March 30, 31 Gene & Linda

Well, I guess I made a post and it went into never never land!  So, the highlights :

On Friday we watched many rigs leaving the Rayne Campground - we had made arrangements to meet our friends Gene n Linda at Betty's RV Park in Abbeville for happy hour.  We drove down and had a wonderful couple hours - it was Betty's birthday and there was a potluck, lots of good food and people too!

Saturday we met Gene and Linda at Touchet's (pronounced Two checks) between Maurice and Abbeville.  Every other Saturday there is a jam session there that goes for hours, until the musicians are tired.  Every half hour some of them sit down and others get up - OMG the music was all cajun - couldn't understand any of the words, but the tunes were wonderful!

Gene N Linda - thanks for the memories my friends!

April 3, Rayne to Natchez

We left Rayne, LA April 1, and headed to Natchez, MS.  We were expecting a short driving day, but were NOT expecting the mechanical troubles we had!  Just as we got into the city of Natchez, there was a loud BANG, we lost oil pressure, power steering and brakes…we coasted up a hill to a light, and David, God Bless him, horsed the motorhome into a small street where we were able to get safely off the road. 

He diagnosed it as a broken serpentine belt – I called Good Sam Emergency Road Service, told them we needed a tow…they called back and said that Curtis Wrecking Service would come get us and tow us to Riverside Campground (where we were heading anyway!) and since it was a Sunday, they would send a mechanic out the next day.  So, by 3 we were in a lovely pull through spot in a gorgeous campground right along the Mississippi River! 

First thing Monday morning I called them and they had a mechanic there by 8 am.  He agreed that it was the serpentine belt, asked if we had a diagram of how it goes on, and left to find a belt.  Since we had noticed that our ‘coach’ batteries were very low (they would hardly bring in the slide anymore – were at least 7 years old) we asked him to pick us up two new batteries.  By 10 am he was done, belt on, new batteries installed…all for $403.62.  We were extremely happy with their service, from the towing to the fixing!  The batteries should be good for at least 5 years, and the serpentine belt for another 100,000 miles :) 
We immediately went to the Natchez reception welcome center, looked into a bus tour (none running on Monday), watched a movie on the town and its history, picked up some maps and headed to the corner of Canal and State streets, where we got a carriage tour of the downtown area, including Natchez under the hill.  Our driver was Jack and the horse was Jake, and Jack had much to tell and show us.  We saw some very old buildings, heard about William Johnston who was born to a black slave and a plantation owner, and who was freed when he was 8 – he became a wealthy man who himself owned a cotton plantation and slaves.  There were years and years of diaries and journals that he kept, from a ‘former slave’, which is a unique perspective.  We toured the museum which is run by the National Park Service.
While we were in Natchez we started touring some of the places on the south end of the Trace.  Actually, River View Campground, where we were staying in Vidalia, LA was noted at 0.0 milepost.  We first visited Historic Jefferson College which opened Jan 7, 1811.  At MP 8.7 we found the Old Trace Exhibit Shelter, where you can see the sunken quality of the trace where thousands upon thousands of feet walked, both 2 legged and 4.  We drove up to milepost 10.3, Emerald Mound, which covers almost 8 acres and is superseded only by Monk’s mound at Cahokia IL site.  Very impressive!  Then at MP 12.4, Loess Bluff it is possible to see the layers of silt deposits left by the Mississippi flooding through the years. 

Of course while in Natchez, we ate at several historic restaurants, the Euola Hotel puts on an OK lunch buffet, and we had a terrific lunch one day at Little Dagoes…yep, that really is the name of the restaurant!  We came home with enough leftovers from there for two more meals!  Since we are not at the rally we have a little better handle on David’s blood sugar, thank goodness! 

We had a very nice Social hour (which stretched to 2) with some fellow Escapees, Phil and Cindy Devonshire – who are from Wyalusing, PA.  We look forward to seeing them down the road, possibly at Cumberland MD end of July.  Love meeting new people and sharing tales!

April 4 we drove from Vidalia LA to Natchez State Park, a driving day of 18 miles :) but we are now officially on the trace!  After setting up we immediately took off for Grand Gulf State Park to tour the Port Gibson area where much of the fighting was done to protect Vicksburg.  We spent about 2 hours touring the grounds and museum ($2 fee per person for seniors).  Lots of history some restored buildings and lots of artifacts, canons, etc.  They have a nice campground, but it is full for the past 3 months and will continue to be full for a couple more.  Apparently there is a lot of work at the nuclear power station there since the 2011 flood, and it is full of workers.

We came back home to a wonderful dinner that I had started in the crockpot, roast beef, carrots, potatoes and onions in an onion gravy! 

This last picture is a 'weasel'...it measurers yarn, there is 12 inches between each 'handle' - it gives a little ping each time it goes around, and after so many go around, there is a LOUD POP - thus the term 'Pop goes the Weasel'...we had never seen this type of machine, and needless to say we did not know the 'rest of the story' :)

This is a wonderful journey - David, thanks for the memories darling!

March 28, 2012 PA Rally

The Passport America Rally was wonderful!  We did get a SMI brake system installed in the car to help stop the motorhome – since we have offloaded so much ‘stuff’ in Hondo, David could really feel the car pushing down hills, and there are some states where it is illegal to tow without brake assist on the towed vehicle, so we bit the bullet and got one.  Great people to work with, it took him about 4 hours to install, and there is NOTHING to put in the car when we hook up.  We simply click the latch with our other cables, turn on two switches inside the car, and done.  It works on infrared and speed, it sees the brake lights go on, feels the coach slow and applies brakes on the car with a vacuum something!  I will tell you it works magnificently!

We had some great entertainment at the rally – two nights of bands that were very good, playing Cajun as well as some country and some oldies.  Here are a couple pics of them.  There was a gentleman that was 87 years old and his bride of two years that really made us laugh.  They danced almost every dance, and he played the ‘washboard’…how great! 

We met some wonderful people, two couples in particular, Jim and Sandy from Gulf Shores, FL, and Don and Lou from Lousiana…Above is Pete and the decorations - the baloons look like frogs!  Here is Jim and Sandy!  We had a great time with them, and I didn’t get as many pictures as I’d like, but these will have to do!

They also provided some excellent food – one night was jambalaya, wow it was good!  Then on Wed night it was herb chicken and pulled pork, Cole slaw, beans, rolls and dessert…and every morning was either beignets or donughts, juice & coffee, I only indulged 1 morning since David could not! 

The rally ended on Thursday night with a wonderful pot luck and more visiting.  Friday morning we watched as over 150 rigs went out of the grounds.  We had paid for two extra nights, because there were things we wanted to do, and the Rayne City campground is excellent! 

March 24 - Livingston new friends - Rayne rally

Our time at Rainbow’s End in Livingston came to a close, but before it ended we had a wonderful time, and met a couple who we consider ‘forever’ friends!  They are Dean and Diane Tobias, of Michigan! 

On Thursday evening we visited with them in their Artic Fox, and then went to dinner at Shrimp Boat Manny’s…WOW, what delicious food!  I had never tried Etouffee, but was determined so that is what I ordered, pirogue with crawfish Etouffee…which came with veggies, some fried shrimp and hushpuppies….oh man, now that was some good eating!  David had ‘steak bites’ (dull, boring but what he wanted), Diane had the shrimp trio that she loved, and Dean had the shrimp Etouffee over rice.  Everyone loved their meals and we also had fair samplings of each other’s too!  Here are some pictures of our dinners  

Unfortunately I did not get a picture of Dean and Diane…but I will the next time our paths cross! 

Also on Thursday the park had their yard sale…it was a fun event and I bought a necklace and earrings that an artiste made from crinkle glass…it is gorgeous.  I’m sure you will see it in future pictures!  I also got the laundry all caught up which is very important prior to a Rally :)

We left Livingston on Friday morning fully intending to stop at Sulphur, LA but it was only 11 am, David said let’s keep going, and we came the whole way to Rayne.  When we got here there were people here already, although ‘early bird’ registration is today, and we got a very nice spot with a tree, just steps away from the exhibit hall.  We have full electric and water, but no dump station, so I will be taking my showers in the ‘hall’ – a small price to pay so that David only has a little ways to get into the exhibit hall. 

We drove around and looked at the town (very small, not even a Wally world, had dinner at Gabes Cajun and were not impressed.  It did not even rate a picture.  I once again had Etouffee, but this was RED, not the rich dark brown I had previously.  I will now always ask, because the red was much too spicy for me!  David had the shrimp boat and it was good…I ate some of his and he had a couple bites of mine! 

We came back to the cg and played with Cinder off leash for a while – she chased her ball and got a pretty good workout!  We sat outside in balmy 75 degree temps until the bugs drove us inside.  We ran the AC most of the night because the humidity is very high – I get too hot and David has trouble breathing in high humidity…good thing we have full electric!

This morning I headed to the shower house – feels funny to do that, but I took along a razor and had a nice leisurely shower.  That was the first ‘long’ shower I’ve had since I left PA…and it was wonderful…but not as comfortable as the shower in the motorhome. 

I made a terrific breakfast of steel cut oatmeal with dried cherries and whole grain toast…carb overload but good carbs!  David loves oatmeal, but since he is watching carbs I have to be stingy with it! 

We’re off to find a Wal-Mart, we have a list and the top of mine is a couple bottles of wine…after all, why waste all these balmy evenings on bottled water…

March 21, 2012 Livingston TX

What have we been doing?  Well let's see, we arrived on Thursday, March 15th at the Escapee's Corporate Headquarters in Livingston TX.  What a great welcome and wonderful place!  David says it is totally different from what he expected, but as you can see from his smile, he likes it!

We attended Livingston Trade Days, which is about 10 acres of vendors - very neat!

Here is the POOL that they have here...boy, this would be wonderful in Hondo!!!  They have exercise and water aerobics...now I'd teach that if we had one :)

They have social hour EVERY DAY at 4:00...and on Sunday when they don't have Social hour they have ice cream social and talk before you get your ice cream!  The social hour is always run by a park member, no manager...they do announcements, tell jokes, welcome new guests, say goodbye to people that are leaving, birthdays and anniversaries, and just generally shoot the bull for about a half hour - then folks sit around and chat after that...they don't seem to 'rush out' :) 

For St Patricks Day I cooked a corn beef, cabbage & potatoes, and it was excellent even though I couldn't find any soda bread! 

We visited with friends Barbara and Larry Hill - Barbara is at the CARE center allowing Larry to have some respite time.  We will see Larry again tomorrow.  We did get a tour of CARE and it is amazing how they manage to operate with such a limited budget.  Yet one more reason to be an Escapee! 

We toured Lake Livingston and it was nice - we met some terrific people, and are enjoying the area.  We've had dinner at Catfish King, a lunch at Jack in the Box, and lunch at Big Burrito where they served far too much food...it was all very good!
We had a terrific Taco Salad lunch at the clubhouse for $4 per person, large taco salad, choice of brownie or pineapple upside down cake or sugar free banana pudding, and a drink...yum!  We were very full!

Today we drove 70 miles to Nacodoches, TX, primarily to tour the Foretravel RV Factory...let's just say the tour in NO way compared to the tour we got at the Newmar factory in Elkhart, IN.  After the tour we visited with Extreme Paint & Graphics and saw some of their terrific work!  Wow, those folks are good!  Then we went to a place called Auntie Pastas...that I had researched on the web...our gps took us out to a field in the middle of nowhere, but when we finally got back into a place where we had reception, David looked it up on his Droid and we were there in no time.  It is a renovated warehouse alongside the rail road tracks, and the food was excellent, and big enough lunch portions to bring home for lunch tomorrow!  Yippee, two for 1, I like that! 

Tomorrow the park here is having sale days, and there are about 20 tables set up in the Activity Center, and people will be having sales at their lots (they provide a map) so we're going to be yard saling...but, remember, if we bring something new into the MH, something has to go out...sure saves money, since we like everything we have!

I'm going to attempt to add some pictures, but if the connection is too slow, I'll try to add them later!

David - love of my life, thanks for helping me make some wonderful memories :) 

March 15, 2012 Lexington TX

After several fantastic dinners and bbq's with several sets of friends, Napoli's with Ron & Ali, Walker and Evelyn, Margie & Edmund, then a dinner hosted by Carol and Jerry, in honor of his sister Jackie, Babe & Andy, Faye & Dutch, Rusty & Alice, then a BBQ at Chuck & Rose's, with Babe & Andy, Carolyn & Bob, Max, George & Joan, Hank & Euona, Marty & Tim,Ruth & Don, then a final dinner with Bob & Jan, we hit the road! 

Our first night was spent at Class A RV repairs as they were resetting our windshields - and once they were in we were not to drive for a couple hours, so we spent the night in their parking lot.  We got up this morning and headed North east, avoiding Houston and Austin! 

We arrived at Lexington TX at Sonny's RV park, a simply lovely little park with full hookups for $20 per night.  During our trip we ran into a little rain, and when we turned on the wipers, BANG, the passenger wiper went flying off...sigh, just another adventure in the life of full time RVer's!  So after we arrived we went looking for windshield wipers - yep, had to get two of them because trying to take off the driver side one, David broke it...so, $38.00 later we got two new wipers, and we managed (David did, I just stood around and played gofer - gofer other glasses, gofer the step stool, gofer the screwdriver), and then I made us a fantastic dinner of spinach, strawberries, red onion, slivered almonds and chicken for me, steak for him, with raspberry vinagrette dressing - it was SO scrumptious! 

Stay tuned, we're planning on more adventures this coming week!

March 9, 2012 LSC

Once again I find myself playing catch up…it is very hard to keep a blog interesting when we are in one place and not traveling.  Here are some highlights of the past month:

·       Had a fantastic lunch with Shaun & Cindy Love and her parents.  Shaun and Cindy are friends from Cheyenne, WY and they came for a surprise visit to her parents who live in Jourdanton, TX.  We met the at Rocky’s Grill in Devine, and besides the ever wonderful food, we spent 2 hours catching up!

·       We spent many hours at the VA in Kerrville and San Antonio.  The result is that David’s ears now have tubes in them so he can hear, he is now officially a diabetic, and is on Glipizade pills.  They started him on Metformin and he is allergic L  However the good news is that we have been watching his diet (and he is so grumpy about it!) and I think we have a handle on the sugar.  He has to have an A1C test June 1^st in PA, and that will determine if he needs to go on insulin immediately or if we can control this with the pills and diet.  At least twice a week we were going to one facility or the other, and usually spending the entire day there!

·       We’ve had may wonderful lunches and dinners, in D’Hanis, Hondo and San Antonio.

·       There has been some patch up work done on the motorhome – We had the drivers window and the passenger windows taken out, scraped, caulked and reset.  We had Total RV Repair in Elkhart Indiana do it last year in July, and we really should have saved our money – they did a lousy job, and as a result we have water damage underneath the windows that we repaired as best we could – thanks to Matthews RV Repair here in the park!  They did a great job.  They also fixed our awning so it would roll back, and fixed the antenna so it didn’t leak around it.

·       We took the MH to Pipe Creek to Class A RV Repair and had them look at our windshield – turns out the gasket is dry rotted and has to be replaced.  Of course insurance will not pay to have this done.  A WORD TO ANYONE GETTING A WINDSHIELD REPLACED – Insist on a new gasket!!!  We had our windshields replaced 3 years ago in Cheyenne, and did not know that we should insist on that – as a result we will now have to eat the cost of getting new gaskets and the windshields’ removed and reset.  Ggggrrr!

·       I’ve worked in the Membership office about 1 day each week – learning new stuff, keeping the brain busy :)

·       Managed to get all Mom & Dad’s Estate taxes to the lady at H&R Block who has always done their taxes…waiting on her OK to send the IRS a BIG check.

·       Got all our tax stuff to our fantastic accountant and BFF in Lander WY…and we’re planning a get together with her in PA probably in June…maybe July – can’t wait to see her! 

·       Cleaned out bays and put items in our shed here in Hondo that we don’t need to carry with us – lighten the load!  Gave bags and bags of stuff to the Airman’s Attic, from clothing to a portable DVD player.

·       Filled all the batteries, checked the oil, filled the windshield reservoir, got the car inspected.

·       We will leave here on Wed morning, taking the MH up to Class A for final windshield repairs, we’ll drive into San Antonio from there for a last follow-up for David’s ears. 

·       We were planning on heading to Galveston for a week, however, with Spring Break in full swing, we’ve decided we will go to Livingston, TX which is the Corporate Headquarters of Escapee’s RV Club.  We will make sure we get our voter registration done, tour the CARE facility, and tour the mail service facility.  We’ve wanted to do that for a couple years, however something always comes up!

·       Update on Abigail – she has had several chemo treatments and has been doing well.  Last week she did get ill afterwards, so please keep the prayers going.  She will be getting a CT scan next week – please pray that the nodules on her lungs are GONE!

Yesterday it was a year that my mother died.  I was rather emotional all day.  I know she is in a better place, but boy, do I miss her. 

That’s all that we’ve been doing – and as soon as we get on the road I’ll be updating more frequently.