Window Washing on Halloween--Now That's Scary!

Gertrude says Happy Halloween aboard The Titanic!
Saturday, October 31, it was a chilly 44 degrees this morning; 57 degrees in the living room as we had the heater on low. I enjoyed my coffee and got on-line. I'm maxed out on my photos on my Good Sam site so I tweeked the aesthetics of my new Facebook page.

After a light breakfast and stretch I got a burst of energy and started housecleaning. Somehow the regular cleaing morphed into washing the interior windows. That turned out to be a good decision as I found some 'construction' gunk behind some of the day/night shades that we rarely open. Had to use my Goo Gone to get whatever it was off. The day turns out to be sunny with clear blue skies so my window cleaning was very noticeable. I love that.

Bob tinkered with several projects while I was in a cleaning frenzy. He checked the voltage on the thermostat for the A/C and furnace. It would seem we need a new thermostat. The digital readout on this one keeps blanking out. The manual has all these BIG LETTER WARNINGS about being very careful not to disturb the delicate circuitry of the thermostate unit. Why in the world they put in at shoulder level on the second step up to the bedroom is beyond me. When we were moving in boxes both of us crunched into it and bounced off several times. I guess we did it in.

He tried to put a replacement spoke on the rear wheel of his bike but of course it's on the side that needs a special tool to get the sprocket off. Foiled by that he found the emory tool for the commode to file off rough edges. We're having trouble with the seal holding water so he filed off the edge. We'll see what happens; so far so good.

We broke for leftovers for lunch. My lasagna from Amici's was enough for the two of us to split. I got myself cleaned up while he cleaned the inside of the truck. Then we walked to QT on Union for a paper. It is a gorgeous day-an unlikely Halloween weather pattern. The high was 71 with 36% humidity. Now this is why we moved south!

Back home to read the paper. The western sun is streaming in my clean bay window in the back by our Euro chairs. We got hot reading the paper. I had to move to the loveseat on the shady curbside. I put new batteries in my frother and made myself a latte. Tonight is game three of the World Series. Just checked email and had some great photos from Bob's cousin, Michael Monat, in Colorado of his parent's 90th and 91st birthdays. Just got some picture on email from my nephew Travis in Missouri of an 18-wheeler that completely burned up along a roadway (he works as a dispatcher.) Anyway, the driver wasn't hurt but it sure brought back horrible memories of RV's we've seen burn to the frame. But I won't think about that now Scarlet!

It's 5:57 p.m. and 71 degrees. We didn't have any Trick or Treaters in this RV Park last year so I didn't even buy any candy. I'll be embarrassed if any show up tonight.

Laundry and Amici's Italian Eatery, Prattville, OK

Friday, October 30, At 7:30 a.m. it is a chilly 49 degrees in the living room without the heater on. I enjoy hot hazelnut coffee (now that Darth Vader and I are friends again-I figured out the lid problem, it was sticking and causing my coffee pot to overflow every time I used it) as I work on the laptop. I was on a roll with my journal construction until I maxed out 150 images in 30 days on my new Good Sam site (the free version.) Just when I get committed to catching up I'm stopped by limits not of my own making. Well, I guess it is of my own making since I don't want to pay for the premium upgrade. Normally I would not upload that many pictures to my journal in a month. But it didn't take long to max out as I try to catch up a year and a half. Oh well, I used the time this morning to upload Roswell, NM, art museum pictures to Facebook instead. There's always something to suck up all of your free time.

We have a light breakfast on this glorious sunny morning. I sort four loads of clothes and stick my head in the laundry room here at the RV Park. No one is in there and they have four washers. They took out the two huge commercial dryers since last year and replace theym with two residential gas dryers. We forge ahead and put four loads in the washing machines. Bob goes home to take a shower and I remain with the laundry and read my Henry Ford.

Bob joins me soon and we fold them all by 1:00 (only 2 hours, not bad.) We stow them which is a much easier job in our new RV with our huge closet in the bedroom slide-out and big drawers under the bed. We leave for lunch at old Lee's Diner in Prattville, OK at 41st and 113th. It has undergone an extreme makeover earlier this year. Chef Sean Donohue, executive chef for 20 years mostly with Sheraton Hotel chain, reopened it as Amici's Italain Eatery. We saw a write-up in tulsa World so we checked it out on-line and decided to try it.

We took Union north to 41st, west to 113th. Lee's old sign is still out front. They have been open for four months and have nicely remodeled in a Tuscan decor. We arrive at 1:50 (lunch in until 2:00) and are given lunch menus that have no soups listed. On the web site reviewers rave about Ministrone Soup. I ask our waitress, who asked us if we'd ever been in before, about the soup and we got a 'cup' of Minestrone (more like a bowl.) I had Lasagna and Bob tried the Chicken Sinatra (sauteed chicken breast, mushrooms, onions, garlic and shallots with angel hair pasta in a ciliantro sauce.

They serve big slabs of crusty Italian load bread with parsley garlic butter. Everything was topped with big shavings of parmesan. We'll be back. My lasagna was enough to feed three people and it was served with a side of fetuccini alfredo! Our waitress left early after serving our lunches to go to her granddaughter's Halloween Party. We got a paper at QT on Union on the way home. Bob and I were discussing earlier this week how this is our fourth year to spend part of the fall in Tulsa, and our third time here at Tulsa Warrior Campground-the first year we were at Mingo RV Park east of here. It's nice to come back to places where you know hot to get around, especially if they have all the things we love to do like Tulsa does. It always surprised people when we say Tulsa is one of our favortie places we've visited. The fall weather is great, they have miles and miles of bike trails, very inexpensive golf courses, it is large enough to have cultural events, and the food is fantastic.

We read the paper while the sunshine warmed the RV. The high was only 61 degrees with 30% humidity. It's 4:50 p.m. No World Series tonight; they travel to Philly for game three tied at one a piece.

Amici's Italian Restaurant

The Delta Cafe and Food Pyramid

Thursday, Oct. 29, I got up at 7:00 a.m. and used this rainy morning to work on my journal pages that are almost a year behind. I finished reconstructing through Oct. 2007 on my Good Sam journal. (Check it out at http://goodsamclub.mytripjournal.com/reetandbobrving) But the bulk of our six years on the road can be seen on-line at my Earthlink homepage at: http://home.earthlink.net/~reetrving. When I'm all finished it will be in one place at Good Sam's site. Stay tuned.

This morning as I worked on old pages it was fun to revisit Santa Fe, Alamogordo, Cloudcroft and Ruidoso. Seeing the pictures and reading my stories makes me really glad I'm keeping a journal of it all; even if it is a heck of a lot of work. I was inspired by seeing my Dale Chihuly blown glass pictures from Spencer Theatre in Alto, NM. So I posted them on Facebook. Check me out on Facebook if you haven't yet.

At 9:30 we had a light breakfast and I stretched to get the kinks out from yesterday's golf. It pours cats and dogs all morning so Bob gets out a 1000-piece hot air balloon jigsaw puzzle. Lightening and thunder serenade us as we work the puzzle at the kitchen table with the leaf out. Our table in our other RV didn't have a leaf so this is nice for 'projects.' Around 1:30 we go to lunch at The Delta Cafe (www.deltacafe.com/) at 51st St. and Yale. Bob scoped it out on the Net the other day. It's great to be here in Tulsa where we have high-speed Internet access. Maybe that's why I've been inspired to work on my journal.

They have down home cooking. I particularly enjoyed the baked squash. After lunch we headed on to Food Pyramid for groceries. $102 later we run to the truck in the rain. We scored some cheap baked goods at their in-store bakery. Carmel choc chip cookies. Yum.

Back home we store groceries while it continues to sprinkle outside even though the sky looks like it is clearing. Bob empties water out of the bottom of the bike cover that hangs on the ladder rack on back of The Titanic. We have a piece of the white cake with choc icing that we got on sale and then finish our puzzle. It clouds over and rains again. The moisture is training up from the south so at least it is warm. It's 5:36 p.m and 65 degrees. The high was 70 and the low was 62 with 82% humidity. We watch Flash Forward, The Mentalist and game two of the World Series. At 7:57 p.m. I get a text message from my niece Megan. They are at a Jimmy LaFave concert. I am so jealous!

The Delta Cafe

Golf at page Belcher, Tulsa, OK

I got up at 8:00 a.m. to sunny skies and a low temp of 50 degrees. Our curbside neighbors load their bikes in their pickup truck and leave by 10:30. We enjoy Crispy Thingies for breakfast and head to Page Belcher Golf course down Union. Our streetside neighbor is packing up his 5th wheel to leave as we head out. We've only seen him once besides right now. He appears to be a younger worker bee.

A 15 to 20 mph wind makes the golf difficult on this course with a hefty slope rating. The sun goes away about half way through our round and the air is chilly. We use our discount cards from last year and pay $12.00 each to walk 18 holes. We play the front nine holes of Olde Page Course and the back nine holes of Stone Creek Course as we try to zoom a slow foursome. Above you see an old picture I took in November 2005 on Stone Creek Course. Today I didn't have my digital camera with me. Actually the trees were much more colorful four or five days ago here. Now they are mostly brown and the leaves are falling already.

I started out playing well but the last 5 or 6 holes I was tired and it was not pretty. We were done by 3:45. Stopped for a paper at Union gas station. Some creepy guy was lurking around and we got out of there fast. Had a voice message from my brother Mike so I called him back. We had a nice chat. He said he really enjoyed Petty Theft concert the other night in spite of it being chilly at the outdoor venue. Casey said they did a good job of Tom Petty's songs. Bob and I had leftovers after I stretched out the kinks. It's 5:04 p.m and 65 degrees after a high of 68 with 57% humidity.

Shopping at Tulsa Hills, City Diner, India Palace

Tuesday, October 27, Garlic Rose and the Driving Range

While in Columbus, OH, recently we visited Franklin Park Conservatory, Chihuly Reimagined exhibit of Dale Chihuly's blown glass. It blew us away!

At 7:00 a.m. I was busy typing away at our new entertainment center desk since we have a jigsaw puzzle on the dining room table. I checked out my new Facebook page; yes, my niece Megan has dragged me into the 21st century. While I was on-line Bob finished the puzzle so we could tear it up and have breakfast. The sun breaks through for a few minutes but goes away again. It is chilly, with a north wind and a low of 49 degrees this morning. After breakfast I stretch and get on-line again.

After over a year and a half of debate I have made the plunge and decided to blog our current travels (beginning Oct. 25th.) No one particular reason got me to move past whatever has been blocking me. The decision to continue chronicling our travels has been nagging at me. Recently I started going back to try to catch up on 2007, our Wyoming travels, where I left off in constructing my new Good Sam website. Reading through these old journal pages as I transcribed them made me really want to keep up my journal. So now I am re-committed. I will simultaneously catch up from May 2007, moving old pages I created on Earthlink to my new Good Sam site. You will be able to see them as I create them. But I will record each new day's journal here on Blogspot so I don't continue to fall further behind. The goal is to move everything off of Earthlink, which has run out of space, and get all of my content onto the Good Sam site. Wish me luck! In the meantime if I haven't lost my faithful readers they can find me here on Blogspot until further notice.

Around 1:00 I take a break and we head to lunch at Garlic Rose on Riverside. My Wichita friend, Marty, checked out their Sunday brunch array with me last fall but we ended up at Pepper's with the guys. Today we discover they have great food in a classy atmosphere but they are a bit pricey.

I have the Crab Cake Salad, two yummy crab cakes with a tomato cream shrimp sauce on field greens. bob has the Shrimp Ravioli special with very briny olives and artichoke hearts-good buy dainty. We decide $35.00 for lunch is too much. Our waiter says they just remodeled and opened The Green Onion at 51st Street & Yale.

We stopped in downtown Jenks to finish browsing the antique mall. I found a wrought iron bicycle for $3.00. Bob found a book and I also bought a gift for someone. On the way home we stop at the driving range at Page Belcher Golf Course as the sun finally came out around 3:00. For $7.00 we got a big bucket of balls in the club house (the dispensing machine out by the driving range is broken.) I hit okay for me. Back home I took a walk and stretched to ward off a kink in my neck that has been bothering me since we left Springfield last week. We read the paper and settle in for Tuesday night TV-one of our favorite nights; NCIS and NCIS LA and The Good Wife. It's 6:26 p.m. and 62 degrees. The high was 68 degrees and the humidity is 43%.

Monday, October 26, Jigsaw Puzzle and India Palace Revisited

Warm with a low of 51. We didn't leave the heater on in the living room overnight. Had my java and worked on Good Sam website journal pages. Did a half month worth of picture uploads but it was semi-slow going. Enjoyed oatmeal for breakfast as Bob turned up his nose. Must have the blue cheese dressing at the diner yesterday that got my digestive system in an uproar last night. Dairy products do not agree with me.

I stretched and did my weights. The wind was cold from the north out out there so I skipped my walk. Then I got on-line and found steadyfast.com for RV stabilizers. We're trying to stop our shaking. We start one of the 1000-piece puzzles we got at the antique mall. Then we took showers and headed to India Palace around 1:00 for lunch. I got to try the hot chai tea this time-very tasty. They had many of the same items on the buffet. But I enjoyed the black lentils that weren't there last time. This time I tried the plum sauce and a basil-type salsa that was bright green. Both were excellent.

We got a paper at Union and went home to work the puzzle. It's 3:58 p.m. and 59 degrees with 39% humidity.

Sunday, October 25, Shopping at Tulsa Hills & City Diner

I was up at 7:00 a.m. on this warm, cloudy Sunday morning. The low was only 56 degrees. I decided to tackle the Titanic (our nickname for our new Titanium RV) move check list. After our first five or six moves in our new rig it is time to rearrange the order and add additional check list items. We have a light breakfast around 9:30 and I get cleaned up to head to Tulsa Hills shopping center at Hwy 75 and 71st Street. Bob is doing chores, emptying holding tanks, and other 'blue job' as we call them in the RV world.

I'm off on my first solo trip in our new truck. It's hard to believe that we bought it in May 2009 and I haven't driven it myself yet except to back it up in the RV parks. Our summer was spent together, just me and hubby Bob so I had no where to go off to by myself. This new truck, 2007 Chevy Silverado, that we call 'Big Bertha the Titanium Drive' is much easier to see out of than our old one with the camper shell on back. The wheelbase is about four inches longer due to the crew cab vs. our old extended cab but I couldn't tell any difference driving or parking it.

My first stop was Ross Dress for Less. I found short brown boots for a bargain price, wash clothes that match ours in the bathroom and a new dishtowel. I'm trying to upgrade now that we have a new rig. I also found a nice light grey tailored blouse. Next I cruise Bed, Bath & Beyond (I thought they filed for bankruptcy? Maybe that was Linens 'n Things) And finally I check out Target Superstore, stopping in the lobby for a Pumpkin Spice Latte-Wow, that's two days in a row!) I found a blank journal to keep my notes in prior to posting on-line. I came in to scope out the coffee pots. Found an under-the-counter space-saver on sale for $20 but it is too large to fit in the depth of our cabinets. Bummer. Darth Vader (my Starbucks coffee pot that my friend Liz gave me before we went on the road six years ago is giving out so I'm looking for a new one.)

I got a paper at Union on the way home. Got home at 1:50, surprising Bob by arriving ahead of my 2:30 estimate. We go to lunch at 71st & Lewis, City Diner. It was a so-so diner. I had Four-way Spaghetti with mushy pasta and way too much blue cheese dressing on my small pile of lettuce. Bob had catfish, okra, carrots and a tasty potato soup. Our not very young waitress said she is pregnant with twin boys and due in March. She has almost 14-year old twin girls at home and the whole thing is a shock.

We head home to read the Sunday paper and watch football on our new Hi-def flat screen TV. Still can't get used to how big this screen is in our RV living room space. Feels like the cinema!. I went for a walk at 6:15. Called my friend Liz in Austin and we had a nice chat. My friend Ronda got married to a guy from Horseshoe Bay and Liz misses her as a manager. Liz says her son Connor is in 5th grade. That can't be possible! The high today was 63 degrees and the humidity is 74%. Tulsa is much cooler than usual this time of year.