2019 Winter in Texas

[JEBar]

our last scheduled day at Medina Lake for this winter has arrived .... as such, packing up begins .... by tonight we hope all that will be left to take care of in the morning will be disconnecting our utilities, hooking up and pulling out .... with the temp in the morning projected to be in the mid to upper 40's, we don't want to spend any more time than we have to getting on the road .... rain is projected to move into Columbus, TX tomorrow night .... rain is in the forecast for 9 of the first 14 days we are there ..

[JEBar]

today's drive went well .... one minor backup on I-10 cost us about 10 minutes .... with the speed limit set at 75 for most of the part we traveled and us running our normal cruising speed of 64 mph, we actually did pas a few other vehicles .... yep, not many to be sure .... while we are setup but can't say we are settled in at Thousand Trails Colorado River Campground .... the facilities here aren't up to the task of meeting the needs of a high percentage of the transient members who visit here .... storms have literally washed out a good number of the river front sites .... a lack of 50 amp sites along with a large number of water and electric only sites are a long standing problem .... all of the full service sites are taken, an inordinately number by long term rentals .... the site shown below is has water and electricity, no sewer connection .... no way I'd want to stay here for the 3 weeks we have booked .... doing so would require us to haul the camper to dump the tanks many more times than I am willing to put up with .... we are on a list to move when a full service site comes open .... just how long we will be here has yet to be determined

[JEBar]

to put it mildly, its been an ugly weather day ..... according to the weather radar, there isn't a cloud anywhere near this part of Texas .... the reality is, its been a cold day with light wind and a steady, heavy mist falling all day .... tomorrow is supposed to be much better, clear sky with the temp in the mid to upper 60's ..... we've pretty much spent the day resting, watching TV and messing around with our computers ....

[Mags]

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The IR rainbow view from earlier today shows rain passing through. Always good to have a messing around rest day.

txCapture.JPG (33.73 KiB) Viewed 5693 times

to put it mildly, its been an ugly weather day ..... according to the weather radar, there isn't a cloud anywhere near this part of Texas .... the reality is, its been a cold day with light wind and a steady, heavy mist falling all day .... tomorrow is supposed to be much better, clear sky with the temp in the mid to upper 60's ..... we've pretty much spent the day resting, watching TV and messing around with our computers ....

[JEBar]

24 hrs later, its a cool but beautifully clear in the neighborhood .. .. the good news of the morning is, we've been told that a 50 amp, full hookup site should become available in the morning and we will be able to move our camper .... the not so good news is, thunder storms are in the forecast for time tomorrow morning that we would most likely be moving .. . .. bit of a look back >> during the three weeks we camped at Medina Lake, we put 385.4 miles on our truck .... not surprising with the fact that it was 27+ miles, one way, from our campground to any significant shopping (including having our truck fixed) .... our drive from Medina to our current campground took us 4 hrs to cover 195.5 miles .... if things go as scheduled we will be here until March 11th when we return to Lake Conroe .... this year's trip is just over half in the books .... not everything has gone smoothly but all in all we are having a good trip ..

[JEBar]

as noted earlier, it was cool this morning .... delighted to say it warmed up in the afternoon .... along with the more comfortable temp, a most welcome call from the campground office came about 4:30PM informing us that a 50 amp, full hookup site had opened up and was ours if we wanted it .... I got into the truck, drove down to the site, took one look and called my wife asking her to relay a message telling them we would be moving .... 30 some minutes later we were moved to the site shown below .... its a nice site, one that might end up being our best at a Thousand Trails Campground this winter .... we hope to get our awning carpet our and our Port-A-Deck put up in the morning .... from the looks of this site, I tend to believe it will have some drainage issues but all in all, we really like .... a fairly large site, a 95 strength satellite signal from our camper's roof mounted dome dish, good water/sewer/electric service, bordering a large field where deer often feed, and a few feet away from the Colorado River .... yep, unless that river floods, we should be settled until March 11th

[JEBar]

another 180 degree turn in the weather .... highly overcast, the type of mist falling that doesn't take long to soak you, 52 degrees, noticeable breeze .... in short, when being out in it, it doesn't take long for a chill to set in .... the grass is soaked, wet sand quickly cakes up on shoes .... late tonight they say thunderstorms will move in after midnight and hang around through much of Saturday morning .... at least the temps are forecasted to bounce back into the upper 60's / low 70's .... we did take the time to setup our deck, put up the flag and hookup our dusk to dawn area and flag lights .... about all that remains is to setup our outdoor grill and stove .... looking at the forecast, we should be able to get that taken care of in a few days

[JEBar]

when we got up this morning the forecast included a 10% chance of rain for our area .... well, all 10% fell steadily for the next 6 hours .. .. just checked and right now the chance of rain is 40%, yep, you guessed it .... its stopped raining .... earlier today we drove over to Columbus .... did find a car wash with a bay big enough for our truck .... shopped at HEB were we also picked up a roll of quarters .... stopped by the Columbus to pick up two items we had shipped to General Delivery by Amazon .... we've been doing this for decades with no issues .... today Maureen was informed that from here on out, to pick up UPS or FedEx packages we will have to pay what it would have cost us to ship them through USPS .. .. the way they made it sound, this change is going to take place nation wide .... for us, this will complicate having stuff shipped to us while we are in Texas .... shouldn't have any affect on while we are in South Dakota .... our current campground is a large one .... picture 1 was taken driving down to the lower camping area .... in it our camper can be seen in the center of the picture parked just to the left of the bathhouse .... picture 2 was taken from much closer to the camper .... pictures 3 - 5 were taken standing our our portable deck looking back at the our first site .... in the last picture we were parked in the site now occupied by the white motor home on the right

[JEBar]

another first for this trip .. .. the temp has risen and last night was the first for which we needed to run the camper's AC's .... the forecasted high for today 81 with it being in the 70's for each day between now and when we are due to pull out on Monday .... of course, they are also calling for an 80% chance of thunderstorms during the time we should be pulling out on Monday morning .. .. hope that isn't the case but if it is, it won't be the first time

[JEBar]

a chance of thunderstorms remains in the forecast .... thankfully, not so much as a clap of thunder was heard today .... this morning we drove a little over 5 miles to Columbus .... after picking up a few things, we stopped by the Colorado County Oil Company ===> http://coloradocountyoil.com/home ..... they are the major fuel distributor for this part of the country .... they have the freshest diesel and only sell pure #2, NO BIO .... knowing that we were going to be here before going back to Lake Conroe, I've only added the fuel necessary to get to our next location .... in short we haven't filled the truck's tanks in over 2,000 miles .... over that distance she averaged 9.2 mpg .... as noted above, it was really a nice day in the neighborhood .... the forecast for the next couple of days also looks good .... tomorrow packing up for Monday's drive Conroe begins

[JEBar]

short day that seemed long .... when I opened the camper door this morning to go out and unhook our utilities it was foggy .... in addition it was misting, the kind of mist that doesn't take long to soak you .... our 129.8 mile drive from Columbus back to Lake Conroe took us 2 hr 48 min .... that fog with its heavy mist was with us every inch of the way; as well as, while we were setting up camp at Conroe .... at no point during the drive was I able to turn off the truck's wipers .... while at Columbus we put 128.2 non-towing miles on our truck .... while at Medina Lake we put on 385.4 .... they are calling for a full day of thunderstorms on Wednesday, thankfully after that no rain for the next 7 days .... after completing our setup, we drove over to Sam's in Conroe where we were able to replenish many items we prefer to buy in bulk .... the first 3 pictures show our current site and setup .... the second 3 pictures show the view from our site

[JEBar]

we are well into our last week prior to pulling out for home .... the weather for the last few weeks has been outstanding .... we are really looking forward to tomorrow when one of the highlights for this trip is on tap .... that being linking up with Al (BigAl52) and John (Shaky Jake) for lunch ..

[ESquared]

There's a pair to draw to, huh? Have fun with them and get someone to take a pic if you can!

[JEBar]

There's a pair to draw to, huh? Have fun with them and get someone to take a pic if you can!

as noted, we are really looking forward to it ... fresh batteries in my camera is on the list ..

[JEBar]

1st pack up day .... with us due to head home Monday morning and the forecast for rain later today, we decided to start the process of breaking camp this morning .... getting our patio carpet up, cleaned, and stored was project #1 .... it is possible that we will not put it out again until October at Thousand Trails Chesapeake Bay Campground ===> https://www.thousandtrails.com/virginia ... rv-resort/ where a little while ago we made reservations for Oct 13 - 29 .... we also prepared one of our water softeners for storage and it is now packed for travel .... lastly we cleaned and stored our outside three burner stove and camp oven .... as it turned out, I'm glad we decided to take care of all that this morning because an hour ago a heavy rain squall moved through and the temp had dropped from 20 some degrees .... if the forecast holds, the high tomorrow will only be in the low 50's and in the low to mid 40's when we are scheduled to leave Monday morning .... Maureen also started making reservations for our June trip to South Dakota ..

[JEBar]

2nd pack up day .... temp in the upper 50's with a dandy wind .... deck disassembled and stored .... grill and its table disassembled and stored .... water softener back flushed, regenerated and stored .... tire pressures checked .... remaining to take care of today, clean the black tank just before dark .... hopefully, all that will remain in the morning is to disconnect and store the utilities

[JEBar]

41 degrees, mostly sunny, light wind ... .well the day has come .... time to pack up once again but this time to head home .... anticipated to be about a 300 mile drive .... 1 fuel stop to top off the truck's tanks while still in Texas .... 1 projected rest stop at about half way .... today's drive begins with about 100 miles (2 hrs) over Texas's excellent secondary (mostly 2 lane) roads .... going this way allows us to avoid Houston traffic and its toll roads .... this is the only time during our trips to South Dakota or Texas that we aren't almost exclusively on interstate highways .... hopefully a boring day's drive is on tap ....

[JEBar]

thankfully, we had an uneventful 310.6 mile / 5 hr 40 min drive that took us Lake Conroe north of Houston to the Baton Rouge KOA .... during our last 3 weeks at Lake Conroe we put 330.5 non-towing miles on our truck .... after topping off our tanks prior to leaving Conroe our truck had delivered 10.2 mpg over just under 500 miles since we last filled the tanks in Columbus, TX .... as noted earlier, that diesel was pure #2, NO BIO .... while the trip was uneventful, things got shaky in a hurry after we got here .... while leveling the camper I noticed stains on the off-door side that looked splotches of some sort of oily liquid .... that prompted me to take a look at the driver's side of the truck .... both front and rear wheel wells/fenders were coated but the tires were clean .... ... I immediately checked all of the truck's fluids and they were all good .... I even got down and worked my way under the truck from the rear and in front of the driver's rear tire .... plenty of signs of oil spray but absolutely no sign of anything leaking .... frankly, I was mystified .... in thinking back all I can come up with is, there was a leak in the driver's side nozzle where I filled the truck .... the area was more than wet.... my wife went in and told the folks at the counter about it and they said they would come out and close it .... I believe that the driver's side tires picked fuel which was thrown off as we rolled down the road .... 300 miles later, the tire tread was dry but its residue could easily be seen on the areas where the diesel was thrown .... at this point, I can only hope that is the case

[JEBar]

we hope to be back on the road in about an hour .... we awoke to a beautiful but cool .... morning there must be something in bloom in this area that Maureen and I are highly allergic to .... from that standpoint alone, we are looking forward to getting out of here .... projected 314 mi / 4 h 26 min drive today to Greenville, AL .... one fuel/rest stop about half way in Theodore, AL .... from looking at the posted prices we have seen along the way, the further east and north we travel, the higher fuel prices seem to get .... with all of the flooding that has been going on for the last few weeks, we are most relieved that the high water levels do not appear to have reached this area .....

[JEBar]

329.3 miles / 5 hrs 40 min after leaving Baton Rouge KOA, we arrived at Sherling Lakes RV Park in Greenville, AL .... that included an unrushed fuel and rest stop .... we thankfully had beautiful weather, light to moderate traffic, and no drama .... yep, a wonderfully boring day's drive .. .. my wife made a new friend, Bella, who belongs to the people camped next to us ..