October 23 to 29, 2008 ; San Antonio to Hondo, Texas
Thursday ; Today was sunny and warm. For the last two decades or so, the only brand of shoes I have worn is SAS, which stands for San Antonio Shoemakers. Yesterday I decided that being here in San Antonio was an opportunity to visit the SAS factory, take a tour, and maybe buy some shoes at a discount. SAS shoes are extremely expensive, but worth it, in my opinion. After lunch we drove into the city and found our way to the SAS factory. The tour lasted about an hour, and was quite interesting. To give credit where it's due, I suppose, the quality control in an American shoe factory is very high. The quality of both the materials and the workmanship is exceptional. After the tour, I purchased two pairs of shoes. The factory sales outlet sells only "seconds", at a considerable discount, but whatever cosmetic imperfections render them "seconds" are invisible to anyone other than their quality control personnel.
From SAS Shoes we went to the west side of downtown to visit Market Square, an area filled with Mexican arts, crafts, and gift stores. It was tough to find a street parking spot for a dually. Market Square is supposed to be a "touch of Mexico" in San Antonio. PHHHHHT ... not even close ! WAAAAAY too civilized ! No crowds, no congestion, everything laid out in an orderly fashion, no hawkers enticing you to enter with refrains of "almost free today, señor". OH ... and prices about twice as high as the asking prices in Mexico, which are about 50% higher than the selling price after "negotiating". So ... an item priced at $20 in San Antonio would be priced at about $10 in Mexico, and would probably sell for $6.50 or $7.00 !
On the way back to Hidden Valley RV Park we stopped at an H-E-B to buy some milk and cash a traveller's cheque at the bank outlet inside the grocery store. I was very angry, and did not hesitate to let that be known, to the bank teller trainee, her trainer, and her branch manager, when they did not advise me that there was a service charge for cashing a traveller's cheque, until the transaction was completed and they were counting out my cash. The trainer bore the brunt of my tirade.
Friday ; This morning was sunny and cool, but in the afternoon it became hot again.
During the early 18th century, the Spaniards established five missions in the San Antonio area. The first one was Misión San Antonio de Valero, a.k.a. The Alamo. Today we went to visit the second one, Misión San José . The five missions comprise the San Antonio Missions National Park. The National Parks Visitor Center is located at the site of Misión San José . As we arrived a Park Ranger was just starting a guided walking tour. We joined the guided walking tour. It was very interesting and informative. Joanne noticed that the American "spin" on the Spaniards' establishment of missions and their methods, is quite different than the Mexican "spin" on the same issues. We've previously visited Spanish missions in Mexico. Before we left we watched a short history movie in the Visitor Center's theatre. Us and about 120 high school kids from Mercedes, down in the Rio Grande Valley.
The heat and sun left us too tired to go see any of the other missions. We went to H-E-B to buy some groceries. Oh, boy ... Cajeta ice cream ! Joanne is HAPPY ! The only place we've ever found Cajeta ice cream in the United States is in H-E-B stores in South Texas. And to go along with the guacamole we bought today, we also bought ... wait for it ... Texas shaped tortilla chips. HA HA HA ! Welcome to Texas ! We stopped at Wal-Mart to buy orthotic inserts for my new SAS shoes, then refilled with diesel at Love’s, in preparation for departing San Antonio tomorrow. Joanne bought fajita seasoned chicken and fresh ( still warm ) tortillas at H-E-B, so, of course, we had chicken fajitas for supper. AHHHHH ... I say again ... welcome to Texas !
Saturday ; San Antonio to Hondo, Texas
I'm typing this at 6:30 P.M. at Lone Star Corral, the Escapee park near Hondo. I've just returned from walking the dog. The sun is still shining brightly. The temperature is 80 degrees. Birds are singing loudly as the sun gets low in the sky. AHHHHH ... what a beautiful day !
We left San Antonio this morning, using I-35 and I-410 to get through and around the city and onto Hwy. 90 heading west. We were closer to Hondo than I thought we were. We only drove for about an hour. We checked into Lone Star Corral. As soon as we were set up in our site, Joanne insisted that my priority was to dispose of the dead rat she found in our site. HMPH ... that's unusual ! The dead rat, I mean, not Joanne insisting that I get rid of it. HA HA HA ! We had lunch. I took a much deserved nap. I'm tired. We've driven a lot and haven't rested much since leaving home 19 days ago. We went to Lone Star Corral's afternoon "social hour", a daily occurrence in most SKP parks. We gave Bo a bath. I'm about to barbecue some "Texas style" beef ribs we bought yesterday. Well, actually, I'm about to barbecue one beef rib. I thought the package of three ribs I bought yesterday would make two meals, but Joanne realized when repackaging them with marinade that each rib was about a pound of meat, so one is more than enough to make a meal for the two of us. What Texas defines as a beef rib, we would normally call a rib eye steak.
WOW ... KEWL ! ! ! I carried the laundry hamper to the laundromat in the clubhouse building for Joanne. As I was returning to the trailer, I saw a small lizard on the brick wall of the building. It was noticeable because of its bright orange colour. It was on the wall underneath a bright orange light on the corner of the building. When I looked closely at it, it scurried away to a darker section of the brick wall, and instantly turned itself to the colour of the brick. HEY ... a chameleon ! I went back into the laundromat to get Joanne to come out and see it. As we were both looking at it, it scurried over the bricks and took refuge underneath a window sill, where there was no light, and it turned itself almost black.
Sunday ; Today was cloudy, warm, and humid in the morning, sunny, hot, and humid in the afternoon. This morning I puttered around with some minor maintenance chores, exchanged some books at the park's library, then took all of our unwanted / no longer needed items to the park's bargain table. We've been waiting for an opportunity to leave items on a bargain table. All SKP parks have a bargain table, but we've rarely seen one at other RV parks. We had a sizeable collection of items for the bargain table, and books to be exchanged. We trimmed Teddy's and Bo's nails. We went for a long walk with Bo. Oh boy, the farm next door to this RV park has goats, chickens, and horses for Bo to bark at.
After lunch we went to the town of D'Hanis, a couple of miles west, to wash over 5000 km. / 3000 mi. of road grime off the truck. Lone Star Corral does not allow vehicle washing in the RV park. And, of course, we did not have quite enough American quarters for the coin operated car wash ( sigh ). Back at the RV Park I went on a pants sorting and discarding spree, throwing out many pairs of pants and shorts that were well beyond their "best before" date. Wearing clothes for too long is a bad habit of mine. Recently Joanne complained, after looking at what I was wearing, that I looked like a Bangladesh refugee wearing a Rolex watch.
We went to Lone Star Corral's Sunday afternoon ice cream social, a weekly event at all SKP parks. We ate ice cream while chatting with a couple from Michigan who are on their way down to the Rio Grande Valley. We discussed investments, and the current stock market problems. It was discouraging to learn that they lost about half the value of their investments in the stock market declines of 2001, and had not yet fully recovered back to where they once were before the 2008 stock market problems hit. So, once again, their investment values are about half of what they were prior to 2001. Not very encouraging at all, for those of us who have lost one third to one half of our investments in the last couple of months. I'm pretty worried !
Joanne made gumbo for supper, using one of the new gumbo mixes we bought a couple of days ago in San Antonio. We need about half a dozen boxes of gumbo mix for the Escapees B.C. Okanagan Chapter 33 Spring Rally we are hosting next May, and our favourite brand of gumbo mix, Crawfish-Man's, is only available in Louisiana. We had asked some friends of ours who were planning to travel through Louisiana this winter to get us some, but their plans recently changed and they won't be going to Louisiana. So we are evaluating different brands of gumbo mixes. Hey, it’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it. HA HA HA !
Since TV reception here is poor, I picked up some movie videos in the clubhouse library today. Tonight we watched Road To Perdition. Well ... that wasn't a particularly uplifting movie, was it ? ! ?
Monday ; This morning was sunny, mild, and windy. The afternoon was sunny and warm. This afternoon we went into the town of Hondo to buy a stamp and post a letter, and replenish groceries and supplies at Wal-Mart and H-E-B. Aw, gee ... the price of limes has increased from last year's price of 5¢ each to 7¢ each. Darn inflation ! HA HA HA ! Oh, well, maybe they'll be cheaper down in the Rio Grande Valley.
We went to this afternoon's social hour, which on Mondays is "with munchies". Joanne contributed our Texas shaped tortilla chips, and freshly made pico de gallo ( pronounced "peeko day gi yo" ), which we learned about last year in Baja California. Pico de gallo is like a tomato and onion salsa with lots of fresh cilantro. It's served as a garnish with most Mexican dishes in the Baja, and is particularly good with fish tacos. The first half hour of "social hour" was taken up with weekly announcements. And there's a lesson to be learned here by our apathetic neighbours in Riverside RV Park Resort back in Keremeos. This park has the same number of lots as Riverside. And, like Riverside, only about half are occupied at any given time. Nevertheless, there is an extremely active social calendar, the same as at all SKP parks, and indeed most "southern" RV parks we've been to, where many of the residents live for either six or twelve months of the year. In addition to the daily social hour, weekly ice cream social, and daily games sessions in the evenings, this park is preparing for a significant Veteran's Day ( Remembrance Day in Canada ) ceremony, they are a major sponsor / benefactor of the local women's shelter, they are preparing for a flea market, bake sale, and consignment yard sale to raise funds for their social activities, tomorrow morning is their "Welcome Back" coffee party to welcome back their residents who have been away for the summer, they prepare "gift baskets" for any of the residents' family members that are serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, they sponsor and host a Christmas Party for all grade 1 to 5 children at the local elementary school, the ladies' group goes out for dinner on a monthly basis ... and on and on ! On Thursday we will attend the park's Hallowe'en party. By the time "social hour" had ended we had been personally invited to attend both the weekly bingo game and the weekly bridge tournament. Is anybody out there at Riverside making notes ? ! ?
In the afternoon we took Bo for an obedience session, something we don't do often enough when we're travelling. He did excellently ! Well done, Bo, good dog ! As a reward, Joanne took him frog hunting on his bedtime walk, a newly discovered night time activity of his here in South Texas. HA HA HA !
Tuesday ; lunch at McBee's with God and The Law
Today was sunny and very warm. I slept late this morning and missed the Welcome Back coffee party. But we went to McBee's for lunch. When we were checking in to Lone Star Corral on Saturday the manager recommended the Tuesday lunch special at McBee's. McBee's is our favourite barbecue restaurant. Our favourite used to be Luther's in Lafayette, Louisiana, but Luther's has closed. The Tuesday lunch special at McBee's is two chopped barbecued brisket sandwiches for $5.00. With two drinks, potato salad, and taxes our bill was less than $10.00. Seated at the table to my left were four clergy, three men and a woman, having serious discussions about religious matters. At the table to my right were the Sheriff and three of his deputies. Remember ... this is South Texas cowboy country. The spectre of John Wayne looms large. The Sheriff was a tall, lean, middle aged man, wearing cowboy boots, jeans, and a checkered flannel shirt. On his head was a large, black cowboy hat ... which he did not remove for lunch. He wore a tooled leather belt with a large "cowboy" belt buckle. His silver Sheriff’s badge was clipped to the belt. Beside the badge was his holster, with a huge gun. Long, silver barrel protruding out the bottom of the holster. Large, decoratively engraved silver handle sticking out the top of the holster. No strap evident over the gun to hold it in the holster. Just yank it out and fire ! Welcome to Texas, y'all ! I can imagine the visual impact when he stops a vehicle for a traffic infraction, and steps up to the driver’s window, hands on his hips, badge and huge gun staring the driver in the face.
While Joanne took Bo for a long walk, I went to see a gentleman in the park who has badge making equipment, and had a "B.C. Okanagan Chapter 33" badge made for my Escapees name badge. Great, because I didn't know if and when I would have an opportunity to have that chapter badge made by the "Too Crazy Ladies", the RV based mobile name badge business that makes most of the Escapee name badges.
Joanne sanded and varnished a "road rash" mark on our sofa table which fell over while travelling recently. We removed all the heat registers and vacuumed inside the ducts, a semi-annual chore. We rotated the bed mattress, another semi-annual chore. Tougher job than it sounds, in the confined space of our bedroom.
Well, isn't that just ****ing wonderful ? ? ? ! ! ! The day after I sold all of our remaining U.S.$ investments, the stock market improved by over 10% today ! ! !
I missed social hour today to watch a crop duster spraying the farm field beside this RV park. WOW ... full throttle flying five feet off the ground, then a climb to 50 feet to make steep turns 180 degrees. What a way to make a living ! HMMM ... maybe I should look for a WorkCamper job as a crop duster pilot ? HA HA HA !
Tonight we watched "O Brother, Where Art Thou ?". What a weird, silly movie !
Wednesday ; Today was sunny and very warm. We had a somewhat lazy day, mostly due to both of us feeling mildly ill, with a stomach flu like illness, or perhaps a mild case of food poisoning. Joanne was more ill than me. If it was food poisoning, it was likely not from lunch at McBee's yesterday, because neither of us felt ill until this morning. Perhaps it was from the chicken I barbecued for supper last night, although I think it was more likely a stomach flu illness.
Joanne did some laundry. I worked on repairing a trailer "house" battery charging problem. I think I fixed it. I hope I fixed it ! I won't really be able to tell until we boondock again, likely not until January in Mexico. The trailer "house" battery is charging fine when we are hooked up to 120 volt AC service. But we discovered as we travelled from Keremeos to here, and were boondocking without 120 volt AC power frequently, that the trailer "house" battery was not recharging from the truck engine as we travel, as it should. Like most power systems in Harvey ( the trailer ), the battery charging system operates on both 120 volt AC and 12 volt DC. That makes isolating any electrical problem in an RV very difficult.
I did some more "Bangladesh refugee" clothes culling, moving some t-shirts from the "A" pile to the "B" pile, and discarding some from the "B" pile that were beyond redemption. Joanne does not permit me to go out in public wearing anything from the "B" pile. HA HA HA ! I also wrote another of my "dog tips" articles.
DSK
Thursday ; Today was sunny and warm. For the last two decades or so, the only brand of shoes I have worn is SAS, which stands for San Antonio Shoemakers. Yesterday I decided that being here in San Antonio was an opportunity to visit the SAS factory, take a tour, and maybe buy some shoes at a discount. SAS shoes are extremely expensive, but worth it, in my opinion. After lunch we drove into the city and found our way to the SAS factory. The tour lasted about an hour, and was quite interesting. To give credit where it's due, I suppose, the quality control in an American shoe factory is very high. The quality of both the materials and the workmanship is exceptional. After the tour, I purchased two pairs of shoes. The factory sales outlet sells only "seconds", at a considerable discount, but whatever cosmetic imperfections render them "seconds" are invisible to anyone other than their quality control personnel.
From SAS Shoes we went to the west side of downtown to visit Market Square, an area filled with Mexican arts, crafts, and gift stores. It was tough to find a street parking spot for a dually. Market Square is supposed to be a "touch of Mexico" in San Antonio. PHHHHHT ... not even close ! WAAAAAY too civilized ! No crowds, no congestion, everything laid out in an orderly fashion, no hawkers enticing you to enter with refrains of "almost free today, señor". OH ... and prices about twice as high as the asking prices in Mexico, which are about 50% higher than the selling price after "negotiating". So ... an item priced at $20 in San Antonio would be priced at about $10 in Mexico, and would probably sell for $6.50 or $7.00 !
On the way back to Hidden Valley RV Park we stopped at an H-E-B to buy some milk and cash a traveller's cheque at the bank outlet inside the grocery store. I was very angry, and did not hesitate to let that be known, to the bank teller trainee, her trainer, and her branch manager, when they did not advise me that there was a service charge for cashing a traveller's cheque, until the transaction was completed and they were counting out my cash. The trainer bore the brunt of my tirade.
Friday ; This morning was sunny and cool, but in the afternoon it became hot again.
During the early 18th century, the Spaniards established five missions in the San Antonio area. The first one was Misión San Antonio de Valero, a.k.a. The Alamo. Today we went to visit the second one, Misión San José . The five missions comprise the San Antonio Missions National Park. The National Parks Visitor Center is located at the site of Misión San José . As we arrived a Park Ranger was just starting a guided walking tour. We joined the guided walking tour. It was very interesting and informative. Joanne noticed that the American "spin" on the Spaniards' establishment of missions and their methods, is quite different than the Mexican "spin" on the same issues. We've previously visited Spanish missions in Mexico. Before we left we watched a short history movie in the Visitor Center's theatre. Us and about 120 high school kids from Mercedes, down in the Rio Grande Valley.
The heat and sun left us too tired to go see any of the other missions. We went to H-E-B to buy some groceries. Oh, boy ... Cajeta ice cream ! Joanne is HAPPY ! The only place we've ever found Cajeta ice cream in the United States is in H-E-B stores in South Texas. And to go along with the guacamole we bought today, we also bought ... wait for it ... Texas shaped tortilla chips. HA HA HA ! Welcome to Texas ! We stopped at Wal-Mart to buy orthotic inserts for my new SAS shoes, then refilled with diesel at Love’s, in preparation for departing San Antonio tomorrow. Joanne bought fajita seasoned chicken and fresh ( still warm ) tortillas at H-E-B, so, of course, we had chicken fajitas for supper. AHHHHH ... I say again ... welcome to Texas !
Saturday ; San Antonio to Hondo, Texas
I'm typing this at 6:30 P.M. at Lone Star Corral, the Escapee park near Hondo. I've just returned from walking the dog. The sun is still shining brightly. The temperature is 80 degrees. Birds are singing loudly as the sun gets low in the sky. AHHHHH ... what a beautiful day !
We left San Antonio this morning, using I-35 and I-410 to get through and around the city and onto Hwy. 90 heading west. We were closer to Hondo than I thought we were. We only drove for about an hour. We checked into Lone Star Corral. As soon as we were set up in our site, Joanne insisted that my priority was to dispose of the dead rat she found in our site. HMPH ... that's unusual ! The dead rat, I mean, not Joanne insisting that I get rid of it. HA HA HA ! We had lunch. I took a much deserved nap. I'm tired. We've driven a lot and haven't rested much since leaving home 19 days ago. We went to Lone Star Corral's afternoon "social hour", a daily occurrence in most SKP parks. We gave Bo a bath. I'm about to barbecue some "Texas style" beef ribs we bought yesterday. Well, actually, I'm about to barbecue one beef rib. I thought the package of three ribs I bought yesterday would make two meals, but Joanne realized when repackaging them with marinade that each rib was about a pound of meat, so one is more than enough to make a meal for the two of us. What Texas defines as a beef rib, we would normally call a rib eye steak.
WOW ... KEWL ! ! ! I carried the laundry hamper to the laundromat in the clubhouse building for Joanne. As I was returning to the trailer, I saw a small lizard on the brick wall of the building. It was noticeable because of its bright orange colour. It was on the wall underneath a bright orange light on the corner of the building. When I looked closely at it, it scurried away to a darker section of the brick wall, and instantly turned itself to the colour of the brick. HEY ... a chameleon ! I went back into the laundromat to get Joanne to come out and see it. As we were both looking at it, it scurried over the bricks and took refuge underneath a window sill, where there was no light, and it turned itself almost black.
Sunday ; Today was cloudy, warm, and humid in the morning, sunny, hot, and humid in the afternoon. This morning I puttered around with some minor maintenance chores, exchanged some books at the park's library, then took all of our unwanted / no longer needed items to the park's bargain table. We've been waiting for an opportunity to leave items on a bargain table. All SKP parks have a bargain table, but we've rarely seen one at other RV parks. We had a sizeable collection of items for the bargain table, and books to be exchanged. We trimmed Teddy's and Bo's nails. We went for a long walk with Bo. Oh boy, the farm next door to this RV park has goats, chickens, and horses for Bo to bark at.
After lunch we went to the town of D'Hanis, a couple of miles west, to wash over 5000 km. / 3000 mi. of road grime off the truck. Lone Star Corral does not allow vehicle washing in the RV park. And, of course, we did not have quite enough American quarters for the coin operated car wash ( sigh ). Back at the RV Park I went on a pants sorting and discarding spree, throwing out many pairs of pants and shorts that were well beyond their "best before" date. Wearing clothes for too long is a bad habit of mine. Recently Joanne complained, after looking at what I was wearing, that I looked like a Bangladesh refugee wearing a Rolex watch.
We went to Lone Star Corral's Sunday afternoon ice cream social, a weekly event at all SKP parks. We ate ice cream while chatting with a couple from Michigan who are on their way down to the Rio Grande Valley. We discussed investments, and the current stock market problems. It was discouraging to learn that they lost about half the value of their investments in the stock market declines of 2001, and had not yet fully recovered back to where they once were before the 2008 stock market problems hit. So, once again, their investment values are about half of what they were prior to 2001. Not very encouraging at all, for those of us who have lost one third to one half of our investments in the last couple of months. I'm pretty worried !
Joanne made gumbo for supper, using one of the new gumbo mixes we bought a couple of days ago in San Antonio. We need about half a dozen boxes of gumbo mix for the Escapees B.C. Okanagan Chapter 33 Spring Rally we are hosting next May, and our favourite brand of gumbo mix, Crawfish-Man's, is only available in Louisiana. We had asked some friends of ours who were planning to travel through Louisiana this winter to get us some, but their plans recently changed and they won't be going to Louisiana. So we are evaluating different brands of gumbo mixes. Hey, it’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it. HA HA HA !
Since TV reception here is poor, I picked up some movie videos in the clubhouse library today. Tonight we watched Road To Perdition. Well ... that wasn't a particularly uplifting movie, was it ? ! ?
Monday ; This morning was sunny, mild, and windy. The afternoon was sunny and warm. This afternoon we went into the town of Hondo to buy a stamp and post a letter, and replenish groceries and supplies at Wal-Mart and H-E-B. Aw, gee ... the price of limes has increased from last year's price of 5¢ each to 7¢ each. Darn inflation ! HA HA HA ! Oh, well, maybe they'll be cheaper down in the Rio Grande Valley.
We went to this afternoon's social hour, which on Mondays is "with munchies". Joanne contributed our Texas shaped tortilla chips, and freshly made pico de gallo ( pronounced "peeko day gi yo" ), which we learned about last year in Baja California. Pico de gallo is like a tomato and onion salsa with lots of fresh cilantro. It's served as a garnish with most Mexican dishes in the Baja, and is particularly good with fish tacos. The first half hour of "social hour" was taken up with weekly announcements. And there's a lesson to be learned here by our apathetic neighbours in Riverside RV Park Resort back in Keremeos. This park has the same number of lots as Riverside. And, like Riverside, only about half are occupied at any given time. Nevertheless, there is an extremely active social calendar, the same as at all SKP parks, and indeed most "southern" RV parks we've been to, where many of the residents live for either six or twelve months of the year. In addition to the daily social hour, weekly ice cream social, and daily games sessions in the evenings, this park is preparing for a significant Veteran's Day ( Remembrance Day in Canada ) ceremony, they are a major sponsor / benefactor of the local women's shelter, they are preparing for a flea market, bake sale, and consignment yard sale to raise funds for their social activities, tomorrow morning is their "Welcome Back" coffee party to welcome back their residents who have been away for the summer, they prepare "gift baskets" for any of the residents' family members that are serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, they sponsor and host a Christmas Party for all grade 1 to 5 children at the local elementary school, the ladies' group goes out for dinner on a monthly basis ... and on and on ! On Thursday we will attend the park's Hallowe'en party. By the time "social hour" had ended we had been personally invited to attend both the weekly bingo game and the weekly bridge tournament. Is anybody out there at Riverside making notes ? ! ?
In the afternoon we took Bo for an obedience session, something we don't do often enough when we're travelling. He did excellently ! Well done, Bo, good dog ! As a reward, Joanne took him frog hunting on his bedtime walk, a newly discovered night time activity of his here in South Texas. HA HA HA !
Tuesday ; lunch at McBee's with God and The Law
Today was sunny and very warm. I slept late this morning and missed the Welcome Back coffee party. But we went to McBee's for lunch. When we were checking in to Lone Star Corral on Saturday the manager recommended the Tuesday lunch special at McBee's. McBee's is our favourite barbecue restaurant. Our favourite used to be Luther's in Lafayette, Louisiana, but Luther's has closed. The Tuesday lunch special at McBee's is two chopped barbecued brisket sandwiches for $5.00. With two drinks, potato salad, and taxes our bill was less than $10.00. Seated at the table to my left were four clergy, three men and a woman, having serious discussions about religious matters. At the table to my right were the Sheriff and three of his deputies. Remember ... this is South Texas cowboy country. The spectre of John Wayne looms large. The Sheriff was a tall, lean, middle aged man, wearing cowboy boots, jeans, and a checkered flannel shirt. On his head was a large, black cowboy hat ... which he did not remove for lunch. He wore a tooled leather belt with a large "cowboy" belt buckle. His silver Sheriff’s badge was clipped to the belt. Beside the badge was his holster, with a huge gun. Long, silver barrel protruding out the bottom of the holster. Large, decoratively engraved silver handle sticking out the top of the holster. No strap evident over the gun to hold it in the holster. Just yank it out and fire ! Welcome to Texas, y'all ! I can imagine the visual impact when he stops a vehicle for a traffic infraction, and steps up to the driver’s window, hands on his hips, badge and huge gun staring the driver in the face.
While Joanne took Bo for a long walk, I went to see a gentleman in the park who has badge making equipment, and had a "B.C. Okanagan Chapter 33" badge made for my Escapees name badge. Great, because I didn't know if and when I would have an opportunity to have that chapter badge made by the "Too Crazy Ladies", the RV based mobile name badge business that makes most of the Escapee name badges.
Joanne sanded and varnished a "road rash" mark on our sofa table which fell over while travelling recently. We removed all the heat registers and vacuumed inside the ducts, a semi-annual chore. We rotated the bed mattress, another semi-annual chore. Tougher job than it sounds, in the confined space of our bedroom.
Well, isn't that just ****ing wonderful ? ? ? ! ! ! The day after I sold all of our remaining U.S.$ investments, the stock market improved by over 10% today ! ! !
I missed social hour today to watch a crop duster spraying the farm field beside this RV park. WOW ... full throttle flying five feet off the ground, then a climb to 50 feet to make steep turns 180 degrees. What a way to make a living ! HMMM ... maybe I should look for a WorkCamper job as a crop duster pilot ? HA HA HA !
Tonight we watched "O Brother, Where Art Thou ?". What a weird, silly movie !
Wednesday ; Today was sunny and very warm. We had a somewhat lazy day, mostly due to both of us feeling mildly ill, with a stomach flu like illness, or perhaps a mild case of food poisoning. Joanne was more ill than me. If it was food poisoning, it was likely not from lunch at McBee's yesterday, because neither of us felt ill until this morning. Perhaps it was from the chicken I barbecued for supper last night, although I think it was more likely a stomach flu illness.
Joanne did some laundry. I worked on repairing a trailer "house" battery charging problem. I think I fixed it. I hope I fixed it ! I won't really be able to tell until we boondock again, likely not until January in Mexico. The trailer "house" battery is charging fine when we are hooked up to 120 volt AC service. But we discovered as we travelled from Keremeos to here, and were boondocking without 120 volt AC power frequently, that the trailer "house" battery was not recharging from the truck engine as we travel, as it should. Like most power systems in Harvey ( the trailer ), the battery charging system operates on both 120 volt AC and 12 volt DC. That makes isolating any electrical problem in an RV very difficult.
I did some more "Bangladesh refugee" clothes culling, moving some t-shirts from the "A" pile to the "B" pile, and discarding some from the "B" pile that were beyond redemption. Joanne does not permit me to go out in public wearing anything from the "B" pile. HA HA HA ! I also wrote another of my "dog tips" articles.
DSK
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