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I spent a couple of hours today stuck between the dueling computers at Thousand Trails, Passport America, and Encore.

As I mentioned yesterday I was trying to use Passport America for our week-out here at Lake Conroe, from this Sunday the 15th to the 22nd. Then we’d come back in on the 22nd until the 5th of November. Then after that, Rinse, Lather, Repeat.

Or at least we’ll see.

But when I called Encore to book our PA stay here, Erica found that she wasn’t able to book us here, apparently due to the ‘G’ section being blocked out due to the power problems. Because of that the computer said that there were no open sites here to book us into, though she found she could book us in here under Encore.

She suggested that they should be able to book it here locally so I should try that. But when I got the Ranger’s Office on the phone, I found they couldn’t either, or didn’t know how to actually book a PA reservation.

First off they said, like Erica, that the park was full next week. So I suggested that they try to book someone in next week under TT and they found they could. But when I ask why they could book under TT but the park is full under PA, they then put me on hold, coming back in about 5 minutes saying they’d talked to Rebecca in the office and she said if they couldn’t book it under PA, then they couldn’t book it all and I was out of luck.

Knowing this wasn’t what Rebecca said yesterday when I talked with her and Randall Cox, the park manager, I made my own call to Rebecca. Turns out that’s not what she said, and they didn’t tell her the entire story. She said to tell them to just force the booking under PA, and if they still couldn’t, to call her back.

Well, they still couldn’t do it. So what they finally did was to book me in under one of the two one week extensions my TT membership has each year. And for only $35 for the week it’s a great deal.

The problem is my membership doesn’t have these extensions. I’ve confirmed this with TT a couple of times. But since $35 is better than the $178.50 cost under PA, I let it ride.

But later in the afternoon, when I went into the TT website to book us back in under TT on the 22nd, it all came back to bite me. Since the TT computer showed me effectively here in the park for three weeks straight, it wouldn’t let me back in for another two weeks starting on the 22nd. Oops!

So I got back on the phone to the TT main office to try and fix it. I ended up talking to a very nice young lady named Jonnette who very quickly fixed the problem, unbooking my one week TT extension, she switch it over to a PA reservation, and then booked us back in to Lake Conroe under TT on the 22nd.

All this only took Jonnette about 5 minutes. Wish I’d been able to talk with her to start with. And hopefully this will all go better next time if we decide to do this again.

The Word of the Day is:  Contumacious

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When I talked about the many problems with the Chicago Soda Tax, leading to its repeal yesterday, I forgot to mention what they want to tax in its place: pot, weed, wacky tobaccy, the ganja.

Do I need to even talk about how well this will work?

Tricia, a long-time friend, commented on the Soda Tax, “I think that these politicians should at least consult with you before they put into place these bonehead ideas.â€

And she’s correct. Nick Russell and I have said many times that the world would be a much better place if people listened to us more.

But apparently they never learn.

About 2:30 I went down to the park office to work out whether or not I’d owed the $15 TT bill that I had gotten in an email. It was kind of confusing since the time period in question was during the hurricane evacuation. Rebecca and I spent about 15 minutes going through my bill line by line, until we found where I did owe the $15.

Next up, I double-checked with Randall Cox, the park manager, to be sure we could use Passport America for our week out here, starting this Sunday, the 15th. Turns out we can. And even better, we don’t have to move.

When I asked Randall if we had to move to a site specially for Passport America users, he said, “No, why would you?†So I told him about our stay at the Countryside RV Park in Apache Junction in 2013.

We stay for two weeks there under our TT membership and then stayed our week out there under Passport America. But Countryside, actually an Encore park, had specific sites set aside for Encore, TT, and PA. So for our week out under PA, we had to move one site to the left for that week. And then at the end of the week, we had to move one site back to the right. But luckily for us, not this time.

So running the numbers, it looks like we’ll be staying here this next week. Here’s how it goes.

Hillcrest RV Park in Punkin, TX  –  $14.50 x 7 = $101.50

Staying here at Lake Conroe      –  $25.50 x 7 = $178.50 
($21.50 PA rate + $4 Resort Fee)

So a $77 difference.

But moving to Hillcrest means an extra 55 miles 3 times a week on my drive down to Clear Lake. Plus the 55 mile round-trip in diesel and gas over there and back for the rig and the truck. And the multiple trips back over to Conroe for dining and shopping.

And then there’s just the hassle of packing up and moving over there. And then back.

So here we stay.

While I was at the office I also ask about the power situation here in the ‘G’ section at Lake Conroe, and was told ‘Monday’. When I ask, “Which Monday?â€, they just smiled and shook their heads.

So as of right now, it’s still red bags as far as the eye can see.

The Word of the Day is:  Tendentious

Thought for the Day:

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