Having just spent two weeks in the cold country in Kentucky we were enjoying mid-seventies temperature in Livingston, Texas, but Norm's father was in critical condition in a Kentucky hospital. After spending only one full day in Livingston we packed up and started on a 950 mile trip back to Kentucky, from where we had just come. We drove until 2:30 a.m. and again stopped at the Wal-Mart parking lot in Brinkley, Arkansas for a nap. By 6:30 a.m. we were on the road again. The drive across Tennessee and Kentucky was interesting as the motorhome seemed to be moving around on the road at speeds of 70-72 mph. We stopped at a rest area and nearly got blown away when we stepped from the motorhome. The wind gusts were 40 mph and were hitting the side of the motorhome.

On arriving at the hospital in Hardinsburg, Kentucky, Norm made a mistake of driving into the parking lot. There was not enough room to turn so we unhooked the Honda and backed the motorhome out. Across the road we parked in a grocery store parking lot. Then the wind and rain got stronger and stronger. Immediately after we entered the hospital tornado warnings were received so all patients were hustled to the first floor corridor. We ran across the road to get a sandwich and got trapped. The rain was so hard we could not leave. After one and a half hours Norm ran across the street, getting soaked, and drove the Honda back to get Linda. What a guy. One tornado destroyed downtown Owensboro forty miles away and one wiped out a pier on the Ohio River fifteen miles away. The driving rain cleaned every bug and speck from our motorhome, but not one drop leaked inside.

The next day we needed to find a place to park the motorhome. Hardinsburg is a town of 1,906 people without a campground. The staff at the hospital put their heads together and recommended a local trailer park and a man named Joe Bennett. The trailer park did not work out as they don't accept short time RV's. We found Joe Bennett at his plumbing business and explained out predicament to him, needing a place to park our motorhome for several days. Joe left his business, got in our Honda, and took us to his home. Joe and his wife Faye are motorhome owners and we have found all RV owners to be fine people. Joe said we could stay as
long as we wanted in his large driveway, showed us where to get fresh water, and the next day he ran a 30 amp electrical circuit to our motorhome. He also had a dump site beside the driveway. We certainly appreciated their hospitality.

Norm's father improved slightly each day and we moved him to a Nursing Home the next week. We helped take care of him and Norm's mother and we spent one day in Louisville visiting Linda's family. It was hard to leave in the beginning and hit the road fulltime leaving elderly parents behind. Once again we were faced with hitting the road, but we decided it was time to go back to Texas.

Two days on the road took us back to Livingston, Texas. When we retired and sold the house in Kentucky we decided to make Texas our home state as they are tax friendly. Kentucky has a state income tax and personal property taxes on vehicles - Texas has none. We already had a Texas address through the Escapees RV Club in Livingston. In Livingston we got the Honda safety inspected, got Texas drivers' licenses, registered to vote and opened a checking account with a bank in Livingston. Over the years Linda has had problems with her eyes and at one time wore double contact lenses (two lenses fused together) plus glasses and in 1996 she had two surgeries on each eye. Well, in Texas she took the eye test to get her driver's license and passed with just her naked eyes.

Our permanent address is a file folder in the mail room at Rainbow's End in Livingston. We did not have time to visit our folder but we will take a picture of it next time we are there. From Livingston we drove south through Houston and across the Colorado River. It is not the same river of that name that flows through the west, but this river has its beginning and end in Texas. It is the longest river, 600 miles, to flow in one state only. We spent the night in Kingsville and drove to the Valley of Texas the next day arriving January 20. Our route took us through Kenedy County, Texas which has a population of 400 residents. Spotting a house in that county is an exciting event.

In the last month we drove the motorhome from Florida to Kentucky to Texas to Kentucky and back to Texas, a total of 4,200 miles. That is not the way we intended to travel. Checking the speedometers of our vehicles we found that since we started fulltiming we had driven the Honda and the motorhome exactly 6,200 miles each. We plan to spend the next two months at Tropic Winds RV Park, Harlingen, Texas. We arrived to find temperatures in the mid-eighties and took advantage of the warm weather to wash the motorhome and wash and wax the Honda.

Shortly after arriving we wanted some real Mexican food so we drove and looked until we found Dora Vela's restaurant. We did not recognize items on the menu so Linda asked our waitress to describe the items. We could not understand what she was saying so we each pointed to an item and the food arrived hot and very good. We still don't know what we ate. Our first weekend in the Valley we attended Taste of South Padre Island at the Convention Center. We enjoyed sampling foods of the different restaurants and the on-stage entertainment. Then we drove north on the island and marveled at all the motorhomes sitting on the beach.

About one mile from our campground is the Iwo Jima monument and museum. This is the working model that the bronze statue was cast from that resides in Arlington, Virginia. The monument weighs 130 tons and is 100 feet high. The museum contains history and artifacts from World War II through Desert Storm and they have a thirty minute film on the Battle of Iwo Jima. The day we visited a volunteer who had fought on Iwo Jima added much history as he explained items in the museum.

Just west of Harlingen in the town of Pharr (pronounced far) we found Smitty's Juke Box Museum. Leo Schmidt operated a business supplying juke boxes and other sound systems to businesses. Along the way he acquired an old juke box that sat in the corner of his shop for years. When he retired he restored the old juke box because he was restless and wanted something to do. That began his collection of old juke boxes that now numbers over forty and is one of the largest collections in the world. His sons, Leo, Jr. and Dennis, help him in the restorations and they still run the business. Many of the juke boxes are working models with baskets of nickels available to play them. While we were marveling at the beautiful juke boxes Leo, Jr. took a break from work and explained the internal working of some of the boxes to us. The museum is free - donations are appreciated.

Returning to Harlingen from Pharr we spotted fields of large aloe plants growing in neat rows. Forever Aloe Vera produces many products from aloe and they display and sell them in their visitor's center. They offer a very interesting movie on growing and processing aloe and give visitors aloe plants as they leave. Admission is free. We are looking  forward to a relaxing and slow paced stay in Harlingen next month.