Please Don't Make Me Dig Out My Sweats!!!!!

Well, we are on our last 2 days of our stay in Clear Springs, Texarkana..It rained most all of yesterday, so we stayed in and had a fire inside...and I mean IT POURED!!!! We got about 4" of rain in one day. It quit raining about 3PM, and the sun peaked through, so Den started a fire in our firepit..(imagine that)..We had pulled out our awning early in the morning and sat outside under that until it started to lightening...that did it for me!! Here is our little shelter where we had our coffee..
Here is our little "home away from home", on a sunny day....
I must post one more wildlife photo...I know you are very excited about seeing this Red-Headed Woodpecker who was on the tree next to us everyday..
He did get into our bird feeder, but he didn't quite get the "perching" thing very well. His ass always was hanging down under the feeder..I found it very funny..you really had to be there, and I wish you had been, we would have had a wine around the campfire....
I can't close without a few photos of our rough life we have here..Here is Den just as busy as a beaver, as you can see..
..And here I am thinking of all I have to do....like...well, like mix another Rum and Coke...and by the way, notice my lovely campfire attire......I'm ready for my close up now, Mr. DeMille..

...OK, I just couldn't resist!!!! Pay special attention to my Tweety Bird sleep pants, turquoise sox and matching???moose nightshirt...I think I should create a new line of loungewear called "Campfire Casual"..or maybe "Campfire Catastrophes"..I'm sure our friends from Minnesota, Wayne and Ronae would approve!
I don't know if I am ready for cold weather. I hope y'all did a warm weather "dance", cause I don't want to have to dig out my sweats!!! I'm not sure if I will blog from Indianapolis..we may not set up the satellite computer dish..
Tuesday night we will be at a state park North of Little Rock Arkansas and Wednesday night we will stay at Rend Lake in Southern Illinois..which will put us at Indianapolis Thursday about 1PM (we lose an hour in Indy). I can't wait to get my hands on our newest grandson who we haven't seen since he was 3 weeks old...and now he is 6 months old!!!! We will stay in Indy 4 nights and be home Monday, April 27th probably by noon... More later....maybe!..and if I do another blog, you will get to meet my new grandson!!!! Thanks for riding along with us this winter...you gave me a reason to document our trip...and become an amateur blogger!! Donna

ONE OF OUR PRETTIEST PARKS......

I thought I would share this photo with y'all...this is our path we take on our daily walk..It used to be a road, but was closed when they added more campsites...They had a fire here, as you can tell by the now brown pines..
Of course, I have to give you a little history of Texarkana. It was named for it's location on the Texas/Arkansas border in the extreme northeastern corner.There is some debate about how it was named. One tradition said it was named after a steamboat known as Texarkana, which traveled the Red River in 1860. Others claim that a man named Swindle (whatever), who ran a general store in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, manufactured a drink called "Texarkana Bitters"...and another story claims that when St. Louis, Iron Mountain, and Southern Railroad built it's line through here, the name was coined by a Col. Gus Knobel, who erected a large sign at the site. At any rate, what they called The Great Southwest Trail, which, for hundreds of years, was the main line of travel from Indian villages of the Mississippi River country to those of the South and West, passed by a Caddo Indian village on this site. There are seventy indian mounds within a radius of thirty miles of Texarkana..cool, eh??
There is a road, called State Line Road (for obvious reasons) which runs directly through Texarkana on the state line. We know, because we have to cross it into the Arkansas WalMart to get wine and beer...the Texas side is "dry".. This city is commercially one city, but it has two separate municipalities, aldermanic in form, with two mayors, and two sets of councilmen. They do share a joint fire department. The Federal Building here has the distinction of being the only building of it's kind, situated between two states...Whew!...did ya learn anything??? I just did!!!I need to go back to my high school typing class!! Enough knowledge...here are some cool photos...Last Easter weekend was busy here..This is one of the many cooker/smokers people were cooking on.....note it is built on a wagon and the smoke stack goes out through the roof...thus, rain does not bother it..!
We noticed that they had built some new little cabins on the edge of the lake this year..They are really nice and have a little deck overlooking the lake..Here is one of the 3 new ones....
This next photo is a campsite that they have built a deck on...We took note of the number, because it is reservable, but up in a different loop.....maybe next time???
About 2 campsites from us,they had a big Easter get together...and this is their cooker..
..I really WANT one of these cookers!!
And here is yet a few more bird photos...This is my new little friend, the Ruby Throated Hummingbird...
...isn't he just too cute???
Well, I have bored you enough...I may blog one more time, if I have anything new to say...We leave here next Tuesday....headed North. I just may have one more blog in me...later...maybe.

Now this was too close!!

OK...last night was an adventure, to say the least. We knew there was a tornado watch for our county and surrounding counties. Den and I sat by the fire until about 7:30PM, and kept our computer set to the Texarkana radar. I decided it was time for dinner, so I came in to get it ready and took a quick look at the radar..HMMMMM....One huge blob of red moving right toward our lake...I called outside to Den.."You better take a look at this...". His comment when he saw the radar was,"Holy crap!".
We proceeded outside to put our chairs, flag, spinners and anything that may blow away ..inside the truck or inside the camper. I noticed alot of people aroundus were were doing the same..and there was a pretty steady group moving toward the shower house just up the hill from our campsite.Here is the shower house from our camper...just up the hill..
We looked at the radar one more time, blew out the candles I had burning inside ,and walked through our "backyard" toward the shower house, wine and beer in hand. There was a group gathering outside of it, some on cell phones, checking on family, and some had weather radios..I think every damn one of them was related to the others...except us..But we were warmly greeted by all...(imminent disaster brings people together).
We all listened as the weather radio reported rotation headed toward Atlanta ( a little town just South of the lake..NOT in Georgia!)..and we decided to move into the stone building..right next to the urinals, I might add. The wind came up a bit...and we saw a familiar truck moving down the park road toward us...Jimmy Jones just couldn't resist hollaring at us, "Y'all better roll up your pantlegs...This one is gonna be a turd floater!"..Thank you so much for the warning, Jimmy. We all laughed and he went back up the hill to their shelter.
To make a long story short, we didn't get the brunt of the storm..It split and some went South, some went North. We woke up this morning, turned on the news and found that the town of Mena, Arkansas, just about 50 miles North of here got hit bad by the twister that missed us..2 people dead and 23 injured..We were lucky ...again. But, hey, we got another chance at some severe weather Saturday or Sunday, so maybe we will enjoy the company of others at the shower house again..
Ya just gotta love Tornado Alley in the spring!! I will blog more later...from who knows where????

"It Was Down In Louisiana, Just About A Mile From Texarkana....."

Here we are in what is called the "ArkLaTex"..which is the corner of those 3 states. We left Georgetown Tuesday about 8AM and arrived here about 1:45PM...choosing to disregard our GPS Tom Tom and take 635 around Dallas instead of going directly through...Tom, the GPS, has a wicked sense of humor and tries to test us once in a while..
Our weather yesterday was perfect...sunny, not a cloud in the sky and 78 degrees. We took our walk in the morning and discovered our long time Texarkana friend Jimmy "Catfish" Jones was camped in his usual spot on the upper corner. Jimmy and his wife are from the Arkansas side of Texarkana and seem to be here almost every time we are. He does commercial fishing here on the lake. Everyone knows him here..and he owns a truck you just can't forget..a little old gold/yellow Toyota, with a "mosaic" of rust spots....not unlike Den's old rusty blue Silverado, which everyone in town recognizes,,,(even the cops).
I love this campsite. I even think it is one of my favorites ever! We are not right on the lakeside, but across the road. This makes it less windy when we get a storm. There are tall Lodgepole pines, other pines and oak trees all around, yet we get a nice dose of sunshine all day long. We have a little retaining wall made out of treated lumber which is built into the hillside, about 2 or 3 feet tall, at the rear of our camper. The site is filled with nice large rock gravel, and the picnic table is made out of concrete and sits on a concrete slab. This makes for a nice clean INSIDE of the camper...(no mud if it rains.) Most of the people here are local Texarkanans, and they bring tons of stuff with them to set up, allowing to have the whole "fam damily" in for Easter weekend. They set up tents with net sides over the picnic tables (in case of rain), deep fryers, roasters, tables, chairs, bikes, golf carts, coolers, smokers.....and washing machine drums..Yes, I did say washing machine drums...They use these for a campfire...and the holes in the side provide oxygen, if not cool affect..Maybe I should look into a junk yard, get some of these drums and sell them as fire burners up north.???
Today is Thursday , and we went grocery shopping at the Arkansas side Super Walmart, just across the state line. I am looking to get a new bicycle..Jimmy Jones said he may know someone who would like my old beat up Schwinn....and they can have it for free. We DID find out that we need to make that purchase on the Texas side..Arkansas has a 10% sales tax, believe it or not!!!
Here are a few photos of our great campsite....Here is where we have our coffee...
....and here I am having my cup of coffee!
Here is a view from the back side....
Here is a shot looking down the line of campers by us..
They have built a few cabins right out on the lake which I do not yet have a picture of. I will take my camera next time I walk, because there is a campsite up the hill that has a big-ass smoker parked on it and I want a picture..(I am anxious to see what they cook on it for Easter dinner!)
We have our string of rope lights all around our campsite for night lighting..We took a few pictures last night as it started getting dark...Here they are..
Well, it is time for a short "walkabout" the park. We usually ride our bikes in the afternoon, but mine is dead, so we will walk. Our weather radio just went off and we are under a tornado watch until 9PM...One other good thing about this campsite...we can walk across the road to the shower house!! I will try to get some different pictures here...and if we run across anything of interest, you will see it here first!!! More later....

"On The Road Again"

Today is Sunday and a really windy day, although sunny. Yesterday was a "picture perfect" day...so I took a few!! We did our walk and had our coffee outside in the sunshine...our view is wonderful, and here is where we had coffee..
A guy pulled in next to us. He didn't have a camper or tent, just a boat, food and a grill...and this neat little outdoor "bed".He got all set up, put a fan pointed right at his bed, got in and took a nap...I like his style..Apparently Dennis liked this guys style too. Here is where I found Dennis shortly afterward...
Later in the day, Wayne took a bike ride down to our camper..We have a little air compressor and he needed his tires pumped up. Here are the "boys" working on Wayne's bike..
Speaking of bikes, my 1966 Schwinn died a few days ago. Den and I went for a bike ride and I told him my tires felt low...so low I had to walk it up a small hill, which I have never had to do before..It felt like it was riding goofy, but Dennis said it was me, and he would pump my tires up later...( he never believes me). We got back and I put it in our shelter and went inside. Later that afternoon, he got my bike out to pump up the tires, and , LO AND BEHOLD..NO WONDER I FELT IT WAS RIDING FUNNY..THE WHOLE DAMN RUBBER WAS PEELING OFF THE TIRE!! (I just love it when I am right). Sooooo...no more Schwinn for Donna. I think Den should restore it for me when we get home, it is a classic, after all.
We have enjoyed feeding the birds here, however it has been a huge challenge to keep the squirrel out of our feeders. He manages to get into them no matter how long Den makes the wire to hang them on. We have tons of Cardinals and chickadees..also Hummingbirds. This morning the wind was so strong that Den took down all of the feeders but the Hummingbird feeder. It seemed all we were doing was feeding the squirrel or else the wind was whipping the feeders so badly that they dumped the seed on the ground..We thought we had the squirrel fooled until we saw this out our window... We will leave here Tuesday morning and go about 300 miles North to Texarkana for our last 2 weeks in Texas. It is a little cooler there, but not as cool as Illinois. I will blog my last few blogs from Texarkana...Later..
We sure have enjoyed seeing Wayne and Ronae one last time before we all part again to head further North. They host a state park the beginning of May in waaaaay Northern Minnesota, called Lake Bronson. It is almost to Fargo, North Dakota..Here is one more photo of our good friends...
LIFE IS GOOD!!!!!

WINDY DAY ON LAKE GEORGETOWN

Our weather here at Lake Georgetown has been pretty nice...sunny and mild...Lots of good sunning to be done here! Yesterday afternoon our friends from Minnesota, Ronae and Wayne Selee arrived at Lake Georgetown. These are the friends we hooked up with at Canyon Lake in December for Christmas. They are on their way home, as are we, and taking their "sweet time"..as are we. I was sitting outside in the sun and saw them pullin up the road by our camper. They stopped so we could get a quick hug, and continued past us on up the road to find a spot to set up. About an hour later, we saw Wayne coming back around (without the camper) and we assumed they were all set up. Wayne stopped his truck and Den went out to see where they parked their rig...Wayne said they were in site #32, just a couple up from us....but there was one big problem..They got all set up, he went up to pay, and the camping "gustapo" said that site #32 was reserved and they would have to move. ...Needless to say, Wayne was truly NOT a happy camper. You are not suppose to be able to reserve a site specifically by number...but apparently the rules here are.."there are no rules".
Wayne was really mad, and I can't blame him. There was no "reserved" sign on the site, so he and Ronae claimed it and got everything unhooked and set up...now they had to pull in slides, stow things away and rehook...Never a dull moment when you RV. About 5PM, after finding another spot, they came down to our site for a cocktail around the 'ol campfire and finally relaxed. I might add that it was Den's birthday, so we were happy to enjoy it with good friends, if we couldn't have family here. We had a great visit until about 7:30PM, when we all decided it was time for food. Ronae and Wayne had some Walleye ready to grill, and Den and I had a "cardboard" pizza to put in the oven, so we went to our respective RV's and finished off the evening.
Last night, about 3AM, our weather radio screamed it's spine tingling tone....There was a severe thunderstorm watch for our county, Williamson, until about 5AM..just great. It never fails...once the weather radio goes off in the middle of the night, that ends my sleeping...It did begin to thunder and then rained. The wind came up quite a bit, but not what I would call severe. When Den and I finally decided to get out of bed at 7:15AM, the sun was coming out, it was 60 degrees, and beautiful outside. We took our walk and came back for our coffee. We had plans to go into town and get some groceries, so we headed out about 8: 30AM.
We went into the WalMart, which is only about 4 miles from our camper...and when we came out, the wind was blowing like a gale..Winds had to be gusting to about 45-50MPH..so much for the plans to sit and read in the sun. We drove back to the campground...Den's spinner he made was gone...my candles on the picnic table in our shelter were on the ground..and there were whitecaps on Lake Georgetown...as you can see.....
Den did find the parts of the spinner down the road at another campsite.
I took a couple shots of our spot while I was blowing around outside...

as you can see it LOOKED like a picture perfect day...NOT. The wind was horrific!!
Tomorrow we are venturing out in the afternoon to see if we can find the VFW post in Georgetown. We got online and found that they are open to the public, so we might go have a beer. Also, I declared that tomorrow was a "NO COOK" zone for us, so we will find some kind of carry out for dinner...Yea!!!! If we do anything interesting, I will post it....Later