We have arrived in the deep south of Texas and it is warm. Nicely so at 72 degrees. Our friends who travel to this neck of the woods will be unhappy to learn that we are still dealing with construction...lots of construction on business 83. The good news is, it is further east of us than it was last year.
Those coming down in something that runs on diesel fuel may like to know that we filled up at the Shell station in Kingsville for $2.27.9 That is the cash price which is 6 cents lower than the regular price. There is an ATM at the station. The Shell station is located on the east side of highway 77 on the south edge of Kingsville.
Also remember that there is a new code for the gate this year. I am reminding you because we forgot about it. I can't give it to you here but look up the letter you received about it before you head down...or ask some kind friend with a memory.;-)
Today went much better than yesterday. Great traveling weather and we listened to a good audio book on the way which helps the time fly by. We are enjoying 'The Keeper of the House' by Shirley Ann Grau very much. "Abigail was the last keeper of the house, the last to know the Howland family's secrets. Now, in the name of all her brothers and sisters, she must take her bitter revenge on the small-minded Southern town that shamed them, persecuted them, but could never destroy them. Shirley Ann Grau is a major American author whose works are often set in New Orleans and Louisiana's Creole region. She often reflects the isolated bayous and their French-speaking residents, but her fiction is equally at home with the fiercely independent people of small Southern towns or the sophisticated life of the New Orleans' upper class. The Keepers of the House won her the Pulitzer Prize in 1965."
I have been a member of www.audible.com for many years and always get much enjoyment from my membership. If you check it out and plan to join, let me know so I can send you an invitation. I would need to send you an invitation for me to get credit. Regardless whether you join or not an audio book is always a good idea for those long lonely stretches of highway.
We are here plenty early and it is apparent as we look around the park but Butch needs to get a blood draw on Monday and get reacquainted with his south Texas doctor. We also know it will not be long now before all our old friends and some new ones will trickle into the park and we will be here to warmly greet them.

We have had a day we would like to forget! First off we tangled with a toll gate on the Indian Nations Turnpike and it will be the last trip on that piece of crap for a highway. When they charge mucho dineros for traveling on a road it should be as smooth as a babies behind and it is definitely more like a wrinkled old granny fanny. All of Oklahoma's roads are like a granny fanny and our future plans are to avoid the entire state if possible. We have damage on the passenger side front of the motorhome and if that wasn't enough we were hit by a rock kicked up by an oncoming semi. It is the worst rock ding we have ever had. It looks like it was darn lucky it didn't come on through.
So tonight we are in Rockdale Texas at the Hidden Valley Oaks RV park, one we have stayed in before and liked. We have chili simmering on the stove and we are quite happy to be off the road for this day.
We are grateful for many things today...the motorhome still runs...we are both healthy and we will keep dwelling on those things as we always do and try to forget this high stress day.;-)

In Mizzou

We are in Peculiar MO until Wednesday then we are headed south. We take our time so it is hard to say when we will arrive at our winter playground location. I have been watching the weather down there and it looked like they were getting daily rains so I wrote to Don Loring and he said yes, that is pretty much it. Humid too!! So it looks like we will soon be back in weather that resembles Iowa in July. Oh well, that is what we love about the south.