We arrived in Spring Branch TX on a beautiful sunny day. We enjoyed a short drive day and arrived early afternoon. Bill had us parked and we were set-up quickly and easily. It was so good to be back at The Center for Mental Wellness!

Since none of us had vaccines yet, we weren’t hugging, which made me sad. Fist bumps just aren’t as satisfying when greeting our RV family! This was our third year staying with Cori & Greg at their place, yet there were still many improvements made during our year away. Most of those changes were to the inside of their bardominium style home. When we took off last year, they were still living between the garage and their Chinook. This year all that was left to do was cosmetic finishing touches. Together, Cori and Greg did an awesome job making their house a home, which wasn’t always easy during COVID19 times.

Within a few days of settling in, our first solar install clients arrived and we (mostly Bill) got to work. During our time in TX this year, Bill completed a total of 8 installs. Wow! Its no wonder he was exhausted!

I guess it was good he kept busy with installs though, since there wasn’t a whole lot of anything else going on, which we blamed on COVID. Sadly, we didn’t feel comfortable visiting breweries or wineries, which are plentiful in the area. Last year Cori, Tracy, and I were attending Zumba, but that was canceled also, not that I would have felt comfortable going.

Bill and I did venture out to Austin one day and enjoyed a delicious lunch at Bangers Sausage House and Beer Garden. They had great outside seating and since it was a weekday, it wasn’t crowded at all!

We also felt comfortable eating out at other places that offered outdoor seating, like Josie’s Kitchen in Blanco, and a Mexican place in New Braunfels. Cori and Greg also introduced us to Kafekali & Bakery where we pigged-out on delish kolaches and cinnamon buns.

I’m sure you all heard about it at the time, but we experienced record-breaking weather in TX in February. I took a pic of the Accuweather app to show you.

Having lived most of our lives in the northeast, these temps are not completely foreign to us, but most people in TX were completely out of their element. There are no snow plows, water lines are above ground a lot of times, and they don’t stock salt for roads. There were multiple car pile-ups all over the place. A lot of roads in San Antonio were closed. We hunkered down. Needless to say, we made little solar due to the cloudy skies and snow-covered panels, but even with the rolling electric black-outs, we were ok, as Bill had filled both our 40# propane tanks. Greg, also being from the northeast, had his plumbing installed underground, so while a lot of people in the area (including some in their neighborhood) suffered from frozen pipes, we did not. The only thing that froze was their Rinnai tankless water heater, but thankfully it was ok when it thawed out. Back in 2019 Bill and I, along with Tracy and Lee, got Cori and Greg a propane heater like the ones they have for outdoor patios at restaurants, and they brought that inside to help keep their place warm and toasty since their heat pump didn’t work well in the below-freezing temps. While not the safest solution, it kept them from freezing up and their carbon monoxide detector kept them safe. It was quite the experience.

Thankfully, our clients at Spring Branch RV Park were ok. The deep freeze did put Bill a bit behind, but that’s why we build in extra time when scheduling our clients. It could have been a lot worse for sure.

Warmer temperatures finally returned, but it was time for us to fly to PA for Freya’s second birthday. We double-masked and stayed as far from people as we could. Flights weren’t completely full and we had a row to ourselves a couple of times. We enjoyed an awesome visit with our girls. Derek’s parents and his sister and her family came to celebrate. Michelle made Freya a lemon cake, with lemon icing and topped with fresh raspberries and strawberries. Freya loved it! She also loved the inside-size trampoline we got her! Derek’s parents got her a toddler car, which she also loved.

Of course, Arwen had grown a lot since we’ve seen her last! She was interacting much more and it was obvious she loved watching her big sister!

The day we arrived back in TX, the age requirement for COVID19 vaccines was lowered to 50! I immediately starting looking for a place for us to get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. I would have looked for any but we were concerned about being in town long enough to get the second dose, or finding a place to get the second dose once we left. Four days after the search began, I found a place one and a half hours away and about 20 minutes after we were on our way to our appointment.

Bill tackled a large – aka pricey – maintenance item. We’ve been discussing replacing our steps for a long time. Our (now previous) steps were getting tricky – especially the bottom two, which were slanted downward. That coupled with being extra springy made for a dangerous combo. Bill – guess what? – researched all the options. We chose TorkLift GlowStep Revolution Scissor Steps I’ll be doing a separate post about this so be on the lookout!

How many of you have friends on FaceBook that you’ve never met in person? I generally don’t accept friend requests from people I haven’t met, with a couple of exceptions. Brian was one of those exceptions. We had a lot of people we both knew and he was a long-time blog reader, so when he sent me a request, I accepted it. He and his wife Cindi are recent full-time RVers. Brian and I first became acquainted on the RV-Dreams forum when he started researching. When we learned we would be along their path north to their summer location, we planned a meet-up. We enjoyed finally meeting this couple, and their adorable Beagle Josie, in person! Thanks again for stopping by! Hope our paths cross again!

The following week, we lifted our jacks and began our springtime journey. See you in the next post!

Previous Post: Moving to TX

Next Time: Replacing E.O.M. Steps

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