SURE WOULD LIKE SOME SUNSHINE!!

Our weather turned South yesterday...or maybe I should say it turned NORTH! The wind switched Monday night and came in from the North, bringing cold temps and a little rain. It is still pretty gray today and we had a high temp of 47 degrees, but I have to say, it's a far cry from 10 degrees in Illinois! We woke up this morning to quite a few deer in our campsite..Den had thrown out some corn last night and they were here for breakfast.

This is grocery day, so we loaded up our coffee and also my camera, just in case I saw something photo worthy. We headed down from Canyon Lake on the winding road taking us to New Braunfels where there is a WalMart and an HEB..(HEB is a like a supergrocery, but it is only found in the state of Texas.. )

Here is a photo I took along the way of some of the hillside homes.

Here is another entrance to a lovely home on the hillside. You can see the home up on the right.

Along the way we saw a Texas steer grazing on the ranch property

We travel along a road that winds past the Guadalupe River. This river is really beautiful. They do alot of tubing on this river in the summer and it gets pretty narrow with limestone cliffs in some areas..I took this shot out the truck window ..the beautiful Guadalupe.

  This area around Canyon Lake is very built up with lots of gorgeous homes and great views. Along our drive we always pass by this area called Hancock. They have built tons of condominiums here which are full mostly in the spring, summer and fall...Here is a shot of the condos....

I think they are pretty pricey..These are built up really high so the owners can see over the road to  Canyon Lake...What a view!!









 We got our groceries....I swear they eat a ton of pork down here! The further South we go, the harder it is to find anything that resembles a thick steak. Everything is cut thin so it can go into a tortilla. We drove the winding road back and unloaded our bounty!!
 Yesterday I decided NOT to take my walk with Dennis. I had injured my knee about a week before we left, twisted it or something..., and it was really bothering me, So I gave it one day rest. That makes me crazy when I can't take my daily walk, so I decided it didn't matter if I did or didn't walk, it was going to ache regardless, so I went with Den today. We walked around to the other side of the camping area and spotted a little woodpecker making holes in a live oak..

I don't know if you can spot him...he has a striped head with a red spot on the top..OK, so I get carried away with the birding! On the way around the  loop we saw a cute motorhome decked out for Xmas so I took a picture..

You may notice if you look closely, they have a little Xmas tree on the left in the cab...

Well, it is almost 4PM and Den went on a mission to find somemore Cedar for a campfire. I think I will pass on the fire tonight...too cold for me...I am a sissy. We have Mexican turkey chili in the crockpot and cheese garlic bread to sop it up, so Den doesn't have to cook outside tonight. Weather tomorrow is suppose to be warmer..maybe 60 degrees and sunshine...that would be lovely. More later....

Foggy Day in the Hill Country

Laundry Day..Oh Yippee! We drove into Sattler and were there by 7:45AM..and out by 9:15AM...only one other person there, so we had most of it to ourselves.No this is NOT our camper all decked out for Xmas...

 .....My daughter, Terrie, asked me if any of the campers decorate much for Xmas...This is the RV just up the hill from us...I took the pic last evening. After dark it is really bright over there! These people are from Oklahoma and their 5th wheel is about 36 feet long with 4 slides...so ours really isn't all that big. I was impressed by the BIG plants she brought with them. I snuck another shot of their set up so you could see the plants..Notice there are 2 good sized hanging plants plus a couple on their picnic table bench.

....And here are my 3 plants I brought with us....pretty sad, eh???That would be, from left to right, basil, oregano and parsley..I planted them about 6 weeks ago at home..I put them outside today to get some sun, but it was foggy and cloudy all day..Now I'm worried about the deer eating them! Speaking of deer, they are thick down here....Here are two lying in the trees on our walk this morning..

  We took our walk after our laundry trip. There are a ton of deer hear wandering all over and people throw corn out to them, so they love people...On our walk we go by the Camp Hosts' motor home. They have been here every year since we have been coming here..They have a permanent spot that is totally full of plants and outside decor...This year I think they watered the grass JUST under the live oak tree next to their camper...Here is a pic...note how green it is just under the tree and brown grass everywhere else!

Many times on my posts I say that what we do is NOT camping..it is RVing..Now here is a picture of someone who is REALLY camping!!!!!  I took this shot this morning on our walk around the park...Ya gotta love anyone who does it this way!!...I wonder where his "surround sound" is?? Oh, yeah, he has NATURE as HIS surround sound...Holy crap, I'm getting too old for that kind of camping...Once I sat down in the tent I couldn't get up unless Den was there to help me up....which means I could be there a long time contemplating my fate!..
OK, it's time to think about supper...I have a chuck roast marinating in the fridge which Den will grill later, twice baked potatoes too, salad and asparagus. As I said, THIS is not camping...More later....

Our I-35 adventure....

Note to self...do NOT take I-35 South through Round Rock or Austin 2 weeks before Christmas!
We got up early yesterday morning..about 6AM. We wanted to be on the road by 7-7:30 and Den had to dismantle the TV and the computer dish...neither of which I am any help. He did a quick check on our computer radar and saw that rain was fast approaching, so we "kicked it up a notch" (with apologies to Emeril) and were pulling out of the gate at 7:30AM.
We originally were planning on stopping in Waco for the night, but we were only on the road for 1/2 hour before we got into the rain. Den decided he only wanted to set up our RV once, and we passed by Waco about noon, so we pressed on toward Canyon Lake. Our drive was pretty messy...Lots of rain...We got just North of Round Rock (south of Waco) and traffic became 4 lanes of bumper to bumper, with brake lights flashing all over up ahead in the rain. Keep in mind this rig doesn't stop on a dime, so piloting under these conditions can be very conducive to high blood pressure. We couldn't figure out what the big deal and big hold up was all about until suddenly I had a brain flash. I remembered that there is aHUGE Premium Outlets in Round Rock just off I-35...and it was Saturday...and it was 2 weeks until Xmas...AHA! Just what ol' Den loves....shoppers in every direction..And to make it worse, shoppers driving like crazed people on a mission!
 We made our way slowly down the interstate, Den keeping a death grip on the wheel. What was up ahead was no bargain, either. We had yet to go through Austin, and this interstate goes right through the middle of Austin, about 8 lanes wide..What is that thing up ahead??? Oh, great...someone towing a pre-fab house through the middle of Austin...Getting around this was very interesting and involved waiting for just the right moment to ease over into the middle of the left lane to go around (which meant we were now taking up 1 1/2 lanes for a brief minute)...Kudos to Dennis!
 We finally got off the interstate onto Rt 12 at San Marcos..good thing, too. There is another outlet mall just South of San Marcos. I know Dennis would get road rage if he had to encounter one more shopping quagmire. We were finally in beautiful Hill Country on what they call the Devil's Backbone..a road that takes many twists and turns, gradually uphill..It is normally a beautiful drive, but as we climbed, we slowly got into the fog...but slowly came down and out of it.
Arrived Canyon Lake, Potter's Creek campground at 3PM...It had stopped raining, thank God, so we got to set up in dry weather. We picked a spot we have been in before, up in the Live Oaks and Cedar. Den started getting our electronics under control and I opened slides and set up our cozy home of the next 2 weeks. Believe it or not we were all set up and having "happy hour" by the campfire at 5:30PM...and it was warming up to about 55degrees.
 Today, Sunday, is a beautiful day...70 degrees and sunny. Here is our spot...

Another view from the lake...

We decided to clean up the camper....It was really filthy after the drive from Illinois...Here is Den, lending me a hand with the big back window..Notice we were not wearing coats!

Truth be told, I had to get my hands in it too...I cannot stand a dirty rig!

I got a little carried away and decided to  wash our black truck too. Some places won't let you use their water to wash vehicles, but this place does, so I took advantage. There is a guy across the road from us who was showing off..He had a huge duster on the end of a long pole and he was "dusting off" his motor home with it while I was going up and down the ladder like a frenzied fireman. I tried to ignore him and his giant duster.

Dennis came outside again after a few rounds with a 4 star crossword puzzle and washed the windows for me...

.We are all set up here until December 26th..This lake is actually the Guadalupe River dammed up..so it is very bluegreen and there is a nice breeze out of the South...Here is a view of Canyon Lake from our camper...Last night we sat right here by the fire and played Christmas CD's on our little ghetto blaster I brought. We do have music on our I-Tunes I can  put on surround sound, but we don't have any Christmas stuff on it...

 Tomorrow we need to go into Sattler and do laundry. I actually had to buy some new underwear because I was running out...time to dig out our jar of quarters and have a "Washateria"(that's what they call some of them down here) adventure...and I do mean ADVENTURE!! These trips always are! We meet some of the most colorful characters doing our "dirty laundry", so to speak..So I will end for now from our home till after Christmas..I will post more as we experience some more of the San Antonio Hill Country!!

See ya!

Made it to Canyon Lake

No photos yet...Made it to Canyon Lake...will post a blog tomorrow

LAST DAY AT TEXARKANA

 Today is our last full day here...We watched the temp fall from 39 degrees at 9PM to about 34 this morning about 6AM. (We have one of those great little clocks that projects time and outside temp on our bedroom ceiling..as I said...not REALLY camping!) At least it was a tad warmer than last night. I turned on the TV in our bedroom a little after 6AM and realized we were watching TV on the antenna last night, lying horizontal in our bed. This means that if we want to watch satellite this morning lying horizontal,(of course, I do..I don't want to miss Imus in the Morning), one of us needs to do the "birthday suit run" into the other room and move the swith over from antenna to dish. I might add that the other room is not very warm yet..brrrrr...!! This is one of the only lousy jobs one of us must do if we want to switch from local channels to dish first thing in the AM in our bedroom ...and I just happen to sleep on the closest side of the bed to do it! And, because I am totally farsighted, I need my glasses to see the numbers...and I usually forget them and have to go back and get them...also, I usually forget that I need the satellite remote. This makes for a few frigid runs before I get the job done.
We watched TV until it started getting light...no sunshine this morning, just clouds. After finally kicking Dennis out of bed about 7:15, we started the coffee pot, got dressed and took our walk.
The water had receded enough to be able to get across the previously flooded road to the campground we stayed at last April for Easter. I took a photo of our campsite..(remember you can double click on the photos and make them larger)

.As you can see..it is entirely underwater except for the top of the pole where we hung our bird feeder. This is the highest we have ever seen this lake.
Here is a photo of one of the camp roads that is just starting to be crossable.

The flooded woods does have it's advantages, though. We startled a Blue Heron fishing in some of the flooded trees as we were rounding a curve in the road. I didn't get a picture. He startled us as much as we did him and he spread his big ol' wings and took off.

We usually take this abandoned old roadway through the pines when we walk. Here I am...reveling in the smell of the great pines. Note my attire..so much for global warming..THIS IS TEXAS, PEOPLE!!!

We drove into the little burg called Nash to get a few things from the WalMart and Den fueled up the GMC at a Valero for $2.74 a gallon..When we pull our rig it gets thirsty every 200 miles or so...We are going to Waco tomorrow for the night. It is about 450 miles to go all the way to Canyon Lake, and that is farther than we like to go in a day, pulling our house behind us. We will be in Canyon Lake, just 40 miles North of San Antonio, Sunday...probably by noon. Plans are to stay there until Christmas. The day after Christmas we hope to jump on I-10 and head West.... Arizona "here we come!"...I probably won't blog again until Sunday or Monday. Gotta have time to set up the internet dish!.....Stay warm and keep shovelin'....just kidding!

Home Improvement ...the RV way!

Well, I wasn't going to blog today, but it was such an interesting day I couldn't let it go by without a comment. You know, when you own an RV it is a second home. And when you drive this second home down the highways and byways, especially after letting it sit for 7 months, it needs some repairs along the way. Well, first of all, when Den was hooking up all of our computer equipment, he discovered he forgot the electric cord to hook up our printer. He has about 3 at home, so he refused to buy another one. He dug an old extension cord out and retrofitted one..The kids don't call him "McGyver for nothing.
I neglected to mention that we were also unable to get any of the local stations here when we put up our antenna...After saying a few choice words, Den realized that when everything went digital...our TV's in the camper DID NOT!(Yes, we have two..as I said before, this is NOT camping). We forgot about those two...and we could have gotten the converter for free last spring...Alas, now they cost $59.99 at Radio Shack, as we soon found out. Yes, we got one.
One more little glitch...our bathroom faucet was leaking. The rough drives can loosen anything! Another problem for a now crabby McGuyver. He couldn't bring this one back to life, so we headed to Home Depot today for a new faucet. Did I mention that our temp did a swan dive last night from 51 degrees at 10PM to 34 degrees at 6AM this morning?...thank God for the down comforter. Anyway, we brought our new faucet home ( I refer to our camper as home now, which it is!), and Den took the old one off and proceeded to install our new one. This involves going outside and turning on and off water. I was left inside to make sure there were no leaks..I hate that job...I always end up in trouble!!
At any rate, Dennis turned on the water and as it was blowing water all over under our bathroom sink, I was screaming to shut it off!!!..Den's response I cannot type online..If you have ever seen the movie Christmas Story, with Darrin McGavin,as Ralphie's Dad, spewing expletives throughout the show, then you have a sense of where I was coming from. After a few towels well,let's say three large ones, and Dennis trying to fit his rather large body under the sink, he found the problem and our sink was saved.
I have to share a few photos I took this evening....It is 38 degrees, but the sunset was glorious enough for me to wander outside in my nightie, sweatpants and Crocks to take a picture( you have to have been there)... And here is my McGuyver after a long day of fixin'...he as become intimately involved with our HitchHiker...I am officially jealous..
If I sound like I'm complaining, believe me, I am not! This IS our second home, except no mowing, no snow shoveling..and it is good to remind us of what began this 40 year adventure called marriage...Dennis and Donna...and we love it!! Life is good...until next time...stay in touch!!

FINALLY ON THE WAY!!

We are finally making some progress getting to Arizona. We left home Sunday morning about 6:45AM after a frenzied day of packing, shutting off mail, newspapers,garbage, heat, water, etc. on Saturday. Dennis decided at the last minute Friday night, (after finally finishing the harvest!), that we should leave ASAP to beat the predicted snowstorm for Tuesday/Wednesday..As it turns out, that was one of his smarter ideas.
We stayed our first night in Northern Arkansas at Old Davidson Historic Park, arriving about 3:30PM. We like to get in so we don't have to set this rig up in the dark..when we arrive after the sun makes it's exit, that makes for alot of extra stress and some really bad language from both of us. We were the only campers there..imagine that..but we certainly had our choice of sites.
We left there Monday AM about 7:15, picking our way through the woods and little towns to get on I-67 South toward Little Rock. Oh yes, now I remembered this road from a couple years ago...very rough ride..Seems they call it "rock and roll 67"....need I say more? Going through Little Rock was easy, because we went "around" it. Pulling a rig can be a challenge in heavy traffic. If I had to drive we would stay in the right lane, making NO turns, and drive 45 mph...this is why I will never drive when pulling our camper.
At 1PM we were in Texarkana and went to our usual place we stay, Wright Patman Lake. As we went down the road to our campground, Clear Springs, we spotted a sign up ahead unfortunately saying "Road Closed"...oops! "Take a hard right,Den."..We went down a side road we remembered from a couple years ago, which takes us around the park to a different way to enter the campground. Obviously they were flooded again.
This photo was taken today to show where the bridge is ...underwater...You can see where the road comes up on the other side..
It rained most of the day today, but we are all warm and cozy in our camper...Here are a few photos of the interior,for those who have never seen it...Notice my gallery of grandkids on the small wall..






























Here is our dresser, pictures and plants...just like home...this is not camping, this is RVing..
We love this park...It always smell like pine needles outside. We have a great spot in the trees, as you can see.






That strange looking dish to the left of the camper is our internet satellite, which we had to reset today. It rained so much that the tripod sunk a little and it screwed up the setting..I should confess that I have no idea how the devil this is done, so forget the "we" part of that statement.
Hopefully, if the weather guys down here are right, it is suppose to be sunny down here tomorrow. (Key word here is "if") Friends of ours from Sandwich, Jim and Mary, are headed down this way and are staying the night just up the interstate from us. I talked to her on the phone about 11AM and she said they were driving through alot of rain....I hated to tell her she would continue doing that..We will be here until Saturday, then regroup and head further South toward Canyon Lake, just North of San Antonio. I will do another blog from here before we leave...Jump in the truck and ride with us...you may have to step over the cases of beer in the back seat..Hey, it's cheaper up North than it is down South!! Later!!!!!