Leaving Texas

Saturday January 11th, after 3 months  we are on our way out of Texas.  We've been gone 4 months now, that is so hard to believe.  Harlingen was our farthest destination, now we've made a U-turn on our way to Arizona having traveled over 3500 miles.  On our way north we noticed several large cemeteries, filled with flowers, looked like Memorial weekend in Salem. 
We'd planned to boondock our first night on the road at Lucky Eagle Casino in Eagle Pass, Tx. over 300 miles from Harlingen.  It seemed simple enough, usually there are many signs.  No, not in Eagle  Pass, we drove clear through town without seeing it, we didn't know the name of the casino so it was hard to give "Miss Sally" (our GPS) an address.  Well we finally found the name and address only to keep running into closed roads due to construction.  We were really pushing to get to the casino in time to catch the last part of the Seahawk game.  At last we were parked, poor Luci, we rushed her outside to tinkle, took her back to the coach and ran to the casino.  I get so nervous watching the games on TV, I pace, holler, hide my eyes, etc.  At the stadium I was more relaxed even in close games.  At any rate they won the first of two playoff games.

We left early Sunday morning for Ft. Stockton, Tx., another 300 plus mile drive.  As we drove north we saw several border patrol SUV's, along both sides of the highway they have gravel roads that the border patrol drive dragging tires behind them.  We assumed it was to make it easier to see new footprints.  We also spotted an observation balloon, they are unmanned, about one eigth the size of a blimp,  (Give or take a little)  North of Del Rio, Tx we passed over the Pecos River, it actually had water.  Gary being the history buff, spotted a sign for Judge Roy Bean historic state park in the town of Longtry.  He was a law enforcement in early Texas.  The center was new and very well done with a desert garden, the best part was free admission.  Across the street was a RV park with a burned out motor home and another old trailer.  The sign said $20.00 per night, maybe on our way through next time. (Not)
We arrived in the Ft. Stockton Walmart to spend the night.  We were the first RV to pull in, we went to a restaurant for dinner and a little football, when we got back two more expensive motorhomes pulled in, they were traveling together, parked door to door, put out tables, chairs and BBQ.  By the time we went to bed three more had arrived, all expensive rigs. On the other side of the parking lot about 4 trailers and 5th wheels had pulled in for the night.  The "jerk" next to us started up his generator at 10, just as we were crawling into bed, and ran it for several hours.

Monday morning we started our last leg into Las Cruces, NM.  Along the way we switched from Central time to Mountain, only an  hour ahead of Pacific time.  We stopped for lunch at Camping World in El Paso, the city is a lot bigger than we remembered, our last visit there was a nightmare, maybe we blocked it out.  The same two RV's from Ft. Stockton that were traveling together pulled in beside us.  After three days on the road we made it out of Texas, we are going to spend 3 nights in Las Cruces NM., we stayed there last spring and enjoyed the area.

Tuesday morning we decided to take a nice hike, all three of us needed to stretch our legs.  We chose the Bar Canyon hike, it was only about 4 miles with 800 feet elevation climb, with a waterfall at the halfway point.  We didn't make it quite to the waterfall we weren't quite sure how to get there, no loss, there wasn't any water.  On the way up we looked for a geo cache off the trail a bit near a couple of large boulders.  Luci scaled one of them twice, almost straight up.  What a monkey.  Last spring we found a pizza parlor that had delicious pizza.  Of course we forgot the name, so we went searching the general area,  After an hour of cruising we found it CLOSED for business.  ARGGGH!

Wednesday we spent the day cleaning and doing laundry so we wouldn't have to while the Lawry's were visiting us in Tucson.

Thurday we left early (for us) for Tucson.  I wasn't too popular with Gary, I directed him to a gas station with cheap gas, after we were past the point of no return, he realized there wasn't room.  So we had to disconnect Jeep, fill up, then hook back up again.  Whoops.  So we didn't leave quite as early as we'd wanted.  We passed over the continental divide (going west this time) 4583 ft elevation.  We got to the exit for our RV park around 2:30.  Again I wasn't Gary's favorite person, I'd left out a digit on the address to the park on Miss Sally.  We drove about 8 miles too far through road construction.  He turned into a residential neighborhood that was pretty tight but was able to turn around without disconnecting.  Finally arrived at Outward Bound RV park.  The spaces are a little small but a very nice park.  Dan and Charlene who are staying in a nearby hotel, came over about 5:30, we had adult beverages then went downtown to a brew pub, good food good company.

Friday morning was clear and warm, we went out to Saguaro National park for a hike, supposedly 2 miles long with 60 feet elevation change.  We got off course, hiking up a steep wash with sandy bottom.  Needless to say we got quite a work out.  We found a cute little Mexican restaurant close by.  We sat outside in the mid 70's, our server was a lot of fun.  Gary found a geo cache on the way back on a bluff overlooking the valley.  There were several cell towers that looked like tall saguaro cactus.    In the afternoon we taught them how to play Mexican train then had dinner here.

Saturday the guys wanted to go to the Titan Missile Museum south of the city. 54 missiles were built during the Cold War.  In 1987 the last of the missiles were retired, only one remains.  Charlene and I went shopping in the little town of Green Valley.  We drove south to Tubac, an artsy community, for lunch.  We took Luci out to lunch for the first time, we sat outside in, of course, a Mexican restaurant.  She was a very good girl, surprised us!  We came back to the coach, I BBQ'd triple tail that we bought in Rockport.

We had a lovely day Sunday, at 9:00 the four of us went to church service here at the park.  Fred the pastor, a retired Navy chaplain had a good message with a lot of humor.  We needed to check out a few details at Davis-Mothen AFB so we took them on a tour of the base then  had lunch after at an In and Out, our first on this trip.  We needed                                                                                                 


                       

                                         

to burn off a few calories so we walked along the Santa Cruz Riverwalk.  One of the sights you can't miss in Tucson is the Mission San Xavier Del Bac which was founded in 1783.

Monday morning we took Luci to Petsmarthotel for a day of doggie day camp, we headed off for Tombstone and Boot Hill.  We walked through the shops, had a nice lunch at the historic Crystal Palace.  Gary and Dan went through the County Courthouse Museum.  We picked up Luci at 5:00 and headed home to crash.  This "touristing" is hard work.

TTFN
Pam and Gary

Photos top to bottom:  Texas visitor center, El Paso; RV park in Longtry; Judge Roy Bean Historic State Park; Gary and Luci hiking in Bar Canyon NM; Dan and Charlene at Saguaro Nat'l Park; fake cell tower cactus; Mission San Xavier; Dan swinging in Tombstone; crazy street musicians; historic bar at Crystal Palace and gravesite in Boothill.

Operator error

WHOOPS!  Last week my unedited blog went out instead of the finished draft with pictures.  "Something" went wrong, that something being me.  Here are a few pictures that should have been included.
TTFN Pam and Gary        Fancy restroom in rest area on way to Harlingen

                                                    Gary in front of Iwo Jima

                                           
                                            End of road on SPI geo cache in gate

                                         
                                          Sea turtle at rescue facility

 
                                          Picture especially for Gerry Brown

                                         South Padre Island

                                         
                                         Fishermen returning to shore

                                          Port Isabel Lighthouse

                                          Pelicans

                                          Causeway to South Padre Island

                                          Gary the pirate

Rockport and Harligen

Saturday I went with Gail, Marty and Gail to the quilt shop in Rockport, I've been here over a month and this was my first visit.  Gail, the only non-quilter in the group is quite the knitter though.  I am looking for patterns for Patti, graduating senior and Nick and Sam who will be married 3/22.  After we took in several shops then having lunch at the Apple Dumpling Diner, they make all their own bread and pastries.  Delish!
While I was gone, Gary and Luci went to the dog park with Bob and Sharon, our Pegs and Jokers friends with their 2 dogs.  When they arrived here they had a travel trailer and a 1/2 ton pick up truck.  They are "newbie" rv'ers too.  Feeling a bit hemmed in with little storage they bought a 40' fifth wheel and a 1 ton truck.  The model they wanted was in Houston (4 hr drive) so they had to go up there to sign papers.  The dealership delivered it to them at the Bayview RV Resort. Very nice.
After dinner we went out for our daily (atleast) geo cache then went to Copano Bay to watch the sunset.

Our day began very early Sunday, Gary's phone rang at 2:30.  The owner of Scott Cycle have a "I survived the holidays" party.  They were missing us at the party so they decided to call.  Sounded like everyone was having a fine time.  When we got up at 8:30, we decided to call Julie, the instigator of the late night call.  (6:30 PST)  It went to voice mail.  Later in the day Julie texted to say thank you for the wake up call.
We did prep work for our move to Harlingen on Wednesday.  At 2:00 we went to the ice cream social followed by a couple of games of Pegs and Jokers.  We play girls vs boys.  Pegs and Jokers is a lot like Aggravation, played with cards and boards with holes sort of like a cribbage board.  The object of the game is to go around the boards to get "home" sometimes landing on other peoples pegs sending them back to start.  Because of that, you never sit by your spouse, sometimes they get "cranky" being send back several times.

Brrrrr, Monday morning it was 32 degrees and windy.  Gary takes Luci out first thing in the morning to potty, I stay inside and drink coffee.  We had a mountain of laundry to do.  Our site in the park is right across the road from the laundry room, it was full so we went to town.  I had 7 loads to do, it's nice to do all the loads at once except for the "going to the Laundromat" part.

Double brrrr, Tuesday it was 31 degrees with the same nasty wind.  It did warm up pretty fast though we were able to get the outside things put away for our departure.  At 2:00 we played our last games of Pegs and Jokers, this time Steve and Marty joined us.  I forget the final score of girls vs boys but the girls rule!  After we went to Panjo's pizza for a going away party.  The pizza was really good.  We said our good-byes and hugged all around.  Will sure miss everyone.

Wednesday we finally left Rockport about 11:30, just as we finished hooking up the car it started to rain and continued most of the way.  About half way between Rockport and Harligen we stopped at a rest area for lunch.  We visited the restrooms, very fancy tile work.  We pulled into the RV park about 4:30 with a very dirty car and coach.  Palm Gardens RV park was the first built in the area about 1920.  It started as a Mobile home park, growing over the years to include RV's with over 900 spaces.  Luci has been enjoying the dog park, lots of buddies to play with.

Thursday we decided to check out Harlingen, our first stop being the Pro Bass Store.  Truly amazing, they have a large fresh water aquarium, a bowling alley, restaurant, clothing, fishing and hunting supplies and boats from kayaks to large ocean going.  We took in historic downtown, a classic car museum  and the Iwo Jima memorial.  The memorial took 3 years to cast, is 32 feet high with a 75 ft flag pole.  One of the six men in the memorial was a local Rio Grande River Valley.

Friday morning we took Luci to doggie day care (thank goodness for ddc.)  It took about 45 minutes to get to South Padre Island.  We drove to the end of the island geo cacheing along the day.  For only $495,000 you can buy a lot on the Gulf of Mexico.  In town we stopped at Sea Turtle Rescue.  It was started by a lady, who on her own cared for sea turtles that were injured.  People in the area took notice, helped out financially and now is a charitable organization.  Most of the turtles are able to be re-released except for the ones that wouldn't survive in the ocean.  One turtle, Gerry is quite a star, he's been on Johnny Carson.  He can't be released because he's too social.  Originally his name was Geraldine but at age 15 they found out she was a he.  The largest turtle they have is about 200 pounds, he lost a couple of fins due to a boat motor, many, many of the turtles there have lost fins due to tangling with fishing line.  We had lunch at Island Brewing Co. (where else?) There was a 3 panel picture, at first glance I saw ocean kelp.  Actually it was 5 right handed men sitting at a bar, Gary noticed they all were holding their steins with their right hands.  You really had to look to see them.  Fun.  On our way back we stopped at Port Isabel lighthouse on the mainland.  You won't believe this but we have that lighthouse in our collection.  We picked up Luci, they only charged $9.00 including a nail trim.  What a deal.

We leave in the morning for our 3 day journey to Tucson.

Christmas and New Years in Rockport Texas

Rockport/Fulton Texas are thriving communities, populations of 8700 and 1300 with an elevation of 6.  The economy seems strong here, driven by fishing and tourists,  you see very few empty storefronts.  They remodeled a quiet street of historic old buildings and turned them into shops and art galleries away from the "business" part of the cities.  Unlike our Oregon coastal cities that are just one tourist trap after another. The area is known for the twice yearly bird migrations and artist colonies. If you know of a traffic engineer, they could use one down here.  You usually hit every light red on your way through the town, the side traffic triggers the change.  Arggghhh!!!
  HEB is the only grocery store chain we have seen since Buffalo Gap.  There are no Safeway, Albertsons or anything else.  You can pick up a few things at the gas station convenience stores.  Of course there is a Wal-Mart everywhere but I don't usually think of them as grocery stores.

One thing that has intrigued us since we have been here is a sign "Belt Sander Races" the 1st and third Saturday of each month.  We recently found out they really do race belt sanders.  Tomorrow we will be going to our first belt sander contest.  Who Knew?

Christmas eve at the club house we had a appetizer potluck happy hour followed by the steal and grab gift exchange with a $10.00 limit unisex gift.  I took a bottle of my favorite wine, full intending to steal it back (in the true spirit of Christmas), would you believe someone took it from me? Christmas morning we drove into town to make phone calls to our kids.  We ended up in a cemetery, a little weird but good cell service.  Christmas dinner was another potluck with the RV park supplying the ham.  There are a lot of good cooks down here.  After dinner our little "group" played Pegs and Jokers again, the girls winning hands down.  The day after Christmas I spent 4 hours in Urgent Care with what turned out to be an ear infection, haven't had one of those since I was a kids.  People all around me were coughing, sneezing and spreading germs everywhere.  So far so good, I haven't come down with the nasty stuff they were spewing.

The fun thing about geo caching is you end up in places you more than likely wouldn't go.  We were out by the southern end of Copano Bay, big  fancy houses seemingly built in a wetland.  I cannot imagine during a hurricane or storm surge that they wouldn't flood.  Cheaper homes in low lying areas are built on stilts with the living area upstairs. Sounds like more money than brains.

New years eve there was another appetizer potluck with live music and dancing.  We were surprised we made it to midnight, first time in quite a while.  On New Years day we had  dinner at the clubhouse.  Followed by a couple games of Pegs and Jokers, the girls are whomping the guys.
Sunday after the Ice Cream Social we played a few more games, women again triumphant.
It's a good thing we are leaving here Wednesday, we'd have to buy a few wardrobe.

We had to go to Corpus Christi again, we desperately needed vacuum cleaner bags, Rockport isn't big enough to have a Miele dealer in town.  After we took care of business we went to the "shoreline" area.  There's about a mile of beaches with continual steps (or benches) we aren't sure what to call them.  There are 3 "T's" with marinas and high end restaurants. We got a bite to eat in a little pub right on the marina.  Corpus is really a pretty little city.

TTFN  Gary and Pam

Photos top to bottom:  Sign that caught our eye; Christmas eve gift exchange; singing Christmas Carols; Pegs and Jokers buddies, Bob and Sharon & Gail and RJ; photo Gary took on a bike ride down Fulton Beach Road; Rockport pier and beach; and a boat coming in from the gulf, note expensive homes across the way built on canals.

The week before Christmas at Rockport

Tuesday mornings at the park they have the "Stitch and Bitch' gathering for knitting, crocheting and quilting.  I've been working on a project that is way above my skill level.  The pattern requires my full attention so I decided to just do the bitch part.  I tried  and tried to do about 5 stitches and kept having to take them out.  Will have to stay on the road longer than a year for me to make one scarf.
In the afternoon we decided to take a practice run to Corpus Christi, we drove to Aransas Pass then took  a free ferry to Port Aransas, of course we couldn't pass up a brew pub after all it was lunch time.  After lunch we drove to Mustang Island State Park. We walked about a mile up the beach, Luci had the greatest time.  We broke the rules and took her off leash so she could run.  We drove down the island to Corpus Christi, the bay originally was landlocked, in the 1920' s the Army Corps of Engineers dug a ship channel making Corpus Christi Bay the deepest bay on the Texas coast.  Call me crazy but to me a landlocked bay would be a lake??  We wanted to find out where the USS Lexington and Texas State Aquarium were located.  It is quite  a bridge crossing the channel into the city, quite high and long.
Wednesday nights at the park is happy hour and dinner. We've met quite a few people, most of who are from Michigan and Wisconsin.  I played cards (Phase 10) later with a couple of characters, the lady from Nebraska, now mid to late 70's said she started smoking at age 10, she supplied stock for rodeos.  The lady from Arkansas was a barrel racer in her younger years. 
Thursday morning we dropped Luci off at the Salty Dog Doggie Day Care  so we could head back to Corpus Christi.  The USS Lexington, launched in 1943, built in Massachusetts by Rosie the Riveters.
The self-guided tours allowed you on 5 decks, the flight deck with several WW2 vintage airplanes, officers quarters, the galley deck, the lower engine room sick bay and the hangar deck.  Volunteers are available to answer questions.  It is located right on the bay, the waters must get deep quick, it was just a short trip up the ramp to the ship from the beach.  Just down the beach is the aquarium.  We were lucky, just as we entered the dolphin underwater viewing room trainers came in and worked with the dolphins.  Santa was in a large fish tank feeding the fish as sharks swam overhead.
After Friday night happy hour we went with 3 other couples to a "tav" for dinner, I got brave and tried the catfish.  It was a mild white fish, I'd always thought they would taste "muddy".
 
   Photos top to bottom:  Luci playing in the Gulf of Mexico; Gary on the flight deck of the USS Lexington; Texas Marine Aquarium with Harbor bridge in background; Gary walking the plank on the Lex; The Lexington; Santa feeding the fish at the aquarium and the trainers working with the dolphins.

Sunday after the Ice Cream Social we played a game called "pegs and jokers" with 4 other couples, men vs women, the men won just as I was ready to go out.  Our Seahawks lost, thank goodness they didn't show the game in our area.
This morning we woke up to 39 degrees, it was only supposed to reach 55 today, but it topped out at 58 with little wind.  Gary and I picked up 21 geo caches.  I finalized our plans to meet Dan and Charlene in Tucson in January.  We talked with Suzanne, Gary's sister who underwent a double mastectomy last week.  She is doing well, the doctors feel they were able to remove all the cancer.

Quiet week

This last week has been cool so we have just hung around the coach.  Just the usual mundane things, laundry, exercise etc.  We got some news on Monday that is pretty exciting.  Our grandson Nick got engaged to Sam, his sweetheart since middle school I think.  We will be going to the wedding March 22nd. in Salem.  We will leave the coach in Yuma to make a quick trip home.  While we are there we will see doctors and dentists.  Tuesday we got some bad news, Gary's sister Suzanne who lives in St. Clair Michigan has breast cancer, she will have a double mastectomy next week.
The weather started warming up on Wednesday, we took a walk on Copano Bay beach, it felt pretty good to be out and about without heavy coats.  I shouldn't complain, our cold was mid 40's vs Salem's 20's with snow and ice.  I hope our renter kept the place warm enough, our laundry room pipes are notorious for freezing.  No news is good news.  Wednesday nights are happy hour and dinner here in the park.  We are getting to know more people, the majority of them from Michigan and Wisconsin.  Friday we took a drive across Copano Bay bridge to see the 1000 year old tree.  Of course we left the camera home but trust me it was big, being held up by wires and posts.  The grove of live oak surrounding the tree are very big too, not tall but wide.  We did some geocacheing while we were there, one was in a cemetery with headstones dating to the early 1800's.  They are building a new bridge over the bay, as we were crossing over we saw a barge with 2 cement trucks on it, I said that I'd never seen that before.  Gary said maybe it was for the bridge constructions.  As we crossed the bridge back into Rockport, that same barge was heading back to port, Gary must have been right.
Friday was warmer yet.  We had a mobile repairman come to fix some wiring that coincidentally stopped working right after our water repair.  Poor Gary came down with my cold and to top that off he twisted his ankle.  Happy hour at the clubhouse helped.
Saturday warmed up even more!!!!  We took Luci for a long walk, there is a road within the park that isn't open for cars so she chased sticks, nothing like a tired puppy.  The walk really hurt Gary's ankle so he went to Urgent Care.  They weren't sure what the problem was but gave him some prescription strength IBO's.  After dark we went down to Little Bay in Rockport to watch the lighted boat parade.  There were only 8 to 10 boats, a little disappointing after seeing the parades on the Columbia, a bit warmer though.
Sunday we took a Whooping Crane tour out in Aranasas Bay.  We had a 3 hour tour with the Skipper and Christina.  I didn't need to take a suitcase, we were back in a little over 3 hours not years.  The Skipper is quite a "birder" he was able to navigate the boat and spot birds at the same time.  We saw over 25 different kinds of birds.  The Crested Caracara bird looked ordinary enough but when it flew over it is pink like a flamingo.  The cranes were almost extinct, but with prevention measures the flock is up to over 300.  Cranes mate for life, they migrate down from Canada, lay 2 eggs and raise the chick,. I said chick because one of them kills the other, talk about sibling rivalry.  One pair the skipper pointed out were interesting, the male was bitten by a water moccasin.  His head and neck quadrupled, lost feathers and almost died.  He survived but has a nasty scar on his head.
We had gorgeous weather.  As we were coming back to the harbor the skipper spotted an oyster boat stuck on a sand bar.  He circled around the pulled him off.  We asked how many times he'd done that, this was the first time.  I didn't realize the oysters were put in bags on the boats before they are taken to market.  We got home at half time to watch the Green Bay/Cowboy game.  With us it's ABC anybody but cowboys so we were rooting for GB.  Our neighbors here in the park are from Wisconsin and got to go to the game.  It was so exciting to watch the Packers come back from over 20 points behind to win. 
Monday morning I was leaving to go to Snap when my car told me I had a low tire.  Fortunately Gary hadn't left on his bike ride yet so he pumped it up enough for me to go into town.  Three of us at the park have had flats because of nails.  Walmart has a tire repair shop, pretty handy I got the tire fixed and shopped for groceries at the same time.  In the afternoon we took Luci to the dog park, a not so nice labradoodle decided he didn't like her and started to fight with her.  Poor baby was so scared, she didn't try to fight back, she kept trying to get away to get to us.  No harm was done.  After we walked around the park, found about 5 geo caches.
It is a little hard to think about Christmas  with the warm weather.

Photos top to bottom: Loading the Skimmer; all bundled up for the 3 hour tour; pair of cranes, one on right has scar from snake bite; towing the oyster boat off the sand bar; our  home in Rockport; hanging with Luci and our Christmas lights.

Merry Christmas to all,
Pam and Gary

 

Rockport, Texas

It has been brought to my attention that any comments sent to me from the blog itself are not showing up.  Since I am not a techie I don't know how to remedy the problem.  So, if you want to comment, you'll have to e-mail me.

For our last night in San Antonio we decided to go back down to the Riverwalk to check out the Christmas lights, since we were with 300,000 of our closest friends during the parade we didn't see a lot of things.  We took the same exit into downtown as the parade night, traffic was all tied up again.  There was a Spurs game, we just thought the congestion was due to that.  Wrong, there were crowds of people doing the same thing we were.  Kids had congregated in Alamo Square, so many of them in fact we had to "squeeeeze' through them.  When we finally made it down to the Riverwalk the crowds weren't quite as bad.  Fighting the traffic and crowds were worth it, it was really beautiful.  Of course we needed a beverage, we'd decided to go back to County Line BBQ and got a primo spot right on the river.  The river boats were speeding through, I suppose because of the number of people taking rides.  The ducks really had to scatter.  We were seated across the river from Dick's Last Resort, the place that made you wear rude hats.  The captains of the boats have running commentary all along the ride, they kept making remarks about the hospital located there was the first air conditioned hospital in the US, we thought that the hospital was no longer there.  It is still an operating hospital and the only one in the world with a bar in the basement.  Now that makes sense, you can go downstairs and relax while your loved one is having surgery. 

Sunday, Dec. 1st  We left Braunig Lake RV park for Rockport about 10:00, we took secondary roads all the way, giving us a feel for the rural life in southern Texas.  As we were leaving the small town of Goliad we spotted a mission, at the last minute we decided to stop.  The coach corners real well on two wheels!  Mission Espiritu Santo  was established  in1754  to civilize Indians and Christianize them to change them from cannibalism.  I'd never heard some of our  Native
Americans were cannibals. They stayed a while, then mission them turned to farming.  At one time they had over 3000 head of cattle. We pulled into Bayview RV park in the afternoon, there's no view but it does have a couple of lakes that used to have alligators.  The park it quite large, over 250 large spaces with mature live oak trees everywhere.  The park itself is a little "long in the tooth", needs a bit of work but is nice and quiet, no trains, no traffic and very few airplanes as opposed to Fort Sam, we were on the flight path to the international airport.  We got to drive around to pick our space, Gary asked around about satellite reception, before picking our new home.

Monday, Dec. 2nd  A stop at the visitor center is always the first thing we like to do when we arrive in a new town.  The gal there was very helpful, we left with a lot of brochures about the area.  Also finding a doggie day care is a must.  After a  delish lunch at Apple Dumpling Deli we checked out local parks for fenced dog areas.  Memorial Park is a lovely park, we did some walking and picked up some geo caches.  We came home and watched the Seahawks kick the Saints fanny.  Go Seahawks!

Tuesday Dec. 3rd.  Today is the third month anniversary of full-time RVing.  Neither one of us are ready to go back home.  The park has a nice activity hall, I visited the  "Stitch and Bitch" knitting and crocheting group in the morning.  I'm working on a scarf that is way above my skill level.  While I was there Gary rode 16 miles.  Later in the afternoon we went to the Maritime Museum. The gal I was sitting next to at the Riverwalk parade recommended we visit the Moon Dog restaurant, so of course we  had to go.  There were two barstools that had tractor seats and the back had curvaceous hips and legs. We had to have our picture taken, I asked "does this stool make my butt look big", no one answered "its not the stool" .The picture was taken with the camera phone so I can't put it on my blog but Gary posted it on Facebook.  Anyway the restaurant was a fun place, we had a snack and adult beverage.  The community was holding a free fish fry for winter Texans, so we decided "why not", let me tell you why.  The hall seats 400, all seats were full with a line about 100 feet long.  We went back to Moon Dog for dinner, met some fellow Oregonians also staying at Bayview.

Wed. Dec. 4th  Took Luci to the dog park to let her run, unfortunately there weren't any other dogs to play with.  Later we walked around the park, I have never seen to many turtles in one spot, probably over 100 in one pond.  At 4:00 we went to the activity hall for happy hour, met a lot of nice people, the majority of them were from Wisconsin and Michigan, afterward dinner was served.  The weather has really been nice, soon to change the weatherman says.

Thursday, Dec. 5th  I woke up with a pesky cold.  Dang!  I'd noticed a Snap Fitness in town earlier in the week, so I went to work out in spite of feeling crummy.  This is the first one I've been to since Spokane in September.  The weather has started to change, it dropped 10 degrees in an hour by evening it had gone from the 70's to under 40 with wind.  Canada can keep their Artic fronts up there.

Friday, Dec. 6th  Still cold, woke up to low 30's with wind.  Poor Gary has to walk Luci several times a day while I stay huddled inside.  We had several errands to run so we took Luci to day care to ease her cabin fever and spare is from her hyperactivity.  She always comes home very tired.  Aransas Pass is another small town about 15 miles from here.  After taking care of our business we had lunch at Redfish Willies, a cute establishment on the bay.  Food and service were good, we want to go back in warm weather, they have large garage type doors that open.  There is a small aquarium in Rockport that has free admission so we went there when we got back, the fish are all indigenous  to the bay and Gulf of Mexico except for "Marley" the moray eel from the Pacific.  Picked up a tired Luci and made it  home in time for happy hour at the club house.

Sat. Dec. 7th  It is still cold, 34 degrees with wind.  We laid low in the morning, we had bought tickets to the Historic Homes Tour so we braved the weather.  Glad we did, the five houses and two historic venues were worth it.  One of the houses was a Louisiana style cottage. restored but kept original including much of the furniture.  It is supposed to "float" but I never figured out what that meant, the pool in back wasn't original.  Another was a B & B, would be fun to stay there.  The houses were built in 1870 to the newest in 1949. The docents in each house were dressed in period clothing.  The last one we saw was right on the bay, just " weekender."  The drive is oyster shells, some were new but not so fresh.   I would never have thought this but I just love Texas, especially south Texas.  Who Knew?

TTFN Gary and Pam

PS If you'd like to send us mail the old fashioned by our forwarding address is 1115 Madison St. NE PMB 829 Salem, 97301

Photos top to bottom:  The mission; sanctuary; trying to keep warm (just a one dog night) the B & B on the tour; Louisiana style cottage; their pool and the view from the week-end cottage.