Escapees - Rainbow's End, Livingston TX

Catching up on yesterday and today. Sunday I woke to a drizzly morning, left Wal-Mart about 8:30am (note to self - avoid in-city Wal-Marts where teens congregate to display their testosterone with racing & hot cars). The rain continued off and on, nothing heavy, just enough to keep the windshield washer busy and turn the back of the RV and all of the trailer disgustingly filthy.

I arrived at the Escapees home park, Rainbow's End, in Livingston, TX around 2:30 pm and got settled in a one night pull-through. At that point I had no idea if I would be able to stay another night or not....had to check in the morning to see if anyone had left one of the back pull-through spots. They normally reserve the front pull-throughs for late arrivals (office closed) and strictly for one night stays.

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I took a walk around the park, listening to my iPod, enjoying the exercise...after switching to a t-shirt from long sleeves. Funny to go from 50 and heating to almost 80 and air conditioning...of course it didn't last. Last night got cold and tonight there is a freeze warning. The ice cream social here was at 6:30 - dark, dark, dark! I started out and turned around to get a brighter flashlight. Had barely started walking when a couple stopped and offered me a ride (gotta love these Escapees!). They looked familiar but we couldn't figure out where we might have seen each other.

Inside the activity center was already busy...I met several new folks including another nice couple who ride a Goldwing trike. He offered to stop by on Monday morning to see if I needed help tying the BMW back down. I soon found the singles table and ran into a couple of friends from the Escapade. I sat there for a bit and met several other solo ladies including one with a much worse Wal-Mart story than I had. The four of us solo gals decided that a portable air horn might be a handy thing to have...adding to my Christmas wish list.

For whatever reason I didn't sleep well. First I was wide awake, then I woke up cold - closed the bedroom overhead vent. Woke up cold again, pulled up the extra quilt. Woke up cold AGAIN, toddled out to the living room (found the flashlight on....not sure how that happened...LOL!), checked the temperature...55. Definitely cold enough to turn on the heat. When I finally fell asleep it was to a really weird, nightmarish dream. UGH! Got up at 7:15...

At 9 I called the Moose in Elkhart, IN to let them know I had never received me membership packet. Real nice lady helped me out, took all my information, apologized several times and assured me that it would get fixed.

Then I called the Camping World in Katy, TX to get a quote on tires. The young man was supposed to call me back. One of my forum friends, Tom, stopped by, he and his wife. Paula, are volunteers at the CARE center here. He was off until this evening, his wife was working. We chatted for about an hour on a variety of topics and planned to all meet up in Quartzsite in January.

Well, by the time Tom left it was 1.5 hrs and no call back. So I went to my next choice, the Camping World in New Braunfels, TX. Talked to a very helpful lady in service, Mary. She took all my information and said she needed to see if the Michelin dealer had the tires in stock. I told her I would call her back in about 30 minutes. I then headed over to the park office to find out if they had a spot for me....they did. I took a ride over in the golf cart to look at it...slight downward slope but for two nights, not a problem.

Because of having the trailer hooked up, I can't use my levelers. The trailer is tipped too far back because the hitch is too high. I have a new one with 2" more drop and will get that changed out soon. Yes, I could ask someone here to do it but you know me....I'm loath to ask favors!

Anyway, I got moved and set up for two days here and I have an appointment in New Braunfels to get my new tires put on. Definitely busts the budget for maintenance & repairs this year but it's something I can't put off. The dry rot is really bad and I don't want to take a chance with them.

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I washed the trailer today....it was SOOO disgusting....and the front of the truck. I then waxed (Protect All spray wax) one side of the trailer. I was pretty beat so will do the rest tomorrow. I think you can see the difference! I need to do the top but will wait till I get set for a month since that requires me to take down my ladder.

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Speaking of ladders....I thought I had done real well getting mine loaded and secured on the roof ladder. But now I'm noticing that most folks have theirs opposite mine....I have the top of the ladder facing down and theirs all seem to be mounted with the top up. So when I take it down I'll see if I can swap it around. Not sure why I did it that way except that it was easier for me to secure. The only downside is that water pools inside the top step since it's upside down. As long as I don't breed mosquitoes in there it should be okay....

Well, sorry for the long blog....that is, if you made it to the end.

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Froggi/Donna