Tuesday, November 3, 2009

WE ARE OFFICIAL TEXANS!!!!

RAIN, RAIN.......GO AWAY!!!
Wednesday, October 28 - Geeze Louise......enough with the rain. Texas had over 6” of rain overnight. This is suppose to be the wettest year in Texas recorded history. Isn't this one of the reasons I wanted to get out of Ohio???

We wanted to get the motor home and car inspected today, but they are not permitted to do the inspection if the streets are wet. Something about brake inspection. Maybe we'll look for flu shots instead.....lol.

Something we haven’t told you about is the Escapees Care Center located right here at the campground. If an Escapee member is alone and needs help while recuperating from surgery or age makes it difficult or cook meals, clean and do your laundry, or eyesight makes it unsafe for driving, the Escapees Care Center will come to your RV on the campground and take care of you. OR you can spend time in their facility. Notice the speed limit in the park. Everyone is a comedian.

care-center-sign       speed-limit

Friday, October 30 - Eventually the cloudy skies gave way to SUN! We sat outside in the afternoon and dried out. Friday night we attended an Escapee's dinner and entertainment by an East Texas country duo. These were real back-country E.Texas/Louisiana singers. They were from the Ledgious Review Opery Company. They sang OLD country songs like…..Bubbles In My Beer, Humpty Dumpty Heart, She Woke Me Up To Say Good Bye. I am sure are OLD friend, Red Burgess, could sing you all a few verses. We never heard of any of those songs. We enjoyed the company of new friends Betty and Jay Crane from Richmond, Virginia. Jay graduated from Virginia Tech. Carrie got a kick out of that. They are just wonderful people. They are helping us along by giving us advice, places of interests and even invited us to come join them The Valley, Mission, TX, for the winter. As a matter of fact, we are going out with them again tonight to the VFW for another country band.....guess I'm going to learn Texas two-step. Lessons begin at 7, dance at 8. Jeesh!

Here is a picture of our new friends and look what is growing outside our motor home door. LOVE IT!
Jay-and-Betty-Crane      flower-by-MH

It was so warm today even the Halloween pumpkin was happy.
pumpkin-102

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Saturday, October 31 - We had a great time with our new friends at the VFW. And yes, I learned to 2-step, although I need to practice to get “smooth.” The “kicker” was....when we went in the door the owner informed us the lessons were on Thursdays not Saturdays. Shoot! But not to worry. He asked me if I could walk. Well, “Yes” I replied. He informs me, “if you can walk, you can 2-step”. HaHaHa. We even did a few polkas! The singer was fantastic....he's blind. His name is Walter Plant. He plays four keyboards at one time and is an excellent singer!!! We really enjoyed talking to Betty and Jay and learning from their full-timing experiences. They've been full-timing for about nine years. We have plans for meeting up with them in the future, either in south Texas this winter or Albuquerque, NW for the balloon festival next October. Just a side note: They are really good 2-steppers and do a mean Waltz. A Waltz down south is a sloooooow polka. Paul didn’t want to do the Waltz for fear he would forget the 2-step….fast, fast, slow, slow.

Sunday, November 1 - We went to the local Presbyterian church, First Presbyterian Church. Very nice service. Marsha is designing a separate blog with all the religious places we visit. Look for the link in a few days along the right side. Later, we did some organizing in the motor home, went for our daily walk and rode our bikes. It was a hang around the motor home and take it easy day. We did do some long range planning of where we're headed. Our tentative plans call for going to Quartzite, AZ in January for the “Big Event” and then head for southern Texas to escape the cold until March. Remember, all plans are formed in “Jello”! Ours are more like “whip cream”!

front-of-church      inside-sacutary

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Monday, November 2 - Today was the day we officially become Texans. We were headed to Harrison Body Shop for the inspections by 7:40 a.m. After having the Jeep and motor home inspected we returned to the campground to park the motor home and then took off again for the Tax Office. That was a very expensive visit because we had to pay sales tax on the motor home having just purchased it before coming to Texas. Then be went to the License Office to turn in our Ohio license and get Texas licenses. They give you ONLY a piece of paper with your name and address and an official seal. NO picture. We now have to carry our Passport so we have a picture. We both know that we will need it to be able to buy a beer in a bar OR buy liquor. Since neither of us look our age….fat chance! Paul had to take a written test for a class B license to drive the motor home. Marsha will take it sometime in the future after she gets a little driving experience. The written test was HARD! They asked crazy questions about farm trucks, pipe hauling trucks, and things a motor home driver would not be concerned with. I passed.......but barely. Tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. I have to take the driving portion. JEESH!!!!

On the way home from the post office, we stopped at this little place called Rosita’s. We drove by it many times and always saw so many people eating there. It has a covered outside patio. So, we decided to stop…..WOW!!! The best REAL Mexican food we have ever had! Paul had a wonderful Gorda and I have a delicious Tortas (Mexican Sub). Both only $8.00. We are definitely going back there!

rosita-outside      inside-2

Tuesday, November 3 – Paul passed his test! Now we are both officially Texans. What a good feeling it is to be done with this stuff. Now to get our banking in order. We will be visiting Carrie on Saturday and Kelly on Sunday this week. Next weekend, we will be moving the MH to Kelly territory, Tyler, and Carrie will come up on Friday. We will all spend the weekend together. Can’t wait to see them and have some good old fashion family time. These days go by so fast. We make plans but never get to most of them. Maybe you can see why we can’t get anything done….get up, eat breakfast, sit in the sun, talk neighbors, take a walk, sit in the sun, talk to neighbors, ride our bike, eat dinner, talk to neighbor…OMG it is now 7:00. Dark…go inside, do some emailing, watch some TV…bed time. Where does the time go?!?

us-in-front-of-mh-with-texa      front-of-MH

You know you aren't teaching high school any longer when you see this in the restrooms.

Is this what we have to look forward too!