Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Our last day in Helotes

Today is our last day here in Helotes, TX. Tomorrow we will drive to Mission for the winter.
We did all the things that have to be done in order to leave in the morning.
This afternoon Scotty, Susan & I went to the movies. We say "The Time Travelers Wife" which was a good movie. We all enjoyed it. We ate too much popcorn so didn't want to go out to eat dinner.
Tonight we had wine and cheese and spent time just chatting. It has been so good to spend time with Susan again. And her 3 rescued dogs Truman, Ozzie & Jade.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Tuesday

Today was mostly uneventful. Aside from a trip to the local HEB (a great TX based grocery store) and a stop at Lowe's there isn't much to write.
The weather was nice. It was cooler but still sunny. We were able to leave the windows open and didn't need to run the AC at all.
I cleaned up in the RV and Scotty finished up some small projects for Susan.

Monday in San Antonio, TX



We had decided to go into San Antonio today to see the new part of the River Walk that opened last spring. Then we sat around talking and drinking coffee with Susan until it was after 10. So now we had to hurry to make it to the bus stop so we could ride into the city on the bus instead of driving in. But we made it! We are such hicks when it comes to things like riding the bus. But we followed Susan's lead and were able to manage paying the fare and purchasing a transfer ticket. Eventually we arrived at our stop and got off the bus. Yes, all 3 of us made it at the same time.

We had to walk about 3 blocks to get to the area near the AT&T building that had the best entrance to the new part of the River Walk. On the way we stopped at the Vietnam War Memorial. It was very moving. You can't tell in the picture, but it's very large.






On the new part of the River Walk there are no restaurants or shops. There are benches and ponds, & lots of art. The barges will take you (for $10 fee) from end to end as many times in 24 hours as you'd like. We took one to the far end through the lock to where the Pearl Brewery is. The buildings are now being renovated into shops and restaurant. We had lunch at the Texas Farm to Table. The food was very good.

The new part of the River Walk and the barge

Some of the artwork along the way. These fish hang from an overpass.
Each one is around 4 ft long

The lock has about a 12 ft. lift

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Sunday

Susan, Scotty & I went to church this morning at http://www.castlehillsbaptist.org/. We have visited this church with Susan before. It's beautiful and you can feel real love there. We enjoyed it very much.
On the way home we had lunch at Red Robin's. I have never seen one back east. If you haven't eaten at one they have mostly burgers, soup & salads. Everything was very good. Then we stopped at Lowe's to look at lights for a project Susan needs done. Later today Scotty started that project for her.
We enjoyed watching the deer that Susan feeds in her yard. There are a couple of nice bucks and lots of doe, some with fawns. They aren't too skittish, but watchful and don't get too close.
I bought a window humming bird feeder at Lowe's and put that on my window. I have seen the hummers around the flowers & feeders that Susan has. Maybe tomorrow they will stop at my feeder too.
I can hear the coyote's not too far off. They remind me that it's late and time to shut down the computer.

Friday & Saturday

Friday morning we drove down to Helotes. It was a nice drive mostly down Highway 282, which meanders down to San Antonio.
It was an easy drive. We stopped for lunch in one of many roadside picnick areas. The sun was out and the farther south we drove, the warmer it got.
We arrived in Helotes in the early afternoon and set up in Susan's yard. Scotty cut a few branches from a tree in order to park, but that didn't take long at all.
Once settled we got to know Susan's 2 new rescued dogs. A Caren Terrier name OZZIE and a chiwawa-westie mix names JADE. Along with Truman who we've known for several years they are keeping things lively and interesting for her.
The 3 of us went out for pizza and got caught up on what had been going on in our lives. It is great to be back and to see old friends.

On Saturday Susan had to go to a meeting so Scotty and I hung out on our own. We set up our Hughes net dish and got caught up on emails.
After Susan got home we all had a nice dinner of shrimp and pasta that I made in her spacious kitchen.
Susan has a few projects that we are going to help her with while we are here. Nothing big, just things that are hard to do alone. It will keep Scotty busy. He always needs something to do.

The weather has been great! Daytime temps in the low 90's but night time temps in the low 60's so good to sleep. We will stay here until the 1st when we head down to Mission.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Santo, Texas

We put in another long (for us anyway) day on the road. We are both happy to be back home in Texas. We stopped at the Welcome Center and picked up the new TACO magazine and the new (just in today) Valley Map. So we are all set.

We found a great place to stop for the night. The Coffee Creek RV Resort. http://www.coffeecreekrvresort.com It's new. The owners are young and very excited. They have built a beautiful place here. There are only a few of us here tonight and so they gave us a premium site for the price of a regular one. They also gave Scotty ice cream. They didn't sell it in the store, but had some of their own. They were very nice to share it.

Wed. From Branson, MO to Crowder, OK

We left early and drove for almost 300 miles. We ended up at a small campground. We had no Internet, but we were able to put the dish up and get TV.
Since there was nothing of any interest eithor on tv or at the campground we turned in early.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Tuesday in Branson

After a night of rain & T-storms the day turned out to be ok. The sun wasn't out much, but the temps were mild and there was no rain.
We went on the showboat Branson Bell for a dinner cruise. The food was good. There was a lot of it too. The entertainment was great. All in all we had a very nice time with lots of laughs.
We packed the car tonight so we should be able to get an early start on our drive for tomorrow.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Branson, MO

We drove 73 miles today to Branson, MO. We got to the Branson Stagecoach RV resort at 11am. The weather was hot and sunny all day until around 6PM when the front started to reach us. The sky got very dark, the wind blew, then it started to rain, softly at first. Then the wind stopped and the rain picked up. So now it's still raining hard, with thunder and lightening. The wind is not blowing so it may stick around for the entire night.
We took a shuttle form here to the Welk Theatre tonight to see Lee Greenwood and the Bellamy Brothers. Both acts were great in their own way. The Bellamy played only their #1 hits,( starting with "He's an Old Hippy" )for an hour.
Lee Greenwood told jokes, talked about doing USO shoes for 30 years, played the Saxophone and of course sang. Ending the show naturally with "Proud to be an American" with the everyone in the place standing for it and singing along. It was very moving.
There are so many shows here that it would take a month or more to see them all. We are going to do some other things tomorrow but I'll keep that for tomorrows entry.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

We set a new record for getting on the road!

Today we got up at 6:30. I'm sure it's just because we aren't used to Central Time yet. But anyway, ---- We actually hit the road at 8 AM!
We drove almost 300 miles to Phillipsburgh, MO. It rained on and off and was only in the low 60's. We found a nice little campground and set up about 3;30. It was warmer here and the sun even came out for a bit. I was even able to do the laundry before dinner.
Scotty and I met some folks from Chicago who are on their way to Branson. They gave me a web site to a campground that has a free shuttle to any show you want to go to. So we are heading to Branson tomorrow morning. It's only about 68 miles so we should get there and have time to do the town. I'll let you know.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

We drove to Elkhart, IN to the RV/MH museum. We really enjoyed it! Great collection of RV's. We learned that there is only 1/2 the total collection there. They have big plans to expand. We may try to go back in a couple of years to see it again.











We drove from there to Potato Creek state park. It was very expensive, for nothing but electric. The site was so bad that we couldn't level the rig, and had to climb uphill to go to bed.
OK, it wasn't that bad, but we were happy to leave in the morning.



We drove to Chillicothe, IL on Friday. We stayed at the Chillicothe Recreation Area. Nice lake, good level sites. 50 AMP, wi-fi! We are happy here.


This afternoon we went to a Mid-Evil Reenactment. It was interesting. The vender's had some neat stuff. I didn't buy anything.






One of the reenactors was Tim Lyons who Scotty has sold the boat to. He came by later this afternoon and took the boat with him. Scotty was glad to sell it to someone who will use it.




Extras

Here are a few pictures that should have been with the last post.

Karen & I redecorated their 5th wheel.



Scotty and Dave worked on the deck.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We also went to Macinac Island while in MI. Karen found a new Sugar Daddy.







Monroe, MI Sept. 4 - 16.




We had a nice day to drive from Niagara to Detroit, MI. The traffic wasn't as bad as we expected! Thank you Lord!



We arrived at Karen & Dave's just in time for dinner on Friday! Karen is a wonderful cook and we both put on some extra pounds while staying with them.



We really enjoyed being with them. Karen & I shopped (of course) until we dropped! Dave and Scotty worked on their new deck. Dave has done a great job rebuilding it. It looks very nice.


On Tuesday we drove north to their cabin near Grayling on the Au Sabol River. While we were there we did kayaking, biking and sight-seeing. Oh, and Karen & I shopped, of course.

John & Diana Provost live about an hour from the Cabin and were able to come up for a visit.
It was so much fun catching up on things with them. Jake came along too, but didn't get into the picture because he was sleeping on my bed. The trip must have been too much for him!


After we returned to Monroe, Scotty and Dave put new shocks & struts on our tow car. It seems to have helped a lot. Sure did save us a bunch of $$$'s! Thanks for the help Dave.

Better Late Than Never! Sept. 2009

We left Kattskill Bay, NY yesterday. We had hoped for an early start, but that was not to be. Scotty had so much to do to get ready to leave that it took us longer than we had thought. Then we couldn't get the boat loaded on the car top racks. That took forever! Then we found that the bike rack was broken and he had to fix that... Well, you get the picture I'm sure. We actually never got on the road until 4:30 PM. we drove 4 house and stopped at the home of Mark, Kathy & Billy Harris for the night. They live right on Cayuga Lake, NY. What a nice spot to live. They have flower beds, veggie gardens and kayaks, fishing boats, a dock, a place to swim in their back yard! Osprey next not 50 feet from their dock. They have geese, ducks and herons too. Next time we hope to spend more that one night. Kathy even made a Chocolate cake! My favorite kind. We had talked about our mothers both making it when we were together in Maine. It was very sweet of her.



This morning we we got an earlier start. We made good time on the I-90 but had an extra (and unplanned) spin around downtown Buffalo, NY. That only added another 30 minutes to our trip, so not bad. I had never been there anyway. We crossed into Canada at Niagara Falls, NY. The line at the crossing wasn't bad and we only ended up waiting about 15 minutes in all. Much faster than Mexico. We are staying at Shalamar Lake Trailer & Family Park in Queenston, Ontario, Canada. It is only about 5 miles from Niagara Falls which is where we went for dinner. We found a nice restaurant with a second level deck overlooking the falls. Scotty had a hamburger and fries and I had Baby Back Ribs and fries. We each had a draft beer to wash it down. It was great.