Our Travels and Experiences

What a Difference a Rain Makes

2012-01-27T05:56:00.000-06:00

And rain it did! We don't have a rain gauge here at the park but according to the neighboring ranchers we received 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 inches of rain. This all came in the early morning hours of January 25th.

This lake was completely dry January 24th.

Work was completed just in time for the raised walkway to the covered dock.

It is wonderful feeling to look out at the lake and see all this water when the day before it was a dry lake bed.

Most of the day you could hear water rushing down the creek bed that feeds the lake. The creek feeding the lake is along the other side of the tree line - upper right of photo.

Another surprising thing is the amount of birds that returned to the lake area. A Blue Heron was seen looking for the frogs that have came back to life. A raft of Pin Tail ducks has taken over one end of the lake. It seems their are more song birds than before or is it they can now be heard because the lake has water?

Heber Springs, AR

2011-10-17T08:00:00.002-05:00

We get out of the heat in TX and into the Ozarks we get to us the heater for the first time. Was a different weather environment than we have been used to. Actually had some rain with temps in the 40's.

The fall colors were starting make their appearance which the allowed us to enjoy the beginning of the fall even more. Wish we had more time here to really see the fall colors in their glory.

We had a great campsite at Greers Ferry Lake with lots of room and level sites. We enjoy being in an area with tall pine trees. The seem to put you in a relaxing mood.

Our stay was all too short but we took advantage of every minute we had in the Ozarks. We like this area so well we are planning to return as soon as we can.

Thanks for stopping by.

It’s Empty Now

2011-08-08T12:45:00.001-05:00

The house is empty after the passing of items to family & friends, then a garage sale and several trips to Goodwill.

This is not our home any more as it belongs to someone else now. We hope it serves them as well as it did for us.

All we have to do now is make everything fit into the motorhome that we said we needed to keep. We live in the preverbal 10 lb. sack and have 25 lbs. to put in it.

Now we can start making plans for our new life in the RV.

Now Reality is Setting in

2011-07-24T18:46:00.001-05:00

The house deal has one more hurdle to go through and it will be closing time.

We have reserved a space at a local RV park that will be close by so we can complete any unfinished business if necessary.

We have sent all the forms to Escapees to get enrolled with their mail forwarding service.

We are actually putting items into the motorhome! It’s a good thing we don’t have to move any large items as it is too blasted hot now. 39 days of triple digit temperatures. Wish we could have planned for a fall move.

Yes, Dianna is carrying pictures into the rig. We found and made room for our favorites, don’t want to give up those pictures.

All of our family has spoken for all the heirlooms and most of the household items so that will help in not getting a storage facility.

The real reality is just around the corner.

We’re Almost There!

2011-07-17T18:23:00.001-05:00

Just a few items to do then we will close on our house August 12. It seems like a long time since we put this plan into action. Now it’s just about to be completed.

Don’t ever say “I wish, it would be nice or someday we would like”. You will never get it done thinking like that. Make a plan, follow that plan and guess what? It happens!

Another part of our plan was to be in a motorhome that we would feel like it was our home and had some of the extras that made it a home for us.

That part of the plan came together this weekend also. A very busy weekend. We took delivery of our new for us motorhome.

This is a 2008 Newmar Kountry Star. We had been looking for one that would have as many features/options as we could get in a used rig. This one came real close so we went for it and now we are the proud parents of this find.

We took a maiden voyage with the Kountry Star this weekend to the Guadalupe River RV Park in Kerrvile, TX. Everything worked great and we are pleased with our find.

On the way to Kerrville the outside temperature was 111 degrees. This has been a true test for air conditioners here in Texas for the past month. Yes I took this picture while Dianna was driving. She really likes the way this rig drives.

Thanks for stopping by.

They’re Growing!

2011-06-26T06:24:00.001-05:00

It won’t be long now before they are able to fly and forage food for themselves.

Interesting that Mother was close by watching as I took this picture and didn’t make a noise or dive bomb me. I was glad. I would have a hard time explaining how a little Mockingbird knocked me off the top of a step ladder.

This will be the last picture of the baby birds as in a very short amount of time they may jump from the nest if I get this close to them. Time to let the parents complete their job of bringing new life into this world.

Welcome New State Birds

2011-06-13T09:28:00.001-05:00

A lot of activity with the Mockingbirds this morning. For good reason!

They must have hatched during the night as activity yesterday was normal.

It’s interesting to watch the parents. One will stay close and guard the nest while the other goes hunting food for the new chicks.

Welcome to Texas and our front yard. Hope they like hot dry weather. Nine days of 100 degrees or better so far for the month of June.

Our Future Family

2011-06-05T10:36:00.002-05:00

I was sitting on the front porch and noticed some activity in the young Red Oak tree. Sure enough I see Ms. Mockingbird moving around in her nest.

While mowing the yard that morning I thought I felt something brush against my head as I mowed under this tree. When I looked up I saw a Mockingbird flying away but I dismissed it as a brush from a limb that I went under. Maybe not.

As I watched her I wondered if I could get a picture of the nest and contents without the protective mother getting too upset. As we all know a Mockingbird can be very aggressive especially around their nest.

I set up the step ladder so I could get high enough to get a good view inside of the nest. Luckily Ms. Mocking bird was away far enough she didn’t notice me getting a picture of her home and future chicks.

This will be interesting to see how many photos I will be able to get after the chicks hatch.

Rally at Lake Medina

2011-05-28T13:40:00.001-05:00

It was a busy and fun filled week. We started the week in Pipe Creek, TX at the home of Leon & Elsie. We meet Jim & Shirley there for a planning and preparation for our duties with the Discovery Texans Rally later in the week.

Jim & Shirley behind us in the garage next door to Joe & Justine

We only stayed here two days to get last minute details and shopping complete. Then it was off to Lake Medina RV Resort for the weekend rally.

As you can see in this not so good of a picture Lake Medina’s water level is very low.

Yes we are dry here in TX and in need of a lot of rain in order to get water levels back to normal.

After we got set up at the park it was happy hour at our rig.

Who said Shirley doesn’t photograph well?

Supper time out in the cool shade and beautiful evening.

Since we had everything set up for preparing a meal at our rig it was unanimous to have breakfast at our house the next morning.

Can you smell the bacon?

That was it for taking it easy here at the park. Jim, Shirley, Dianna & I were the host for the weekend rally. The Host is a 4 letter word for KP duty! We all volunteer for these duties so that everybody can enjoy this time together. Next rally someone else will be the host.

We had a lot of fun preparing meals for the 46 people that attended the rally. It gave us the opportunity to mingle and get to know the rally attendee's better.

This is an excellent RV park as it is far from any highway (no noise) with an abundance of wildlife to enjoy. I understand the fishing is great when the lake level is up.

Hope to get back here again.

Sand Festival

2011-04-18T15:26:00.002-05:00

We had a very delightful weekend. We went to Rockport to visit Texas friends that will be starting the Texas version of snowbirds by heading north shortly.

On Saturday we decided to go over to Port Aransas to see the Sand Fest. Perfect temperature, sunny with a lot of wind. When we arrived we found out that the sand artists hadn’t started their sculptures until that morning instead of the night before. So all were working on their sand projects when we arrived.
The first portion of the sculptures are the armatures. Some of them are real good and will be in the judging part real soon. Here are a few of the artists and their work. Click image to enlarge.

Can you see why this one is called “Lesson Mountain”?

This is one craft that you start building at the top.

Now we start the professional sculptors.

Soon it was time to head for the ferry and get out of the wind and sun.

I’m sure some of you are wondering what the purpose of the wire that is sticking out the top of some of the sculptures. We heard everything from lighting rods to wifi antennas. The most believable answer we got was from a one of the artists. It’s to keep the birds from landing on the sculpture. Makes sense! Hope I didn’t bore too much with nothing but pictures.
Thanks for stopping by.

Starting and Inspired

2011-04-02T20:22:00.001-05:00

After being inspired by Al’s (Bayfieldbunch) blog about where Kelly and he are in their RV life I decided to get back into my blog.

First “way to go Al”! You have describe what so many of us have, been, and will go through in living the RV lifestyle. I am completely confident you and Kelly will arrive at the perfect answer for your situation. Our wish for both of you is that it will happen soon so that you will be able to enjoy your decision for a long time.

What inspired me to make this blog entry is that Dianna and I have been discussing exactly what Al described in his blog. After a few discussions we have just completed interviewing realtors to sell our house. Each one of them asked “where are we moving to”? Our answer to all of them was we are moving into our RV. As you can imagine or know that brought all kinds of responses. Yup, we are making that initial step.

We decided if we want to be full-timers we need to start by getting rid of the stick and brick and start living in our RV.

Having said that, our RV has been in the shop the past 2 weeks for a problem that has plagued us since we have owned the rig. More on it’s future with us later.

We’ll proceed with the disposing of the house and possession's as a step toward full timing.

For right now thank you Al for helping us realize what and where we need to focus.

First (RV) Flat Tire Experience

2011-01-28T18:53:00.001-06:00

This flat tire experience wasn’t near as bad as some of the horror stories I’ve heard. If there is a good time for a flat this one was it.

I had brought the rig home from storage in preparation of taking it to have the Norcold recall fix taken care of. As I got out of the rig I had this little voice say “check the tires” before you go inside.

Sure enough the passenger rear inside tire was down to 60 lbs. So I took it to a local auto repair shop and had it aired up knowing I would be at Camping World in the morning.

Next morning tire had lost 20 lbs of air. Good, a slow leak. When I get to Camping World I will be able to get it fixed there.

Upon arriving at my appointed time I ask if they could repair the tire with a slow leak. Now comes the dreaded response “we don’t do tire repair”. They sell you tires but don’t want to fix them?

Now I call my handy Coach Net road side service to find out where in the area I could get a RV tire repair. After a few questions a tire store just a couple of miles from my hose will do the repair work.

After the Norcold fix and more air into tire I go to the repair shop and get the slow leak back to a no leak tire. After watching all the work that goes into an inside tire repair I had visions of a hefty repair bill. Upon check out the bill came to $25! I wouldn’t begin to wrestle those 2 tires on or off the rig for that money. I paid and said thank you very much.

So if you are in Austin and in need of tire repair go to A to Z Tire Shop on south 1st street. Need to call them to get directions.

Sorry no photos. Couldn’t see any excitement of a flat tire picture.

Hill Country Visit

2011-01-18T18:20:00.001-06:00

After much a-do we have our trip under way. We are spending a few days at the Caribbean Cowboy RV Park in the Hill Country. This is a small park, secluded and very quiet.

Dianna, Pidge and Don chatting

Today we met Pidge & Don from the The Frugal Travelers for lunch at the Lost Maples Cafe in Utopia, TX. We follow each others blog and having a face to face get together is a real treat. We did a lot of talking about our families, RV’ing and RV future plans.

After talking with Don & Pidge it seems they really enjoy their RV life and are excited with their travels. Thank you both for an enjoyable lunch and safe traveling.

Update on the Alpha WiFi amplifier. After getting set up here in the park we were able to connect to the internet. We had a weak signal with only one and two bars. This called for the Alpha amplifier. What a nice difference.

WiFi signal before connecting Alpha amplifier

Signal with amplifier connected

With solid 4 and 5 bars I’m pleased with the performance and now have the Alpha amplifier as part of my WiFi arsenal.

Thanks for stopping by.

WiFi Security - a Pandora’s Box

2011-01-10T07:55:00.001-06:00

This was on the morning news and it grabbed my attention because all of us that use WiFi could be at risk. Below is the 2 1/2 minute news clip. It’s not long and it says a lot.

New Way Criminals Can steal Your Info: MyFoxAUSTIN.com

You don’t have to be a geek to be a cyber hacker anymore. Anybody that can install Firefox and an app called “Firesheep” is in the cyber hacking business.

We as RV’ers use WiFi a lot so we need to be extra careful on what we do on a WiFi network and what kind of network we use.

In the news clip officer Chip Riley used Twitter and Facebook as examples of vulnerability. A full time RV’er may use more web sites than those. We may want to access our bank/broker account or a private web site for our photography, hobby or craft activities.

Those of you that offer WiFi to others, please please make sure that you are offering a secure network not a Pandora’s Box. It’s easier to secure your network than install a web browser. Don’t allow your network to be access for a cyber hacker.

A Memorable 2010

2011-01-01T10:42:00.003-06:00

Happy New Year! 1/1/11
Another decade and another year has ended. My new year’s resolution for 2011 is not to make any. If I was to make a list you would have to scroll this page way too much. Plus it would be a bunch of things I wouldn’t accomplish in 2011. I like the way things are going now.
We started 2010 by attending the Discovery Texans January rally in Mason,TX. Sure was surprised at the number of Discovery's in one place.

In February we had the good fortune of meeting Laurie and Odell on their annual travel through Texas.

Just a few days later we meet Kirk and Pam who were volunteering at Government Canyon State Natural Area.

April has us in Colorado Springs. We love the southwest at any time of the year.

This trip we stayed in the same RV park and same space as our last trip. Our last stay was with our Trailer. What a difference in RV’ing!

May and June were excursions to Festivals and Market Day outings.

July was down to the coast for some summer time enjoyment.

The Humming Bird Festival in Rockport made a memorable September trip. If you’re into humming birds and in the area this is a must see event. Yes, it was raining that day.

October was renewing old friendships and the Farmers Market in Dallas.

In November we had a nice leisurely trip to Mississippi and Louisiana.

Christmas Day dinner with family.

That was our year in a nutshell. We sure enjoyed it and are looking forward to our Travels and Experiences in 2011.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing 2010 with us.

LA and MS Gulf Coast

2010-11-30T19:58:00.001-06:00

We just completed a trip to the LA and MS coast. If you are an Escapees member and read the current magazine issue about Breaux Bridge, LA, that was one destination for us.
We stayed at Poche’s RV Park. This park is built around what was to be a crawfish farm. Now the ponds offer some good fishing for the RV’ers and their family’s.
As you can see the park was not very busy. We were told that in the spring and summer this place is packed with a lot of activities going on. Sounds like Cajun fun to me.

Of course we ate way too much Cajun food. One of my favorite LA places is Mulate’s. Great food and live music. The next eatery was Poche’s Restaurant & Smokehouse. They have a market with all the Cajun sausages and spices that would be needed to prepare any mouth watering Cajun meal.

A huge Oak Tree downtown Breaux Bridge

Next stop Bay Hide Away RV Park in Bay St. Louis, MS. This park has obviously been rebuilt/refurbished after the hurricanes as it was in top condition with gravel roads and grass with picnic tables at each site. The casino in Bay St. Louis withstood the hurricane and has been fixed up and doing a roaring business.
As we drove through Gulf Port on the way to Biloxi we say a lot of boarded up buildings and empty lots in this area due to the hurricane. The restaurant in Biloxi where we ate lunch had a $1.00 up-charge per menu item because of the oil spill.
The white sand beaches are clean and are being cleaned of tar balls by crews. We never did see any tar balls so the oil must be pretty well gone and cleaned out at least in the areas we were in.

Life is good for this Red Tail hawk (if I called that bird wrong Judy will let me know) was enjoying her morning meal of a rodent. I didn’t want to get any closer as not to disrupt her meal.

Next, over to New Orleans. With a stop at the French Quarter and the Cafe Du Mounde for Beignets and chocolate milk. A walk around Jackson Square has a lot of the same vendors & musicians as in past visits and of course the guy that wants to bet on where you got your shoes. Guess that scam will never get blown away by any hurricane. Next was to check on Pat O'Briens, hasn't changed any. Then a walk through the rest of the Quarter.

An enjoyable week with nice weather and good food. What more could a RV’er ask for?
Thanks for stopping by.

Another Visit & Blogville

2010-11-16T09:04:00.001-06:00

It was another quick trip back to Lewisville again to finish doctor appointments and visit family and friends.

We stayed at the Lewisville Lake Park again. It’s a nice city park that is close for all our needs while in town. Plus it’s $9 a night with the senior discount.

Randy of the Roadrunner Chronicles in his blog asked “where were you 365 days ago”. Dianna and I also attended the same Escapees boot camp as Randy and Pam attended a year ago.

What a surprise. Here we are today following each other with our blogs and a year ago we were unknown class mates with each other. Wish we could have spent some time together to compare notes and visit. Perhaps next time when we cross paths again.

Rick of Rick & Paulette’s RV Travels stated in his blog how he doesn’t belong to any organizations that require him attending meetings or volunteer his time for a club or cause.

Rick, I hate to burst your bubble that you don’t give your time to any club or organization. You have unselfishly given numerous hours of education with your knowledge of computers and other geek talents to all of us that follow your blog.

The knowledge that you have given all of us here in Blogville is more than any “pay for” web site could offer. Please continue to not volunteer your time so that we here in Blogville can continue to be educated.

Thank you Rick for all that you do.

Please accept this cyber gold star from all of us.

More on the iPad

2010-11-09T19:37:00.001-06:00

The apps that are available in the App store seem to be what makes all of the ipod’s, iphone’s, ipad’s and any other ixxx’s that are out there as popular as they are. One good thing about all the apps is if you have say an iphone and sync an app to it and you also own any other ipod, pad you can also sync the app onto that device, if it is compatible for that device. It’s like one software license that’s good for all you computers.

Pidge of the Frugal Travelers asked about the cost of an ipad. We have the 16gb + 3G model. The basic ipad with wifi has 3 sizes 16gb,32gb, and 64gb. You also can get these 3 sizes with wifi plus 3G.

The 16gb with wifi ipad is $499 on the top end the 64gb with wifi + 3G ipad is $829. The cost of the 3G service is on a month to month charge. There is no long term contract.

Data per month	Price per month
250mb/month	$14.99
2GB/month	$25.00

As you can see you will want to stay in a wifi hot spot as much as possible. If you do use the 3G service you are able to monitor your usage with your ipad.

There sure is a lot to the Apple products. One thing that the ipad can’t do is run/use or even look at Live Writer. This is going to take some serious looking into for a replacement. Or, maybe it’s in the app called Pages?

Thanks for stopping by.

An iPad For Us

2010-11-08T09:38:00.002-06:00

Yes, we now have an ipad that will either be a very expensive toy or a gizmo that will be productive.

After spending hours on the phone the past couple of weeks with Microsoft to get a virus removed that their own product could not find I said enough is enough. We are going to transition toward the Apple computer systems that doesn’t seem to get virus's.

I know the ipad will never replace a (computer) laptop but it won’t get a virus. As long as we have wifi or within AT&t cell service we will be able to email and surf the web and do ~80% what we do with a computer.

So far I am pleased with the performance of the ipad. It has fulfilled the web surfing and email task with flying colors. Now I’m looking into making it more productive. I want to start replacing tasks that are now a laptop function and turning them into an ipad function.

One big thing that Apple has going for them is the education. When you purchase an Apple product you can go to a Apple store and they will spend the one on one time with you to make sure your product is up and running properly. On top of that they have workshops on these products to help you learn more about it’s functionality. All this support is free and is explained in English. What a concept!

Any other ipad users out there?

Thanks for stopping by.

It’s That time Again

2010-11-06T08:50:00.001-05:00

As much as it seems to be disliked when we move our clocks back in the fall we are setting our clocks to standard time. That is the time it should have been all year.

For some history on the use of Daylight savings check out this web site. http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/

After reading all about it I still don’t care for it.

Thanks for stopping by. Will be here tomorrow in the next time zone.

Getting a Stronger WiFi Signal

2010-10-30T09:02:00.002-05:00

We’ve all had the experience of a weak WiFi signal when at a park that has promoted WiFi. They may have a perfectly good and strong WiFi signal in the office or laundry room but not at the site you are parked in.

I have been looking into different solutions to improve a weak WiFi signal without a lot of expense, equipment and long term contracts.

After reading different blogs and forums I am going to try an Alfa external WiFi antenna. This is not the silver bullet nor anything new and exotic. It is a simple receiver that utilizes a 5db gain antenna to receive a WiFi signal and amplify it then send into your USB port.

The cost of this package was just under $37 through Amazon. I ordered a 15’ extension cable because the price was right and I might want to move the antenna around to try different places.

The driver installed flawlessly on my Windows Vista service pack 2 system. My “non scientific” test proved that a neighbors unsecure network that had a 1 bar strength went to a 3 bar signal and I was able to connect and get on the WWW. Yes I know, shame on me.

This is probably just one of the many fixes that I will have to have in my arsenal to get a strong WiFi signal.

Thanks for stopping by.

Getting Ready For The Next Journey

2010-10-25T14:32:00.004-05:00

You’ll have to excuse me for wondering off subject in the last couple of blog entries. I’ll do that once in a while.

Dianna and I are getting ready for our next outing with the RV. One of the things that is needed to be done is get the RV all clean from our previous trips. Since it had never been hand washed I thought it would be nice to get all the big chunks off and get it really clean. It was dirty!

All clean after a thorough washing.

In reading MtnAireTravlers blog Weldon has mentioned using a solution that Mark and Dortha are distributors of for an easy clean and getting a shine that has no comparison. After an email exchange with Dortha I ordered “The Solution” from http://www.super-seal.com/.

The hand washing allowed me to have a clean base before I applied The Solution to see how well it does.

Up on the ladder getting her all shinny.

While I was finishing the outside Dianna cleaned the interior and also cleaned the inside of the bay doors. What a gal!

Just about finished.

Yes it was hot, near 90. Where is the October weather? Now that we have a good coat of The Solution on the rig we will see how well it performs.

With a weekend trip to the Dallas area in a couple of weeks and longer outing later in the month we should have a good idea if all this work paid off.

Thanks for stopping by.

My Turn To Say Something

2010-10-20T09:07:00.001-05:00

I read a couple of RV blog entries a few days ago about chipping in for their cause. After having read them I want to voice my feelings about the subject.

There are a lot of us who have worked our butts off all our working life to obtain what we have dreamed of.

The idea of asking fellow RV’rs to “Chip In” so they can continue living the RV life falls in the shadow of panhandling.

This type of activity does not belong in the RV community.

I have not seen the “Chip In” button before. I’m positive that the button was designed for causes that are meaningful and has a real purpose in the cyber world.

If you can’t afford the RV life style then park it and hang up the keys. It doesn’t make any difference how young or old you are there are numerous ways to work and earn enough to support that life style.

Mid Term Elections Do Make A Difference

2010-10-17T15:32:00.001-05:00

4 Reasons to Vote November 2^nd

#1.No relief in the unemployment for the last 2 years.
#1.Housing industry still in shambles.
#1.Middle East war – either win the war or get out.
#1. Cut the trillions of dollars from the deficit.

I’m sure each of you have priorities that can be added or taken away from this list.

In order to make a difference in 2012 we must start in 2010!

An Old Friend

2010-10-14T11:37:00.001-05:00

Our planned trip to the Dallas area was to be visits with family and a doctor appointment. Nothing special or would like to do was on the itinerary for this short trip.

We arrived at the Lewisville Lake Park campground and got our rig set up. As I was preparing to start cleaning all the bugs off the front of the RV a gentleman stepped out of the RV next to us. I looked at him and thought I know this person. As he turned in my direction I immediately recognized him and called his name. He looked at me and recognized who I was. Both of us were in total shock.

It has been 10 – 12 years since we have spoken with each other. Both of us were active in Ham Radio in the Dallas area. We met each other in the mid 80’s and participated in many of the local Ham Radio activities.

That evening we spent several hours getting reacquainted and catching up on each others lives. The next evening we spent more hours talking about old common friends and our past experiences with those old friends. What a memorable time going back to those fun and adventurous days we enjoyed.

Before we left we exchanged contact information and promised to keep in contact with each other.

What are the odds of being in a RV park next door to an old friend that you have not seen in years? I feel extremely lucky and fortunate that I was able to meet Tommy again and to be able to continue our friendship.

At a family visit we enjoyed a nice dinner and Dianna got to spoil a couple of the grandkids.

One of things we did have planned was to go to the Farmers Market.

And they were delicious!

Isn’t RV’ing wonderful?

Thanks for stopping by

Hummer Festival – Rockport, TX

2010-09-21T08:31:00.002-05:00

Dianna and I have said for years that we will go to the Hummingbird Festival. This last weekend worked out perfectly for our schedule. Little did we know it was the same weekend hurricane Karl had an extended visit on the part of the coast.

We arrived on Friday in the rain and left on Monday in the rain. We will be shopping for rain gear that will be a permanent part of the RV. The good news is that we had no leaks in the RV.

A major priority for us at the festival was to get on a tour that had a banding sight. Saturday morning we went to the Festival center to make a reservation for a tour. With as much rain that was coming down that day we opted for a Sunday tour thinking the rains will have moved on by then.

After signing up for a Sunday tour we went to the vendor area to see what we couldn’t live without. One of the first sites we came across was the Raptor display. They are always fascinating to see these wild birds up close.

Click photos to enlarge.

Looks like the Barn Owl has been through many of these shows. The Crested Caracara and handler must have just had a serious conversation. If I have the name wrong for these birds I’m sure Judy the Bird Lady of Blogland from Travels with Emma will set me straight.

We saw a lot of humming bird jewelry, pictures, t-shirts and other hummer paraphernalia with the vendors. Of course we bought something, a cup for Dianna to use at work. Yes it has a hummer decoration on it.

My plan for no rain on Sunday went by the wayside as it poured all day. One of our priorities was to see the humming bird banding.

Our tours first stop was the banding station for the day. As the bander gets ready to band the little bird his wife on his immediate left writes down all the data that will be used to identify this hummer. As you can see with all the umbrellas, towels and wet shirts it was a wet day.

All the trapped birds were individually placed in these yellow mesh/net bags so as not to cause them any harm.

Next we get some history and education about these birds. I think this is the point the bander asked the group for a guess as to how much a hummer weighs. I had no idea and was not going to stick my foot in mouth as this seemed to be a loaded question. One person did respond with a 2 ounce weight.

Onto the scale he goes. This guy came in at 4 grams. Now we all had to do some calculation if we just knew what numbers to use. The bander came to our rescue and said there is 28 grams in one ounce. All the birds they had been banding over the weekend were weighing 3.5 to 4.5 grams. Plenty of fat build up to make the flight south.

Then the little hummer gets an identity. As you can see much care is taken on placing the band on the hummers leg. This must be one of the reasons the bander wears his magnifying glasses.

After being held for banding for a while the hummer needs some nourishment. We were told that this feeding will probably be the only uncontested meal the bird will get in his whole life. He was allowed to drink as much as he wanted without another hummer chasing him away from a feeder.

At one of the homes on the tour we did get out in the rain to see the hummers feeding. The rain doesn’t deter these birds any at all. I wish I could get half the number of birds in my yard as they have here.

Another item we learned is that humming birds don’t have scouts. Each individual migrates on it’s own. There little brain is hard wired to migrate when it’s time. There is a theory that it is the amount of light in a day that triggers each bird to head north or south.

They are not a social bird they hate each other. That’s why you see them chasing each other away from the feeders. Their life span is believed to be 3 years. For us that is a short amount of time for the humming bird it’s life time.

This photo was taken on Sunday afternoon. It was about 35 feet from the front of our RV. The water rose another 4-6 inches before the rain let up. The canal to the left of the fence and pole was to carry water out to the bay. Because of the rising tide and large amount of rain the water was backing onto shore.

We learned a lot about the humming bird this year. Hopefully we will be able to go back and learn even more. Thanks for stopping by.

Market Day in Wimberley

2010-09-05T16:59:00.001-05:00

A perfect day for a Market Day outing. Temperature was in the low 70’s in the morning with the high in the upper 80’s and clear skies. An ever so slight hint of fall.

We arrived just in time before the parking lot filled up and was closed. A good indication for a good day at the market. The cool weather brought the buyers out in droves. Weldon of the http://mtnairetravlers.blogspot.com/ was reporting similar conditions at Canton First Monday Sale in East Texas.

For 3 years Dianna and I ran a booth here in Wimberley. At times we talk about going back into the Market Day biz. Then we recall those hot days like last month (see previous post) and those cold wet days when the buyers stay home to let the vendors have a Market Day.

We enjoy going back to see our old vendors friends. It’s always interesting to look at what is new and of course the same ole stuff that is being offered by the vendors.

Our booth location was down this street next to the electric pole in the upper right corner of the picture.

Of course we came home with something. With some luck we will have home grown tomatoes for our salads this fall. The other was the conversation we had on the way home of missing the good days as a vendor on days like this day.

A special thanks to our new followers. Glad to have have you along.

Weather – Good News and Bad News

2010-08-24T18:23:00.001-05:00

It looks like today is going to be one of those good and bad news days.

The bad news - that 109 heat index will knock you down when you step outside. The 106 temperature sets another record breaking heat day.

The good news is the scattered T-storms for today is a front from the north that is pushing the high pressure system which has been sitting on top of us to the southwest. This will allow the daily temperatures to get back to our normal Texas summer highs as seen in the Wednesday through Saturday forecast. The best part of this good news is today should be the last day the temperature will get above 100 until next summer.

This hot weather is nothing for people like my sister who lives in Bull Head City, AZ and other folks that are in the desert parts of the country.

You folks in the northern US, high mountains and the Canadians are probably relaxing in the cool air and feeling some hints of the coming fall weather.

Weather wise, between now and Thanksgiving is the best time of the year to be anywhere in this country.

Sunday Day Trip

2010-08-23T14:10:00.001-05:00

We decided that a short trip was in order for a Sunday trip. It was too hot to do much of anything outside. We chose to go to Round Top, TX. This little town (2000 census population 77) and other adjoining small towns host one of the largest antique shows in the world. They have this event twice a year. The numbers are staggering. They attract over 200,000 vendors, attendees and tourists at each of the shows.

No this week was not a show. Although we have been there when a show was in full swing. That 200,000 maybe a little small. This weekend it was nice and quiet with no crowds.

We visited several of the shops that offered unique and different items. Lots of antiques. That’s what this town is all about.

When the shows start the local ranchers and farmers open (rent) their land that is adjacent to the main road for vendors to set up shop. When this happens there is literally miles of antique shops in this area There are many large buildings that house multiple antique shops.

Here are a couple of links to give you an idea of what this area has to offer during one of their events.

http://www.roundtoptexasantiques.com/

http://www.antiqueweekend.com/indexmain.html

http://www.roundtop-marburger.com/

Hope the weather cools down and we get our motorhome out of the shop soon so we can take a real road trip.

Good Sam July Winner!

2010-08-10T17:02:00.001-05:00

What a surprise to see my name on the winners list.

Clicking that “Enter to Win” button daily on the Good Sam web site for the last several months finally paid off!

I have been contacted by a drawing official and I’m now officially entered in the Winners Listing.

I have no idea which model it will be. I hope it’s one of the ones with the air compressor. I’m sure it will be the Jump Starter only which will be just fine with me. I know it will come in handy sometime.

PS. I’m still going to keep entering the giveaway may win again this month.

The prize arrived! That was fast. Yes, it does have the air compressor as part of the unit. A perfect item for the RV. Thank you Cobra.

August Weather

2010-08-02T15:08:00.000-05:00

It’s always interesting this time of year what the weather conditions are in the different parts of the country. This is evident with the RV blogs I read and follow. The folks due north of Texas along the Canadian border and in Canada are starting to feel the preparation of fall weather. Those in the Southwest are just plain hot. But it’s a dry heat. The Midwest and some of the Southeast are experiencing some flooding and severe weather this year.

For us we decided to go south to the coast. That puts us at the south central part of the US. The coast weather was a little hot but tolerable. Our 200 mile drive to Aransas Pass with the destination of Ransom Road RV Resort was uneventful.

An early morning start the next day we took the ferry over to Port Aransas. It was early enough that wait time to board was only about 15 minutes. When we returned later in the afternoon the wait time to board a ferry for Port Aransas was an hour and a half. Glad we were going in the right direction.

Dianna always enjoys getting her beach fix when we are at the coast. It was relaxing and good time to cool off a little.

All beach goers have their own way of setting up or claiming their spot in the sand. Some just spread out towels others pitch a canopy or tent and then there is the RV’er!

What more could you ask for? Water front site, palm trees and pink flamingos.

A lunch was now in order. We stopped at a restaurant that had seating next to the boat harbor. Kind of fun to watch the weekend boat warriors dodge each other.

Sorry Laurie & Odel I didn’t get the before picture that you always like to show. Guess we were just too hungry to worry about pictures. As you can tell by the look on our faces and the empty baskets lunch was good.

After lunch we went to the park by the ship channel. Up on the observation deck we watched a large tanker going back out to sea.

Dolphins will sometimes play in front of ships. Sure enough they were playing in the forward wake of this big tanker. It took a couple of shots to capture them out of the water. Thank you Lumix…

The next day we took a trip to Rockport. We really like this town and enjoy visiting it every chance we get. Once in a while we drive by these wind swept trees. It’s a reminder how much the winds blow from the same direction and how much effect it has on the growth of these trees. Yes, the Gulf is on the right.

We will be back again. Until next time.

Forth of July Treat

2010-07-08T14:49:00.000-05:00

The Panasonic Lumix ZS7 and ZS5 has been discussed on several of the RV blogs lately. I have been considering a new camera for a while. With all the blogging about these two models I decided to check them out. After reading reviews and the technical data about them I purchased the ZS5.

I wanted a camera that was small enough to carry in a pocket or small pouch but still had some functionality of a SLR. I also wanted was the ability to get close up pictures without special lenses.

The photo of the coins was taken on the dinning table in the RV with just the light that was coming through the window. It passed the close up criteria I was looking for.

One of the things Dianna and I enjoy about Dallas is going downtown to the farmers market. We used go here every weekend when we lived in the big city.

Those that have been there know what this market is like. It is large with many vendors displaying all kinds of fruits and vegetables.

Many of the vendors sell locally grown produce. We love fresh tomatoes, squash, spinach and of course peaches. It was a good thing we had the RV with a big empty refrigerator to bring back all the produce we bought.

Outside the vendor sheds are nurseries that sell all kind of plants, shrubs and trees. On a bright sunshiny morning the colors are vivid. We missed the sunshine by a few hours.

Hard to believe all this is in the shadow of downtown Dallas, TX.

The Lumix ZS5 is working out very well. Like anything new it takes some time before you know all the ins and outs of it. So far I am very happy with it and looking forward to getting many more wonderful photos from it.

Transitioning

2010-06-18T13:51:00.000-05:00

I’m adjusting to not going to a job everyday. After 40 plus years of going to a job everyday it is an adjustment from that daily regiment. It will take some getting used to. Trust me I will get it down pat even if it takes me 40 plus years to get used to it.

We recently took a drive to Fredericksburg, TX and made a stop at Wild Seed Farms. This place has everything a wild flower gardener could dream of. Plus they have acres plants in various stages of growth.

All blog photos are from our visit at the farm. The acres of flowers are really vivid when they are in bloom.

Wild Seed farms are not content to just a normal flower bed. They have acres of each type of flower that is in season.

As you can see one could spend hours just browsing at the beauty of all their flowers.

The store portion of Wild Seed farms encompasses several acres in itself. It includes many wild flower seeds for purchase and a large variety of garden accessories that you can’t live without.

I’ve had to turn the comment portion of the blog off as the spammers were trying to fill the comments with worthless junk. Maybe they will go away after a while. Those of you that want to make a comment I’m sure you know how to get a hold of either one of us.

First Official Day of Retirement

2010-06-01T13:34:00.000-05:00

Here it is June 1st 2010 my first official day of retirement. What do I do now? Oh yes, the honey do list. It’s going to take at least a year to complete it that is if nothing gets added to it. It’s not really quite that long.

This is the day about every person looks forward to. Now that I’m here it seems I stepping into another world. Right now I’m not sure what world I’m in. After so many years of going to a job each day now that routine is changed. For the better or worse may take a while to figure that out.

I’m here because I want to be so I will make the best of this that I can.

I also want to improve my skills in blogging. That means better photography and more entries. Maybe a class would be in order? That would be a big step at my age. I wonder if I could sit in a class room for an hour without falling asleep.

Colorado Springs April 2010

2010-04-26T13:19:00.000-05:00

Northbound on I-25 with Pikes Peak in view. We are close to Colorado Springs now and our destination for the next few days.

On of the things we really like about our motorhome is the large windshield that enables a panoramic view like this. The traveling is more enjoyable because we are able to view so much of the countryside.

We are staying at the Mountaindale RV Resort just south of Colorado Springs. We enjoyed the park and our stay enough the last time we visited Colorado Springs to return to the same place and resort site #79. A big difference from our last stay compared to this one is that we have a new house.

We had planned to take the Cog Railway to the summit of Pikes Peak. Upon checking in at the rail station we were informed that the train was not able to reach the summit because of the snow drifts across the tracks at the 11,000 foot level.

We took this opportunity and toured the Olympic Training center. This is a large facility near downtown for the Olympic athletes. In order to train here you must be in the top 10% of your specialty.

During our tour we watched a few of the athletes do their training for the sport they participate in. Wow, I see why we win medals at the Olympics. If I was a few years younger and as many pounds lighter I could do that.

Next stop the Air Force Academy. We have friends that have attended and some that have taught here. We have driven by several times and never took the time to visit. Upon entering we were questioned like any other visitor to the campus. We were given directions to the different places for touring. The visitor center has a lot of interesting history and information about the academy. After reading about the academy you come away with a better understanding of the pride the cadets have after attending the academy.

On to the icon of the academy campus, the Chapel. It is very large, impressive and beautiful.

Once inside you are really taken by the beauty and architecture.

Wish we could have heard this organ fill the chapel with music. The blue color is from the stain glass and (guessing) the direction of the sun at the time.

Being a student here must take a lot of concentration on your studies and what you are here for and not get lost in the beauty of a campus like this.

The main purpose of this trip was to visit and see Ken, his wife and take in a field trial in which their national champion English Setter, Scout, was entered.

With Scouts event postponed a day because of high winds we missed her running. But we were able to have a good visit with Ken and Biz at the field trial grounds.

All too soon it was time to leave and say our good byes.

Our next stop was Garden City, KS. The rains started in the middle of the night and continued through the next day. That night in continued to rain all night at our stop in Quanah, TX. The next day it rained until just before we arrived home. The rain held off long enough to get everything unloaded and then it started raining again.

Start of Vacation April 2010

2010-04-12T13:02:00.000-05:00

The first day of vacation was the long drive. We started late so that made it longer than it should have been. As the photo below shows the Bluebonnets and Paintbrush were in full glory. This was taken from the coach in Fredericksburg. There were many fields of the Texas State flower on this first part of the trip. If we didn’t have such a late start we would have stopped often for more colorful pictures.

After leaving the hill country and head west on I-10 the landscape begins to change. It becomes the vast open spaces we all hear about.

After 8.5 hours we made it to Carlsbad, NM. Both of us tired and ready to slow the pace down.

Too bad we only spent one night here as we would have like to go see the big cave. Oh well there is always next time.

Lesson learned. DO NOT leave your Brake Buddy in the toad with the ignition on overnight. Reason, your toad battery will be dead in the morning. Trust us on this one as experience is talking.

On to Las Vegas after a jump for the toad battery.

Next night we stayed at the Las Vegas Elks RV parking. Nice and quiet with friendly people at happy hour.

Then on to Colorado Springs.

Great Weekend

2010-02-15T07:56:00.000-06:00

I think it is a rare occasion that you get to have a face to face meeting in one weekend, in the same area, with two couples that are full timers. Dianna and I got to experience that and it was a lot of fun and it will never be forgotten.

We have been following their blogs for a long time and wondered if we would ever to be able to meet these people. We were fortunate that Lorie & Odel delayed their Austin departure until after lunch on Saturday. They had made the comment they had not had any BBQ since they were in Texas this trip. That made for an excellent excuse for all of us to go to Smitty’s in Lockhart for a real BBQ lunch.

With those grins I think they are enjoying the long awaited BBQ. And yes they ate the whole thing.

During our short visit they did share some advice about full timing. We were grateful that we could ask questions and were able to absorb some of their knowledge and experience that we hope to put to use soon.

It was soon time to say good bye. We hope our travels will cross again and we can spend more time enjoying the friendship and fellowship as we did this day.

Sunday we went to Government Canyon State Natural Area to meet Kirk and Pam for a visit. They volunteer at this State Natural Area and being curious about volunteering made meeting them at their work seem appropriate.

Dianna and I did some looking around the park until Kirk and Pam got off work. This is one of the newer parks for the Texas Parks and Wildlife so everything looked fresh and well kept. After reading all about Government Canyon you have a better perspective of why this and all natural area’s are so important.

We sat and talked for a while at their site about many things including volunteering while full timing. When the cold front arrived and the temperature dropped 20 degrees it was time to move inside. We drove to town for a great Mexican dinner.

After we had a delicious dinner we talked more and solved most of the world problems. We did talk some about the Escapees organization and what they had to offer for RV’ers. I’m glad we are members and will be able to utilize some of their benefits.

For Dianna and I it was a weekend of much fellowship and knowledge being in the company of fellow RV’ers. We were able to gleam a wealth of information that will help us when we embark into the fulltime RV status. We thank all of you for allowing us to tap into your experience about this life style.

Mason, TX with the Discovery Texans

2010-01-23T17:46:00.000-06:00

We attended the January rally of the Discovery Texans in Mason, TX. It was a good experience being with others that have the same model RV. Comparing the different styles yet a lot in common.

It was a site that we have never experienced, pulling into the RV park and seeing so many rigs of the same manufacture. So much for having one of a kind. There was one just like ours. Same color, graphics, year and model. We spent some time with each other and compared notes and shared experiences.

We meet some wonderful people and enjoyed the camaraderie. We were introduced to the game of Jokers and Marbles. It was a little confusing at the beginning. We slowly were catching on.

Notice the lady looking over her shoulder with the look “you better not say a word”. She was winning all weekend. Those that know the game can see with a hand like that why she would win all the time.

We had a wonderful weekend. Meet some very nice people and made friends with many of them. We liked it so much that we joined the Discovery Texas and are looking forward to the March rally in Waco.

Christmas 2009

2009-12-25T16:35:00.000-06:00

An uneventful and enjoyable drive from Austin to the Rio Grande Valley.

We arrived at the park about 3:45pm to find the office closed. Normally a note would be at the door for “late” arrivals who made reservations well in advance telling them which spot they are to be in. After about 10 minutes a gentleman showed up and told us the office was closed and that short stay (obvious we were not winter Texans) visitors normally park in an area he pointed to. So we picked one and set up. That was strike one. Hind sight says I should have took my first instinct and moved to another park immediately when we found the office closed.

After setup we sat outside and enjoyed the afternoon with some wine. That was the last of the outside relaxing as the expected front arrived with rig rocking winds and rain.

The next day was a cold and windy so we stayed inside for the morning. In the afternoon we took a drive to Port Isabel and Laguna vista. Port Isabel we found a fish market and purchased supper.

In Laguna Vista we purchased our breakfast grapefruit. Nothing better than a Rio Grande Ruby Red in the morning.

Christmas day we went to South Padre Island. The wind was still pretty strong so the gulf was still upset and non-inviting. It was nice to be on the shore and take in the serenity of the Gulf no matter how much the weather had effected it.

The next day we were headed back to Austin. On the way back we discussed plans for our next trip and future trips for the spring. Right now it looks like Colorado is at the top of the list for a spring venture.

The only good thing about our stay at this park was we had excellent WiFi. That was because we parked under the WiFi transmitter antenna. After that the park gets a thumbs down for everything else.

Boot Camp

2009-11-18T17:39:00.000-06:00

Now that we have a new motorhome and it is the first ever of using one, we agreed it would be a good idea to attend the fall Escapee’s Boot Camp. Escapees’s planned a second Boot Camp because they had such a good turn out at their first fall Boot Camp they had to turn people away. With us obtaining our new coach after the first class was complete their second Boot Camp came just at the right time.

We received excellent education about RV’s mainly Class A’s. A lot of emphases was placed on the safety portion of RV’ing. As a first time owner of a motorhome we were able to obtain a lot of information that we would have never thought about. We are glad to receive all this in a class environment rather than first hand.

The added bonus was we were able to schedule Dianna in a driving class put on by RV Driving School. I sure wanted Dianna to be trained by someone besides me. Also, I didn’t want to be the only one to put all the miles on the RV.

I knew she would receive a much better and more comprehensive training than I could give in a vacant parking lot. Plus I was able to ride along to see and learn what the instructor was teaching. Thanks Denny for doing an excellent job of teaching Class A driving.

As you can see she is cool & confident and she has the paper to prove it.

Not only does she look good while driving she also can handle the traffic.

Maiden Voyage

2009-10-18T18:06:00.000-05:00

All the planning and preparation for the first trip is here. Getting a motorhome prepared for a trip is a lot different than a Travel trailer.

Did we get everything packed that will be needed? We’ll find that out after we return and go over the list of should have brought items.

As we started the maiden voyage the highway greeted us with some windy conditions. Isn’t that expected going to the coast? Everybody was right a motorhome is a big sail on wheels.

Our destination is the Lagoons RV Resort in Rockport, TX. Why Lagoons? We drove through the park on one of our many trips to Rockport/Fulton and like the park as it looked clean and well run. It has all the amenities that you could ask for on a first trip in a new RV.

We were able to get a large back in space so we had plenty of room to stretch out.

As you can see the park had plenty of vacancies. The Winter Texan migration hasn’t started yet.

We were able to stretch out and make the most of the room and learn more about our new Discovery.

When it was all said and done everything worked like it was supposed to except those items that we didn’t know how to operate.

What’s left to do except kick back and enjoy.

For the fishing portion of the trip, I took a charter boat and didn’t catch a thing. I did get to see 5 people catch red drum that were 32 inches up to 40 inches. Those are huge fish!

While I was out on the charter boat Dianna went to the beach and got her surf and fresh air fix.

It was a great weekend. Now we are really excited about spending more time in our new coach.

Our New Motorhome

2009-10-08T18:09:00.002-05:00

After much looking and comparing models, prices and equipment we found the “one”.

We had it all figured out that we could only get a used rig 2006 –maybe a 2007 vintage. A couple of weeks ago one of the dealers that we had been watching showed several new 2008 Fleetwoods on their web site and priced about what we had budgeted for a used rig. After some more research and checking forums postings we made a trip to the dealer. We looked at all the new 08’s they had and decided that the Fleetwood 39R Discovery is the one we had been looking for.

After some haggling back and forth with the sales folks we came to an agreeable deal and we now are the proud owners of a class A. More pictures of our new rig.

The decision of what motor home with what equipment was accomplished by a list we made. It was compiled from what we wanted in a rig, looking at as many rigs as we could, lurking in RV forums and our past experience with a travel trailer. We want to thank Odel and Laurie and the decision process they went through for their perfect rig.

It helped us with some of the issues that we may have overlooked. Also, their list of "must have" and "nice to have" items. We modified it for our requirements and called it our "deal or no deal" list. If the rig didn’t have an item on the "must have" list it was a "no deal" and we moved on to the next one.

Our Discovery had everything on our list plus some. We are pleased with the deal and very happy with the coach. Maiden voyage is to Rockport for the shake down and hopefully some fishing.

Our Travels and Experiences

What a Difference a Rain Makes

Heber Springs, AR

It’s Empty Now

Now Reality is Setting in

We’re Almost There!

They’re Growing!

Welcome New State Birds

Our Future Family

Rally at Lake Medina

Sand Festival

Starting and Inspired

First (RV) Flat Tire Experience

Hill Country Visit

WiFi Security - a Pandora’s Box

A Memorable 2010

LA and MS Gulf Coast

Another Visit & Blogville

More on the iPad

An iPad For Us

It’s That time Again

Getting a Stronger WiFi Signal

Getting Ready For The Next Journey

My Turn To Say Something

Mid Term Elections Do Make A Difference

4 Reasons to Vote November 2nd

An Old Friend

Hummer Festival – Rockport, TX

Market Day in Wimberley

Weather – Good News and Bad News

Sunday Day Trip

Good Sam July Winner!

August Weather

Forth of July Treat

Transitioning

First Official Day of Retirement

Colorado Springs April 2010

Start of Vacation April 2010

On to Las Vegas after a jump for the toad battery.

Then on to Colorado Springs.

Great Weekend

Mason, TX with the Discovery Texans

Christmas 2009

Boot Camp

Maiden Voyage

Our New Motorhome

4 Reasons to Vote November 2^nd