Day 27 – Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Today we had arranged to have a radio installed in the truck for communications with the small group as we travel. We are using a 2m radio transceiver (VHF) mainly on the 148.850 MHz frequency. It is a Kenwood. The range should be about 50km depending on conditions and terrain.

The install was done by Mobile Relay in McAllen, TX. Good service and a reasonable price.

It was hot again today. We really appreciate our air conditioning. It reached 38C. Julie notes “While Brad was off having his tech time, I was in the non-air conditioned park laundry room, ensuring that we all had fresh undies, etc. for the road. This will be happening more and more often if we follow Vickie’s advice and hang a pair of undies on those hooks at each campsite to find our way home! (Not the correct answer to the hook question by the way. How long should we keep you ‘hanging’…so to speak?) I am a bit of a laundry mat aficionado having visited many on our trips across country. This one was reasonably priced and did the job in good time but required a good wipe down first as the dusty breeze is the cooling mechanism and previous users left a lot of their personal dirt and soap piles behind. Ewww. I also chased away a few spiders that were mad I was disturbing their morning web building.”

We reheated some tasty BBQ’d beef ribs and added some baked potatoes and beans for a late supper. We used the RV park kitchen so we wouldn’t heat up the camper with our stove. We invited Norm, our guide, to join us. More trip discussion ensued. Julie notes “Norm commented ‘Real Texas ribs!’ so that made the Smokin’ Pit, Pit Master proud.’

…carry on, the muleskinner and his sidekick

Oh yeah, I just wanted to clarify that in spite of comments to the contrary, I have never worn socks in my sandals! J

Julie notes “Things I know after 2 weeks on the road…

• I am not getting any smaller and this camper bathroom is not getting any bigger. However it is nice to be able to rest your forehead on the wall sometimes.
• Palm trees don’t always make places exotic. And they don’t provide a lot of shade. They do make a lot of noise in the wind though. Kind of like a wild Texan animal getting riled up before his hunt. Not that my imagination is getting a bit riled up.
• If a guy thinks you are talking to him at McDonalds while you are gesturing to your husband right behind him you get to count that as him making a pass at you. (At my age anyway I am taking it as a pickup attempt. Luckily the men in question worked it out amicably and no punches or French fries were thrown to defend my honour.)
• Our travel iTunes song shuffle has played us around 800 plus songs so far. Some have made me cry, some tap and sing along (not always the right words, so Brad usually turns the volume up to help me better learn the words, I think), some make me wistful, some that used to make me wistful now make laugh thanks to my sister Susan’s recent interpretations, some seem to fit the moment we are experiencing perfectly (e.g. ‘Hey Mr. Postman’ played and reminded me I needed to mail my postcards just as a post office appeared out of no-where up in a tiny mountain community of Ophir) AND some just make me say WTF?? What’s This FUNK? And why is it on my iTunes?
• Do not yell out ‘Hey that must be the lone star of Texas!’ when that first star comes out. More stars will follow and others may think you a bit daft.
• Two weeks flies by quickly when there is so much to see. But we are always thinking of the folks back home in Grande Prairie and Ontario. Miss you and love you! Wish you could all follow the underwear trail and join us!
• And finally, people are really interested in the campground hooks so we will end the mystery. They are to tie your llama or emu to, depending on which mode of transport you prefer. But really they are for hanging a camping lantern. Of course! Right?!”