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We decided to go to Furr's for breakfast this morning before we took Tyler back home. Cameron has a baseball game at 11 and another at 1:30 if they win the first one, so we got a move-on this morning and had the dogs walked and were at the restaurant by 9. After another delicious breakfast, we were on our way to Texas City. Again, traffic was bad on the Gulf Frwy. and we were late getting to the game (more on this later!)
Cam's team had beaten the team from Galveston a day or two before by a score of 13-1, so they must have been overconfident and got beaten this morning 6-4. It was a crushing defeat for the young men because they didn't get to play any more today but their season isn't over yet so there's next weekend for them.
We went over to Kim's house to watch the football games and hang out for the rest of the afternoon before we drove home. That's what I want to talk about, the drivers that we have been encountering. Is it just me, or are there a lot more crazy drivers on the road these days? As I said in another post, this is the Lone Star motorcycle rally weekend in Galveston and all weekend we have seen lots of very fast bikes weaving in and out of traffic in a big hurry to get to Galveston but why did we see so many today, going back to where they came from? They are not only down here; just the other day I was passed by a small blue car. He continued on until he was about a quarter mile ahead of me when all of a sudden he began to spin around in the road. He didn't hit anything or anyone else, but I'm sure that he had a mess to clean up after that... just sayin'
We made it back home without any incidents and stopped by the grocery store before coming back home.
So long.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
Saturday November 5, 2011-Rayford Crossing RV Resort
I woke pretty early considering that we were up very late last night to go down for coffee with the guys. I'm glad I did because Bill came by this morning with donuts. He and his wife bought a house over in Fulshear but they lived here at Rayford for several months and we became good friends.
After coffee, I returned home and managed to get Tyler up and about so we could leave for Center TX and the 80th birthday party for my Aunt Barbara. We had a good trip up there and only stopped for a donut for breakfast and for a rest stop around Diboll. When we got to town we went to Janie's house for a burger with her and Gail and then a pretty short visit with them before we had to leave for the party.
It was good to see so many family members and to visit with them. I was rather surprised at how many of them knew of our travels and it was fun to talk about some of our trips. Everyone was surprised at how tall Tyler has gotten. The last time Janie saw him, he was about 3 years old, so it was quite a change in him. The party didn't last all that long before it was time for us to make the long drive back to Houston. I forgot my camera, so I didn't get any photos of the party, but it was a good time and we enjoyed it.
We had an easy drive back and went through Livingston to check out a new RV park there that I had been recommended to look into for a park hosting job. We looked at the park but were not too impressed with all the bare dirt in the sites and the fact that there are many trees that need to be trimmed back to make it easier for patrons to get into their sites. I think we'll pass on this one, at least for now...
We made it home before 7 and again the doggies were very glad to see us. They remembered Tyler and didn't bark at him at all. Maybe he made a better impression than I thought, or maybe their memories are better than I think. He's a pretty memorable young man...
So long.
After coffee, I returned home and managed to get Tyler up and about so we could leave for Center TX and the 80th birthday party for my Aunt Barbara. We had a good trip up there and only stopped for a donut for breakfast and for a rest stop around Diboll. When we got to town we went to Janie's house for a burger with her and Gail and then a pretty short visit with them before we had to leave for the party.
It was good to see so many family members and to visit with them. I was rather surprised at how many of them knew of our travels and it was fun to talk about some of our trips. Everyone was surprised at how tall Tyler has gotten. The last time Janie saw him, he was about 3 years old, so it was quite a change in him. The party didn't last all that long before it was time for us to make the long drive back to Houston. I forgot my camera, so I didn't get any photos of the party, but it was a good time and we enjoyed it.
We had an easy drive back and went through Livingston to check out a new RV park there that I had been recommended to look into for a park hosting job. We looked at the park but were not too impressed with all the bare dirt in the sites and the fact that there are many trees that need to be trimmed back to make it easier for patrons to get into their sites. I think we'll pass on this one, at least for now...
We made it home before 7 and again the doggies were very glad to see us. They remembered Tyler and didn't bark at him at all. Maybe he made a better impression than I thought, or maybe their memories are better than I think. He's a pretty memorable young man...
So long.
Friday November 4, 2011-Rayford Crossing RV Resort
It was nice and cool again this morning. I guess we're good luck because everywhere we've been since coming back has either had rain or cool weather soon after we arrived. Perhaps we shouldn't have left this summer and Texas would have avoided the drought and high temperatures...
We had "orders" from Tyler to come to his football game tonight to see him march in the band down Palmer Highway for the last time. The band hall is across the street from the football stadium and it has been a 50 year tradition for the band to march on Palmer Hwy. to the game but tonight is to be the last time. We were glad to be there for this historic event, so we left in plenty of time (we thought) to drive down and pick up Cameron to go get something to eat before the game began. I forgot that this was the Lone Star motorcycle Rally weekend in Galveston, so traffic was awful all the way down. We left at 3 o'clock but didn't make it to Texas City until about 5:30 and had to be at the stadium at 6 to watch the band, so we barely had time to pick up Cam and get him home to put on some warmer clothes and go.
We made and got to see Tyler march and then followed the band into the stands. We sat right beside Tyler's row and it was fun to watch him and others in the band dancing and having a good time. Tyler also was awarded the "Freshman of the Week" award tonight. This is something that is given to a different freshman each week and I learned that Tyler had said that if he won, he would like to have it awarded on this week when we would be in attendance. It was an honor for him to win, but especially to have it on the week that you asked for. We are so proud of all our grandsons, but especially when they win an honor like this.
Sadly the Texas City football team lost the game with Friendswood 35-34 but it was a really good game. It has been a long time since I've been able to go to a high school football game and just watch. For the last 30-something years, I worked the games and couldn't watch.
When the game ended, Cam and I came back home. Kim and Stella had left after the half because Kim was cold, but Cam and I stayed to watch the end of the game. Tyler had to stay after to put all the band equipment away but as soon as he called, Jeremy went to get him and we soon came back home. Cameron had a big baseball game tomorrow, so he couldn't come home with us. It was very late before we got back home, but at least there was no traffic through Houston. We are going to Center TX for a family birthday party tomorrow, so we all were in bed soon after getting here. Tyler liked the new trailer and the brand new air mattress bed. We all slept well tonight.
So long.
We had "orders" from Tyler to come to his football game tonight to see him march in the band down Palmer Highway for the last time. The band hall is across the street from the football stadium and it has been a 50 year tradition for the band to march on Palmer Hwy. to the game but tonight is to be the last time. We were glad to be there for this historic event, so we left in plenty of time (we thought) to drive down and pick up Cameron to go get something to eat before the game began. I forgot that this was the Lone Star motorcycle Rally weekend in Galveston, so traffic was awful all the way down. We left at 3 o'clock but didn't make it to Texas City until about 5:30 and had to be at the stadium at 6 to watch the band, so we barely had time to pick up Cam and get him home to put on some warmer clothes and go.
We made and got to see Tyler march and then followed the band into the stands. We sat right beside Tyler's row and it was fun to watch him and others in the band dancing and having a good time. Tyler also was awarded the "Freshman of the Week" award tonight. This is something that is given to a different freshman each week and I learned that Tyler had said that if he won, he would like to have it awarded on this week when we would be in attendance. It was an honor for him to win, but especially to have it on the week that you asked for. We are so proud of all our grandsons, but especially when they win an honor like this.
Sadly the Texas City football team lost the game with Friendswood 35-34 but it was a really good game. It has been a long time since I've been able to go to a high school football game and just watch. For the last 30-something years, I worked the games and couldn't watch.
When the game ended, Cam and I came back home. Kim and Stella had left after the half because Kim was cold, but Cam and I stayed to watch the end of the game. Tyler had to stay after to put all the band equipment away but as soon as he called, Jeremy went to get him and we soon came back home. Cameron had a big baseball game tomorrow, so he couldn't come home with us. It was very late before we got back home, but at least there was no traffic through Houston. We are going to Center TX for a family birthday party tomorrow, so we all were in bed soon after getting here. Tyler liked the new trailer and the brand new air mattress bed. We all slept well tonight.
So long.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Thursday November 3, 2011-Rayford Crossing RV Resort
Man, it turned cold overnight! Stella told me that it rained a little bit, but when I woke up the wind was blowing and the temperature was dropping. I knew the front was coming through tonight and it sure did! It was 53 when I went down for coffee and 49 when I returned home.
We can sure tell that the winter Texans have returned because there were 14 for coffee this morning. We had one man, Andy, that no longer lives here and even sold his motorhome, but he still lives nearby and comes once a week for coffee with us.
We didn't do much today and didn't leave the park. We did change the chairs with the couch to make the trailer more livable. It will take some getting used to, but we like it so far. We put the couch on some sliders that we recently bought to make the move easier and we already had the two recliners on a slider, so the move was pretty easy.
Later in the morning I got a call from Joe French, our friend that is the General Manager for Ron Hoover RV's. He told me about an offer for someone to put on a seminar at the next Boat and RV Show in January. I called and after learning what they wanted, I agreed to put on the seminar on full-time RVing on Saturday January 7th at 3 PM at the Reliant center. If you're going to the show, please stop by and say hello.
I promised to do a recap of our summer trip through Michigan, so here is a part of it. We traveled a lot of miles this summer but I'm not sure exactly how many. I had kept one of the trip odometers on my truck that recorded the miles for the entire trip but at the last oil change/service, someone at the Ford dealer in Canton that did the work reset the trip odometer for some reason, so I lost the mileage count. I believe that we traveled over 11,000 miles this summer.
We covered a lot of new territory in Michigan, Wisconsin Ohio and Pennsylvania and met a lot of new people at local Heartland rallies in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, the RV-Dreams rally in Hershey PA, the huge Hershey RV show that we worked in the Heartland Owners club booth, the Heartland National rally in Goshen Indiana and the Passport America rally also in Goshen IN. We also helped the local Heartland dealer in Elkhart with a small RV show. They actually sold 27 trailers at the show and we met some new friends there too. We returned to Texas and hosted our chapter rally in Canton TX and had a good turnout. This rally was also instrumental in the formation of the new Oklahoma chapter of the Heartland Owners club.
Of course, the high point of the trip was when we came back to Houston and bought the new Landmark. We tried to make the purchase before the rally so that we could surprise everyone with our new trailer but we just couldn't pull it off. Mike and Patrice did surprise us with their purchase of a new Landmark at the rally and I thought it would have been funny if we had been able to get ours too. Too bad it didn't work out...
That's probably enough of a recap for today but I'll put some more information together and share it with you soon.
So long.
We can sure tell that the winter Texans have returned because there were 14 for coffee this morning. We had one man, Andy, that no longer lives here and even sold his motorhome, but he still lives nearby and comes once a week for coffee with us.
We didn't do much today and didn't leave the park. We did change the chairs with the couch to make the trailer more livable. It will take some getting used to, but we like it so far. We put the couch on some sliders that we recently bought to make the move easier and we already had the two recliners on a slider, so the move was pretty easy.
Later in the morning I got a call from Joe French, our friend that is the General Manager for Ron Hoover RV's. He told me about an offer for someone to put on a seminar at the next Boat and RV Show in January. I called and after learning what they wanted, I agreed to put on the seminar on full-time RVing on Saturday January 7th at 3 PM at the Reliant center. If you're going to the show, please stop by and say hello.
I promised to do a recap of our summer trip through Michigan, so here is a part of it. We traveled a lot of miles this summer but I'm not sure exactly how many. I had kept one of the trip odometers on my truck that recorded the miles for the entire trip but at the last oil change/service, someone at the Ford dealer in Canton that did the work reset the trip odometer for some reason, so I lost the mileage count. I believe that we traveled over 11,000 miles this summer.
We covered a lot of new territory in Michigan, Wisconsin Ohio and Pennsylvania and met a lot of new people at local Heartland rallies in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, the RV-Dreams rally in Hershey PA, the huge Hershey RV show that we worked in the Heartland Owners club booth, the Heartland National rally in Goshen Indiana and the Passport America rally also in Goshen IN. We also helped the local Heartland dealer in Elkhart with a small RV show. They actually sold 27 trailers at the show and we met some new friends there too. We returned to Texas and hosted our chapter rally in Canton TX and had a good turnout. This rally was also instrumental in the formation of the new Oklahoma chapter of the Heartland Owners club.
Of course, the high point of the trip was when we came back to Houston and bought the new Landmark. We tried to make the purchase before the rally so that we could surprise everyone with our new trailer but we just couldn't pull it off. Mike and Patrice did surprise us with their purchase of a new Landmark at the rally and I thought it would have been funny if we had been able to get ours too. Too bad it didn't work out...
That's probably enough of a recap for today but I'll put some more information together and share it with you soon.
So long.
Wednesday November 2, 2011-Rayford Crossing RV Resort
I went down for coffee with the guys this morning and we had a pretty good turnout. Since so many of the winter Texans had come in yesterday, we had more takers of coffee than Jim had prepared for, so we had to make some more coffee. We all know where all the ingredients are, so it wasn't much of a problem. It was good to be back with the guys...
We had chores to do today and errands to run, so we were up and had breakfast pretty early. We were on the road before 10 o'clock and finished up our errands around here pretty quickly. We went to the bank, the post office and were on our way to Bellville to get new license tags for the truck. We had been out of the state when the tags expired, so we had to go to the county courthouse to get the tags. On the way we stopped off at the Stephen F. Austin state park to get some names for references for future park hosting applications. While there, we took a short ride through the park because the office was closed for lunch, even though their time was up. When we worked there the office didn't close for lunch but I guess things have changed. They have certainly changed in the appearance of the park. There were hundreds of trees and large limbs down throughout the park and it looked very bad. It has always bee a state policy to not allow visitors to pick up fallen trees and limbs for firewood but it certainly detracts from the look of the park.
We soon found Carmen at work in the office but saw no one else out in the park. She gave us the information that we needed and we verified that they do not need anyone to work there, as we had heard, so we took off. We went to Bellville and got the tags in short order and returned to Sealy where we stopped off at Tony's restaurant for a quick snack of coffee and pie. They have some of the best pies that we have ever eaten and today was no exception. After our coffee break, we went to Ron Hoover RV to pick up the license plate for the trailer. We also needed to get some advice on a couple of issues that we had found on the trailer and to pick up some replacement light bulbs. The new trailer uses halogen bulbs in most of the lights in the trailer and four of them have burned out along with two spotlight bulbs. We got most of the items we needed except the bulbs which were out of stock.
We had a nice chat with Joe French while we were in the store and he asked us to do a short video about our purchase for their company website. The video hasn't been posted yet, but if you want to check it out, please do and let me know how you like it.
We came on back home and the pups were very glad to see us. We hadn't planned to be gone all day but they were fine when we got back and were soon taken care of. We just relaxed for the rest of the evening. Jim and Reta came over to see our new trailer and liked it. It was good to be back at Rayford and we'll miss it when we leave.
So long.
We had chores to do today and errands to run, so we were up and had breakfast pretty early. We were on the road before 10 o'clock and finished up our errands around here pretty quickly. We went to the bank, the post office and were on our way to Bellville to get new license tags for the truck. We had been out of the state when the tags expired, so we had to go to the county courthouse to get the tags. On the way we stopped off at the Stephen F. Austin state park to get some names for references for future park hosting applications. While there, we took a short ride through the park because the office was closed for lunch, even though their time was up. When we worked there the office didn't close for lunch but I guess things have changed. They have certainly changed in the appearance of the park. There were hundreds of trees and large limbs down throughout the park and it looked very bad. It has always bee a state policy to not allow visitors to pick up fallen trees and limbs for firewood but it certainly detracts from the look of the park.
We soon found Carmen at work in the office but saw no one else out in the park. She gave us the information that we needed and we verified that they do not need anyone to work there, as we had heard, so we took off. We went to Bellville and got the tags in short order and returned to Sealy where we stopped off at Tony's restaurant for a quick snack of coffee and pie. They have some of the best pies that we have ever eaten and today was no exception. After our coffee break, we went to Ron Hoover RV to pick up the license plate for the trailer. We also needed to get some advice on a couple of issues that we had found on the trailer and to pick up some replacement light bulbs. The new trailer uses halogen bulbs in most of the lights in the trailer and four of them have burned out along with two spotlight bulbs. We got most of the items we needed except the bulbs which were out of stock.
We had a nice chat with Joe French while we were in the store and he asked us to do a short video about our purchase for their company website. The video hasn't been posted yet, but if you want to check it out, please do and let me know how you like it.
We came on back home and the pups were very glad to see us. We hadn't planned to be gone all day but they were fine when we got back and were soon taken care of. We just relaxed for the rest of the evening. Jim and Reta came over to see our new trailer and liked it. It was good to be back at Rayford and we'll miss it when we leave.
So long.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Tuesday November 1, 2011-Moving day-Gateway to the Gulf to Rayford Crossing RV Resort
I got up pretty early this morning to cool weather. Stella had set the coffee pot to come on, so the coffee was ready. I had one cup and Stella woke and after having her coffee, fixed us some sausage and egg breakfast sandwiches. She began getting things ready to leave inside and I went outside. I noticed two men walking down to the office and found that they have men's coffee in the morning here. I went in and was welcomed by the three guys that were there this morning. After a short visit with them, I returned to the trailer and did my chores to get the outside done and we were ready to go about 9. After hugs and handshakes with Dan and Karen and our new friends Larry and Ginnie, we pulled out about 9:30.
It is only 124 miles to Rayford from here, so we didn't make any stops along the way. I had thought about stopping at the Buccee's in Wharton but there was no need, so we just sped on by. The truck and trailer were very dirty and dusty, so I decided to find the Blue Beacon truck and trailer wash on the 610 loop in Houston. After enduring some traffic and construction delays, we finally got in line for a wash. After an hour, we had our truck and trailer washed and treated with a Rain-X rinse. I thought it was a good value for only $37, so we were soon on our way with a sparkling clean truck and trailer. I knew the guys at Rayford would admire the clean rig.
When we arrived, we found that there were four of our friends that also arrived today, so we had a nice reunion with several of our friends. Men's coffee here will be fun tomorrow. We will have a lot to talk about.
I am going to recap our summer trip in the next few days, so you might want to check back. Excitement will be running high!!
So long.
It is only 124 miles to Rayford from here, so we didn't make any stops along the way. I had thought about stopping at the Buccee's in Wharton but there was no need, so we just sped on by. The truck and trailer were very dirty and dusty, so I decided to find the Blue Beacon truck and trailer wash on the 610 loop in Houston. After enduring some traffic and construction delays, we finally got in line for a wash. After an hour, we had our truck and trailer washed and treated with a Rain-X rinse. I thought it was a good value for only $37, so we were soon on our way with a sparkling clean truck and trailer. I knew the guys at Rayford would admire the clean rig.
When we arrived, we found that there were four of our friends that also arrived today, so we had a nice reunion with several of our friends. Men's coffee here will be fun tomorrow. We will have a lot to talk about.
I am going to recap our summer trip in the next few days, so you might want to check back. Excitement will be running high!!
So long.
Monday October 31, 2011-Moving day-Mission West RV Park to Gateway to the Gulf RV Park
Today was the dreaded moving day for us to go back toward Houston and Rayford Crossing, our former home base park. Things change...
We got started about 7:30 and found that many things were much better to pack up in order to leave. We were ready to go a little after 9 and after hugs and handshakes from Tom and Judy (no hugs from Judy-she's still sick) we pulled out. I still marvel at how easy this new trailer pulls. Even my fuel mileage is up, with over 11 MPG for most of the trip today.
We only made one stop today when we found a Subway just outside Raymondville. We picked up breakfast sandwiches and coffee and went on our way to Victoria. We made good time and pulled into the Gateway to the Gulf RV Park about 2 PM. Our friends Dan and Karen, the folks that we had stayed with in Michigan, were here waiting for us to arrive. We were excited to be able to show off our new trailer as well as seeing our friends.
We also met some new friends here, Larry and Ginnie. They are also from Michigan and had met up with Dan and Karen here yesterday. They are all going south to Aransas Pass where they will spend the winter. We will see Dan and Karen again in Mission when we have a couple of get-togethers in February.
Karen and Ginnie had made plans to have hot dogs and brats for a mini-potluck dinner. We contributed some of Stella's goulash and we all had a fine meal. We sat outside and chatted for awhile after eating, which was nice with our new friends. It was a good travel day.
So long.
We got started about 7:30 and found that many things were much better to pack up in order to leave. We were ready to go a little after 9 and after hugs and handshakes from Tom and Judy (no hugs from Judy-she's still sick) we pulled out. I still marvel at how easy this new trailer pulls. Even my fuel mileage is up, with over 11 MPG for most of the trip today.
We only made one stop today when we found a Subway just outside Raymondville. We picked up breakfast sandwiches and coffee and went on our way to Victoria. We made good time and pulled into the Gateway to the Gulf RV Park about 2 PM. Our friends Dan and Karen, the folks that we had stayed with in Michigan, were here waiting for us to arrive. We were excited to be able to show off our new trailer as well as seeing our friends.
We also met some new friends here, Larry and Ginnie. They are also from Michigan and had met up with Dan and Karen here yesterday. They are all going south to Aransas Pass where they will spend the winter. We will see Dan and Karen again in Mission when we have a couple of get-togethers in February.
Karen and Ginnie had made plans to have hot dogs and brats for a mini-potluck dinner. We contributed some of Stella's goulash and we all had a fine meal. We sat outside and chatted for awhile after eating, which was nice with our new friends. It was a good travel day.
So long.
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