05/23/19 - On 5/22, Beth took me to pick up my car.  The repair was a small motor that controls the idling and the final cost was $387.  We knew that there were some thunderstorms and rain to come in toward evening so soon after dinner,  I decided to go back to the RV before the rain.  I am not sure what time it was, but Beth came out and told me that she got an alert on her phone and there is a tornado warning and she felt I should come back in because she has put the family in the basement.  I had been on the computer checking out the radar and thought to myself that I probably should not wait it out in the RV so I got my flip flops and went to the basement with the family.  When they built their house, the added a safe room in the basement. At one time, it got very warm, very quiet and soon two of the girls and Beth heard awful noice as if something was coming and we all went into the safe room.  Antony was upstairs on the porch and listening but then he also came downstairs.  We then lost power and Antony's company computer and server is in the safe room so he had to do some things to turn the server off.  We then decided, it was safe to go back to the RV and then soon after that another tornado warning was issued but only for a half an hour and I decided to just stay in the RV.  Then a severe thunderstorm move through the area.  There was lightening everywhere with lightning bolts and thunder that was very close.  Then of course the rain.  It lasted for a while.  I decided to stay dressed and stay on the couch because they had the tornado watch and severe thunderstorm watch until 4 am.  The electricity came back on at 1:45 am.  I then decided to finally try to go to bed because things got a little quieter.

This morning, I am learning that a tornado touch down with damage but no lost of life in Eldon, Missouri which is only a little over 6 miles from where I am located. Also, a tornado touch down was in Jefferson City, Missouri which is a little over 36 miles north of us and there is alot of damage in that city.  I am just so thankful, that everything in my area is OK.

05/15/19 - On 5/14, I took the car to the auto shop since I had a check light on and problems with idling. I left it for the night and a great niece (Wyett) picked me up and took me home.

Today, I learned that there is a small motor which controls the idling and so they need to order that so the car will be in the shop until Monday.  My niece (Bethany) and two of her children went with us shopping and at one of the stores, I found wonderful home grown tomatoes already so got two because I wanted to make sure they taste good.  I was so excited.  Here are a few pictures of sitting on a hill

                                                        Rear end sitting on the ground

                                                         Front end totally off the ground.

                                                 Front end with my 3 step ladder to get in!!

05/11/19 - For my information:

       Port Isabel, Texas to El Campo, Texas - -  296 miles
       El Campo, Texas to Marshall, Texas - - -   309 miles
       Marshall, Texas to Clinton, Arkansas - -    278 miles
       Clinton, Arkansas to Barnett, Missouri - -  259 miles

                                                 Total:                1142 miles

05/11/19 - On 5/10, I got up a little earlier for some reason and since it was quite chilly, I decided that I would leave earlier and take a longer lunch since I could run the heater in the front.  When I got ready to start the RV, it wouldn't start.  I was so disappointed but called AAA to come and jump start me.  I just had new batteries put in while in Florida so was not sure what the problem was.  Anyway, it took quite a while to get everything together for AAA and he had to some from another little town so got there around 9:40 am.  He put his jumper cables on the batteries and ran it for a little while to give it a jolt before I tried to start it.  He told me to try and again, NOTHING.  He then stated that we needed to try and eliminate things and his first question was "Are you in park?"  I said "yes, my parking break is on".  I then looked at my gear shift and I could not believe what I saw.  I was in reverse all afternoon and all night and because of that my back up camera was also on during that time!  I then went into neutral and it started right up.  He then told me, he felt it probably had enough power to start if I had noticed the problem.  I was so embarrassed but at 10:00 am I was finally on my way.  The rest of the trip went well.  I had a hard time finding a place for lunch since I was on small roads the way but finally at 1:30 pm did find a spot.  Antony gave me excellent directions for my arrival at this house.  He informed me that they were on a school trip and would not be home before I got there but there was a daughter and two of his other children that were home.  When I got there at 4:00 pm.  I took off the car and then waited for him to return since I did not know where he was going to put me. 

They got home very late, we had a quick dinner and then we decided where I should be.  It is very hilly here and so I ended up down below by the house.  Our first try on leveling the RV ended with the plate coming off of one of the levelers so it took quite a while for us to fix that and then because of the hill, we had to built all kinds of layers of wood on the front but we finally got it leveled.  Now, I am so high that I need a two step stool to even get in.  Finally, hooked up and in the shower and to bed.

Today, I slept in late, have the little space heater runnning since I don't have everything set up  to run the big heater but if I need to, I can run the propane furnace.  I need to put some things away and clean up a little but plan to do very little otherwise.  I just hope things dry up a little around here because there is mud all around me as of right now since it has been raining for several hours.  Now, it is just very, very light rain. 

05/09/19 - Early this morning, we had two thunderstorms.  It rained fairly hard at times.  I finally did get back to sleep.

This morning, it is very foggy but visibility isn't too bad so I decided to start out. I had a good trip because there was no rain.  I stopped at a Pilot Truck Stop for gas and it was a smaller truck stop and very, very busy.  We had to wait on the entrance road to even get in line to fill up.  I finally got my gas and had planned to park to have lunch but there was no way.  I then saw across the street at a Shell station there was some parking area off to the side so decided to park there and have lunch.  I wanted to take a good hour since I would be arriving too early to the Walmart in Clinton, Arkansas but soon the semi truck drivers also saw the parking area and before long there was 4 of them in the same area.  I decided to finish up lunch and just leave because  I did not want them to block me in.  So needless to say, I was about an hour early to this Walmart and is it not as big as some and the parking lot is also not as big but I did find some parking.  I needed to get some milk so did that and took are of the car for the night.  The sun was shining so I had a lot more light in the RV which was great.  Around 5 pm and very dark cloud came up and the wind increased so I was getting ready for a storm but it moved out of the area. Thank goodness. I have closed all the windows since it is going down to 51 degrees because I want to keep the heat in the RV.  Will play on the computer for a while and then off to bed.

05/08/19 - This morning, I left El Campo a little after 9 am.  I had good traveling until just before I had planned to stop at a rest area for lunch.  It started to rain but not too heavy and I thought I had figure it out and I should have been only 6 miles from the rest area so decided to keep going and then wait out the storm at the rest area.  Well, I was wrong and the rest area was another 15 miles away but I did finally get there.  It did not rain while I was there but I took alittle longer lunch because  the GPS stated I would be at Walmart by 2:30 pm and that was just a little bit too earlier.  I like to get to a Walmart by around 4 to  4:30 pm.  When I left the rest area, it was not very long before huge very dark blue clouds started to form in the area that I was heading.  Then it started to rain and fairly heavy at times but I still had good visibility so I kept driving.  I got into a little town and all of a sudden the wind came up and the clouds are darker, I decided that I would stop.  When I pulled into this gas station a truck had just pulled in and taken the area I was planning on parking so I moved across the street to a car wash that was not busy.  I waited it out for a while and the cars going south coming from the north, did not have their windshield wipers going and the dark clouds had moved so I decided to start out again.  Soon, it really rained hard but there was little wind but there was a stop off the side of the road and a semi truck was parked so I decided to park behind him. It was not very long before it slowed down and I took off again but it did rain all the way in to the Walmart in Marshall, Texas.  Now, I have clear skies but I checked the weather and they are stating that there is a tornado watch out for this area for the next 3 hours so I will  keep my fingers crossed.  The RV has been working perfectly which is a major relief.  Tonight, it is a little chilly but I will survive.  Just glad that two full days are behind me.

05/07/19 - On 5/6, I started to put things away and get ready to move out on Tuesday.  I had been watching the weather in northern Texas and did not feel good about.  I fretted and stewed most of the day.  I went to the office and asked if I could stay a couple more days and learned that was a possibility.  I went back to the RV and worried some more. Then my computer decided to freeze  up again and so I needed Jesse's help   Laterbefore I could do anything else.  I then decided from the weather forecast that things were not going to get any better all week and that it would be rainy, thunderstormish and possible tornadoes.  I did more preparing to leave.

This morning, I got up earlier than usual because when I know I am going to travel, sleep does not come too easy.  It was rather warm already and very humid so needless to say, I did alot of perspiring.
One of the maintenance man drove by, I waved him done to unhook the sewer from their PVC pipe to my sewer hose.  He was not very happy and when he cut it off with a pocket knife, he left the tape on my end of the hose.  Well, that didn't work, so I asked him to please cut it off.  He did but left it on the ground so I picked it up and threw it away.  I had planned to be ready to leave by 9:30 am but by the time I got the car hooked up, I got to the office at 9:50 am.  I returned the gate opener and wrist bands for the swimming pool and then she already knew my electric bill and I had a deposit still with them so after all was settled, I got a refund of $31.00.  Finally, I am on my way, when something was not right, well, well, I left the cushion for my back support in the car so stopped along the side of the road, got the cushion and now am on my way.  I  had good traveling, only one time it sprinkled but fought the wind all  the way and that slows things down.  I safely arrived at the Walmart in El Campo, Texas at 4:45pm.  It wasn't long before we had about a 5 minute pour down.  As soon as it stopped, I went out to take care of the car for the night.  It has now rained twice and by the looks of the clouds we are not done yet but no thunderstorm at this time.  I have had dinner and will do some things on the computer, run the generator and then go to bed earlier.  It is darker because of the rain clouds so will hinder reading but will be able to do things on the computer.    I am so glad the first day is done.  Two and half more to do.