2018 Winter in Texas

[JEBar]

thankfully, today's drive went well .... we are once again setup on a site in our favorite section of Lake Conroe Thousand Trails (pictures 1 & 2) .... picture 3 shows our view of the lake/harbor .... our drive took us near Belleville, TX where we happened upon a wagon train (can't think of any better term) (pictures 4 & 5) .... the column had a police escort and stretched for a mile or two .... an internet search to try and find out about it didn't turn up anything .... no doubt I didn't try the right words for the search .... info from anyone who knows about these trail rides (again, the best descriptor I can come up with) would be appreciated .... after getting here we pretty much set everything up .... it was very warm but so windy that we chose not to put up the flag .... tomorrow morning at 10:30 AM we are due to link up with the gunsmith who has been working on some firearms for us .... we are looking forward to testing the improvements he's made to two of our Henry rifles

[GFK]

I did enjoy Texas while I was there (Austin, Corpus Christi and San Antonio areas). I met my wife in Corpus Christi. I would not mine moving to some place in Texas. But, my wife is leaning toward something more eastern. I guess time will tell.

[JEBar]

we really enjoy the time we get to spend in Texas but (for us) its not home .... if it wasn't for all of our children and grandchildren being back in North Carolina, I could be happy spending 6 months a year in Texas and the other 6 in South Dakota

[GFK]

Yes, I can agree.

[JEBar]

we awoke to a rainy, cool morning in the neighborhood .... thankfully, at 67 degrees we are much better off than the folks up in Dallas where the temp is in the mid 30's with rain .... my hope was to clean the rifles and shotguns we got back yesterday and store them for the trip home .... for some strange reason Maureen doesn't care for the smell of Ballistol so that enjoyable chore will have to be put off until the weather improves and we can take the cleaning outside .... looks like we will have to move our daily walk inside, here in Conroe we have many big box stores to choose from ....

[JEBar]

it is rather understandable that after 36 straight hrs of rain (really heavy rain much of the time) strong wind, we are hearing discussions about campers leaking .... ours developed a small leak, I'd guess about a third of a coffee cup .... we had a mobile tech who has done a considerable amount of work for us in the past come by ..... thankfully, no major issues .... its supposed to rain again tomorrow, we'll see if its fixed .... its clear that the time is rapidly approaching where we have to make a decision as to how we are going to deal with replacing our camper's 13 year old roof .... the first picture is of the water level of Lake Conroe on Feb 19th .... the second picture shows the water level this morning (Feb 26th) .... I haven't tried to measure just how many inches the water level has risen but considering the fact that Lake Conroe covers 21,000 surface acres, that takes a lot of water ..

[JEBar]

its wonderful to be able to report that we have had a truly beautiful day in the neighborhood .. .. we are really looking forward to spending most of Sunday with Robyn and John (Shakey Jake) .... John and I plan to spend most of the morning on the rifle range at the Blackwood Gun Club, just north of Houston in Conroe ===> http://www.blackwoodgunclub.com/rangesRifle_pistol.asp .... he is going to bring a Henry 327 and Marlin 1894 44 Mag .... I plan to take our Henry 44 Mag and 45-70 .... this will be the first time I've been around a 327, I'm really looking forward to seeing it in action .... this will be the first time we have fired ours since having their triggers worked on a few weeks ago .... needless to say, I'm really looking forward to that as well .... should any other forum members be interested in joining us, please jump in and let us know ..

[JEBar]

its hard to believe that our 2 month stay in Texas is coming to an end .... we've had a good time and are already coming back after the first of the year .... with us due to pull out Monday morning, we scheduled a local mobile tech to take care of a couple of issues with our camper .... ISSUES, talk about an understatement .... we wanted him to replace some supports on the off door side protective fender and to take a look at the camper's brakes .... when the tech got down there and looked, he quickly found the cause of the problem with the fender .... that being a broken leaf spring (see first four pictures below) .... over time he's learned that I carry a "few" replacement parts and knowing we are due to pull out on Monday he said unless I had a spare leaf spring tucked away somewhere he wasn't sure how long it would take to get a replacement .... I asked him give me a minute .... with him looking on we pulled a replacement out of the big tool box on the back of the truck .... he just shook his head and went to work .... when did it break ?? , I have no clue .... it was clear that the broken spring allowed the tire to to come into contact with the fender .... the tire had rubbed against the heads of the bolts holding the fender in place (picture eight) .... they were worn smooth during the process of cutting deep grooves in the tire (pictures four through six) ..... the cuts were deep but not deeper than the tread depth .... even though the tire may well still be safe, looking at it, I couldn't stand it .... we are 1,600+ miles from home, no way was I going to leave with it on the ground .... we couldn't get a replacement G614 before we are due to leave for home on Monday .... instead we bought a G rated tire recommended by a commercial truck tire dealer .... once we get home we will purchase a replacement G614 and I'll use the tire we bought today to replace our current (most likely dry rotted) spare tire .... the last picture shows the replaced spring .... as to why we had a spare, back in 2015 one broke on the door side of the camper .... I ordered 2 because I figured that the extra weight might have damaged the other leaf spring on that side .... as it turned out, the other spring was fine so we've had a spare every since .... now that this has happened, I may well order a spare ........ the fender has been removed, I'll probably install another after we get home .... as to the brakes, that problem will also have to wait until we get back home as well

[GFK]

Glad you found the issue and glad you were able to address it. Be safe.

[JEBar]

concern appreciated .... not knowing the spring was broken, it would have been easy to let what we knew needed to be checked go but sometimes it pays to be paranoid .. .. I guess that being 1,600 miles from home tends to breed caution ....

[TRock]

Enjoyed the pictures...Be safe on the return trip.

[JEBar]

all in all, its been a good trip .... while we are looking forward to getting back home, we still hate that this trip is rapidly coming to an end

[The Wiz]

Take care now. Have a pleasant trip home, my friend.
Mike

[JEBar]

Take care now. Have a pleasant trip home, my friend.
Mike

concern appreciated ..... looking forward to linking up again when you get back down to our area

[JEBar]

hate it but pack-up day has arrived .... everything outside except the utility hookups and cleaning the black tank have been taken care of .... most everything inside the camper that needs to be buttoned up has been taken care of .... completely filled the truck's fuel tanks for the first time in 1349.9 miles, best guess 40% towing .... she averaged 9.8 mpg over that distance .... we've learn to figure expenses based on averaging approximately 10 mpg so we are pretty much on target .... tomorrow's drive back to Baton Rouge KOA should take 4 to 5 hrs

[JEBar]

today's drive covered 322.5 miles in 6 hr 27 min ... not looking forward to seeing what the truck's fuel mileage was because we had a quartering headwind every inch of the way .... during our 3 weeks at Lake Conroe we drove 329.6 non towing miles .... they are working on long stretches of I-10 in both Texas and Louisiana and it really needs it in both states .... in the last few days temperatures have fallen considerably .... they are calling for it to get down to 38 tonight and even lower each of the next 3 nights while we are in Florida and Georgia ... guess its time to dig out the electric heaters



Note to Self : when towing through unfamiliar territory make sure to reset our GPS's Navigation Calculation Mode to Fastest Time .... having it set on Shortest Distance can take you through "interesting" places .... example, you can get to see areas of Baton Rouge where it is difficult to keep your rig between the very narrow lines ..

[JEBar]

heck of a day's drive .... some may have heard of the horrendous bus wreck that happened today on I-10 in Alabama ===> https://www.news4jax.com/news/bus-carry ... ama-ravine .... they justifiably closed I-10 and forced all traffic to exit .... from that point on, things went down hill in a hurry .... other than to block subsequent interstate entrances, no form of info was given to the thousands of drivers trying to find their way around the closed section .... it was strictly everyone for themselves .... as frustration grew some aggressive drivers lost it .... as but one example : we were somewhere on a 4 lane divided highway when the line started turning left .... with so many rigs cutting through an opening in the median and across 2 lanes of oncoming traffic .... vehicles trying to cut across that opening and make a left to get into our lanes, where really having trouble finding an opening .... as we sat there waiting to turn left, I saw a Chevy pickup shoot out of the side road, cross the opening and turn left into our lane .... a second vehicle tried to follow him and was T-boned by a semi running full speed ..... they hit 10 - 15 yards from us, the impact was fierce .... the air bags deployed in the small car, I'll be surprised it the driver was able to walk away .... my first reaction was to try and pull over to go help but well before I could do so a bunch of people were out of their vehicles and helping .... the sad thing is, when we did get back to I-10 the entrance was blocked so we had to turn around (not easy in the space available) find another route .... I didn't get far until I saw a sign for a campground ... when I turned, a half dozen rigs followed ..Roll Eyes (Sarcastic) :rolleyes:.. guess they figured/hoped I knew where I was going .... most definitely an erroneous assumption .... between me working with our Garmin and my wife with her state map, we eventually made our way back onto I-10 .... I didn't check the time but doing so had to take us at least 45 minutes, best guess from the emergency vehicles we saw along the way, we are pretty sure there had to be at least 4 wrecks along the way (behind us) .... it took us 5 hrs and 28 min to cover the 291 miles from our last campground .... we are now setup in Holt, Fla at Eagles Landing .... tomorrow on to Dalton, GA

[GFK]

I have not heard about that. But, it does seem like a mess. That is the down side of driving. At times, I thinking about traveling at night to avoid traffic. Yet, I like the idea of more services being available during the day. I guess both have their pluses and minuses.

[JEBar]

on the fun side, we baked the pineapple cake shown below in our Dutch Oven after arriving at Eagle's Landing .... its for a family gathering that we have scheduled on Thursday ....

[JEBar]

if all goes as planned, this is our final pack-up morning for this trip ..... hate it in a way but at the same time, looking forward to turning the next page .... today's drive from Douglas, GA to our home in NC is slated to be the longest of the trip .... about half way we do have plans to meet friends who live near Charleston, SC for lunch which should help breakup the drive (4 hours before lunch, 3.5 hrs after lunch) ....