Gifts

Many of the hotels that Dad worked at gave him gifts when he left.  Dad worked at the Ritz Carlton in Dallas a few times and they always included Mom in the gifts.  This time, they gave both Mom and Dad spa robes. They are very, very nice! 

Mom's robe is a pretty peach. The color is not showing up well here.

Dad's is black.

 They also gave Mom a cookbook signed by Chef Dean Fearing.  He has a restaurant at the hotel.  As you can imagine, Mom was thrilled getting a cookbook and it is the Texas Food Bible!  Is that appropriate or what?

Dean Fearing's autograph.

Dad also received a very nice coffee cup.

In Other News

It is a muggy day here.  Today is our first rain.  Storms could occur tonight.  Mom was reading about past tornadoes that have occurred here.  It sounds like they are smaller and don't occur all that often.  There have been no fatalities since 1950. (The report was from 1950 to present.)  So, that is reassuring. They do not have storm sirens in this county.   The storms in Dallas were bad. We are really hoping that it is not like that here.  We have been here in the past and never had an issue.  There is the hurricane concern, of course.

Our washing machine seems to like it here.  It is running like it should.  Mom thinks it could be because it is completely level here.  We hope it continues.

There is not a greyhound here as we were told.  The person at the reservation center told us there was a greyhound.  She must have been confused with another property. There are only a few dogs here that we have seen.  I am okay with that.

Instant Pot

Mom fixed Honey Bourbon Chicken last night.  She also fixed rice and then fried it in another skillet since the chicken was in the Instant Pot.  Egg rolls were fixed in the air fryer.  Dad thought the Honey Bourbon Chicken was good.  Mom thought it had a bit too much honey.  

Tonight, she is fixing loaded mac and cheese in the Instant Pot, meatloaf in the air fryer and asparagus in the skillet.  

Joey,

The Greyhound Who Really Enjoys 3 a.m. Walks.  Mom No So Much

Problems Yesterday

New Doctor

We ran into a few problems yesterday.  Mom started out the day trying to find a new doctor for her and Dad.  She pulled up their insurance website and started calling doctors.  She found out that even though the website says they were accepting new patients, they were not.  She was finally able to find one nearby.  She was hoping for someone with Saturday hours, but that may be a thing of the past.  She found one who said they did on their website, but when she called, she was told the website was wrong.  She now has to get their medical records transferred, but she needs to get a confirmation from the insurance company that the change is okay.

No Electric

The second problem of the day lasted much longer and bothered me.  Our electric went off.  Mom found out it was just us.  Our 50 amp breaker kept tripping outside.  It was the campgrounds' issue and not ours.  She told the office and they called an electrician.  We later heard that he was not sure if he was coming.  We were told we could move or try using 30 amp service.  Mom couldn't find the cord that converts to 30 amp.  Dad didn't respond to her texts and she didn't want to call him since it was his first day of work.  It got too hot to stay inside.  It was 90 inside, so we sat outside.  I didn't want to sit outside even though it was shady and we had a nice breeze.  I cried and cried.  Finally, the electrician showed up at 4:30.  He was a rude guy.  He wasn't happy about coming by and barely spoke to Mom except to tell her that the breaker was just turned off.  Mom told him that it had tripped four times.  He left and we didn't know if he had fixed it, but we discovered that he had taken it apart.  We figured he was just getting a new part.  He came back and then left without saying a word to us.  It was fixed.  Don't you think he could have said it was fixed?  I guess if we were the ones paying for the service he would have been nicer.  The electric issue lasted 7 hours.  Luckily, it wasn't a hot day like today. We could have turned on the generator, but we didn't want to do that unless it was a true emergency.  If it happened on a hot day, we definitely would go that route though.

Dinner

Mom went all out with dinner last night.  She was rushing since we didn't have our electric back on until 5:10. She fixed black beans in the Instant Pot. She also made fajitas and Mexican rice.  It is quite the chore fixing that much when only one appliance can be used at a time.  The fajitas turned out great.  The beans were good, but not worth the time.  Mom will used canned beans next time.  She used dry beans and after they were cooked, she fried them with onions and garlic.  The rice was made in the microwave.

Lake

We spoke with the office lady this morning.  Mom asked if I was allowed to walk around the office area.  There are rocking chairs and a fire pit there.  She said, "Of course."  Mom said she didn't know since the signs said that pets are now allowed around the lake. She said that I am not allowed to touch the water.  We are excited because now we can sit out by the lake.  We didn't think that was allowed.  We then walked around the lake.  The only bad part is that we had to climb over some rocks.  We don't know if that will be a daily occurrence.

This place is very well maintained.  They are cutting grass today.  It doesn't even look like it needs it!

The view of the office from the other side of the lake.

BBQ area

Neighbors

Our neighbors have a son who is probably in his 20's.  He is in a wheelchair.  They do not have a ramp for him. He comes down the steps in his wheelchair. 😟 It is rather scary to see it.  We think he needs a ramp.

Dad's New Job

Dad started his new job yesterday. His drive is about 20 minutes.  He is used to an hour. 

New Blog Design

If you read our blog on a computer, you probably noticed we changed our design.  What do you think?  We thought a change was needed since we are no longer traveling. 

Joey,

The Greyhound Who Hopes Today Is More Peaceful Than Yesterday

A New Chapter Begins

We made our way from Dallas to Houston on Saturday.  We were lucky and did not hit any rain.  We did have high winds and bugs.

Here we are packed up and ready to start our new life.

First stop was at the inspection station.  

 We decided to stop at a rest area for lunch.  The screws fell out of a window shade, so Dad made the repair there.  We were glad that was the only repair that was necessary on our trip.

This guy was at a rest area.

Another view at the rest area

Our rig, Jeep and Buddy at the rest area.

The camper was abandoned.  The wind was opening and closing the door.

We knew we were close to Houston when we hit traffic.  There was an accident, but we experienced several slow downs going through Houston.  That is normal.

 When we arrived at our new place, we had to go through the entrance gates.  The office lady told Dad that she was impressed with his driving and that not everyone makes it through without hitting the pedestal.  Hmmm.... why wouldn't a new RV park design it better so that RVs can get in without getting damaged?  It really is a tight turn, but we made it.

Let me remind you what our old RV park was like.

Our new place is much nicer, but there are a few sites that need to be cleaned up, but it is nothing like the old place. No dryers and dishwashers.  One guy has a hot tub.

That is us on the corner.  We are next to the propane filling station.  Yes, that is our view.  However, the site is close to the dumpster and the office.  We can see the lake from our RV.  

No dogs are allowed at the lake.  Grrrr!

I like it!

We have to enter a code to get into the dog walk.  That is because it is not off leash and it leaves the park.  It would be better if it was fenced.

The dog walk.  Oh, there is Mom's shadow.  BOL!

This is our site.  We love that it is concrete.  We just wish we had a bigger area to sit.  We thought about asking to having the picnic table removed, but we are not staying here that long.

Our neighbor has snakes.  We think there are five adults living here.  They are very friendly.

The lake fountain at night.

We like our new place.  It is close to Dad's work.  It is close to shopping.  We will not be staying here for long though.  It is too expensive.  They offered us half off the first month, so that made it okay for a month or two.  There are a lot of other places to try.  We just wanted to start off near Dad's work.

We are parked in a site where we get the morning sun through the windshield.  That is a good thing.  Afternoon sun through the windshield means that we have to have the shades closed because it gets  hot even with the shade that we put on the outside of the windshield.  It actually got hot this morning, so we have our night shade down until the sun moves to the side of the RV.  Mom had the awning out, but it sensed the wind was too high, so it came in.  Oh well.  We are just trying to keep the RV as cool as possible.

The weather has been surprising nice here.  Yesterday was beautiful.  The rest of the week is supposed to be nice except a rainy, possible stormy day on Wednesday.  We know the nice temperatures are not going to last long, so we are going to enjoy them while we can.

Mom says it is hard for her to comprehend that we are going to be living in one area for an indefinite amount of time. There is no rush to try out restaurants or to see things.  It is a strange feeling and will probably take us a while to realize this is home now.

I like it here.  I got really nervous the last few days at the old place and really didn't want to go outside.  Mom was getting worried about me, but I am fine now that we are in a new location.  I had two really bad charley horses Saturday and Sunday.  Mom said it was because I stood for a good part of our trip and I am getting too old for that.  I have been okay so far today.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Happy In His New Location

Happy 5th Anniversary To Us!

We have been on the road for five years!!!!  Can you believe it has been five years?

This map shows all of our travel from 2012 - Present

We left our home in Missouri on April 29, 2012.  When we left, we did not know if we would be doing this full-time.  Dad had just started a new job which was 100% travel and we all went along for the adventure.

We started out in our Hurricane. It was 36'  The motor home is level, the camera is not. 

Scout is ready for our Big Adventure.

I was excited and nervous as we left our home in Missouri.

After five months on the road, we decided we didn't want to go back to our regular life.  We went home with Mom while Dad went to St. Thomas.  We sold and gave away just about everything we had and we put our house up for sale.  Five weeks later, we were back on the road.  Our house sold while we were in Houston.  We sold it fully furnished and we never went back to it.  All the paperwork was done via email.  After we sold our house, we upgraded to a diesel motor home.

This motor home was 40'.

We really liked our diesel motor home but Dad wanted a new one.  He also wanted a king-sized bed and a second bath. In 2015, we purchased our current motor home.

It is 45'.

We have traveled coast to coast a few times. We went from Baltimore to San Jose and then back again.  We didn't enjoy those long trips.  Those trips took eight days with two days off for rest.  We found that three days in a row was our limit since we drove 10-12 hours days.  We did do four days in a row once and we were all cranky.

We have been asked what has been our favorite place.  That is really hard to answer.  We have found something that we liked about each place.  We had a terrible time finding a place to stay in the Seattle area and ended up staying at a fairground in Puyallup, WA for a few months.  It was basically just a field, but there were car shows and an orchard where we allowed to take as much as we wanted. We had a great time there.  We also stayed in a fairground in Pleasanton, CA.  It was very expensive.  $2,000 a month to live in a field  and we didn't know from week to week if we would be allowed to stay. They made us move sites every 21 days.  I liked it there because they gave me dog treats a few times a day.  Lancaster, PA was one of Mom's favorites.  She enjoyed living among the Amish.  Houston and Dallas were fun with all their great restaurants.  Mom, Scout and I spent the winter in Summerdale, AL.  It was a nice area, but we missed Dad who was in Baltimore. Mom still talks about going back there for alligator.  We also stayed in Memphis, Chicago, Baltimore, Kansas City, San Diego, Streetsboro, Ohio, Denver, Indiana, Vermont, Boston, New York and many places that were just a day or two.  I think our least favorite place was Fort Lauderdale.  We stayed at a place that was full of vacant homes because they were owned by Canadians that were home for the summer.  It was a little scary walking through the RV park because it looked like a deserted subdivision. There were a few people who were living there and when they walked down the street, we would jump. The people in the office spoke French, so there was a communication problem. Mom also didn't like that it took a good two full days to get out of Florida from there.

We attended two Escapee rallies as well as an Entegra rally. We have been to 13 out of the 15 Presidential Libraries.  We came close to number 14, but our plans changed at the last minute.    It really has been a big adventure.

Exciting Announcement

We are beginning a new adventure today. It is hard to believe that it happens to fall on our anniversary.  It was not planned that way.  We are headed to our next destination.  However, things will be a little different.  Dad has taken a permanent position.  We will no longer be traveling. 😩 We are sad about the not traveling part, but things have changed with Dad's job in the past two years and he has not been happy.  This new job is a good fit for us.  We will still be traveling on vacations and Dad has a lot of vacation time.

We will still be living in the motor home.  We plan on checking out different RV resorts, so we will probably be moving around until we find a place that we really like.  The place we are moving to has a lot of resorts and the rent is reasonable.  

Okay, so where are we going?  We are moving to the Houston area.  We will not be living in Houston itself, but in a suburb.  We wanted a place that has warm winters and Houston has that.  Galveston is just 30 miles away, so we have a beach.  It is not a pretty beach, but it is a beach. There are palm trees.  Mom loves palm trees.  We are excited and happy about this move. We have stayed in Houston three times and liked it.  Mom and I no longer have to worry about being on our own during the winter months.  We will all be together.  I hated when Dad was away from us in the winter. We can now make plans more than a month in advance.  This is a good thing for us even though it is a little bittersweet.  😊

Mom and I will still be posting here, so please come back to see what happens to us on our new adventure.

Joey,

The Greyhound Who Is Starting A New Life In Houston

Where Is Our Next Destination? Clue #5

Clue #5

Joey,
el galgo que está listo para su próxima aventura 😀