Movin' On to Richmond, TX

Saturday, March 13, I was up at 7:00 to a sunny day for travelling with a low of 57. No walk today with Nan; how sad. Dan next door packs up and leaves at 7:45. We stretch, have a light breakfast, pack up, hitch up and are ready to go by 9:30. It was the first time we had to raise up our new stabilizers but it was easy to do. We made sure it cleared the slides underneath the first time before we put them in. No problem. We walk to the office and settle our $59.00 electric bill and give them $100 deposit for next Jan. 2nd since we like it here so much.

Beverly and Bob, from Michigan, are in the office finalizing their deal on site #44. Heather is glad Tex the cocker spaniel found a good home. She says they find strays here all the time that people have abandoned. How sad.

We walk back to chat and say goodbye to Tom and Nan (Roscoe and Roxy too!) We sure hate to leave those guys behind. What fun month! By 10:30 we're heading north on 35 to Tivoli where we take 239 to 59 around Victoria. We never do see Terri and Jerry who should be heading back to Southern Oaks from Houston today.

It brought back memories of our cruise last year as we passed Praseck's Smokehouse in Hillje where we ate on the bus to Galveston. Shortly after that we stopped at a nice rest area on 59; after travelling about 80 miles from Arnasas Pass or hallway to our destination. Traffic picks up as we near Houston. We exit at 762 and go south 1 1/2 miles following a train that is running parallel to the road. Not a good sign. We pass River View RV Park where Terri and Jerry were staying and find Shiloh RV Park after a drive of 165 miles. Shiloh RV Park, 5539 FM 762, Richmond, TX 77469, Fort Bend County (281-344-2888.

We sign in at the office. I thought it was closed but the door was just stuck. A guy comes out and we pay him $20.00 for one night. The place is kind of run down with lots of worker bees. We get site #5, a pull through and are set up by 2;30. I have a small heart palpitation when I see a voice message from my brother Mark. But all is well; he just called to chat.

I call Tom and Shirley, our Iowa RV friends, who are nearby in Dickinson, TX (well, an hour and a half away.) They say they'll meet us between 4:30 and 5:00. Bob and I clean up and he leaves to get fuel and a newspaper. It's a good thing we got a paper to remind us the time changes tonight. Great, we'll have to get up even earlier to get through Houston in the morning.

As we read the paper a horrible odor comes in the back windows. A leach field is spraying effluent on the field behind us. We have to close up the windows in spite of 80 degree temps. On top of that, every time a vehicle drives by on the road a big cloud of white dust covers our truck and RV. This is the campground from hell.

I try to call our friend Glenda and end up leaving a voice message. I brave a walk around the park but the smell and the dust do me in after one round. There are mostly permanent workers here. How they can stand the smell on a full-time basis is beyond me.

Shirley calls to say they are a half an hour to 45 minutes away around 4:00. At 4:45 they pull up out front. We don't think it's them because the truck looks like it has motorcycles in the back. But it turns out to be their bikes. They went riding today--twice! It's great to see them. We all pile in their truck and head towards Texas Roadhouse out on 59 at the 762 exit. First Tom is nice enough to drive through River View RV Park just up the road from us. This is where we thought Terri and Jerry were. But they send an email a week later and say they saw us going north on 35 towards Tivoli last Saturday. We didn't see them. Anyway, they actually stayed at Riverbend about four miles past Shiloh where we're staying.

At the Texas Roadhouse there is no wait, unusual for a Saturday evening. I have the grilled salmon which is one of my favorites here. Shirley has the Pulled Pork that Bob always likes so much. Bob has beef tips and Tom has grilled BBQ chicken. And of course we enjoy those great rolls they have. The wait staff do a two-step to the music but not in our section so we can't see them. It is fun to chat with these guys. They just got their truck back out of the shop after eight days. They had to take the cab off to fix the security wiring that left them stranded and unable to start it. They also had to replace their refrigerator that they had worked on twice recently. What a bummer.

Back at our RV Park they check out our new SteadyFast stabilizers. We have a visit in the living room for a bit in spite of the bikes being inside. They hit the road for their long drive back around 7:00. It sure was nice of them to come all this way to meet us. They have no grand baby to report yet. Their daughter-in-law is due March 20th.

It's 8:44 p.m. and 66 degrees with 31% humidity.