day 19: Windhorst to Wichita Falls, TX

You were called to be free. But don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do anything you want. Rather use it as an opportunity to serve others with love.

Galatians 5:13

25 miles and that’s all I know because Bruce is out with Ron & Brent

Today was a very short day. So short in fact that Bruce beat me to our RV Resort. Again. Here’s my excuse: He left around 8:30 and I went out to see him off and pray for him like I do every morning. Once he road off, I walked around the parking lot and took a few pictures. As I was heading back, 2 guys called out to me. They were caretakers of the church property and had noticed our RV and wanted to donate because one of them had a relative who suffers from MS. We chatted a bit and they told me all about the church and the Grotto and suggested that I go up close to look at it. Which I did. It was fairly interesting and I guess I enjoyed it longer than I intended and that’s how Bruce beat me to Jelly Stone Park.

Today was another reminder that I worry about things way more than Bruce. Coming in to Wichita Falls our highway was joined by another highway from the right and then we soon had to turn on a different highway that split off to the right. The whole thing was a mass of lines and cars and merging and confusion. All while cars were going 75! Thankfully Bruce was in front of me, so I knew that he had already made it through. When I caught up with him at the RV Park I said, “Wow! That was crazy! Did that make you nervous?” He looked at me blankly and said, “what?” Um, the massive amounts of cars and lanes and merging that you had to navigate ON A BIKE!

So back to the speed limits. Harvey’s sweet spot is around 57. Up to 65 isn’t horrible, but I refuse to go 75 on these roads. As the unfortunate amount of speeding tickets I’ve accumulated will attest, I am not typically a slow driver. But I have to say, tooling along at 57 just because I want to is kind of freeing. I AM that RV that you hate to get behind. Hopefully this will make me more patient next time I’m the one behind it. I’m not a totally horrible person though. Every now and then I pull over and let the line of cars following me pass. To my knowledge I have not gotten the finger yet.

Two of Bruce’s friends from Wichita, Brent Miller and Ron Neugent, drove down to meet up with us and hang out for awhile. We gave them the tour of the RV and then Bruce broke out the Crowler he had been saving from the Brewery on the way to Pensacola. Conversations shifted between swimming stories and our trip.

As we were telling one story from last night, Brent and Ron insisted that for transparency’s sake, it should be included in the blog. So in full disclosure, here it is. At some point you were bound to find out that Bruce does indeed have a seldom seen dark side. In most places when we park Harvey for the night, we have to make adjustments so that we will be level. We have these sturdy plastic squares that kinda look like giant legos. We determine which end needs to be higher and drive up onto the squares to make us level. I will include a picture. When we buy new squares. When I had called to ask if we could stay in the church parking lot, I was told to park in the front lot. It was on a hill that sloped 2 directions. I had tried to drive up on the blocks to make us level with no luck. So when Bruce arrived, he was ready to show me how it was done. But every time Bruce tried to drive up on the squares they would just shoot forward. After many attempts at multiple spots around the parking lot, Bruce slammed it in reverse, causing various items in the RV (including everything sitting on the couches and all the clothes in my closet) to fly onto the floor. He turned and glared at me with smoke coming out of his ears and said, “Don’t say A WORD!” So I didn’t. Then he stormed off (as much as you can while driving an RV) and parked in a fairly level, gravel parking lot on the other side of the church. And forgot to pick up the yellow plastic squares. That he will be stopping by WalMart to replace later tonight.

I feel like I need to print a disclaimer in case there are any English teachers reading this. I am very aware that I keep vacillating from one tense to another. I keep planning to be more careful and then the next thing I know, I’ve done it again! Hope that doesn’t make it too painful to read.

We are staying at a really nice RV park called Jellystone Park at Canyon Ranch Resort. Remember what I told you about when it has “resort” in the name? There is a fishing pond, tons of RV sites and cottages, several lodges that you can rent out, ponies and chickens, mini golf, an obstacle course and 4 pools! They are all decked out for Halloween including a haunted grave yard. I can hear creepy music and kids screaming as I type. It has a really neat kids area including the regular plastic climbing equipment, blow up slides, a place to sift out rocks and a GagaBall pit.

While we were all sitting in the living room aka “the couch”, a pickup truck pulled up and a man in an official looking orange & yellow vest got out and sauntered up to our door. “Excuse me,” he said, pointing at our cycle. “Is this your scooter sitting out here?” Uh oh! Did we miss the No Scooter mandate? “Yes, sir. It is” we politely responded, waiting for the hammer to drop. “Well, you were reported driving it around behind the pools earlier this afternoon.” And your point is? “That’s NOT allowed. We want to keep our kids safe here. It’s clearly marked that you are NOT allowed to drive back there.” Busted! Bruce had driven up to swim earlier in the afternoon and apparently did not see the sign and may possibly have put children in danger as he drove 5 mph near the pools. We apologized and promised that it would never happen again. No tickets were issued.

After visiting awhile in the RV, Bruce went with Ron and Brent to have dinner at a Brewery in town in Wichita Falls. As much as I like guy humor and beer, I declined. No offense Ron and Brent. I did enjoy YOUR humor this afternoon.