Hello from Bastrop, Texas.
Never heard of it? Well, I
understand. However, it is one pretty
little city. Before I go any further, I
am going to play catch up. I know, my
vows to be a better blogger keep getting interrupted. I’m going to drop back to the last time I
blogged…. I believe it was me in the hospital.
Going back in time, way way back, to me being in the hospital…..
I suggest getting a drink and taking a potty break before you begin on this one... it is one of my longest posts ever, and has more pictures than any other post. It's gonna take a while to get to the end. Also note, it will take a long time for all the pictures and video to load once you open up this window.
I suggest getting a drink and taking a potty break before you begin on this one... it is one of my longest posts ever, and has more pictures than any other post. It's gonna take a while to get to the end. Also note, it will take a long time for all the pictures and video to load once you open up this window.
Talk about a fiasco.
I am not going to go back and see what all I wrote, but my primary care
doctor sent me to the ER thinking I was suffering from a combination of a sinus
infection, bowel issues, and ultimately, dehydration. They hear sinus infection, and first thing
off the bat, they did a CAT scan of the brain.
I am now on Medicare, so I presume this is so they can rack up tons of
bills but will pretend they need this to determine I am dehydrated. OK, give them the benefit of the doubt,
pretend we are all aware that this is standard treatment when someone has a
sinus infection. NOT! They didn’t even look up my nose… not once. Long story short, they never did any testing
except for the CAT scan of the brain.
They found a bleed at the base of the brain, but couldn’t tell if it was
new or old. They admit me to the
hospital (this starts automatically charging more money and involves another
doctor). Right about now, Angie and I
are starting to get worried……. HOWEVER…. Time comes to my rescue……
Three days, four doctors, thousands of dollars (probably an
underestimate) later, and final diagnosis…
I AM DEHYDRATED !
I got to go home on Saturday. The dehydration caused my blood pressure to
drop to 90 something over 50 something. That may be good for some people, but NOT for
me. It had finally gotten up to 120 over
70 by the time I was released. There is
one good thing about the whole fiasco.
They did discover a baby aneurysm (the first one they found was an old
bleed, but they think it was also an aneurysm). The new one is so small that it only has to monitored…. So I go back in 6 months
for a follow up. They also put me on
antibiotics for a rather nasty sinus infection, then recommended I go on
steroids for bowel issues. Here it is, a
couple of weeks later, and I am feeling much better. Naturally, the steroids have caused me to be
tired, but NOT too tired to eat. Yup, I
have now gained back all the weight I lost feeling poorly. (It was probably dehydration causing the
weight loss, but this is MY story)
Sheila and I were supposed to play in a golf tournament in
Lindale, TX on the Tuesday immediately after my stay in the hospital. I still felt like crap, and Gary didn’t
really want me to go. However, Sheila
and I would both be out the money we had paid, so we agreed, and I promised
Gary, that we’d go, but I would really not do much of anything. Sheila drove, and I drank fluids almost the
entire time, and NO BOOZE. Lindale, the city is
not much to look at, but it is in East Texas, the portion of the state that is
not in a drought.
The golf course was called Hideaway Lake, and it is amongst
heavy pine tree forest, and a lake that was full to the brim. Sheila and I both thought it was the
prettiest, cleanest lake community we’d ever seen. It is a “gated” community, and evidently they
have very strict HOA (homeowners association) rules. There were older homes, and new homes side by
side. There were definite architecture
differences, but they were all so well maintained, and it kept it from having
the cookie cutter look of newer communities.
YUP, we both wanted to live there.
We went to the Margarita party at the lodge, and Sheila
joined in the line dancing. I played the
perpetual wall flower and sat and sipped water.
Sheila had a ball, and a couple of margaritas…. I was so jealous.
The next morning, we got up and went to the
course to play golf. I did coast quite a
bit. When all was said and done, Sheila
did almost all of the work. We didn’t
come in DAL (dead ass last), but we didn’t win anything either.
Wednesday, Sheila plays golf and I stay home and try and rest. Thursday, Sheila stays home and I play golf with the ladies so I can qualify for the monthly tournament that I plan to play with my friend Betty, who is 80 something and not in the best of health. I played 14 holes, enough to qualify, and I call it quits. I am resting! Came home, and kept drinking my fluids, and started planning our Jimmy Buffet menu. All that planning, and at the very last, we decided to just take snacks and to have only one big meal…. On Friday night.
Wednesday, Sheila plays golf and I stay home and try and rest. Thursday, Sheila stays home and I play golf with the ladies so I can qualify for the monthly tournament that I plan to play with my friend Betty, who is 80 something and not in the best of health. I played 14 holes, enough to qualify, and I call it quits. I am resting! Came home, and kept drinking my fluids, and started planning our Jimmy Buffet menu. All that planning, and at the very last, we decided to just take snacks and to have only one big meal…. On Friday night.
The big day arrived, and Sheila and I head out to the
stadium so we can be in line by 8:45am.
The rules were very specific….. no one will be allowed to line up til
9am….and we were hoping we could fudge the rules a bit and get in line
early. Well, so much for the damned
rules. We got there and the people that
had arrived at 7:30 had the best spots taken.
They would let “us” pick a spot, but told us to park by some people that
had been here before and were supposed to be really nice. We look from a distance and decide we will
park there (like we had a choice) but not have our outdoor area next to their
out door area. As I am turning around to
park, they converge on the RV and tell me I’m facing the wrong way, and damn….
We end up sharing our common areas.
Every now and then the tailgating Gods are nice to you. There were two couples staying in a 5th
wheel trailer. They were all “a little”
under the weather…. Already. I mean, it
was now almost 9am on the dot. However,
they ended up being the coolest people we’d met in ages. They were younger than me, more Mark’s age…
well, not really. The oldest man was in
his 60’s, and the youngest lady in her later 40’s or early, EARLY 50’s. The men immediately started putting up my
awning (though I could do it myself) etc.
Talk about being pampered. They
then immediately offered drinks. I stuck
with water, but the party was on.
Mark ended up being on call that weekend, and scheduled to
work on Saturday. Gary loved it, cause
he didn’t have to be there if Mark wasn’t there. While I sat in the shade of the awning
drinking water and G2, Sheila got to drink water, G2, and every now and then a
weak margarita. We had so much fun. The guys came out noonish. Honestly, I still was not feeling well. Hate to get down and dirty, but even though I
drank all day long, I never peed…… not from the first thing that morning, until
about 2am Saturday morning. I was
miserable. That, however, didn’t stop
everyone else from having a blast. There
was a band about 50 feet away, and Sheila finally had a partner to dance with…
Mark.
That night, we did our big meal….. a shrimp boil with corn on the cob and baby potatoes. I think it was around 11pm when we called it a night. The next morning, I celebrated the fact that I had finally peed, and I made Bloody Maria’s for everyone. They were custom, based on who I was serving. Mark had a virgin version because he had to leave for work at 11am, and the rest of us had a very light version. After one, I was back on G2 and water. We snacked all morning, and did a walk around. Gary was Mark’s shuttle driver, and he left when Mark did. He did, however, come back later, bringing Eric, Chloe and Morgan with him. Morgan had a ball. Chloe sat and played on her phone most of the time…. TEENAGERS ! Morgan loved playing Sheila’s washer toss game.
That night, we did our big meal….. a shrimp boil with corn on the cob and baby potatoes. I think it was around 11pm when we called it a night. The next morning, I celebrated the fact that I had finally peed, and I made Bloody Maria’s for everyone. They were custom, based on who I was serving. Mark had a virgin version because he had to leave for work at 11am, and the rest of us had a very light version. After one, I was back on G2 and water. We snacked all morning, and did a walk around. Gary was Mark’s shuttle driver, and he left when Mark did. He did, however, come back later, bringing Eric, Chloe and Morgan with him. Morgan had a ball. Chloe sat and played on her phone most of the time…. TEENAGERS ! Morgan loved playing Sheila’s washer toss game.
You know how everyone likes to brag on their grand kids….
Well indulge me for just a bit. Eric had
bought a tie-dyed Jimmy Buffet tee shirt to wear. Some girl (wearing a grass skirt and a bikini
under it, and the top also had coconuts on top of the regular bikini swim top)
passes Eric and says “Nice shirt”. Eric,
being ever so polite replies…”Thanks.
Nice coconuts.” Morgan then
starts in on her Dad. “Are you even
wearing your wedding ring? Show me your
wedding ring. How dare you talk like
that to another woman!” Ahhhh, enough to
make any wife proud of her daughter.
Everyone but me went up to the concert (we decided we didn’t really care about the concert, we were just there for the tailgating event, so were the Kansas people) area so they could hear the music. All we could hear at our spot on the parking lot was the roar of a million generators. At 10, they opened the gates and let everyone enter the concert lawn area. Not bad, to be honest. However, Gary and the rest of my family had left by that time. It ended up being a fun event, and something we would both like to do again. Just not sure if we want to park in the exact area, though we loved the people we were next to. We will think it over.
Everyone but me went up to the concert (we decided we didn’t really care about the concert, we were just there for the tailgating event, so were the Kansas people) area so they could hear the music. All we could hear at our spot on the parking lot was the roar of a million generators. At 10, they opened the gates and let everyone enter the concert lawn area. Not bad, to be honest. However, Gary and the rest of my family had left by that time. It ended up being a fun event, and something we would both like to do again. Just not sure if we want to park in the exact area, though we loved the people we were next to. We will think it over.
Here are some various pictures that were taken while we were
there. I
Here are some snap shots. There are quite a few, so just scroll down when you get bored.....
The next picture was taken early in the morning. The poor man didn't make it into the trailer. He ended up sleeping on a blow up mattress outside.
Check out the boobs below......
Here are some snap shots. There are quite a few, so just scroll down when you get bored.....
The next picture was taken early in the morning. The poor man didn't make it into the trailer. He ended up sleeping on a blow up mattress outside.
OK, we get home Sunday, and I spend all day cleaning up the
RV. I hadn’t really cleaned it up that
well before we used it, but I mean I scrubbed it top to bottom. I was still feeling like crap, but got it
back in the storage spot, and took Sunday evening off. Betty
informs me that the mass she had removed from her lip is cancer, they got it
all, but she will not be allowed to play in the monthly tournament. Sheila will be my new partner.
I was scheduled to follow up my hospital stay with my primary
care doctor, so I did that Monday morning.
I was still having issues with dehydration…. Not feeling well, a little
fuzzy on the memory, just blah. She told
me to start drinking coconut and Smart Water, which is bottled water that has
extra electrolytes to help with hydration.
I am to take it easy…. Yada yada.
I really didn’t have time for this, Margie, Sheila, a new gal to you
all, Mary Reed, were off to another golf tournament. I was actually on my way to pick up Margie when the doctor
called me and said my urine sample showed I was still dehydrated. She insisted I drink LOTS and LOTS more water
and take it easy.
OK….. I pick up Margie, then swing by Sheila’s and then we are in route to Mary’s house. I used my Google+ maps app on my iphone. Margie decided I am lost because we are NOT supposed to be in Sunnyvale. Well, Siri (though it is NOT an Apple product, but that is what I call any voice on my iphone that is female and talks to me) is never wrong I tell her. It says we go thru Sunnyvale to get to Mesquite. No, No, I am wrong, so I tell her to call Mary and confirm our route. Well, Margie is the turtle and I drive like the hare. I finally pull off to a side street and wait…. Yes we are on the correct route, though Mary says it is not the way she drives it. We pick up Mary and I reset my app for the route to Horseshoe Casino in Shreveport, LA. Mary says from the back seat… I know a short cut to I 20. I tell her that I’m not going that route. She says it is much shorter…. I have had it up to my eyeballs…. So I rather rudely, and rather loudly, inform everyone that I am driving and could care less about everyone else knowing what is going on, that I am following my app’s direction. Suddenly, it is extremely quiet in the car. That is really unlike me to be so mean.
Remember, regardless of what you think, I AM THE ONE TELLING THE STORY !
OK….. I pick up Margie, then swing by Sheila’s and then we are in route to Mary’s house. I used my Google+ maps app on my iphone. Margie decided I am lost because we are NOT supposed to be in Sunnyvale. Well, Siri (though it is NOT an Apple product, but that is what I call any voice on my iphone that is female and talks to me) is never wrong I tell her. It says we go thru Sunnyvale to get to Mesquite. No, No, I am wrong, so I tell her to call Mary and confirm our route. Well, Margie is the turtle and I drive like the hare. I finally pull off to a side street and wait…. Yes we are on the correct route, though Mary says it is not the way she drives it. We pick up Mary and I reset my app for the route to Horseshoe Casino in Shreveport, LA. Mary says from the back seat… I know a short cut to I 20. I tell her that I’m not going that route. She says it is much shorter…. I have had it up to my eyeballs…. So I rather rudely, and rather loudly, inform everyone that I am driving and could care less about everyone else knowing what is going on, that I am following my app’s direction. Suddenly, it is extremely quiet in the car. That is really unlike me to be so mean.
Remember, regardless of what you think, I AM THE ONE TELLING THE STORY !
We finally make it to the Casino and we all get checked
in. That evening, we go to eat at Ralph
and Kacoo’s. It is a Cajun style of
cooking…. But more than gumbo and the likes.
The food was soooo good. If you
ever get a chance to go to one, do it.
We all got something different, but every dish was better than any of us
ever expected. I definitely want to
visit there again, but won’t order as much food. My crab stuffed mushrooms (served with a
white sauce) and crab salad were way, WAY too much to eat. I ate all the mushrooms, and about 1/3 of the
salad. Thank goodness Margie is like
me…. She tried some of my food, and vice versa.
Her blackened tilapia was some of the best I have ever had. Not that over powering pepper paprika taste….
Can’t describe it, but do try it.
After that, we head off to Margaritaville Casino. Long story
short, I put $20 to play the “fishing tournament slots” machine, and ended up
with $321. I made a conscious decision
to invest another $80 and play the rest of the evening. Margie invested about $40, and Mary invested
a $20. Mary quit when she had lost
$9. Not quite the party type person I
had hoped for. Oh well. Sheila got lucky on the video poker and won
$500. Yup, she was a happy camper.
We called it an early night. There is just something about playing slots with two friends sighing in the background while you attempt to have fun. We got up early the next morning and headed out for a practice round…. At 11:am. I start to set my map app for the golf course, and Margie says you don’t need to do that, I know how to get there. I decided t sort of mend fences for being so rude before, and decide to follow Margies' directions. We’ve been driving about 10 minutes and Margie asks Mary and Sheila if they remember the exit we’re supposed to take. Nope. Margie gets on the phone and calls the golf course and verifies which exit we’re supposed to take off the interstate. They tell her it’s the Swan Lake exit. We’re tooling along, and we no longer see any signs of “city” life. We’re in the country. Well, Margie calls them back, she hadn’t told them “which” interstate we are on. I have been biting my tongue for so long, that it is now numb. I was soooo proud of myself. We finally make a u-turn and arrive at the golf course. We get there, play our round of golf. We bet on our game, as is our normal. It ends up that Sheila and I shoot really well, win all the money (Margie and Sheila tied for one bet).
We called it an early night. There is just something about playing slots with two friends sighing in the background while you attempt to have fun. We got up early the next morning and headed out for a practice round…. At 11:am. I start to set my map app for the golf course, and Margie says you don’t need to do that, I know how to get there. I decided t sort of mend fences for being so rude before, and decide to follow Margies' directions. We’ve been driving about 10 minutes and Margie asks Mary and Sheila if they remember the exit we’re supposed to take. Nope. Margie gets on the phone and calls the golf course and verifies which exit we’re supposed to take off the interstate. They tell her it’s the Swan Lake exit. We’re tooling along, and we no longer see any signs of “city” life. We’re in the country. Well, Margie calls them back, she hadn’t told them “which” interstate we are on. I have been biting my tongue for so long, that it is now numb. I was soooo proud of myself. We finally make a u-turn and arrive at the golf course. We get there, play our round of golf. We bet on our game, as is our normal. It ends up that Sheila and I shoot really well, win all the money (Margie and Sheila tied for one bet).
We go back to the Horseshoe and then go have a drink at the
bar. We decide to go to Margaritaville
again. I invested another $80 or so, and
didn’t win anything. Sheila played craps
and didn’t win anything. The other two just
watched. We did eat while there. The waitress suggested we just share a few
items. We did, and it ended up being
great fun. We shared coconut shrimp,
fried oysters, fried shrimp, fried catfish, stuffed crab, and I think some type
of artichoke crab dip. It was again too
much food. Margie and I had blender
margarita’s, and Margie gave me her glass.
We called it a night fairly early, and headed back to Horseshoe Casino,
which is where we stayed. Sheila went to
the casino, but didn’t have any luck, so she came back early. I messaged our golf stats to Margie so they
could figure out how much money they owed us.
Still tired and fuzzy headed. I am giving myself the benefit of the doubt and NOT blaming my error on Alzheimer’s. We four girls were on one team, a scramble. That is where everyone tees off, you select the best ball, and everyone goes there to play their next shot. Repeat… even on the putting green, until someone holes out. We are on a par 3 hole, and it took us two shots to get onto the green. I was the worst putter, so I always putted first. I putt and miss, Margie walks behind me and watches Mary and Sheila putt. Mary misses, and Sheila misses but the ball is sitting like 1 inch from the cup. I walk over and tap it in for bogey. WTF? Everyone is yelling and screaming (at the moment my putter touches the ball) NO CONNIE… NO CONNIE. Well, Margie had not putted, and she is supposed to be our A putter. We got a bogey, and Margie “may have “ been able to sink the putt. OMG! The humiliation. No one said anything, except Sheila who hugged me and said no big deal. Yeah, easy for her to say.
We continue our round. We have a good lunch afterwards, and they start announcing the winners. No one has mentioned my big faux paux….. we are in a scorecard play off for the first flight, with a 68. The outcome? We lost the scorecard playoff on a hole we had bogeyed… but NOT the par 3. It was a different hole, but still, it could have been my fault if Margie had been able to make the putt. I do want to say I made a chip-in for birdie an another birdie putt (or else a putt to save par that was really hard), but no matter what, I had still made a big boner. We won nada. We leave in shame! Sheila did win a night stay at Boomtown with a voucher for $100 at the steak house. She is so damned lucky!
I set my map app on my phone, and advised everyone that I
was taking the direction of Siri… no ifs ands or butts. Things started getting testy and I loudly and
rudely announced that I was Never %&$ driving again. It is true that the directions were the same,
but when you’re gabbing and looking around, it is just easier to know that Siri
will tell you ahead of time how to get where you’re going. And no, I advised Mary, I did not want HER
directions for how to get there. Yeah…..
100% bitch. It wasn’t until I dropped
Sheila off and we were walking back to the card that Margie uttered the
unthinkable…
"One putt…. We lost the scorecard playoff by one putt."
Lucky for her I was not in an angry mood. I laughed, as did Sheila. To this very moment, I am still angry with myself because it was so stupid of me and I KNOW better. We make it home, and I am still tired and exhausted.
Lucky for her I was not in an angry mood. I laughed, as did Sheila. To this very moment, I am still angry with myself because it was so stupid of me and I KNOW better. We make it home, and I am still tired and exhausted.
Thursday, Sheila and I are playing partners in the FWGA
6-6-6 tournament. You play 6 holes
alternate shot, 6 scramble holes, and 6 best ball holes. We were doing ok, I honestly (for a change)
think I was playing a little better (considering my handicap) than Sheila. However, come the scramble 6 holes, and that
girl was on fire. I was hitting my drive
pretty well, but she was doing the rest… putting, chipping…etc. We ended up, get this…. In a scorecard
playoff with one other team in the first flight. We lost, but came in second place. I was proud of our golf, and think Sheila was
also. I must say, Sheila got up too
early… well, anything before noon is almost too early for Sheila to be in a
good mood. I know that. However, I am still having fuzzy headed
problems, and am on the cranky side myself.
I just want to say one thing….. thank gawd she’s my friend. Both of us were cranky to each other…. Good things she's my friend.
I came home, exhausted, and I started packing for a weekend
trip with Gary, Angie, Chloe and Morgan in the RV. Hey, at least it is clean. One thing I did not mention is that when I am
doing huge doses of steroids (which I am), that I cannot sleep, and yes, that
does cause me to feel like shit and be cranky.
POOR GARY! He is walking on pins
and needles, and he actually got packed BEFORE the trip. No, I am not imagining it, he actually packed
early. Angie? Well, that’s another story. She was good old steady Angie…. Just a tad
late in getting her stuff done. Gary had
a dental appointment, and we headed out as soon as he was finished.
The traffic and drive from Dallas to here was awful….. I35 should be
avoided by everyone, if possible. We got
in fairly late. Angie and I shared a
glass of wine, I had one she had two, and sat out on our RV site at the
KOA. It was 84 degrees, but a cool
breeze was blowing and it was great.
Also, no mosquitoes! Gary and
Morgan played Frisbee, and Chloe played on her iPhone. TEENAGERS!
We hit the sack around 10 am. I have
all of a sudden gone into the the “I’m on steroids and must eat everything in
sight” mode. I ate carrots, I ate dip, I
ate cookies, I ate crackers, I was close to eating a pillow when I finally went
to sleep around 1am. I slept like a
baby, for the first time since I went in the hospital. I actually slept til 5 am.
Well rested, I get up and locate the PC and start blogging. That was before I sat on the end of the air
mattress (standard queen size stuff in RV’s now a days…. Air mattresses instead
of heavy regular mattresses) that houses the open/close valve. I fumble around in the dark and locate
everything, then I fumble around in the dark and make coffee. Then around 6 am, Angela is up griping that
the air mattress had a hole in it and is flat.
I go in to help her refill it, and realize that when I sat on the end, I
didn’t have the valve closed properly, and just my sitting on it caused it to
open and leak all the air out. Angie is
NOT friendly when she awoke to a flat mattress. We got her fixed, and here it is, almost 8am
and everyone else is still asleep. I did
get the password for internet from her, so now I could upload all this, but
won’t because we are going to leave here at 10 am for the watermelon parade in
Luling that starts at 10am. I will now
attempt to feed the crew. Later…..
Picking up where I left off.... we made it to the parade. I cannot begin to describe the Watermelon Thump Festival. They had the Luling World Speed Spitting contest, they had a small fair, and they had a HUGE parade. There was something of everything there. Local floats contestants for Miss Thump, (whatever they call her... the watermelon queen) they had floats from other Texas cities that have festivals throughout the year. Guess they don't have their own parades, so they just attend the Luling parade. That's all I could figure out. It was also a good time to have all their high schools reunions. They only have one high school, but they had floats of all the reunions that were held during the festival. Every fire truck company within 100 miles came... and evidently they were there to test their horns and sirens. Then there were the car clubs. On and on. I went and sat down away from the parade after 1 hour and 45 minutes. I was "paraded" out. See for yourself. Knock yourself out. I am making these small.... you will get the jest of why after you've looked at a million of them.
The girls wanted to go to the fair. I sampled some chocolate covered bacon. Four strips for $4. Not bad, but it was awful. The bacon was NOT cooked crisp... I gagged on the first bite. Morgan rode an electric bull. I went to the RV while the girls started riding roller coasters. Chloe got sick on one ride...... the paramedics had to drive her to meet me cause she was too sick to hold her poor head up. Between heat and the rides.... she was miserable. After that, we went out to eat.
We went to the Roadhouse. If you're ever there, you must visit it. Best burgers I've eaten in a long time. Even better than Whataburger. Wait.... it is true. You get your choice of bun types. I chose jalapeno, and it was good. Angie and I shared a chili cheese burger with sweet potato fries, and we also shared some other appetizers. Then, the five of us shared a 4way Brownie. Huge 6X6 inch brownie with 4 scoops of Blue Bell Vanilla Ice Cream, and whipped cream, and hot fudge sauce. Oink Oink Oink. After that, we headed back to the RV park and Morgan and I went swimming. We went to be fairly early.
Next morning, we headed out and did some exploring of the area, then the four of them went for a raft trip down the Colorado river. I passed on that one. I was not feeling too whoopie. They had a ball, and it took them about 2 hours to do their trip. They all were sunburned and smiling. After that, we tried to turn the generator on so we could run the air conditioner, and it wouldn't start. We had to have it running before we could travel back... it gets too hot without the air conditioning in the back. We stopped at a parts store, and the man behind the counter said he'd work on it tomorrow, but not on a Sunday. I gave him my sob story about my daughter needed to be back to work and the 2 grand kids would be miserable without air conditioning on the 6 hour trip home. He took sympathy on me, went out and found that there was no oil in the generator. It has an auto stop feature so prevent it from ruining the engine when the oil is low. He added oil and it started right up. While doing that, he noticed that the air filter was not inserted correctly. Try as he might, it would not fit in the hole. I promised him I'd take care of it as soon as I got home, and he then gave me a short cut to get home. It was up highway 296. Get this, we made it from Bastrop to our house in Dallas in 4 hours... without the toll road. It was only 65 MPH, but there was no traffic, just like he said. That will be our new route to and from that area just south of Austin from now on.
Well, we unloaded and I took the RV to storage and unloaded everything. I worked up quite a sweat. To be honest, I probably did too much considering I'd been ill. I got home an went straight to bed. Monday, I was sicker all day. Same old thing.... low pressure and felt weak when I got up. I drank liquid all day long. I did nothing else. Today, I took the RV in to the shop about the air filter, and found that it is broken. It will take 4-6 hours for them to replace the defective plate that holds the air filter. $150 per hour times 5 (guesstimate on my part).... damn.....with parts, it is going to be almost $1000. Here's the weird part. They are so busy that they can't work on it for a few weeks. They said I have a choice... I can wait on them, or I can take it to Carrollton and have a Cummins Generator factory repair place work on it. It is NOT under warranty from Cummins, so it wouldn't be covered by them. If I have it repaired at a certified RV place, my extended warranty "may" pay for it. I decided to hold out and have the RV repair place see if they can get my extended warranty to cover it. Till then, I can use it, but not run the generator. Gary is weird, as most of you know. He doesn't understand why I don't just take it to the Cummins place. I give up. If I'd said it the other way around, he'd be made that I was blowing money. I cannot win for losing some times.
That pretty much brings me up to speed. I felt a little better today, but I have been drinking smart water and coconut concoctions all day long. Last month we went to Saltgrass Steak House for Carlos' retirement party. Gary liked the bar there, so last night we went to one near the house. We ate dinner at the bar, and watched Americas lose on reruns. UGH! However, the beer was the best part. They actually use frozen glasses. Gary broke his rule about never having more than 2 beers, and had 3. I had one margarita and 2 beers. The frozen mug does make a difference. We shared some spinach dip and some shrimp stuffed jalapenos with onion rings. We had more than enough food for the two of us.
Not sure what is on the agenda today, but I may lay low for one more day. I am thinking that the Humira shots I take may be starting to cause me problems. I still don't feel 100%, and am pissed that I don't feel normal as of yet. I still need to get my house cleaned. Maybe tomorrow. Then, I need to schedule the kitchen and master bath remodel. That should be fun.
Now... if you only knew... it has taken several days and hours to sort and capture pictures from... my iphone, Angie's iphone, my Samsung Camera, Angie camera... then there is the importing and editing. It has taken days. Whew with this post.....
Picking up where I left off.... we made it to the parade. I cannot begin to describe the Watermelon Thump Festival. They had the Luling World Speed Spitting contest, they had a small fair, and they had a HUGE parade. There was something of everything there. Local floats contestants for Miss Thump, (whatever they call her... the watermelon queen) they had floats from other Texas cities that have festivals throughout the year. Guess they don't have their own parades, so they just attend the Luling parade. That's all I could figure out. It was also a good time to have all their high schools reunions. They only have one high school, but they had floats of all the reunions that were held during the festival. Every fire truck company within 100 miles came... and evidently they were there to test their horns and sirens. Then there were the car clubs. On and on. I went and sat down away from the parade after 1 hour and 45 minutes. I was "paraded" out. See for yourself. Knock yourself out. I am making these small.... you will get the jest of why after you've looked at a million of them.
The girls wanted to go to the fair. I sampled some chocolate covered bacon. Four strips for $4. Not bad, but it was awful. The bacon was NOT cooked crisp... I gagged on the first bite. Morgan rode an electric bull. I went to the RV while the girls started riding roller coasters. Chloe got sick on one ride...... the paramedics had to drive her to meet me cause she was too sick to hold her poor head up. Between heat and the rides.... she was miserable. After that, we went out to eat.
We went to the Roadhouse. If you're ever there, you must visit it. Best burgers I've eaten in a long time. Even better than Whataburger. Wait.... it is true. You get your choice of bun types. I chose jalapeno, and it was good. Angie and I shared a chili cheese burger with sweet potato fries, and we also shared some other appetizers. Then, the five of us shared a 4way Brownie. Huge 6X6 inch brownie with 4 scoops of Blue Bell Vanilla Ice Cream, and whipped cream, and hot fudge sauce. Oink Oink Oink. After that, we headed back to the RV park and Morgan and I went swimming. We went to be fairly early.
Next morning, we headed out and did some exploring of the area, then the four of them went for a raft trip down the Colorado river. I passed on that one. I was not feeling too whoopie. They had a ball, and it took them about 2 hours to do their trip. They all were sunburned and smiling. After that, we tried to turn the generator on so we could run the air conditioner, and it wouldn't start. We had to have it running before we could travel back... it gets too hot without the air conditioning in the back. We stopped at a parts store, and the man behind the counter said he'd work on it tomorrow, but not on a Sunday. I gave him my sob story about my daughter needed to be back to work and the 2 grand kids would be miserable without air conditioning on the 6 hour trip home. He took sympathy on me, went out and found that there was no oil in the generator. It has an auto stop feature so prevent it from ruining the engine when the oil is low. He added oil and it started right up. While doing that, he noticed that the air filter was not inserted correctly. Try as he might, it would not fit in the hole. I promised him I'd take care of it as soon as I got home, and he then gave me a short cut to get home. It was up highway 296. Get this, we made it from Bastrop to our house in Dallas in 4 hours... without the toll road. It was only 65 MPH, but there was no traffic, just like he said. That will be our new route to and from that area just south of Austin from now on.
Well, we unloaded and I took the RV to storage and unloaded everything. I worked up quite a sweat. To be honest, I probably did too much considering I'd been ill. I got home an went straight to bed. Monday, I was sicker all day. Same old thing.... low pressure and felt weak when I got up. I drank liquid all day long. I did nothing else. Today, I took the RV in to the shop about the air filter, and found that it is broken. It will take 4-6 hours for them to replace the defective plate that holds the air filter. $150 per hour times 5 (guesstimate on my part).... damn.....with parts, it is going to be almost $1000. Here's the weird part. They are so busy that they can't work on it for a few weeks. They said I have a choice... I can wait on them, or I can take it to Carrollton and have a Cummins Generator factory repair place work on it. It is NOT under warranty from Cummins, so it wouldn't be covered by them. If I have it repaired at a certified RV place, my extended warranty "may" pay for it. I decided to hold out and have the RV repair place see if they can get my extended warranty to cover it. Till then, I can use it, but not run the generator. Gary is weird, as most of you know. He doesn't understand why I don't just take it to the Cummins place. I give up. If I'd said it the other way around, he'd be made that I was blowing money. I cannot win for losing some times.
That pretty much brings me up to speed. I felt a little better today, but I have been drinking smart water and coconut concoctions all day long. Last month we went to Saltgrass Steak House for Carlos' retirement party. Gary liked the bar there, so last night we went to one near the house. We ate dinner at the bar, and watched Americas lose on reruns. UGH! However, the beer was the best part. They actually use frozen glasses. Gary broke his rule about never having more than 2 beers, and had 3. I had one margarita and 2 beers. The frozen mug does make a difference. We shared some spinach dip and some shrimp stuffed jalapenos with onion rings. We had more than enough food for the two of us.
Not sure what is on the agenda today, but I may lay low for one more day. I am thinking that the Humira shots I take may be starting to cause me problems. I still don't feel 100%, and am pissed that I don't feel normal as of yet. I still need to get my house cleaned. Maybe tomorrow. Then, I need to schedule the kitchen and master bath remodel. That should be fun.
Now... if you only knew... it has taken several days and hours to sort and capture pictures from... my iphone, Angie's iphone, my Samsung Camera, Angie camera... then there is the importing and editing. It has taken days. Whew with this post.....
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