Friday, November 11

Hard day's work

Butch and I managed to get quite a bit done today. Butch cleaned up the tires and got the tire covers on. I recently read how important those tire covers are to the life of tires so that was a good deed done. I went through the mail that had arrived since we departed Jefferson. Fortunately, it was a short stack and easily dispensed with. Butch worked on getting the windshield cleaned and the cover on it. I helped with ladder holding. We are quickly getting down to usual daily life. Peggy and I did 2 walks today. Butch joined us on one of them. Late in the day I was able to enjoy a long conversation with our friend Kay Stilson and we caught up on the happenings of our summer.
Now to find something to post on the Magnolia Blog and at this moment I have writer's block.

Thursday, November 10

In far South Texas

We have arrived at Magnolia Villages/Park for another season of warmth. At least we hope so. They tell us they recently had really hot weather last week in the 90's. But now a cold front has gone through and now these hot house flowers are all so cold. Not feeling their pain just yet as it feels very fine to us.
We came down 77 this year. We had not done that for a very long time. I will have to check past blog entries to see how long it has been. Time can slip away and two years can quickly become five. It is magic. I have seen it happen. As near as I can tell we last came down this way in 2006. And as it happens it was the last time we were on the Indian Nations Turnpike and we tangled with a toll booth. So far that route has not been one our best choices. Perhaps it is because we do not do it often enough to become familiar with all it's oddities.

Ray of Hope

Posting this for everyone I can think of that needs a ray of hope.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/11/10/1595290/-Garrison-Keillor-Trump-voters-will-see-his-disasters-fall-on-them-more-than-anyone-else?detail=email&link_id=3&can_id=b0e31273dd41301ee4bcec3aad2eec75&source=email-trumps-pyrrhic-victory-provides-a-big-silver-lining-for-democrats&email_referrer=trumps-pyrrhic-victory-provides-a-big-silver-lining-for-democrats&email_subject=trumps-pyrrhic-victory-provides-a-big-silver-lining-for-democrats

Wednesday, November 9

Wednesday-Fall trip2016

We started early and it was a trouble-free travel day. I have forgotten that I am not at all crazy about the road conditions on Hwy 19, 79, and 77. It becomes okay about at Halletsville but that is a stinking long way down the road! The worst part for me is when there are two lanes on each side but the outside lane has no shoulder. There is a great deal of northern hwy 77 that is exactly that way.
We are parked in Ancient Oaks RV park in Rockport TX. Probably for the last time. When I called for a reservation they wanted my credit card number. Reluctantly I gave it to them but thought it would not be used until we arrived. We were talking it over last night about going more directly south so I called to cancel and was told that we could get a credit for another time but not get our money back. Not a good answer for me. So we stuck with the original plan because it is very hard to tell when and if we will ever be this way again.
They do have good WiFi. They did not tell me right off. I had to ask and make a special trip to the office for the code. Each site has its own code. So far it is indeed working well.
We unhooked the car and went downtown for a restaurant meal at the Bakery Cafe. It was a good meal. It is the first restaurant meal we have had since leaving Carthage. Being able to eat at home is one of the best things about traveling in a motorhome.
My travel basket.

A possible craft project?

Tuesday, November 8

Monday and Tuesday-Fall of 2016 trip

Monday, Nov 7th
We are parked at Antlers RV Park in Antlers OK. They say they have WiFi but with only one bar I say they do not. So I am writing this for a future post.
The travel portion of the trip was fine. We encountered a few light rain showers but nothing to give us any problem. We left Carthage at 7:15 AM thanks to the time change. I was concerned about morning commute traffic to Joplin but it was not an issue.
We are parked in our spot for the night. The manager told us that if we hear a train to head for the bunker.  Because there are no train tracks anywhere near here! I think it is great that they are tornado ready.
The Bunker- I have wondered what would happen if they had a tornado and an earthquake at the same time.


They had a small earthquake here yesterday and it broke a waterline. Butch is out talking to the repair guy. You know how that goes...
Yesterday Butch was cleaning bugs off the windshield and he told me to stand up front and point at the bug spots because they are hard to see from the outside. They were numerous so I marked them so I didn't have to stand there and wait for him to notice. When he finally looked at my handiwork he got quite a chuckle out of it.


Tuesday, Nov 8th
This morning I had butterflies. The past trip days I had been fine. But this morning my phone had no data function. This meant I was unable to program the gps. I thought maybe it was my phone but Butch's was giving the same indications. That made me very nervous. Our first session of travel was on the Indian Nation Turnpike. I kept checking and there kept being NO SIGNAL. The road was also terrible. We crossed into Texas and it was like magic, smooth road and phone service. We were elated...temporarily. I verbally gave the gps our next destination. It did not want to take the whole address so finally I shortened it to Franklin Texas and it seemed to work...for awhile. What happened as we found out after the fact was that the phone heard me say Frankston instead of Franklin and yes there are two towns of those names and they are less than 100 miles apart. So all of a sudden the directions were not making sense. It took way too long just to discover that much and we ended up on some very questionable roads in the process. Finally, after a couple of wrong turns that was trying to get us to Frankston we made the correction but still had to get back on track. In so doing we turned onto a road that was one lane and had had zero maintenance for at least 30 years. It was a very long 8+ miles!
Our top speed was 5 or 6 mph. It was rough, bumpy, and the edges were missing in many places. It did eventually connect us to a county road that then got us back to hwy 19 but what a harrowing journey.

We had a few sprinkles and light rain showers for the early part of the day but the farther south we traveled the harder the rain became and as we landed at the park in Franklin it was raining steadily. I asked the gal running the place if they had much rain and she said yes that it had been raining all day. This is not a park we may have chosen had we seen it before but they are friendly, they saved a pull- through spot for us and they have EXCELLENT free WiFi. She also knocked $3 off the fee as a consolation that they were neither Good Sam or Passport America.

So for the night we are warm,dry,settled and soon to have supper.

Monday and Tuesday-Fall of 2016 trip

Monday, Nov 7th
We are parked at Antlers RV Park in Antlers OK. They say they have WiFi but with only one bar I say they do not. So I am writing this for a future post.
The travel portion of the trip was fine. We encountered a few light rain showers but nothing to give us any problem. We left Carthage at 7:15 AM thanks to the time change. I was concerned about morning commute traffic to Joplin but it was not an issue.
We are parked in our spot for the night. The manager told us that if we hear a train to head for the bunker.are no train tracks anywhere near here! I think it is great that they are tornado ready.
 Because there
They had a small earthquake here yesterday and it broke a waterline. Butch is out talking to the repair guy. You know how that goes...
Yesterday Butch was cleaning bugs off the windshield and he told me to stand up front and point at the bug spots because they are hard to see from the outside. They were numerous so I marked them so I didn't have to stand there and wait for him to notice. When he finally looked at my handiwork he got quite a chuckle out of it.


Tuesday, Nov 8th
This morning I had butterflies. The past trip days I had been fine. But this morning my phone had no data function. This meant I was unable to program the gps. I thought maybe it was my phone but Butch's was giving the same indications. That made me very nervous. Our first session of travel was on the Indian Nation Turnpike. I kept checking and there kept being NO SIGNAL. The road was also terrible. We crossed into Texas and it was like magic, smooth road and phone service. We were elated...temporarily. I verbally gave the gps our next destination. It did not want to take the whole address so finally I shortened it to Franklin Texas and it seemed to work...for awhile. What happened as we found out after the fact was that the phone heard me say Frankston instead of Franklin and yes there are two towns of those names and they are less than 100 miles apart. So all of a sudden the directions were not making sense. It took way to long just to discover that much and we ended up on some very questionable roads in the process. Finally, after a couple of wrong turns that was trying to get us to Frankston we made the correction but still had to get back on track. In so doing we turned onto a road that was one lane and had had zero maintenance for at least 30 years. It was a very long 8+ miles!
Our top speed was 5 or 6 mph. It was rough, bumpy, and the edges were missing in many places. It did eventually connect us to a county road that then got us back to hwy 19 but what a harrowing journey.

We had a few sprinkles and light rain showers for the early part of the day but the farther south we traveled the harder the rain became and as we landed at the park in Franklin it was raining steadily. I asked the gal running the place if they had much rain and she said yes that it had been raining all day. This is not a park we may have chosen had we seen it before but they are friendly, they saved a pull through spot for us and they have EXCELLENT free WiFi. She also knocked $3 off the fee as a consolation that they were neither Good Sam or Passport America.

So for the night we are warm,dry
,settled and soon to have supper.

Sunday, November 6

Off we go!

Headed south tomorrow morning. The forecast is for rain.It will be the first time in a very long time that we will be traveling in less than perfect weather. Butch says he does not mind driving in the rain as long as it isn't heavy. So we hope for the best. We are headed for Antlers OK located off the Indian turnpike. It is 251 miles from our current location at Carthage MO. I asked the manager at Antlers RV Park how far off the turnpike they were located and she said about 2 blocks. That sounds doable.
I am not sure of an Internet connection from here on out so it may be a few days before you hear from us. Thursday is our planned arrival date for Magnolia Village. With new owners, we stopped being a park and became a village. Not sure how long it will take to get me used to that change.

Received word that they missed us at HyVee's Trivia night last Thursday. They  came in 3rd. Dick (Dugan) McQuillen is the anchor on that team. He has a fantastic memory and that is a very admirable trait when you are in the later decades of your life. I know because my memory used to be something that never failed me. I cannot pinpoint when it happened but I have enough of it left to know that it fails me with much greater frequency than in the past.Smileycons!