Saturday, December 24, 2016

Dog sitting in Austin

We are house and dog sitting for our son Brad and his family here in Round Rock, TX. Our daughter-in-law, Janet's parents live in Dallas so they headed up that way to visit. They are returning tonight for a Christmas eve dinner that includes latka's.  Janet is unbelievable.

We got our RV back from the dealer yesterday afternoon with oil change, air conditioning service, repaired drawers, and tire extensions that will finally allow me to fill the inside rear tires on the RV. I never though much about how you fill the inside tires on a four tire axle but realized pretty quick that it wasn't too easy. Every day is a new learning experience.

I did an inspection of a small ranch in Rochelle, TX the other day.  The town is located about 2 hours north and west of Austin.  I'm not sure what folks do for a living out there but it is really nice to look at. The scenery goes on forever.  Here is a view from the front yard.
Apparently, it was a little too remote for the folks who built the house a few years ago, so it is currently vacant. 3 bedrooms, modern kitchen and baths, metal barn and it can be yours for a song. Heck of a ride for groceries, however.

Hasta luego!

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Normal in Norman

So the second quarter horse ranch in Oklahoma was in Norman, OK. A much bigger town and an impressive ranch.  The owners breed and race quarter horse champions.  The main residence was impressive and located on 76 acres.  The stable was neat enough to live in. How about these interested faces?
As soon as we stopped the car, they came right over to see who we were.
The one just pushed his way to the front and was probably pretty disappointed we didn't have an apple.  Just amazingly beautiful animals.

I drove two hours to the north and west of Austin into the hill country and saw at least a dozen white tail deer and a road runner.  I still can't get over that bird.   Beep! Beep!  Now, if I could only find Wile E. Coyote.

Today we took the RV in for two recalls, a number of minor repairs, and a state inspection so we can register it in Texas.  It's been 26 years since we lived here.  So much development. The suburbs are now 35 miles from downtown Austin.


Monday, December 19, 2016

On the way to Texas

In case you don't know, I spent the last two years of my full time working career doing insurance loss control inspections on commercial properties. Since we hit the road, I have been working part time doing reviews of other inspector's work. But, every once in awhile, the office needs an inspection in an out of the way place that we happen to be going to.  

On the way to Texas, I had four inspections in western Oklahoma. Two of them were for quarter horse ranches owned by the same couple. The first one was in Cheyenne, OK that had been their original ranch but is now only used for some livestock.

We met this lady and her husband....
Amazingly enough, when we got there they all turned to face us looking to see if we had food for them. It turns out that they are real sweethearts. Perhaps the biggest dogs we have ever seen.

More tomorrow on the ranch in Norman.


Sunday, December 18, 2016

December in Texas

We have finished our first year on the road and it has been a daily learning experience.  It's time to start sharing our adventures and misadventures. So, welcome to the first blog from the Heit's on the road.  

We have decided that this year we will travel shorter distances and explore more deeply. There are so many wonderful places to explore in almost every city and town across America. We still want to visit as many National Parks, Monuments and Sites as possible but we want to also see as much along the way as we can.  We have discovered that if you drive 250-300 miles in any direction that you have new things to discover. Every small town has a museum, unique landmark, or great triple D restaurant.

I'll try to include info on where we have been in the past year along with what's happening now. Last Christmas, we spent at Big Bend National Park on the Rio Grande. When we arrived, it was 72 degrees and we had lunch at a cool outdoor restaurant in our short sleeves.
The next morning we woke up to 4" of snow on the roof of the RV.  So much for following the sun. Everyone told us that we were so lucky as snow almost never happens just across the river from Mexico.  We certainly didn't feel lucky.
Well, this year we are back in Texas for the holidays visiting our kids Brad and Janet and the grand kids.  Austin is warm, right? We got here on Thursday and the temperature was in the 60's.  Yesterday afternoon the temperature was 77 degrees and we had the A/C on. The wind starting blowing last night and by the time we got up this morning, the temperature had dropped to 23 degrees. A 54 degree drop overnight. We have broken out the long sleeve shirts, woolen socks, gloves and hats. The RV is doing fine with temperature and we have figured out how to keep the water running and the hot water heater functioning. 

We are here for a month, getting Texas driver's licenses, registering the vehicles, and just enjoying time with family.