Wednesday February 13, 2013-Buckhorn Lake Resort

Today was the official kickoff day for the 2013 Sweetheart Rally. We started out the morning at Jim Beletti's trailer for a small breakfast with some other friends. We came back home and hung out trying to decide what to do today. Tom and Marti & Pat and Lori wanted to go to the old Gibson's store in Kerrville, so we soon loaded up and went to town.

The store has the exact same sign as the original stores had. I worked at the stores in La Marque, Texas City and Seabrook that were owned by Bob Sterling, my first wife's father. When I left, I was an assistant manager of the store and managed the sporting good department, as well as being the buyer for that department. At one time, I managed and was the buyer for the camera and electronics departments too, which certainly kept me busy!

At any rate. the visit to the Kerrville store brought back many memories. This store looks a lot like the old stores but now has many knick-knacks and hand made items as well as huge selections in their hardware and houseware departments. It is like a throwback to the old fashioned small town hardware stores. We have shopped here before and will return in the future.

 Our group met outside and took a break in the outdoor furniture department. It was nice to sit down and talk about where we were going from here.

We ended up at a place called Buzzie's Barbecue for lunch. The food was pretty good and we enjoyed the company. We thought about taking a drive down to an RV supply store in Boerne but decided that it was too far to go today. We had the opening Meet and Greet to go to this afternoon and Stella and I needed to stop by a grocery store before going back home, so we split up and did our shopping.

After the Meet and Greet, we all met at Jim B's trailer for some hot dogs. We sat around a propane firepit furnished by Bernie the Happy Kraut and a propane heater that Tom Mangum had brought. We sat outside until it got too cold to sit comfortably and went over to the rally hall for dominoes. We all had a great time and stayed over there until about 11:30 when our Mexican Train game finally ended. Of course, I did pretty well throughout the game but ended losing badly because of the number of points I held in my last hand.

We had a great time at the first day of the rally and we are looking forward to more good times in the next few days.

So long.