A Midwestern “Summit” Meeting

   Dennis and I are now happily ensconced in the beautiful Live Oak Trees at Goose Island State Park.  We have been to this park about 6 times.  They have 2 different camping areas here.  One is on the bay and the other is among the trees. We have stayed at both but since our last site at Mustang Island was near the ocean and we needed to pick our teeth clean of sand, we opted for the shelter of the Live Oak’s long and twisted branches.

We are all nestled down in site #112 on the end, which gives us extra room.

 

This shot was taken looking down the length of the campsites from in front of ours.  Notice those trees, twisting and turning like Gumby (not sure ALL of you will remember him!)  Our weather is warmer here, which we were both ready for.  So far we haven’t donned our Winter coats for our morning walks.  In fact yesterday, it was 70 degrees.  I have yet to drag out my shorts in the public.  I need to get a little more sun so the road maps on my legs are not quite so evident ( insert a smiley face  here…my “cool Emotions” are not working anymore (insert grumpy face).

Our walks so far have been out to the bay front area where the other camp area is..

On our very first walk, we encountered familiar faces noses beaks….

….The Three Stooges….Molt, Harry and Beaky..

The beachfront has 2 distinct areas, the East side and West side…No, there isn’t much difference

In left photo, you can see the RV’s waaay down there..As you can see, this is a  huge oyster beach and there are oyster shells everywhere.  Right pic is a guy going out after some live bait.  Notice his waders are more like chest high boots and when they get way out there, all you can see is his arms and head…crazy, if you ask me..I know..nobody did.

In the wonderful world of blogging, we meet many really nice people.  Early last year, I happened upon a fellow RV blogger, Ingrid.  Her blog really got my attention when I found her hubby, Al, was originally from Somonauk, IL, a little town about 2 miles West of Sandwich…and I had known him in high school.  Turns out that Ingrid had grown up in Chicago and so we were all from the Midwest… Illinois to be specific. ( A great place to be FROM!!).

Al and Ingrid were new full-timers.  They had been living in Colorado, where Al was a retired Midway Airlines Captain and Ingrid was a General Contractor who built new homes.(They met when she was a flight attendant for Midway Airlines.)   As we became good blog buddies, we realized we were both going to be at Goose Island State Park for 2 days…Ingrid and Al  were staying at Hidden Oaks RV Park, just down the road from the state park. The day after we landed here, I was out front having coffee and lo and behold here came Ingrid on her bike.  She came in and we had ourselves a great chat…

 

I do believe that Ingrid and I could be related in some former life…All we did was laugh and tell stories.  After a great visit, we agreed we would all meet for cocktails at “Moondogs” in Fulton Beach that evening. Moondog’s was having Happy Hour and the Margaritas were $2.50…I’M IN!

Get a couple of crazy women together and a couple of tolerant men and you could be in for some great fun…

…and this is exactly why I need to carry a bail bondman’s card. Maybe I should send one to Ingrid..??

Ingrid also clued us into where she found Whooping Cranes feeding here just outside the park.  She rides her bike all over and spotted them in a field with some cows…No, really?  So yesterday, MacGyver and I took a ride in that direction. We followed Ingrid’s directions and found the field with the cows…and waaay into the back of the field were some huge Cranes..I was so darn sure they were Whoopers that I took a gazillion pictures on the zoom lens…

I was sure these guys were Whoopers..but they sure didn’t look like the ones in my bird book.  I think these are Sand Hill Cranes.  Right, Judy?? I must return again and continue my quest to see the great Whooping Cranes..Neat as these Cranes are, they are NOT them…crap.

Yesterday was Date Night and we also wanted to score some fresh Grouper, so we rode into Fulton Beach to hang out. At a place called P.J.’s Seafood we found a plethora of shellfish and salt water swimmers.  I did find the Grouper and we picked up 3 huge filets for $12.  I asked how they froze and the lady said that Grouper is a firm fish and will freeze just fine..so that’s where the “Group” is right now, in our freezer.  We also stopped at one of our old haunts Alice Faye's By the Bay and had a cocktail. We sat and discussed what kind of carry-outs would be for supper and decided on Pop's Tavern and Cafe for fried oysters…

 

If you look close, you can spot “moi” taking the picture in the mirror..Also, that big wooden chest on the left side of the first pic is where they keep the beer.  AND..do you see those tall styrofoam cups stacked up under the ice tea machine and coffee pot????? That’s your Pop’s wine glass..Yep…a 16 oz. glass of wine for $5.75…and one is all you’ll need.  This place has killer good fried oysters with curly fries and we got 2 orders to carry-out…

I take them immediately out of the styro foam and pile them on my pizza pan, where they will be warmed up at 300 degrees for 15 minutes…They did NOT disappoint!!

OK, we were braggin’ about the nice weather and the wind just came up out of the North and our windows are now shut, the temp has dropped ….and it is raining…SAY WHAAAAT???

“It's so funny; I grew up in the Midwest, I have two older brothers, and you're just as competitive playing football as you are eating pickled eggs, or trying to kill zombies. As long as you don't take it too far, I think it's a good way for people to relate.”

                                                   Jose Pablo Cantillo