Jim found a pickleball tournament in Rowlett while we were parked in Mansfield and entered. He entered the men's doubles, over 65, skill level 3.5 (yes, pickleball is complicated) so he needed a partner. Another entrant (Tom) also needed a partner and so they teamed up to win the gold medal in their division. A couple of the games were nail biters, but they prevailed in the end. They said they were just keeping it interesting. Yeah, right.
(I wrote this part... :) Jane)
A week before we were due to leave Mansfield, Brian was out of town and I filled in for him at shortstop on his softball team. I was throwing a ball to first base when I felt something pop in my shoulder. At this point, it's looking like it may be a career-ending injury. I'm doing PT to strengthen my shoulder, but I may have played my last softball game. We'll see. The good news is, I can still play pickleball and golf.
November 1st it got better because we moved the "rolling estate" down to the Houston area to be near Chris, Angie and the grandkids for a month. We had fun taking Caleb and Hannah to the movies, Chuck E. Cheese, Jumping World, the park and just playing with them at their house or having them visit us.
Here is Hannah at Jumping World.
Hannah had a birthday in Nov and turned 6.
Caleb will be 9 in Jan.
Brian drove down to the Lynches place and we were all together for Thanksgiving.
We left Houston on Nov 29, spent the night in Ft. Stockton, TX and drove to Lordsburg, NM the next day. I hope I don't offend anyone who may have grown up there, but the best thing I can say about Lordsburg is that I was able to buy diesel for $3.11 a gallon when all the truck stops along the highway were selling it for $3.39 - $3.59.
We gave thanks when we arrived in Casa Grande on time, Dec 1. No wheels fell off the trailer and the truck hummed along like a sewing machine, even in the 30+ mph cross-winds in AZ.
The first day here we finished getting set up, made a trip to Wal-Mart to re-stock our fridge and pantry and then we decided we'd just jump in and start getting involved. I started playing pickleball and Jane has been line dancing. They have dances here every Friday night and we go to a couples dance class on Wed. She's been dancing 5 days a week when you count the classes and dances.
They have 4 different groups of people who play golf every week at various courses around here and I've gotten involved in that as well. While we still haven't found the very elusive warmth for which we search, the people are great. Again, hope not to offend, but the many Canadians here are much nicer than the French Canadians we met last year in the Rio Grande Valley.
This may very well be the friendliest park we've been to. At 3 pm you'll see groups of people in various places sitting in large groups just talking and visiting. Our neighbors told us it was happy hour every day at 3 and we could join them any time. I've met some really nice people playing pickleball and golf and Jane has met friendly folks at the dance classes. It's the total immersion RV park experience. In addition to all the activities, one of Jane's new friends suggested a local church which we attended last week. It was our first time to visit a cowboy church and the pastor was really good. Another line dance friend invited us to her church for their Christmas choir program and we went to that too.
We'll be flying to Dallas on Dec 20 to have Christmas at Brian's house. The Lynches will be driving up from Houston and we'll all be together again. Then, we'll be back here the 29th for the rest of the winter, that is, "if the Lord wills and we live."
At this point, we have no idea what we're doing in April. Up until this point, we have always had plans made about a year in advance. But after four years, we have become a bit lax. We'll just have to figure that out between now and then. Maybe the east coast. Jim still hasn't been to Fenway and we would like to see the baseball hall of fame to make our baseball travels complete.
We wish everyone out there a very merry Christmas, and a wonderful 2019!
