2019 Winter in Texas

Post by **JEBar** » Tue Jan 01, 2019 2:14 pm

replacement parts needed to repair the antenna shown above are arriving .... according to Amazon, the last of them should arrive tomorrow .... we've just returned from our oldest son's where we loaded the last of the ammo we need to take with us to Texas, what better way to spend New Year's morning ..

.. we've decided to take our Henry 45-70 for which we have a couple of hundred rounds loaded, our BLR 308 for which we now have over 150 rounds ready to go .... we will also take four to five-hundred rounds for our BBS 44 Mag that we hope to get back from Henry while we are in Texas .... most certainly looking forward to spending some time on a couple of Texas firing ranges with some friends from this and other forums

Post by **GFK** » Tue Jan 01, 2019 7:39 pm

Safe travels!

Post by **JEBar** » Tue Jan 01, 2019 8:14 pm

good wishes appreciated .... our rapid travels are a thing of the past .... years ago I'd drive straight through from home to Texas .... now drive it in 4 days .... we are looking forward to it .... well, not so much to the drive but we sure enjoy ourselves when we get there ..

Post by **JEBar** » Thu Jan 03, 2019 10:27 pm

the first day of this trip will be tomorrow, the first night is tonight .... we've buttoned up the house and moved into the camper .... without water or sewer hookups, we should be able to quickly hitch up and head down the road .... with steady rain forecasted for in the morning, that's a good thing .... a final check revealed that the truck's heater fan is once again on the blink .... this time I couldn't get it going .... the good news is, no cold or hot temps predicted during our drive to Texas .... we will have to find a shop to take a look at it after we get there .... on the road again, that sure has a nice ring to it ..

Post by **JEBar** » Fri Jan 04, 2019 8:28 am

good wishes and projections for 70 degree temps appreciated .... well, for over a week the forecasters have be calling for rain this morning .... for once they were right .... its going to be wet hooking up this morning .... that's nothing new, those who use campers will understand the difference .... looks like we will drive in the rain pretty much all day .... unhooking at today's destination of Augusta, Ga may well be in the rain as well .... thankfully the weather predictions for the next few days are much better

Post by **JEBar** » Fri Jan 04, 2019 4:23 pm

alwe are once again setup at Heritage RV Park in Augusta, Ga (link below) .... 303.8 miles --- 4 hr 51 min --- one rest stop .... they told us a year or two ago that they were going to transition this park away from mobile homes to all campers .... it looks like they have pretty much accomplished doing so and appear to be adding more sites .... the rain literally stopped when we were within 10 minutes of getting here, my wife was told they have had 5 days of heavy rain .... dark clouds still cover the sky but not a drop of rain has fallen since we got here .... the best part is no more rain is in the forecast for any time during the remainder of our drive .... a few times we have camped without setting up but the vast majority of the time we take advantage of full hookups and the camper's auto leveling system .... she has the washer & dryer going right now .... tomorrow night we are scheduled to be in Greenville, Al

https://www.heritagervpark.com/

Post by **JEBar** » Sat Jan 05, 2019 7:25 pm

what a difference a day makes .... yesterday we drove all day in the rain .... today was truly a beautiful one .... not a cloud in the sky for our 360.5 mile drive that took 5 hrs 20 minutes .... we are now once again setup in Sherling Lake RV Park (link below).... about the only difference since we were hear last year is the price has gone up from $25 to $30 a night with a Goodsam discount .... we took on good fuel near Atlanta for $2.67 a gallon ..... cheapest price we've paid in a very long time .... that was our only stop of the day .... Atlanta's traffic was about as good as it can get (those who know Atlanta will understand) .... they are calling for it to get down to 39 here tonight .... that's the lowest temp I see in the forecast through our first two weeks in Texas

http://www.greenville-alabama.com/Defau ... rling+Lake

Post by **JEBar** » Sun Jan 06, 2019 8:59 am

today's destination is the Baton Rouge KOA .... that's about 314 miles, almost all interstate .... we do have a fuel stop scheduled for about half way in Theodore, AL at a Pilot Truck Stop .... yesterday we crossed into Central Time .... it seems like the older I get the longer it takes to adjust to time changes

Post by **JEBar** » Sun Jan 06, 2019 6:58 pm

5 hr 30 min, 328.7 miles after leaving Sherling Lake, we once again arrived at Bayton Rouge KOA (link below) .... thankfully a boring drive with the heaviest traffic which moved right along that we've seen on this trip .... as anticipated, our only stop was to take on fuel .... tomorrow's drive should take us to Lake Conroe where we are slated to be for 3 weeks .... no stops planned but historically we do stop at the I-10 Texas Welcome Center .... the trip from home to Texas is the only one we still routinely make driving 4 consecutive days .... otherwise we drive a couple of days and stay put for a day or so before going on .... fuel mileage hasn't been good .... winter diesel coupled with having a bio component mixed in is most likely the cause .... our truck simply doesn't like it .... sure hope we are able to fill with good old pure #2 diesel while in Texas .... in the past we have found it but not at a Pilot or Flying J .... our first few days at Conroe are shaping up to be busy ones .... after that, things should settle down a good bit

[b][color=#FF0000]https://koa.com/campg ... color][/b]

Post by **JEBar** » Mon Jan 07, 2019 7:48 pm

today's 309 mile drive took us 5 hrs .... traffic was fairly light and flowed smoothly .... that wasn't the case in the east bound lanes, one construction area had it backed up for miles .... we are going to have to take a serious look at some maps to see if we can figure out a way to avoid it when we head back home .... since leaving home we have put 1,307.5 miles on our truck --- 22.8 engine hours .... we got to or current campground about 2PM .... after backing into our site, I hadn't even turned the motor off when the fellow who I trust to work on our camper pulled in .... he said he was finishing up a repair on another camper when he saw us drive in .... we'd scheduled him to come by tomorrow and take care of issues with our camper's roof TV antenna and the water heater .... he said he'd be happy to work on them right then .... I hadn't even finished hooking up the water, sewer, and electric in the time it took him to take care of the water heater and start of the antenna .... all in all, we came out ahead ..

.. since he was in the park anyway, we only paid him for his time .... he didn't charge us for a service call ..

.. no pictures so far because I ran off and left my camera ... our daughter is going to send it to us .... tomorrow is supposed to really be nice, we should be able to complete our setup and get started on some serious time spent doing next to nothing or even less ..

Post by **Mags** » Mon Jan 07, 2019 7:53 pm

.
Not yet. Gotta go pick up that rifle. Been waiting 1,307.5 miles to hear about it.

JEBar wrote:... and get started on some serious time spent doing next to nothing or even less ..

Post by **JEBar** » Mon Jan 07, 2019 8:35 pm

Mags wrote:Not yet. Gotta go pick up that rifle. Been waiting 1,307.5 miles to hear about it.

that's certainly a priority .... expecting the repairs to our camper to be made tomorrow, I didn't figure I could get up with the friend who we had Henry ship it to .... he's a gunsmith who I've dealt with for years .... during that time have learned to trust his knowledge, skill and recommendations .... we have 3 shotguns and a couple of rifles to drop off for him to work on ....

Post by **JEBar** » Tue Jan 08, 2019 8:54 pm

a foggy morning began our first full day at Conroe .... thankfully, when the fog lifted, it became a truly beautiful day in the neighborhood .... also, in the time it took to fog to lift, we completed our setup .... talk about an interesting "towed vehicle", the Panel Truck shown below fits the bill .... I also spoke with the friend who we had Henry ship our 44 to .... we hope to link up with him on Thursday or Friday

note: in the RV'ing world a towed vehicle is the one towed behind a motorhome

Post by **The Wiz** » Tue Jan 08, 2019 9:22 pm

I love the ghost flames on the panel truck.

Post by **JEBar** » Wed Jan 09, 2019 10:26 am

another beautiful morning has dawned where we are camped at Lake Conroe .... late yesterday another sharp truck idled through the campground ..... from its rumble, its running a decent cam with little exhaust restriction .... yesterday they passed the word around using email and a text message that sometime this morning they are supposed cut the CG water off .... with that notice we took the standard precautions, filled our fresh water tank and cleaned the black tank ... they say that the water won't be off any longer than necessary but didn't mentioned how long "necessary" will be .... later this morning we plan to drive over to Conroe .... after 6 days we need to replenish some food supplies and pick up a few other things

Post by **The Wiz** » Wed Jan 09, 2019 2:45 pm

love the paint on the last one. I just sighed when I saw it. About the same color of my buddies truck that we cruised Sioux Falls's downtown on a Friday nite looking for girls and a race. Had dual stacks coming up the cab and we had to ride in the bed when we dragged to keep some weight on the back tires for traction. We took down a lot of metal with his sleeper Willys . Of course, he had a 327 chevy engine tucked in nice and tight. " Happy Days" indeed.

Post by **JEBar** » Thu Jan 10, 2019 8:51 pm

projected low for tonight back home for tonight is 24 degrees .... projected low for tonight where we are camped in Texas is 43 degrees .... needless to say, we are happy to be in Texas .... my wife has been fighting a strong cold since shortly after Christmas .... apparently she shared it with me, I've been going round and round with it for about a week .... hopefully, we are on the mend .... as a side note, I spoke with the owner of the black panel truck shown above, its a '53 .... the blue pickup is a '55 .... both are running GM 350's .... both of the suction rubber cups that holds our Garmin to the truck's windshield have aged to where they can't support the GPS while bouncing over sections of interstate highway 10 in Louisiana and 20 in South Carolina .... Amazon delivers to Texas so after lunch we rode over to Wills to pickup a replacement mount and spare thermostat for the camper's water heater ... we also happened upon a rig with a tow truck I really like .... tomorrow night we have been invited to the home of friend (gunsmith) who lives in Spring, TX .... he's smoking some ribs, we are really looking forward to it .... we will be able to pick up our Henry 44 Mag and drop off several others for him to work on

Post by **JEBar** » Mon Jan 14, 2019 2:58 pm

its hard to believe that one week has passed since we arrived here at Lake Conroe .... for us it has been a week of mostly resting as we both are trying to get over head/sinus colds .... thankfully, we seem to be on the mend .... no major plans for the coming week but we do plan to get out much more often .... lows for the next few nights are dropping, a couple just under freezing .... the good news is, those same projections are calling for some days in the low to mid 70 later in the week ..

Post by **JEBar** » Thu Jan 17, 2019 5:26 pm

once the morning clouds cleared, its been a beautiful day in the neighborhood .... we've spent most of the morning outside, mostly taking care of camp chores .... as usual, the need for a good water filtration system is easily seen .... the ones shown below have been in use 9 days .... many rigs we see have no external water filtration, sure hope they have some type of filtration located where that it can't be easily seen .... we use a series of 3 whole house filters .... per Lowe's for the center and right filter

Filter life 3 months
Reduces sediment
Tested and certified by NSF
20 micron nominal

the left filter

Reduces sediment, chlorine taste and odor, sand, silt and rust[
Premium carbon filtration provides better tasting water throughout your home
Less than 1 micron filter
Each cartridge has a 6 month filter life meaning you only need to replace your filter twice a year

Post by **JEBar** » Thu Jan 17, 2019 7:41 pm

a bit of excitement in the neighborhood .... the camper shown below is a few rows over from our site .... the fellow who owns it full times .... he went to work and while he was gone his camper caught fire .... the going (unproven) theory about the cause centers around a Dometic frig that hadn't been taken in for the recall .... some doubt about it but I hope the frig was the cause