a. I should have said "when the Rays and we are motor homing."
b. I don't know how Blogger decides to put in spaces between paragraphs. Report 1 didn't look like that -- especially the itinerary -- on the screen before I posted it. Oh, well. I've seen professional bloggers complaining about Blogger.
Saturday, April 28.
Ken and Elsie, along with their two sons and their families, all of whom now live in the Abilene area, have spent much of their "spare time" the last year "flipping" two houses: buying houses badly needing renovation and doing major work to rehabilitate the houses. They gave us a tour of the second house, now nearing completion. This one featured an attic that became a three-bedroom second floor, complete with a new staircase to get there. Pretty impressive. A lot of hard work, though, and they're ready to put that business on hold for a while.
Here are a couple of pictures of their house and yard, and them, not one of their flipped houses.
Sunday turned out to be College Day at Aldersgate United Methodist Church, where we met the Rays in 05. There were various university singers and musicians leading the service and the the church's campus ministry director -- an enthusiastic young man -- had a great message, illustrated by several McMurry U artists. Theme was that we are not an accident -- we have been created for a purpose. Also, it's not an easy process -- illustrated by a potter, right there in the front of the church, who puts stress on a spinning lump of clay to create something beautiful and functional -- cup, teakettle, plate, vase, ..., all different, all having their function. A parallel illustration: every word a poet uses has a purpose. "God don't make junk," as the saying goes.
Heavy rain Sunday night, 1.5 in., and windy, but nothing severe. Monday morning we're off to Fredericksburg. About 180 miles from Abilene, beautiful drive -- mesquite trees with the light green of new leaves, wildflowers of various sorts, more shades of green from pastures and live oaks, all against a purple background of clouds. Sorry, no pictures, but maybe as we do some car touring the next few days.
Went through a couple of county seats. Here's a 2005 picture of a courthouse along the way.
In F-burg the Magellan GPS misdirects us and we end up turning around in a HS parking lot in order to make our way to the RV park. If I'd looked at the map provided by the RV park, I would have known better, but I chose to trust Magellan. Oh, well. We did a leisurely set up, went to the visitor center, walked a couple of downtown blocks, particularly enjoyed a couple of art galleries, ate, and returned to the RV park. Here's a historical house in downtown Fredericksburg.
Our leisurely pace his day is decidedly different from that of the same four people who did Florence in a day, Rome in a day, etc. two years ago. See: http://rgeasterling.com/05AbileneReport/Abilene%20Report%203-final.htm. We plan for more of the same this week.
Yawn, more later.
Cheers,
Susie and Rob
Day 2 starts with an unusual problem -- About 6:30 am I start to leave for a trip to the KOA facilities and I can't unlock the front door. That's the only door. The lock had been working smoothly, up to now, but I can't budge the deadbolt knob. What to do? I could wait until someone walks by and throw them a key and see if the door will unlock from the outside. The wait might be too long and would be embarrassing. I could force the knob, but that might make things worse. I could go out the emergency window -- but I'm not sure but what when I release its latches, it might crash to the ground, which you would want in an emergency but not now. So, I decide to climb out the driver's side window. The decorative bed spread is laying nearby (we have daily rituals of unmaking the bed and making the bed) so I get the idea to lay it over the window sill and hang it down the outside to protect the motor home. I squeeze out backwards, dangle, and drop lightly, catlike, to the ground. The lock won't budge from the outside either, not surprisingly, so I get a screwdriver out of my toolbox, get the ladder out of the basement, climb back inside and with a little bit of work -- the knob was lined up with the screws -- take the back off the lock. Still can't retract the deadbolt, so it's back through the window and somehow working the key in the loosened lock retracts the bolt. There is a second door lock, so we won't be without security until I get the lock replaced. Getting the back of the lock back on just to hold the lock on proves difficult -- a three-hand job with only two hands. Susie soon arises, though, I tell her about the excitement, and together we soon get the lock secured and away we go.
You may remember that Malia received a Buddhist blessing in China in December. Now, according to your point of view, she's either protected in two religions or this baptism overrides the Buddhist blessing.
Here, tourists (Jason, Karen, and Mike) stroll the portico of the Palace of Governors in Santa Fe.
