Santa, Do You Hear Me Now?

The big day is fast approaching, and I'm awishing that we would be with the little ones. It is always such a joy to see the look on their faces. We will just have to rile on memories and our imagination.

We have just been staying busy around the resort. Did play in the golf tournament Friday, and the course was very playable after all the rain we had. In fact it was in great shape, and a very challenging course. I played with 3 men, and I'm sure the first few holes they were wondering "why them"? I had not played in a few months so I was just hoping not to whiff the ball, but after a bit my game came back and I could hold my head up. And my team did come in first. There were so many birds in the lakes it was hard to keep your mind on the game. On one of the lakes there was a flock of the huge white pelicans and it was like watching a ballet. They all swam together, stop, and all stick there heads in the water, butts in the air, just like it was all choreographed. Then they would do it all over again. And no I did not have a camera. The next time I play that course I surely will.

Did make a batch of fudge, so have all these plates made up to pass to the neighbors, and to take to the parties that are going on. Every activity has its own party, so there are plenty. We are meeting a couple we met this summer for lunch tomorrow, which we are looking forward to.

Wishing everyone a very MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Christmas in the Air

When you haul me all around the country,

I don't complain. Never leaving the RV to

play outside, all part of the bargain.

BUT

this is too much, I have limits!

(she actually wore that collar for days)

The weather sure is different this year compared to last. It has been wet, maybe not to the point that you would say it is raining, but certainly a heavy wet fog, which usually turns into a brief break through of sun, in the afternoon. Now today that did not even happen, and tomorrow is promising to be more of the same. But, there is no snow, the wind has been a gentle breeze, so I'm not complaining.

Okay now I'm complaining, three inches of rain in the last day.

Should have finished this post the other day. LOL

All this week is having to do with getting all the Christmas food baskets together, presents wrapped, getting ready for delivery to the homes of the less fortunate. They have 100 families on the receiving end of this project. The year round residents work on this the whole year, so this is just the end result of a lot of dedication from many truly caring people.

They told us this was something that you could only truly appreciate by seeing it come

together. Unbelievable! I had thought it was like a few things for Christmas dinner and gifts

for the children. Well, it was boxes and boxes of food for each family plus the gifts.

Chuck packed for a family of 5 and there were 11 boxes of food, plus sacks of

oranges and grapefruit. The way they had this organized was wonderful.

Each family's boxes had tape of different color

so it was easy to see that a family entire donation

was all there when you were loading.

They would bring a cart with the food

and give each allotment according to

the number in the family.

All boxed, now just to load them up.

Took at least one car/truck for each load.

Teachers from the schools that coordinated the lists of needy families were on hand, along with the local police, and they led us to the families. They asked that no pictures be taken of this, which was understandable. It was an uplifting experience, yet at the same time so sad.

Our humongous site!

But this is a great park, we have extended for another month, just hope the weather gets better, we liked it so much better last year. Tomorrow we are playing golf in a tournament, and I'm not playing with Chuck. Not sure who my team is, but hope they have a sense of humor as I have not played for a couple of months. Can't imagine what the course will be like after all the rain we had the other day. Could be they will change it to water polo.

Christmas is all taken care of. They are having a big dinner with small potlucks of tables of 20, with the park furnishing the ham and turkey. The people at our table are a hoot, so know that we will have a great time. We have done this before and it works so good. There are two large club houses here, so they can easily accommodate everyone.

Merry Christmas to all, we are so lucky to be where we are, doing what we want, when we want, but best of all with who we want. God Bless.

Warm Days & Hearts

Matilda playing Santa

We have gotten settled right in. Have met a lot of nice people already. A very happy

friendly resort atmosphere. We are already thinking that

we will be extending our stay here. Other than our day to day to

day activities, which I'm not that big on writing about,

days are just going by. Golf, cards, pool and even going to try our hand at shuffleboard.

We are planning to help with the food baskets

and the delivery of them. Plus there are

several parties in the plans. Have not been into Mexico yet. There was

a serious shoot out there a few days ago, and they are telling

the people that cross over to do volunteer work to give it

some time before coming over. Works for me, they use

real bullets over there! So when we do go

will be sure and leave word where we have

went, you know, just in case.

Got my Christmas packages in the mail

yesterday, and beginning to think

it would be cheaper to send them first class, especially

to California. Cost as much to mail them as buy them!

Well, this is all for now, big hugs, remember to smell

the roses, especially during the "season".

Inhale............Exhale

My Hard Work in One Picture

Everything in it's place, which took me hours, hope it all don't

come crashing down.

(click to enlarge)

It Can't Be December!

Where did the time go? I swear we were not that busy and although we were under the weather for a few days, there just is no excuse for my being so remiss in up dating the blog.

Okay, enough.

We spent our time in Victoria mostly checking out the restaurants. Did find a few that were quite good, and seen a couple of great movies. The Blind Side is fabulous, and Old Dogs, was a good laugh out loud movie. It did not have good reviews, but I've come to the conclusion when that is the case it will be a good movie for us average.......well maybe below average people. Speaking for myself only.

Gator

We went with Donna and Nolan one day to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge to see the whopping cranes as they migrate to that area. Actually the only cranes we seen were in the learning center/gift shop. But we did come across some gators and a wild hog with three little ones. Getting out of the truck was not an option as the mosquitoes were flying in hordes. When the truck stopped they covered the windows just drooling. Only place I've seen them like this was in Alaska.

We had planned to move the first of the month to Choke Canyon State Park for a few days, and being it is only about 50 miles from San Antonio, we could do the night lights and still drive back to the RV. But the weather just did not want to

cooperate. We had lots of rain for a few days, nice over Thanksgiving, but the forecast

for the days we had plans, just were miserable.

And looking in the rear view mirror, we made

the right choice, as they are even having snow.

So we are settled down in the Rio Grande Valley, and

the weather is still not all that good. But

it is looking up starting tomorrow.

Today I worked on Christmas decorations. Hung a 18 foot garland over the living room

slide, and will hang my ornaments on it. Christmas has always been my

passion, I would decorate for days, but all those are in storage. So one of

my little indulgences has been buying an ornament from different areas we have

spent time in. Being as we have been on the road for almost 3 years I have

acquired quite a few. And they all have memories of

our new life.

Beautiful pavilion

We decided to stay at Alamo Palms here in the valley, and although the site are

on the small side, think it will do us just fine. Lots of activities and we are close to everything.

But we only booked for a month, that way

if it does not suit us

we are off.

Hope that every ones Thanksgiving

was wonderful.

Sunshine and Good Times

Matilda Awaits

Thanksgiving

Stopping in Victoria our plans were for a week, but we have extended that to a few more weeks. We wanted (well "I") to see the Christmas lights on the river in San Antonio. But I had not realized that they did not light up till after Thanksgiving. So instead of taking the RV to that area, we are planning to spend the night in a hotel and take in all the holiday sights. Driving at night is not something we do any more. But that is all a few weeks off.
Our site at the
Lazy Longhorn



As for now we are enjoying our time here, have met some of our neighbors, and Donna & Nolan are here for a few more weeks too. We took a ride the other day to Rockport, and checked out some of the RV parks and had lunch at the Big Fisherman. It was a perfect day, sunny with just a light breeze.
Nolan

2Bits

What did you bring me?

Yesterday was a day of what to do, what to do. Ended up making a HEB run and had lunch at a restaurant with down home cooking. They did have homemade rolls that were outstanding. Sure that we will be making a return visit. Donna and I decided that we would start a puzzle, and once we got started we became determined that we would finish. And we did! But today my neck was rather stiff. Chuck found some golfing pardners and they went out today. Guess it was not a good day as they were talking about having to go back tomorrow to plant the corn as they dug up the course.

Life is good, all is well, God Bless.

Behind Door Number Two

Well, they do say you can't have

too much truck!
Our microwave door finally arrived.....12 days from Colorado Springs, guess the postal service is fixing the unemployment problem by hiring bicycle carriers. Once we replaced the door, we were back on the road the next day. Seems like our life revolves around doors.
First the refrigerator, then microwave, luckily we discovered
the opening latch on the front door before it fell
off. And don't you know that it would have happened when we
were locked out.

The Escapees park was a great stop, there was a lot going on and the time just flew. We felt like we were looking into our future, most of the people living there full time were once doing what we are now. It is not a pretty picture, yet a very happy one, everyone was totally glad they did what they did. And no one regretted having given it all up. Plus they are still living the good life surrounded by friends, and the travelers stopping in sort of keeps them in the loop. We are now in a lovely park, situated not too far from a railroad crossing, (but then aren't most) in Victoria. Actually it is a nice park, the railroad being the only drawback. We plan to be here for at least a week before continuing down the road.



Yesterday we went to Sams Club, and they asked if Chuck was a veteran, and having made a career of the Air Force, his answer of yes, got him a gift of a folding cane. Not kidding, we laughed so hard, plus there were coupons for the hugo walker, bengay, gas-x and more. Guess the thought was nice, but hey???

The "old" man is out on the golf course today, the smile on his face was pretty big. Bless his heart, it has been almost a month, what with the rain and all. Nothing much in Livingston in the way of golf, but his prospects are much better here. Nolan and Donna are here in the park and are coming over later. Glad they are back out here again now that Nolans heart problems are taken care of, aka curve in the road.

Our granddaughter (mother of those two great babies) who
was in the finals for Wheel of Fortune did not make the
final cut. She was really bummed, but it did have
everyone excited for a while there. Oh well, back to the real world.

That about does it for now, life is good.

Miss you both, Kylee is growing so fast.

Roinn the big brother is

doing a great job.

HOME

We are actually home....well, at least at the address we get our mail. The Escapees park in Livingston, Texas. Been here since Saturday, waiting on a package, which contains a new door for the microwave, to catch up with us, and it must be coming by wagon train. The glass turntable came loose during travel and slammed into the glass of the door breaking it. Was surprised that getting a new one was so simple, and they said it would take a couple of weeks to get it, but it was at our daughters house in a just a few days. Thought that this would be a good place for it to catch up with us, but it was sent by the postal service 9 days ago, and the only thing we are sure of is it arrived in Dallas a week ago. Oh well, it will be here someday (fingers crossed) and we will be on our way. We have no reservations any where and our time frame is totally up to us.

Take that USPS.

Like they care, all there numbers are answered by robots, and some are not

that good, they just ring and ring some more.

We drove up to Lufkin, which is about 45 miles, and had dinner with Keith and Donna last night at a great Mexican restaurant. It was great to spend time with these super people who a few months ago we first met. And the food was very good too.

Our great grand children

Roinn & Kylee

Roinn made this almost by him self


Ready to terrorize

Kylee ready to charm all the treats into her bag

I Love Texas

We have finally found summer! It was just gorgeous today as we made our way to Livingston, home of Escapees. We are settled for a few days at the campground, which is fairly full. Lots of folks on the move already. Chuck is off playing poker tonight at the clubhouse. If there is a game that he won't play I don't know of it. The satellite hooked up and even worked on all satellites, which was not happening the last try. So we called and they turned on the locals. Wahoo! Amazing Race tomorrow. I have to get the coast to coast set up, but we have been getting the locals by calling with the zip code and even though it seems like some time it is a hassle they always turn it on. It became a game with us, they told us that it was the way it worked when we signed up, but guess it really isn't. So we just had to push that envelope.

Did it ever rain two days ago when we were in Mount Pleasant, it was like a wall of water at times. Then the thunder and lightening....wooo...one hit very close to us and knocked out the electricity in the park. Took about four hours for it to come back on, and there was only a few minutes of Survivor left. There are only 2 show that we hate to miss and have been having a hard time the past few weeks catching them.

We had a very nice visit with our friends in Mount Pleasant. We met them in Colorado Springs and they were the ones who are responsible for our coming there to buy our truck. Could not ask for a nicer buying experience. Elliott's Dodge is one of the best.

We will be here for a few days and then make our way down to Rockport. Just waiting for a package to make it to our mailbox here. Nice campground here, lots of room, activities already getting going. Not sure that this would be a place that I would want to come to year after year though. Not too much around here. Life is Good.

Rain, rain go away

So glad that we decided to delay our travel one day due to the rain. And by the looks of it we had a one day window, as they are forecasting a down pour for the next 36 hours. But it was so nice to see that sunshine, if only for a few hours. Reminded us of when we would leave the foggy northern California winter and head south. When you finally broke out of the fog into the sunshine was like coming back to life. They sure have had there share of rain here in Mount Pleasant, Texas.

We got here early enough that Chuck got the truck serviced and inspected. He was so happy with the dealership that he bought the truck from he wanted them to go over it and check it all out. Besides it was on our way.

That is all for now, HUGS to all.

And Away We Go

Happy Halloween

Guess the farmer was just bored with plain ole pumpkins

In the morning we will be continuing our trek south, having spent the week in Little Rock. We did not do much, the weather was not cooperating, as we have had more more days with rain than not. There has been so much rain in this area, there is standing water all over. The lake near the campground is way out of its banks. We did get to spend some time with our friends that spend their summer in the area before heading back to the valley in Texas, which was great. And yes, Chuck did get in some golf, but had planned one more round today, but it was not to be....rain. Hopefully it will be over with come morning.

Bucket List: Nashville "Check"

What a great time we had

touring Nashville.

The tour we took was absolutely great. It was a

little pricy, but when you consider that

it also covered all the

entrance fees, no hassel with parking, it was

worth every dime.

We seen everything that we had hoped to and more.

We started the day going down town to the

Ryman Auditorium, which was at one time

the Grand Ole Opry House.

We had pictures taken on the stage and

got to tour back stage. Then it was on to the

Music Hall of Fame.

Very enjoyable and interesting.

Also took in the Legions Bar where we

had drinks and a bit of

good ole country music.

Wall of Gold Albums

There were about 3 of these.

Out side the Legends Bar

After lunch we headed off to the other side of

Nashville, you could say the newer side.

This sculpture caused quite a stir as the figures are

completely naked and very graphic.

This is where the Opry Mills mall and the Opryland Hotel

along with the new Grand Ole Opry.

We first toured the Opry House, and it was huge.

There was a group from Australia and they sang

a few songs, they were very entertaining, then the tour guide

not to be out done, did a great song. A real treat.

Then we were off the the Opryland Hotel.

It has acres under glass, very Vegas like, but instead of

going up this hotel spread out. There is a canal

running through the grounds, which we rode through on large

boats, there were waterfalls, beautiful flowers, just

so lovely. But huge, we all had maps to see that we got

back to the bus, and we all did make it.

From there it was off to the Willie Nelson museum, and by then

we were all so tired, we just more or less watched the movies of

his life. We were pooped!

The Blue Brothers

Love the flowers

Hunting Summer or at least Fall

We are out of repair jail. It was a very nice shop and all, but the weather turned so miserable that all we wanted to do was head south. So as soon as we got a clean bill

of health Wednesday we were set to leave come Thursday morning. Good thing

too, as we stumbled across the Rise N Roll bakery, near Shipshoena. That

place could be deadly! We bought pumpkin and chocolate whoopee pies, but did not even take

a bite. Gave them to the mechanics and girls at Duncan RV.

We were told that we had to treat the help, so we did our best. Thursday took

us to Indianapolis, where Chuck has a cousin. we enjoyed a nice visit and dinner.

The next morning we were off and the plans were to drive about 150-200 miles, but before we knew it were very close to Nashville. Called and got a reservation for 3 days at a

park at 34 dollars a night....high, but we are doing the touristy thing here.

Except when we got there it was 44 dollars a night and no sewer. What a difference

2 hours make. Just couldn't help my self, we left, and went down the road. Poor Chuck,

it was rush hour, but we made it fine.

These bushes are so beautiful, the leaves turn a glorious red.

Today we were off to check out the area. Ended up at the Opry Mills, which is a huge mall. So many things going on inside, could spend all day in there without ever going in a store. Our freebie's today amounted to 2 Accu-Chek Aviva monitors, crackers and a back pack. Plus we used our Home Depot 20 dollars gift card. Thought maybe it might not be good but it was along with the 20 dollar Burger King one that we had wonat a flea market near Celina.

We just wondered around till we had enough and then went to the movies.Seen Denzel Washintons new movie, Citizen. Really gory, but all in all a good movie. They sure are making some gruesome movies that are soon to be released.

Tomorrow we are going on a all day bus tour. Have to be there by 8:30. We were not able to get tickets to the Grand Ole Oprey. They only do shows, Friday and Saturday nights and one on Tuesday. If the tour is half as good as the advertising portrays it, we are in for a treat. If not we will still get to see all the sights of Nashville. Either way I'll have pictures.

Parking Lot Blues

That would be us, we are at Duncan's RV repair facility "campground", in Elkhart, which we have called home since last Monday. Thought we were good to go Thursday and the front landing jacks decided they wanted replacing, which if it had to happen it couldn't have happened at a better time and place. The manufacturer is replacing them and think they will be here Monday, so hopefully we will be back on the road come Tuesday. Will say this is a great repair set-up, would highly recommend Duncan RV to anyone needing work done.

The trees are starting to

really color up

Love to watch these horses, they are

so wonderful
We have enjoyed seeing some of the area, lot of Amish in the vicinity, and the shops are wonderful with all the unique craft items. Then there are the flea markets, farmers markets and craft fairs. And the quilts are very tempting, they are so beautiful and well done. Today we stopped at a craft fair and there was a horse on a treadmill walking away, and it was hooked up to a ice cream maker, yup, making ice cream. Needless to say, Chuck had to have some of that.

Come next year we hoping to attend the Escapee rally and Nick's, that are both being held in the area. They are scheduled for earlier in the year, which will hopefully be better weather wise. We have had quite a bit of rain and it has been cool, and now they are saying it will be flat out cold come tomorrow. Definitely time to start south.

RALLY AROUND

Here it is a week since my last post, but a very busy week it has been. Most of the pre-rally was spent either getting things ready to eat, or eating, or complaining because we had eaten too much. One night was hobo stew, this is where everyone throws something in the pot and you end up with a delicious stew. Of course you know us RVer's we have to have all the trimming's

too.

Then there was the dutch oven cook out over hot coals. That night was pots of chili, sliced potatoes and chocolate and pineapple up side down cakes.
Donna hard at work

That brought us into Sunday, and of course, BRUNCH! The day was finished off with a wine and cheese "tasting".

Oh happy times!

Looks like they were all "choice wines".

(Not a paper bag to be seen)

Thank goodness the official rally was starting the next day.
New Friends

Rick & Terry

Barb & Bob/Chuck

The seminars were very interesting, I especially enjoyed the one put on by the Geeks on Tour. The picasa and photo story 3 were so helpful. Can't wait to really get to try out some of the tips I learned. Well, I bought the videos so will have a resource to refer back to as it takes me more than one try to get things down to where I can actually say I know how to do it. Chuck and I both attended several others and they were all enlightening. And we did not stop eating, here we are at the pizza party. Each night we gathered for

drawings for door prizes, of which there were many. We also had a young

couple who put on a great show on pizza night. Also donuts and coffee to get you started.

Bob & Molly

There were a few pizzas eaten that night.

Some how they managed to deliver them hot,

and they were good.

Keith getting birthday wishesNick, the one who put the rally

together.

GREAT JOB, NICK,

See you next year!

Metilda,

all ready for Halloween

And that bring me to today. We loaded up in the vehicles and headed for a

flea/farmers market a few miles away. It was a different set-up being as

everything was in huge buildings. The weather here has a lot to do with

that I'm sure. Other than pumpkins there was little produce, but there was

a racing car promo wheel, and being it was free, we all gave it a spin, and

we all won some nice gift cards for 20 dollars. Ours were from Home Depot and Burger King.

Lunch was also free, yes, free! Great bean soup and corn bread. Plus the diesel was 23 cents cheaper there, so topped off the tank.

I would call that a good day in any ones book

of DEALS of the DAY.

Monday we are traveling up to

Elkhart and settling into Duncan's RV for

repairs, & tune-ups. Hopefully it will be a

short stay.