James E.

The young man who helped us by replacing our batteries was called James E. He did a good job! When we met, he informed me that his name was James E., and his daddy was James E., but called James. He was called James E., although he was really a Junior, since he and his daddy had the same name. Then barely coming up for air, he told me that he met Stan who had the RV repair business, and that Stan had said, "Well, James E., We went to church together, What are you doing here? etc. etc." The end result was that James E. got hired by Stan, and that was a good thing because he helped raise all of his 13-14 nieces and nephews. He had even yanked a niece by the hair, off her bike, because she did not have the proper helmet on, and he related how the others all wore their helmets now. To top it off, he seemed to have several missing teeth with the remaining discolored, probably from smoking. If you could have heard him talk non-stop and really looked at him, you might have wondered where he learned enough to repair RV's, but he could and did, and we were thankful that James E. came to help us.

When we left the next morning, low and behold, the battery light came on again. So we stopped in Alba and were directed to a Freightliner repair shop where they checked James E's work and learned that the alternator needed to be replaced. This accomplished, we proceeded into the mountains of western Arkansas and found rest for the night at an old KOA site that had changed hands many times, and for the last month was being fixed up by a couple. He was 68 (I had to think if I thought that was old), and she a bit younger but covered by paint splatters. We thought that repairing an older camping facility would be very difficult. The next morning a very blue-eyed young man asked me if our motor home had four slides, and I said yes. He then asked me "Whur ya goin?" Answer, "Texas," was followed by his, "Hope ya git thar." Now if Forest Gump had appeared, I would not have been surprised. We unhooked and started out on our way south through the mountains. We passed through Hatfield, King, and De Queen in rapid order and thought maybe we would be on the lookout for mountain men dressed in bib overalls, with a hat, carrying a gun and ...... Didn't see a one, but I kept a sharp eye out, just in case.

We arrived, mid afternoon, in Livingston, TX, got set up, got our mail, and tried to turn on our TV, but no success, so back on the cell phone to Direct TV again. So we went to the local Walmart for groceries and supplies. HW2 fixed a great dinner of scallops and pasta. The TV repair man comes on Wednesday, and we shall see if he can show us how to work the thing. This technology stuff is hard to learn for a 68 year old man. Cin, cin!