Returning Back To Texas Again

Northside RV Park, 2/14/21 

Hello, from the frozen tundra of Waxahachie, Texas.  Here we are on stop number eight of the Tara’s Travel Nursing National Tour.  We’re back in the Lone Star State, where right now (Sunday, 2/14/21 -- Happy Valentine’s Day!) it’s 10 degrees, it’s windy -- don’t get me started on the “feels like” temperature; that’s one of my pet peeves -- and there’s snow and ice on the ground. By tomorrow night, we might be completely out of degrees, as the low could be near 0.  The coldest temperature I ever remember in Texas was 12/24-25/83 when it got down to 5.  What makes it even more unusual is the fact that the cold temperatures aren’t just here for a couple days.  It dipped well below freezing on Friday and won’t be back above it until this coming Friday.

It’s difficult enough trying to endure this weather in a motorhome, but being in Texas makes it more difficult. Our RV park has shut off the water completely.  We’ve been through this before, in Champaign, Illinois, but it’s expected there, and they were able to keep the water on in the public restrooms/showers, and they had a spigot where we could fill water jugs.  Here, we can use my parents’ house or Planet Fitness for showers, and Tara can shower at the hospital on days she works...at least when the roads aren’t icy.  We might start to get a little ripe in a few days.  And yes, we can use our toilets.  We have jugs of water we use to rinse them.  (I’m sure those were unnecessary details, but I know you were wondering.)  Like most RV’s, we have a fresh-water tank, but it’s even too cold to use that.

Parkland Memorial Hospital, Dallas

Tara is once again tending to Covid patients most of the time.  Her current stint is at Dallas’ Parkland Hospital.  While her patients are generally pretty sick, she doesn’t always get the worst of the worst, as has been the case in other places.   She’s had both doses of the vaccine, with minimal side-effects, but we’ve just about come to the conclusion that we’re both immune.  We had a small family get-together for my dad’s 90th birthday in late November.  After showing Covid symptoms, he ended up in the ER with a positive test.  Thankfully, they didn’t keep him, and he was fine after a few days.  Even though Tara and I had spent a lot of time in close contact (before the positive test, of course), miraculously, neither of us tested positive.  Interesting side note: we both have type O blood.

Ellis Co. Courthouse, Waxahachie

For those of you not from Texas, Waxahachie is pronounced (WOKS-a-HAT-chee).  It’s a town of almost 40,000, located about 25 minutes south of downtown Dallas.  Every day that she works, I drive Tara to and from Parkland -- about a 52-mile round trip.  We’ve decided that we won’t have a commute that long anymore.  Not only does it mean a lot of time on I-35E -- many Dallas drivers are apparently insane, FYI -- but it also puts a ton of miles on our Ford Fusion Hybrid.  (A less interesting side note: you don’t see a lot of hybrids in RV parks.  But we have Oregon plates, so we feel obligated to perpetuate the stereotype.)

Tara’s contract, which was supposed to end on February 12th, was extended through March 5th, so it’s almost time to decide where we’re headed next.  There’s a reasonable chance she’ll stay at Parkland for a while longer, or we could be headed east to Georgia, North Carolina, or a locale between here and there.  Wherever it is, I hope it’s someplace warmer than Texas.