Monday February 17, 2014-Moving Day-Inks Lake state park to North Houston KOA, Montgomery TX

We reached this day with such mixed emotions. We have so many friends here and have thoroughly enjoyed our time, but it's time to go. Me and the dogs get antsy when we stay somewhere for a long time.

We intended to get up early and be off by some time between 9 and 10, but we overslept in the cool air and didn't actually get started until after 8. We have a new route (thanks Chip) and it's only 198 miles. 

I don't think I told you about the shock we had when we began to get ready to leave. We have never had a problem with finding plenty of RV sites and never dreamed of having one now. We called the Oasis, where we've been staying for a couple of years and found it full with no openings until at least May. Long story short, we called every park that we could think of from Galveston to Houston and the surrounding area and found NOTHING! We were told that there is a lot of construction being done in the plants in Texas City, and of course, the winter Texans are still down here. We finally got the last long-term site at the North Houston KOA in Montgomery, so we're here for at least a month.

We pulled out from Inks about 10:30 and after making one short pit stop, we arrived here about 3. We had a 30 minute wait when we arrived because our neighbor had illegally parked his truck in the vacant (our) site so we had to wait for him to come back and move it. We learned that the park's wifi is down and will be down until a new provider is found and the equipment installed. I was looking forward to good park wifi but I can deal with coming to the office to use their service. 

We are planning to visit with some friends and of course, family while we're down here but the main thing is to clean up and release the storage unit in Texas City that we've had for years. We'll see how that works out...

I'm making this post on Wednesday morning. I learned last night that our friend and Heartland Owners Club President Jim Beletti will be coming for a visit on Sunday. We'll be looking forward to his arrival. I am in the park rec hall, using their bandwidth when I heard a familiar voice. Sandy Creekmore, of Texas Boomer fame had stopped by with her daughter and her fiance looking for a site. We had a nice and very short visit because they had to leave, but it was really good to see another old friend. She gave me my start as a club wagonmaster several years ago. 

So long.

Thursday February 13, 2014-Inks Lake state park

A group of us from Inks Lake made a drive over to the McKinney Falls state park near Austin for a birthday party for our dear friend George Odom. George turned 80 years young today and we wanted to share his day with him with a surprise birthday party for him. He has worked at several state parks including Inks and McKinney falls and only left a couple of weeks ago for his new "job" here.

 The dining room.

 An outdoor eating area. The fireplace doesn't work but would be a wonderful thing to have on these cold nights.

We all wish that Inks Lake had something like this!

Our group waiting for George to arrive.  

The guest of honor arrives. I'm sorry that I was so far away because you can't see the surprise on his face. 

Happy Birthday George, my friend! 

Someone did a great job on his cake. It even has a sign on the front Park Host George, just like the one on his motorhome.

A great setup for George.

We rode over with our friends Bill and Karen, so not only did we have a good time at the party, we enjoyed the ride too. We hope that all of our friends return to Inks next fall. I know we will...

So long

Wednesday February 12, 2014-Inks Lake state park

The rangers and other employees of the park gave us, the park hosts, an appreciation lunch today. They did one last year, but it was after we had left, so we missed it. I'm told that it was a lot of fun and I know this year's was!

Here is many of our group, gathered at the maintenance shop and ready to party!

They used two of the garages for the setup. We have had other meetings here before and its a nice area. We all wish they would set up a covered pavilion for us to use, but its not gonna happen any time soon I'm afraid.

The rangers and park employees prepared all of the food and put on a couple of very funny skits for us. The theme this year was TV Land.

The headquarters staff did a skit on the Simpsons. Thats the retiring park manager, Terry Rogers doing Marge Simpson. He's the one with the tall blue hair.

Taking a well-deserved bow. 

The maintenance and ranger staff arrived as the A Team. They used one of the old prison vans, used to transport prisoners to the park to work, to be their transport. They used black trash sacks to cover the van and some scrap lumber that they painted for the red accent trim. We couldn't believe Ranger Jeff going shirtless! It was cool in the shade. 

 The A Team...

I'm sure you recognize Terry Rogers but the guy next to him is Terry Young, the assistant park manager.

Terry, saying a few words to us. He will be retiring soon and we all wish him well in the future.

The A Team at their van. 

The maintenance crew also won the prize for the best food dish. Another great day for the A Team.

We had a great time with our friends and are looking forward to the fall when we plan to return.

So long.

Friday, January 31, 2014-Inks Lake state park.

Today we drove over to New Braunfels to visit with Grandma Willie Mae, my step-mom. It's about 90 miles over there, and the traffic is horrendous! I'm glad I don't have to make this drive often.

She quite a herd of deer in the canyon below the house. When we arrived, I saw a large buck with about 8 points, but he didn't hang around and ran into the woods. He didn't return when I scattered some corn out, but about five of his girlfriends were in the yard about as soon as the corn came out of the scoop. They didn't seem to scared of me and kept looking for even more corn, but one big scoop is enough.

Here is a picture of Grandma with me. That's her dog Joey and I'll warn you that if you ever go over to her house, don't pet him! He doesn't like anyone but her! I took her advice and didn't try to pet him, but he seemed much more friendly the longer we stayed. 

We took her out to the Clear Springs restaurant in nearby Clear Springs. This place is known for it's catfish and onion rings, and they didn't disappoint. We had a very nice meal and some great conversation. I learned that Daddy's mother had been a suffragette back in the day. I'm sorry to say that I don't really know too much about my Dad's family. I lost contact with Uncle Bob, Daddy's brother, a long time ago and don't know what has happened with him. I assume he's gone now, but I really don't know.

It was a nice day for a drive, but we were both tired by the time we got home. 

So long.

Thursday January 30, 2014-Inks Lake state park

Not much going around the state park, mostly because of the crazy winter weather that we've all had recently. We have had more 20 degree nights than I can remember, especially in December. It hasn't let up yet because the extended weather forecast is for more cold weather and possible "ice pellets". I assume they mean sleet...

I've been given this week off and have taken advantage by catching up on naps and of course television. We met Chip and Bunky to play games and they taught us to play 5 Crown which is like a rummy game. It was fun and I even managed to win one game. It will probably be the only game I'll ever win...

At any rate, we had fun with our friends and look forward to more times with them. 

Monday January 27, 2014-Inks Lake state park

After so much cold weather, the weekend was great! I even got to wear shorts for the first time since October. I took advantage of the warm weather to wash the truck. It was absolutely filthy and it will take a couple more washes to remove the embedded dirt. The problem is, we are forecast to be back in the 20's tomorrow night.

We went to the 2300 Cafe for our Friday night out with the other hosts. It was all right but not as good (my opinion) as the first time we ate there. We are slowly seeing a change in the hosts, with two new couples coming in the past few days. Actually it won't be too long before we will be leaving.

We spent some quality time with our neighbors over the weekend. I began it with washing my truck, resulting in the neighbors on both sides of us washing theirs. We all got together to chat after completing the washing. Stella made a big ol' pot of beans on Sunday afternoon and they all came over to share them. We sat outside until the cool night temps sent us back inside. It was good to spend time with our friends. We are planning to play some card games or dominoes later today. All three of us guys worked on the deer hunts and are taking some time off from work. Bill and Karen are still cleaning cabins and Chip and Bunkie are doing site checks in the mornings and Stella and I will do the recycling pickups later in the week, so we are still working, just not as much. We still love working here.

So long.

Friday January 24, 2014-Inks Lake State Park

I know it has been forever since I've put up a post, but I've been busy with the deer hunters and working around the park and that was pretty boring to write about. 

This was the first hunter that I took out and the buck that he got. It was a very pretty nine pointer and one of the best ones taken over the hunts.

We had many compliments about the hunts. All of the hunts were the same, an evening hunt on Tuesday, morning and evening hunts on Wednesday and another morning hunt on Thursday. The only one that changed was during the kids hunt when it was backed up one day due to new year eve. 

I guess the next big thing that has gone on would have to be the winter weather. The "polar vortex" came roaring in and left us with lots of cold weather. At least the first one didn't have any ice and snow associated with it down here. I know that much of the rest of the country had lots of snow and ice but we escaped it. Even the deer hunters didn't have to deal with extreme cold during the hunts. 

Most of the water in the unoccupied sites was left dripping and this was the result. At least they avoided water lines breaking, although they did have to replace some water spigots.

The pictures below were taken today, in the latest round of cold weather.

 The front porch and steps were hard to negotiate this morning. Of course, the propane bottle ran out about 3AM and I had to bundle up and go change it over to the full tank.

The morning temperature this morning!

At least my work on the deer blinds is finished, at least for now. We will return to work in the next week or so, working on the blinds. We plan to move some and improve the shooting lanes in some. We want to get this done now, so the deer will not be alarmed next fall when we all plan to return and work the deer hunt next season. 

I have been busy in making plans for our summer trip and will share them with you as soon as I can. I plan to add a travel map to the front page when I figure out how to do it. 

So long.