Most of week 16 of hiatus

I'd intended this post to cover this entire week but realized partway through that my sojourn to New Mexico covered so much new territory it should be a separate post.  And because of the timing of that sojourn, I'm late posting this.  But here's the first half of Week 16.


Monday, 20 through Thursday, 23 July 2020

Beginning of change
This has been a week of change, in more ways than one.  I began it by planning to continue my hiatus with 2 weeks of self-quarantine in New Mexico, to be followed either by resuming my travels with New Mexico as my next state to tour or by continuing to hunker down at the home of my friends Paula and Bruce outside Albuquerque.

To that end, I left David and Anna's house Tuesday, spent the first night once more at Cedar Hill State Park, then went on to Amarillo, intending to move from there to the Tucumcari (NM) KOA for a week.  That plan got torpedoed when I called Tucumcari Wednesday morning (they wouldn't take my reservation earlier) and they told me both that they were packed and could barely squeeze me into the middle of the campground (making dog-walking very difficult) and that so many campers had dogs they were thinking of adding a surcharge for pets.  Impossible for me to believe I could stay there a full week.

I still had the reservation paid for at the Amarillo KOA so drove the 9 hours (for me, 5½ for Google's drivers) from Cedar Hill up there, wondering what to do next.  Apparently all the people who stop at Tucumcari also stop at Amarillo, because that campground too was bursting with dogs and I found it almost impossible to take mine anywhere without encountering one or more others.  I decided to go down to the Lubbock KOA (figuring few people go through Lubbock on their way to anywhere else) and maybe go from there to a campground in southern NM for a week.

But somewhere in the 2 days of driving, I realized my essentially rebellious self was revolting at the thought of spending yet more time hunkered down anywhere.  I was back on the road where I'd been for 2 years straight and happy to be there, ready again to go places and see things.  All state-owned facilities in NM are closed - campgrounds, museums, parks - and though there are still federally- and privately-owned places that have reopened, a lot I'd want to see in NM would be closed to me.

The virus seems more under control in Colorado than it looked a few weeks ago (the situation is incredibly fluid everywhere), but I didn't want to go in August, figuring the place would be packed with families.  The only places that seem truly safe (at the moment) are in the Northeast, but I'd have to travel through multiple states that aren't safe just to get there, an unappealing option.  I decided my choices were to continue hunkering down or to continue my travels doing my level best to stay safe - continuing wearing a mask and gloves and maintaining as much distance as I can when I'm out of my RV, washing my hands, all those measures we've been doing lately.  So my latest plan is to spend the month of August in Oklahoma.  Not a place to go to stay safe, and I may cut my month short if the virus starts raging out of control there, but at the moment that's where I think I'll go.

In the meantime, I saw parts of Texas on my drives that I've never seen before.  I've never been up to the Panhandle, for instance, so I took pages of notes while driving that I'll describe here in what will probably be a long and long-winded post of the 4 drives I took this week.

Where I've been living these last 4 months

David & Anna's house & garden

where I parked the last 4 months + some neighborhood

neighborhood looking the other direction

Richardson to Cedar Hill via Belt Line

Richardson to Cedar Hill State Park
I've made this drive before - I used Belt Line again to go west and south - but as always saw things I'd missed on the earlier trip.  I made one last stop at my storage unit, taking one last look at the life I put on hold for this trip.  I could tell how much more comfortable the dogs and even Lily were when I took them to Anna & David's house than in the RV - so much more room to run and wrestle and sprawl out in - and felt like I was living a half-life: half on the road (i.e. living in the RV) and half in a home (i.e. parked in one place for weeks and months at a time).  It helped make it clear to me I either need to live in one world or the other, but the mix just wasn't working for me or my critters.

And I made one last stop at the City of Richardson's recycle center.  It'll be a while before I find another place that accepts not only glass but also plastic bags.

Along the way to the state park I passed a number of businesses I hadn't noticed before: Collins Aerospace (now part of Raytheon, supplies aerospace and defense products); Inogen (supplies portable oxygen); Ribbon ("networking and communications solutions"); ESI ("information technology solutions, hardware and software solutions"); Winzer (one of US's "foremost" distribution, maintenance, repair and operation products, including electrical, chemical, automotive and fastener supplies); Unicom (IT services); Rackmount Solutions (providing "comprehensive product lines and infrastructure solutions all backed by good stuff" [I swear it's a quote]).  I got the message that there're a lot of problems out there because so many companies are supplying solutions.

Other sights along the way
I passed Duck Creek Linear Park and was intrigued by the name.  Couldn't really find an answer online, but apparently it's "linear" because the park is actually a trail that follows the creek.  Nice green space in the urban environment.

I passed a church with the sign: Do unto others as though you were the others.

I passed a More Light Presbyterian Church.  Having never heard of this, I looked it up and learned this is a group of Presbyterian churches working toward participation of "LGBQIA+" people "in the church and in full society."

For a short time I was behind a red Mustang convertible with the top down.  The driver held a cigar out of the car and used a hair brush on his sparse gray hair.  His mid-life crisis car?  But he was having fun so who cares?

I passed the Carrollton Black Cemetery.  I think I mentioned this place before but just in case I didn't, here's the link to the historical marker there.   https://www.hmdb.org

Also in Carrollton I passed the Semihan Church, which turns out to be a Southern Baptist church for Korean speakers.

I passed Global Industrial Co., which advertises "desking and filing."  They supply office furniture solutions, apparently, though I've never heard of "desking."

I saw an Aqua-Tots swim school, which seems to be a chain of businesses that teaches kids from 4 months to 12 years how to be comfortable in the water.

Vira Insight designs and installs "complete retail store environments."

Both a Milguard (windows and doors) distribution center and a Shorr center ("one of the country's largest independent packing distribution firms") are located at the Wildlife Commerce Park, an oxymoron if I've ever heard one.  I can't imagine why a business park would be named for wildlife - surely not to honor the critters whose habitat they destroyed, so maybe to make the clients feel better.

Grand Prairie is home to Lone Star Park, a horse racing track that has 2 live racing seasons each year - just not right now because of the virus.

When I got to the state park, my first task was dumping my tanks, which I hadn't done in 8 days so was getting worried about overfilling.  And after getting us set up in our campsite and walking the dogs, I treated the blackwater tank with cleaning solution, ice and water from the park's faucet.  I'll let the cleaner work for a day or two of driving.

northwest to Amarillo

departing Cedar Hill for Amarillo

Cedar Hill State Park to Amarillo KOA
I got on the road at 8:30 and headed west to Ft. Worth, then northwest on US 287 for the whole drive.  Because I covered so much territory, much of it new to me and all of it new to me as an adult, I noted lots of new sights.

Lots of building going on in the Fort Worth area - many new houses, new schools, new apartments just built or still under construction.  Ft. Worth's official slogan is "Where the West Begins."  Maybe so, though I think that's rapidly receding into the past.

I passed a Life Force Church, with affiliates across the country; they "believe Christianity is about relationship."

I passed the towns of Rhome, Decatur and Paradise, and saw rolling hills with very long views of farm and ranch country, lots of mesquite trees.

We stopped at a small rest area so I could walk the dogs and found vicious stickers all through the grass.  The ones all over Cedar Hill State Park were soft and stuck all over Gracie's coat because she kept rolling in them, but they didn't hurt the dogs' feet.  These we saw this day were hard and had long thorns on them.  Both dogs but especially Dexter got multiples stuck in their feet at a time and when I took them out I too got stuck.  Which is why I can state authoritatively that those things are vicious.

I passed the US Forest Service's Caddo-LBJ Natural Grasslands.  It's 2 separate tracts of land (the Caddo and the LBJ) that were originally set aside in the 1930s to restore the eroded soil (Dust Bowl era, you remember).  Now they're used for cattle grazing, wildlife habitat, and a wide variety of recreational pursuits.  For hunters, weapons are limited to shotguns, muzzleloaders and archery.

I passed the towns of Alvord and Sunset, where I saw an auto salvage yard that was entirely filled with pickup trucks, no passenger cars; then the turnoff to Amon G. Carter Lake.  I've forever heard his name in historic connection with Ft. Worth but was surprised he was getting a lake near Wichita Falls named for him.  I learned he was the first owner and publisher of the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram and was a nationally known booster of the city of Fort Worth.

I passed Wagonseller Road and wondered again about the names passed down to us from long ago.

I saw a very long train with hopper cars filled with what looked like coal.  I looked it up and learned it was very probably coal since TX still has a lot of it that is actively being mined.

A truck was parked by the side of the road with flashing lights and, though it turned out to be a completely non-official struck, still every vehicle on the road moved to the other lane as soon as the lights came in view.  I guess that lesson has been learned.

I passed Henrietta, Jacksboro, and later Burkburnett and Iowa Park.  These names used to be so familiar with me - we lived in Wichita Falls when I was in the 8th and 9th grades - but I haven't heard them in maybe 40 years.

I saw several billboards with the message "Pray for Peace.  2 Thess. 3:16."  I looked up 2nd Thessalonians 3:16 and found this: "Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way.  The Lord be with all of you."  To me the message and the Bible verse don't quite sync up, but I'm all for peace wherever it can be found.

I stopped in Vernon ("Where the Real West Begins") to stretch our legs and noted what seemed to be an impoverished downtown area.  The city's official website didn't want to tell me about local industries, which may be an explanation of its own.

I passed through several road work zones but in one I saw something new: the workers had put out a series of orange and white barrels so they could close the left lane and force us all into the right one.  And beside every 2nd or 3rd barrel, a road worker was stationed, apparently for the specific purpose to watch the passing traffic, because that's what they were all doing, attentively.  I couldn't figure out what they were looking for; the watchers at the exits of grocery stores are more understandable than this was.

I passed the town of Electra, population 2,800, where a sign urged me to Visit Historic Electra.  Online all I could find to qualify that place as "historic" was the fact that it's been officially designated the Pump Jack Capital of Texas, pump jacks being equipment for the oil workers.

Speaking of which, many of the oil wells I passed weren't working but then I came across 2 entire fields full of oil wells that were definitely working.

Near the town of Harrold I saw a 1960s era aqua convertible with the top down sitting in someone's front yard.  What was odd was that there were 2 statues sitting behind the back seat where the rear dashboard would be if the top were closed.  These statues were 2 bikini-wearing women, both with extremely pale skin.  Strange sight.

For much of the drive I saw tire debris - sometimes a lot of it, sometimes blocking the lanes of traffic.  I remember years ago mentioning this to my cousin who for years owned a tire business and he told me it happens every summer.  People try to save money buying retreads, or they move in from other states and don't think it matters, and then the Texas summer weather hits and tires that get hot anyway driving on the roads just disintegrate when the roads themselves heat up from the summer sun.  The combined heat makes for hazardous driving.

I passed Chillicothe, pop. 745.  The name rang a bell, of course, and I learned online that not only is there a Chillicothe in Ohio, which is what I was remembering, but also one in Illinois and another in Missouri.

I was just coming to the crest of a hill when I saw close ahead a large tractor pulling a mower across the road.  I got lucky because he'd already passed through my lane, but the pickup driving near me in the other lane had to come to an abrupt halt.  Why on earth that tractor driver couldn't use elementary safety tactics and cross where he'd be visible to oncoming traffic is beyond me.

I got passed by a pickup with Oregon license plates, 3 Trump 2020 stickers and a Hillary For Jail sticker.  I'm going to guess a resident of eastern Oregon, generally a more conservative area than the western part.

I stopped at a Valero station in Quanah for some gasoline, and while I was in the middle of filling my tank the price jumped up from $1.71 to $1.89/gallon.  I got the original price on all of it, but that was some increase in the space of no time.  But the station across the street was charging $2.19.

Quanah bills itself as City of Legends, and it was named for Chief Quanah Parker who apparently visited the new settlement occasionally; other famous locals included a serial killer, an astronaut, a well known Texas Ranger, a world champion bull rider, Fred Koch of the famous Koch brothers, and a man who apparently single-handedly saved Chartres Cathedral in France from destruction by American forces during WWII.   https://www.themarianroom.com/chartres-cathedral-saved

As much as I've complained about Texas drivers, I should also have been praising the ease of driving in Texas.  Signs are posted often enough for me to have a pretty good idea of where I am and when I'll get where I'm going.  They're pretty good about letting me know if there's a rest area coming up - and kudos for creating lots of rest areas in the first place - and other points of interest.  I've driven in a lot of states and found more consistent road surfaces and far politer (and safer) drivers than here, but there aren't many that have their signs done right as Texas has.

At several places along the road I saw electronic signs asking drivers to "end the streak" of Texas highway deaths, with 1,802 already this year.

I'd been passing through Childress County and stopped at the county offices at one point to consult the map; in the parking lot I noticed a reserved parking place for the county sheriff, Sheriff Pigg.  I think if I were him, I'd change my name.

I passed a highway sign warning that hitchhikers may be escaping inmates.

I started seeing campaign signs telling me I was now in Ronny Jackson territory - the doctor who used to be the presidential doctor for Obama and Trump and is now likely to win a seat in Congress with Trump's support.

I found a Farm Network radio station from Childress and got to hear commodity prices (the crude oil price is down).

I passed the town of Estelline, pop. 145, where large fields of cotton are growing.

I crossed the Prairie Dog Town fork of the Red River (nearly dry).  There were once many prairie dog towns throughout this area, but the early settlers looked on the critters as pests and destroyed almost all of their towns.  There's still one in Lubbock that I think is a tourist attraction.

I'm seeing red dirt in this part of the state.

I passed Memphis, and learned that 9 other states besides Texas claim a town named Memphis, not to mention Egypt, which I think they were all named after.

The town of Hedley, pop. 329, is home to fields of corn, cotton and cows - specifically Angus.

Nearing Amarillo, I came on the town of Clarendon, pop. 2,026, where "history is still happening here," they say.  They boast of the Old Saints Museum, based on the idea that Clarendon was originally seen as a "sobriety settlement" in contrast to the boom town life of other places in the area.

I passed the Charles Goodnight Historical Center in the nearly nonexistent town of Goodnight.  He was known as the Cattle King of the Texas Panhandle, creator of the chuckwagon, and one of the establishers of the Goodnight-Loving Cattle Trail, which ran from west Texas up to the railhead at Denver, CO.  Lonesome Dove is loosely based on his life.

At the small town of Claude, pop. 1,196, I was informed I was in Sod Poodle Country.  The Sod Poodles are a minor league baseball team based in Amarillo, feeding into the San Diego Padres.

Several times I crossed paths with a train with the sole cargo of containers - both the type that sit on docks and get shipped on freighters as well as the type with wheels that are carted around behind semis.  Many were stacked on top of each other, so I was seeing a whole lot of containers.

As I went farther northwest, I still found rolling hills but here there are huge fields of scrubbrush and stunted dead trees, and lots of cedars and mesquite.  Looks like my idea of West Texas.

Coming into Amarillo (pop. 190,000) I passed the Kwahadi Kiva Indian Museum.  They're Pueblo and Plains Indian people, and this museum says it shows fine arts and crafts items of theirs.

The KOA sits in the northeast edge of Amarillo just off Historic Route 66.  It was a long drive covering 9½ hours and left me feeling jangled for some time after we got settled in our space.  I didn't try to tackle the question of where do I go next, given the surprising nonavailability of Tucumcari's KOA, but instead left all those questions for the morning.

A famous restaurant in Amarillo is the Big Texan that offers a FREE (they say) 72 ounce steak dinner if it's eaten within an hour.  The KOA offers free limo transport to and from the restaurant; I saw the limos when they picked up and dropped off campers - long black ones embellished with a pair of cow horns on the hoods.  Welcome to Texas.


Amarillo KOA to Lubbock KOA
A local TV station described this area as the "high plains" and, although I don't remember ever being somewhere that qualified as high plains, I'm sure this is what they look like.

For some unknown reason, this campground is really quiet.  It sits just off I-40 Business Route, aka Historic Rt. 66, aka Amarillo Blvd.  Just beyond that is a heavily used railroad track.  The campground is about 2/3 to 3/4 full at the moment.  And the only sound I can hear clearly is a nearby rooster crowing in the early morning.  Nice.  Maybe the wind is providing a white noise to drown out everything else.

The number of dogs in this campground is incredible.  I set out with my dogs one direction, make a 90° turn when I see a dog ahead, only to see a 2nd dog, so I turn back the way I came only to find we're being followed by 2 more dogs and some people who see my dogs jumping around like crazy and don't bother to stop and wait with their dogs until I can get mine farther away - it was a mess.  At one point I couldn't go in any direction because I encountered one or more dogs everywhere, and I just had to hide the dogs behind a cabin (or Kabin, in KOA-speak) and wait for the traffic to clear.

Never having had any upper-body strength to speak of, I have a lot of trouble holding them when they both jump around and want to rush over to any new dog they see.  And 2 dogs the size of mine rushing over to a dog of any size is intimidating and trouble usually ensues, even if mine aren't aggressive.  To other dogs they look aggressive, and that starts an unfortunate chain of behavior.  I do wish I had normal dogs, although maybe they'd both act more normal if they weren't together.  But whatever, I can't be comfortable staying in a place teeming with dogs.

I saw the majority of campers leaving, beginning while it was still dark, and asked one of the staff if that were normal.  He said most people stayed only 1 night and long-term to them was 4 or 5 days.  Same thing Tucumcari told me, and that's not what I've experienced at campgrounds anywhere else I've stayed, where lots of people came to stay for their whole week or 2-week vacation.  Maybe it's just those who travel on I-40 who travel that way.

Back on the road, I saw another train that was also hauling many cars with containers double-stacked on them.  I guess this is how things are shipped these days - instead of driving them across the country, they get put on trains and then trucked a short distance to their final destination.

Amarillo
I drove for the first leg of the trip along Historic Route 66, which runs through the northern part of the city.  Amarillo advertises itself as "Open Spaces - Endless Opportunities" and it's true that the sky does seem really big here.

I saw signs of a thriving Thai community as well as a sizable Spanish-speaking population.  In some places Spanglish ruled, such as at the Nueva Era Tire Shop.  Amarillo has a chain of gas stations called Toot n' Totum - gasoline and convenience store.

I saw 4 lanes of traffic come to a dead stop while a stray yellow Lab tried to decide which side of the road he wanted to be on.  I was impressed with the compassion of so many drivers.

Amarillo seems to be laid out in a grid, making it easier for me to get found when I took a fork labeled "west" when I should have taken the one marked "east," though I have no idea how I was supposed to guess that.  Nonetheless, the sunshine told me I'd ended up going south instead of west and the grid let me easily get over to the street I needed.  Amarillo also has a safety measure where residential streets don't empty directly onto busy arteries but instead have a buffer street that parallels the artery and focuses the incoming traffic to one or 2 entrances.

On the minus side, Amarillo is in desperate need of a competent traffic engineer.  That's what Daddy was for most of the time I was growing up, so that's what we learned at the dinner table.  Traffic lights weren't even remotely synchronized so every light was red, every left turn showed a protected arrow even when no cars were in that lane in either direction.  And this pattern didn't seem to be benefiting the north/south traffic that were also stopping at every light. Lots of people wasted lots of time sitting at these lights with nothing accomplished.  It wasn't even rush hour - I left the campground at 10:00.

I passed Tascosa Blvd. and was immediately transported to November 22, 1963, when we were afraid the state quarter-final football game would get canceled because of Pres. Kennedy's assassination.  Rider High School in Wichita Falls (where I went) was playing Amarillo Tascosa High School, which won the game I'm sorry to say.  The assassination was too stunning and mind-boggling for me to have any emotion about, so it's a good thing we had a cathartic football game the same day.

A produce booth along the road advertised Colorado Peaches, and I suddenly realized Colorado is a lot closer to Amarillo than Fredericksburg (TX) is.  In fact, I'd seen an ad for an Oklahoma business on the Amarillo news this morning.

A billboard told me that this year's Parade of Homes will be done as a virtual experience.  Incredible the ways people are trying to adapt to a killer virus lurking somewhere out there.

Back on the road
The southbound road I was on by then took me straight to I-27, which I rode for 113 miles to Lubbock.

I passed a sign noting the turn to the town of Canyon to visit the Panhandle-Plains History Museum.  They claim to be the largest history museum in Texas with displays and artifacts from dinosaurs to conquistadors.  It's on the campus of West Texas A & M Univ.

Another sign told me I'd come to the turnoff for the Palo Duro Canyon, a place I've wanted to visit for years.  I'll come back this way when I do my month in Texas.

The land in this area is wide open plains, still with rolling hills but a feeling that you can almost see forever.

I passed the turn for a town named Happy - "The Town without a Frown!"

One lane of the road was completely strewn with blocks of wood that had spilled from a small box, also in the lane.  Dangerous.

I passed the towns of Tulia, Kress (not the variety store), and Plainview.  I passed fields of cotton (or soybeans), corn, more cotton, cows.  I saw a field with 2 mares and 2 very young colts.  Very sweet.

I saw grain elevators all over; one large set-up was labeled Producers Grain Coop.  I saw another batch labeled MA SE CA, with the letters in pairs running vertically.  I looked them up and learned Maseca claims to be the leading global brand of corn flour.

I passed the turn for Hale Center, home of the Hale County Farm & Ranch Museum, which I might go to when I come back for my month in Texas.  Hale Center is also home to Gary's Cotton Boll Gin and, though it looks dilapidated, seems to still be functioning.

Next along were the towns of Littlefield, Petersburg, and then Abernathy, where I ran across City Gin Inc. and a sign: "Wear More Cotton."  Ever since I realized I can't wear wool any more, I do indeed wear more cotton.

Coming into Lubbock, pop. about 260,000, I passed the Silent Wings Museum, "The Legacy of the WWII Glider Pilots," located at the Preston Smith Airport.  Preston Smith was the Texas governor for a term when I was in college, and apparently the airport was named for him because he was an alum of Texas Tech Univ. (located here in Lubbock).

I also passed the American Windmill Museum, shown on signs as the Wind Power Center, with a collection of 160 types of American windmills.  It's next door to the Agriculture Museum, which says it'll take you "from horse-drawn implements to the tech-savvy computer GPS driven equipment and farmers of today."  Both these sound interesting and I'd like to come back to visit them.

I was headed to the Buddy Holly Center.  I had to skip Palo Duro Canyon but I wasn't skipping this.  Actually, I did end up skipping it because they wanted $6 (senior) to go in, but I bought a CD in the gift shop and I can come back another time.  It was already 2:30 and I was getting tired.  But I took these photos.

incredible that he could have changed the world that much in just a couple of years

inner courtyard/entrance

exterior - repurposed historic train station

appropriately railroad-y sign

I took the dogs across the street to walk them in the Buddy Holly park, but it was really hot and we just dodged from tree to tree, trying to stay in the shade.

the McCartney Oak

Buddy Holly with Wall of Fame behind him

I passed Lubbock High School, home of the Lubbock Westerners which seems like an odd mascot, but I was very impressed with the building which was much more elaborate than the usual high school.

the high school

I passed the Texas Tech Univ. campus, with buildings of much the same appearance as the high school.  There were some very fancy homes across the street which were surely built at least as early as the school, if not earlier.  In fact, the row of fancy houses continued for a mile beyond the campus, showing I was clearly in the nicer area of town.  In fact, even though the income level of the houses fell off as I continued, I never was in a not nice area of town and, judging by my experience, there isn't one.  With a population as high as Lubbock's, though, I must have just not been in the right places.  But I found Lubbock surprisingly charming, something I never expected.

And so to the Lubbock KOA, a comfortable place for the night.

Week 15 of hiatus

Monday, 13 through Sunday, 20 July 2020

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.

Week 14 of hiatus

Monday, 6 to Sunday, 12 July 2020

My hiatus will end sooner than I expected
This week, the HOA that rules David and Anna's neighborhood reported to them that someone has made a complaint about me being here.  Even having an RV parked here is a violation, let alone having someone live in said RV, let alone let alone said someone doing it for what's now in the 4th month.  So I have to leave, meaning I have to go to a campground.

All week, Texas has been setting new coronavirus records, including numbers of new cases, numbers of deaths, numbers of hospitalizations.  On the rate of positive results of testing, Texas has now achieved 15% as a statewide average, meaning the high number of new cases isn't a result of more testing, as some figures in authority have claimed.

All of that tells me that if I have to go to a campground, Texas is the wrong place to do it in.  So I've been trying to find a possibly safer state, and I'm having a surprising amount of trouble doing that.  I've tried unsuccessfully to get a straight answer from the CDC website; I much prefer to be told information like positivity rates rather than total numbers that don't allow me to compare one state to another (e.g. North Dakota's population is a lot smaller than Nebraska's so it's bound to have lower total numbers).

Nonetheless, from everything I've seen recently, South Dakota and Nebraska seem to have among the lowest risks in this part of the country.  (Maine is good, too, but (a) it's a state I've already visited and (b) it's on the other side of the continent.  SD isn't exactly next door either, but Google claims it's only a 14 hour drive (for ordinary drivers), and Nebraska is only 10 hours away.  So I'm tentatively planning to head up there when I can get everything wrapped up here.

Actually, I was planning to go to North Dakota until I heard this morning that they're starting to experience a spike in cases.  Well, a spike in ND is a fairly small number of people, but it only takes one to infect others, and I don't want to be one of those others.  I told David to tell the HOA I'd leave by Tuesday the 21st, and that's still 9 days away.  Lots can happen in that amount of time so I'm aiming for flexibility on exact travel plans.

2 Cleanliness Trips
Waste tank cleanliness
I've been intending for ages to clean my waste tanks and been put off by thinking it's complicated.  Well, it is and it isn't and I'm tired of putting it off.  When I bought the RV, the service staff at the dealership gave me a bottle of cleaner and told me to pour a measured amount into the toilet, followed by flushing a bag of ice.  Then I'm supposed to drive around for a day and dump it all out the next day.  So, it's mildly complicated.

I found I had less than one dose left in the bottle, bought a bag of ice, went to the Arlington KOA, dumped my tanks, then hooked up to their water supply so I could flush the bag of ice without running out of water from my tank.  Just driving back to Anna and David's in Dallas's traffic constituted enough of the requisite driving around, I figured.  Then the next day I drove up north past Denton to a Love's Travel Stop up there to dump it out.

Because it wasn't a full dose, and because there wasn't enough to dump down the sinks as well, I want go through this process again before I leave town, including the sink drains this time, which means I have to find an RV supply store.  For some reason, the internet is having trouble with this one, but I'll figure it out.

Virus news
On these trips I continued to find Kroger parking lots full - even ones in remote locations - at odd times of the day.  I finally decided to stop at one anyway, figuring surely they weren't all full all the time.  And maybe they aren't but the one I went to sure was.  Because the governor has finally mandated mask-wearing in public places, they were all wearing masks, but almost nobody seemed to make any attempt at social distancing.  They apparently believed the mask canceled out that part.  So that grocery trip became a nightmare for me and I bought only what I really needed and got out of there as fast as I could.

On the news recently I saw a brief interview with a young woman who wasn't wearing a mask (this was before the mandate) who explained it by saying, "Everybody's going to get the virus anyway."  Well, yeah, if everybody follows her example.  Maybe the governor saw the same news clip I did and that led to the order.

Speaking of bizarre attitudes about the virus, I heard this morning about the existence of something called a Covid Party.  It's thrown by someone who's been diagnosed positive for the virus, and folks come to the party to be exposed to it to see whether it's real or a hoax.  I saw online that it may not be a widespread thing, but at least one happened here in Texas and one 30-year-old died after catching the virus at that party. 

I clearly remember when we were in our early to mid-20s we were often reckless and did moderately dangerous things; we never questioned our immortality and invincibility.  But that attitude had substantially worn off by the time we got to age 30, and I didn't know a soul who was stupid enough to do what this 30-year-old and his friends did.  But what it means to me isn't just that they were stupid, that's obvious, but instead the extent to which they've bought into conspiracy theories and disinformation online.  They're being bombarded by assertions that black is white and up is down and nothing is trustworthy, and it would take stronger personalities than many of them are old enough to have to resist that onslaught.  And if I'm right, our country's got bigger problems than I'd realized as far as our future is concerned.

Another aspect of the virus is shown with the current controversy about whether and how schools should reopen in the fall.  I suddenly started wondering about social distancing on school buses.  If they're trying to figure out how to create enough distance in the classrooms, how are they going to do it on the buses, unless they plan to put double the number of buses to work to spread the kids out.

It was big news this week when the Texas State Fair got canceled for the first time since WWII.  The virus cases in North Texas have been increasing at exponential rates recently, and though the fair isn't until September, I suppose authorities figured there was no way the virus would recede far enough to lower the risk substantially.  A shame, though.

Other things sighted
I passed yet another unaffiliated church - Open Heavens Church.  They say they're "a Spirit-filled church, blessed to have an extremely diverse culture that allows the Holy Spirit to flow in many different ways."  I continue to be surprised at the large number of independent churches in this area - numbers I haven't seen anywhere else I've been.

I passed several signs in McKinney relating to 3rd Monday Trade Days.  They claim to be the oldest and largest monthly flea market in North Texas, an outgrowth of their county market dating from the 1870s.  I don't know where they rate in relation to the 1st Monday Trade Days in Canton, but I can say I'd heard of Canton's and not of McKinney's.  Guess they need better publicity.

I passed a large Raytheon facility in McKinney and learned online that it just opened a few years ago and is McKinney's largest employer.  It's an advanced manufacturing plant, they say, that employs about 500 people.

I passed a large building with the name Pin Stack on it.  Having never heard of it, I looked it up and learned it's a chain of bowling alleys located north and northwest of Dallas.  That fancy building looked a lot more like a tech company than like the bowling alleys I went to when I was young.

I can't remember now where it was we stopped, but when I looked up I saw 5 longhorns in a small field across the road.  One of them had so much burnt orange on him he could be Bevo.

In other news
I voted in person this week, something I haven't done in several years.  When I'd registered to receive absentee ballots this year (based on being over age 65), the county voting office told me I hadn't picked a political party so they wouldn't send me a primary ballot.  I'd decided not to worry about that election since it's hard to keep up with fine distinctions at a distance.  But since I'm actually here for a change, I went on over with David and Anna.  Afterwards, I called the elections office to be sure voting in person wasn't going to cancel my request for an absentee ballot for the general election, and they assured me the computer had it set up.  I love voting.  It makes me feel like an American.  I can't even conceive of why someone wouldn't want to vote.

I discovered my awning wouldn't retract again this week, and this time I knew it was the motor and not something I was doing wrong.  My friendly local RV repair place squeezed me in to get the parts numbers so they could order them right away.  Now that I'm up against a deadline to leave town, I'm also running up against the normal times it takes to conduct business that don't always fit into my new schedule.  But the RV place said they'd do their best, probably spurred by my promise that I was leaving town as soon as they could get the work done.

I'm also still working on getting my Eleanor Roosevelt poster turned into a t-shirt.  They found they couldn't get a good enough image for a shirt by using the image they found online and told me they needed a flash drive.  So I found an Office Depot in Garland that has a scanner large enough to take my poster, and I think they charged me $5 plus the cost of the flash drive, which is reasonable from any point of view.

Then I took the flash drive back to the t-shirt place in Mesquite and they said it'd be done sometime this coming week.  And I told them too that I was leaving town as soon as they got my shirt done, so I've got my fingers crossed.

I've also made an appointment for the puppies to get baths this coming week.  I can't even remember the last time they got washed, and I might as well do it now.  And wash their bedding of course.

I heard someone on the radio mention a brown paper bag test in relation to Black history, and I'd never heard of it.  It turns out to be a real thing that, sadly, has been applied mostly by Black people in relation to other Blacks: someone who's skin color is darker than that of a paper bag is less likely to be able to join a sorority, for instance.  According to several authors, the use of this test has persisted into the 2nd half of the 20th century.  I found this interesting article online https://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow-question, written by the director of the Jim Crow Museum, which is in Big Rapids, MI.  I had no idea this museum even existed, so I missed it when I was in Michigan.

A company called Interabang Books sponsors some local NPR program or other, so I hear the name mentioned often.  Such an odd name, I finally got around to looking them up and learned an "interabang" is a punctuation mark that looks like this:  "‽" - a combined question mark and exclamation mark.  I'd never heard of it, but it was a character my computer had in its library, so I guess it's really a thing.  This is a 3-year-old independent bookstore and seems to be one of the very few independents in Dallas.  I wish them well.  I used to patronize BookPeople when I lived in Austin because they seemed more reliable than the chains.

I've now got a long list of things I need to get done before I leave town but, as usual, I'll just have to stay flexible.

Week 13 of hiatus

Monday, 29 to Sunday, 5 July 2020


Miscellaneous thoughts
First, a word about the photos I posted a couple of weeks ago about some unknown trees I saw on our way over to Cedar Hill State Park.  Anna and David tell me they think the trees are Bald Cypress.

I'm sure they're right, but it hadn't occurred to me they might be here in Texas.  And I guess the only reason for that is that I don't remember coming across them when I was growing up.

But I've now learned that the state's largest tree is, in fact, a Bald Cypress, down on the Frio River (not far from San Antonio).  And what may be the world's largest cypress forest is at Caddo Lake, which straddles the TX/LA border not far south of Arkansas and is the only natural lake in Texas.  So yes, Bald Cypresses are definitely here in Texas.

after

before

Next, I can't remember if I showed before and after photos of my RV of the trim work I got done, so here they are.  Same transformation on the other side.

Then, I thought you might enjoy this photo of Dexter's feet.  He's discovered he can get under the curtain over the windshield and keep an eye on what's happening in the neighborhood even during the night.

I was only vaguely interested in the reports of the annual BET awards until I saw Beyoncé's acceptance speech.  She said, "We have to vote like our life depends on it.  Because it does."  I was very impressed.

Weekly cleanliness trip
As usual, on Tuesday I prepared to go find a place to dump my tanks, and this time I'd chosen a KOA in Canton, about an hour east of here.

I passed through Forney, which I remember as being a small Texas town, which it sort of still is.  But they nearly tripled their population between 2000 and 2010, up to 14,000+, and as of a 2019 estimate they've nearly doubled it again.  Forney also turns out to have a resident who's currently in the news - Stormy Daniels.  Turns out she likes horses, so she bought herself a place where she can keep them.  Who knew?

Forney calls itself "City Without Limits," presumably meant aspirationally, not geographically.  The Texas Legislature has designated it "Antique Capital of Texas," which I'd expect a number of other towns to dispute, but there it is.

When I was driving through town (grocery shopping), I passed the Chase Bank which has a huge statue of a horse in front.  I thought at the time I should double back to take a photo, and I was right because I can't find it online.  I'm curious what it's about.

I'd noted 2 grocery stores in Forney, but when I went to the Kroger, I found the parking lot nearly full at 11:00 AM on a Tuesday.  That seemed really odd to me because of it not being a usual lunch time for anybody, and because Forney's not exactly a metropolis despite its population growth.  But the fact is that every Kroger I've gone to for the last several weeks has had packed parking lots at any time of the day, and I've decided not to go in.  Even when people are wearing masks (which I figured they wouldn't be in Forney), they don't work too hard at social distancing.  Which is anyway difficult in grocery store aisles, but impossible when other people are ignoring it.  Given those facts, I think it's tempting fate to head into a crowded store.  So it's a good thing I'd found a Brookshire's not too far away.

On the drive I passed a huge field of sunflowers.  Very pretty.

Canton is famous for its First Monday Trade Days, which Anna reminded me of when I told her where I was going.  But this trip, I'd looked at the weather forecast for the next few days and was worried.

The power cord David had ordered for me (after Amazon ate my first order) wasn't due to come in until Wednesday, and the forecast for both Tuesday and Wednesday was for temps in the mid- to upper 90s with a heat index expected of near 105°.  That put this area into a Heat Advisory for those 2 days, where they caution against heat stroke.  I think even Lily's been feeling the heat we've had so far, and with a temp like that I got really worried about my critters.  The multitude of fans I've got make the heat we've had so far feel uncomfortable but possible, but we've never been that hot before. 

I decided to stay at the KOA if it looked decent and if they had room.  With today being a Tuesday which is usually one of the lightest camping days of the week (Wednesdays are the lightest), I figured we'd be okay, but when I got there, they made it clear that I could only stay a day or two: I'd forgotten that Saturday's the 4th of July, let alone Monday being a First Monday Trade Day day.  And this is a new campground that they're still building; they've plowed down whatever trees were originally on the land and the crepe myrtles they've planted all over the place are still young and small (i.e. no shade).  But they could give me a space where I could plug in for AC, which was what I cared about.

Canton KOA
Wednesday morning I got an email from David saying Amazon ate his order too.  I was beginning to wonder if there was some Karma problem that was holding up this power cord.  David said he'd had a "virtual chat" with someone at Amazon who gave him the bad news and helped him replace the order.  Soonest delivery date: Friday.

The KOA agreed to let me stay until Thursday, but I knew I'd have trouble getting any more out of them than that.  Not to mention the drawbacks of staying in a full campground while the Pandemic Denial was going on.  So I told David the problem and said I'd hope the weather would break a bit by Thursday and that we'd just do what we (and multiple fans) could to deal with it.

The campground was not without interest, which was helpful.  I saw at least one Bluebird because a very territorial Mockingbird was chasing it.  When the Mockingbird turned around and dive-bombed Gracie, I figured it was high time for us to get out of there.  Almost certainly a nest nearby.

This family of 4 ducks is probably a year-round fixture.  It consists of a male and a female Mallard and 2 white ducks.  It's clear visually that they aren't related, but this is definitely a family.  Another example of today's blended families, I guess.  You can see that Dexter was quite interested.

A family in a 5th wheel that parked near us has kids, a large dog and 2 baby goats (also called kids).  No surprise that they spend a lot of time outdoors, with the goats in one of those pens I've seen people put up in campgrounds for their small dogs.  Dexter was more interested in the dog than the goats.  Gracie didn't seem to care about either of them.

The Canton KOA is part of the Silver Spur Resort, which has what seem to be very nice little cabins for rent, and facilities for weddings - indoors and out - and other events.  There's a decent-sized catch-and-release fishing lake, a BBQ-and-beer restaurant - you get the idea.  And now it also has a KOA that's about 2/3 built.

One thing they had I haven't seen before are rental places in the shape of covered wagons.  There's a whole section of the campground/resort dedicated to these, complete with front steps and a functioning door (the pioneers would have been amazed).

this photo shows 3 wagons and a bit of the fish pond

I guess they've got bunkbeds inside, and I know for certain that an entire family is staying in that one above.  The kids probably love it.





On the drives
On the way to Canton, we stopped for a break at Mesquite's Poteet High School, which is clearly very proud of its band.

That's a monster 5th wheel (aka trailer) behind the ordinary band transport trailer.  It must be a big band.  To the right is the tower you can see behind the trailers.  This end of the school's parking lot is lined off like a football field so the band can practice its routines.  The scorecard posted on the tower shows they've got some reason for all this pride.

partial view of the school, which looks big enough
to deserve a big band

On the way back to Richardson, we stopped at another school, that seemed to be taking advantage of the school closure to get some face-lifting done.  What surprised me was that this construction firm was clearly taking the virus seriously, unlike so many of our elected leaders.  Here are some signs of our times:

I saw this sign and thought, yeah sure,
where are these workers going to wash their hands.

And here's the answer -
a hand-washing station.

A "daily self reporting survey"?  They must be serious.

Back at David and Anna's house
I learned that they had decided to have Anna park across the street in the spot I usually take and put me in their driveway in her spot instead.  That got me close enough to the house that I could use my own power cord to plug in to the new 30 amp plug David had installed, thus getting me access to AC.  And I can't tell you how grateful I am because the heat didn't let up one bit.  We'd learned at the KOA that coming back from a walk in all that heat and humidity and finding AC in the RV is an incredible relief.  I really think we could deal with the heat if it were a dry, west Texas kind of heat.  But combined with such high humidity and a high dew point makes for a crusher combo.

The power cord did come this time, late Friday afternoon, so I stayed in the driveway until Saturday morning when David came out and helped me get re-situated and plugged in.

As I said last week, the crepe myrtles are in full bloom and I've been noticing that now the purple sage is starting to bloom.  That's one of my favorite plants.  On the drive back I also noticed a large pond with lots of water lilies blooming - wild ones, given the location of this pond.  Very pretty.

Our first morning back Gracie and I saw an armadillo that hustled itself over to someone's backyard fence and crawled underneath.  They must be a lot more flexible than they look.  Gracie got excited and Dexter missed it entirely.

Thank goodness for at least a little bit of peace of mind for me, neither of the dogs noticed the coyote that's started roaming the neighborhood.  Yesterday, David brought over a couple of photos that Anna had taken from her sighting of one on the next street over.  She said he'd just been trotting down the sidewalk when she spotted him and stopped to take the photos, and he stopped to look at her.  Then this morning on our 2nd walk, a stranger in a BMW stopped to tell me he'd seen a coyote down about a half mile away.  Actually, he said it was a wolf, but I knew this was what he was talking about.

So with those 2 warnings, I was definitely a little nervous taking the dogs out but hopeful we wouldn't see it.  Well, "we" didn't but I did.  For that walk we always walk down to a short street 3 blocks from here that makes a left turn into another short street that makes another left turn into a 3rd street, which was the one where Anna had seen the coyote yesterday.  When we'd gotten to where we'd pick up the 1st of those streets I saw the coyote a block away, standing at the next corner.  And he saw us.  What was unnerving to me is that he started walking toward us in a way that almost seemed like a stalking posture.  I can't imagine that he really would try to stalk 2 dogs his size plus a human, but still, that's what it looked like.

I real quick hustled the dogs down that 1st street and kept on hustling them until we were quite a way along the street before I had the nerve to slow down and look back.  No coyote.  I didn't see him again, though I expended enough nervousness as if I had seen him.  But thank goodness the dogs missed that.  Actually, I would too if Anna hadn't warned me.  His coloring is amazing for its ability to blend in, even in a suburban residential neighborhood.

Anna told me she thought he'd looked scrawny, and there are certainly plenty of squirrels and rabbits in the neighborhood.  But if he's really hungry he wouldn't be able to hunt as well.  Funny thing about hunger.  Lots of poor schoolkids know how it saps both physical and mental energy.  Anna said she thought the time had come to notify authorities.

And all this excitement in a quiet little neighborhood.