All's well that ends well, but, unfortunately, it's not yet ended!

So, y'all may recall (or maybe not, if you're a new reader), my dad passed away on Dec 4, after a brief spell of lung and heart issues.  My brother, Charlie, flew out to Pennsylvania, gathered up everything that looked important, including his computer (!), his wallet and keys, and flew back to Arizona.  He submitted a change of address so that he would be able to keep up with the mail and bills, and maybe begin to unravel the financial spaghetti noodles.  We opened Probate and filed all the right paperwork (including getting special notarizations and stamps back around the beginning of February, and the paperwork all made its way to the Registrar of Wills before the end of February.  And then COVID hit.  And our paperwork was finally found on someone's desk, but the clerk told Charlie that he couldn't finish processing it, and the person that could is already gone, and HE was leaving in 10 minutes.  And then the doors closed and locked, and that paperwork all stayed there till JUNE.  JUNE!  Just in case you don't know this, there are deadlines one must meet in order to avoid fines and penalties.  Deadlines, people, deadlines.  And I don't believe they are excused because you don't have your paperwork, even if you don't have your paperwork because there's a frickin' global pandemic and the courts closed with all your paperwork sitting on some clerk's desk!  OK, so, rant over....where exactly does that leave us?  Well, once the paperwork was finally approved, Charlie could begin contacting all the financial people that were holding assets for my dad.  (he could legally begin paying all the bills, too, instead of us having to front all the money and hope for reimbursement!)  And he had two people contact him about purchasing the house, believe it or not Ripley!  TWO!  Well, one was a flipper, so I'm not really sure he even counts, 'cuz I know he's gonna lowball us right down into a ditch.  Heck, unless he has better principles than most flippers we know, he's going to want US to pay HIM to take the house off our hands.  Well, THAT ain't gonna happen.  Nor will we finance it for him, as they so often request.  Sooo, the other dude sounds really promising.  He has friends in the area, and he has been looking for a house in this neighborhood for several months.  He's also really handy, so he says, and he is looking for affordable and a fixer-upper.  Well, have we got one for him!  And it's just him and his girlfriend, no kids, so the size is just perfect.  We put out an Ugly Hedgehog ad for free dark room and other photography equipment (Charlie couldn't even find a place to accept a donation), and got a taker. Then I put out a Craigslist ad for any or all of the stained glass supplies and tools, and I found a sweet lady that has an aunt interested.  I believe she's going to take it all, for the paltry sum of $350, sight unseen.  Charlie said it was well over $1000 worth, but he didn't have time or money to pack and ship it, so it'll be a blessing to someone else.  Now we just had to get there to get things moving, right?  

First order of business was to chat with our Volunteer Coordinator.  Luckily for us, she was amenable and understanding, and willing to let us out of our contract.  Yeah, I was sweating that.  But, THANKS Jennifer!!!  That was a BIG load off my mind.  So we made arrangements to leave on Saturday, making campground reservations all the way to Coatesville, PA.  Yay, job well done.  And then it occurred to us that we were going to need assistance getting out that pretty gate without getting our car smashed.  You may recall, it started to close on us on the way in, and Driver had to scoot along to make sure we didn't get caught.  Well, going out promised to be even more difficult, as we would need to wait for a long, clear stretch, without oncoming traffic.  Jennifer reminded us that no one worked on Saturdays, so we really needed to leave on a Friday.  Ok, no biggie, we'll just hustle things up a little.  

We typically keep a neat and clean campsite, so it didn't take us long to pack everything up.  We gave the pool to Ben and the tomatoes and pepper planter to Cixto.  (how he gets it to his house is his problem!)  We loaded up the car and gave mail forwarding stickers to the staff, juuuust in case any of those financial institutions sent anything to us at Balcones. We will absolutely miss the gorgeous view and sunsets.  We were truly blessed with a spectacular sunset on our last night. 

Saturday morning dawned clear and cool, and we were able to safely exit the Refuge, with the help of Cixto.  Goodbye Hill Country!

So that I didn't have to rearrange all the campground reservations, we just decided to split up the first day's drive and we chose a Coast to Coast resort to stay in Friday night.  It was about 12 miles off the Interstate, but we figured we'd have plenty of time, breaking up the mileage like that.  Originally, we had almost 400 miles to go, this way, we'd have just over 100, then just over 300 the next day, and we'd be right on track.  This was the approach to the campground in Whitney, just north of Waco.  Love it!

Oops, this photo should have come first.  Every little town needs a hardware store, right Charles?  This is the main street of downtown Whitney, TX.  Wish we could have taken the car off the dolly and explored a little, but, not this time...

So, the next morning, Saturday, we go to pull out of the campsite, and we both heard an unusual grrrooooan coming from under the front hood.  We looked at each other and remarked on it, but we kept going.  I had programmed the GPS to get us to Texarkana, but when we got out to the main highway, yes, THE ONE WE HAD COME IN ON, that stupid woman insisted we turn RIGHT and go south.  Why, oh, WHY would we do that?  Well, Driver is wont to remind me that she knows how big we are, and she knows where we can and cannot go...while I reminded HIM, that we came in from the LEFT, on this VERY ROAD, and that was our desired direction of travel.  Well, often, I allow the GPS to override me, just because she knows how big we are and where we can and cannot go.  Even though every fiber of my being told me, we are traveling in the WRONG direction, and this made NO sense, No Sense, At All.  She finally signaled that we should turn left (which made me feel a bit better), but, geeze Louise, she turned us down onto a little Farm Road that wound among the cornfields and added about 30 miles to the journey.  And, eventually, dumped us out exactly 1 exit (and about 2 miles) from where we had originally gotten off the Interstate the night before.  But, hey, we got to see Lake Whitney out of the detour.  And we didn't have to pass, or be passed by, any combines or other oversized farm implements.  We did meet a tractor trailer coming at us, in a curve, but we had enough room to pass without either of us going off the road. 

At the end of our scenic tour of the lake and neighboring farms, we finally came to a stop sign at the Interstate 35 frontage road.  Now, we were traveling East, mind you, and we WANTED to travel NORTH, right?  Sooooooo, tell me please, how is it that "Turn Left and get on I35 South" makes any sense at all?  Perhaps that's how come we went around Lake Whitney and got to add 30 miles to our journey?  (remember, we only get 6 miles per gallon, so that 30 miles cost us about $15!) Anyway, I overrode this time, and instructed Driver to go under the Interstate and turn LEFT, onto I35North, as desired.  It was during that particular turn I noticed him really man-handling the steering wheel.  And instead of going onto the frontage road, and approaching the on-ramp to the interstate, he pulled off the road, and onto the shoulder, telling me he wanted to check something out, 'cuz the steering was a little off.  That was an understatement.  See where the tip of the screwdriver is pointing?  Just under it is a bead of pink fluid. That, friends, is power steering fluid.  Without which, power steering does not work.  Nor does Comfort Steer, which is how we compensate for wind gusts and which also keeps our wheels at zero turn when we stop and helps us back up, and lots of other tricky maneuvers.  So, definitely on the list of things you've gotta have...

The closest Freightliner service center appeared to be about 60 miles BACK, in Waco (I had wanted to go to Waco, but we decided with the car on the dolly, we'd just wait until Barbara & Charles could go with us, as we had originally planned, back in PC (pre-COVID) 2019.) and he was honest and told me right up front, he couldn't get a wrecker to us until Monday, and he wouldn't be able to look at our issue until Monday afternoon or Tuesday.  Besides, even if we could get a wrecker to tow us in there, he was not an Oasis facility and we wouldn't be able to stay in the coach, nor would the coach have access to electricity.  Sooooo, in order to avoid a panic situation, I called Freightliner 24/7 Customer Service.  The phone number is listed on the driver's window sticker, right under Newmar's number.  I don't generally like stickers, but that one gets to stay!  Forever.  First thing Todd wanted was the last 6 digits of our VIN.  I knew he was going to ask for that.  'Cuz it's impossible to read!  The sticker with the VIN is located on the inside wall, behind the driver's chair, in front of the slideout wall.  And is extra tiny print.  Not a snowball's chance I was going to be able to read that.  Thankfully, Driver had just printed a new insurance card, so we got that out, and I was able to provide the VIN from there.  Smart guy, and good lookin' too.  So Todd (Freightliner) engaged Diamond (Massey Towing Service) and Stephanie (Premium Trucking) and set us up to get towed from our location to Dallas, where Premium Trucking could let us stay onsite, with power, until Monday, when the RV side opened up again.  We had to unload the car from the dolly, and when we did, we found where the fluid had gone once it leaked.  Yuck.

We remembered that you need to reduce the tire pressure on the dolly tires to 10 psi if it was going to be towed any distance, so we did that.  Then we (yes, I'm using that term loosely, it's Driver, all Driver) tried to remove the Newmar mudflap.  Remember, when we first bought the coach, and it had to be towed, the tow driver didn't do that, and he tore our new mudflap to pieces?  They couldn't replace it with an identical one, so they upgraded it because we were pitching a fit to take possession and leave, or just leave.  Smart guys, figured a little upgrade would help make the sale.  Poor Driver, though, hot as it was, he was just dripping, quite literally, after this futile attempt to remove the mudflap.

After a short wait of about 90 minutes, Shane, from Massey Towing Service arrived on scene.

And Bailey sat like the princess she is, during this whole ordeal, just looking around, like, "what's all the fuss about?"

So, off we went, jacked up and hitched up.  Driver, Bailey and myself followed along in the (fully-loaded) car.  If you can't see the video embedded below, just give a little clicky-doodle right HERE to see it directly from YouTube.

We didn't get too awfully far, when we saw that the tow dolly was just shimmying from side to side and bouncing up and down like a crazy woman!  I wanted to call Shane right away, but Driver stopped me dead with, "do you REALLY want him to answer the phone and talk while he's driving your house down the road at 70 mph??"  I thought about it for maybe 2 seconds and told Driver if Shane didn't slow down, we were gonna pop those tires and loose the dolly altogether, so what choice did I really have?  I knew I couldn't drive across country, heck I can't drive more than 10 minutes without falling asleep at the wheel!  Well, the question was moot, anyway, because I called.  I got straight into Shane's voice mail, so I just hung up.  And then MY phone rang, and it was Shane, telling me that dolly was bouncing all around....  We all talked about what to do (I asked him to slow down, to reduce the shimmy and bounce; he did, but it didn't seem to help)...remember, we could tow the dolly on the car, but then we'd have to do something about the bikes that were on a rack fitted into the car's hitch receiver.  We thought MAYbe Shane would have something we could strap the bikes onto the dolly with, or MAYbe we could put the bikes in the camper somehow.  I dunno, but SOMEthing had to be done, and QUICKLY, or we were gonna lose the dolly.  We all pulled off at the next exit, and Shane was planning on pulling into a conveniently located Love's Travel Plaza.  That is, he was, until he missed the entrance, and had to turn down the street marked NO TRUCKS.  We all brainstormed, and the best we could come up with was to load the car back up on the dolly, leaving the bikes on the rack on the car, and we 3 would ride up in the tow truck cab with Shane. I tell you what, we were one long mutha.  :)  

Off we went!  This is the view from the sleeper cab of the Kenworth that pulled our collective butts 39 miles to Dallas.  Shane was really good, but there were definitely some hair-raising moments, when he had neither hand on the wheel, was looking at Dick, or was answering one of two phone calls or replying to a text he received.  You all know how I feel about those cement barriers in construction zones, well now Shane knows too.  Can you say, SQUEEEEEEEZY?  Yes, I held my breath, thinking that might help, I suppose.  Bailey scooted under the mattress bench, and try as I might, I could NOT reach her.

I did not have my Google maps up when we came across this intersection, so I didn't really know where we were going, and yes, just viewing this interchange brought me to tears.  A prayer of thanks was definitely on my lips when we came through it without having to go up high.

Here's Shane and Driver, teaming up to place the tow dolly in a parking place, out of the way of all traffic at the service center.  Of course, it had to be about 200 feet from where we were parked.  Uphill, natch.  Heat index was about 103 by now.

And here is the back end of our lovely home.  Since our water situation is so limited, and we don't have access to a hose or anything, it'll have to stay like this until we can get into service.  Hopefully, they will be able to wash it off and no damage will have been done.

And, here we sit.  This facility is about 10 acres, total, and every.bit.of.it.is.concrete!  Oh, except for one small grassy area that holds 2 trees and a shade canopy and picnic tables.  They call that the dog park.  It is in the far right corner of the lot.  You'll note, we are in the far LEFT corner of the lot.  And that concrete is too hot for my feet, so I'm sure not gonna make Bailey walk on it!  She rides in style, in my lap, in our fully-loaded car.  There are 52 bays in that facility!  I sure hope we get one of 'em tomorrow!

And what have we here?  That little tube thing is the drive shaft!  So we can't move an inch under our own power!  They had to do that to tow it properly.  And there's that infamous mudflap.  They'll have to reattach that, once they get all the fixin's complete.  Otherwise, it will get re-wrapped and put back up into the coach, to sit on the floor in front of the sofa for the next however many days.  So, here we sit, waiting patiently, sweltering, because the 50 amp plug outside won't allow us to run more than one A/C at a time.  Don't know why.  We run the generator some, during the hottest part of the day, and it will pull all 3 A/Cs, but we have to be careful of our fuel situation, 'cuz we haven't gotten to the service station yet!  We are right across from a TA truck stop, but, remember that drive shaft?  Yeah, we can't go anywhere until that gets back in, and even if it were in, we don't have any power steering fluid, and we have no power steering, soooooo...here we sit, waiting patiently until Monday.

Since we didn't have anything to do today, and nowhere to go, we Zoom danced this afternoon, for 3 hours!  Oh my, what fun that was!  Of course, we forgot most everything, but eventually, it came back and we did OK.  We had some really great callers, Jeremy Butler, Penny Green, Denise Carbonell, Dayle Something, Tom Miller and Bill Harrison, and one or two not-so-hot callers who shall remain nameless.  (because I'm not about shaming anyone, plus, I don't remember their names!) 

Our carefully planned out reservations have been changed and all our visitors have been rescheduled.  At this point, we don't know when we'll be moving again.  But I do know this...we were holding our tanks on Friday, so we only have about 2 more days, and we're gonna have an issue.  There are no dump or water facilities here.  And there's that pesky drive shaft....on the ground.  Oh well, it's yet another chapter in the Adventures of Dick Luck.

Y'all stay safe, keep well.  Fingers crossed for safe travels for us all!

Connie visits McKinney, TX

After a sultry Arkansas night, filled with the hum of ships stalled/anchored on the Mighty Mississippi River, we made our way out of the flooded campground and back over the levee to West Memphis.  We wound our way out of town, in a more logical fashion than the GPS showed, and followed the directions of our Angel, back up to the Interstate, and going the right direction.  We only had a few lights, but, more importantly, we had NO more construction.  

After just a couple of hours on the road, we left the land of flooding and poor roads behind, and journeyed into Texas. Texarkana was our first stop.  It was nice to see bridge heights that could easily accommodate our size, too. 

We overnighted at Shady Pines RV Park, which was located right next door to Shady Pines RV Sales.  We expected no more than a parking lot, but we were pleasantly surprised by long, spacious and concreted site pads.  Plus free WiFi!  Always a bonus!  It was a clean little park, with lots of green space to walk the pup, and, yes, a bit of shade.  Not from pines, but shade is shade, and we were grateful for it.

Thursday dawned bright and early and we made our way West and South, towards Dallas, and our dear friend Connie.  She's had a lot of heartache and tragedy in the last few years, and we were hoping we could make her laugh, at least just a little bit.  After a long day of travel, neither Driver nor I was all that interested in cooking dinner, but we did want to EAT it....I found a cute little restaurant with good reviews, up in the little town of Princeton, only about 5 miles from the campground where we were parked for the week.  It was called Jocy's, and it promised good food, fast.  Just what we were looking for.  Inside, the decorations were a bit sparse, but cute.  All the VW's on the walls made me think of you, Barbara & Charles!

The reviews also said the chocolate cake was to die for and certainly not to be missed.  OK, so we'll give it a go.  It certainly LOOKED good....

Well, not all reviews are to be believed, I suppose.  It was ok.  Just ok.  So, given the hype, it was a bit disappointing, in actuality.  Oh well, good thing we only bought one piece to split!

The next day, we finally hooked up with Connie. She had lots of daytime appointments and obligations, so we met for dinner at a Mexican place she knew, and then we topped it off with Andy's Frozen Custard.  Yup, this is the very same Andy's as was in Branson, MO!!!  So when we saw Ozark Turtles on the menu, we knew we were in for a treat!

The next day, Connie had some more appointments, so we were on our own to do some exploring.  The campground was beside Lake Lavon, and this was one of the many bridges crossing the man-made reservoir. The water stretched over acres and acres, but there didn't appear to be whole lot of activity on the lake - birds, fishermen, boaters or otherwise.  Makes you wonder, what's up with that?

We had met the camper next to us, a charming lady by the name of Alice.  She had suggested we might like a market downtown, called, amazingly enough, The Market at Watters Creek.  Its sort of like a cross between Trader Joe's and Whole Foods and the old Giant Foods/Farm Fresh of days gone by.  There was this bakery case, though....These were really cute little treats, but we were counting calories, so none of them came home with us.

Later that evening, Connie drove across a few of those bridges, and made the long trek from Frisco to Princeton, to visit us, meet the dog and check out our new camper.  She had only been on the road a short time, when she accidentally rear-ended the guy in front of her!!!  I didn't get a picture of it, but the whole front grill of her car popped out and was hanging by a wire (literally) by the time she arrived at our place.  She was fine, the dude was fine, but her car could use a good body shop!  Luckily for us all, our neighbor lady, Alice, just so happens to be a claims adjuster for a local body shop!  She's been in the auto/collision industry for about 30 years, so she knows all about cars, insurance, and claims!  Again, Angels among us!  Thank you, Lord, for putting just the right people into our lives at just the right time. 

The next morning, we met up with Connie, on the square in McKinney.  Typical of old town revivals, there was a commons area in the middle, surrounded by older buildings that have been turned into eclectic shops and eateries. This little lady graced one of the doorways and just about begged us to enter, but, ummm...no, thank you ever so much!

Of course, there was the obligatory ice cream shop stop.  Nothing of interest here, though, so we moved on without making any purchase.

Dick had fun horsing around with a sign though, telling us it pays to advertise. We ate an early lunch at Snug on the Square, where chicken salad is served when potato salad is ordered (yeah, really.) and they add honey to their mustard.  (Connie says that's yummy!)  Connie mentioned that today would have been Bob's 73rd birthday, so we all paused to remember him and toasted him with our cups of water.  I think we could all feel his presence and knew he was smiling on us from his place up in Heaven.  He's sorely missed, but Connie is a trooper and so much stronger than she even knows.

Another Day, Another Adventure....aka Angels ARE Among Us

Let's see, today is Texarkana, but YESTERDAY, well, yesterday was full of adventure and Dick Luck.  We left our little family campground in Springfield, IL, bright and early, since we knew we had a looong day (6 hours driving, for us, that's long) ahead of us, and rain was in the forecast, so we knew we would be delayed.  We weren't too long on the road when we came across the mighty Mississppie River.  I knew there'd be another bridge to cross, but I truly expected it to be much bigger, higher and grander.  Nevertheless, it was big and high enough.  The river is still at flood stage, and it was a pretty swift current.

Not too long after we set out, the rains came.  First, it was just a sprinkle, but then we drove right into what appeared to be the heart of the storm.  Visibility was considerably reduced, as was our speed.

We were only about two hours out from the campground, when Good Ole Google deviated from the Lady of the Dash's route, and promised that we could detour, and arrive 20 minutes faster.  Well, we gave it some serious consideration, but ya know, there's that weight and height issue.....and just never know if we will run into some low overpasses or weight restricted bridges.  So, we usually err on the side of the Lady of the Dash.  She knows how tall, wide and heavy we are, and she's supposed to take all that into account when she plots our route.  With the exception of that one time in Atlanta, when she tried to put us on the Expressway, where a Peach Pass was mandatory, she's been pretty accurate. So, we crept along, inching down the road, but staying true to Sally's route.  Eventually, we came across the cause of the backup.  Apparently, a load shifted or a truck rolled, or something catastrophic involving steel I-beams.  Cleanup was definitely in progress by the time we approached, and they had both lanes back open, but there was quite a backup.

We got past that, and were well on our way to Tom Sawyer's RV Park, where we had originally planned to spend the week after our Nappanee appointment.  As you may recall, they closed the campground on June 11, due to flooding.  LOTS of flooding, like 36 feet underwater!  Well, they had opened it up again on July 13, the day before we were scheduled to arrive, but we told them we had changed our plans and would no longer be staying there.  That was Friday.  On Sunday, we again changed our mind and decided that would be an overnight stop on the way down to see Connie, and old square dance friend.  OK, *she's* not old, the friendship is years old!!  She lives in Frisco, TX, and the quickest way to her house was south and west (remember, Indianapolis was "closed.")

We were booking right along, planning to arrive around 4 pm, just in time for me to fix dinner.  We called the campground to get final directions and it was confirmed to exit the Interstate at Exit 4, turn right, and go over the levee.  Sounds simple, right?  Surprise!  There was construction immediately upon exiting the Interstate, and there were concrete barriers on the left, and a raised curb on the right.  And the lane was only about 8 feet wide!  Yes, the lane was juuuuuust barely wide enough that our tires could pass squeak  through, but we rubbed several times, on both sides.  We literally inched our way along, till we got to a stop light.  Whew, or so we thought!  No, there are no pictures of that nightmare, as I could hardly keep composed, much less think to take photos.  When the light turned green, we proceeded, but we heard an awful, metallic screeching noise.  Neither of us knew what it could be, but we decided it was our metal ramps (on the tow dolly), scraping on the metal plate in the road, covering up what we assumed would be a ditch or hole.  We only got about a half mile down the road, when a good Samaritan flagged us over and told us we were putting on quite the fireworks display.  Look good and hard at the picture below - I know it's really hard to see through all the dirt on the windshield.  But, see that tow dolly tire, on the right?  It's past shredded!  And, no, there's not much of a fender left behind.  Nothing much to do at this point, but take the car off the dolly, as we did, and drop the dolly by the side of the road.  Which we did.  We were only 2 miles from the campground (which turned out to be quite a cultural experience, but more on that later), so we called and told them what happened, using THEIR directions, which, SUPPOSEDLY were to route us AROUND the construction, and that we would be there when we could.  Campgrounds get antsy when you don't show up by closing time, but they're usually forgiving if they know there's been trouble on the road, so we always try to keep them apprised of any situations.  Especially this time, since I was using THEIR DIRECTIONS.  Yes, yes I was ticked off.

I was able to wash the windshield enough so that I could see to drive, and I was able to lead Dick, driving the coach, into the campground with no further difficulties.  There, they checked us in under the wrong name, trying to charge us more than one night's stay, and we got that straight, only to be led to a flooded site (really, just a mud puddle with gravel) that was under an overhanging tree.  I guess the owner could tell by my reaction that I was less than impressed, because she immediately offered me another site, just 2 spots over.  That site had trees on BOTH sides, and the limbs were even lower hanging!  I just looked at her and mentioned that we could not fit under the trees without scraping, to which she replied, "Couldn't you just swing wide?"  Really??  What was she thinking?  We were already pretty frazzled, and looking at a few hundred dollars damage, did she really think we were going to deliberately drive under low branches, risking further damage, this time to our home?  Uhhhh...I don't think so!  Anyway, I picked out a site further down the row, that didn't have any trees and was less flooded.  (Sidebar, this campground is RIGHT ON the banks of that Mighty Mississippi, and the flooding has JUST receded, so there was still a lot of standing water.  And mud, lots of mud.)  We got into it, and were just barely settled, when there came a knock on our door.  Yup, a knock on the door.  I opened it to find a bear of a man standing there, asking if that was our dolly down by the bend in the road, and offering to winch it up on his trailer and bring it to us.  All at no charge.  Dick was on the phone with the Good Sam Roadside assistance clerk, trying to tell her where to find the dolly, so we had to make a snap decision.  It got easy, once the gentleman suggested that we had better let him go get it quick, before someone snatched it right up and took it home.  I thought that would be rather difficult, since the tire was shredded and all, but he warned us that wouldn't matter.  It was easy to just pull it up onto a flatbed and be off with it, and, this was highly likely in West Memphis.  ???  Who knew.  Not only were we in what could be called a dump, but it was a high crime area too! So we agreed to let this dude, whom we had only just met, go home, get his flatbed, and go retrieve our tow dolly, while we waited for the Good Sam tire guy to arrive with a new tire for us.  Meanwhile, Dick went into town to get us a set of stick-on lights for the car.

Then the Good Sam tire guy arrived with the tire, but neither the nice guy, nor my dear hubby had yet returned to the camper.  So, Tire Guy had to sit and wait, and there I was, not really even sure that Nice Guy was going to return with our dolly.  What if HE was the one that was going to abscond with it?  What if it was already stolen, and there was nothing for him to pick up and return to us?  I didn't have to wait too very much longer, and Nice Guy really DID return.  With our dolly up on his flatbed, just as he had promised.  A man true to his word, thankfully.  He was so very sweet, saying anytime he can help someone, he does.  The Tire Guy got right to work, removing the shredded bits and getting the wheel ready to accept the new tire he had brought with him.

There's my Nice Guy (Angel) on the left, and George, Tire Guy, on the right, placing the new tire of the rim, while the dolly is still up on the flatbed.  All in all, this really was the safest option.  There was hardly any shoulder, back out on the road, and I can say, from personal experience, there was at least ONE pile of fire ants.  Yup, I stepped in it.

After all the excitement was over, and Nice Guy & Tire Guy both took off, Dick and I were left to enjoy the view.  I thought, at some point, we would see a paddlewheel or steamboat, or something attractive, but the only boat traffic was this one tug, pushing two barges.  Disappointing, to say the least.

This morning, we set out, again, bright and early, headed to Texarkana, TX.  After some pump issues and witness to a 2 truck (tractor trailers) accident right in front of us (we TRIED to warn the dude, it wasn't safe to proceed...) at the obligatory fuel stop, managed to find our way into our scheduled overnight stop.  We had called Monday, for reservations, and apparently, that was a smart move, since all their easy-in, easy-out sites are occupied by now.  But, it's a clean little park, with permanent residents around the outside and a little fish pond on the back side.  It's just off a busy highway, but it's all quiet inside, so we are happy campers!  Tomorrow, we head to Frisco, where we'll catch up with Connie and see what all she's been doing for that past 12 years!