Totoket Valley RV Park
Tuesday, 6 November 2018
Election Day!! Everybody vote!!
Thank goodness I'm old enough to be allowed to vote by mail (one of Texas's voting weirdnesses). And thank goodness I've got a great brother who got my ballot to me in plenty of time to get it marked and back again by the deadline. I don't know how other people who live on the road do this without nice brothers.
Anyway, today my main goal is propane. I'm once again down below ¼ tank, thanks to the really chilly weather we've been having, and I don't want to wait. Maybe it's because it's been, not just chilly, but also damp - all this rain and cloudy sky - that's making me feel so cold so much of the time and want to turn the heat up. And it's not just me. The dogs feel it too, even Gracie. And my little thermometer tells me it's in the 50s inside when I get up in the morning, even though I leave the heat on at night, just so Dexter with his thin coat won't get too cold.
So with all that, I'm using up propane a lot faster than I did a month ago. And now I'm in a new state and need to track down a propane supplier.
An internet search found lots of suppliers, but it turns out they're supplying for home heating. I finally looked up Tractor Supply stores, where I've had good luck before, and the first one I called said sure, they could take care of my RV.
They were only about 5 miles from the RV park, down a road I'd already been down so no trouble finding them. But when I got there, they told me they'd lost their connector that allows them to fill up RVs. They suggested a gas station they said wasn't too far away that they were "really pretty sure" sold propane. I decided to take a chance.
Of course, when I tried to follow their directions, I couldn't find anything they said - neither Long Hill Road nor the Bishops Orchards the road was supposed to be just after. So I turned around and went back to their long route directions, and it was a lot longer than they'd said but eventually I found Long Hill Road and a gas station at the corner. They said it was Eddy's Four Corners Gas Station, and of course there was no sign at all that said any of those things. But there was a sign saying we sell propane, so I figured that must be it. And they did sell it to me. Nice guys. Totally local place with full-service gas pumps. Didn't know there was still any place like that.
Then I went down Long Hill Road to see where it was supposed to come out that I couldn't find and got lost. It's just a local road, not a state route or anything, and I finally pulled into a parking lot for the local soccer field. The dogs had been waiting impatiently for a walk, and we managed to get one in before it started raining again.
Thanks to my little hot spot, I was able to check the internet to figure out where I was and where I wanted to go to get to the grocery store I was aiming for, and sure enough, I got there. Then it really started raining.
But the dogs claimed they wanted another walk and I figured, sure, I've got an umbrella, and it's better to walk around the grocery store parking lot than to walk yet again in that small area at the RV park. So we did.
All that took me till 2:30. It's incredible how much time it takes to wander around lost, and then get found, and get errands done, and walk dogs.
I'm sure it's partly the shortening daylight, and the move off daylight savings time, but I think it's also because it's been a while since I've gotten a full night's sleep - but whatever it is, I'm ready to go to bed around 6:30. I've started just expecting it and planning around it. The dogs and I eat supper around 4:30 or 5 every night now.
But I still get up really early, so my day's not really shorter, it's just structured differently.
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