The Good, the bad and the Ugly!

I have had all three this week.  It started off as a good week but Monday evening Doug and I got food poisoning and it went downhill from there.  That was not a good experience.  We both missed work on Tuesday. We had others things pressing. (OK that was bad) We were both so weak that wednesday and thursday were both worthless.  We didn't feel like doing anything.  Friday we felt better so we went out to dinner with some friends and had a nice visit with them at the house afterwards.
This morning we got up and worked in the yard.  Doug had a tree cut last week and the trunk was still standing like a toothpick stuck in the yard.  We got that cut down and drug to the back yard burn pile.  Of course there is no telling when we will be able to burn it.  We have burn bans because it has been so dry.  Even fireworks for  July 4th are cancelled.  It is so dry here the trees are fighting over the dogs!
We really do need some rain here. All the ponds are drying up, my flowers are slowly withering away. I had a few that didn't make it while we were gone to Amarillo.  Only good thing is the yard doesn't need mowing. Of course the grass is just about all dead.  Nothing looks good around here.  Come on RAIN!
Tonight after supper we went to Lowe's and bought a whiskey barrel to plant flowers in and put where the tree was.  I know this is something else that I will have to water.  I plan on putting some sweet potato vines and geraniums in it.  I will take a pic when its finished.  If all goes well I will have it finished tomorrow afternoon.

I realized today that we don't have anymore trips scheduled.  This is just depressing.  I have no more vacation.  The only holiday is the 4th and that falls on a Wednesday so we can't go anywhere.  It seems that the next time that we can schedule a trip will be in September for labor day.  That is just too far away.  I am going to have to come up with a weekend trip that is close by. I will go into withdrawal from not being in the motorhome.  Cant do that!
I have family members that are at the lake this week (and last).  Seeing her pictures on facebook reminded me of the great times we had taking the boys.  I sure do miss those days.  We started out with a popup (that lasted one 2 week trip).  I told Doug if we were going to continue this camping stuff (I had never camped in my life til Doug talked me into taking the boys) we had to have better accommodations.  We bought a used 35' Terry TT.
Then Doug gave in and sold his fishing boat. (We looked like Vietnamese boat people because we had so many kids on board) We bought a ski boat and made some great memories.  After the boys were grown and gone it just wasn't the same going to the lake.  We sold the boat because all we did was ride around in it.  We had no kids and toys to pull.  We haven't been to the lake since.  I miss those days.
Seeing her pictures today brought it all back.  Those were some great times!

We're home!

 We stopped last night at a KOA at Lake Eufaula Ok.  We were so tired it sure was nice that they had a little cafe inside the KOA.  We had fried catfish for supper.

Here we are at our site.  We left Amarillo around 11 and arrived at the KOA at 5:30.  That is just too long to be on the road.  If we didn't have to be at work on Monday, there is no way I would want to stay on the road that long.  Notice we didn't boon dock on the way back. Doug offered to try again and use the generator but I didn't think that was such a good idea.  As tired as I was I wasn't ready for heat too!  The first thing we noticed when we got out of the motor home was the humidity.  Though not as bad as home it was much higher than in Texas.  I sure liked that low humidity.  I could handle the heat a lot better there.

Doug at his favorite job, dumping!  NOT!

This was going to be a good pic I took going down the road, but my camera has a second delay and a truck blocked the pic.  Story of my life!
We stopped in Clarksville, AR. for a bite to eat at South Park Restaurant.  I don't know if it was named after the tv show or not.  The food was good and it was nice to get out and stretch.  We could tell we were in Arkansas though.  The humidity was terrible!  Ten minutes outside in this heat and there won't be a dry spot on you.

She is back in her spot and unloaded except for the refrigerator.  I ran out energy before I got that done.  We will finish that tomorrow.   For now it's time to rest.

Forgot to show you this

Ok, I raised 2 boys.  No girls, but I am one myself, so I think I can dress a now 6 year old. No problem.
Well my lovely daughter-in-law just doesn't  think that I can.  Just because when she was around 2 or 3, I dressed her in what I thought was a dress, (I did think that it was short but I just thought Ashlynn was outgrowing it.) Well it was a blouse. You could see her little girl panties when she walked.   In my defense,  if you could have seen this top, you would have thought it was a dress too.  I know you would have.
Anyway, she sends Ashlynns suitcase packed like this.

Every zip lock bag has a days set of clothes, matching bows, shoes etc.

Yep, even shoes.  I didn't have to think about anything when it came to dressing Ashlynn.  She even had pony tail thingys in each bag.  She said she saw this on Pinterest.  It was a tip for saving room in luggage.  She said it came to her that it should be helpful for me.  Not that I needed any help, she just wanted to make it as easy for me as possible.  She was laying it on alittle thick.  I think I might have believed it was just a neat thing if she hadn't laid it on so thick.  No, wait, as soon as I saw those zip bags with each days clothes I knew it.  I knew I never was gonna live it down.  I never would be trusted to dress her little girl again.
Well, it worked, she sure looked nice this week.  It sure was easy to just grab a bag and dress away.  Let's don't tell Lori though.

A dead battery makes an unhappy camper

My battery in the camera will not hold a charge.  Some days its good to go and some days I get a few pics and its dead. Nothing worse than having a great shot in the lens and suddenly the screen go blue!  I am going to the store to replace it today.  Damage is already done though, I missed some great shots yesterday.
We went to see Ashlynn play T-ball.  It was her last game.  I am glad we got to see her play.  It was fun.  It was like mass confusion!  Some of the kids are starting to get the jest of playing and some still don't have a clue.  Good times were had by all the kids and that's what matters.
We had lunch today at Blue Sky.  This is a great hamburger place. Best burger I think I've ever had.  Yep it beat Five Guys and Cheeburger cheeburger.

If you are ever around Amarillo, you need to check them out. They are cheaper than McDonalds! Really, they have great prices too. Four of us ate for around $33.


We are going to see a house that they are looking at today.  Yep, they are house hunting.  What a fun job!  We all loved the house and they are going to make an offer on it.  Glad we were here to see it.
After supper Lori and Brian went to a movie and Ashlynn and I went over to the fishing pond.
We walked around what she called the "maze".

Her and her new friend did some fishing and Ashlynn caught her first catfish.

She really didn't want to touch it. LOL

Close up of the baby catfish she caught.  Yes it was released.

Ashlynn and her new friend.
As you can see by the time she finished fishing it was dark. We leave tomorrow and I am not ready to go.  I have really enjoyed being here this week and am ready to plan another trip back. I think I am going to wear out the roads between Houston and Amarillo.  I really need a home in the middle of Texas!

Time to  leave the site we have called home for the week. I don't think we will boon dock on the way home.  LOL

Palo Duro Canyon Tx

Today we took a trip to Palo Duro Canyon State Park.

Palo Duro Canyon State Park opened on July 4, 1934 and contains 29,182 acres of the scenic, northern most portion of the Palo Duro Canyon. The Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930's constructed most of the buildings and roads still in use by park staff and visitors. The Canyon is 120 miles long, as much as 20 miles wide, and has a maximum depth of more than 800 feet. Its elevation at the rim is 3,500 feet above sea level. It is often claimed that Palo Duro Canyon is the second largest canyon in the United States. These pictures really don't do this area justice. You can ride in your car down to the bottom of the car (which is nice since its over 100 degrees today. There are campsites at the base of the canyon.  These sites have water and electricity.  Can you imagine this view from your RV. There are walking trails, mountain bike trails and horse trails.  Can you see in the distance the dark cave.  Look and see the people climbing to the area. Next pic will show the cave. It really is an amazing area.  It makes me want to see the Grand Canyon even more. We really had a great day.  Finished it off with a steak.  What could be any better?

For more information on camping at the canyon go to www.palodurocanyon.com

Sorry I've just been so busy!

We have had a few busy days here in Amarillo. We started the day with pancakes (I used the mix from cracker barrell which of course is Ashlynn's favorite.) Notice we also had CB syrup. Yum!

After fueling up we headed to the Don Harrington Discovery Center. It is a great place and we hated to leave.

There were lots of creative learning things to do and I think we did them all.

Here Doug is hoisting Ashlynn up in the air.  Hoisting sounds so bad doesnt it. LOL

She put on a play for everyone around. Even had some helpers join in.

She danced her little heart out.

And even ended with a bow!

We left there and saw some adoreable praire dogs on the way back to the Campground.  They were so cute I could have taken one home with me.

They seem to abundant I guess around here they are just another "squirrel". Ashlynn wants to play and since I only have 2 more days with her I guess I better go.  I will add more later.

It was a good Day!

After sleeping late, we went to check out the Mercantile store here at the campground.  I have to say it wasn't at all what I expected.  I thought it would be your usual "campground store".  It's not.

When we went inside I was really surprised not only at the amount of inventory they had, but also the variety.

I could have spent half a day looking at all the goodies they had but I settled for an hour and left with a princess fairy night light and a peace sign key cover. It's the little things in life that make me happy. LOL

 

As we were leaving I looked up at a bird house that was outside the door and saw a bird looking back at me.  I believe that this was a baby. A large baby but it still have some fuzz on its head and it never did fly off and I got that close. I don't know what kind of bird it was.

I was going to take some more pics of the campground but this was the only one I got before my camera battery was dead.  I just charged it.  I guess I need to buy another battery.  I am charging it now, we will see how long it lasts.

We went to Ashlynn's birthday party and enjoyed watching the kids play.  It was at Chuck E Cheese.  After the party we decided to just chill for the evening.  A storm blew through around 10 and rocked the motor home for awhile.  It sounded like we had some hail.  We will have to have a look tomorrow to see if we had any damage.  The wind sure blows alot here in Amarillo!

After a long day we made it to Amarillo

We had a thunderstorm last night and when we got up this morning the clouds were still there but no rain.  I didn't sleep that well because it was just too hot.  When the storm  came thru it cooled down and that is the only sleep I got.  I didn't want to run the generator last night because I thought running it for 8 hours would be as costly as renting a campsite. I wanted to see if I could do this or would it be better to just get a campsite for just one night.  Well in my experiment, boon docking lost!  Am I wrong, should I have run the generator all night? Is that cheaper than a campsite?  I didn't do well without electricity either.  I missed the noise of the tv.  I know I shouldn't and half the time it's just on and I don't watch it, but I like it being on.  I like seeing the news. Don't think I will boondock again any time soon unless someone tells me I just did it all wrong.

When we got close to Clinton, OK there was a stretch of all these windmills.  They are so big! There were so many of them.  This is the best place for them because the wind was terrible.  It was blowing us all over the road.

There were just rows and rows of them.  All turning.  Really look different from the old windmills of years ago.  I wish I could have gotten a pic that showed just how big these things were!

Ok  I know the quality of the pic is bad but we were traveling down the road at 60+ mph.  The water tower was leaning like this last year when we came this way.  I don't know why its still standing especially in all the wind around here. But it is. LOL

This is where we are staying and I must say I am impressed.  The campgrounds are very clean and the sites are all pull thru's.

This is the young man that checked us in.  They also have a store that I will check out tomorrow.  Our site is right next to the indoor pool.

The best part of the day was when Ashlynn saw me and ran up to me grabbed me into a big hug and said "I love you grand-mama! I missed you."
That just made my day.
After having supper at Saltgrass, I played with Ashlynn until I was about to drop.
It's time to hit the bed and rest up for tomorrow.  Sounds like rain again tonight.
I'm a happy woman. I am able to see my grand baby and have a week to play!
Better get some rest.

On the way to Amarillo!

We left this afternoon around 3:00. The weather is hot but the sky is clear so we are rolling! It's an easy drive. You just get on I40 and head west. You don't get off til you get there. Around 7:00 we decided that we better start looking for a place to stop for the night. I had hoped we would make it as far as Oklahoma city which is the half way point. But here we are in henryetta, ok. Yes it is spelled that way.

We took the exit and I told doug that there was a Walmart here ,we can just boon dock. We have never done that before and I thought it would be a fun experience for us. Well the Walmart in this town is so small that if we parked on their lot we would take up all the parking spots! Doug passed that opportunity up and turned onto another lot. I hollered at him but not soon enough, he thought it had a in and out drive and alas it didn't! One way in same way out and way to small a lot to turn around especially pulling a toad! We got out looked around studied our options an Doug decided that he could make it through a small spot that use to be a drive but now was grass and very unlevel. I held on and even though it was rough and the hitch did drag some, we made it out ok. We are parked behind the Loves gas station at a ballpark. I don't know about this boon docking stuff. I can say I've done it but I don't know that I will do it again. We have the windows open and there is a nice breeze, BUT, this is way to "roughing" it for me. If we run the generator, we will probably burn enough diesel that we could have paid for a camp site. What is the draw for This type of travel? I don't understand. I think this will be a " been there, done that" experience.
Here is a pic of the baseball field we are in front of. Notice spelling of Henryetta.

I did this on the iPad so I can't add a pic til tomorrow when we get to civilization. Oh no! I smell a skunk! What have I done!

Notice the price of diesel.  This is the best price we have gotten for awhile.  One good thing LOL

It's June the month for weddings!

We went to a beautiful outdoor country wedding yesterday.  The weather was perfect.  There was a nice cool breeze all evening.  She was  a beautiful bride and the groom wasn't too bad either. When someone said something about her dress getting all dirty outside.  She just smiled and said," that's ok, I only plan on wearing it once."   It was held at the Crow House.  A home that was built in the 1800's. I wish I had taken pictures of the old home place but I was to excited about the wedding.  The mother and father of the groom are good friends of ours.  You can see he thinks he was all tapped out. LOL  He has forgot about the cost of his daughters wedding.

Here is a pic of both parents of the groom, you can see the house in the background.  The house is on the National Registry.  The elderly couple that lives in it are in their 80's.  She attended the wedding. I wish I had gotten a pic of her.  You would not believe she was that old!

The band was very good, even if he did point to our table and say "this song is for the folks at that table!"   He then started singing, Mustang Sally!
 The bride's dad had already changed his clothes.  No he didn't walk her down the isle (or in this case to the 100+ year old tree) in shorts!

I forgot to take pics of the delicious food.  We had fried chicken, mashed potatoes with milk gravy, green beans, corn, mac and cheese and home made rolls.  I said it was a country wedding.  This bride had a picture in her head of what her perfect wedding would be like and she found it at an old homestead in Star City, AR.  It was a beautiful wedding.  It was a wonderful reception.  The bride and groom looked very happy and very much in love.  What more could you ask?   Congratulations you two!
Live long and prosper!

What a Day

The pork butt turned out great! Yum I wish I could add the wonderful aroma of the smoked pork.  It was the best he has done ..  so far.

While the pork was resting,  Doug played on the tractor.  Always something that needs to be done.

Not everyone thought today was a work day. LOL In fact,  it looked like he was trying to tell us to quieten down.  We were disturbing his rest.

Don't worry he laid back down.

And Doug worked on... or played on...

Doc says if I can't sleep, how about some food or a treat?
Time to go in and eat some of that pork with potato salad, cole slaw and baked beans.  Wish you were here, I'd share.