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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