Wednesday, January 30, 2019 - Laundry!; Continued Summer/Fall Trip Planning; Hot Dog/Hamburger Dinner at the Clubhouse; Hand,Knee & Foot

Wednesday, January 30, 2019 - Laundry!; Continued Summer/Fall Trip Planning; Hot Dog/Hamburger Dinner at the Clubhouse; Hand,Knee & Foot

It rained off and on most of the day, so we did not walk this morning.  Even though I couldn't hang clothes out to dry today, I still managed to do the laundry I had planned for my day.  I just used my trusty shower rod holder we have in the shower just for that purpose. In between loads, I spent the rest of the day working on the summer/fall trip plans.  

We are going to meet up with some friends at Yellowstone National Park and together Joyce and I coordinated our stay there today.  Staying in an RV park near a National Park is expensive, but we think it will be worth it to have the experience, so we bit the bullet and made the reservations.  We plan to visit Glacier National Park before Yellowstone, and the Grand Tetons the week after Yellowstone.  

At this point Dean and I are thinking of boondocking (camping without electric, water or sewer hookups), especially if the temperatures are what the Weather Channel is predicting for August - low 80's day, and upper 40's at night.  We will try to do the same at the Grand Tetons - which will make that high price at Yellowstone not so bad!  For those of you not familiar with boondocking - we use our generator a couple of hours each morning and evening, allowing us to charge our batteries and to utilize some things in the RV.  For instance I could use the Instapot to prepare a meal while the generator is running.  While we do most of our cooking on our grill outside, you have to be prepared to cook inside if the weather does not cooperate.  We will fill our water tank near the site we will be parked, and our waste tank will last for a week if we are careful on water usage.  We've gone a full week before when we attended a boondocking rally without having to fill or empty our tanks, so we know we can make it work.  We have propane for heating if the nights get cool.  We have a battery operated fan that we have found works great to move air through the RV if it gets a little warm inside.  We are also going to look into a small solar setup, some golf cart batteries and an inverter that will allow us to watch some TV in the evening and use of our computers, and charging our phones.  Unless it rains, we intend to spend most of the days out exploring.

My son sent me a text message this morning wanting to know if it was "this cold" in Texas?  "This cold" was 7 degrees in Kansas.  I had to send him a copy of the Weather Channel's report of 49 here, with a high of 61.  Can you imagine, he sent me little angry faces??  Honestly, I do hope the weather warms up a bit for those up north.  That is why we are here, because I know how miserable it can be.

Tonight there is a hamburger/hot dog dinner at the clubhouse.  There is also a bean bag baseball game scheduled but I have a feeling it may be cancelled due to the weather (and it was).  I offered to help, and was given the task of helping to collect money from those who signed up.  Once they paid, we would give them a ticket for a hot dog or a hamburger/ cheeseburger.  The tickets were turned into the servers as they went through the serving line.  It worked well.  Besides the dogs or burgers - everyone received chips, macaroni and cheese (which was delicious), and a choice of pop or water.  They had a table full of condiments to add to the dogs/burgers.  It was a great meal at a great price.  We met new people that shared the table we set at.  I also helped sell 50/50 tickets.  50% of the funds will go to help offset costs for the new radio controlled car track they are building in the park.  Dean's ears perked up when he heard that - I think a new toy may be in our future.  Probably not this year, since we'll be leaving in a few weeks, but I won't be surprised if he doesn't have one (or buys one) once we return to the RGV (Rio Grande Valley) next year.

Afterwards, I was walking back home for a few minutes before coming back to play cards.  As I was walking back up, I saw Malia at Vicky's letting her know we were playing cards, so I walked back to the clubhouse with them.

I am really enjoying spending time with these ladies and improving at this card game.  It was a little after 9, when we finished.  I wasn't home too long before I was nodding off in my chair - a sign it's time to head to bed.