Lots Of Things

We knew we were definitely not in Hill Country anymore when we encountered several differences:  more and bigger towns and cities,

and therefore, more people and bigger problems like construction and traffic.

There aren’t any hills to speak of, the short, sprawling, twisted limb live oaks give way to tall and stately white oaks, the junipers are replaced by tall pines. There are lots more green grass and water..

The main thing that East Texas has that Hill Country doesn’t is oil.  There are pumps like this everywhere, including in the middle of some very nice golf courses.

Shallow Creek RV near Kilgore (home of the Rangerettes and an oil muserm), is our new home for the next two weeks.  We return to this park every time we are in the area because the rent is reasonable, the sites are long and wide and concrete, and it convenient to our purposes

One of those purposes is pickleball.  We usually played at the Glass Recreation Center in Tyler, about 30 miles sw.

There were lots of people on three courts here in the gym.  (There’s a walking track on the balcony.)  This time, though we were the only two who showed up.  Turns out that since the last time we were here quite a few new courts have opened up in private housing communities in the area.  We were told that pickleball players show up here on Monday nights and Saturday mornings.  Most inconvenient for us.   O well, we practiced for 1 1/2 hours then went home.

After lunch we took the Eagle to Longview (about 20 miles ne)  It was a perfect day for a ride, but we took the bike out mainly to get it inspected, a Texas requirement for all vehicles/trailers before they can be licensed.  Our short stay at Roughneck H-D (roughneck refers to  oil workers) turned into two hours.  We had a brake light out.  Fortunately the service department wasn’t too busy to take a look.  We needed a new switch and a new bulb.  No prob., right?  Right, except to access the switch the tailpipe had to be removed.  O well, we learn to roll with it, don’t we? 

While we waited we looked around the store then walked across the street for some shoppin’ at Sam’s Club.  Finally released with a perfect inspection, we headed toward our last stop and the main reason we come to Kilgore,

family.  Son Jeremy, daughter-in-law Jennifer, gkids Allie and Luke welcomed us with open arms, lasagna for dinner and some catch-up conversation before time for the kids to go to bed and for us to head home.

We will have lots more visits to this house before we leave.  Our son Jesse and his fiancé Kaitlyn will be married here in a little over a week, so we will be seeing our other kids and grandkids as well.

Fun times in store!

Louise and Duane