Feb 19 - 21 Fredericksburg, Uvalde

On Friday, 19th, we had a good day - went to Wal Mart and got some needed supplies, talked to the people at the post office about changing our address, went to Social Hour, met with the current managers and worked out our schedule for the month of March. 

We made arrangements to drive up to Fredricksburg to meet Jim/Joan and go to the Nimitz Museum on Sat.  We had a wonderful breakfast buffet at the Azteca Mexican restaurant in Hondo (rice pudding to die for), and so our day started at 7:30 am.  By the time we got to Fredricksburg it was 10:30, and we were off to the museum.  I can't say enough about it - it was fabulous.  We took many many pictures, which don't do it justice - suffice to say we spent about 4.5 hours there. 

When we left there, we stopped at the book and gift shop, and the lady there said the best 'german' food was at Der Lindenbaum, about 3 doors down from there.  We went there for an early dinner - David had goulash that was fantastic!  I had a special which was a frankfurter, local sausage, saurkraut, german potato salad, homemade rye bread...yum yum!  We topped off this feast with a slice of lemon merengue cake that we shared...WOW!

Here are some of the flowers in pots along the streets there...Janet, these are for you :) 

When we got ready to leave (at 3:30) we discovered I had a flat tire.  We called Good Sam ERS and waited and waited and waited.  We finally got back on the road at 5:30...I was pretty unhappy, because I don't like to drive on roads I don't know after dark!  We got home about 7:30, so it wasn't too bad.

We got up to a spectacularly nice day - high was to be 76 (although it got up to 79!), and had a leisurely breakfast - I made french toast, sausage and eggs.  We took Cinder with us and set off to explore Uvalde, about 40 miles away.  It was a great trip, the town population is about 15,000 so bigger than Hondo, and they have a lovely park and the usual stores.  There is a place called The Oasis - which is kind of like a miniature Cabela's, with a fabulous restaurant with terrific BBQ! 

We came home and just vegged out in the shade by the MH...this evening I went over to the clubhouse and played card bingo - I won 1 game which put me 80 cents ahead...I'm rich!

Feb 12 through 18

Well, it has been an eventful week!!! 

Saturday was Goliad market days, and we caravaned up - Joe, Sandy, Marlene and Dewayne and Marlene in 1 vehicle, Jim/Joan and David and I in ours.  There were lots of vendors, and it was simply a gorgeous day!  We had a fantastic lunch at Blue Quail Deli, and several of the folks had the 'famous' cream of jalapeno soup...I had a bite and it was good, but it was spicy!!!  David and I shared a wonderful Rueben.  Highly recommend if you are in the area!  We then toured Goliad State Park, and the mission that is in the middle of the park - someday we will spend some time in that park I'm sure, it is lovely!  We also visited several other missions, basilicas and museum.  We started the day out at 9 am, and got home at 4:45 - and we were very very tired, but happy!

We had a wonderful steak cookout on Valentines day with most of our friends, (Teresa and Rex couldn't make it), and the food was outstanding as usual!!! 

Monday was a windy, cold day.  In true full timers fashion, we gathered with Jim/Joan Jo/Sandy and after some debate, decided we would have dinner at the China Buffet, and so we did.  We watched a lot of Olympics every evening!

Tuesday was Big Fisherman, and we had 12 of us!  Lots of good food was eaten and we enjoyed every moment of the camaraderie. 

Our wonderful friends from Longmont Colorado, about whom you've read much the past two months were leaving Thursday morning...however, we wished them adieu at breakfast on Wed morning at JJ's Burger works. 

Because...we left immediately after breakfast and drove to Hondo, TX to interview with the board of the Lone Star Corral, an Escapee co-op park.  This was our second interview.  It was a beautiful day to travel, and we arrived about 2 pm - in time to get set up and have happy hour with the folks at the park. 

Today we were invited to breakfast by Lane and Evelyn Walker (and Lane just goes by 'Walker') and we joined them along with about 10 other couples/singles at Bill and Rosa's...thanks so much for breakfast...we really enjoyed it and it was just what we needed to cement in our minds just how much we wanted the job!!!  It's all about the people :)

This afternoon, we interviewed...and WE GOT THE JOBS!!!   Woohoo!  Beginning March 1 we will be in training, and April 1 we will be the managers of the Lone Star Corral - in Hondo TX for a year!  We are so pleased, and we just know that we will have a great time here, learn lots, and wow, what a resume builder!!!  If you want to see our park, just search for it on google!

We celebrated by going out for a very good mexican dinner (best we've had since we left New Mexico), and now we're exhausted.  For those of you that email me regularly, I'll be sending out new address information in the next couple days...

Yahoo, we've got jobs - doing something we know we'll like, and living the lifestyle we love! 

I'll be very busy the next couple days, but I'll try to update more often. 

To our Colorado friends, 'Thanks for the memories - it's been a terrific two months'...and to our Virginia friends - we'll be back Monday night - we need to hit ALL the high spots before we leave!!!

Feb 9 - 11

Tuesday the 9th we once again went to the Big Fisherman - but our group has gotten very small - it was David and I and Dave!!!  Janet wasn't feeling up to snuff, Joan was tired of it, Sandy and Joe had to stay home and wait for the propane guy...I'll tell you, it was the best fish yet!!!  Yum!  When we returned home we stopped over to visit the folks at Rockport 35, and David helped Marlene and Dwaine with their computer and TV issues.  We had a nice visit. 

Wednesday was a good day - we met up with several of our friends at JJ Burger works for breakfast (it was a trial run to see if it was good)...the answer was yes.  David loved him omelet, it had chorizo and grilled jalapeno's...everyone liked their breakfast.  I had a couple of 'nots', I asked for country potatoes and got hash browns instead, and when my Rye toast came it was one slice...now what is up with that!  I didn't even complain, the waitress was so busy - and the only 'real' complaint I had was that it was far too crowded between the tables. 

The rest of the day we hung out - David managed to hose Jim/Joan's internet connection - no where did it say they could not download a big file, and he was trying to get Jim's Garmin updated for their trip home - they are locked out of the internet for 48 hours - that's Rockport 35 and Tengo internet - yuck! 

This morning we got up to buckets of rain, with no end in sight, so we called Jim/Joan and off we went.  We heard that there was a great restaurant in Bayside, TX that had wonderful burgers, and after a 25 mile drive, we found it.  Yep, the burgers were wonderful, as were the baked goods.  Then we decided that since we were that far, we might as well go see what Refugio looked like...then we came back through Beeville - Sinton and then back to Rockport. 

 

This is the Refugio Courthouse - Nice!

Now we have two places that we can recommend - JJ's Burger Works and the restaurant in Bayside :) 

This evening it is still pouring cats and dogs - supposed to be done by morning, I sure hope so, I need to do some laundry and hang it out - and we need to clean the shanty!!! 

Feb 2 through 8th

Once again we've been very, very busy!  We had an appt for the car to get it's 60,000 mile checkup - Janet and Dave were nice enough to drive down to Portland (nearest Chevy garage), pick us up at 8am, and chauffer us around for the day in Corpus Christie!  What a great time! 

We started our day at Chef's - a downtown diner that has been in business for 62 years - great breakfast with a reasonable price.  We then visited two restaurant supply houses...what fun - I bought a new spatula that I didn't need, but fell in love with :)  Then we went to a kitchen gadget shop, and amazingly enough, the owner was chatting on the phone and I overheard her say 'Lander', so when she got off the phone I asked if she was talking about Lander, WY...she said yes, her husband was from there, and she was from Riverton!  Well, David chatted with her a bit - isn't it a terribly small world when you can be in Corpus Christie TX and talk to someone who grew up where you did?  Amazing!

We went to SunHarvest, which is fast becoming my favorite grocery store, they have great fresh fruits and veggies - can't beat the price!  We visited a Big Lots store, and because Janet and Dave gave us a heads up, we found SNYDERS of Berlin potato chips - I bought 8 bags :)  Many moons ago I worked in that factory!  It is such a treat to get them!  We then drove around and found the American Bank building which boasts some terrific architecture - the pictures don't do it justice! 

We followed up by having an early dinner at a place called Ricksters - NOT recommended.  The car was finally finished and after laying out $724 we were on our way.  The upside is that I have new brakes, and all the belts and stuff were replaced, radiator and transmission both flushed and the engine is like new!  YaaaaYYYY!

Friday night we went to the Moose Club in Aransas Pass - it was steak night and OMG...they were 1.5 inch steaks, cooked perfectly to order, served with salad, huge baked potatoes, fresh bread, and warm brownie...all for $12 per person!  Yum yum yum!!

Saturday we got some groceries, and then we went to the Peace Lutheran Church for a spaghetti dinner - the picture tells the tale nicely!  They served a salad, garlic bread, spaghetti, chocolate cake and ice tea for $5...what a deal!  We then visited with Jim/Joan, Joe/Sandy for a while before coming home.

Sunday morning I made breakfast - which I have not really made for over a month - it was eggs, pancakes and sausage...and very good!  We met Dave and Janet at the China A Super Buffet at 2 pm and ate our fill...we didn't need anything else, but munched on some cauliflower and dip during the Super Bowl.  Yaaayyy Saints! 

Today we had a general pot luck - and as usual we had far too much food!  As you can see there was lasagne, tuna noodle casserole, saurkraut and sausage with mashed potatoes, tossed salad, garlic bread, chocolate cake and donuts!  There will be no dinner tonight!

Stay tuned for more, as we will be doing a bit of traveling, and attending some fun events in the next week or so! 

Dave and Janet, thanks for chauffering us around, it was a great day!  Jim/Joan and Joe/Sandy, your time is drawing to a close, and we will miss you very much when you go - but let's do everything we can until that time comes!

Jan 30 through Feb 1

Oh let's see what we've been up to!!!  On Friday we had a stay at home day - David was not feeling well and we were expecting delivery of his Christmas present, a new Lazy-boy rocker/recliner.  The old one was 13 years old and very broken down.  We searched and measured, and measured and searched until we found one that would fit, both in the MH and in our budget!!!  It is beautiful and he really likes it!

Saturday we went to Allegro Key for a WC rummage sale - it is a HUGE deal here, and it takes two big buildings to house all the 'stuff', however, when we found out that the line was an hour to and hour and a half, we decided that there was not anything we needed that badly!  We came home, got naps, then went with Janet and Dave to Panjo's for dinner.  I highly recommend their pizza - if you like thin and crunchy crust.  We each got one and they were fabulous!  I forgot to take a picture of the pizza...

Sunday we had a 'chili pot' supper.  Each couple made a pot of chili - we put them all together in one big roaster and did we have a feed!!!  Woo Hoo - and there was enough for everyone to have some leftovers!  Yum!  We also had cornbread, crackers, cheese, onions, and chocolate brownies with caramel icing...can't get much better than that.  Of course we spent hours just sitting around talking!  We had a great time with our friends!

No, she hadn't had a drink!

Today we took off on some errands - I had ordered my birth certificate, never dreaming they would send it UPS overnight to Cheyenne...of course, I'm not there and I really don't have a permanent address yet - until we get to Livingston and become Texas residents the end of Feb...so off we went to talk to the nice (and uncooperative) people at the UPS store. 
We then got a tank of gas, made an appointment for Cinder to go to the groomers next Monday (she is shedding like it is summer!), and headed to Portland to find a Chevy dealer.  It is time to get the 60,000 mile check up done on the car before something goes wrong.  That appt is now set for Thursday, at 8 am.  I'm going to have to see if any of our 'friends' would come pick us up and we'll buy 'em breakfast...any takers???  The car will be in the shop at least 4 hours, so we need to find some stuff to do in Corpus!

We drove into the village of Ingleside, and did a drive around there to see what was there - and were not impressed.  Kind of a dirty little town, with several big plants there (Dupont and OXY), but not much in the way of anything nice.

We came home and ate leftover sloppy joes for dinner...yum! 

More later - thanks to all our friends for such a special time in our lives!