Food!

If this is what Cajuns eat like all the time, I should be one! Except I would have to cut down on the portions! This morning Norma wanted to go out for breakfast but by the time we got our stuff together it was after 11:00. We headed for Mary's, a small place not too far away but lunch was on the menu. Norma had a hamburger and I had the catfish plate which consisted of three huge fillets and a stack of fries. It was all I could do to get it down and when dinner time arrived, I was still feeling the after effects.

The owner of the RV park recommended a local restaurant, "Shucks!" aka "Shuckies" and said to be sure to order their Sassy Shrimp. After looking at the menu we decided to just make it an appetizer night. We ordered the Sassy Shrimp, a bowl of Corn and Crab Chowder, a cup of Crawfish Etouffee and an order of Onion Rings. Everything was delicious with the chowder taking first prize! It was delicious and we brought 3/4 of it home for later.

The waitress was nice and asked about where we were from before she said we just had to try the Bread Pudding. We were full but ordered one to go. We will have it later tonight.

Cajun Country

We are in the "Heart of Cajun Country"! We passed on Poche's Fish-N-Camp as they only honor Passport America on Monday to Wednesday, otherwise it is full price which is too much for what you get. Instead, we followed The Boondocker's advice and checked in to Betty's RV Park in Abbeville for three nights. It is a friendly little place (17 sites). Many of the customers return year after year and some spend the whole winter. It is a very reasonable $22 per night with full hookups and fast WIFI.

We pulled in at about 4:00 and were informed that happy hour is at 4:30 so we quickly hooked up the necessities and walked over to the common room. There was tons of food! Everyone brought a dish and there was plenty to go around.

We came back to the rig at 6:30 and tried (unsuccessfully) to set up the StarChoice in the dark. We are under a huge tree and it was very difficult to find the "bird". We tried again this morning and after about a half hour found a good signal. It was not an easy setup even after we found a break in the tree coverage.

Today we are going exploring around the area with a final stop at a Cajun restaurant. Life Is Good here in Cajun Country.

On The Road Again!

Just like Willie! We dropped the rig off at 8:00 AM and went for breakfast. We went back at about 11:00 and they were wrapping up. They took it for a short test drive and declared their job done. We paid the $1,825 US bill ($1400 parts, 400 labor) and we were on our way by noon. We drove carefully, imagining all kinds of burning smells and vibrations but it was fine. We made a short day of it, driving for three hours and stopping at a Walmart in Wharton, Texas, just a little west of Houston.

Tomorrow we will try for Breaux Bridge, Louisiana and Poche's Fish-N-Camp RV Park. We were there before and it is a nice Passport America park on a man made lake with some nice Étouffée restaurants nearby. We want to be in New Orleans for Christmas but we do not want to get there too early as the affordable RV parks are in the outlying areas of NO, close to the noisy highway and about a five mile bus or taxi ride from Bourbon Street. Before you ask, the nice RV park near the French Quarter is $99 per night over the holidays. We will stay a few days in Breaux Bridge and move to NO on the 22nd or so. It should be fun!

BTW, It is 79 in the shade here!

Repairs Tomorrow

The parts got in this morning but they had no room in the shop for us today. We have an appointment at 8:30 tomorrow morning. We want to put some miles on the MH after repairs but not too many miles so we can return if there is a problem. They seemed pretty confident of themselves in their diagnosis so there will likely be no problem.

We went over to the office to pay for the extra night and they told us if we needed any more time, we would have to move to the dry camping area as they are full up and need our space for a long term tenant to move into.

It is a beautiful day here in Kingsville although there was frost on the Honda this morning. We drove into town to do some grocery shopping and stopped at IHOP for a late brunch of Swedish Crepes.

I got an email from my nephew, Don from Ontario, telling me they were spending the next couple of months down South. Maybe we can meet up with them. We just missed each other in 2010/11 when we were both visiting the Tobasco factory in New Orleans just a few minutes apart. Talk about coincidences. Their son lives in Houston, TX so they are down this way often.

Nature's Own RV Park - Kingsville, TX

This is the RV park about two miles from the Ford dealer. It is about the farthest we could drive with the damage and even then, there was a smell of smoke when we arrived. It is a brand new facility with concrete roads, level gravel parking spots and large, spotless showers and laundry room. The park is full of new or almost new motorhomes and trailers, many of them high end types.

Norma did laundry and talked to the manager today. She learned that 90% of the park is young people, mostly single men, working on nearby pipeline, power line and wind farm projects. These jobs all pay a per diem to the workers, as much as $125 per day! This money is not taxable and the smarter guys are using it to pay for their RV's. The monthly rate here is only $350 per month (plus electric) so that leaves a lot left over to buy groceries and make payments on a rig. The not so smart ones are handing all of their per diem over to one of the local hotels.

The bottom photo is us. They were full but put us on the end of a row, not in a numbered space. There were hookups though. No discount because of the much smaller space, still $34 per night.

Progreso, Mexico

About a week ago while we were still in Alamo, I discovered that I had left half of my cholesterol medication at home in Campbell River. I was faced with a couple of choices, 1) have my doctor FAX a pharmacy in Texas and hope they would honor a Canadian prescription or 2) simply walk across the border and buy it over the counter in Mexico. I chose the latter.

Juan, Chris and Mike decided to come with me and off we went, parking in a large lot on the US side and walking across the bridge. We stopped at a large Farmacia and asked for Lipitor. They had it but wanted $115 US for the 60 pills I needed (I cut them in half). They did not carry generic. That seemed a little expensive, much more than I pay in Canada so we went on to Susi Farmacia, a small place down the street. Their cost was a little less and as I was resigning myself to paying the owner came out from the back room and asked if I wanted a generic. I said yes and he produced a bottle of 100 pills for $23 US! I snapped it up.

We then continued our walk. It was cold and the streets were wet from last night's rain, not a very nice day. We found a little restaurant and went in for lunch. There was little on the menu for a non meat eater but I satisfied myself with a nice Quesadilla and a cup of instant coffee (yuk).

Progreso is not Mexico. It is a border town where English is the main language and the US dollar the main instrument of exchange. We soon made our way through US customs and back to the RV Park.

Photos From Home

Our housesitters sent these photos of our house. Yes, I am happy to be in Texas!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the photos, Doris!

Ouch, $2K!

"We ordered a new parking brake assembly. It will be just around $2,000 after labor". That was what met us when we walked into the Service area this morning. We heard someone under the motorhome around 8:00 this morning doing his inspection. The part will be in either early Monday morning or late Monday afternoon. The work will be done either Monday or Tuesday, depending on the above.

It is a lot of money and will require a bit of belt tightening and a few nights in Walmart to help pay it. In the meantime a call to Cec, my "money guy" will get a few funds sold and some money put in the bank. With the furnace replacement, chimney repairs and gasoline costs to get here it was borderline with our budget anyway, this put us over the top. I have to dip into the Rainy Day Fund, but that is what it is for. What am I saving for at this age anyway? My old age?

We got the OK to drive a couple of miles down the road and are parked in a new RV "Resort" for $34 per night. It is close to everything and has good WIFI. Even though we left a bit of a smoke trail behind us getting here, Life Is (still) Good.

Things Are Looking Better

Well, we got here at about 5:00 and they do not close until 6:00. The service guy was nice and cleared a spot for us to park tonight and told us they would look at the emergency brake tomorrow so they could order parts. He said with any luck we could be out of here on Tuesday. There is a hookup but the trouble is, it is in the "yard" at the back and there is a gate that is locked from 6:00 PM till 7:00 AM so that is not great. He said they would figure something out for us.

In the meantime we are parked under the canopy in front of the service department, using their free WIFI. It is quite warm tonight, we will sleep well. Things are looking better.

Back To Kingsville

Well, they inspected and tested and concluded that the parking brake which is located between the transmission and the drive shaft is, "falling apart". The bad news is, they cannot fit the MH on their hoist so they gave me the name of another Ford dealer, this time in Kingsville which we passed through about 30 miles back. I called them and the bad news is, they can't look at us until Wednesday. The good news is, they have a hookup that "may" be available for us to use.

We called AAA back and they are sending another tow truck this afternoon. We will spend the next few nights in Kingsville, TX. Yipee! Oh yes, the dealer here only charged us half of the $200 diagnostics fee as they could not do the repairs. Small blessings.

Stay tuned