At last, In Kenwood RV Park in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas

 41 degrees with rain at 6 pm here in La Feria, TX on Wednesday evening.  Haven't written for several days.  In rural Mississippi we had very limited phone service, sometimes getting texts through, receiving emails but couldn't send.

Phyllis' cousin Stan's wife passed earlier this year and he wanted Phyllis to take whatever sewing supplies his late wife left in the back room.  We had loaded a lot of material in Florida and added an even greater amount of fabric, sewing machines, tools of all kinds, patterns, etc., etc.  I had the underneath storage in the trailer packed as well as the under-bed storage and the back seat of the pickup and the back of the pickup packed and packed.  And, we had the shower stall full and several items that were on the floor of the trailer when we overnighted, and on the bed and floor when we travelled.

Saturday evening Phyllis' 2nd cousin Dean with wife Kim Runyan took us to the local Fish House were we had whole fried catfish along with copious amounts of Turnip Greens, Hush Puppies, French fries, and Cole slaw.

Their son Brandon was with us

for a while at the meal.

Eating some soup with Cousin Stan.  He is blind, lives alone with two small dogs, and was getting antibiotics twice a day (after just recently being released from the hospital) administered by his daughter-in-law or grandkids, all who live close by.  He grew up near Bloomfield, Nebraska and met his first wife while in the Army and when both got out of the Army they went back where she grew up.

Dean, Phyllis' 2nd cousin, sings in the group Eastern Sky Southern Gospel and they did their Christmas Story program for the Pearl Valley Baptist Church in rural Wesson, MS on Sunday.

The very small congregation had a very good meal afterwards in their building behind the church.

Phyllis & myself with

Stan Runyan, her cousin.

While son Dean lives only a quarter mile from Stan, his oldest son, Lloyd lives in New Orleans and is currently working with a roofing company in Florida in the area where Hurricane Ian came through a month or so.  He flew home, to be at his daughter's wedding next weekend, and drove up to his Dad's place for visit on Sunday.

We had driven, without the trailer, from Wesson, MS to Leesburg, FL -- 12 hour days both down and back.  This Monday we got a late start on the 490 mile drive from Wesson to Bay City, TX where we had a spot at a Passport America RV Park so ended up driving in rain much of the afternoon and being in Houston in the dark and rain on stop-and-go traffic in 4 to 6 lane interstate highway.  Interesting.

We got to our home in Kenwood RV Park about 2:30 Tuesday afternoon and spent the rest of the day unloading the trailer and some of the pickup.

Finished this morning and moved the pickup under the carport as it has been raining much of the day and finally finished unloading it tonight.

The Texas Sunroom is crowded, but at least everything is under a roof.  Got the hot tub filled with water and hoping it will be warm enough to use after bit--probably not until morning.

It is about 1,235 miles from our house in Clarinda, IA to our house here in La Feria, TX, and I suppose most people would drive that in two days.  We drove 3,184 miles and took three weeks to get here.  Did get to see a lot of friends and relatives on the way, though.

Will sign off, LC -- SlowThinker

Veterans Day Friday

 

With Veterans day tomorrow, I am copying and pasting a story along with link to a speech.

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I want to tell you a story about a Mexican-American and a Yaqui Indian that was abandoned as a child, and had to drop out of school at 15 so he could work to eat. In 1952, he enlisted with the Texas National Guard and a few years later found himself in Vietnam. While advising an infantry unit he stepped on a landmine. Every medical expert at the time told him that he would never walk again.  Two years later he was back in the war with 5th Special Forces Group. While there, he was part of an operation where every single Green Beret that was ODA would’ve died. Hearing the dire situation he hopped on a helicopter and flew in to rescue them. During the rescue he was shot 36 times. He was stabbed with a bayonet twice. He was blown up twice by grenades and got shrapnel in nearly every inch of his body. He ran along the side of a helicopter that was taking off with so many wounded and dead that it couldn’t get enough speed to rise.... So he covered it with machine gun fire and his own body. Wounded to such a horrific degree, when every single American soldier had been recovered from the battle space, he crumbled into a heaving pile in the side of the helicopter. When they pulled his body out they believed him to be dead. While they were zipping him into a body bag he did the only thing he could do. He spit in the medics face to let them know that he wasn’t dead.  Even after sacrificing so much. Even after seeing the horrors of war. He loves the Old Glory. Realizing how imperfect we are as a nation but believing in the promise of what we could be. He still loves Old Glory. Please take six minutes of your time and listen to this man’s words. Please share this with every single person you possibly can. America needs it right now. 

Click HERE  for speech by Roy Benavidez  

Master Sergeant Raul Perez "Roy" Benavidez (August 5, 1935 – November 29, 1998) was a United States Army master sergeant who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his valorous actions in combat near Lộc Ninh, South Vietnam on May 2, 1968, while serving as a member of the United States Army Special Forces during the Vietnam War. 

Hurricane Nicole has done passed here

 71º with light misty rain and winds at 10 mph here in Leesburg, FL at 3:00 pm onThursday.  Nicole has passed us.  Rain through the night and some wind, then out of the north and now out of the Southeast.

Click on photos to enlarge.

This was out our bedroom this morning a little after 8 am.  Steady rain.  Hurricane Nicole had been reduced to a tropical storm status before got to our area just northeast of Orlando.

This was

earlier

this

morning.

Blue dot

on map is where we are.

After Darrell, Jonathan and Lin

returned from a medical

appointment for Lin after

noon we went to a nearby

Italian restaurant for an

enjoyable late lunch.

Not much traffic out--many schools

and some businesses had closed

in anticipation of the storm.

GROANER'S CORNER:((  An aspiring Yogi wanted to find a Guru. He went to an Ashram and his preceptor told him, "You can stay here but we have one important rule: all students observe Mouna or a vow of silence. You will be allowed to speak in 12 years." After practicing for 12 long years, the day came when the student could say one thing or ask one question.  He said: "The bed is too hard."He kept going for another 12 years of austere discipline, meditation, and silence and finally got the opportunity to speak again. He said: "The food is not good.   

"Twelve more years of hard work and he got to speak again. Here are his words after 36 years of practice: "I quit." His Guru quickly answered: "Good, all you have been doing since you got here is complaining anyway!!"

We intend to drive back up to Wesson, Mississippi tomorrow, hoping we won't catch up with the storm as it moves north.

Later, LC - st

Hurricane Nicole coming by our way

 67º with heavy skies and Hurricane Nichole to be in our area by 1 pm tomorrow, (about 40 miles northwest of Orlando, FL) in Leesburg, FL.

Photo of brother Darrell's house yesterday as they were unloading from the wheel chair van.

The five of us drove to Stavro's and Sons
Pizza & Italian restaurant yesterday.

This morning Phyllis & I drove to the closest Costco in Altamonte Springs, FL.  Light rain during the 42 miles over and same back.  

This looks like heavy rain will start here tonight around 10 pm and last until around 2 pm tomorrow, Thursday.  We plan to head north to Mississippi early on Friday morning hoping to be behind the storm as it moves north and northeast from here.

Hoping the winds aren't too high and rain to deep tonight and tomorrow.

If survive, will wright more later,

LC -- st

In Leesburg, Florida

 72º partly cloudy and a bit more humidity than we have been used to here in Leesburg, FL at 11:00 am on Monday.  Hurricane predicted to come through here Thursday.

After an almost 12 hour, 680 mile trip yesterday we got to my brother Darrell's house here in Leesburg, FL about 8 pm last night.  Last couple hours were in the dark, when I usually don't like to drive.  Other than a lot of traffic around Gainsbourg, FL wasn't too bad.  We were on Interstate roads all the time after an hour and a half leaving Phyllis' cousin, Stan Runyan's place in rural Mississippi near Hazlehurst on their country roads, 

These two photos are at breakfast this morning.  At table with brother Darrell and nephew Jonathan.

Have had some time visiting with sister-in-law

Lin.

Photo at left is our arriving last night.

************************

I bought a bottle of Jack Daniels. I tied it to my bicycle carrier.

I was about to leave. Then I realised that if I fell off the bike on the way home, the bottle would break.

So I drank all the JD before I rode back.

Finally it turned out to be a very good decision, because I fell off my bicycle seven times on the way home.

*************************

See what today brings and post later,

LC -- st

On the road in the morning.

 60º with bright sunshine and a lot of wind here in Cape Camping in Cape Girardeau, MO at 4:00 pm on Saturday.  Rained hard in the night, I would think we got more than an inch of rain.  Of course, sleeping in the trailer we had a lot of noise on the roof and the strong winds were rocking us a bit.

We retrieved our pickup from the repair shop about 11 am and then met Mike & Mary Jo Diamond for lunch at My Daddy's Cheesecake where we got Mary Jo's car back to her and had nice visit with her and Mike. 

Returned to the trailer where we got things moved back from trailer to back of pickup and contacted the Diamonds about lunch.

Phyllis tending to

flowers we are taking

to Texas.

We went to Don & Vicki's and played Uno card game.  A volunteer brought around his Therapy Dog for us to experience for a while.

We are now back at the trailer, have tanks dumped, trailer hooked up to pickup, wheel chocks removed, all jacks except bumper hitch jack are up.  In morning only need to remove electric cord, water hose, and TV Cable and we pull out.  452 miles tomorrow to driveway of Phyllis' cousin Stan Runyan at his rural place near Wesson, Mississippi.

All is well.  LC

Ending our stay in Cape Girardeau

 71º Dark & Muggy in Cape Girardeau, MO at 9:10 pm Friday.

Have had a few meals with

Don & Vicki at Chateau this week.

Phyllis did laundry at the RV camp one day.

We walked about 150 feet

south of the RV Park to Sies Amiigos

Mexican Restaurant one noon.

Went to Bible Studay

with Don & Vicki yesterday

at the Chateau.

Played Bingo with Don

& Vicki yesterday and

today.

This afternoon we listened to a local

high school jazz band perform.

At our dinner table tonight

with some other residents.

Have been told Pickup repairs will be completed by tomorrow noon so plan to pick it up, return the borrowed car to Mike & Mary Jo Diamond and spend a bit more time with Don & Vicki in the afternoon before hooking up the trailer tomorrow evening, being ready to head out to Wesson, Mississippi on Sunday, and on to Leesburg, Florida on Monday.

Later, LC