life is not all fun and games though, In fact we have to watch our spending very carefully. We live in a very quiet town and while there are lots of things to do which do not necessarily cost money, gas does cost money so we are careful in what we choose to do.

Our first two weeks here have been challenging with Tonya coming down with a cold in the first week and me right after her. We are both on the mend, but continue to have some residual coughing at times. As I had promised before in a previous blog post, today I will be posting some pictures. Some of these pictures will cover more than just this area. They were pics that I had forgotten that I had taken during our 3 weeks on the road to getting here, and some will be from this area as well.

All in all, we are doing well. We are very fortunate to have friends here with about 10 acres of land who have been so gracious to let us stay here. We have electric and water hookups and have to take the rig to empty tanks about every 7 to 10 days. There is a place to empty the tanks about 5 miles away so it is not too much on an inconvenience. We topped off our Propane yesterday for the first time since we left Maine - it took about 5 gallons. So that was about $18.00 for a month of cooking, a little heating, hot water etc. That’s not too bad! I can live with that. It sure beats the hell out of paying what we were to heat hot water and heat the house in Maine!

This my oldest son Jason, standing with me in Greenbelt Maryland. We had a great week spending time with him. He is a great young man and we can talk for hours, and hours, and hours.

Jason with his Step-Mom Tonya.

These were taken at "South of The Border." It is kind of a rest area with a campground, all kinds of stores and things to do. We didn't spend any significant time there because finding a place to park the RV with the car in tow (42 feet long - combined length) was somewhat of a challenge. I had to get a shot of the Water tower because S.O.B. obviously stands for South of the Border, but it could also stand for something I've been called a time or two - NO not since Tonya and I have been on the road… We get along great and have only had a couple of times when we've gotten on each other's nerves.

A shot of the Big Sombrero at South of the Border.

A more comprehensive shot of South of The Border.

We have Dr. Phil her in Coldspring Texas! Okay, so it is not "the" Dr. Phil, but as I understand it, his name is not even "Phil," but nobody can pronounce his name so he decided to use Dr. Phil to make it easier.

This is a shot of Downtown Coldspring Texas. Pop 853 - although I don't think they’ve counted Tonya and I yet. So that would make it 855.

More of Downtown… I really like the "Western Feel" to it.

Again, more of Downtown.

This is part of Historic Downtown Coldspring Texas. This is the old historic Jail house. Apparently they are doing renovations. Either that or someone recently escaped and did lots of damage in the process. I've done some work on the AC units at the newer jail. Well, part of it anyway. The company I work for does the Contract Maint work on the AC units at the ICE unit in Livingston Texas. For those who don't know what the "ICE" unit is, this is where they keep the people who get caught crossing the border from Mexico.

If you look closely at this picture you will see that this is a small tow behind camper trailer which was the beginning of this home. They then built a roof over it and enclosed the back part so they could have a larger living space. There are lots of these types of homes in the area. This speaks in part to how poor the community is and how adaptable the people who live here are.

The area has all kinds of historic markers alongside the roads. Every once in a while we try to stop and see what history has been made here.

Same Marker different shot.

More of Historic Coldspring.

They still have their "Hanging Tree." How great is that?!

The Hanging Tree is a beautiful old tree. Just imagine the story's it could tell if it could speak.

As long promised… This is where we are living. You can see the little orange car and our camper. You can also see the office building where I work.

One shot down the road we live on.

Another shot of the road we live on… The opposite direction.

We even have a pasture with a Horse in it. His name is Winston. Our hosts (Mark & Susan) are boarding this horse for someone. I feel bad for the horse he does not get many visits from the girl who owns him. I try to go out and say hello every once in a while.

There is home sweet home. We are parked under a HUGE car port so it helps keep the rain off of our camper. It is a cozy little place.

So, there you have some pictures. The ones taken of where we live were taken today. The grass is still green, we still have bee's and other flying bugs, the crickets are still chirping at night. While we are headed toward fall here, the warm weather is still around especially during the day. I can live with a little coldness when it warms up into the 70's during the day. I really am not trying to rub it in - I am just so excited that it hit 70 on November 2nd!

Sorry this post was so late in being published. James (the guy who I work with and who is Mark & Susan's Son in law) came home at about 10 am this morning with two deer that he shot while hunting. He asked for help to dress them. When I asked why he had 2 deer he said that here in Texas (in this County San Jacinto) you can get up to 6 deer a year! That is so crazy to me. In Maine you are allowed 1 per year. So I spent the majority of the day helping dress and cut up deer meat. We can't hang them here like they do in Maine for some reason. They cut them into cooler sized chunks of meat and pack them with ice and let them drain for a few days. So I see some Venison in my very near future. I've already told them I'd love to try a BBQ Venison Steak!

Well that concludes this weeks chapter of our lives. Stay tuned next week and see what kind of trouble we get into.

Again if you want to see the pictures you've got to go to the blog and read it there.

Soaring Eagle…

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