Howdy 🤠 and Happy Thanksgiving from Bandera, Texas!

After 35 days of being on the road, we put down stakes here on November 1st. It’s the same place we hibernated last year and a place we liked well enough to return to. It’s quaint and relaxed. Winter here is mild and there’s little chance of snow…although I questioned that the other morning when the temperature was a nippy 25 degrees.

All in all, we were pleased with how well Felix (our motor home) fared on the trip, a total of 1,445 miles. Normal wear and tear resulted in something being added to Dave’s to-do list nearly every day; things that wouldn’t have been noticed if we were just sitting idle. But that was to be expected given Felix’s age (17), and all of the to-do’s are relatively minor fixes.

The road to here was quite an interesting journey in learning more about myself, especially my fears. It turns out I have a lot of them: heights, especially in the mountains; other drivers merging onto the highway, of mechanical failure, of tire blowout, rush hour traffic, of getting lost or, even worse, ending up on a dead end street with no way to turn around. Hours of going for point A to point B gave me plenty of time to think.

At 40′ in length, Felix is enough of a challenge to maneuver, but we also tow a 20′ car trailer that usually needs to be disconnected at each campground or RV park. (If you’re wondering why we have the car on a trailer, it has all-wheel drive, and that fact alone disqualifies it from traveling on its own wheels.) To be truthful, I find it to be a pain in the ass, so I asked Dave if he’d consider trading the car in on something that could be towed without a trailer. His answer was a firm “no,” so that’s that. It’s not worth arguing about.

Last week I realized to my surprise that the middle finger on my left hand is bent upwards at the end! It must’ve happened on a trip we took in August. While I was pulling out the ramps of the car trailer, I yanked one so hard that it completely separated from the trailer and slammed down hard on the asphalt, right on top of my fingertip. It hurt like hell for a couple of weeks and was purple for the longest time.

I was feeling self-conscious about having a crooked finger and shared this with some people I met here. To my surprise, some of them showed me their scarred fingers and told me the story of how they got that way. What a relief! I’m not so unique after all and that made me feel better.

It’s good to have roots again, even though they’re shallow and temporary. Many of the RVers who were here last year are back again, so there’s comfort in the familiar. “Cowboy” and his wife Nancy are our neighbors on one side and are actually from Bandera, and our neighbors on the other side are Tom and Priscilla from Ohio who are winter Texans like us.

Yesterday when I went to the post office, I saw a flyer on the bulletin board that caught my eye, and within the hour I had signed up to be a bell ringer during the holidays for the Salvation Army. I also applied to volunteer for Meals on Wheels. They need ‘jumpers’ (people who jump out of the car to deliver the meals) and I could use the exercise.

The way I look at life today is much different than when I was younger. Then, I assumed I’d have all the time in the world to get around to doing all the things I wanted to do. Now, I’m more aware than ever that THIS day is all I have, and service to others is what’s on my heart. I’m grateful I’m able to do it.

Until next time…