June 6th: Richmond, TX-1950 miles from Home

The RV is not fixed! There was a part that the mechanic said would not be a problem; however, it has turned out to be a large problem, and they need to order a replacement part from the manufacturer. The part will be shipped here by tomorrow. This means that we are stuck in Houston and will have to take advantage of the Hildebrandt’s hospitality for one more night. Speaking of which, here is a picture of them and us:

While we waited for our errant part we fit in the Johnson Space Center, home of NASA. When we were there we saw actual astronauts training for the upcoming mission to the International Space Station, one of the Saturn rockets, and honest to goodness Moon rocks. We were even able to touch a small fragment of a rock brought back from the Moon. It was a great place to spend an afternoon. The only disappointment was felt by Dad, he had been living under the logical assumption that Mission Control was actually in Houston, it is however in a small town to the South East called Clear Lake. So, when the astronauts say “Houston, we have a problem,” it should actually be “Clear Lake, we have a problem.” Maybe that is splitting hairs, but for an organization that has its members train for years so that they will be exactly correct on a mission, it seems a little lax.

Here is a photo of us in front of the Saturn 5 rocket:

When we got back to the Hildebrandt’s at about ten in the evening they were still up, and waiting to play Capture the Flag. Their property is about five acres of what we would call lawn, I think to them it is just mown weeds, and there are no rocks anywhere. This fact, combined with some good cross fencing and other obstacles, make for a very good Capture the Flag field. All of the kids engaged in this activity until somewhere around two in the morning, while the adults sat up and talked. Yes, you heard me right, my dad stayed up until 2 am, it was a momentous occasion that I doubt will ever be repeated.

Tomorrow we will be heading for the RV repair center to catch the part when it comes in at 10 am. Once that is installed we should be on our way out of town.