November 29 & 30, 2012; Move to new Resort in Weslaco, TX

NOV  29, Thursday; Move to Weslaco, TX
After loading all our toys and emptying the tanks (took us about an hour), we left Casa del Sol by 10:20 am and were at SNOW to SUN RV RESORT on International Road at site 149 by 10:45 am.  This has to be the shortest drive ever!!??  We are now in WESLACO, a town next to DONNA.  After setting up and paid for three months at an average $363 per month, we had lunch and relaxed.  We met a couple of our neighbours then before we knew it, it was dinner time.  It is a warm day and we actually had rain in the evening...only lasted about 10 minutes.  I called RBC again today to find out about the close-out papers in our loan; they sure are dragging their butt on that one; it’s like pulling teeth but I need those papers to cancel our life insurance and get a refund.  We also got a package as we arrived; a replacement for my VERIZON JET PACK WIRELESS.  The old one had been acting up.

We travelled a whole 10 miles in 16 minutes

N   26* 10.714
W 097* 57.624
Alt: 50 ft

 

NOV  30, Friday, Last day of another month

Well, November ends with a beautiful sunshine and very warm; 82*F.  Val went for exercises at the club and while I did my thing on the computer, I watched dozens of people power-walking along the back road.  A lot more activities here, for sure!  In the other Park, their idea of exercises was driving around in their golf cart both in the morning and early evening!!!  Anyway, I don’t want to give it a bad rap as it was a good Park but not for us.
We went to the OUTLETS in Mercedes where we bought a new pair of runners for me and Val, IZOD golf shirts for me and Val at 70% off.  After spending all our money, we went to the Post Office to mail my old Verizon Wireless at their cost and pick up a box to mail the Rand GPS back to Camping world.  We headed south to Mexico and took some pictures and checked on my glasses only to find him not present.  That S.O.B, owes me $20. and for me it’s a matter of principle that he won’t get away with it.  After having lunch down in Progresso, we went to “THE BOOT” store to pick up a Geo-Cache but the guy didn’t know what I was talking about.  We walked back across and drove home but first stopped for a Geo-Cache that we had searched for yesterday but found it today.  At home, we joined our neighbours AL & Judy from Manitoba, Eddy & Joanne from Missouri and Ontarian Jack & Pat; a very nice and fun group and I am sure we will have lots of fun.  For dinner, we had BBQ spare ribs

November 24 to 28, 2012; Donna, Texas

NOV  24, Saturday, Donna, Texas
Man, did it pour last night and strong winds too, it blew the bikes and the satellite dish over onto the ground.  It went on for a good 2-3 hours and finally settled a bit to just a drizzle.  I have to admit the rain was good as this area really needs water.  This morning, the sky has dark clouds but no rain yet!  We went to the Open Market, where everything under the sun is sold including some RV stuff.  Val bought some vegetables and I bought nails with ring to tie down the carpets.  From here, we went to Radio shack to pick up a new satellite cable as one of them was damaged with the storm last night.  We then went to the OUTLETS in Mercedes but it was so full of cars, I really didn’t want to go in there so we came home and enjoyed the rest of the day.  For dinner, I BBQ’ed steaks and a lobster tail we bought at Costco yesterday.  It was delicious.

 

NOV  25, Sunday, Grey Cup
The day began overcast but the sun did come out later in the morning!  It was sunny and hot for the rest of the day.  How about them Argos, hey!????  What a game!  Too bad Calgary didn’t get it but the best won and that’s that.

 

NOV  26, Monday, back to Mexico
After walking Tucker, we went back to Nuevo Progresso to the Optical shop where I found out the guy wasn’t there and when the girl phoned him, he told mayana!!!  We went to the dentist where Val had her teeth checked and then I took an exam for a new top plate.  He advised me to have two teeth removed at the lower back and after some soul searching (I am sooooo afraid of extractions, seriously), I decided to go ahead so we made an appointment for tomorrow afternoon.  We came home after having a couple of free cerveza and stopped for some groceries.  We had a very warm evening tonight so we sat outside for a while.

 

NOV  27, Tuesday, Dentist again
I took the truck back to JOE’s REPAIR SHOP to stop the alarm ringing as soon as the door opens which he hooked up wrong in the first place.  He drove me home and I helped Val transporting the laundry to the laundry room.  We got the truck back about an hour later, I think he just disconnected a fuse!???  Anyway, we got the wash done, I brushed my teeth and we went back to Mexico.  I came home with two less teeth and still no prescription glasses; this guy always a reason for not having the right color on the glass.  I gave him until Friday then that’s it!  The dentist was superb.  Anyone going to Nuevo Progresso, I strongly recommend DR Ruben Pena at Pena Reyna Dental Care.  They are just across the bridge, across the street where there is a small plaza and the best Pina Colada and Margaritas.  I paid $381 for a new denture and two extractions, can you believe it!?  Considering I paid $225 for one extraction in Quebec, this is a REAL BARGAIN!!!
We came home and got another parcel in the mail...my new Rand RV GPS, an early X-mas present!  Because of new extractions, I was limited in soft food so we had Craft Dinner for dinner, not the best but good enough for me.  I swallowed a couple of Advils and another Anti-Biotic pill.  This was a stressful day for me (dentist do that to me) so didn’t much in the evening.  Tomorrow is a new day!

 

NOV  28, Wednesday,
Sunny and a balmy 75*F!  The Texans call this cold here in the Valley but for us, it’s just perfect.  We went to Costco in McAllen and bought a new updated Garmin Nuvi.  I decided, after trying it out in the truck, to return the Magellan as it is too big and cumbersome and much too complicated.  It has a 7” screen compared to 5” with the Garmin.  After this, we went for lunch at Red Robin then drove back to Donna and chased a few geo-caches.  We found one out of 6; not our best day!  We watched  “Survivors” after dinner.

November 18 to 23, 2012, Donna Texas

NOV  18, Sunday, Donna Texas
Cloudy with sunny period and very warm...it got to 78*F (24*C)!  First thing this morning, after taking Tucker for his morning constitution, I went into Donna and had the truck washed for $15, can’t beat it!  They did a great job and even shined the tires and all the chrome.  The garage next door was advertising brakes re & re for real cheap and it so happened that the owner was there so after talking with him I made an appointment for tomorrow morning.  My brakes have been whining when I put them on and I figured it was time since the last time was January 29.  I came home and found Val in the library working on a puzzle so I dragged her away to make us lunch; aren’t I thoughtful?  In the afternoon, she went for a walk around the Park and I put the BBQ out, set up the table and the satellite.  Val gave me a hand with the signal when she got back so now we have Canadian channels.  We had a roast dinner then watched some good Canadian programming

 

NOV  19, Monday
Weather:  About the same as yesterday except a bit warmer!  It’s supposed to be the same all week with temperature reaching 85*F (28*) with some rain by Wednesday but in these parts of the country, rain means maybe a half hour of drizzle if you are lucky!
I took the truck out to have the brakes re & re and came home 2.5 hrs later, all done!  I made a bunch of calls to the bank, WHR, and a guy to wash BEAR.  We then went to Weslaco shopping at the OUTLETS and ended up buying a pair of hiking boots for me and two nice cool (as in cooler rather than warm) golf shirts and Val bought 2 pairs of sandals and some health pills.  We stopped at a couple of RV places to look at trailers then came home, had a drink, dinner and watched the tube.

 

NOV  20, Tuesday,
Already 70*F at 8 AM!  I took the truck to a tranny repair shop to get the transmission stick shift on the steering column fix as it has been acting up lately and is so loose that I can’t get it down to first.  They drove me back and then I had an outfit come out and wash “BEAR” and the front waxed for $80.  Val did the laundry while all this was going on.  I also got the hitch receiver welded solid so that there will be no more movement/bouncing of the bikes while travelling; that was $20.  Val found about a whole load of laundry stained by oil from the washing machine.  We complained to the office and we got hold of the machine owners as the machines are leased and they will reimburse us the cost of all the clothing we lost; approx. $220.00 worth.  That included a new shirt I had just bought yesterday!  The BEAST finally came home and $120 later and a solid & fix gear shift.  We went to Walmart to pick up some items Val needs for Thanks-giving dinner as we are part of a group of 12 people.  The Resort is providing the turkey and the hall but each group has to cook and provide varied dishes, so Val was assigned to make a vegetable dish. 

 

NOV  21, Wednesday, Nuevo Progresso, Mexico
Today we decided to go to Nuevo Progresso in Mexico to investigate dentists and get prescription sunglasses for me.  We parked at the border, paid $2.00 for the day and walked across the International Bridge after having to pay .50 cents there and .25 cents back, as it is a toll bridge for both pedestrians and autos.  As we crossed into Mexico and while still on the bridge, we heard and saw people below begging for money; pretty sad!  On the other side, the town is laid out so that the main street is full of shops but also mainly dentist, hundreds of them!  I found a place for my glasses and got a decent pair for $80 and that included tint, UV protection and unbreakable glass.  From here, we went to investigate some dentist.  The first one had a good price and Val seemed happy so we went to a second one for more estimate.  She went in for an exam and ended up getting a whole package so we spent the whole afternoon there.  She said afterwards that she really liked the guy and his answers and good vibes from the place.  She is usually up on that so I accepted it.  The upper side of it was the dentist paid for all the beer or drinks we wanted.  His office was situated in a courtyard near the bridge with a bar set up for tourist as it was just at the entrance to the USA Customs and as part of his service, he paid for all the drinks we wanted to take.  Unfortunately, we had to drive home so we didn’t take as many as we wanted...Did he plan that or what!???  Anyway, we got home around 5 pm after crossing and paying an extra $4 on a 40 oz bottle of Bourbon I bought in Mexico for $18.  The line up was minimal.  After dinner, we watched “Survivors” then it was early to bed.  We have to go back on Monday for Val’s stuff and I want to get my teeth cleaned too.

 

NOV  22, Thursday, Happy Thanksgiving USA
Sunny and warm again, not as many clouds in the sky today!  This was a relaxing day as everything is closed due to the holiday.  We read, I fixed a couple of minor things in the rig and Val did the green beans casserole for the dinner.  At 1:30 pm, we walked to the club house and at 2 pm, we had our Thanks-Giving dinner.  There were 12 people at our table out of 18 and we had quite a spread.  Each table group had another table where every dish that each group brought were laid out and served from.  I have to say it was delicious and our group was very friendly and talkative.  One couple had were from Nebraska and made a delicious mashed squash which they had picked from their home garden before coming down.  For dessert, there was pumpkin pie and pecan pie of which I had a small piece...YUM, YUM!!!
By 3:30, everything was over, the hall pretty well all cleaned and everyone went their own ways.  We came home and I watched football for the rest of the afternoon and Val some movie on the other TV.  The sky has clouded over but it still very warm...86*F

 

NOV  23, Black Friday
It was cloudy and windy (light) all day; actually we had a few drops in the afternoon but nothing to run for.  We went to Pharr to shop for “Black Friday” which was a nightmare in terms of traffic and people.  We stopped at Costco for a couple items and bought a Samsung tablet which was on sale.  We then went to Best Buy where I bought an electronic game and Val pulled me out before I did anymore damage.  The crowd in there was unbelievable, wall to wall and most were Hispanic.  A lot of the cars in the parking lot were from Mexico.  We had lunch at Red Robin then I stopped at Radio Shack to get a part for my lamp but didn’t have any success.  We came home to find our mail had arrived so I went through that.  We had dinner and relaxed.  It is a pleasant evening outside.

November 13 to 17, 2012; Aransas to Donna, Texas

NOV  13, Tuesday, Aransas
Cloudy and 55*F this morning; I was up at 7 AM to shower and walk Tucker so that I can take him for his haircut.  Hopefully he won’t act up like he did before but not holding my breath on that one; he is getting worse and worse even with me.  I had forgotten how many burs there are on the ground down here and Tucker seems to pick up everyone of them as soon as he steps on the grass and with his yelping and snipping, it is quite a job to remove them.
Well here we are, 4 pm and Tucker was good and finally had his haircut!!  We did some geo-caching earlier but it started to rain so we gave up on that and went trailer shopping; actually just looking at them.  Of course, we ended buying items we needed.  The rain stopped then began again so we gave up and came home but first a must stop at a Rockport pub for a beer.  We came home, downloaded pictures from the camera, watched the tube and had dinner.  This has been the most miserable day yet as far as weather is concern and we also got some sad news from our friends Al and Brenda.  Daisy, their dog, a Golden retriever, passed away today.  Daisy was a good friend of Tucker and they both got along really well.  She will be dearly missed!

 

NOV  14, Wednesday, Last day in Aransas
Cool and cloudy was our morning @ 55* F!  We geo-cached around Aransas then headed for Port Aransas, Mustang Island and Padre Island and picked up a few more geo-caches.  On our right was the Intracoastal waters and on our left, the Gulf of Mexico.  It was beautiful even though it was cloudy and cool (66*F).  We had lunch at “Fins” in Port Aransas where we had to take a ferry to get to, Port Aransas that is!  We did take a side road and go to the beach but the tide was high and we almost got stuck so turned around.  On the beach, we could see the oil rigs in the gulf; kind of strange and out of place in such a beautiful area!  Anyway, we continued south and eventually arrived in Corpus Christi where I stopped at a “Best Buy” to ask a question about my WIFI hook-up with Verizon and Val’s Kindle.  After he showed me how to do it, we looked at some tablets and GPS then came home via Hwy 35.  For dinner, we had BBQ steaks, salad and potatoes then watched “Survivors”.  Tomorrow, we head for the Rio Grande Valley.

 

NOV  15, Thursday, to Donna, Texas
We left Aransas around 9:30 am and headed south west on 35, through Corpus Christi on 181 & 43 and 6, eventually headed straight south on Hwy 77.  We stopped Kingsville for breakfast at “Subways” (we have come to enjoy their breakfast sandwich).  We continued on and finally arrived in Donna off Hwy 83 in the Rio Grande Valley.  It feels like déjà-vu!  We set up in Casa del Sol for two weeks.  This is an ACN/AOR campground and we want to try it for a couple weeks to see if we like it.  Our mail is also coming this way!  At 3:30 pm, there was a wagon that came through selling fresh and cheap vegetables and we got a few things.  Supper then relax by the tube!!!  We are here in this park for two weeks and the valley for the next 3 months, at least!

We travelled 179 miles in 3 hrs and 20 minutes @ an average 54 MPH

N   26* 10.819
W 098* 04.853
Alt: 88 Ft

 

NOV  16, Friday, Donna
Our first day and we had rain overnight and it is cloudy now and for the rest of the day; at least it is a warm day, 70*F!  We took Tucker for a walk around the Park then stopped at the club house to check it out.  I paid our site in full, $240 for 14 nights.  We went to check out a few campgrounds we found on line and through brochures.  We narrowed it down to two: either Casa del Valle in Alamo or Snow to Sun in Weslaco, both part of Sun RV Resorts and both nearby.  We will check them out again tomorrow, there is a difference of $170 total between the two but Alamo has cement pads which we like AND Tai-Chi exercises which Val really likes!!!  On the way back, we found this neat Bar & Grill in Weslaco called Burrows.  We had a late lunch and a couple beers then came home.  We had a couple light drizzles throughout the day but nothing to ruin the day.  After some discussions, we both agree that we do not want to stay in this Park for the winter.  It is too dusty, lacks grass and the patio is a small cement square pad

 

NOV  17, Saturday,
Cloudy again, as a matter of fact, the forecast is for the same all week!  Boring!!  Today is yard sale throughout the Park so after showering, we went to check it out.  There were a lot of people with stuff out and also a lot of looky-looks and buyers, mostly Mexicans; we bought three books and Val bought a pair of ¾ pants.  Afterwards, we went to visit Victoria Palm RV Park, a luxurious park at US$1629 for three months all inclusive except power.  It was a really nice park but too rich for us.  We went back to SNOW TO SUN Resort and after driving around and more discussion, we chose a site, paid our deposit and made reservations for 3 months starting November 29; our cost will be US$1099 total (US$366/mth).  From here, we went for lunch at Olive Gardens and then went to HEB and Walmart to shop for groceries.  We came home and put everything away then relaxed before cooking dinner.  The sun did come through finally in the latter part of the afternoon which made it very pleasant.  I am sure glad we are not acclimatized to the heat here as everyone is complaining how cold it is (72*F) and here we are in short sleeve and shorts; we really stand out from the locals.

November 10 to 12, 2012; Austin to Aransas Texas

NOV  10, Saturday, to San Antonio, Texas
We had a lazy morning taking our time getting dress and packing.  We were gonna go for breakfast at the club house but we missed out.  We were on I-35 by 10:40 AM heading south and wouldn’t you know it, we have a strong head wind; good thing we don’t have far to go.  As we were nearing San Antonio, there was an accident on 35 North and the traffic was backed up for at least 6 miles if not more; glad we are headed south!  We finally turned south-west on 410 then I-37 to our Park.
We arrived at Braunig Lake RV Resort at 12:15 PM and it is cloudy and very warm, 80*F!  We paid $47 for two nights under “Passport America” and set up in site F12.  This is another very beautiful park, near the Highway but quiet and close to San Antonio.  We are here for two days; it is warm, windy and cloudy.

We travelled 81 miles in one hour and 40 minutes @ an average 50MPH due to strong head wind.

N  29* 17.137
W 098* 23.545
Alt: 577 Ft

 

NOV  11, Sunday, Remembrance Day in San Antonio
Sunny, cloudy, warm and windy again!  After a lazy morning and a walk with Tucker, we drove to San Antonio for a visit of the “River Walk”.  We love this part of San Antonio, we walked by the Alamo and it was busy as usual.  Parking cost us $10 for the day which is pretty average.  We stopped for lunch on the Walk and went into the Avilla Village but most of the shops were closed; we had the same problem last time we were here.  The day was gorgeous and not too hot.  There were lots of people around, being a Sunday and there was a run in the neighborhood too which brought a lot of those people down to the Walk.  It was time to go home so I entered HEB in Miss Daisy and she took us to the HEB headquarter, here in San Antonio.  I tried one more time and this time, she took us to a real grocery store so that I could pick up milk, chips for my snacks and wine for Val.  We came home and met a couple neighbours...why does it always happen when you are about to leave!???  Tomorrow we head for Aransas Pass and Corpus Christie.  I posted more pictures on Picasa.

 

NOV  12, Monday, to Aransas Pass, Texas near Corpus Christie
We left by 9:20 AM, fuelled at a nearby Shell @ $3.85 then headed south on I-37.  Thank goodness, we had the wind behind us as it was blowing quite hard.  There is a cold front coming through keeping the temperature around 48*F in the morning and 64*F in the afternoon.  We turned East on 188 south of Mathis  and eventually reached our camp site @ Southern Oaks RV & Golf Resort in Aransas.  It is a brand new resort and they are still working on the golf course but there are 5 holes open out of nine and the driving range with free balls.  We arrived at 12:30 PM, paid $52.50 for 3 nights (Passport America) and set up at site 505 on a cement pad with grass as a front yard and full hook-up but you do have to pay extra for WIFI and cable.  The club house is also brand new with an exercise room, a huge dining/dance hall and a kitchen, laundry room, library, a games room and TV room.  The owners are also new and are hoping to make this a success.  I would say they are off to a good start, too bad the owners of our Resort at home are not as keen!!!  Anyhow, I made a couple searches on the Net including a grooming place and got a haircut for Tucker for tomorrow morning; hopefully he won’t play his silly whiny  game and let the poor girl cut his hair.  I also found an RV place to get a couple things to fix the problem with my water pump.  We were told by our neighbours that everyone meets under the trees across the way for Happy Hour, we will be sure to attend tomorrow.  Oh yeah, I also downloaded a bunch of caches to find in the next couple days.  Let the fun begin, we are here for 3 nights

We travelled 146 miles in 2 hours and 45 minutes @ an average 53 MPH

N  27* 55.840’
W 097* 09.444
Alt: 15 ft

November 6 to 9, 2012: Lake whitney to Austin, Texas

NOV  6, Tuesday, Lake Whitney, Texas
I took the truck to the garage first thing this morning and they gave me a ride back.  I posted the blog and pictures while Val did the laundry.  It’s another sunny and warm day; 76*F!  We’ve decided to leave tomorrow instead of Thursday and made reservations at a campsite near the city.  We are going to Austin, the Capital of Texas.  I greased the axles on the trailer and the slides mechanisms.  We got our truck back by 4 pm; they changed the heater core, refilled the A/C, did an oil change and changed the synthetic oil in the rear end.  We are good for a few more miles and hopefully, the heater problem has been fixed for good.

 

NOV  7, Wednesday, to Austin, Texas
We were on the road by 9:20 AM and stopped at the Post Office to mail a couple birthday cards then drove back on Hwy 22 to I-35 south.  There is a lot of construction between Hillsboro and Waco so it was a bit slow.  We arrived in Austin, the Capital of Texas and finally stopped at our RV resort, Lone Star Carefree Resort off exit 227.  This is one beautiful park and I am amazed it is covered by Passport America.  It is very luxurious and set back from the Interstate so that we hear very little of the freeway.  We are surrounded by everything one can wish for; outlets, Costco, Best Buy and a lot more, ALL nearby our resort.  After setting(13:30 PM), we went to Walmart, picked a few things and stopped at Pet Smart to make an appointment for Tucker’s haircut.  We returned home, put everything away and went out to “Texas Roadhouse” restaurant for dinner.  It is warm outside right now at 8 PM (75*F) as we have a drink, and no one is complaining!  By the way, the A/C is working just fine!

We travelled 164 miles in 3hrs @ 53 MPH. 

N  30* 11.101’
W 097* 46.281’
Alt: 668 ft

 

NOV  8, Thursday, Austin
Sunny and warm (80*F) although we had fog earlier!  I took Tucker to Pet Smart for his 10 am appointment, dropped him off and came back home.  I was home about 5 minutes when Pet Smart called saying they couldn’t handle Tucker as he was yelping loudly and snipping at them!!?  I couldn’t believe it, they said they would not cut him and to come and pick him up!!!  What a place, what a crazy thing to happen!!!  Anyway, I brought him home and we went to Costco to pick up a few things and dropped them off at the house along with Tucker.  We went to town for a visit of the Capital Buildings and the Texas Museum.  We parked nearby and walked to the Capital Building and the museum.  The Capital was very impressive and beautiful.  The outside is like Washington Capitol but on a much smaller scale; as for the museum, it was also impressive but we only had time to visit the first floor of three.  Of course the drive back meant driving in rush hour which was busy as any big city.  We got home and had a glass of wine before dinner and watched the tube in the evening.  As we drove in, we saw this jeep all decorated in funky stuff (see pictures).  It’s still very warm outside.

 

NOV  9, Friday, Austin
Sunny and warm again!  After walking Tucker, I phoned our dealership in Kamloops inquiring about a few things then we went to Austin, back to the museum and watched the latest James Bond movie, “Sky Fall” in the I-MAX theatre.  After the movie which was pretty good, we drove on 6^th street, famous for its bars, clubs and music.  We came home by 5 PM, dinner then TV.  Tomorrow we move to San Antonio!  I made reservations for a park in Corpus Christi.

November 3 to 5, 2012; Lake Whitney, Dallas & Ft Worth, Texas

NOV  3, Saturday, Louisiana to Dallas, Texas
Whereas Mississippi and Louisiana have Virginia climbing vines and Spanish moss, Texas has the Mesquite trees.  We were on the road by 9:15 am after a horrible night; I say this because we were right besides railway tracks and a train came by at least 4 times during the night and blew its whistle and it sounded like it was coming right through our bedroom!  Anyway, back on I-20 to Texas where we stopped at the Info Centre to gather some pamphlets on things to do in Dallas then we headed West on Hwy 80 but first we stopped for fuel at Flying J for $3.83.  I got off the Interstate as we enjoy seeing more of the country side and the small towns which we did.  The country side was mainly flat with lots of farms and cattle ranches.  We also saw some oil pumps along the way.  In Wills Point, near Dallas, we got back on I-20 and stopped at another Flying J, $3.93.  We turned south on I-35 and got off at exit 370, Hillsboro, and headed north on 22 to Whitney Lake and our resort, and ROD member so it doesn’t cost us anything.  We set up and are now relaxing (4:30 PM).  We are here for 5 nights.  We did have a bit of hard time to find this place due to poor signage.

We travelled 275 miles in 5.5 hrs @ an average 50 MPH

N  31* 59.814’
W 097* 21.066’
Alt: 637 ft

 

NOV  4, Sunday, Whitney Lake, Texas
We set our clocks back one hour this morning; we are now on Standard Central Time!  A beautiful warm sunny day!  I continued setting up our stuff than we decided to explore the nearby town and Hillsboro which is a bit bigger and has Outlets stores which we explored but didn’t find anything of interest so we went to Walmart and got some needed groceries and had a bite at Subway.  Valerie was looking for specific sandals and food for Tucker so we drove 30 miles to WACO, a much bigger city.  Its claim to fame is the Texas Ranger museum and the religious group that committed suicide by burning their compound and the FBI accused of being partly the cause.  Anyway, we did find food for Tucker and a new harness but NO sandals!  We came home and I BBQ’ed steaks then we watched the tube

 

NOV  5, Monday, to Dallas
First thing I did was drive to Whitney and find a garage to get my A/C fixed.  The guy looked at it and found that the heat core needs to be replaced; I made an appointment for tomorrow.
I came home and we all drove to Ft Worth to visit the famous Stockyard which dates back to the early 1800’s.  We walked around and took some pictures, Tucker loved the walk too.  Fort Worth was much bigger than I thought and the stockyard was interesting although not as big as the one in Oklahoma.  We took I-30 to Dallas and visited Grassy Knoll and Elm Street where JF Kennedy was shot.  It was interesting and there were guys there with books and pictures still claiming that it was a conspiracy.  We visited the museum on the sixth floor of the Texas Library where Oswald shot the President.  We also walked to the memorial in his honor and I must admit, we were not impressed.  We also saw a cabin with a claim to be the first US Postal office in Dallas.  It was time to get back home.  We stopped at a small bar, “The Rebels Bar” and had dinner and a couple beers.

November 1 & 2, 2012; Mississippi to Louisiana

NOV  1, Thursday, Bremen, GA to Meridian, Mississippi
 Our first day of the month and it began with a beautiful sunshine albeit a cold morning; 39*F and it did warm up to 74*F by the time we got to Mississippi but I am getting ahead of myself.  We were on the road by 9:15 AM and headed south on Hwy 27.  We went through a few towns, some quite depressed from the economy.  We stopped for fuel in Lowndesboro Alabama ($4.04 and again Toomsuba, MS @ $3.65).   We stopped for lunch near a neat little lake on Hwy 80.  It was a very nice drive with farms, rolling hills and lots of forest.  We went through Montgomery, the Capital of Alabama then Selma, where the voting rights for the blacks was fought back in the 60’s and 70’s.  We eventually arrived in Meridian, Mississippi at our park for the night; “Okatibbee Water Park”.  We used Passport America to get in at $11, and what a beautiful place this is!  We are backed onto a lake and we had a very nice sunset.  It was a long day and we gained an hour as we went from Eastern to Central time.  It is warm outside and we have the door open.

We drove 356 miles in 7 hrs @ 51 MPH average and were stopped for a total of an hour and 15 minutes.
N  32* 29.897
W 088* 47.083
Alt: 408 ft

 

NOV  2, Friday, Mississippi to Bossier/Shreveport, Louisiana
We were back on the road by 8:45 AM under a beautiful sunshine and warm morning.  Today was a bit of a boring drive.   We were mainly on I-20 and although the scenery changed from time to time, we mainly had forest and tall trees.  Here, it is green and some of the trees are just beginning to change color.  We crossed the Mississippi River which made it officially that we are now in the West!  We stopped twice for fuel; in Jackson MS at a Pilot where I used my Flying J card and saved on fuel cost @ $3.74.  We also got propane and saved $0.05 by gallon.  We had brunch here too since there was a Denny’s.  The second place for fuel was Monroe, Louisiana @ $3.89 (Flying J).  In Bossier/Shreveport, Louisiana, we stopped for the night at a campground on Hwy 3 which turned out to be right beside the railway tracks.  DEFINITELY NOT RECOMMENDED!  IT is hot out there, 84*F.  IT is amazing how one has to use the furnace than use the A/C in the same day!!!

We drove 323 miles in 5.5 hrs @ an average 57 MPH  We were stopped for 1.5 hrs
N  32* 36.063'
W 093* 44.125'
Alt: 188 ft