Picture perfect

I told you in the last blog that I hadn't gotten the Thanksgiving pictures - well they were sent to me. And since it was so cold outside, and I spent most of my time indoors on the computer, I decided that I would share them with you. Unfortunately, I am not too adept at doing pics on blogger - so I will just give you the path to my facebook album. Here it is:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=46001&id=100000709656885&l=ea3eb749c4
I hope I got all of that right - I'll test it when I get done with my update.

Our grandson in Indiana, Guy, Gary's son, got engaged! He is still in high school - we think he is too young - but who knows. I remember a friend of mine that was engaged in our senior year and married right after the graduation - and it was a good solid marriage. We're praying that Guy hasn't bit off more than he can chew!

I finished my taxes in the cold. I guess that this winter cold spell wasn't all wasted. I also tested out the solar powered emergency supply and it runs the furnace and the refrigerator just fine. Being conservative with it's use, it should get us through any power outage that I anticipate we will have here in Sulphur.

Cathy and I were both very involved in Cursillo, back in Wisconsin and then in Fort Worth. We miss the Cursillo community and have tried to find it here in Oklahoma. It seems though that the ultra conservative hierarchy of the Catholic church have effectively put the Cursillo and Charismatic movements down here. We have only been able to contact one other Cursillo couple and they made theirs in Montana. We have decided to do the Emmaus Walk, sponsored by the Methodist church, and join their gatherings - since they are an outgrowth of Cursillo. The group is active here at the Sulphur United Methodist church. We will make our walks at the end of March and are looking forward to being active in their group.

The repairs to the Veterans Lake area of the park have been completed and the trails are open, so we will be able to go there and walk the trails, now that it is warming up. Spring is in the air and life is good! Enjoy yours as much as we are enjoying ours. I'll post again when something else important comes up.............

HOME IN THE COLD

It was fall the last time I blogged, now we are in the depths of winter here at 1416 Holly Ln.
That is a picture looking out towards the shed (now our emergency power source). Since it is so cold out, I decided that it would be a good time to catch up on my blog - Wow it's been two and a half months since I was here! Lots of activities and adventures to report.

Thanksgiving was a blast! 23 of our family members gathered and played catch-up on each other's life events. Jeff took lots of pictures, but unfortunately I didn't. So I will just have to tell you about it and let you imagine the good time we had. Of course there was lots of food and games and the grand-kids (and great GKs) got to meet and play with each other. I especially enjoyed meeting Remi, my granddaughter Claire's son. What a cute character he is - and really sharp for his age. Another neat thing was that, on Friday, Dave, Jeanne, Al, and Jeff all came back to have breakfast with us before making the trip back to their homes in Texas.

During the holiday Jim did a project and finished up the roof work on the deck and enclosed it's north end. Unfortunately on Sunday, while finishing up the trim at the peak of the roof, I fell with the ladder and later on the injuries became infected, causing me so lay-up time while I took my antibiotics.

We sold the Casita and traded the van for a Chevy Aveo. We kept the solar power equipment to put on our shed to provide power for the shed and mowing the yard and also be an emergency power source for tornado season. I have an RV plug on the side of the shed for visitors as well.

Cathy and I have been spending a lot of our time juggling doctors appointments and hospital time. We are getting checked out and fixed up now. She has had back problems and has fixed part of it with physical therapy. Then she found out she had a urinary tract infection and, after the medicine fixed that, more of the back pain went away. Now she is waiting for a bone density test and the doctor's evaluation of what to do next. During all of this she also had her colonoscopy - I have yet to get mine done. Her's came out perfect with no problems in that area. Since I have changed cardiologists, I have had all of the usual heart stuff done - EKG, scan, nuclear stress test, and angioplasty. My arteries only were 60% blocked, so the doctor didn't put in a stent, but changed my BP meds and added a statin to the pile of pills that I take. We both still have a few more tests to do - just to keep the doctor happy.

During all of this doctoring we also had our property landscaped (leveled) and made ready for a carport. The landscape crew also made a large gravel parking area out of the front and side of the house. Now we have less lawn to mow and a lot of space for our friends and relatives to park. I think we have a good RV park started, if some of you want to come visit us in our new home!

Over the Christmas holidays we made an extensive trip around Texas. First we visited Jim and his family in Arlington. We spent Christmas at the Ingurgios' with Victor, Kristi, and the GGKids. Next, after an overnight visit to my Lake Texoma friends, we went to visit my adopted family in Kingsville (BFFs). Heading north, we visited Mary and Matt in Wimberley - then Jeanne and David and their family in Terrell. Lastly we stopped overnight at Jeff and Al's in Plano, and finally got back to OK in time for New Years.

Our latest projects have been finishing up the solar on the shed (see first picture), getting a carport installed, and Sunday I built an extension on the deck and step into the carport.

Well, it's still only 10 degrees outside, so I guess I'll go find a good book to read.

It's been quite a while since I have blogged, so I was impelled to give an update! A lot of water has gone under the bridge and we have really been busy here at 1416 Holly. The house is pretty much ready for company - and just in time! We will be having about 24 relatives for thanksgiving celebration. About the only thing in the way right now is all of those vehicles in the back yard. The Casita and truck are still waiting to be sold. I think that they are going to sell separate and I will put the solar on top of our shed to provide power for my "workshop" and the lawnmower. It will also be able to run the refrigerator in case of a power outage - which is sure to happen in rural OK. The tent like structure that you see in the picture is a temporary carport that we will use until the landscaping is done and the "real" carport is installed. We celebrated our 55th anniversary by going to Outback in Norman and then on to the "old homestead" to play games with the grandkids.

Two of our dearest friends, Dave and Arda Tole, came to visit Monday and Tuesday, on their way north to Chicago and Grand Rapids. We had a great time sharing BBQ at Smokin' Joes and playing games. We hope to have many more visitors from our Arlington, Noble, and Escapee friends. Call us and tell us you are coming - we'll leave the light on for you - and as you can see there is lots of parking in our front yard.

Well, I guess that is all for now. I'm going to head out to start geocaching Sulphur.

Times are a changing!

Times are a changing. The house is ours. Repainting turned out to be the least of our challenges. We found major roach infestation and water leakage problems, not to mention the badly wired electrical in the house. My kids joined in to help me fix all of the problems and we now have a like new house! The kitchen had to be torn out to the studs, re-wired, re-walled, and all new cabinets, counter, sink, hood, etc. There is still some minor work remaining but we have been living in the house now for a few weeks - and it is home.

The biggest change for me was moving out of the Casita into a huge (1040SF) house. The biggest change for Cathy was moving out of the double-wide house (1400SF) and squeezing into a tiny new home - and having to share her space with another person (the once vagabond husband). We are learning to live with each other again and it"s working out well. Saturday we had a very successful yard sale in which Tom got rid of the construction leftovers and Cathy got rid of a lot of excess fabric and books.

We reallly enjoy the country style town of Sulphur and have even made time to take a walk on one of the trails at the park - a lot more walks on a lot more trails to come. I have decided that I will not go back to working for money, but I may park host aagain - this time in a tent.

Another of the challenges that the move has made is vehicles. I want to give the Casita and the van both new owners - someone who will benefit from owning them. They would just age and sit idle if I kept them. What I have decided to do is to try to sell them as a unit to someone who would appreciate their unique solar capabilities and take them back on the road. If I can't find that buyer, I will sell the trailer first, strip the solar off of the van and put it on the house as emergency power, then sell the van with ladder racks to a local construction person. I have rented space at the local flea market, starting October 17th, to display the pair, and a dear friend of mine has spread the word to some of the Escapees. I really hope that an Escapee will buy it because I know that it will go to a good home and be appreciated. And I hope that my Escapee friends will not forget me, but come and visit (20amp hookup) in our side/back yards where we have room for several rigs (see blog on June 18th). Chickasaw National Recreation Area is about a mile away and has regular RV camping facilities as well and should not be missed by any of our friends.

If you are interested in the vehicles, here is a brief description:

THE VAN (and solar) is a 2008 Chevy 2500 Express Van (VIN 1GCGG25CX81192400), with about 60,000 miles on it. It is white (matches the Casita) and has the towing package. It is the regular (not extended) length and has been insulated inside, so that the van can also be used to provide a second bedroom for the Casita - or used as a side trip "stealth" RV. The bed consists of three storage boxes with a folding plywood top (folding to allow access to the storage boxes). The solar is mounted on the roof on ladder racks and provides 300 watts of solar power to charge the 7 batteries. The batteries are all advanced glass mat type except the primary van battery. GM engineering advised me that the alternator can be used as a charging source by using a switch method to connect to the battery bank. I have installed the switch as they advised.. I have only had to use the alternator a couple of times when encountering too much rain. An extra advantage of the switch is that you can connect the van to the battery bank and "jump start" the van if it's battery is low and if connected when stored it will keep all of the batteries at a well maintained 13.5V level. The entire solar system is regulated and has a monitor to tell the charge and usage condition at a glance. The inverter AC power is 1800 pure sine wave watts that will take a surge to 3600 watts. It goes to sleep when not in demand so as to not drain the batteries when they are not needed. If used conservatively it will power everything in the Casita except the strip heater. The air conditioner can even be run for short cool downs (like at meal time) several times a day and I have run it all night on hot summer nights after the sun went down.

THE CASITA is a 2007 Spirit Deluxe model (VIN 1C9TB171X71213600) with large and small dinettes that both convert to beds. I have added propane connections for an Olympian catalytic heater and, with the exception of a furnace, I bought all of the optional equipment offered. In addition I have installed a wall mounted 19" LCD DTV. For the description of the trailer you can go to www.casitatraveltrailers.com - they have hardly changed anything in the design since 2007.

If you are interested in both (or either) of these vehicles contact me by email at vagabondmarlatt@gmail.com and I will get back with you.

Never say never!

I said I would be a Texan for the rest of my life - never be an Okie. Today I got an Oklahoma drivers licence and became a certified, licenced, Oklahoma resident.

We are getting very close to closing on the house - it may be as soon as Friday. Or it may have to wait until we get back from Indiana/Illinois at the end of the month.

This month has been very hectic, but enjoyable, getting the preliminary things done for the moving process. I rented a storage compartment and have taken all of the excess RV stuff out of the trailer and truck, including my bike. That makes the trailer big enough for the two of us to take the northern trip next week. I have also taken two van loads of the early move in things to the storage shed. That way Michelle will have some minimum items to use when she comes down for a few days to help us with the re-painting of the bedrooms and kitchen. We won't move in until the house is ready for us - probably the end of August.

I am going to look for employment (part time or seasonal) to help support the new life style.

All in all - this is a great adventure in the life of the Vagabond (do I have to give up that nickname? - I don't think so!).

Getting off of the road - Reunion

After 15 years of full-time RVing I have finally found a place where I would like to settle down. It is in Sulphur OK, home of Chickasaw National Recreation Area. The town of 5000 is the size that I like. The people are friendly and down to earth. It is a country town, but it is still close enough to the big citys of Dallas and OKC. Cathy and I are in the process of buying this house at 1416 Holly Lane and expect to close at the end of July. We won't move in until the few modifications that we require are done. I will probably take a 1039 (hrs/yr) position at the park in order to be able to afford keeping up the payments for both this home and the double wide at Michelles. Of course we will have a well worn path between the two since they are only about 65 miles apart. Cathy will get a hide-a-bed for grandkids and company and Tom will wire up the back yard for visiting RV friends. All in all, this promises to be a happy reunion and a great future here in Sulphur.

Back to Oklahoma for a while

Wow, time flies - it's been three week since my last post. A lot has happened.

The Last couple of days of the TxGCC contest were slowed down when my rear window on the van exploded from the heat. I had foolishly put my travel bug number on the outside of the window using black 4" letters and the concentrated heat was too much for the glass to handle. Bumper stickers are probably meant to go on bumpers! I did complete the contest in the prescribed time, so I should be one of the 25 prize-winners, both in the Houston and the Dallas Areas.

Cathy said maybe I shouldn't rush home because of the weather forecast, so I stopped for a couple of days at Chickasaw National Recreation Area in Sulphur Oklahoma. I missed the tornados that went through her neighborhood. Michelle's property wasn't involved but the store where Mimi was going to work for the summer was destroyed.

I spent a week or so at Cathy's, but she wasn't ready to do the garage sale. All I really accomplished was to get some things out of my trailer and truck that were excess ready to go into the sale, if and when it happens. I also traded her the antenna that I had been using before the lightning hit and that improved her TV reception on the one channel that was weak.

While at Cathy's a Chicasaw Ranger called and said that they wanted me to take a park host position as soon as possible. Before moving to Chickasaw NRA we went to granddaughter Emily's graduation in Arlington Texas. She graduated with honors and several scholarships. She accepted one and will be going to DePaul University in Chicago. She is the tall girl in this picture.

The host job at Chickasaw is different from working in the Texas State Parks. While the hours are longer the duties are less. At least 75% of my time is spent being a host, that is greeting and helping the campers know how to enjoy their experience. I find it more rewarding and I think that it probably brings more people back to the park because of the friendly feeling that they get from the personal involvement. I will be at the park for the next couple of months, if you want to come visit. The park completely surrounds the Lake of the Arbuckles, so water sports are the biggest draw now. There are also some sulphur springs in the older section of the park near town. Here is a video of one of the fun places - a swimming hole on Travertine Creek.