The Ray Adventures: 2016

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Additional pictures Nov. 9-Dec. 26

Sometimes you have to yield to the forces in the world, in this case the computer "beat" me.

Enjoy the second round of pic's!

Fun in the sun, one of the many different rental available

View from our beach at Hale Koa

Gary and Stacy's visit to Pearl Harbor

Stacy sitting on deck of Missouri

Their visit to an air museum

Look closely bullet holes from Dec. 7th

Cute little bird

Our room at Hale Koa

Gingerbread house display at hotel

Gary's visit to the Punch Bowl

Gary's visit to the Arizona Memorial

Feeling better at last!

First thing I wanted to do was visit the beach

Yes Gary was on the trip. Standing under one of the many beautiful flowering trees at hotel.

And yes, I did lose a little weight! LOL

Nov. 9 - Dec. 27 2016 Rockport, Hawaii Rockport

Due to technical difficulties far from my expertise I will continue more pictures separately.

I don't really know where to begin it's been, it's been about 7 weeks since my last blog but also seems like a lifetime. I''ll touch on the highs and lows because I experienced a life changing illness.

First things first!!!! We welcomed into the world Miss Lyla Noffsinger, 8 lbs 14 oz born in Salem Oregon on November 23rd. The little girl arrived two weeks early, eager to start her life with mom Sam and dad Nick. We've seen pictures of her, can't wait to get our hands on her. Our first great grandchild!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with 110 of our friends here at the park, the park provided the turkeys, dressing and gravy the rest of the dinner was pot luck. There are so many good cooks here, as usual we over indulged.

David and Marihelen's daughter Krista, from Red River, NM., visited with her dog Piper, 130 pound great dane. Luci wasn't enamored with her, I think she thought she was a horse. The three of them charted a fishing boat in Copanao Bay catching 25 fish which many of us got to enjoy. A local restaurant prepared them either blackened, grilled, fried or cajun, we only had to pay for a couple of side dishes. Delish!!!!! Thanks Marihelen, David and Krista.

We've been enjoying happy hour on Tuesdays at the Oyster House, a restaurant right on Aransas Bay, enjoying oysters on the half shell, a dozen for $4.50. Gary and I have really gone "round the bend" eating raw oysters and liking country music. The last time we were treated to dolphins swimming just off the pier, a beautiful evening with not a breath of wind.

They say things come in three's, first our washing machine died, we got a rip in our awning and developed a crack in the windshield. You hate to ask "what else?" but sure enough soon the sky was going to fall.

Tom and Joy from Minnesota, gave us the tub from an old washing machine to use as a fire pit, actually I traded a bottle of Reisling from the Northwest for it, we've had several evenings with a groups sitting the campfire telling hilarious RV stories. We had a special viewing of the Super Moon, although none of us really paid much attention to it, just another excuse for a party.

We were so excited to take our trip to Honolulu and the Big Island for ten days. Dorene, our yoga teacher dog sat Luci, no worries---right? The day before we left we enjoyed Rockport's Symphony by the Sea with the Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra and the Rockport-Fulton High School Choir. Lovely as always, this was our third year attending. We left immediately after for San Antonio, about 3 hours, to spend the night before our 8:00am flight on Monday, Dec. 12th. Wouldn't you know it, I haven't had a cold in ages and I woke up sick with a sore throat! After a grueling 7 + hour flight from Phoenix we landed in Honolulu. We were both looking forward to seeing Stacy and Barbara who were visiting at the same time and my brother Punch who lives in Honolulu. I went to "Doctors on Call" tuesday, they offer pick up and delivery. I was diagnosed with a throat infection and ear infection. SWELL! We had lunch with the kids on Wednesday, Gary and Stacy went to see the Missouri and an a air museum on Tuesday. Friday Gary and I drove to the North Shore and around the island, by the time we got back I was really getting sick. We called Doctors on Call again. Once they put the oxygen "thingy" on my finger the doctor said he was calling the paramedics. Hmmm, I knew I felt bad BUT! I "got" to go on my first ambulance ride to Straub Medical Center and Hospital, I as admitted with Acute Respiratory Failure, What the Hell? I had pneumonia, upper respiratory influenza, low sodium and a bunch of other shit. I was one sick puppy, I spent 5 days in the hospital and lost 8 1/2 pounds, I know that because they drug me out of bed every morning between 4 and 5 to put me on the scales. Poor Gary was stuck with not only the stress of my illness but canceling plane and hotel reservations. We stayed at Hale Koa, a military hotel right on Waikiki Beach, a lovely hotel and they were so kind, we didn't have to change rooms or even leave for another hotel, we had to extend for another 7 days.
My brother stopped by the hotel on Thursday, the day after I got back from the hospital. We had some laughs, he, a former full-time RVer, swapped stories about life on the road, it had been at least 3 years since I'd seen him, a sight for sore eyes. His wife stayed away from my germs, her 92 year old Mom was visiting from Olympia, Wa. I had two days to recuperate before we flew back to Texas, arriving in San Antonio Christmas eve about 11pm. We had a lovely breakfast at St. Anthony's a historic hotel in downtown San Antonio before heading back to Rockport Christmas Day arriving about 2:30. Luci was very glad to see us! The park Christmas dinner was in full swing but dear friends RJ, Gail, David and Marihelen brought us dinner.

I've always heard about "near death" experiences changing your whole outlook at life. I must say I felt the change too, I'm not eloquent enough to express how I feel but probably in a word, Grateful, for the many things in life that I've taken for granted. Enough of that!

Last night we had a campfire, friends Larry and Lorraine are leaving for Florida today. A lovely evening.

That's it for now, enjoy the pic's,

TTFN

Gary and Pam

Sitting around the campfire, David, Marihelen, Krista, Lorraine & Larry

Dick stoking the fire, Fran, Arleen, and Bob

Sharon, RJ, Gail and me

The super moon

Thanksgiving at the clubhouse

Not hungry for long

Our new kitchen configuration

Another campfire Fran, Dick, Larry, Lorraine & me

Gail loves Luci and Luci loves her

The sweater Gail knit for Lyla

View from breakfast table Hale Koa Honolulu

All's right with the world, our first breakfast


The view from our lanai

Friday, November 11, 2016

Galveston to Rockport Oct. 31 - Nov. 8

We pulled into Rockport Tuesday, November 1st, since we left Rockport the first of March we have traveled through 15 states and driven the coach 8,227 miles, since purchasing our new coach we have put over 31,000 miles on it. We're always just one step ahead of the bill collectors.

Monday, Oct. 31, Happy Halloween, our last day in Galveston. This visit we have been blessed with the most beautiful weather, 80's with a slight breeze. Gary, Luci and I took a long walk on the beach, this time we remembered to take a toy along to throw into the surf for Luci. She had a great time, a tired dog is a good dog. We had lunch at Smooth Tony's, Gary found the listing on line and thought it might be fun. As it turns out it was in the UTMB campus, the main medical for center for UT. The food was good, we ate on the patio, a funky place with lots of "fun stuff" including "rusty" musical instruments hanging on the walls. Our son Stacy had major neck surgery today in Spokane, Wa, the incision is made in front of the neck to repair the bulging disc, fuse and place a titanium plate to protect the repair. All went well, let's pray that it solves the problem permanently. Since this is our last night on the road we decided to go out to dinner to celebrate, eating one of our favorite foods, sushi. Yum, yum, yum. Then the two of us enjoyed a lovely walk on the beach.

Tuesday, Nov. 1st, We left Galveston about 9:30 for our 200 mile drive to Rockport, we chose to drive down the length of the island, crossing the bridge to Hwy 35 South, arriving a little after 2. It's very warm, mid to high 80's with high humidity, better than cold! It is very good to see our friends again, a bunch of us went to Panjo's for delish pizza.

Wednesday, Nov.2nd, We cleaned the inside of the coach, it was getting pretty deep in here. I had a hair cut appointment, my first since we left Salem. Happy hour at 4 followed by dinner, cabbage rolls, mmmmmm. Our chef for the last 2 years, Betty, left for Arizona, one of the residents Lynda has taken over the kitchen, she did a good job.

Thursday, Nov. 3rd, Happy birthday to me! Gary volunteered at the Lexington for the first time this year while I worked on a baby quilt for our 1st great-grandchild due Dec. 12. Friends Bob and Sharon went to Progresso, Mexico with 4 others to have dental work done so we let their dogs a couple of times. Gary started washing the coach, a BIG job, we still had North Dakota dirt on it. We went to Camper Clinic for new tire covers, Gary wanted black so we ordered a new set, will be in tomorrow. I talked with 2 daughters, our son ( who is doing well after his surgery), my oldest sister and brother wishing me happy birthday. We will be celebrating my birthday tomorrow with friends so we decided to go to Moondog's for dinner, Marihelen and David had a bad day, they had to have their little dog put to sleep today and were headed to Moondog's too, so the four of us rode together. Moondog's is one of our favorite places, right on the water, we sat outside on the patio, what a lovely evening and hopefully we helped take their minds off their heartache.

Friday, Nov. 4th, After we finished washing the coach we ran down to Camper Clinic to pick up our new tire covers. They were having a free BBQ, music, prizes and of course killer prices on new RV's. The last time we went to a RV dealership for a free lunch it wasn't too free, we ended up with a new coach. We enjoyed their lunch, grabbed our new tire covers and "beat it out of there!" Happy hour at the clubhouse at 4, I made jalapeno poppers for appetizers, we had reservations at the Oyster House on the patio, right on the water to celebrate my birthday, there were about 13 of us. David ordered oysters on the half shell, I got brave and tried one, then two, then we ordered another dozen then another. Gail is hooked on them now too. I think Gulf oysters are better then Northwest oysters. (sorry NW folk. The food was delish and the alcohol flowed freely. The music started at 7:30 (good for the old folks), they sang happy birthday to me then played a nice "belly rubber" for us to dance to. What a special evening, thanks to all of you for helping me celebrate #69.

Saturday, Nov.5th Pretty quiet day, the weather is still in the mid 80s with high humidity so we took it easy. Gail and RJ stopped by for an impromptu happy hour then we watched Oregon get beat very bad. Woke at 3 am to the promised thunder and rain storm.

Sunday, Nov. 6th, Gary went to the Lexington, he had a fun day driving the courtesy cart most of the day - the ramp from the sidewalk to the hanger deck is pretty long and steep. I took a bike ride around the park, dodging the puddles, after, I worked on the baby quilt, when Gary is gone I can spread my "stuff" all over the coach, I'm slowly making progress. When he got back, Luci, Gary and I took a long walk around the park, spotting many Spoonbills, Great Egrets, Ibis and ducks. Happy hour was at Bonnie and Jerry's, their 39th anniversary, I went with Sharon and Gail, Gary was napping, RJ was working and Bob was practicing with the band he belongs to.

Monday, Nov. 7th, Yikes! Election Eve. It rained pretty heavy again during the night, I skipped my bike ride and went to Snap for the first time since leaving Salem. GROAN! In the afternoon I had a doctor appointment, it's nice to be established with a doc here, Urgent Care (not so urgent) is miserable, a couple of years ago I had an ear infection necessitating a visit the day after Christmas, I waited about 5 hours, everyone around me was hacking, I wanted to pull my hood up and hunker down away from the germs. After my appointment we made a wild goose chase to Ingleside, about 15 or so miles, looking for a cabinet re-finisher. We didn't call ahead, they had moved out, now in North Carolina. Let's just say Fleetwood didn't spend a lot of time or effort finishing the cabinets, they are getting terribly chipped. We ended up finding a cabinet maker close to Rockport, they will finish them for us if we strip them first. Not sure where we'll do that, where there's a will there's a way! On our way home we picked up some fresh caught Gulf Coast grouper for dinner. Yum. We watched our Seahawks squeak out a win over Buffalo. My friend Carol was at the game in Seattle with our former neighbors Brian and Susan. We text'd back and forth, almost made me feel like I was at the game. I told Gary I really miss going to the Seahawks games, especially the Monday night games, but NOT as much as I love our life now.

Tuesday, Oct. 8 Election Day! Double YIKES!! Gary went to the Lex, driving through some very heavy rain. About 8:30 I was walking Luci when I heard thunder, started sprinkling so we hurried back, good thing, the rain came down in torrents. It rained several hours with flood warnings, is this a sign of things to come? We went to bed early, didn't want to watch the election returns. Enough said, as usual we canceled out each others vote.

Enjoy the pic's,

TTFN

Gary and Pam

Galveston Island beach by our RV park, Pleasure Pier in background

Walked down to Pleasusre Pier

Luci enjoying the surf

Took walk on beach last night, Pleasure Pier

View from or table at Oyster House

Time to order

Happy hour

David and Gail after eating oysters

Birthday girl and Gary

Gail with RJ

Monday, October 31, 2016

Oct. 17 - Oct. 30 Mempis to Galveston

Greetings from Texas, we'll be in Galveston until the first when we leave for Rockport. We are looking forward to getting together with friends we've made there in the last three years.

Monday, Oct. 17, Today is our daughter Talena's birthday, happy birthday Talena! We are staying at Naval Support Activity Mid South base in Millington, Tennessee for a week. Graceland is another place I never thought I'd get to see, but here we are. Graceland Mansion on 13.8 acres, 23 rooms, 8 bedrooms and baths with 17,552 square feet, opened to the public in June 1982.   Elvis had his parents find farmhouse property for him to purchase in 1956, he ended up paying $102,000 then spent and additional $500,000 for modifications including the pink field stone wall surrounding the estate. The wrought iron front gate looks like sheet music, a kidney shaped pool and a racquetball court, housed in a separate building plus a office for his dad. When you first enter the house there is a beautiful staircase, to the right is the living room/music room and left is the dining room, the table set formally. The music room has beautiful peacock stained glass doors. All of the furnishings belonged to Elvis, most of it tastefully done except the famous "jungle room" and the pool room is a little strange. There is also a stable complete with horses and another building that has his gold records and Las Vegas costumes.    The upstairs were off limits to the public, when Lisa Marie visits she stays there. In the basement the TV room has 3 TV's so he could watch all 3 network news programs at the same time. I don't know about you but I never thought of Elvis as a "news" kind of guy. The walls and ceiling of the pool room are covered with 400 yards of pleated cotton. After Elvis's death, Priscilla became the executor, the mansion was draining Lisa Marie's inheritance so she made the decision to open it to the public. What a money maker, we took the 7th tour at 11, people were lined up all day for a glimpse of the estate. After lunch in one of the restaurants at the Visitor Center (across Elvis Presley Blvd.) we toured a couple more museums and two airplanes also located there.

Tuesday, Oct. 18, We took Luci into a doggie day care while we spent the day in Memphis. Our first stop was the Bass Pro Shop, the Memphis skyline has one weird sight, a pyramid! Originally built in 1991 to be an arena for University of Memphis basketball then the Memphis Grizzlies but both teams left to play in the newly built FedEx Forum. The owner of BPShops and a friend were out bass fishing one day, the owner said he was thinking about putting a Superstore in the structure but couldn't decide. He said "If I catch a 30 pounder today I'll do it!" Well, he caught a 30 pounder. They began renovations in 2112 and opened in 2015. Normally I wouldn't be excited about a fishing and hunting store but this place is something else. It has an archery range, shooting range, laser arcade, 2 restaurants, the tallest freestanding elevator in the US, several aquariums and ponds and oh yes, a retail store where they sell everything a hunter/fisherman could ever want. Plus shoes, clothes, candy (a separate enclosed room for fudge) etc, etc, etc. For $10.00 each you can ride the elevator to the top to look out from the 2 observations decks to view the Mississippi and surrounding city, or have a drink or lunch in the Sky High Catfish
Cabin, There are 600,000 gallons of water in the water features and a 100 room hotel, The Cypress Lodge. What a place!

Wednesday, October 19, We dropped Luci at doggie day care again. Do you remember the movie "The Firm"? At the end Tom Cruise is being chased by the bad guys to Mud Island Park, I remember scenes shot in the tram. We rode the tram out to the park today, I was completely blown away by a half mile hydraulic scale model of the winding 1,000 mile long Mississippi River from Lake Itasca in Minnesota to the Gulf, in the park. The model is made up of 1,746 precast concrete panels, each weighing 5 tons. Informational signs tell stories of the history, people and towns along the way. Also at the park is an Amphitheater, boat rentals, trails and a museum. Memphis is called the "bluff" city because it sits well above the flood plagued river. After a great lunch at McEwens we took an 1 1/2 hour cruise in a stern wheeler. Our guide really knew the history and made it an entertaining trip. Our last stop in Memphis was the National Civil Rights Museum, located at the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King was assassinated in June 1968. Excellent museum, we didn't have a lot of time but we did see his room and the boarding house across the street where James Earl Ray fired the shot.

Friday, Oct. 21, We left Memphis about 11 for our 188 mile drive to Little Rock AFB for a week. Little Rock Air Force Base is the primary training base for the C-130's, training pilots, navigators, flight engineers and load master.    Arkansas was our 48th state on our map, we celebrated it with our neighbors with a bottle of champagne.

Monday, October 24, We drove into Little Rock to visit the William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park, the 42nd president. Located on 13 acres next to the Arkansas River. This was the last of the Presidential Libraries, 13 in all. Now we have been in all of the 48 contiguous states and have seen all the NFL stadiums in just a little over 3 years. The museum showcases artifacts from his two terms in office including a full scale replica of his cabinet room and Oval Office. We were surprised how freely we could walk through the rooms, most libraries have them roped off leaving you to squeeze together to peek in. Clinton's library was laid out differently from the others we have seen, 4,536 of his books were contained in columns in the one room which was 3 stories high. His daily schedules for all 8 years were available for you to look through, one thing I noticed, no time for lunch. Never miss a meal is my motto. And yes, Monica and Whitewater were "mentioned". The temporary exhibit that is there now is "The Beatles", how fun. We walked a few blocks into the River Market District, a lot of funky shops and restaurants. On the 13 acres of the Library is a lovely boardwalk through a nature trail. saw lots of turtles, an old rail road bridge that is now a pedestrian/bike trail across the Arkansas River.

Tuesday, Oct. 25, We drove 1 1/2 hours to Hot Springs National Park, I had read it is the only National Park in a city but even then I was surprised, it's literally in the city. Our first stop was the Hot Springs Mountain Tower atop Hot Springs Mountain, no pictures, Gary left the sym card in the computer. The 216 foot tower has an elevator, when we drove up I saw all the stairs I thought, "no way", the view of the area was spectacular from the top. The thermal water that flows from the springs is naturally sterile. It begins as rainwater, is absorbed into the mountains northeast of the park and is carried 4,000 to 8,000 feet underground where the earth's extreme heat raises the temp up to 150 degrees. Then the water makes its way back to the surface through cracks and pores in the form of hot springs. The entire process takes about 4,000 years. In the 1800's numerous bath houses sprung up, now known as Bathhouse Row. There are still a couple in operation, but holy smokes a bath will cost from $75.00 and up. We just didn't "have time". We got to tour the bathhouse in the Visitor Center. Not your typical bath or shower.

Wednesday, Oct. 26. Time to get ready to leave LRAFB. A trip to the commissary for groceries and the exchange for a few things. We visited with new neighbors, new to full timing, newbies only 3 months. They have a Maine Coon cat, huge about 23 pounds with lots of orange fur. After dinner we took the "haunted Trail" a fund raiser by Outdoor Recreation.. I've never been to a "haunted" anything before so I was a bit apprehensive. You could choose your fright level. 1-2-3, we chose 2. You are guided by a person in front and back just to make sure we didn't run off into the woods screaming or pass out from fright. The "haunted trail" is in the nature park right next to fam camp, we'd walked through the trail in the daylight, it didn't seem too scary. although Luci didn't care for the bodies hanging from the trees but did want the chopped off hand laying beside the path. We saw the coffin, looked inside so we knew ahead of time that probably someone was going to jump out. Well it still scared the pee out of me! After it was over we decided it was fun.

Thursday, Oct. 27, We left LRAFB before 10 for our 255 mile drive to a Carthage, Tx. Wal Mart. We arrived about 3, and settled in our chairs outside to watch the comings and goings of Carthage folks, the temperature was about 85, too warm to sit inside. Several people stopped by to "chat", friendly folks in Carthage. Our dinner was frozen pizza from Wal Mart.

Friday, Oct. 28, We left Carthage at 7:40 after fueling up for our 235 non stop drive to Galveston. We did have to wait for the Point Bolivar Ferry for an hour though. After our last nightmare ferry ride on Lake Champlain this one was a snap, we pulled into Sandpiper RV Resort about 1:30. What a nice park and right next to the beach. After getting settled I took Luci down to the beach, she loves to wade in the surf and roll in the sand. Very happy girl, especially after being cooped up in the coach for 6 hours. Ahhhh! Palm Trees and a warm ocean breeze feels so good. We had an early diner at Fisherman's Wharf on the harbor outside on the patio, delish food but ate way tooooo much. We drove through the historic downtown and through the historic homes neighborhood. Then played 18 holes of cut throat mini-golf. I played poorly, my only bright spot was a hole in one, must have been the cocktails before dinner. We'll be going back for sure, Gary won a free game.

Saturday, Oct. 29, We got up at 7 and it was 76 degrees already. After breakfast I rode my bike 4.2 miles along the seawall to the Ferris wheel and back. I know it's not far but that's all my "bum" would take. My friend Joan from Salem is visiting her daughter in Houston, they invited us up for wood-fired homemade pizza, yum. Gary checked out the map, it looked like we could take Hwy 6 once we left the island all the way. Ez-peezy right? Wrong. It took us 2 3/4 hour to go about 80 miles. If we had stuck to the freeway and toll roads (like we did on the way back) it would have been about 1 1/2 hours. We were fashionably late. Dee, Joan's daughter, and her husband Phillip have a beautiful new home in Cypress, a NW suburb of Houston. They have a patio area and just finished putting in the pizza oven. We had a lovely afternoon/evening with them and the pizza was delish! It was good to see Joan again.

Sunday, Oct. 30, This morning Gary rode with me along the seawall. Boy I could live like this, although the last two times we were here it just stormed, leaving a moat around the coach. We spent a lazy day, lunch out, more golf, Gary won again but this time by only one stroke, watched some football and a lovely walk on the beach at sunset. Life is good. (Except our Seahawks lost).

That's it for now, enjoy the pic's.

TTFN

Gary and Pam