Now it's Friday and I'm sitting here at Crestview RV as they put a brake box into our new little HHR "dingy" or "toad" as the towed vehicle is called. This will be the last fixit for now as we will head for College Station tomorrow. There are still three open repairs awaiting parts and we will have to come back here when they come in and that will wrap up the repair adventure.

The Flying Scotsman is now moored back at the River Ranch park on the Guadalupe where we have enjoyed the last couple of nights. Actually our good friends the Neelys have moved their 5th wheel trailer there so are our neighbors again, just like we were when we lived here a year ago.

The RV dealer got most of the major work done and we were able to get back into it on Monday even though it was still parked at thier lot. It's kind of like dejavu as we were in the same little spot a year ago when we first bought the bus. Not quite as scenic as the park on the Guadalupe, eh? Again they gave us the key to the place and after 6pm the dealership is ours to roam about ... quiet neighbors though.

While there, we were invited up to our long time friends, the Hueters, who have a spectacular place on the Guadalupe near Sattler, near the Canyon Lake dam.

Here's the Hueters ... Harvey (retired Army Col), daughter Kellie,(just married with new hubby in Iraq) son Charley, and Pat after our wonderful dinner with them.

Pat and Jo-Anne went to high school together in Canada and Harvey and I served at the same location, time, and place in Vietnam. It is really great to be able to see them as much as we have in both of our travels around the world for almost 40 years.

Last Sunday evening we packed up the critters,

cleaned out the Flying Scotsman of any valuables, and headed for the Holiday Inn in New Braunfels.

While we hated leaving the peaceful and idyllic park on the Guadalupe, we need to get the warrantee stuff done and this is the time and place to do it and it's impossible to have the work done while we are in the RV.

Monday morning we took the RV over to Crestview RVs in Selma and deposited it with our fixit list of about 40 items ... and growing.

Since then we have been lovin' the Holiday Hotel and making daily trips to Camping World for parts and Crestview RV for status updates. As of today most of the repairs have been done but the squeek in the floor was particularly difficult to repair. Eventually additional metal braces were welded in place and new wood flooring as well. We then picked out a suitable linoleum replacement for the whole living area and they should have that installed tonight.

Right now the plan is still to be complete with the update by this Saturday and then be on the road again on Sunday, back to Bryan/College Station. While the motel actually isn't too bad, we miss our coach and will be very ready by the time we get back into it. Bandit and Buster agree!

Here's our two house guests in one of their less demanding moments with the Guadalupe River in the background. And then, Jo-Anne taking Bandit for a stroll along the riverfront.

Today we popped down to the River Walk in San Antonio which is a must do whenever we are here. Today was about 70 degrees and beautiful so a good time for the river. We ate at Paesanos right near the Hard Rock Cafe and had a super lunch.

This is Casa Rio the first restaurant on the river in the 50s I believe.

And the numerous river barges that act as taxis, floating restaurants, and tourist boats.

Here's the new addition to the family, the Chevy HHR ... and no I have no idea what that stands for. The Chrysler Pacifica, which was a really good car but a lease, was returned to its maker today and this new one followed us home. Actually within hours of its purchase we have modified it with the towing brackets which you can see here if you look really, really closely just to the right of the fog light. This will allow the little car to be towed with its feet on the ground which we couldn't do with the Pacifica. The tow dolly has been sold ... "goodbye Dolly ... " sorry.

A quick note about our internet connections. We have continually tried to hook up to wifi wherever we are and that has turned out to be the 50% solution. When the connection is good we are happy and when it's not ... man! We've found that the pay for sites offer the best connection and the free ones don't offer much reliability. The problem is that each park has its own service and they range from pretty good to crap. And you ask the KOA clerk, just after she has fed the goats and donkeys, about how the wifi is doing ... talk about the glassy eyed stare.

So after a year of hit and miss computer stuff we have made the leap to a cell phone based connection. We've subscribed to ATT ( yeah, I hate em too) data connection on their 3G network. With two weeks of service so far it is far above what we have tried to do and we are impressed. So wherever there is cell connection, there should be data for the internet. The plus side is that wherever we are in the US and there is cell connection, there should be internet. We'll let you know ... but so far no more hunting for wifi signals.

Here I am in New Braunfels cooking up a couple of nice fillets. While I'm doing that, let me tell you what we've been up to so far while we are here.

Obviously the Flying Scotsman looks pretty good after the last 9,000 mile trek around North America. Under the good looks some things have started to not function as they were advertised and that is expected.

We've made up a list of the must fix items for the RV ... the nice thing is that none of them are breakdown items, only stuff that needs to be replaced when they shouldn't have broken in only a year. Some examples:

The floor squeeks ... and the company will replace the linoleum and carpet and fix the squeeks.

Fridge door doesn't quite seal properly.

Overhead lights and floor registers cracked.

Washer/Dryer does not function.

And about 20 other items.

Yeah, I know, some really essential stuff. But the dealer takes it very seriously and all will either be replaced or fixed in the next couple of weeks.

In the interim we bought a Chevrolet HHR car to replace our Chrysler Pacifica. While we have enjoyed the Pacifica, it is a lease and needs to go back to its maker fairly soon so we bought a car that could be towed ( a dinghy in the correct terminology) with all its feet on the ground. The HHR will be modified with a towing package starting tomorrow ... yes they will rip apart our new car to put in the towing bracket behind the front bumper and a new trailer hitch receiver in the rear to hold our bikes. And we can sell the tow dolly which has transported the Pacifica quite well over the miles but is a big weight. Getting rid of the trailer and the Pacifica will reduce our weight by about 2000 pounds and it will be interesting to see how that translates to handling the Scotsman in all kinds of terrain and weather??

The HHR stuff will be done tomorrow and Tuesday and then we are planning on the next week to be without the RV and be in a motel until they get the serious stuff done.

After all is done to our happiness, we will move north to College Station to decide on the next part of the adventure.

I would think that around the first of April we will be on the move again ..... we'll see, and keep you posted.