Beyond Reflections From the Fence

Montana Keeps on Rolling, Travels for 2007, February 27, 2007, Roadside Cemetery

2007-02-28T19:38:00.000-05:00

We decided to drive to the zoo along Route 281, which runs from Hidalgo to Brownsville along the Rio Grande River. On one stretch of the road we found about 5 or 6 small cemeteries. What fascinated us was the fact that several of them were right along the road, in fact, the front boundary of the cemetery laid right next to the road, no right of way or shoulder for the roadway. We stopped at one, just to have a look. Here is an overall view of part of this cemetery. By the way, the Rio Grande River and Mexico are just beyond that line of trees in the back of the photo. It was very well kept considering how old it was.

Right: This stone is one of the most unusual I have seen. It marks the burial place of at least 4 or 5 family members, of the Torres family. The shape is very unusual, the surface appears to be some form of tiles. It is very handsome indeed.

Montana Keeps on Rolling, Travels for 2007, February 27, 2007, The Zoo

2007-02-27T19:35:00.000-05:00

There is a fabulous zoo in Brownsville Texas, the Gladys Porter Zoo. I have been wanting to go visit for a couple of years, and somehow it never happened, so this year we made it happen. We picked a day we hoped would not be too hot (funny after all the cool and wet weather we have been having, eh??). We were thrilled that when we got to the zoo it was slightly overcast. It was a great photo day, no sun glare to deal with. They had a number of animals that we had not seen before, the animals were displayed in natural settings, some of the viewing areas were behind glass and we were quite delighted with how close we actually were to the animals, sometimes only a few feet seperated us from wild cats. Between 3 couples we took well over 500 photos! Yep, it was quite the photo op!

Click here for the slide show for the Gladys Porter Zoo, there are 25 photos, of the most unusual animals, or animals that we enjoyed being close to, or that had babies.I have tried to identify each photo, and on some I have information on the animal, such as land of origin.

Montana Keeps on Rolling, Travels for 2007, February 18, 2007, Shopping for Lumber

2007-02-18T18:04:00.000-05:00

Al has been making a few improvements to Montana, they can be found here. Another improvement I have asking for (do you hear him groaning?? you should! HA HA), is a shelf that runs about 10 to 12 foot long, mounted above the slides. There has been a lot of talk and measuring and buying lumber and taking it back. Here are some photos from ONE of the shopping trips.

Above: John and Al explaining and discussing the project to Carol. OK, even I was thinking hard about this. John observing the process, seriously, but of course.

John and Al checking for warped lumber, this takes a while.

Al and John study the lumber, Marge, Donna and Carol waiting and waiting and waiting, (snicker). Thanks John and Donna for sharing this photo, as well as the other two.

No photos of the finished project, YET, as this lumber actually went back to Lowe's and Al is into part "Q" of the planning process. We will let cha know when this project gets accomplished. NOTE: March 22, 2007, the shelf is here!!

Montana Keeps on Rolling, Travels for 2007, February 10, 2007, and they went square dancing

2007-02-10T17:46:00.000-05:00

So, you may ask, what else have you been doing, since the weather has been less than desirable?

Carol has been active in the Genealogy Class here at the park, what fun to watch newbies understand, and to share my hard earned "insider information" with them. It is very rewarding to watch them bloom and grow.

We attend some of the entertainment here at the park, they have had some great entertainers this year. Usually cost around $3.00 each for 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hour of entertainment. We walk over to the clubhouse, sit, enjoy, walk home, kinda relaxing.

We also take in some of the "food" opportunities, usually the coffee and donuts on Saturday mornings. The chatting is fun too!

Taking care of the dogs and housework take up a lot of time. The grass in the dog play area is better this year (as in more grass, less burrs, etc.), so we have taken the "kids" in there a few times. I still have to do an hours worth of grooming when we come out of there, grass still gets tangled in their coats. Sorta weaves in. Nasty to get out. The last time we took them, I came home and cut poor Gallagher's leg hair ALL off, he looks very silly right now, but it will grow back. He squawks so when I hit a knot of hair and grass, and well, we were all tired of that silliness.

We also took some square dancing lessons. Yes, indeed we did! No kidding! And, yes, I have photographic proof! SEE::::::

See, we really did do some square dancing. We went with John and Donna. John and Marge came along a couple of times, and Marge had her camera ready and willing. Thanks Marge for sharing your photos.

Montana Keeps on Rolling, Travels for 2007, February 4, 2007, South Padre Island & burnt sugar cane

2007-02-04T17:34:00.000-05:00

A trip to South Padre Island is a "have to do it" activity while we are here in South Texas. This year Skip, Mary, John, Donna, John, Marge, Al and Carol all went together and visited Jim and Sue, other Montana owners. We had a great meal, and then went to the shore, where Jim fed the sea gulls, see:

Jim feeding the sea gulls, John watches.

Jim still feeding those sea gulls, Carol (in the purple, but of course) and Sue are trying to stay warm and chat. Yes, those are ear muffs on my head (thanks to some Wild friends of mine who gifted me with them).

Here in the Rio Grande Valley, sugar cane is a huge product. Part of the process of harvesting is burning off the unusable portions of the cane. This puts out a large cloud of dark gray soot. In the cloud are hunks of leaves that were burnt enough to turn sooty and black. This soot dumps all over the surrounding lands, even several miles from the "burn". Below is a photo of a hunk of sugar cane soot that landed in the campground one day. This piece was about 5 inches long.

Montana Keeps on Rolling, Travels for 2007, January 26, 2007, Citrus Festival

2007-01-26T17:31:00.000-05:00

On yet another one of the few good weather days we had in January, Al and I drove into town to see what the Citrus Festival had to offer. It had a tent full of local citrus products, goodness, we discovered there are quite a number of variety of oranges. More than we ever realized.

This is also a Texas style BBQ cookoff affair. There must have been 10 or 15 (maybe more?) HUGE Texas style cookers. These babies are large enough that they have wheels and are drug in behind a pickup truck. They cook with a lot of mesquite, the results are flavorful and tender.

Click here to take you to a short slide show, including Al and the roasted corn! Ya have to see it to believe it!

Montana Keeps on Rolling, Travels for 2007, January 23, 2007, Monterrey Mexico

2007-01-23T17:26:00.000-05:00

On January 23rd, Carol took a day trip to Monterrey, Mexico. Sadly, the weather was lousy to say the least, as it was very low visibility. They tell me Monterrey is a city surrounded by hills and mountains, I could verify that there were hills, but I could see little more than the first several rows of homes built up the side.

Monterrey also has some terrific monuments and parks. We had lunch at the Radison Hotel, and it was marvelous, great food. After lunch, because of the weather conditions, we could not do some of the activities normally planned for the trip, so instead they took us to the Mexican Museum of History. This is a top notch facility, sadly our time was very limited, they have college aged docents who will take a tour around, they speak very good English, very worth the stop.

After the museum, they took us to a Canyon nearby, I did not get the name, but I won't forget it, even with the low cloud cover. Click here to see a short slide show.

Montana Keeps on Rolling, Travels for 2007, January 21, 2007, Drizzle & Birds

2007-01-21T17:16:00.000-05:00

We are in our Winter Home, Mission, Texas. But, weather-wise, we are confused, are we still in lower Michigan?? YIKES. The temps in Mission for the first 3 weeks we are here, are not much better than in lower Michigan, only about 10 degrees warmer, and it is wet here.

There is no way to describe the term "Drizzle" until you have experienced it. There is light drizzle, that is rather like living in a cloud, heavy fog, maybe? Then there is drizzle, which is not enough wet coming down to call it rain, but it is still wet, very wet. Add a wind and you have sideways drizzle. How's this for a description: YUCKY!

For the first 6 or more weeks of our stay here in Mission we have, well, CRUMMY weather! Some friends that have been coming here for over 12 years say they have never seen anything this bad. We are in a subtropical climate here, they grow ficus trees IN the ground, just like I might grow a maple at home in Michigan. I have heard that this is the worst cold/wet/nasty winter season here, like ever??

And, nasty it was. We even had several nights where it was almost to the freezing mark. We had one particularly memorable (?) day when the wind chill was 30 according to the local weather, only, when I put the numbers into a wind chill chart I came up with about 5 above. My fingers hurt, even with gloves on.

Anyway, it is not what is expected for weather here in extreme southern Texas. There were some really bad cases of cabin fever, after 6 days in a row of wet, windy, gray, cold days closeted in less than 400 square feet of rolling homes, there were a LOT of cases of cabin fever around the Rio Grande Valley.

Once in a while the sun would pop out for a day, January 21st, for example! And, it was warm enough to ride bikes. Al and I grabbed the camera and headed for the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park on our bikes.

Click here to see a small slide show of photos taken at the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park. This is an Altamira Oriole.

We of course, have been attending activities here at the park, Saturday mornings, usually finds us in the clubhouse for coffee and donuts. There have been several different entertainers here at the park, one was a local high school group, singing tunes from the WWII era. We of course, visit with our MOC friends, and had one gathering in January and another in February. We have attended one high school performance, at the LaJoya district, they did a performance of Show Tunes. That was a great way to spend a wet gray afternoon, they are so talented and energetic we all left feeling better about the day.

Montana Keeps on Rolling, Travels for 2007, January 15, 2007, Trip to Texas and a New Cousin

2007-01-15T17:10:00.000-05:00

Well, I am a bit behind in sharing our travels of 2007, ok, so I am two months plus behind. Some of the delay is due to being lazy, some is due to computer difficulties, some is due to being lazy (Ohhh, I said that, didn't I?) and some is due to not taking the time cause we have been busy doing other stuff. Shame on me. Anyone want some swamp land I have for sale??

Nuff silliness, lets get down to business here. After spending a wonderful Christmas holiday with our children and the twins, and Al's mother, we turned our thoughts and energies to packing and getting out of Dodge (err, home). We packed and organized, winterized the house and left there about 3 PM on the 27th of December. We only drove a little over 100 miles to Aurora, Indiana where we have discovered a campground that is open all year around. The weather was particularly mild, had been wet, the campground was kinda muddy, as was to be expected. We pulled in before dark (this is a VERY GOOD THING), and got all set up for the evening. We rested and decided this was a good plan, the not driving very far the first day.

Next day on to Illinois, it was so warm and mild and no forecasts for freezing weather, so, we put water in Montana and enjoyed!

However, the weather reports for the 2 days of our trip were looking a little snarly, serious rain and wind was forecast for day 4 of our trip, so, we did a bit of rearranging and on day 3 we only drove to Caruthersville, Missouri. There is a casino, we decided to stop there. The rates were very reasonable for 50 AMP service, full hookups, free cable and free wifi. About $16.00 a night plus taxes. Course, we gambled a bit, about $10.00, aren't we the last of the big spenders?? HA HA. Made a great place for a layover, they had a restaurant, and it was fairly quiet. We were basically parked on the banks of the Great Mississippi, a nice stop.

On day 5, we left Caruthersville and drove to Ore City, Texas. A LONG day. But, when we drove through Arkansas, we were more than pleased with our decision to stay put in Missouri while the torrential rains and wind blew through Arkansas. There was water everywhere, farmer's fields were flooded, the ditches along I-40 were 30 foot or more of water in width.

We stayed with friends and now, distant cousins, David and Shirley in Ore City Texas. We arrived just in time to get set up before dark. Shirley had prepared a wonderful meal for us, as she did for the next day and a half. This gal can cook and loves to do so. David and I discovered that we are distantly related, and had a great time discussing family history. We spend New Years Eve and Day with them. What a great visit we had.

Two Montana's. Left is our rig, right is David & Shirley's. Note bikes on front of Big Butt (our GMC towing machine, pass anything on the road, cept a gas station!) How's this for a great campground??

Right, Carol and her new cousin, David, and his lovely wife, Shirley. Nothing more fun than finding a good friend who just happens to be a cousin as well. Thanks Shirley for feeding us and thanks to both of you for a great visit.

After our wonderful visit with David and Shirley, we headed on down the hard road to Schulenburg, Texas and the next day on into Mission. We arrived on January 3rd, in a cool misty drizzle of rain. This was a taste of what we would have, weather-wise, for the next 6 weeks, give or take.

Gates of the Hill Country, Texas, Page 3

2006-04-03T14:56:00.000-04:00

Above, this is what I am going to call a Ranch Gate. The upside down "U" structure is what I am referring to. This one is quite tall, ohhh, guessing 20 feet. There is wrought iron below, a Texas star and a wagon wheel (to the left) of the Ranch Gate. Inside the Ranch Gate structure there are 2 sections, to the left and to the right that have some design. See below, it reminds me of a peacock tail or sun rays, what do you think?

Left, an enlargement of the sun, or the peacock tail.

Above, a Ranch Gate with a curved top, intials at the very top, as well as the name of the ranch, stone columns, flags (US and Texas), wrought iron fencing and some of those entrance mechanisms, one inside the gate, one outside the gate. There are also electric lights on each of the larger columns, which cannot be seen in this electronically enhanced and reduced version of the photo.

Above, this Ranch Gate has a solar panal for power, stone wall and columns (behind which you can see part of a fence line made from tree branches), the house number on the functional portion of the gate and if you look closely, on either side of the house number you will see a Texas Star and Texas State outline. The Ranch Gate portion of this entry is made from some pretty hefty looking metal pipe.

Gates of the Hill Country, Texas, Page 2

2006-04-02T14:51:00.000-04:00

Above, stone (done a bit differently) and functional gates between, plants in the middle. Not sure if this is one driveway or two. The fencing to the left and right of the gate appears to be metal pipe.

Above, same gate, a closer view, note the small black box on a pole on the far left, obviously some kind of entrance mechanism. Also note on the top far right, is a small solar panal for power, saw a number of these, and of course, middle, some kind of skull.

Above, similar building materials, stone, functional gates, and a Texas Star. This star is painted red, many are black or tan.

Above, stone, columns, gate, initial, plants, this gate has it all, I thought it was quite eloquent. The drive goes up a hill. The wall between the shorter columns in front and the taller columns in the back is curved along the ground and also gets taller as it goes towards the back columns. Beautiful craftsmanship.

Above, Texas sized functional, brick columns appear to have been painted. This gate is 8 to 10 foot tall. I find it interesting that they still manage to get some style into their functional gates.

Thanks to the gate builders of the Hill Country of Texas.

Gates of the Hill Country, Texas, Page 1

2006-04-01T14:44:00.000-05:00

Last year when we visited the Hill County, I fell in love with the Gates. I decided if we ever got back I was going to take a LOT of photos of them, to share. I fell in love with the individuality, the art, the simple ones, the outrageous ones. Here are some, Thanks to the people of the Hill County and their great gate builders.

Above, very functional, with a bit of brick at the sides, yucca plants for decoration.

Above, columns of stacked stone, wrought iron, and cattle grate. Note the MK and JK on the columns.

Above, wrought iron, with spear tops, gate & sides the same, initial J.

Above, functional taken into the world of nature. Isn't this fabulous? This gate is quite tall, maybe 10 foot.

Above, columns, local stone, flags. Note the UPS box, on the short column on the left, it is about 4 foot tall.

Montana Travel Reports for 2006, March 27, 2006, Wild Animals of the Rio Grande Valley

2006-03-27T14:04:00.000-05:00

These are Javelinas. Otherwise known as Collared Peccary. The link will tell you all kinds of interesting stuff about this animal. We see small bands of them at the State Park, usually 5 to 10 animals in a pack. We keep our distance!

We saw these Javelina babies as we rode out of the park the other morning. They don't look too old, and like all babies, they are kinda cute. You can see the adults are watching us rather closely. We were more than 100 feet away, but those adults were taking NO chances on those humans watching them.

Imagine our surprise when we got back to our rig the other day and found this fierce critter residing in our bedroom????

OHHHHHH, that is for the twins! HAHAHA He is four foot tall, it will take a lot of candy to fill him!

Back on January 25 of the Montana Travel Reports of 2006 we showed you a photo of the palapala out in front of our Montana. The leaves were bare, well, here it what it looks like at the end of March. Not so bare anymore.

Montana Travel Reports for 2006, March 25, 2006, World Birding Center

2006-03-25T13:50:00.000-05:00

Not far, less than 1/2 mile from our campsite is the Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park, famous for it's birding. Here is their home web page, http://www.worldbirdingcenter.org/sites/mission/, it is easier to tell you where to look than to explain it all here. With the new camera in hand, off we went to one of the birding blinds. Here are a few photos:

Left: A Golden-fronted Woodpecker, he is about 10 inches long. His home is Texas and Mexico.

Right: These lovely little blue birds are Indigo Bunting. Their habitat runs from Michigan to Texas, East Coast to about the Rocky Mountains (from what I can tell from the map in my bird book). I have only seen this bird one other time, and that was in Michigan at one of our State Parks. These little guys are 5 1/2 inches long. These birds were seen at Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park on March 31, 2006 and were about 30 feet or more away from us. Al did a great job getting a photo with that new camera.

This is Altamira Oriole. He lives in southernmost Texas and in Mexico. He is such a vivid color he takes your breath away when he comes flying into a feeder area. When seen with the Green Jay (see below) their colors actually seem to enhance each other. This guy is about 10 inches tall.

This is a Green Jay, they are quite prevalent here, he is about 10 1/2 inches long, and I have to tell you, this photo, as good as Al did, does not do this bird justice. His back is a glorious color of green, and has shades and hues that are hard to describe. When seen in a group, they remind me of parakeets and the jungle. His attitude reminds me somewhat of the Blue Jay from home. The Green Jay is considered a Tropical bird, whose range JUST reaches the southern tip of Texas, specifically the Rio Grande Valley.

Montana Travel Reports for 2006, March 24, 2006, Rio Grande Valley Flora

2006-03-24T13:32:00.000-05:00

Lets see what that new camera can do.

Left flower from Mexican or Texan Olive, right is the tree, this particular one is right on our site here at Bentsen Palms Village.

This is called Purple Skyflower.

Below: flower from a Prickley Pear Cactus, the paddles of the Prickley Pear are eaten, and are sold in the local grocery stores.

Right, these everblooming roses are indeed everblooming, they have had flowers on them every day since we arrived, December 31st, 2005. This photo was taken March 24, 2006.

Left, the flower of the Texas Lantana, a shrub that blooms in late winter.

Right: black eyed susan. These grow wild, they are a 4 foot bushy type plant. This one has it's own little bug, on the right, that black spot.

Above, this riot of "hurt your eyes" bright orange is called Mexican Flame Vine, it is growing in the pool area, and attracts butterflies.

Also near the pool, growing on the fence, is the Passion Vine. These wonderful flowers were a joy to discover.

Montana Travel Reports for 2006, March 21, 2006, Winter Appreciation Day

2006-03-21T12:12:00.000-05:00

March 21st every spring in Nuevo Progreso Mexico is Winter Texan Appreciation day. It is helpful to arrive early in the day, yes, even "can't get her out of bed early" Carol got up and got going.

Street vendors sell everything.

Left, reduction of this photo for the web site also reduces the beauty of the art work, wood, carved and painted.

So, here is a enlargement of just one piece.

Left, strawberries, huge, red, ripe, juicy. Believe they made drinks from these.

Right, wheels for the vendor of nuts and candies.

Left, having some fun.

Entertainment abounds, there are several stages with folk dancing and musicians, all free.

Winter Texan Appreciation Day is all of this and more, it is quite the experience. Something that we hope to do for a number of years.

Montana Travel Reports for 2006, March 10, 2006, Bike Stand and a Little Pickin'

2006-03-10T12:05:00.000-05:00

One of the things that we have really enjoyed about our trip to the Rio Grande Valley this year, is having our bikes with us and riding in and out of the park. However, with the winds here, they tend to blow over quite a bit. Several of the fellows took advantage of the wood shop here at the park to build bike stands. One fellow designed and built one, another fellow came along and copied the basic design, with a few tweaks and built his own. Well, we wanted one as well, but did not want to build it from wood as that gets a bit heavy and bulky to transport home. After some discussions, pow wows, and thought, Al, with some very good suggestions (thanks to John B. and John C.), came up with a bike stand built from PCV pipe. It is made in 4 parts and comes apart for travel. Al even figured out how to put water in it to add some weight.

Other improvements and changes we have made this year include a bedskirt, a awning support (helpful in all this wind), a water softener (we really LOVE the water softener), scare lites under the steps of Montana, and a really neat door latch (thanks Vicki and Steve R., and your designer). I have enjoyed my plant shelves in the kitchen so much and we continue to enjoy the lifestyle and our Montana.

At the park this year a number of the residents decided to have jam sessions on Saturday afternoons. All were welcome, they even came up with songbooks. Many times they were playing just yards from our Montana, they were very good, great stuff!

Montana Travel Reports for 2006, February 27, 2006, Los Ebonos Ferry & Biking

2006-02-27T09:16:00.000-05:00

Near Mission to the west, is the last hand drawn ferry that crosses the Rio Grande River from the US to Mexico. The ferry holds 3 cars, or 20 bikes and riders. Many Winter Texans find this an enjoyable way to spend a morning. Ride the ferry to Mexico and bike into town for shopping and lunch, bike back to the ferry and cross back to the US. Some of our friends had done this and we decide to do this one day in early March. Well, much to our dismay, the water of the Rio Grande was high, the current was fast and the ferry was not running. They could not get it close enough to load the passengers and vehicles and the current was too strong for the workers to pull us back from Mexico. Here is the ferry-------- and Mexico on the other side ------

And here are the sad faces that could not go biking in Mexico this day. OK, a few of em were laughing, but some of em were crying!

All was not lost, we drove over to Santa Ana Refuge and rode there.

Montana Travel Reports for 2006, February 15, 2006, LaJoya & Parakeets

2006-02-15T09:00:00.000-05:00

As we have for the last several years, we attended the LaJoya School District presentation of Mariachi and Folklorico dancing. This year we sat in the balcony, which was very nice, but we found that our ole digital camera just could not catch the action. We enjoyed the presentation, and this is the only photo that is worth sharing. This was called a Ribbon Dance, was intricate and enchanting. Yes, it is out of focus.

The Rio Grande Valley area is renown for birding. "Birders" come from around the world to see some of the birds in this area. Al and I do not consider ourselves extremely serious birders, but we do enjoy seeing different species and learning about them. We heard about the green parakeets that fly from Mexico into McAllen every evening, just before dusk and land on the power lines. So, we found out where this event took place and off we went with another couple to see this "happening." Here is what our camera caught, on our best zoom. Nope, we cannot tell what they are either!

Some of our other friends heard of this little birding phenomenon and off they went, they emailed this photo the next day. After the episode at the LaJoya presentation and then the green parakeets, well, you know where this is going, don't you?? Yep! Al purchased a new digital camera. We now have a Cannon Power Shot digital camera, some of the following web pages will offer flower and bird photos he has taken while learning about his new toy!

In the meantime, aren't these Green Parakeets something? They are about 13 inches long, and have yellow under their wings. The bird books claim they are escapees.

Thanks John and Marge for the photos that show what the Green Parakeets look like!

Montana Travel Reports for 2006, February 2, 2006, Dolphin Watching

2006-02-02T08:52:00.000-05:00

This gorgeous flower is on the Esperanza bush, a continueous blooming evergreen. They are planted all over the campground. They are a native Texas plant.

We went to Border Fest again this year, we stayed for seven hours. We had a grand time. Below, this Border Collie was helping his master do push ups. We enjoyed the dog show tremendously.

Below, dancers from different countries, but all considered "belly-dancing". Other ethenic dancing exhibits at Border Fest were dancers from the Netherlands, Brazil, Scottish Bagpipes, Polonesian drums and dancers. There were demonstrations of Karate and other martial arts, drummers, country western entertainment. The list goes on and on. Wander from tent to tent, area to area, country to country.

Right, Mardi Gras dancing from Brazil and South America. The drums that beat out the dances were fabulous, makes ya want to get up there and dance with em! Costumes were outrageous, as Mardi Gras outfits should be, green, gold, purple, with dashes of hot pink.

Left, one of the floats from the Illuminated Parade, it is a small parade if you count numbers of units, but it goes through the grounds of the entire Festival, has lots of lights, and very colorful floats. A great way to end a wonderful day at Border Fest. (Oh, yea, and we have not even talked about the fab food we had there!)

Montana Travel Reports for 2006, January 30, 2006, Birding at the Convention Center

2006-01-30T08:38:00.000-05:00

Behind the South Padre Island Convention Center is a Birding Observation area. There is a resident alligator, which we did not see this year. We did spend an hour or so enjoying the birds and waterfowl. I believe this is called a Common Moorhen.

Where there is water, there have to be a few turtles. In this area, there were a LOT of them! Not sure what kind he is, he was about 12 to 15 inches in diameter. Have a feeling he would make a bad boo boo on your finger if you got too close! OUCH!

Above and right, same bird, he was about 2 to 3 foot tall, I have spent considerable time browsing the bird book I have with me and have yet to figure out WHO this guy is! He is not nearly as large as the Great Blue Heron. He was in just inches of water in the Madre Lagoon, west of South Padre Island.

Above, to the right bottom, standing in the grass is a Great Blue Heron. Thus ends our wonderful day on South Padre Island.

Montana Travel Reports for 2006, January 30, 2006, Dolphin Watching

2006-01-30T08:32:00.000-05:00

South Padre Island is one of our favorite day trips while we are in the Rio Grande Valley, we try to go once or twice during our stay. Below, pelicans on a dock.

We decided to go on a dolphin watching boat ride. We went on one 2 years ago, which we found to be less than wonderful, too many people on the boat and, well, the boat did not smell so good and had a lousy sound system. We decided this time to take a tour boat that only held 6 people. The boat was a pontoon boat, about 30 foot long, enclosed, and comes with its own dolphin findin dog! This cutie could hear the dolphins before we could see them, and she barked away. She is standing on the roof of the boat, she would run from the front to the back, depending on where the dolphin were.

Little Joseph, above, is a shrimp boat, a dying breed they tell us. Look in the water just in front of the bow and you will see a couple of dolphin leading the way to the Gulf of Mexico.

The dolphins come quite close to this 30 foot pontoon boat, much closer than they will to the larger tour boats. Not sure how close these two are, but at times they were within 15 feet of the boat.

Montana Travel Reports for 2006, January 28, 2006, Museum of South Texas History

2006-01-28T08:25:00.000-05:00

Another of our day trips was to the Museum of South Texas History in Edinburg, Texas. What we found was a fabulous colletion of artifacts, well arranged, well displayed.

Above, this interesting piece of wraught iron is above a door way, there are a number of animals and critters worked into this piece, you will find a hummingbird, a snake, a lizard or two, and more. Photo courtesy of Ormee and Ginette Chamberlain.

Saddle on display, silver, and lots of it!

The Museum of South Texas History started its life as the Hidalgo County Historical Museum. The first building they occupied was originally the jail, a very old jail. A jail that still has the trap door for a hangin! YIKES. We are looking UP at the trap door that would fall away during a hanging. They only hung one man in this jail before the State of Texas changed the law and all executions were taken over by the state. The door is now welded shut!

Well, my my, what have we here?? That would be from the left, Steve, Bob, John and Carol. The Museum of South Texas History specializes in tours for school children. This is part of the tour talking about the Spanish in the area, and is one of the few places the children (?) can touch the artifacts. So, the tour guide lined up 4 volunteers (?) and here ya go! We were on the tour with 5 other MOC (Montana Owners Club) families.

Montana Travel Reports for 2006, January 26, 2006, Rio Grande River Cruise

2006-01-26T08:20:00.000-05:00

On January 26, we took a river cruise on the Rio Grande River. Around the Mission area, the river runs about 25 feet deep, due to dams. We had great weather, not too sunny, not hot, not cold, almost no wind.

Our river craft awaits.

This is one of the dams on the Rio Grande, we are up river of the dam, the water is flowing OVER this dam.

Montana Travel Reports for 2006, January 25, 2006, Bentsen Palms Village

2006-01-25T08:13:00.000-05:00

Well, here is is January 24th, and I am just getting around to starting a tour report for 2006. What's wrong?? Well nothing. We have been having way too much fun, that's all.

We left Tipton on December 27, drove 5 hard days, arriving in Mission Texas on December 31st, just in time to jump in the pool and hot tub to celebrate the end of 2005 and the arrival of 2006. As I said to Al, now that I have that silliness out of my system, next year we will take 7 to 10 days to drive down here.

We are staying at Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort, on lot 322. If you go to their web site here, there is even a map you can enlarge and see just where our site is! How fun is that??

So, WHAT have we been doing?? Hmmmmm, trips to the pool and hot tub, walking the dogs the 1 mile around the park (take 2 at a time, that is 2 miles for the humans), biking, visiting with others in the park we know, had a pot luck lunch for MOC (Montana Owners Club) people in the Valley, had a lunch and RV show day for MOC people in the valley. We have been in the state park on bikes and hikes several times, it sure is nice over there, no cars allowed. We have been eating a lot of Mexican food, YUM!! I am sponsoring a Genealogy share hour here at the park on Monday afternoons. We have been to the ice cream socials, barbeque dinners, and entertainment here at the park. Mix in a little housecleaning, laundry, cooking, cleaning, dog grooming, shopping, one trip to the flea market, (SO FAR), and we have managed to stay VERY busy!

The weather has been delightful! All but a couple of days have been sunny, blue skies, and over all above average temperatures. We have already seen a 90 degree day or two! Texas, as well as Oklahoma are experiencing severe draught, and we are actually praying for some rain, but, have to say, that these temps sure are a balm to the soul of a Michiagander turned Winter Texan.

You can find the Stevens campsite by the flags, specially our new Yorkie flag.

Our home for 3 months. Bensten Palm Village RV Park, Mission, Texas. We have our bikes this year, and have enjoyed riding them around the park and into the State Park nearby.

This is the view from our front yard. They call this a palapala (not sure that is spelled right), it is a community area, you can have a group meal, or just sit on a rocking chair or lie in the hammock and enjoy the sunny weather. We had a campfire here last night, wood provided by the park.

Left, is what is beyond by back yard. The building contains the laundry room and behind that is the swimming pool and hot tub. I only have to walk about 200 feet to do my laundry.

Right, the pool and hot tub here at Bentsen Palm Village RV Park. They are both a bit small, but, still very nice and clean.

Montana Trips, 2005, Indiana Fall Rally and Fall Camping in Michigan

2005-10-18T18:07:00.000-04:00

Just before Labor Day weekend, we headed back to the Elkhart County area of Indiana. We had a few repairs that needed to be done to the rig and we hoped to hang around long enough to enjoy the Great Lakes Chapter of the Montana Owners Club Fall Rally. We ended up getting the repairs done, thank you Keystone for a great job, and found a campsite for over the Labor Day weekend at the Elkhart County Fairgrounds. We had wifi at the campground, 50 Amp service, full hookups, a great neighbor (another MOC member, Glenn and Lorraine came in and parked right next to us), fabulous weather, great rates (as in not expensive) and a few trains to listen to! It was a nice week! After that it was on to the Rally. There were about 35 Montana, Mountaineer and Big Sky rigs attending.

Here are a few of the 35 rigs that attended the Rally. We are parked behind this row. Always a lot of fun to see so many of the same kind of rigs in a campground at the same time. Nice people too!

At the Rally we also had several pot luck meals, YUM, good eats. We had a tour of the Montana plant. We had "Show and Tell", where we look at all the improvements we have made to our units. We even had a dog show!

Above, Left: Tilly and Gallgaher, ready for the dog show, in their patriotic hats. Above, Right: Al with Abby and Captain Hook, ready for the show! Abby and Cappy won, "Most Friendly".

After the Rally, it is back to Tipton for a few weeks. We will have one more trip in 2005 with Montana, for fall camping. We go to Birch Run, Holly and Grass Lake, Michigan areas. We get a chance to see Carol's nephew in his last high school marching band competition, We have the twins visit us for their first official camping trip. We also visited with family and friends during those two weeks. The weather was dry, cloudy a lot of days, chilly, but we did manage to have a few lovely days and took this photo of Montana at the Portage Campground, Waterloo Recreation Area near Grass Lake.

So, ends the Montana Tours of 2005. It has been an eventful year and one that we will long remember. We love our home on wheels.

*Note: Photos from the Rally are courtesy of the MOC photographers. We thank you for sharing.

Montana Tours of 2005, Gun Lake, August

2005-08-21T18:02:00.000-04:00

Eight days after we returned home from the Minnesota/Iowa Research Trip we were off again in Montana. In fact, we did not even unpack, just did the laundry, kept the food in the refrigerator and grabbed the gear we always need for the lake. Fishing poles and tackle, inner tubes to float on, beach chairs, boat, summer stuff!

We spent 15 days at the lake, boating, fishing, swimming, relaxing. NOW this is a vacation! Good friends, good weather, campfires, smores, not hot, not much rain, not cold, whew, doesn't get a whole lot better than this! Ice cream runs, taking the boat instead of the car. Even a sing-a-long around the campfire with our favorite guitar man - Larry.

Our sons came out and spent a weekend with us. What a special time that was!

Al sure had on the perfect shirt for a fish fry! Oh, the fish was fabulous!

Tilly the co-pilot. Helping Al drive!

From the back to the front, and left to right, Abby, Cappy (panting, hey, when do I get to go for a swim and cool off?), and Gallagher. While Tilly drives, they relax and enjoy the great summer weather.

Gun Lake surely is one of our favorite places to camp in the summer in Michigan. For those of you who do not know Michigan, it is located in Yankee Springs State Recreation area, just west of Hastings Michigan.

The Minnesota and Iowa Research Trip

2005-08-01T17:37:00.000-04:00

The end of June finds us packing Montana with tons of research, books, files, and computer gear for a month long trip to Minnesota and Iowa for family research. We drove from lower Michigan to the UP of Michigan, crossed the Big Mac bridge, drove the UP westward into Wisconsin. There is some pretty land up that way! We enjoyed our trip on Route 8 of Wisconsin. We eventually dropped down to Wausau Wisconsin to find a place to park Montana for the night. We ended up at Rib Mountain State Park. That turned into quite a little adventure. It is 700 feet higher than the elevation of the town, and we did not measure, but think that 700 feet took less than a mile to go up! Whew, what a pull, the next morning, we took the same road down, in FIRST gear, all the way, and Al still had to do some serious breaking. Got to the campground to discover there were only 2 electric sites, for handicapped campers. They said it would be ok to take one, as long as we knew that we might have to move if a handicapper came in. We tried for 45 minutes to get settled in the site, the view was unreal! But, alas, it was not meant to be, so we carefully pulled around to another site and enjoyed a very early evening. When it got dark we turned off the lights and went to bed. No electric, which is Ok, but we were not prepared for boondocking. It was worth it tho to see that view and have the experience and the story to tell!

The next day brought a scenic ride through the heart of Wisconsin. Dairy country, and home of the most wonderful silos. Have never seen that many silos! You would crest a hill and before you in the miles of farm land, you might see 30 or more silos.

Onward to Minneapolis, we stayed in a wonderful park at Apple Valley, just south of Minneapolis. It was close to the Mall of America, IKEA, the libraries we wanted to visit and turned out to be a wonderful place to stay. Very clean, neat and well patroled on a July 4th weekend.

Next we moved down to Austin Minnesota area, we traveled east and west of Austin to cemeteries and towns where Al's ancestors lived. We visited the Spam Museum in Austin. What a hoot! They sure had a sense of humor when they set up the displays, but, it was also rather interesting.

One thing that we noticed was the unusual flower displays in many of the cemeteries in this area. This was the first time we had seen the poles, and flowers, well, here is a picture, better than trying to describe with words.

Each pot of flowers is held about 2 to 3 feet above ground on a sturdy metal pole. The pots are a decorative clay type, heavy and probably 10 inches or more in diameter. The pots can be removed in the fall for the winter season and safe storage.

One of the most memorable days we spent in Minnesota was the day we drove over to Whalen. Al's grandfather was born there in 1879. We had no idea what we would find, just just drove over one Sunday afternoon. It was hot, we had the dogs with us, which of course, limited our choices of restaurants for the day. We happened to find a A & W Root Beer Drive In. Been a long time since we had visited one of these, brought back a lot of memories from our early days of marriage. What fun! After lunch we drove on to Whalen, here is the sign at the edge of town.

We discover that Whalan had 135 people living there in 1880, and that the highest population ever reported was 156. It is a charming town, has a bike trail and a great little museum. There is river rafting and tubing near by. Whalen lies in the Bluff area, very charming, with hills, and rivers.

Our Minnesota/Iowa Research trip took us next to Nashua, Iowa. We stayed in a riverside campground, nice place, but they had horrendous rains about a month before we arrived, and the "skitters" were horrible. When they are still attacking at 4 AM, you know they are bad! We spent about a week there, again visiting many cemeteries (9 in one day in one county) and libraries. We took LOTS of photos and the library visits resulted in a few successes and a few failures.

The weather turned HOT! The weekend of July 16 and 17th the temps were in the mid 90's, heat factor was well over 100. OUCH!

Next, we traveled down to Cedar Falls, Iowa. We met up with some Jaquis family members, nice people, great visit. Stayed in a county park, very reasonable rates, full hookups, beautiful scenery. Very hot while we were here as well, and the humidity was also very high. Our glasses would steam up when we left the trailer.

When we left Cedar Falls the fun and working part of the trip was over. We headed back east, stopping in Elkhart Indiana for some repairs to the air conditioner on Montana. Spent a few days there and then headed back up US 12 and home. We were on the road for a little over a month.

This was a trip that will be part of our hearts and souls forever. We hope to go back sometime.

Montana Tours of 2005, April 20 to 24, 2005, Natchez Trace, Spring Delights at Home

2005-04-24T17:12:00.000-04:00

After our two wonderful days at Ruston, Louisana, we headed for Jackson, Mississippi and the Natchez Trace (its a old Indian trail). The Dogwoods and Redbuds were in full bloom. No words can describe the beauty. Here is a link you might like to look at, Explore the Nachez Trace , pay special attention to the photo section. We spent one night at a commerical campground just off the Trace. We would urge anyone coming north that can jump over to the Trace to do so, noting they do close the trail during weather events (like snow and ice storms). I'll bet it is beautiful beyond words during the fall color!

We did not have a lot of time to stop and take photos, due to a medical emergency in Michigan, but here is one photo we took at a rest stop. Photos don't do it justice!

The Natchez Trace ends on the north at Nashville Tennesse. From Nashville we drove through Louisville Kentucky and on home to Michigan. Another adventure under our belts!

When we arrived home we found the white and pink star magnolia bushes in full bloom. This is the white one. The pink one is such a pale pink that it looks the same in a photo.

The forsythia was also in full bloom. Actually almost past full bloom. The sunshine yellow of forsythia tells you that most of the gloom and snow of winter are past. Note the word "most".

April 24, 2005, 4 inches of snow. Seems like we started the Montana Tour of 2005 with a snowy Montana photo, and we will end it the same way! April snow melts quite fast tho. April 25, 2005 my bleeding hearts were in full bloom in the yard. The geese from the swamp nearby brought 2 baby gozlings into the yard, the gozlings were only about 4 inches tall, could not have been more than a day or so old. They sure were cute!

Montana Tours of 2005, April 10 to 15, 2005, Family Visitation Texas & Ruston Louisina

2005-04-15T16:36:00.000-04:00

OK, to be quite honest here, after Fredericksburg, we got so busy and traveled so hard, I lost track of the days. This portion of the travel log is being written months later, so, forget the dates, here is a summary of the next several weeks on the road before we got home around mid April.

After Fredericksburg we spent a day driving to Arlington Texas. We took the back roads, slowed down for a lot of towns, enjoyed the scenery a LOT! Had a great lunch (bar-b-que of course). Arrived in Arlington, stayed in a very nice park, pretty, but had a very strong disagreement with the owners about their dog rules. They had encourgaged us to "come on in, we love dogs", only to arrive and discover that they refused to let us use our xpens on the lawn for the yorks. It was late in the day, we were very tired, we had already paid our fees, and we were in no mood to find another place to stay. So, we stayed, sadly, we probably will never go back there again. It was a pretty park, well kept, neat, but the owners did not care much when we said we won't be coming back. Ahhh, life with 4 yorks.

We spent Saturday with Al's cousin, Walter Gerth and his family. What a nice day we had. Sunday, we spent with my cousins, Marilyn and Connie (Darden relatives). We laughed and giggled and had a grand time. They presented me with a fabulous map of Isle of Wight County Virginia, which shows the ole Darden home. We also had major break through on our Darden lineage, and when I got home I spent several weeks of concentrated research proving what we had discovered. On Monday we had lunch with another of my cousins, Ray Remley and his lovely wife. All in all, we had 3 packed fun filled family days. Doesn't get much better than this!

Now, we start the treck home. We had heard of the Natchez Trail, from Jackson Mississippi to Nashville Tennessee. It is a 2 lane highway, top speed 55 MPH, no commerical trucks allowed, a drive through some of the most beautiful country!

But first we stopped in Louisiana at a county park for the night. One night turned to 2. We walked, we cleaned the rig, we fixed a few things, we enjoyed. This park, near Ruston, was very scenic, had a great lake (pond?) with a paved path around it. Park was not crowded, what a nice place to stay for a few days.

Ruston, Louisiana, Azeleas in bloom, they were breathtaking!

Not sure what this flower is, it looks like a form of clover. We saw fields of it along the highway between Arlington Texas and Ruston Louisiana. From afar it has the appearance of a dark maroon colored carpet.

Here they are, in all their glory. I had tied up all their hair so it did not drag in the dirt and sticky plant stuff, and still it took me about an hour to brush them all out after their jaunt around the lake. They sure enjoy those walks tho! From the left, Cappy, Abby, Tilly, and Gallagher (the silver one).

Again, not sure what these are, but they grew along the water, in the background is the lake at the park in Ruston Louisiana. The water in the front is a flooded sidewalk, but made for a pretty reflection.

Here sits Montana , all hooked up and ready to roll. Ruston Louisiana, taken on our walk around the lake.

Above, the view of the lake from the computer desk in the Montana. I did some input and work while we spent 2 wonderful days here, well, I tried to do some work, this view had me looking out the window as much as I did input!

Montana Tours of 2005, April 8, 2005, Texas Flowers & Fredericksburg Delightful Shopping

2005-04-08T15:12:00.000-04:00

More flowers, so many flowers, so much temptation, just could not help ourselves, had to take lots of photos, some of which we are enjoying sharing with you, hope you enjoy them!

This lone purple flower was growing on Enchanted Rock, in a divit created by stones.

Yellow daisies, again, at Enchanted Rock, extra special when you see them against the background of the stone of the area. They sure jump out at cha!

One last flower photo, Enchanted Rock area.

While we stayed in Fredericksburg Texas we ate a 3 fabulous German restaurants, and found at least 2 more!

The country side is very scenic, fun to drive around. The area is full of unusual things and places, stuff Al and I both enjoy.

The last day we did something we seldom do, cause I HATE SHOPPING!! But, we went walking around downtown Fredericksburg, window shopping style, Found a number of additional restuarants to try, some smelled reallllllll good! We never did get into the Brewery, but when we walked by there a couple of guys were drinking a beer and said it was FAB!!!!!

The stores were OUT OF SIGHT!! There was some of the usual, touristy stuff, but, I got to tell you, it was mostly UP SCALE! This is not your everyday tourist trap! The clothing stores were so wonderful, I stared, I drooled, I did not dare go in! The art was wonderful, and, let me tell you about the antique stores. Now, I am no expert, and I am sure some of this was not the best, but, I can tell you that some of it was real and some of the most unusual pieces I have ever come across. The new stuff weren't so bad either! Tables made from mesquite wood. Oh, man, that stuff is so heavy you cannot believe it, but, wowie, gorgeous. Some of it, they picked wood that had holes it in, and filled the holes with tourquoise or copper pieces. Very unusual, very pretty, very Texas!

There was this store called Rustlin' Rob's Texas Gourmet Foods, it totally overwhelming! They had stuff I have never heard of or seen before, they had cobblers, like cherry cobbler, serve warm over ice cream, yum, you could bake a pie with this stuff. They had dips and mustards, and jelly, like Raspberry Jalapeno Jelly, barbeque sauces, bloody mary mixes, Toffee Pecan Honey Butter, Peach Amaretto Pecan Honey Butter, they had Jalapeno Peanut Butter, and TONS AND TONS AND TONS MORE! And you could taste anything you wanted, as much of it as you wanted. Al said he could eat a total meal in there. It was EXPENSIVE, but what a experience. WOWIE. And, they had fudge. Like $3.00 a quarter pound. Let me tell you, I have not had fudge that good in years, they make it with cream and butter, it is the smoothest creamiest fudge I have had, maybe ever!! And, not gaggy sweet, like a lot of the stuff you buy. One bite and I am spoiled for life!

We have had fabulous weather, mid 70 to 85 or so, clear skies, not much humidity, slight breezes, a bit windy once or twice. All in all it was a great week! We left a lot of sights unseen, and museums and other great places unvisited, we surely want to come back to Fredericksburg Texas!

Montana Tours of 2005, April 7, 2005, Enchanted Rock & Ft Worth Star Interview

2005-04-07T14:34:00.000-04:00

Before we left the Fredericksburg Texas area we wandered over to Enchanted Rock. We did not really know what to expect, but had been encouraged to run out there. It is supposed to be the second largest outcrop of granite in the United States. That sounded interesting, little did we know just how BIG this might be. The photos will give you some idea, but until you visit this in person, you cannot have a true appreciation for the SIZE!! Here it is:

This fine collection of granite is 1 billion years young! There is a hiking path, for those brave enough to climb. In the photo to the right is a part of the path. Yes, that IS the path, every once in a while there is a marker. Take your time, watch for snakes, have a hat on, and best to have a bottle of water with you, which of course, we did not, cause we had NO idea what Enchanted Rock was all about!

Below: They call this Turkey Peak. I believe to climb in this area you need special permission, sign waivers, and have all that special rock climbing gear, ropes, stuff like that. Aren't the prickley pears pretty in the foreground?

The view from about 1/3rd of the way to the top. As we were not prepared, remember, no drinking water, and cause of Al's knee, we decided that we enjoyed what we had climbed and the view was great, so, why go further! No sense pushing our luck!

This next photo is of one of the pieces of granite that fell down the hill (small mountain) at some point in time. If you look hard, you will see me standing by the rock to give some idea of size.

After we left the Enchanted Rock area, we went driving around looking at flowers, etc. BUT, first we had to find something cool to drink, so we stopped at the Knot in the Loop Tavern, near Willow City. We ended up being interviewed by the Ft. Worth Texas newspaper, the Star-Telegram, and a few days later, the article appeared, with some quotes from both of us! How fun was that?? Here is a bit of the article:

"WILLOW CITY - The wildflowers weren't exactly in full bloom along the famed Willow City Loop last week, but Al and Carol Stevens couldn't have cared less.

The 13-mile loop, about 11 miles northeast of Fredericksburg, is considered by many to be the premier site for wildflowers in Texas. The flowers are blooming late this year, but the Michigan couple was too busy swapping stories with strangers inside the Knot in the Loop Saloon to care.

"Dang, if this is spring, then I'm coming back every year," Carol Stevens said. "This sure beats springtime in Michigan."

For the Stevenses and thousands of other tourists, searching for fields of wildflowers appears to be as important as actually finding them....

Last week at the Knot in the Loop, which serves as a base for cyclists and car clubs touring the Hill Country, patrons were swapping recommendations about restaurants and good routes.

After soaking up the bar's laid-back atmosphere and the 75-degree weather, Al Stevens, the Michigan visitor, vowed to return.

"The rest of Texas is pretty mundane, but we kept hearing about the Hill Country so we thought we'd give it a try," he said. "We didn't know what to expect, but the food is great, the people are great and the hills are green."

Montana Tours of 2005, April 6, 2005, Luckenbach & Storm Clouds

2005-04-06T14:25:00.000-04:00

The weather this week has been wonderful, sunny, clear, bright, if this is spring, GIVE US MORE!

Above, another photo of bluebonnets. They sure are pretty.

Another one of our stops this week was in Luckenbach. I am not quite sure how to describe or explain Luckenbach. Except to say it is small, it has a dance hall and a old post office that is now a gift shop and in the back is a bar. There is usually a musician pickin' at a guitar in the bar. That is about all the action this place has, except that every summer Willie Nelson comes and performs here. Fun place, where when you ask what kind of beer they have, they show you the caps from every kind they have, hooked to a piece of cardboard. A cap menu of sorts. It works, and is kinda cute, eh?? Left, the Post Office turned bar and gift shop. The population, they say, of Luckenback is THREE! They say, that everyone in Luckenback is someone (or something to that effect!)

Below, we saw a number of homes built in this style, and we thought they were very handsome homes, the stone work and brick work is very impressive, although it does not show real well here.

Al came back from running errands the other evening and caught these magnificient storm clouds on film. It had been a gorgeous clear and very warm day. This storm did not cause us any grief, but we understand it did some nasty business over towards Austin.

Montana Tours of 2005, April 5, 2005, Lyndon Johnson Ranch

2005-04-05T12:42:00.000-04:00

Monday, we had lunch in Fredericksburg at another German restaurant. The food was so fabulous, well, we just cannot express how good it was! We then drove out to Stonewall to the LBJ Ranch. They have a very nice bus tour, which we took and enjoyed. We saw the re-constructed house of his birth, the cemetery, the Texas White House, the landing strip, and a lot of animals! Lady Bird is said to spend about half her time at the ranch, sitting on the porch and waving at the tourists. They said she was at the ranch the day before we arrived. Here are a couple of photos.

This is the Johnson Cemetery, on the Ranch. The public is not allowed inside of the stone wall. President Johnson is buried in the closest row, about midway, his stone is taller than the rest. Five generations of his family are buried here.

Above, the Texas White House while President Johnson was in office, Lady Bird is sometimes sighted sitting on the porch, waving at the tourists.

Above is one of the cattle on the ranch, look closely at his left horn, yep, it says "LBJ".

Left, it is spring, the pansies are planted. One of my favorites. Note the border on this flower bed, it appears to be made of glass bottles, buried neck down. See the enlarged photo. These were taken at the Sauer-Beckman Farm, which is part of the Lyndon B. Johnson State Park and Historical Site. The Sauer-Beckman Farm is a sample of Rural Life in the Hill County of Texas. Interesting tidbit we learned, Augusta Sauer Lindig was the midwife at the birth of LBJ.

Close up of the bottles that make up this flower border.

Montana Tours of 2005, April 4, 2005, The Hill Country of Texas in the Spring

2005-04-04T11:59:00.000-04:00

The week of April 3, 4 and 5, 2005, Fredericksburg, Texas, the Texas Hill Country. Again, lets let the pictures tell our story.

Sunday April 3rd was another beautiful day in the Hill Country. We drove out to Bandera, The Cowboy Capital of the World. Al's nose found this Bar-b-que restaurant. You know where we ate lunch!

Our ride around the Hill County through Medina and back to Kerrville was lovely. There were some great views, sadly, there are no pulloffs, so we just drove and enjoyed the views and did not take any photos.

Montana Tours of 2005, April 3, 2005, The Hill Country of Texas in the Spring

2005-04-03T11:22:00.000-04:00

We are in Fredericksburg, Texas, in the Hill Country. We ate at a terrific German restaurant today, and went for a ride in the countryside. It is wildflower season here, the photos will tell the story.

Nope, they are not Texas wildflowers. They were part of a rather large

group, all enjoying a sunny Texas spring day, they took
the same scenic tour we did.

NOW, some flowers:

Above: Texas Bluebonnets. Prickly pear cactus in front.

Right: I believe this is called a White Prickley Poppy, it sure is prickley, reminds me of thistle.

Above, prickley pear cactus with a Texas hill behind, it was a

cloudless beautiful sunny day in the Hill Country!

Above, a field of Indian Paintbrush. These, as well as the bluebonnets and other wildflowers are planted along many of the higways here in Texas, miles and miles of them. They are quite the sight when seen from that prospective. Colorful and breathtaking!Above, a field of Indian Paintbrush. These, as well as the bluebonnets and other wildflowers are planted along many of the higways here in Texas, miles and miles of them. They are quite the sight when seen from that prospective. Colorful and breathtaking!

Above, more bluebonnets, the official state flower of Texas.

Montana Tours of 2005, March 23 to March 31, 2005, Bees, Sand Art & Wind Grilling

2005-03-31T11:16:00.000-05:00

Our stay is coming to a close, we have been to South Padre Island for a day, walked along the ocean, got a bit of sun, had pina coladas by the beach, a very enjoyable day.

Made another trip to Progreso Mexico, had breakfast (something we had not done before, YUM), found a great jewelry store, picked up a few other requests, and ran out of $$, must be doing something right??

One of the MOC members dropped by, John and Donna, they are staying out in Mission, where we hope to be next year. Had a nice visit with them, and hope to see them all down here next winter.

Did have one exciting afternoon in the Montana, we got an infestation of bees. They said they were not killer bees, but they were not happy bees either. Al took Abby and Cappy for a walk, came back in, I got Tilly and Gallagher ready for their walk, went out the door and wammo, there they were. UGHHH. We had a couple of interesting hours, it was Sunday, the park has a exterminator on call, but he could not be reached on Sunday. I proceeded to inform the park manager here that bees did not KNOW it was Sunday, and maybe he ought to have the names of more than one exterminator to call?? I had to stay out side for a long time, because I could not get in the door of Montana. Finally the bees decided to stay away from the door for a moment and I ran in. Eventually a bee got in Montana, which we expected, and I was back on the phone with the park manager. He said, well, we can come down there at dusk and spray, we have this foam. I asked him what I was supposed to do about 4 yorks that had to go potty real soon, and it was HOURS until dusk?? They came down and sprayed, the bees have not returned!

Sand art/sculpturing, is very popular in the Rio Grande Valley area, as is to be expected! Here is an example of a rather cute piece, which was being done at the Borderfest Festival. They work on it for a few days while the festival is going on. It is interesting to watch these artists at work! They spray their work with a mixture of glue and water, and they can stand for weeks or longer as long as they are not touched and as long as they are not at the beach!

Last installment we showed a photo of some really Texas styled bar-b-que grills. Now, lets tell you about trying to grill, say a hamburger, here in the Rio Grande Valley, on one of our little portable grills. Maybe we should call it the wind/grill dance. It tends to be a bit breezy here in the Valley. OK, sometimes it is downright WINDY! Cannot tell you how many times stuff blows away or over. Lawn chairs if not being used, are best laid down, or they are gonna move! At this park they have 30 gallon light weight galvonized trash cans at each campsite. We have NO idea why, but that is what they give you. Twice a week they pick up the garbage. In between we chase lids from those garbage cans. The wind picks the lids off the trash cans and tosses them around like a frisbee! We find them in adjoining campsites! Lucky, so far, they have not damaged any rigs or trucks!

Anyway, now, back to the wind/grill dance. First step is to determine if the breeze is light enough to even attempt cooking. IF, you are dealing with a full force wind, our advice, don’t try it, and if you insist, we wish you all the luck in the world! Next step, try to determine which way the wind is blowing. Now, study your campsite and see if you can find a place to tuck in that is a little bit less breezy! Move grill, attempt cooking. Be sure to allow more time for this type of cooking, cause the grill will be real hard to heat up! We have seen other campers pull their truck up to block the wind, and even attempt to put tarps out to block the wind. Al and I have bodily stood guard trying to block the wind. Maritial bliss, cuddling around the grill in the wind trying to get the hamburgers to cook! When all else fails, GO OUT TO EAT!

We leave the Valley tomorrow, heading north, SLOWLY, north. First scheduled stop, Fredericksburg, Texas and Wildflowers!

Even though we were pretty sick for about 2 weeks when we first arrived, we have still enjoyed our stay here, Al had a great time playing billiards, and I just enjoyed being in Montana, and being here!

Montana Tours of 2005, March 24, 2005, Musings and Mumblings

2005-03-24T17:16:00.000-05:00

Other musings and mumblings from things seen over the last few weeks:

They have a drive in movie (anyone remember those) a mile or so away from here, we can see the screen at night, not the movie, just that it is there. $5.00 a car full of people to enter!

Saw corn 4 inches high a few weeks ago, now it is about 8 inches high.

They are harvesting fields of onions! They also harvest sugar cane here, part of the process is burning the fields or something, problem is that this burning produces large amounts of soot, large hunks of soot, that fly for miles. It is a bit of a problem here at this park, it gets in the pool, and all over your rig and truck and the grass. Sounds a bit romantic growing sugar cane, the harvesting of same, it is NOT romantic, it is black and dirty.

The orange and grape fruit trees are in bloom, the smells are too wonderful to even try to describe.

The spring flowering bushes are also in bloom. The colors are fab! People are planting their annuals, pansies, petunias, geraniums, all great looking, healthy, large and full of blooms.

Many of the Winter Texans leave as of March 1st, looked like at least 100 pulled out of this park on March 1st. Since then, many more have left. I think we have an acre of empty lots around us! (Not quite, but entire rows at this park have NO rigs.) Most of us that are left will be leaving April 1st, gonna be a traffic jam out there on the highways that day!

Someone was playing the bagpipes here in the campground one evening. OK, they were still learning, missed a few high notes, but I surely did not expect to hear anything like that!

We had another gathering of MOC members in the Valley, a much smaller group, but still had an enjoyable afternoon and evening visiting and comparing stories on Montanas.

We are scheduled to leave the Rio Grande Valley on April 1, 2005. We will head home, first stop along the way will be Fredericksburg, Texas for Wildflower time. We are told it is fabulous. After Fredericksburg we have no definative plans, YET!

Montana Tours of 2005, March 23, 2005, Rio Grande Livestock Show, Amazing BBQ Grills

2005-03-23T17:09:00.000-05:00

We attended the Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show here in Mercedes. This is a form of our 4-H county fairs, the youth show the livestock they have been raising, only here they show a LOT more cows and steers than I remember in Michigan. They have arts & crafts for sale, carnival rides, junk food, vendors, etc. They have rodeo several evenings a week (we did not attend, heard it was quite good tho). They have fireworks and a parade. We could see the fireworks from our trailer, just stood in the door way and watched! They take their bar-b-que quite seriously in Texas, as you can see by this photo!

All these smokers/cookers were made by individuals for this fair

competition. They were made of very heavy gauge metals. The lids were so

heavy I could barely lift one, and it was a small cooker.

I know, first thought, is that animal would be a lot of steaks and meat for

those cookers! This was a LARGE animal!

Above: A 1903 John Deere Chuck Wagon. This type of wagon would be

loaded up with coffee, beans, flour, rice and cured meats for cattle drives.

There was a nice demonstration about cattle drives at the Rio Grande Livestock Show.

Montana Tours of 2005, March 10, 2005, Fruits & Vegies Supreme

2005-03-10T16:49:00.000-05:00

The weather has been nice, over all, the average temps are up to around 80 degrees during the day. We have had a few days of 85 to 90, had one that was 99, ooeee, that was warm! Have to remember tho, that here it is mostly dry heat, and that does make it a bit more tolerable than 99 with the humidity we get in Michigan. Needless to say, there have been a number of visits to the pool and hot tub and therapy tub (water in a therapy tub is not as hot as a real hot tub, but still has all those wonderful jets of water to help get rid of the sore spots).

We have made several trips to Mexico, the shopping is always fun there, we have great lunches, and come back. We were even able to attend “Winter Texan Appreciation Day” in Progreso, Mexico. That was QUITE the experience. Some free food, people everywhere, entertainment stages up and down the streets. We discovered a new shopping area, very colorful and fun, off the main drag one block, worth the walk!

We also have been to the flea market a few times, did a little shopping, mostly the $2.50 t-shirts and cheap hats for Al! I found bathing suits for me for $5.00 a piece. Yep, I bought some, 4 of em, to be exact! Must be discontinued suits, but since I am no fashion expert and so out of the loop, like, who cares! HAHA.

The Rio Grande Valley is well known for its fruits and vegetables, below are photos from one of the larger fruit markets we have found. The prices are very reasonable, beats the grocery store prices by far!

Montana Tours of 2005, March 2, 2005, Borderfest

2005-03-02T16:42:00.000-05:00

We attended the Borderfest Festival at Hidalgo. It is a celebration of the heritage of the area and more! Great food, to say the least! Art and arts and crafts are displayed and sold. There was a tent that discussed farming and ranching here in the area, showing what products are made from some of the plants and animals of the area. They have ENTERTAINMENT! We cannot remember a festival that had so many entertainment tents. We saw just a portion of what was offered, and we saw, Polish dancers, Scottish bag pipe band, and Japanese drums. There was also a number of Mariachi bands and Folklorico dancers, they even had belly dancers, which we did not see, but I did see a dancer walking around the fair - - it was a guy! They had street entertainers, including a gal, dressed in Mexican folklore clothing, that was a street mime, one of those that freezes into positions! When we saw her, she was sitting on a picnic bench and a Winter Texan was trying to keep her from falling over, he would adjust her arm, she would move one way, adjust the arm in a different position, she would fall another direction. Fun to watch! It was quite a nice day!

Yes, that IS the Weinermobile!! Borderfest has it all!

There was a car show at Borderfest, every good festival needs and has a

car show. Here were a couple we found a bit interesting. I would have

loved to see them set this demonstration up!

Below, one of the entertainment groups,

(Just for Anne and Karen!)

Montana Tours of 2005, February 28, 2005, Sand Art, HUGE Bee

2005-02-28T16:30:00.000-05:00

We are still in Llano Grande Park, we contemplated moving to Victoria Palms on March 1st, however, we got a cold reception when we stopped to discuss the situation with them, they are contemplating a 1 dog per rig rule. They don’t want my dogs, they don’t want my $$. And life goes on.

Al has been playing billiards almost every night and has gone with the fellows to another park a few times to play in tournaments. He has been enjoying this very much.

We drove out to South Padre Island for the day, Al had SEAFOOD for lunch, HA HA, now there is a surprise! We looked around at the campgrounds. Most are county parks, and literally every site is reserved for a full year in advance, the same people keep coming back. One lady we met commented that the only way you might get one of those sites is if someone died. They really love it out there, salt air and all! There is one commercial campground that we found, it was rather pricy! The parks that we saw on the mainland, but close to the Gulf were horribly run down, not where Al and I would feel comfortable staying. There are probably more parks, yet to be discovered by yours truly, but for now, we will not be staying out in that direction!

So, what is the photo at the right of?? I call it "Sand Art". It is a photo of the sand on the beach at South Padre Island. This is looking straight down, we liked the unusual formations.

Al also discovered that Llano Grande has a brand new wood shop, since we were in desperate need of a shelf to secure the new TV, he took advantage of the expertise of the volunteers that run the shop and of the time. We now have a really great looking shelf, with DVD player and TV all secured. He also made 2 doors, one for under the refrigerator and one for under the stove, knocked out the panels below each, installed doors and oooeee, 2 great new storage areas. I have been rearranging the kitchen. (Photos can be seen here.)

This huge killer bee is actually a "monument" we found in Hidalgo, Texas. It is hard to tell, but those palm trees in the back are TALL. They say this is the world's largest killer bee. We just had to have a photo!

Montana Tours of 2005, February 15 to 26, 2005, This 'n That

2005-02-26T15:49:00.000-05:00

February 15 - 17th, 2005

Still lazy, we are now walking the dogs every morning, Al takes 1, then another, then he goes for a longer walk, when he returns I walk 1, then the last. The dogs LOVE it!

On the 17th, members of the Montana’s Owners Club (online forum) that are in the valley, meet for a late lunch/early dinner in McAllen Texas. You know who the MC for the afternoon was. We had about 30 people, spent a great afternoon of chatting and visiting and laughing. My cough is gone, except when I laugh, oh, we were laughing, oh, dear!

February 18 - 26, 2005

We have 3 or 4 days of wonderfully warm weather. We go to the pool and hot tub and laz around for 3 afternoons in a row. We go out and run some errands here and there. Some MOC members, Les and Julie, ended up in our park for 1 week, and we visit with them, talking fulltiming, and of course, Montanas! We go out to eat a couple of times with them, they are great people and we hope to run into them again sometime on the road!

We spend another afternoon in Harlingen, did a little window/antique shopping in the downtown area, which is like so many of our country’s downtowns, hard on businesses. Many empty buildings and a few “going out of sale” signs. We tried to go to the Rio Grande Valley Museum, but found it closed. They don’t publish their hours on their glossy brochure, very irritating. Had dinner in a all you can eat Chinese buffet place. Al had wanted to go to the Shrimp Fest that evening, till they told us it was boiled shrimp, and a tad pricey. So, we found this Chinese place, and they had boiled shrimp, and crab this, and mussels that, and catfish and salmon and more shrimp with flavorings. He still got all he could eat! And, got to say, that eating Chinese with Country music twaingin the in the background is different! Only in Texas?? What fun!

While we were killing some time that afternoon we happened upon the Harlingen Public Library and wandered in. They had a nice collection of art work, which we wandered around and looked at. I wandered into the genealogy area for a few minutes and found a book on Page County Virginia that has some photos of a house I want, connected to my families. Go figure, all the way to Texas and find something on one of my Virginia families. I found that they book is also owned by the Allen County Public Library, so I will take my scanner and look it up there.

On the afternoon of the 26th we run out to La Joya and take in the performance of the high school kids, like we did last year. They surely are a talented batch of kids. We stopped on the way home and visited another MOC member who is parked out that way, spent a few hours with John and Donna from Ontario, what a nice visit and afternoon.

Well, that about brings you up to date. We have been here almost a month, and have yet to be to Mexico. Have not done much at all, but we are in the Montana, and as far as we are concerned that is a good thing!

Montana Tours of 2005, February 11 to 14, 2005, Llano Grande & Iwo Jima

2005-02-14T15:30:00.000-05:00

Finally we are able to show you the Montana as she sits this year at Llano Grande RV park. The grass is about half grown in, and the palm trees are only about 10 inches high. The lots, however, are very wide and the utilities are set up very nicely.

February 11 - 14, 2005

Still recovering from our colds we are still not doing much. Weather here is not the best, but then look at the weather they have been having in Arizona! OUCH. We have a day or two of rain, gray then we get a day or two that is rather nice.

Al finds a replacement TV at the local Best Buy, a 20 inch flat screen Toshiba. It has a great picture! A day after we get that all set up, we go to play a CD, and you guessed it, the CD changer will not open and we discover that it is fatally ill. The day we did laundry, it was rather damp outside and I could not hang out the shirts to dry, so we set up the little clothes rack we have in Montana. You guessed it, in the middle of the night, crack, crack and crash, the rack broke and I had to gather up all the still semi-wet clothes. Next morning we went to Linens N More and bought a new one, this one a bit more substantial than the old one. This is turning into the “replacement tour”.

On the 14th, we finally feel we are strong enough to undertake a day of sightseeing, so we head off to Harlingen. We visit the Iwo Jima monument. This is taken from the same mold as the monument in Washington D.C. It is quite breathtaking. There is a nice park, lots of memorial live oak trees placed in memory of fallen soldiers, a museum and a interesting movie on the Battle to take Iwo Jima. We have lunch in what is supposed to be one of the 50 best Mexican restaurants in the US. It is fine, but we think we found one here locally near our campground that is at least that good, maybe better! Yep, we have eaten there a couple of times! We also wander out to the Texas Air Museum, which will be closed by the end of February for ever, the collection is being sold off and all artifacts will be moved to other locations. It is an interesting collection of airplanes and World War II war memorabilia. The collection needs to be moved away from the salt air (we are near the Gulf) and parts of it needs some TLC, but we still find it an enjoyable way to spend a few hours. It was 92 degrees in the afternoon, February 14th! OK, we loved it, it is part of why we come to the Rio Grande Valley, the high temps!

Iwo Jima Monument in Harlingen Texas

Montana Tours of 2005, January 30 to February 10, 2005, Texas and Still Sick

2005-02-10T15:26:00.000-05:00

January 30, 2005

Today we drive to Dallas Texas. It is another LONG day, 410 miles. The campground we end up in is OK for overnight, but has small lots, crowded, they want us to unhook, which we DO NOT do as they gave us a site where we could just manage to get into. It is cold, it is raining, and wind blowing, rather nasty all the way around. Carol drove today, and was reminded how wonderful this Montana pulls.

January 31, 2005

Dallas to George West, Texas, did not record the mileage, exactly, something like 300 to 350?? It is still cool, rainy and frankly nasty. The campground we pick for tonight has HUGE lots, pull throughs that run alongside the road. Concrete pads, nice little covered picnic area on each site. Bad side of the coin, the access roads are all dirt, it is raining, so the access roads are all a slimy slippery mud. Both of us are starting to feel bad, ok, worse, again. Nasty colds! SIGH

February 1, 2005

Arrive Mercedes Texas, staying at the Llano Grande Resort. Victoria Palms was full, so we are in a sister park. We arrive it is about 45 degrees, cloudy, breezy, and raining. We will set up in this nastiness. Or, partially set up, we only do what is strictly necessary, as we both feel so bad and this weather is so nasty we don’t want to be out in it. We are in a brand new section of the park, the electric meter reads 00000. We have signed up for 1 month, then we will see, maybe we will move on, maybe not.

February 2 to 10, 2005

Well, we have been very sick, nasty cold, cough, slight fevers, just generally crummy. We mostly stayed in the Montana, nursing our wounds! A few trips out for groceries, gas, and not much else. Some days we even managed to take the yorks for short walks. No fun being sick, but we were warm, safe, comfy in Montana. Carol read a LOT of books. We had trouble getting the cable modem to work, went back to the office for 4 different modems, only to find that they had a filter on the line, which we were told was NOT there, and that one of the poles had some missing equipment. Once the cable company was called about the missing part it was less than an hour and we were up and surfing. Al now has both laptops hooked together, network style, via a cord, (cord goes into the LAN connections) and we are surfing the net at the same time with our cable modem. VERY COOL!

Our TV is kaput. Al opened it up, found a blown fuse, went out, purchased new fuse, replaced fuse, plugged TV in, and FLASH! Lit up the whole Montana. What a blast! Took the TV into a local repair shop, where it was pronounced unfixable. So, we are surfing the net looking for a new one. Constrained by the size of the cabinet, this is turning into quite the search.
The weather has been, well, lets put it this way, has not been the best. We were here several days before the temperature got above 50. It has been mostly gray and icky and spitting rain here and there. The temps finally climbed out of the dungeon, and we had a couple of days of 70 and 80's. It is now back in the 50's for a day or so.

We did splurge on ourselves and had one of the local guys wash and wax the truck and wash down the sides (not the roof) of the Montana. With all the road dirt off, they both look better.

Nothing very exciting to report on our first couple of weeks out. Sometimes it just is like that.

Montana Tours of 2005, January 23 to 29, 2005, Snowy Sick Start

2005-01-29T15:17:00.000-05:00

Well, there is the photo, this was 12 noon on January 23, 2005. You cannot see it, but there was a snow drift ON the truck that was about 15 inches deep, right up against the back window.

January 27, 2005

Temperature 4 below zero F. Sunny, bright, little wind, but COLD! The slides move slow, and stop once while moving them in, wait a moment, start them in again, they are IN!

Warm the truck a bit for the “kids”, load them in, and we are off, time 8:45 AM.

We have let the GPS unit pick the “fastest” route from Tipton to Donna, Texas. US 12 to I 69, south to Indianapolis, to 70 West to Effingham, Illinois, 57 south. We drive 390 miles today, which is 140 more than we like to travel. But, we know the routine, pack the trailer at the last moment, as quickly as possible, for us that is a 2 day event. Then drive as far as we can the first couple of days, heading as far south as we can, the goal being warm enough weather to put water in the unit.

We stop for the night in a little town called Watson, Illinois, at the Percival Springs Airport/Campground/Restaurant/Driving Range. Not much to look at as far as a scenic campground, but the owners could not have been nicer, we drove up and he was waiting for us at the road! We had dinner in their restaurant and watched the weather reports. We had very limited TV on board, as we could not get the antenna up, it was still frozen to the roof! It is still below freezing, about 19 tonight, brrrr!! Weather is cold here, but shaky further south, there is mumbling (OK, forecasting) of ice and freezing rain. YUCK! If necessary, we will stay here over driving in freezing rain.

Note: Virgin Olive Oil congeals and turns a funny cloudy consistency when it is semi frozen! It is cold enough all day, that gallon containers of drinking water stored UNDER the kitchen sink has ice at the top when we open a jug. We sleep with all the doors and drawers open in the rig! By morning the olive oil is clear again.

January 28, 2005

COLD, again, or rather still. Oh, brrrrrr!!

Well, we watch the weather, and decide to GO FOR IT! We are almost out of propane, after heating the rig for 2 days before we left. We are also low on fuel for truck and fuel for the humans. We travel about 30 miles, stopping in Salem Illinois. We fuel the truck at Walmart, the humans at Denny’s and find a propane business, all in a area of less than 1/4 mile. All fueled up, we head out, turning south once again on 57. After we cross into Missouri we find some pretty bad roads, reminding us of I 10 in Mississippi and Louisiana. 57 turns into 55 and when we cross into Arkansas the road gets WORSE. About 20 miles of nasty nasty roads. We figure this is a good acid test of the changes made in the Montana and the truck late last fall, changes made, that we hope will result in a smoother ride for the passengers and the gear in the back of Montana. The passengers are still commenting, “UGHA, this road is horrible!” We pull into the left lane, a trick we learned last year on I 10, and like I 10, it is a much smoother ride. As far as we are concerned, anyone wanting to get around us, can pass on the right. We discover later, when we reach our stop for the night, that indeed the changes made last fall are working, as not ONE cup or glass had fallen over, the dishes were all exactly where they were in the morning, NOTHING had moved in the kitchen! This is a first, and we are celebrating with small whoops of joy and little happy dances around the rig!

We drive hard again today, doing 380 miles. We stop for the night at Brinkley, Arkansas, in a campground behind a Super 8 Motel. We decide to get cable TV, which also gives us full hookups. After just a few minutes of thought we decide it is indeed warm enough for water! This is always a great thing!

We do discover tho, that we have somehow managed to kill the TV in the front room of the Montana. The night before we had somehow managed to leave the remote control near one of the electric heaters and Al suspects we burned it up. I remember shutting the TV off with the remote, but it will not come back on 8 hours later. When we get to Texas we will pull the TV, see if there are any fuses that need replacing, and then decide what to do next if we find none. Irritating, but nothing to do now, but try and figure out what is wrong. SIGH

January 29, 2005

We have coffee, orange juice and sweets at the motel continental breakfast. On the way back to the rig, we decide we are gonna stay put for 24 hours. It is raining hard, we are both a bit wounded, Al’s virus cough is worse again, we just need to lay low and rest.

We surf, play with the computers, he reads more about the TV, cannot find anything in the literature on a quick fix, and we both take naps. I do some stitching and work on some cemetery projects. I do the corrections found during proof reading, I get 3 projects corrected. Not bad for a licking the wounds day!

GUN LAKE CAMPING, A SUMMER DELIGHT

2004-07-01T13:40:00.000-04:00

Every summer we try to visit Gun Lake, Yankee Springs Recreation Area, near Hastings, Michigan for 2 weeks of summer fun. We fish, we swim, we boat, we have campfires, somemores and other campfire goodies, singalongs with Larry's guitar to accompany our attempts at being "Elvis", pot luck dinners, fishing and a little nap taking. We go with our great friends, Larry and Mary, Don and Kathy.

Gun Lake is over 2000 acres of water, some deep, but a lot of that acreage is rather shallow, about 4 to 6 feet. There are great beaches. There are some great restaurants, for those days when we just don't feel like burning hot dogs on the grill. There are a number of golf courses nearby, so Al can play his annual 9 holes of golf. It is one of our favorite campgrounds and we look forward to each summer of camping there with our friends.

Before we leave home, we gather fishing poles, golf clubs, beach toys and chairs, awning house, all the toys we will NEED (err, make that WANT) while we are at the lake.

It is about 120 miles from home to Gun Lake, so Carol drives the van and pulls the pontoon boat, Al drives the truck and pulls the Montana 5er.

We go, we play, we enjoy!

The photos are just a glimpse at Gun Lake Camping, AKA, pack that campsite as full as you can with fun and toys!

Above, the pontoon boat trailer, the van, the Montana 5er

with the shade awning installed, creating a great place

to sit and chat under the large awning.

Above, another view of the shade awning. Notice lots

of "carpets" on the ground, this campground is so heavily

used that the grass never has a chance to grow,

or very little chance. That is our GM truck in the background.

The clothes drying rack. Below the Montana

are beach toys and fishing gear.

Above, our pontoon boat, parked at the end of our campsite

on the channel, we can walk right out of the Montana and onto the boat.

( What a way to go! )

You can see the lake at the right of the photo. Also our awning house,

which is used primarily for shade for the yorkies.

Yes, we know, they are spoiled rotten dogs.

Above, another view of the Montana 5er, the GM

truck, and the van in the background.

Above: Using that campsite! Al cooking dinner.

Here you can see the shade and awning, the picnic table,

the awning house and in the very back of the photo you can

just see the teal of the canapy of the pontoon boat.

Can't wait for next year!!

P.S. A limited number of campsites at Gun Lake are on the channel, we were very lucky to be able to reserve this campsite. We enjoyed every moment, realizing that we might not be that lucky next year!

The 2004 Adventure, April 22, 2004, Summary

2004-04-22T12:12:00.000-04:00

We parked the Montana in tight campsites by working at it hard for 45 minutes and we parked in pull through sites at the end of a hard day’s drive. It was 3 above zero when we left here, and it hit almost 90 degrees a few days in Donna Texas. We sat through some real windy days in Donna, I mean WINDY. We sat through a few nasty rain storms. We also had some days of absolutely perfect weather, sunny, warm, soft breezes and heavenly smells of grapefruit trees in bloom. We parked near our share of railroad tracks, enough that our little Captain Hook stopped shaking every time a train went by. He used to shake uncontrollably every time, now he ignores the trains.

If it sounds like we are ready to go on our next adventure, we are. We love the challenge and the variety of life in a RV. We get to experience so many different cultures, foods, people. Our theme song, just might be, “On The Road Again.”

Here are some photos, curtesy of Keystone RV Company of a Montana 5th Wheel and the Interior of the 3295RK, which is the model we own.

This photo of the exterior of a Montana Fifth Wheel was taken from

the 2003 brochure, Keystone RV Company. Our 5er looks similar.

This is a photo of the interior of the 3295RK, from the 2003 brochure, Keystone RV Company. This is about what your 3295 will look like upon delivery from the manufacturer. You will note in the far left bottom corner, this unit has a fireplace, ours does not. We also do not have the curtains on our unit, a personal choice that we are very happy with. We have not taken any photos of the inside of our unit, when we get around to that, I will post them somewhere on the web pages. * Thank you Keystone for such great photos in your catalogs.

The end of the Adventure of 2004, REALLY!!

*Photos of our rig and improvements can be found at Carol's Reflections From the Fence, And More

The 2004 Adventure, April 21, 2004, Retrospect

2004-04-21T12:07:00.000-04:00

April 22, 2004

Run over to Elkhart and have the axle checked for alignment, camber and whatever they check on axles. Ours is out, and has caused a large amount of uneven wear on the tires. We have about 6,000 miles on the unit and will be buying new tires. This is not covered under warranty, the axle is only covered for 90 days. This is not going to be a cheap repair, we are not thrilled, but it has to be done, it is a safety issue. No question, it has to be fixed and the tires must be replaced.

Leave Elkhart and head over the Michigan state line to US 12, homebound at long last. We have been away from Tipton for 13 weeks, drove almost 4,000 miles with the trailer, driven through 10 states, visited in 8 of them for more than one night. Visited Mexico on 4 separate days, enjoyed it and had great food there. Ate in a LOT of great restaurants, from Mexican to Barbeque. Carol hit 4 major research facilities, over 10 cemeteries, several more public libraries, and met so many nice researchers and staff people in all of these facilities. We went on tours in New Orleans, San Padre Island Texas, Mexico, San Antonio Texas, and Independence Missouri. We went on educational tours to a aloe vera and citrus farm near Donna Texas.

We started our trip out with a visit with Al’s cousin, ended the trip with a visit with another of his cousins. Visited Carol’s cousins in between. Visited friends along the way, and met so many nice people. Stayed in one horrid campground for one night and a lot more really nice campgrounds every other night we were out. We saw oil wells, prairie dogs, buffalo, and some very interesting birds and wildlife.

We had our first encounter with “Instant Phones” at campgrounds. Have to admit, we kinda like that set up! Used the internet via the cell phone, instant phone (regular phone lines is what that is), and high speed cable modem. We used the internet in public libraries, in our trailer and in campground offices.

We followed spring from Texas back to Michigan. When we got back to Tipton the forsythia was in full brilliant bright yellow bloom. My star magnolias, both the pink and the white were in full bloom and were so pretty when we got home. My tulips and daffodils were also in full bloom when we arrived in Tipton. The Canadian geese are in the swamp behind the house, honking their springtime mating calls. The peepers are starting their nightly lullaby. Did not realize how much we missed the home “noises” till we got back and heard them.

We would like to go back to a lot of the places we visited, that is always a strong indicator of how much fun you had! We are both moaning that we would like to go back to New Orleans and Kansas City for some of the wonderful food we ate there, ditto for Progreso Mexico.

We discovered we could sit for over 6 weeks in one park. Totally amazed us that we could do that. We enjoyed the park in Donna Texas so much that we used only ONE tank of gas in the truck in 4 weeks. Several of the tours we went on we did not have to drive, and we were perfectly happy to hang out in the park and take part in the variety of activities that were available. Al played pool, Carol went to genealogy club, we went to the pool, we lazed around and just rested.

We were saddened to hear that a few weeks after we left Donna Texas that there was a terrible explosion over in Progreso Mexico. Several people died, the explosion destroyed a restaurant and surrounding businesses on the main street of town. It happened early in the morning, if it had happened just a few hours later the streets and restaurant would have been filled with tourists, the death toll would have been much higher. Our prayers go out to the families of those who died.

Living in the Montana is a joy, lots of living area, lots of storage area, which we kinda filled up (gifts, and dog food put a dent in all that storage). Love that desk, love the kitchen set up. The floor plan is perfect for our lifestyle and travel style. For those of you who have never seen the floor plan, here it is:

Floorplan courtesy Keystone.

The 2004 Adventure, April 18 to 21, 2004, Illinois & Indiana, Homeward Bound

2004-04-21T12:05:00.000-04:00

Before we left Independence we took the opportunity to take the tour of the President Truman home. You can only visit the first floor, the second floor is reserved for the use of their daughter, Margaret, who is near 80 years old and lives out east. The yard is kept planted with the same plants as the Truman’s had in the last years of their lives, some of the plants were put in to provide some privacy. The house is kept the same as the day Bessie died. Even the dishrag was left hanging on the kitchen faucet. (Got to tell you, it looks a bit icky. LOL) His coat and hat hang by the backdoor, you can imagine him putting them on and sneaking out the back door for a walk around town (he did not like the Secret Service protection that started after President Kennedy died). The home is owned by the People of the United States, and is a National Park Service facility.

April 18, 2004.

A travel day, we leave Independence and head east, going around St. Louis and heading into Illinois. Pretty uneventful day, which is always a good thing when we are traveling. We stop for lunch in a place with a nice big parking lot, which we will find out later, left us with more than lunch.

April 19, 2004

Nice day, but Al discovers a flat tire on the Montana. Every once in a while ya get one, we suspect we got ours yesterday at the lunch stop, we were happy it was not a blow out, just a slow leaker, so we got to the campground and did not discover the tire was flat till this morning. We call Good Sam, we wait 2 hours, the fellow that comes out is nice, but his tools are lacking some and he ends up using some of ours. Al has to watch him like a hawk as he starts to jack the trailer up via the axle. We find a nail in the tire. If you are gonna have a flat tire, this is the way to do it, we are not on the road, or the side of the road with trucks and cars whizzing by. We are not freezing, it is not raining, it is not blistering hot. We are sitting in a very pretty little campground with new owners that are as nice as could be. We are safe and reasonably comfortable. The tire did not shred into many pieces at 60 MPH and damage the trailer. (We will see such damage just 2 days later, what a mess this guy had.)

When we have the spare on, we take off and head for Indianapolis, we have a short drive day, so we still arrive in camp by 5ish, plenty of time to set up and relax. Oh, we find out this campground is open all year, which is good to know, campgrounds open all year round this far north are far and few between. We will remember this one!

April 20, 2004

Spend the day visiting with Al’s cousin Martha. Thank you Martha and Dick for a great day, it was great to see you and that special new room.

April 21, 2004

We are up and out of the campground very early today, on the road before 8 A.M. We usually don’t get rolling till 9 or 9:30. We have been asked to bring the Montana to Goshen for inspection of some warranty issues we have. Since Keystone wants to see us, we want to go there! We drive the Indiana road 15 north to 13 north. Except for unmarked detours, in is a rather pleasant drive though farmland and true mid-western America. We arrive on time, have our inspection, make some arrangements to have the warranty work done, and after a very long day rest our tired bones at the Elkhart County Fair Grounds.

The 2004 Adventure, April 9 to 17, 2004, Family Research, Independence Missouri, Topeka Kansas

2004-04-17T12:03:00.000-04:00

April 9, 2004

Arkansas City Kansas to Independence Missouri.

Day started out wet, drove a good part of the day in rain.

Interesting things we see along the way: Large areas of burnt land, acres and acres, as far as the eye can see. Seems this is done to get rid of undesired grasses and to encourage the growth of the grasses that are good for grazing cattle. The area between El Dorodo and Emporia Kansas was very pretty, burnt fields and all.

Drove into the campground and found a first, not only do they have speed limits and quiet hours, they have a NO SMOKING campground! They even have a sign posted at the entrance. We have instant phone here, one could get hooked on that service! HA HA. The owners are very nice.

Set up and prepare more to do lists, the Mid-Continent Library is just down the street. They have a very good collection and of course, lots of Kansas City Missouri stuff.

April 10, 2004

Research! Had a pretty good day of research. The staff is great at Mid-Continent. It is organized very well, readers and printers are in good shape. Tired at the end of the day, and happy with the results.

April 11, 2004

Happy Easter.

We spend the day in camp, doing chores and cooking our Easter dinner.

April 12, 2004

We drive to Topeka. I have a little bit of Kansas research left, 4 obits, and some other work. Get to the Kansas Historical Museum and find it is closed on Mondays. Ooops. Tactical error. My fault, I did not call or check it out on the web. SOOO, for some reason, we decide to go over to the building and have a hard look anyway, see if they really are closed. Well, they are, sorta. Al found a nice young lady and cried a little, telling her of our long drive, and next thing I know, we are IN! Because we really only needed to use film they let us use the facility and do our work. The staff here is also great, in fact, they keep coming over to see if we need any more help and apologize for being closed! I got two obits, did some directory work, and we left. They have a nice nature trail outside the Museum, so we went for a walk. It was very nice.

Met my cousin Rebecca for dinner, had a grand time, thanks for dinner!!

April 13, 14, 15 and 16, 2004

Research, visit libraries, visit cemeteries, the research is good, I find a lot, fill in a lot, have a few new questions, had a good time.

We ask Al’s cousin, Michelle, who was born and raised in Kansas City, where to eat in KC, she gives us a list of great eateries. We eat at Jack Stack, the best bar-b-que, OH MY!!! We eat at Stroud’s, they have won awards for their pan fried chicken. Very good.

As the week goes by it warms up, by the 16th, it is nearly 80 degrees.

April 17, 2004

Clean trailer, do some small repairs, groom all 4 of the dogs. It is warm, windy, clear, a nice day to just hang out and grill some burgers.

Tomorrow we head out, probably will be back in Michigan before the week is over.

The 2004 Adventure, April 5 to 8, 2004, Family Research Heaven, Arkansas City, Kansas

2004-04-08T11:56:00.000-04:00

April 5, 2004

Oklahoma City to Arkansas City, Kansas

Another rather uneventful driving day. As we only had 140 miles or so to go, we played lazy in the AM, and then spent some time visiting with the couple parked next to us in the Oklahoma City park.

When we arrived in Arc City, I started asking about research facilities and libraries. The owner of the campground was a 6 generation resident of the Arc City area. I asked him one question, “is there a Parker cemetery near here?” and from that moment on, I was on a grand Lashbrook research trip for the next couple of hours and then 3 more wonderful days. I found all kinds of great stuff (ya have to be a family researcher to appreciate this). I found death information and burial places for Lashbrooks that I have been hunting for for over 10 years!! What a HIGH!!

The redbuds are blooming here, as are tulips and crab trees. We have been following spring north since San Antonio.

April 6, 7, and 8th, 2004

April 6, Abby was feeling very punky, so Al stayed with the dogs and I walked over to the Cherokee Strip Museum. This is the place the 1893 land rush to Oklahoma started. The area oozes of history!!!

The research (about 2.5 hours) was GOOD!! Went back to the trailer and Abby was feeling a bit better. Later I went to the public library in town for newspaper work, and a cemetery in town for photos. The caretaker took me around the cemetery and helped me find each stone I was interested in. They are very nice here, not just cause I found a lot of stuff, they really are NICE.

April 7, drove over to Ponca City, Oklahoma for more research. Collected some good stuff. Drove over to Blackwell, Oklahoma to a cemetery, found all the Lashbrooks there buried in the Mausoleum. There was a caretaker there, and he took us into the Mausoleum. This was a first for us, but was very interesting. A little weird, but interesting. One of the other caretakers there told us about a prairie dog colony could be found, it was very near the second cemetery of the day. Found the 2nd cemetery, found the stones we were looking for after about 10 to 15 minutes of searching. Found the prairie dog colony. They certainly are cute!! The last cemetery stop of the day was a bust as far as locating graves, but we met a very interesting man there, who told us about his ancestors participating in the Land Rush and how they camped out at Arc City Kansas for one full year before the land rush. He told us a few very interesting stories.

Above,left, are a couple of prairie dogs poking their heads out of their den. On the right, are 3 more, here you can see the entire field, note the grass is not long. The prairie dog that is standing on the right was chattering, talking to us, maybe telling us to go away??

April 8, drove back to Newkirk looking for city hall and the records for the cemetery that we busted on. Found the city hall at last (no signage on the street to point you in the right direction). They had a great record book for the cemetery. Found some good stuff. Back to the cemetery and found the graves. Back to the trailer for lunch. Off to the county seat at Winfield after that for marriage records, probates, divorces, and one very special death record! After that off to the library in Arc City again, for a review of a couple of obits, and a little internet/email time.

Whew, I was exhausted, but had the time of my life! Everyone in Kay County Oklahoma and Cowley County Kansas that we dealt with were great, nice, informative, kind.

The area is FILLED with oil wells! Some are pumping, others appear to be dormant.

The 2004 Adventure, April 3 & 4, 2004, Okahoma City

2004-04-04T11:51:00.000-04:00

April 3, 2004

Al stays at the campground with the dogs, I later discover he has an motive, there is a Camping World within walking distance. He pays a visit there while I am at the Oklahoma Historical Society collecting information on HIS Lashbrook clan.

Ok, the research was good, it was a easy place to research in, books on open shelves, film identified in such a way that it was easy to find your own film, newspapers organized by county and then by city, then by date. EASY!! I did the same amount of research in this one day that I did at the Mississippi Archives in THREE!

As I was discussing a research problem with one of the volunteers there we were interrupted by another researcher. She was reluctant to interrupt, but did anyway. She heard me mention that one of the Lashbrook brides was supposed to be a famous china (as in dishes) painter. She knew about the “Sport” and also knew of a really good resource online for the Oklahoman newspaper. I started snooping around and later thanked her for being a “buttinsky”. Thanks to her I found some fabulous biographical information. Staff was very nice, it was a fun research day.

April 4, 2004

A visit to the Oklahoma Memorial was first on the agenda. It was a sunny bright day, a bit brisk, but fine for walking around. The memorial is very nice, reminds us of Pearl Harbor. Quiet, a place for reflection.

The Oklahoma Memorial Pond. The pond

sits where the street was on that fateful day.

The fence is now a permanent part of the Memorial site.

This is a very small portion of the fencing that surrounded the

site after the explosion. None of the fencing has been

thrown away, but has been saved.

After lunch, we visited the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. What a nice collection. What a nice display of their artifacts. They had Remington statues, one of my favorites, my dad used to own one of the smaller statues, they are so special. Some of the Indian artwork in the collection was spectacular. We spent several hours there, ooohing and ahhing. If you are ever in the area, we highly recommend it.

The 2004 Adventure, April 1 & 2, 2004, Ft. Worth Stockyards, Onward to Oklahoma

2004-04-01T11:41:00.000-05:00

We paid a visit to the stockyards of Ft. Worth. We went over there April 1st in the morning, had a little shopping spree, some lunch and enjoyed the dose of history of the area. The stockyards are no longer used, many of the buildings have been turned into shops and restaurants. Several times a day they reenact a cattle drive. About 10 horse back riders “drive” about 20 long horned cattle down the road. Kids love it! We inspected the stockyard and had a pleasant morning.

The Cattle Drive, "Git em up, you little doggies".

Isn't that what they used to say in the movies??

These stockyards have brick floors. The entire area had brick

on the floors, streets, everything was brick. *

April 2, 2004

Fort Worth Dallas area to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Basically an uneventful drive, missed a turn due to construction and poorly marked signs. Was not even a problem, as there was an alternative route, so we drove equal amount of miles via the second route. Got to our campground to find that the good ole Verizon does not work so hot here. They do not have total digital coverage here, which means simply, NO INTERNET via the cell phone here.

We set up, I prepare a to do list for research at the Oklahoma Historical Society.

*Some of you may recognize the photo, it is the one found on my web page, and for both of my blogs, Reflections From the Fence and Beyond Reflections From the Fence.

The 2004 Adventure, March 27 to April 1, 2004, Texas End of the Line

2004-03-31T18:30:00.000-05:00

March 26, 2004

We take a day to just “be” at the campground, paying attention to the dogs and contemplating the next stop on our tour, Fort Worth-Dallas.

March 27, 2004

A day of travel, rather uneventful, except for a little trouble finding fuel. The expressway has service drives on both sides for miles and miles, that form of construction seems to be very popular in Texas. By the time we would see a gas station there was no way to get off and fill up, unless we drove around several miles first south, then north, as the service drives are one way roads. Finally Al got off the expressway, drove around till we found a station and then pulled in, he was going here and there, ended up parked at an angle to the pumps, taking up a great deal of the parking area, but no one seemed to mind, and we got our fuel. It does not sound like a big deal now, but if you had been there, and seen the traffic and the situation, it would be funny. We laughed then, laugh now.

Around Austin Texas the bluebonnets were in full bloom. The blue bonnet is the state flower of Texas (according to something I saw somewhere) and reminds me of a large grape hyacynth. The medians on the expressway were filled with them, a sea of blue. There were also some lovely yellow flowers blooming (have NO idea what they were) and something that at 60 MPH, looked red, possibly a painted Indian flower (sorry if I have that name wrong), which I believe is a flower that resembles a black eyed susan, only the petals are red/orange. The three flowers together, red, blue and a few yellow made for a few oooohs and ahhhhs, on our travels around Austin.

The area north of Austin is filled with ranches, very very very large ranches. We also drive past Waco, which reminds us of a very sad time in American history (we watched the tragedy of Waco from our hotel room in Hawaii while there on our 25th wedding anniversary trip.)

We have a nice campground in Arlington, we had instant phone service, cable tv, the facilities were clean and neat.

March 28, 29, 30, 31, and April 1st, 2004

We spend a wonderful week visiting with Carol’s cousins, the Dardens and the Remleys. Not braggin, but I really have a nice batch of distant cousins. It was so much fun meeting them after sharing family research with them for several years. Thank you all for your great hospitality!

We leave Texas on April 2, two months to the day after arriving here. We had a grand time here, and are sad to leave.

The 2004 Adventure, March 25, 2005, San Antonio Missions

2004-03-25T18:23:00.000-05:00

March 25, 2004, Tour of San Antonio continued:

We were then taken to several other “Missions” in the area, there are 5, we saw three Missions today.

Above is the San Jose' Mission, founded ca 1720.

This outside wall was painted. This section of paint remains.

The guide explained the walls were painted bright colors

to attract the local residents, who would become interested in the

painting, come to satisfy their curiosity, and

hopefully would be converted to Christianity.

These stairs are crafted from oak. They were built about the time the Mission was built, and are still used today by the priests to enter the church. They are so old and dry that they almost appear to be petrified, almost look like concrete stairs, not wood.

Above, this painted wall was inside the Mission, and has been carefully cleaned.

The 2004 Adventure, March 24, 2004 & March 25, 2005, San Antonio River Walk, Alamo

2004-03-25T18:15:00.000-05:00

March 24, 2004

Travel from Donna Texas to San Antonio, Texas

We happened upon a night of free camping and a free tour of San Antonio for two, if we would stay at a specific campground. We wanted to stop in San Antonio, so we were happy to take advantage of a couple of freebies.

The days drive was rather uneventful, that is a good thing. We set up camp and got organized for the next day’s tour.

March 25, 2004

San Antonio Tour

Had a great bus driver, and we found out the freebie tours would have cost us $104.00 if we had to pay. WOWIE.

First stop, the Riverwalk. This is a must when you are in San Antonio, it is colorful, fun, interesting, charming.

A ride on one of the river boats is a must, and informative. In some places the "river" is only 3 feet deep.

Above: This piece of art is actually on the outside wall of a building along the Riverwalk.

It is entirely made from stone. (I believe the stone all came from Mexico.)

This is only a section of the work.

After our ride on the Riverwalk boats we view a Imax movie on the Alamo. It is said that the real truth of the story of the Alamo is not known, but that historians feel this version of the story is about the closest to the truth. It was a very well done production which we enjoyed viewing.

Next was lunch, at a rather expensive buffet, but the food was excellent, gourmet!

After lunch we walked over to the Alamo. We were there during the time they were setting up for the premier of the new “Hollywood” Alamo movie, the bus driver swears he talked to Billy Bob Thorton in the hotel. We had visited the Alamo on our first visit to San Antonio about 6 or 7 years ago, however, we really enjoyed our revisit, and took in data that we either have forgotten since the first visit or missed on the first visit.

The Alamo, as a matter of interest, something I am not sure we understood or remembered,

the fighting actually took place in front of this building, in the grassy area.

The rest of our tour on San Antonio can be found on the next blog entry.

The 2004 Adventure, March 20, 2004, 6 Weeks Review

2004-03-20T18:13:00.000-05:00

All in all, our 6 weeks and 3 days here in the Rio Grande Valley has been totally delightful. The area has much to offer, we have barely scratched the surface. The people are wonderful, as is the weather. We certainly hope to return here in the future. We did spend a great deal of our time here, just smelling the roses, in other words, we sat, we rested, and then we sat some more. That said we managed to visit San Padre Island and go dolphin watching, visited the Santa Anna Nature Preserve, visted Mexico four times, hit the local flea market a number of times, and learned about growing aleo vera and citrus. We also saw a number of shows, professional and of course, the exciting kids of La Joya. We attended a number of pot luck dinners, and gatherings for Michigan people in the park and sponsored a little get together for Montana owners in the park. Now we will turn the 5er north and work our way back to Michigan.

The 2004 Adventure, March 18, 2004. La Joya Folklorico

2004-03-18T18:01:00.000-05:00

One of the really fun and interesting things we did was to go to La Joya to the high school presentation of Mariachi band and Grupo Folklorico (folk dancing). These two groups put on a show that is very professional and extremely impressive. They put on two shows each school year, one in November and one in March. The show is almost 3 hours, with a short intermission, of high energy dancing, singing and performing. Here are a number of photos, which cannot effectively show the spectacle, and the energy of these young dancers and performers. The costumes are very impressive, colorful, and they have to be expensive. It was quite an amazing afternoon.

Above: Folk dancers, Grupo Folklorico Tabasco

Above: Mariachi band, Los Coyotes

Above, this young man could play the accordian like we have never heard before.

The accordian is used in many small musical groups in this area.

You would have to hear it to believe his musical skill!

Above: Yes, it is out of focus, captures the movement, don't
you think? Aren't the costumes colorful??

Can you believe how far these young girls are leaning over??

This American dance of clogging was very popular with the crowd,

they performed this dance, as all the rest of their performance, with energy and skill.

These harps are very beautiful and had a beautiful sound as well.

Yes, these are the same kids. And, they were having the time of their lives.

A lot of photos on these great dancers, we hope you enjoyed them,

we wanted to share the color and spectacle with you.

The 2004 Adventure, March 16, 2004, Winter Texan Musings

2004-03-16T17:58:00.000-05:00

Seems the Rio Grande Valley is a better place to look for winter coats than a Michigan mall in December. I have been trying to find a winter coat for 2 years, shopping till I want to drop, and not finding anything. Last time was at Briarwood Mall, December 2003. So, we happen into a Burlington Coat Factory a week or so ago, and in less than 30 minutes I walk out with a pretty nice new winter coat, pretty dark red, pockets where I want them, and all for under $60.00. Go figure, come all the way to the sub tropics to buy a winter coat. Bizarre, eh???

The Rio Grande Valley is not really a valley, but rather a delta, formed by years of flooding of the Rio Grande River (before it was dammed and controlled).

There are roses in full bloom, some very pretty ones. So are the grapefruit trees, the air smells so sweet, there are so many trees you can smell them just walking through the park. The spring flowering bushes are all a bloom, color is rampant. Bougainvillea is in full bloom, the color vibrant beyond belief.

We have seen 1 snake (very small), several “inch long” spiders, and the fire ants are starting to become a nuisance. There was a infestation in the park of killer bees, that was interesting. We have been told, that any bee found in the valley is probably a killer bee, from all the inbreeding between the old bees and the killers. We occasionally see a jack rabbit in the park, whewie, those babies are big with very long legs!

Winter Texans are a busy people. They don’t seem to ever stop. They are always walking around the park, walking their dogs, or just walking for exercise. The exercise room in the park is heavily used, as is the billards room, the card playing rooms, the pool and hot tubs. The pool exercise class meets TWO times a day, once at 7 AM. The programs here are well attended, the Winter Texan likes to be entertained! There are a number of clubs, wood carving, stained glass making, doll making, bike club, birding club, just to name a few, and all are well attended. They have Border Life, a group dedicated to educating Winter Texans about the Rio Grande Valley, and all of their programs and trips are well attended and are very interesting and are FREE! Winter Texans go on trips, day trips, shopping trips, tours, and more. They go to Mexico, some go to buy medicines, or see the dentist. They can frequently save enough money at the dentist (or on their medicines) in Mexico to pay for their trip to the Rio Grande Valley each year, and some of them stay for months! Winter Texans LOVE to eat, any excuse for a pot luck dinner is enthusiastically received and attended! Winter Texans are some of the nicest people we have ever met, narry a cranky one, ANYWHERE! Winter Texans are from Ontario, Manitoba, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Arkansas, Michigan, Ohio, just to name a few places. Some Winter Texans are even from northern Texas! Rarely do you see such an active bunch of people! They laugh at themselves, at their infirmities, baldness, soreness, aches and pains, all become a venue for JOKES! Winter Texans are pretty neat people!

The 2004 Adventure, March 15, 2004, Cactus Salad

2004-03-15T17:56:00.000-05:00

It is Prickly Pear season here in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. They are blooming and putting out new little paddles (leaves). Did you know you could eat the paddles?? The are called nopalitos, they are boiled and eaten in salads or as a cooked vegetable. You can buy them at the local grocery stores. Here is a recipe for you to try, they tell me it can be found in one of the Betty Crocker recipe books:

Cactus Salad (Ensalada De Nopalitos)
4 servings

24 ounces sliced or diced prickly pear cactus
2 med tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1 sm onion, chopped
1/4 teaspoon drived oregano leaves
2 tablespoons snipped fresh cilantro
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 teaspoons white wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
a dash of pepper

Place cactus, tomatoes, onion and cilantro in a glass or plastic bowl. Shake remaining ingredients in tightly covered jar. Pour over vegetables; toss. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours. Serve on lettuce leaves if desired.

Personally I am confused by the recipe, not sure if you need to boil this before you chop, or just skin the little rascals. Was told to use as vegetable you must boil first for 15 minutes, drain and then boil again for 15 minutes (using fresh water each time).

The 2004 Adventure, March 14, 2004, Citrus Farm

2004-03-14T17:43:00.000-05:00

We went with Border Life, a group dedicated to educating Winter Texans' about the Rio Grande Valley to a citrus farm. The grapefruit were blooming, the air was sweet with the smell. We learned a lot and had a fun afternoon.

Above: A grapefruit tree with the last of this years harvest.

These are Rio Red grapefruit. They are marketed as Rio Stars,

indicating they were grown in Texas, not in any other state.

Above, looking down the rows of grapefruit trees. At this farm

they cut off the tops of the trees with a hedge cutter. They also

never till inbetwen the rows and they use chemical weed control.

At the end of the season, they will clean all the debris

from under the trees and in the rows.

Above is an aspargus fern. This one started out as a house

plant, was moved into the yard of the owner of the citrus farm.

It is hard to tell the size, but it is about 4 to 5 feet TALL!

Note the wooden fence in the background, it is about 6 foot tall.

Above: I call this a houseplant gone mad! This plant was planted

as ground cover, the leaves are about 4 inches long. Once

it starts up the tree, the leaves get substantially larger, some were

about 12 inches or more long, and they get pretty splits in them.

I grow this plant at home in Michigan as a houseplant, leaves about 3 inches long.

It has been very interesting seeing plants growing in the ground here in the Rio Grande Valley, that are grown as houseplants in the north. They grow ficus trees here in the RV park as ornamental trees (in the ground!). The ficus trees are 20 foot tall or taller. Takes my breath away every time I see them!

Above, beautiful hot pink bougainvillea between two century plants. This is in a garden area at the citrus farm. I think that might be a rubber plant in the right rear. Bougainvillea comes in lovely shades of hot pink and purple. They are stunning in a land that many times is dusty and windy.

The 2004 Adventure, February 29 to March 11, 2004, Neuvo Progreso Mexico

2004-03-11T20:30:00.000-05:00

We have been to Mexico several times. The border town of Progresso, is very close to where we are staying. It is fun to go shop there, and we have had several great lunches over there, yum, great Mexican meals.

We walk from the USA over to Mexico. This is a brand new bridge, finished in 2003 from Progresso Texas to Neuvo Progreso Mexico. We walk under the covered portion, this is going into Mexico. It cost 25 cents to go over and 25 cents to come back.

Above: The Rio Grande River at Progresso, looking west.

Above: Main street, Neuvo Progreso Mexico

Above: inside a pharmacy in Neuvo Progreso Mexico. You can buy many prescription drugs here without a prescription. You can buy antibiotics off the counter, and they are very cheap. You can buy generic allergy medications for much less, one brand we checked, you can get for about 10 cents a pill instead of $1.00 a pill (what I have paid in Michigan). Needless to say, many Americans with minimal or no benefits come here and buy their medicines. There are also cheap dentists working here. Many Americans who have no dental coverage come here for their dental work.

Above: shows several pharmacies and at least one dentist in less than one block. Someone told us there are 400 dentists and 400 pharmacies in Neuvo Progreso, I am not sure about that, but there are a LOT of each!

The 2004 Adventure, February 29 to March 11, 2004, Aloe Vera Farm

2004-03-10T21:50:00.000-05:00

We took a tour to a Aloe Vera farm. The parents of the current owner do the tours, she talks about Aloe Vera products, and he takes you out to the field. They are both past 80 years old, and to say they are "characters", is truly an understatement.

Acres of aloe vera plants. These are all in bloom. They plant them about 40 inches apart on center (both directions). If there is not enough rain, they water the fields by flooding them with water from the Rio Grande River. Many farmers do that here in the Rio Grande Valley.

Flower can be eaten, AFTER it has opened, not before. Hummingbirds can drink the nectar, but cannot get their little beaks into the flower.

Above are boxes of aloe stems, cut and ready for processing.

NOW, let see what this stuff really is all about, the INSIDE stuff:

Above, fillet of aloe, cutting away all the green outer layer of the plant to get to the middle. Below, they cut a small piece for all of us to feel and rub on our hands. It reminded me of jello, in a way, a slimy gelatin. They say it is loaded with protein, and all kinds of other things that are good for us. They drink it, make it into creams for healing and soothing, and they even make jelly out of it.

The 2004 Adventure, February 29 to March 11, 2004, Santa Anna Refuge

2004-03-09T21:42:00.000-05:00

We went to Santa Anna National Refuge. It borders on the Rio Grande River on the south. It is a interesting place, we went on a trolley tour around the park.

There is not a lot of Spanish Moss in this area, except in the Santa Anna park, this was a great speciman.

This cemetery is in the Santa Anna park, there are about 40 graves.

Only about 3 or 4 names are known of these 40.

Cemetery Gate

The 2004 Adventure, February 29 to March 11, 2004, Beauty and the Bad Dudes

2004-03-08T21:36:00.000-05:00

We have spent the last several weeks doing a little sightseeing and shopping, and enjoying the weather. We went to Mexico several times, once on a tour, other times to Progresso, for shopping and lunch. We visited several parks nearby.

The flowers and flowering bushes are starting to bloom. It is so warm here that there have been petunias and geraniums in full bloom for weeks. They look like mine do in Michigan about July!

Al and I hosted a small get together for other Montana owners here in the park. We shared finger foods and information about the Montana Owners Club online forum. It was a very nice evening.

There was a bit of excitement here in the park. Seems we had a crook amid our ranks. The police came in here and took possession of a $450,000 motor home. The story is (allowing for exageration of those who told us), that he wrote a $70,000 check for the deposit of this motor home and of course, the check bounced. It is possible that he also had a new truck that he towed behind this motor home, also not paid for. We heard that the wife of this stellar person had a accident on a cycle here, and somehow that got the attention of the authorities. We also heard that they had been in the park for about a month. My response was, "I hope I did not have dinner with this creep!" Anyway, when the local police got into the motor home they found a lot of false identities, checkbooks, and reportedly a roll of checks from State Farm Insurance. We were told there were at least 8 full identities. Not sure how much of this story is really true, but part of it was, cause they reported the removal of the motor home on the local news stations.

Not sure what this bush is, but it surely is pretty. There are a number of these in the park.

The 2004 Adventure, February 14 to 18, 2004, Cacti

2004-02-29T20:51:00.000-05:00

We did wash the trailer and truck, got the 2000 miles worth of dirt cleaned off, only to have Texas dust cover them both the next time the wind picked up.

I have done some input and a little fact finding/internet surfing, on the Darden lineage.

Yesterday we went to a lovely little nature park in Weslaco. It is 6 acres, non-profit, and very charming. Lots of different plants to look at, lots of cactus, of course. They have a little area set up for bird watching, about 6 or 8 lawn chairs set up in a row. In front of this row of chairs is a log, on the ground, so you can put your feet up while you watch the birds. They had a lot of different kinds of feeders, some with citrus fruit, and some hummingbird feeders. We saw a hummingbird, it was a bit larger than ours in Michigan, but just as fast! Also saw what I believe was a flicker, only this one had yellow over his eyes, then a patch of red on the top of his head, and then another patch of yellow on the back of his head (neck). We forgot the bird books (DUH), must remember to pack them next time!

Oh, Larry Brittain, we really would like you to come down here with us sometime, this park offers free golf after 2 PM each day! Do you think you could handle that?? HHMMMMM??

We have about 2 1/2 weeks left, unless we decide to stay a little longer. The park is starting to empty out, we hear that some have moved on to Arizona, and others have already headed home. We hear that in the next couple of days even more will be leaving! It is interesting being parked for more than a couple of weeks at a time, we thought we might be bored by now, but, so far, we are not.

Apple Cactus, I have one of these growing in my office at home, it is about 6.5 feet tall. This one growing at the Nature Center in Weslaco Texas is at least 3 times that tall.

Century Plants, it is hard to see, but they are taller than the cyclone fence

behind them, making them something close to 7.5 to 8 feet tall.

A variety of cacti, a century plant, several varieties of prickly pear,

barrell cactus and more, it was a bright day, the photos would

have been better on a cloudy day.

The 2004 Adventure, February 14 to 28, 2004, Palms and Dolphins

2004-02-28T20:34:00.000-05:00

We have been here 3 weeks now. Time is flying by.

WE GOT WEATHER!!

We got a little rain, we got warm days, we got sun, WE GOT WIND! Wowie, it can sure blow down here. There is usually a breeze, then about every 4th day it really kicks up and blows and blows and blows! Today I could barely open the door on the 5er the wind was so strong. Most days the temps are running about 75 degrees. Some nights it gets downright cold, the other morning there was a wind chill of 37 degrees. The Texas sun is hot, so if you get a sunny day with little wind, you can get a great sunburn (you have to ask how I know?? HA HA)

What have we been doing?? NOT MUCH! We fill the days with meals, and caring for the dogs, visiting with the couples in the RV’s next to us, both very nice and helpful. We go to pot luck dinners, pancake suppers, entertainment here in the park, the pool and hot tub, run errands, read some, Al has watched a couple of DVD movies, sit in the sun, take a walk, work on the trailer, clean the trailer, do laundry, sit some more, and start all over again. There was a gathering for people from Michigan (this park only), we went to that yesterday afternoon. Next Tuesday, we, along with the couple (from Manitoba) in the Montana next to us, are hosting a little get together for the Montana owners in this park. Currently there are about 10 Montanas here.

We took a tour to South Padre Island that included a boat ride (dolphin watching). We went to Progresso Mexico one day, walking over the bridge, shopping till we dropped, and then walking back over the bridge. We will go back a couple more times. (Charlee, lots of “S” little stuff we love to shop for!!) We had a great lunch when we were there, and drank beer and Margueritas.

You can see why they have named the campground,

Victoria Palms.This is Victoria Palms Boulevard.

This is the Gulf of Mexico from the southern tip of South Padre Island.

Yes, there is a dolphin there, bout mid photo.

In the background is Mexico, we are just off the south tip of South Padre Island, almost in the Gulf of Mexico, but not quite. The dolphins did jump, but were not particularly frisky this day. Still, they are such a joy to watch, such mystical gentle animals.

The 2004 Adventure, February 8 to 14, 2004, Our First Resort RV Park, Victoria Palms

2004-02-14T20:23:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine’s Day.

It has been gray and gloomy and raining and rather cold here for the Texas Tropics. This morning (the 14th) there was a wind chill of 34 degrees. Brrrrrr. Today was the first time we saw blue skies in 6 days. We really cannot complain, seeing that it is cold everywhere in the US, and a lot of nasty snow storms and ice storms and such, but this IS supposed to be the Texas TROPICS! ????

This will be a week report, not daily:

We have been doing the routine chores, getting a mail box here in the campground, getting the phone installed at campground, getting the high speed internet installed at campground. All are free, cept the phone if you talk over 30 minutes at a time or make long distance phone calls. The high speed internet is fun when it works, which is about 18 hours a day.

We did laundry, we did shopping, we went and looked at all the new Montana models. I still love my 3295 RK bestest !!! We went to Camping World, Al bought a really neat ladder that folds up to the smallest little 4 inch square by 6 foot long.

We went to a few meals here at the campground in their OWN restaurant. Food was OK. You can tell this is a resort, some people really get dressed up, suits, gold shoes for the gals, formal dresses, wow. We have nothing with us fancier than black dress pants and some cowboy clothes. Oh, well. Cannot take this gal out of blue jeans for long!>G>

They have activities all day long, every day. Al has been playing pool, we went to a few of the shows (live singing acts). They fill your propane tanks at the site, you can get deliveries via US Mail and even the UPS trucks come in here.

Everyone is very friendly and helpful. Everyone says HI as you walk by on the roads.

We will take a trip into Mexico from here, probably a guided tour. Take me, show me, bring me home!

I will do a little input, Al will play some pool, we will walk the dogs, and do the everyday type stuff, groom dogs, laundry, grocery shopping, cook meals, do dishes. Not a bad place to spend some quiet time.

A view of our back yard, we have a very large lot, the view out the back windows is quite pleasant. Lots of sand burrs here, so ya don't go barefoot, and oh, are they nasty in yorkie long hair! We are learning to cope!

Our campsite, palms and all. Not bad when the sun is shining!

The 2004 Adventure, February 6 and 7, 2004, Bad campground, and then GREAT campground

2004-02-07T20:15:00.000-05:00

February 6, 2004

Well, there is no rain, but it is windy, which will cut into the gas mileage on the truck. The sun is out, the roads are pretty good, well, very good!

We stop after about 90 miles, for potty break, etc. We discover that somehow we have a full black water tank (the potty holding tank). This is not a real good thing, Al is concerned that it might leak somewhere from the pressure. We continue down the road, but decide to find a campground where we can dump, even if we have to spend the night, instead of going to the campground we had intended to stop at. We find a small city park, find it untended by personnel, dump, rinse the tank, and head down the road to the our intended point of destination. Maybe we should have stayed in the city park, the price was right $12.00 a night, and there was a nice nature trail along the river. However, we had called the other campground and it was closer to our final destination, so we pushed on.......

We also discovered that the frig does NOT always shut and lock. Somehow this AM when I prepare the refrigerator for the road I did not get the door totally locked. We were very lucky, nothing came out of the frig, it did not come open and bang up anything. From now on I will give the frig door an extra push, just to be sure that the door lock is caught.

Well, the destination campground was a bit difficult to find. It is in a mobile home park, this one is a FAR FAR FAR cry from the one like this we stayed at in Jackson Mississippi. This place is ugly, unkempt and the electrical system is so bad that not even “pathetic” describes it. What is DOWN from pathetic?? UGH.

We changed sites THREE times before we thought we had one that had power, had power that had correct voltage and correct polarity. One site we were all set, UNTIL we turned the power on, then it blew the circuit at the pole and there was no way to reset it. The site we finally took had wiring that was not to code, not correct, and in the middle of the night there were power spikes. And for this the management wanted over $20.00 a night. Al saw they offered a senior citizen discount and demanded it! The management started to give him a bit of grief, saying we were not senior citizens. Al said, I am 55, that is a senior citizen, I am not paying more. The guy hushed and took our $$. We cannot recommend this campground to anyone.

I have been in a lot of campgrounds in all the years we have been camping, and some have definitely been better than others. We always look at each other and say, well, we can put up with anything for 1 night. Well, I have to tell you that this place was so bad that we looked at each other and agreed that this time, we would put up with it, but could not wait for morning and could not wait to GET OUT OF THERE! I refused to take out any thing I did not have to have, I did not use the computer, I did not want to have to put the chairs back in the morning.

February 7, 2004

We were out of there by 9:15 AM, on the road to the Rio Grande Valley, and very happy to be on the road again! By 11:30 AM we were close to the campground we have reservations in. We pull off the road, find a Jack In The Box and have lunch. We called the campground to see if we could arrive this early in the day, yep, and away we go!

This place is very nice. This is luxury resort living. Swimming pools, craft buildings, planned events, including entertainment, and more. The site they have given us is very nice, so, we have decided to STAY here for 5 weeks! GULP, another new adventure, we have never stayed anywhere that long. We have free cable TV, possibly high speed internet (still working on that one), free phone (working on that one) and mail service. Our neighbors here have a Montana 5th wheel and are from Manitoba Canada, they are very nice.

Tomorrow we will get out and explore.

John Kerry wins the Michigan and Washington State caucus votes.

The 2004 Adventure, February 1 to 5, 2004, We are IN Texas

2004-02-05T20:04:00.000-05:00

February 1, 2004

More quiet days, we visited with some of the other campers, even had dinner with them.

February 2, 2004

Rained last night, so we are very slow getting packed up and out of camp, plus we are facing pulling out of this very close fitting campsite. Even dumping here is a challenge of trees, curving roads and an oddly set up dump station.

We stopped at the Welcome Center for Texas, it had a very interesting board walk, we looked over part of it, and realizing the time decided we better get moving. Found a Flying J for lunch, had their buffet lunch, and continued down I 10 towards Houston.

We hit Houston between 3 and 3:30 (already the start of rush hour), took the north 610 around the downtown area, and the I 10 out of Houston towards the west. Past Katy and on to San Felipe (the old colonial capital of Texas according to the signs). We are staying at the Stephen F. Austin State Park. It is a small park, but has full hookups, and all sites are pull throughs. The first two sites we checked out had bad electric, always pays to check before you unhook. There are a lot of deer here, they are almost friendly, not afraid to come out of hiding even in the middle of the day. The deer are small (like the ones from Virginia).

Today we see our first convertible car with top down, first mosquito (and the booger bit me too), our first swimming pool being cleaned for use at a hotel, first daffodil in bloom.

February 3, 2004

Dave and Marilyn Saunders come to visit for the afternoon, we go out to dinner, and have a fabulous visit. What a NICE day!!

This state park has many deer. They are not one bit shy, walking and feeding where ever they want, at any time of the day. At dusk we have a herd of about 20 within 100 feet of the trailer. The deer are smaller than our Michigan deer.

Kerry wins in several of the primaries and caucus votes held today around the US. We do not have cable here, so it is a bit harder to follow the news.

February 4, 2004

Dave comes back and takes us into Sealy (where they used to make the Sealy Mattress) for breakfast. Good food, great service. Marilyn was playing tennis, we missed ya girl! But thanks for the GREAT cookies you made us and sent along. YUM YUM YUM!

Spent the afternoon at a large RV dealer, wanted to see some new Montana models we have heard about, but they did not have them. Also need some light bulbs, but, they did not have them in stock. A run over to Wall Mart for some supplies and then back to the campground.

They are predicting rain for the night, possibly as much as 8 inches! I am stunned with the amount they have talked about. We stopped at the campground office and asked about their emergency plans and about flood warnings. They state that the campground will not flood with 8 inches of rain, hard to believe isn’t it??

My grandmother Trumbo lived on the North Fork of the Shenandoah River for many years, and her warnings about flooding came to mind. OK, I’ll fess up, I spent a rather nervous evening, yep, worrying about the amounts of rain.

SIGH, we only got 1.5 inches. What a relief.

February 5, 2004

The morning is gray, we decide to stay one more day here, not one bit interested in driving in any more rain (possible, but did not develop) or encountering any flooding (also possible, but did not develop). After laying around, doing a few household chores, we go out in search of the library in Sealy.

We asked 3 people before we found anyone who knew where the library was. Not sure what that says about the reading habits of Sealy.

The internet connection was very slow, but I managed to get some of the email caught up. Al made some calls looking for our next campgrounds. We are heading towards the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, hoping to finally find some really warm weather. We have been on the road for nearly 3 weeks, and have had only one day of over 70 degree weather. It has been particularly cold every where in the US, I think they said it was about 10 degrees below the normal here.

This afternoon I finished crocheting a blanket to donate to Yorkie rescue. I will mail it off when we return to Michigan.

The 2004 Adventure, January 31 2004, Lake Charles, Louisiana

2004-01-31T20:01:00.000-05:00

A quiet morning, we tend to have slow days in the rig, slow breakfast, sitting around, reading, a little TV, some computer, more reading, time with the dogs and just hanging out. In the afternoon the sun came out, and we took the dogs for a long walk. The campground is built around cedar swamps, pretty now, but has to be mosquito heaven in the warmer weather.

This cedar swamp was just across the street from our trailer, it is very beautiful.

Don't think I would like camping here in the mosquito season tho.

The 2004 Adventure, January 30 2004, Louisiana Close, and I Mean CLOSE, Parking

2004-01-30T19:57:00.000-05:00

It starts raining at 4:20 AM (I was out taking the dogs potty when it started). By 8 AM it is a steady rain, Al is trying on raincoats. Now that is really newsworthy, as no one I know hates a rain coat like he does. He will carry an umbrella in a little drizzle, but hates rain coats. I on the other hand, have no use for a umbrella, but have no qualms about donning a raincoat on appropriate occasions. We have to hookup and get out of this campground and head west, but first I want to check my email. I don’t think he is too happy about this, but relents, and oh, goodie, when I have finished, the rain has stopped. We get to hookup sans raincoats, high and dry, thank you very much.

We have no interest in repeating the push and surge of I 10, so, having discussed this with others around the campground, decide to go south by southwest, and then north by northwest on Louisiana 90 (some day to be I 49). This takes us over the Mississippi River, through bayou country. There are cedar swamps that run for miles. The road, in places, is in reality a long long long bridge. Miles and miles of bridges, I believe they call them causeways. Very interesting. We marvel at the engineering of all these bridges and what effort it must have taken to build the roads.

We join I 10 back at Lafayette, Louisiana, heading due west. Along this route we see rice planting. There are fields surrounded with low borders of dirt, the fields are flooded. I don’t think we have ever seen rice growing before, so this provides another interesting site.

But, as usual, the event of the day, is arrival at the new campground. We have chosen a Louisiana State Campground. (Just for the record, we have been calling all campgrounds we visit to be sure that this rather large 5er will fit on their sites. Better safe than sorry, specially at the end of a long travel day!) When we arrive, they tell us, if we cannot get our rig in the site, there are no other sites available, their attitude is a bit stinky. The campsite is long enough for us, and surrounded by LOTS of huge trees. It is hard to get the rig in the site and not hit trees on the way in, it is so narrow that we have to move the trailer around a number of times to get to the point where all the slides will open and not hit trees. We barely have room to park the truck, in fact, one door on the truck cannot be opened as it will hit a tree. At one point between the trailer and the tree I can barely walk through, only about 2 inches to spare at my shoulders. Tomorrow we will take photos. We will laugh about this soon, but tonight we are tired and a tad stressed.

I think it took us 30 to 45 minutes just to back into the site, if it did not take that long, it sure felt like it! We actually put the slides out before we unhooked, to see if the living room slide would open, or hit a tree. Why unhook if we are gonna have to hook back up and move it. The other campers were very nice and helpful, one even moved his picnic table so we could pull forward, he laughed, said we could pull right into his rig’s front room, and we almost did! Pulled right under his awning and about 5 inches from his side wall. We have parked in other spots through our camping years that were more of a challenge than this one, but this ranks in the top 5 for difficulty. From what we saw, the campground and state park are very pretty.

So ends another day of the ADVENTURE of 2004. Rather aptly named we believe, as a day can turn into an adventure quickly.

Here is Al standing between a tree and the side of the 5er.

Note his shoulders are touching on both sides.

The 2004 Adventure, January 29 2004, Riding the Mississippi and Street Cars, New Orelans Style

2004-01-29T19:53:00.000-05:00

Campground shuttle downtown, leaving at 9 AM, went directly to Cafe du Monde for coffee au lait and more of those sinful beignets. AHH, YUM

Did some more window shopping and real shopping, got a couple of New Orleans t-shirts, and Al bought some spices (cajan, etc, but of course), and I bought a purple scarf with red hats! G> Now, I need a red hat to wear it with, and oh, what fun! We even saw a few Mardi Gras floats being pulled around down in the French Quarter.

Made the Mississippi River Boat tour on time, it was not crowded, not sure what we expected, but it was not exceptionally spectacular. It was pleasant, and some parts pretty interesting. Saw a few Navy supply ships, lots of river barges and tug boats, saw them dredging the river near the docks (the dredge is piped out to the center of the river and dumped back in to be carried down river by the current).

Rode the street cars and bus back to the campground. The street car system is the oldest in the world, and the street cars were made around 1920-30. It was fun to ride, and you could really see the houses along the road, wow, some of them were really fancy, the architecture is varied to say the least! There are Mardi Gras beads hanging from the trees from years past. They get stuck there during the parades and the locals believe it is bad luck to pull them out of the trees. They also believe it is very good luck if you find some that have fallen out of the trees (unassisted).

Made a grocery run, filled the truck with gas and had a quiet evening. Oh, we found “King Cake” at the grocery. It is a local specialty only sold around Mardi Gras time (so we were told). It is filled with tons of cream cheese filling (there are other flavors too) and has icing and sprinkles on top, in Mardi Gras colors, but of course, gold, green and purple. It reminds us of a breakfast pastry, but with extra filling. One of the food joys of traveling!

New Orleans Street car, this is one of the oldest ones.

Moving Mardi Gras floats around New Orleans

The 2004 Adventure, January 28 2004, New Orleans, Plan XYZ

2004-01-28T19:41:00.000-05:00

Well, ya know what they say about best laid plans of mice and women?? We estimated that the 12:15 bus with connection to the streetcar, with a few minutes of walk time and we should be at the boat dock with oh, 20 minutes to spare, give or take. Course, not configured into our master plan was the possibility that the 12:15 bus would not run cause it was broke down. Let me tell you, that the 12:42 bus will NOT get you to the boat on time, we were about 7 minutes too late.

OK, fall back to plan “X”, “Y” or “Z”. We now have about 3 hours to spend downtown until the shuttle bus from the campground is due to take us home. HMMMM. Ok, lets just start walking, it is not as cold as the day before, but still a bit brisk. We have to eat, Al needs more Louisiana food, more spices, more something!

We wander around checking out menus and finally find a charming garden/eatery. We walk by, thinking it is too cold, but see others eating, and decide to go back and check it out. They were warming the area with propane heaters hung on the surrounding walls. Oh, what the hay, lets give this a shot. Good decision, as the food was pretty good, the coffee was even better (course, it helped that the coffee was just a little spiked with bourbon and kalua and the most wonderful real whipped cream).

The rest of the afternoon was spent just wandering around the French Quarter, taking photos, window shopping, enjoying. Tomorrow we will try once again to take our Mississippi River boat tour.

A hotel in the French Quarter of New Orleans, decorated for Mardi Gras.

View in cemetery, this particular cript was for local nuns, there were a lot of burials, up to 5 or so a year.

In sharp contrast, is this street mime, he held this position for who knows how long. Notice the left foot position. The dog is fake, but the man is alive and talks and must have great muscle tone! AMAZING!

The 2004 Adventure, January 27 2004, Touring and Dining New Orleans

2004-01-27T17:50:00.000-05:00

The campground shuttle picks us up at 9 AM, delivers us downtown New Orleans to the Grey Line Bus tour office. We have several hours before our tour begins so we walk around and eat! Al will prove my prediction that he will eat his way through New Orleans before the day is over! We start at Cafe du Monde for coffee au lait and hot chocolate and beignets. Oh, lordy, those things are good. Sinful is more like it.

By the way, we are starting to see a pattern we are not sure we like, but, you have to laugh, or cry??? When we toured the Florida Space Center a couple of years ago, it was cold. I mean COLD! As you have read from this years report, when we toured the Space Center in Huntsville Alabama it was COLD. Guess what the weather is today in New Orleans? Yep, COLD! I did not expect this, but they have wind chill numbers in their weather reports! I think the wind chill here is about 20 degrees.

After our warming breakfast, we tromp back out to the sun and chill. We don’t go far, end up eating again. Al had crawfish, I had a hamburger. Then some more shopping/walking, etc. OK, I did buy some Mardi Gras beads. And a small face mask. Al bought HOT peanuts! (Does that surprise anyone??) Anyway, our tour is about to begin, we board the bus.

They drive us 40 miles around New Orleans, telling us numbers and facts, history and stories. Something about 4200 bars in New Orleans?? WOW! Later we find out why, some of the bars are smaller than my master bathroom at home! They are tucked in everywhere. There are many beautiful churches, homes, and of course, the above ground cemeteries. They stop and give us some very graphic details about burials in these cemeteries. Very interesting, and of course, a photo opportunity!

After the 2 hour tour, we walk around the French Quarter again, and we eat AGAIN! Al has jambalaya, more spicy food! We walk Bourbon Street, shall we say it was “interesting”? The music was loud, the drinks were 3 for the price of one. We opted for a beer in plastic cup and kept on walking. Some of the homes and businesses are starting to decorate for Mardi Gras. The predominant colors are green, purple and gold. Large ferns hang from many of the balconies. The architecture reminds us of Charleston, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia. There are historical markers on many of the buildings, making for some interesting history lessons.

Our bus is not due to pick us up until 5:45, a very long day for us (and for the yorks, back at home in the 5er). By about 4:45 we are back close to our pick up area, resting. We have walked quite a long way, the weather is brisk, and enough is enough!

Bus trip home is quiet, we are not the only ones tired!

Tomorrow we will go back downtown for a boat tour via the Mississippi, however, we will take the city bus and trolley system down, the campground bus home, we won’t be gone quite as long, and will have a few hours in the morning to do a few errands.

We have been watching the weather reports on TV, see that the midwest and northeast and even North Carolina and South Carolina have been hammered with horrid weather. Kerry wins the New Hampshire primary.

The 2004 Adventure, January 26 2004, Locked IN Tana in New Orleans

2004-01-26T17:48:00.000-05:00

The day starts sunny and warm, we are both in short sleeved shirts. It ends, cooler, gray, overcast and as a pure example of why when you live the Rver life you need to be handy with your hands, creative, careful, always on guard for the unexpected.

We stop for lunch at a Cracker Barrel and fill up personal engines. Food was great, and later in the day we were glad we had loaded up on protein and carbs (to deal with the stress).

The roads are rough, only road we have had the 5er on that was as bad or close to being as bad was I-94 from Jackson Michigan to Kalamazoo Michigan. The ride is not bumpy as in holes in the road, but rather is a surging type of motion, pushing forward, pulling backward. This continues for miles and miles. We slow down to 50 MPH and get in the left lane, which is marginally better (smoother). The traffic is rather light, so, we figure, let em pass us on the right.

We stop one time and check inside the trailer, of prime concern is the large TV. The trip on I-94, resulted in sheared screws holding it into the cabinet, it all but fell out. We are concerned that even tho we put it back with 4 screws instead of 2 that this road may have sheared the 4 new screws. Happy to report, that is not so.

We have reservations in a nice campground on the south side of New Orleans. In no particular hurry to set up, we are just plugging along at the process. We have learned from many years of Rving, that to hurry is to invite trouble.

This trip, I have for the first time, loaded a lot of books in the cabinets over the desk (in the rear of the unit). I am not sure why, but, I did not secure the doors. Other doors in the 5er that tend to open while under way, we have secured with long strips of velcro (thanks Mary and Larry). Anyway, the rear desk cabinets were not secured, as you can probably guess from the sounds of this report, they will be secured from hence forth!

One of the lessons we have learned from reading the Montana’s Owner Club forum is that if these doors come open, there is a chance you can damage the slides, IF you open the slides without closing the doors first. One of the safety checks we do BEFORE we open the slides is to check around all three slides for anything that has moved, fallen, or jammed. I check the desk doors by standing in the bedroom and looking over the slide. This time I saw that one of the doors was open. I had Tilly in my arms (the other 3 were in the truck) and Al was outside. I called him inside and showed him the door.

Solution, Carol climbed over the kitchen cabinets and sink and closed the door. I now see that several items have fallen OUT of the cabinet and are on the floor. And, yes, if we had moved the slide, those items would have jammed when the slide went out; we would have had big trouble. Al handed me a pole we use for opening ceiling vents and I used it to slide all the items on the floor to a safe place under the desk.

We put the slides out, all is well.

UNTIL - - - - - - - - - - - - - we try to go outside to finish setting up. Now mind you, 3 of the dogs are in the truck, as is my purse, computer, camera and other stuff. The truck is not locked! We cannot get OUT of the trailer. The door handle is broken. We are locked IN the trailer.

We put the slides back in, thinking that possibly, the door is jammed somehow. Nope, that did not help.

We open the emergency window behind the couch to note that to jump out we would land on the sewer hose and that it is a really long drop and that unless the 5er is burning, we really don’t want to JUMP! UGH.

Next, Al asks me, do you have the cell phone, we can call the office. Well, yes, I have the cell phone, but the phone number is IN the truck!

So, running out of options, we creatively (?) decide to set off the alarm on the truck. I do have my truck keys in my pocket. And, that is exactly what we do. We set the alarm off several times until the owner of the campground came over to investigate.

Al explained the situation, and the owner gently, but easily opened the door from the outside. Yes, HUGE SIGH OF RELIEF goes here. Another fellow came along with a terrific little pocket knife, with other kinds of tools packed in. With that, we examined the situation. Boiled down, there is a pin that holds the inside door handle together. The pin had slipped out, in effect making the inside handle inoperative. We could not get to that pin while the door was closed due to the screen door. Al pulled the pin all the way out, adjusted the handle so that it would function, replaced pin, and then put some silicone caulk on both ends of the pin, hoping that would hold said pin in place FOREVER!

Got to say, we have been locked out of the trailer at least once, and now we have been locked IN the trailer. In a way, I think I prefer being locked OUT! But, my preference is to never have to repeat either experience!

We purchase tickets for a tour of New Orleans (N’Awlins) tomorrow, so, the rest of the evening is spent collecting our nerves, setting up, a small dinner and rest.

The 2004 Adventure, January 21 thru 25, 2004, Research in the Mississippi Archives

2004-01-25T17:46:00.000-05:00

January 21, 2004

Today we get laundry done, lots of errands, fill one of the propane tanks, general housekeeping items that need to be done. I prepare a to do list for my research at the Mississippi Archives and we recharge our personal engines. The rhythm of life, the necessities of life continue, the day is full but not hurried.

January 22, 2004

Research the Darden lines at the Mississippi Archives. Al does not feel real well, some little bug got him. Spend the evening revamping my to do list for a return trip to the Archives tomorrow.

January 23, 2004

Second day of research at the Mississippi Archives. Solved the mystery around Alfred T. Darden, brother to my great great great grandfather. The weather has been sunny and nice while I have been inside the Archives for two days. Al is feeling better, we have lunch both days in downtown Jackson eateries, where the food is good, but expensive.

January 24, 2004

Gloomy and wet all day, tonight it will rain and then rain some more. We spend the afternoon shopping. The frig is now filled for the next week or so.

January 25, 2004

Sunny, warm, what a nice day. I groom 4 dogs, Al plans the next several stops on our trip, New Orleans is next. We take a stroll around the campground. We just wile the day away. NICE!

The 2004 Adventure, January 20 2004, Destination Jackson, Mississippi, Tana's Monster Ice Cubes

2004-01-20T17:38:00.000-05:00

We are gonna start heading further south and west. Destination is Jackson Mississippi. I can do a little research there and hopefully it will be warmer.

It is about 23 degrees on our thermometer. BUT, no wind chill and it is sunny and the skies are a beautiful blue. Today will be a day of thrills, not always so welcome, but so fun to tell about!

First thrill was putting the slides in. We did not realize they were filled with water, NOW ICE! When the kitchen slide was about half way in, the ice on top came crashing down! Luckily we were not standing below when it came rolling off that slide topper! Al thought that a window had blown out on the slide. That ice was at least 1.5 inches thick!

Next thrill was when we were supposed to get off US 65 at Birmingham Alabama and get on 20/59 west to Mississippi. They were cleaning the exit ramp with a street cleaner, but had not posted any warning. Basically all they did was block the entire ramp with state work vehicles and all their blinking lights. We were almost into the ramp when we discovered we could not enter! With a lot of fast reactions, a few purple words of horror and angst, and some fast map reading we continued on I 65 yo 459 west (which connected us back with 20/59 west).

On 459, I ask Al, “What is that noise?”. I look in the rear view mirrors to see if the step on the trailer has fallen open, NOPE. That was good. Then I thought maybe the landing gear on the front of the trailer had dropped. Could not see that. I turned around to look out the rear window of the truck to discover the source of the sound. The cover for the truck has a piece that is designed to come off so that you can clean. One of the screws had come loose and that piece was flopping around. We pulled off to the side of the expressway and fixed it.

Enough thrills for one day. Whew. The rest of the drive was pleasant and uneventful. We had lunch in a truck stop, easy on, easy off, easy gas fill up, good food, great service.

We arrive in Jackson Mississippi about 5:30, having driven 353 miles, we are again exhausted. We prefer to drive about 275 miles per day, and every drive day this trip, so far, we have done well over that. We can tell the difference in that extra 50 or more miles we have been doing.

This campground is a new experience for us, it is entirely paved with black top. It is part of a mobile home park, very clean and well kept. We have cable TV, full hookups, and the most beautiful holly bushes we have ever seen. We are working in the dark setting up, but there are a number of lights and we have the old trusty flashlight. We have a quick dinner, a drink and turn up the heat, find the weather channel and RELAX! We also watch part of the State of the Union address by Bush.

We have decided the research day can be delayed a day, tomorrow we are going to lick the wounds, do laundry, lay around, do a little cleaning and collect our thoughts and plan the next couple of weeks. It is supposed to go below freezing, so we leave the cold water running in the bathroom sink, very slowly, just to keep the hoses from freezing.

Here is the ice!! YIKES!

The 2004 Adventure, January 19 2004, Space Center, more brrrrrrr

2004-01-19T16:44:00.000-05:00

Spend another day with Bob and Pat. We go to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center Museum in Huntsville. What a nice museum. We spend several hours examining the displays. It was great being inside because outside it was nasty! Cold, and a wind, combined to make bitterness. We went out to look over the mock up space shuttle and rockets, and could not stay long. Hurt your body cold. Brrrr, we figure we are not far enough south yet!

Dinner is at a bar-g-que. Very good food! VERY GOOD!

Tonight it got colder yet. They say the low in Huntsville was 19 degrees. There is a lot of frost on the pumpkin Tuesday morning, and most ponds and puddles are glazed with ice.

Iowa caucus vote today provides a surprise winner, Kerry! Interesting.

Space Shuttle and rockets, WOW!

Space clothing?? very neat stuff

A little power and Al could fly like the dude above him!!

We are laughing, but we are freezing!!

The 2004 Adventure, January 18 2004, Huntsville Family Time, still brrrrrr

2004-01-18T17:27:00.000-05:00

We spend a very very nice day visiting with Al’s cousins, Bob and Pat deHilster. Pat fixed us a wonderful one dish breakfast and a great one dish dinner. YUM. Such good eats! We tell stories, share photos, Carol got the scanner running and copied a number of photos and documents for her family history project. We watched part of the old movies Bob and Pat had converted from 8mm to video. Bob’s mother had voiced over a part of the total project, what fun, listening to Hilda tell about her children and family vacations and family get togethers. We enjoyed this so much!

Temps dropping, the rain finally stops, but it is collllddddddd!!! We run the propane heat and two electric heaters, and have the electric blankets running too. Brrrrr outside, toasty inside.

The 2004 Adventure, January 17, 2004, arrive Huntsville, Alabama, brrr

2004-01-17T17:24:00.000-05:00

Breakfast at the Waffle House, yum, Carol gets grits!! We both have southern country salty ham. More YUM!

It is rainy a lot of today, the drive is pretty uneventful (that is a good thing), except for the occasional idiot driver. We run across one interesting thing. We got off the expressway, we were contemplating a short side trip to the Jim Beam distillery in southern Tennessee. When we got off we discover that there is no indication of how far we might have to drive, so decide this is not the time to go on a “jaunt”. So, we look around for food. It is rather late in the afternoon and we have not had any lunch. Imagine our surprise to find that the entrance to every restaurant at this expressway exit blocked for tall rigs. Unless your total heights were less than 9 foot 6 inches, you could not get in, or out. Only thing we can figure is they had had considerable trouble with big rig drivers???? Seeing that we were not welcome, we made a U turn on the 4 lane highway and got back on I 65 and left!

Arrived Huntsville Alabama about 5 PM, we finished setting up in the dark and drizzle. We are very tired again, but we think it is marginally warm enough to have water. This is always a good thing!! Bob and Pat deHilster had suggested the campground, Ditto Landing, and we find it to be quite charming and it suits us just fine!

We hear that the temps below freezing, so, we fill the fresh water tank and drain the hoses. This turned out to be a good decision, as it just keeps getting colder and colder.

The 2004 Adventure, January 16 2004, Load it up and head er out

2004-01-16T17:20:00.000-05:00

The weather is frightful, 3 degrees above zero. No wind, for which we are thankful, sunny, for which we are also thankful.

As usual the trip actually begins several weeks before the moment of departure. Actually began stacking required items before Christmas. The parlor is our “staging” area. The piles of required items grew day by day.

The weather can make or break ya. We had several snow storms in the weeks before we hoped to leave. We wanted as much snow as possible moved as far as possible away from the rig and truck. Makes trailer loading easier, as well as hooking up. And, who wants ice all over the drive, ice skating is fine for limber youngsters with ice skates; it is not so wonderful for loading heavy items into the rig. So, every time it snowed we scraped, blew it, swept it, shoveled it. Kept the drive pretty clean and dry.

For several months we had been getting doctor visits, and vet visits for the 4 yorks out of the way. We have all 4 yorks on special diets, so we purchased a LOT of dog food to take with us, thankfully yorkshire terriers are small dogs. We figure we have loaded about 75 pounds or more dog food for the trip. We have been unable to purchase prescription dog food before during our travels, so take what we need with us.

On Monday the 12th, we put the slides out on the rig, turn the heat on and start loading. Al installs the new door to cover his Autoformer installation. He also works on installing the new clothes dryer he purchased which mounts on the ladder on the rear of the rig. We start loading, dog food, people food, clothes, my research books and files, CD’s, DVD’s, books, craft projects, and so forth. We have 4 boxes of gear/freezables from the rig that we take to the basement each fall; these are brought back up; taken to the rig and loaded.

The loading and organizing continue through Tuesday and Wednesday. No, it does not take us that many days to load the rig, we had other commitments to fulfill several of those days. Thursday, we finish loading, and start cleaning the house. Thursday evening late we winterize the house, drain the water, turn off the water heater. We leave one toilet to use and winterize that early Friday AM before we leave. Dishes are done, house is sorta cleaned, plants watered, cats fed and watered. We are as ready as we can get.

Friday AM we have breakfast; empty the few food items still left in the frig, turn it off, stuff it with newspaper; and get ready to hook up the trailer.

Now, comes the moment of truth, will those slides REALLY go in at 3 degrees above zero?? There was a little snow on them, we have been told it will roll right off as the slides go in. We have had the heat on in the rig for several days now, and turn it up to about 70 degrees to try and warm up the slide mechanisms (heated basement) as much as possible. Still the slides run very slowly. The bedroom slide goes in without a burp, a little slow, but it goes in. The kitchen and front room slides start coming in at the same time (usually the kitchen moves first, when it is in, the front room comes in). When both rooms are about half way in, they basically stop moving. So as to not damage anything, I stop the process. Go out to talk to Al, who watches from outside while I am inside pushing the “button”. He tells me to go back and push that button again. So, I do, and much to our delight both slides start moving again and after a few more tense moments they are in and we are sighing!! OK, we are doing little happy dances!

We hook up the rig, it is so cold the electrical plug from trailer to truck is frozen, barely will straighten out. Al has trouble even getting it to “plug” in. After a lot of fussing, pushing and pulling, he accomplishes that. Load the computer gear, camera gear and dogs in the truck and before 9:30 AM we are ready to pull out.

The trip out was as could be expected, we drive slow on the snow and ice covered gravel roads we live on, take the path of least hills, and off we go.

The rest of the day was rather uneventful, we hit a few snow squalls around Coldwater Michigan, but the roads were not slippery. By the end of the day we have seen the temperature climb to 44 degrees. It took a while for the snow to melt off the trailer and truck, it was well after Indianapolis before we lost it all.

We drove 380 miles by the time we pulled into the KOA south of Louisville and we are beat. We have a pull through site, so we have little set up to do, we turn on the heat, have a drink, have some dinner and collapse. No water on board yet, so we do picnic style camping.