KERRVILLE, TEXAS - May 6 thru June 3, 2010

Having been here before, we like the Texas “Hill Country” and the town of Kerrville. We decided to stay at Los Robles RV Park which was recommended by friends. It was very nice with very reasonable rates so we signed up for a month.

Mike decided that this was a good time and place to replace our TV. Our old TV had been going downhill for quite some time and Mike wanted to replace it with a larger TV. The cabinet was not big enough for a larger TV so it would have to be removed and replaced with a larger cabinet. The question was, could we live with a larger cabinet intruding into our very confined living space? Let’s find out, says Mike. So about a month ago, he used cardboard and masking tape to enlarge the old cabinet (see photo below) which we have been living with ever since. We found that the larger size was not objectionable so it was a go to build the new cabinet.

This was a big project. A lot of research was done to select and buy the new TV. We purchased a 40” LED flat screen to replace the old 30” LCD flat screen. Since it would take weeks to build and finish the new cabinet, we needed a plan to be able to watch TV during the transition. Mike designed and built a skeleton plywood frame that would hold the new TV. He then removed the old cabinet and installed the new frame in one day. We were watching the new TV that evening.

The new cabinet was designed to be built in modules and attached to the skeleton frame as they were completed. This allowed Mike to break the whole project down to several smaller projects. Having the use of the TV allowed him to take his time and not “rush” the job. The back of our car served as a “garage” to store wood and assembled sections during the project. The wider cabinet also allowed Mike to design and build a more appropriate surround for the fireplace.

Our time in Kerrville was not all work. We did find time to take a couple of day trips and do some socializing at the park. When we left Kerrville, the project was not quite finished. It took about another 4 weeks, working part time, to finally complete everything.

OLD CABINET WITH CARDBOARD ON LEFT AND NEW FINISHED CABINET ON RIGHT

LOS ANGELES TO KERRVILLE, TX - April 12 to May 5, 2010

We left L.A. on April 12th (Mike’s birthday) and headed east. In western New Mexico, traveling along US 60, we happened upon the “Very Large Array” located in the middle of nowhere. This prompted a stop at the visitor’s center to see what’s what. It is a radio astronomy telescope operated by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. The array is comprised of 27 antennas, each of which weighs 230 tons and has a 82 ft. dish. They are all movable and can be positioned in different configurations. Astronomers use this instrument to study the radio waves emitted by celestial objects. Here area couple of pictures:





Note Donna standing near the antenna.

We continued on to “The Ranch”, an Escapee RV Park near Carlsbad, NM to spend a few days. The few days stretched to 2 weeks because our frig quit and we had to wait for parts. We used the time for some day trips and to revisit Carlsbad Caverns. Even though we had been there before we were still awed by the caverns. We took a lot of pictures but with the low light they came out dark so we won’t include any here. After we got the frig fixed, we continued on to Kerrville, Texas.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA - April 5, 2010

When our time was up at the RV Park in Mesa, AZ we decided to go to Los Angeles and visit. We found that there was a space available in an RV Park in Van Nuys for one week. We booked it and took off for L.A. It turned out to be a busy week and we had a wonderful time visiting friends and relatives. Since we lived in the San Fernando Valley for 32 years and owned 3 homes there, we knew a lot of people and places to reminisce with. We did find one day when we didn’t have any plans so we decided to take a nostalgic ride and check out the three houses we used to live in. We found that they hadn’t changed much except for the size of the trees around them. Here are some pictures:

Woodland Hills - 1966 to 1970



Chatsworth - 1970 to 1983



Chatsworth - 1983 to 1998



While visiting with relatives, we were encouraged to attend graduation activities with other relatives on the east coast. These activities were occurring around mid June which was about 2 months away. Since we had planned to spend the month of August in Virginia near Washington, DC, we decided to go early and attend the graduation. Since we had 2 months, we planned to go to Kerrville, TX and spend a month there, then on to eastern PA.