Places We Have Called Home In 2020

Home Is Where We Park It:  Rainbows End, Livingston, Texas

August 5, 2020

Temperature 95 Degrees

It Really Rains In Texas

Time for Upgrades/Packing Up

Well how about that it really does rain in Texas.  We got our first hard rain today which lasted for a good 30 minutes.  I checked all over and absolutely no leaks anywhere.  That’s good news but really I didn’t expect any issues.

A different kind of sign indeed.  Yet given the age of everyone here it is not surprising.

Yesterday we had a micro burst blow throught and I learned two things.  The top bracket for the back anwing arm was hanging on by a wing and a prayer.  A few minutes with a couple of wrenchs and that issue was taken care of.

The other issue which will be corrected in time is the awning in the back is ripped and will not stay in the slot on the roller tube.  However, I was able to pull and tuck it tight while Barbara hit the retract button and now it doesn’t sag as much.

We have a hitchhiker who has decided to join us on our travels.  This is Penny the penguin who I found hiding under Elvira.  I brought her in, cleaned her up and she is now standing tall with all my turtles.

Time now to pack up since we are moving north tomorrow to get some repairs and upgrades taken care of.  We’ll be getting a new inverter, new shocks and front brakes.  We hope to be back in Livingston by late Friday afternoon or late Saturday morning.  Time will tell.

That’s it for now on The Road of Retirement.  I’m going out to finish packing up a few things then take a much needed shower.  Hopefully, I’ll have another blog to share with you tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by today.  We always appreciate your company and your comments.  Till tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Elvira and her two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before.

See you on down the road!

Places We Have Called Home In 2020

Home Is Where We Park It:  Rainbows End, Livingston, Texas

August 3, 2020

Temperature 95 Degrees

It’s Not The Heat It’s The Humidity

Short and Sweet

We’ve been in Arizona with temperatures of over 100 but no humidity.  Now we’re in Texas with temperatures in the 90’s and humidity over 40%, sometimes hovering around 70%.  When we go for a walk here, even a short one, we often come back soaking wet.  I’ll take Arizona any time.

Speaking of walks.

This is the Escapees Care Center which is right down the street from us.  A little research reveals the following:  CARE (Continuing Assistance for Retired Escapees). Its mission is to provide a safe haven with professional assistance at affordable prices for members whose travels are impacted because of age or temporarily interrupted because of health problems.  CARE is a place where you will receive professional help for the things you may no longer be able to do. It is not a nursing home. Its goal is to delay or eliminate the need for a nursing home, or assisted living.
For a monthly stipend you are given a FHU site so that you can continue to live in your own rig.  Or a trailer is provided for you.  Three meals a day are provided for you.  Someone comes to dump your tanks.  Someone does your laundry and assists with other maintenance tasks.  This is just a short list of what services are provided.  If and when one needs it, it is not a bad deal at all.
Continuing in our walk.

One of the only rigs that we have found with any kind of decorations.

Two of the trailers that are available for CARE members.

Our neighborhood as we came back home.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  We started another movie marathon, this time we’re watching the series The Good Witch.  We got out for a short walk.  I made another course correction on our path back to Florida.  In so many words we made the most of the day and enjoyed every minute of it.  Thank you Lord for another wonderful day.

Thanks for stopping by today.  We always appreciate your company and your comments.  Stay safe, wash your hands and wear your mask.  Till tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Elvira and her two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before.

See you on down the road!

 

 

 

Places We Have Called Home In 2020

Home Is Where We Park It:  Rainbows End, Livingston, Texas

August 2, 2020

Temperature 93 Degrees

Sunday Worship

Splashdown

Taking Care of Business

Ideas For The Future

Today being Sunday we began our day the way we like to begin every Sunday.

 

We started with worship at our home church in Colts Neck, NJ

Our church’s welcoming statement.

Pastor Scott opened worship with our call to worship from the Psalms.

Our opening song.

Pastor Debbie had a very interesting children’s message.  Using a special rock she had collected, she showed us that on the outside it is all rough, and bumpy, and not much to look at.

However, she showed us that when you split the rock open it is absolutely beautiful.  She then reminded us that is the way that God sees us.  God sees what is inside.  God sees the real you, the beautiful person that His Son died to save.

Pastor Scott gave the morning message.  The verse he used was love your neighbor as yourself.  He emphasized that there was no qualifier added to this verse.  There was no mention of excluding anyone.  Nor any mention of loving just those neighbors who act, believe or think like we do.  He went on to say that we need to work to bring down the walls that yet separate us.  That we need to enlarge the circle of those that we love, that we need to include all those that God loved enough to send His Son to die for.

He ended his message by having us sing this song.

Since this was the first Sunday of the month we finished by celebrating the Lord’s Supper together.

Once church was over we settled down to watch history in the making.

We watched the splash down and recovery of the Dragon Crew Capsule.

Our astronauts are home!  What an historic mission, what a giant step forward for the resumption of the American space program.

At the end of this I continued to take care of business.

I finally figured out how to get that pesky back TV down.

Then I put it back up the right way.  Using bolts, lock washers and nuts I put the wall bracket back up so that is not going anywhere.  I also remounted the TV bracket to the wall bracket the right way.   I can now easily remove the TV from the wall bracket anytime I need to.

At long last I got to clean the yuk from the back of Elvira that had been on her since we visited The Cave With No Name.

I did a few other things as well.  I tightened the slide motor mount bolts.  I also lubricated the hinges on the outside lockers.

Then I took a walk.

This is something perhaps that we will be looking for in the future.  A small home and a place for Elvira.

Or maybe something like this.  We’ll just park Elvira inside and we’ll continue to live in her full time.  Which way will we go?  We don’t even know we’re just looking and bouncing ideas around right now.

Continuing my walk.

This is the activity center.  Just one more victim of COVID-19.

This is a new one for us!

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  It was an all around great day.  These are the days that we like.  No pressure to get anything done.  Just a day to do this and that.  Perfect.

Thanks for stopping by today.  We always appreciate your company and your comments.  Stay safe, wash your hands and wear your mask.  Till tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Elvira and her two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before.

See you on down the road!

 

 

Places We Have Called Home In 2020

Home Is Where We Park It:  Rainbows End, Livingston, Texas

August 1, 2020

Temperature 89 Degrees

Nowhere To Go

Let’s Clean

This has never happened, but it has now.  We’ve been skunked in terms of attractions, museums, etc.  There is not even a historical marker anywhere in the near vicinity.  This park is truly in the middle of nowhere.  Believe me, this is sort of hard to take.

The only thing we could think of was to take a ride through Lake Livingston State Park Campground.  Off we went in high spirits.  Guess what?  They don’t allow visitors.  Not unless you want to purchase a day pass.  What!  We have never, ever had this before.  Ever other state park we’ve approached in so many different states has either said, Go right in and take a look or they issued us a complimentary 30 minute pass.  So much for Texas hospitality.

Well, what does one do when there is no where to go and it is too hot and humid outside to even go for a walk.

You start cleaning everything in sight!  Barbara did the kitchen.

She cleaned the kitchen counter and the propane stove.  It is absolutely amazing how dirty it gets and we never even use it.  The back-splash was scrubbed.

She scrubbed the kitchen sink until it looked like new.

My job was to clean and polish every last bit of woodwork in Elvira.  This, of course, also allows you to catch anything that might be amiss before it becomes serious.  For instance, I discovered some loose screws and handles and other odds and ends that I took care of immediately.  I also found out that when they stained the wood work they didn’t do the cabinet doors and drawers separate from the framework.  Rather they put everything together and stained it as a whole.

We also took our bed apart and washed all the sheets.  Sometimes they come out of the washer/dryer just a bit damp and we have to hang them up to dry.  We found the two front seats make the perfect place for this.

This back TV has me completely stumped.  I need to take it down and tightened the wall bracket that it is hanging on but for the life of me I can’t figure out how to get it off.  If I don’t get it down soon I’m afraid the wall bracket is going to let go and then we’ll have to replace the TV as well.  Wish me well.  And if anyone has any ideas please let me know.

Tomorrow if the temperature remains reasonable I’ll spend some time outside.  I need to check the bolts holding the slide motors to their brackets.  I need to lube the hinges on the locker doors and treat the gaskets around each with 303.  I also need to straighten up the front full size locker.  In other words, I have a few things to keep me busy before we leave for repairs on Thursday.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  Not sure if I’ll do a blog every day since there isn’t really that much going on.  Of course, I still have the TV in the back to figure out.  That should be interesting.  Wherever you are we hope you are safe and enjoying your summer.  Someday, sometime in the not too distance future we can all hope that things will be set right again.

  We always appreciate your company and your comments.  Keep safe out there.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Elvira and her two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before.

See you on down the road!