Author: sandcastle

It’s a good thing Dave is an excellent driver. He got to practice some freeway maneuvers today.

He was in a lane left of a truck and about 100 feet back preparing to pass it when he saw part of its load tip a bit. Since there was no one directly behind Dave, he was able to hit the brakes. Fortunately, the port-a-pot that fell off the truck had no brakes so it managed to slide off onto the shoulder by the time Dave came even with it. No harm; no foul. And no need to head straight for a truck wash.

A much more pleasurable event of the day was meeting up with friends Steve and Carol. They were the first full-time RVers we met when we hit the road back in 2008. We’ve met up with them several times since then in both Arizona and Oklahoma. This time they are back in their home state of Oklahoma so they met there and had lunch at a restaurant by an airfield. That scenery would have made Dave happy since he has always liked planes. And, of course, getting to see Steve and Carol again even though Dave is no longer RVing was a treat. He said it was a good visit which probably means great since Dave is a master of understatement.

So, now Dave is about halfway home and I am pleased by that.

TTYL,

Linda

ps. Yes, my shower is fixed. No, the underlayment was not damaged. Yay!

Dave made it safely to Austin, Texas, on Saturday.

A day earlier than planned.

Only to discover there were no hotel rooms to be had in town that night.

So he called me and we discussed options. After all he had a bed and a comforter so he could go sleep at Walmart.

He forgot to bring his pillow but he could buy a new one at Walmart.

Only one of the Walmart’s in the Austin area allows overnights but he only needed one.

Then Dave wondered if they would let him just stay in the motel parking lot making it easy to move in the next day.

The desk clerk not only said yes he gave Dave a pillow a previous visitor had left behind.

But the day was still hot–Texas! guys–so spending the evening sitting in the van was not inviting.

Dave decided he’d sit in the motel’s lounge instead and use their free wifi.

Which was why he was handy when they had a cancellation for that night.

Score!

A wonderful eight hours of sleep was the result.

Some days you win.

TTYL,

Linda

My RV has an appointment in Austin, Texas, to have the shower, and possibly the floor under it, fixed on Monday. Dave picked that date as it fits between his model railroad operating sessions here in Minneapolis. He left yesterday morning and drove an eleven hour day. Why so long? This notice from NOAA:

“Multi-day Severe Weather Outbreak and Heavy Rain Event to begin late Today in the Central U.S.

The first multi-day, significant severe weather outbreak of 2014 is set to begin this evening in the Great Plains. Large hail and damaging winds are the primary threats today, with isolated tornadoes possible. A greater threat exists Sunday and Monday, including strong tornadoes, focused in the Ark-La-Tex area and MS valley. Rainfall could also bring flood concerns to parts of the MS & TN Valleys.”

On a map, the tornado possibilities look like this:

 

Which means a 2-5% threat of tornadoes later today along most of Dave’s route.

He plans to start early this morning from Wichita, Kansas, and drive eight hours today to be safely in Austin by the time this storm hits.

The first of these storms this season.

Couldn’t it have waited another week?

TTYL,

Linda

Today was warm and sunny. It seemed like a good day to dewinterize my van. So we drove it out to Rogers, Minnesota, where there are free dump and fill facilities at:

We turned in behind Cabela’s at the sign for truck/RV/bus parking:

and saw this:

And were reminded that holiday parking for trucks around here is at a premium.

On we went to the faucet first just to be sure:

No water yet. Too early in the season apparently.

So we didn’t get that task taken care of today.

Since our daughter has been driving OTR I have become more aware of truck parking. So on our way through Roger’s I checked around.

At TA, the official truck stop, they were parked every which way:

At Denny’s there were several trucks when we stopped for lunch on our way to Cabela’s and they were all still there when we left:

Across the street at the Holiday station there were a few more:

I sure am glad we only had to park the van in Rogers today.

TTYL,

Linda

 

 

 

 

Last year at this time I was sitting in Texas waiting for the weather to warm enough in Minnesota to let me come home.

It is tradition in Minnesota that the parks turn on their water on April 15th. Tax Day. The day when the cold nights are over so we can stop worrying about freezing our pipes.

Didn’t work out that way last year.

This year?

Today’s view from our living room:

Forecasting about six inches in our neighborhood.

Global warming, anyone?

TTYL,

Linda