Its a cold 49 this morning and we have light showers. The front is thru here and is going to be fall temps for sure. We will have nothing like the Dakotas with snow.

We went to the VA clinic in Fort Worth wednesday and got new meds. Since I am having some chest pain and have been having since early this year, we will be making a trip to Dallas VA hospital to see a cardiologist. I am hoping to be admitted and go to the cath lab and see what is going on. My doctor here is real concerned. He had a new ekg run and compared it to the one from last March to see if there was any difference. None he could detect. We are awaiting a call from Dallas with an appointment.

My new meds consist of a higher dose of high blood pressure medicine, new nitrate for chest pain to be taken daily and the zocor. The nitrate is to relax the chest vessels and prevent pain and a possible heart attack. I have been getting progressivly worse with my cheast pain. It is more often daily and radiates more. And for the first time it affected me on the golf course and has stopped my walking. My weight is not out of bounds for my age and height. I have no other illnesses. Its just part of getting old i guess.

Today is moving day. Our spot is reserved thru the weekend and the new people will be here today. We have a new spot off the hill and near the water for four days. We can only stay here for 14 days in a 28 day month and then we have to leave the campground. We are able to stay in this campground for seven more days from this saturday. There is no other COE park to go to close by. We are in this one as its close to the TRE, train to the hospital for Shirley. Once the hospital calls, we can make further plans.

Once all this is taken care of and we are allowed to travel, we will see my son and family in Dallas and then dughter and family in San Antonio. After that its tofind warme weather and jobs for the winter. We got to work and oay back the high cost of getting started and work on the rv for next year. Plans for next year are to go west and see that which neither of us have seen before. Sounds like a new blog for 2006 to me.

Its a cold 49 this morning and we have light showers. The front is thru here and is going to be fall temps for sure. We will have nothing like the Dakotas with snow.

We went to the VA clinic in Fort Worth wednesday and got new meds. Since I am having some chest pain and have been having since early this year, we will be making a trip to Dallas VA hospital to see a cardiologist. I am hoping to be admitted and go to the cath lab and see what is going on. My doctor here is real concerned. He had a new ekg run and compared it to the one from last March to see if there was any difference. None he could detect. We are awaiting a call from Dallas with an appointment.

My new meds consist of a higher dose of high blood pressure medicine, new nitrate for chest pain to be taken daily and the zocor. The nitrate is to relax the chest vessels and prevent pain and a possible heart attack. I have been getting progressivly worse with my cheast pain. It is more often daily and radiates more. And for the first time it affected me on the golf course and has stopped my walking. My weight is not out of bounds for my age and height. I have no other illnesses. Its just part of getting old i guess.

Today is moving day. Our spot is reserved thru the weekend and the new people will be here today. We have a new spot off the hill and near the water for four days. We can only stay here for 14 days in a 28 day month and then we have to leave the campground. We are able to stay in this campground for seven more days from this saturday. There is no other COE park to go to close by. We are in this one as its close to the TRE, train to the hospital for Shirley. Once the hospital calls, we can make further plans.

Once all this is taken care of and we are allowed to travel, we will see my son and family in Dallas and then dughter and family in San Antonio. After that its tofind warme weather and jobs for the winter. We got to work and oay back the high cost of getting started and work on the rv for next year. Plans for next year are to go west and see that which neither of us have seen before. Sounds like a new blog for 2006 to me.

Downtown Fort Worth from about 15 miles away. the view to the nne our top of the hill location showing the lake level, down 10.5 ft, the dam and the city towers beyond. Just over the dam is a very nice city golf course. Most of the land you see will be under water when the lake level returns.

The forecast is for 40+ winds, temps falling from 60 with early morning rain. Low tomorrow night is 40's. Hello fall.

We got to move so its off to find a new spot, but not on this hill.

We are on a hill top overlooking the lake. We are probably 150 feet above the lake. As a result of this, the winds rise from the lake up the hill. And the big hawks just loved it. They soared and soared for hours. I watched them from the rv and decided to go out and see what pics I could get.




Here is a few of the 20 pics I took. I did delete a couple of them but these are the best. I will re-look at them and see if there are more that I can post for you to see.

Here is four and a half birds I caught.




And here is a pic of three birds.








Another view of our campsite. We got empty tanks here but no oil change. That is too come later.

Today is work day. We got up early to get the planned chores done. We need to find a laundry, change oil in the Cavalier and get a tire on the Cavalier. This will entail driving down the main street of Benbrook and see what we can find. For the oil change, whomever does the rv gets the car too.

Not a laundry in town and the only place with a 14 ft door for the rv does not do rv's. So, it will be off to Alvarado, about 15 miles south of Burleson. We did go to Burleson for the laundry as the other laundry we know of we found to be to dirty to use. This one is on Alta Mesa.

We got back and put the clothes up and went to Don Pablos for lunch. We have been alover the mid west and have not found Mexican or Tex-Mex as good s DP. If you come to the area, find a DP and order the fajitas. So far, there is none better. The chore Shirey's doing right now is defrosting the fredg. Yep, we have one of those and it has to be done. Its work to.

Tomorrow is more to do list. And we are changing our drivers license to a local address for various reasons. Economical is the main one. But, we are going to see my in-laws first but not to early though. So, guys you dont have to worry.

Our new campground. Its on a hill overlooking the lake below and its ok. Would be nice if it were green instead of brown. And even a little bit more on the level side too. As you can see it took some wood under the tires to get it more on level side. All in all it will work. Close enough to drive to the south side VA clinic and dentest. After our appointments, its on to.....after a stop here to see family and then to San Anton to see daughter and son-in-law and kids.

But we got to fix or get fixed the tail light on the left side of the dolly. We have tail lights but no brake or turn. Bought a new light and its the same. If its wiring or a plug, hummmm. I can get wiring, but not a plug. That is probably at the trailer repair shop. And he has the testing eq that I dont have. So, its probably going to the shop for repair.



I had 4 boards, bought 8 more in Du Quoin and used 10 of the 12. Some of them are shown here on the back outside dual and the others are on the front tire. Its not perfectely level but level enough. The fredg cares.

Anyway, its rest and relax time for a bit.

Here is our new location, Benbrook Lake in Benbrook, TX at the Holiday Park COE. Take a close look and see if you can find out what is wrong with this pic. It was a long trip in the motor home. We are, on Friday, on the road for 304 miles from DuQuoin, IL to east Arkansas at a rest area for the night. Closest town was Beulah, AR. We left a moisture ladden campground for the heat and dryness of north central Texas and a chance to dry out. We got mushrooms growing in our wet carpet.


We got up Saturday morning and left after breakfast at 8:00 am. Many hours later we arrived. But not after having to drive around
Dallas from I30 to 635 south to I20 west for a total of 466 miles. The traffic was as usual a nightmare. Shirley many times just looked away and said "I'm closing my eyes". Driving in Dallas in a car is not much fun.

These are just some views of the lake from up high. I took these from our parking space, We got water and elec here with a dump station down the drive.

Can you now tell what is wrong withthese pictures? Its awful brown. Now you got it, its dry. Dont know when it rained here last but its brown. I looked at the lake water level and its down 10.5 feet. This lake is one of many used for water source. It appears to be the first one on the list. The city put in a 96" concrete water main to obtain water from the lake and pump it to the south water treatment plant.


Here is another view of the lake level. The campground borders the lake at this point. Swimming is not a good idea and boating is non-existant. It seems the boat ramps are well above the existing water level making it impossible to put a boat in.

It can and does get dry here in Texas. Oh, it it can be HOT! We are here to see the Dr and dentist. I hope its worth the $352.00 in gas and 770 miles it took to get here.

Pics of the bridge over the Mississippi River on I57 at the IL to MO border. Its a massive structure and its very long. A significant engineering achievement for some firm and the structural engineers and outside detailers. Credit also goes to the steel fab shop and erector of such a project. If your ever in Siuox City< ia, see my coal handling project at the Neal station. One I'm quite proud to have been involved in.

We drove from IL at 8:00 in the morning to a rest stop in AR near Beulah, AR for the night. We gassed up the rv and it took $152.00 and 304 miles. The total trip is about 730 miles. We were the only rv there when we went to bed at 8:30. We were tired. Got up the next morning and we were not alone. We left at 7:30 and headed west with full tummies and gas. We were the 3rd rv out of the rest area. The rest area was overflowing with cars and trucks. The overflow spilled back on the exit ramp to the highway. Lots of cars, rv's and trucks.