Cold Rainy Day

Where am I anyway? It feels like the Oregon coast again. The temperature has not gotten over 56 degrees all day. It started out at 50! So what sounds good on a cold rainy day? ... ... Cookies! And Lynne brought over hot rum and apple cider to go along. Yum.

Martin Valley

We're in Mission, Texas just on the US side of the Mexico border. We're here because there are new Coach Connect Wi-Fi installations here at Martin Valley Ranches. That may sound like one RV park, but actually it's 8 communities. And Wi-Fi has been installed for all. The population here are called 'Winter Texans'. I think that's the equivalent of South Florida's 'snowbirds'. Here we are giving our Wi-Fi seminar for the people at El Dorado Acres: We'll be here for at least a couple of weeks. We'll need that to give our seminars and help people get connected at all the different parks. There's Sleepy Valley Ranch, Pleasant Valley Ranch, Dream Valley Ranch, GolfView, Restful Valley Ranch, Enchanted Valley Ranch and Hidden Valley Ranch. I wonder if they sell salad dressing?

Warm at Last

It seems like we've been traveling south for quite some time. We keep going south, and we've still been cold. We've now come as far south as possible in this country ... and it's warm! 70 degrees. We're in Mission, Texas. The road down here looks a little like Florida! Complete with Palm Trees. Traveling with friends means a lot of comparisons of our rigs. Theirs is a class A - ours is a class C. Theirs has a 75 gallon gas tank, ours is 50. We're both 11.5 feet high and 30 feet long. We both complain about the price of gas. But at least it's been coming down lately. Here we're paying 1.85.

On Our Way

Sometimes things go smoothly. We were told that the hole in our exhaust system could cause the valves to burn and it was unsafe to drive. We were referred to B and B Muffler to fix the hole, but they weren't open on Saturday. First thing Monday morning we called and they said 'bring it in'. Two hours later we had our rig back, the hole was welded and we had a new tailpipe. Total cost $163. We were quite pleased - if you need muffler work in Austin, we'd recommend B and B! I was happy because this was my birthday and my goal was to be in a place with a hot tub where we could party with Lynne and John. Hey! We did it. We stayed at Blazing Star RV park in San Antonio. Nice place and a nice hot tub and it's a Coach Connect park so we could check on things while we're here. Here's the party: What is it about birthdays that makes you want to kill brain cells? Or maybe I just want to act like I'm 22 instead of 52! I blame Odie ... A good time was had by all - no photos from the hot tub. Thanx to Lynne and John for making the effort to meet up with us - they make life on the road seem almost normal! We're going to travel together for a little ways. We're off to Mission today. Gotta go.

Too Much Fun

We've just been having too much fun to take time to make a Blog entry. Saturday night Marty and Rob came over to see our home and then we went out to dinner. And, on Sunday, Lynne and John arrived. They left Florida about a week ago. They're on their way to Quartzsite, AZ and figured they could spend some time 'hanging' with us on the way! Anyone who thinks they have a 'party house' doesn't know what they're talking about until they have friends with RVs. You don't have to go to someone else's house and worry about driving home or sleeping on their floor. You both drive your 'house' to a mutual location and park next to each other. Meanwhile, it's not all fun and party. We had planned to be in Mission by now, but we were told on Saturday that the hole in the exhaust pipe really needed to be fixed before we drive anywhere, and no one could look at it till Monday. So, we're off to a muffler shop now.