Weekend of July 18-20th, 2008

I'm finally getting around to posting last weekend's trip to Rayford. Work has been crazy and I just haven't taken the time to make this post.....

I took Stella up to the park on Wednesday night so she could spend some time with Brenda before they had to leave for Memphis. We met Ted and Donna and Rick and Brenda at the Sweet Tomato restaurant where we had a good meal of salads. We love to eat here and do so every time we get a chance to. I went back home and they brought Stella back to the park for me, so I wouldn't have to go out of my way. Thanks guys.....

Rick and Brenda were staying in Ted and Donna's house but had to get back to Memphis where Rick was working in his brother's exotic grass farm. And no, it's not that kind of grass either, it's a type of baseball/football field grass thats very hardy. They left Thursday to go back. Ted and Donna had just returned from their long summer trip and had left their trailer at their dealer's lot in Lufkin to have some new body panels installed after suffering a tire blowout that damaged their trailer. They had similar damage done to the other side last summer. At this rate, they'll have a new trailer in a couple more years and the best thing is, Goodyear is paying for it!

I went to work (ugh...) Thursday and Friday and returned to the park on Friday evening. About the time I got to the park, I was told that Ricky Cobb's mother had passed away in San Antonio. She had been diagnosed with cancer a while back and it finally got her. So sad! We went to Casa Imperial with the regular group that also includedBill and Ornell Sims, Harry and Judy Hartley and Jim and Sheila Gratz. We found this restaurant a while back and love it. They have good food at a reasonable price, but don't tell everyone. We don't want them to get so popular they raise their prices. We returned to the park and sat around outside talking until around 10 o'clock or so when I conked out and went to bed. I always sleep so well in the trailer....

Saturday morning we got up and fixed a breakfast of pancakes (Donna) and bacon (Bill and Ornell). We didn't get too much accomplished today but Ted did get his rig washed down after the long trip. Harry and Judy left to go to Texarkana for a funeral. I went down to the office where I reserved our space for next October after retirement. I am getting excited about the upcoming fun of traveling. I decided on space #115 which is the last space on the far back side of the park. The good thing about this site is that it has early afternoon shade but this all may change if the park goes ahead with their expansion project. I'm not too sure about their timetable but everything will change when that happens. I also reserved 25 sites for October 17th-19th 2009 for another Heartland rally at Rayford. We met another couple named Ted and Norma that were in a motorhome next to us. I gave them a Boomer packet so they can look into joining the Texas Boomers. This is the primary way we have recruited new members over the years, strictly by word of mouth and folks seeing how much fun we have.

We got up Sunday morning and began the fold up-put away process. It's funny that I can get fully set up in less than an hour but it takes me all morning long to get the same stuff picked up and put away. I guess its because I stop to talk to the others around me that are doing the same thing. We got away from the park around 12:30. The trip home took a little over an hour, which is not too bad considering we are dragging our home behind us.

So long until the next one!