Spring in Central Texas

April 1 was to have been moving day. Everything was closed up and packed on Tuesday afternoon so all that was left for Wednesday, hook-up day, was to pull in the slide - empty holding tanks - unhook the utilities - hitch up and head out.

Had a great time in Rockport and have reservations for next winter. Good friends, good seafood and lots of visiting and eating! Met some really nice RVers here in the park and made face-to-face contact with some folks I know thru an RV email list. Managed to squeeze in time to attend the Corpus Christi Bird Club -- gave a presentation on Breeders Lung -- a subject near and dear to my heart and lungs! Even won a few bird toys for Tinga from their raffle table.

Always enjoy my visits with Deryl & Elke -- they know the best places to eat! And they are my private taxi service to Corpus Christi for the bird club meetings!

The truck was fueled up on Monday – ready for the move north. Marv was going to hitch me up when he returned from morning appointments. By noon, the winds had whipped up and driving/towing was not an option at that point. But Marv, Walter and a couple others on the street came by to make sure everything was hitched up and ready to go – and I pulled into a pull-thru space at the front of the park, didn’t unhitch – just plugged in the electric for the night – hoping to wait out the winds. But, as I listened to the weather reports that evening – the next day didn’t seem promising at all.

6:30 AM Wednesday winds were about 10-12 mph and not predicted to increase much until about 10AM -- I heard that Dallas/Fort Worth was expecting winds coming from the northwest – which means I would be headed into them….so, like a good boy scout, to be prepared, I mapped out all of the Walmart parking lots along the way! Thought I could pull in behind their building for protection if needed.

Ran into a rough spell just north of LeGrange and lost one of the panes of glass from my bedroom window -- by the time I got to Gatesville, the wind had whipped in enough to pull down the day-nite shade -- and I refuse to put it back up! I worked and worked to get that thing out of there so I could restring it and could never get it free -- well, it's free now and it is staying that way -- I'll but the drapes back up!

I pulled out of Rockport about 7AM and into the RV park in Gateville TX about 2PM-- nice to be back with my central TX family! Ran into some rain and hail on the way up, wind gusting at a fairly good clip out of the northwest so I was quite stable not being hit on the side -- didn't do much for my fuel mileage, however!

All-in-all, it really was an uneventful trip -- just windy and tiring. With Fred’s help, here in the Gatesville park, I unhitched and leveled the RV. Plugged in the electric and left the rest of the hookup for Friday – I didn’t realize just how tired I was until I stopped driving – all I wanted was an ice tea and a bed!

Slept like a log until the clock on the court house started chiming and the mail truck pulled into the post office across the street and backed up to the loading dock to unload the mail – sounds I have to get used to again!

I'll be in Gatesville for about 6 weeks to catch up on coffee-drinking, gossip, taxes, license plates and safety stickers, medical appointments for me and vet checks for Holly, Li'lBit and Tinga. Have reservations in Iowa starting May 23.

It feels good to be “home” – my spring and fall home!