A Texas RV Park Thanksgiving

Today was a new experience for us - Thanksgiving in an RV park.  The owners of the park provided two turkeys and a ham and everyone else brought a dish.  It's interesting to see what everyone brings.  What's tradition for someone in a certain part of the country is not always what we are used to.  For example, someone brought cabbage rolls - and they were delicious.  Our friends Gene and Linda, when back home in Pennsylvania, always have saurkraut.   Someone brought rutabegas, but I didn't have the courage to try them - too much other good food.

Wray and Emily (Wray deep fried one of the turkeys.)

A fruit turkey made by Linda and Maurice.

The club house, right before we all got our food.

We started eating just after 2:00pm, and by 3:15 the club room was cleaned up and we were all out walking off some of the 5000+ calorie meal we had just eaten.

We ended our last night by playing dominos and Joker with Gene and Linda and Linda and Maurice.  Around 8:30 we all went outside with our binoculars to check out the space shuttle going by. 

We're sad to be leaving Texas in the morning but are looking forward to seeing all of our family and friends.  For various reasons, we'll be bringing the trailer home with us and will most likely be spending our winter at home.  

If all goes well, we will be home some time on Sunday.  We plan on stopping north of Dallas tomorrow night, then somewhere between Springfield MO and home on Saturday night so we can winterize, then an easy drive into town on Sunday.

It's Beginning To Look Like..........

Nothing out of the ordinary has been happening around Victoria lately.  We have been golfing, playing ping pong, swimming, eating popcorn, and playing games every evening. 

Except for Friday and Saturday, the weather has been fabulous.  The weather people have been begging for cool weather (we have not). 

Mr. & Mrs. Claus landed at the local mall on Saturday.  I guess it's going to be Christmas soon.  When the highs are in the 70s and 80s daily, it's hard to grasp the "holiday spirit."   We've lost the holiday tunes station on the local cable, but found out on XM23 they are now playing Christmas tunes.  That will make the trip home fun!

Signs of the upcoming holidays are starting to show up around town.  We found this on the 17th hole today at the Colony Creek Country Club.

Another sign we've been seeing right down the road is this.  For some reason, it really bothers me.  Not that it's a Bud Light billboard; just the language on it.

Yes, there's a very large Hispanic population in Victoria, but aren't we in the U.S.A.?????

We're off to play Sticks.  Mark never wanted to play again, but he agreed to play tonight since we're running out of time.  Our final blog of the year will be posted on Thanksgiving evening. 

Happy Turkey Day to all.

Par For The Course

Since we're leaving here in just 12 days, I'm getting really bad at blogging; my interest is waning.  Now to remember what's been going on besides plotting our trip home.

The weather has cooled off finally.  The lows the past two nights have been in the upper 30s but fortunately, it warms to low 70s during the day. 

Sunday we loaded the bikes in the back of the truck and headed over to Riverside Park to try out their trail.  We rode for an hour but spent about 15 minutes watching a group of six guys playing "disc golf".  They were each loaded down with a backpack of at least 15 discs (look similar to frisbees), water bottles, a fold-up stool to either sit on or set their backpacks on while they are thowing. These guys were good.  It would take us at least 10 throws for each one of theirs, plus they were very accurate.

Further down the trail we came across a baseball game going on.  Baseball is a very popular activity in this part of Texas, and is played year round. 

As always, each day ends with popcorn at 3:00, hot tub, dinner, then an evening of Joker.  Sunday evening had the ice cream social at 6:00.  Quite the deal for 50 cents a scoop with all the toppings.

Monday Mark golfed while I caught up on my phone calls back home to the families. 

Tuesday we hung around the park; Mark waxed a little bit more of the trailer and gabbed with everyone.  Lunch was our favorite BBQ joint - Mumphord's.  Unfortunately they only serve sliced pork on Thursdays thru Saturdays.  Mark had the ribs while I had the shredded beef.  Yummy as always, but we'll now have to return this weekend for the pork one final time.

Today we golfed with Wray and Emily.  This was the very first time that Emily has ever golfed.  For those golfers out there reading this - you can imagine how it was, and you would be correct.  The real problem was Wray "coaching" the entire 4 hours!  The good part of this round was that we treated ourselves to a cart today, and didn't have to walk the 18 holes. 

I had lots of time to take pictures of this doe.  It was all over the place.  The deer are so used to the golfers, they don't even look up even if a ball is coming right at them. 

The diets are now off for a while.  We hadn't been to Sam's Club in a while and today they were giving out samples of pumpkin pie.   Yep - we got one, along with 3 cans of whipped cream.  We had to make sure it was good since we plan on taking it to the park's Thanksgiving dinner next week.  Unfortunately, this Sam's is a small one and doesn't bake in-house; every thing is shipped in frozen so some stuff is not real fresh.  However, the pie was fabulous!  We've deemed it good enough for the Thanksgiving potluck.

To further test our patience today, we learned a new card game with Linda and Maurice and Linda and Gene - it was called "Sticks".  Too complicated to explain, but we're sure we would rather play Joker.

Where Are We and Why Are We Here?

Friday morning we headed down to Rockport, which is about 80 miles away, but with my scenic route and poor navigational skills, in reality it was more like 110 miles.  Guess who wasn't happy.

We did come across this cool wind farm across the field.

Our trip to Rockport was to go to an open house at an RV dealer.  The funniest part of this was that at least 200 people were lined up for at least an hour, to get their free hot dog, potato salad, and a bottle of water.  I'm sure none of these people bought a thing in the store, much less a new RV.  We did not get in this line as I would never eat a hot dog, even if it were free.  We did walk through some of the trailers and also bought a light bulb and a fan for the refrigerator. 

After the open house, we headed south to get to the beach in Port Aransas.  It was such a beautiful day out, even the sail boats were out and about.

We walked down the really long walkway into the bay.  The walkway looked like it was made up of huge boulders of granite. 

We found loads of really cool jelly fish that we had never seen before on the Alabama coast.  After further research, I've learned that they are cannonball jellyfish. 

These were all wedged inbetween the boulder walkway.  Mark tried poking one with a stick - they are very hard. 

Today was men's breakfast day for Mark, I did laundry and vacuuming. After waxing a little more of the trailer, and grocery shopping we spent some time in the pool.  After a fabulous dinner at La Hacienda, I'm ready to crash for the evening. 

Home Brew

Not much going on in the park.  Yesterday was the "ladies lunch" at Halpaska's Bakery and Restaurant.  The soup and salad I are were wonderful.  Somehow I found the will power to avoid the bakery part of the place.  The cheesecake and cherry pie were screaming "eat me" but I just kept walking. 

We had been desparately trying to lose weight this winter, and had each managed to lose 7 lbs.  Unfortunately the cruise came and went; the 2 extra pounds have not.  Thus, I skipped the dessert at lunch.

Speaking of losing weight, we're still walking, biking, swimming, and now water aerobicsing in an effort to lose.  There are no snack foods, ice cream, etc. in the trailer.  Mark must now snack on Rice Krispies.  Ugh! 

After two golf outings in a row, Mark hung around the park today, at least until lunch time.  All of our friends in the park have recently purchased new trucks to pull their trailers.  This got us wondering about our next truck in a year or two.  Do we really need a one ton when the three-quarters works just fine?  Today we went in search of this info by visiting the local Ford, Chevy, and GMC lots.

For a mere $53,000, this bad boy could be ours.  None of the lots had what we plan to purchase in a year or two:  four door, diesel, 8' bed, 2 wheel drive, 3/4 ton, and no dualies!  The GMC salesman was extremely pushy- wanting Mark to test drive one of the two trucks he had; we finally just left.  We did, however, get brochures from every dealier because Mark wanted to research the towing capacity on all of them.  Now if we could just win the MegaMillions!

Tonight we sat up at the fake fire (propane) with the park's owner, Erik.  Mark and Erik were trying Erik's new beer he had made.  I took a sip because they assured me it didn't taste like beer - they were wrong!   I think this beer was 6.5% alcohol.  They each had 3 large glasses, and Mark is now in bed. 

Wax On Wax Off

We couldn't take the bugs and dirt any longer.  On Saturday Mark got on the roof and scrubbed the roof.  Next came out the ladder to wash the whole trailer.  Even though the guy who owns the storage lot in Eureka where we store it had been harrassing him to wax the whole thing, only the front end got the wax.  There was too much danger in hurting his back, thus ruining the next golf game.

While he was washing and waxing, I was at the Bed Bath and Beyond store getting the final three roman shades for some windows in the trailer.  The dreaded day/night shades are now cluttering up the local landfill. 

We did get in several games of Joker on Friday and Sunday.  As the park fills up with Winter Texans, more and more people show up for this game.  We also now get the "happy hour" free popcorn and soda every afternoon at 3:00. It's a perfect snack in the afternoon before a 6:00pm dinner.  We now must eat a little earlier though, since everyone wants to start playing games at 6:45. 

Sunday the rains came and kept everyone inside almost all day.  We ventured out for a trip to Sam's and Walmart.  Unfortunately our "business" card at Sam's hadn't been renewed and we left the store without the coffee, steaks, and gum.  It's now been renewed and we returned tonight for the same items.  On Sunday we got to eat all the free samples throughout the store so we didn't leave completed unsatisfied; no samples tonight.  This Sam's gives you "meal-sized" samples; not those wimpy ones back home.  Instead of a 1" x 1" sample of pizza, we get an actual real slice.

Today was my first trip to water aerobics.  The heated pool made it quite comfortable even though we still had all the clouds, but no rain.  While I hung around paying bills, cleaning, etc., Mark and Wray were golfing.  Since they both played so bad today, they're going back tomorrow to try and improve.

Tis NOT the Season Just Yet

We've safely arrived back to Victoria after the five-day feeding frenzy on the Carnival Ecstasy.  I took this picture a mere 5 minutes after we got on board which was right around 12:30pm. 

The food was wonderful.  Mark fell in love with the chocolate molten cake; I liked it all because I didn't have to make it.  Even though the ship made two stops in Mexico (Cozumel and Progreso), we were only off the ship for about an hour in Cozumel and less than 30 minutes in Progreso.  Instead of touring these cities, we just lounged in and around the pool and hot tubs.  The casino was also kind to us.

This is why I love cruising; nothing better than sunrise or sunset on the ocean.  Give me a book, comfy lounge chair, and a fruity drink with an umbrella and rum in it, and I'll be happy for days.

Once we got off the ship on Thursday morning, we drove down along the sea wall in Galveston to check out any Hurricane Ike damage from September 2008.  Apparently there is a lot of money in Texas and within the city of Galveston, because most houses along the beach had already been replaced.  There were large piles of brush piled up waiting to be burned, and we also saw quite a few boats on their sides out in the middle of cow pastures.

Instead of doing the laundry first thing this morning, we headed off to the golf course.  After golf we went to a laundramat and got all the wash done in under an hour.

Can you hear me screaming????  That's because Mark has discovered a "holiday season" cable tv station that is playing Christmas music (It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas) and he's listening to it as I type.  It's way too early for this.

A Padded Behind

Even though we were supposed to have 60% chance of thunderstorms yesterday, we headed to the golf course anyway.  Maurice, Wray, Mark and I teed off around 10:00am under very cloudy and very windy conditions.  Fortunately, we only got sprinkled on a few times. 

Once we got back to the park, Rick and Mary were in the park visiting.  We knew them a few years ago and have been keeping up with their travels.  By the time we said goodbye to them, it was 3:00pm and we were starving.  With no food in the trailer, we headed to Chili's.  As usual, when starving before you get to a restaurant, you usually eat way too much, and we did!

Since we've been biking so much, Mark desparately needed a different type of bicycle seat.  We've gone through this before and have always returned whichever seat he picked out.  The jury's still out on this one and the old one is still in the storage department. 

A comfortable seat makes for a happy rider:

Lately we've been spending a lot of time playing ping pong in the clubhouse.  We're pretty evenly matched.  The owner of the park is always challenging us to a game, and he usually wins.  Today Mark beat Erik, and he was crushed!  We got a good laugh out of it.  

This is where we spend at least a part of every day - the hot tub.  It's always 103 degrees.

The pool used to be the best, unfortunately it's not heated right now and the water has cooled to 75.  Erik says he'll turn on the heat soon and the bubble will go on in early December.

There won't be another blog from us until probably next Friday.

Our bags are packed and we're ready to go......

Tomorrow morning we're driving to Galveston to get on the Carnival Ecstacy ship for five nights!  Mark found us a last minute cruise on-line for 55+ passengers.  [Sorry Cheri - NEXT year you guys can book one.]  It was only a great deal because Mark is over 55, and we don't need airfare.

I just hope all of our dieting isn't blown on a 5 day cruise!  More next week.

Riding With Friends

I'm happy to report that Mark's cold is now gone, or at least moved on to another RVer.  All the miracle drugs seemed to work, and I've washed my hands at least 50 times a day and have stayed healthy.

We've still been walking and biking around the park; in fact, it's 7:15pm and dark (I hate it being dark so early, but next week will be worse) and we just finished biking with Carolyn, Paul, at one time four others joined in so we had quite a group.  Carolyn and Paul bike every night for an hour so I suspect we'll join them again soon.

The internet in the park has been crappy at best, but "free".  Since it's free, you can't really complain, even though many do.  Today we resolved the problem, or rather Maurice and Linda did.  They got a DSL line and were kind enough to give us the codes while we agreed to pay half the monthly charge.  This is cheaper than all the other options we had.

We've avoided buying diesel for yet another day.  Each day we hope it will get cheaper before we have to fill up; unfortunately it just keeps going up.  Tomorrow we'll just have to suck it up and pay the $2.79/gallon.  It's risen 60 cents a gallon in the three weeks we've been here.  Gas is also climbing - I think most stations have it for $2.59 for regular.  What's the deal?

Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks

This weekend we stayed around the park.  We're still walking around the park every morning that we aren't golfing.  We had thought that four laps around the park was one mile, but once we drove the truck around, we've discovered that four laps is just shy of two miles.  The trick to getting in at least two to three miles is to not stop and talk to everyone along the way.  The best way to do this is to have the iPods on and to just keep moving.  I've mastered this; Mark has not.  

Since we discovered we were walking more than we thought, Friday night we celebrated by eating Pizza Hut.  I was tired of cooking every night and really wanted pizza.

When we got back, Gene and Linda and Maurice and Linda taught us to play Wild Fire - a new domino game.  We haven't played any form of dominoes since we were here three years ago and we missed it.  

Saturday we rode our bikes out on the main road in front of the park to get to another RV park just about a mile away.  One of the guys Mark used to golf with now resides in that park and we wanted to touch base with him, especially since he still golfs.  This is not a bicycle-friendly town.  There are almost no sidewalks.  We made it safely, but decided the next time we go to visit Bill, we'll drive the truck. 

When Mark started hanging up our new roman shades that we had purchased for three more windows in the trailer, it was decided that we bought the wrong size.  This required yet another trip to Bed Bath and Beyond.  Unfortunately, they no longer had our size.  The manager is going to have the correct color and size shipped from the Corpus Christi store.  Hopefully some day we'll get the right ones installed.

We learned yet another game tonight with the other two couples.  Tonight we played Joker.  It's similar to Aggravation that we all played when we were kids, only more cut-throat. They always play guys against the gals.  Of the four games we played, the guys won three.  I can see where it could get real ugly at times, but we kept it friendly tonight.

Searching For a Cure

How many trips to the drug store must we make?  In the past two days we've made at least four trips to the drugstore for additional cold medicine, cough medicine, Puffs, throat lozenges, Lysol spray, disinfectant wipes,etc.  Today Mark got some generic with pseudoephedrine in it, but only after agreeing not to make meth with it and signing his life away.  Wray and Emily also gave him some "Airborne Formula".  I had never heard of it, but apparently it was created by a second grade school teacher and it only has vitamins in it, but many people swear by it.  Only time and a smorgasboard of medicines will tell! At any rate Mark is now giving himself a 50/50 chance of recovering from this cold which is an improvement from yesterday when he was certain he wouldn't survive the day.

While Mark has been channel surfing for two days, I've been lounging outside reading books, catching up with friends and family back home, and enjoying the great weather.  The remnants of Hurricane Rick in the Pacific ocean never did land on our RV park; 3 inches of predicted rain was really only about 1/100th of an inch. 

Yesterday our friends Maurice and Linda arrived.  It was good to catch up with them as we haven't seen them in three years.  Maurice likes to golf and was one of the many guys that all went out together when we were here three and four years ago.  

Today I ventured off to get a hair cut from the same Vietnamese woman that cut it three years ago.  Now I'm set until I get back to Kathy in December.

Not Gonna Do It Again

Today was the second day in a row that we walked 18 holes on the golf course.  It's also the last time I do it. 

Yesterday we were getting ready to golf when an old friend knocked on the door.  Mac and Phyllis stopped by the park on their way to the Valley to spend their winter.  We met them our first night in this park four years ago and haven't seen them in over two years.  They both looked great and we enjoyed catching up.  We made plans to meet them in January down in Mission. 

We finally made it to the golf course at noon.  I usually keep my camera in my bag waiting for a Kodak moment.  Unfortunately this is the only thing I could find - proof of the summer's draught.

Today Wray golfed with us.  We harrassed him for several days to get a pull cart so on Sunday he found one at a garage sale for $5.  $16 for 18 holes walking is much cheaper than the $32 to pay for 18 with a cart.  The three of us had a good time, and he and Mark scored the same.  I did 8 shots worse than yesterday - another reason not to play two days in a row.  By the 15th hole I was dragging.  Mark has a cold (and now a fever) so he was dragging even earlier.

Wray and Emily stopped by our trailer around 5:00pm to see if we wanted to go to Olive Garden for dinner.  We didn't have to think twice - of course we went!

These Pigs Won't Fly

Friday we had nothing planned so we just toured the city.  We started at the Riverside Park where the golf course is.  The Guadalupe River is back down to the level it belongs; just a week ago it was out of its banks.

We walked down the hill to get to this grassy landing.  Unfortunately the ground is still somewhat wet and we ended up slip-sliding down the hill.   

Next we headed off to another park of the park where the geese like to hang out.

One of these loud nuisances chased me down the sidewalk.  We've discovered that the locals come and feed them so when you get out of your car they come up to see what food you have for them.  They were disappointed with us.

Next we were off to lunch to our favorite restaurant in Victoria, and it is only a quarter of a mile from the RV park.  It doesn't look like much, but it's worth every penny!

I forgot to take a picture of the front of the building, but it has ghetto bars on all the windows.  It's a family run place that's been here forever.

This is the back where they do the actual smoking/BBQing.  I had the sliced pork meal while Mark had the ribs and pork - comes with two sides and bread. 

Saturday was the "Market Days" in the park.  We really wanted one of these metal flying pig yard arts, but they were $25. 

Each afternoon was spent in the pool and hot tub.  Mark says the pool is too cold to get in since the evenings cool off to the 50s; I say its still refreshing to get it, especially when I have the 103 hot tub to get into afterwards.

The past couple of days we have been meeting quite a few people in the park.  It's still mostly empty as most winter Texans don't arrive into this park until November or just after Christmas.  Most of the folks already here, live here full time.  The rest are usually just stopping by for one night on their way to the Valley (southern tip of TX; Brownsville, Mission, etc.), and three couples are work-campers. 

This is our site for the duration; unfortunately there is already someone on the spot right next to us.  Our drop down sunscreen makes our spot a little more private, plus it keeps the sun off in the morning.  Unfortunately the sun beats down on the other side in the afternoon where the fridge is.  We're trying to keep the temp under 38; unfortunately with the heat, it's now at 45.

We haven't golfed since Monday because of rain on Tuesday, and extreme heat on Wednesday.  Today Mark played with Wray (RAY) who is one of the work-campers in the park.  He won't walk on the course that Mark and I walk, so the two of them headed to Colony Creek, the only other course in Victoria that the public can play. 

While Mark golfed, I cleaned.  I'm still getting sand out from Gulf Shores but I believe it's gone now.  I also spent a great deal of time trying to figure out how to get reimbursed for our flu shots last week.  I've mailed off the original receipts to our respective insurance companies, and will now hope for the best ($50.00).

While I was preparing dinner tonight, I came across yet another "treasure" from my sister.

It's a picture of Dennis when he was about a year old.  That was his favorite toy that he called "animal."  I hope I find more hidden treasures.

Mud and Blood

Most of Sunday morning was spent saying goodbye to the rally people from San Antonio.  The funny woman next to us who was very slow playing the card bingo Saturday night felt the need to share with me that she absolutely hated wearing thong underwear.  Why did she need to share this with me? and how did this conversation ever come up?  I'm still trying to figure it out.  What do you say to something like that?  I just looked at her and laughed.

Once it started raining we all scattered and they left the park headed home.  We miss these folks, but are getting to know more people in the park who are here for the winter.

Since the rain quit late Sunday, we headed off to golf this morning.  It started off at 67 degrees, but by the time we finished, it was well into the 80s but humid as hell!  This was the first time we've walked 18 holes in a couple of years.  We both held up well considering the humidity.  There were just two problems, and I'm not sure which was worse.  We were covered in both mud from the two days of rain and blood from the mosquitos biting us.  The Guadalupe River that runs along the golf course made a perfect breeding ground for those biting buggers.  Once I was putting while Mark was slapping my leg to kill one.  Tomorrow we're gonna have on more bug spray.

I say my game was ok; Mark says his was terrible.  That's what happens when you golf only 3 times a month.  We'll make up for that now.

Once we got back to the park we jumped into the pool (mostly to get off the mud and blood).  Since it was cool for a couple of days, the water was only 76 degrees.  Yes, it was freezing, but felt oh so good after the humid day.  Fortunately the hot tub was also on and warmed to 103.

Making New Friends

There we so many choices of entertainment today, we just had to pick one and go with it as none of them were close to each other.  October is when all the little communities have their festivals.  We had decided on the Cuero Turkeyfest.

We had arrived too late for the turkey race so we headed to the fairgrounds.  Fortunately for us, the gate where we entered wasn't set up yet so we didn't have to the pay $3 a person entry fee.  There were only a few booths open at 11:15a; some purses, and flautas.  It was too early for food.  We made three passes through the fairgrounds (total of 15 minutes) and decided we were happy we didn't pay to enter.  We then headed into town where we got to see part of the Annual Turkeyfest Parade.

This evening our neighbor Tom stopped by the trailer to remind us about the meatloaf and mashed potato dinner for his RV club from San Antonio.  We just had to bring our utensils and plates and eight quarters apiece to play card bingo.  

The eight other couples all welcomed us with open arms and made us feel like one of the gang.  The food was delicious, and best of all - I didn't have to make it!  After dinner we played card bingo.  Each group of four deals a deck of cards face up.  The caller has a separate deck and calls cards.  If you have the card he calls, you throw it into a pile.  When your cards are all gone, you yell BINGO.  I was fortunate to win the first game; Mark won the third game; then I won again a few hands later.  We took quit a lot of ribbing from these people since we, as guests, were winning all their money.  We ended up getting our original $4 plus another $2.25.  Now I can do laundry tomorrow.

This was certainly better than watching the Cardinals end their season way too early. 

A Shot and No Beer

The heat wave finally broke today. We rode our bikes this morning for what seemed liked 15 or 20 miles but it was the humidity. We actually rode two miles and had to quit. It was 90 when we rode bikes this morning; it's now 62.  We put the awning out so we could sit outside during the rain and enjoy the lower temps. Then the storm arrived with 35 mile winds. Quickly the awning went back in and we watched the storm from inside.

After the first wave of weather we headed out to check the level of the Guadulupe river to make sure it wasn't out of it's banks and flooding the golf course. The river is going down and the golf course will be ready for us on Monday. Since we were out we decided to check out getting a flu shot at Walgreens. The first one we stopped at still had shots available. It turns out this is a much more fun way to get a shot than going to the doctor. There were several folks in line waiting for the nurse to come back from lunch and start giving injections. These were local Texans but they must not get out much. One lady had been Christmas shopping and had bought her husband a Snuggie (as seen on TV). She also had four Snuggies for dogs(not seen on TV) in the cart. She told her husband to model the Snuggie,he did. There was a couple there who thought the Arch in STL actually spanned the river! They were amazed that we would spend a winter down here. We plan to get all our shots at drugstores in the future.

One of the topics of conversations in several stores we stopped at today was the condition of Mark's head.  He forgot to wear a hat and more than one person commented on his newest mishap (no picture taken).  We even heard a comment at Olive Garden from a nearby table, "Look at that poor man's head."  This makes 3 times he's hit his head on the trailer and we've only been gone just over a month.  I see a hardhat in his future.

Our last stop of the day was at the local HEB (more info in a future blog).  They were holding a wine tasting along with some food.  Of course I had to try the three different wines; Mark just wanted to know when there was going to be a beer tasting day.  

Hot! Hot! Hot!

Since arriving here on Tuesday afternoon, we've been baking.  While you guys back home are begging for someone to turn off the faucet, we're waiting to turn off the A/C.  We've fallen into the routine of getting up, walking a mile or so around the park, reaquainting ourselves with the streets around town, then the pool and hot tub, dinner, then repeat pool and hot tub. 

Yesterday we had to find a notary.  When we arrived Tuesday, our absentee ballots had arrived via US Mail.  We immediately filled them out and found the notary at the bank.  We're really pushing for the no-smoking (maybe Dennis will then quit).

A small group of RVers from San Antonio are making their way into the park.  The president of this group is right next to us.  Although we can't remember his name, we talk to him several times daily.  He even invited us to their meatloaf and mashed potato dinner on Saturday night.  We're going to take him up on it.  He also got me a list of RV parks in the Hill Country north of San Antonio where we might try and stay later in the season.

I managed to stay up and watch the entire ballgame last night.  I hate staying up late for a west coast game, just to watch a losing game.  At least the pitching is better today.  A few more innings will tell.

Today we were going to golf, but decided to wait until next week.  35mph winds plus the 96 degree temp changed our minds for us.  Instead we headed to Port Aransas on the Gulf Coast.  It's an 85 mile trip, crossing a ferry to get on the island. 

The beach isn't as nice as Gulf Shores but the water was warmer.  We didn't have suits so we just waded. 

In Texas, people drive on the beach.  We're never been a big fan of doing this, but it's the only way to get on the beach.  We thought this sign was strange:

Lazy Long Horn RV Park

We are here. Here is Victoria,Texas, the heart of Texas history. This is the third time we have spent a winter at this park but the first time since 2006. We spent last night in a park outside Houston that was filled with workers. The park was nice enough but the maintenance man kept driving around our trailer on a four-wheeler that really needed a new muffler.The drive today was uneventful except for the decision to drive thru downtown Houston. Several friends suggested this route since the outer beltway around town is a toll road and it costs $11.00 to go around. It worked out fine but it is a little unnerving to mix with the business traffic while pulling a 38' trailer.

When we arrived the temperature was in the upper 90's and the heat index was 104! We visited with the owners of the park for a while and then started setting up for the winter. Luckily we wouldn't fit in the spot we were assigned so they put us on a pull-thru one spot away from the pool and hot tub. Sometimes things just work out! Two hours after sweating, swimming and sweating some more to get all the crap we carry set up we decided we had done enough for one day. We headed out to check out the condition of the local golf course and stock up on groceries at one of our favorite places,the HEB grocery store. The golf course looked great and we will try to play tomorrow. The grocery store needs another day's blog to describe.

Winter Texans Again!

We have finally reached the land of internet.  At 10:00am Saturday we said goodbye to Pam and Dennis and headed north to I-10 heading west.  One bizarre thing happened on AL-59.  Some guy was honking at us and trying to yell something to Mark as he was driving on this crowded 2-lane road.  When this happens, you automatically assume something is wrong with your trailer, i.e. lights don't work, flat tire, antennae up, etc., but no, this goofball wanted to tell Mark that he was from Cedar Creek, Missouri.  He must have thought that since our trailer is a Cedar Creek, and we had MO plates on it, we had a common bond with him.  For this we dang near wrecked! 

We were heading to Bay St. Louis, MS to stay at the Silver Slipper Casino RV Park.  It had great ratings, and we are always up for a casino, especially with a buffet.  This park is just 75' from the Gulf of Mexico.

Since we were first-timers to the casino, they gave us one free night in the RV park, two buy one, get one free buffets, t-shirts, and some entries into future drawings.  We ate the Crabfest Buffet on Saturday night.  Oh my - it was fabulous.  Since we had a free night, we stayed Sunday night as well.  There is nothing in Bay St. Louis except two casinos and a town torn up by Hurricane Katrina four years ago.  We were told that the RV park was 27' under water during the Hurricane.  We saw lots of devastation - so sad to see.

After three buffets, two nights of gambling (we won!), and a very rainy Sunday, on Monday morning we headed west.  Today we landed in Baytown, TX where it is 95 degrees and 80% humidity.  This was not a fun trip.  It was pouring when we left, and we were only able to drive 30mph for an hour on I-10 because of the storms. 

This is what it looked like this morning when we left.

Tomorrow we'll be leaving here around 9:30a headed for our winter destination - Victoria, TX.

One More Buffet and a Buffet to Boot

Today is our last day in Gulf Shores. 

A few pics from the park:

One would think that this was going to be the last day we would ever be able to eat so we crammed a week's worth in just two meals.  While awaiting for the rain (80% chance) we biked down to the beach for a quick look.   

The seagulls mostly had the beach to themselves. 

The big dilemma for the day was, "where are we going to eat our last dinner together?" and "Oh, by the way, where are we eating our last lunch; we don't have any lunch food."  While I did laundry, Mark researched food. 

I can still ride and carry a laundry basket.

Lunch at the Crico's a pleasant surprise.  While going in for subs, we all ended up eating lunch buffet - pizza.  To burn off at least one slice of lunch we had to bike for a while.  In our almost two hour trip, between the four of us there were only 5 near-fatal accidents on the bikes.  This particular trip has taught us to be more careful while driving our cars back home.  It seems no one watches out for the bikers or pedestrians.  

The research had us eating dinner at Lulu's Restaurant at a local marina. Lulu is Jimmy Buffetts sister and since this place was not right on the beach road the prices were reasonable.  The food was fabulous and we had a great table outside right on the intercoastal waterway. 

What nice tans we have after being in the sun for the past three weeks.  Needless to say, we ate way to much but it sure was good.

Mark and I are headed off to Bay St. Louis, MS tomorrow and won't have internet until we get to Victoria, TX early next week.  I'm going to miss this place and more importantly, I'll miss my sister (and Dennis) more!  We'll meet up with them again in March while in Texas and next September, when we've all already booked a month here!

Almost forgot - we received no rain today; the sun came out around 10:00 and was 85 by noon. 

Cake and Jelly

Today we needed to start putting things away since we're leaving Gulf Shores on Saturday morning and rain is forecast for tomorrow.  While Mark cleaned up the basement of the trailer, I defrosted the freezer and vacuumed.  No matter how much we wipe off our shoes outside, the sand still makes it into the carpet. Also Mark had to replace the water heater element since he switched it to electric with no water in the tank the first day we got here.

After lunch we headed to the beach for what will most likely be our final trip this year.  Again, no waves and the cool air made getting in and out of the water uncomfortable.  One of the kids on the beach brought up a jellyfish he had caught in his hand.  He was kind enough to let me hold it, especially since he said it didn't sting.

Dennis was willing to touch; Mark was not.

Earlier this morning Mark picked up this evening's dessert.  He and Pam had been craving Red Velvet cake for almost three weeks.  Since we're running out of our time together, today was the day. 

The cake was delicious and the mosquitos were vicious.  We finally had to move inside where we were all plotting the next leg of our respective trips; we are headed to Bay St. Louis, MS and Pam and Dennis are headed up to St. Louis.

Peddling It All Over Town

The bike riding is going to kill us.  I don't know what happened.  Last year we rode all the time.  It must be the distances.  We are riding at least 5-6 miles every morning, and it is flat land here; the toughest incline is going over the speed bumps in the RV park. This means you always pedal and never get to coast.   

Pam and Dennis are dedicated "walkers."  They decided to venture out into the biking world with us this week.  Monday we biked to the fishing pier.  No one was catching fish.  After paying 2 bucks apiece, the least these people could do was entertain us. 

On Tuesday the "cold" front came in.  I woke up around 3am to lightning and thunder.  When I got out of bed at 7am, it was only 65 degrees out. We were excited about a cooler day.  Tuesday's ride took us several miles down the west beach to watch a couple trying to fish.  The wife was in charge of throwing a net to get the bait while her husband had a rod and reel.  She shared that she was catching more fish than he was. 

Since we had biked so far, we treated ourselves to the Pizza Hut lunch buffet.  This is how we rationalize buffets.

It was 60 degrees out this morning!  We had the window open, the a/c running, and the fan running.  I felt like a popscicle in bed!  Mark was in heaven. 

We had made plans last night for a special extra long bike ride today.  First we headed off to Waffle House enroute to the State Park campgound.  Weighted down with 20 lbs of food, we then headed down the beach road to the campground.  We were fortunate to finally see some wildlife.

 
This little guy just sat there.  Mark tossed a few sticks at it and he didn't even move.

We think we biked at least 8-9 miles; my back feels like we did 25.  The weather finally started warming up and Pam and I got to take off our long sleeve shirts halfway thru the ride.  We had been begging for a cool day and finally got it.  It was extremely nice on the beach; unfortunately it looked like a lake.  No waves at all.  This made finding the jellyfish and other swimming creatures easy to see.  I much prefer the big waves.

It was a healthy dinner tonight - grilled fresh grouper and crab cakes, and for the first time in several days, no trip to Scoops!

B.U.I.

Since I've waited until Sunday night to post, I hope I can remember all we did this weekend.

Friday we all decided to go to the calmer beach at Alabama Point.  Our intention was to get a good look at all the yachts and fishing boats going and coming.  The tide was going out which made a swift current for us to float in for about 100 ft.  Around lunchtime we headed to the BBQ joint that we all tasted at the contest last weekend.  Mark told the waiter that he was a judge for the contest.  This lead to a visit from the chef as well as a visit from the owner!  This did NOT lead to a free lunch! 

Mark and I finally biked down to the Hangout around 5pm.  The band was warming up, the draft beer was ice cold, and the bloody marys were great.  Pam and Dennis joined us shortly and we all proceeded to have a fun evening.  The Mizzou football game was on the big screen and we were able to sing all the songs the band played!  Unfortunately, around 10:30p we had to bicycle our way back to the campground.  I don't believe we biked in  straight lines, and only a couple of near-mishaps along the way.

Saturday started off nice when we headed off for our morning bike ride.  The waves we had been used to for the past two weeks had finally disappeared. 

Later the sky opened up and the rains came.  After watching a bit of golf, we got in the truck for a ride out to Fort Morgan and a visit to WalMart for ink cartridges.  It used to be cheaper to just buy a printer rather than a cartride; not so any more. The rain quit long enough for me to grill some chicken but then the lightning and thunder was back for the entire evening.  

Today Mark made pancakes for Pam and Dennis while Dennis provided the bacon.  (Thank you Clark and Sherry.)  Our bike route today took us about 6-7 miles.  We weren't prepared for this long ride - no ChapStick and no water bottles.  The beach started filling up early today but again, no waves. 

Three young men entertained us for a while.  They made some kind of ramp so they could jump over on their wake boards.  I think they are just learning because none of them were successful.

The Urn Man

It's mostly been the same around here - lounge about until lunch time, eat a sandwich, head to the beach for a couple of hours, then the pool for a couple of hours, dinner, a walk to the ice cream store, bed, then start all over again.  We admit, our lives are good. 

Yesterday friends of Pam and Dennis came to town on their way home to Atlanta from New Orleans.  Clark and Sherry are lots of fun.  They are staying at a hotel right where the rest of us hang out on the beach.  Yesterday they joined us for our beach time.

Mark and I have been trying to eat in, but sometimes it just doesn't work out.  I had gotten out a pork tenderloin yesterday.  Unfortunately I forgot to put it in the fridge and the sun kind of baked it all day through the window while it was sitting in the sink.  Yuck.  I pitched it and instead we headed to a local Mexican restaurant.  This place is on the 4th flour of a beach front condo building.  We got in the elevator, pushed the button, and immediately jumped out of it.  The door closed half-way and scared us, so we trekked up the four flights.  We were the only people in the restaurant.  We were pleasantly surprised.  Mark had a couple of the 99 cent margaritas and we pigged out on great cheap food.

Tonight Dennis cooked us burgers so we could say goodbye to Clark and Sherry. 

These two own their own business - Clark makes urns for pets or humans and sells to funeral homes or pet cemetaries all over the country.  He does beautiful work and brought one of his pieces for us to see.

So not only are we having fun, our trip is also educational as Clark has taught us a lot.

Every Five Thousand Miles

We had to make a trip to the local Ford dealership yesterday for an oil change on the big truck.  At home we trust this to our local mechanic; on the road we only trust the Ford dealers.  Unfortunately, the dealer is $30 more than Mike the mechanic. This allowed us about an hour to roam the lot for new trucks.  Luckily for us, there were no one-ton trucks that we just couldn't live without.  This dealership didn't have much of any inventory on the lot, except the $83,000 mustangs.  As near as we could tell, the dealership is being staffed by retirees from the area. 

After waiting what seemed like forever for the truck, we stopped at our local favorite restaurant, King Neptune's for their $5 lunch special.  Mark had the chicken livers; I had the shrimp creole.  The special comes with two sides, a drink, and dessert.

We had to get to the beach next since we missed going on Sunday.  Unfortunately the seaweed had returned.  Mark had time to feed a few seagulls what he believes is their favorite snack - puffed cornies.  I made him quit - I didn't want to get hit by seagull droppings!

We got in for just a few minutes and headed back to the pool.  I was making dinner for Pam and Dennis - real comfort food - sausage, sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes.  We walked it off by walking over to Scoops for ice cream!

This morning we had to get up and at 'em early - we had an 8:24a tee time at the State Park golf course.  For the first time since we've been here, we had a cloudy overcast day.  Not many people were golfing.  A man from the Atlanta area asked if he could golf with us.  He was a real talker, but fun to golf with.  We did get a few sprinkles on us but they only lasted a few seconds.  It could have been much worse, especially since the thunder was all around us.

By the time we got back to the trailer, it started pouring -- of course, I started doing laundry.  The cloudy day was a relief as we all needed a break from the scorching sun.  We'll be back on the beach tomorrow.

Here Come Da Judge

It was a great weekend.  We're still enjoying the fabulous weather.  Saturday morning we got into Dennis' truck and the four of us headed up to the "better of the two" flea markets.  It was 99.9% junk but we did manage to buy a couple of books.  The strangest thing you could ever imagine was just sitting there for sale:

Yes, those are prosthetic legs!  We didn't bother looking for a price tag - that's just not right.

This morning around 11:00a we biked down to the First Annual Beach Blues and BBQ at the Hangout. 

You bought tickets for $2 a piece and went around to the eight different BBQers to taste their wares.  We ate some mighty fine pulled pork and ribs.   

While we were just sitting in the shade at a picnic table, one of the men in charge of the BBQ contest approached Mark to see if he would be interested in being a judge for the contest.

Yep - about an hour after we all finished eating from all the vendors, he had to start eating again as a judge. 

Since he was tied up for a couple of hours, Pam and Dennis and I got to enjoy the many sights, the great music, and a few beverages.  Luckily for Dennis, the MGD 64 girls were there handing out free beers and coolie cups.  Pam and I enjoyed the Bushwackers.  Mark got done around 3pm and the winners were to be announced by 3:30pm.  We finally left at 3:35pm because no announcements were made, and it was just too hot sitting out there.  We went back and jumped into the pool.

After I got a nap, we biked back to the beach since we really hadn't been there today.  By 6:00pm it was mostly deserted.

Needless to say, dinner was very light.  I grilled one ribeye steak; we ate less than a third of it and shoved the rest in the fridge for tomorrow's lunch. But since we only had protein we had to finish the day at the local ice cream parlor.