There's a New Normal in Town

SSo, it's been about two weeks now, since we last spoke, right?  Seems like a lifetime ago, doesn't it?  And, my gosh, how things have changed.  Well, not EVERYthing has changed.  Here's a shot of Bailey, dated April 4th, doing what she loooves to do.  We call this La Cookaracha.  Yeah, I've probably bungled the spelling, but now you have an earworm, don'tcha!

And here's a shot of our neighbors' response to the closure of the park, and orders not to gather in groups of more than 10, later amended to 6.  And, to wear facemasks and keep at least 6 feet apart.  Yes, all important happy hours continue.  For HOURS at a time.  NO, we do NOT join them.  If we happen to walk by them (and it's hard not to, since they are right across the street from our site, and the dog does require frequent walks), we smile (behind our masks) and give a friendly wave.  As we continue our journey to the doggie doo area.

So, what have we been up to during this period of involuntary inactivity?  Well, hitch-itch has definitely set in, so we are battling that....and cookies.  Oh.My.God.  For those of you that might not know, I make some mean chocolate chips and brownies.  Even in my little convection/microwave that is not quite level and has a real hot spot on one end.  So, we're battling the quarantine-fifteen.  It started out at 10, but I'm pretty sure we surpassed that and are now up to fifteen.  I only pray it's split between the two of us.  Might not be.  I don't know about you, but I think my dryer is shrinking my shorts.  But, I still thank God (and Driver and Newmar) that I even HAVE a dryer.  IN.MY.OWN.COACH!  Yes, I will shout that from the rooftops.  Ha, I'm not spoiled, am I.  Oh, hush.  I can hear you laughing all the way from here.  But, I digress.  You were asking what we've been doing all this time.  Well, we haven't been dancing, that's fer sure.  (but you already knew that)  We haven't been geocaching (that's always be a dirty, grimy game, but we take small bottles of hand sanitizer, seldom paw through the goodies, and always, always use our own pen), and there's nowhere to shop that's open or we want to go.  Cooties people all around, you know. So I bake, we eat.  Plain and simple.  Oh, but, yes, I've been sewing too.  I was able to scrape together enough fabrics and filter materials to make about 16 or 18 masks.  We kept the first two prototypes, then sent out a bunch, then I made 2 more for ourselves, so we would have a spare and a pair (one to wash, one to wear.  Did I mention that I can wash and dry IN.MY.OWN.CAMPER!) So after I exhausted my on-board supplies, and what I had ordered, I sewed up a curtain for one of my customers in New Hampshire.  Luckily, on our last excursion to Victoria, we had stopped in at Hobby Lobby and purchased the necessary fabric and Velcro, and I had the measurements already.  Sent it off to her, it fit, she loved it, she paid me, and then she sent me this hand-quilted beauty.  

Her hand-stitches were simply beautiful, and so lovingly placed.  But, alas, they were incomplete.  And there was staining and fading of the excess material surrounding the top, which was meant to be folded over to the front and stitched down, at about a 4 inch width.  After playing with my fancy embroidery machine for about 4 days straight, and looking online for quilting stencils, with no luck, I might add, I decided I could make a tracing of her stitches onto my Solvey (clear Saran-wrap-like disolvable stabilizer), then staple that to chipboard (empty cereal box cardboard), then digitize it.  So that's how I got my embroidery stitch pattern.  And, without further ado, I finished up her quilt.  There was some more stitching that went into it, and I used my dual feed foot to do the semi-circles that I quilted into the teal border.  I just used the lid to my largest bowl and traced around it multiple times.  I liked that look so much I went back and did a second row, inside the first.  Then I searched my phone for photos, failing that, my memory, and failing that, You Tube, for how to make the bring-backing-to-the-front binding.  Found basically what I needed and did it.  No sweat. Actually, it was a LOT easier than my usual method of cutting strips, sewing them together, sewing them all on around the edges, making perfect mitered corners (never happens, btw) and joining the strips at the end.  Then you gotta sew it all down around the BACK, and I do that by hand....soooo...yeah.  This new normal took about oh, I dunno, maybe 30 minutes, all told?  Bam, done.  New normal, me thinks.  Save more time for making and eating cookies, right?

So, that filled up about a week or so.  And still no end in sight to our new-found free time.  Driver had washed the car, so it was clean, we gave the pup a bath once or twice, so she was clean.  I vacuumed and mopped the floor, so IT was clean...there really wasn't much else to do.  Yes, I could surf the internet, but that just made me sleepy, and you know I can't see well enough to read anymore, so that's just no longer an enjoyable activity for me anymore....but....I had those two quilts I had pieced in the first two weeks of quarantine, remember?  They were to keep us warm and snug in our recliners.  I was going to layer (sandwich) them on a table in the Activity Room, but by the time I got the quilts pieced, the Activity Room was locked up and unavailable, so I just bagged the quilts and stuck 'em under the bed.  But here I was with time, materials, and a clean floor.  And two quilts, just begging to be completed.  So I pulled out the first one, laid out the backing and batting, and before I could place the quilt top on the sandwich....

How dare I take up her launching pad?  Once I had her situated up in her window, I was able to get my top centered up on the sandwich.  Inadvertently, I left enough room on all sides to implement that new border technique.  That was a lucky accident!

So, here's my struggle.  They always say, Quilt As Desired.  And I have no idea what to put.  I've always wanted to learn to do feathers, so I got my chalk and fiddled until I got a pattern I could duplicate freehand.  Then threaded my needle with matching thread (not sure I wanted the stitches to show!) and went to town.  Ha, that's not as hard as I thought it would be!  And by the time I got to the 4th blade, I actually had a pretty good rhythm going!  Could I do 'em again?  Who knows.  But I got 'em done THIS time, and I was happy.  I drew myself a template (again, on scrap cardboard) and traced some overlapping hearts around the pink, and happily spent the next few days adding more and more stitching to the sandwich.

Eventually, I got it to a place I was happy with it all, brought that backing to the front and stitched it down, and called it DONE!  I think I'm going to wait on the other one until I can get some Minky for the back.  I loooove the feel of Minky against my skin, and apparently, winter in Texas is over, so we don't have a need for either of these quilts at this time.  (not the first time I've made blankets in the summer, probably not gonna be the last)

So, what was the Driver doing while all this was going on?  Washing & waxing the car, hosing off the patio, reorganizing (yes, again) the basement, reading, and truthfully, I don't know what all else.  Walking the dog several times, I'm sure.  By my second day of inactivity after my sewing flurry, I was going nutso.  Some would say that was a short trip.  Some would say, how is that even possible, as I was already nutso.  (pfffft, that's what I say)  So we decided we would venture out to Walmart and Ace Hardware.  We had been (I use that term loosely, DRIVER had been) to HEB (grocery) already twice, now, and we really are well stocked up on food.  But, there were a few things we could pick up at WM and Ace, if we were so inclined.  I wanted some charcoal filters for my crisper drawer, he needed more wax, Papa's birthday is coming up soon, and we may not get there, so better get him a card in the mail, and I'm about out , of thread.  Again.  And Kelly had sent me a box of scraps (God love her, but they must have all fallen off the ugly truck, they are UGLY) but I really didn't want to use up my last spool of piecing thread on such ugly stuff.., and just to get out and ride our bikes.  We figured my basket would hold everything.  (HA, hold that thought!)

The ride down the trail was pleasant - the weather here is absolutely gorgeous, and perfect for us heat-seekers.  Sunny, breezy and hot.  South Texas at its best!  Along the way, we found our favorite doggo-windows empty, but adorned with community artwork and love.  There were inspirational sayings drawn on the sidewalk, too.

Yup, I'm suited up appropriately.  See that flannel shirt tied around my waist?  Yeah, the gray one.  Hold that thought, you'll need it later.

We even found one of the Rocks for Rockport-Fulton stuck up in a tree.  First find!  No, I didn't see it, Driver did and told me about it, so we went back, as I had already passed it.

ACE Hardware was just about empty, but, not only did I find my crisper filters, I found a pair of tongs I could live with.  And look what the masked Driver found!  Too bad there was no real ice cream hiding behind the sign.  And the sign is WAAAAY too big for me to carry home, so we left it there.  

From there, we pedaled back to WalMart.  While Driver was researching the wax options, I walked over to see about getting some thread.  HAHAHA, joke's on me!  Very little thread available (I bought light green, not ivory, white, tan, silver or black) and NO bias tape to speak of.  That's what a lot of people were using for mask ties, I know.  I used elastic until I ran out, and if I had needed anymore, I would have raided the closet and cut up an old T-shirt.

Fabric bundles, anyone?  Nope, not a one to be had.

Fat quarters, anyone?  Likewise, nope, not a one. That's a lotta masks baby!

But, wait, what about the flannel shirt?  Apparently, we "needed" more than I had originally thought.  We ended up buying a plastic shoebox to corral art supplies down in the basement.  And a bicycle mirror (found to be inappropriate for my style handlebars), two inner tubes, some Velveeta cheese and canned tomatoes (who knew that was necessary at this time), the big bottle of wax, and a whole pack of microfiber towels.  Whaaat?  Where, exactly was all this stuff gonna go for the ride home?  Call me crafty!  I buttoned up that big ole shirt, packed most of our goodies in that plastic shoebox, put the shoebox INSIDE the shirt, balanced the load on TOP of my basket (which contained all the stuff that didn't fit in the box) and tied the bottom of the shirt to itself and the sleeves to the handlebars.  Surprisingly, it worked VERY well.  Only fell off the bars/basket once, and that was after I went over a big bump.  Did we get a photo of that?  Nope, sorry.  Was afraid if I stopped, I wouldn't get going again without falling over (or off!).  Never underestimate the power of a crafty woman again!

So we made it home with only the one incident, put our stuff up, took showers and fixed dinner.  The stress level was pretty high so no further action took place at Casa Callander.  Friday dawned bright and beautiful, and we slept in.  So, nothing new there....along about noon (yeah, why not wait till the sun was high overhead and it was as hot as it was gonna get), we dragged all the equipment out and started washing the rig.  I don't know how or why, but it sure seems bigger on the outside than it does on the inside!  For the rest of the day, we washed, rinsed, dried and polished.  And now the coach looks beautiful outside.  The floor inside is dirty again, but ask me if I care.  HA.  nooooope.  Absolutely exhausting.  Darned good thing he didn't plan on waxing it same day!  I betting since tomorrow is Saturday, it won't even be same WEEK!

And for those of you that were concerned, most of the people that were holding court over at the happy hour social gathering have moved on.  They are going back from whence they came, not to return until next year.  There is still a core group, of about 10, that sit and drink till dinner time, split up, then reconvene after dinner and play cards and cornhole until it's too dark to see.  Then they just sit and drink some more, breaking up for the night about 9 pm.  Us?  We just smile behind our masks, wave, and walk on.  Theoretically, our Governor is trying to reopen Texas, and we'll know more on Monday, but at this time, it appears that the campground will begin accepting new rigs on Friday.  We will have to give up our current site and move to a new one, at the far end of the park, so we'll probably do that on Thursday.  Same park, just a different site.

And, just for fun, here's Bailey's version of the New Normal.  (those be Driver's legs, not mine!)

Until next time, virtual hugs and yellow rocks!  Stay well, stay safe.  And remember, just because they SAY you CAN go out, doesn't mean you HAVE to go out!  

Awnings and Old Friends

So, here's the thing...have you ever tried to deal with the Veterans Administration?  Just like any overblown, overworked, underfunded government operation (think Social Security, welfare, Obamacare, DMVs, whatever...), it is soooo difficult to actually get anyone to do their job properly unless you are simply standing over them and pretty much supervising them as they do it.  For days now, Dick has been calling the VA and trying to get them to change his address to our current town and make an appointment for his physical and another one for his ears/hearing aids.  This has been going on for DAYS.  Finally, we got tired of getting the runaround, getting blown off, and simply not succeeding in getting any appointments, and we just decided to pack up the pup and drive to Victoria, to the local VA clinic and make the request in person.  Took us about 90 minutes to get up there and about 25 minutes to get registered and on the right track to get the audiologist to call him back.  Yaaay.  Heading home, we were treated to a beautiful sunset over Copano Bay.

Truthfully, I forget what we did over the weekend, but it sure kept us busy!  I think we got the camper ready for travel and I know I got to sew some on my charity quilt.  Time warp/black hole?  I dunno.  Time flies, but I do not to where.

Monday morning, EARLY, we set out toward Corpus Christi.  Yeah, that's another one of those cases where sometimes, you gotta go left on your way to going right.  Only, in this case, we went south so we could go west.  The GPS wanted us to go back over that Portland Bridge, and back into the Corpus Christi dock area, yes, where all that construction was and then straight up I 37 to San Antonio.  Oh yeah, and then straight THROUGH DOWNTOWN San Antonio to get to the other side, Boerne, where the RV dealer is.  Oh.Em.Gee.  REALLY, Sally, you want us to go through Corpus and thru SA???  Oh, heck NO.  There had to be another way, and with a little effort, we found one.  We were treated to a perfect shelf cloud along the way.

I'm going to spare you all the gory details about getting fuel along the way; suffice it to say, we eventually got some, paid a bit more than usual for it, and it took us 3 tries, but, hey, what's life without a little adventure?  We finally arrived at Ancira RV, the Boerne location, and got all checked in.  We knew that Lolly & Allen were waiting for us at Alamo Fiesta, about a mile away, so we tried to get all settled in and doggie fed & walked quickly.  On our way out, we saw this cutie waiting for service.  Noooo, thank you, that's not the custom paint job I want on our next rig.  Well, on second thought, maybe.  Everybody has a price, I suppose.  For this, my price would be pretty daggum steep, but, if they have the money.....who am I to turn it down?

After perusing the local eateries brochure, we all agreed Soda Pops Patio Grill sounded like a good spot for dinner.  I'm guessing that the "Patio Grill" part of their name should have been a clue.  There was very limited inside seating.  Limited to a bar and a few bar stools.  Fortunately, they had some clear vinyl curtains shielding the patio and breaking (somewhat) the wind that had kicked up.  A couple of those column propane heaters would have been WONDERFUL, but, alas, only thing keeping us warm were the small fleece lap throws provided by the diner.  The retro-inspired diner is in an old gas station, and it promised to provide the cultural experience we've come to love (thank you Charles, for that!)

I excused myself to find the washroom, and as I entered, I thought I saw the reflection of a man's head in the mirror.  Whaaaa???  I quickly turned around and look what I found - Elvis, in the corner, looking like he was just as shocked to see ME!  Scared me half to death!

Dinner was quick to arrive, and the burgers were really good.  Finger lickin' good!  I got my favorite - tater tots, Dick& Lolly got fries & Allen got onion rings. We each had different burgers with different toppings, and every single one of them was prepared properly.  Whoohoo! 

Afterwards, even though we were all stuffed, Lolly & Dick thought we should make room for ice cream at Soda Pops Sugar Shack next door..  Before we went in, they had a little fun with Tom & Jerry.  At least, I *think* that's the names on the quarter ride. 

It was a struggle to squeeze this old body into the child-sized seat, but, where there's a will, there's a way.  We were happy to provide a few minutes entertainment for the couple whom we THINK owns the place.

Inside, there were lots of choices, but before we could make our selections, we had to go check out the arcade in the back.

There was a table-top bowling game...

and pinball and old-style video games....

Where's the ice cream, you ask?  Sorry, I actually forgot to take pictures, but let me just say this, portions were more than ample.  Huge.  Not cheap, but huge.

And, speaking of huge, here's another Texas-sized cowboy hawking new cars.  We're not really in the market, and the gates are locked promptly at 6 pm, and we only had 4 minutes to get back inside, or we would be locked out until 7:30 am, and it was coooooold, so we did NOT stop for a better picture.

The original plan was that the service manager was going to call us around 8 am, maybe 8:30, to let us know when they would be ready to look at our awning.  We expected to turn the coach over to the tech around 9 am Wednesday.  That was a good plan, right?  LOL, "was" is the operative word here....

When we got back to the camper after that yummy dinner and visiting with our dear friends, we found a voice mail on Dick's phone.  Yup, good ole service manager, calling to say that the tech says he wants the coach at 8 am!  Delivered, at 8 AM!  That translates to set the clock, honey, it's gonna be an early morning!  Well, there's always an upside, right?  This time, it was that we were treated to a fabulous sunrise.  We hardly EVER see the sunrise anymore.  (and that's fine by me!)  It was super cold though, registering 39 degrees when Dick walked the pup!!

As it turns out, we did NOT need a new motor for our awning.  Apparently, there are "limits" that determine how far the awning goes out and in.  Once the tech made a half-turn adjustment, the awning apparently works fine.  Ten minute fix, 300 miles & $200 in fuel, not to mention, 2 days' travel time.  For a TEN MINUTE FIX.  Oh well, it seems to be working fine, and about 11 am, we are back on the road, heading back to Rockport.  Aaaahhhh, but, FIRST, we have to go back through San Antonio.  Remember, Christmas day, we went THROUGH the city?  And at that time, we decided when we had to come back, we were gonna go AROUND the city.  No problem, going TO Boerne, we were on the bottom level, heading west.  Ahhhh, but now we are headed EAST, out of town.  And, of course, there's a bridge.  

Can you see that we are on the top level?  Yup, 4 levels up.  Approximately 70 feet high, by my calculations.  

And, just to add to the excitement, let's throw in a 90 degree turn, and hey, let's be in the wrong lane to make it easily, to boot.  

At least here, we get to be on the first level...

Awwww, but look at the cute longhorns we got to see once we got out of the city!

And because we were home on Wednesday, we were able to attend the block party across the street after all.  Pretty sure everyone enjoyed the Irish coffee that was being served.  Not me, I was quite content with my hot tea.  Yesterday it was 82 degrees here, bright and sunny.  And we missed it, in favor of seeing Lolly & Allen, getting the awning fixed, and freezing our buns off on a patio when it was about 46 degrees and windy.  Tomorrow, it's supposed to be overcast, with a high of about 60, but after that, it will clear up and clouds will clear out and it should warm right back up and be great weather for outdoor activities once more.  Good thing, too, 'cuz our newly washed and waxed coach looks like crap after going through a couple of showers and lots of construction zones.  

If you have some extra time on your hands, and you want some free beer, you are more than welcome to cone help us wash it!  We'll even feed you after.  Not sure WHAT, but you won't go hungry.  <crickets>  

Corpus Christi to Rockport and Beyond

Ah, yes, gentle readers, welcome back!  Last you knew, we were headed from Alamo, down in the Rio Grande Valley, up to Corpus Christi, in order to get our continuing coolant leak investigated.  When we were in Phoenix, we took it  to Tolleson, where they found a bad sensor and replaced it, plus, filled up the reservoir, notarized the papers that would allow the cemetery to open my dad's final resting spot, and sent us on our way.  So, here we are, heading east on new Interstate 2 (yup, what we used to call big 83!) toward Mercedes and Harlingen.  I knew there was a really tall overpass coming, so I figured I'd better take photos now, 'cuz I sure wouldn't be in any shape to record when we hit that bad boy.  (Welcome, for you new readers, what you don't know is that I am *terrified* of heights, and if you continue reading (and why on earth wouldn't you???), you will see a recurring theme of bridges and the anxiety they cause me)

Soooo, we drove for miles and miles, finally getting to Falfurrias, and the Border Patrol inspection station.  Not really sure what was going on, but the covered inspection area seemed to be blocked off.  How could they inspect anything if all traffic was being funneled into one lane of travel?

Thankfully, we didn't see our photos up on the wall of wanted....

There goes the pup....we passed his inspection, the guard motioned us to stop (we ALMOST got to a complete stop), he asked if Driver was a US citizen, got his favorable answer and simply waved us on.  As I said, we ALMOST came to a complete stop.  Whole process, from first sniff to final wave, may have taken all of 3 seconds.  Now, you tell me....how did they know if we were carrying contraband or even extra passengers?  How would they know if we had been hijacked and held hostage, forced to drive a passel of 'em up into our beloved country?  They never asked for our papers, our passport, not even our driver's licenses.  To be truthful, I'm not even really sure they knew I was in the coach, even though I was sitting up front in the other captain's chair!

A little farther down the road, we came to the rest stop.  A friendly reminder was posted for our benefit.  But, ya know, one of the very first things they taught us at the zoo was that there was no such thing as a poisonous snake.  Oh, yes, there are certainly VENOMOUS snakes, and they'll be just as happy to strike as not....but, no such thing as poisonous snakes.  You would think that the biologists responsible for protecting the state's wildlife would communicate that to the DOT peeps responsible for protecting the state's travelers.  Or maybe not, I guess.

Ahhhh, yes.  There's Corpus, coming right up.  Doesn't look like much of a city downtown, does it?  That's 'cuz it's not skyscrapers, as you would expect of a downtown area.  It's a humongous refiner.  Yup, that's where the magic happens, turning petroleum into the gasoline and diesel that keeps this country rolling.

And here's the Welcome Committee at Freightliner....he wasn't exactly aggressive, but he certainly wasn't friendly, either.  He followed us around, so I think maybe he was just curious about Bailey. 

The Driver's Lounge was open to us, and had a TV, but it was on some football game, there was no remote available, and oh my, the stink!  So, we grabbed a couple of magazines and made ourselves comfortable in the Parts Department showroom.  We each tried out a couple of new chairs until we had our Goldilocks moment and settled in for a long day.

Our beast, big as it is, was dwarfed by the rigs on the lot and in the bays.

And what, exactly, was the problem you might ask?  Well, after about 4 hours of diagnostics, they couldn't find one.  Hush now...I hear you giggling over there.  Yes, FOUR HOURS.  Best they could gather, there was an air bubble in the reservoir or lines, or something, and it passed through the sensor, like a big fart.  The service manager was really nice and spent about an hour talking to Freightliner Corp about who was going to pay for the diagnostic hours.  Thankfully, they came through and we didn't have to foot that bill.  Around 11 am, we loaded up the car on the dolly and headed out.  Straight into pea-soup sea fog!  It cleared a little bit, as we neared the REAL downtown Corpus.  I was so relieved, 'cuz, last I recall, there were a couple of opportunities to get royally screwed as we passed through.  One lane would take us down by the seaside, with absolutely NO place to turn around, and another lane would take us clear across town (on the aptly named Crosstown Expressway), and worst of all, in the wrong direction, with no chance to exit and turn around!  Yeah, I was really sweating it, 'cuz, well, you know....'cuz I'm the navigator, and it's much easier to go the right way than it is to turn this baby around!

The fog cleared just enough for me to get ONE shot of the USS Lexington.  Pretty sure you can't even see all the planes on the deck, nor the flags strung from the bridge, but, they're there.  

Ah, yes.  How does one traverse Corpus Christi Bay?  Why, over the Portland Bridge, of course.  How high is the Portland Bridge?  Too damn, if you ask me.  (spoiler alert:  538 feet high)  It was started in 1959, and it was designed with a 50 year lifespan.  Now, you KNOW I can't do math, right?  So I used a calculator.  That bridge should have fallen down in 2009.  Pretty sure that means it's 11 YEARS past its expiration date.  Ummmm, 'scuse me....but I don't think concrete and steel are like eggs and milk, whose expiration date is a SELL-BY suggestion, not necessarily a USE-BY deadline.  Soooo, the Harbor Bridge, a new, higher, longer span, is currently in the works.  Except it's no longer.  What happened gentle readers ask.  Well.  Apparently, the company building the new bridge is the very same one responsible for the pedestrian bridge that collapsed in Florida International University in Miami, in 2019.  So, the powers that be have decided that they need to engage another engineering company to review all the design work and examine all the structures built so far.  And work on the new bridge has ceased.  I was too busy navigating to get a photo, but it's weird, seeing this span that starts on the ground and goes up and up and up, and then just stops. 

I believe they call this Indian Point.  We often see water in the streets, sometimes even up to the campers' floors.  It's one of the campgrounds we considered, but only briefly.  Sure, the view is beautiful, but the weather is often less than ideal.  Plus, there's the salt factor....and salt is certainly not easy on the rig.

This is the view coming in to Portland, on the down side of the Portland Bridge.  Where is it?  I dunno, down there somewhere.

Dottie's teddy bear is helping me look for the edge of the road (that's important, since there's not much room between the edge of the road and a short drop to the bay waters).

See what I mean?  We could be over that little barrier in two shakes of a lamb's tail.

But, we arrive in Rockport safely, no wrong turns, no accidents, no incidents.  Thank you, good Lord, thank you.  We arrived at lunchtime, and, of course, the office is closed.  So we got out and walked around the park, looking for where we might be going.  We found two sites that look feasible, and we really could only get into one of them.  The other had a tree at each side of the entry, preventing us from getting into the site without disturbing the neighbors across the way.  When the office opened back up, we went in to register and found we were assigned to the site we couldn't enter.  Yup, Dick Luck strikes again.  After some discussion with the manager, the clerk was able to change our site to the other one, and we were able to park the rig successfully in just a few minutes, and with only one neighbor vehicle moved.  Yaay.  Nope, sorry, no photo available yet, but I'll get one before we leave.

Of course, we had to hit up Charlotte Plummer's straight away.  You can see Aransas Bay out the window.

Here are the shrimp boats that brought our dinners back to the docks.

Dick opted for the full size portion; there was plenty on his plate, but I shared one of my bacon-wrapped shrimp with him anyway.  'Cuz I'm nice like that.  heehee  Don't worry, won't happen again.

The next day, we set out on our bikes to explore the new greenway.  Really, we were going to get liquid soap and mouthwash, 'cuz we were out, but it was a good chance to stretch our legs and check out the greenway.  We were advised that we would be sharing the territory with alligators if we strayed off the concrete or boardwalk.  No worries, we stayed on the path!

The next night, we went dancing, and what do ya know?  There were four couples of NSDCA members!!  That's pretty good, considering there were only 10 couples there, and one of them was the caller and his wife!  Oh, sorry, NSDCA stands for National Square Dance Campers Association.

Tuesday, we decided to load up and hit a few geocaches.  We had two travel bugs in our possession that we picked up at Meteor Crater, AZ, back in September.  SepTEMber!  Yeah, that's a big no-no, keeping a travel bug that long.  We REEEEALLY need to ditch them.  Here's Driver down at the Veterans' Memorial.  It was coooold and windy, and really, not a lot of fun.  And we didn't find the cache either.

Yesterday, Wednesday, it was cold and rainy off and on, all day.  ALL day.  It was really funny, about 1 o'clock, we took advantage of a break in the rain to walk the dog.  I think everyone in the park did the same thing!  We were all bundled up and walking quickly, dodging the puddles, but we got the job done.

The weather promised to be so much better today, so we grabbed our jackets and the pup, and we headed out again.  I had seen that the geocache we didn't find was really a magnetic box, so it had to be in one of the helmets at the memorial, not the flowers, where we had been looking.  We found that one, then another one at the Chamber of Commerce, and then went to bustling down town Rockport.  It's very similar to our last town of residence, Crystal River, in that they have a boardwalk down by the bay (river, in FL) and lots of quaint little shops that cater to the tourists for souvenirs and locals for decor and home accessories.  This was one of my favorite signs.

The Sandhill Cranes have returned.  Rockport and Aransas Pass are famous for being home to Whooping Cranes, but these are their cousins, Sandhill Cranes.

They usually don't come back till early Spring, but they appear to be a bit early this year.  Apparently, they are tired of the winter weather of up north too.

One of the geocaches was located outside the labyrinth beside the Hospice House.  What a lovely place to ponder.  Or wait for Driver to go back and get the car.

We finally found a good spot to drop one of our travel bugs.  We had plans to drop the other one at another cache near the dog park.  (spoiler alert:  we didn't want to bushwhack, so we didn't really find that one & as a result, still have the travel bug)

The final geocache brought us to the Bruhl-Paul-Johnson House, which now houses the History Center. I thought I was going to provide you a link to learn the interesting facts about this charming old house.  Ha.  If you want the history, you'll have to read the placards below (it is really VERY interesting).  Remember, you can click on the photos to open them in a new, larger window.  The History Center is closed one day a week.  Can you guess which one?  If you guessed Thursday, today, you would be correct!  We readily found the cache, but we'll have to tour the house another time.

Back down in the Heritage District, you'll never guess what we found.  Ok, well, maybe you will, since you know us so well.  Yup, we are back in Blue Bell country!

Housed in the former pharmacy of A. Bruhl, is Goin Coastal Outfitters, the self-proclaimed (accurately, too, from what we could tell) best T-shirt shop in all of Rockport.  The building was very old, that was obvious, but the products inside were fresh and pretty.  We had a lovely chat with the owner (whose name I neglected to get, sorry) and learned a lot about Belize, believe it or not!  We shared geocaching with her, and of course, Driver had to sample the Southern Charm Blackberry and Happy Tracks (vanilla base with fudge ripple and chocolate/peanut butter cups), one big scoop of each, in a homemade waffle cone.  All is right in our world.  We promised the owner we would return to the History Center to learn all about her building.  

So, ya wanna know what ELSE we did today?  This morning, prior to setting out, we spent some time on getting paperwork together to submit a claim against Dad's life insurance.  Charlie (my brother) had found a MONY policy from years back, and tracked it down and submitted a claim for the two of us.  Well.....here's the thing.  They rejected my part of the claim for two reasons.  One, he accidentally recorded my maiden name, not my married name, and I didn't know that, so I completed my W9 with my married name.  Nope, can't do that.  Names must match.  But the REAL kicker is that he put his address down as my address to get the check.  He actually did that with my knowledge, and permission, because that would make getting the check a lot quicker and easier, and theoretically, faster.  Besides, my legal FL address has a Box Number, and the insurance company refuses to send any checks to PO boxes.  So, ok, we'll use his address.  But, again, on the W9, I entered my legal FL address so that I wouldn't get taxed on all our income by Arizona.  'cuz, you know, if you earn money in any state, they have the right (!!!) to tax your entire income in that state.  Including your spouse's, if you file jointly.  So, for me getting the princely sum of $5K in Arizona, they would get to tax all the millions (cough-cough) we make with our pensions and Social Security.  Yeah, not the desired outcome, not at all, so that's another reason to record my proper, legal Florida address.  But, again, doesn't match.  MUST match.  So, what are we to do?  Well, I have to refile the paperwork, with names and addresses to match, and I have to write a letter, and GET IT NOTARIZED, authorizing them to send my check to Charlie's house.  Really now.  So, I wrote the letter, printed it, and all the other forms out, and trucked my spare parts on down to the bank, to see the Notary.  She notarized the letter, no problem.  Then, one of the forms required my signature (attesting to the fact that I wasn't trying to commit a fraudulent act) and a witness to my signature.  Whaaaa???  You know we've only been here a week, so we really don't know anyone but the lady in the office.  The insurance lady had told me the Notary could witness my signature.  HA.  The Notary lady told me otherwise.  Bank employees cannot be witnesses.  I can't even begin to count the number of documents I witnessed when I worked at Chesapeake Bank & Trust, back in the dark ages.  I guess that's all changed with the times.  But, she did mention that my witness should be someone I knew well, because, should this ever go to court, *I* would be responsible for producing my witness.  Well, Crap.  What to do, what to do?  We went back to the camper and asked the neighbor, our new best friends, if they would mind witnessing me sign the document.  Bless their hearts, they did so, without question or hesitation.  I guess the insurance companies don't really recognize or understand this full-time RV lifestyle.  I know we can't be the first ones to be in this position though, can we?  Really?

And, on the plus side, Saturday, we took a ride up to Victoria, our old stomping grounds and had a lovely visit with Roger & Rosemary, our former next door neighbors, and their new puppy, Charlie.  Charlie is only 3 months old, and just a fuzzy ball of energy.  Old lady Bailey was really sweet with him, and tolerated him well.  Didn't play with him much, but she didn't bite him, so I count that as a win!  After a lovely dinner at La Tejanita, where 3 of us enjoyed bacon-wrapped mozzarella/jalapeno stuffed shrimp (the other suffered through plain grilled shrimp), we had a long, dark ride home, with only one quick stop at the Dairy Queen in Tivoli.  Yes, John & Lora, that is the SAME Dairy Queen we stopped at, TWICE in one day, years ago.  :)

So, next week promises to be jam-packed, once again.  Tuesday, we will head to San Antonio, to Ancira RV, where we will, hopefully, get our awning issue resolved.  And, maybe (or maybe not) we will get back to Freightliner there, to have them look at our headlights.  They don't seem to go to highbeam, and that might be an issue, so we figured we'd get it looked at before we need them again.  And, if we're REALLY lucky, we'll hook up with Lolly and Allen, who have been following in our footsteps, and touring Arizona and western Texas.  (Casa Grande & El Paso, to be exact)  She got a MUCH better picture of that giant road runner in Los Cruces, NM.

OK, so hubby has taken pup on her final walk of the night, and now it's time for me to unload the dishwasher and go see about a hot shower.  If you've read this far, THANK YOU!  Hope you weren't bored to tears.  We really have been seeing some interesting sights (and sites!) and in spite of the one day of cold rain, we are enjoying the weather.  Especially when we compare our high temps to those of our friends in Florida....hello, Charles & Barbara!  And I'm not EVEN gonna look at what John S is suffering through in Indiana!  You have my sympathies.  

Y'all be safe out there, lots of crazies.  And sea fog.