Today is Saturday February 27th. And I’m on the road again!! 👍 I was able to pick up my truck Thursday evening. As it turned out, they were not checking the wiring all that time I was worried about. 😬 The gist of it is, they charged the batteries for a day, then determined it was the alternator and ordered the alternator after talking with Nathan. Alternator was installed but the batteries would not hold the charge. So two new batteries were put in after again checking with Nathan! 😃 ( Yep, it takes two batteries! I knew the batteries were 7 years old so it was due and I’m glad to have them.) So the truck was ready to be picked up. Now the question was, how to get there?

I got a ride from two fellow campers, Debbie and Dave. 👍 I had met Debbie and Dave, who were camping next to me, shortly after they came in a couple days ago, because they have a humongous rig by any standards!! So I talked with them later about their rig. He loves sharing how they designed it and had it built. They were following along with my predicament so they offered to take me! The call actually came in that it was ready while I was talking with them. The dealership was going to close in 55 minutes and it was a 41 minute drive. So we piled in their SUV and away we all went! It was kind of like Smokey and the Bandit ! 😂 ( we went right away because they were pulling out in the morning!) He was a great driver ( good thing because I could see in the back seat that he was going 80 mph …but the speed limit is 75) I felt safe in the car and we arrived there with 12 minutes to spare!!! 👍 They waited to make sure I had the truck and it was up and running. They offered to follow me back but I said I was going to do some shopping while I was there. By way of thanks, I was able to find and pick up two 2L bottles of diet mountain dew for Dave (which he likes but could not find that size recently) and a small arrangement of flowers for Debbie. He appreciated it and and she was surprised and very happy with the flowers. 😊

I feel good about the condition of the truck now and am relieved that that is all over! I can feel it actually has better pickup, so it must have been going out over the last few days. In the interim, it got a little sticky at the park with camping. I was on site 31, but had to move Wednesday as my next reservations were for site 37 for 3 days or through Saturday morning. I called right away Tuesday a.m. and explained the situation. They were able to arrange for me to stay at 31, transfer my reservation there and have the other campers take site 37. 🤪 ( 37 was actually a much easier site to get in and out of!!)

But Wednesday morning, the day I would have had to move, I heard a knocking on my RV, and a man identified himself as a park ranger. I was still in bed so I quickly got up and put leggings on under my night shirt . Why is this detail important? You’ll see…When I opened the door, look at who I saw! My jaw almost dropped 😂! And here I am in my night shirt and leggings and this guy is drop dead gorgeous! All he needed was a horse and I’d ride away into the sunset with him!!! 💞🤣

After he identified himself, I said a little bit and then I said, “oh my God, all you need is a horse!” He laughed and said “Well that won’t happen. Horses and I don’t get along…. Don’t let the hat fool you.” 🤩 Then we talked about my situation, and he hated to tell me, but when my reservation was up I would have to find a way to move my rv. 😵March is when the season really takes off and the park will be full. 🤦 Rats!! I said I would do what I could and I really hoped that the truck would be ready by Friday. I would keep them posted. He was very kind as he spoke with me. His name is Robbie and he is the park manager. Insert sigh…😅

In all fairness to my jaw dropping reaction, here is another one of the rangers who I interacted with over this situation. You can see why I reacted the way I did!!

So I got right to making arrangements in case I would have to stay here beyond Saturday. I was able to get reservations in the other Campground loop for next week. But I could not find anything for Saturday. I also thought maybe Debbie and Dave, with the big semi, would be willing to haul my RV over there.

After I was dressed and proper and had completed these arrangements, I called back to the ranger station and asked if Robbie could stop back and problem solve with me, as I had a few ideas. ( Not those kind of ideas!!) He stopped back over after a meeting and we sat out by the picnic table with our masks. I went over what I had already arranged for and that seemed to make a big difference. He said if they needed to, he would ask if any of the park Hosts who had a truck would be willing to move my rv. And in the campground I would move to, they could put me in an empty Host spot, transfer my reservation there and that would cover Saturday. 😀 Wow. Big change.

A bit later I also shared that I thought he had a doppelganger. ( Someone who looks like your identical twin practically). He was surprised to hear that and I showed him this picture of Mark. I met Mark on the beach at Port Aransas. He had recently retired from the police department so he was in his early fifties. He was very recently into camping. But in his early years he had been in the mounted Police and he showed me a picture. We must have been talking about horses when he brought that up. So I showed it to Robbie, and he could kind of see the resemblance. I kidded him and said ” Now you can see how you’d look on a horse!” He chuckled. (I think I feel comfortable interacting and kidding with these guys because of my sons. I really do. As I said, the men’s ages are usually around one or the other of my son’s. Cue another sigh 🤦) He was curious about Mark, so I gave him a little scenario of the guy and that he was now retired and rving. It was nice that Robbie also took the time to talk about other things, too.

That’s it for now. I do have pictures of the big rig. David and Debbie gave me a tour and didn’t mind that I took pictures, so I can share what it looks like inside.

I am now in the State Park in Goliad, Texas. An historic area, so I will have more to share!!