Happy Birthday Sandy

Today is Sandy's _ _th Birthday! Your right I do not want to get in the dog house as the husband should for some reason never reveal that magic number. Sandy is the love of my life, my best friend and comforter. I can reveal however, I've been married to this wonderful woman half the number of her years young. We plan on an evening dinner in Longview with the rest of the family. She has chosen Mexican food which comes as no surprise. I am the happiest man in the world with the woman I love beside my side.

On some other good news we after ten years in this area now have a full boat cell phone signal from AT&T. We could not believe this event finally arrived. AT&T had been promising this for awhile now and finally delivered. So, family and friends with AT&T service and those none AT&T customers we no longer should have to apologize for our poor service. Now the decision to make if we should get a AT&T or Version air card?? If anyone reading this journal wants to share their information on this it would be appreciated.

One of our favorite seafood restaurants burned last week in Karnack, Tx. This place had the best seafood in this area and been in business over 60 years. Their fried shrimp was out of this world. They don't know what caused the fire but believe it started up stairs. No word on any plans to rebuild.

Until next time....MtnAire Travlers.

Summer Has Arrived In Full Force

Today so far was the hottest day and it looks like its only the beginning. Our temp today was 97F with a heat index of 101F. I worked in the yard most of the morning and this little guy is just the way I felt this pm. I looked like someone sprayed me down with a water hose. We have not had any rain to speak of for the past three weeks and the long range forecast doesn't look that promising.

James my BIL and us have made quite a bit of progress on his four acres. Particularly with the tree clearing and burning of brush. All evidence of the old house is no longer present.

Here are some before and after shots of the land.

It want be long now and he will start building. However, next week he is going to start mowing about 800 miles of right a ways for a natural gas pipe lines with his two tractors. This should tie him up for about 60 days depending upon the weather. The way its looking right now that may not be a problem. Both his tractors are AC so the heat should not be a problem. We leave for that once a month trip to Canton next week. We will be there through the 4th and usually this month and the next two will be our hottest.

Until next time....MtnAire Travlers

A Short Trip Turns Into A Pleasant Suprise

The alarm went off as usual this morning at 6:15 AM. While Sandy was drinking her cup of coffee and I my diet coke I asked her since it was such a pleasant morning why not take a trip to Pittsburg,TX to see if they had peaches. We traveled the 25 miles west on Hwy 11 and arrived at Pittsburg. When driving through the city we heard church bells and set out to find where the sound was coming from. To our surprise they have a bell tower near down town and it chimes on the half hour and the hour. There is also a small prayer chapel below the tower that has beautiful stained glass windows.

Here is the exterior of the bell tower.

Two of the four stained glass windows from within the Chapel.

This is what the outside of the widows looked like.

Here is another photo of the interior of the Chapel.

Here is a bronze sculpture of Jesus washing Peters feet. While there we both had a wonderful feeling of solitude and comfort.

After the Bell Tower/Chapel visit we headed south on Hwy 271 toward some known peach farms that had roadside vegetable and peach stands. Our favorite stop is at Efurd Peach Orchard about nine miles south of Pittsburg.

While there we found peaches, cantaloupe, watermelon, all kinds of veggies, canned fruit jams and fresh purple hull peas. We purchased about $35 worth of goodies. Before leaving I noticed a sign that said "Homemade Peach & Strawberry Ice Cream". I took the strawberry and Sandy the peach and let me tell you they both had out of this world taste. So good it would give you a brain freeze because you did not slow down between bites.

On our way out we drove past the following water pond. What a beautiful spot along the side of the road. We had a great day of driving and seeing a little of the area we have not seen before.

Until next time....MtnAire Travlers.

Return to Lone Star

We left Houston Tuesday morning and four one-half hours later arrived back at base. The trip to and from was uneventful and without problems. We are certainly blessed. Our fuel mileage was 8.35 gallons per mile which we felt wasn't all that bad. Diesel cost us $2.31 per gallon at the Flying J off Hwy 59 near Houston. While in Houston we were able to relieve my sister from some of her duties in taking care of our Mom. I am so grateful that she is there to look after Mom while we are in North Texas taking care of Sandy's Mom. Thank you Sis!

We took Mom to the eye doctor, Sears vision, dentist and was able to get her lined out on her scooter. The person who is instructing her on the use of her scooter came by Tuesday and yesterday and changed her ways of mounting and dismounting which were so thankful. My sister called this pm and advised Mom was doing real good on her scooter and very soon will be using it to go to her meals and hopefully other events at Rosemont.

We had a pretty good storm roll through here last night high winds and about 1 1/2" of rain. There was a slight mist on and off most of today. I made my quarterly visit to VA today where they proceeded to take four vales of blood....ouch. I go back next week to find out the results.

Tomorrow I plan to go through my bays and do the yearly purging.... if hasn't been used in a year out it goes. We purchased the DVD of Clint Eastwood's Grand Torino and plan to watch it tonight. Our friends say its an excellent movie.

Until next time....MtnAire Travlers.

Follow-up on Whats That???

Yesterday evening we were able to catch the owner of this unusual RV outside his coach and was able to learn a little more about this conversion bus. He purchased it three years ago at a City of Houston auction. Prior to that it was a city bus carrying passengers in Houston. After he purchased the bus he at first thought he could make the conversion in six months. Three years later he is still working on it but says hes close to finishing. There are two sections connected together. The forward 30ft. section contains their living area, dinning area and kitchen. All appliances are full size home appliances (oven, dish washer, refrigerator). The rear 30ft. section is their bath room, shower, and office. He repainted all exterior surfaces. The rear section also contains the diesel engine and the accordion between to two sections allows for turning. The roof AC cools the front and there are two smaller basement AC's for the rear. They to not pull a toad because the combined length he says would exceed most states length laws. You can walk to the back section by opening one door in the back of the front section and entering the rear section through another door at the front of the rear section. He has all plumbing and water and both gray and black storage tanks. He is quite talented to have done all this himself. We had hoped to get an inside tour but was not invited...bummer.

Until next time....MtnAire Travlers.

NASCAR Mama

Mom's new scooter was delivered this week and we've been working with her everyday going down the hall, through doors, down and up the elevator, to the dinning room and every where except outside. She's doing great considering being 91 and from the photo ready to take on Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr.... hee hee. At times however she gets her left and right mixed up. The pink ball on her joy stick is a golf ball which I drilled a small hole in and replaced the rubber cover. The ball gives her better control with her palm of the hand than the fingers. They are numb from her diabetes.

Rosemont is an excellent assisted living facility. They have a staff that really cares about you and your love ones. They go out of their way to make sure your loves ones are given the best care, attention, cleanness, nutrition and health care. We are very satisfied with their care of our Mother. Of course this by no means is free. The Lord blessed my Mom with a good financial mind and she put aside savings for this day. We kids are so blessed that she saw enough into the future to see this day coming. She is very happy there and now calls this her home on earth until the Lord is ready to take her to be with him.

It was just so much fun to see her clowning around with the photo taking process. She always makes me fill so thankful the Lord chose her to me my Mother.

Until next time....MtnAire Travlers.

Our Trip to Houston To Visit Family

We Left Lone Star Tuesday and arrived at Forest Retreat RV Park in New Caney, Tx 77357. The park is located off Hwy 59 north of Houston, TX (when headed south take Community Drive exit to McCleskey Road turn right and approx. 2 miles the park will be on the right). If you come to Houston for business or visiting north of Houston you can check them out at http://www.forestretreatrvpark.com/. All sites and roads are concrete and spacious. Our weekly rate was $192.00 with Good Sam which included free Wifi, cable, daily newspaper, free coffee and bag of ice for your cooler.

Our site.

Before going to visit my Mom, we drove through the park and came upon this unusual RV.
What's This!!!!!!

At first we could not tell if it was coming or going. The two sections combined makes the coach about 55' to 60' long. The diesel engine is located in the back unit and the inside front has the cockpit separated from the front living quarters by a solid wall with a door in the middle. The two sections are connected together and it looks like an accordion that joins the two sections (which I assume allows for turning this monster). We have not caught up with the owners yet but hope to before we leave and just maybe they might give us a tour.

We arrived at Rosemont Assisted Living and surprised my Mom. We caught up on all the happenings since we last visited and had an excellent lunch with her (fried shrimp, rice, baked tomato, and mac. After lunch we left and came back to the RV park where we set out and enjoyed a nice cool evening before the bottom fell out. Lots of rain and high wind. Today we took Mom to get her eyes checked for new glasses. After wards we dropped her off at Rosemont and Sandy wanted her HEB grocery store fix. This lady just loves HEB and their Central Market. We were in their for approx. 45 minutes and I guarantee before we leave we will go back for more grocery shopping. After that we drove to my sister and brother-in-laws home to visit. They have a beautiful home in Porter, TX on three acres. We set out on their patio and enjoyed another cool evening, wild life, birds and the family dog Spinner.

Here's a photo of our new TV mounting I finished a couple weeks ago. Its not exactly what we wanted but its cost stayed within our budget.

I also changed out our bedroom TV to an LCD 19" and it is so much better than the old crystal tube TV. Also it probably reduced our weight by 40-45lbs.

Tomorrow we are off to the vision center to try different lens frames and get her new glasses. Afterwards we plan to drive by and let her see our new to us home on wheels. Due to her handicap she will only be able to see the outside. After that back to Rosemont where we will go through the steps of getting on and off as well as using her new scooter. We are so excited for her as this will help her get around a lot better and without so much effort or strain on her upper body.

Until next time....MtnAire Trtavlers.

HWH 610 Leveling System

Mission accomplished our jacks are now working again. I can not say enough about the company HWH Corporation out of Moscow, Iowa. What a fine company and particularly their tech person Frank. He walked me through the steps of taking out the old motor and putting in the new motor. So if any of you out there have HWH jacks and have a problem give Frank a call he is good at his job. And believe it or not this one-eyed guy got the motor installed and working. Probably took longer than a person with two good eyes but so what since it was our 33rd anniversary I had my sweetie out their cheering me on and giving me the encouragement needed to finish the job.

I just about finished the three acres of mowing and will weed eat a bit this PM when its cooler.While I was mowing Sandy went to the bank and Walmart in Mt. Pleasant about 26 miles west of Lone Star. She returned a minute ago and as left again to check on her Mom who lives about one mile from us.If we can get all our chores done we will head for Houston tomorrow or next to visit my Mom and family. I love my family but do not look forward to going to Houston with all the people who think they are NASCAR drivers and always in a hurry to get no where fast. As you can tell I am not really looking forward to it.

Until next time.....MtnAire Travlers.