Christmas Eve in Rockport, TX

Odometer 27557

Trip meter- resting

All work, and very little play on this Christmas eve. Today we decided it was no longer possible to put off washing the bus. Of course I didn't warm up to the idea right away, but once it took hold, I was all in. We have to pay a fee to do any bus washing in this park so I met with the manager and paid my fee (some parks just prohibit washing altogether). At least I didn't have to sneak-wash like I did in California on the way down.

Being a former Safety Guy, I wrote out a fall protection plan for getting on the roof. (uh-huh) Joan was my safety monitor- only in this alternate universe, she worked from the ground yelling at me if I got too close to the edge. Seriously though, washing starts with the fiberglass roof, which had not been properly cleaned since July of 2011. In this case, too long ago, the crud up there was baked on and growing tentacles.

Luckily Joan did not take the picture while I was on hands and knees scrubbing the crust off and revealing white fiberglass again. After the roof we had a quick lunch and started the sidewalls and soon everything looked fabulous.

Another discovery we made was the grass here is filled with what the locals call Texas sand burrs!

These little buggers glom onto your shoes and drop off on the floor or stick in the carpet and rugs, then when you are barefoot, they impale you! Needless to say we are careful to take off our shoes at the door now.

Today was also the day to check out a long standing problem with the microwave oven. The turntable is fine turning counter-clockwise, however it refuses to turn clockwise. No big deal until you realize that the software reverses the turntable direction every time the door opens and closes.

I found the offending part- the drive motor, and we ordered a new one on-line and will have it shipped to us here at the park. We'll keep you posted on our progress.

This is our first Christmas away from Jeff's family since 1986 and it will be quite a transition. Luckily Joan and I are happy in this life that we chose, and we have great plans for making this a very Merry Christmas- just us and 36 fellow RVers, in this little patch of semi-tropical heaven.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Jeff and Joan