Thursday 8-21-25 Fall Trip Begins

 

Our fall camping trip begins

 

We started our fall trip we'll be on the road for six to eight weeks. 

We started from the house at 7:30 am to beat the heat. We started from Belton,TX with the temperature of 77 degrees and we stopped in Hamlin, TX at 12:30 pm with the temperature of 92 degrees. It got up to 96 degrees in Hamlin.

 

Hot Day
 

We traveled 235 miles down mainly two lane highways through small cities by ranches and farms. I slept on and off most of the drive. We stopped a few times to use the bathroom and once to fill the Minnie with gas. The stops were perfect opportunities to stretch our legs. 

 

Driving to Hamlin Texas

 

When we were driving by Gatesville, TX we saw prison guards on horseback guarding women prisoners who were working in a field. They were mowing and cleaning the area because the grass and weeds were getting out of control.

Once we were at Hamlin's City Park, where the RV sites are located. We plugged into the power and setup for the night. It's free camping with power and water. The city does a super job of keeping it up. The sites are in a grassy field. The park is located by the high school.

 

Hamlin City Park

  

When we were settled in we had sandwiches for lunch. 

We relaxed under the air condition for the rest of day. 

 

Relaxing

Larry finished a book and started another.

 

Reading can be fun

I played games. I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Two Game Tango of 20 games (10 Free Cell and 10 Pyramid). It took me 3 hours, 25 minutes and 9 seconds, which put me in 14th place in my group. I played Angry Birds. 

I was lazy today. I was going to walk around on the track but I decided not to because at 96 degrees it was too hot. I ended up only doing 1,000 steps. 

     

 

   

Wednesday 8-20-25 No Dancing, Trip Preparation Finished & More

 

Hot Humid Day

 

We had a hot humid day. The high was 95 degrees and dropped to 77 degrees around 3:00 when a front blew in. The front brought thunder, wind and a little bit of rain. It didn't rain much so our irritation system rain in the evening.

We started the day off by going to town for my dentist appointment at 8:00. I got an implant put in last Thursday and Dr. Littlefield had to put in a couple of stitches. I told him we were going to be out of town for six weeks. He didn't want to leave them in that long so he asked me to come in today. He said it was healing great and removed the stitches. I'll go back when we get back in October.

 

Dentist Appointment

We took the Minnie to town because it needed propane and to be filled up with gas. While I went to see the dentist Larry went next door to Keith's Ace Hardware and filled the propane tank in the Minnie. On the way home we stopped at Dollar Tree because I needed some milk, that doesn't need to be in the refrigerator until it's open. Next stop was the Post Office to stop our mail. Then we stopped to fill the Minnie and a gallon container with gas for the motorcycle.

 

 

 Running errands

 

When we got home we put the motorcycle carrier on the back of the Minnie. Then we loaded the motorcycle and covered it. After doing this it was time of lunch.

 

Minnie ready to go

Yesterday I started doing laundry for the trip. After lunch I finished the laundry. I loaded the Minnie with the clothes we're taking with us. I finished loading the rest of the food in the Minnie, that we weren't going to use today.

Afterwards I did housework. I dusted the house, cleaned the bathrooms, vacuumed the house and mopped the floors. We like to come home to a clean house.

 

 

Doing housework

I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Easy Street Mini of 15 games. It took me 28 minutes and 26 seconds, which put me in 9th place in my group. I played Angry Birds and Friends and Angry Birds 2.

I played seven different games of pinball. They were Fun House, Playboy, Star Wars, Superman and the Justice League, Big Buck Hunter Pro, Fish Tales and Monster Bash. I got a new high score for the weekly challenge of Monster Bash, which was 258,208,990. When this score is approved I will move me from 35th place to 12th place out of 45 participants.

 

Big Buck Hunter Pro

 

Fish Tales

 

Fun House

 

Monster Bash

 

Playboy

 

Star Wars

 

Superman and the Justice League

I didn't dance today, I missed the morning dance because I was busy working on getting ready for our trip. Ett canceled her dance due to being in Iceland and Dave cancelled his dance because he wasn't feeling well.

In the evening we finished watching the first season of Patience on PBS. Then I watched Rogue One: A Star Wars Story from our movies. I ended up doing 6,600 steps.

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

  

Tuesday 8-19-25 Dancing with Di and Terry, Minnie Preparation, Puzzle & More

 

 

Fall trip preparation continues

 

We had another hot day with the high of 97 degrees. A front rolled in about 4:00 and the temperature dropped to 86 degrees. We didn't get any rain but we did get some wind.

Larry continued playing with the Starlink. He made adapters for the wiring. It comes with a very long thin cable, the thin cable looses a lot of power so if you use it you have to boost the power above 12 volts. Larry made adapters that will fit his solar panel cables, using those it will run directly off of 12 volts. He kept the Starlink setup all day to make sure it continues to  He's happy and said it's ready for the trip. Larry's a happy man. But he always is happy.

 

 

 

The box the Starlink came in

 

 

Starlink in the box

 

While Larry played with the Starlink I attended Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly A2 dance at 10:00 for an hour. I told Di I probably won't be at her Plus dance because we have to do errands. I told Liz, that we might be visiting BC and she lives there. She send me her e-mail just in case we're close by. I thanked her. Di and Terry took turns calling five tips to 14 participants. Di and Terry did an outstanding job of calling, cueing and dancing with us through out the dance. Di worked on Chain Reaction, Cast-A-Shadow and Motivate. I was very thankful for her cueing because I lost my phantoms and found them when she cued. I danced by myself and had a great time. 

 

Square dancing with friends

Our home delivery from Walmart arrived right after the dance. We put the stuff away and inside the Minnie. Then we had lunch. 

After lunch I put the groceries away in the Minnie. We're all set with our groceries for the trip. Tomorrow I just need to load up the clothes.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. I did the event, which was Event: Klondike Adventure of 20 games. It took me 1 hour and 28 seconds, which put me in 18th in my group. I did play yesterday's event, which was Event: Two Game Tango Mini of 6 games (3 Spider and 3 Pyramid). It took me 24 minutes and 52 seconds, which put me in 19th place in my group. I played Angry Birds.

I finished my puzzle of the Playground. When it was done I was missing a piece, that's ok. I started 7/12/25 and finished today. It came out looking great.

 

Finished puzzle (Playground)

I played four different games of pinball, which were Batman, Superman and the Justice League, World Tour Joker Poker and Monster Bash. I didn't have a great day of playing pinball but had fun.

 

Batman

 

Monster Bash

 

Superman and the Justice League

 

World Tour Joker Poker

In the evening we continued watching the first season of Patience on PBS. We watched YouTube videos. When Larry went to bed I watched The Legend of Bagger Vance from our movies. I ended up doing 4,000 steps.

 

  

Monday 8-19-25 Trip Preparation, Starlink, Dancing & More

 

Happy Monday

 

We spent most of the day getting the Minnie ready for our trip.

Larry did a few project on the Minnie. He installed the new clock. It's a little bigger than the old clock. He hung it in the same place as the old one. It has only one screw hole near the top to hold it in place, this was not sufficient in keeping it tight against the wall. He put some command strips on the bottom to help hold it in place. Next he put air in the air bags using his battery operated portable compressor. He said the small air compressor worked great. He didn't have to turn on the big noisy one and take the hose out to where the Minnie was. He also used it to air up the motorcycle tires. Then he took the motorcycle for a ride to make sure everything worked on it.

I started the day out attending Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly C1 dance at 9:00 for an hour. Di said hi to Larry but he wasn't there. I told her he was doing some maintenance on the Minnie to get it ready for the trip. Di called five tips to 12 participants. She worked on Tally Ho to the left and right and Motivate. She cued through out the dance, which helped the dancers get in the right place. I told the people from Canada, that we may visit British Columbia during our trip if the smoke permits. Cindy and Barry live in BC so she sent me her e-mail just in case we were close by. She said that they have had a great summer with hardly any smoke. I thanked her for sending me her e-mail. I had a super time.  

 

Dancing with friends

After the dance I continued loading stuff in the Minnie. I did this for about an hour.

I played four different games of pinball, which were Cirqus Voltaire, Goldeneye, Indianapolis 500 and Monster Bash. I didn't get a new high score for the weekly challenge of Monster Bash. My score was approved so I'm in 20th place out of 33 participants.

 

Cirqus Voltaire

 

Goldeneye

 

 

Indianapolis 500

 

Monster Bash

 I worked on my jigsaw puzzle The Playground. I'll be finish tomorrow.

Larry has been thinking about getting Starlink internet for awhile, he stumbled upon a video that said Starlink now had a less expensive roaming plan that you can place in standby mode if you are not traveling. Standby mode is only $5 a month, the dish still works but very slowly.  He watched a few YouTube videos on it. People were very pleased with Starlink. They have one designed for RVs, it's smaller then the residential Starlink. It's called a mini. He got on Best Buy's site and ordered one. It only took them a few minutes to fill the order. So we were off to Best Buy to get it. While there we walked around the store, we hadn't done this for awhile.

On the way home we stopped by Little Caesars and bought a pizza for our lunch and dinner. Larry asked if I wanted to go out for lunch but I said Little Caesars was fine. I never pass up a pizza.

After lunch Larry played with the new toy, which was Starlink. He had to calibrate it, which was to find the satellites. He had to update the dish. It took him a bit and he got it all set up. Tomorrow he's going to continue playing with it.

In the evening we started to watch a detective series on PBS called Patience. It's about Patience, who works in the Criminal Records Office and has autistic and works with the detectives to solve the crimes. Then I watched You've Got Mail from our movies collection.

 

Relaxing in front of the television

 

   

    

Sunday 8-17-25 Birthdays Celebration

 

Happy Birthday Louise

 

Happy Birthday, Louise (Larry's sister). 

We're planning to leave on our fall trip Thursday so we went to Round Rock to celebrate all of our birthdays. Louise' birthday was today, Larry's birthday is later in August and mine is in September. Our trip will be for 6 to 8 weeks, it depends on where the smoke from the wild fires are.

On the way to Louise's house we stopped by Jack 'n' Jill Donuts and bought breakfast. We were at Louise's house a little after 9:00 and back home a little after 3:00. We brought lunch, things to make an Italian Trio Sandwich (Genoa Salami, Pepperoni and Provolone Cheese), Pretzel buns and chips. Louise bought a birthday carrot cake. When we arrived Louise and her dog Alice greeted us at the front door. 

Louise sent in her cell phone in for a new battery and they had wiped everything out. She installed some of the programs but didn't know how to install the rest. So Larry worked on installing them while Louise and I visited. He had to go in her bedroom because he couldn't concentrate with us talking. Once he installed the programs he returned to the living room. 

He also fixed a problem Louise was having with YouTube on her bedroom TV.  

At lunchtime we made our sandwiches and ate our meal. The sandwiches came out tasting very good. After the meal we sang "Happy Birthday" and had cake. Then we opened our gifts. Thank you, Shirley for all the wonderful gifts ( gift card for Walmart, gift card for Amazon, peanut M&M fun pack, fig bars and birthday cards). Louise, thank you for the gifts (Health bars, 2 gift cards from Amazon, 2 bag of beef jerky, giant Zero bar and giant Pay Day). We bought Louise a gumball machine. Instead of gumballs we bought M&M to put in it. 

 

Birthday lunch

 

Birthday cake

 

Gifts from Shirley

 

Gifts from Louise

 

A book Shirley sent with gifts

 

After opening the gifts Larry filled the gumball machine with the M&M's. It is a banks so Louise will use coins. You can set it up for coin or free. Larry tried to set it up for free but couldn't remove the coin mechanism so she'll have to use coin. 

 

 

Louise's Gumball machine

The screen for Louise's backup camera in her car went bad so we bought her one for her birthday. After playing with the gumball machine Larry installed the new screen in her car. It didn't take long maybe five minutes.

I played with Alice and worked on her jigsaw puzzle. I got the frame done. After opening our gifts we had ice cream. Then we said our good-byes and wished Louise a Happy Birthday. We had a great visit.

When we got home we watched our YouTube videos.

I played games. I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Experts Only of 10 games. It took me 2 hour, 47 minutes and 10 seconds to complete, which put me in 12th place in my group. I played Angry Birds.

I worked on the Playground jigsaw puzzle. 

Larry finished another book. 

I started a new weekly pinball challenge, which is Monster Bash. We already have the game so Larry changed the balls number from 5 to 3. Then I was in business for the weekly challenge. I didn't play last week challenge, which was NBA Fast Break. My high score of 131 put me tied with two other players at 131, which but us in 57th place out of 84 participants. My first high score for Monster Bash is 97,614,860, which put me in 9th place out of 17 participants. Once our scores are accepted.

 

NBA Fast Break

 

Monster Bash

In the evening we finished watching the fourth season of Professor T on PBS. When Larry went to bed I watched Tomb Raider starring Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft from our movies collection.       

Saturday 8-16-25 Trip Preparation Begins & More

 

Hot Humid Day

 

We had some sad news today from Shirley (Larry's mother). She told us one of her dogs (Pooh Bear) died Monday. We were sorry to hear and he'll be missed.

 

Pooh Bear

 

We had another hot humid day with the high of 99 degrees and humidity of 40%. 

 

Weather Underground at 5:00

Larry started the day out by washing the Minnie. He was working on it when I got up at 8:00 am. He finished around 10:00 am. It was hot, humid and pretty miserable but he kept at it. Normally I help but today I was doing other stuff.  He washed the roof and worked himself around the Minnie. It wasn't too dirty but he likes to start our trip with the Minnie clean. 

 

While Larry worked on washing the Minnie I started loading it up. I started in the bathroom, where I put the paper products in the shower. I took the shaving kit in the house to put what we needed to restock in it. Next I filled the pantry with soup. Then I made the bed. I worked on this a couple of hours. 

 

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Tri Peaks Mini of 5 games. It took me 10 minutes and 3 seconds, which put me in 27th place in my group. I played Angry Birds and Friends and Angry Birds 2.

 

I worked on my jigsaw puzzle of the Playground. I hope to finish it by the time we leave for the trip.

 

I worked out with the Synth Riders of a half hour. 

 

While I was working out Amazon delivered our new clock for the Minnie. It is bigger and the numbers are large. We think the new clock will work better because we can see the numbers better. It will fit in the same place as the old clock was.

 

 

 

New clock

 

 

 

 

Old clock

 

 

I played three games of Monster Manor on Bounce Arcade for a half hour. Two of the games I earned a bronze trophy. The last game was the best, where I woke the manor two times but stunned it once. I played with the Jack-O-Lanterns and got the spider to come out but didn't kill him. I busted the banister. It wasn't a great game but it was fun.

 

 

 

Monster Manor

 

I played seven different games of pinball. They were The Big Lebowski, James Bond 60th Anniversary, Mission Impossible, JP Space Cadet, Willie Wonka, Tales of the Arabian Nights and NBA Fast Break. While playing NBA Fast Break I got a new high score for the weekly challenge of 131, which put me tied with two other people for 48th place out of 64 participants.

 

 

 

James Bond 60th Anniversary

 

 

 

 

JP Space Cadet

 

 

 

 

Mission Impossible

 

 

 

 

NBA Fast Break

 

 

 

 

Tales of the Arabian Nights

 

 

 

 

The Big Lebowski

 

 

 

 

Willy Wonka

 

 

While I played games Larry read. 

 

In the evening we continued watching the fourth season of Professor T on PBS. Then I watched Chocolat from our movies collection. I ended up doing 3,500 steps.