South Texas

We have been comfortably settled in South Texas for a few days, seeing my brother John and his wife Anna and continuing to get Pancho in shape-or at least trying to.  BD has installed some very handy shelves, taking advantage of wasted and poorly allocated space.  What we thought was a gray tank blockage turned out to be a factory mistake, switching the gray and black output.  When you thought you were emptying the gray tank, you were actually emptying the black.  A replacement part is "on its way" and then the challenge will be finding someone to do the warranty installation.  We are finding that we are at the end of the line for warranty work since the coach wasn't bought from these dealers.  Some places are two months out.  A friend, sympathizing with my previous whiny blog, sent this as a lower tech alternative to Pancho.

South Texas is an interesting area.  It is the most southerly location in the U.S. with the exception of South Florida, and is latitude wise like Loreto, BC.  The weather is typically warm and nice in the winter, attracting migratory senior midwesterners and Canadians as well as birds.  The demographics are pretty interesting.  The permanent residents are largely Hispanic and it is not unusual to be the only Anglo in a shop or restaurant.  It would be a great place to learn and practice Spanish.  The seasonal people tend to live in Over 55 parks, some RV, some mobile homes and some stick built homes.  There are hundreds of these parks, each with different features and characteristics. We are renting an RV space in John's park but most of the homes are mobile homes.  John and Anna's home has been extensively expanded and is super comfortable.  The area is a major citrus growing center, known for fabulous grapefruit and smells heavily of citrus blossom.  I have a quart of grapefruit juice awaiting a bit of vodka for the cocktail hour.  The juice is surprisingly sweet.  Several pounds of grapefruit will feed us as we travel down the road.

John and Anna outside Pancho

I had seen an advertisement for a nearby park that has interesting plans for small homes with a patio and "RV Port."  We went to look at it and were impressed with the concept.  It provides great sun/weather protection for the rig while not traveling.

One evening we went to a nearby park for a "Patsy Cline" concert.  The clubhouse was packed with people from Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and even Saskatchewan.  They clearly enjoyed the show based on the applause, but exhibited the well known midwestern reserve during the songs, reminiscent of my childhood with parents from Iowa and Minnesota.  Anna and I couldn't help but move a bit with the music.

The singer sounded exactly like Patsy Cline

Here are a couple of links to one of my all time favorite songs, the first by Patsy and then the classic version by Gogi Grant.  I prefer the latter and consider it one of my travel theme songs.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzsxlbqZ-RA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SaeWh3h8Fg

While we haven't seen my niece Christina, her husband Chris and their two kids, Maddie and Nori since October, I am periodically updated as to their doings.  A milestone is being reached, almost, as Nori learns to use a spoon.

Somehow the concept got lost

  So much better this way.  I did ask permission to use the picture, concerned that such a record on the internet might nix entry to Harvard some day but Christina did not share my worry.

John and Anna have an exuberant, black lab mix ( I think that might be redundant).  Katie, who is about 10 months old,  was dropped off in their park as a puppy and Anna heard her crying outside her porch.  Being dog lovers, they gave Katie a home, concerned that the adoption record at the local shelter was not that good.  Without a yard, it is hard for her to get exercise so John and I have been taking her and Max to the fabulous, square block dog park.  About 1/4th is for small dogs, the rest for large dogs.  Katie got frightened when she went to the large dog park and Anna got slammed by some big mastiffs, so we use the small dog park.  Katie is over the weight limit but the other small dog owners are always gracious about allowing her in.  Katie is overcoming her fear and getting great exercise.  We go early to avoid crowds.

The huge McAllen Texas dog park

John, Katie and Max

Today we head out for a few days in Port Isabel, close to Brownsville and South Padre Island.  We are staying at an ownership park, renting a spot on a lake.  With Spring break underway we are lucky to get such a choice spot.  We are staying in the general area pending our appointment near Houston on April 7 for the necessary warranty work.  A 2 1/2 week wait was the best we could do.

On the Road Again with Pancho and Lefty Toad

With my travel bug travel stalled for nearly a year and a half, I realized that my unrequieted passion was not unique after reading Steinbeck's Travels with Charley,

"...when the virus of restlessness begins to take possession of a wayword man, and the road away from Here seems broad and straight and sweet, the victim must first find himself a good and sufficient reason for going.  This to the practical bum is not difficult."

When Steinbeck was preparing for his 3 month trip he saw in others "something I was to see over and over in every part of the nation-a burning desire to go, to move, to get underway, any place, away from Here."

Since the last significant travel, the road from Here has loomed larger and larger.  Finally, after 3 house sales, two surgeries and more Seal Beach house maintenance than expected, we are on the road again.  This time Mr. Lefty Toad has a new pal, Pancho Palazzo.  Pancho is a nearly 35' diesel pusher, only three weeks old.  Their traveling song is perfect for our current stay in Texas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvdmxszsDM8

While Pancho sounds like a tough cowboy with his big diesel engine, air brakes etc., he is in touch with his feminine side, equipped with an 18' fridge, washer and dryer, nice galley and plenty of storage, a/c capacity.  Oh, did I mention a nice furnace?  We are now in the lovely town of Fredericksburg in the Hill Country of Texas where we hunkered down during the recent midwest blizzard.  This area,  normally populated with snowbirds in the winter, suffered several days of freezing weather.  We were toasty warm except when we needed to brave the cold and 19mph winds to take the boys out.  Speaking of boys, Raggie is 17 1/2 and slow but still trucking.  Max is 4 and getting easier all the time.  He will probably always be a challenge because of his early experiences, 8 prior placements and shelters and perhaps, a reactive temperament to boot.  He is very affectionate, curious and obedient, that is when he is not distracted.

We took delivery of Pancho in AZ and spent a few days in the funky town of Quartzsite.  Moving from Bella to Pancho required putting everything in boxes and then there was the fun chore of figuring out how to stow things in the new configuration.  Himself (he now calls himself Big Dog, hereafter BD) cleverly began to figure how to retrofit some of the ill conceived cupboards with additional shelves to make convenient space.  We plan to spend months traveling, so the handier it is the better.  The weather was comfortable in Quartzsite which is a funky town frequented by snowbirds, rockhounds and many members of the fringe culture.  The poster child for the town is the owner of the bookstore.

Quartzsite Bookstore Owner with Vashon Patron (just kidding)

We spent a few days in Tucson with our dear friends Larry and Sherril.  Their hospitality, and help 
figuring out Pancho, was very much appreciated.  We also enjoyed seeing Suzanne, a transplant from SoCal, who hosted a lovely potluck in her relatively newly purchased home.  They all live in the community of Civano, which is a wonderful planned community, featuring many environmentally friendly design elements and attractively laid out, smaller homes

Civano

Just a few comments on buying a new motorhome.  First they are enormously complicated.  Second, the dealers, at least ours, are so quick to sell the coach and get you out the door that they overlook careful prep and do not provide adequate orientation. Third, manufacturers build the interiors for "curb appeal," forgetting that these things are lurching down the road.   Visit a few boat builders and figure out how to make drawers that don't crash open already!  While in Tucson we made several trips to Camping World for things that needed fixing or, in many instances, explaining.  We ended up hiring an off duty tech to come to Civano and spend 2 1/2 hours walking up through the systems and features of the coach.  I took 5 full pages of notes and the following morning, diagramed the electrical system.  This is not simple as sources consist of shore power, battery power (two different battery systems) solar and generator.  It is important for trouble shooting and for operation to understand how they work, what their capacity is, what works on 120 vs 12 volt.....NEVER did I think I would be troubling my little head with these pesky issues, but...  Freightliner, the chassis manufacturer (whatever is a chassis?), runs a two day course for RV'ers who own rigs with their chassis.  I have decided I will suck it up and attend along with BD, if we can find a schedule that works for us.  SC in July won't do it!  Next will be learning to drive Pancho, who assures me he is "easy."  I see many female drivers in the truck stops where we fuel so, why not me?

The next stop should be South Texas to see my brother John.

Getting Ready to Go

It has been a long time since I have posted, simply because we haven't gone anywhere.  There was a short trip to Crater Lake but no wifi, so no post.  It is a spectacular venue and I am glad we finally got around to seeing it.

We arrived on Vashon about the first of April and proceeded to spend 2 1/2 months aggressively downsizing, painting, landscape clean up etc.-all in order to list the house for sale.  One day we had 8 workers here, painters, contractors and landscaped workers.  All that time R and I were busy with our chores.  We then had the realtors over for final review, only to be told that everything should be off counters, paperbacks should be ditched since they look "cheap," and the green leather chair and ottoman should be banished.  Soooo, it has been nearly 4 months of living as though in a hotel, each morning cleaning all dog hair, removing newspapers and magazines, putting sponges, dish soap etc. out of sight and WAITING.  It is a big pain for sure.

Add caption

If we sell it will be a sad day in many ways as I don't think there is a more cozy house with the privacy and view on the whole island.  We just want to travel for months at a time and the big house and 12 acres is more than we want to tend any more.  Max will miss his kingdom for sure, including the coast moles, coons and other critters he can prey upon.

Max unearthed this mole

Max does love the freedom to roam in the fenced part of the yard, coming and going as he pleases.

Max's Kingdom

We have targeted the end of the coming week to leave for Denver to see my niece, her husband, nearly 4 year old Maddie and the newest, Nori who is going on 9 months.

I have been busy making Maddie (last name Ng) her birthday present.  The name of the critter is Slither Ng.  Slither is 55" long and Auntie knit the whole thing!!!  

If we get out of here in time AND the weather cooperates she may get the gift early.  The trip from here to Denver entails going over the Rockies, so time is of the essence.  We have one prospective buyer coming back Tuesday, if there is no good offer in a couple of days we will close her up and take off.

Bella is largely packed, the freezer is defrosting and the departure to do list is being checked off.  One handy guide I ran across is the gas tax by state map.  We do NOT want to get fuel in CA.  Their outrageous tax policies continue to amaze.

Hopefully the next post will be from somewhere exciting while we are on the road.

Montana Humor

Postcards from Philipsburg, MT.

On the Road Again

We are on our way to Yellowstone for 5 nights in the park plus three interesting scenic drives off I-90 and three nights in a lovely campground north of the park, joining our friends Ann and Bill (and their dog Jake).  This packing was been easy-two weeks.

Much has happened since arriving on Vashon almost two months ago.  The garden is in and cranking.  I am more and more limiting what I plant to 1) what does well in this climate, and 2) things that are better than what you get in the markets on the island or handy to have just outside the door.  That means this year only cherry/pear tomatoes as the larger ones' ripening is often questionable in the climate, lots of snap peas, herbs, especially dill, carrots because they are easy, cukes and lettuce.  The fig tree is laden, as is one pear tree and the little Fiesta apple tree had to be thinned as the fruit was so heavy.  The flowers have been lovely, especially the peonies.  Not having them grow in SoCal makes it a special treat to have them here.

The weather was very nice for this time of year with lots of sunshine, interrupted by some cloudy days and occasional rain.  When Vashon is nice there is no prettier place.

Views from the deck

Max is slowly fitting in.  He and Raggie have been buddies from the start and remain so.  That is a huge advantage.  We have mastered the leash walking up the hill but it is so quiet and private that it is not a real test.  We will need to work on more congested areas.  We have also gone to a little commercial area and sat and walked with the clicker and treats.  Car goes by, Max tries to lunge, we preempt with a click and treat.  Same with trucks, motorcycles, joggers, bikes, deer...  some seems to be fear based, the deer represents a prey drive.  It is a lot of work but he seems to be slowly responding.  We are using the crate in the car as he does not do well in that environment, I suspect partly because he was not accustomed to it.  He has been crate trained and his house manners are quite good now that he has learned the kitchen counters are not for him.

He is earning his keep.  Living in the country includes living with lots of bugs and critters that invade the house and damage the yard.  It seems that we have many more dirt cones from  moles than ever before.   Max found and killed a Coast Mole. 

Good Boy Max

We are now in the little town of Philipsburg in Montana on the first of three scenic routes off the interstate.  This route is south of Missoula and west of Butte.

This valley was a big mining center in the late 1800's and early 1900's.  The campground is three full service sites right in town.  Terrific to walk to the famous BBQ place and the recently opened and already award winning Brewery.  I walked the shops while the boys hung our in Bella and escaped with only 4 postcards.  I like the spirit of Montana so far, independent and common sense based, maybe something you can do in a state with less that 1 million people.  You may go to the brewery and get a beer and walk down the street carrying it to the BBQ joint-or visa versa.  The brewmaster, a young man with a 4 year degree from Oregon in beer making, walks to work with his dog following him through town and the cat following the dog.  Both critters hang out in the brewery.  So civilized.

The copper strip is ice cold so that your beer stays nice

The Brewery with Bruce the Brewmaster's dog.  He is an Idaho Shag-a new breed from Border Collie, Aussie and Airedale

 
The old buildings are painted to reflect the original Victorian trim.

We took a nice side trip up to the Granite Ghost town, site of the most productive silver mines in the world in the 1890's.  During that time over 3,000 people lived in Granite, which is 8,000' high and perched on granite hills.  Water had to be brought in.  I found a wonderful Granite photo essay on the internet

http://onmyfeetorinmymind.com/a-silver-mining-ghost-town-granite-montana-a-photo-essay/

Well, a circuit is blown so my coffee making is interrupted.  Off to another scenic drive this morning.

More on Max

Boy, has it been less than a week since Max joined us?  He has seemed to settle in to his new digs with only one dust up with Raggie, over the one toy I don't want Max to take over.  Is that how it is with kids?  As I said in the last post, Max looked to me to have some Greyhound/Whippet type lineage even though some of the adoption descriptions said he was a Shepherd mix or a Central American Street Dog.  Well Max had his initial check up with Dr. Dana who immediately concluded that he is largely a "sighthound" and his vet file now tags him as Whippet Mix.  For you non dog people, breed info is helpful to identify characteristics that are likely to be found since for much of their history breeding was done to refine behavior that was considered desirable.  Always curious, I have spent some time reading about sighthounds.

Sighthounds are an ancient category of dog that rely heavily on sight for hunting as opposed to scent hounds, who mostly used their nose.  Included among sighthounds are Greyhounds, Whippets, Salukis, Basenjis and Afghans.  Typical scent hounds are Basset Hounds and Blood Hounds.  You can spot a sighthound by the oversized chest cavity, relatively long legs and narrow hips.  They also often have their head up looking into the distance as opposed to my old Basset Hound who always had his nose to the ground.

They can run extremely fast, Whippets being clocked at 35mph in a sprint.  They are very "prey driven."  What that means it you better hold on to the leash.  We are looking for a trainer who can help with recall but one issue according to the Whippet sites is that they instinctively take off after prey and run so fast that once they stop, they may not know where they are and how to get home.

Whippets were breed in England and Ireland by the working class for racing and for game hunting.  The story goes that the kids might eat bread but the dog would get meat since if he won his race on the weekend, he would bring home money for the family.  He would also hunt small game like rabbit for the table.  Some were encouraged to poach.  Looking through the large dog book at the vet,  I thought I had found Max's "roots" when I found the picture of a sighthound called a Lurcher.

        While not a pure breed, it is generally a cross between a sighthound and any other breed, usually a pastoral dog or terrier, dependent on the attributes desired by the breeder; originally stealth and cunning. Collie crosses are popular, given the working instinct of a sheepdog when mated with a sighthound gives a dog of great intelligence plus speed - prerequisites for the hunter/poacher. In the USA midwest, crosses with large scent hounds are fairly common.
 

He looked the closest and the dog is found in England, Ireland and the US and owned by Gypsies who use the dog to poach.  I thought that was quite hilarious until we discovered that they run 50-60 pounds, where Max is 22 1/2.

Whippets are sometimes called "Velcro dogs" as they follow their owner everywhere, even into the bathroom.  They love to cuddle as well and are pretty sensitive to correction and quite smart.  They are very athletic and can jump with ease.  I found this out last night.

One couch backs on to a large counter which covers a stairwell, the other side of which is the kitchen.  The habits from years of living with chow hound Boogs taught me to keep food off the floor and low tables.  He was however, never able to get to the kitchen counter.  Well, it is a short "Max jump" from the floor, to the couch to the large counter over the staircase to the kitchen counter.  Himself and I were out in the back yard discussing what fence "hardening" was necessary to contain Max and exclude the deer.  I had put leftover spareribs and rice in a container covered with saran wrap on the counter, planning to heat it up for our dinner.  When we returned, half was gone.

Dogs have always enjoyed the couch

Kitchen prep space

Chow isn't too bad around here

It must have been Raggie

We are eager to hear from the trainer as some work needs to be done.

Coming home and Max

Much has transpired since the last post in the Keys.  We had a wonderful day in the Everglades,  a day driving through Miami (not my favorite experience) and then west.  The highlight of the trip west was a stop in Fredericksburg, where himself toured the newly expanded Pacific War Museum and I enjoyed the shops and pastries in this lovely town founded by German stonemasons.

Fredericksburg Stone home

A stop to see our friends Larry and Sherrill (and Dude), then to Seal Beach for 3 weeks.  While there we took care of many appointments, including looking for an orthopedic surgeon for a hip replacement this coming fall for himself.  It is always a treat to see old friends and enjoy sunshine.  The trip back was quick but we were able to fit in a stop to see Fern and her family in Lodi at their lovely home on the river.

On the Davis Deck in Lodi

 It is an interesting area as is the adjacent Sacramento Delta.  Lots of wineries and the oldest occupied Chinese community in the US called Locke

Locke

After visiting Fern and her family we headed home.  We arrived to glorious spring weather which has pretty much continued, with temperatures expected in the high 70's in the next few days.  It isn't any better in summer and this is only May!  The conventional wisdom is you don't plant tomatoes till after Memorial Day.

Spring in Vashon

The BIG news is that there is a new family member.  Himself and I have been talking about getting another dog for a while.  Raggie has really missed Boogs and his canine companionship.  It was apparent when we visited Dude in Arizona and Riley in Texas that he would enjoy having a sibling.  I have spent literally hours on Petfinder.  A few prospects were identified and I originally looked for another Cocker.  Some of the rescues make it harder than emigrating to New Zealand, which we would never qualify to do.  Then one day a dog came up on Petfinder, with a Vashon VIPP (Vashon Island Pet Protectors) designation.  

MAX

 Max's foster family fell in love with him and for a while, we didn't thing we would get him.  We did visit and Raggie immediately began tail wagging.  Himself and I were taken with his curiosity which included putting his nose in the adoption coordinator's purse within seconds of her putting it on the floor.  Just what Boogs would have done.  Two days ago we were notified that Max was ours.

Since then he has had his first car trip to Pandora's Box to get food, a proper collar and tag and treats.  He seemed to enjoy his ride and took my seat when I got out.

He is quickly getting used to the house and yard, looking out windows and smelling everything.  He is alert, curious and affectionate.  He slowly tried to crawl up on my lap while I was resting on the couch and was delighted to find that dogs are permitted on furniture in his new house.  He was clearly trying to endear himself so that he could snuggle.  

Max is an athletic dog with the large chest of a greyhound/whippet type dog and he is very fast.  We hope to train him to come so he can be off leash on our unfenced 8 acre parcel as well as at the waterfront.  Until then, I am walking him up the steep private road, about a 2 mile roundtrip.  He is not winded and his muscles don't seem to complain, unlike his human companion.  Five months on the road have taken its toll on my exercise program.  Raggie has a propensity for back problems and is nearly 16, so his walks are frequent, but short.