Warmer Weather, RV Fire & Memory Demons Flee

 Location: Galveston Island State Park; Galveston, Texas

I pulled out of my campground in North Louisiana early yesterday morning. I was hitching up in 33 degree temperatures with a nippy wind chill. The 4 day forecast was for a little more than 60 hours straight of below freezing temperatures with a low of 14 degrees. If I had stayed, chances were very high some of my pipes would freeze and possible burst creating a mess and a giant pain the a$$ to repair. My two choices were to winterize Liberty or leave for a warmer area. I chose leaving and chose Galveston Island as the best place for me. The forecast here is for about 6 hours of below freezing temperature and a low of 26. That's not a problem, at all.

Hitched up and ready to "get out of Dodge" as the temperature is falling.

This is the obligatory travel pic. It is on US 96 in East Texas heading south.Those streaks on the road is salt brine pre-treatment that TxDot is putting out in preparation for the winter event due to hit as soon as I leave the area. 

Another travel pic of the Coastal Plain between Winnie and High Island. 

As I've mentioned in some of my other blog posts, when near the coast and you go over the Intracoastal Waterway, always time it so you can slow down to take a picture. It is the highest thing around for miles.

Coming off of the ICW bridge. The Gulf of Mexico is a few miles, straight ahead.

This first sight of the Gulf after turning at High Island. It is always a great feeling. That barrier rail on the left is new since I was here last.

That seagull in the middle of the picture is the one who flew off with my memory demons. (It's OK if you think I'm touched in the head, I already know it)

Waiting in line for the Bolivar/Galveston Ferry. I got lucky with a picture of the gulls

I have used the ferry to inspect the top of my RV's for several years. There is a nice observation platform that is right above Liberty. I can zoom in and inspect for cracks or defects. 

This is about the only picture I took from the ferry other than of Liberty. I was distracted by a crazy ole lady with purple hair who was asking about my RV. Her plan was to buy one and move to New Mexico. She said she was a Tic Tok star but her much younger friend was behind her shaking her head NO. It was still a nice ferry ride, as usual.

Campsite 123 at the Bayside section. Nice view out my rear window and I can see the sun set out my door. Good deal, Lucille. 

I arrived around 3 in the afternoon with temps in the mid to upper 50's. Excellent weather to set up camp. When I checked in at the campground office, they advised me the water would be shut off today in preparation for the low tonight of 26. I told them that didn't bother me as I use my freshwater tank and water pump, year round. There are some campers here that will either do without any water, other than bottled water, or they will fill their fresh water tanks for the first time in a very long time. There is no telling what is growing in those tanks since they used them last and really not much time to sanitize it properly. As I'm typing this post, it is 37 degrees with a brisk 25 mph wind and sleet predicted to arrive in 30 minutes. Still not a problem, I have no place to go, although I will ride into town this afternoon to see what I can see. 

The night before I left North Louisiana, I heard what I thought was fireworks. I didn't think much of it at first until I raised my blinds and looked out the window. A few campsites away, an RV was fully engulfed in flames. From hitch to bumper, it was totally on fire. About 15 minutes into the fire, the fire trucks arrived and began spraying water, but the fire was already almost out. As I was hitching up yesterday, a Sheriff's Deputy was making his rounds through the campground and I asked him if anyone was hurt. He said no one was home when the fire happened, which was good news. He didn't know what caused it. The RV next to the fire was scorched real good. That will make you think twice when you're staying in tightly spaced RV parks. That evening, I found my second fire extinguisher on a shelf at the foot of my bed and moved it to the night stand next to the head of the bed. If fire happens in the middle of the night, I may be able to use it to fight back the fire enough to escape out the door instead of trying to climb through one of the 3 emergency windows in Liberty. I'll also do a little more recent research into fire blankets. Like the Boy Scouts, Be Prepared.

It only took about 30 minutes to burn everything. Shocking

This is the next morning. I took it on my way to the dumpster before hitching up.

For those of ya'll that are interested in how my memory demons are doing, they all ran away when I saw the Gulf of Mexico. Almost like magic. Now that they are gone for a while, I can plan a better defense when they most assuredly will return. It's like war, "know thy enemy". I believe everyone has them, in both small and large versions, but a lot of us were trained from childhood to not talk about them. We usually learned to put them away in a dark corner at the back of our mind in hopes they would only surface occasionally and briefly. That works pretty good when you're younger and your mind is occupied with activities of life. When you get older and your mind wanders because you don't have all of the life stressors that you had when you were younger, your demons come out to play. These are just my beliefs. Some people may think I'm crazy for even talking about it, but at my age, it doesn't bother me what they think.

This is not the best sunset, but a sunset none the less.

Ya'll take care of each other. Maybe I'll Cya down the road.