Computer frustrations
Microsoft chose this week to install Microsoft Edge in place of Microsoft Explorer, and the instant result for my computer has been a sharp decline in productivity. It takes me at least as long as dial-up used to to get anything done. Seriously. It took me an hour and a half just to make a reservation at a state park, which is excessive in my book. It was installed during a routine update download, so I didn't know it was happening until the next day when I fired up my computer.
I asked David to look at it, despite him using Apple products instead of Microsoft. He said it was so frustrating, it reminded him of why he'd switched to Apple in the first place. At my request, he took me off Edge and put me back on Explorer, but despite his efforts my computer was still as slow as Christmas.
I finally decided it'd be better to switch back to Edge, figuring both programs are slow and Microsoft was very unlikely to produce updates to Explorer but highly likely to produce them for Edge, assuming lots of other people are having the same problem I'm having. So I did that this morning and it took hours (I told you it was slow) but now it's done.
Firm plans
Earlier this week, I'd definitely planned to head north, until I started seeing the numbers of new cases and deaths rising in most of the states due north of Texas. Then I decided to head for the Northeast, where most of the states have finally stabilized their numbers. Of course, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are maintaining that by instituting a quarantine of their own - 10 or 14 days, I think. But I could pass through those states and keep going to Vermont or Maine, which both have low numbers. And I was definitely going to go that way. The main hitch in that plan is that so many of the states between here and there have sharply increasing numbers, making them not too safe to be going through. My main point of contact with folks along the way would be at gas stations, where I always pay cash, and at grocery stores, but both those are indubitably contacts.
Anyway, I was starting to get a little frantic with my computer not working at a reasonable speed and the virus numbers changing daily and my fear of catching the virus all being whirled together as if my head were a blender. Until finally I came up with this other idea. Then I was still in a state until I actually made reservations. That gave me a commitment to work around, which calmed me down immensely.
So I will definitely be leaving David & Anna's house on Tuesday the 21st and spending the first night back at Cedar Hill State Park. That will give me a chance to dump my tanks, fill up with water, and start feeling a little like I'm back on the road again. On Wednesday, I'm going to the Amarillo KOA for one night, and on Thursday I plan to stop at the Tucumcari KOA for a week.
My friends Paula and Bruce, who live just this side of Albuquerque, have invited me to park the RV next to their house for as long as I want, which is really generous. I'd planned on going directly there from Amarillo until I remembered an obvious aspect of RV life that most homeowners aren't equipped to deal with: the need for periodic waste tank dumps. I'd have to leave my friends' house and go to a public dump station, which would require me to have contact with a human being in order to pay to dump - something not allowed under NM's quarantine rules.
New Mexico has a mandatory 2-week quarantine, and P&B have just been doing that because they went to California for a couple of weeks to see their granddaughter and, incidentally, their son and his husband, though of course it's the little one that's the attraction. They tell me that the quarantine rules will allow us to sit outside at the appropriate distance apart so we can visit during that period, but that's a big difference from going inside a convenience store to pay to dump my tanks.
So to honor the quarantine rules, I'm going to stop at Tucumcari for the first of the 2 weeks' quarantine, dump my tanks before I leaven there, and then go on to my friends' house for the 2nd week. By the end of that time, I'll be free to go once again to a public place to empty out the tanks.
This week's trips
In trying to cram in all the things I need to do before I leave town, I had to make extra trips this week - 4 in all.
Weekly Cleanliness Trip
On Monday, I went on what Anna calls my errands trip. During the day I passed a church with this message on the sign out front: "Thou Shalt Wear A Mask: Hygenesis 20:20." Surprised I haven't seen it at more churches because it's clever. When I stopped to get myself found (after getting lost as I often seem to do around here), I pulled into a shopping center that included a Goody Goody Liquor store (I'm sure that name seemed like a good idea at the time). Their truck out front advertised: "Smooth Whiskey; Neat Prices."
I stopped by a Chase bank to pick up extra cash, in case I end up in one or more states where Chase doesn't have a presence. Getting them to give me a large sum of money has been a bit of a problem no matter what state I've been in. Understandably they want proof that I'm who I say I am and ask for my driver's license and credit card. Then they also want to send a text to my phone for further confirmation, and have no back-up plan for the rare people like me who don't have a smartphone and don't receive texts. Producing my checkbook doesn't help. Retrieving my flip phone from the RV hasn't reassured them. Nothing works, until the teller calls for help from the supervisor who usually compares my signature on my driver's license with the one they have in the computer. But I don't do this often enough to remember from one time to the next what the solution is so never think to suggest it earlier in the process. At least I have some assurance it's hard for a crook to get money out of my account.
I went to several stores trying to find the cat treats Lily likes. I've been giving her Meow Mix Treats at bedtime when the dogs get their MilkBones, and those are soft treats. Major brand, right? But they're surprisingly hard to find and even PetsMart doesn't carry this kind of treats. All I can find in most stores are crunchy treats, which I'm guessing won't go over too well with this picky kitty. Never did find them in the various stores I visited today.
Went by the recycling center, a liquor store, a grocery store, and finally drove up north to the town of Anna to the Love's Travel Center to dump my tanks. By then I'd had several frustrations and the weather had heated up pretty thoroughly, made worse by wearing gloves and a mask. And very sadly, I failed to attach the hose properly to the tank outlet and dumped a moderate amount of sewage on the ground before I could push the lever shut. When I tried to wash it away, I found their water hose had a poor connection with the outlet and sprayed more water on me than out of the hose. Not an auspicious situation.
Stopped by the storage place on the way back to drop off some of the fans I had stored in the basement, leaving 3 to take with me.
When I got back to D&A's house and plugged back in, I discovered my TV and DVD player weren't getting power. After that fiasco at the Love's, I wasn't reacting well to having yet one more thing go wrong with my RV and went across to the house to ask for David's help in near hysterical tones, poor thing. He discovered that the fuse to those appliances had blown and replaced it with the one for the awning, which I can't use anyway until the parts come in, but it turned out not to be enough. He said there's some kind of problem between the fuse box and the plug where those appliances draw power. To calm me down, he asked me for a regular extension cord, which he connected between the appliances and the outlet by the door. And it works. Not even remotely ideal, but I didn't want to contemplate not having access to the morning weather report or an evening of escapism other than books, and it does work.
Dog Grooming Trip
It occurred to me that I haven't had the dogs washed in so long I can't remember when - the last time I'm sure about was in Michigan a year ago - and surely! that's not the last time. Anyway, the grooming salon at PetsMart said Wednesdays are usually light days so my dogs would be less likely to be scared or hyped up by a crowd, and they could fit us in at 10:00. It ended up taking them until almost 4:00, but the dogs were clean and Gracie lost inches of hair. I paid for a treatment they call the Defurminator (of course) that they say gets out a lot more hair than just brushing can, and the result is absolutely amazing. They were right, and Gracie looks as svelte as she is (she only eats about half the food I give her).
While they were cleaning the dogs, I went off to wash the dog bed covers and sweep up the dog hair and dirt collected underneath them. When I learned the dogs wouldn't be ready for several more hours, I drove to a Camping World I found online to get more tank cleaner, and then to an O'Reilly's Auto Parts for a fuse for my awning, when I can use it.
And then the puppies looked great and felt great and didn't smell any more (I ask for unscented shampoo) and their beds were clean and didn't smell any more, so today's trip was altogether more satisfying than Monday's.
And after I got back I got a call from Luxury Coach Services, telling me my parts had come in and would I please come tomorrow as early as I could get there. Very exciting.
Awning Repair Trip
So about 8:30 on Thursday morning, we were back on the road heading to Rockwall to the repair shop. It took Alex, the mechanic who's done all the work on my RV, not much more than half an hour to install the new awning motor and the new caps on the joints.
Can't see anything odd, right? That's because the awning looks like it's supposed to. Those end covers are so shiny they reflect the color of the RV, which needs a bath as much as the dogs did. But now the gears and joints are shielded from the weather and tree debris, which should help prolong their life, and they look nice again.Since they got done so quickly, I went to nearby Mesquite to check on the status of my Eleanor Roosevelt t-shirt; they said they'd done it yesterday but it turned out smudgy so they were redoing it that day. I said I'd come back on Friday.
I went on to Verizon to get them to transfer data from my old phone to my new phone, because Anna insists I have a functioning phone when I'm traveling - you know, one that holds a charge longer than about an hour or two. I had to stand outside in a socially distanced line (all of us with masks), and wait while an employee and a security guard came outside to find out what we wanted done and put us in a computer line. Fortunately I didn't have to wait long (it was already getting hot outside), but then they explained they don't do that data transfer in these pandemic times and I'd have to call an 800 number to get it done. The manager gave me the number and his card and told me to call him if I had trouble.
I decided to stop at a Whataburger, since I'm about to leave Texas and wanted one last one before I left. They allow orders only through their drive-thru or by advance orders, neither of which I'm able to do. Their drive-thru communication system seems to be set up to respond to the weight of a vehicle, because they never know I'm there. I was just walking up to get in line for the window when I saw someone pull in to the order spot behind me and ran up and asked him to tell them about me. He'd seen my RV parked in front and figured out for himself that I'd come from there and was too tall for the drive-thru and explained all that to the disembodied voice without me saying a word. Nice guy. They told me to order at the window, and then they brought it out to me in front.
While I was waiting I saw their sign that said in April 2001 the Texas Legislature voted Whataburger an official Texas Treasure. So there we are.
I stopped again at a grocery store (still looking for Lily's kitty treats, unsuccessfully) and went on back to A&D's house.
I heard something on the radio I thought was comforting: a scientist was talking about the Neowise comet that's visible these days (I saw it a couple of weeks ago - very nice) and said the comet is a reminder that, despite all the troubles we're having these days, we're still a part of a larger universe and it's still there. I appreciate the perspective.
Shopping Trip
This last trip I left the dogs with David, and Anna took me out to find some things I've been wanting. No question it's a lot easier to do errands with her ordinary pickup than with my RV plus critters. We went first back to Mesquite, where my t-shirt was indeed ready and it looks great. I think they charged me $20 for it, including the cost of the shirt, which I think is a wildly reasonable price.
Then she took me to a series of shops - Academy, Dick's, Penney's - like that, and we managed to find a couple of pairs of Reef flip-flops, which is what I wear about 8 months of the year. That brand wears really well and never breaks apart; I just finally wear the sole down until it's too thin, but that takes years.
We both found inexpensive shorts with pockets and inexpensive tank-type tops, because I haven't bought either one for years and what I have now is starting to fall apart. Literally.
And wonder of wonders, I found Lily's treats. Anna took me to a Walmart, which I hate, but at least they had not only the Meow Mix kind but also 2 other brands of soft treats, so I got enough bags to last approximately the rest of Lily's life. At least, it seems like that.
Somewhere in there we stopped at Schlotzky's, which we both like. I know they've expanded to several other states, but I remember going to the first location down by the river in Austin a zillion years ago. The sandwich is still just as good as it used to be, and there aren't many things you can say that about.
Final thoughts
I was still in my panic phase when I was standing in line at the Verizon, and I told myself to take deep breaths and remember that I have choices. Everything will work out one way or another. None of this ridiculous situation is permanent. Or as Tony DiNozzo (NCIS) said once, "The world turns on its own, and we don't need to get out and push." Sooner or later it will all be okay.
And sure enough, it is.
I hope everyone's staying safe and taking deep breaths and keeping calm.
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