Monday 10-19-16 Errands, Car Project, Trip Summary & More

 

Awesome Day

We had an awesome day of doing this and that.

We woke up to 49 degrees and the high was 78 degrees. 

I woke up at 7:30 and got dressed. Then for breakfast we shared a bagel with cream cheese and a shake. 

After breakfast we went to town to do errands. First we stopped at the post office to restart our mail and get the mail they were holding for us. Next we went to The UPS Store to pick up our mail and to restart the mail. Finally we went to Walmart to go grocery shopping and to get some oil for the Minnie. After going shopping we went home.

Doing errands

On the way home Larry noticed, that the air conditioner and the heater weren't working. The system only worked just using the vent. We stopped by Doughty Automotive and Larry explained what was going on. We have an appointment for the Equinox on Wednesday to get the system checked out. 

When we got home I put the groceries away. I finished up doing the laundry.

 Doing Laundry

Larry spent some of the afternoon doing research on the Equinox air condition system. He tried a couple of suggestions, they didn't work so he'll wait to see what Doughty Automotive finds.

Equinox

I continued working on the jigsaw puzzle Horse of Iron. I'm getting close to finishing it.

Horse of Iron

I worked out on the Wii Fit for 46 minutes. It had been 66 days since I worked out on it. I did the Wii Fit Plus Routine for 26 minutes on 12 different exercises, which were one exercise from the Aerobics menu (Basic Step), one exercise from the Balance Games menu (Table Tilt), two exercises from the Strength Training menu (Single-Leg Twist of 10 reps and Lunge of 10 reps), four exercises from Training Plus (Big Top Juggling, Rhythm Kung-Fu, Bird's Eye Bull's Eye and Island Cycling) and four exercises from the Yoga menu (Tree, Standing Knee, Sun Salutation and Triangle). I worked out for another 20 minutes with one exercise from the Aerobics (Rhythm Boxing for 8 minutes), two exercises from Balance Games (Ski Slalom three times for 3 minutes and Ski Jump two times), one exercise from Strength Training (Single-Leg Extension 20 reps for 3 minutes) and one exercise from Training Plus (Perfect 10 two times for 4 minutes). I had a great workout.

Aerobics (Basic Step and Rhythm Boxing)

Balance Games (Ski Jump, Ski Slalom and Table Tilt)

Strength Training (Lunge, Single-Leg Extension and Single-Leg Twist)

Training Plus (Big Top Juggling, Bird's Eye Bull's Eye,

Island Cycling, Perfect 10 and Rhythm Kung-Fu)

 

Yoga (Tree, Triangle, Standing Knee and Sun Salutation)

We continued watching YouTube videos we follow.

I played ten games of pinball. I played five games on the mini cabinet, which were Batman Forever, Creature From the Black Lagoon, Metallica, The Big LeBowski and The Goonies. I played five games on the big cabinet, which were Cirqus Voltaire, Indiana Jones, Jaws, No Fear and The Godfather. While playing Jaws I became high score #1. I didn't play too bad considering I hadn't played in two months.

Batman Forever (Mini)

Creature From the Black Lagoon (Mini)

Metallica (Mini)

The Big LeBowski (Mini)

The Goonies (Mini)

Cirqus Voltaire (Big)

Indiana Jones (Big)

Jaws (Big)

No Fears (Big)

The Godfather (Big)

In the evening we finished watching the fifth season of Professor T on PBS. The end of the season was a cliffhanger. After Larry went to bed I finished watching third season of The Marlow Murders on PBS. Then I watched Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark. 

By the end of the night I had done 5,000 steps. 

Trip Summary

Minnie

During out Fall Trip we were on the road for 60 days. We drove 4,565 miles, burned 428.56 gallons of fuel, cost for camping was $1488.30, cost for fuel was $1,887.83 and total cost was $4,413.15. We spent $24.81 per day for camping, overall the trip cost $73.55 per day. We visited eight states, which were Texas (7), Colorado (15), Wyoming (7), Montana (24), Idaho (1), Utah (1), Arizona (3) and New Mexico (2). We camped in (4) City Parks, (3) RV Parks, (1) State Fish, Wildlife Park, (3) Casinos, (1) Hotel, (1) National Park, Yellowstone at two campgrounds (Madison and Grant), (3) National Forests (four campgrounds), (1) State Parks and (2) Wal-marts. While visiting each state we hiked, walked, camped, played pinball and did a little sightseeing. We visited some new places and campgrounds and revisited places we have been before. We had an outstanding time.   

 

  

 

 

Sunday 10-18-26 We're Home, Unloading the Minnie & More

 

Sunrise in Brady Texas

We woke up to nippy morning with the temperature of 44 degrees in Brady Texas. The high temperature in Belton Texas was 75 degrees with a breeze.

I crawled out of bed at 6:30 am and got dressed. Then we put things down and secured. We had a Hostess Coffee Cake and shared a shake. We were on the road by 7:15 am. 

Today was a short travel day. Larry drove for 130 miles. We drove highway 190 East, it goes all the way to Belton. It was hard for Larry to drive because he was driving into the sun. We saw another gorgeous sunrise. We drove through some small towns and cities. We drove through Rochelle, Richland Springs and San Saba. When we got to San Saba we stopped at Donut City for donuts. Afterwards we were back on 190 East. On the other side of San Saba 183 North joined up with Hwy 290, we drove by Lomenta to highway 580. Then we got back on highway 190 East. We drove through Copperas Cove, Fort Hood, Killen and Nolanville. When we were got to Nolanville exit on 190 we took it and drove home. We saw a couple of deer while driving. The drive was very nice.

We were home by 9:45 am. When we got home I unloaded the Minnie and Larry helped. Larry turned on the water to the house and plugged the Minnie into power. He took the electronics back into the house and turned on the computers. He made sure everything worked correctly. He had to replace batteries in a couple of devices. Once I got everything unloaded from the Minnie I put everything away. It took us about three hours unload the Minnie and put things away. 

Home Sweet Home

After unloading the Minnie I started doing laundry.

Doing laundry

Today is a new weekly challenge in pinball. This weeks challenge is Indiana Jones. Larry reinstalled the game so I could start playing the challenge. Once he installed the game he played it to make sure it played correctly. 

I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The Daily Event was Event: World Tour Mini of 10 games. It took me 1 hour, 27 minutes and 59 seconds to complete, which put me in 22nd place in my group.

While doing laundry we started to watch the YouTube videos we follow.

In the evening we started to watch the 5th season of Professor T on PBS. We watched three episodes. Then we continued watching YouTube videos. When Larry went to bed I started to watched the 3rd season of The Marlow Murder Club on PBS. I watched four episodes of it.

Relaxing in front of the television

While watching YouTube videos in the evening I played four pinball games, which were Big Bang Bar, Beetlejuice, Indiana Jones and The Beach Boys. I played Indiana Jones first and entered my first high score of the week. It was 118,232,190, which put me in 22nd place out of 26 participants so far. Then I played Big Bang Bar, Beetlejuice and The Beach Boys. I had fun playing pinball once again after two months.

Indiana Jones

Beetlejuice

Big Bang Bar

The Beach Boys

I ended up doing 6,000 steps. I started working on my jigsaw puzzle again. The puzzle is Horse of Iron.

   

Saturday 10-17-26 Richards Park and Having Fun

 

Sunrise in Texas

We had a cold day. We woke up to a chilly 41 degrees in Fort Stockton, TX and the high temperature was  62 degrees in Brady, TX. We had wind out of the north, which kept it chilly.

I woke up at 6:30 and got dressed. Then we had a sausage patty and shared a bagel and shake for breakfast. After breakfast we put everything away and secured. We were back on the at 7:15. It was still dark.

We drove 230 miles from Fort Stockton to Brady. The first 50 miles was on I10 and the last 80 miles was on high 190 east. We saw a gorgeous sunrise as we were going down I10. We drove right into the sunrise. We saw a lot of west Texas, which was a lot of desert and smelled the oilfields. We saw some windmills generating power. They weren't moving much. We saw one deer on the side of the road. The interstate was four lanes and highway was two lanes. At places the drive was rough. I spent a lot of time napping. We stopped a couple of times to stretch our legs and bathroom breaks. When we got to Brady we filled the Minnie up with gas.

Brady had two parks we could say at. One was Brady Lake, which is five miles from Brady. It has 25 miles of shoreline for water skiing, swimming, camping and fishing. It has 8 cabanas and 12 cabins to rent. It has 23 RV hook-up sites with water and electric, 15 tent sites and 3 primitive sites. The other campground was Richards Park, which is a city park in Brady. It has 14 full hook-up sites, picnic tables, restrooms with showers, playground and a frisbee golf course. It's shaded with pecan and oak trees.

We drove around both parks and decided to stay at Richards Park We had no problem finding a site. There was a sign, that said reservation only but we found a pay station. If you went online to reserve a site it was $30.00 but if you paid at the pay station it was $25.00. The park is very nice.

Camping at Richards Park

  

After setting up the Minnie for the night we had lunch. After lunch we walked around Richards Park. There was a bridge, that went over the river. The river divides the electric sites from the full hook-ups. The price per night is $25.00 for full hook-ups and electric sites. They had a rock show going on in the covered building. We walked through the show, there were a number of people. We walked around for about a half hour. 

Playground at Richards Park

More of the playground

A planter that looks like a basket

Memorial for Mr. and Mrs. F.M. Richards who donated the park April 15, 1925

I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The Daily Event was Event: Experts Only Mini of five games. It took me 1 hour, 30 minutes and 39 seconds to complete, which put me in 15th place in my group.

I finished reading Remarkable Creatures by Tracey Chevalier. It was a great book about two women, who were fossils hunters in England in the 1800's. It was based on real people, Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot. They discovered ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs and challenged the scientific and religious views. 

Reading is fun

After dinner we walked around a park that is across the street. The park had a swimming pool, volleyball court, basketball court, horseshoe pits, covered pavilions, playground and baseball fields. The park is very nice. We walked around for another half hour.

Horseshoe pits

Playground 

Climbing rock, swing and more play things

By the end of the night I had done 6,000 steps.  

     

          

Friday 10-16-26 Cold Windy Day

Celebrate it's Friday and dance

 

We had a cold windy day. 

We didn't go anywhere because it was too windy. The wind was out of the north, which made it cold. The wind blew 20 to 24 mph with gusts 31 mph. We woke up to the morning temperature of 56 degrees at 6:00 am. When the front came in the temperature dropped a couple of degrees. It didn't get out of the 50's. The high was 62 degrees. It was weird it was 62 degrees outside and our air conditioner ran in the afternoon.

Hold on tight

I woke up at 7:15 and got dressed. Then I made apple cinnamon mini waffles and we shared a shake for breakfast. About 10:00 we went over and paid for another night. The gentleman and his son were in the dog park area installing a couple of red canvas tarps on the covered area to block the wind. The gentleman talked to us and said he and his son started the RV park ten years ago. He also told us they were having the Big Bend Open Road Race this weekend. He also said they have a nice museum about Fort Stockton. 

The Big Bend Open Road Race happens twice a year for four days. Every fall and spring a fleet of Ferraris, Mustangs, Lamborghinis, Corvettes and other cars descend in West Texas for the event. They put the drivers in different classes. The first and second days are registration, tech, rookie orientation, qualifying and practice. The next day registration, tech, car show and parade. The final day is the race, after race party and race banquet. It is a 118 mile loop from Fort Stockton to Sanderson and back. It takes place on highway 285 and the classes compete between 100 to 200 mph. 

We spent the day reading. Larry started a book and finished it. Then he started another book. After I finished The Man with No Borders I asked Larry to choose another book for me. The book I started to read today was Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier. It's about two remarkable women, who study fossils in the England. It very good so far.  

Reading and relaxing

I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The Daily Event was Event: Two Game Tango Mini of 6 games (3 Pyramid and 3 Tri Peaks). It took me 15 minutes and 3 seconds to complete, which put me in 15th in my group.

I didn't do too many steps. I only did 2,000 steps. 

       

Thursday 10-15-26 New Time Zone, Return to Texas & Westex Living RV Park

Westex Living RV Park in Fort Stockton

We had a great day. 

We woke up to the morning temperature of 60 degrees at Sunland Park Racetrack & Casino at 6:00 am. It got up to 79 degrees in Fort Stockton Texas at 4:00 pm.

I woke up at 6:00 and got dressed. Then we had a sausage patty and shared a bagel and shake for breakfast. Then we put things down and secured. We were on the road by 6:45 am Mountain Time. 

I got up early because we had to go through El Paso Texas. I figured Larry wanted to get through El Paso before morning rush hour. We spent the night at the casino, which is at the state line of Texas and New Mexico. The traffic was a little heavy but not as heavy going the opposite direction. 

Today Larry drove 250 miles on I10. We were only in New Mexico for a few blocks and then we were back in Texas. The scenery wasn't that exciting in west Texas. It was mainly desert with a little bit of mountains. We filled the Minnie with gas in El Paso at the Love's and Fort Stockton at the Pilot. We also stopped a couple of times to stretch our legs and for bathroom breaks. The time changed from Mountain Time to Central Time right before we got to Van Horn. So we gained an hour. We arrived in Fort Stockton at 1:00 pm Central Time. We're back on our normal time zone. We have to adjust to the time difference. 

Time adjustment

During our trip we traveled in three time zones: Central Time, Mountain Time and Pacific Time. 

We are staying at a small RV Park called Westex Living RV Park. It's in Fort Stockton, TX. It cost $30 per night. When we were driving in the park it looked full. Larry stopped at the office and asked if they had any openings. The couple said, that they usually do have a few openings for people to stay a night but there was a project going on so they are full. They said, that a few of the RVs haven't shown up yet and we could have site #30. Larry told them we may be here for two nights. They said it probably will be ok. We backed into site #30 and setup the Minnie for the night. 

Entrance gate on the right

Entrance gate on the left

Dog park and playground

Horny toads decorations at a common area

Skeleton at the dog park

Office for the park with a scarecrow

Halloween decoration at the laundry

 

The owner's shed and decorations

Westex Living RV Park is a cute park and very well maintained. They have a dedicated dog run with  disc golf and horseshoe, small playground, laundry, 50 large sites with full hook-ups (20/30/50 amp, sewer and water and WIFI. The site are very nice but you do get noise from the highway.

I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The Daily Event was Event: Two Game Tango of 20 games (10 Klondike and 10 Spider). It took me 2 hours, 33 minutes and 58 seconds to complete, which put me in 15th place in my group.

Larry started a book and after reading a few chapters he said it was not worth reading so he picked another book to read. I finished reading The Man with No Borders by Richard C. Morais. It was a great book about an elderly man who is dying and takes his final journey in life. It has some twist and turns about his life. I liked the ending. Richard C. Morais is a great writer and keeps you interested through out the book.

Reading is fun

By the end of the day I only did 2,000 steps.