New window treatments for office and guest room

We've been busy the last 10 days putting the finishing touches on the Oriental guest room. We bought a Levolor Top Down Bottom Up cellular shade from Home Depot and a mirror for the dresser we bought at the consignment shop.

There was a padded cornice valance over the bedroom window that was upholstered with a dark brown material and we wanted to replace the material. Mike and I went to Joann's Fabrics in Vero and took one of the decorative pillows on the bed to see if we could match the red in the pillow and comforter. Mike found a red damask that matched perfectly and we bought enough material to cover the valance and have some left over for a dresser scarf.

I had ordered some curtain panels from Penney's I thought would look good in the office, but when I held them up over the windows

DeFuniak Springs to Sebastian

We got up about 7:30 this morning and had checked out of the motel by 8:30 and drove up to the Burger King to have breakfast. We feel pretty good this morning in spite of having to change our motel last night because of the fire at the Econo Lodge where we had reservations and having to scramble to find another place to stay.

After breakfast we headed east on I-10 until we stopped at the Pilot near Marianna for gas ($3.329 a gal). We reached I-75 near Lake City around noon and turned south on I-75. Mike and I were both ready to get home, so we didn't stop for lunch since we had stuff to snack on. We did stop at a rest area to walk Tinker and give him his lunch.

Our next stop was at the TA truck stop at Wildwood at 2:45 to buy gas ($3.499 a gal) before we got on to the Florida Turnpike. We exited the turnpike at exit 244 at St. Cloud and paid our toll of $4.50 (it was $13.50 when we were driving the RV) before driving east on US-192 to I-95 south.

We arrived at exit 56 on I-95 south at 6:20 and got on County Road 512 east. We stopped at the Dairy Queen next to I-95 and got a peanut butter cup Blizzard for Mike and I before we drove on home.

It really seems strange to not see our motorhome sitting in the driveway! We've unloaded what we need for tonight from the car and will unload the rest tomorrow. We're both ready to sleep in our own bed (Sleep Number) tonight.

Today was one day when I didn't take any photos while we were driving, but we've been back and forth on I-95 and I-10 so much that I've gotten photos of most of the interesting sights.

Courthouse Research & Change of motels because of fire

We checked out of the Days Inn at 8:45 and drove over to the Burger King for breakfast. Then we drove over to the St. Landry Parish courthouse to see if we could find any information on Silas Fletcher (Mike's 3rd great grandfather) and his family. I took my laptop with me so I could look up information on Silas if I needed it. We passed through security and took the elevator down to the basement where the county archives are located.

We met Stephanie in the Clerk of Court's office and she turned out to be a great help. I told her I was looking for marriage records dating back to 1813 and 1820. Some of the records have been digitized and she printed off the 1820 marriage record. She said the digital copy of the 1813 record wasn't that good and she would go upstairs and make me a better copy!

In the meantime, she directed me to the land records and other court records for the parish and I started going through the books. I found Silas Fletcher in a deed index and took a photo with my phone.

From Opelousas, LA

I also took photos of the deeds with my phone. We have so little documentation on Silas and his family in the 1800-1820's that it was great to see all of this. Stephanie was a great help and was very patient when I had to ask her for some help (which I tried to keep to a minimum). By 11:00 it was time for us to leave, so I paid the $6 for the marriage records and we left the courthouse.

We decided to drive around a little before leaving Opelousas and found some beautiful old homes in just the few blocks we visited.

From Opelousas, LA

Acton State Historical Site and driving to Opelousas, LA

We got up at 7:00 and had some coffee before we started packing up to leave Chris and Carole's house. We've had a great time visiting with them even if it was only a few days. Carole offered to fix breakfast for us, but we said we would stop somewhere along the way  and grab something to eat.

We left their house about 9:20 and drove north on FM-167 (FM stands for farm market) and made a quick stop at the Acton Cemetery. Chris and Carole told us that Davy Crockett's wife and children were buried there and we wanted to stop and take photos.

We arrived at the Acton Cemetery and found the gates were chained for vehicles, but we had no trouble getting in to walk around.

There is a huge memorial for Elizabeth Crockett

From Granbury, TX to Opelousas, LA

so it wasn't too hard to find her grave and those of her and David's children.

From Granbury, TX to Opelousas, LA

We walked around for about 15 minutes taking photos before getting back into the car.

From Granbury, TX to Opelousas, LA

We stopped at Burger King in Benbrook to get breakfast before heading

Visit with Mike's brother & wife

Yesterday Mike and his brother Chris drove into Granbury to the Goodyear Tire store and Mike bought 2 new tires for the front of the Vue. Then they stopped at RaceTrac and Mike bought got gas for the car ($3.239 a gal).

While Mike and Chris were running their errands, Carole and I went shopping. We went to a couple of boutique shops and stopped at the Benbrook Antique Mall to browse. Tinker has a white stuffed teddy bear that is his favorite toy and it has definitely seen better days. I found a Coca Cola stuffed bear that is almost exactly like the bear he already has. I bought it for $10 - I checked to make sure it didn't have any beads in the stuffing before I bought it.

Last night we went out to eat at one Chris and Carole's favorite Mexican restaurants Mi Familia in Granbury. Mike ordered the beef burrito dinner and I had the beef taco dinner and some Negra Modelo beer.

We just spent today relaxing at the house before we went out to dinner. Chris and Carole are members of the local MOAA (Military Officers Association of America) and tonight was their monthly meeting and dinner at the Pecan Plantation Country Club.

We went early to the dinner because Chris is selling raffle tickets and he needed to be at the check-in table. While Mike and Chris were out at the

San Antonio to Granbury

We checked out of the Motel 6 about 8:45 ($202 for 3 nights) and drove up to the Burger King for breakfast. Mike and I ordered our usual croissants - it definitely can't compare to the breakfast that our friend Mike fixed for us yesterday morning!

After breakfast we drove north on I-35 to Austin

From San Antonio to Granbury, TX

and we saw this "Electric Garden" of large sunflowers that are powered by

Sightseeing at Fort Sam Houston & Ranodolph AFB

Yesterday morning we met our friends Mike and Gayle at the Denney's just up the road from our motel for breakfast. We brought Tinker with us and he stayed in the car with the windows cracked (it's still cool in the low 50's). After breakfast we followed Mike and Gayle out to the RV park where they are staying in their motorhome. We visited with them for quite a while and then went back to our motel for the rest of the day.

This morning we slept in and then drove over to Mike and Gayle's RV for a late breakfast that Mike cooked for all of us. We visited some more and talked about where to go for some sightseeing and decided to visit Randolph Air Force Base and Fort Sam Houston. Fort Sam Houston, Randolph AFB and Lackland AFB have been consolidated into what is now called Joint Base San Antonio.

One of the first things we saw at Randolph AFB was the Missing Man Monument.

From San Antonio, TX

We drove by the 12th Flying Training Wing Headquarters

From San Antonio, TX

and the airfield where we saw some Air Force Primary Trainers.

From San Antonio, TX

After touring around Randolph, we drove over to Fort Sam Houston where

Last look at our motorhome

We got up this morning at 7:00 and after some coffee we started unloading the RV. We had a queen foam mattress topper (we had thought about leaving it, but Cathie said to take it) that we folded and put in the back of the Vue (we folded down the passenger seat backs). We had our clothes, bed linens, coffee maker, coolers for the few groceries we had in the frig and sodas and bottled water, Tinker's folding crate and his food and bowls. There were also the tools Mike brought in case we would need them on the trip here and of course, the tow bar.

We had the cargo box on the back of the car full and the back of the car was full. Tinker has a place on top of the mattress topper where he has room enough to stretch out, but that is all!

Here is one of the last photos we took of our motorhome before we left PPL.

From Last day in motorhome

After we unloaded our belongings from the RV, Mike drove it over to

Our last day in our motorhome

We got up early this morning intending to get an earlier start on the road than usual, but we had an unexpected and helpful visitor. I was just finishing getting everything inside ready to leave WalMart, when I saw an Opelousas police car parked next to us and Mike was talking with the police officer. It turned out that he had a motorhome and saw us parked there and just wanted to talk out RVs. We invited him in to look at our RV and we exchange stories about our camping experiences and maintenance on motorhomes. Mike told him that we had a problem with our hot water heater that had just come up before we left on our trip and that the pilot light wouldn't light. The police officer had had the same problem and told Mike the part to get that might fix the problem and even gave us the name of a local company where we could get the part. We thanked him for his help and advice as he left the RV.

Before leaving we stopped to get gas at the Murphy station ($3.099 a gal). We left WalMart at 9:15 and drove 4 miles over to Southern Mobile Home & RV Supply to get the part for the hot water heater ($20). We left there at 10:00 and got back on I-10 West.

We crossed into Texas at 10:20.

From Last day in motorhome

We stopped at the Flying J in Bridge City at 10:30 to weigh the RV (20,800 lbs) on their scales ($10) and then we got gas ($3.139 a gal). There are 2 things we have to have done before we take the motorhome to PPL Motorhomes. We have to have the RV weighed and we have to have a Texas vehicle safety inspection and an emissions test.
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We stopped for lunch at a Burger King in Winnie, TX at noon. There was a large parking lot next to Burger King where we could park and eat our burgers at the RV. After lunch Mike installed the part for the hot water heater that we bought this morning to see if it would fix our problem. Nope - the pilot light for the hot water heater still won't light. There has to be something else wrong. We got back on I-10 at 12:50 for our next stop in Houston.

We got into Houston an hour later and passed by these large concrete

Driving from DeFuniak Springs, FL to Sulphur, LA

We got an earlier start this morning than we did yesterday. We left WalMart at 9:15 and got back on I-10 heading west to our next destination for tonight. We passed by the USS Alabama after crossing Mobile Bay on I-10.

From DeFuniak Springs, FL to Sulphur, LA

We stopped at a Shell station near Theodore, AL at 12:30 to get gas ($3.259 a gal). There was a Subway at the Shell station, so we decided to get some subs and have them for lunch before we got back on the highway.

We stopped at rest area near Westonia, MS a little after 2:00 to walk Tinker and make some coffee before going on. At exit 267 on I-10 we got onto I-12 towards Baton Rouge and connected with I-10 east of Baton Rouge. I caught a quick glimpse of the Belle of Baton Rouge Casino right after we

Driving from Sebastian to DeFuniak Springs

We finished packing everything we would need for our trip in the RV last night, so we didn't have too much to do this morning. We were up early (at least for us) had coffee and a quick breakfast, pulled the motorhome out of the driveway, hitched up the car and were on the road by 10:00. We drove west to I-95 and headed north to take US-192 west to Kissimmee-St. Cloud to get on the Florida Turnpike.

By the time we reached St. Cloud it was almost time for lunch and we started to look for a place where we could pull off the highway and fix lunch. We found a church parking lot and pulled in there at 11:40 for a quick lunch.

We were back on the road by a little after 12:00 and then continued west on US-192 about 4 miles to the Florida Turnpike. We drove north on the turnpike until we connected with I-75 in Wildwood. The toll for driving the car & RV on the turnpike was $13.50.

We continued north in I-75 to Lake City and then headed west on I-10. We stopped at the Love's Truck Stop in Lee, FL at 4:00 to get gas in the RV and paid $3.359 a gallon. When we were leaving Love's, I saw these donkeys in a field across from the truck stop and snapped a couple of photos.

From Driving from Sebastian to DeFuniak Springs

An hour and a half later we crossed

Getting ready for trip to Houston

We had a 9:00 appointment last Wednesday at Camping World in Cocoa, FL to have the new slide toppers installed.  We went over to the Burger King near Camping World to have breakfast and then drove over to WalMart Supercenter to do a little shopping. Mike also found a place where he could get a hair cut. Then we drove back to Camping World to wait until the RV was ready. Mike bought a new pull cord for the RV awning. We had already paid the $824 for the new slide toppers, but that didn't include removing the old slide toppers and that cost $146. The installation was finished and we were heading home by 2:00.

I just realized that even though I had said we were going to sell the motorhome, that I had failed to mention that we were going to put it on