The 2006 Travels of Richard n Shirley

Some Pictures of the park. Its really nice. Lots of excerise equipment, a loooong walking/jogging trail and green grass and trees.

For more pictures, see our pictures link.




This is a look at the still closed dump station. Last year it was closed when the new cheese plant moved into town and messed up the water treatment plant. There is a park in town with a dump station we will use tomorrow. Since our water only lasts 5 days and our black/grey tanks last 6 days, we must get water and while we are there we will dump. We have 30 amp service but no water or sewer. There is a service building by us with water at the other end. We are on the opposite end of the building.

Here is the best fishing partners around. Dad has his son out for an afternoon of fishing. As you can see, dad is doing more relaxing than fishing. But all's good.

We will be here into next week at least.

We left Weatherford, TX about 5 pm on monday. That was an expensive day. I had taken the RV in to McLeans in Fort Worth for a state inspection last week. We failed because the emergency brake would not hold the coach. Since I had the brake adjusted at the Ford house in Weatherford last Oct, we went back there to see what was the problem.

Some of the scenery along the way. We saw evidence of grass fires along the way. One side of the road would be nice and green while the other side showed evidence of a fire.

The Ford house looked at the brake assembly and found that transmission fluid had leaked into the housing and soaked the brake linings. These brakes are mounted on the tail of the transmission and have a seal is to prevent the transmission fluid from getting to the brake assembly. And the assembly is not servicable. This was a $1051.00 part plus labor and tax. Total bill was about $1280.00. And they could not inspect the RV as their computer was down. We went to the GMC dealer next door and got it inspected. If you ask why we did not go back to McLeans, its $40 bucks in gas over and back or its $39.95 at the GMC dealer. I saved the mileage

We made the first leg of our trip to Breckenridge, TX on US180. We had planned to stop at the dam and boondock. Our yahoo group says there is primitive parking. We got there and found all the parking did not exist. We went back to the Walmart and spent the night. This is Shirley DRIVING the RV. Yes, she does drive.

This is the court house in Albany, TX. One of the reasons I wanted to come this way. The town square appears like an old western with the covered walkways and store fronts. We will stop at a later date for more pictures.

Our plans were to take about a week to make this trip but my dads half sister was coming in on wednesday so we made the trip in 2 days vs seven. Her trip was postponed a day due to sickness and she will be here in thursday. We picked up dad and went to eat. He has aged quite a bit since I saw him a year ago. His hands now shake some and he is getting thinner. He is 87. His health is good and he looks good. He seems to be happy where he is. He has a large room, three meals a day, activities to do, and people to talk to. Best of all, he is in a place that is safe and secure and he knows that. He is clean and his clothes are clean. His laundry is done for him there on site.

Additional pictures are posted on Webshots.

Mileage was 371
Gas @ $2.85.9 in Hobbs, NM for $125.00.

We made a list, checked it twice and its all ready except for the Monday list.
The RV and car are washed, oil checked, tires checked, leveling jack oil topped off, and everything fixed. The RV was cleaned inside, clothes washed and dishes done. All that is left is the Monday list.
This list contains the RV emergency brake fix and state inspection, smoke detector battery, shred checks from our old bank, bank transfer, items to be mailed, and a hummingbird feeder for the window. DW will do all except the RV. We will meet and go get the tow dolly, and drive the car on it.

Our plans have been changed abit. We will be in NM on tues pm or wed am to see our dads half sister. She is coming down to see dad. Probably be the last time to see her and for her to see him. With all we have to do, birth, taxes and death are assured. Everything else is optional.

We are still thinking of going US180 to NM. We won't be able to make the stops we had planned. Well, another day. We will spend time in NM seeing the sites, especially to the western and northern parts. How much we drive depends on the price of gas. We are budgeting $3.00 now and $3.50 later. How much we drive also depends on how much we spend at RV camp sites. Where and when we can, free is the way to go. And there is lots of that out there if you know where to look. And most of the free is so much better than the pay. Free camping is having your neighbor 75 to 100 feet away vs pay and having your neighbor 15 feet away. Free is having water and 30/50 amp service, a dump station nearby, lots of trees and Mother nature at yur door step and our wifi with us. Pay is having add sewer hookup, noisy neighbors, no private time, and wifi for sale which usually is not working. We do the free and see so much more without nosy and noisy neighbors. When we do have neighbors, they are much ike us, free is better.

We will be doing our usual, taking pictures and putting into words all we see and do. So, sit in your easy chair, get your favorite drink and the popcorn and lets go take a ride.