Because We Can

What you see here is the application of the old adage: "I'd rather be lucky than good." Translation: It is good that I was in the process of putting the tire covers on the coach. The lucky part was not the what, it was the where. Just to the back of this wheel and about two feet out from it was a fire ant mound that I was totally unaware of. I can't imagine what would have happened had I laid down and stretched out the way I am, but behind the tire instead of in front of it. I was very lucky and I know it. PS, the fire ant mound has been treated with ant dead. We had another training day today, and while we learned a great deal, only time will tell if we retained what we were told, and also if we were told all we need to know. When the trainer is being trained by the trainer trainer as the trainer trains the trainees, it isn't too difficult to believe more than a few things get lost in the process. Still, it's the great thing about having volunteered...

6:45 came earlier than we thought it would, likely because we were still tired from yesterday's drive from Marshall to Livingston, then the four hours of training we had. It was really more a mental tiredness, probably due to trying to remember all the information we had received. Of course as soon as we started walking the few steps to the Care Center, adrenaline took over and we were fully ready to go again. As far as the morning mist and dews and damps, we were told it was unusual. Time will tell. We were breakfast help this morning, but it turned out to be fairly easy as the breakfast most mornings is cereal, toast and an assortment of beverages. As we learned, things are not put out in just any order, it has to be the same way every time. That is due to the limited eyesight of a number of the people who eat breakfast. If you are blind and eat bran flakes every morning, they better be in the same location every day. They key here is that the people who utilize the Car...

A fairly short drive today, but it resulted in a fairly a major change in lifestyle. For the next month we are going to volunteering at the Escapee Care Center in Livingston, something we have wanted to do for some time. As time goes on we will be describing more about what it is and what we will be doing, mostly because we have already had our first "trailing" experience tonight at dinner. Think trailing around with someone who has done this for five different volunteer stints. We know nothing, they know everything. Yet after four hours of this we actually think we have a reasonably good understanding about most of the things we will have to do on our own in a few days. It's not a case of fast learners, rather it's a case of excellent teachers. Much more to follow on this experience, but for now I think we both are looking for some rest as we have to start at 6:45 tomorrow morning. Hey, we used to get paid to go to work that early, so now that we are retired we d...

Given another set of circumstances, this could be Linda, but thank goodness it is not. I can only wonder what conversations took place between husband and wife before they left home for the start of this trip. While she loaded the car with more plants than we thought it could hold, he was busy unhooking the sewer, water and electric. It looked to be a case of, if she wants to bring them, she can take of them. It reminded me that no matter how bad it is, (which it really isn't) some other husband has it far, far worse. I always chuckle as we approach a state line because of the comments coming from the navigator's seat. It is a running count down of the miles as we get closer and closer, then on occasion she still misses the sign. Not today, and being the good person she thinks I can be at times, I slowed down as we approached it. It felt good to be back home in Texas, even if the thermometer was registering 101 at the time. Looking at the right way, it was still cool...

Some things need explanation and this is one of them. Our first stop, and it was in the cool of the early this morning with the temperatures forecast to be 105 and more today, was the Arkansas Museum. We ended up spending three hours in it, which is probably 2 and a half hours more than most people do, but it drew us in and wrapped us up. What can I say but we love history, even if it is history we have never been exposed to before. I will skip all the things we liked about the museum except for one thing. Not that I liked it as much as Linda, actually I liked the Native American Gallery as much as Linda I just couldn't get the hang of this exhibit. Native Americans were predominate in Arkansas in the early 1800's, after all it was their land, and this gallery focused upon the atrocities the European American's inflicted upon them. Broken treaties, outright genocide and the precursor to the way the freed blacks were treated as sub humans under slavery and the later Jim...

We were planning to be on the road by 10 o'clock this morning since it was about a three hour drive down to the Little Rock area. That got put back a little when, as I was doing all my normal outside activities, I disconnected the electric only to discover Linda had not yet stowed the MotoSat dish. Not good, especially since the both the temperature and the humidity were somewhere in the 90's. Eventually I moved out of the sun, and eventually Linda got the MotoSat stowed. Meaning eventually we got on the road, and wonder of wonder given the circumstances, no harsh words were exchanged, not that I didn't have a few in mind as I stood out there sweating and sweltering. I really couldn't blame Linda as she was busy doing things and I should have checked before unplugging the cord. Still, this was looking like it might be a good day even if it was a less than perfect start. Our destination was a park on the river in North Little Rock directly across from the Clinton...

We see many things in our travels that we notice but think little about. I speak not only just of ourselves, but of all fulltimers who travel the roads of our country. Leaving the RV park and heading to Fort Smith we passed not just this sign, but a total of three signs that made it increasing clear that anything but single vehicles needed to turn around and not proceeded on this road. Last evening when I was walking around downtown Van Buren I noticed a memorial in a vacant area along Main Street. It listed nine people who had lost their lives on the evening of June 21, 1985 when a semi truck driven by a young husband and wife team lost its brakes on long steep hill we had just come down and slammed into a station wagon with a brother and sister and their families in it. When everything was over, three buildings had been destroyed in the ensuing fire and all nine occupants of the two vehicles were dead. An article on what happened is here . We can never take life for granted, and...