It was nice outside so we walked here in the park, approximately 2.5 miles.
After we returned we ate breakfast and then I spent time on some paperwork and just general clean-up. We really didn't do much of anything today - just hanging out. I forgot to mention that on Thursday I received Part 1 of my order from Amazon. Friday I received Part 2 of the order. I'll be using the bundt pan, silicone muffin pans and the cheesecake pan soon. I also got a new plastic bowl and it has already come in handy.
This evening we went with two other couples to Restful Valley RV Park to hear Bill Chrastil. He has performed in Branson, here in the Rio Grande Valley and both Nebraska and South Dakota where he was inducted into their Country Music Hall of Fame. Wow, it was a great show. Talk about energy - he had it. He did impressions of Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings; Elvis Presley; Johnny Cash; Conway Twitty; Roy Orbison; Buddy Holly; Neil Diamond; and Tom Jones. He was a wonderful entertainer and I can see why he has won "Entertainer of the Year" here in the Rio Grand Valley. We would certainly go see him perform again. The best thing about the concerts here - they are very affordable. It was a total of $14 for both Dean and I to see this show. It would have cost us at least $40-50 to see him in Branson at one of the theaters.
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| Playing "Pretty Woman" as Roy Orbison |
The last impersonation he did was Elvis. He picked three women out of the crowd to go out and sing to, and lo and behold he chose one of the women in our group - no, it wasn't me!!!! Lol! It was one of our Heartland friends, Flora. I tried to take a picture but of course, when you are in a hurry, nothing seems to work well. This is not the greatest picture because of the blurriness, but it's the best I have so I'm going to include it.
We had so much fun. Bill Chrastil is full of energy and kept everyone engaged. He had the audience participating by clapping, waving their arms, singing along, etc. It was a great ending to a very nice day.
On our way out we noticed this beautiful crocheted flag.
Sunday, January 21, 2018 - Church; Bentley & Max Get a Bath; Bread Pudding; An Evening of Good Food and Good Friends
I slept really late this morning - it was almost 7:00 when I finally got up, so needless to say we did not get a walk in this morning. We are going to church this morning and by the time we had our morning "chores" out of the way it was time to head to Penitas' where the church is located. We drove ourselves today since we need to get back early for a couple of reasons.
As we were leaving the park for church Dean happened to notice a Kansas flag was flying at our RV Park - and that is when we realized they have a state flag up for residents staying within the park. What a great idea! Here are a few pictures I took.
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| Notice "KANSAS" |
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| These flags include Canada and states represented in the park. |
Someone is supposed to be here about 1 to wash and wax our rig and truck. I'm also making bread pudding for our dinner tonight with our Heartland friends. It's a process to make so I'll need a little time.
I really enjoy the church we are attending. I think the pastor does a very good job, and the music is wonderful. If you are interested their Facebook page is "Faith Fellowship Bible Church". It is a nondenominational church and they provide both a Spanish and American services. The Pastor lost his grandmother last week. She would have been 91 the day of her service and they sang Happy Birthday to her during the funeral service. I thought that was just a lovely idea and to celebrate it with Jesus, WOW!
After we returned to the park, we had lunch, then I got started on the pudding. You have to cut the bread into cubes, and soak it for 1 hour (I used a combination of half/half, whipping cream and milk). Once I mixed the remaining ingredients (sugar, spices, etc.) I mixed it with the soaked bread and baked it for one hour. While it was cooking I made the rum sauce that will be poured over it prior to serving it. It turned out pretty good but I was a little disappointed. I've made this before and I think it has tasted much better. I used the bread I purchased at Breadsmith. I might have used a bit too much bread, as the flavor was a bit bland in comparison to previous times I've made it. I'll go back to plain french bread next time. We have another event coming up next week and I'm going to stick with the pecan pie bread pudding I've made recently - and I'm going to add raisins. Even though I don't care for them, I'm not really making it for me.
While I was working on the bread pudding, Dean was outside with the guy who finally showed up to wash and wax our rig and truck about 2:00 p.m. He finished around 4:00. My bread pudding was done about 4:45, so we hurried and loaded everything and drove over to the park next door where our friends are parked.
We all met at Nancy & Dave's RV for some of the best smoked ribs I've had in a very long time. Mike & Peg provided the ribs and Mike and Nancy smoked them on their Traeger grills. They really were amazing. In addition to the ribs we had macaroni and cheese by Flora; a corn casserole by Stella; three bean dish with hamburger and bacon by Deb; Ramen noodle salad by Nancy; and a yellow cake with chocolate icing by one of their neighbors in the park (Kim and Ron). Talk about a feast! There were quite a few ribs left over so I took 3 and Flora shared some the leftover mac and cheese with us. That will be our lunch tomorrow.
We spent part of the evening watching the New England and Jacksonsville football game on Dave's outside TV. It is located in the basement of his rig. We all set in a big circle so we cold follow the game. We headed home about 7:15 or so. What another wonderful evening.
Monday, January 22, 2018 - Doctor Visit; Gate Valve Repair; Paperwork; Running Errands and Dinner Out.
I was up about 5:30 this morning and was happy to pour my first cup of coffee.
I have another appointment with the chiropractor this morning. I am feeling so much better. The area below my right shoulder that hurt so bad has been almost pain free since my last appointment. I notice it a little when I lay down at night, but it doesn't hurt anymore once I'm in bed. However, my neck was a little stiff this morning. I'm not sure what that was from.
Gabriel is supposed to be here to fix the gate valves on Bentley sometime this morning so I drove to the doctor and Dean stayed behind in case he shows up before I get back. I was back home by 9:45 or so. Gabriel is not here yet. Dr. Whitaker gave me some exercises for my neck so I will be doing those to try and alleviate any other pain in my neck. I can really tell a big difference and I am very happy with the treatment I've had here. I would highly recommend him.
I spent most of the morning doing paperwork. I went through the mail we received Saturday, called a couple of places to have our address changed; printed off more Explanation of Benefits for recent doctor's visits. Wow, the trip I made to urgent care on Dec 28 is over $200 out of pocket; however, if there is a good side, I guess it is that now I have met deductible, so I'll only owe 20% on any future bills through June 30. That is a blessing - just hope there are not too many more.
At noon, Gabriel had still not showed up to work on the valves. Dean came in and we ate our lunch. About 2pm, I heard Dean talking to someone - Gabriel was here! In less than 2 hours he had the valves changed out and they work perfectly now. We are so happy this is taken care of. Dean has had problems with them since day one. They have just gradually become harder and harder to open. Last week when he dumped the tanks, no matter how hard he pulled they would not open. He had to get under the rig and push the cable to get the valves open.
I had several errands I wanted to run this afternoon so I'm not sure how much we'll be able to get done now. I was going to lay something out for dinner, but Dean suggested we go out to eat and use one of the gift cards we received for Christmas. We both like Olive Garden so that is where we will go. (THANKS Brett, Renae, Dacy & Tucker).
One of the other tasks I did this afternoon was update our budget report. As I was checking over the credit card bill I found they charged an extra $1 on our credit card at Applebee's than what our receipt said. I know it isn't much but the amount on the receipt was very clear, so I'm not convinced it was an error. The idea that someone might be doing this to others upsets me so I had Dean take me back there. I spoke to the manager and he gave me the $1. I explained it wasn't so much about the money, I wanted to be sure they were aware something like this had happened so it does not happen to others. He assured me he would talk to the server - whose name was on the receipt. We probably will not go back to that Applebee's, but I will also be checking our credit card statement and bank statement much closer to be sure this does not happen again.
When we left Applebee's we moved next door to Eyemart. I would like to buy a cheap pair of glasses for reading only since I cannot see well enough out of my glasses (almost 2 years old) to read very long or things get so blurry I can no longer see the words clearly. So, I now take my glasses off to read since it is a little clearer, but after awhile that also bothers me. I tried on several different frames but I really didn't see anything that just seemed right. It was also very, very busy, so I'll wait and come back early one morning and visit with someone. I already have my prescription from Dr. Jordon so all I need are the glasses. I can get 2 pair for less than $40. My insurance will pay a good portion of the cost for a new pair in February, but we will not be back in Oswego until April. For less than $50 I can get two pair that I can utilize for quite awhile, and could change the lenses out as needed.
Our next stop was Olive Garden. (Dacy, I didn't get to mix the dressing into the salad like I normally do - because Papa wanted ranch dressing, so it was served on the side. It's much harder to mix on a salad plate than in that big bowl! Lol!) Since we had a gift card, we splurged a bit and had an appetizer too. It was similar to a Mexican quesadilla but with an Italian flavor - cheese, spinach, chicken and basil. I thought it was delicious, but Dean wasn't as crazy about it as me. In fact, I would consider having it for lunch. It was plenty of food for one.
When we left the restaurant at approximately 5:00 the traffic was very busy, so Dean wanted to take a side road back to the park. We ended up on 10th Street, where Breadsmith is I asked Dean to drive on down to see if it might still be open. We were surprised to find it was open. I was even more surprised they still had 2 loaves of the Harvest Farm bread, that we love. I bought them both, one for now and I will freeze one for later. Dean wanted to get some cash, so we stopped at Walmart, and then made a quick stop for diesel. We drove over 600 miles on the last tank - thanks to the reserve tank we added to the truck when we bought it. Tomorrow we are going to a flea market and Wednesday we are going back to Mexico. Thursday, Heartland is having a meet and greet at a nearby resort, and Friday I am going shopping with Pam and her friend Laurie. It will be a busy but fun week!
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| The sky as we are headed back to Val's. |
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| You may need to enlarge this picture to see the blimp in the sky. We were told this is part of the border patrol surveillance. |
By the time I had all of this written out Monday evening I was too tired to check for any errors. It is Tuesday evening and I've just finished updating it, but now the pictures will not load. (1-24-18 Update: Between my computer and Verizon signal - I'm not sure which is causing more problems, but neither is giving me any assistance in getting this blog updated. So I'm up early to do this before most folks are up and see if that helps - so far, so good.)
Thanks again to everyone that follows along on our adventure. Feel free to comment. I love hearing from you!
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