New location - Day 983 (Year 3, Day 251)

Livingston, TX

Very, very thankfully, we made it from Austin to Livingston without incident.  We left at 8:40 am and arrived around 1:00; 225 miles later.  We only took one quick stop at a truck stop off the highway to get some gas and change drivers (I drove 150 miles; Mitch did the rest). It was a boring ride; not much in the way of scenery.  We did have some trouble closing the slides, and then opening them when we arrived, but since we experienced this problem last weekend, we knew we just had to wait about 10 minutes in between pushing the buttons.  We're thankful that the pump didn't completely die.  First thing we did when we got settled was call a local RV tech, so this will get fixed before we have to move again (unless they move us next week!).

I had quite a bit of work to do once we got settled in, so I didn't have much time to explore.  We did need to go out shopping for some Shabbat groceries (fish, veggies for the soup).  The closest HEB is 7 miles away, and it's a teeny, tiny store compared to what we got spoiled by.  Oh well.  I think this area will be much like Bismarck in terms of isolation.

The campground, on the other hand, may turn out to be a bit different.  It's humongous, and is the headquarters of Escapees, a very well established RV club since 1978.  They do a lot of advocacy, helping with domiciling, and the list can go on and on about what they do.  They have properties all over the country, but Livingston is the headquarters.  One of the many services they offer (located here) is a program called CARE - which is a place where people can come either for short or long term rehab, or hospice; pretty much it's a place where if you need medical care for any reason and can't travel any longer, whether permanently or temporarily, you can come here.  They have volunteers who are either full time (in exchange for a camp site) or part timers.  I'm hoping I can volunteer in some capacity while I'm here.

Parking -- I was very impressed.  We actually made it into our spot in 1/2 hour, with no help!!!  Either we're starting to get the hang of this after almost 3 years, or it was just sheer luck.  Still not zim-zam-zoom like some people do, but not 3 hours either!

As for the grounds themselves, it's a large place, with a pool, clubhouse, activity center, CARE and their HQ building.  I'm hoping we'll have some time tomorrow to take our urb-es out and ride around to explore the place.  We're not too far from the office (w/showers and laundry) and there's a lovely dog park across from there.  I've read that the activity center has billiards, ping pong, and tons of board games.  There's also a lounge with tv/videos and a book lending library.  They have numerous activites every day, including a social every day at 4:00, dinner on Thursdays (we could have gone, but the entree was pork and other than mixed veggies, there was nothing either of us could eat).  They have exercise classes during the day and cards or games at night. 

And as for the area - hopefully we'll have a chance to explore a little more, but it doesn't seem like much.  There's a commercial area about 7 miles away (where the HEB was) and we passed through a little town -- seemingly historic district.  Otherwise, lots of open space with a few nice, small homes dotting the landscape.  No farmland that I can see.  I suppose I won't be too miserable here.