Author: mchazen

We were still tired from the long drive and decided to skip the workout.  Besides, the area was not really a good place to run.

I did it again.  The bugs needed to be scrubbed off the front of the coach, so I got out the bucket, brush and ladder.  There was only one hose bib at the site, so the water supply to the coach had to be briefly disconnected.  Reconnecting the water, one of the valves was left in the fill-the-fresh-water-tank position.  About 20 minutes later, I noticed water collecting under the coach.  Further investigation revealed the fresh water tank was full.  All 800 pounds of water full.  The overflow had overwhelmed the overflow tube and water was flooding the compartment were the hoses are kept.  What a mess.  Good thing I saw it before it got too bad.  I immediately shut off the water, but had no plan to deal with 60 gallons of extra water.  Hopefully it would rain later so I could drain the tank undetected.

Not wanting to sit around all day, we decided to explore Texarkana.  The town literally sits on the border between Texas and Arkansas.  On the main street, Texas flags adorn the light poles on the west side and Arkansas flags adorn the light poles on the east side.  The state line runs right down the center of the street.  Liquor stores on the Arkansas side, cigarette stores on the Texas side.  The Walmart is on the Arkansas side, of course.  Although law enforcement was highly visible, the town was surprisingly clean.  Old, but clean.  No trash or graffiti and the streets were well maintained.  On the Texas side of town, we eventually stumbled onto a mall and decided to check it out.  Just as we expected, it looked and felt like any mall in any other town — only the people were friendlier.

After stopping at Walmart for a few things we returned to the coach and hid out from the heat.

It was getting dark and we had to face the water tank problem.  Our options were to carry 800 pounds of water around at $2.29 per gallon of diesel, pump the water into the gray tank using the coach pump, or drain the water on the ground and hope it doesn’t flood the campground.  Remember, this is 60 gallons of water!

Although it didn’t rain enough to hide the dastardly deed, we ended up opening up drain valve and letting the water drain under the coach.  It took about 20 minutes to drain the tank to ‘travel-level’.  Most of the water ran onto the grass, which looked like it needed a drink anyway.  Problem solved.

It was a perfect travel day.  All day long, we were on the trailing edge of a weather system.  Ahead of us it was raining, but we stayed in sunshine the whole way.  In fact, we even benefited from a tail-wind.

The route took us straight north along highway 59.  Most of it was divided highway, generally in good repair.  The biggest town we encountered was Lufkin, Texas.  Both of us were surprised at how much logging there is in this part of the state.  Right around Houston, conditions are favorable for pine trees and the area is covered with them.  We were sharing the road with logging trucks and from the CB chatter, most of the truckers knew each other.  Each town seemed to have some sort of wood-based mill or processing plant.  Living in the city most of my life I used these products, but had no idea where they came from.  Now I know.  How many of these trees did I send through the copy machine during all these past years?  And then the shreader?  I suppose in a small way it contributed to the prosperity of the east Texas region.

After what seemed like an eternity behind the wheel, we arrived in Texarkana.  The first order of business was fueling the coach.  The second order of business was finding the RV park.

As it turned out, the RV park was not far from the center of town and was located in a dicey area.  No, the area was downright scary.  Our first clue was the lobby door was kept locked.  Here’s the situation:  it appeared the RV park was a small part of a larger motel-looking facility.  We guessed that after the interstate was built the motel was converted into small efficiency apartments.  As an afterthought, some RV sites were carved into an adjoining hillside.  It just wasn’t going to work for us and it was time to leave.  I got our money back while Jeanne worked on Plan B.

We ended up at a KOA on the north end of town.  The KOA was set up for big-rigs and was handy to everything we would need for a brief stay.  We had planned to stay in Texarkana for five nights, but after our initial encounter, we decided two nights would be enough.

After setting up, we were tired from the drive and didn’t want to hassle cooking.  Dinner was a marginal meal at the local I-HOP.  It was cheap enough, we got two early-bird seniors dinners.  Two for the price of one.

Returning to the coach, we got into conversations with some of the fellow campers.  One guy named Butch was visiting from Alabama to attend a Harley-Davidson rally.  His motorcycle was towed behind the coach in an enclosed trailer.  It was a good looking custom-built ride and he was proud of it.  Nice guy.

Another camper, Robert, was from a town only about 60 miles west of Texarkana.  His wife was going through radiation and chemo treatments at a Texarkana hospital and it was just more convenient to stay in the rig close to the hospital than make the drive every day.  Not a bad plan for a lousy situation.  They had been married for 50 years.  Although he made a good effort to hide his feelings, you could see it was breaking his heart.  I wished him well and hope his wife can return to a normal life.  She had been a smoker most of her life and was suffering from lung cancer.

Contemporary Note:  The scary RV park in Texarkana experience is one of our favorites stories to tell.  Anyone who lives the smell of cooking methamphetamine in the morning would fit right in.  We couldn’t leave fast enough.

In no way should our experience with the scary RV park rub off on the KOA.  The KOA was neat, clean and well organized.  It was a good place to stay if you ever wander into Texarkana.

The tires on the Jeep were showing uneven wear and howling at 55 mph.  The noise was unbearable and I had visions of the tires grinding up as they were being dragged down the highway.  We couldn’t put it off any longer.

When the tires were purchased, we also bought a lifetime rotation, balancing and alignment package that any Bridgestone/Firestone service center will honor.  A few days ago we called the Bridgestone/Firestone dealer in Huntsville, Texas to explain the problem and set an appointment.  Huntsville is about 45 miles west of Livingston.

We got up early to make the 8:00 AM appointment and discussed contingency plans in case we had to leave the car overnight.  The drive was through the typical wooded and gently rolling terrain of east Texas.  We arrived a little early and settled in for a long, long day.

The dealer was very efficient.  After a brief test drive, the dealer determined an alignment would fix the problem and got to work.  While waiting, I got into a conversation with one of the locals also waiting for the dealer to finish with his car.  The guy was a long-time Huntsville resident.  Actually, it was more of a ‘listen’  then a ‘conversation’ and I wish the encounter was captured on video.  The guy was hilarious.  It wasn’t just his demeanor, or his accent, or his appearance or the stories he told.  It was the whole package.  Just a big, scary-looking guy talking about his travels, his home town, his family and whatever else drifted through his mind during ‘his’ conversation.  At that moment in time, I was content to stand there and watch the show while sipping my Diet Sprite on a sunny Texas morning.  At just the right moment, he was informed his car was ready.  We shook hands and parted company.  He seemed like a good guy and I wish him well.

Sooner than anticipated, the car was ready and we were on our way.  The alignment fixed the problem and the car now glided down the interstate.  The bill was about $23, which was for the oil change.  Once in a while you catch a break.

After a quick lunch in Livingston, we returned to the coach and prepared the coach for travel.  It would be a long trip to Texarkana and we wanted to leave early.

The weather warmed up and it definitely feels like South Florida.  In the morning, the condensation is running off the side of the coach.  Today, we sat through one of those monsoon-type thunderstorms.  Strange how humid climates seem to warm up all day long.  In dry climates, it seems to warm and cool quicker.  Here, there really is no relief and you just learn to live with it.

We adjusted our workout schedule to escape the heat.  The alarm is now set for 5:15 AM, which gives us just enough time for a cup of coffee and run before the sun gets too high.  Still, it ain’t easy.

The installation of the A/B switch for satellite TV was a great success.  On the day of the great experiment, we set up the dish, pointed it in the right direction and immediately picked up a signal.  After a little fiddling with the dish, the signal was better than the one from the automatic system.  Problem solved.

One morning, we drove to nearby Lake Livingston.  It is a big lake surrounded by wooded, flat terrain.  Was it nice?  Yes.  Picturesque?  No.  Would we consider it as a place to live?  Definitely not.

One of the benefits of our lifestyle is that we usually spend enough time in an area to get a feel for it.  Livingston is a marginal-existence town with the highway, logging and law enforcement as the main industries.  If it wasn’t the seat of county government, it would have dried up.  There just isn’t much here.

In contrast, the Escapees park is really nice.  Located about six miles south of town, it covers several acres, probably over 150 acres, of gently rolling woodlands.  It is almost a community unto itself and probably a beehive of activity during the winter months when the snowbirds show up.  We enjoy it here and will probably return someday.

Yesterday afternoon, we got into a long conversation with our neighbors, Rush and Sandy.  It appears they recently sold the house, bought a new motor home and plan to be full-timers.  We shared on-the-road stories and laughed about strange experiences.  Ironic how you can laugh about something now that didn’t seem very funny at the time.  Whenever I tell the story about flooding the campsite when filling the fresh water tank, virtually everyone else has a similar story.  Yes, most problems in life are self-inflicted.

Aside from the above, we spent most of our time hiding from the heat, reading, learning about XML and watching TV.

We got up early and found the coach was covered with a layer of dew.  It doesn’t quite feel like South Florida, but its close.  Wisely, I got the workout out of the way before the sun turned the billions of airborne water droplets into tiny magnifying glasses.

After cleaning up and a quick breakfast, we headed to town.

Living in a movable house has its challenges and TV reception can be one of them.  We have three options for television: satellite, cable and antenna.  Our preference is satellite since cable is not always available and viewing local stations via the antenna is marginal at best.  Conveniently, the coach is equipped with a satellite dish that automatically finds the signal.  All you do is turn the system on, wait a few minutes and begin viewing.  It works great, provided there are no obstructions.  If there is anything blocking a clear view of the southern sky, we can’t get the signal.  The solution is a movable dish, which the coach is pre-wired to handle.  All I needed to do was install an A/B switch to select either the automatic or movable dish as the signal source.  Easier said than done.

As usual, money solves problems.  The switch, a short length of coaxial cable and a crimping tool were all purchased at the nearby Lowe’s.  It took about an hour to install and test the switch.  Tomorrow is the big test when we hook up and test the movable antenna.  I sure hope all this works, or it s back to the drawing board.

We also stopped at the local H-E-B for groceries.  After the big, new H-E-B in Fredericksburg, the Livingston store was a disappointment.  We’ll be back to the Walmart Supercenter in a few days.

The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging around the coach hiding out from the heat and humidity.  Jeanne read while I caught up on the CHFC bookkeeping.

It mercifully cooled down in the late afternoon.

Still tired from the trip, we skipped the workout and hid out at the coach all day.

For dinner, Jeanne wanted to stew some ribs in the crock pot, but it certainly didn’t make any sense to heat up the inside of the coach while running the air conditioners.  Sort of like running a hair dryer and the air conditioner at the same time, but that’s another story.  Jeanne’s ingenious solution was to set the crock pot outside on the picnic table.  So, there it was bubbling away all day attracting hungry campers and salivating dogs.

Picture of the coach in Livingston, Texas with crock pot quietly bubbling away.

Great picture of the Jeanne's sunshade hanging from the awning.

Until the heat and humidity drove us indoors, we sat outside shaded by the awning and sunscreen that Jeanne made.  The sunscreen worked great.  They usually cost hundreds of dollars, but Jeanne fashioned this one for about $45.

All in all, it was a quiet day.  And yes, the stew was delicious.

Contemporary Note:  To this day, when the weather is hot we put the crock pot outside.  It is truly amazing how much heat that thing can generate.  Also, we still have the sunshade and use it on our little trailer.

Wow, what a long day.

Thunderstorms kept us awake most of the night.  Rain, wind, thunder and lightening all conspired against us.  Lucky for us we got much of the preparation out of the way ahead of time.  Good thing we hooked up the Jeep yesterday or we would have been wallowing in mud.

We finally got going around 7:30.  After taking a quick side-trip to Johnson City for fuel, we turned south and headed for I-10.  Generally, our route took us south to San Antonio, east to Houston and north to Livingston.  Although we tried to skirt around San Antonio and Houston, we still ran into some traffic.  It was unavoidable, but not bad by Los Angeles standards.  Most of the rest of the trip, all 320 miles of it, was uneventful.  The weather was perfect.  All day we were right on the edge of a storm system that was moving away from us.  From all the standing water around, it must have been a soaker.  As luck would have it, there was a Flying J less than 20 miles from Livingston, so we tanked the coach before stopping.

Yes, they still sell Kerosene by the gallon in Johnson City, Texas. Good luck trying to buy this stuff in Southern California!

Marty fueling the coach on a clear morning in Johnson City, Texas.

This part of Texas is very different from the hill country.  The terrain is flat and covered with dense piney woods.  The oak trees are clearly a different variety.  It looks and feels like the South.  In fact, Livingston is dangerously close to the Texas/Louisiana border.  After living in Florida for two years, we were well prepared for the humidity.

The park we pulled into is owned by Escapees, one of the travel clubs we belong to.  In fact, their headquarters is located here along with all their member services, which includes our mail service.  The place is bigger than we expected and is a mix of club buildings, permanent sites, temporary sites and amenities.  This time of year, the park is almost empty so we had our pick of the sites.  We selected one with a clear southern exposure (good for satellite TV) and close to the internet Wi-Fi transmitter.  Having high-speed internet at the coach is certainly a luxury.

After a quick dinner of leftovers, we scouted out town and stopped at Walmart for a few things.  Around 9:00, we fell into bed, exhausted from the day’s activities.

Today being Memorial Day, we decided to stay put.  Whenever we had the urge to go somewhere, one glance at the traffic barreling down the highway would dissuade us.  Once in a while some trucker would lay on his horn for several seconds, while we cringed waiting for the sounds of impact.  However, by the end of the holiday we only saw one accident.

View of the grassy area along the banks of Miller Creek.

Two boys fishing on the first day of Summer Vacation.

One of the campground hosts, Debbie, has befriended us.  After several long one-sided conversations, we concluded she is a nice person who means well, but she can suck all the oxygen out of a room in seconds.  We decided our encounters with her is like watching the Debbie Channel — All Debbie, All The Time.  As an example of how bad it got, I barely slithered away from her self-invite to Jeanne’s birthday dinner.  Whew, it was a close one!  Without going into a lot of detail, let’s just say it would spoil the ambiance.  I wish her and her family well.

The big highlight of the day was a trip to the Dairy Queen in Johnson City.  The place was a mess, but hey, how can they screw up a small hot fudge sundae?

With the holiday over, we’re looking forward to moving on.  Tomorrow we plan to get all the get-ready-to-leave chores out of the way before we head to town for the Birthday Dinner.  I hope the weather holds and the traffic dies down.

We woke a little later than usual to overcast skies.  We waited too long and the workout was cut short by the heat and humidity.  My running shirt looked like it was soaking in a bucket of water.

Today was Jeanne’s birthday (her age will remain a secret) and the plan was to have dinner at a very nice restaurant in nearby Marble Falls.  It was a good thing I called for reservations, the restaurant is closed on Sundays and Mondays.  Plan B is to have dinner there Tuesday night and we are looking forward to it.

View of the coach at the Miller Creek Campground just south of Johnson City, Texas.

The gravel road reminded us of the surface of the Birmingham High School track years ago -- when dinosaurs roamed the earth.

Jeanne poses with a blooming Yucca along the banks of Miller Creek.

We spent the day lazing around the coach watching the Memorial Day campers.  It was quite a show; the cast members included kids, dogs and weekend campers.  Everyone seemed to be having a good time and nobody got out of control.

In the evening, we walked along the creek and sat in the swing under a huge oak tree.  It was all very relaxing.

We watched Run Silent, Run Deep before falling asleep.

The past three days was mostly spent hanging around the coach.

On the morning of the first day, we had breakfast with Leo and Grace at one of the local greasy-spoons before they took off.  We enjoyed spending a few more minutes with them before they headed home.  I wish them well in their new life and hope to seem them again soon.

One of the reasons we landed in Johnson City was to hide out for the Memorial Day weekend.  During these last few days, the park slowly started to fill up with weekend campers.  We know just how they feel, trying to cram as much enjoyment as possible into three days of freedom.

Marty rushes to the scene of the flaming sausages.

Marty brings the flaming sausage fire under control. It seems Opa's sausages had a higher fat content than expected!

We took a side trip to one of the local state parks located along the banks of the Pedernales River and looked at some properties on the way back.  Johnson City isn’t much, but its proximity to Austin and Fredericksburg put it in a great location for future expansion.  I wonder if the town will take advantage of it.  From the looks of things, probably not.

In the late afternoon, we mostly stayed in the cool air-conditioned comfort of the coach.  Jeanne read and I fiddled with the computer.  My latest project is learning about XML and its associated tools.  For all you non-computer types, XML is not a set of Roman Numerals.  It is a set of data standard for web development.  Although it is primarily used to move data across the internet, developers can also use it for data storage and transformation.  Once again, some really smart people carefully thought through the problem and came up with an elegant solution.  Best of all, it is  an open standard anyone can use for free.

Many people ask why I even fiddle with this stuff.  Well, it is a hobby of sorts.  On the road, you can’t take your home workshop with you, but you can find space for a laptop computer.  It is amazing what these things can do.  Secondly, I have seen too many people retire and waste away watching daytime TV.  The problem-solving aspect of programming helps keep your mind sharp.  Sort of like mind exercises.  Ten years from now I’ll see if the theory holds up — if I can still remember what I was trying to do.  But for now, it is just interesting to see what goes on behind the scenes.  I certainly have more respect for the program engineering in PlayStation 2 games.

We’re starting to make friends with some of the campground locals, which usually takes about a week.  We are always surprised to find how friendly and nice most folks are.  It is obvious that some don’t have much, but sincerity trumps wealth every time.  What a relief to look someone in the eye knowing a hidden agenda isn’t lurking behind the smile.  Over the years, in our careers, we have been lied to by professionals and after a while you are conditioned to expect it.  Without the anonymity of a big city, people really do interact differently.

Mercifully, the weather cooled.  We even got some thunderstorms that rocked the coach with wind and pelted it with rain.  Some of the campers didn’t have things tied down and the wind blew their equipment all over the park.  I saw several broken items in the dumpster.  Running in the cooler weather was welcome, although the ground was a little spongy.  Jeanne enjoys sitting outside in her new chairs.

We look forward to continuing our string of lazy days waiting for the holiday to end.  In the meantime, the reading, programming and workouts will continue.