We finally got back into Texas. We are trying to make home to check on some family members who have had some health problems, so we’re speeding along with a couple of stops along the way.
We got back into Texas on August 23. We pulled into the Mesa Verde RV Park in Wolfforth, Tx. just outside Lubbock. Our speakeasy, Manhattan 9, was not open while we were there so we just took this time to relax. The air was fairly cool at night so we just walked around the park and took in all the fresh air we could.
We got to Abilene on August 25 and stayed at the Buck Creek RV Park. I wanted to spend some time with my cousin, Bobby Stone. As a bonus, I also got to spend time with my second cousin, Billy Don Stone. I had informed my cousin before our arrival that I planned to be a tourist in Abilene this go round. There is a lot to see here and I have never been to anything but the Dennys. First out we took off for the zoo. It is a small zoo, but really well done. However, it is August and we are in Texas, so it was pretty warm.
Me and cousin, Bobby
The Zoo had the very best giraffe exhibit
Adult eyes only - Bird Porn at the Zoo!
Loved the Frontier Museum.
Dennis let me and Bob take on this one without him.
He said he was about Museumed out!
I was also gonna make Bob go eat with us at the Perini Ranch, which is in Buffalo Gap. This place is extremely famous - George and Laura Bush use them for catering pretty often. But as luck would have it, I found their cookbook at the Frontier Museum, so we just cooked their food ourselves and saved a bundle. 😋
While in Buffalo Gap we went to the Historic Village and had a lot of fun there as well.
Billy Don and Christina Stone
(my second cousin and his wife)
They have a pop-up they pull behind their motorcycle
After leaving Abilene, we spent the night in Bridgeport at the Bay Landing RV Campground and then headed for Texarkana. We stayed at the Sunrise RV Park again and checked in with some of Dennis’ family. Thank you cousin Clyde Gillenwater for hosting the Labor Day Cookout and swim day! It was so fun to meet second cousin Chad’s family!
Now there is a wad of Gillenwaters!
Chad’s kids having fun in the kitchen!
But now it looks like his son wants out - Dad has them blocked in. LOL!
Check out Clyde’s new toy! This car is pristine!!!
Got our bellies full and played in the pool.
Great day!
After Labor Day we took off back to Texas and stayed at our Thousand Trails near San Antonio, Bay Landing, for the night before we got near Austin. We stayed at the Hill Country Lakes RV in Spicewood. This is a really nice area near Lake Travis and there are several great places to eat and/or drink on the water. We really enjoyed this area. I wanted to spend a couple of days in Austin, but was pretty disappointed in the city of Austin. The homeless situation was almost as bad as Oregon. They are everywhere downtown. I did not even feel comfortable doing anything there, we just drove through town without stopping. Drove past the capital!
The Lighthouse Restaurant and Lounge was our go to place while we were here. Watching the people at the marina made me homesick for our marina. Everyone knew everyone else on the dock and were visiting with each other. Great food and drink as well.
My drive by photo of the Capital.
We used to go to Austin when I was a kid and I loved visiting the capital.
Maybe next time.
We left Austin and headed to our go to place, Columbus for a couple of nights. We wanted to hit our favorite wine bar downtown and were saddened when we found they had permanently closed. Dang Covid! But oddly enough, during the height of the Covid shutdowns a brewery opened up in Downtown. We happened by it on the way back from trying to visit the wine bar. The Hound Song had some really good beer and they make pretzels served with a beer cheese sauce and they also serve charcuterie trays. They seemed to be booming while we were there and we really enjoyed the food and drink. So we still have a reason to visit our favorite camping spot and downtown Columbus.
On September 16 we finally made it back to Conroe and our family. We had tons of fun and were so glad to find everyone well.
Playing games with my Mom & Dad.
We made a trip to Beaumont for a night with my besties.
Fun times with the grand kids!
Tennis is not my friend.
I am afraid the kids are going to quit letting me play with them.
Got to spend time with both of my brothers
Some of us went to Newman’s Castle in Bellville, Texas
This was a great day-trip from Conroe
Our host, the Knight, and these guest are just opening the drawbridge like hamsters!
Meet the king of the castle. He is getting our lunch ready.
Me and the King
Torturing my brother and him torturing me. Some things never change.
The Chapel caught Traci’s eye!
Reminds me of our friend Craig Bellaire.
He has been known to carry his eating utensils in his pocket. Good gift idea for him!
Also in Bellville is the Phoenix Knives place.
Ever seen Forged in Fire?
We also found a new brewery in Conroe. Really cool place.
Finally, we get back home to Beaumont and stay at a new RV park, Grand Pines of Texas. This place just opened up on I-10 on the west side of Beaumont. It is across the interstate from Gator Country on Hwy. 365. We really enjoyed staying here. Close to friends and great concrete pads that were even pretty level. We will return here when we get back in January. We got to spend time with almost all of our friends while we were here and those we missed we can catch up with in a couple of months.
My Dad spilled something between the glass of his oven.
Never knew it was so easy to clean.
You just take off the door and break it down into ten or twelve pieces and
then hope you remember how to put it back together.
Thank you so much Don - that boat is amazing!
Butterfly season in full swing.
Michelle Hobb’s annual Witches Gathering was fun as usual.
Don Pruett brought his old truck
Celebrating Nancy Smithey’s birthday at Bruno’s Italian
Sunset from Tres Palms - Smithey’s place
View from The Escape - Galloway’s Place
The guys interrupting Kenneth’s chores.
My beautiful friend, Nancy
My other beautiful friend, Donna
The turtle float
Dennis cooking on the Smithey’s amazing Green Egg
LIFE IS SO GOOD
Our spot backed up to a pasture with beautiful horses.
We did spend some time in Galveston
Colorful tiny houses
We were here during the blood moon
Hardly a footprint
We were here for Thanksgiving so we hit up the Golden Corral.
Michelle Hobb’s annual Witches Gathering was fun as usual.
We left Beaumont, but not by much. We parked at the Smithey’s cabin at Crystal Beach for several days and has spectacular weather! Thanks for the memories! Kenneth and Donna Galloway were on the Peninsula too, so we got to enjoy their company as well!
OUR FIRST NEAR MISS: Leaving the Smithey’s we were heading to the ferry when some moron busted a u-turn right in front of us without ever looking to see if there was traffic. We were traveling at 55 or 60 MPH and Dennis was barely able to avoid plowing into this idiot. The RV was sliding and pushing us down the road - about to go sideways - I could hardly breath I was so scared. When we got on the ferry a guy came up to the truck who was an RVer. He had been behind us and was impressed that Dennis was able to avoid that crash. He said he was honking at the moron and the moron was flipping him off like it was his fault this all happened. It all worked out - but wow. It took some time to catch our breath after that.
Last year we checked out several places in the Galveston area and thought we might spend a month or so in one of them one year. We really liked Stella Mare, so we spent a few nights here and highly recommend it. It is just east of Jamaica Beach not far from Galveston State Park. Super clean and manicured, I will be back to this place.
While we were setting up here at Stella Mare we had another pretty good little scare. I shared this on Facebook, so some of you may know. We went to disconnect from the truck and the hitch would not let go. Dennis just pulled to RV up about a foot. Scared me to death! He was able to trip the hitch with a large screwdriver and we disconnected and finished setting up. We found that the landing gear on the drivers side was also slightly damaged during this fiasco when I went to pull the pin out to readjust the leg and went flying out into the yard. That pin is not supposed to come out! But we can still make it work and just make adjustments to while traveling so as not to lose the leg. I actually removed the lower leg on departure and figured we’d just slip it in when we set up in Corpur.
Dennis pulled the hitch off and worked on it and found that the trigger was broken off. So, the McGyver that he is, he rigged it so that the hitch would engage, but had put a line on there so we could pull that after pulling the proper release lever to get it to disengage. We called the manufacture to discuss the fix and they admitted this has been a common failure. They were putting a new trigger in the mail and it should meet us in Corpus Christi. It did dawn on us that we never received any paperwork on this hitch. We purchased it and had it delivered to PPL in Houston for them to install. So we downloaded the manual off-line and with it and the conversation with the manufacturer determined that I had been loading the RV a bit too high and putting a bit too much pressure on the trigger. So we are relearning our loading levels and will hopefully get the swing of things again. The thing about this hitch, the auto-slide, you have to hit it within ten degrees of straight and now I have to learn a new critical eyeball level. But, you know what, it beats getting out to adjust the hitch when we turn sharp so as not to break the window.
Awesome view on the deck
Heading toward Corpus Cristi and had a stop over in El Campo at the Lost Lagoon RV Park.
Just so you know, the McGyvering worked, but the leg of the landing gear I removed, that proved to be a mistake. We raised the landing gear all the way up and the leg wouldn’t fit under it with the way this site is. There is a sort of rise in the middle of all the sites here so the front of the RV is lower here that it was at Stella Mar. OH MY!!! I never even considered that when I took off the leg. So, I called on McGyver and he just removed the tip of the leg and was able to shimmy it on there. He reattached the leg and put on the tip. Then we were able to detach from the truck without any difficulty (just had to pull the line) and finish setting up.
Now back to Lost Lagoon. This place looks like so much fun! They have an RC track, lazy river, they usually have a blow up obstacle course on the water, restaurants and bars. It has it all. But, of course, it was all shut down when we were here, you know, in November.
We made it to Corpus Christi and will be here a month. So far the weather has been pretty nice. A couple of rainy days, but perfect temperatures. We are staying on the North Beach of Corpus Christi Bay at the Puerto del Sol no frills RV park. But we are right on the water and a rarely visited part of the beach. Check out all of my sea glass. This is my haul after just one afternoon stroll. Are you digging that yellow piece. I AM!
It was really delicious.
We picked up our replacement part for the hitch at the post office and Dennis installed it. It is made with a much sturdier metal that the last trigger. Like they said, it was a common failure. Being a respectable American manufacturer, they adjusted the part to be a more durable product. Thankfully we bought American too! With all these supply chain problems it could have been months before we got the part from China.
MORE ON CORPUS LATER! Until next time - Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
