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

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.