Saturday March 30, 2013-Moving day-Bluebonnet RV Park to Paradise Park, Nacogdoches

It stormed tonight and woke me about 3AM. It thundered and rained  very hard and at one point, it sounded like hail hitting the roof, but I didn't see any on the ground. The dogs don't like loud noises, so they were unhappy. I got up but was soon back asleep in my chair and we all slept late, until about 8 o'clock. It really didn't matter because we only about 140 miles, so we weren't in a big hurry. We took our time but still pulled out about 10:15. I like these short driving days!

There was hardly any traffic and we made good time. With the short drive, we only made one pit stop for Stella. I always check my tires when we stop and today was no exception. I found no problems and we continued on our way. We arrived here in Nacogdoches (Nac) about 1 and it didn't take long to get checked in and settled. I soon had a major problem, in that the satellite wouldn't get locked in. It teased us a few times but it never did lock in. The park does offer cable TV service, so I finally had to give up (for now) on the satellite dish and use cable. The TV found about 50 channels but most were music channels, and we only have about four channels to choose from. And on top of that, no High Def! It is amazing after having HD TV for the past three years and now have to put up with regular TV. The picture is fuzzy and unclear.

Then on top of all that, the park's wifi is unusable. I tried and tried and it never would allow access. I traced the problem and found that their system won't access the Internet. I was able to log on using our MiFi card, so I do have a reliable and secure Internet connection.

We are going to Tyler to church tomorrow morning but when I get back here, I will work on the satellite again to get it tuned in. It's gonna be a long four days if I can't get it done!

So long.

Friday March 29, 2013-Bluebonnet Ridge RV Park

Friday morning we drove over to Canton, only about 25 miles or so, to meet our friends Mike and Patrice to go to the First Monday sale there. They had brought some friends, Faye and Everette who own a motorcycle shop where they had bought Patrice a three wheeled motorcycle. We all loaded up and drove over to the huge sale grounds and proceeded to walk....and walk....and walk some more. It wasn't as bad now as it had been in the past when we would walk all day for two or three days on the weekend. I looked at some tee shirts but didn't buy anything. I have decided to buy shirts in the areas where we travel instead of something humorous like a Duck Dynasty shirt. Those guys make plenty of money without me buying their cheap shirts at high prices.

While walking around, we ran into an old friend, Sandy Creekmore. Sandy is the leader of the Texas Boomers, the group that we used to belong to and who gave me my first "job" an Area Leader of the Houston area for the Boomers. This gave me the background to be the Chapter Leader for the Heartland Owners club. It was good to see her. I believe that this is the first time that we've run into anyone we know at Canton.

We came on back home and rested for a bit before driving over to Forney where we met Ian, Jennifer, and Melissa at Brady's Burgers. We all had burgers and had a great time. Again, we stayed in there until after nine, visiting and watching Ian do his antics. He just turned five and is in pre-K but he can sign the alphabet, count to 14 in spanish and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Pretty sharp little boy!

I've got to tell you, I frightened him as we left. Jennifer and Melissa wanted me to blow my air horn for them and Ian, and I warned him how loud it is, but he was still surprised! I didn't blow the horn until I pulled out to the street but it is still quite loud. I'm sorry I made him cry, but they were warned and he wasn't hurt, just surprised. He'll probably want to hear it the next time we see him.

It was good to spend the time with the family and friends and we will miss them.

So long.

Thursday March 28, 2013-Bluebonnet Ridge RV Park

Wednesday was such a slow day, I'm only going to mention it once here. We stayed home all day. Stella washed our dirty clothes while I napped, and that was the most exciting thing we did. Told you it was a slow day!

On Thursday morning, I cleaned up some of the dried bugs on the front of the trailer. I'm not allowed to wash the trailer but if I were a long-term renter, I could wash it once a month. Doesn't seem reasonable to me. I got a lot of the bugs off and it looks a lot better.

Thursday evening we went to meet our friend Tony and Erika at a chicken place named Pop's. The place looks like it began life as a Dairy Queen, but the food was very good. They had chicken, meat loaf, fried catfish, and lots of side dishes. We all ate fried chicken and enjoyed our meal. We sat there for about three hours, chatting and had a great time. We'll see them again at the Montgomery rally next weekend. Can't wait.

So long.

Tuesday March 26, 2013-Bluebonnet Ridge RV Park

What started out as another cold day, turned out to be a very nice day, although chilly. We had temps in the mid 30's again this morning but it cleared off and warmed up and was a perfect day for watching Ian practice baseball.

Here is Ian receiving information from one of his coaches. Ian is excited about playing and does very well.

Fielding the ball. 

Throwing the ball. 

Ian just turned 5 a couple of day ago, and is even more excited about his new bike than he is playing T-ball. We weren't able to see him ride his bike tonight because it was too late, but we'll see him later in the week and hopefully we'll see him ride then.

When we left them at the restaurant, just as we were getting onto the 635 loop, I noticed two police cars with their lights on round the corner and fly up the entrance to the freeway. I then noticed they had pulled over onto the shoulder and remarked to Stella that they were probably waiting for a pursuit to come by. Sure enough, soon after I had gotten onto the freeway, I saw a huge sea of red and blue lights coming up behind me, covering all lanes of traffic. Having been involved in many police pursuits in my career, I knew to pull over into the right hand lane and allow everyone to come on by me. They were soon by, but straggling police units continued to come up behind us, trying to catch up to the pursuit of the bad guy. HERE is a link to the end of the pursuit. This brought back many memories of my many years on patrol and how dangerous it was. I was very happy to see that no one was injured and at the end of the night, the crook went to jail.

One ironic thing was that the pursuit lasted about an hour and a half and went through several cities, including Garland but ended up in Rockwall, where Melissa was playing a volleyball game. She wasn't  involved in the chase at all, but it was ironic.

We came on home without any further incidents. It had been a very exciting day!

So long.

Monday March 25, 2013-Moving day-Coffee Creek Resort to Bluebonnet Ridge RV Park

We woke to freezing temps this morning, and I am getting tired of the cold weather. It will change soon enough and I'll be complaining about the cold...

Since we only had to go about 120 miles today, we took our time getting started. I didn't go outside until about 8:30. When I went out, I talked to Dan and Larry and learned that they had frozen water pipes this morning. Mine didn't freeze but the water was very cold. I think my good luck with freezing was because Stella had left a tiny drip going on in the bathroom and that kept the water line from freezing. Like I said before, I'll be glad for warm weather again.

We got loaded up and pulled out about 10:15 but only made it about a mile to the freeway before we stopped to get a Subway sandwich and for me to fill up my air hitch. We got the sandwich but the air pump was down this morning, so we had to find another source. This Trail Air hitch is great except for needing air from time to time. My little compressor that powers my air horn just doesn't put out enough volume to fill the hitch or even an 80 pound pressure tire so I need to find something else to use.

We made great time down the highway and didn't make any more stops and made it to Terrell to the Bluebonnet Ridge RV Park about 1. Soon everything was set up and I took the dogs out to the doggie park that is right across the street from our site. They enjoyed their time off leash and ran and played for about 30 minutes before they were ready to come back home.

We came to Terrell to see Jennifer and her family and Melissa, my two daughters. Jennifer, Jay (Jen's husband) and Ian (grandson) are out of town, visiting some other relatives in Oklahoma but I talked to Melissa and she said she would come out to the park when she gets off work. Stella had a bacon sandwich ready for her when she got here a little after 6. We had a nice visit with her, talking about our childhood and the differences with hers. She stayed until just before 10 for the 30 minute drive back home. We will see her play volleyball after watching Ian play baseball tomorrow.

We're looking forward to some better weather while we're here and spending time with the kids.

So long.

Sunday March 24, 2013-Coffee Creek RV Resort

Wow, winter returned this morning! It was 37 degrees outside, and since the propane ran out sometime during the night, it was a chilly 61 in the trailer. Guess what the first thing I did was when I got up?

We had a continental breakfast in the rally hall for all of us, but especially for those that had to leave this morning. That fireplace got a good workout too... I exchanged cards with several of the new people and a couple of them said that they will try to make either the Montgomery rally or the Oklahoma rally in Durant. I hope they do!

The group of us that stayed behind went over to Mineral Wells to eat at a place called Pastafini Italian Ristorante for some good Italian food. They served some of the best bread that I have had in a long time. The food was good, the service was great and the company was fun. It was a great way to finish up the rally.

I came home and got caught up on my blogging and worked on my Heartland Highlights paper that I'm writing. It will be published soon and you can see what I wrote. I know this is short but I'm getting tired.

So long.

Saturday March 23, 2013-Coffee Creek RV Resort

I was woken up about 5:30 AM by loud thunder and rain on the roof. By the time everyone was up and about, the rain had stopped but it remained cloudy all day and a couple of times it looked as if it would rain again but it didn't.

We had coffee in the rally hall this morning, but with the bad weather, only Corbin and I showed up. Too bad for the others, because we had a nice time together. This afternoon we did walk thru's in our trailers. It was nice to see the other rigs and some of the modifications that others have done.

We spent a few hours looking through the other trailers before it was time to start our potluck dinner. As usual, it was delicious! with the barbecue furnished by Explore USA in Fort Worth. Door prizes were handed out and everyone enjoyed themselves. We didn't play games tonight but everyone had a good time just chatting. I wasn't feeling well and went home a bit early, but I recovered well. I went to sleep on the couch but woke about 11:30 to some very loud winds that I thought might have been thunder, but at least it didn't rain any more.

Sorry but I didn't take any photos of the potluck or the group. I'm enjoying going to these rallies and not having to do any planning. I do still help out when and where I can.

So long.

Friday March 22, 2013-Coffee Creek RV Resort

I'll say one thing for this place, it has good sleeping! I slept until 7:30 this morning! I like it... It was cool this morning and remained so all day.

This is not really dynamite but fire starters. It is written in VERY small letters on the top and  bottom of the box. I'll bet you'd get a policeman or fireman excited if he saw these in your truck!

I make no recommendation on this meat rub but it smelled good and had a cute name. There were other rubs offered with risque names, but since this is a family blog, I won't publish the pictures of them.

The rest of our attendees arrived today and several of us went over Weatherford for lunch at a place call The Shed. This is a very interesting place, with the entrance through a huge stove and fireplace shop. They offer many different stoves, from outdoor chimeneas to indoor pellet stoves. With the cool weather today, many of the stoves were operating today. Outside, they had a chiminea burning some very good smelling pinon wood.

They had a huge selection of junk of all sorts displayed there. It was a cross between an antique store and the store showed on the television show "American Pickers". It was interesting to walk through, browsing at all the "stuff".

The reason that we came was for the kitchen and food offerings. They had everything from delicious soup to very tasty sandwiches. We all enjoyed our meals and our time together.

We came back to the park in time to take a nap before the opening ceremonies of the rally at an ice cream social time. We had about five varieties of ice cream, brownies and toppings, and later everyone was introduced. Terry did a very good job of kicking things off, but when that was over, we broke up into a few groups to play dominoes. One pretty large group just sat at one of the tables and got to know each other and chatting.

It was a good day and the rally has begun!

So long.

Thursday March 21, 2013-Coffee Creek RV Resort

It was cloudy again this morning but the temperature was warmer. This is a nice little park with the friendliest employees that we've seen anywhere. Even friendlier than Rayford and other "resorts" where we've stayed.

There is a very nice bunch of Texas Bluebonnets in front of the office. As you can see, there are some decorations near the door and I'm sure that they have some other flowers to replace the Bluebonnets when they're gone.

Our site, right across the street from the rally hall that we will use this weekend. There are two rally halls onsite, an exercise room, a game room and a laundry here, so they have just about everything you could want.

The Texas Spur rally room. It has a large seating area, several tables and many chairs; a full kitchen and for this weekend especially, a large fireplace that we used a lot!

They have a nice pool and hot tub but it didn't get used this weekend! Way too cold! It looks inviting and maybe we'll use it another time.

Today we met some of the new couples that are here for the rally and hung out with them during the day. This afternoon we went to the Brazos River Catfish Cafe, just down the road in the small town of Millsap. I think there were 17 of us eating supper, but they managed to get us all fed and completely full!

We came back to the park but it was too cold to sit outside, so we all turned in. The rest of the rally-goers arrive tomorrow and more fun will begin.

So long.

Wednesday March 20, 2013-Moving Day-Oasis RV Resort to Coffee Creek RV Park

Remember that  I told you about washing and waxing the trailer and how hard I had worked? well, you guessed it, it rained last night and continued this morning. It didn't rain very much, but it was plenty to splash up a lot of mud onto the side of my freshly washed trailer, and of course, my freshly painted truck. Everything went very well and we pulled out of the park about 9:30, almost on time!

We made excellent time through Houston and never slowed down. If you're familiar with Houston traffic, you will understand what a feat of luck this was. I was all set to stop at Buccees in Madisonville for a quick lunch but soon decided to go to Sam's Barbecue in Fairfield. This place has some of the best food, from barbecue to chicken fried steak on a buffet that is not to be believed! We used to stop here almost every time we went to Garland. Actually I started coming here while I was in college at North Texas State Univ. when it was a very small barbecue joint with only one pit. I guess it was run by the original Sam but I really don't remember.

We ate waaaaay too much, but it was delicious. They had one of the best blackberry cobblers that I have ever had. We got back out on the road and really made good time all the way to Santo, which is a very small town near Mineral Wells. Actually it is an unincorporated community but the Coffee Creek RV Park is pretty nice. We got here too late to really look around too much and were too full from lunch to go out with Terry and Carol & Dan and Ann. They went to a place that is nearby that claims to have the best hamburgers in Texas, so I suppose that we will have to check them out before we leave.

We are here for the North Texas Heartland Chapter rally and there should be more arriving tomorrow. The rally actually begins on Friday, but the pre-rally is usually as much fun as the rally is. Rally season has started!

So long.

Tuesday March 19, 2013-Oasis RV Resort

Today is the last day we'll be here for awhile, and we got started pretty early getting things squared away to move tomorrow. Stella gathered up our clothes to wash, so I walked them over to the washateria with her. While she was gone, Mike came by for a visit before we leave. Just before Stella called me to come pick up the clothes, Cook Ford called to tell me that my light had come in, so as soon as we got back with the clothes we drove over and had the bulb replaced. I went by the Palmer Grocery store where I completed the fuel tank fill that I had started yesterday. It took 86 gallons to fill the big tank and about 16 to fill the truck tank, but I (gulp) got it done. The bank account is much lighter, but we're full of fuel now.

I reset the odometer for the fall trip and was rather surprised to see that we went 6566 miles since we left Inks Lake. As I recall, we only went about 7000 miles during the summer. I'll be interested in this summer's numbers.

We had a coupon for Burger King, so we used it to buy ourselves burgers, fries and drinks but then we learned that Tyler needed a ride from school to driver's ed. so we bought two more burgers and fries for both him and Cameron. It worked out well because Tyler needed to go by his house because he had forgotten his notebook for class, so he ate his burger and we dropped Cam's off at their house. I love it when things turn out...

So long.

Saturday March 16 through Monday March 18, 2013-Oasis RV Resort

This weekend was pretty much taken up by Tyler and Cameron. He had baseball games on Saturday and Sunday in another tournament in Katy. We didn't make the first game on Saturday because we had made plans to meet our friends Ted and Donna for a late lunch in Spring at the Sweet Tomato Restaurant, one of my favorites. The traffic into Houston was terrible! We left home about 1 and almost immediately ran into backed-up traffic. We dealt with the traffic all the way to the north freeway in Houston, and Stella took the precaution of calling Donna to tell her that we might be late for our 2:30 time to meet them but we actually beat them there. Donna said she had an errand to run before they met us, and we made better time than expected, and we beat them by a couple of minutes. 

We had a nice visit with them over lunch and it was nice to catch up with our friends. We made tentative plans to meet up in the summer at a small county park outside Detroit MI but that still has to be worked out. I'll keep you posted.

Traffic was heavy from Spring to Katy, but not as bad as I-45. We later realized that most of the traffic had been for Spring Break weekend and people coming and going from Galveston but some of them were going to the Houston Rodeo. 

Cam at bat. I think this was his first game and the wind was really bad, blowing right into the batter's box. He and the other boys got some good hits but the wind caught the ball and held it up until someone could run under it to catch the ball, but both teams suffered from this.

He hit this one on the ground, but it was right to the 3rd baseman, who caught the ball but overthrew the first base player and Cam was able to get on base and later scored. They later won this game by a score of 5-2.

Cam started out playing third base but soon changed to first base where he played the rest of the weekend. It is interesting to note that every boy on the team can pitch. One of the first things that was asked of Cam when he was trying out for the team.

This was Sunday's game. Note the change in uniform shirts! This was another ground ball hit to third base, but this time he was put out.

I finally was able to get out from behind the fence to take better pictures. A group had been sitting in lawn chairs here in the other games but they didn't return today. The runner was safe because although Cam extended out to catch the ball, he pulled off the base.

There he goes, slamming another one into the outfield! He hit well in all the games and played very well in the outfield. I still can't believe how much better these boys play than the Little League at home.

Tyler came home with us Saturday night and spent the night. He wanted the last of his Me Maw's goulash that she had made for them a few days ago. 

Sunday's second game didn't go so well. The team looked good in the first game, and handily won 8-4, but the back-to-back second game was a disaster and they lost 14-0. I guess I don't understand enough about these tournaments to know why teams have to play back-to-back games. I know these boys are young and bounce back pretty well, but they are tired after one game and then play against a team that is fresh just isn't fair. 

We met Tommy and Susan at Mamacita's mexican restaurant on our way home. They had just come back from a short trip to Salado TX,  and we are leaving on Wednesday, so we had lots to talk about. The doggies were very glad to see us when we got back home. Those all day stays are hard on them.

Monday morning we went over to Cook Ford to pick up the truck. When we got there, we learned that a protective decal sheet on the fender had not come in until this morning and they hadn't had time to install it. When checking everything on the truck, I found that the air horn wouldn't work (what a calamity!) so we decided to leave it there until the afternoon and they could get everything working. We ran some errands including stopping in the old Sam's Club store on our way home. This store will close and reopen in a new location on Thursday. We have been coming to this store since it opened many years ago. 

We came home for a short rest (nap) before going to get the truck. We got it picked up without any problems, but they had ordered a side clearance light that had not come in, so we'll have to come back tomorrow to get it installed.

We came back home but soon got a call from Tyler, asking us to come pick him up. Of course when we got him, he was hungry so we had to take him to Jack IN the Box for a quick bite before taking him home. We came back home and ate supper, but then went back to Kim's house to see them and Cameron one last time before we leave. 

At the end of the day, I was exhausted! All we did today was run the roads, and it wore me out! I did stop by and started filling the fuel tanks but will finish that tomorrow too. 

So long.

Friday March 15, 2013-Oasis RV Resort

We woke to another beautiful morning here. I went outside and started cleaning up the outside of the trailer, and soon Stella came out and helped me wash the trailer, Actually, she rinsed after I washed, I think so that she could be sure that I wouldn't squirt her with the hose. The wind cooled me off as I worked on washing up.

As soon as we got through, we went over to pick up Tyler and Cam so we could spend another day with them. Of course, as soon as we got to their house, they were hungry and wanted to go out to eat, so we went to the Center Buffet in League City for lunch. We returned here to the park and the boys and I went up to the rally hall where we played shuffle bowl, darts, and Cam and I played a few rounds of horseshoes outside before coming back home.

We rested for awhile and I tried to nap but the boys kept making fun of me, so I could never actually sleep. Tyler was going over to a friend's house, so we dropped him off and then took Cam home. While there, I saw where I had missed a call from Cook Ford, telling me that my truck was ready. I had left my phone inside while I washed the truck and had been busy with the boys and had not heard it ring all afternoon, so I missed the call. Oh well, we'll keep the little rental car until Monday morning when I'll get my truck back. It will be good to have it back.

So long.

Thursday March 14, 2013-Oasis RV Resort

This is the time of year that everyone loves. Cool in the early morning but as soon as the sun comes up, it warms up. By 9 or so, it is fine to go out without a jacket. It won't be long before it will be hot by 9! I took advantage of the great weather to take a nice long walk this morning and then got busy and started washing the trailer. I got the front and rear caps done and the entire door side. I was pleasantly surprised to see how water beads up all over, which means I won't have to apply as much wax as I had expected to.

I came inside and after a cooling off period, began working on the Indiana Chapter rally that we are hosting in May. I talked to the Heartland dealer in Elkhart and we worked on the details and everything is coming into place.

We went over to see Harry and Judy this evening. It has been a long time since we've seen our good friends and we had a great time with them. Judy made some margaritas, cheese dip and home made salsa for appetizers before the meal of tacos. Man, I had forgotten what a good cook Judy is! Not sayin' that she's better than Stella, but she is a very good cook. We had a nice visit with them but I started tiring out about 8 o'clock because I had stayed up until MIDNIGHT last night watching Duck Dynasty. Kim and the boys had told me about this show, which I hadn't watched at all until now. Wow, when I started watching, I couldn't stop! The show is totally unscripted, so these rednecks just say whatever comes to mind.

You know, we have made so many good friends over the years and I wish that there was a way to have a gathering of them somewhere. We'd probably have to rent an entire RV park, so I guess that wouldn't work... Nice thought though.

So long.

Wednesday March 13, 2013-Oasis RV Resort

We spent a nice day yesterday with Tyler and Cameron. We got them up at the crack of 9 and went to eat a great breakfast at Kelley's Country Kitchen. This is an old favorite with us and they have the best breakfast specials anywhere!

Here are the boys, piled up in the bed. They seem to love the blow-up mattress in the couch because they slept hard. That is Cameron rolled up like a mummy on the left and Tyler, breathing through his mouth on the right.

After breakfast, we took a drive down to Galveston. It has been awhile since we've been down here and I'm not sure about the last time the boys were there. Anyhow, we enjoyed the day in G-Town. We drove down to the end of the seawall and saw a large ship passing by and I showed them the old Fort San Jacinto on the east end of the island. The fort was built originally by the French in about 1890 when large batteries of guns were placed there to protect the island and defend the Port of Galveston. The fort remained off and on during the First World War and into the Second World War, when it was finally decommissioned and all the guns removed. I pointed out several historic buildings and the remains of some of the other gun emplacements. I can remember as a teenager that some of the gun emplacements were still there, but nothing remains now.

We fooled around with them all day long. We brought them back home with us and ate a bite of Stella's goulash but I was still full of breakfast and didn't eat. We took them home in time for Cam to go to Friendswood for baseball practice and returned to take Tyler to Driver's Education. It was a very nice day with the boys. We don't get to spend very much time with them any more. They are growing up so fast, and stay so busy...

Today we stayed home and got some repairs done to the trailer. We had ordered a replacement blind back when we ordered the stabilizer and it had come in while we were gone. They shipped it from the Katy store down here to this store and today it was installed. I also got Chris, one of the technicians here to help me get the new doors installed for the cabinets beside the television. It looks MUCH better now. Thank you Jim Beletti!

Before the new doors are installed.

After installation. What do you think? I like it!

So long.

Monday March 11, 2013-Oasis RV Resort

I know I skipped right over Sunday, but it was a cold and rainy morning. I went for a walk this morning between showers, and had another little chat with God. When I don't go to church I try to spend some time walking and chatting with Him.

Sunday afternoon we met Tommy & Susan and Bill and Alena at the Top Water Grill for lupper. It was another great seafood meal and everyone enjoyed it and we spent a couple of hours, just sitting and talking. This may be the last time we can spend time with them on this trip back to Texas but there's always the future.

Monday morning I took care of my chores outside and then spent some time finishing a book on my Kindle and reading some blogs. It was a nice morning to get caught up with my friend's blogs and see where they are and what they are doing.

Things changed drastically in the afternoon because we went to pick up Tyler and Cameron. It has been so long that I couldn't remember if they had spent a night with us in the new trailer, but they soon reminded me. Actually, it was after 8 o'clock before we were able to get them picked up, mainly because of Tyler having to go to driver's education. He and his Mom went over this afternoon to get his learner's permit from the DPS office in Texas City, but found that Kim hadn't brought the proof of enrollment in school that is required. I think it is a good thing to require being in school to get a license.  I know it is a big deal to get your first license, and this makes you stay in school. I was reminded (again) of how things have changed since I got my drivers license. Back in the day, you could take the written test and driving test on the same day but now Tyler will have to wait at least 6 months to take his driving test. And now, Drivers Ed is required of anyone 16 or 17 years old. At 18, one can just take the test.

At any rate, it won't be long until Tyler has his permit and begins to drive a car. Look out drivers, here comes Tyler!

We brought them home and I was reminded how much two big ol' boys can eat! Tyler hadn't been able to eat before he went to drivers school and since Cam couldn't let Tyler eat alone, they both had two! ham and cheese sandwiches. I love these boys, but I can't afford to feed them...

So long.

Friday & Saturday March 8 & 9, 2013-Oasis RV Resort

I copied this from a Facebook post but it pretty well gives you a picture of us lately.

Actually, we went to Tommy and Susan's house in Deer Park on Friday night. Tommy had made some delicious barbecued ribs on his Big Green Egg smoker, and man, were they good! I don't know (he said that chefs don't reveal their sources) how long he cooked them but they literally fell off the bones. We had a great meal and a nice visit with them before we made the drive back home.

I'll say one thing about this tiny little Toyota rental car, it's pretty peppy and it doesn't take much gas to fill it up! Wait a minute, that's two things! Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised that it only took a little over 7 gallons to fill it up. And another benefit is that gas is cheaper than diesel, so it was cheaper to fill it up than the truck. IT'S ALL GOOD!! but I miss my truck...

Tonight- Saturday- we met our old friends Mike and Patrice at the Center Buffet oriental buffet. The food is good but I love their fresh oysters on the half shell and boiled shrimp. We enjoyed our time with Mike and Patrice and it was fun catching up with them.

Catching up with our friends is a huge part of coming back "home" to this area and seeing the changes to the area. We plan to do this until we finally grow too old to travel any more, but hopefully that will be many years from now.

So long.

Thursday March 7, 2013-Oasis RV Resort

Just a quick check-in to let you know that we didn't fall into the bayou or anything, we've just been taking it easy for a few days. I took the truck to Cook Ford for the body repairs to be done and we picked Tyler up from school one afternoon. He needed to get home and study his drivers handbook because he will be taking his test for a learner's permit soon. Look out drivers, Tyler will soon be turned loose on you.

I met a couple that just bought Mike and Patrice's old Landmark trailer. They are excited to get started as full-timers in a new (to them) trailer. I answered a couple of questions for them and of course, gave them the information on the owners club, so I'll be looking for their names as new users on the forum.

We'll be leaving here in just a couple of weeks for our summer trip, and I am resting up. I'll soon start washing and waxing the trailer and we're going to meet with more of our friends before we leave, so please hang in there, my posts will soon start again.

So long.

Saturday and Sunday, March 2 and 3, 2013-Oasis RV Resort

Well, the weekend is over and it was devoted almost totally to Tyler and Cameron. They had a busy weekend and we did what we could to help them and watch them. Saturday morning, we went over to pick up Tyler to take him to the high school for a couple of band concerts at the "Duck Derby". Kim and Jeremy had taken Cameron to Katy for a baseball tournament.

We went to the Duck Derby, but the weather certainly didn't cooperate! It wasn't all that cold, at about 55 degrees, but the wind just went right through us. There were lots of younger kids there, having their faces painted and playing games and everyone seemed to be having a good time. We saw concerts by the mariachi band and the jazz band that were good. Tyler plays the guitarone in the mariachi band and the baritone sax in the jazz band. He plays very well and is now thinking about college and a music degree. We are all proud of Tyler for his musical abilities and wish him well in his future.

Sunday was Cameron's day. We left here early on Sunday morning to make it for his 9:00 start for his first game. Unfortunately, we didn't make it for most of the game, but they won 8-4 and continued on with the tournament. He is much happier on this team than he was with the local teams in Texas City. The coaches seem to be training the boys better than the locals did.

We met our friends Bill and Alena for lunch at the Red Robin that is near the sports complex. When Tyler heard the words Red Robin, he was all over that! He loves that place, so we took him with us. Kim and Jeremy took Cam to Subway, the athlete's restaurant, so he wouldn't have too much to eat since he had to play more games in the afternoon. We had a nice meal with our friends and it was good to catch up with them.

We went back to the ball field for the next game, which they won. Since it was getting late in the day, we had to go home to take care of our puppies, and Tyler wanted to go home to take care of their dog, so we took him with us when we left.

We later learned that Cam lost the game after we left and were out of the tournament, but they came in 3rd overall. Cam made some good plays and we are all proud of him. I just wish he'd been able to play a little closer to home.

So long.

Friday March 1, 2013-Oasis RV Resort-La Marque

We didn't do anything to report on Thursday. We just stayed inside and took care of things around here. I had a propane tank refilled and took all of my gear out of the bed of the truck in preparation for putting it in the shop next week.

Here is the entrance gate and a pretty little pond at the Woodland Lakes Resort where we were last week. It's a pretty little park and we'll probably go back there.

Look at all the ducks around the pond. At times, they line up around the edge of the pond as if waiting for a command to jump into the water. And don't even think of taking your dog around the ducks!

Another shot of the pond. You can barely see some of the ducks on this side and if you look close, you can see a very realistic deer statue laying down between the water fountain and the white sign. The first morning, I stared at that thing, thinking it was a real deer. Really felt stupid when I realized it was a statue.

We are all packed up and just about ready to leave. You can't see it but it was raining when this was taken. I was kind of worried about the rain, but it had quit when we got hooked up and ready to go.

We went to the Top Water Grill today with Tommy and Susan. We all had the lunch special fried shrimp, which is plenty of shrimp with all the fixin's for $8.95. Wow, what a deal!

It was a pretty day on the water! This is an oil rig just offshore that Stella's nephew  Randy worked on a few years ago. The water is a beautiful blue with not much chop. Blue skies and upper 60's...yep lice is good!

A shrimp boat coming in to dock. Someone will be eating fresh shrimp soon. 

After finishing up our "lupper" (lunch and supper) we rode around in San Leon and Bacliff. I finally found the location of the little house where I lived a long time ago. The house is gone but the foundation remains as well as some of the palm trees in front. 

We found that many things have changed in the area. Some of the old ratty houses and trailers are gone and some really nice houses have been built. It's about time that someone cleaned up this little fishing village that was inhabited by bikers and ex-convicts. This could be a really nice area if they keep it up. We also rode through an area of Dickinson that has really grown up with huge houses on large lots. This is something we love to do when we return and the changes are amazing. Life goes on I guess...

So long.