….and we gotta go farther North…just great!

I must preface this statement by saying that I expect NO sympathy, NO violin fingers, NO “Wow! That’s too bad!”.  I gotta say it…the Texas Winter this year has been brutal at best.  For a while it seemed that a person just could NOT get far enough South to avoid it.  I have worn shorts about 6 times in almost 3 1/2 months, so our laundry full of jeans and sweatshirts takes at least 3 machines instead of 2.  However..and this is a BIG HOWEVER…the rest of the nation has faired much worse that we have.  Call it Climate Change , Polar Vortex, Old Man Winter…whatever..This has been one of the coldest freekin’ Winters ever,  and has broken many records along with hoses, water pipes and power lines…And now, Den and I are going to head yet farther North ..SAY WHAAAAT?.

“Dude, I love the sunglasses and white parka, but the nose belongs to a guy named Rudolf!”

This Wednesday, Den and I are heading toward Fort Worth, TX to an Army Corps park called Lake Benbrook.  We have friends living in Hurst, TX (a suburb of the Dallas/ Ft. Worth metroplex), and haven’t seen them in about 7 years.  He was a friend of Den’s before we met and Bob and Dennis worked at Caterpillar Tractor together. Then Bob got married, and Dennis got divorced..Bob moved to Dallas to work for Bell Helicopter, and Dennis…well, he just moved on but he did stay at Cat! When I caught Dennis Dennis and I got married, Bob was our Best Man.

Left to right, Flower Girl,Kim Burkhardt; Den’s sister, Evonne; my friend Renene ; my sister, Darlene;  Moi and MacGyver; Bob (our Best Man); Michael, my brother; Ronnie, Den’s bro-in-law; and Ring Bearer Scotty, Den’s nephew.  Three of these people are now gone…Den’s sis, my sis, and Scotty.

We have been in Texas before to visit Bob and Donna.  The last time we saw them we were in campingTexarkana and they came to visit us at Wright Patman Lake.  We always have lots of fun with Bob and Donna and I wish we lived closer…Wait a minute, that may NOT be the best idea. If memory serves, there are many stories  of Den and Bob drag racing their 1967 Chevelle and Camaro,  respectively.  Maybe it’s just as well that we don’t live tooooo close!  Hey, these two guys may have grown OLD, but that doesn’t mean they’ve grown up!

After our week around Fort Worth, we are heading over to Jefferson, TX for one week, then up to Texarkana for our final week.  Texarkana is usually our “launch site” for the 2 night trek back home.  Target “launch date” is March 26th this year.  Much as I hate to leave, I do look forward to seeing all our family..You know darn well, that this is my cue to sneek a few family photos into this blog…

 

 

Makes a mother/mother-in-law proud

Yep, family is everything!….See Y’all in Fort Worth!! (Bring your parkas, mittens and mukluks, just in case!)

Back inside with day/night shades drawn.

OK, so I guess the Texas Winter wasn’t quite over..I went from sitting outside Sunday in 81 degree sunshine to hunkering down inside the Hiker yet again, with shades drawn against tthe 39 degree temps and 30mph wind gusts…whatever.  We have only missed one night of a campfire here at Crane’s Mill, and I have a good feeling that tonight will be the 2nd night…We have been putting out our awning and tying it down when we land at our campsites.  Last night both MacGyver and I awoke about 2:30AM and came to the same conclusion ..PULL THAT AWNING IN AND POUND SOME TENT STAKES IN THE SATELLITE DISH!! When both jobs were accomplished, we slept much better..even though the Hiker was dancing the Hula all night long.  How do you people in those little Casitas handle these winds?? I would be tempted to get out and make a bed UNDER the camper..

I really do enjoy the location of this campground.  When we are across Canyon Lake, at Potter’s Creek, we have to drive about 26 miles into New Braunfels for groceries..and the laundry is about 15 miles away from the campground.  Here, the laundry is 2.8 miles from the campgrounds, and the Bulverde HEB is only 11 miles…LOVE IT!

Above is a little “joint” we found just outside the park entrance.  It’s called The Hideout, and is a neighborhood beer and wine tavern. We stopped in there (NO, REALLY?) for a drink  last Saturday late afternoon and found it a nice little bar for ice cold beer and wine…

It may look like Den and I frequent all the bars, but we usually don’t go into one until “date night” (Saturday).  And we prefer the older establishments in any area.  How many shuffleboard tables do you come across in a “high end” bar?  I remember these as a little girl, stopping into the local joint with my Dad..He would buy my brother and I a couple Cokes and we would busy ourselves playing shuffleboard while Dad visited with the locals…Usually one or two beers and Dad was ready to go..Some may not approve, but this was how I was raised.  Dad was a milk man and drove into Cicero, Il to deliver milk to the “mom and pop” corner grocers.  This meant getting up at 2AM for him. He had all the keys to the stores and delivered their milk for the day,  leaving home before the sun came up, and getting home about 2PM…I got to ride with him a couple times…To me, that was REALLY special…All the chocolate milk you could drink, and penny candy at every store (Dad would leave the money on the counter by the cash register..THAT wouldn’t happen any more!)

The other day, I happen to mention that I would like one of those little flagpoles made from plastic pipe.  You  know, the ones that swivel in the wind and have a light on the flag..Well, say no more..MacGyver went into the hardware store and within about 1 hour he had it pretty much assembled…

 

Now all we need is a new American Flag, and a light…WOOT!WOOT!

This last Monday, the park almost emptied out.  I have a feeling that there will be more moving in by this weekend.  It’s getting close to Spring Break..and warmer weather (in our dreams). I do love our site here, out on the lake point.  But, it does have it’s disadvantages when the winds are blowing in across Canyon Lake.  I have lousy sinuses anyway, but this “arctic blast” has kept me inside with no morning walk unless those winds die down!  I have been cooking more inside since the cold snap…

Hustled us up some breakfast chow the other day..Fried eggs (over easy, please)  on a bed of hash browns, bacon and sausage.  Thank God for Simvistatin!  Basically, this is most all we  have done while here.  In previous trips to Canyon Lake, we have done the Alamo, Gruene, LBJ Ranch, Luckenback, and Bandera…Don’t get me wrong, many of those things we could do again, but the weather has to be at least at the 60 degree level, and the winds down to blowing off your hat and not your toupee’…

…One thing we LOVE about this site on the lake’s edge are the “killer” great sunsets!

 

“Mistake is a single page of life, but relation is a complete book. So don’t lose a full book for a single page”

Crane’s Mill virgins…

  The Cave Dwellers are trying a new Army Corps park on the West side of Canyon Lake, North of San Antonio.  Usually we stay at Potter’s Creek, but in 2010, this “primitive” park put in some water and electric sites, new pads, 50 AMP just 3 miles North of the little town of Startzville, TX.  We can look across the lake and see Potter’s Creek waaaaay in the distance.  Actually, I really like this park.  It is smaller than Potter’s Creek, just about 30 RV sites and maybe 40 something tent sites.  The tent sites are still closed for the Winter and will probably open March 1st.

The sites are nice and clean with covered picnic table and firepit.  The weather on the lake can be windy, but the temps have been in the 70-80 area. I can live with that! We also can gather firewood here, and although there aren’t as many trees as Potter’s Creek, MacGyver managed to manhandle a big piece of wood from down by the lake…

When MacGyver puts on shorts it’s GOT  to be warm out!! There is a story here…Usually I do all the packing for our trip…This year we really weren’t sure we were even going to be able to make it this  year due to my “medical” dilemma.  When I got the “all clear”, we were frantically loading all the stuff into the Hiker.  Den said he would help me by picking all of his clothes out himself and hauling them out..This really WAS  big  help.  Well, after being on the road about 2 weeks, he opened his “shorts” drawer…and NADA! ZIP! ZILCH!..NO SHORTS…(not that we were going to wear them any time soon…Texas was in the deep freeze most of Dec and Jan too!)..Oh, well, that’s what they make WalMarts for, right?..”Hey Donna, put “camo shorts” on your grocery list!!”…and so it goes.

It was a tad windy lake side, so MacGyver moved our Smokey Joe behind our slide and cooked our chicken wings…YUMMOLISCIOUS!!

Our site is right next to a trail down to the lake, and we are basically parked right where the Guadalupe River enters Canyon Lake.  I found some strange beans hanging from lots of little trees on that trail…Have NO idea what they are…

This ground is very hard! Lots of limestone everywhere, making it NOT easy to tie down the awning, but tie it down Dennis did! With this wind, that is a must…Plus, I like it out because it makes me feel like we have a front porch like we do at our house.  There is a large marina just a mile walk from here, Crane’s Mill Marina…

Lots of nice boats here, and they have a marina store.  Right photo, notice the new home being built across the inlet…Pretty fancy homes here on the lake! Guess I gotta cross Canyon Lake off my list of places we should live….Den and I would be the “poor cousins” no one wants to acknowledge!

We will be here until March 5th, so we have lots of time to do some driving trips. The town of Startzville  is small, but it has some nice amenities…Laundry, Grocery Store,  Hardware Store, VFW, a couple restaurants and 2 pizza joints…ALSO, there is a neat little “neighborhood beer bar” just outside the park entrance..(convenient, no?)…We haven’t been there yet, but it looks NOT upscale, and every time we drive by it, the doors are thrown wide open..THIS is a good sign that I don’t have to put on my tight jeans, cowboy boots and make-up to fit in! I will definitely post when we do visit, and rest assured we will…IT’S A BEER BAR!!!

MacGyver has been busy doing little things around the Hiker that needed to be done.  He took apart one of our chairs that was clicking and grating when you rocked in it..and,  yes, he fixed it. Also, he fixed the flat tire on my bike , and put air in our truck spare and the Hiker spare…Both were nearly flat…He has adjusted a slide or two, and this afternoon as I was blogging, I thought I heard feet on our Hiker roof…and they didn’t sound like a 300 lb Santa…Yep, Dennis was wandering on the Hiker roof, and found that one of our rubbers on the big slide is torn part way…guess that means researching online how to put new slide rubbers on…sheesh!

Right down from us there is a very cool classic motorhome parked..I never see anyone around, so I tried to be discreet about my photo..just in case the owners were lurking inside watching the “crazy lady” with her camera…

What we have here is called a "Wanderlodge".  This was built by Blue Bird, from 1963 to 2009, and was quite the luxury bus…Actually, OLD MacGyver tells me that Blue Bird made public buses..Sometimes being married to someone slightly older has it’s advantages…I think he can remember who originally made the covered wagons too…(OK, that was mean..)This RV had no slides and I haven’t seen any live person around to ask what year it is..I do know that the newer ones did have slides…Notice  how shiny it is!!

Well, today is a little cloudy and I think I see a trip to the neighborhood beer bar, followed by a Fox’s Den pizza…It’s Saturday, after all, and you KNOW what that means…DATE NIGHT! This date will be “camper casual” for me…old lady jeans, sneakers, throw on a clean T-shirt and bra, and I’m good to go!! ;-) 

A Hero, an Angel, a new and different cocktail hour.

  I am attempting to keep the history lesson rolling right along…Don’t worry, we will only be here 2 more days, and then my Goliad student teaching certificate expires…I would be amiss if I didn’t tell you the story of Cinco de Mayo…

There is another building on the grounds of the Presidio La Bahia.  This is the birthplace of Ignacio Seguin Zaragoza, a Mexican hero.  “He was born on the Presidio grounds to a military family in 1829. After winning their war for Independence against Spain in 1821, Mexico was again at war for their independence in 1862, this time with France. At this time, Zaragoza was a general in the Mexican army.  On May 5, 1862, outside the Mexican city of Puebla, Zaragoza held an outgunned, outnumbered volunteer militia against a superior French army.  He inspired his troops with these words: “Your foes are the first soldiers of the world, but  you are the first sons of Mexico”.  Zaragoza’s army was victorious.  The victory at the Battle of Puebla is celebrated to this day in Mexico, the American Southwest and the whole of the United States as Cinco de Mayo.”

There is a statue out in front of the presidio of General Ignacio Zaragoza….

Shortly after the Battle of Puebla, Zaragoza died of typhoid fever.  In 1862, Mexican President Benito Juarez proclaimed Cinco de Mayo a national holiday. And in 1992, the Texas legislature proclaimed Goliad the official site for Cinco de Mayo…(Holy Margarita, Batman, I would really be channeling  some serious history to be here for THAT celebration!)

Another hero of a different sort is honored at Goliad…She was known as “The Angel of Goliad”, and there is also a statue in her honor…

 

“Francita Alavez (ca.1816 – ca.1906) was known as the "Angel of Goliad," for saving the lives of Texas prisoners of war in the "Goliad Massacre” by interceding on their behalf and persuading the help of Mexican officials.  Francita's definite date and town of birth are not known. Even her real name has been referred to differently at times, such as Panchita, Francisca, Pancheta, or Francita, and her surname as Alevesco, Alvárez, or Alavez.  In La Bahia (Goliad), due to the intervention of this woman and the courageous effort of Colonel Francisco Garay, 20 more men were held and spared as doctors, interpreters, or workers . Francita entered the presidio the night before the massacre, bringing several men out with her and hiding them until after the Goliad Massacre. She also made sure the 80 men from Miller's Natchez group were not executed.  After the defeat of Santa Anna, Francita returned with Captain Alavez to Matamoros. At the prison in Matamoros, she continued to support the Texians imprisoned there. When Captain Alavez left for Mexico City, Francita went with him. But their relationship soon ended. She then left Mexico City and returned to Matamoros. While broke and down on her luck, she was befriended by Texians who knew of her humanitarian acts. The 1936 memoirs of Elena O'Shea, a King Ranch schoolteacher, claim that Francita Alavez traveled back to Texas with her new friends, where she was employed to work on the ranch.”

As you can see, I am a huge fan of this wealth of Goliad history. I am also a fan of a good cocktail, so Dennis and I drove into Goliad Saturday late afternoon to visit a new bar I found online.  The Commercial Street Bar (located on Commercial Street in the Goliad town square..duh) was listed as an “upscale bar in Downtown Goliad with and extensive beer and wine list, ambiance and seasonal specialty drinks. Available for private party rentals. A must see when visiting Goliad” And so we did.

The Goliad square is built around the courthouse, and the area is very quaint..

We had to wait until 4PM, when the Commercial Street Bar opened up….

That middle photo is the very tall menu of beers and wines..and right about now, our 3 kids and spouses are laughing their behinds off just picturing “Mom and Dad” in this lovely and quite “upscale” bar…A far cry from our usual Moose Lodge or local VFW, that’s for sure! Their beer tapper was broken (SAY WHAAAAT?),  so we both ordered a bottle of beer.  MacGyver had his usual Bud Lite, and I (who almost never drink beer) did an “eeny, meeny, miney, mo” and my finger landed on Miller Genuine Draft. Both beers were icy cold and the barkeep did a very cute napkin fold around the bottles to act as a coozy…Don’t get me wrong, this was a very lovely little bar, but not our normal venue for cocktails…We picked up some fried chicken at the Esso Gas Mart and headed back to our “more comfy” venue..a campfire..

We took many of the trails here around the park for our morning walks…There is no shortage of places to go..The trailhead for “The River Trail” is right behind our camper.

 

Left pic is a view of our Hiker from the trail head…Right, if you look very close, you will see a tiny figure walking…That would be MacGyver.  I made a stop at the bird feeding station and he was on a mission to get back to the Hiker…

Well, this Wednesday we change our neighborhood yet again.  This is the beauty of the RV life.  We are heading back to the Texas Hill Country and Canyon Lake, but this time we are going to the other side of the lake .  We will be staying at Crane’s Mill campground, a place we haven’t been before.  It’s always neat to see a new place, and we have a reservation right on the lake..  Oh, one more thing…A few days ago we got “Skyped” by our youngest daughter, Chris, and her family…WOW!! Their Skype camera was now showing their whole front room…Seems that John got a new X-Box 1 for Valentine’s Day, and now our Skype picture is coming in on their 50 inch TV!!

Their video was huge and very clear, and they said that our video was very clear and very LARGE!  (if we are now in HD, I need to cover my pores with make-up before I scare the grandkids!)

This is waaaay beyond my comprehension, but our son-in-law is an I.T. guy and knows lots about all the little gadgets and gismos…kind of like Techo Wizard Rick..Dennis asked what that little gismo would set us back if we got one…a cool $500-600 bucks..probably NOT happening anytime soon..OK, that’s it for now..Is it  just me, or are my blogs getting loooooonger?