Merry Christmas!

I hope that you had a very Merry Christmas and that the new year coming brings you riches of love, friendship and happiness.
As for my Christmas, I have to say it was the worst one I have ever had.  Neither of my children came home (which is understandable, we were just together at Thanksgiving and they both live so far away. Then Brian and Lori came home after Thanksgiving because her grandmother had died.) This left me with an empty house.  I didn't even put up a tree.  I knew that it wasn't going to be a fun holiday so we left on Monday and came up to Tunica.  The weather has been so cold and iffy that we didn't want to go too far.  It turned out it has been very cold here with temps in the 20's at night.
I thought being away would help but it didn't. Well maybe some. I would have been a mess at home I'm sure.  Anyway, that's life.  I understand it, I'm just not happy with it. LOL  It did make me happy to see that my kids were happy and doing what they really wanted to do. So I guess something good did come from this.
When we first got here we had an electrical problem.  We had no electricity at the front of the bus.  No TV!  this is serious.  After looking at and checking all plugs and switches at the front of the bus Doug called friend Jim and asked for help.   It turned out to be an outlet in the bathroom that had tripped.  How does something in the bathroom effect the front of the bus but not the kitchen or living room? hmm  oh well, easy fix.
We brought Buddy with us.  This is his first trip in the motorhome and he was doing so well until last night.  He ate up the screen door while we were gone.  Not good.  He loves being outside and this isn't his cup of tea.  I don't know but I hope that he will be a happy camper dog the more he goes with us.  We will see.  I didn't take any pictures.  It wasn't the best of times as it was, don't think I really need any pics to remind me.  LOL
We left him again today and he did fine so I hope that he is getting use to this.  Or giving up.
Friends, Jim and Libbie, are suppose to be here Sunday with their new dog.  Maybe this will Buddy something better to do than eat screen!
We are staying here through New Years Day.  I hope that things get better for us and for Buddy.

Nothing but cold and ice

Haven't posted since we have been home.  Nothing to post.  It is cold here and we have had some sleet but not real bad.  Of course in this area we are not prepared for ice so it doesn't take much to shut the town down.  I haven't been out of the house since Friday and cabin fever is setting in.
I went to the store on Friday and all the crazies were out buying everything in the store like it would never be replenished.  There was no bread on the shelves and they were restocking eggs and milk as fast as they could.  Gee folks don't panic, you can always make cornbread or crack open a can of biscuits if you can't make them.
A neighbor gave us some ground elk meat and I made chili with it.  First time I have cooked or even eaten elk.  I really couldn't tell any difference between it and ground beef.  I have had deer chili and this was just as good if not better.  Yesterday I made homemade vegetable beef soup.  Now you see why I haven't posted.  My life is pretty boring right now.  I can hardly stand it so why would anyone want to read about it.  Even the dog is getting depressed from boredom.  He doesn't get out of bed til noon or later.  He stays under the cover hidden away. I feel the same way.  Maybe I should just stay in bed too.
Later

Home in time for a cold snap

We made it home today around 1:30 or so.  Got the motorhome fueled back up and checked her mpg. We did fairly well averaging 10 mpg.  Not her best but we had worse on windy days.  Got everything unloaded and Doug will winterize her tomorrow.  It seems that we might have a winter mix of snow and ice headed our way.  If we get anything it will be ice. We just don't get the pretty stuff around here.  Ice storms are what we get and that means outages.  We live in an all electric house so that means its going to get cold in here.  Doug refilled the butane so that we would have the fireplace to heat the house if we loose the electricity.  I think we are ready if it comes.  Usually if the weatherman says its coming, it doesn't.  It's when he says that it will miss us, we need to worry.  One of our worst ice storms was a surprise.  We weren't suppose to get anything and we wound up with heavy ice and no electricity for two weeks.  The high today was 70.  It is in the 50's now and is suppose to be in the 30's this weekend.  Bummer.
I forgot to mention yesterday that as we were going thru the very small town in south Louisiana.  Since it's close to christmas they had a wooden santa in his sleigh.  The only difference is that this Santa was standing in a canoe and it was being pulled by 4 alligators!  LOL   Only in America!
Later

Headed for Ruston, La.

We left this morning and headed toward Ruston, La.  This picture was taken while on that bridge in yesterdays post.

See the concrete pad there on the side of the Isle of Capri building.  That is where we were parked. See how small the area is?

 The police were busy today.  This was as we came off the bridge.  They were searching that vehicle.

                                              There is a lot of barge traffic on this waterway.

                                    This is just a picture of some of the Louisiana country side.

                                                            Just on the road again.

 We stopped around noon to rest and eat lunch.  We couldn't find a rest stop but did find a big open lot.  After stopping we noticed the very large "No Parking" signs.  So we didn't park we just paused for a minute or two.

 We are staying at Lincoln Parrish Park in Ruston, La.  This is a beautiful park. Sites have full hook ups and include wi-fi.  Cost for the sites are $25.00 a night.  What a find.

 This is our view from our site.  That is an empty site we could have gotten but took a pull thru.

 This is a beautiful park.  There is a sidewalk all around the lake for bikers or those that like a long walk.

                     There are benches placed around the lake for you to sit and enjoy the view.  This is such a nice park, I wish we had more time to stay here.  There is suppose to be some bad weather (ice) headed to our home and we need to get there before it hits and prepare.  We will need to winterize the motorhome and do some things at home to prepare in case we loose electricity.  We seldom get snow in our area and if there is winter weather it will be in the form of an ice storm.  My first inclinaton is to head for Florida but alas I must do the responsible thing.  Bummer.

Lake Charles, La.

We left Houston this morning and headed for Lake Charles, La.  We are, of course at a casino tonight.

These sites are concrete pull thru's with electric only.  They are $20 a night and are first come, first served.  You park in a spot and go in and register.  They are nice for a one nighter.  There are just 8 sites here and I really don't think there is room for eight rigs.

That space between our rigs on the left is suppose to be wide enough for another rig.  I don't think so. We didn't put down the jacks or put out the slide for just this one night stay.  We did have to unhook the car because the sites aren't long enough to leave it hooked up.

Down side is we are right under a very busy bridge.  It doesn't look it, but this is a very tall bridge.

                                                    It's pretty long too!  This is half of it.
We got settled in and hooked up to their internet.  This is the fastest internet we have had this trip.  Heck this is the only really usable internet we have had this trip.  It seems everyone has been having problems with their service.

Here is Libbie relaxing before we go in to gamble. LOL  
We had a very good supper inside the casino.  $26.00 for the two of us.  We then went and lost all of our money on the slots.  LOL  Oh well.  Better luck next time.
We leave in the morning for our next stop.  They haven't told me where that is yet. I don't really care, I'm on the road and that makes me happy.
later

Last day in Houston

We spent our last day in Houston doing more Christmas shopping.  I made a little girl happy by buying her an American Girl doll for Christmas and giving it to her early.

Of course that meant getting accessories and pets and books.  She was happy, so I was happy.

After a full day of shopping we finished up with a great supper at Buca di Beppo.

These were 2 lb. meatballs!  They sure were good too!

This dessert fed all 7 of us.  That's a lot of brownie and ice cream!!!
Their flight leaves early in the morning and we will leave out tomorrow early.  It was a nice stay. Good to see the sons and their families.  Time to move on.  I guess we will head toward home now.
Later

Hope your Thanksgiving was great!!

I haven't had internet service at the campground so I am behind in posting.  We are staying at our son's house right now.  Other son and his family arrived on Wednesday.

They went straight to work preparing for Thanksgiving.

Ashlynn had a t-shirt on announcing that she was going to be a BIG SISTER!  What a wonderful Thanksgiving surprise!

We had a fun day with family and friends.  This is the first time in several years we have all been under the same roof.  Couldn't be a better Thanksgiving.  I have much to be thankful for.

They can't all be rainbows and sunshine!

Today has just been one of those days you wish you had just stayed in bed with the covers over your head!  We woke up to another cold windy day.  After a little discussion we decided since the weather was so glum we might as well get on the road and get closer to Houston.  Jim searched for a campsite and found one in Rosenberg, Tx.  We headed out close to noon with only 67 miles to drive.  First problem we encountered was Jim's rig kept loosing air.

I don't know all the technical stuff but it wasn't good and he would have to pull over and fiddle with something and it would start working again.  Down the road we would go and oops it did it again.  I am not sure just how many times we had to stop.  Needless to say once was too many as far as Jim was concerned.

We finally made it to Shiloh Campground.  You can't pick a winner every time.  That is what I learned today.  Oh this place is rough!  Most of the sites are occupied by people living here and by the looks of the rigs, I think they have been here since this place opened maybe in the 50's.  LOL
We were so disappointed we unhooked the car and drove around looking at our options.  It just so happens that there is only 2 campgrounds in this area and they are both equal in beauty.  We are going to stay here tonight only.    The ground is so wet and muddy that when Jim put down the jacks they sank into the mud!  We didn't put out the slide or put down the jacks.  All we have done was plug in the electricity.  Oh dear, on a rating scale of 1-10, this place gets a 1.  I give it that because we have electricity for heat.  Otherwise Walmart parking lot would be sooo much better.

Doug went to their bathroom because he had to do something that would have added stink to the already terrible equation.  I guess he could have hooked up the sewer so that he could dump before we leave.  Well already too much information.  He just got back and told me he almost got thrown  by the commode.  It seems it wasn't fastened down and to make it worse it was covered in ants.  Oh lord, can it get any worse.

These pictures make it look so much better than it is.  LOL
We left the beauty of the gulf for this.  LOL

Later... tomorrow will be a better day~!

Next stop Serendipity Bay Rv resort

We left out this morning to lowering temperatures and blowing wind.  Yesterday it was 87 and we were on the beach.  Today in 2 hours time it dropped over 20 degrees and it is now in the 50's.  What happened!!!

 By the time we got down the road a few miles, it started raining.  We had to cross in a ferry.  Here we are waiting on one to arrive.

Here one is, ready to unload.  This is our first ferry ride in the motorhome.

We did fit!  Us on one side and the Matthews on the other side.

Looking out the rain soaked windshield crossing the bay.

 We traveled a very long, hard 104 miles today.  The wind was terrible. But it was worth it.

This picture was taken from inside the motorhome looking out the front windshield!  What a view.  We are at Serendipity Bay RV Resort. in Palacios, Tx.

A day of exploring and driving on the beach!

I drove on the beach today!  It was scary and fun.  The waves were crashing and the sand was very loose in places.  I slid like I was on ice.  Only this was fun and I didn't wreck.  As the sand got more loose and the beach smaller and smaller I let Jim drive us back.  It was so much fun, I must do this again.

We rode the ferry again and of course it was dark so my picture didn't turn out very good.
Thats's all we did except go shopping and that is boring to write about.
Maybe tomorrow I will drive on the beach again, who knows.  One more day here and we leave for somewhere else.  Where shall we go next?????

While riding around checking out the scenery we came across this rv!  LOL

Port Aransas

We left out early this morning heading for Pioneer RV Park in Port Aransas.  Lucky us they were having a special.  Stay for two nights and get the third one free!  Three nights it is!

We arrived around 1:30.  This is a very nice park sitting on the gulf.

Libbie and I walked the pier to take a look at the beach.  We both love the beach and could spend all our time there.

Walking the pier we came across this sign in the concrete.  Hmm  "Wait here".  Wait here for who?  Wait for what?  Why?  So many questions, no answers.  I will ask at the office tomorrow.

The wind was blowing hard as can be seen by the heavy surf.  It was rolling so fast I couldn't tell anything about the water.  Is it clear? Hopefully the wind will die down and we can tell more about it tomorrow.

We drove around looking for a place to eat some good seafood and of course had to stop at Walmart.  While in Walmart Libbie asked a local where to find some good food and she recommended, Blackbeard Too in Englestien or someplace like that.  It was 5 or 6 miles down the road so we headed out looking for it.  Of course we missed it the first time but we finally found it.  We had looked on Urbanspoon to check it out and Urbanspoon had it a 74% rating.  We didn't know whether to try it or not but decided it was just another adventure and to go for it.  We were glad we did.  The food was great and the service was good too.  The reviews had said the service was very bad.  Not so for us.  Maybe they were in a bad mood when they arrived.  Who knows, but I would definitely return to this place.  They even had live music.  I recommend the shrimp.  They offered blackened, fried and grilled as a special tonight.  Doug and I ordered the grilled, Libbie the blackened and Jim the fried.  All three were very good.  Sorry no pictures of the food, we were too hungry!

I almost forgot to mention that we had to cross on a ferry to get to our destination tonight.  I have only been on a ferry one other time.  I had seen a lot of signs giving rules for the ferry when we were coming into town.  I was hoping that we weren't going to have to cross the ferry in the motor home.  We didn't.  It was much more enjoyable in the car.  It was dark so sorry no pictures.  Maybe we can get some before we leave.

Later

The Alamo and Riverwalk

We spent an exciting day in downtown San Antonio yesterday.  We rode the city bus!  That was an experience.  It started with us getting off at the wrong stop!  The recording said the stop was for Alamo so we got off.  Well it was S. Alamo and about 6 blocks south of where we wanted to be.  What's a little extra walk.

After walking the Riverwalk we headed to The Alamo.  It is so much smaller than I thought it would   be.

It is very interesting to be where such a famous battle was fought.

 They even have a plaque where Davy Crockett was suppose to have died.

We tried to go to the Tower of the Americas but they had detour signs everywhere. And they all went nowhere.  lol  I bet we circled downtown for an hour trying to find a way to get to that tower and never did find one.  We could see it, just couldn't get to it.  Oh well..  We must have picked a bad week to travel to San Antonio.  I have never seen so many closed roads and detours.  Our poor GPS was confused from the time we got there til we left.  I am sure if it could, it would have asked us why we even bothered using a GPS if we weren't going to follow its directions.  It would say turn right and right would be closed.  Turn left and left would be closed... UGGGGGGHHHHH!  No wonder we never could find a way to the tower!  Maybe next trip.

San Antonio!

We are staying at World Travelers RV Campground.  This campground is hidden behind the large office building.  You would never know it was here.  It is beautiful, clean and very quiet.  There are a lot of snowbirds wintering here.  I can see why they would choose this place.  The sites are a very level gravel.  They rake them between each use.  It is very packed so that it doesn't pit or dig out when you walk or drive on it.

 After settling in, I actually cooked!  I made some spaghetti and garlic bread.  MMMMMmm.

                                    Since I am behind in my posts, now let's catch up for today.

We got up and decided to go to the Traders Village since there was a race being held in downtown San Antonio.  Well I don't know how long this race was but every road we tried to take was blocked for the race!  It was a case of, "you can't get there from here"!  We weren't but about 9 miles from the Village but we spent 45 min. trying to find an open road to where we needed to go.  When we finally did, we were 15 miles from our destination.

When we finally got there this was one of the first things that I saw.  This man was playing this harp like a guitar!  It was beautiful!  This was about all we saw that we liked here.  Was very disappointed.

Very big place, but it was time to move on.

After going back to the Rv to rest for a couple of hours, we headed for San José Mission.  This mission was built in 1720.

They still have mass inside it today.

The outside walls around the mission have rooms in them.

The glow that is you see is light shining from outside.  These were holes in the walls for rifles. Bang you never saw me.

Beautiful but hot day.  We are going downtown to Riverwalk tomorrow.
Later!