Thanksgiving at Rainbow's End 11/26

 We came to Rainbow’s End in Livingston, Texas last Saturday because we thought this would be a good place to spend Thanksgiving. Turns out we were right.

A couple of months ago, we joined an RV club called Escapees mainly because they offered a catalog with good deals on campgrounds and a useful magazine. Turns out they offer much more than that. My first impression is of a community that intentionally develops a culture of mutual support and caring. This place offers a kind of home base for full time RVers. It is a regular community, mostly gray hairs. Many residents are former full time RVers but had to stop traveling for one reason or another. Some live in houses and some still live in their RV. It is kind of a retirement to the grave kind of place. There is a Care Center which provides a place and support for people who need some assistance to continue to live independently in their motor home. All the RVs in that area were accessible with a ramp. There are campgrounds similar to this in several other states. 

One of the first things we had to do was sign up to be at table # 12 for Thanksgiving. So I made Peas Epicurian and Oyster Dressing for my table of 12 people. There were 11 other tables like ours with each group providing all the side dishes for their table. For $2 apiece, the campground provided turkey and gravy. We enjoyed dinner with 5 other couples who also live in their motor home and enjoyed sharing stories about the places we’ve been. Someone even asked for the Peas Epicurean recipe. The tradition continues. Amazingly, there was a couple at our

table we met a month ago in Branson, MO. What are the odds?

Livingston isn’t much of a town and there is not a lot to do around here so we haven’t done too much touristing. This part of Texas is referred to the “Piney Woods”. It’s in a pine forest and the other day we went to a nearby state park with a lake and it could have been in Minnesota except that when the sun is laying over in the south like it is now, you know you’re not in Minnesota.

We stopped at the library on our way back and I donated some of the books that I’ve read and picked up a couple more to take with me. I used the bathroom and the sign on the bathroom wall had instructions on how to dispose of Depends. What else can I say?

Facebook 11/22

I love my brother Bob. Soon he will break into his 8^th decade when he turns 70 next Valentine’s Day. And like always, the rest of us will get in behind him and follow suit when our turn comes up, if we’re lucky. Bob is seldom speechless, but when we showed up with this  motor home all he could say was “egad”. He enjoys needling and last week on Facebook Messenger he wrote, “just so you know there are some folks I just love to pick on and you and don are at the top of the list”. That’s as close as any of my siblings have come to telling me directly that they love me. So when I replied to Bob, “That’s how I know you love me Bob. I love you, too.” Facebook just froze up and the message remains in our conversation log, unsent. How does Facebook know that open direct expressions of love are taboo in my family? That’s what I want to know.
He has the distinction of being the oldest in the family. We all come behind him like stairsteps… Bob, Jake, Jean, Judy, Ludwig, Dick, Jim, Doug, Kay, Mark, John, Elaine and Byron. His life hasn’t been easy but one thing he has always done is to lead us boldly into each new decade of life. I remember him at 10 when he broke through to the 2nd decade.

Newspapers 11/21

Every morning Don gets in the car and goes in search of a local paper or a paper from a major city nearby. This week we have been reading the Houston Chronicle. Last week it was The Daily Advertiser in Lafayette, LA. The Advertiser has the USA Today logo on the front page which leads me to believe that it really doesn’t get much from local reporters anymore and most of it is canned material from another media source. The editorial cartoons were totally lacking in satire or insight into their subject and simply bashed President Obama and the Democrats. I certainly didn’t expect the paper to be liberal but the lack of thought or good satire was jarring. It didn’t help me in trying to be open minded and develop an understanding of the conservative position since I am going to be spending the next few months in a very red state. Remember when being Red meant you were a Communist? I digress. So I was very pleasantly surprised when Don started bringing home the Houston Chronicle. Especially this week when President Obama used his executive power to make some badly needed changes in immigration policy. No one would ever state that the Chronicle is a liberal paper but the reporting on the impact of the immigration policy changes was pretty balanced. This state has a huge Mexican population and a long border which they have been using the National Guard to try to control illegal immigration so it is probably impacted more than just about any other state. While this morning’s cartoon was critical of Obama it was incisive and witty satire that couldn’t fail to impress me. I began to believe that possibly some Republicans while being misguided are not stupid. Actually I have many friends who are intelligent thoughtful people and are Republicans. But then there is the story of the Texas State School Board who has been debating the social studies curriculum and whether to include Moses’ influence on the founding fathers’ development of democratic principles. The total lack of understanding of history just blows my mind. I wonder if they even thought about Jewish and Muslim inclusion of Moses in their holy books. And why do these people have anything to do with deciding curriculum. Shouldn’t the people making the decisions be educated first? Fortunately, there was a thoughtful editorial on that issue in this morning’s paper but I don’t know that it will have any influence on what Texas children will be learning about history. Sorry about this. Maybe I need to go back to reading the funnies and stick with Victorian mystery novels. 

Previous Point of Departure 11/23

“Where ya’all from?” It is the beginning of most conversations when you are on the road.  People see our South Dakota plates and wonder which part of the state we are from.  When you explain that you have no home, but South Dakota is the place you chose to buy licence plates….They have a tough time trying to figure out why anyone would be so foolish.  Full timers, those traveling for a living…..and it is a grueling living…..know that we are probably not a natives of South Dakota, we have our domicile there because it is the cheapest place not to live.  

Having said all that, the “where ya’all from” question has been extremely difficult to answer, especially in a short conversation.  I was born and raised in Montana.  I am proud of that fact.  Judy was born and raised in Minnesota…..equally proud.  We spent the last forty years in Illinois….Have you sent your new governor to jail yet?....not so proud.  We tried to put some roots down in Wisconsin this summer, but the roots did not take hold.  The truth is we live in a giant breadbox we call the camper.  It can be located in any of the land locked states or Canada……People do not want to hear that.  The computer navigation device describes home as “previous point of departure.” 

For the time being, we will live with that.     

Now What? 11/18

We made it to Texas, barely. We will be staying in Beaumont for the next couple of days and will move on to Livingston for Thanksgiving week. Then we will head south to our winter retreat in Los Fresnos, Texas (near Brownsville). It’s still chilly out though we have a sunny day. The high was only in the low 40s.

What to write about today. We are getting pretty good at packing up and setting up especially when we are staying at places like this, Hidden Lake RV Resort in Beaumont. Level concrete pads and FHU (Full hook ups) which means that we have 50 amp electric, city water and septic connection along with cable television and wifi. Today we are just taking it easy and will check out Beaumont tomorrow.

Now that I have time to write, it seems like I have nothing to write about. Up until we left Missouri, and became perpetual tourists, we were busy visiting friends or learning how to run this thing. Not much time to write. Oh, and I didn’t have a good keyboard until a couple of weeks ago. Hate the laptop keyboard.

I think maybe we are at the “Now what?” phase of this adventure. We have this thing pretty much set up the way we want and living in it is easy. The anxiety of getting into a new camp ground and getting set up has been alleviated for the most part. This whole year up till now has been about getting to this point. So now what? I think it remains to be seen. My friend, Kay said that living in retirement is about “being” not “doing”. We have done an awful lot this year and we don’t have much to do now except to get to know about the people and history of the place that we are now.

The Polar Vortex 11/13

The Polar Vortex has reached Southern Louisiana. The area where we are staying this week is also known as Arcadiana. So when I went to the Arcadiana Yoga and Wellness Center in Lafayette yesterday, I was wearing a light coat. I filled out my forms and signed the release from any liability in the event that I might injure myself and went to hang up my coat and put my mat on the floor. There was no place to hang my coat so I put it in a pile with my purse near were other class participants had put theirs. After class the conversation was about how bitterly cold it is now. The same conversation is being repeated across the country I am sure. The yoga instructor who knew I was from South Dakota because she read my form observed that it was much colder where I was from. I explained that it was indeed though I’ve never really lived in South Dakota even though that is my address. I said that I grew up in Minnesota and spent most of my life in Illinois. I said that I had looked for a place to hang my coat when I came in but there was no place. They all laughed and explained that they almost never need to wear a coat. I said I’ve never lived in place where they didn’t need a coat rack. That’s how far South we are. We had a hard freeze for several hours last night. We disconnected our hose overnight. The park has wrapped the hydrants in insulation.

People ask us, “Where are you from?” It stops me every time and I have to think for a minute. I reply based on the situation. If we are checking into an RV park, the answer is South Dakota. That’s on our license plates and our official address. I’ve always thought of myself as being “from Minnesota” though I spent most of my life in Illinois. So often now, I will say Illinois though occasionally I will explain the whole story.

Yesterday, we spent the day at home. I mixed up a batch of granola the way that I learned at Kelly’s and used up what remained of Lon’s maple syrup that Kelly generously gave us when we left her house in September. Lon is a dear man who lives across Twin Springs Road from Kelly in Wisconsin who makes maple syrup every year. The house (motor home, camper) smelled wonderfully like maple and coconut all day until I made gumbo last night. Don beat me in cribbage again. 

The Perpetual Tourist - Part 2 11/10

The day went downhill when I picked up Miss Kay’s book, “The Robertson Family Christmas” with Miss Kay’s buxom picture surrounded by her loving family. Earlier today we had made plans for where we will land on Thanksgiving with hopes that we won’t be the only people at the RV park in Livingston, Texas. After we leave there we will be heading for our winter landing near Brownsville on December 1. That’s a 6 ½ hour drive from Livingston.  There we will spend Christmas. Miss Kay’s book reminded me that my family will be spread all over the continent this Christmas. In case you don’t know who Miss Kay is, she is the matriarch of the Robertson family in Monroe, Louisiana. I was at the Duck Commander store in front of the warehouse which is pictured in every episode of Duck Dynasty. On the advice of a friend, we stopped in Monroe for a couple of days. It made sense being half way between Little Rock and Baton Rouge where we will go next. So that’s how we found ourselves at the Duck Commander headquarters and I was looking at Miss Kay’s book while Don perused the store. It is a remarkable family and they have helped make this town a tourist attraction. Almost every member of the family has written a book and they are all on sale at the store. But that wasn’t the only thing of interest in this town. We also went to the military museum which has the Viet Nam Veteran’s Memorial wall here this week. We went through the museum in which several area soldiers from all the wars of the last 100 years artifacts and uniforms on display. Most notable was the display of Uncle Cy’s Viet Nam uniform and a note of his time in the service. In case you don’t know, Uncle Cy is Miss Kay’s brother-in-law and probably the most entertaining of all of the Robertson clan. We ended the day with a walk through Black Bayou Lake Wildlife Refuge. A beautiful place with a cypress swamp and a flock of snowy egrets, probably the best thing in Monroe. We are only here for today and will be moving down the road tomorrow.