Photo Day

This photo shows my rig at the end of the row, looking across the road toward the beach. Even though it's foggy, overcast, etc. I walked across the road to the beach and shot a few photos. We'll probably be holed up come Sunday as it'll get cold and windy, but still not like Kansas.It's hard to see but this last photo shows gulls sitting on top of the posts. There's also a lagoon east of the campground but it's pretty boring-looking right now.

The only drawback to this place is that there's nothing within walking distance (except the beach); it's a purely residential area. However, Harold (of the schoolbus) has said I can go with them to town for groceries etc. He's a hoot: 71, married, living in a converted schoolbus, ex-truck driver, ex-commercial fisherman in Hawaii, ex-commercial fisherman in Alaska, all-around handyman type -- and that's all I've learned in one day.

More later

Oceanside Yes

I could finally see the water, once the heavy fog burned off about noon. There's also a lagoon behind the RV park. It was quite warm and humid today, too. Unfortunately, it's supposed to turn really cold after tomorrow and then do a slow warm-up. It's still better than Kansas, believe me.

Mail can be sent to me at:

Oceanside RV Park
1162 Ocean Dr.
Port Lavaca TX 77979

I'll be here until the 31st or the 1st.

I'm hoping to get some nice moody pictures at the beach, assuming I don't freeze my buns off.

Happiest of holidays to everybody.

Ah, Sunny Texas

Well, not exactly. When I left Killeen Weds. am it was misty, cold, and there was ice on the windshield and side mirrors. Nasty and cold all the way to Houston, though not as cold as Killeen. This am when I left Houston, it was cool and very foggy. The closer I got to Port Lavaca the foggier it got. I arrived at my funky little campground in Magnolia Beach about 4pm and, though I knew the ocean was just across the road, it was invisible because of fog. It's supposed to clear up tomorrow, at least for a few days.

The campground is funky, as I say, concrete slabs for the rigs (which means level), but bare dirt/sand otherwise. However, amenities include 50/30 amp power, water, sewer line, wifi, satellite tv, laundry, and maybe other things I don't know about yet. The owners weren't here when I arrived but had alerted a camper to watch out for me and help me get set up, which he did (Harold) and another camper (Harold) came over to supervise (no Darryl, though).

Had a great time in Houston visiting a woman I'd last seen in Italy in 1959 when we both attended the Livorno Camp Darby High School. We looked at yearbooks and other photos and played "do you remember?" and it was fun. They took me out for a great dinner at the Red Balloon Cafe, and this morning her husband made me two terrific cappucinos. I'm going to try to make the next reunion near Portland OR in Oct. 09.

Plan to haul out the camera and play beach bum for the next two weeks. Commiserations gracefully accepted.

Escaping Kansas

I had planned to leave on Sunday (less traffic etc) but I was sitting around on Sat. am listening to the 40mph winds rocking the rig, 40 deg outside, with the promise of a huge ice storm coming in Sun eve. Why, I said, am I still here? One hour later I was on the road.

About 6pm, dark, windy, I was approaching Atoka OK when the engine suddenly quit (lights still on, radio playing). I managed to steer far over on the shoulder and shut everything down. I cranked it twice but it wouldn't fire. Great, I said to myself, time to call Good Sam Emergency Roadside Assistance.

Good idea, except the card I had in my wallet was only the "sample" card without my account number. Fortunately, I had charged the cellphone so I called Mary-Anne, gave her passwords so she could access my email, she went online to Good Sam, told them I'd lost my password so they sent an email, which she got, and used that password to get into Good Sam ERS to get my account number. Whew!

Anyhow, a tow truck eventually came and towed me off to an RV "park" in Atoka OK. The driver knew a good mechanic and called him, and he'd be out on Sun. morn to see if the fix would be something simple. I thought something had come loose because of the way it just quit in mid-everything, no stuttering or stammering. Sure enough, the coil wire was loose, a one-minute fix. I wasn't about to get out there in the dark with semis whizzing by 3 ft away, and I'm not sure I would have recognized the problem anyway. But I will now.

Anyway, he fixed it and I was on the road once again about noon. Nice folk in Atoka. Total cost to me was $12 for the RV spot and $30 for the mechanic. Made it to my friends' house in Killeen TX about 7.30pm, nice and warm. However, overnight the edge of that big storm has reached here and it's gray, windy, and chilly. It's supposed to be 78 deg in Houston by Thursday so it's not going to last long. And that means my "vacation" in Magnolia Beach, Port Lavaca, will be great.

So that's where I'll be for xmas and new year's. Then it's off to Seven Bluffs Cabins & RVs near Concan TX, in the hill country west of San Antonio, for Jan & Feb. workamping 20 hrs/wk for a full hookup site.

All's well that ends well.

Porn or Not Porm?

Well, it's moot now.

Betty Page has died.

White Night

This means it's 5.30 in the a.m. and I've only managed to sleep two hours. Will probably head back to bed soon. I think "white night" came from the far northern climes, like Russia, where it stays light all night and makes it difficult to sleep.

Am leaving here Sunday, just before another cold spell. Hooray! If all goes as planned, I'll be heading to Port Lavaca TX for a week or so, then off to the boonies of Texas Hill Country for two months, which means I'll have a mailing address. Apologies if I've said all this already. I'm a little punchy at this point.

Maybe I should talk about the porn I've been investigating on the internet. It's everywhere and 99% of it seems to be of women being abused, tied up, whipped, gagged, hot candle wax, gang rape, and so forth and so on. Praise is heaped on these women for being "able to take it," have screaming orgasms, and smile at the end. Plus, they're all shaved (pubically, I mean) so they hardly look like adults (and the itch! unless you shave every day).

It's certainly not erotic or sexy to me and has a damping effect on my own imagination, which is disconcerting but not unexpected. So, I'll abandon that line of investigation and look into something more interesting, say, butterflies or kitties or flowers.

Today the sun is out!! Yesterday was gray and sleety with high winds. It's still cold but the sunshine looks warm.

Out of boredom yesterday, I turned the pantry door upside down and rehung it. What?? they say. Okay, here's the deal. The latch was on the right, opening into the living area (it was originally meant to be a closet), so every time I wanted to get something to cook or eat, I had to step around the heater, open the door, get the stuff out, and then close the door before I could go back into the kitchen area.

So, I unscrewed the hinges from the wall, and unscrewed the latch, turned the whole thing upside down, and put the hinges on the right side and the latch on the left. So now I can just open the door and get stuff out while standing in the kitchen. I'm so clever. Of course, I've been meaning to do this ever since I got the rig, but what's a few months among friends. Right?

The Lindas have been delayed getting back by problems with their rig, so I'm still sitting in the midddle of nothingness, all by myself, with their stuff piled around my rig, like a motorcycle and foam inserts for their slideout floors and coolers and what looks like an industrial weedeater (but probably isn't). Yep, poor white trash is us.

Am vaguely planning to be in the Port Lavaca TX area over the holidays. Warm. After that, who knows.