As I woke this morning from a comfortable night's sleep, I began to take note of the variety of birds playing their usual tunes indicative of the changing season. What a welcome sign considering where we were just a month ago. As the trials of the past were pondered, the tasks of the day ahead began to fill my head. Although they are many, I welcome them too as long as the birds keep playing that happy tune.
When we set out on this journey, one of our objectives was to stay a few steps ahead of the wintery weather. Not only was it undesirable to my beloved wife, but our diesel palace is, for all intents and purposes, a three season vessel. The walls are only 1¼ inch thick with the kind of foam insulation you would find encompassing your new kitchen appliances as you pull them from their cartons. The ceiling may be the thickest at just over 2 inches. As it happens, the areas that I filled with expanding foam to keep the furry rodents out also cut down on the drafts. Still, the frigid air makes its way through the dash at the driver's section where only 14 gauge steel and eighth inch plastic cover encloses the yards of wiring and tubing that drive this beast. The windows are single pain auto glass with exception of the door window. I haven't figured that one out yet. Luckily, we are in far better shape than our holding tanks, water supply lines, fuel tank and engine block. These items take the brunt of what the environment is dishing out. And yet, we survived. It was the first time that our motorhome had operated under the frigid conditions that Texas was dishing out. Frankly, we were doing better than a lot of Texans. Though water lines were freezing and busting around us, our supply was usually uninterrupted. It slowed at times but our holding tank kept us wet when necessary. The poor Texas power grid was being systematically shut down to avoid wide spread power outages. When the power was out the propane heated our home. And when the power was back on, small electric space heaters were helping to save on propane, warm the water lines, holding tank, engine block, fuel tank and fuel filter. It was the worst that Texas had been dealt in over a decade, but our Journey made it through the a pseudo winter. Now we know what will work to keep us rolling in the event of another cold snap and that we can "weather the storm".
So, with winter behind us and Texas, too, we have ventured East to Mississippi. What!? EAST!? Yes, East. Texas held us through the holidays, but as we mentioned before the time away from family this year was hard on the hearts. Plans changed and the West was getting a little weird with the pandemic thingy still going on. Texas was definitely a learning experience on all levels. Though we only got to see a quarter of the state, we experienced the dry and the wet climate. Dallas was probably the best place to visit. The open spaces downtown and the historical attractions were a plus for us. San Antonio was a bit dirty and smelly. It was odd, as it is rare to visit a tourist area and finding your nose violated by some indescribable funk. We made some nice graphics for some fellow RVers. The longer we stayed in areas, the more foot traffic we got walking by our new sign that gets displayed on the rig. It also gave us the opportunity to visit with new people. We got new hats. Often we would remark that we had to get a hat before we left Texas. My hat had seen better days and was in need of replacement anyway and what better than to find a hat in Texas. Tez likes hers, too. We met some annoying people and some great folks. Texas is chock full of those annoying folks starting with the Governer. And they seem to follow right down the line. They'll be glad to run you off the road and drive excessively fast, even on icy roads. They ask you "Not to Mess with Texas" and don't litter and to "Drive Friendly, the Texas Way". However, Texans do neither of these things. Yet, there are those few who still have a spirit of giving and southern hospitality. To those few we are immensly grateful. We felt warmly welcomed in Alamo and Boston. We were fortunate to find sensibility in Whitney and Edinburg. There are some great people out there that we won't soon forget. We found some favorites places to revisit. Tawakoni is, so far, the best spot to stay in, but then, we may have been short changed by the inhospitable weather that plagued us this year. We tasted bad Mexican food, a lot. (who knew?) We also decided that maybe four months in Texas is a little too much. As with everything, we learn by doing.
And now we move East. We are finding Mississippi greener and warmer.
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