This is our Last week at Rustic Cove.

This is our last week at Rustic Cove. Gary worked his last day on Thursday. On Friday morning we did something we've wanted to do for months. We finally went kayaking. We arrived at Captain Ron's Watercraft Rental at about 11:00am.
They were ready for us with 2 new Redfish kayaks. We put on the life vests with whistles attached. Wearing our Rustic Cove hats and sunglasses we took off..or I should say paddled off. We did pretty good. I was very pleased with our adventure. We paddled around the bay, went under a bridge to the other bay and just enjoyed the beautiful weather. The birds were flying and fish were jumping. We stayed out about and hour and a half. Not too bad for a couple of out of shape old folks. If you're in the area and want to rent water craft we definitely recommend Captain Ron's. The staff was very helpful. They explained everything very well.
http://westofkeywest.net/index.html

I had lunch with some other ladies at their restaurant, West of Key West on Tuesday and the food was excellent.

I'll have some pictures once I get the film developed from the disposable waterproof camera I took with us.

Last night we had dinner with our wonderful neighbors Bill and Nicki Sage. We've really enjoyed getting to know them and plan to stop by their home in California when we're in the area this summer.



Today we had lunch with Molly and Bob Piner. They are fellow Class 0f 07 Escapees. We went to the Big Fisherman restaurant and enjoyed renewing our friendship. They are heading home to Virgina. We hope to see them again next fall at the Ohio Gypsy Journal Rally. Molly has a great blog where she shares their travels.
http://www.moonriverandwe.blogspot.com/

Tomorrow and Monday we pack..on Tuesday we're moving to Medina Lake near San Antonio. We plan to stay there for about a week and see some of the sights in the area. Love to you all..Deb

Jenn and Mark come to Texas

Last Friday Jenn and Mark flew Continental to Texas. We were excited and happy they arrived safe and sound. The rain had also arrived along with them. It rained all day on Saturday and for some of Sunday too.

On Saturday we drove up to Goliad Texas. This small town was having their first for the year Market Day. Unfortunately the rain caused most of the vendors to head out early. We stopped at a small pizza restaurant for lunch. It was nice being together even though the trip was pretty much a washout. Gary worked on Sunday. Jenn and Mark went to the Maritime Museum in Rockport. We enjoyed a roast beef dinner when they got home to the cabin.


On Monday, we went to the USS Lexington Museum on the Bay. This WWI aircraft carrier has been dry docked in Corpus Cristi and is open for self guided tours. We got our exercise for the day as we climbed up and down stairs in the ship. It was pretty amazing and somewhat sobering to learn about this ship and it's many roles through out it's active lifetime.



To quote their website:
"Commissioned in 1943, LEXINGTON served longer and set more records than any carrier in U.S. Naval history. Decommissioned in 1991, the 910-foot, 16-deck, 33,000-ton aircraft carrier now serves as an important historical repository and museum. Because of the historical significance of the USS LEXINGTON, the ship is maintained as a tribute to the men and women of the United States Armed Forces and as a memorial to the people who died serving the US, in the defense of freedom, especially in World War II. Displays, ceremonies, and other programs emphasize the heroism and sacrifice of those who have served the nation in the Navy and the Marine Corps."




On Tuesday we headed out bright and early to San Antonio. First stop was Denny's where we and everyone else in San A eat breakfast. CROWDED!!. Lots of folks around enjoying St Pat's Day and Spring Break. After fueling up, we went to the Riverwalk. We got tickets and took the boat ride down the river. Once again the tour guide was great. Shared interesting history of the river, the area and the buildings we saw. After lunch we went over to the Alamo. The rest of San Antonio (the one's not at Denny's) were there. With the St Pat's festivities and Spring Break there was a long line to go into the Alamo. So, we only toured the gardens and took a very quick trip through the gift shop. Jenn and Mark enjoyed a horse drawn carriage ride around the downtown area.




Scenes from the Riverwalk.



Wednesday was Mark's Birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK.

Mark spent the day doing exactly what he wanted. Vegging out..resting and watching TV. Jenn and I did a little bit of shopping (or looking as we didn't buy anything). Gary worked. We had a good dinner together.

On Thursday we went back to Corpus Cristi to the Texas Aquarium. We spent several hours touring around. We watched a couple of shows. One showcasing their birds and other exotic animals. The other was a dolphin show. Three dolphins and their trainers showed off there many tricks. The weather was perfect. Warm and breezy.



On Friday we went back up to Goliad. Goliad is one of the oldest municipalities in Texas. In 1749, the Spanish government transferred Mission Espiritu Santo and its royal protector, Presidio La Bahia, to the site of a small Aranama Indian village, which they named Santa Dorotea.
This mission served the Aranama, Tamique, and their allies for 110 years, longer than any other Spanish colonial mission in Texas.
A small villa grew up around the walls of the presidio, and was called La Bahia. This area was occupied by the Spanish until 1821, when Mexico won its independence from Spain. The name of the town was officially changed to Goliad in 1829.
Goliad is a phonetic anagram of Hidalgo, the name of the priest who became a hero during the Mexican Revolution. Mexican soldiers occupied Presidio La Bahia from 1821 to 1825.
The first great cattle ranch in Texas is said to have its beginnings at Mission Espiritu Santo. Along with its sister, Mission Nuestra Senora del Rosario, Mission Espiritu Santo possessed the largest longhorn herds in the state, at times owning more than 40,000 head.


We started our visit with lunch at the Empresario Restaurant. This very old building is located right on the square across from their beautiful courthouse.



After lunch we visited the Mission Espíritu Santo State Historic Site at Goliad State Park. We toured the beautiful reconstructed Franciscan Mission. It was the home of the largest ranching operation in Texas in the 18th century. We enjoyed the serenity of the Spanish colonial church and viewed exhibits that explore the history and daily life of the missionaries and Indian converts - including some of the original artifacts they used. The ranger on duty was very knowledgeable and seemed to love to share his knowledge.




Nearby was the Presidio La Bahia.
Presidio La Bahía is located one mile south of Goliad, Texas on U.S. Highway 183. Presidio La Bahia was established at this location in 1749. It has been owned by the Catholic Church since 1853 and is currently operated by the Catholic Diocese of Victoria, Texas. We viewed exhibits and imagined life at the fort. Originally built in 1749 to protect the Mission and the frontier, it later played a major role in the Texas Revolution. Here, Colonel Fannin and his ill-fated men were held prior to being executed at Santa Anna's order, an act of infamy later recalled at the Battle of San Jacinto with the cry, "Remember Goliad! Remember the Alamo!"
You can learn more about the site at
http://www.presidiolabahia.org/index.html



On our way back to Rustic Cove, we saw some longhorn cattle and stopped to take pictures.

Alls Quiet in Rockport

The past few weeks have been pretty quiet. Working, eating, sleeping, walking Ellie and taking a few local sight seeing trips.
Last Monday Gary injured his back and has really been suffering with the pain. He spent most of the week moving from the bed, the couch or the floor. Lying flat was the only place he found any relief from the pain. This week has been some better. He went back to work on Monday, spending most of his time there sitting on a stool or lying on the floor. At least he was able to do some work while there. He is still experiencing a lot of pain but it is definitely better. Hopefully time and rest will heal him soon.

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Rockport Maritime Museum. This small museum displays everything re: boats from a knots exhibit to retired coast guard life boats. Fishing (pleasure and commercial), off shore drilling, sunken ships and treasure are just some of the exhibits. We enjoyed a couple of hours learning about boating on the Coastal Bend. We battled the wind to walk around the outside of the building. This gave good views overlooking the bay and harbor.



Saturday night we had another pot luck supper for Valentine's Day. We went and Gary managed pretty good. We took over one of our chairs and a pillow and stayed for a couple of hours. Long enough to enjoy our steak dinner. We've met some very nice folk here. Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Arkansas and Texas. Most are "snow birds". They still have a stick and brick house back in the cold weather areas. I don't believe there is another Winter Texan from North Carolina in town. At least we haven't found any yet.

I've been working in my tent stained glass shop. I took a few classes with an artist in Corpus Cristi to remind myself of all of the steps. It went pretty well and now I'm back on my own. I finished a small panel with a sailboat during the classes. I finished a small fan panel that can be used as a night light here at home. Now I'm working on a 15"x15" panel of an Iris. I'm also working on a small cardinal sun catcher for my Mom. She loves birds and collects figurines and other "bird" memorabilia. It's going pretty well. I've only cut myself (tiny nicks) a couple of times. I should be able to finish all of these before we leave Rockport next month.

January in Rockport

We enjoyed our weekend in San Antonio a few weeks ago. We visited the Alamo Shrine, the Menger Hotel, walked the RiverWalk, shopped in Market Square and enjoyed a comedy show at the River Center Comedy Club. We also took a river boat tour on the San Antonio river thru the downtown area.
It was a busy three days. We stayed at a LaQuinta Inn near downtown. It was a pretty nice hotel that was very welcoming of all of us. Including Miss Ellie. She did really well and was a very good hotel guest. We were invited to return whenever we wish. :)
I've set up three slide shows of the pictures I took.
The Alamo..The Menger Hotel and it's Thunder Box Art Exhibit...and other pictures of San Antonio. I hope you enjoy them.






http://www.thunderboxroad.com/

Happy Birthday Jennifer

Today is our daughter Jennifer's birthday. HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY JEN. We love you and wish you a life of wonder and joy.

Alls Quiet in Rustic Cove

It's been a quiet week. Gary and I both worked as usual. On Tuesday a tractor trailer load of sod was delivered to the park. Our next door neighbor and I spent the afternoon on Wednesday laying sod out on the sand/dirt around our rigs. There wasn't enough to put completely around the rigs but we put a nice buffer along side the concrete patios. This is already helping decrease the sand and dirt getting into the house. Now we just have to water it every day and watch and wait for it to take hold and grow.
Today we drove about 2 1/2 hours to San Antonio. We checked into the LaQuinta Inn downtown and plan to stay here until Monday. This is the first time we've stayed in a hotel since we started full-timing in 07. Nice but I already miss my own bed. The great thing about the Inn is that they allow dogs. And don't charge an extra fee or have breed or weight restrictions. Our room is very nice. Large with a couch, recliner and desk along with a king sized bed. About twice the space we have in our rig overall. But as they say..there's no place like home.
After resting for a bit, we left Ellie in the room (much to her dismay) and caught the bus to the RiverWalk. The San Antonio River Walk is quite the entertainment destination for the city. Hotels, restaurants and shops line the banks of the river.
http://www.thesanantonioriverwalk.com/photos/index.asp
This weekend they are having the Michelob ULTRA River Walk Mud Festival. This festival is held each year the weekend after the river area is drained for cleaning. We were a "little" worried that we'd only see mud but without even knowing it we managed to arrive after the river area had been refilled. Right as we got off the bus at the walk we saw a barge with the newly crowned Mud King and Queen. I didn't have my camera with me so I took a picture with my cell phone. I'm actually surprised the picture came out as good as this. We walked around and admired the crafts being displayed at the festival. Lots of really nice jewelry. We ended up at the River Center Mall and had dinner at their food court. Gary had pizza and I enjoyed a three salad platter from Luciano's Ristorate Italiano. Yummy. We eat on a patio overlooking the river. Very nice!!!
We're going back in the day light and also plan to go to the Alamo. I'll have more pictures next time. Love to you all. Good night.. Deb

Happy New Year

We celebrated the New Year Eve at the first annual Rustic Cove New Year's Eve Bonfire Bash. One of the guys that works for the park dug a fire pit that was at least 15 feet across. At about 3pm in the afternoon a fire was started. It was a LARGE fire. Very impressive. We all brought various goodies to share and a good time was had by all. There was fireworks and when midnight came we went into the TV room and watched the ball drop in New York. After more fireworks we went back to the house for a good nights sleep.

New Years Day was very quiet. Everyone recovering from partying the night before.
Gary and I are blessed to be enjoying our present lifestyle. We are very appreciative of this time. We're looking forward to a good new year and wish the best for all.

May you have a safe, prosperous and happy new year. Go 2009...Love, Deb

Christmas in Rockport

We've settled in pretty well at Rustic Cove. Our site is OK with a nice concrete pad. There is still some construction going on at the next site and right now there is a large hole waiting to be filled once they complete the electrical work. Then we'll be able to rake it out and hopefully put in some grass. Lots of sand at the moment. And when it rains...mud..It has rained or been foggy most of the time we've been here. I've never seen so much fog. We're very close to the shore and it rolls in almost daily. There have been a few clear and pretty days but many more cloudy and foggy ones. The temperature has varied from low 30's up to the upper 70's.




Last Saturday we went for a ride around the area. It was a very pretty day and fairly warm. We went from home to Aransas Pass thru Ingleside down into Corpus Cristi, out to Padre Island over into Mustang Island and finally into Port Aransas where we caught the ferry and came back. When going thru Aransas Pass we went around Conn Brown Harbor. This area is known for being the home of multitudes of birds. The harbor is home of many. This pelican seemed to be posing for my picture.



When going into Corpus we could see the USS Lexington in the distance. We're planning to do a day trip and visit it later.


The harbor in Corpus is very busy with many types of sailing vessels moored and even a few out and about.





As we came onto Padre Island we passed this giant permanent Sand Castle outside a gift shop.





We drove out onto the beach on Mustang Island. Miss Ellie enjoyed a run.




When we arrived in Rockport last week we learned that the owner's family had all been sick with a flu bug. And unfortunately for me I caught it from them. I got sick on Saturday night before Christmas and was sick for the next 5 days. This is the sickest I've been in some time. All the symptoms of flu..fever, body aches and pains, nausea/vomiting, headache and general around yuckyness!!! Not the way to spend any time. And to make it more difficult I'd volunteered to work Christmas this year so I still had to work 20 hours. So..once the fever was gone on Monday I worked a little bit here and there until I finally finished my promised 20 hours on Saturday just in time for the week to end. Boy was I glad the week was over.

Christmas Day went OK. We went to a pot luck with about 30 other residents here. We had turkey and ham and all the fixings. Way more food than we could all eat. There was even home made ice cream. Pretty good especially since I didn't eat very much at all up until that day. The owners of the park came and shared their plans for the park for the rest of the year. And we planned a New Year's Eve Bash and Bonfire. More fun!!


Gary is settling in pretty well with his duties for the park. He is helping out however they ask. He'll be working 4 days a week for 6 hours. This covers the rent, cable, water and electric. Not too bad a deal all around.

We're planning to take a long weekend in a couple of weeks and go up to San Antonio.

From the North

Today I got an email from Suzanne and Gary our friends who live in Michigan. They shared pictures via their blog of the 13"of snow they just got.
Here is Gary working on their drive. Yipes..I'm glad we're down south. We can't wait for them to get out of Michigan and join us here.

On to Texas

On our way south we stopped in Gulf Shores Alabama to visit with Greg and Judy Bahnmiller. We missed out seeing Judy since she had gone to St Augustine to visit her sister. We spent a very nice afternoon visiting with Greg. He took us to a good restaurant for lunch. DeSotos Seafood. I had some OK crab cakes and Gary had flounder. The fried green tomatoes and corn fritters were pretty good. Gary had sweet potato casserole made similar to the one I make..tasty but not as good as mine.. After lunch Greg took us around town and on a drive along the beach and thru the state park. Gulf Shores appears to be a pleasant town. We'd like to return and spend more time there. Maybe next year. Later that evening we rode around looking at Christmas decorations. We found one home that was really decked out nicely.







Saturday morning found us on I-10 going west toward Texas. We'd been warned that I-10 was a rough road. At first it wasn't too bad. However once we passed New Orleans by using I-12 as a bypass and got back on I-10 it was over 200 more miles to our evening stop and we bounced and bounced and bounced some more. I sure hope we don't have to travel it again anytime soon.
Saturday night we stayed at the Coushatta Casino RV Park in Kindle, LA. This was a very nice park at $21.00 a night with our Escapees discount. Greg and Judy had stayed there and Greg recommended it. We didn't think we'd stop there since it was 385 miles from Gulf Shores. And we don't usually travel that far in 1 day. But..we didn't see another RV park we liked and ended up going for it. We enjoyed the park and even visited the casino for a while. We had a pretty good dinner at their restaurant. On Sunday we continued west and finally crossed the state line into Texas. We'll just say it was interesting to travel through Houston. And be glad we did it on a Sunday. 9 lanes of traffic..9 busy lanes of traffic. I do not ever want to go thru there on a weekday pulling the house. It was white knuckle time!!! But Mr P persevered and we made it thru OK.



We stopped for the night at another Thousand Trails park in Columbus. This is a small park that is very quiet. There are a large number of deer that live within the park. They know they are protected in the preserve and seem to enjoy just walking and laying around. Miss Ellie did not care for them. She has really developed a fear of animals other than dogs or cats. She just sits down...won't move..and quivers if they get close to her. She is really our wuss dog. But we love her anyway.

On Monday we rolled south toward Rockport. After stopping at our favorite store for groceries we arrived at Rustic Cove about 3 o'clock. Dave and George were there and helped us move into our new home site.
The park is a small but nice. Being a new park, it is a work in progress and will be for some time. They have 40 sites available now and more will come as work and money are spent. Gary is going to help them out in their appliance store that is located at the front entrance of the park. We spent today getting things situated around and in the rig. We also went into town (about 7 miles away) to get propane and a few more groceries. I decorated the house with my Christmas decorations and lit up my tree.

We're on the road once again.

We left Durham on Tuesday morning. I can hardly believe our 2 months at home have passed so quickly. We loved spending time with our family and friends.

The weather is not cooperating. Going south is supposed to be going toward a warmer climate...well...I think someone is laughing at us. Yesterday it rained so hard we didn't see any of Atlanta as we passed by. The entire city was lost in the fog, water vapor and gray clouds. The temperature wasn't too bad, in the 60s. Last night in Montgomery we had more rain and some wind. By this morning the temperature dropped like a rock and never got higher than 45 degrees. And the wind got stronger. We were rained on some more as we traveled south toward to gulf coast. A couple of times we saw some blue sky and even caught a sun beam for a very short time. But the clouds prevailed and were still present when the sun went down. The wind is fierce and with it I think the wind chill is likely in the low 30s. Burrrrr
This morning my son-in-law called and laughed..Houston and New Orleans are getting SNOW..Again..we're going south..this weather is NOT SUPPOSED to be here. OK...I'm whining a little bit..just a little bit...I promise that's enough.. We're doing what we love to do..even if the weather isn't exactly what we'd like. According to the weather channel all of the snow should be gone by the time we move onto New Orleans and Houston this weekend. The plan is to be in Rockport Texas by Monday.

We hope you are all doing well. Keep in touch. Love, Deb

Decorating for Christmas

Recently we spent the day with my sister Teresa, her husband David, niece Amy and nephew Joey decorating their yard for Christmas. Mom, Dad,Jenn and Mark came too.
The Sheuring family gets into Christmas decorations in a BIG way. If you don't move fast you might have lights hung on you.
For the past few years they've created Christmas trees from PVC pipe, tobacco sticks or tomato cages and lights. I don't know how many trees they'll eventually have this year but it is at least 3-4 dozen I'm sure. All sizes from about 2' to over 12' tall. They also cover their home with lights. (note Joey on the roof)

Check out their website and if you're in Lillington from Thanksgiving until the New Year drive on by their home on Manor Hills Dr. They'd love for you to visit.

http://www.christmassheuring.com/Home_Page.php