Last Post for a Week or So

Am heading out tomorrow morning. Can't wait.

Was awakened this am about 4 with high winds and the awning jerking. So, roll out of bed, put on some clothing, stumble outside with the awning hook, let awning roll up, back inside, back into bed. An hour later, still awake, rig jerking with wind.

So, am up. It's not particularly cold, though it's 20 deg cooler than yesterday, when it hit 93!!! Hooray for air conditioning. Today's high should be about 71 but 30 mph winds. Hope it doesn't kick off the allergies (took an antihistamine just in case). Supposed to be calmer tomorrow, in the low 70s. If true, will be a perfect travel day.

A long one, though, as I'm aiming to cover almost 400 miles, to stay at the Escapees Park in Livingston TX. Have already had an email welcome from the officials, and an RVW Fulltimer who's already there and saw my post on the yahoo group. All I have to do is fend off the indiscriminate huggers.

There are people I love to hug (a couple of guys I know are really great huggers). There are people I don't mind hugging. There are also people I will tolerate hugging from. None of these people are strangers. I don't like to hug strangers -- who knows where they've been? And if they'll hug strange people, who knows what else strange they might hug?

So a cordial (stiff-armed) handshake will have to do them.

But I'm looking forward to hugs when I get back "home" -- y'all take note.

Kilgore Trout Has Left the Building

RIP Philip Jose Farmer.

Geography & Bliss

Just finished reading The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner. And I found it very interesting, indeed. He was an NPR reporter for many years in many places around the world and in the States. He's also a self-professed grump (and hypochondriac and neurotic, as becomes quite evident during the book). So he discovered there was something called the Database of Happiness, which amassed studies on which peoples are the happiest, he had to investigate.

He characterized happiness in: The Netherlands (a number); Switzerland (boredom); Bhutan (a policy); Qatar (a winning lottery ticket); Iceland (failure); Moldova (somewhere else); Thailand (not thinking); Great Britain (a work in progress); India (a contradiction); and America (home). Of course, he explains what he finds out in each place.

He also discusses geographic misfits, people who were born one place but never felt they fit in there and eventually found "their place." When he talks about Asheville NC, near the very end of the book, he asks Laurey Masterton if Asheville is home and she says she supposes so, she's been there 20 years. But when he asks where she wants to die, she replies with no hesitation, In Vermont, where I grew up.

Part of what I'm doing on the road is finding out whether "my" place is still out there or whether I've already found it and won't acknowledge it. When I got off the train in Edinburgh Scotland, I immediately felt like I was home. Maybe that's my place.

He also delves into what constitutes happiness: lack of envy, trust, connections, ability to let things go, and more.

A very good and interesting book.

Too Hot

I mean, 90 deg. in February is sort of obscene, isn't it? I think so.

Am being the "cat lady" until I leave. Betty and Miss Dorothy, her mother, have gone off to Denver for a week or two. So twice a day I meander over to the big house, feed and water the cats, clean litter boxes, clean up any floor mishaps, etc etc. Am also watering a large collection of plants, some placed in their pots in holes outside and some in pots in the garage, including tomatos. We know I'm not a plant person so I'm just being semi-lavish with the water and hoping for the best.

The night temps have come up, too, to the mid-50s. It was 21 deg. night before last so at least our water pipes aren't freezing. But 10-15 deg. cooler would be fine by me.

It is baking the congestion out of me so I feel some better in that respect, but I really don't like to sweat, you know.

More or Less To Do

So now the camera is acting up. I took it out to take pics of the fridge access opening to send to the guy I got the new door from (more on this later) and the lens stuck halfway open. I got a beep and an error message "Lens error . . . restart camera". Well, the only way I know to restart the camera is push the on/off button. Which had no effect at all. Went into the manual and it said, the lens won't retract because the chip compartment door was opened while the camera was on. So, restart the camera and all should be well. Which it ain't.

So JR took the pix of the access door and emailed them to me. However, it seems that I did all my transactions with them by phone (I was in Killeen and they're in Austin) so I don't have them in my emails. Turns out that while the new door w/frame fits the overall area, the inside frame on the new door is square and won't fit into my rounded corner opening. I remember telling the guy it has rounded corners, and he said he knew just the right door. Un huh.

Anyhow, I've got to dig into December's receipts to get their phone, address, etc., and may make that my first stop on the way home. It'll delay me by a day but it'll be worth it if I can get satisfaction. They said "no refunds on special orders" but I don't want a refund, I just want the right door.

Attack of the junipers is down to spasmodic hacking cough and occasional drippy nose. The fever has finally passed off and the sinuses are mostly clear. Progress.

Thurs, Fri, Sat, I get to take care of the 20 or so cats at the main house, including giving one some medicine in her food. Must be sure to pick out the right cat. That's my last job here.

To Do List

One short week before I start heading east and I have lots to do. I still need to crawl under the camper and attempt, once again, to putty the black water tank. I think I've discovered where the leak is, for real. It's more of a seep, fortunately, so stuff isn't pouring out.

I also need to put the new access door on, which means figuring out how to get the old one off. There are no obvious screws so JR and I are going to ponder it.

Then there's the little stuff -- wash clothes, wash windows (not cleaned in two months and it would be nice to see out the windshield), clean floors, return borrowed stuff, etc etc. Then stow all and hop in the front seat, crank 'er up, and go.

First stop planned is at the Escapees Park in Livingston TX, 375 miles from here. It'll be a long day but I really want to check the place out. I've joined already. Then it's on toward Mobile and then up through AL, GA and SC to Davidson at Diana's overnight, then on to Asheville.

See y'all in about two weeks!

Oh yeah, the "cedar" putting out all the pollen is actually a juniper bush. Why they call it cedar, no one seems to know. Whatever.

Hack hack cough cough sneeze sneeze drip drip

moan moan whine whine

Recent Deaders

Patrick McGoohan, actor, most notably in The Prisoner.

Blossom Dearie, jazz singer, formed the vocal group The Blue Stars in the 1950s, which evolved into The Swingle Singers; main claim to fame was a 1962 radio ad for Hires Root Beer. Not that I like her voice, just her name.

Louie Bellson (stage name of Luigi Paulino Alfredo Francesco Antonio Balassoni), the best drummer you've probably never heard of. Big Band, mostly. Married to Pearl Bailey, singer and actress, for almost 40 years.

Cedar Pollen

So here I am, totally clogged up, drippy nose, slight sore throat, itchy eyes. Everybody says it's the cedars. I haven't yet found out exactly what they mean by "cedar." Is it the tall, stately tree? Is it some kind of indigenous bush? Whatever it is, I've been battling this allergy ever since I got here. But today is the worst. JR's been dealing with an attack for the past four days and seems to be over it, but I got it.

The Tucson area has its own allergen, but it's a "fever" type called Valley Fever, which affects most people with a short flu-like attack and then goes dormant in your body (usually leaves a small smudge or two on your lungs). It can be deadly. I never had allergies of any kind until I moved to Tucson in late 1970. Ever since then, I have allergies everywhere I go.

Not fair.

An order of jewelry for the store has come in so now I have something to do -- now that I'm having a hard time reading and with nose dripping all the time.

Start back a week from Sunday. Expect to roll into Asheville on the 7th (the following Sunday).

Weather

After a nice rainy day yesterday, we had a nice misty start to the day.


And I got a nice atmospheric shot of Seven Bluff, looking from the entrance to the campground.


Now, however, it's turned bright and hot, too hot (84 deg). I was sitting out at the picnic table by my rig doing a little project when my back began to burn and sweat began rolling down my face. Time to go inside in the coolth and drink liquid things.

Rain!

It's finally finally raining. Not a big rainstorm, you understand, just a little rain that started about 3pm, after being misty, cool, and overcast all day. It's not 6pm and it's mostly quit but all is nicely damp. Hope we get more -- the area is dry as a bone and a burn ban is in effect.

Two weeks and I'm pulling out.

Fog Paint

So I painted a wall, several shelves, and a shelving unit today. Did I manage to get some on me? Of course I did (world's messiest painter, remember). I even got some in my hair but as it was a color called Gray Fog, who could tell? This was when I was rolling around on the floor under the shelf unit, with a paintbrush in one hand, a wide putty knife in the other, trying not to get paint on the carpet. At times, I was painting lefthanded -- very carefully.

Anyhow, it's done. Tomorrow I'll put everything back on the shelves.

JR and I are making a run to town for some groceries as soon as he takes a shower.

TTFN

Singing Dinner

Tonight JR and I got taken to dinner by the Fergusons, our bosses. We went to the Frio Restaurant in Leakey (pronounced Lakey), just up the road 15 miles. Some friends of theirs played live music during the evening. Russell Clepper (very tall, very skinny, long hair, one wandering eye, lots of teeth), former English teacher who threw it up to become a singer / songwriter; his daughter Emilie (tall, thin, lots of teeth), from Quebec, also a singer/songwriter. There was another guy (short, chunky, hairy) whose name I didn't catch who played acoustic bass and sang in a sort of high, pinched-frog voice, and another woman (Amy -- fat, lovely face, maybe hispanic) who sang harmony -- a beautiful voice. Turns out she trained to be an opera singer but gave it up for country singing. Betty and Don Ferguson really like their music. Everybody sang along when they knew the song. I thought it was all nice, but we got there at 6pm and didn't leave until 10pm, so it was an hour too long for me. One old song they did was "Long Black Veil" -- a nice rendition. I complimented Russell on that song specially and said he should do more like it, and top it off with "Wolverton Mountain" just for fun.

Food was good. I had potato-wrapped shrimp appetizer with a mango/ginger dipping sauce, a salad w/raspberry vinaigrette dressing, and a roast beef sandwich. Merlot was the drink. JR was pleased to find real country-fried steak on the menu -- he ate everything but the green beans & roasted red peppers (which I ate). Veges are an afterthought or omission frequently in this area. I mean, I don't consider onion rings a vegetable.

All in all, a pleasant evening. Tomorrow, I paint.

Spooky

I don't feel too well today. You don't suppose it's because its Friday the 13th, do you?

Nah.

What I had for supper last night just isn't agreeing with me. It'll be over soon.

Whack Prune

I got the job of pruning or cutting back sundry plants around the place. Now, I'm no kind of gardener or plant person so it was an act of faith on Betty's part to put me in charge of loppers and pruners. I whacked away at what looked dead and cut back other things. Probably killed them all though desert plants are notoriously hardy.

Of course, one of the plants cut back so I had to trudge off to home and wipe off blood, put on bandaid, change shirt so I could put bloody one in cold water to soak. Also, it was 82 deg. and sunny today, so when the sweat started running down my face, I quit. No sense getting heat stroke. Got in the shade and drank liquid -- still took about an hour to cool off.

Sunday I get to paint a wall and some shelves in the store. That ought to be fun as I'm one of the world's messiest painters. I was about to donate my paint-spattered jeans but retrieved them for this job. Hope never to have to paint again.

Dancing in Style

One of the common styles I saw at the Waco dances was what I call the "headlock." Fortunately, nobody tried it on me. It consists of the guy's right arm draped over the gal's left shoulder and sometimes it extends all the way to her right shoulder blade. Her left arm comes up under his right to hang onto his shoulder. So all you can see of her is some hair because her face is smooshed into his right shoulder. And they don't touch from there down, so it's a sort of triangular effect. Looks very uncomfortable for the woman.

Then there is the "tag team wrestler" style, only seen from one couple. Let's start with the guy: he's about 5'4" and has a dowager hump (we find out why later). She's about 5'5" or 5'6", a trifle plump. Both wear blue t-shirts and jeans; he wears sneakers; she wears glittery strappy sandals with a 1" heel. Okay, here's the dancing position:

He wraps both his arms around her waist. She wraps her right arm around his neck all the way to his left shoulder and bends her left arm so her left hand can cover the side of his head and ear (this means he's got a lot of weight across his shoulders, hence the hump, and his face is buried under her neck).

Now imagine them bouncing around the dance floor to their own internal beat -- never mind the actual music that's playing. Occasionally, she'll kick one of her feet up. And they're having a good time. It's weirdly mesmerizing. But I wouldn't call it dancing.

Waco Pix

This is JR and Gloria on Sunday morning.



These are two of Gloria's newest puppies (Chihuahuas) -- I mean, one of her dog's puppies.
These statues are great! They're meant to symbolize the herds that used the Brazos River Toll Bridge to cross. There's absolutely no information about who the sculptor is.


Nice atmospheric shot of the west end of the tollbridge. You can see the east end in the lower left.
And this is me taking the bull by the horns.

Waco Wrocks!

Left here Thurs. about 3pm and rolled into Gloria's yard about 9pm. She's JR's friend whom he met when he worked at the North Waco KOA a few years ago. She actually lives in Gholson, a town of about 650 east of Waco about 10 miles. She is two years older than I am, widowed with three grown sons, breeds paint horses and sells the foals, breeds chihuahuas, has an English bulldog to stud. A real Texas good ol' girl.

Friday we puttered around Waco, doing errands and such. That evening, it was off to a nearby American Legion Hall for a country dance. Linoleum dance floor, two-piece band who didn't play near enough "real" country songs. Lots of the TASA (Texas Assn. Single Adults) make the rounds of dances every week. Turnout here was not too good. The bar was in a separate room and had a bar so high that when you sat in a bar chair, the bartop was at shoulder level -- it was like being in a courtroom looking up at the judge, er, bartender.

Saturday we went to some thrift stores and a flea market. Many Hispanic vendors at the flea market with some amazingly gaudy stuff, like lime green lizard boots with toes so long that they turned up, like elf shoes. That night, off to Geneva Hall in Elm Mott TX. Twice as big as the Am.Legion, wooden dance floor, real band that played good stuff. Big crowd. Fun.

One of the standard things is a "chair dance." A chair is placed at each end of the floor, women line up there, a man comes along and seizes the next in line, dances her to the other end, releases her and grabs the waiting one. I did that once, and danced with JR a couple of times and with a few others whom Gloria knew (she's a TASA). Knees held up okay though they did feel a little warm and aspirin was on the menu for later.

Sunday I got a tour of Waco: Baylor University, Old Toll Bridge across the Brazos River, Texas Ranger Museum, etc etc. I'll do a separate post of just pictures. That evening we were off to the VFW in Hewitt TX. Not too big, concrete floor, lots of people, cold inside and 40mph wind outside, good band but they kept playing stuff that was too fast or too slow or not country.

About an hour in, I hit my "people/noise/sensory" overload and went and sat in the car, enjoying the solitude and quiet. I did go back in once to retry but it was no good, I couldn't stand it. I tried to explain to Miss May, doyenne of TASA, but she wanted to know what happened to make me so sour on people and so unhappy. No, I said, I like people, really! And I'm a pretty happy person. I just get overwhelmed and need to be alone.

JR and I left about 9am this morning and rolled back in here about 3:30. There had been some heavy rain from Waco to Austin, but none of it got here. We didn't talk much on the way. I had a good time and enjoyed myself. Gloria was great in her own inimitable way, and she and JR make a nice couple. Now I have to recuperate from all those people.

Tools & Such

On the WM run Friday, I picked up two toolboxes, cheapie plastic ones (the next ones up in quality were four times as much money). I've been putting extra tools in the passenger footwell so I thought I'd get organized.

So yesterday after work, I got out the two new boxes and hauled out the heavy Craftsman box. Looked in the glovebox and hauled out a paintbrush, an odd-looking wrench thingy, fuses, bulbs (little guys for auto), tape measure, etc. Decided to leave the tire gauges in the glovebox along with spare keys and a few other oddments.

I now have a plastic box with all electrical stuff: testing meter, bulbs, fuses, cords, etc.

I have another box with miscellany: tape measure, box cutter (a spare went into elec. box), roll of floral twist ties, can of lithium grease, and more.

The big box has all the screwdrivers, wrenches, hammers, nails/screws, and the like.

All three boxes stack neatly in the footwell, so the big box won't go back in its cubbyhole on the driver side. This is a good thing as I'm always looking for weight to put on the passenger side. The design of this rig puts all the heavy stuff on the driver side (except for the fridge) -- pantry, two bins of permanent library books, entertainment bin, office equip. bin, holding tank, and me in the driver seat (hundreds of pounds!). The passenger side (without the toolboxes) had the map/directory suitcase, couch, fridge, kitchen sink, and clothing bins -- not enough weight to counter the other side). The big toolbox weighs about 30# all by itself.

When I get to Asheville, I'm going to use those Space Bags to see if I can eliminate some bins of clothing and linens to lessen the weight some more. Sad to say, books don't compress.

Today is cleaning day for both me and inside the rig. Am holding off on laundry so that I'll have more choice when it comes time to pack for the exciting weekend coming up. It occurs to me that if I can go for 3-4 weeks before having to do laundry, I have too many clothes. But I knew that already.

TTFN