Christmas morning we were up early again, and it was chilly enough that we really had to force ourselves out from under those warm covers. We really need to break this new habit of getting up so early! Mark and Sue Didelot were getting ready to go to a family Christmas celebration, and we wanted to see them off, and then get on the road to take advantage of the light holiday traffic through Houston.

In spite of the cold, I walked down to the boat launch at White Oak Park to take a couple of photos of the Calcasieu River. I’d love to come back someday and kayak here, but only when it’s a lot warmer! I quickly took my photos and headed back to the motorhome.

We were on the road by 9:15 and enjoyed an easy drive west on Interstate 10, crossing into Texas and sharing the road with only a few cars along the way. I always dread driving through Houston, but this time around it was a piece of cake. There were a handful of cars and a couple of other motorhomes, but not enough to even mention. I don’t think we encountered one eighteen wheeler all day long.

On the west side of Houston we pulled into the Flying J truck stop for fuel, and wondered again who designs their RV islands. Whoever it is, he or she obviously has never driven anything bigger than an SUV! I wanted to get propane, but the only way to do so would have been to pull so far past the fuel island that we would have had to back up to get to it, which is not recommended when towing a dinghy. I decided (again) that we’d wait until we get someplace more convenient to get propane.

Back on the road, it was only another forty miles or so to Columbus and our turnoff. We took State Route 71 north about four miles, turned left on a local road, and arrived at the Colorado River Thousand Trails Preserve about 1:30 p.m. We chose a full hookup RV site with 30 amp electric and got settled in. They have a few 50 amp sites, but none are full hookups, and we wanted to be able to take long showers, and Terry needed to catch up on laundry.

This is our third visit to this particular Thousand Trails campground in three years, and as much as we don’t like falling into ruts, it’s beginning to feel that way. But if you’re going to be in a rut, this is a pretty nice one! The campground is located on the bank of the Colorado River, and pecan trees at many of the campsites give visitors the opportunity to collect enough nuts to make some delicious treats.

A large herd of deer live at the campground, and they have little fear of humans. They graze around the RV sites and pretty much ignore people, unless they get within a few feet of them. I couldn’t resist grabbing my Canon Digital Rebel and getting a few photos of our four legged neighbors.

We really, really need some downtime, and we don’t plan to do much the next couple of days except sleep late, watch TV, cruise the internet, and relax. Lucky me, Miss Terry considers baking peanut butter cookies, pecan pie, and her world famous cinnamon rolls very relaxing!

Thought For The Day – A man has reached middle age when he is cautioned to slow down by his doctor instead of by the police.

Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally

It’s just as well that I’m stuck inside working on the new issue of the Gypsy Journal, because it’s raining again. We had one mostly clear day Wednesday to give us a break, but yesterday it started all over again, with more rain forecast today.

I know a couple of people who want to leave Summerdale, but the ground is so saturated that they aren’t sure they can even get their RVs out of their campsites. As soon as we get the new issue printed and mailed, we’ll be right behind them. I’m ready to head west.

I spent most of yesterday at my computer, except for an hour or so in the afternoon, when I began to get droopy and stretched out on the couch for a nap. We had a late breakfast or an early lunch, depending on what you want to call it, and when evening rolled around, we weren’t really hungry, so Miss Terry made up a batch of her homemade peanut butter cookies, which were delicious with a cold glass of milk. She says she really misses the Avanti gas range and oven she had in our bus conversion, but I think she’s getting the hang of using the convection oven in our Winnebago.

Judging from the responses to my last couple of blog posts, and the many, many e-mails I have received about our problems with our insurance claim, this has really stirred up a hornet’s nest.

Though PoliSeek, whom we purchased our insurance from, has never called me back, yesterday two other agents who sell for National Interstate contacted the bigwigs at that company, after their customers read my blog comments and e-mailed them. One said that she had already lost customers over the issue, who were taking their business elsewhere. The company told one of them that they were already aware of the blog posts on the subject and were going to get the issue resolved immediately.

Suddenly there seems to have been a complete change of attitude on the part of the claims adjuster I have been working with. He called to tell me that they didn’t have to wait for the last set of notarized papers I sent him listing the items stolen, all I needed to do was go out and buy replacements and they would reimburse me. I explained that I don’t have huge piles of money laying around to go on a shopping spree, and that we had acquired those things over time. He said no problem, just find them on the internet and send him a link to web pages showing their prices and they will send me out a check for whatever the total comes to. Suddenly that 180 day time frame that existed to settle the claim in seems to have disappeared.

I’m still waiting for word on the final repairs that have to be made at Camping World, but he assured me that it will all be resolved very quickly. I’m still skeptical, based upon National Interstate’s past performance, but I hope they will now follow through.

And while I’m appreciative of the other agents, whom I have no business dealings with, for going to bat for us, I’m thoroughly pissed that my own agent, PoliSeek still has ignored us. One of the other agents who contacted the company made one phone call, and had three managers from National Interstate contact her within 24 hours to find out the details to get the issue resolved. Why couldn’t PoliSeek do that for me? They sure have made a lot of commission money from my premiums over the years, since they cover our motorhome, two other vehicles, and I used them for coverage on the bus and my motorcycle before I sold them. I also used them to secure insurance for our Gypsy Gathering rallies. They have lost our business, and I will make it a point to tell any other RVers I talk to (and I talk to a lot of RVers over the course of a year), just how bad they treated us.

So yes, things look better, based upon my last conversations with the claims adjuster. But this whole thing leaves me wondering how many people out there have the same problems, but do not have access to the wide audience I do, to vent their frustrations in public, and instead just have to bend over and take it. It shouldn’t have to be that way for anybody.

Thought For The Day – He who knows nothing, doubts nothing.

Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally