A Return to Ft Worth

I admit, it feels good to 'Blog' again.  There is something calming about emptying my brain (and my camera) into this archive.   Here is a chronicle that, when the memory fails, will take me back into a time of adventure that I have been so fortunate to experience.  I only wish that 'Blogging' had been around for more of my life.  It is sad to realize how many adventures I have long forgotten.

I know I will have to rebuild my audience, though in the end, I am aware that this verbal outpouring is more for my pleasure than my readers.   All the same, thank you for coming back.

The last week of April I closed up the house, hired my neighbor's teenage daughter to water some house plants, and drove east.  It was time to pick up Aunt Louise from rehab and get her back to her apartment.

Traveling through southern New Mexico is relatively easy for a boondocker.  The rest stops all allow overnight stays plus there are many truck stops that include showers, restaurants and sometimes dump stations.  The Cracker Barrel on the west side of El Paso is always a good stop for me and I habitually plan to be there for either dinner or breakfast or both.  Another Cracker Barrel in Odessa makes this three day trip fairly doable.   Tucson to Ft Worth is approx. 900 freeway miles.  My cardinal rule is to keep my driving to less than three hours a day but I break that rule every time I make this trip.  Sadly, this is my least favorite drive but one that I seem to have to make on a yearly basis.  Even if it weren't for Aunt Louise, Texas always seems to be in the way to where I'm going.

A few days after I arrived in Ft Worth, sister Mary flew in from Hawaii.  

The weather was becoming ominous but a broken shoulder bone was no big deal.  Aunt Louise assured us she felt well enough to  go to one of her favorite dining spots for fried catfish.

The rains had started rolling in every afternoon and the lakes were cresting, some even overflowing their banks. There was flooding all over the city.

This restaurant sat at the edge of Lake Worth and the three of us took advantage of a brief break in the weather to go out for lunch and a little sightseeing.  We were starting to get daily tornado warnings and were hearing regular stories of roofs blown away or cars wrecked with giant hailstones. 

On the days the weather was so bad we stayed in and went through some of Aunt Louise's photo albums.  I found the above picture taken when she was a career girl creating airplanes for General Dynamics.  Doesn't she just exude professionalism and confidence?  It must be the hat and pearls.  Plus I truly envy that tiny waistline.

On one excursion we found a building downtown that had these giant wood pieces on the walls... 

Here is the detail of that wall Mary is standing in front of.  All wood and cut and pieced in such a way as to give this rather spectacular effect.

(A second wall hanging)

May was almost over when I received two startling phone calls within 24 hours of each other....

the first was that there was an offer on my house and it was good enough not to turn down.

And the second call was that brother-in-law Don, in Florida, was not doing well and was in the hospital--possibly with pneumonia.

I knew without a doubt I would  go to Florida but first I would need to return to Tucson to leave the RV and perhaps empty the house. Mary would stay a few weeks longer with Aunt Louise so I said goodbye and took off at breakneck speed, back that 900 miserable miles.