Deep in the "cold" heart of Texas

Some days Joan and I are real senior citizens. Like the other day when we specifically went to Red Lobster in Oklahoma City because we had a $4 off coupon.

Today we are staying in a primitive RV park because it was much cheaper than some others nearby. Of course, we are roughing it because of it as this park does not offer cable television, so we are at the mercy of whatever signal is coming through the air. It’s like being back in the 1950s.

The high tech sign for our RV park.

The park is basic and with a severe freeze warning tonight we are also roughing it without water as the trailer is still winterized and I don’t want to take the chance of freezing the pipes before we get started. It is supposed to warm into the 70s tomorrow with no more overnight freezing temperatures, at least for a while. We’ll hook up the water tomorrow after it warms a little.

After much adjusting, I was able to find three television stations that we can watch on our little flat screen TV. Our other TV, the one that came with the trailer is really old school and does not work with a digital, over-the-air signal. But don’t lose any sleep we are happy to be in Abilene tonight after a journey through the Heart of Texas.

After leaving Amarillo, we traveled for more than two hours along I-27 which is a beautiful and for today, a nearly deserted freeway.

Our departure was delayed a little when we had a minor, but annoying and time consuming trailer wiring problem that had to be resolved before we could hook up and get on the road. Complicating the work was a wind chill about 10 degrees and a real temperature of 22 degrees as we did the work.

Note the old school TV antenna deployed

I have trouble doing manual work in gloves so much of the time my hands were exposed with the predictable results. They should thaw out by tomorrow and Joan has threatened that if I come with a foot of her with these hands she will slug me.

At 9:31 a.m. with the wiring problem resolved, with the help of Stater’s Acres RV, I jumped back into the Tahoe and looked at Joan and said: “It’s always something.”

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful, although a local Texas cowboy jumped out of his truck and said “Howdy,” to me which kind of cracked me up.

During a visit to a Texas rest stop on I-20 near Roscoe, Texas I was using the facilities when a man standing at a nearby urinal was seemingly talking to the wall, but was apparently carrying on a business conversation while doing his business.

One of the startling things I heard him tell whoever he was talking to on his Blue Tooth was that he could provide insurance coverage for a number of circumstances including kidnapping and ransom demands. I’m wondering what business the person on the other end of the line is involved in.

Oh, and Joan wanted me to mention that the bathrooms at the Texas rest stop were beautiful and included Native American tile work and were far above anything she had ever seen on the road. Take that Oklahoma and your pit toilets.

We passed an exit off I-20 that was labeled “Stink Creek Road.” That would be a great address, would it not?

We went shopping at Walmart where we bought one of those already cooked store chickens and packaged potato salad so we wouldn’t have to wash dishes tonight. Tomorrow, after the water is turned on, we’ll use the good plastic dishes.

We plan on exploring the wild west tomorrow here in Abilene.

Mileage out: 4527

Time out: 8:08 a.m. (From hotel. Time out from RV place 9:31 a.m.)

Mileage in: 4826

Time in: 3:20 p.m.