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We were up early to pack up and leave Abilene after the rally. We had a great time here, meeting some new friends and reacquainting with others, as well as seeing our usual friends that go to most of the Heartland rallies.
Stella had done a good job inside, with many of the normal things that are laying around being put away. We had our normal coffee and a light breakfast of a blueberry muffin and got busy.
My friend Mike Culpepper and I had re-positioned my water filter into the water control cabinet while we were here and it was a joy to simply unplug the water hose from the quick-connect on the filter without having to stow the filter in the box. Another simplification project completed!
We weren't traveling with anyone else on this trip and were glad when Stella took her normal medications today including a diuretic that caused us to stop frequently. We stopped at the first rest stop we came to, about 10 miles down the road as a precaution for her, the first of about 5 stops we made. I'm not complaining because it keeps her feeling better and that is a good thing.
We made good time, even though we ran into a good bit of traffic in the Fort Worth and Dallas areas. It was only a 280 mile day, so we were here in Tyler before 4. This is our third time here in about five months, and I asked for frequent flier miles when we checked in. That got a chuckle out of Whitney, owner of the park, but no discount was offered.
We went over to Aunt Janie's house for supper and a nice visit. We are looking forward to spending more time with her this week, as well as her daughter Linda, my cousin. Should be a good week.
So long.
Tuesday, March 19, 2019
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Monday March 11, 2019-Whistle Stop RV Resort
Awhile back I made contact with a classmate, Jo Ann Wilson, from way back in the last century. Together, we cooked up a Facebook page for our senior class at Ball High School in Galveston and titled it "Ball High Class of 65 and Still Alive". At that time, she told me that she and her husband live in Abilene, which we had just left for their rally. I told her that we would stay in touch and the next time we came to Abilene, we would get together.
Today was that day! We decided to meet at Heff's Burgers. She had made a great suggestion and the sandwiches we ordered were great! We managed to get a table near the back of the restaurant and spent about 3 hours visiting and reminiscing about our class. Our class was a large one, though not as large as today's classes, but pretty big. It was interesting to compare our class to Stella's class of about 30. At any rate, we had a very nice time meeting her before returning to our park, just in time for happy hour, which we have every afternoon around 5.
Our happy hour group is getting larger every day, and is always fun. We have a couple of drinks and sit around chatting and telling stories of our travels. It's a few days until the rally starts and it keeps us together. Rallies are so much fun!
So long.
Today was that day! We decided to meet at Heff's Burgers. She had made a great suggestion and the sandwiches we ordered were great! We managed to get a table near the back of the restaurant and spent about 3 hours visiting and reminiscing about our class. Our class was a large one, though not as large as today's classes, but pretty big. It was interesting to compare our class to Stella's class of about 30. At any rate, we had a very nice time meeting her before returning to our park, just in time for happy hour, which we have every afternoon around 5.
Our happy hour group is getting larger every day, and is always fun. We have a couple of drinks and sit around chatting and telling stories of our travels. It's a few days until the rally starts and it keeps us together. Rallies are so much fun!
So long.
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
Friday March 8, 2019-Whistle Stop Resort
We had decided to go over to Sweetwater for the Rattlesnake Roundup on Friday.There won't be nearly as many people there today but most of the activities will go on. There is a barbecue cook-off scheduled for Saturday but it was better with less people.
We got there about 9:30am and were glad to see that there weren't too many people there yet. This event was held at the fairgrounds, with the snake exhibits being in large circular pits with 5' high sides and Plexiglas windows in the walls for children to view the snakes and the men inside. The snake handlers are all members of the Sweetwater Jaycees and they did a good job with the snakes.
We saw one man that demonstrated the lightning-quick strikes by hanging a balloon in front of a large rattler and inviting him to bite it, which he did in very short order. We saw another booth that "milked" the snakes of their venom. The venom is used to make anti-venom for snakebite victims and probably saves many lives. Another display was the cleaning and processing the snakes after death. (all of the captured snakes are put down) It was interesting to note how skinny the bodies are after removing their skin. When the "innards" are removed, it was demonstrated that the snake hearts continue beating for up to 20-25 minutes after removal. The skins and rattles are kept for stuffing and sale.
There was a huge number of stuffed snakes in different poses. They are imposing and frightening to many including me. I have always had a revulsion to snakes and although I had several run-ins with snakes in my career, I never had a personal experience with them, to my happiness. One of the handlers came around the circle with a 4' rattler that he allowed anyone wishing to, to touch the snake. I did touch it as well as the rattles that were rattling loudly. I must say that it was unnerving to touch the thing!
It should be noted that even thought hundreds of snakes died this weekend, they reproduce very fast. Anywhere from 15-25 babies are born at a time, so it doesn't take long to replenish their numbers.
Last but not least, we ate some fried rattler. Debbie bought a plate of 8-10 pieces of friend meat, which turned out to be mostly bone and ribs. Only small strips of meat were found and like many people have said, it does taste like chicken.
We all bought tee shirts to commemorate our visit to the roundup. It is something that was on our bucket list and we are all happy that we came.
So long.
We got there about 9:30am and were glad to see that there weren't too many people there yet. This event was held at the fairgrounds, with the snake exhibits being in large circular pits with 5' high sides and Plexiglas windows in the walls for children to view the snakes and the men inside. The snake handlers are all members of the Sweetwater Jaycees and they did a good job with the snakes.
We saw one man that demonstrated the lightning-quick strikes by hanging a balloon in front of a large rattler and inviting him to bite it, which he did in very short order. We saw another booth that "milked" the snakes of their venom. The venom is used to make anti-venom for snakebite victims and probably saves many lives. Another display was the cleaning and processing the snakes after death. (all of the captured snakes are put down) It was interesting to note how skinny the bodies are after removing their skin. When the "innards" are removed, it was demonstrated that the snake hearts continue beating for up to 20-25 minutes after removal. The skins and rattles are kept for stuffing and sale.
There was a huge number of stuffed snakes in different poses. They are imposing and frightening to many including me. I have always had a revulsion to snakes and although I had several run-ins with snakes in my career, I never had a personal experience with them, to my happiness. One of the handlers came around the circle with a 4' rattler that he allowed anyone wishing to, to touch the snake. I did touch it as well as the rattles that were rattling loudly. I must say that it was unnerving to touch the thing!
It should be noted that even thought hundreds of snakes died this weekend, they reproduce very fast. Anywhere from 15-25 babies are born at a time, so it doesn't take long to replenish their numbers.
Last but not least, we ate some fried rattler. Debbie bought a plate of 8-10 pieces of friend meat, which turned out to be mostly bone and ribs. Only small strips of meat were found and like many people have said, it does taste like chicken.
We all bought tee shirts to commemorate our visit to the roundup. It is something that was on our bucket list and we are all happy that we came.
So long.
Wednesday & Thursday, Moving days-Cottonwood RV Park to Whistle Stop RV Resort
After several months, I am resuming my writing on my blog. I just needed some time off but now feel like writing again.
After spending some time in the Rio Grande Valley in Mission, it is finally time to leave. The rally season is starting, so we need to hit the road. We left on Wednesday and after an overnight stop, at the Whistle Stop resort in Abilene.
We traveled with Dave and Nancy & Lin and Debbie. For a change, Dave led the pack! He did really well, even when traveling through San Antonio, which is always a white-knuckle drive. We left right on time, at 9AM and made very good time. We only stopped once, near the Border Patrol checkpoint near Falfurias. We arrived in Boerne at the Top 'O the Hill RV Park about 3PM.
We had a couple of close calls when entering the park to get to our site. The streets are very narrow with a tree on my right side and a pole in our site on my left. I had to cut pretty close to the tree and when I went back to look at my track, I saw that I had only been about a foot from the tree and had been even closer to the pole but we made it. We found that our Traveler antenna had a problem. The controller said that there was no power to the LNB, the signal receiver. Since I'm not allowed to go on the roof any more, we just did without TV overnight. It wasn't too bad without it and I got some reading done. We had no further problems in our site but Dave and Nancy had no 50 amp service and had to use 30 amp, which meant that they had limited electricity to use. We earned that Lin had been sick from some food that he ate in Mexico, so we didn't see him while we were there.
We did get to see our old friend Ricky Cobb, who lives in this park. I walked the dogs and stopped by to see him and he later came down to our place for a visit. It was good to see him again.
We left Thursday morning about 8:45 with no further problems. I led on this trip, which was uneventful. We stopped at a truck stop for our break and made it to Abilene about 3.
After getting parked, I checked the rooftop antenna and could see a wire that had come loose. I asked one of the park workers if he would go up and plug the wire back in and he agreed to. He found that the wire had apparently broken off from the base of the antenna and tried to tape it back together but it didn't work. When Dave finished with his setting up their trailer, I asked him to see what he could do to repair this problem. He was able to push the wire back into the connection and made it work for a temporary fix. At least we will have television!
Our good friends Mike and Peg had arrived here from their home in San Angelo. They had prepared a delicious meal for all of us travelers of ham and scalloped potatoes. It was delicious and we thank them for thinking about us. Lin was still under the weather and couldn't eat.
The weather had turned off cold and rainy when we arrived, so we weren't able to sit or eat outside with our friends, so we all got a plateful and came back home to eat.
We are expecting to have a great week here in Abilene with both old friends and new at this rally. Of course, we are going to the Rattlesnake Roundup tomorrow, so stay tuned for that report.
So long.
After spending some time in the Rio Grande Valley in Mission, it is finally time to leave. The rally season is starting, so we need to hit the road. We left on Wednesday and after an overnight stop, at the Whistle Stop resort in Abilene.
We traveled with Dave and Nancy & Lin and Debbie. For a change, Dave led the pack! He did really well, even when traveling through San Antonio, which is always a white-knuckle drive. We left right on time, at 9AM and made very good time. We only stopped once, near the Border Patrol checkpoint near Falfurias. We arrived in Boerne at the Top 'O the Hill RV Park about 3PM.
We had a couple of close calls when entering the park to get to our site. The streets are very narrow with a tree on my right side and a pole in our site on my left. I had to cut pretty close to the tree and when I went back to look at my track, I saw that I had only been about a foot from the tree and had been even closer to the pole but we made it. We found that our Traveler antenna had a problem. The controller said that there was no power to the LNB, the signal receiver. Since I'm not allowed to go on the roof any more, we just did without TV overnight. It wasn't too bad without it and I got some reading done. We had no further problems in our site but Dave and Nancy had no 50 amp service and had to use 30 amp, which meant that they had limited electricity to use. We earned that Lin had been sick from some food that he ate in Mexico, so we didn't see him while we were there.
We did get to see our old friend Ricky Cobb, who lives in this park. I walked the dogs and stopped by to see him and he later came down to our place for a visit. It was good to see him again.
We left Thursday morning about 8:45 with no further problems. I led on this trip, which was uneventful. We stopped at a truck stop for our break and made it to Abilene about 3.
After getting parked, I checked the rooftop antenna and could see a wire that had come loose. I asked one of the park workers if he would go up and plug the wire back in and he agreed to. He found that the wire had apparently broken off from the base of the antenna and tried to tape it back together but it didn't work. When Dave finished with his setting up their trailer, I asked him to see what he could do to repair this problem. He was able to push the wire back into the connection and made it work for a temporary fix. At least we will have television!
Our good friends Mike and Peg had arrived here from their home in San Angelo. They had prepared a delicious meal for all of us travelers of ham and scalloped potatoes. It was delicious and we thank them for thinking about us. Lin was still under the weather and couldn't eat.
The weather had turned off cold and rainy when we arrived, so we weren't able to sit or eat outside with our friends, so we all got a plateful and came back home to eat.
We are expecting to have a great week here in Abilene with both old friends and new at this rally. Of course, we are going to the Rattlesnake Roundup tomorrow, so stay tuned for that report.
So long.
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