Day 10, 11 - Athens, TX

 

Wednesday (Day 10) - Kind of windy this morning. I brought in the main awning and the window awning as they were flapping quite a bit. But absolutely no noise of flapping of the slide toppers! In the past they would be making enough noise that we would bring in the main living room slide due to the noise. Partly cloudy and temperatures into the mid-70s is enough to have the A/C units running. 

Just out of curiosity, I turned off the shore power last night and ran both furnaces set at 70°F. Propane use was 2% and battery power was 21% after about 13 hours. This is significantly less than we've seen in the past. Both furnaces were cycling on and off just like they are supposed to and the temperature was within one °F in both areas according to the HomeAssistant graphs. This means that dry camping is doable.

I went into Walmart to do some last minute grocery shopping for Christmas Day. I'll be making a bunch of side dishes. Deviled eggs, broccoli w/cheese sauce, green beans, brussel sprouts w/bacon & balsamic, oven roasted baby potatoes, bread dressing like for Thanksgiving, freshly baked rolls w/honey butter, apple pie (bake and serve), and I must be forgetting something.  I'll be heading out shortly for DFW as Bridget is flying back from Chicago. 

Later - It was a pretty windy drive to the airport. Right into a headwind. And Dallas traffic was heavy. Several accidents along the way. Bridget arrived safe and sound.

Thursday (Day 11) - It hit freezing last night and the front furnace reached its limit as far as keeping the space warm. It was 64°F in the morning according to the HomeAssistant temperature sensor located by the swivel rocker and that is with the assistance of the electric space heater. The tile floor in the kitchen area was 59°F. The basement storage isn’t heated like in some other motor homes. But it was better than before. 

Today was a cooking day, at least for a few of the things that can be prepared in advance. We picked up a couple dozen tamales at a local Mexican market. A couple of weeks ago we picked some up at HEB and they were okay. And very small. Like maybe an inch in diameter. These look like tamales we used to make. 

Later - The tamales were pretty tasty but turned out kind of spicy for Garrett’s and Carolyn’s kids.