12/5 – 01/17

Six weeks in Austin,Texas and two weeks in Montana over the Holidays. Where does the time go? Flying back to Montana the week before Christmas it was cold. Lots of minus weather. Forgot how uncomfortable you can be when the wind chill is -25. Unfortunately i didn’t pay much attention to Austin’s weather. Austin got below freezing for over 24 hours and i froze and split the toilet inlet valve and the kitchen sink faucet. So some repairs to do right out of the chute. But I have been back in Austin for a couple weeks and finally I’m rolling towards the Texas Gulf Coast. 

Uncle Jack has a very nice home. I am very comfortable here. That’s most likely ‘cause Jack is never there. Leaves before sunup and home most nights about 7:30pm. Of the three weekends I’ve been here, Jack has been gone two of those to tennis tournaments. Sometimes we have dinner together, sometimes not. It seems to work for both of us. Got most of his plumbing problems solved, no faucets that spin, able to drain tub without a piece of soap to hold it open, garbage disposal washer, a Kohler toilet that flushes correctly and replaced the cartridges in a couple of pressure balanced Kohler shower valves. Uncle Jack may have some Thomson blood in him but the only tools of his i could find was a rusty pair of channel locks. I carry a sufficient amount of tools to do most household chores. 

To be fair to Jack, i usually saw him during the day at Austin Tennis Academy. I was getting a 1/2 hour worth of coaching and ball hitting a day until i spaced out I’m 73 and pulled a calf muscle…Now there is no where good to have this happen but having “Coach Newman” run my rehab and answer all my questions was a blessing. “Coach Dio”, ATA’s Physical Therapist/ massage/ Elite Athlete coach massaged my calf and it hurt so good! It’s been a week and I have lost my limp but it still is sore. Tennis is on the back burner until i get back up to speed. So Allie you can relax for awhile cause I’m not practicing till I’m completely healed.

One of the situations i have run into on this trip is multiple days of overcast. After four days of no sun to replenish my batteries i have to move to where there is some sun. Bill’s alternator will only supply about 5 amp per hour when traveling down the road and my 100 watt solar collector can only do five amps in full sunlight. I have 240 Amp Hour capacity in my Lithium battery bank but once it gets down it’s slow to get it back up. So i installed a 40 amp DC-DC battery charger from Bill to the schooner while staying in Jack’s driveway. So now within a couple hours of driving I’m completely charged up. This has really given me some freedom to stay in these regions where sun can be at a premium. 

The schooner is ….nice. There isn’t much left to change or add. I’m as comfortable in the schooner as i am at home. 

So now I’m at Goliad State Park. During Texas Independence, Santa Ana massacred 400 Texas soldiers who had surrendered here. This is after the Alamo tragedy. It also seems to be home to a large flock of Turkey Vultures. I’m 150 miles south of Austin and about 50 miles from Rockport, TX. I’m here for a couple of days then drive to the island chain that separates Texas from the Gulf of Mexico. Depending on the weather, a few weeks on the Gulf coast. 

Let’s see what tomorrow brings.