Wednesday February 26, 2014-Montgomery KOA

I want to make a few comments on the weather this year. Wow, will winter never end? After nearly freezing at Inks Lake, it has turned cold again here in Montgomery. I have a lot of respect for the fireplace that Heartland put in this trailer because it did a LOT of work for us this winter and it's working again right now! 

I had plans today to go out and capture Munzees all day, but the rainy and cold weather is going to prevent that. We'll be here for awhile, so I'll get 'em another day.

It rained all day and was very windy. Our neighbor, the one that made us wait for 30 minutes while he came back from work to move it out of our site, lost his awning this morning while he was away at work. Even when I was the rawest rookie, I knew better than to leave my awning out when the weather was bad. Not only could it have filled up with water, the high winds would surely gotten it, and sure enough, when I went out to look at it, the fabric was torn all the way across and the arms had been town off the trailer. When he came home, he apparently just ripped the canvas off and rolled the barrel of the awning up against his trailer. I heard him banging around when he got home but didn't go out. The only times I've seen him, he just glared at me as if it was my fault that he had to come home and move his truck. Some People...

We just stayed inside, warm and dry, except for the three times that Stella had to get her gun and make the dogs go outside in the cold rain. There were reruns of NCIS on all day and then tonight, a new Duck Dynasty to watch. Oh and I can use the Internet again here. The WIFI usage had dropped back to normal again. It must have been something with all the trees around our site at Inks Lake that caused the excess usage. 

So long.

Tuesday February 25, 2014-Montgomery KOA

We had a very good day yesterday. Our friends Jim and Nancy worked on projects in their trailer and soon contacted us to go to lunch. We started out for a local barbecue place but changed our minds and ended up at Vernon's Catfish nearby. This was a great choice and we all enjoyed our lunches. The others had various catfish dishes but I had a great bowl of seafood gumbo. It was probably as good as I've ever had, with just the right amount of spices and a lot of shrimp and seafood.

We came back home and relaxed (napped) for awhile until time to go over to Navasota to meet with some other friends, Buddy and Maureen. Buddy chose La Casita restaurant, which is about half way between their home and the RV park, and the food was very good and the service excellent. We had a nice time catching up with our friends and we made plans for them to come over here for a few days before we leave. We will be meeting them again at our first rally in April in Santo TX. 

We are looking forward to beginning our travels in early April. We will have some news soon and I will share this as soon as I can.

So long.

Sunday February 23,2014-Montgomery KOA

First I want to tell you about a trip we took down to Texas City and then to watch Cameron play baseball in Hitchcock. We went by our storage unit first to see how much stuff we would need to remove to be able to close it. Kim and Jeremy had been sharing it with us and we found that Jeremy had removed a lot of their stuff but there is still a lot of work to do. We learned that we will not have to give a 30 day notice under Frank's new management policy. That's a relief!

We went to Jack Brooks Park where we watched Cam's Bengals team play a double header. They easily won both games (5-1 and 12-2) but Cam didn't play his best game. He made a couple of RBI's and was the pinch runner twice and scored on one, stranded on base on the second.

We went to Beyond Burgers for supper after the second game. It's like Fuddruckers on steroids. They have a large selection of burgers and great fries and onion rings. The best thing is that the boys love the place, so there is no argument over going there.

Today we heard from Kim that Cam had pitched the first game of the tournament and came within one hit of throwing a no hitter! I'm sorry to have missed his pitching today, but we had company coming in. Jim and Nancy B. came up from Rockport where they have been for the last week or so. Stella made some of her goulash and a pan of cornbread with some lemon bars for dessert. We know how it is to drive all day and then have to either fix something or go out to eat, so she had supper all made when they arrived. We had a nice meal with them and enjoyed the evening until it got too cool to sit outside any longer. I'll post more about their visit.

So long.

Thursday February 20, 2014-Montgomery KOA

I got up early this morning and drove down to Rayford Crossing for their men's coffee. When we lived at Rayford, I not only went to coffee every morning, but made the coffee many times. I was one of the first to begin the tradition, and was flattered when one of my friends invited me to come. I know it's a long way down there but I wanted to see my friends there and really enjoyed it. Most of my friends were there but there were a couple that didn't make it. I will go back one or more mornings and will try to see all of them.

When I came back home, I stopped in Conroe and captured some Munzees. You haven't heard me talking very much about Munzees in awhile and it felt pretty good to get back into the game. There are a lot of Munzees in the area, so I can keep busy.

I capped Munzees for an hour or so and quit because it started to rain. I knew rain was in the forecast and didn't want to get stranded way out in the parking lot when it started raining hard so I came on back home. It was just in time because I hadn't been home for long when it began storming. It rained hard and the wind blew for about an hour and I was glad to be home, dry and warm!

I went to the office and used their Internet service to get caught up with messages and emails. While having the data using problem that we did at Inks Lake, I hadn't opened any email attachments, so now I have literally hundreds of emails and You Tube videos to watch. It will make my time here go by so fast.

So long.

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.