Currently in Kerrville TX (Low 67 Cloudy Rain Humid High 74)
We
have spent the last week mostly getting rained on plus a haircut for Jo
and a medical test for Bob, that pretty much summarizes it.
Everybody has heard of Murphy's Law (anything that can go wrong, will go wrong). These are a take on Murphy's Law as they apply to full-time living and traveling in an RV. So with further adieu here are Baskerville's Laws of Full-timing:
If you need to pull off the interstate for an emergency, like one of the lids on the plastic containers in the truck bed have come loose, the exit you choose will not have an easy return to the interstate.
No matter where and when you are hooking up or unhooking you will always be on the sunny side.
No matter how far back into the parking lot you park a 1 ton pickup with very long doors with empty spaces all around someone with will park right next to you.
The safe distance for braking will always be shortened by vehicles darting in front of you
Breeze direction is always from the side where you have the fewest windows
If you go by the burp method for black tank dumping the first burp will be middle of the night
Propane always runs out in the middle of the night.
If there is a strong wind it will most likely be a head wind and suck the fuel like you've never seen.
When there
is a semi beside you so you can't get over the merging traffic will get
into the lane ahead of you and then go 45 mph.
We'll end with Baskerville's Corollary to Murphy's Law - Murphy was an optimist!
Don't get us wrong we really like living full-time in our RV and traveling this great country, it just seems like multiple laws are out to get us. Traveling this great country we get to see sights like this.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Kerrville TX (Low 72 A Thunderstorm in Spots High 89)
Now that we are in our winter spot, although in mid-September it really doesn't feel like winter yet with the heat and humidity, we will probably be blogging only about once a week.
Both of us have had our initial appointments with our primary care doctors and Jo had her first appointment at the pain center in Fredericksburg. While in Fredericksburg we had a good foodie experience. We didn't realize that one of our favorites "The Sunset Grille" was closed on Wednesdays so we had to find a place for lunch. We settled on "Jennie's Smoked Burgers and Tornado Fries". Here is a cherry wood smoked double cheeseburger, a footlong beef sirloin hot dog, and their signature tornado fries.
The tornado fries were the hit but the beef hot dog and the smoked burgers were also very good. We've added this to our foodie list "Our Favorite Things! Food by State and City".
Fredericksburg Texas has come to be known as the Peach Capital of Texas. The fresh peach season ended in August but some of those peaches were used to make wine. We tracked a bottle down and tried it and it has great flavor but high alcohol content so a little goes a long way.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Kerrville TX (Low 68 Clouds Giving Way To Some Sun High 93)
After a week in Chip and Joanna Gaines country, aka Waco Texas, we departed yesterday for our winter location of Kerrville Texas. We are staying at the Kerrville-Schreiner RV Park.
It was approximately 200 miles, a long day for us anymore. This is the route we took.
We have our initial appointments with our doctors next week, who knows where that will lead.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Waco TX (Low 69 Mostly Sunny and Breezy Currently 68)
Heading to Kerrville TX (Currently 71 Mostly Sunny and Very Warm High 92)
We have found a really nice park in Waco Texas, Midway Park RV Park on Lake Waco. It is a Corps of Engineers park with 50amp full hookups. Both of our GPS devices brought us right to the park. We reserved and paid in advance so check-in at the kiosk was easy. The roads and site are gravel and big rig friendly. There is a lot of room between sites, which we like. We had a pull-thru and it was long enough for both vehicles. Hookups were fairly convenient. We had a good line of sight for our roof mounted satellite dish. Verizon 4g and cellphone signal strength was pretty good. There was no free park wifi. The best part of the park though had to be the price. Since it is a COE park our National Parks Senior Pass got us 50% off making the week less than $100.
Here is the Lifestyle from the front.
To the right, we were at the end of a row.
To the left.
From the rear.
Further from the rear showing the spacing between sites.
We would not hesitate to stay here again as we didn't realize how big Waco was with lots of things to see and do, plus you can't beat the price. We just want to visit when it isn't so dang hot. We don't have any local restaurants to report on for this trip.
We leave today for Kerrville Texas where will be spending the winter.
We'll leave you with one of our beautiful sunsets we had while in Waco over Lake Waco. We will be blogging about these sunsets in the future.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Waco TX (Low 67 Mostly Sunny and Hot High 97)
While in Waco Texas we were also able to visit the Dr. Pepper Museum, located in an abandoned pop plant.
If we asked this question, which major soft drink brand (Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, etc.) is the oldest? How many would have guessed Dr. Pepper before the obvious blogging plug here?
Dr. Pepper: December 1, 1885 in Waco Texas
Coca-Cola: May 8, 1886
Pepsi: August 28, 1898
All three brands started out as a fountain drink. In Waco Dr. Alderton mixed flavors and flavors until he arrived at the 23 flavors that became Dr. Pepper. Here is a neat animatronic with Dr. Alderton explaining the invention.
Here is the soda fountain where Dr. Pepper was invented, originally just called a 'Waco'.
Dr. Alderton worked at 'The Old Corner Drug Store' owned by Wade Morrison who decided to call the 'Waco' a Dr. Pepper. There were old signs in the museum.
Old vending machines,
including this one from the movie "Thor".
We both like Diet Dr. Pepper and remember at one time it was the best tasting diet pop around, by that we mean it tasted the most like it sugary version. We got the most laughs in the theater that was playing Dr. Pepper commercials. Our like of Diet Dr. Pepper made this a place to visit for us. Maybe it will be for you too.
Here are some other photos from our visit
Don't miss a trip across the courtyard to the gift shop for more exhibits and a soda fountain where you can get a Dr. Pepper fixed like it would have been all those years ago. It was really good.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Waco TX (Low 61 Mostly Sunny High 95)
We visited 'Magnolia Market at The Silos' yesterday and oh what a difference a day or a few hours makes.
The recommended times are early or late and since it was going to be in the 90s late we opted for early and arrived at 9a. Since the bakery was so busy yesterday Bob dropped Jo off and then went to park.
Parking tip: Bob parked in the free parking lot behind Crossfit on 8th and it was great. The Baptist Church was charging $10 to park in their lot and others were charging also, you can bypass those and get ample free parking nearby. We were right by the food trucks which open up at 11a.
Parlaying their successful TV show 'Fixer Uppers' into a retail bonanza 'Magnolia Market and Gardens at The Silos' turned a down trodden area into a destination, probably the most visited tourist place in Waco. If you watch the TV show this has Joanna written all over it with stuff that she has used, or could use, in decorating the houses.
Joanna got all that and Chip just got a corner.
In addition to decorating items they have their own line of clothing (hats and t-shirts) with their logo or #SHIPLAP or #DEMODAY. They have a great outdoor area and plenty of seating if you want to eat your bakery goods there, we took ours home.
Magnolia Seed and Feed.
The bakery was real good and we may go back again as the stuff we bought didn't last long 😃
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Waco TX (Low 58 Mostly Sunny High 91)
We made our first attempt to visit the Magnolia Market at the Silos yesterday and it wasn't successful. We had slept in and got a later than recommended start and there is a reason for the recommendation. As we approached The Silos we saw a lot of people and cars.
We drove around and saw no street parking and a number of paid parking lots and a line of people at the bakery. We read that there sometimes is a 30 minute wait in line for the bakery.
Since we are not big fans of crowds we punted and did some of the other things we had planned for the week like pedicures and shopping at an HEB grocery store. We did have lunch at an In-n-Out, surprised to see one this far east. It was as good as we remembered and we know why the burgers are some of our favorites.
We researched the parking and hours and visited The Silos earlier today than we tried yesterday and will report on that tomorrow.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Waco TX (Low 58 Pleasant with Plenty of Sun High 88)
We cannot believe that it has been 8 years today that we first laid our heads on our pillows in our new home in this living full-time in an RV. The first night was in Peculiar Missouri and since then on our anniversary we have been in:
Peculiar Missouri
Custer South Dakota
Altoona Iowa
Overland Park Kansas
Buffalo Wyoming
Goodyear Arizona
Peculiar Missouri
Waco Texas
This is our states visited map to date.
Here is a map showing all our travels.
We don't know how much longer we will be living full-time and traveling this great country but we know we have enjoyed the first 8 years, even with all the ups and downs.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Waco TX (Low 56 Pleasant with Plenty of Sun High 88)
With the shades tuned up by MCD we departed yesterday and headed to Waco Texas, the home of the stars of "The Fixer Uppers", Chip and Joanna Gaines. We plan to visit their Magnolia Market at the Silos
where they have setup shops for home decor, garden, and lifestyle. They also have a gift shop and a bakery. Plus the area is serviced by food trucks so this could turn into an all day, or multiple day trip.
It was approximately 140 miles, this is the route we took.
We will be here a week and then head to Kerrville Texas for doctor's appointments and for the winter.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in McKinney TX (Low 55 Sunny Currently 60)
Heading to Waco TX (Currently 57 Sunny, Pleasant, Low Humidity High 86)
From the 'you had one job' files, the rear shade on our Lifestyle is 2" less width than if MCD measured and installed it. Plus there were some brackets that need correcting and a couple of the shades needed springs. The tech removed all the shades and took them to his shop to make sure they were all operating correctly. First thing we noticed that when he removed the shades was how dirty the windows were. So Jo cleaned the inside while Bob cleaned the outside. Here is the view out our back window after we finished cleaning the windows.
Here is the Lifestyle at MCD with all the other coaches getting work done this week, a small number due to the shortened holiday week and one motorhome already left since MCD couldn't add the front window shade.
Here is the Lifestyle up close.
All in all it was about a couple hours and a couple springs to complete the work, which was money well spent. All the shades are working great and aligned to minimize the peeping into our coach since almost all the shades were cut short width wise.
MCD did
the best they could with the poor job that Lifestyle did when
measuring and installing their shades. They were able to fix the troublesome ones and
we are glad to get that work done. We were here only 4 nights so had no trouble with the black/grey tank capacities.
We leave today for Waco Texas.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in McKinney TX (Low 55 Sunny, Pleasant, Low Humidity High 83)
The origins of Motor Coach Design, now MCD Innovations. The owners retired and bought a Monaco motorhome and hit the road. They immediately realized that there had to be something better than the cloth accordion day/night shades available at the time. Thinking they could do better they came off of the road and started Motor Coach Design in the early 2000s. Here is the office in from their 3rd location that they moved into in 2010.
Here is the loading dock side of the factory and where the RVs park.
The nice thing is that you can park right next to the factory and stay hooked up to the 50amp electrical provided. They tell you to come with freshwater tank full and black/grey tanks empty. A tech comes and measure then goes off and builds your shades. When finished they come back and install them. Here is the Cameo when we had custom shades for all the coach installed in 2013.
MCD started out catering to the RV industry and has branched out to commercial clients like Dunkin Donuts, Baskin Robbins, On the Border and many others. If you would like shades it would be best to call the office and get on the schedule as the limited number of sites are consistently full during the peak times of the year.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in McKinney TX (Low 72 Humid with Clouds and Sun High 89)
After a very brief stay in Texarkana Texas we departed yesterday to McKinney Texas. We are getting a tune up on our MCD shades at MCD Innovations.
We added custom MCD shades to our Cameo so was very pleased when they came with the Lifestyle. You can add the shades to the very long list of things that Lifestyle did poorly including terrible measurements and installation. We have a couple shades that need some work or replacement.
It was approximately 150 miles, this was the route we took.
We will be here until Friday morning or longer if need be. Then we are heading off to the land of Chip and JoJo Gaines.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Texarkana TX (Low 70 Partly Sunny and Humid Currently 75)
Heading to McKinney TX (Currently 72 Partly Sunny and Humid High 93)
This park got some bad reviews and although the pictures looked pretty good we were curious how this park would be. Turns out that you can't trust some of the reviews because this park is really nice. Our GPS devices liked the park too as they both brought us right to the entrance. The roads and sites are concrete as is the patio with picnic table. The pull-thru sites are long and we easily had enough room for coach and truck. The hookups were convenient. Although the Verizon cellphone and 4g signals were pretty good we used the free park wifi most of the time we were here. Bob even streamed the Iowa State Cyclone versus University of Northern Iowa Panthers college football game without any pixelations or freezing. It tested out at about 5mb/sec which for free park wifi is pretty darn good.
The trees were not abundant and fairly short so we had no problem getting a good line of sight for our roof mounted satellite dish. Here is the Lifestyle from the front.
To the right.
To the left.
From the rear.
The park also has a pond and of course that attracts geese.
Neat park that we would probably stay at again. We leave today for McKinney Texas so we will be there bright and early Tuesday morning when MCD comes and knocks on the door.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
