'19/#6 A Short Blog

On the road on Denton Texas.
Rain all day with thunder storms a pop up tornados. Dodged the worst of it and another hour 'til we stop for the night
I'll try to blog more later.

On the road between homes,

Frank and Mary

'19/#5 One Shake Of The Jello

We were supposed to be on the road today but like I say, our plans are written in jello. Nothing major. Just a problem with our TV receiver. It is being replaced but we have to be somewhere that it can be shipped to us. Tomorrow we will be on the road with a side trip to Livingston Texas. That is where we can pick up the receiver. We will also be there for a couple of days. That will change the itinerary that we had planned. The two most important tools in an RVer's kit are a sense of humor and the ability to adapt. Living on the road is always an adventure.

Back to our original plans. The truck is serviced and washed, the trailer is road ready again, and has been washed and waxed. Inside we have put most of our stuff away in travel mode and a weeks worth of meals have been pre-cooked to make things easier on the road. Not only won't we have to cook but we also won't be filling up our kitchen waste water holding tank or emptying our fresh water tank so fast. That will require less hooking up and disconnecting hoses while on the road and allow us to enjoy more of our travels.

There are a few places we want to stop at along the way. Being a tourist and exploring the country is what RVing is all about. Because of the recent jello shake we will be crossing Carlsbad Caverns off the list this time. This is two years in a row we haven't made it there. Maybe on the way back or next year? We will be taking 2-3 weeks to and go through Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and finally California where we will be staying for the summer.

We will keep everyone up to date on our travels and adventures as the calender marches on. Well it looks like or laundry is just about done. This is the last load before we depart from our home in Pharr Texas because......

Home is where we park it,
Frank and Mary

'19/#4 Ten More Days And Counting?

Time is running out on our stay here in the valley and out list is getting shorter in preparation for our departure. Repairs on the rig have been completed so I now feel better about hitting the road. We are starting to pack away some of the stuff we leave out during our extended stays and deep cleaning for our next adventure. This is the time we take everything to the laundry! So in addition to our regular laundry we have extra bedding, towels and rags from cleaning, and anything else we can think of that doesn't go in our weekly laundry. Needless to say we had a ton of things to wash, fold, and put away.

We are still working and it is getting busy in the office. This is the time of year that everyone likes to pay their annual rent, make deposits for next year, and pay off the final electric bill before heading north. We also have a lot of people either looking to come to the Rio Grande Valley or looking for a new place to stay in the valley. That means park tours and talking about all that our park has to offer. Our managers keep thanking us for "selling" the park but we tell them we are just referring to all the things that keep us coming back. Remember, RVers are mobile and can move at the drop of a hat so they can be picky about where they stay.

While the office is busy the rest of the park is getting very quiet. People have or are soon to leave. Many of the social events are winding down or done for the season so our volunteering has dwindled some. On the other hand one of the other work camper couples had to leave suddenly so we have stepped in to help fill that void. We don't mind the extra work and it is greatly appreciated by management and the residents.

This week we will make any last minute appointments and final prep for our next adventure. A doctor here, a dentist there, truck and trailer wash, and anything else that pops up between now and April 10th. That is when we hope to leave pending any "jello" moments. I'm sure there will be more to do right up to the last minute. Such is life on the road.

So I will say good bye for now from our home in the Rio Grande Valley because.....

Home is where we park it,
Frank and Mary

'19/#4 Watching The Calendar

Time stands still for nobody, including us. We should be on the road in less than a month and the "to-do" list doesn't seem to be getting any shorter. I am sure we will be ready to to roll when the time comes but just once it would be nice to be ready early. Too bad that isn't the way we work so we will leave when we leave.

There are a few things that need to be fixed on the rig before we go and those are our priorities right now. No problems, just stuff that has to be done. We also are planning our route to California for our summer destination near San Francisco. Time permitting we have a few stops along the way we would like to see or maybe on the way back. Yes, I said back because we have also decided to return to the Rio Grande Valley for another season. The Valley has been a great place to call our winter home the past two years and we have made some good friends here. Also our bosses really want us to return. They are good people to work for and it is nice to be wanted. So one more year in south Texas.

Last year I suggested that we put up some dart boards to add an activity to the already extensive list of things to do in the park. Management agreed and put up the money as long as residents provided the labor. That is how things get done in the park and it keeps the volunteers invested in the activities. Since it was my idea I took on the job of installing the boards, lights, and getting things started. We have a small group of players right now and hope to get enough to turn it into a regular activity next year. Maybe even put together a team to compete with other parks in the area in the Golden Age Olympics here in the valley.

As I have mentioned in past blogs we do a bit of volunteering and that continues. Helping concessions at the dances, movies, and other events has kept us busy. We are also volunteering for the St Patricks Day lunch and maybe some of the events. We also have tried a few new crafts that residents have offered to teach classes in. Over the last two seasons we have done bark carving, wood carving, wood burning, chip carving, wood spirit carving, and scroll saw art. There are several other crafts we want to try but that will have to wait until next year. As they say, so much to do and so little time. Maybe one of these crafts will turn into an actual hobby that either one one of us will enjoy and continue.

I guess that is enough for now. We are at work and I need to close this blog. So I will say goodbye from our home here in the Valley because....

Home is where we park it,

Frank and Mary

'19/#3 Falling Down On The Blog

It has been a month since the last blog and I have no excuse for not keeping in touch.  That said, it has been a busy month for us and the next month promises to be even busier. Add to that the things that have kept us busy may or may not have been blog-worthy but here goes.

Two days a week we do work in the office so in a short month like February that will make the month go by even quicker. As I mentioned before we went to Mexico so I could get my dental work done and one of the crowns didn't meet my dentist's standards so the work would have to be done later after a new crown was made by the lab. So three days instead of two. In between that we had to have our annual physicals.

We have kept our same family doctor for almost 30 years and she is our health care coordinator for any medical needs we have as we travel around the country. That meant a trip back to Florida. This year instead of a quick 2 day dash in and out we decided to spend more time where we called home for 30 years. It gave us time to see family, get together with friends, and take care of some personal things that we just can't do long distance. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed every minute of our whirlwind visit but also looked forward to getting back to Texas and our own bed. We just want to thank everyone for taking the time to see us and a special thanks to Jess and Jim for putting us up while we visited.

Once back in Texas we talked with our bosses and the decision was made that we would come back for a third year. Usually we don't go back to the same place because we are trying to see and experience the country in our travels but the Rio Grande Valley, the park we are at, the people we work for, and the residents here have made it clear that they want us back and have given these two nomads a place that feels like home. Who could ask for more??

It is time to make some breakfast and get started on the never ending list of errands so I will sign off now from our home here in Pharr because......

Home is where we park it,

Frank and Mary

'19/#2 Time Flies By

I can't believe that the end of January is gone and we are already through the first week of February.  The different crafts and hobbies we have tried are keeping us busy and the general activity in the park and Rio Grande Valley fills the rest of our time. There is always something going on in the main hall and we try to keep up with most of it. On top of that there have been several trips that our bus has taken the residents on in the "valley". And then there is the time time we spend working here to pay our rent and electric costs.

The work here is not much to speak of, we mostly watch the office on the weekend so the managers and office personnel can have some time off. Occasionally we do have the weekend from hell. Recently we had one of those weekends where if something could go wrong, it did. In one day the computers went down, the pool heater stopped working, power was out to a section of the park, and since it was the first of the month we had guests checking in by the dozens and residents paying their rent and electric bills. We really earned our money that weekend, but as I said most of the time the job is about as easy as it could be.

We have been to Progresso Mexico a few times also. I have been having some dental work done there because the cost is a fraction of what it would cost in the U.S. The crowns that I have been putting off for a while would cost $500 to $1000 each are costing me $200 apiece, AND the work is just as good as any I have had done in the states. I have to go back for one more visit and I will be done with the crowns. We are planning on going back before we leave for our annual cleanings which cost $25. All these prices are complete. No fighting with insurance companies, no hard sells on exotic treatments, just good simple dental care at a reasonable price by dentists who for the most part are trained in the U.S.A.!

Well it is time for dinner so I will cut this short and say good bye from our home here in the Rio Grande Valley because....


Home is where we park it,
Frank and Mary

'19/#1 A Late Happy New Year

Well here we are two weeks into 2019. I can't believe how fast 2018 went and how quickly 2019 has started. We are still in south Texas and enjoying our time here. So much so that we are thinking about coming back for another winter season. The people that we work with and the residents have become more like family and coming back will feel like going home.

Now lets back up a bit. The week of Christmas I caught the stomach bug that had been going around. After that, Mary got a case of the sniffles. We didn't know if it was allergies or a cold but it passed in a couple of days. Apparently whatever it was, it was contagious because I got it a few days later. When I got sick I did it right! I got the sneezing, sniffling, coughing, congestion that decided to linger right through the New Years celebration. In fact I still have a bit of what they are now calling a post viral cough syndrome. Why is everything a syndrome now? Anyway we are feeling better.

Things have started to pick up here in the park. All the Winter Texans are now here and the activity calender is filling fast. Of course everyone wants people to participate in their functions and we are part of that. There are only so many hours in the day and days in the week, so we have to carefully schedule events that we want to get involved in. We need a little down time for ourselves to recharge the old batteries.

Some of the things we have gotten involved in are pickleball, wood carving, scroll saw, chip carving, swimming, pot luck dinners, in house movie night, dances, and just volunteering in general. It is too easy to fill the calender and get over whelmed. Add to that the hours that we put in work camping and our time is at a premium.

Well that is how 2019 has started for us and there is no sign of it slowing down. I will try to find time to blog more as the year progresses, from our home here in Pharr Texas because.....

Home is where we park it,
Frank and Mary