April 5 through 17

April 5, 2016, we headed out, stopping at the Interstate Battery place in Jasper.  The man came out and checked our batteries, said they were OK, and said we should go to an RV service place about 7 miles away.  We did, they were out of business, and it was back a 1 lane road and not a great place to turnaround.  We decided to keep going to Vidalia, LA.  We went about 230 miles, and checked into Riverview Campground, for 2 nights.  We went to Lil’ Dago’s and had fantastic pizza!

April 6, 2016

We got up and drove up to Lorman, MS, which is the home of ‘The Old Country Store’, better known as Mister D’s.  I’ve written much about this place in previous blogs.  We love it!

There was absolutely NO place to get RV service done, either in Vidalia, LA or Natchez, MS.  I did some research and discovered that Greywolf Mobile RV Services was in Vicksburg.  I called them and they said when we got in, let them know where we are and he’ll come take a look.  In the meantime we had talked to Murphy (Matthews RV Repair) a couple times, and he maintained that it was the batteries, no matter what that Interstate man said!

April  7 – hitched up the night before, and headed out to Vicksburg, to the Ameristar Casino RV resort.  We’d been there before and it is a nice clean park to use as a  base to ‘do’ the area.  Once we got settled in, we called Tom (Greywolf) and he came over immediately.  He looked at the batteries, said yes, that was the problem.  He left to get 4 new batteries, came back about 45 mins later and said they only had 3, but would have another in the morning.  He said he’d be back about 8 am. 

We met a really nice couple from Canada, Mike and Marilyn, and although they have our blog address and email and phone, I didn’t get their information!  We had a nice little yammer together, until it was time to hit the hay!

April 8 – Tom came back with the batteries, installed them, hung around and made sure they were charging properly then he took off.  We made the decision to stay another night to let them charge fully before we went up the road.

I unhooked the car and Marilyn and I did a WalMart run.  I had put a nice roast in the crockpot for dinner, and wanted some fixin’s to go with it J  She needed to grocery shop because their car was on a dolly and to unhook was a major undertaking.

When we got home, everyone had a bite of lunch, naps, then it was time for Happy Hour!  David and Mike had some 15 YO single malt Scotch, which they thoroughly enjoyed (Mike had it stashed until he found someone that liked it), while Marilyn and I enjoyed an ice cold beer, cashews and conversation!

April 9, 10, 11, 12 – We hitched up and left Vicksburg and made our way to Jeff Busby National Park Campground, free camping, no hookups.  It was a learning curve, but we figured out how to use our Inverter/batteries, making our days very enjoyable.  We were in our spot and set up by noon, and by 3pm the campground was FULL.  No reservations, so first come first served.  Do NOT wait until late afternoon to try to get a spot in one of the 3 free campgrounds going up the Natchez Trace.  I felt very sorry for the people that came later and had no place to park!

On Monday we got up to lots of rain, but we were expecting it, and had put away all our gear.  We decided to go for a drive, and David found a restaurant he wanted to try in a little town named Ackerman.  It was “Pop’s” and really, save your money.  Hole in the wall, over half the menu was not available, and NOT inexpensive!   

Tuesday we went down to French Camp, once again a place I wrote about extensively before.  We had lunch at Council Bluff’s House, where we shared a fantastic BLT (10 slices of bacon, heirloom tomatoes, homemade toasted bread, house made garlic mayo), and I had potato soup, David had Chili.  It was a delicious lunner, and dinner later on was popcorn J 

April 13 – We left Jeff Busby campground and headed to Arkabutla Lake COE park where we have a wonderful huge site, with water and 50 amp electric, for the princely sum of $10 per night.  We’re staying for a week! 

Weather is wonderful, cool enough that you don’t need the AC, and warm enough that you don’t need a jacket!  We did a drive around, a WalMart run, and went to Tunica MS to check out the casino’s.  We also went to the Horseshoe Casino in Robbinsville, because I had a $25 coupon for the seafood buffet.  I sat down at a penny machine, put in a 5, and won 20.  So for about $8.00 we had a great seafood dinner, and several hours of fun!  Can’t hardly beat that!

April 18 – Memphis, TN tour…stay tuned!

April 1 - 3 of our Northern Journey

April 1, 2016

We got a rather late start, pulled out of Hondo after filling up with diesel, at 10 am.  Considering this was the first time we hooked up the new car to the motor home, and the fact that we hadn’t left TX in 2 years, I guess that was pretty good!

Our destination was to be Somerville COE park, but when we go there, it was closed because of flooding.  We ended up staying at the Marina campground which was ok, but was $30 and I had budgeted 11…such is life.  We had leftovers for lunner, and were in bed pretty early.

April 2, 2016

We got started earlier, 9ish, and headed to Magnolia Ridge COE, where they said they had some ‘walk up’ spots available.  I didn’t make reservations because getting out that first day is always iffy!  And, you have to make them more than a week in advance! 

We started out with breakfast cookies, and by the time we got here at 1:30, we were both starving!  Leftovers again…and on our trip I heard a ‘popping’ sound.  When we hooked up we discovered that the inverter was not working, and after checking everything David discovered that one of our batteries had blown its lid, and another one was bulging.  So, literally no power to the front of the rig L  We got on the internet, found a battery place in Jasper, TX, but no place was open until Monday.  Hopefully we’ll be able to buy 4 of these bad boys so we can get on down the road on Tuesday. 

Part of the life of a full time RVer. 

April 3, 2016

We slept in until 8:30 this morning; I fixed a good breakfast of ham, eggs, grits and toast and went for a nice walk.  When I got back, David showered and we went into Jasper to find the battery place and make sure we can get the motorhome around in there…and we can!  We made a stop at Walmart for some groceries, and then had an early dinner at Cedar Tree restaurant.  If you’re ever in the area, stop in, it’s a buffet that is all home cookin’, including the pie!  We sampled lemon and coconut cream…yummy!

March 31, 2016

Catching up again…

So, last time I blogged, we were gate guarding for Riata Oilfield Services in Cotulla, TX.  Second week in July we got the news that the gate closed, and we had 5 hours to get off the pad.  We made it in 4.  Off to Hondo we went, where we cleaned the rig, unpacked the bays, set up our bbq pit…and bought a new to us car!  It’s a 2015 Equinox, which can be owed 4 wheels down behind he MH.

Two weeks later I got a call from Guard 1 Services, asking if I wanted to work a guard shack outside of Cotulla, but no MH pad, which meant we had to find and pay oilfield prices for an RV spot.  We did, stayed at JD’s Nueces River RV park, to the tune of $550 a month…for Aug and Sept.  They shut that gate Sept 24^th so Oct 3^rd we were back in Hondo. 

Our friends, Lynn and Joyce Marlatt from Riverton came to Hondo for the winter, so we started the usual winter activities.  Eating, happy hours, Dr appts, etc. 

Right before Thanksgiving I got a call from Guard 1, asking me to work a shack in the Whitsett area.  I said OK and off I went, 4 days on, 4 days off, 12 hour days…but, Cinder wasn’t doing very well when we were in Cotulla, so I left David and her at the park in Hondo and drove back and forth every 5 days.  That worked out OK until Feb when we decided to take the MH down because I was spending a fortune on room rentals. 

So, off we went, and spent a week at Choke Canyon state park, which is really a great park!  However, the day after I got the call that the gate closed…so back to Hondo we went. 

That was in mid-February, and we stayed in Hondo, until April 1^st.  That’s when we hit the road and  I decided to start blogging again.

April through July Gate Guarding in Cotulla TX

We got a gate through Riata Oilfield Services, just 5 miles out of Cotulla, TX on the Northcut Ranch.  We felt blessed, because our gate had NO mud, and very very nice oilfield workers, whom we got to know pretty well in the 4 months we were there!

 

We did have an issue with rattle snakes – we saw 5 in a two week period, two of which the workers dispatched for us because they were under and/or near our motorhome (as in behind the back wheels).  That was exciting, and we did see several more but nowhere close to us so they got to live . 

 

While there I joined the Ladies luncheon in Cotulla at the Baptist church, the first Tuesday of each month.  They have a wonderful patron who pays for the lunches to be catered in, and it was always very nice.  The best thing about it was that we got to network with the other guards, from all different companies, so we learned quite a bit about them!  We also had a lunch the 3rd Tuesday at a different restaurant each month, which really was nice too.  It’s a Godsend when you can get away from the gate and enjoy the company of others in the same lifestyle!

 

My friend, Judy Mott and her husband Dick got a gate the same day about 8 miles from us, so she went with me about every other week shopping to a ‘big’ store, HEB, WalMart, etc., because Cotulla just has a small Lowes grocery, and a couple dollar stores.  When we would go we’d have a late lunch, (Dick slept until 2, but on our days out he got up so we could leave at 1), then we’d shop, and arrive home about 6:30/7:00.  It was always nice to get away and stock up the cupboards!

 

Of course we treated ‘our’ workers on holidays, Memorial Day, 4th of July, etc.  I decorated our gate and made brownies, sometimes they would get tootsie roll pops, sometimes donuts, no bake cookies, goodie bags of bite sized candy bars…something almost every week.  They really enjoyed it, and we enjoyed treating them! 

 

We had planned to stay on the gate through March of next year, but we got the call on March 21 that our gate was closing and we had until 5 pm to vacate.  Well, we put it in high gear and were pulling out by 11:45.  We got back to our lot in Hondo, TX and set up by 3 pm.  We went to the local restaurant, The Cowboy for our first meal out together in 4 months.  Woohoo!

 

Then, last Thursday, we went to San Antonio and bought our new car.  My ‘old car’ was a 2005 Chevy Malibu, with 140,000 miles on it.  It was a great car, but we put a refurbished transmission in it back in Dec in DC and it had a 6 month warranty on it.  It was starting to shift hard, and then the AC went out in it July 17th.  We are members of USAA and I used their car buying service to purchase our new ride.  It is a 2015 Chevy Equinox, LT2 with all the bells and whistles…more than I need that’s for sure. 

 

We’ve had several outings since being back.  I have my name in several places for guard positions, including for 12 hour guard shack jobs.  I sure would love to have something, but we can’t work a real busy gate, since David’s COPD keeps him down quite a bit…but a 12 hour or 18 hour gate would work as long as it wasn’t horribly busy.  We’ll just see what opens up.  We have several dr appts coming up, the last one is Aug 19th for David.  If we have nothing lined up by then, we’ll be packing the car and heading to PA for Sept and Oct…returning to TX for winter.

 

All for now – I’ll report again in a few months, unless something major happens before then!

January, February, March Hondo Tx

We arrived at Lone Star Corral January 18th.  Our friends, Lynn and Joyce Marlatt were already there waiting for us, and they were almost our back door neighbors!  We immediately started showing them the area, and joining the wonderful Escapee friends at LSC.  Some of the things we did:

• The Alamo
• LBJ ranch tour
• Outlet Mall in San Marcos
• Visiting gate guard friends and fellow LSCer’s Gene and Linda Moreau
• San Antonio river walk
• Bill and Rosa’s for country fried steak
• Pulled pork dinner at LSC
• Mad Dogs Pub in San Antonio
• Coopers BBQ in New Braunfels
• Lunch bunch tea room in Uvalde (fantastic jalapeno soup)
• Trade days in Boerne
• The Brazilian Grill in North San Antonio (highlight of the trip)
• 5 Days in Rockport where we walked on the beach and pier, had breakfast on the bay, went to the boiling pot for a dinner, and since we were parked right on the bay had wonderful views every day!
• Welcome Winter Texans lunch in Uvalde
• Sabinal bean supper
• Valentines dinner at LSC
• German dinner in Fredericksburg
• Breakfast and shopping at the Old Spanish Trail in Bandera
• Omelets in a bag (Peggy’s kitchen)
• Many days of ‘just driving around’
• Car show at Womack Chevrolet in Castroville
• Mercado in San Antonio (Mexican shopping plaza)

 

Before Lynn and Joyce left, our friends Len and Phyllis East came to LSC for a month, and they joined in on some of the fun stuff too!  Also we had visitors Joe and Sandy Fryberger from Longmont, CO came and stayed 2 nights.  We sure wish we would have had more time with them all!

 

On March 16th we left LSC for a gate at Northcut Ranch, with Riata Oilfield Security Services.  We were hoping to get a gate and just kind of fell into this one, and we love it.  It is now May 4th, and we are planning to stay here until at least next spring (if the job holds out).  It will be a long hot summer in south TX, but the kitty is crying the blues, and we have to make some money.  We really enjoy the Cotulla area, even though it is in the desert pretty much.  We’ve got some great wildlife here at the gate – cows, deer, turkey, eagles, rabbits, road runners, rattle snakes, coyotes, cardinals, and many birds we don’t know, but they’re fun to watch.  We’ve gotten to know quite a few of our ‘workers’ and so far I’ve made them brownies and no bake cookies. 

 

Jan 13, 14, 15 Magnolia Ridge COE Park

 

Tuesday we got up and got moving early – we had 240 miles to go to get to our spot at Magnolia Ridge where we had reservations for 2 days – hoping if we got in a day early we would be able to stay.  The drive was nice, we had no sunshine but no rain   We got to the park about 3, which is the cut off for us…if we aren’t somewhere by then we find a place as quickly as possible! 

 

We got parked in site 40, which is an amazing site.  Actually, I don’t know if there is a BAD site in this park.  Of course it is a Corp of Engineers park, and we had 50 amp elec and water for the princely sum of $9 a day. 

One of the perks of this park is that friends of ours, Judy and Dick Mott were parked on site 40 – and we stayed here specifically so Judy and I could have some ‘friend’ face time   Normally we would go to Livingston, but these sites are less expensive, bigger, more level and much quieter.  I really really like this park!  I expect it will be back on our ‘go to’ places again.

 

We settled in and had beef lo mein out of a frozen bag for dinner – and you know that doesn’t happen very often, but it was very good.

 

Wednesday we got around and headed into Livingston to pick up our mail.  Hadn’t gotten it since mid Nov so there was a lot – I haven’t even gotten through it all yet!  While there we had lunch at Taco Bell and I grocery shopped at HEB.  Also filled the car up with gas at $1.84 a gallon – Oh Happy Day!  We came home and got stuff put away, Judy and I got some visitin’ done, and I pulled out a frozen bag of homemade Taco Soup, and that was dinner!  Later on I went over to Judy’s and watched Criminal Minds and Stalker – both were excellent!

 

Thursday we got around pretty early ‘cause I had invited Dick and Judy for breakfast.  I did sausage gravy and biscuits, with eggs to order.  It was awfully yummy!  Of course, in true RV fashion, we sat and yammered for almost 2 hours  

 

Then Judy and I went to visit with Lynette and her husband, Gregg McHenry, more gate guards with Gate Guard Services.  It is always fun to meet new folks in the same ‘business’ as us! 

 

We visited for a couple hours, then headed back home where I got a nap…and baked a cake!  I made a banana split cake for dessert, because Dick and Judy made us a wonderful dinner of shrimp gumbo and potato salad.  It was a true Louisiana feast and we enjoyed it immensely.  Thanks Judy and Dick for feeding us that amazing dinner!

 

We ended the evening on more laughter – which is the way it should always be!  We had a wonderful 3 days at a great park…who could ask for anything more!

Jan 11, 12 Natchez MS

We left Jackson, MS on Sunday morning, at the late hour of about 10:30.  We were in no hurry since we only had about 100 miles to go.  We stopped for diesel and paid $3.45 a gallon, which was a great price considering on our trip North in May we paid $3.99 a gallon a couple times!

 

We got to Natchez Trace State Park about 1 pm, and although we stayed here before, I forgot about the road to get in here.  It is about 3 miles of twisty, turny, hilly potholed roads.  When we got here we realized that there was NO TV stations to be had, even though we’re only 8 miles from Natchez….gggrrr!  So we were unable to watch either of the playoff games, but we’re happy to have our Verizon hot spots and that Green Bay won their game, also the Indianapolis Colts won their game!  My kindle got a workout for sure while we were here!

 

Monday morning we got around very slowly, it was raining and had rained hard most of the night.  I got a big surprise when I took Cinder out – for the first time in about 2 months I didn’t need layered clothing, gloves and ear muffs!  It was a balmy 55 degrees…hooray!

 

About 11 we left to go 20 miles North to ‘the Old Country Store’ AKA Mr. D’s restaurant.  It is a buffet that we have visited every time we have traveled on the Trace.  Really the best fried chicken I’ve ever eaten, and I’ve eaten a LOT!  Today was no exception, the food was amazing, from the salads to wonderful veggies, green beans with bacon, turnip greens, sweet potatoes, ribs, country fried pork chops, handmade biscuits that just about floated away they were so flaky…yummers!  We ate ‘til we were miserable…then David had blackberry cobbler with ice cream!!!   I had ONE bite, and it was SO good. 

 

We meandered our way back home, napped and played on the internet for a while.  Tomorrow we pick up the jacks and roll on down the road

Jan 8, 9, 10, 2014 Timberlake Campground, Ross Barnett reservoir

 

Thursday morning we got a late start, it was only in the teens temperature wise.  We had bacon, egg and cheese english muffins to start the day.  As we went down the road, we thought we would stay in Canton at a campground, but then we did a little search and decided to try Timberlake Campground, in Ridgeland/Jackson MS.  Boy, we are glad we did!

 

This campground has well over 100 sites, and we had a waterfront site with full hook ups, on a beautiful cement pad, for $25 a night.  All paved roads, well maintained, pool, tennis courts, country setting – and you are less than a mile from a huge Kroger and several mini malls with everything you could possibly want in there.  WalMart is 7 miles away, but we did not need to go there!  NO cable TV, but we got about 20 channels over the air.  Free wifi!  Needed my external antenna but it was good, fast wifi.

 

For dinner we went to a place called the Lost Pizza Company and had a really good pizza and salad.  We came back and just vegged. 

 

On Friday morning I got my list and headed to the grocery store, while David hooked up the water and sewer hose.  First time I went for groceries since we left PA!  I did a little re-arranging of a kitchen cupboard, and made a nice dinner of salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, applesauce.  It was very good.  I got 2 loads of laundry done and since the weather was not too bad, Cinder and I went for a nice long walk.  That was about it for the day!

 

Saturday, 10th, woke to wonderful sunshine!  Cinder and I walked again, she loves scaring the Geese that are everywhere here!  Did more laundry…took a ride around the campground with David.  Dinner was fillet of beef on the grill, baked sweet potatoes, salad.  We head down the road tomorrow!

January 1–4, 2015

 

We left Berlin at 9:30 am, New Year’s day.  As we traveled down the road, we reminisced about last New Year’s day when we left Yuma AZ after spending a month there.  The weather was MUCH better then!  As we left this year, it was –18 degrees…with a wind chill!  Bbbbrrrrr!!!  We stopped at the Borough shed and hooked up the car, and then we were off. 

 

We drove miles down the road, and decided to stop to refill my coffee, and let some of the water out as well!  We had a cereal bar and kept on going.  We stopped about 11 and had egg salad sandwiches for lunch, in a nice rest area.  We continued down the road, and stopped for the night at the Robert Newlon Airpark RV park in Huntington WV.  We had stopped there before, and were very pleased with the fact that it was a Passport America park and it was $12 for full hook ups.  Imagine my surprise when the manager said they were no longer PA…and that it would be $28 for the night, even though we didn’t want water or sewer.  We most likely not stop there again, even though it has nice pull throughs.

 

We got up Jan 2, and headed down the road once again, where we once again stopped for egg salad sandwiches for lunch, got to Singing Hills RV Park about 2 pm.  Long days for us, another day over 270 miles.  We got set up and since it was a balmy 48 degrees, decided it was time to put some water in the unit.  That’s when we ran into trouble.  The city water was good, but when we tried to fill the tank, water sprayed everywhere.  What a mess!  Oh well, just another bump in the road of full time RVing. 

 

On Jan 3rd we slept in, got showers and headed to tour the JIM BEAM distillery, about 60 miles away.  We enjoyed the drive, and the tastings.  We each were to have 2 1 oz samples…so David got 4 1 oz samples.  He slept like a baby back to Cave City!  We had a late lunch at El Matzalan, recommended by our Host at the park.  It was excellent!  We then went to Mammoth Cave National Park, which was nice but we did not go into the Caves, as David is claustrophobic and only made it through Carlsbad Caverns because the grandkids, Branden and Ariel, held his hand the entire way   Love them kids!  We came home and just relaxed with cheese, crackers and wine for dinner, during the playoff game between Steeler’s and Ravens.  Well, THAT didn’t turn out too good! 

 

Jan 4th, we were up and on the road by 8:15 am, with our anticipated arrival at David Crockett State Park, where there is an RV Tech that we used this past spring.  We arrived at 1 pm…called the tech, then had some lunch.  He came, took a look, said he needed to get some parts and would be back tomorrow.  So, off he went.  We had lunch and took naps, then just enjoyed the view out the window.  We finished some great ham, potatoes, green beans and cabbage, thanks to cousin Donna!  It was just as good as it was the first time!  Tomorrow I will be cooking something fresh! 

 

That brings us up to date…happy trails y’all!

January 5, 6, 7, 2014

 

Sunday - We arrived at David Crockett State park, and since I had paid for our spot, went directly there as the office was closed.  We camped in a handicap accessible spot which was great because it was level and lots of cement patio for Cinder to lay on and watch the squirrels!  As soon as we arrived I called Ray Barnett, and he came over and looked at our water issue.  He needed to get parts, and said he would be back on Monday.  We puttered around and didn’t do much at all.  We finished up the ham, beans, potatoes and cabbage that Donna made for us before we left.

 

Monday – it was a raw, cold day.  Since we had water hookups I did some cleaning, and of course took Cinder walking.  I did cook a bit, made stroganoff for dinner and it was so yummy!  David loves it, I use hamburger instead of beef chunks, less expensive and just as good.  I also use the butterfields pasta, since it is much lower carbs than regular pasta.  The good thing is my sugar is starting to go back to normal levels – 131 for the morning fasting BS.  I had a couple days there where it was 180 – 190.  Scary but I think it was the stress of getting on the road, worrying about the water, etc. 

Ray came over about 4 with what he thought he needed to fix our problem, and of course he did have to go get another part, and the fix is temporary, but at a cost of $75 including the part, we certainly can’t kick!  We had an early night, because we wanted to get on the road reasonably early.

 

Tuesday – I had planned to stop in Corinth and tour Shiloh National Military park, but we had a mix up in our communications – I thought David knew where we were going, he thought what I put in GYPSY was wrong, so we missed the turn off by about 50 miles.  SO we came on down the road until we got to Natchez Trace RV Park, just south of Tupelo.  It had mixed reviews, but is a PA park, so we got full hookups, pull through site for $18 per night.  I’ll take it!  We got a reasonably level pull through, and started the ‘set up for cold weather’ stuff.  We dumped the tanks for the first time since we left home, filled the fresh water tank 3/4 full of water, then put away the sewer hose, water hose, put a heat light in the bay, and were done!  Lunch was left over stroganoff, and dinner was homemade vegetable soup.  So good!  Looked at the weather forecast and decided to wait until morning to decide if we were going down the road or staying put.

 

Wednesday – when we got up we looked at the weather, which was calling for 30 – 35 mph winds, along with temps in the low 20’s.  Tonight it was to go down in the teens, so we decided to stay put.  Since we were staying I got busy and made a ‘big’ breakfast of bacon, eggs, grits and toast.  We’ve mapped out the next leg of our journey, and I rearranged our medicine cabinet.  It is always a juggling act to keep the stuff we use every day with the stuff we use once a week in some sort of order…then of course there is the hair/beard trimmer, the toothbrush charger, porter salve, antibiotic cream, etc…the stuff you only use when needed, along with mucinex, robitussin, etc.  And it all has to fit in a small medicine cabinet!  I got it done, but it will probably get redone again when we get to TX. 

 

I also moved some glasses, pitchers, etc. to an underneath bay because I don’t use them very often.  I also made a grocery list of things we are running low of or out of!  I guess our next stop we will unhook the car.  We’re both getting hungry for pizza, so I understand there is a good pizzeria in Canton…so we’ll see!

 

2014 catch up

 

We arrived in PA June 3, in time for my uncle Oscar’s funeral.  We spent the next 7 months enjoying family.  We had Ariel Bethelmy, our granddaughter for 7 weeks, and took her camping with us for a week, and cousin Donna Huston came down camping too.  A good time was had by all.

 

We also attended 4th of July activities with family, several family reunions, hot dog roasts, and let’s not forget, Daryl Bethelmy’s retirement on July 11th…we had a blast with all the family and friends that came.  We got to renew our friendship with Daryl’s mom, Irma and her friend, Peter, aunt Myrna from the Chicago area, his sister Solange and her hubby Andrae from New York City, Joe Krepelka and Vicky from NC, as well as tons of friends!  Nancy and Harry Gindlesperger, Angie and Alan Lepley and their children, Nick and Lauren came down from Berlin, so there was quite a houseful, as well as a great tour of DC on a trolley, and an organized trip to the Holocaust Museum as well.  It was a fantastic 5 days!

 

August the highlight was that we went to Williamsport PA to the Little League World Series.  What a blast!  We stayed there 5 days, then went north to New York state and visited with Bonnie Mason in Chenango Forks, New York.  We also went to the baseball hall of fame one afternoon.  It was a marvelous time that stopped us from having ‘hitch itch’ too bad!

October Dawn threw a surprise birthday party for me, ‘cause I turned 60 on the 11th.  A lot of close relatives joined us at Oakhurst Tearoom…a great time was had by all!  Thanks Dawn!

 

Also October, we went to DC to watch Ariel sing in the choir for a concert – it was great. We also took Branden to his homecoming football game and the next night his homecoming dance.  Boy, he is a handsome boy!

 

End of October beginning of Nov found us visiting Gettysburg, PA with the kids in their motorhome.  We went on a haunted hayride, and had some quiet family time…love camping with them!  We left there and went to Weyers Cave VA to visit with Bob and Theresa Martin.  We stayed at the fairgrounds there and had a lovely 2 day visit.   

 

We got back to PA to SNOW…and had the motorhome winterized.  We went to DC for Thanksgiving with the kids, and before we went I made choc chip cookies, oatmeal scotchies, choc walnut fudge, choc pecan fudge, and peanut butter fudge, and pizzelles a loaf of banana nut bread and a pan of scotcheroos.  The kids were very happy  

 

For Christmas, we once again headed to DC.  I took all of the above, PLUS peanut butter cup cookies, gobs, date and nut cake.  We had crab legs on Christmas Eve and the kids each got to open 1 gift, and Christmas day was so laid back and fun!  Dawn made a crockpot breakfast casserole, we all opened presents, (David got a bottle of 18 year old scotch, I got some Good on Ya lotions and potions, and we got a new portable safari grill for the motorhome – we were very pleased!  A couple days later we went to see ‘The Hobbitt, 5 Armies), and got back to Berlin PA Dec 29th.

 

We spent the next several days packing up the motorhome, thanks again to Donna Huston and her granddaughter, Mikayla, who helped load it up!  New Year’s eve we went to Hoss’s Steakhouse with Nancy and Harry Gindlesperger, Shirley and Len Gary, Mike and Jane Gary.  We all had a lovely time, we were home and in bed by 9:30 New Year’s eve!

 

And that brings us to the end…of 2015.

 

 

North to Livingston :)

We left Hondo as expected on May 27th, and went as far as Mumees where we got the rig lubed and checked out for our trip North. 

 

Our next stop was Canyon Lake Potters Creek campground.  It is a COE campground and we get full hookups for $13 a night, what a deal.  However, no wifi, no TV, and NO phone service…BUT there were herds of deer, that have very little fear of people and came right up to the RV.  We also saw a family with two little fawns that were so cute!  The deer here in TX are very small in comparison to the deer in PA…it would take about 3 of them to make one! 

 

We got a late start on the 28th because David had told me we were stopping in Bastrop, so I made reservations and then realized it was only 75 miles up the road…silly mistake that I’m hoping I won’t make again!  It was a nice enough park, but again, no wifi, however we had over 300 tv stations!!!  Who can watch all that!  Sheesh!

 

The 29th found us going about 185 miles north to Livingston, TX, where we will be staying for 3 nights at Rainbow’s End, the headquarters for Escapees.  We received our 10 year pins today…woohoo!  Can’t believe we’ve been members for 10 years – one of the best moves we ever made!  We shopped at Wally World this afternoon, had dinner at an Italian grill, and are now home relaxing.  Once again, no internet, no TV, but we do have phone coverage! 

 

We really enjoyed out time at Livingston as usual.  While there I got a message from Judy Mott, one of my facebook friends that I met through gate guarding – and she said they weren’t very far away – actually about 75 miles at Martin Dies Jr State Park, so when we left Livingston we went there for a night, and we got to meet each other in person.  We spent a couple hours chatting, and then we went to the Cedar Tree for dinner where we overindulged but it was fabulous! 

 

Today we got up and drove 193 miles to Vidalia, LA, where we got a site overlooking the Mississippi River, and entertained ourselves watching the barges go by.  I made David a frozen pizza and I had a salad for dinner.  I’m hoping there will be an adventure tomorrow! 

Gate Guarding and catch up

 

This is a very short catch up post.  We got our gate about 10 miles outside of Cotulla, TX.  We spent 3 1/2 months there, and it was a great experience.  We had a slow gate, but neither of us were bored, and we made some nice money. 

 

On the second week, I fell out the door of the motorhome – dislocated my shoulder and broke my arm.  They could not set it because of where it broke.  Had a horrible 6 weeks and am still having issues. 

 

We plan on leaving tomorrow, May 27th to start our journey North to PA.  I’m excited to be back on the road again.

 

As usual, I tend to post more often when we are on the road, because there is more to write about than just ‘did laundry today’ type of thing!

January 1, 2014 through Feb 9, 2014

Our trip from Yuma back to Hondo, TX went very well – we did have a couple issues, one being that we couldn’t find the inverter to reset some fuses so we didn’t have electric in half the coach – so a trip to Camping World in El Paso and $500 later we were good to go.  The highlight of our trip back was probably the meal we ate at Chuy’s in Van Horn.  OMG, best Mexican food in a long time!

 

When we arrived back at LSC there was the usual ‘out to eats’ at Buckhorn Saloon (Tuesday evenings), Bill & Rosa’s for country fried steak, Jade Buffet for Chinese, Hu Hot for Mongolian grill, and lots of good times with the folks at Lone Star Corral.  A special shout out to our friends Bob and Jan Wheaton and Gene and Linda Moreau, Edmund & Margie Strickler, Gene & Patti Hunter…we’ll miss y’all!

 

We went to Boerne, TX mid January and took our test for our Texas State Security Officer (gate guard).  Then we were sent to a place in San Antonio where we peed in a cup, then got our fingerprints done in Hondo.  Then we started waiting for a gate.  We did all the above with Timekeepers Inc – but after having heard nothing from them for a couple weeks, called Guard 1 Services out of Houston – they were extremely nice and easy to work with. 

Feb 10, 2014 Gate Guarding

We were up this morning at 6 am, having packed everything and ready to hit the road to our first gate guarding experience.  We knew we were about 14 miles outside of Cotulla, TX, and had about 90 miles to drive.  Of course, the weather was yucky – misty rain and cold…ggggrrrr!

 

We discovered on the way down that there is a big HEB in Pearsall, so that is where we will be doing our ‘big’ grocery shopping.  That’s about 20 –25 miles away.  When we came through Cotulla, we spied a LOWES market, as well as a Dollar General store.  I ‘think’ I have packed pretty good with food, I kind of expect our major issue is going to be water…I can see purchasing some more jugs will be in our future!  We use at least 1.5 gallons a day, just in drinking water and coffee – and I brought 2 cases of bottled water and 6 gallons for cooking with. 

 

The first thing we noticed is that should we get some steady rain, we will be stuck out here – there will be no way to get out our road, it will be flooded – and we also noticed the caliche that piled up on our shoes INSTANTLY!  We will definitely be getting some pallets (I hope) and some cheap throw rugs to put outside!  The weather is supposed to be nasty until Thursday – when I will probably head into town to investigate, send some mail out, and a few necessities. 

 

The outgoing GG said that they had been here since June, and since it is a gate that the wells are producing already, not a lot of traffic.  She said watch out for wildlife, that they have seen some cheetah’s that apparently got out from one of the exotic ranches in the area – as well as a lot of coyotes…so we’ll be keeping a close eye on Cinder! 

 

Our Company Man, Roger came at the appointed time, hooked us all up to everything, (generator, water, sewer), and they showed us how to work the I-pad – basically it is take a picture, get a name, verify where they are going, submit to the office – very nice set up.  My handwriting is pretty bad, but I can type like a crazy person!  He also gave us a Wilson Antenna Booster, and so we have good phone service even with our Verizon.  However, we have had zero luck setting up our ‘dongle’ for internet  

 

We checked in a truck – and all worked just like it was supposed to  

I fixed us ham and cheese sandwiches, veggies with dip and chips for lunch – and I’m making swiss steak over noodles and carrots for dinner, with home made bread.  The motorhome smells SO good!  

Dec 17 through Dec 31st–Yuma Arizona

Once again, I’m playing catch up!  This time I ‘might’ have a good reason :)

We had been looking at motorhomes since Dec 2nd – when we pulled into Yuma, David put the dolphin in park and the gear shift fell off.  We had over 112,000 miles on it.  Because we couldn’t find one, we had to get one made in TN and shipped to us.  Cost – over $1,000 which gave us even more incentive to find something that we could live with and not break the bank.

 

Just to clarify, the Dolphin was 37 foot with a big slide, pantry and underbed storage. 

We bought a 34 foot Beaver Monterey with NO slide, and it is a diesel pusher so NO under bed storage.  For a couple days we looked like carpet baggers, but after some donations to a local church (tablecloths, towels, some kitchen equipment) we did get a few more bins, but got everything packed in the bays that wouldn’t go inside.  Surprisingly enough, most everything fits!  Now that we’ve been in it about 10 days, we really love it!  Here are some pictures ;) 

Can’t find the ‘outside’ pictures but here it is!

 

Christmas Eve David got up with sore throat, and I knew he was coming down with the crud.  We attended a party where 4 people made big Nesco Roasters with soups – chicken noodle (homemade noodles, yum), clam chowder, chili and potato…and we all took a side dish or dessert to share.  I took a loaf of date and nut cake.  We were home by 6 pm, where we had a nice warming toddy and were in bed early.

 

Christmas morning found David pretty ill, so instead of going out to Golden Corral with friends, I put a big ham steak on the grill, made some candied sweet potatoes and peas – that was dinner…and it was delicious.  I had saved our ‘Christmas Box’ that came in the mail from daughter Dawn, Daryl, Devon, Branden and Ariel.  I opened it and there was the Dyson Animal vacumn – YIPPEE, I was so excited.  I really wanted that!  We also received a White house Christmas ornament, and 4 gift cards for Olive Garden.  This was the BEST gift, thank you all so very much! 

 

Dec 26 through 31st, we put stuff in cupboards, rearranged, and did it again.  Between doing that, we visited with Walker and Evelyn Lane, and just enjoyed the warmth.  We did get to Algodones and got some drugs…yippee, good for another year! 

 

Dec 28th thanks to Walker and Evelyn, we had a ‘traditional’ Christmas dinner, with ham, deep fried turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, baked beans, cloud 9, rolls, pumpkin and apple pie.  Also attending was Gertrude & Lynn, Cindy and her hubby, and Gary.  

New Years Eve we went to Texas Roadhouse for a nice dinner and were home and in bed by 10.  January 1 we pulled out of Yuma and drove 178 miles to Casa Grande.  We visited with Cheyenne friends, Bob & Joyce Parker and Shirley Marsh.  We missed Georgia and Roger Shepherd, they were in Pasadena at the Rose Parade. 

 

Today, Jan 2, we drove up to Maricopa and spent about 5 hours visiting with Ray and Sandy Abe at their house, and we went to the AK-Chin Casino for a wonderful buffet.  We had such a great time and look forward to visiting them again this summer in Pennsylvania.  That brings us up to date…tomorrow we’ll head out and stop in Benson for 1 night. 

Dec 17 catching up

Once again I am SO far behind!  We continued our trip, stopping off at Deming, NM at the Dream Catcher and stayed a couple nights, meeting and enjoying some quality time with Fran and Rich Tilgner, including going out to eat at a great pizza place! 

Then we headed out once again and stopped in Benson, AZ at the Saguaro Escapees park where we stayed 6 nights.  Very nicely landscaped park, nice people too!  We didn’t do a lot of sightseeing, but did get into Tucson twice – once to visit with Jim Alley and his wife…the name is simply gone, sorry.  That is what happens when it takes me too long to update!  We also went to Tanque Verde Guest Ranch for a delightful brunch!

Our next stop was 3 miles away at Butterfield RV resort, where we enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner.  We also met Bill Roach and Loretta Perno, facebook friends that we met a little over a year ago.  We shared a table at Thanksgiving and went to a place called WildDogz on black Friday and had a wonderful lunch!  David is a big fan of ‘chicago dogs’ :)

We left Benson and drove to Casa Grande where we stayed at KOFA co-op, yet another Escapee park.  I believe it is the smallest one, but it was nice enough.  Since we were only there 1 night we really didn’t get a good overview, and it was a weekend so no Social hours…maybe next time!

We arrived at ‘our’ lot here in Yuma on Sunday, Dec 1st.  We’ve been having a great time!  On 55th Street in the foothills, they decorate big time – so big that there is a ‘LIGHT UP PARTY’ on Dec 10th.  Then every night thereafter someone ‘hosts’ the street.  They hand out candy to all (Santa is there too most nights) and dog biscuits to anyone with a pooch!  At the ‘host’ site, behind their gate they put out goodies for the people on the street.  Some folks do hot chocolate, hot apple cider, and munchies.  Walkers and Koehlers will be hosting 2 nights, the 18th and the 23rd.  We are going all out, they are making brats w/kraut, Gertrude is doing veggies and dips with other munchies, we are making macaroni salad, fudge, date & nut cake, cheese balls and pretzels…

Here are some pictures of the places lit up!  As always click on the picture to make them larger.  It is wonderful!

 

The people just keep walking and driving down the street, even buses!  The candy givers get on the buses and hand out candy, and if there are kids, Santa gets on the bus too!  Last year they had 23 buses in one night!  It is gonna be busy I’m sure, but also a lot of fun!

 

We had a great visit here with our friends from Riverton, WY, Lynn and Joyce Marlatt, they were here for the light up party…here they are

David and Lynn have been friends since 7th grade in school – now that is an enduring friendship!  They have gone several years with little to no contact, but they’ve kept in touch frequently the past couple years.  Joyce and I are getting to know each other pretty well too!  It was a nice visit but TOO SHORT!  You’ll notice we were all bundled up, ‘cause it was COLD after the sun went down!  In the low 50’s and with a desert wind…brrrr.  I guess we were lucky, it was –7 in WY, and sleeting and freezing in Hondo, TX. 

 

We’ve heard from friends Mel and Thelma May, from the Columbine Caravan in Colorado, and we will be getting together with them as well as Ray and Rita Rogers one evening :) 

Nov 18 Oh NO

We left Marfa about 9:30 heading to Las Cruces, NM, about 239 miles.  Well, we got about 5 miles west of Van Horn, TX, so about 80 miles from start and suddenly there was a squeal, and a BANG and we lost power steering and brakes…David got us off the side of the road very quickly…

 

We called Good Sam ERS – they sent out a mobile mechanic who was very good – turns out we lost an idler pulley and another pulley and the serpentine belt!!!  After 3 hours on the side of the road, getting rocked by every truck that went by, and $362 later, we were on our way.

 

We stopped about 30 miles up the road at the town of Sierra Blanco, at a little RV park right on business 10.  The RV park is the usual Texas dirt patch – but the restaurant with it was excellent.  Very friendly, exceptionally clean and good food at a very reasonable price.  We both had country fried steak, mashed potatoes & gravy, carrots, roll and 1 piece of sweet potato pie, and our bill was $17 – nice! 

Hondo to Marfa, TX Nov 15 to 17

Nov 15^th

We left Hondo, TX Lone Star Corral about 10 am – and drove 134 miles to Seminole Canyon State Park. We were tired when we got there (first day is always pretty tiring!), but it is a very pretty park. We had good 30 amp service and water. We finished up leftovers for dinner J

Nov 16^th

We got up and the plan was to keep moving, however David said he liked it there so much he wanted to stay another night. I did not want to unhook the car but the walk to the Ranger Station/visitor center was over a mile, and I sure didn’t want to do that either (I know I know, it would have done me good.). So, I took my chair and sat outside (it was chilly at 60 degrees) and flagged down a ranger when he came by. He immediately volunteered to take me up to the station and let me pay for another night. Since we have the Texas State Parks Pass it was $20 per night – no daily entrance fee :)

When I got back I made lunch, ham and bean soup that was so good! I defrosted it from the freezer and it sure hit the spot! We had good wifi in the park, so we spent most of the afternoon just dinking around on the net, and watching people pull in. I think everyone was hoping to see the Leonid Meteor shower, however it was far too cloudy…

We had a huge pizza craving, and it is pretty much out the window except on very special occasions because it is too high in carbs. However, I had saved a recipe about a month ago for a cauliflower crust pizza, I dug it out – had all the ingredients on hand and so we had pizza. SO yummy!

The reason David wanted to stay was for the sunset…and as you can see it was truly spectacular!

		Sunset at Seminole VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

Nov 17^th

We got up this morning, had a couple fried egg sandwiches, and hit the road. 200 miles later we arrived at Marfa, TX, home of the mystery lights! Do a search on Marfa Mystery lights and you can read all about them!

On our way we stopped in Alpine for a couple groceries and dinner is planned – Baby back BBQ ribs, baked potato and a big salad…maybe some veggies too!

Tomorrow we will travel until we’re tired (usually about noon the wind starts howling out here,) so when that happens we try to get off the road as soon as we find a campground!