Home Again!

We're home! Arrived in Bushland to leave the car dolly at 1:30 p.m. at Bob & Dee Thomas' home. We really appreciated using it and it behaved very well. And we thank God for a beautiful sunny day with a temp of 58 instead of the snow they were predicting. Now they say it will be in the 40's with rain tomorrow and then the snow (but much less than they predicted earlier) on Monday. We have the RV emptied--and contents spread thru out the house! It is hard to realize that our kitchen here is probably as many square feet as we have in the RV. The house feels really immense right now. The cats are happy to have us back and are following us about as we haul arm loads of belongings into the house. The pictures are of the front of the house and then one of the tiny bit of snow along the fence in the driveway with the 3rd looking down our fence along the alley which is on the north of our house. It was a wonderful trip! We enjoyed our time on the gulf coast so much even tho it was a colder, wetter winter than usual which goes for our whole country & much worse in many areas for sure. This will end the blog for now but it will begin again when we go on another trip.

Last campground for this trip

The last campground of this trip is at Texas RV Park just south of Big Springs. Luckily Bob is feeling better today, coughing less but still not back to normal so we took it really easy today. We made use of a lot of roadside parking and picnic pull-offs to just stop and move around. We thought we would stop and get out to eat in San Angelo but when we went thru Eden, Bob saw a good place to pull off and we stopped about 11:30 to eat about 40 miles or so south of San Angelo then stopped at the Walmart at the north end of SA to get gas. We had never stopped there & wondered if we would be able to pull thru with the car and the end pump was accessible. That was great since we still had money on the card. We enjoyed the drive from Fredericksburg here on highway 87--we have made that drive many times and it is a quiet road with lots of rural sights. We saw many beautiful deep green fields of winter wheat. But probably the best was seeing lots of new baby lambs & goats. Little tiny cuties! We saw baby lambs just running about playing like baby animals do--just like little puppies or kittens. One field had a lot of black faced sheep with dark--some really black, others not that dark--babies. We wondered if they start out like that & change to just dark faces? Guess we will have to Goggle it. I dearly love the goats in the Hill country with brown heads & mostly white bodies and had never seen them with their babies. That was a real treat! We both grew up in rural places and really enjoy getting a drive like today. It was windy and fairly cool today but expect it to be cooler still tomorrow. We hope to be home by noon or 1 p.m. so we can have the afternoon to unpack and winterize the RV before the snow that is expected begins. We will let you know that we have arrived.

We left Rockport at 10 a.m. and headed toward Corpus. Thanks to James suggestion yesterday we turned off I37 south of San Antonio and came up thru Hondo/Bandera/Kerrville and taking 16 out of Kerrville for 24 miles right to our campground for tonight. It was a very peaceful drive from the coastal bend to the hill country and we were in our campsite by 4 p.m. after filling up with gas at the Shell station across the road from the campground. Much less traffic this route and an easier drive with the motor home & car behind. We ate lunch in the RV in a roadside parking area and then didn't stop until Kerrville. Bob started with a cough & probably a sinus infection on Mon and he was feeling really rotten by the time we reached Kerrville so stopped & got some Tylenol Cold tablets which have helped in the past & don't interfer with his prescription meds. Since he is not very peppy--and I am not willing to try driving with a car behind--we are going to call a campground in Big Spring and plan to spend Fri night there. It is about 5 hrs from here and then another 4 hrs on to Amarillo on Sat. We will call Norma & let her know of the change. And hope that will get us in before the snow starts again! Looks like some wind around here in the morning so we may have to go slower.

Our last day in Rockport, TX 2010

Our last day at Lagoons has been just great! Beautiful sunshine again. Had a busy morning doing "put away", making arrangements for the car dolly to be ready for us to hook up in the morning and getting filled with Propane again so we will be sure to have heat for the trip back. Had e-mail that Eddie's cardiac test gave them the info they needed & he is probably home by now--we are so glad it went well! James & Gypsy came & picked us up to go to lunch with them and we ate at Hemingways and it was very nice. White tablecloths & very nice decor; we both had shrimp Cobb salads & they were very good. After lunch they took us to the Rockport Beach park and the photos are from there of mostly Black Skimmers with a few Gulls. Great park and we will want to go back there next winter. The Courtney's came over to wish us safe travel and so we have a picture of them sitting in our RV now as well as the ones at their place on Sat eve. We feel sort of sad to be leaving as we have had a great time here but know it is time to head home and get back to all our tasks waiting for us! Will let you know how we do on our trip tomorrow to Fredericksburg.

We have checked the weather between here and home several times today and are concerned about our getting back. Have seen pictures of 5" in Abliene & heard that San Angelo had about the same. We plan to leave here Thursday morning and have a reservation at Oakwood campground in Fredericksburg for Thursday evening. Sounds like good weather in Amarillo for Fri but will just be how the roads are between Fredericksburg & home as that is a long way and we don't want to be hauling a car on ice or snow! So we ask for prayers for travel mercies.

Have had numerous calls from friends in Amarillo today. Eddie B. will have a cardiac procedure tomorrow morning and we will be keeping him lifted up. Linda said she had been out shovling the last 5" of snow from last night & then was on her way to the Dr to get her "boot" off from her foot surgery--doesn't seem like it could be 6 wk already but I bet it does to her! It was good to talk with them & that we will see them soon. Norma just called a couple of minutes ago and said Maggie & Mollie are doing fine since their last escaped with the motion sensor.

The pictures are from our trip to the cemetery this morning. Folks told us that they have planted wildflowers among the stones to lessen the up-keep and they were really beautiful. There were also masses of yellow and purple flowers but I didn't get very good pictures of them as that is when today's rain started. Really poured all afternoon but now is just wind, may get more rain tonight. Will be hard to adjust to the cold & snow at home!

Catching Up

Sunday was so busy that I didn't get to blog. After church & singing in choir we drove over to Mustang Island after lunch. It was still foggy but warm with the sun breaking thru at intervals & getting up into the 70's. We spent some time on a fishing pier (note pelican on top of the light) before sitting on the beach. Later in the afternoon we came back for the gospel sing and I've posted a picture of a "back pack guitar" as I had never seen one before. In the evening we played Mexican Train at Jerry & Sandy's park house along with James & Gypsy--Bob won! And this morning went to breakfast of French toast, bacon, oj & coffee at the activities center and I had our laundry done by 9:30--yipee! It is getting hard to think we are leaving in a few days!

Our last Saturday in Rockport 2010

We found a new place for lunch on Allegro Key right on the marina. Really enjoyed lunch but no dolphins today!

There were Great Blue Herons however.

One of our neighbors got a new vehicle--ever seen one like this? It's 3 wheeled but we didn't hear who made it, etc. That's our Winnebago behind them.

King Ranch Wildlife tour

The 2 p.m. wildlife tour was in a 4 wheel drive suburban with 6 plus the driver-guide who had been in Kingsville since 1957 and was an excellent guide & driver--thank goodness for the 4 wheel drive! The other couple was from MN & we enjoyed their company on this 4 hr tour. It was terribly hard to chose pictures for this tour--we saw so much & all had stiff necks after. James turned out to have the sharpest eyes and saw things our guide didn't even see. The Yacca is in bloom & just beautiful! We saw so many different kinds of birds but I am just showing one of a green Jay which was a new bird for us and so neat! We saw many Javelinas but this one was when we were out of the vehicle & he came up way too close! Maybe 4 to 5 ft away & curious about us. We saw many, many alligators and so I chose 2 good photos of them. There were deer everywhere, many bucks with 10 & 12 point antlers, but you have all seen deer so not posting them. This was a really great tour and we were all glad that we did both tours but particularly this one. Really tired when we got back as we had rain off & on all day. Sun is out bright today & is suppose to be 70 today & tomorrow. Time to get outside!

King Ranch Historical Tour

Along with James & Gypsy, we left Rockport in a heavy rain at 7 a.m. Stopped for breakfast when we got to Kingsville and then went to the visitor's center for the 10 a.m. historical tour. There were just 12 of us on a bus which held 24 but it was just drizzling as we started. We could see fine but the first photos were a bit hazy. From the over 90 photos we took, I have chosen 5 from each tour and will post the tours separately. The ranch was originally named for the land & begun in 1853. One of the early buildings shows the date & original name, you may need to click on it to enlarge it to be able to read it. There is a photo of the house which was built after an earlier home burned & while none of the family lives there, it is used when they come to visit. The horses are beautiful but it was hazy when I took this. The calf was only hours old, still shaky on it's legs--one of the Santa Cruz breed developed at King ranch. It was a very interesting & informative tour.

Fabulous day exploring King Ranch! We left here at 7 a.m. & got back at 9 p.m. Down loaded over 90 photos so will organize them tomorrow (hopefully) and send you some of our amazing pictures of alligators, javelinas, deer and birds galore. Maybe some cows & horses, too.

We had some anxious moments when we heard of the plane flying into the IRS office building in Austin & Bob talked with Matt who knew some of the details which were covered on the news programs later. Planes flying into buildings bring back 9-11 memories and we were so glad to learn that it was not terrorist.

Fun this evening! As you can see above there was quite a crowd at the activities center for a program on Alaska land-cruise tours put on by Holland America company & a travel agency out of Corpus. There was a couple from Fairbanks who tour the country doing these programs and they were very good. The trips sound great, too. We'd love to do one someday.

Greetings!
Here we are in Kingsville, TX today with James & Gypsy at the King Ranch Museum. Last night we looked on line at the King's Ranch website and decided that would be a good trip for today. We stopped over & told the Herrington's where we were going & they said they'd like to go along so off we went. It is about an hour & half drive to south of Corpus for those of you far away. We did some shopping--mostly looking (very up-scale neat things) at the Saddle/Ranch store before we had lunch. The clerk at the store recommended the drugstore across the street, Harrels Kingsville Pharmacy. It was quite a place with gifts, antiques and a very nice little grill at the back. Since today was Ash Wed they had fish specials & Bob had a shrimp plate & I had a shrimp salad. We decided after lunch to go to the King Ranch museum and it turned out to be the perfect choice! We toured the museum & saw 2 video programs which got all 4 of us in agreement that we would like to do the tours. Drove to the visitor's center and made reservations for 2 tours on Fri--will have to leave here about 7 a.m. & 2nd tour ends at 6 p.m. so it will be a full day! We are all looking forward to it.

Tuesday, February 16,2010

I haven't ever posted any photos of Lagoons. The enterance has the dolphins which are seen in the bay here & at Port Aransas. The other photos are of the cottage or Park houses and one full-time RV. Our friends Jerry & Sandi are in the cottage just above the enterance photo, staying 6 mo. Some of the cottages are rented, some owned and there are 35 more being built on the other side of the campground from us. Many of the RVs stay year around, some people staying in them full time but others just here for a few months at a time. About 3/4 of the sites are rented a year in advance.

Talked with Gayle this morning and she said it is in the 40's during the day but 20's at night so we may still have snow when we get home! Will hope for more melting!!

How special to get a new photo of our great grandson, Will, now 7 months old! Ah, the miracles of technology and how easy it is now to get photos taken from his grandmother's phone to our lap top computer and now into a blog to share it with you!

Bob went to a prayer "breakfast" but then called and said he & "the guys" were going out for breakfast! Rough day for him. And we went to Bible study & choir practice this afternoon. I looked around the room and realized that we are getting to know the names of people in these 2 groups. Sat with James & Gypsy and Jerry & Sandi again. We have discovered that there are tons of hymns we have never heard or sung before!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Happy Valentine's Day! Congratulations to our daughter-in-law, Suzanne, in Austin who ran her first marathon today in 3 hrs 49 minutes--we are so proud of her! We went out for dinner after church in Fulton and walked along the quay to see the fishing boats and a large number of pelicans resting a rocks out in the water. Wonderful warm day, sat out on our patio and read, later went to the movie "Valentine's Day" which was very cute.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Tonight was a special Valentine's musical--facts about kissing, jokes, lots of old romantic songs with the room decorated.

We met Jerry & Sandi in choir and are getting to know them. Jerry is hoping that along with Bob they can start a Barbershop quartet next winter. It was a very full and entertaining day!