We all know Texas is a big state. Those of you who are my regular readers also know I travel slowly. I’ve now been driving across Texas for five days. But today I will finally drive out of Texas. Probably.
In the meantime here’s proof of something else we all think we know about Texas.
Texas is truck country.
TTYL,
Linda
When your winter home is inside a van you need things to take up as little room as possible. For this reason most RVers prefer items that can be used for more than one purpose. But, occasionally, you need a specific item for a specific purpose.
Like this little gadget:
That’s a brush. Specifically, as shown on the left, it is a brush for cleaning the inside of a drinking straw.
I have two insulated glasses with screw on lids with acrylic straws. These are what I drink from when driving. Sometimes those glasses, lids, and straws need to be washed. I found cleaning the straws to be VERY challenging. They are too thin to run a corner of a dishcloth down the length of them. I could wash each end but not the middle.
So when I stumbled across these brushes on Amazon I order a package of two of them. I left one at home but brought one with me. A very special, single use, but much appreciated item.
Until today.
I found a second use for my brush.
You see, my kitchen sink backed up. Would not drain. We all know what that means. There was something stuck in the plumbing. I puzzled about that for awhile and wished I had bought a Zip-it as I said I would in case my shower drain got clogged from washing my hair. It never occurred to me it would be my kitchen sink that would clog. Which didn’t really matter since I never bought the Zip-it.
Then I remembered my drinking straw brush. Long and slender it would go down the drain just fine. Maybe, just maybe, the brush would grab onto whatever was plugging the drain and drag it out of there.
Success. After several tries a hair ball came up with the brush. And the water went down. And this single purpose item now has two purposes.
Once I wash it well, that is.
I wonder if I ever would have found a second use for a Zip-it?
TTYL,
Linda
For several days I’ve been heading towards Oklahoma City without ever reaching it.
Monday night I got as close as Perry, Oklahoma, where I saw the food bank truck.
Tuesday morning I started out intending to drive through OKC that day. I made it two exits down the Interstate. I was tired from listening to trains the night before and the winds were stronger than I thought they’d be so I pulled into and RV park where I could plug in my heater at night, dump my tanks so I wouldn’t worry about them filling up, and catch up (sort of) on some computer stuff.
Lately the winds have been the determining factor as to whether today is a go or not. I check the weather in the evening and it says winds 10-16 mph tomorrow. So I decide to go. Then I get up in the morning and they’ve added gusts up to 24 mph. I can handle up to 20 but 24 is uncomfortable–I hold the steering wheel so tight my fingers go to sleep.
So I stayed two nights at that RV park.
Then this morning the forecast said gusts up to 23 mph but they would be tail winds. Tomorrow they will be head winds. So I decided to go. But by the time I did a dump and fill it was nearly 11:00. And I hadn’t had breakfast. And I was running out of my brand of caffeine. And my RV wanted diesel.
They guy in the office told me where I could get diesel that was not biodiesel. So that was my first stop. The station had a small grocery store and they had a carton of Diet Dr Pepper and my favorite snack for sale so now my grocery shopping was less urgent.
That meant it was time to eat breakfast. OK brunch for those of you who are paying attention to the clock. Pizza Hut works for me. I get a large pizza and put much of it in a go box to eat later. Now grocery shopping is even less urgent.
So, I’m finally back on the freeway. At 1:00 pm. Hey, I never said I was an early bird.
And I drive. And drive. And drive. Apparently having a tailwind makes it easier. I take much fewer breaks than usual.
About 5:30 I decide it is supper time and look at that will you? A Cracker Barrel! So I go in and eat and bring half my meal back for later. Grocery shopping is now even less urgent.
And the sun is setting. So I’ll stay here tonight.
But, I’m past Oklahoma City. I’m all the way down into Texas. Where the weather forecast for tomorrow is just OK. But it says rain the day after. So, tomorrow I’ll see if I can get all the way to somewhere I can hole up for several days.
However many days that turns out to be. Before I once again decide it is time to go.
TTYL,
Linda
As I was getting dressed this morning I heard a truck engine sounding awfully close to me. When I uncovered my back windows I saw this:
Zooming in on the cab got this:
This truck advertises a regional food bank serving the hungry. Across the driveway behind that truck is a Pizza Hut. Which I’m guessing is donating to this food program.
It’s a big truck:
Heading on its way to do its job.
I’m Linda Sand and I approve this message.
TTYL,
Linda
Every now and then my GPS decides it has worked hard enough for now so it takes a break. As in refuses to turn on. Or, if it is already on, it turns itself off. Today it decided not to turn on when I was ready to leave the rest stop just before KCMO and KCK.
For those of you who didn’t grow up listening to Midwest radio stations, that’s Kansas City, Missouri, and Kansas City, Kansas. Another set of twin cities separated mostly by attitude.
As places go, that was not a bad place for it to decide to take a break. All I had to do was follow the signs to stay on I-35 all the way through the metro area, out the other side, and about halfway to Emporia, Kansas. I could do that with my eyes closed. OK, not really. It is hazardous to drive with your eyes closed. But you know what I mean. I’ve been down this route enough to not panic about my GPS taking a break.
So about 5:00 I pulled into a Corps of Engineers park. I was thrilled to see the gates to the campground be open. But surprised to see the registration fees were only applicable through September 30th. OK, likely that means no water. I did not expect it to mean no electricity either. But I have a level, pull-through spot overlooking Malvern Lake and it’s late and I’m tired of driving.
The wifi signal here is weak but plugging in my antenna brought it up to acceptable speed so I can compute.
My batteries are 100% charged so I can reheat lunch leftovers in the microwave for supper and charge electronics when their batteries get low.
It is 83° in here. The forecast low tonight is 37°. That’s nearly 40°, right? It should stay warm in here until at least bedtime, right? Then I can run my furnace until it goes haywire (which appears to be about 5 hours) then have enough residual heat to get me through the night, right?
I sure hope so, because I am staying. I need a break.
TTYL,
Linda
