Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Silence is golden!

Wednesday, July 24


Today we were moving a little slow. Probably because we just didn't want to believe the trip is nearly over.

Tony made French toast, then we started packing stuff to go. I gave the kitties their sleepy treat, and we ended up pulling out a little later than we should have, but Tony's back was slowing him down a little and like I said, we didn't get moving fast.




Eileen at Alamo KOA, San Antonio, TX

We pulled out about 11:40. We decided instead of going back all of 130, which would have been quiet and easy, that we wanted to stop at Buc-ees for lunch and some great jerky.

We got to Buc-ees about 12:30 and ate BBQ sandwiches in the car, and of course got some jerky.


Mammoth and Buc-ees


The huge row of fuel pumps

The drive was pretty uneventful... Luckily traffic moves pretty well, even though a lot of I-35 is under construction.

We decided once we got close to Dallas we'd stop at the Blue Beacon and get the truck and Mammoth washed. I stayed in the truck with the cats, and since it takes very little time, we didn't even get too warm.


Sparkly-clean!

We got home about 6:45 and began unloading. Man it was hot!!

That took all the energy we had, and we crashed for the evening.

Oh, and the title? Silence is golden? Well, the kitties didn't cry at all on the whole trip home!! Even during the Blue Beacon wash! They did so great! We are very happy they have adapted well to traveling.

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Cooked Squirrel?

Tuesday, July 23


Kind of a repeat of Monday, work for me and conventioning for Tony.

Out the window, we continue to watch the squirrel antics. Today, one decided to "relax" on the grill. I happened to have my camera ready, and it made for a fun Facebook post!


fresh squirrel, anyone?


I worked most of the day, and when I finally had a break I went to the park office to see what kind of ice cream they had. It was pretty hot today, and I deserved a treat. I got Ben and Jerry's "Every Thing But The"... It was great! Chocolate and vanilla ice cream with whit chocolate chunks, Heath bar bits, fudge covered almonds, and peanut butter cups. YUM!

After snack I worked until Tony got home, about 7. Then we had dinner, the ribs I cooked yesterday. They were great!

We both kinda chilled for a bit and watched some of our favorite type of shows: Counting Cars, and American Restoration. I worked some more, but Tony headed to bed. He hurt his lower back sometime Tuesday am. We think a pulled muscle or slept wrong. Hope it will get well soon.


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Ribs and Mexican Food

Monday, July 22


Today Tony headed out early to catch the bus to the convention center, and I spent the day working. I also started the crock-pot cooking some BBQ ribs.




Mambo had been sneezing yesterday and today, so I called the vet to see if he thought I should take him in. We decide to wait and see... He didn't think it was serious. (They had something like this when adopted.) We watched squirrel antics next door again, out the window of my "office".

I had a nice visit with a new customer, and took care of proofing changes on the Heartland newsletter.

About 6:15, I took the truck to meet Tony so that we could pick up the other directors and go to dinner at La Margarita, a good Mexican food place near downtown. We had a good meal and visit, then dropped them off and headed home.




Oh, also, when I was heading out with the truck, I saw a couple outside their trailer with a soft-sided crate with two cats in it. I stopped and visited with them for a minute. They said they were from West Virginia, and headed to Oregon, and the cats were well-traveled! Cool!

A full day, but both of us enjoyed it.


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Monday, July 22, 2013

Work + Chauffeur

Sunday, July 21


Today Tony headed over to the convention center for a clinic or two, while I worked. Kitties kept me company all day and slept some on the desk behind my computer, because they enjoyed watching the squirrels that were visiting the long-term campers' site next door to us. Someone left a bag of large marshmallows out, and the squirrels were fighting over it!



Squirrel working over a bag of marshmellows


After dinner, I went for a walk around the park. It was pretty pleasant... We'd had partly cloudy skies all day, which helped keep the temps down. I think it was only 89 when I went out.




A typical site



Some more of the park



Lots of mature trees add shading



Our site

Tony had decided to stay for a concert that would end about 9:45, so when he was done, I went to pick him up. (He rode the city bus to the convention center that morning.)

Even though I drove the same streets we had been on the day before, in the dark they looked different... I almost got turned around, but found my way to the pickup point. I let Tony drive us back!

We chatted about our day's events, then hit the hay.

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Work work work and Drum Corps

Saturday, July 20th


Today I got going fairly early and worked on some projects for a couple of customers, while Tony prepared for his convention, and mostly took it easy. About 2:30 we stopped to head over to the Alamodome for the Drum Corps International (DCI) Southwest Regional Championship. Corps were performing in a variety of classes throughout the day, but we opted to go in time to see the Colts perform... It was their 50 year anniversary, and Tony is an alumni.

The parking is terrible at the Alamodome, because there are so many corps there, they fill up over half of it with busses and equipment semis. We ended up parking in a vacant lot a few blocks away for $10, but that's the way it goes.

We got in and settled in our seats and had a great time enjoying the shows. DCI always helps get us in the "marching season" mood! The best part is that we get to watch in air-conditioned comfort, as opposed to the days watching a much smaller event at my former HS stadium in Dallas in the scorching July heat.

Here are a few pics:




The Colts



Boston Crusaders



Carolina Crown



Equipment semi's for the corps



Bus and corps parking only!

After the DCI show we headed home and collapsed.


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Sunday, July 21, 2013

San Antonio, the long short way

Friday, July 19th


We were headed to San Antonio, for the annual Texas Bandmasters Association convention. We made reservations at the Alamo KOA, and even though some of Band Camp has started, many of the directors were going to SA, so they did not schedule anything for Friday.

Tony brought Manmoth home on Thursday and we loaded up. A lot easier for a local trip than our previous multiple-state, nearly-a-month trip.

Friday morning we loaded up the last few items and kitties and hit the road about 10am. I gave the kitties their special "sleepy treat" about an hour before we left. They loaded easily, and off we went. They promptly went to sleep!

We did not hear a peep from them until about 1.5 hours into the drive. We stopped in Italy to get an early lunch, since we knew I-35 would have lots of construction along the way. They fussed a bit but after a while they were fine and asleep again.

A lot of 35 was under construction, but traffic was moving ok and wasn't too scary. At Round Rock north of Austin we took 130, the tollway loop around the outskirts of Austin. We had taken this route before, and although expensive it's well with the price to avoid Austin traffic.

We had muted our GPS at some point, and forgot to un-mute... So while deep in conversation, we missed the exit to rejoin I-35, and ended up continuing on the new section of 130, that goes all the way to I-10! It's mostly through a rural area and not much traffic at all. It seemed to take longer, but was probably quicker since we avoided any SA rush hour traffic.

Once we joined I-10 there was a lot more traffic on the road. However, I-10 took us much closer to our KOA, without the heavy traffic and lane changes through the heart of San Antonio. We ended up arriving right about 4pm! The kitties did really great, too!

We made quick work of the setup and got settled in. Luckily there was some clouds, so we didn't suffer too much.



Kitties settle in.

We ended up deciding to order a pizza from the KOA office, and had it delivered to our site. It arrived within about 15min! We drank some of our Dortmunder beer from Cleveland, and had a nice evening.


Pizza and beer!

We headed off to bed about 10ish as we were pretty tired.

BTW, we fueled as we drove, twice during the trip. It was so nice not to have to deal with truck stop fueling!


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Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Last pack up and Tex-Mex finale

Sunday, June 30


Today we got up and had a small bite to eat, anticipating going to the Casino for brunch a little later. We did some work to get the coach ready to go and got dressed, then we walked up to the park office to see about a shuttle. They will come get you at your site, but we wanted to check out the park store.

About 10 minutes after we got there, a shuttle appeared, and took us to the Casino. On the way, the driver told us of a machine guaranteed you could get money out of! Of course we were interested, most of the slots just take and take! He told us right were to look, once we got inside. Of course, that machine was an ATM! Lol!

We headed over to the brunch buffet and had a pretty good meal. Kind of a "last supper" since we need to get back to eating appropriately, once we get home. We tried a variety of breakfast, lunch and dessert items. We then went into the casino to try the slots, but we just didn't have luck today, so we headed back.

We made quick work of it to get the rig closed up and ready to go home. We pulled out about 2:10.



Eileen at Choctaw KOA, Durant, OK



Cute little Airstream Bambie

We made a stop at The Peanut Shoppe in Calera for some sugar-free treats, and then stayed on 69 through Denison and through the back-roads to Rockwall and home.

We decided to go ahead and back the Mammoth in since there would be much unloading, and the temps were not too bad! There is an unusual cold front in the area for the week, and temps are supposed to be in the 80s and 90s, with lows in the 60s and 70s! This is unheard of for our area this time of year, so we'll take it!

After we got the rig in the driveway and a few things unloaded, we decided one more "bad" meal was needed. We headed over to Carmona's Tex-Mex Cantina, for our favorites. We needed our real Tex-Mex fix!

Us at Carmona's, Terrell, TX

After dinner we phoned family and just relaxed. Kitties enjoyed running around and climbing their cat tree, oooh so much more to get into!

We are sad to be done with our trip, but glad it went well and we had a great time. Next year's North American Heartland Rally will probably be in Virginia... The jury is still out on that far a trek, but who knows! You know we'll be headed somewhere.

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