Happy Birthday Zach #12, Feb 26, 2011

Happy Birthday to our grandson, Zach. He is currently having fun in Hawaii.

Your Grandma and Grandpa love you very much!

To Hondo, Norcold Recall, and meeting new friends, Feb 24, 2011

On Wednesday we left Retama Village temporarily, we will be back in early March.  About six weeks ago we had made arrangements for Matthews RV Repair to perform our Norcold recall, so when we arrived at the Lone Star Corral Escapees Park in Hondo, where Murphy and Lisa of Matthews RV Repair lives, the recall kit was waiting for us.  Thursday afternoon the recall repair was performed.

This is the part they installed, a high temperature sensor.

While at the park, we also met some blog friends who are currently the managers at the Lone Star Corral RV Park.  Ron and Ali just arrived a week ago, so our timing to get to meet them was perfect.

They joined us for dinner, we had a great time getting to know them better. Even found out that Ali grew up just a few miles from where we lived near Sacramento.  We also had the same design on our travel (business) cards, had a good laugh on that one.

Spending time at Retama Village, Feb 16-23, 2011

Here we are parked at one of their (Retama Village) sites. They have several sites where prospective buyers and in our case buyers are allowed to park for free.

This is the clubhouse, you see it first when you drive in the park.

Above, I am checking out our ‘dirt’ and below we are watching the world go by on our lot.

We also found an area where you can have a small garden, although from what I saw up close I am not sure who wins you or the bugs. But should be fun trying.

One day we took a walk over next door Bentsen Palms RV Park. You sure can tell we have not worn shorts or short sleeves for a long time – don’t get blinded by the white legs and arms!

We felt very honored to be the first dinner guests in Roger and Dianne’s new coach house.

Retama Village, Mission, TX, Feb 14-15, 2011

From the moment we drove into Retama Village on Sunday to visit Roger and Dianne, we were falling in love with this place. Nice wide streets, large lots, birds singing and lots of green space.

On Monday we drove the three miles from where we were staying to look at the park again. Also stopped in the sales office to find out the latest about Retama Village. You know that is dangerous!! We met with Bill who told us the history of this 55+ community and were immediately sold, this would be a nice place for us. We left with the understanding we would be back tomorrow morning to finalize the paperwork!! YES, WE DID IT!! We bought a lot.

Our lot is to the left of this existing RV and Coach House. The owners of that existing lot are our friends Roger and Dianne, the blog friends we visited on Sunday. Our lot backs up to a large open area with trees and birds. The lots are large 45’ x 96’ with a concrete pad of 30’x 80’ and comes with a 20’ x 24’ Coach house, plumbed for water and sewer. You can finish out the inside anyway you like. Dianne and Roger are just about finished with their interior build out, they did a wonderful job of putting on the hat of interior designers, so exciting.

We are pointing to OUR LOT! The red dots are Phase I, we are in Phase II.

With plans to have Roger and Dianne over on Tuesday night already in place, it seemed the perfect time to toast them as being our new neighbors. After the toast Bob made it took a moment for what he said to sink in, then it was celebration time! Our dinner at El Tio Chuy was excellent, then back to the coach for some Chocolate Zucchini cake.

So, our immediate plans have changed some. On Thursday, we are moving the RV down to Retama Village to an unsold finished site until next Wednesday, then heading out towards Dallas (McKinney) to have MCD do their magic with our blinds and also have our Norcold recall done in Hondo. After that heading back down to Retama Village until our lot is ready for closing on March 31st.

We made it to Mission, TX, Feb 12-13, 2011

Yes, the temperature are finally warmer, but from what I heard they were cold here (ice storm cold), last week too.

We fueled up at a Flying J, had to wiggle into their snug RV pumps. Even with a 3 cents per gallon discount for using their Rewards Card, the $3.46 was still .28 cents higher than we paid in late January, don’t like this trend.

We always manage to find road construction on our route, sometimes our planned route has a barricade across saying follow a detour, that is when it can get interesting.

Another mission of our going to Mission Tx was to visit some long time (five years) blog friends (Facebook too), Dianne and Roger N. Their blog is Travel with Whippets. Last year they purchased an RV lot at Retama Village, this year they are finishing out the interior of the included with the lot and concrete pad, coach house. So, on Sunday afternoon, we drove down to meet them. What a wonderful visit! Seemed like we had known them forever. Guess that is what blogging is all about!

Monday, we went shopping at a local Mexican grocery store and we found it! It being LaAnita Chile Habanero sauce for our daughter Jenny and her family. They love it!!

Cold day in Palacios, Feb 10, 2011

It was another record breaking low last night, 24 degrees and 55 inside the coach.

Yesterday we had high winds with gusts up to 45 mph and rain in the morning. The outside temperature all day was in the mid 30’s, not a nice day.

This morning I made some labels for our CD/DVD player. Where it sits it is really difficult for us to read what the buttons do, so I labeled the important once, like on/off, play and open/close. No more getting the flashlight out to read the dark blue on black original labels.

This turning basin (as they call it) is very close to our RV park, it appears that a good number of the shrimp boats are still here. Must not be shrimp season.

This area of Texas has seen the ravage of several hurricanes. This historic pavilion was one of its victims, notice the skeleton in the background. “In 1904 a pavilion was constructed on a T-head pier over the water at the south end of town, next to the hotel. The pavilion had bathhouses and was used for swimming, dancing, fishing, picnicking, skating, dominoes, and other entertainment.” For more history about this historic pavilion, check out the link above.

Below see our snug space here at the Bay Side RV Park.

Tomorrow we are driving about 125 miles to Mathis, spend the night, then head down another 150 miles to Mission Tx. The forecast for Mission on Sat is 70 degrees, sounds wonderful!

Travel to Palacios, TX, Feb 8, 2011

See the black dot, that is where we are parked at the Bay Side RV Park.  Palacios claims to be “The Coastal Bend’s Best Kept Secret”.

Even though we don’t have a front row view, it is still pretty nice.  This is a Passport America Park, so the view is especially nice for only $12.50 per night!

All of these chairs were for sale at the local ACE hardware.

More exploring tomorrow of the Palacios area.

Finally, our new tire, Feb 7, 2011

Doesn’t look too happy does he?   Well, down deep he really is,  as this is the last time (hopefully for a long time) that he needs to blow up our leaky front tire.  We are on our way to the nearby Wingfoot dealer, our tire has finally been delivered to the shop.

Before…

During…and

After…

Tomorrow we are headed south towards the Rio Grande Valley, first stopping in a small town of Palacios, about 100 miles from League City.  The weather has warmed up some, but still looking for warmer temperatures.

Record Lows here in League City (near Houston) Texas, Feb 1-4, 2010

Compared to the snow storms hitting the mid west and east, the cold temperatures here in League City, Texas are of little consequence, unless you are in League City, which we are.
It has been COLD.   Why are we still here, well, we are still waiting on a new tire.  Didn’t know it would be so difficult to get a new tire.  Everyday we are told it will be here tomorrow…tomorrow comes, and it isn’t and always with some believable excuse. 
Here are some statistics about the temps here for the last few days. 

	High	Low
1/31/11	73 (Record High 2002-78)	53 (Record 2000-30)
2/1/11	68-4 am	26-Record
2/2/11	35	23-Record
2/3/11	34	30-Record
2/4/11	30-10:30 am	28-Record

What can I say, it has been cold.  Ice pellets were forecast for yesterday, and yes, we did see a few fall for about 10 minutes, very tiny round pellets.   We are keeping warm in the RV, only put out one living room slide and by using our quartz heater and our Wave propane heater keeping the inside temps 68-70.  The door between the living room/kitchen and the bathroom/bedroom space is kept closed keeping the area we need to heat smaller. One thing for certain, I sure do enjoy that electric blanket at night!
On these cold days have also found if we use the convection oven it helps heat our living area.
  So one day, Bob made some boneless spare ribs – took three hours to bake.   They were very good!!
Yesterday I baked two batches of cookies, one to send for a birthday present and one for us. 

Keep warm, y’all! <—interesting link

Johnson Space Center, Feb 1, 2011

We changed our RV neighborhood on Sunday, moving about 6 miles to League City, TX.  We are waiting for a new RV tire which is suppose to be here already, but is not. 

The rains came down this morning, glad the RV and Explorer are on slightly higher ground. 

After some of the water went down, we were able to get out and headed towards the Johnson Space Center.  (Printed out our tickets online and save $5 each.)

Our first must do event at the Space Center was the tram tour.  This is the room, the historic Mission Control room, in which the famous words were first heard. “Houston, we have a problem.”  Check out the link for the actual wording of those words.

Five years ago when we visited before, there was a huge slide rule mounted on the wall, but is now gone.  The slide rule is what was used to do most of the calculations needed for the flights.  Their only computers were two room sized IBM main frames.

This is one of three remaining Saturn V launch vehicles.  It is on loan from the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum.  It was HUGE!

 

 

 

This is the command module from Apollo 17.  The hatch door was opened so anyone could touch…and I did!!

“Apollo 17 was the sixth and last Apollo mission in which humans walked on the lunar surface. On 11 December 1972 two astronauts (Commander Eugene A. Cernan and LM pilot Harrison H. Schmitt, the first scientist on the Moon) landed in the Taurus-Littrow region of the Moon in the Lunar Module (LM) while the Command and Service Module (CSM) (with CM pilot Ronald E. Evans) continued in lunar orbit. During their stay on the Moon, the astronauts set up scientific experiments, took photographs, and collected lunar samples. The LM took off from the Moon on 14 December and the astronauts returned to Earth on 19 December, 1972.”

If I lived on Mars, I would have no need to watch my weight, as I would be a very slim 59.6 pounds.

Below I am getting to touch a prepared piece of Moon Rock.

For all who are wondering how do the astronauts do what they do – like going to the bathroom, this lady have us the whole scoop.  The two black bars near her hand actually hold you on the toilet seat.  Another nice visit to the NASA Johnson Space Center.