On the road again !!

First nite out on our 2014 adventure..... made 93 miles, to Beaumont, TX !! wow.  We had some scheduled maintenance to see about at the Freightliner truck place.
So, we are excited to be on the road; we are out of practice, for everything!  But not to worry, we reverted to our trusty checklists we once had to use almost daily.
I'm sure it has nothing to do with age, but I find it easier to mix up which comes first in a task .... any task.
With the help of a good neighbor, we built a platform for outside the entry door to the motorhome. It will of course have steps down, but also 2 dog ramps: 1 removable one up into the coach, and 1 down from the platform to the ground.  The total rise from ground to motorhome floor is 50 inches, and the 2 older dogs have a real problem with the steep steps (they both have "arf-ritis").  We have to lift the smaller one up and down the steps an increasing number of times, especially in the mornings when he is very stiff.
But since we will be in one place for at least 6 months .... we'll use it now, and then see if we want to disassemble and transport it back to Houston for the winter.  It bolts together and fits pretty easily into the back of the SUV being towed (our "toad", as it's called).

I really enjoyed our "family of friends" and so many activities while at our homebase in Houston..... but we'll be back in November.
As for now, our immediate plan is to stop at one of our favorite camper repair places, in Marion, NC for a couple of days before arriving in Hendersonville, NC for a month ..... before reporting to our seasonal work place about April 15th. 
We will be at the same campground, probably in the same site, as last summer. We are looking forward to seeing friends there.

Right this moment we are sitting in a parking lot about 50 feet from the racetrack at Delta Downs. I think they're supposed to have races this evening ..... don't care about the races or gambling.... but I sure do love horses ! 
We were in such a "tizzy" getting out of Houston that I didn't even get to go to the Quarter Horse Show there at Reliant Arena !!! maybe next year.  Many years ago, John and I would go almost every day of the Cutting Horse Contests ....... I'm a cowgirl at heart.

I'm including a photo of the most recent watercolor paintings that Charlie and I have done.  We have painted a lot the last couple of months (we've been taking a class in Galveston every Saturday). I think we are definitely improving !

This is mine, of Bolivar Lighthouse ....... who likes a black lighthouse? .... I just took a little "artists' license" and made it blue.

 

This is Charlie's ..... of an old farmhouse in North Carolina that we came across.

 



On toward Mississippi.
Marilyn