Trying to make good use of my time

[PatrioticStabilist]

The winds kept getting worse, I got to Cambria Bay Bridge and they have flashing lights with a wind advisory crossing the bridge.  It was bad, then I got behind a small camper going about 55 and I had to go 65 or so to get around him finally, poor guy was all over the road.  But it just got to hard to keep fighting it, when this old 30000 pound bus is getting pushed around I quit.  I got to the Hilltop RV Park near Mobile and hung it up early for today.

I looked at weatherbug and 17 miles from here they are saying gusts in the 30's getting higher.  But we are stationary, with jacks down now and some of these wind gusts are shaking us.  I really wanted to get a lot further today but not worth it and I told Sue Anne if its like this tomorrow we aren't moving.

She wants to be in Houston for Saturday, its her birthday, she wants to go to the game place near the house and we are thinking a new movie we want to see.

Also I looked at the weather map in Indiana and its awful, Tom says that is the "tourneys" snow storm we get in March, we always did, so generally the last of the season.  I'm hoping its not snowing and 20 when I head for up there, will be brutal dumping water and winterizing and don't want to do it in Houston.  I will take the filter out though and turn the diversion off to the icemaker.

I think we will be spending at least Jan, Feb, and March in Florida or in a little 1 bedroom rent house we built near Houston with the motorhome too, that would work if it doesn't sell, its new and has where we can hook up sewer and water and he can add a 50amp hookup for the motorhome, the yard is big enough.  Sue Anne can have the motorhome!! for her "house".  Indiana winters are not for me.

 

[Dan Walters]

Carolyn,

I'm in Beaumont and the winds were like that here yesterday but have calmed down considerably today.  I'm thinking that those winds are over your way today and that tomorrow may be much beter there also.  The rest of the week looks like it will be pretty nice until rain on Sunday, so you should have a better time getting to Houston after today.  Don't drive in those high winds if you don't have to.  My coach is much like yours, American Dream instead of Eagle, and weighs just under 30,000 lbs. but I still don't like to drive it in high winds.

Be safe and wave at us when you pass through Beaumont.  You won't be far from home (well, the old home anyway) by then.

Dan

 

[PatrioticStabilist]

I'm in no hurry and you are right its just pointless to drive in winds like that. 

I read there is a cold front coming in, going to get really cold around here.  Hubby called and I was telling him, he said yep time to pull over in wind like that.  It said some wind tomorrow, but if the front gets in they will lay.

The  guy next to me has some rig.  I'm guessing a 36?  or so 5th wheel a Montana and a to die for 3 wheel candy apple red motorbike that he pulls on a trailer BEHIND the 5th wheel.  Lordy I would like to see him take some corners with that setup.  He is pulling all of it with a 2500 Ram diesel truck. I think that bike must be his pride and joy, the engine is all chromed, its one of the 3 wheelers.  Sue Anne is in here drooling over it.  He has been out there wiping it off.  My FIL at one time had one similar, they went on a trip to Alaska and back with it.  I'm not sure my MIL enjoyed that much, she said they were filthy most of the time.  But it would be nice in good weather.  Toys for boys!!

Oh and Jim, thank you for the offer, I won't forget, we will get up that way one day.  I am very careful to get camped before dark if at all possible.  If I can't get somewhere I will stay in a truckstop or Walmart or somewhere.  I can see perfectly good in the daytime and I have an opthmalogist check my eyes each year, in my mom's family there is glaucoma and she had it so they watch my daughter and I.  Our son should take care but I doubt he does.  There is a physician at Baylor, more now I'm sure that does surgery to arrest glaucoma, but they cannot undo the damage and mom had waited to long.  I do not want that to be me.

 

[PatrioticStabilist]

I'm playing with my convection oven to see what I can bake.  I tired a package of cornbread, I like good cornbread.  Whipped it up and baked it and its flat, thought the stuff didn't raise.  Looked at the package was 2011, well so much for that experiment.  It kind of looks like cornbread tortillas.  Ha! Ha!  Maybe I better get some fresher stuff.

 

[PatrioticStabilist]

We made it to the house about 7, was almost dark.


Tom was saying I was going to hit Houston in rush hour and he was right.  Stopped and looked at the map this side of Beaumont.  Found state road 61 that run up to 90, then 321 to 105 at Cleveland, turned onto 59, then 242 over to 45 and zipped down to home. It was pretty fast actually, good roads and most of the traffic was coming from the west.  It feels like home still, I will miss this place. 
                                     
We went out to dinner but before that I realized the one thing I didn't bring, my house key!!  Gave my handyman a call and he is going to bring his down and also do the lawns at places tomorrow for me.  It looks a bit rough here.  I don't know why he didn't pick up the 3 or 4 newspapers and stuff laying in front, need to remind him.

So I get home, Sue Anne has been in the 5th wheel looking around, we had it rented before but brought it home so Tom would have some place to sleep, most of the house is cleaned out.  I do still have internet though and cable for now.  She was all excited about sleeping over there and it was plugged in and had heat I'm on genny! as he is plugged in over there.  I soon found out the 9 volt battery was run down on the carbon monoxide detector so I turned the heat off and got one of my electric heaters and put in for her. I don't want to take a chance.  But before that, I had to vacuum over there and mop, the floors were not exactly clean, not what i had in mind, but that's ok. She is all excited about sleeping over there, so its an adventure for her, nice little Jayco and has a slide, but the couch in the living room might fit a grade schooler when folded out, not sure what that deal is.  But I'm tired.  I ended up driving faster then I like, it just burns more diesel and I don't like to do that. Some of I 10 in Lousiana is even worse then the last time I was over it and that's been quite awhile back.  They had trucks going 55 and cars 60 over the Atachafalya (sp?) bridge, not sure why, of course 2 truckers didn't like that I guess and off they go, everybody else abiding by the law.

I saw diesel out in the country for $3.87 a gallon, I got a fill up for $4.07 at a Love's which was better then the fill up before.

 

[PatrioticStabilist]

Had an angel sitting on my shoulder today.

Going west on I 10 there was a motorhome, Bounder I think pulling a UHaul trailer it was giving him problems, swaying and he was going about 55, ok, no problem.  I saw him way ahead, other cars and trucks saw him we all got in the left hand lane to pass.  Well all except one semi, he was barreling down on the guy.  This was all several car lengths in front of me, quite a few actually.  So he was either asleep, had his cruise on, or on the phone, somehow distracted I would guess.  He goes into the left lane immediately and runs 2 cars off the road. They are running down the little strip beside the road with the right tires barely on asphalt and in the grass with the left, the strip through there wasn't very wide.  Thank God this was an area without ditches or anything.  You know you are back there thinking, I can't do anything but drive, I can't stop, I can't get over, I can only hope.  The rear car finally managed to get in behind the truck but the front one had no place to go, he couldn't get in front of the truck, think he was really struggling to maintain control, it was some kind of state vehicle you could see that much.  I bet he went a mile before he managed to finally get back in careening around stuff.  All I could think of is this is how those 90 car pileups happen.  Scared the bejesus out of me for sure.  I was thinking if I had been a little further up and he had forced me off with a tow car I'm sure I would have wrecked, just don't think I could have maintained control and likely wouldn't have gotten that far off anyway.

It wasn't long before I passed and got away from that old boy and he was not a young driver.  Man he came so close to causing a major accident it wasn't funny.  I saw some really stupid driving today, must be a full moon or something.  Total idiots out there.  The ones that get me the most are when you are trying to pass and leaving yourself enough room to pull back in and these idiots pass you or try to on the right.  Some days driving is not fun.

 

[Betty Brewer]

I thank GOD you were alert and able to avoid  trouble.  I am thinking of you with relief !

Sigh...

 

[PatrioticStabilist]

That's about the worst thing I have seen so far.  Just wasn't anyones day to go I guess.  With so many obstacles down the sides of the roads, amazing it was clear that far.

I had someone do that to me in my truck one day but on a service road.  The guy just stared at me, likely because I was driving in the grass, I don't think he had a clue he had just run me off to the side.  It too happened to be clear but where I went 100 foot or so, this was a long long way.

Waiting for my handyman to show up with my house key.  Tried to remember everything and of course forgot it.

 

[Tom and Margi]

Wow, Caroline!  That's about as scary as it gets!  Glad you and Sue Ann are safe.

Margi

 

[PatrioticStabilist]

If we were in the market for a motorhome for all of us to travel in this would be it. D185NB, that's at PPL, don't see many like that, however it does lack a W/D, but maybe could squeeze it in somewhere.  That would work well for the 3 of us.  Lower bunk for Sue Anne, upper for a lot of her stuff and not putting a couch out for a bed at night for us all to sleep and 4 slides and only a foot longer then what we have now.  That's a nice looking motorhome.  We won't be buying one like that, too much money, but it would fill the ticket for sure.

 

[Ken & Sheila]

BTW, the rear passenger side closet is probably prep'd for a stackable washer/dryer! (it is in the 2013 so I would think it was in 2011 and the picture of that closet is louvered which is usually done for washers)

ken

 

[PatrioticStabilist]

Of course,  I did hit a few buttons and just happened to forward it on to Tom, just for the heck of it.  We can both appreciate nice things.

I like to scan PPL and look at the trailers and motorhomes, and just never saw one like that before with bunks in it, wonder if someone ordered it  Sure doesn't have many miles on it, someone is taking a betting on that pricewise I would think.

 

[PatrioticStabilist]

Today is Sue Anne's 42nd birthday.  We are getting ready to go to Gamestop and Toys R Us.  Also there is a big game place nearby she likes to go to.  Then there is lunch and I am getting her a very small birthday cake and some ice cream for tonight.  She also wants to see the Wizard of Oz.
I am at a loss as to what to buy her but found a pair of Asics at DSW Shoes yesterday. She has such wide feet she ends up with mens shoes a lot and she wears a 7 1/2 4 W, very hard to fit, usually order them.  But these fit her, nice wide toe box and she wanted them so bad, I got them for her birthday, $125 at this sale store is why I flinched.  I don't care if she can wear them and she can and loves them. It just seemed odd shoes for her birthday, but got her some clothes too, though I will have to alter them all in Indiana, she has an odd shape so I get them to fit the bottom and waist, generally elastic waist and work from there there taking them in and shortening them.  All of us have fitting issues and have to buy expensive shoes.  My feet are totally flat and I wear orthotics so over the last years my feet have spread from a 9 1/2 to an 11, they are really bad.  Tom wears something like an 11 I think but again wide and has a high arch.  He has a hard time finding comfortable boots.
Shoes for us are not cheap. DSW has been a godsend for Sue Anne and us, we finally have attractive shoes and they have finally started realizing that people are wearing longer and wider sizes and people like that have the money to spend and want attractive shoes too!

We went and saw Bruce Willis yesterday afternoon in A Good Day to Die, typical Willis movie.  He has got to be getting old, if you like real action flicks it was a pretty good one.

I can't wait to see Olympus Fallen with Morgan Freeman, man he just looks so presidential and sounds like he should be in charge of something.  I like him in movies.

So we need to get going.

Ladies or gents, if you are near a Steinmart store, they have the prettiest easter egg colored clothing this year, gorgeous pastels, yes, I need to be sewing, but couldn't pass some of them up, decent prices there too and shorts that are longer and not the short shorts for some of us that may be getting older. ;D  Everyone have a great day.

 

[Tom and Margi]

Hugs and happy birthday to Sue Ann!!!!f

Margi

 

[PatrioticStabilist]

Some more pics from our trip

 

[PatrioticStabilist]

Sue Anne is game for anything.  But I can't get her to go ziplining yet!

 

[PatrioticStabilist]

A few more....

 

[PatrioticStabilist]

I'm trying to get Sue Anne to go ziplining, think it would be fun.  However, also thinking we should probably lose some weight before doing so, the landing could be rough otherwise.

 

[ArdraF]

Please tell Sue Anne BELATED HAPPY BIRTHDAY from both of us!  Sorry we missed her big day.  It looks like you had fun down in Florida.  Good pix!

ArdraF and JerryF

 

[Molaker]

I'm trying to get Sue Anne to go ziplining, think it would be fun.  However, also thinking we should probably lose some weight before doing so, the landing could be rough otherwise.

Depending on how you head back home (Indiana) there is a zip line just outside Branson, Mo. that is supposed to be pretty good.  I haven't been, but some of my g'kids did and loved it.  Minimum requirements.  FYI - weight limits 70-275 lbs.