The Status of The Blog

I got this from the couple Peggy and David. I have reprinted only part of it.

Happy Belated Birthday! I would have been on time but had not looked at your blog for a while...you had not been keeping up to date on it!

Happy New Years
Peggy & David
Cheyenne WY


The blog is not updated on any basis as the 2008 RV Travels blog is the one I update. This is where I'm at and the one I post.

I do appreciate your comments and anyone else that wishes to chim in as long as its not a commercial comment.

So go the HERE for the current blog and thanks for stopping by. I really do like to hear from any readers.

On The Road Again

My honey, SO, you know who, got on me for not having today's update. So here it is!

I'm parkd for the night at the rest stop on US I37 north of Corpus on my way to the RGV. We arrived here after 6 long hard hours of driving. I gassed up just before here and put in $125.00 at $2.44.9. This will get me to the park in Mercedes, TX tomorrow, about 4 hours more.

We will stay till the end of February and then head home.Its 73* here and will be windy tomorrow as a cold front is coming thru. Hope I can keep on deiving and not have to stop because of the wind.

That's it from here, I did the up date DEAR!

Now see where I'm at by going to this blog.

We Got New Tires On The RV Today

This is the changing of the tires. I got the price from T & W tire in Burleson, TX. They quoted me a price of $2440 mounted with taxes, stems, balancing and sales tax. It was $120 less per tire than Camping World. May not be the lowest price but it was for here. I got Goodyear G670 245R70, 19.5 with 2308 date code on all tires. Its ready to roll.




The price of the RV went up with the new tires. All that is left for this RV is the new brakes at 90k miles. If someone were to buy this it is a good deal with the amount of work we have had to do to the RV since we got it in 4/05.



These pics were taken with the cell phone and its about as good as it gets. So be happy with the pics and it is a little history of the new tires being installed on that day, 10/23/08. The mileage is 82683.



If your traveling like I see so many with the cheaper gas, be careful out there and have fun.

Another Old Home in Fort Worth

This one is next door to the other one we show. Both are old mansions of owners of bygone days. The could have been bankers, lawyers, cattle barons and oil men. But they are gone and so is the generations after them. This home is just a well kept in appearance as it appears.

When we drove by the people you see were setting up chairs on the front lawn for what looks like a wedding. You can gust see that to the far right of the picture. the car in the fore ground is a guest arriving. It does look like an ideal place to have a wedding since her daddy is footing the bill. One sure bet in today's climate, it will be another marriage in the future for some of them.

There are a very few of these homes left and then they to will be gone someday. The Berkley edition on the near south side is full of large older homes of the 20-30's. There are blocks and blocks of them. I would put the price range in today's market at 433k to 700k. They are mostly very large two story and a few three story homes. In this time period most of these homes had partial to full basements. The square footage would be in the 8k to 15k range on some of them. Just very large. But there are some smaller two and single story homes mixed in. And with the natural gas drilling we see in the area, these same homes will be getting royalty checks in the mail should the proposed drilling permit be passed.

Not much else to say, I did get a call from the Hobbs, NM police about my complaint. I left it that my credit card bank would be doing any follow up and not me since it was or would have been their money. I got one lawsuit now, sure don't need a second.

Gas in the area runs from #2.35 to $2.70. Yes, you read it right, TWO DOLLARS AND CHANGE. Go RV'ing and drive safe. I will be getting new shoes on our coach this week if the weather stays dry. $372 for Goodyear G670 series, load range "g". That's a hundred twenty less than Camping World and the same warranty by Goodyear. See ya down the road later.

And if John and Marie still read this blog, see ya when you get there.

I Got My Refund

There are a few, and its a very few, of the old mansions left in Fort Worth. We litterly stumbled upon this one. Its located just west of the downtown area and off 10th street. Its the current home of a law firm and its just magnificent in its well kept state. Simply outstanding. For those that know of Thistle Hill mansion this is about as large a house but on 1/2 the size of the lot.

I received an email from the hotel corp and there was included a refund notice from the general manager of the hotel that I was getting a refund. The was after my email to corp and before the letters were delivered. With the letters will be proof I was not there the night in question. But its a little to late for the GM.

The Hotel Overcharge and Other News

I filed a complaint on the website and then followed up with a letter. Since the position of the hotel general manager was I had spent the night and she said I did. Well I wrote a letter of inquiry to the Sheriff of the county and did a copy with attachments to the hotel corporate office and to the credit card bank. We will see how that flies with the possibility of credit card abuse or fraud.

And yes I was at home with the necessary receipts to show I was 388 miles away from Hobbs, NM.
There were three documents to that effect for placing myself at some place other that where I was charged for.

No news on the lawsuit at this point. It appears I will go ahead with it. Will cost me some money but it will ruin somebody else. That's the way it will have to be.

Gas here is $3.31 on the west side, $3.35 in town and generally in that price range that I saw today.

RV Tire prices

I called Camping World and got some tire ptices for the RV. They priced me 245R7019.5 which are the right size but I don't know if its the "F" or "G" rating. This was several weeks ago. I'll revise the price when I get ready to buy. As I stated before I have to have tires if I take the RV off the MHS sales lot.

They are to get a price also when their tire person comes there, when ever that is. I'm not in a hurry for it though. All prices will be balanced, mounted and on the RV. The tires we have hold air pressure. But, and its a big but, they are now seven years old and beyond the service life. The max safe age is six years. Seven years is stretching a dangerous situation. The damage a blow out can cause costs much more than a set of tires.

Camping Worlds price for Michelin XRV tires, set of six, is $413.01 plus sales tax.
Camping Worlds price for Goodyear G670 tires, set of six is $496.79 plus sales tax.

I have two other places to get prices from that handle RV tires. They are located close to each other in North Fort Worth. One is Wingfoot, 2563 NE 33rd St, 817-831-6258. The other is TCI #629, 2563 Berner St, 888- 803-9330. I have not called them yet but the website says they service RV's. Once I make the call, I will up date the information and prices here.

A Hotel Overcharge In Hobbs, NM

It seems that my stay in Hobbs, NM was extended by one more day beyond the receipt I got when I checked out. I got a surprise when I was checking the charges on my upcoming statement. I emailed the hotel GM and was told it was a legit charge since I stayed the night.

I emailed the receipt for the hotel stay, my gas receipt and my stop at the dealer for a oil change and state inspection. Each has the same credit card numbers and the time of the purchase. The dealer service receipt has the vehicle mileage as well as the time of the service. The response was that I had stayed the night and there was to be no credit.

I have contacted the hotel corporate office by their website email and advised them of the possible fraud of my credit card. I'm sure I made someone's day with that. I have written a letter, assembled all my receipts and will send all that to the sheriff of the Lea county, NM. A copy of same will be going to my credit card bank as well as the hotel corporate office.

I have stated that the hotel has used my card fraudulently and asked the Sheriff to investigate. The charge will be removed from my statement and I will not have to pay the charge until the charge is investigated. I was at the dealer at 4pm getting service in Fort Worth, 388 miles form Hobbs. I paid and played a round of golf the next morning at 10 am in Fort Worth. My vehicle mileage at the time of service on 9/24/08 and on the service receipt today, 10/4/08, differ by 153 miles. I had service today because of an airbag alert and to get a valid mileage receipt.

I will have to go to the post office to get the three packages weighted and mailed on Monday. The GM there is in a bit of a bind and will be hit hard by her company, my credit card company and hopefull the local sheriff. More on this as it unfolds.

A Traveling Man

It does not look like a very good pic from here.
I'll have to get a better when I go back to Texas.
Its the New Mexico state line just east of Hobbs, NM.
I got an appointment with the lawyer tomorrow, 9/23/08, and will go from there.
I will start a new blog of this in the near future but access will be for
the lawyer to start so he can have access to my latest documents.
At some point in time I will give everyone the address for your viewing.

A New Post After So Long a Wait

"For Sale"

As you can see we still have the motor home. We went to the consignment lot in Alvarado to see the coach and have a walk through. The front coach roof air had not been looked at so I placed a call to the office and had someone come out to us so they could see that we wanted it fixed.

I put a new 2-speed fan motor on last summer and it ran from about July,07 till I got back from the Rio Grand Valley in March of this year. I started the back air and it worked fine but the front air motor just hummed. It will never sell with that not working.

I also asked for the freon level to be checked as the rear a/c did not get cold. Our coach a/c did not come with the ability to have freon added. Back in 05 we had the fill connection added and freon added so the units would run cold. The other item is the price of new tires. The current tires are dated 01 and are at the limit of their usefull life. The rule is at 6 to 7 years change the tires to prevent a blow out. The tires might look good but are weather cracked and will not take the heat from the rolling friction. The cost of a blow out and surrounding coach damage is much more than the $325 price of a new tire or two.

We will have all six (6) replaced. Since there is a spare the best of the seven (7) will be the spare. The current spare holds air pressure and if its the best it will remain the spare.

We need a buyer but we are not desperate. IE, the sell price is not a "Give Away". We own it and not the bank!

Shirley got this and other pics of the humming birds that stop by for a free lunch. I have not seen any other feeders here so we have a corner on the birds. The pics are posted on our picture link.

I have to make a second trip to see a lawyer. My first trip was cut short and I had to cancel the appointment due to a couple of medical issues that showed up from a test for my trouble swallowing. The main issue is a swelling of an artery. My Dr. called me and gave this info.

The aneurysm could be or is life threatening. I had a second test to see just what it looked like and where we go from there. After meeting with the specialists Dr. I will have a follow up in six months and see if the thing is any larger. I just have to be careful with straining of the gut area. I am free to travel and will be getting a new appointment with the lawyer. I have no further comments about this at this time. All further information will be posted either here or on a new blog at a later date which will post the results of the suit.

Once this law suit is filed, my medical issue or issues are seen by the Dr., I will make further plans. The sooner the better as the winter is approaching.

For all of you full timers that read this blog, gas in our area is $3.459 today and has been falling. Diesel prices are still over $4.00. But 200 miles a month travel is still fairly cheap.

The TRE to Dallas

We have arrived at the Intermodule station in Fort Worth, bought our ticket and are awaiting the arrival of the TRE. The TRE goes to the Fort Worth station on Lancaster where in bygone days all trains stopped. Today the station there is a condo and apartment building, The T & P.

Looking south for the first sign of the train as its called.

Still waiting.



Look carefully as I do believe I see lights on the tracks. What do you readers see?

This will be my first train ride since I was a young boy going to grandma's house. In El Paso, TX!

Yep that was my first and last train ride.


This pic with the train going to the left is the front of the train to Dallas.

We boarded with others including some young kids for a ride and an afternoon of doing something that was not very expensive.

You can ride on the car either on the lower seats or as we did go up to the upper seats for a beter view.



This last pic is the south end of the train which will be the front of the train going to Fort Worth.

The ticket price was $1.50 for the old man and I believe $5.00 for my lady companion.

We took a few pics and enjoyed our time on the train.

It's Past Time for an Update

Sorry for the delay but we have been very busy with some excel sheets the last few weeks.

I got an email from Woody about my address and sent him a reply. Have not heard from him since graduation of 1959. Its been a while.

This is the old meeting "hall" or building of the Knights of Ph..." Since I don't have the name written down I'll have to come back and edit this part.



On the ground floor is the Billy Miner saloon and restaurant. Best burgers and fries in the downtown area.

Above the front door is the armor clad knight facing west. You got to look high as he is on the 3rd floor. Best view is from across the street where I took these pics.

We just took the camera and walked around the area after we had dinner and took the pics you see here. We both like living downtown with the no traffic and no crowds.

The eagle is above another building that remains silent. most of what you see here is thru the camera lens and not to visible to the eye.

Come down here and bring your camera and take pics of the buy gone era of this style of construction.

Todays buildings are mostly glass "curtain wall" construction and not nearly as pretty to look at.

More on The Downtown Buildings

The old fire station #1 as it has stood for many years. Its good that the city choose to keep the building and not use the land for other purposes. We are far to much a "throw away" society.



The parking garage shown is on two blocks as you can see. There is an overhead connector parking behind the fire station that is over the street.







Maybe there is a tour of the station and I'll get some inside pics. that would be very interesting.


We have a pink granite county courthouse that is a tv star. If you ever watch "Walker, texas Ranger", you will see the building.


Its still used today and the county offices have expanded greatly to cover several more blocks. The build beyond the red light, not the glass building, is one of the county buildings. they have expanded so much that the county had to build a parking garage for their employees.



We just were walking around with the camera and looking for interesting items on the buildings to take pics of for you to see.

I can't imagine an architect making a drawing of the thing to the right. The rest of the trim items would be easy to make drawings of. I spent many years on a drawing board doing drawings by pencil and a slide rule prior to the first of the hand held calculator. And many more years looking at a computer screen making drawings.


Computers were massive and were card fed and had large tape drives. Give your thanks to the tax dollars spent on the space industry back in the 60's and 70's for what we have today.

Gas at our local station is $3.95.9 for regular. Drive safe and do slow down and save money and see the country at a slower pace. Our 2000 Pace Arrow is still for sale and ready to go.

More of the Downtown Area

Another view of the downtown looking south from N. Henderson St. In the pic from back to front is the "Tower" hit by the tornado on the right, the county courts and jail buildings and in the lower front of the pic over all those signs is the Radio Shack Corporate headquarters and their parking garage.

The news as of yesterday and on yahoo is the purchase by the Tarrant County College of the Radio Shack Buildings. These will be the new downtown campus.

In the pic with the cranes is the then and still in construction of the downtown campus prior to the purchase of the Radio Shack buildings. These buildings will be used for other than campus per the news.

The other pic is of one of the downtown condos. Just one of several that have been built and others that were converted. There is another view from the opposite corner of the condo and it shows the green, growing longhorn.

















If you look real hard at the pic of the front of the condo there is something to see just to the left of the front door. Do you see anything or not?

We have a mystery if you don't see anything. There are more pics to come soon.

Its getting into the upper 90's now and the morning low is in the low 80's some days. Summer arrive 6/21 for sure here in North Texas.

If your driving be careful and watch out for the other guy. Gas at the local Chevron is $3.95.9 per gallon. The golf has been very good too, score wise.

More on the Facade to be Seen Downtown

Standing at the same spot I turned to my right and west of the Worthington Bank is the J. W. Woolworth Building. It has a mens clothier on the ground floor and probably offices above but no signs of the occupants. Over the top of the building and to its south is the advertisement for the Bennigans chain's downtown location. From the "free parking" lots its a one block walk south.

This facade is in full view and probably has another like it on the other corner, to the south.



The main entrance of the Worthington Bank has these columns that go about three floors. The base of the columns is a massive concrete block supporting the columns. Looking up at the top of the columns is the picture of the facade in its ornate glory.

Inaddition to that is the very ornate work on the underside of the floor and more of the additional building face facade. The making of such an artwork would be a task in its self.


I mention the free parking lots, yes there are two of them. Each covers most of a downtown square block. The two blocks are together. One has a local radio station on the corner and the other has the Flying Saucer Bar on its corner. These are free parking after 5pm during the week and on the weekends. The parking meters are free after 6pm and on weekends but check with the local bicycle mounted police to be sure.

And I did say bicycle mounted police. I'll have to get you pics of them and there yellow and black bikes.

There is lots more to show and I will post more in the coming days. Gas at our downtown location is $3.95.9 and at the convience store its $3.97.9. Diesel is well over $4.00 a gallon. I heard it said on the tv weeks age that it could reach $4.10 by July Fourth and another report that after the Olympics it will go back down. I doubt if anyone knows what "down to" really means. The days of $3 dollar gas maybe a thing of the past.

And here we have a motorhome to sell. We don't have any high hopes. But its paid for so it only costs $100 a month at the sales lot. Thats better than the $30 a month at a storage lot, hopefully. Either way the gas cost is zero.

Out and About in Downtown

Every city has these and its going to be forgotten decorations on the older buildings. As these age the time will come for some of them to be demolished. Its a shame to have them come down but we are a "throwaway" society that replaces the old with something newer.

Away up on top of this building is some very unique items that are very hard to see. The only way for us and you to be able to view them is by a zoom lens on a camera. Its an office building with unknown descriptions for the cast stone or concrete that was placed there so many years ago.


This is a larger view of the building showing the top five floors and the location of the items in the larger zoomed picture.

Hopefully some out there will appreciate this and what it meant to somebody when they paid their money to have them as apart of the building.

This is the Worthington Bank building located south of the east "free after 5 and on weekends" parking lot.


There is a park about 2 miles northwest of us and we have gone there twice to have a picnic in the park.

We remembered to take the camera the 2nd time and caught the local habitants at play. Neither of them were very close and we used our 10x zoom to get these closeups.

We watched them for a couple of hours and got more pictures but I am only posting these two on the blogg.



As you can see this one is very play full and had a good time. We enjoyed watching him/she go up and down the tree.

We took our fried chicken, fries, slaw and cold drinks for an afternoon out on a weekend to do something different.

i hope you enjoy these and they following pictures as i get them posted over the next days of our time as we are "out and about in downtown".

The Summer View of Our Back Yard

Now you can compare the two views, this summer to the winter, and see how much the leaves change the picture. We will be going to the ice cream social this afternoon and mingle with the kids. SO will go to the "chick flick" this morning and see "Sex in the city" at the local theater.

We had a casualty in our apartment this morning. I had been smelling burning electrical wiring for a couple of days and this morning I found the source. Our toaster was just a smoking. Out goes the old and later in with the new.

No other news to report this early. Gas is generally $3.87 around town. SO fills her Chevy once a month and I fill my Vue about every two weeks. She drives 1.4 miles round trip to work and I drive round trip to golf and all our other driving that we do. We got the Chevy state inspection and it passed again with flying colors. Not bad for !65,000 miles. Its just getting older and some day it will get to expensive to fix. The last repair was for the drivers window which stopped working. It was a $1.35 part and the bill came to something over $150.00. The car is worth about $200 now so maybe it will last another year. Each month she drives it is worth a car payment of $250.00 or more. The next will be a Cobalt.

Its Wednesday

This was taken last November when all the leaves were gone and you could see the best view to the north. This was just after Shirley had moved in. Now that its late May the following year, the leaves are back and the view is quite different.

A view from the inspection station on the near west side looking back to the east at the downtown area. As you may surmise the grade rises from the left to the right.


And here is th e RV on the lot of Motorhome Specialists in Alvarado, TX. We put it up for sale at $50,000 and after 3 months and no inquiries, we cut the price to $46,500.


Our's is listed in the used section under Class A which is after all the new and used diesel pushers.


Lets all hope it sells soon.



We have an elementary school by our place and the dog lovers go there after school and on the weekends to exercise their dogs. Its all fenced with only one access to the yard so the dogs are safe from other animals. A good time can and has been had by all.

The most popular game is for the dog to go after a ball. A few of the owners do bring a frisbee but not many. They are fun to watch.





There is lots and I mean lots of construction in the downtown and nearby west side. This is a tower crane to our northeast. There is a new condo going up and it is priced abit above the general range of the area. These will be starting in the $700,000 range. Yes thats Seven Hundred Thousand Dollars. The view is to the west and for now the north. The east view is not the best as of now.

I'll get more pics of the construction as time goes by.

We did go out for dinner tonight to Dos Gringos in the Cultural District. A place I've never been to and we had Tex-Mex enchilada's with the refried beans and rice with a coke and water. Not bad and it came to $20 plus tip. I will post the places we have eaten in downtown and give my review.

Good Morning on Memorial Day

I got a very interesting email from my roomy at the VAMC in Dallas last December, 05. I'm going to reprint it here with reference to Jim Pocsik-

When in England at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of empire building by George Bush.

He answered by saying, 'Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.

You could have heard a pin drop.

Then there was a conference in France where a number of international engineers were taking part, including French and American. During a break one of the French engineers came back into the room saying 'Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intended to do, bomb them?' A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: 'Our carriers have three hospitals onboard that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck.. We have eleven such ships; how many does France have? '

You could have heard a pin drop.

A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals from the U.S. , English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies. At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of Officers that included personnel from most of those countries. Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a French admiral suddenly complained that, 'whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English.' He then asked, 'Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French?' Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied 'Maybe it's because the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have to speak German.'

You could have heard a pin drop.

Being a Viet Nam veteran of a combat arm, I remember those that I went to college with that gave their lives for the freedom that I do value and enjoy. I am so glad to have been a member of that group of persons, male and female, that provide to the rest of our nation the rights and freedom's of our Constitution and Bill of Rights which no other country in the world has or enjoys.

So "Thank You" guys for your sacrifice for me and all of our nations people.

I am proud to be an American.

Beginnings of A New Lifestyle

Welcome to our new blog of our life living in Urbanville.

We have moved into an apartment in Urbanville. This would be better known as living in downtown Fort Worth, Texas.


There is the bedroom seen from the living room








and as seen from the bathroom. There is another tv on the dresser for the room mate. and a small table for the laptop and a nice rocking chair to sit in. The rocker is inherited from a grandmother.











The there is the kitchen which is small but large enough for us.









Last but not least is the living room. We also have a large bathroom and walk in closet as well as a small coat closet. This is when the room mate is "computing" in the living room.

And there is a laundry room off the entry with full size washer and dryer. After having a single washer/dryer combination, this is the most desired item.

For those who pass this way, we lived in a 36 foot RV for three years. This apartment is much larger than the RV.

I will be posting more of the area in our "urban living". We have many restaurants here and we will try nearly all of them. Those that we will not be trying will be explained later. But for now we have a movie to see and its time to go.