Get Down And Travel: May 2020

The next two days of travel took us north from Los Fresnos. A steady stream of trucks that make up the “supply chain” for the nation’s goods were our friends on the road, along with the color blue bonnets, indian paintbrush and white poppy flowers which dotted the countryside through the hills in Texas.

We needed to put on about 586 miles to get to the town of Krum, Texas. With about 400 miles traveled Jeff spotted a large, empty business parking lot for us to pull into outside of Waco. This worked out perfectly for us. Our second day was to finish up the 137 miles remaining before pulling into North Texas RV Repair in the town of Krum. Jeff had read about this company from an old FMCA magazine that he had picked up at a campground, so he had called the Service manager to say we would be visiting him sometime in late April on our way back north.

Due to the pandemic just ramping up closing most non-essentials, our only dilemma was that this service shop was busy but lacked a lot of their staff because they were afraid of the virus. Therefore, we had to wait our turn with minimal staff and we definitely understood that. What was really good is that they were able to welcome us with open arms and give us a nice concrete parking lot to park on which had electricity and water. The dump facilities were on site but we would have to move the coach when needed.

Little did we know at that time that we would be here for close to 4-weeks, but we made the most of it by keeping with the Texas mandate of the shelter-in-place. We took walks whenever we could and on one particular day, we decided to cross the highway and take a different walk along a country road. We noticed there was a field that appeared to be a shooting range so we elected to turn around and walk back to where we started. It was on this road that we met a very special lady named, Jan. What she told us is that there aren’t many people walking along the road and she came to investigate us! The shooting range was on her property and consisted of State Highway Patrol Officers that she knew, that needed some practice time. Jan was in law enforcement for 30 years.

The next hour was within social distancing to meet this born Texas who owned the 40-acre property that we were going to get a tour of on her golf cart. How amazing is that? We were able to step back from the crazy world of COVID-19 into a place that brought peace to the spirit and confirmed our love of nature. Behold - Jan’s beloved Hickory Creek.

We also got to meet some of her ranch family. The Highlander is a Scottish breed of rustic cattle. Cappy (short for Cappuccino) was so gentle and wanted to be our friend. Jan shared with us some of her background, her love of animals and what especially holds a special place in our hearts is her love of nature. You don’t meet people like this every day. We will be talking about this day for a long time.

The time we spent waiting for our turn in our shelter in place gave us time for the following.

Haircuts: Yes, that is Jeff still with a head full of hair. Kay has the complete Wahl unit with all of the comb attachments. I guess this is a good time to try it out. He was happy and that’s what counts.

Walmart: The key was to go early when they opened up at 7 am, stand in line with proper social distancing, and then decide where everything is going to go in the motorhome.

Cheap fuel: It was out lucky day. In Ponder, Texas with its $1.19/gallon for unleaded gas.

Laundromat: It was inevitable that we would have to take care of this so with some advance internet reading on what to expect, we took the plunge. The parking lot was empty, and when we went in a gal took us to where the washers were and explained to us what was expected once we started the machines. And that was to then take our bags and go back to our vehicles and wait until the cycle was completed. This was to be also followed when the clothes were finished drying except that there was to be NO FOLDING ALLOWED. You had to put all dry clothes in your bags and take them home to fold them. A few “wrinkles” won’t hurt us!

New Friends: Eugene and Joy from Alpena, Michigan have been waiting for their 30 ft. Class A that had some extensive work done. For them it was about 2-1/2 months here at the shop before we said goodbye to them. Now, that’s a wait!

Easter: A quiet day all around. Jeff made a cross for Kay made from antique copper wire that he had been savings. It has a little weight to it, so she will have to find the right place for it to be safe as we travel.

Cooking and/or Substitutes: From all of the Facebook posts and Internet articles this has been the season for people to be busy in the kitchen and this is no exception for Kay.

If it isn’t looking up substitutes for this and that, it’s making them. When we couldn’t find toilet cleaner back in mid-March, and the need for additional hand sanitizer, Kay was able to find recipes for pretty much everything. Haven’t had to make any just yet though.

Puzzles: This is pretty much the entertainment experience as you find how bad TV really is. Our friends from Michigan gave us a huge box of smaller puzzles (150-300 piece) variety. One down, but the second one was a beast. That was pretty much it for the puzzle craze. Target’s shelves are empty unless you want to entertain yourself with kids puzzles.

Face Masks: After a few tries with a couple of different patterns we were able to come up with those that we use now whenever we go out for essential items. We almost fell over when we saw in Walmart a bin that had packaged masks back in the hardware area – a package of 5 for $.97. It was good to see this. Now we just need to see everyone wearing them when they are out! We do.

Motorhome upgrades: Since we had time to kill while we were having our A/C above the bedroom attended to, Jeff had them do some painting on the coach. Once completed it looked like new.