FINALLY!!!! I finished another carving!!!

It has been a while since I have finished a carving. I started this some time ago. Between working in the park and changing rvs, I haven't had much time to carve. We got the shop set up in the back of the new 5th wheel trailer and our hours here at the park are now 20 hours for the 2 of us, I have the time and the place to work no matter what the weather is like outside. Maybe I can get a few things done now. I have no idea why I decided to carve a beer drinking biker. I don't have a bike and I don't drink beer, go figure. I just got the urge to carve this guy, so I did. I hope people like him, I do.

We are settled in our new house and quite comfortable. Despite the fact that our living quarters are smaller, the work room gives us more freedom. We like it a lot though it is still a little cluttery since we don't have everything put away yet. We will have it in order by the time we leave here next Sunday. We will be headed to Knoxville, TN and our new assingnment at Raccoon Valley Escapees park. Before we report for work we will be making a stop at an rv repair for work on our tv (great picture but no sound), and our microwave/convection oven (will work a few seconds then quit). Hopefully these problems will be resolved before we start working on the 9th. Meantime, we have one more work day here on Sat. The rest of the week we will be fixing up, putting away, and enjoying our last few days at this park. The weather is still kind of springtime iffy, but most of the time it is beautiful. Today was perfect--cloudess deep blue sky, bright sunshine, a cool north wind. We hope you all are enjoying some nice weather too.

Enough for now,

Louise and Duane

NASA Houston visit

Entrance
Lobby

Retired rockets

Paul and Marsha in rocket engine

Duane and Louise on the moon

Astronaut Marsha

Moon rover mockup

Dwarfed by the Mercury rocket & engines

Astronaut Louise

Shuttle command center

Hello from NASA's Space Center Houston. We toured this complex today with friends Paul and Marsha Weaver. The Space Center is home to several displays including a film and artifact timeline gallery of the space programs (where we touched an actual moon rock), an update of current NASA programs, a display of the types of spacesuits used, an inside look of the (hopefully) future space station living module, a walk-through mockup space shuttle, a lots exhibits and hands on activities, and the usual gift shop, food court, and kids' stuff.

From the center guest board a tram for a tour of the Johnson Space Center. This occupies more than 16oo acres and employes more than 14000 people including contractors and civil servants. It is home to Mission Control Center where Space Shuttle missions are monitored and directed from seconds after launch to landing. Astronauts are trained here and the Space Shuttle program is managed. This Center houses more than 800 lbs of lunar rocks and soil. The tram makes two stops. The first is at one of the astronaut training centers. Guests walk an enclosed catwalk viewing several training moduals. The other stop is at a rocket display. Guests see "retired" rockets and engines up close in an outdoor display. Inside the building is a full sized module and all of the fuel cannisters. Guests walk along the assembly while an interpretor explaines the purpose of each stage of the rocket.

We spent the whole day enjoying all the Center had to offer, including some snacks, but excluding the Flight Simulator. Tired and hungry, we stopped for dinner at the Saltgrass Steakhouse, then headed for home. We really enjoyed touring with our new friends and hope to spend more time with them before we have to move on.

Basta por hoy!

Louise and Duane

The BIG switch

Our new house

Our new truck

After a lot of looking and a lot contemplating we made the big move from a motorhome to a 5th wheel trailer. We had been working on several deals for a couple of months now. We decided on the Road Warrior Toy Hauler model. We are going to install cabinets in the garage part and turn it into a place I can carve in and Louise can sew in. Soooo, we bought a Chevy diesel truck to pull the trailer with. The trailer arrived here in Texas yesterday. The dealer brought it down from MI. for us. He wanted me to drive the motorhome up there too make the trade. After thinking about the long trip up there, 1300 miles, and the fact that we are still working for Escapees, I called him and told him that the deal was off. I just didn't have enough time off to make that kind of trip. He called the next day to tell me he was willing to deliver it here. The rest is history. We made a deal on the truck the next day and the trailer arrive yesterday. We have been busy trying to find place for everything that we want to keep with us. Making the change has us going through all the STUFF we have accumualated over the past 4 years and accumclate we did...lol
We had to rent a store and lock and empty all the stuff into it. Now we are making trips back and forth sorting and finding places to put things, no small task.

To make things worse, when I got back to the trailer from the storage bin, Louise came out to tell me that she smelled diesel fuel. I looked under the truck and fuel was POURING out. I called GM road service, they sent a wrecker, towed it to the dealer here. About 3 hours later I get a call that it was ready to pick up. Seems somebody at the factory forgot to tighten the fuel line and it backed way off. Lucky I made it back to campground I guess. I picked up the truck and went back to the storage for more STUFF.

We will be here in Livingston, TX till the end of April. They tell us we are going to Knoxville, TN next. We will be there till August 15th. When our time is up there we plan on doing some sight seeing till the first of the year. We put in for Cogress AZ. for the first 3 moths of next year. Not sure yet if we will get that or not.

Till next time

Duane and Louise