Wednesday October 31, 2012-Inks Lake State Park

So, here we are on Halloween night and there are no ghosts or goblins here in the park, but worst of all, no kids to come trick or treating to get the candy that Stella bought. I think she bought it for us, but don't tell her that I figured it out...

Here is a sunset photo that I took at the park where Tommy and Susan were, Sunset Shores. You can see why they named it, because their site was right on the shore of the lake, and man! look at that sunset!

This is a place called Cooper's Barbecue in Llano. We ate there with Tommy and Susan but came back with the Park Host group from here. When you walk up you see all the pits outside the restaurant. I didn't ask how often they use the rest of the pits.

You walk up and choose what meat(s) you want and how much. It smells great, but the barbecue is even better than it smells. I don't know when I've had better barbecue. All the sides and desserts (about 6 different cobblers!) are inside. Not a place to go if you're on a diet.

 This is our work area at the boat rentals in the park store. Only shown in the photo are the paddle boats. We also have canoes and both single and double occupant kayaks. Yes, the lake is really that gorgeous!

Here is our group of park hosts at Coopers. I didn't waste any time taking photos with the hot food in front of me, but did manage to get almost everyone in the picture after we ate. I came up with the idea to come here, and hope to be able to put something together weekly for us to get together and visit.

Here is a sunset shot across Inks lake taken about an hour ago. It isn't the mountains of Colorado, but it ain't bad!

So long.

Friday and SaturdayOctober 26 & 27th, 2012-Inks Lake State Park

There was a cold front coming in today, so we stayed home all morning. It began to rain pretty hard but we were scheduled to go to the park store to rent boats this afternoon, so about noon we went to the store. All the boats were in and since the weather was bad, it was decided that there was no reason to think things would pick up, so we were released.

We met Carol, the Interpretive Director at the park. She is in charge of all of the wildlife education as well as leading kayak trips around the lake. I helped her get some supplies into her storage area under the store building. She seems to know what she is doing and I look forward to possibly going to one of her classes. 

We came back home and hung out for the afternoon. I talked to our friend and fellow park host Mike about having a get together for the hosts on Monday afternoon at Coopers Barbecue in Llano. I passed the word around to a few of the park hosts that I saw and Mike said he would do the same. I think it will be very nice for us to get together and the food will be great.

Saturday the weather was much better, but much colder too. The park was packed with a huge group of Girl Scouts, so we knew we would be busy renting boats today. When we arrived for work, it only took Marty a second to tell us "see ya" and take off. When he wasn't too chatty, I knew he had been busy. Sure enough, we were swamped a couple of times as large groups came through to rent boats. At one point, all of the paddle boats and nine of the canoes were out, but strangely, the kayaks were very slow today. It was a nice afternoon but turning colder, so we were glad when the last boat was returned. It won't be long until we have the fall time change, so our times here will likely change as the store hours change. I'm sure it will all work out and we'll have a good time. Call me an optimist!

So long.

Sunday-Thursday October 21-25, 2012-Inks Lake State Park

We didn't do too much Sunday but watched the football games on television. We were scheduled to work this afternoon at the boat rental dock but when we got there, all the boats were in and no one seemed to want to rent one. We stayed around for a little while, cleaning up the area. I moved some walking sticks to a different storage area. It seemed like wasted time but we did get something accomplished.

Monday we went in and talked to Sue about getting a schedule for working at the store renting boats. All she could give us was Friday and Saturday afternoons, so we had to find more work to do to satisfy our job requirement, so we went to talk to Chris the lead ranger. He said there were plenty of jobs and to just get one of the Gators and pick up trash, clean firepits or any of the other jobs. He said that on Wednesday, all of the hosts would be used to help out in shutting down the water in the park and repairing some valves, so this week's time would be taken care of.

Tuesday I decided to mow our yard. We have one of the larger sites with a huge yard. I began with a small lawn mower to cut around the trees and in tight areas before getting one of the Grasshopper riding mowers. My training at Caddo Lake paid off because I was familiar with the operation of the mower and was soon finished. I had forgotten how much "fun" mowing was. It wasn't particularly hot but it was very humid and it didn't take long to work up a good sweat!

Stella washed our clothes in the afternoon. The park has two washers and two dryers for us to use but you have to write in the times to reserve the machines and she had taken this afternoon. It really isn't hard, especially since the washers are in the maintenance office building, right down the street from our site. I took her down and Tramp and I went down a couple of hours later to get her and all the clean clothes and bring them home.

Wednesday we began early in the morning on our assignment for the water line repair. We were given the job of monitoring the only bathroom in the park while the repairs were made. It wasn't bad and I had brought a couple of our chairs, so we sat in the shade beside the bathroom and read our Kindles. We had other hosts that came by and visited with us during the day, so it wasn't a bad gig at all.

Thursday I decided to return my new computer that I bought a couple of weeks ago. I am just getting used to the workings of Windows 7 using Google Chrome as the operating system when all of a sudden I could not connect to the Internet. Nothing could do to fix this problem, so I took it back to Georgetown to the Best Buy where I had bought it. Of course they brought out one of their Geek Squad guys and he turned it on and everything came up without a problem. What can I say, it never fails! We ended up just making a day of being over there and did a little shopping and got something to eat before coming back home. It turned out to be a pretty good day and we enjoyed ourselves. Maybe we're just easily satisfied...

So long.

Saturday October 20, 2012-Inks Lake State Park

Today was a regular work day for us. We relieved Marty, the other park host that works in boat rentals and he was glad to see us. The park is full again this weekend and likely will be until Thanksgiving unless the weather turns cold. I noticed that many of the people in tents had left this morning. It was chilly, about 49 this morning, and they left.

We were busy all afternoon but had fun with the folks that we served. The only problems that we had were a couple of the paddle boats went outside the restricted area but I said something to them when they returned and I think I made my point with them. Paddle boats are not allowed out into the main lake because of the power boats that are also in the lake. The paddle boats are slower and much more difficult to maneuver out of the way, so it is a safety issue. The park once rented boats out overnight but don't any more. There are no lights on the rental canoes, kayaks or paddle boats, so again it is a safety issue. The park had no control of people taking the boats out after dark.

I had to wrestle a canoe and a kayak into the proper position for locking them up. Folks are asked to return the boats to the same position they are in but sometimes don't do it and then we have to turn them around. The boats are heavy and have to be picked up and turned around so that the security rings match up. I was told that one of the projects is to put security rings on both ends of the boats but it hasn't been done yet. Maybe I'll ask about it and we'll get it done before we leave.

We have been doing much better on our eating and came home and only had a light supper before relaxing in front of the television. We have good TV reception and Internet here, thank goodness. Much better than the higher dollar "resort" in Creede. I've said enough about that.

So long.

Wednesday, Thursday & Friday, October 17, 18 & 19, Inks Lake State Park

We didn't do much of anything on Wednesday. We stayed home all day and did stuff around here. The dogs have been missing us, so we stayed home with them and they appreciated it. We groomed Cassie in the afternoon, I combed out some of her tangles and Stella clipped her while Tramp supervised everything. We spent most of the afternoon outside and it seemed to tire us all out and we came inside and almost immediately went to sleep. It was a good day!

Thursday we didn't plan anything because we had to work this afternoon. This would have been our first day to work this week but there was a misunderstanding about our hours and the store's hours. We had planned to come in at 3 and understood the store was open until 6 and would have rented boats until 5, but we were an hour off. They closed at 5 and would have stopped renting at 4, but when we arrived to work all the boats were in and locked up so we found some things to do, cleaning and stocking and knocked off at 4. We had cleared this schedule with two of the regular employees, but we'll make up the time later in the week.

Friday we went in to work at 12:30 and immediately went to work renting boats. We were fairly busy because there was a large group of home school children in the park and they all wanted to go for a boat ride. It was a good day and we enjoyed it.

Susan called and invited us to meet them at a place called Spykes barbecue in Kingsland. We had heard good things about it but it was only so-so as far as we were concerned. It was okay but not great and we all wished we had driven the 30 miles to Llano and Coopers. They will be leaving tomorrow and it was good to spend time with our friends before they leave.

So long.

More Trois Estate photos

Here is a mound on the floor of the balcony that is in the form of the Enchanted Rock that can be seen in the distant background. The large vent fan is for the kitchen of the restaurant below.

The entire area is in an adobe style with narrow roads as in a Mexican village. The buildings and roads appear to be very old but we learned that the construction of the property was begun in 1998.

The entire balcony was done in a mosaic pattern and the furniture matches. I must assume (and I know what that means!) that the furniture came from Mexico, where I have seen similar pieces.

The indoor pool is in a grotto. complete with man-made stalactites. I didn't get a photo of the rounded roof in this building. The inside is rounded and covered in bricks, which again makes it look very old. Details like these are seldom seen any more.

This is the stage in a bar in another building. Notice all the trophies on the wall.

 Another small figurine on the bar. The bar is used if there are activities here. The plan is to rent/lease many of the buildings to vendors and this work is still under construction. Even though the buildings look old, I noticed modern plumbing and electrical in the buildings.

Still in the barroom are more antiques. The old Indian mannequin, the calendar on the left side of the picture is from 1940 and seems to be perfect. The picture of President Lincoln on the right side appears to be an original, but I guess all of these can be duplicated and made to look old.

Some more details of the property are that the couple that developed and built it are now divorced. They both continue to live here, the man in one of the adobe buildings near his showroom, and the woman lives in a 20,000 square foot underground home that we did not get to see. We met the man in his showroom, which is approximately 8,000 square feet and houses a huge gun and trophy collection which is shown by appointment only.

I can't rave enough about this place. It is being used for weddings, receptions and parties. In case you're wondering, we found the rates pretty reasonable. Regular room are $159 per night during the week and $229 on the weekend. Both include a gourmet breakfast prepared by the chef. The bridal suite is $259, breakfast included. It should be a real attraction when built out and with the stores and shops open.

We finished this day by going to a place called Cooper's Bar B Q in Llano. It is a different serving method here. We were served at the outdoor barbecue pit, where there were several large pieces of meat. Take your pick of brisket, sausage, turkey or large beef roast, as much as you want. It is very easy to ask for much more of this delicious meat than you want or need. We went inside for side dishes and of course to pay and eat our meal. It was probably some of the best barbecue that we've ever had. Very much worth the trip!

So long.

Tuesday October 16, 2012, Inks Lake State Park

Tommy and Susan found out about a place that is across the road from the Enchanted Rock Park called the Trois Estate. We found it this morning and WOW! what a place it is! I don't know when I've ever seen as eclectic collection of artifacts and buildings, almost too much to tell about.

There were many rooms and halls on this property. This deer-horn mirror is in one of the buildings that has several rooms with a large meeting hall on the ground floor. 

I guess Stella has found a new friend. I'll certainly be nicer to her as long as he is around. I later learned that the owners had many full size trophies, but many have been sold.

The door on the right is one of the rooms that is available for rental. We were all amazed at the collections. See below:

 I don't have any idea where these mannequins and small-scale buckboard came from, but there were many in this hall.

 It also contained these old cowboy outfits, but all the guns are BB guns!

Many of the BB guns were in their original boxes and brought back memories of my childhood. Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and many of the other old Hollywood cowboys were represented. I will add more photos to my next entry.

If you're ever in the area, it is worth it to stop by this place and check it out.

So long.

Monday October 15, 2012-Inks Lake State Park

We got up this morning and went to the park store to sign up to work there. I realized when I started writing this that I had omitted the entry for Saturday, so I guess I had better back off and tell you about that.

We had originally signed up to work at the boat rental on Saturday from 11-4. Another host named Marty works in the rental area but he got off at 3, so he could be there to train us for a few hours before he left. The training didn't take that long, but there were some issues over closing times and the times for cut-off of boat rentals. Once we got this straightened out, things went very well.

It was hot and muggy and there were lots of people renting boats and we decided to work over until 6 to help out the ladies in the store. They would have had to take care of the store and boats too. It wasn't that much physical work, but there are the boats to be checked in and all the equipment, oars, life jackets and then having the guest sign the ticket that they had returned everything. We were glad to help out and later decided to volunteer for this spot permanently.

As I said earlier, we told the ladies that we wanted to work in the rentals on Thursday thru Sunday. We will be there to close all four days, and this will take care of our total hours for the week. We also spoke with Chris, the lead Ranger. He was fine with what we had offered in the store and I told him to call me if he needed help with other odd jobs.

We had also signed up to work a late-night (11PM-12M) monitoring job at the front gate. Austin headquarters is asking for monitoring of the front gate at different times of the week for people entering the park. There are no gates into the park, so I guess they are curious about how many people come in at these times. At any rate, we stayed up late (very late for me!) and not one vehicle came through.  We did our duty but to me, it was a waste of time.

On Monday, after we got all squared away with work, we went over to Kingsland where we met Tommy and Susan to hang out with them. We went over to Llano where we looked around for Bill and Mary's RV park-didn't find it- and went for lunch at a place called Coopers Bar B Que. This was some of the best barbecue we have ever eaten. You walk in and buy your meat right off the grill and then go inside to get sides and drinks. It was a different place, but the food was excellent. I highly recommend it if you're ever in the area.

So long.
















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Sunday October 14, 2012-Inks Lake State Park

We went over to Tommy and Susan's site at the Sunset Shores RV Resort. We sat out on the grass beside Lake LBJ and you can see how they named this place. Tommy and Susan got the nicest site in the park, and I am envious. This is a beautiful park and great site.

This is probably as pretty a sunset as you will find, and it happens here every day! You can just see a large flock of ducks floating in the lake. They line up in a long line every afternoon and float off into the middle of the lake. We later asked one of the park rangers here and he said they probably spend
the night out in the middle for their safety.

                                   
Lexie, Susan's Labradoodle, enjoys laying in the cool grass, not paying a bit of attention to the beautiful area where she is. Oh, to be an RV'ers doggie!

So long.

Thursday & Friday, October 11 & 12, 2012-Inks Lake State Park

Just a quick update from the last two days. We haven't been doing a lot around the park.....yet. Chris, the lead Ranger should be back next week and give us some assignments so we'll be busier and time will go by faster. Everything is working well here, the Internet has a good strong signal and the satellite is working very well with local (Austin) television stations.

I've met some of the other hosts, Mike and his wife Linda. They are newly retired and just getting started in their new life. Mike told me that they still own a house but plan to sell it and downsize. He said they have looked at some of the patio homes with an attached RV port but are still trying to decide.

Weekend campers started coming in yesterday and man, you can see it all here! I have seen everything from Big ol' Allegro Bus motorhomes to little tiny "teardrop" trailers that are not much larger than our bathroom. There are scores of small pull trailers that are about the size of our bedroom, but the smallest that I've seen is a man and woman on a motorcycle that is pulling a trailer. Their sleeping arrangements are an aluminum cot with a tent over the bed. They must bathe in the park showers and change into pajamas there and crawl into their bed. Talk about no privacy! You know what they say, "it takes all kinds", but that's awfully small! Don't even think about "fun times while camping"! This is a family blog...

So long.

Wednesday Octobe 10, 2012-Inks Lake State Park

Well, we finally had to work some today. We went down the street to the maintenance shop and checked out one of the John Deere Gators to use along with some tools. We cleaned up firepits and picked up trash in the cabin area, the day use area and the tent/popup areas. We worked for about 3 1/2 hours and called it a day. By the time we got back to the shop and dropped off the refuse and cleaned up the Gator, we were tired and ready for some rest. It really wasn't that bad and the good thing is that the rest of the week should be very easy because everything is clean.

We also talked to the lady at the store and signed up to work there on Saturday,helping to rent out the canoes and kayaks. We will be teamed up with one of the "regulars" who does this all the time, so we should get some good training about what is expected, so it should be fun.

Stella signed up to work on Saturday night at the front gate. They are doing some kind of count on how many people are coming in during the night. The park has no gate-never has since we've been coming here- and how many people will be coming in between 11 and 12 at night? It's something that Austin wants done, so we'll do it.

I came back home and after nap time, worked on next year's travels. I did some rough estimates, and we'll be going about 4000 miles to attend 15 rallies! I can already feel my belt getting tighter from all the potluck meals... We'll get to mark off at least a couple more states on our travel map and we will be meeting a lot of new people. I can't wait to go!

So long.

Tuesday October 9, 2012-Inks Lake State Park

Well, we are all settled in at Inks Lake. Below you will see our site with the truck backed in front of the trailer. The site is very shady and seems to be very nice. We are looking forward to our stay here.

 It was difficult to get into this site because of the proximity of the trees and some low-hanging branches that dragged on the front of the trailer when backing in.

Here is our front yard which is also very shaded. We have deer in the yard every morning and evening. The dogs don't seem to see the beauty of wild animals but maybe after our time here they will.

We went down to the maintenance office where we met Terry Young, the Assistant Superintendent of the park and the coordinator for the Park Hosts. He introduced us to several people that we will be working with including another Park Host couple. We got our ID cards and some shirts to wear when we are working. We still don't have an assigned job and the head Ranger is off this week, so we are kind of at loose ends right now. We will go out tomorrow and see what we can find.

We went into Burnet to the HEB store to do some shopping. We came back home by the long way which includes a very steep hill that is a lot of fun to drive. There is also a huge castle out in the woods that someone built several years ago. I believe it is used for weddings, receptions and parties. It just looks strange for this tall castle to be out in the middle of the forest.

After getting home and unloading our groceries, we came in and relaxed for awhile but soon had a visitor, our friends Bill and Mary! They drove over from Llano where they are staying. Bill found a real deal on an RV park over there that includes as much golf as he wants to play for a very good price. They have decided to stay there for the winter season, so we will have time to get together with them again.

This is turning out to be a very nice place and we are looking forward to our stay here.

So long.

Monday October 8, 2012-Moving day-Alamo Fiesta RV Resort to Inks Lake State Park

Today was our moving day. We went to Wal Mart and stocked up on some fuel because it is the lowest prices in the area and we got an extra .10 off for using the fuel card there. Since I have discovered that he fuel computer on the truck is reasonably accurate, I no longer bore you with fuel mileage but just keep an eye on it while I'm driving.

We came on back to the park and visited with others as they made their own preparations to leave. We didn't get in a hurry because it is less than 90 miles to Inks Lake. We pulled out around 10:30. We made good time and made a pit stop for Stella along the way. Gotta keep the old gal happy!

Stella had called the park and learned that they had a Park Host site available for us. Terry, the Host coordinator was off today so we didn't get job assignment yet but should have something tomorrow.

They give all the park hosts a site that are clustered. The site we are in was very difficult to get into but I finally managed to get it into position after a lot of jockeying around. I wouldn't want to do this often. It makes me miss my pull through site! I was tired after parking but managed to get everything set up. I noticed some marks on the front and side of the trailer from some low-hanging branches that I had to negotiate to get into the site. I wasn't too happy about the way I had to get into the site, but I am really upset with the damage to my trailer. I'll get my ladder out tomorrow and see how bad the damage is.

So long.

Sunday October 7, 2012-Alamo Fiesta RV Resort

Today was the final day of the rally. Tom did a fine with the rally and I am very proud of him. This was his first rally and everything went very well for him.

The weather was cold this morning and it was overcast and damp, but we all came out to see our friends off.

There were a few breakfast tacos left over from yesterday, so some ate them and the rest of us just had coffee. It was nice to sit around in the morning with our friends for some final visiting. It wasn't long before they started pulling out. It was sad to see them leave but it is just a part of Rv'ing.

There were 7 trailers that stayed after today, some like us, leaving tomorrow and the rest on Tuesday. After seeing all the folks depart, we all went home to get out of the cold and stayed inside for the afternoon. Most of us got together for supper but couldn't decide what we wanted to eat. We began by trying to find an Oriental buffet but didn't have any luck there and ended up at a place called the Shang Hai, which was not a buffet but the food was very good. It was a good way to end the rally.

So long.

Saturday October 6, 2012-Alamo Fiesta RV Resort

Saturday morning began with coffee and then Explore USA brought us some good breakfast tacos. We all enjoyed our breakfast and we sat around the rally hall for awhile before going back home to relax a bit.

A small group of us went over to Explore USA to look at some new trailers that they had in stock. We looked over the stock but didn't find anything better than what we have now. It's always fun to look though...

We came back to the park to rest up (nap) for tonight's festivities. We had a wonderful potluck dinner tonight and a repeat performance of Wii bowling and other Wii games. Again, it was a lot of fun to watch and we had a lot of laughs at the antics.

The weather was nice all day but a cold front-first of the season- so everyone shivered as they walked back to their trailers. It actually felt pretty normal to us, having just come back from Colorado. It was nice to get back into some warm weather but we are glad that we avoided all the 100 degree days.

So long.

Friday October 5, 2012-Alamo Fiesta RV Resort

It's good to be back in Texas! The weather is cool enough at night to still need covers on the bed, but not the heater and several blankets. Tom and I opened the rally hall this morning for coffee and had a small potluck breakfast. I said small, but there was plenty of good food for all.

We all just hung out for the rest of the morning, but planned to go eat supper together this afternoon. Most of the guys went inside during the afternoon to check our eyelids for cracks, but we came out later in the day. About the time we all began to get ready to go, our friends from Colorado, Bill and Mary came by to see us. We took them around to introduce them to the Heartlanders that are here. We took them back to see the Landmark that was here on display and we sat inside it, chatting about and other Landmarks until it was time to go. e decided that we would go to the Hungry Horse to show it to Bill and Mary. They enjoyed their food and we all had a good time together.

Bill and Mary are staying in Fredericksburg, so they soon returned home after supper. The main rally group had gone to a local mexican food restaurant, and soon after they returned, we went to the rally hall for an ice cream social. I didn't have any Blue Bell but watched some playing Wii bowling. It was fun to watch and we all enjoyed the games.

The rally is just beginning!

So long.

Thursday October 4, 2012-Alamo Fiesta RV Resort

Many of our friends that were coming to the rally were already here, so it was almost a rally atmosphere. We got together this morning to have coffee with some of them that were outside. We sat outside for a couple of hours and around noon we took Tom & Mart and Terry & Carol to the Hungry Horse for a Chapter Leader lunch. We had a very enjoyable lunch with them and went over some things with them, since they are both new Chapter Leaders. We stayed in the restaurant for a good while after lunch, chatting and planning for future rallies.

We came back to the park and hung out with our other friends that had arrived and sat outside for most of the afternoon. Those of us that had been to lunch were still full, so we skipped supper. We went inside for awhile and came out later and sat outside, enjoying the nice weather. It was nice to be able to sit outside without a coat and long pants on again.

So long.

Tuesday and Wednesday, October 2nd and 3rd, 2013-Alamo Fiesta RV Resort

First of all, I want to give you the stats from our summer trip, which ended when we arrived in Boerne. We traveled 6900 miles in 8 states, attending 4 rallies-3 chapter rallies and the Heartland National rally in Gillette Wyoming. We met many new friends from all over the country and of course, many beautiful and interesting places. Its not over yet, so please stay tuned.

I've been missing Tyler and Cameron and had been wanting to try to surprise them by dropping in on them unexpectedly. We decided to make a drive down to Texas City and spend the night, returning to Boerne on Wednesday. We knew that Cameron, who is now playing football, had games on Tuesday afternoon, so we went down, planning to show up at his game. We found out that this week his game was on Monday, so we missed his game but still planned to surprise both of the boys, but somehow they had figured out that we were coming. We went to the karate school where Cameron had gone after school and picked him up and met Tyler and Kim on their way home. They took us out to eat some delicious mexican food at Gringos restaurant and we had a nice time visiting with them. We returned to their home for more time together before we had to go back to our motel room to take care of the puppies. It was really good to seethe family. It won't be long now before we go back to stay in their area and we are looking forward to it.

So long.

Monday, October 1, 2012-Alamo Fiesta RV Resort

Today was a relaxing day of rest from the trip from Colorado. Stella and I both slept in this morning. I went for a walk and found one of the trailer washing service guys driving around the park. We worked out a deal to wash the trailer-there are STRICT rules against washing either trucks or trailers posted in the park-and the trailer really needed a bath. We had been on the trip to Fort Collins (ran through rain) and of course the trip down from Colorado (in the rain) and the trailer really needed cleaning. They did a good job and of course, the wax I had put on the trailer helped bring the shine back.

After the trailer got washed, we went to run some errands-Stella got her hair cut and I went to Office Depot to order new business cards. Some of our friends, Berry and Janet arrived for the rally.

When we got back, it started to rain hard, so we ran inside and stayed in for the rest of the afternoon. I should have known it would rain after getting a wash! The trailer still looks good but I don't want much more rain. It will sure screw up the rally if it rains.

I will be offline for a couple of days but please check back for my update. I think you will like it.

So long.