Thursday, December 31, 2015

Rain and sad news

Sunday, December 27, 2015

Today we awoke to more rain. Periods of very heavy rain, interspersed with lighter rain, and cold temperatures were the order of the day. We didn't do a whole lot, and that was ok. The first day with no real plans. 

We watched lots of sad news, as light revealed what damage had occurred with the tornadoes last night. It was much worse than anticipated, F-3 and F-4 tornadoes through an 8 mile stretch through Sunnyvale, Garland and Rowlett, all eastern suburbs of Dallas (very familiar stomping grounds for us), and other shorter ones around the area as well. Sadly, an RV Park in Sunnyvale, Plantation Place, took a direct hit, destroying up to 30 rigs there. Luckily, only 6 injuries and no deaths at the park. The death toll from the rare December tornados was 11, most in cars on the highway, when the tornado crossed over I-30 and the 190 Toll Road exchange.

There was also lots of flooding due to the torrential rains falling in East Texas, including parts of the Canton Trade Days facility.

About 4:30, the rain finally let up enough we could get the truck unhitched and finish our setup. Later that evening, we got out to go eat Mexican food here in town at Carmonas. 

Nothing else to report! 

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

From freezing cold to toasty hot to tornados!

Saturday, December 26th, 2015

Today we got up and quickly got moving, and were on the road about 9:15am. 

The prep for heading out was minimal, but the 33 degree temp plus 24mph winds made it challenging. We also had to pay before we left. I managed to walk into the office without my credit card, but had almost enough cash to get it covered (short 82 cents, but they gave it to me, Merry Christmas!)

We drove into rain along the way, which at times was very heavy. Once we got past Wichita Falls, storms were picking up and areas east of Dallas were having severe storms develop-- the front was moving east, and the cold side of the front was 50s, while the warm side was near 80. 

We stopped at a rest area near Bowie and we could tell we were ahead of the front, it was downright balmy! Also, eberything inside the rig now had condensation on it from the drastic temperature change.

Storms developing

As we got closer to the metroplex, I was alerted of tornado warnings via my weather app on my phone. I began monitoring the storms.

When we got to Denton, we decided to stay on 380 that runs due east from Denton to McKinney, etc. then cut down to Lavon and Rockwall to Terrell. 

Typically, we would take I-35 to the 190 Toll Road, around to I-30 then to Rockwall and down to Terrell.

Well, the storms were popping up south of the metroplex and moving north very quickly. I watched a few that might be in our path, but luckily did not cause issues. 

One storm started near Ellis County and threatened Ennis with a tornado warning. We watched this storm via radar, head up toward Dallas and then through the Sunnyvale and Rowlett areas with continuous tornado warnings. 

We stopped in Bucees in Terrell about 6:15 to grab a fast bite, then go on to the park, Bluebonnet Ridge RV Park and Cabins. Once we arrived we got set up very fast, as another severe storm was headed our way, and they were still warning about the storm that passed through Rowlett and was now causing havoc just north of there in Copeville, were we had just been through on 78.

We watched another storm on radar and it passed just west of us. (Phew!)

But as the news continued, we slowly learned that the tornado-warned storm through Sunnyvale and Rowlett was a tornado on the ground, and there was extensive damage. We realized that if we had gone the way we "normally go" mentioned earlier, we would have been potentially driving right into this storm!

We communicated to all our family and friends that we made it there safely. I stayed up and watched the news and weather for a long time, while Tony went to bed. It was quite an adventure. 

Trying to beat a Blizzard

Friday, December 25th, 2015

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Today we got up and began the task of packing it all up to hit the road. Since weather was predicted to be blizzard-like over eastern New Mexico and the panhandle of Texas in the coming days, we decided we would be smarter to pack up and head back to Terrell earlier then planned. 

It took us nearly 4 hours to get it all put away, tanks dumped and fresh water added, slides cleared and in, truck hitched up, lunch ate and ready to go.

Mammoth in the snow
Eileen at Angel Fire RV Resort, Angel Fire, NM

We got away about 12:30 MST. The temp was barely above freezing, but it was snowing as we left, and the winds were blowing. Luckily, we had no problems getting back out of the mountains and on to Amarillo. 

So long, New Mexico mountains!

Sunset as we headed into Amarillo.

We arrived at The Oasis RV Resort about 6:30 CST, got quickly set up and we were thrn picked up by my uncle to go eat at my aunt & uncle's house, so we could leave out truck hooked to the rig. 

We had a great meal visiting with family, then they took us back. We hit the hay fairly quickly since it had been a very long and busy day.

Sad to have to go so soon, but the wintery weather will be following close on our heels.


Thursday, December 24, 2015

Slopes One More Time

Thursday, December 24th, 2015

Today we awoke to some slightly sore muscles, but not too bad.

In the middle of the night we had a freak accident occur. Mambo and Tango, the cats, sleep with us. Most of the time, they stay by our feet, or Mambo will sleep up close to my chest. Well, at some point, Mambo left the bed, and Tango moved up to where Mambo usually sleeps. When Mambo decided to return, an altercation ensued and I got scratched in the face below my eye and on my nose by a toenail of a fleeing Tango (I think). It was quite the fluke, I don't blame poor Tango. He got spooked/attacked and fled, I just happened to be in the way.

My lovely scratches

This morning we started researching the upcoming weather, and realized that a very severe winter storm was headed our way, as well as into the Texas panhandle, which is our path home. It's looking like this area may get 10 or more inches of snow on Saturday, and maybe more Sunday. Our friends in Pagosa Springs, where we are headed to see on Saturday, are supposed to get 4-8" today, and 4-8" Friday. Texas will see Blizzard conditions and up to 6" of snow, starting Sunday and into Monday.

That said, we either needed to stick it out here, or head out tomorrow to beat this mess. We did some research and decided it would be smarter to head to Amarillo in the morning.

So, we decided we better get another day of skiing in, even if we were not fully rested from yesterday. We also had to refill a propane tank already!! So Tony headed out to do that, but before he left, he discovered a low tire on the truck. He also got that taken care of while he was out. It began to snow while he was gone. It was pretty, large flakes coming down fast. It only lasted about 15 minutes, but it was pretty.

When he returned, we ate lunch and loaded our ski stuff and headed to the slopes. By then, the sun was out and the roads were clear, even though it was still in the 20s.

We had a good time skiing today, but our muscles were yelping much of the time. We skied 6.5 miles.

Chile Express Lift not too busy!

Us riding the lift

After the wind picked up, clouds rolled in, and more snow!


After skiing, we went over to do some quick last-minute shopping. Tony went into the grocery store, while I ordered a pizza to go from Angel Fired Pizza, and while waiting, went into a ski shop. We gathered our purchases and headed home, as it continued to snow. We enjoyed our Christmas Eve Pizza and Beer. LOL! We watched some holiday shows on TV, and Tony went to bed early. We were pretty wiped out today.

After dinner, I worked to catch up the blog. We had hoped to see the torchlight parade go down Exibition run from the RV Park, but it was snowing too much to see anything. Oh well.

Tomorrow, we'll see what the weather is doing, but more than likely we will hit the road to Amarillo.

Merry Christmas Everyone!






FINALLY hitting the slopes!

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2015

Today, we decided we wanted to go skiing, however there were some things we needed to take care of. Namely, laundry, and dumping and filling fresh water tanks. We decided to take care of these items and go skiing for the 1/2 day in the afternoon.

Tony took me and the laundry up to the office, and I got 3 loads (using the 3 washers) going (34 min cycle). He went back to the rig and worked to get the tanks dumped, fresh water filled, and then moved the old fireplace to the basement for now. We decided to do laundry at the park rather than run our machine, because temps were still below freezing -- thus, no hookup to water. Plus, I didn't want to run the risk of overflowing the tank... normally, we leave the grey tank valve open to run the washing machine, having it run down the sewer hose right away. Since arriving, we've only hooked the sewer up to dump, not leaving it hooked up continuously. The other benefit was 3 loads done in about 1.75 hours, -- it would have taken much longer for us to do them in-house. These machines were very nice, but very expensive. $2.50 each cycle, paid by credit card only.

After the loads were moved to the dryer with a 50 minute cycle, we went back to the rig and worked to get our ski stuff ready. We then went back to get the clothes, loaded the truck with our ski stuff, ate lunch and hit the slopes!

We drove over to the ski resort, which is only about 4.5 miles away. Parking was not too bad, they have designated lots to park in, and a shuttle that takes you right to the base of the lifts and ticket window.


Us at the base of the Angel Fire Ski Resort

We didn't ski a whole lot as it was our first time to ski in 2 years. (We didn't go last year AT ALL!) But we did ski 4.7 miles! The weather was cloudy and windy, and snowing at the summit, but it was good to be on the slopes again. We did not get to prepare as we would have liked physically for this trip, but we found it's like riding a bike. You don't forget how, but your muscles complain a lot more when you haven't done it in a long time!!!


In the valley behind us, we could barely see the RV Resort. The pic is just a bit too blurry.

We had a good time skiing, then decided to quit before we hurt ourselves. You never want to overdo it on the first day.


Mammoth in the foreground, Angel Fire ski slopes in the background (summit in the snow/clouds)


After we returned, we ate dinner and relaxed. I went to bed early, I was wiped out. We'll see what tomorrow brings!



Fireplace Fetch

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Yesterday, we confirmed that the replacement fireplace had arrived at the Lowes Home Improvement store in Española, and was ready to pick it up. Since the weather was suspect, we didn't go yesterday. We decided that since the weather later in the week was going to be sketchy, we had better go and get it today.

Tony first went in search of propane locally. There was a place not far from us, so he went. Unfortunately, no one was there that was authorized to fill tanks, so he just paid and left the tank there. We also decided that since Christmas was coming, it was likely we'd need more propane, and might be in a pinch, so he bought an additional tank as well. Both would be waiting on us when we got back from Española.

We headed out towards Taos, through the mountains --  the views were very pretty, snow covered everything but the road, but it was very curvy, hilly and lots of blind curves. We made it to Taos and on through the Rio Grande Gorge, to Española. Just before town, there was some construction which narrowed the road to one lane, so they would hold traffic and alternate directions of traffic flow. Going was very little wait, but the return trip the line of waiting traffic looked longer.

We got to town and found the Lowes, but realized it was just about lunchtime. We decided to stop in at the Chili's Bar and Grill, right there in the same parking lot. It all looked fairly recently constructed.

We had a good meal at Chili's and even had leftovers! So we took them and headed over to Lowes. We did some other shopping, then got the fireplace. To recap why we have a new fireplace, well, back in 2013 we bought a "scratch and dent" Dimplex fireplace insert, and installed it in the Mammoth. Since then, we've had to replace the blower/heater assembly twice, under warranty. Well, it went out again, so we decided there must be more wrong with the unit than we thought, so we decided to replace it.

The new fireplace is also a Dimplex, but newer technology. it uses LED lights (with a variety of choices of hues) for the flames, as well as a ceramic heating technology. It also displays a temperature setting for a few seconds so that you can see what temperature the fireplace thermostat will maintain. We also decided to stick with Dimplex because the unit was the exact size to fit the space. Other brands would have required major alteration.

We finished loading our items, then Tony decided to try out the auxiliary pump, since it was in the 40s in Española. It ran fine! So he took the opportunity to add some of the PS Diesel 911, so hopefully we won't have issues in the future.

After that, we headed back to Angel Fire. Remember that construction? Well, we ended up waiting about 30 minutes in line to get our turn down the road. While we waited, we happened to see a pair of Bald Eagles flying near the river! How amazing!

We stopped briefly in Taos at the Visitor Center to use the restroom, and got to see a lot of local artist's work on display and for sale there. If you get the chance, stop and look!

Once back driving, we made good time, until we got back into the mountains between Taos and Angel Fire. It started to snow, so the road became a little more sketchy, as the temps dropped into the 20s. Not frozen, but getting there. We got to Angel Fire about 4:15, stopped by the Propane place and picked up our tanks, then headed home. It continued to snow for a while. We ate dinner and relaxed a bit, then worked to install the new fireplace. It went in exactly in the space, and worked great!


Tony enjoying the new fireplace


Tomorrow, we hope to go skiing!!!










Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Settling in and exploring

Monday, December 21, 2015

Today, we took it easy mostly... Overnight, the wind was whipping, rocking the rig, and now the furnace was running almost constantly, so neither one of us slept well. 

About 6 MST I got up and made a recipe for Crock Pot sweet rolls -- it takes about 2-3 hours to cook -- so I then went back to bed. Tony was drifting into sleep on the recliner, so we napped until the sweet rolls were ready. 

We awoke to more snow that had fallen (3" according to the Ski Report) but it was blowing so hard that nothing really "stuck" to the truck or trailer or roads. 

Blowing snow and more falling on the ski resort

Tony had to fill more water in the fresh tank, then we could take showers. I put some ribs on to cook in the crock pot. 

Now a little clearer.

We ended up both taking naps to try to catch up on some sleep, then decided to roam around town a bit and see how Angel Fire had changed since we were here last, back in 2010. We also had to fuel up, since the cold was affecting our auxiliary tank filter--apparently, it was frozen. Diesel fuel here is $2.30 a gal! We also stopped at the Napa Auto Parts to get some PS 911, formulated to help with freezing fuel filters/tanks. 

With the sun out, it looks pretty good! But the wind is still blowing.

We returned from our exploring, then went ahead and fixed dinner. The wind was whipping stronger again, so we snuggled in and watched some shows and enjoyed the scenery.

About 7pm, our propane monitor light flashed, saying one tank was empty and the second tank was in use. That meant we'd need to get propane tomorrow. 

Although we didn't do much today, we are glad to be here!


Monday, December 21, 2015

Wind Warning and Fueling Fun

Sunday, December 20, 2015

Today, we got up extra early and worked quickly to get on the road. We knew we needed to get to Angel Fire before dark, and it's about 425 miles. We took our Eileen pic, and hit the road about 7:45am.


Elieen at The Old Towne Cotton Gin RV Park, Goodlet, TX


Just about to pull out!

Last night, we were notified there was a High Wind Warning for the Angel Fire area, and we noticed that many areas we would be driving through would be fighting the wind. Sure enough, we were fighting a SW wind most of the way, blowing around 20mph.

The truck and trailer did great in the wind, no issues except for consuming lots of fuel. At first, we had no problems filling the truck from the auxiliary tank, but the second fill seemed to have problems, like the filter was clogging. We also got a warning light on the dash, likely related to the fuel mixture -- we used an anti-gel additive specifically for the winter.

We stopped in Clayton, NM and refueled the truck with fresh fuel, and the warning light went out. OK! Now we know the diesel we got has some issues, or the additive is not helping. Good news is mixing with new fuel is helping.

We made it to Springer, NM about 3:30pm, and made a last pitstop before heading to Cimarron, Eagle's Nest and then to Angel Fire. This route is through the mountains, and is curvy, but relatively flat following the river. 

The view of the upcoming mountains, and the snowstorm clouds.

As we got closer to our destination, snow flurries were flying, and the wind was really whipping, but thankfully the roads were basically clear. Snow was blowing across the road, but nothing too bad. Tony just took it easy, and we had no problems.



Getting closer!


The entrance to the Angel Fire RV Resort (notice the snow blowing across the road)


We arrived at the RV Resort at about 4:45 MST, and got set up quickly. We had to! It was already 29 degrees and dropping, and the wind and snow was continuing. We did not hook up water or sewer, since they advised us not to be hooked up during below freezing temps.


All set up, with the ski resort shrouded in snowfall and clouds in the background.

We got the furnace going and dinner cooking, and settled in just nicely! We are very excited to be here... we almost have the place to ourselves! There are about 7 rigs here in this very nice resort that can hold 102. In fact, I think they are all from Texas or Oklahoma, including another Heartland product, a North Trail trailer. The wind was still whipping pretty good as the evening progressed, and slightly rocking us, but we've been in this before, so we are not worried.

We will probably not do a lot tomorrow since we are tired from the drive and have to get used to the altitude -- 8600 feet!




Exploring Small Town West Texas

Sunday, December 19, 2015


Today, we got up and headed out to explore the area. Since the Rally that we will be hosting is at this park, we thought it would be smart to explore some of the local area to see what types of attractions and eateries there might be here, for our rally-goers to enjoy.



Tango enjoys the new scenery, the Old Towne Cotton Gin (now the park office, store and meeting room)

We decided to head into Childress, about 20 minutes west, to see what the town holds. It is the county seat of Childress County, and a little larger than Quanah.

They have a WalMart, which is a good thing to have nearby for a Rally, because they typically have what you forgot or didn't know you needed.

We found a good place to eat lunch at Top Notch BBQ. We both had sandwiches, and they were tasty.

BBQ sausage sandwich and baked potato salad.

After lunch, we went over to the 501 Winery, where we did some wine sampling. It was great!


We also saw the historic steam engine, in a nearby park, that the Winery is named after.



We visited the local municipal golf course, Stoney Ridge. Tony got information for our golfing rally-goers.

We also went to WalMart and picked up a few more things we needed. They had Bluebell Ice Cream! (It has just come back in stores near us, so we are excited to see it.)

We decided to head to Quanah to fuel up since prices were better there than Cisco, so we dropped off our WalMart items and then headed to Quanah, just 8 miles east of the RV Park. We found the location with $1.99 diesel, and fueled up the big tank. It took a while, as the pump was veeerrrryyy slow.

After fueling, we headed over to the Medicine Mound Depot Restaurant, a historic building built in 1910 along the Kansas City, Mexico, and Orient Railroad in Medicine Mound townsite; the building was moved to its present location on U.S. 287.


The Medicine Mound Depot Restaurant


We had a great dinner there, snacking on peanuts until our food came.


Tony had Chicken Fried Steak, and I had the Sirloin.

After dinner, we headed back to the park to relax and get ready for the drive to Angel Fire tomorrow. It will be a long drive, so we hit the hay early so we could get up and get on the road by 7:30, if possible.


Saturday, December 19, 2015

On the road again!

Friday, December 18th, 2015

Today we headed out on a two week trip, but first a little backstory

We have been staying at an RV Park in Cisco since July. The park has been fairly full, until about October, when many of the residents following the pipeline under construction, moved on to the next section. We had a few more pipeline workers move in, Welders I believe, but they only stayed a few weeks. Around Thanksgiving, we found out the park had closed the front section due to some grossly abnormal electric bills. (We are in the newer, back section.) Unfortunately, we didn't have any new neighbors after that. Sadly, just before we were to head out on our trip, they informed us they were going to have to close the park for a while untill they could get back on their feet and make the needed improvements to the park again.

Here's Eileen at the park, our view out the window we will miss seeing. 



So, we had to spend some time looking into alternative locations to live, once we return from this trip. We looked at a few options, but settled on a park outside of town, about halfway between Cisco & Eastland. Although not ideal, we think it will be nicer than the alternatives. We considered going back to Lake Leon, but the threat of flooding is ever present... The last good rain pushed the lake level to above 100%, which means water is again encroaching into the park. I don't like worrying about that. 

Anyway, we have a tentative agreement at the new place. It's less per month, but we do have to pay for electric use. That will be new for us.

Alright! back to the trip! We head to New Mexico and Colorado, then back through Amarillo, then Terrell, to visit various friends and family along the way.

Today Tony was out of School at 12:30. I worked to get the inside ready to go, and he prepped outside. We hitched up and pulled out at about 2:15, and traveled through a variety of landscapes, including a lot of cotton farmland.

We noticed a new form of cotton baling, they look similar to hay bales.


Our destination today was The Old Towne Cotton Gin RV Park in Goodlet, TX (near Quanah). We made good time, without stopping. We pulled in about 5:15, paid and got set up. We were asked to run off the tank since temps were dropping below freezing, and since our tank had about 15 gallons, we were ok with that. The site was good and level, so we didn't have any issues getting set up. Kitties did great, sleeping the whole way. They settled in nicely, as well. 

Our site, #24


Tango getting settled in


After setting up, Tony got leftovers warming while I set up the interior spaces. We ate, then relaxed and watched the "Big Bang Theory" episode we missed on Thursday. Why did we miss it? Well, we were at the Eastland High School Band Concert, which was immediately preceding the Opening Night of the much awaited new movie, "Star Wars, The Force Awakens". This was held at the historic Majestic Theater, in downtown Eastland. They had a Star Wars/Christmas themed concert. It was great! We really enjoyed the music, and the movie was amazing. We also enjoyed popcorn and two drinks with the movie, including "themed bucket and cup" for only $12! While high, it's cheap compared to Dallas area movie concession prices!



After watching our Big Bang, we surfed our phones for a bit and then hit the hay. We've both been under the weather a bit -- luckily not full blown colds, but some mild symptoms of such. 

Tomorrow, we spend time exploring the area, in Quannah and Childress, as this is the rv park where we plan to hold our Heartland West Texas Chapter Rally in March. 

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

(Not so) Fun Times -- getting home and settled

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Today, we awoke to even more rain. It's been raining for a number of days, causing flash flooding and lakes to rise.

We had been watching the numbers on Lake Leon, where we used to live. It came very close to being as high as it was in May, almost 4.5' above full, when we first evacuated. I feel sorry for those RV park residents, but luckily their homes are on wheels. I hope they got to higher ground. 

Here's a few shots of the Trinity River in Kaufman County, near Forney, that I took yesterday. 

Before you fuss about taking pics while driving, know that we were going about 5mph as everyone was slowing to look at the water! It's at least 5-6 feet above where it normally is.

While I was prepping the rig on the inside, Tony ran and fueled the truck at Bucees ($1.99 diesel!). 

We did some more prep work inside, then the rain let up some, so did some outside prep work in the rain, while I ran over to Braums to get us lunch.

After lunch we hitched up and headed out about 1:45. Luckily according to the radar, the rain was moving east and we'd get some dry roads once we got out of DFW -- we thought.

The wet roads made for some slow going in places, but not too bad, until we got to Eastland County! Right as we got to the county line, traffic slowed down as there had just been a multicar pileup on the eastbound side. It had just happened, as there were no emergency vehicles on the scene yet. One car looked pretty mangled, but there were a number of people standing around so we hope they were ok. 

We made it up Ranger Hill with no issues, but then again encounterd slow traffic and accident aftermath. We did not get to Cisco until 5:30pm! A longer drive than it should have been.

Once we got back to our park we discovered our Welder neighbors had left, so there was no one left in the park. We had a bit of a challenge getting back into the same spot -- so our power cord would reach -- some of the gravel had shifted and there was a rut where our tires needed to go. We had to get out the shovel and level it somewhat.

Next, we had issues getting the jaws on the hitch to unlatch again, mainly because the site isn't very level, and it was dark by now, so it was difficult to see. 

After that, Tony had to hook up the water, which was difficult as well in the dark, and cold muddy water had filled the depression where the valve is below grade. 

Oh did I mention it was misting, and 40 degrees? Fun times! I guess this was to prepare us for our winter trip coming up soon!

Once we had leveled, it was time to put out the slides-- except something had caused the rear cabinets to open and stuff fell into the path of the slides. I had to clean up the avalanche before we could get fully deployed, but we got it done. Tony warmed dinner while I rearranged the jigsaw puzzle which is our stuff in travel mode: a recliner, an office chair, a small table, a printer, a cat tree, a file cabinet, a foot stool, cat litterbox, and chair mat.... Have to get back to their appropriate spots or we can't function. ;)

After they we just collapsed. It was a fun getaway, but it's good to be back in our "home park."

More family time

LSaturday, November 28th, 2015

Today we did some things around the rig, including getting some more laundry done. Just before noon, Tony was invited to go take a trip to Durant, OK to the Choctaw Casino with his dad, so while he did that, I picked up my mom and went shopping in Mesquite. We found the comforter I was looking for at the Mesquite Big Lots, and a new rain jacket at Academy.  We then met dad for Dinner at Denny's, where we all had breakfast. It was as nice for us to get more visiting with our families!

Tomorrow, we head back to Cisco.

As requested, a pic of the comforter. It's fake sheepskin on the under side, kind of a velvet look on top. Very warm!


Rain, Work, Shopping and Visiting

Friday, November 27th 2015

Today, I was back working, while Tony relaxed. It was rainy all day. We decide to go eat local Mexicsn food at Carmona's, and then ran to Home Depot for a few things. We also went to Big Lots, looking for a comforter we had seen there before. Unfortunately, they didn't have comforter in the color/size we wanted. 

We then headed back to the rig, because Tony's sister was in town, and wanted to come by. She and Tony's dad came by for a little bit, and she brought us some pumpkin bread she made, and some pie from Tony's mom. Yum!

It was great to see her!!

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Thankful for Family

Thursday November 26th, 2015


Today, we got up and got ready to head to Rockwall to enjoy Thanksgiving meal with our family. My folks, Tony's folks and brother came together to eat a Luby's Cafeteria, as they had advertised a special Thanksgiving menu.

Unfortunately we picked a time when everyone and their dog had the same idea! We had to wait about an hour until we were selecting our entrees. Most of us had traditional turkey and ham, dressing, gravy, cranberry sauce, and other typical holiday sides, plus a piece of pie. We opted for pumpkin, since we had others already during the trip.

Overall the meal was very good, and many of us had leftovers. We parted ways after discussing some Christmas plans, and all I am sure enjoyed naps or watching football. We took it easy watching the Cowboys get pounded (literally, Tony Romo was hit and injured again).

We had a quiet evening... the rains have begun (100% coverage tomorrow), and it is supposed to drop and stay in the 40s. Brrrrr! I'll be back to working.

Reflecting on today, we are truly blessed to get to enjoy traveling with our home, and visiting with our loved ones.

Happy Thanksgiving to ALL!

The Pie Duel and on to Terrell

Wednesday, November 25th


Today, we got a little bit of a slow start, but then started packing up to head to Terrell. Jay came by to say goodbye, as he had to head off to a meeting. We got almost entirely ready to leave, and decided to eat lunch before we headed out. We made some quick sandwiches, and ate them on the picnic table outside. The temperature was just right, and the sun was shining. Tomorrow starts a trend towards rain and colder temps, so it was nice to enjoy the outdoors. We also got Eileen's pic.

(Eileen pic to come)

We hitched up, said our final goodbyes to Stella, stopped by the dump station and headed out about 12:30.

We stopped a few times for restroom breaks as we went along 281 to Hico, then 220 to 67 to I-20. We saw the Texas Tech Red Raider Band semi stop for fuel in Lampasus. They were headed to Austin, as the Red Raiders play the University of Texas tomorrow.



Of course, you cannot go through Hico and not stop at the Koffee Kup for pie. They also were recognized in Texas Highways Magazine, as the #2 Pie in the State of Texas. So of course, we had to compare. Tony went in to get our pie, while I waited in the truck with the kitties.


The Koffee Kup, at the corner of 281 and 6. They have RV Parking in the back!


They cut and prepared our pie "to go", Tony got Chocolate Meringue again, and Peanut Butter Meringue for me.

We really enjoyed our pie. It was verrrry good, but their Chocolate Meringue did not compare to the Bluebonnet Cafe.

We got back on the road and continued on, getting into DFW traffic about 4:30 -- but luckily it wasn't too bad. 

We arrived at the Terrell RV Park (because Bluebonnet Ridge RV Park was full) at about 5pm. They only had two sites available (even though we made reservations for a pull-through), we ended up in a back-in. Tony didn't have any trouble getting into it, though, no curbs or trees or poles in the way! The other good thing is that it is not far from Terrell at all, where the other park would have been a 15min. drive into town.

Terrell RV Park is right off the interstate so you do hear the road noise, but the sites are long and level and not too close together. We got in and set up very quickly, as it was getting dark fast.

Our site


We also quickly got the antenna set up and tuned in, so we could watch Survivor, and then had dinner. As we ate we watched the traffic back up as the folks tried to exit for the (less than 1-year-old) Bucees, at Hwy 148. We can see the sign and the top of the building from our park.

We watched the tv show, then headed to bed. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving! We get to see our family!



Best PIE EVER!

Tuesday, November 24th, 2015


Today, we again took it easy in the morning, and I worked.

We decided to do some looking around the park and get propane, since one tank ran out on Sunday night. (of course!) After lunch (leftover Cooper's, YUM!) we roamed around the large State Park, then headed to Star Propane in Burnet to get our tank filled. We saw a few deer along the way. We stopped at the overlook along the Park Road, and someone about to leave the overlook offered to take our pic.


 a panoramic pic of the view






Once we returned, we picked up Jay & Stella and headed to Marble Falls, to the BlueBonnet Cafe and the #1 Pie in the State of Texas, according to Texas Highways Magazine. It was pie Happy Hour, so of course we planned to be there for that!

Tony's Chocolate Meringue

My Pecan, a la mode



Jay & Stella had coffee, and we had tea with our pies. They were all terrific. 

After pie, we headed back, but decided to stop into WalMart for a few things. After that, Tony fueled the truck and we headed back to the park. We were all tired from the excursion, so we parted ways.

Tony and I weren't hungry at dinner time, so we just snacked a bit, watched TV, and I worked late on a project, since I had been running around during the day. 

Sadly, tomorrow we have to leave. It's been a great mini vacation, we have enjoyed it all.