The Ray Adventures: Galveston to Rockport Oct. 31

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