A new month and cold weather came with it! We ARE supposed to drop to 30° here tonight! Someone tell the weatherman that this is the Rio Grande Valley and not Canada! Brrrr! Oh well, it won't stay that cold long enough to freeze anything and we have a full tank of propane to run the furnace. After 3 days of cooler weather we'll jump right back to upper 70s for high and upper 50s for lows. Ahh, my kind of winter weather.

We came to South Texas to get away from old man winter. Well, he found us. We awoke this morning to a frozen water hose, frozen low point drain and ice all over everything. We even left the kitchen faucet dripping and the line still froze solid. Luckily, we had filled up our fresh water tank so we still have water. We hope that the Watts water pressure regulator will still work when it thaws!

Getting out of the camper was hectic this morning as there was a sheet of ice on the steps. Even "CJ" wouldn't go down them. Smart dog. I went down them and then picked him up from the doorway and put him on the ground. He went to nearest patch of grass and peed, then wanted to go back inside the camper. I know how he feels. Here's what the steps looked like!


I walked around the camper surveying the damage and it doesn't look too bad. It's what I can't see that worries me. I don't think any lines inside the camper froze but the water hose coming in was frozen solid. I do know the low point drain will need to be fixed as it was dripping, indicating it had frozen and cracked. I sure hope that's the only thing wrong. Here are a couple more shots of the ice and there are about 5 more in the gallery under "Mission". I hope no one else had any damage!

We have to apologize to the thousands of folks who follow our blog and enjoy the content we offer. It seems that at some point in time, Amazon decided to change the way it generates links to items on their site and it effectively disabled the links we had to Amazon. We provide those links so people can see exactly what we are talking about and we also earn a very small amount when you make a purchase at Amazon (and you got there by clicking a link on our site).

Oddly enough, no one told us the links had gone bad but we started receiving emails asking us for more info about certain products we use and/or have reviewed. This got us to checking and that's when we found out about the link problem. Needless to say, we have fixed all of the links and everything is working like it should. Nothing annoys us more than going to a web site that has bad links... especially our site! :)

---

We decided to go back to McAllen Motorsports to speak with the general manager about the pricing his salesman gave us on the Zuma 125cc scooters. The general manager, John, stated that he was entitled to his profit and that's why he charged the unnecessary freight and prep fees. When I explained to him that the MSRP was set so that dealer's already made a profit, he calmly asked me how much profit do I think he should make. I laughed and said I would buy the scooter he had on the floor for $3100 cash right now... he said no! He would not sell the unit without the additional $500 in fees! I told him to have a nice day and Cynthia and I left the store. We called the Cycle Supercenter in Laredo and he said he will call us the minute he gets them in stock.

Folks, if you ever buy a car or motorcycle and the dealer says you must pay freight, destination charges, prep fees or doc fees... they are ripping you off. Tell them you are not paying it and that you will simply go to their competition. If they want your business, they'll knock off those add-on fees. If they don't want your business... they won't.

Summer is here! And it is only mid February! Temps are the mid to upper 80s, clear blue skies and bright sunshine. It is very windy, though... so we keep the awning all rolled up. We've been busy doing things here in the park and not so much outside of it so that's the reason for the lack of updates. We figured you'd get bored hearing about us doing the same old things every week. As soon as that scooter dealer calls me when he has one in stock, then the updates will fly as we plan to put some serious miles on that thing.

CJ the Wonder Dog is doing really good. We bought a quality set of clippers so we could do his haircuts ourselves, only $30 for a Wahl set at Walmart. They work very well and now CJ is looking like an up town dog. Here's a shot of him doing what he does best.


We had a problem with our Progressive Industries EMS (aka surge protector). Whenever we would turn the air on, it would kill the power but would not throw an error code. I called the manufacturer and they sent me a new main board and that solved the problem... for about an hour. The new board keeps cycling the thing on and off. I called them again and they are sending out another new board. They are providing great customer service but I fear I am losing confidence in the product. We shall see what happens when board number 2 arrives. Anyway, time to head to the pool. :)

We did a little mod work on the camper this week, adding new storage for the sewer hoses and setting up a way to drain all the holding tanks without swapping the hose around. This camper has 4 holding tanks on it, 2 gray, 1 black and 1 fresh. Of course, the fresh has it's own little drain cock so that wasn't an issue. The 2 gray tanks are for the shower and bathroom sink and the other for the kitchen sink. The black tank is well, the black tank.

In the image below, the left drain is from the shower and bathroom sink holding tank and the one on the right is for the black tank and the kitchen sink gray tank. Those have their own valve but exit the same 3" pipe. I bought a Y adapter and some more hose, along with a plastic sewer support. I connected it all up and below is the finished assembly. It comes apart easily and will fit in the new storage bins I added under the camper.


I will try to get around to hooking up the solar in the coming week. The panels are in place, I just need to run the wires and connect it all up. It is tedious to do so maybe that is why I am procrastinating.

Yippee! We are scooter owners once again! We bought a 2011 Genuine Blur 220i. It's a 220cc scooter that looks a lot like a miniature sport bike. We wanted one with more power than the 50cc Ruckus we had and this certainly accomplishes that. It comes with a 2 year manufacturer's warranty and roadside assistance as well. We'll go pick it up tomorrow at the dealer, they wanted to get it serviced properly before letting us take it home. We'll think they wanted to make sure the check would clear - LOL. We'll post some pictures tomorrow once we get it home. If you can't wait to see a picture, just Google the make and model and you'll see it. We got the white one, the Storm Trooper version. :)

We're still considering what scooter to get for Cynthia, she has no desire to ride one as big as the Blur 220. We're looking at a Genuine Buddy 125 or 150, and the Yamaha Zuma 125 is still being considered. The Genuine comes in pink so that may be what we end up getting... if the price is right.

I picked up the new scooter today and brought it home. It fits nicely in the bed of the truck but is noticeably larger than the Ruckus. It will be a tight fit to get another scooter in the bed with it, but we'll get it done. I spent most of the dang day fiddling with the cell phone, it went bonkers and I had to reset it and reinstall everything. By the time I got that finished there wasn't much time left to ride. I did make a trip of about 5 miles and the scoot does really well. There is a break-in period so I have to baby it for a while. Here's a shot of it sitting by the camper. What do you think?


The tach on it is analog but everything else is digital. There's even a place to plug in a cell phone which will come in very handy when geocaching. The suspension is a little stiff so I will set it to ride a little softer and I will double check the air pressure in the tires. I'll get lots of riding time in tomorrow and if I can figure out how to mount the video camera, I'll make a video. I'm excited, I can't wait to put some serious miles on this thing! See that massive 9.7 miles already on the odometer?

It was another beautiful day here in South Texas and we were outside enjoying the weather! We went grocery shopping, took the dog for a walk or three and even got in a few games of shuffleboard. Here's an action shot of Cynthia (right) and our friend Carol (left). Her husband, Will, was standing next to me so he wasn't in the shot. Being in a 55+ park, you end up doing what 55+ people do - LOL. The second picture is the new growth on the tree right outside the camper! It is already Spring here!!

Another February comes to an end, but this is my first February 28th where the high was in the 90s! I added some new pictures to the gallery page, under Texas of course. I started taking pictures as I ride the new scooter around and the first ones I have taken are now up. There will be hundreds more as the year progresses so check back with us often. We know how much everyone likes to look at pictures. The picture gallery is the 3rd most popular page on our site, the mods page being first and the blog a very close 2nd.

I hope everyone survived the latest blast of cold. I heard in some places it got so cold that Democrats were putting their hands in their own pockets! If you're offended by that joke... well, lighten up already. See y'all next month!