A Fine Visit With RV Pals

I am often chided for my sometimes, uh, uneven posting schedule for this blog. The truth is, there is no schedule; I post something when I feel like it or when some significant event happens having to do with our travels—especially our RV travel.


Well, something significant DID happen last Sunday: A much-anticipated visit with longtime RV chums Ed and Marilyn and a first-time visit with their traveling partners, Bob and Janet. Ed and Marilyn enjoy somewhat of a celebrity status in the RV blog world, due at least partly to Ed’s dedication to their daily journal, “The Happy Wanderers.” The other reason for their popularity, of course, is Marilyn. Sorry, Ed, but I call ‘em like I see ‘em. (Grin)


Typical of many snowbirds, Ed and Marilyn established for several years a migration pattern that took them to the Rio Grande Valley in the fall and back northward in the spring. Located in Fort Worth, Sandy and I have the good fortune of sometimes being on or near their RGV arrival or departure route, and we prevail upon them for a little face time when we can catch up with them. Such was the case on Sunday, when they stopped at Mitchell’s Resort and RV Park near Perrin, Texas, not far from our current digs. We scurried out there for a little frivolity and immensely enjoyed meeting Bob and Janet, their longtime friends—a double treat! These two are relatively new to fulltiming, but they have chosen excellent mentors in Ed and Marilyn and have acquired what appears to be a twin of their friends' beautiful new Mobile Suites fiver.

Janet, Sandy, Marilyn, Bob, Bubba and Ed 

After a few hugs, we piled into our car and motored up to Jacksboro, where we met our longtime friend and RVer, Bubba, at the Casa Grande Mexican restaurant. We all had a great time together, laughing hysterically over our misadventures and just enjoying the fellowship of friends old and new. The highlight of the evening was Marilyn’s sharing of what had to be the funniest—and easily most disgusting—practical joke we have ever heard. It involved new Canadian fulltimers Trent and Teresa during their recent stay in the RGV, and I can’t possibly disclose the details here. It is a story that can only be told in person for ultimate effectiveness, and Ed and Marilyn (and Bob and Janet, who were witnesses) retold it masterfully. What a wonderful bond we all enjoy among these members of this great community of RV vagabonds—they have to be some of the finest folks anywhere!

Mike, Marilyn, Sandy, Ed, Janet and Bob at Casa Grande in Jacksboro

Afterward, we drove back to the park and took a tour of Ed and Marilyn’s and Bob’s and Janet’s new rigs, with Bubba (who’s looking for a new FW) drooling as the proud owners pointed out all the features of the high-end coaches.

Ed Shows Bubba and Bob Features of His New Mobile Suites

Bob, Janet and Marilyn Trading Stories

After much more laughter and talk about our current and future plans, we reluctantly parted, happy to have crossed paths once again with friends old and new.  Bob says Janet is getting ready to start a blog; we hope she does.  We'll be readers for sure.

A Trip is in the Works!

For the past several months, Bubba has lobbied for us to join him and his family in Colorado over the fourth of July holiday.  We finally gave in, not because we didn’t want to visit with them (they’re quite a hoot to be around), but because it is so disagreeably hot in July and August if you’re south of, say, Nome.


Sandy and I are hopelessly dependent on air conditioning during the summertime here in the hell simulator we call Texas.  When we built the new house, we demanded a higher capacity a/c unit than was recommended.  As a result, all the lights in the neighborhood go dim when we fire up that sucker.  (Not really, but it does keep the house frosty cool.)  We even added a separate a/c unit for the master suite, which we keep at 68 degrees while sleeping.  And no, our electric bills are quite low, thankfully, due to extreme overkill in insulating the place.  It’s actually more like a huge Styrofoam cooler than anything else.
 
Bubba, LouAnn and daughter BreAnn have a head start.  They departed a few days ago for the Grand Canyon, after which they will make their way back through southern Utah to Durango, where we’ll meet them on July 1.


We’ll leave Fort Worth next Tuesday and stay overnight at Lubbock and Santa Fe en route to Durango.  While there, we will ride the old steam train up to Silverton through some really gorgeous mountain scenery.  I made that trip when I was a kid, so I don’t remember much about it, and Sandy has never ridden the train.  I got a note from Ed Dray today, giving us some suggestions about where to sit on the train for the best view and a line on a good Mexican restaurant in Durango.  Wish he and Marilyn could be there with us, but schedules just didn’t match up this time.  We hope to see them in the fall when they head back to the RGV.

We’ll bid farewell to Bubba and family at Durango and continue into the southeast corner of Utah and Monument Valley.  This is a bucket list item for me, and we’ll be so close at Durango that I can’t pass up the chance to go there.  In this setting for so many western movies, we’ll be prepared for an Indian attack at any time in Monument Valley, but confident that John Wayne will ride to our rescue if we get in trouble!


After Monument Valley, we will turn south to Flagstaff, Holbrook, Show Low, and back into New Mexico, where we’ll go through Silver City, Las Cruces, Alamogordo and Roswell—all places we’ve never been--before re-entering Texas and making our way home.  We’re going to pray that Lucille’s air conditioner holds up in this sun-drenched part of the country, lest we have to call a wrecker to drag her to an air conditioner repair shop!  If any of you dear readers have suggestions for interesting places to visit on this route, we’d be delighted to hear from you.


In preparation for this trip, I’ve acquired a couple of new gadgets.  One is a Pressure Pro tire monitoring system, and the other is Microsoft Streets and Trips software.  The Pressure Pro will give me some peace of mind with Homer’s tires, which are hardly worn but have been on the trailer four years.  The conventional wisdom is to replace tires at five years, irrespective of the amount of wear they’ve seen, so this will probably be either the last summer for this trailer or the last for the tires.  I’ve begun to fiddle with Streets and Trips, and I like what I’ve seen so far.  However, I need to investigate extra databases I might acquire to show even more cool stuff while planning trips.
This weekend will bring about the final trip preparation and making arrangements for our mail pickup and house monitoring, things you full-timers don’t have to worry about any longer.  Grrrr.


We’ll keep you posted along the way, so TTFN!  (Ta-Ta For Now!)


346 days to retirement, if anyone is counting!

Ed and Marilyn Pay Us a Visit

October 27, 2009

Yes, friends, we played hosts to these near-celebrities in the RV blog world.  We had invited them a couple of times to stop by our place near Fort Worth during their semiannual migrations to and from the RGV.  They declined for the silliest of reasons…like the birth of their first grandchild…go figure!

But this time the planets aligned, and Ed and Marilyn appeared right on schedule at the Vineyards in Grapevine, our favorite RV park in the DFW area.  We had spent several months there while our house was being built, and they seemed to enjoy it as much as we did.  They selected a spot within a few feet of the shore of Lake Grapevine, and we were delighted to get a tour of their Mobile Suites home on wheels.  We were duly impressed.

 Marilyn and Sandy 

We found these folks to be exactly as we expected, even though we had never before met in person.  Conversation was very easy and laughs were many; it was as though we had known each other for years.  We attribute that to following each other’s journals—so many things about each other we already knew!

 Ed and Marilyn

Ed and I had a great deal in common, having spent our careers in flying, and Marilyn and Sandy hit it off splendidly, as both of them are, adorably, a bit wacky.  After admiring their coach, we motored off to the Stockyards in Fort Worth, where we enjoyed a good steak (what else?)

Marilyn and Ed at Riscky's Steakhouse in the Stockyards

Mike and Sandy Enjoying the Fellowship

Later, I was able to deliver a soliloquy on the importance of the Stockyards in the late 1800s and early 1900s in its location on the Chisholm Trail.  My history lesson, which I had laboriously researched before our outing, drew mostly yawns--especially from the girls--but Ed, ever the gentleman, feigned as much interest as he could.  Frankly, I don’t blame any of them; the number of animals slaughtered here in 1940 is a fact desperately in search of perhaps eight people in all of Texas who would be interested in that useless tidbit of information.

After much enjoyment of these fine friends, we bade them farewell for the evening and looked forward to the next day's adventure.

October 28, 2009 – Dallas History and Shopping

This day we paid a visit to the Kennedy Assassination museum in Dallas.  Oddly, Sandy and I had never toured this venue, even though we have lived in the area for almost 20 years.  It could be this omission is due to my repressed embarrassment that such a monstrous crime could actually occur in my beloved state.  While the museum was very well appointed and informative, we didn’t think it revealed much new information about the tragedy.  After all, few events of my lifetime have received so much investigation and media attention.  It was sobering, however, to view the actual place where Oswald had crouched to deliver the fatal shots that changed the world.   The feeling most prevalent to me was one of sadness, as I reflected on that terrible day in 1963.  Like everyone else, I remember exactly where I was when I heard the news:  I was in my high school cafeteria; I can even remember the exact table at which I was sitting.

After this, we lightened the mood with a little shopping.  We dropped Marilyn and Sandy at Sam Moon’s, and Ed and I went to Elliott’s, the hardware store that all others would like to be when they grow up.  Ed looked around a good bit, but didn’t find anything he couldn’t live without.  I admired his discipline in this candy store for guys…he really is careful not to clutter his little home with things that are less than essential; I could take a lesson.

We picked up the girls at Sam Moon’s, and Marilyn displayed evidence of a lesser degree of discipline.  She had found a killer purse and coordinating wallet, along with some great looking jewelry.   Before their visit, Sandy and I had thought carefully about suggesting Sam Moon’s, as we knew that Ed and Marilyn, like us, are not necessarily in the “acquisition” stage of life.  However, Sandy felt that the totality of Marilyn’s feminine existence would not be complete without her being able to say she had had the Sam Moon experience if the subject ever comes up in conversation.   Having facilitated this rite of passage, I think Sandy is able to sleep better now.  What is the Sam Moon experience, you might ask?  Well, if you don’t know, Marilyn has one up on you.

October 29, 2009 – Entertaining at our Stick House

We had invited Ed and Marilyn over for dinner and a tour of the house (and Homer’s home), and they were gracious and effusive in their compliments.  These people are so warm, personable and charming; it is a shame that such gentility seems to be on the wane these days.  We had a great evening of food, conversation and laughter, and they even let me bore them with a little piano playing.  Sandy provided her signature chocolate pie, which Ed seemed to enjoy with a good deal of reverence.

After sadly bidding them farewell, we knew we had new friends whose company we will enjoy again as we cross paths on this incredible journey called life.  Thank you, Ed and Marilyn, for sharing this time with us.