Blessings and Stability

After so many days in a row driving, it’s really nice to stay put in one place for a bit. We spent last week parked at Diamond Jack’s casino in Bossier City, a suburb to Shreveport.

I mentioned in my last post that we were near a train, fire station and Barksdale Air Force Base.  I’m pleased to report we heard no air traffic from Barksdale.  We’re sort of used to other noises now but won’t miss them when we’re gone. Being able to look into your neighbor’s windows isn’t preferable either.

When we originally made reservations here they only had a site open Sunday through Wednesday, so we would have to vacate by checkout time on Thanksgiving. We went ahead and kept the reservation and hoped for a cancellation.

On Monday we went to Walmart and bought groceries for our Thanksgiving dinner. It was entertaining just listening to people in the aisles talk. My (Ann) unscientific observations concluded that about 1/3 of the shoppers spoke the deep Weezianna accent. I secretly wanted to follow them around and listen to them pronounce things and talk, but that’s Grade A stalker behavior which is generally frowned upon, even in a Walmart. Louisisana tv stations must import the weather people, none of them have accents although some of the onsite reporters did.

We go on short walks around the huge parking lot for exercise and are working on stamina and distance. One of the puzzling things about the Diamond Jack’s RV park is why they have perfectly good benches facing the berm. Perhaps watching grass grow really is something people do.













We opted to visit the casino and buffet Wednesday night. Neither were enjoyable but it got me out of cooking.  They have a giant hotel but I can’t imagine it gets a lot of use based on our experience.









We checked daily with the super nice RV park employee, Laura, in hopes of a site cancellation. Sadly none became available and we timed the cooking of our Thanksgiving meal so that we could eat before we had to hookup and leave.

On Thanksgiving, the RV Park was nearly empty. We decided that we’d finish cooking, eat and cleanup before we pulled out even though we’d be in the spot after checkout time.  If someone showed up for our spot, we’d speed it up. It just didn’t make sense that the park was going to magically fill up on Thanksgiving with at least 15 spots open.

I roasted a small turkey breast and made the normal sides. After we finished eating and started doing up the dishes, the RV park attendant Dee (Laura was off that day) was nice enough to come over and let us know she’d made some calls and we didn’t have to leave on Thanksgiving after all.  We are thankful for her efforts and took her a piece of key lime pie to show appreciation.  As a positive, we got the dishes done immediately after eating so I had the entire rest of the day to do nothing.  And do nothing we did other than the daily walk and watching football all day. ☺ Unfortunately we didn’t do any sightseeing or go out to eat for fresh Cajun or seafood during our time there. Perhaps someday we’ll have another opportunity.

On Friday, we decided it was time to head west over the weekend and to do some maintenance things before we left.  In the afternoon when it was safe to travel outside after the black Friday hours were over we went back to Walmart and decided to improve our living conditions with a new toilet contour rug and toilet seat.  We like the cushy seats but not when the seat cover breaks and there is risk of poking or injury.  I also washed and repaired one of our big windshield curtains.

Saturday we hit the road about 9 a.m. which is early for us. We decided to go to the Houston area and enjoy the warm weather they’re having.  We researched a cheap rv park outside the SW corner of the metro area that works for us.  A few miles out of Bossier City is a Flying J with a Dennys.  Breakfast is always good on a travel day and the gas was reasonable to top off the tank with.  We saw the Dennys sign on the interstate but it was a little deceiving to actually get to from outside.














 Once we crossed from Louisiana into Texas the road quality improved dramatically.  We’re not fans of how they design interstate travel here with the weird u turn lanes under bridges and bizarre access points, but the side roads we took were scenic and smooth.  In this picture the right lane appears to be 3 layers deep and smoother than the left lane.  Since the right lane takes the most abuse, I think this is a good idea.

 

Riverbend RV park (http://www.riverbendrvpark.cc/) is mostly full of permanent residents in various forms of campers.  It’s basically a giant field of rv spots in the country just like the picture on their website. There’s no pool, trees, or paved spots. You know what it does have?  Quiet, strong wifi, and 70+ over the air channels. Did it mention it was cheap? The other parks in the general vicinity are all $50-$60 a night. Forget that.

It’s warm here this week, unseasonable temps that the newscasters complain about every night. We are happy to have it and the A/C works great in the living part of the coach.  I had put the flannel sheets on our bed before we left Iowa, those may need to come off with overnight temps in the mid-to-upper 50s. Not sure how long we’ll stay here, but our reservations run till Saturday. I imagine we’ll decide Friday night.

Well, that’s all I have to say about this week.  I hope to write these updates on Sunday evenings going forward, but don’t hold your breath.  Love and blessings to all our friends and family.
Ann