January 23, 2016. Earlier this month we drove down to Galveston to visit the Naval Museum.
We left League City, Texas on January 19, the day after Josh's birthday. We celebrated his birthday on Saturday, January 16 since Karen's Dad & Joann were down visiting. I baked Josh an Original Cheesecake Factory cheesecake, and it really turned out good. I had never baked a cheesecake before; the cheesecakes I usually make are just blended cream cheese with yogurt or heavy cream and then refrigerated. We had a shrimp boil for dinner with shrimp, potatoes, and corn on the cob. It was real good.
We also checked out a few other campgrounds in the Houston area since we really do not want to stay at Safari next time we are in town. It really is not all that cheap as it ended up costing us close to $400 to stay there, which was rent plus electric.
We are now at Bay Village RV Resort in Rockport, Texas. We are staying here because it is part of the Coast to Coast system and it only costs us $10 a night to stay here. I think we will probably stay another week using the Passport America discount. We found out that our friends Terry & Evelyn are also in the area and we will get together with them for lunch. The girls really love Terry - we met them in Minnesota and Terry would always give them Milk Bones and when they saw him come out of his trailer they would high tail it to him for their treat. After they left Lucy would lay in their driveway waiting for them to come back.
We have been visiting some of the sites in the area, such as the Texas Maritime Museum, Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, The Big Blue Crab, the Rockport Aquarium, the Big Tree, and the USS Lexington in Corpus Christi. Today we were going to visit the Fulton Mansion and when I was out walking the dogs before we went in, Terry & Evelyn drove by on their way back to their campground. Lucy was really happy to see them and barked her usual happy bark.
One of the best museums we went to in Harlingen was the Iwo Jima Monument, which was the Marine Corps Monument to World War II.
March 4, 2016. Met with Alp this afternoon at the Credit Union to finalize the deal on the Foretravel. Then he drove it to Tres Rios for us and we spent a few hours going through it again.
March 5-6, 2016. Spent all day Saturday and Sunday moving the inside trailer stuff into the Foretravel. By the end of Sunday, I was exhausted and frustrated. I had moved all the stuff from the inside of the Award but still had not touched the two outside compartments nor the Excursion, and had run out of room in the Foretravel. This sounds totally crazy, but those are the facts. More room in the Award & Excursion than in the Foretravel.
Jim & I started talking about the lack of space and the Foretravel not really working out for us – I still did not know how to fit all my stuff into the bench area and still have room to sit. Nothing was working out the way I had planned, so after talking it over, we decided that we were happier in the Award. We each had our “space” and I really like my bench at the table with the computer, next to a window and still able to watch TV.
March 7-8, 2016. Spent two days moving back into the Award. Wednesday we finished up and moved the Foretravel and Jeep into the storage area at Tres Rios. Thursday was the end of our 3 week time period of being able to stay there without paying extra, so we moved on out.
March 10, 2016. We were talking about going down to see Big Bend National Park, so I worked on our itinerary toward it. First stop was Coleman, Texas at the COE. The day was cold, damp and dreary and rainy. The park was out in the middle of nowhere and we could not get phone or internet. We were totally off the grid – not even text messages could get out. We stayed there two nights, the rain finally ended, and we moved on.
March 12, 2016. Headed down to Sonora, Texas and stayed at the Caverns of Sonora RV Park. The RV Park was ridiculously small and tight spaced. Spaces were so close together we could not even put our awning out. We were going to stay there 2 nights but disliked it so much that we only stayed 1 night. However, we did make a new RV friend. Jim and he talked a lot and shared business cards, and he invited us to stop by some time when we are in California. We also learned that most of the parks in Fort Stockton and Big Bend were already full due to spring breaks. After hearing of this, we decided to back track and head back toward San Antonio.
March 13, 2016. Decided to try out the Villages of Medina Lake Coast to Coast campground since it does not cost us anything to stay there. Getting there was no fun – from Bandera we took Hwy 173 south to another turn off which back road took us about ½ hour to drive down before coming to the park. The Villages is a gated community where people buy lots and build houses. The RV park itself was very small and we had a hard time finding a level site that had decent electric. We were going to stay for 4 nights, but then learned that the club house was not even going to be open so we could not go there and watch TV or do any activities. There was no place good to let the dogs run loose, but I finally found the boat ramp and let them loose there. The lake is still so low that the dock and ramp were not in the water at all, plus it was a pretty long walk just to get to the lake.
We were very disappointed with the place and stayed only one night; packed up the next day and came back to the Thousand Trails Medina Lake RV Resort that we liked so much.
March 19, 2016. Drove up to Bandera this morning, first stop at Hill County RV to buy a new latch for the bathroom door. Then it was on to the Silver & Knife dealer to buy a knife sharpner.
March 20, 2016. First day of Spring. 6:30am ~~ 39°. Cold front came through Friday night – rain all day Friday, and cold on Saturday and today.
Up early again – the coffee goes on when I get up and then back in bed to cuddle until the coffee is done. Then it’s out the door to walk the dogs. We have been at Medina Lake RV Resort, the Thousand Trails preserve since March 14. This is one of our favorite places so far, and hope to return again in the future.
We went to the Bandera Gun Range this afternoon to shoot the Henry and 1022 that we just bought. Did not like this place very much; cost $15 a person to shoot and the rifle range was sit down only with targets, which were hard to see and had to use binoculars to see the targets. We visited the Rangers Heritage Museum and Luckenbach around Fredericksburg.
March 30, 2016. We stayed at Medina Lake until March 24, then headed to Riverway RV Resort in Llano, Texas. It was a beautiful ride from Lakehills to Llano – the wildflowers are in bloom and they cover both sides of the road. I tried to get pictures, but it’s hard at 60 mph.
Llano is a small, quaint town. We went to the Visitor’s Center and talked with them a while. We were going to drive the Willow Lake Loop to look at the wildflowers but they said the wildflowers were not in bloom there and told us about two other trips to take. We took one of them, drove some crazy back roads that took us over some back roads that dip down to let stream water over them – so if it was raining, the roads would flood and you could not drive through them. We drove down some dirt roads on this drive, and then to a cemetery to look at more wildflowers.
On March 28, we had to leave Llano and drove all the way to Yogi Bear Jellystone Park in Waller, Texas. We wanted to visit there and friends we left behind that were also leaving there soon. Talked with Marvin & Barb and they let us stay there until Friday at no charge.
Got together with Katy & David, who were leaving April 1, along with a few other workampers. Kathleen came over to visit Monday and then that night Steven gave a talk about the history of Texas at the boyscout camp.
Wednesday night we all got together at the s’mores campfire for songs and food. David, Steven and another camper played guitars and sang songs. It was a nice night and get together. We had great weather as well.
We finally went back to Washington on the Brazos to look at the Star of Republic Museum and the Barrington Living History Farm.
Back to Daily Journal 2016
We left League City, Texas on January 19, the day after Josh's birthday. We celebrated his birthday on Saturday, January 16 since Karen's Dad & Joann were down visiting. I baked Josh an Original Cheesecake Factory cheesecake, and it really turned out good. I had never baked a cheesecake before; the cheesecakes I usually make are just blended cream cheese with yogurt or heavy cream and then refrigerated. We had a shrimp boil for dinner with shrimp, potatoes, and corn on the cob. It was real good.
We also checked out a few other campgrounds in the Houston area since we really do not want to stay at Safari next time we are in town. It really is not all that cheap as it ended up costing us close to $400 to stay there, which was rent plus electric.
We are now at Bay Village RV Resort in Rockport, Texas. We are staying here because it is part of the Coast to Coast system and it only costs us $10 a night to stay here. I think we will probably stay another week using the Passport America discount. We found out that our friends Terry & Evelyn are also in the area and we will get together with them for lunch. The girls really love Terry - we met them in Minnesota and Terry would always give them Milk Bones and when they saw him come out of his trailer they would high tail it to him for their treat. After they left Lucy would lay in their driveway waiting for them to come back.
We have been visiting some of the sites in the area, such as the Texas Maritime Museum, Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, The Big Blue Crab, the Rockport Aquarium, the Big Tree, and the USS Lexington in Corpus Christi. Today we were going to visit the Fulton Mansion and when I was out walking the dogs before we went in, Terry & Evelyn drove by on their way back to their campground. Lucy was really happy to see them and barked her usual happy bark.
One of the best museums we went to in Harlingen was the Iwo Jima Monument, which was the Marine Corps Monument to World War II.
March 4, 2016. Met with Alp this afternoon at the Credit Union to finalize the deal on the Foretravel. Then he drove it to Tres Rios for us and we spent a few hours going through it again.
March 5-6, 2016. Spent all day Saturday and Sunday moving the inside trailer stuff into the Foretravel. By the end of Sunday, I was exhausted and frustrated. I had moved all the stuff from the inside of the Award but still had not touched the two outside compartments nor the Excursion, and had run out of room in the Foretravel. This sounds totally crazy, but those are the facts. More room in the Award & Excursion than in the Foretravel.
Jim & I started talking about the lack of space and the Foretravel not really working out for us – I still did not know how to fit all my stuff into the bench area and still have room to sit. Nothing was working out the way I had planned, so after talking it over, we decided that we were happier in the Award. We each had our “space” and I really like my bench at the table with the computer, next to a window and still able to watch TV.
March 7-8, 2016. Spent two days moving back into the Award. Wednesday we finished up and moved the Foretravel and Jeep into the storage area at Tres Rios. Thursday was the end of our 3 week time period of being able to stay there without paying extra, so we moved on out.
March 10, 2016. We were talking about going down to see Big Bend National Park, so I worked on our itinerary toward it. First stop was Coleman, Texas at the COE. The day was cold, damp and dreary and rainy. The park was out in the middle of nowhere and we could not get phone or internet. We were totally off the grid – not even text messages could get out. We stayed there two nights, the rain finally ended, and we moved on.
March 12, 2016. Headed down to Sonora, Texas and stayed at the Caverns of Sonora RV Park. The RV Park was ridiculously small and tight spaced. Spaces were so close together we could not even put our awning out. We were going to stay there 2 nights but disliked it so much that we only stayed 1 night. However, we did make a new RV friend. Jim and he talked a lot and shared business cards, and he invited us to stop by some time when we are in California. We also learned that most of the parks in Fort Stockton and Big Bend were already full due to spring breaks. After hearing of this, we decided to back track and head back toward San Antonio.
March 13, 2016. Decided to try out the Villages of Medina Lake Coast to Coast campground since it does not cost us anything to stay there. Getting there was no fun – from Bandera we took Hwy 173 south to another turn off which back road took us about ½ hour to drive down before coming to the park. The Villages is a gated community where people buy lots and build houses. The RV park itself was very small and we had a hard time finding a level site that had decent electric. We were going to stay for 4 nights, but then learned that the club house was not even going to be open so we could not go there and watch TV or do any activities. There was no place good to let the dogs run loose, but I finally found the boat ramp and let them loose there. The lake is still so low that the dock and ramp were not in the water at all, plus it was a pretty long walk just to get to the lake.
We were very disappointed with the place and stayed only one night; packed up the next day and came back to the Thousand Trails Medina Lake RV Resort that we liked so much.
March 19, 2016. Drove up to Bandera this morning, first stop at Hill County RV to buy a new latch for the bathroom door. Then it was on to the Silver & Knife dealer to buy a knife sharpner.
March 20, 2016. First day of Spring. 6:30am ~~ 39°. Cold front came through Friday night – rain all day Friday, and cold on Saturday and today.
Up early again – the coffee goes on when I get up and then back in bed to cuddle until the coffee is done. Then it’s out the door to walk the dogs. We have been at Medina Lake RV Resort, the Thousand Trails preserve since March 14. This is one of our favorite places so far, and hope to return again in the future.
We went to the Bandera Gun Range this afternoon to shoot the Henry and 1022 that we just bought. Did not like this place very much; cost $15 a person to shoot and the rifle range was sit down only with targets, which were hard to see and had to use binoculars to see the targets. We visited the Rangers Heritage Museum and Luckenbach around Fredericksburg.
March 30, 2016. We stayed at Medina Lake until March 24, then headed to Riverway RV Resort in Llano, Texas. It was a beautiful ride from Lakehills to Llano – the wildflowers are in bloom and they cover both sides of the road. I tried to get pictures, but it’s hard at 60 mph.
Llano is a small, quaint town. We went to the Visitor’s Center and talked with them a while. We were going to drive the Willow Lake Loop to look at the wildflowers but they said the wildflowers were not in bloom there and told us about two other trips to take. We took one of them, drove some crazy back roads that took us over some back roads that dip down to let stream water over them – so if it was raining, the roads would flood and you could not drive through them. We drove down some dirt roads on this drive, and then to a cemetery to look at more wildflowers.
On March 28, we had to leave Llano and drove all the way to Yogi Bear Jellystone Park in Waller, Texas. We wanted to visit there and friends we left behind that were also leaving there soon. Talked with Marvin & Barb and they let us stay there until Friday at no charge.
Got together with Katy & David, who were leaving April 1, along with a few other workampers. Kathleen came over to visit Monday and then that night Steven gave a talk about the history of Texas at the boyscout camp.
Wednesday night we all got together at the s’mores campfire for songs and food. David, Steven and another camper played guitars and sang songs. It was a nice night and get together. We had great weather as well.
We finally went back to Washington on the Brazos to look at the Star of Republic Museum and the Barrington Living History Farm.
Back to Daily Journal 2016