Saturday morning we checked out of our room at La Quinta, picked up the RV from the mechanic, and checked into Grand Pines RV Resort, about 10 minutes away. It’s a new park so it’s pretty nice – but they really need to mow the grass! Out behind our site we finally had our first viewings of fireflies (AKA lightning bugs, depending on where you’re from), which are very mesmerizing and addictive to watch. The only downside was that the whole time we stood there in the long grass in the dark we were wondering what kinds of creatures (think: ticks) were crawling up our legs. And, sadly, fireflies are almost impossible to get pics of.
Tuesday we decided to check out Gator Country, an alligator rescue/wildlife refuge right across the freeway from our park. If you’re ever in Beaumont, and you enjoy alligators at all, check it out! The place is crazy crawling with gators! Plus tortoises and herons, rescued rodents like skunks, racoons and marmosets; a petting zoo of goats, ducks and geese; a reptile house with all the snakes, turtles, lizards, etc. (and more alligators) one could ever want to see/hold; and one crocodile! I think my desire to see alligators has been fulfilled, at least for the time being.
We found out on Wednesday that the mechanic is running behind schedule, so it looks like we’ll continue staying at Grand Pines until Monday or Tuesday. Good news – they mowed the grass!! The weather right now is atrocious – high 80s, low 90s (only down to the mid 70s overnight) with about 80% humidity, so it doesn’t encourage a lot of outdoor activity. Besides hanging with gators and enjoying the views at the RV park (cute little pond, cattle egrets that show up on the creek every afternoon, lightning all around during a thunderstorm, plus fireflies), we spent the majority of the week catching up on laundry and our favorite TV shows (cell coverage has been so bad lately our hotspot was really struggling – and there’s only so much of the spinning wheel icon one can tolerate, so we haven’t watched much in a few weeks), cooking more delicious meals, and playing Boggle (we’re really obsessed at this point). BTW, part of our obsession with word games is thanks to Jon Ulloa, who convinced us to start playing Wordle every morning. Now we’re playing Mathler as well, LOL. Gotta keep our brains active!
cute little pond in our RV park 
sweet little tortoise 
daily visit from the cattle egrets 
so tiny 
beautiful sunset 
hot rain! 
Brynn checking out the ligtning 
it’s a Hooley sandwich! his favorite place 🙂 
creamy coconut lime salmon + charred brussels sprouts 
TIP: buy cheap Costo bagels & doctor up w/Trader Joe’s seasoning 
green salsa chicken & corn casserole + chips 
mushroom stuffed flank steak + salad 
resting up for the next round of Boggle
Current prognosis is we’ll bring the coach back to the mechanic early next week and find hotel with a kitchen, maybe in Port Arthur (about half an hour away) so that we can explore a new area.
We’re so looking forward to moving on!
random observations
- IMHO it’s a big waste of time, and even counterproductive, to give people a list of 61 RV park rules and say, “Just scribble a signature; you can read them if you want,” and then very obviously refuse to enforce them. What, exactly, are you trying to accomplish?
- Now that we’ve explored Beaumont a bit, I have the following observation: Looking at the prevalent businesses in town, one would assume all the residents go to church, host events at event centers, eat fried chicken, go to urgent care, and then end up at a funeral home.
praise & prayer
As you can tell if you’ve kept up on the blog, we have had several mechanical problems during this journey. From what we’ve read and heard from seasoned RV owners, this is very much to be expected, so we’re not completely surprised. And we’re very grateful that God provided us with extra funds up front so that we can take care of the issues as they arise, and has protected us from dangerous breakdowns along the way. All that being said, Deron is having a difficult time not letting the continuous complications overwhelm him. He really wants to be free to enjoy his retirement and this journey, and to have a clear mind to hear from the Lord to receive direction as we go.
Would you join us in praying that he would trust God, find joy in the midst of the trials, and not let the mechanical issues consume his thoughts?
Schutzonthemove 
Praying for no more mechanical issues!
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Thank you!!
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