Friday, November 2, 2012

It's Been A Busy Week

 
I worked on Tuesday and we played on Wednesday.  We came home on Thursday and went to a great birthday party for our friends Teo and Reyna.  It was held in a bar in the old section of downtown Monterrey.  About 75 people showed up, there were drinks, food, music and dancing.  It is an old house turned into a three story business with a terrace on the third floor.  We hung out with about 20 friends up there and chatted away until 1 a.m.
 
Not good for me, I was out of it most of today.   I hustled though this afternoon as Kevin and Ruth will arrive tomorrow to spend a day or two before heading down to Hacienda Contreras to meet up with their motorhome Sherman.  I am looking forward to their visit.  Their room is ready and the house and yard are in good shape for their arrival.
 
On our way home yesterday we stopped at an rv park which is a sister park to where we are staying now in La Feria.  This place is located much closer to McAllen and it is a real jewel, Casa del Valle.   It looks a lot like a Florida resort.   We took a tour with the manager Marie.  She is a hoot and gave a real go around of the place.   We also looked at a couple of mobile homes and park models that are for sale in the park.  We had this crazy idea to buy a place in the valley after the rv park we are staying at had a couple of places for sale.   For 12 to 25K, you can have a place all ready to go, everything included except your clothes.   Some are very modern, up-to-date, and very new.   Surprising, but that is the used market for pre-manufactured homes and park models.  From one season to the next people decide they don't want to come back and just sell it all, lock, stock and barrel.  We are still looking but if you can pick up a deal that costs less than a new car, what the heck. 
 
I found out today that November and December will be slow for my work in Texas.  I am wondering if we should take off to points unknown.   We are thinking about flying from McAllen to Kansas City for Thanksgiving.   I checked out rving, and the cost of fuel outweighs the cost of flying there.   I'm not good at making decisions anymore, I seem to hem haw around and put things off.   We can get a ticket from McAllen for less than 250 dollars.   We have the rv there, we could spend some time there, go to South Padre Island for a week or travel around South Texas before going to K.C.
 
New York and Jersey are a mess.   When Diane Sawyer said, "people are pulling together, rallying around each other, giving a helping hand", I knew it was bullshit.   Turns out now, looting and crime are out of control, people are freezing and there isn't much hope in sight for the next week or two.   The island is a joke, half have full services and are living it up, cross the street and it is danger at night, no water, services, gasoline, etc. and there are no helping hands and no one reaching out.   What a crock.
 
I didn't expect any good out of this.  It just can't be.  When you have 6 million people without electricity, I don't care what country you are in, it cannot be fixed in a matter of days.  That is what happens when people rely on government.   Take care of yourselves people, store supplies; food, water, batteries, a generator, solar panel and batteries, a gun for protection.   These storms are increasing.   I spoke to a woman in McAllen the other day.   She worked as a manager for the power company for thirty years.  She said the grid in the U.S. is shot.   She told me to tell people to plan for the worst and hope for the best.
 
End of story.

3 comments:

  1. Your mind is certainly going in a lot of directions Chris. Only you can make the decisions though. Whether to RV or to fly, I personally would RV as we prefer that lifestyle, the cost of fuel for us is not important. Not that we have any extra to throw around but it's the journey not the destination that counts.

    Interesting comment from that lady about the US grid being shot!! Good advice.

    Enjoy your guests.

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  2. Not as much shot as out-dated. The grid has not kept up with technology or growth. This is one of the reason we always fill the tanks on the motorhome just before we get home so we have the gen. And it happens, run the gen for three days this monsoon season keeping the frigs in the house running as well as the TV/Satellite up. We are self-contained at home, excluding the motorhome, for over a year including protection. Firm believer in being able to take care of one's self. If more were there would not be as much suffering from events like Sandy. My sister-in-law lives in upper Westside and has a store in lower Manhattan in the dark zone. She has been down to the store everyday and everything thus far is good for her. Human nature is to survive at any cost and with the decay in households, trouble is a brewing. Fly, don't drive. This time of year, as you know, the weather can change and take all the fun out of the trip.

    rocmoc n AZ/Mexico

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