Sandy Lake RV Park Carrollton Texas

So many people have asked me about where to stay while in the Dallas area. Many are just passing through but would like to stay and see some of the sites around town…but they can’t find any convenient RV parks in the area. Well I am here to give you the run down on the park Sherri and I have lived in for the past 3 years.

Sandy Lake RV Park is not a Resort Park by any means…but it is a great place to stay for a night or a week if you want to see some of the sites around Dallas.

On my walk today I stopped occasionally to take some pictures of the park and give you a feel of the location. As you can see it is an older park with very close spaces but for a base camp close in to town you can’t beat Sandy Lake. We have good electrical service here and the water pressure has always been adequate. We, of course stay on the monthly rate here and found it to be well worth the cost over time. I work 12 miles down the road and can be at my desk in 30 minutes even with medium traffic.

The park is located on Sandy Lake Road and George Bush Toll Road. This gives you a quick route to Lake Louisville or downtown Dallas going south. You can see by checking out your Google Earth that the park is located conveniently to grocery and restaurants in any direction you choose.   

Today is clean up day at the park and the staff is out in force cleaning the area and trimming the trees. They clean around all the sites daily and the management here is very helpful when you need something.

They recently put in new washers and dryers in both laundry mats  Below I have posted some pictures to give you an idea of how the park looks.

If you are thinking about coming through Dallas, and want to stop and see some of the sites here and want to stay in your RV I would recommend Sandy Lake to be the place to do that. It is easy to access off of I35E or George Bush Toll Way. It is located between these two major highways. If you are exiting off of I-35 you will take Sandy Lake Road West bound and go to the RV park which will be on your left. You will pass the Sandy Lake Amusement  Park on your right…which is just before the RV Park. By the way if you are entertaining young ones this amusement park is located right across the street.

If you are coming off of George Bush you will take the Sandy Lake Road exit and turn East and the park will be on your right.

I hope this answers some of the questions many of you have emailed me with. I hope that your stay in the Dallas area is enjoyable.

This morning on my walk I took these pictures of the staff cleaning the park and trimming the trees.

The above pictures are the over night and weekly spaces that are available for people passing through. This is an old park and the spaces are close but the location is the best and you should not have any trouble getting in or out. I think you can click on the pictures to enlarge them?

This is some of the monthly and weekly sites offered here.

The above site is mine..we are located on the main road coming into the park.

New laundry facility

And a real nice swimming pool that is kept up year around. All new filtration system installed last year keeps it looking good.

Hope this helps you and I hope you stop by….

Somewhere in Time

To Those We Love And Hold Dear

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.
Henry David Thoreau

I never put a plan to my dream of old. Just followed my thoughts that made up my goal. When the Goals appeared to far out to see…I found comfort in what mattered to me.  The time is here and I am ready to go…please follow me and don’t be slow…time is short and we have many places to see and I want you all to see them with me.

Joe Pitman

Our goals and our dreams sometimes get clouded by things that happen around us. Isn’t it a shame that we let so many outside influences shape our thoughts and our actions. Don’t you wish that sometimes the things around you  that make you say things you later regret would have  been different.

In every life some rain must fall….yes that is an old saying but how true it is. It is just too bad for some of us that let that rain ruin our parade. Why is that…why can’t we ever look past that dark cloud and turn it into a sunny day? Why is it that we let the thoughts and the feelings other have for us sour our lives. How many things could have  turned out so much different if we had only blocked out those negative thoughts and made our own thoughts prevail.

I say all this because so many of us let things outside our Dreams and Goals steer our lives. How much have we all missed because someone did not agree with our destination. I am following my Dreams and my goals and I will not let any outside thing disrupt my destination. I will not let anything destroy the Dreams that Sherri and I have shared all our lives…no mater if the road changes directions or gets muddy we will forge onward and together we will see over that next rise….

Somewhere in Time 

Catching Everyone Up

Today as I post this journal entry I have ten days till release. Of those ten days I have to report for work 7 of them. My goodness where did the time go? Here I set and I have very little time left to get things done…when not that long ago all I had left was time.

Many of you out there asked me why I have so much to get done before I retire. Well I must have missed some of the story…so here it is

We had a home base set up at our daughter’s house in Wills Point Texas. We had bought a culvert and a barn put electric in and arranged us a parking space at their house. Well they decided to move into town…leaving us to move all the above off  their property before they moved off. This is very untimely for us but what could we say? We just had to make some other arrangements to set up our base camp. We had to go property hunting to find a spot to park. Now this took some time but we did find a piece of land next door to Sherri’s brother Rodney. It is 1/4 of an acre which is all we need and rather inexpensive.

So we start over getting everything done one more time. This on top of me working 6 days a week and everything that needed to be seen to is 68 miles down the road. Much of it I could do over the phone but then some has to be done out there.

Slowly but surely we have accomplished a lot and will have this pretty much taken care of by the end of the summer. We have vowed not to stress over this….so as soon as the barn gets moved to the new spot and we transfer our worldly treasures from Rodney’s barn back into ours we will be taking off to relax.

OK Sherri has to work but she is only doing this until she feels comfortable with our budget and she gets all her Meds handled. I did not want to leave her high and dry so she will have her insurance for some time. We are going to travel with her job and see how everything goes. This way we do not have to step into a Workamping job right off the get go and we get to spend some time on the road exploring new places.

Sherri’s job as a re-set specialist takes her to many towns in four states. Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi are the four states and there are numerous towns that she goes to in each state. We plan on pulling the RV to these areas and she will continue to do what she does. I have even thought about seeing if  I could hire on as a gofer and make a little extra myself. We would only work 24 hours a week and still get to go to different places and have time off every week to explore. The company she works for pays mileage and pays for your food while out of town. This would be a plus too and help out some during the week. We could stay by the weekly rates and save some more money.

 

OK so the 30th of May we start this part of our adventure and I will be posting from day to day to let you know what kind of trouble I am in. We start off at Poche’s Fish Camp in south Louisiana…this is where Fred and Jo Wishnie were not too long ago. http://www.mytripjournal.com/wanderingwishnies I hope that this brought many of you out there up to date with Speedy’s Great Adventure. There will be more to come and pictures to follow….

Somewhere in Time

BURRRR Whats The Deal

Woke up this morning trying to get more cover on me...couldn't find any more. What is going on...am I dreaming or is it cold in here. Went to bed last night with the fan blowing on me and woke up and had to turn it off. I looked at the clock and it was 2:00 am!! My goodness what month is this? The end of May and I am cold...AC was not on so it just had to be a cool morning.

I went back to sleep and when Sherri got up it was a little bit more comfortable but still enough chill in the air to turn the fireplace on and warm it up some. Who would have thought that we would need the heat this morning.

Made some coffee and Sherri and I poured us a cup and visited for just a short bit. She had to get ready to go to work again in McKinney Texas. I on the other hand did not need to go this early so I hung out and drank another cup of coffee and tried to put a plan together for the morning. I have just got to where I don't want to plan anything anymore. It just seems to get in the way of doing what you need to do when the need comes up. I think I am going to reside in just setting around and let things pop up and handle them when they do. Well the dishes popped up so I guess I will do them and the carpet needs vacuuming so that I will take care of. Hey look I just planned part of my morning and did not have to think about it long at all.

I made some chicken out on the grill yesterday and I will warm that up and some other delectable delight for lunch. We did buy groceries so I will have something for dinner tonight. I always like to have that ready so I can through it in the bag and head out when it is time. OK now I have planned out some more of my morning. Gee this setting back and not planning anything is working out real well. I will have to do this more often.

I guess I will close now and set here maybe something else will pop up and I can take care of it. You just never know what may come up...

Somewhere in Time

Sunday Is No Day Of Rest Here

It was so quiet this morning when my mind cleared and told me I was still alive. I laid there for just a minute seeing if some force of nature would pick me up set me down in the kitchen. Nothing happened...I gave it a few more minutes...still nothing...OK I will use my stored energy to pull myself up and get me down to the kitchen to make some coffee.

Today is Sunday and I see that it will not be a day of rest for me and Sherri. We have to get ready and point ourselves toward Wills Point to move some more S T U F F from our barn to Rodney's barn. We left out about 9:30 and arrived in WP about 10:40. Upon arrival we hit the ground running...grabbed up as many totes as we could fit in the truck and took them to Rodney's place. Rodney was not there Sunday but Becky had managed to make it down there so she let us in and we stowed away all we had brought with us. It appeared that we would have to make one more trip to finish out what we planned on delivering this weekend. As I had mentioned in yesterdays post we had rain again and that did not afford us to get much done there. So as usual Sunday turned off nice and we got one day in. This one day a week has put us so far behind in getting things done in a timely manner.

Now that we are down to the last weeks the time is moving at the speed of light. We still have to get the barn moved...electric transferred...culvert in...driveway in and yard sale done. Don't think that will happen this month and may not get totally completed next month either. OH well not to worry...it will not go anywhere so we will just do what we can.

After delivering the first load we asked Becky to go out to eat with us and we took her to the Chinese restaurant in Canton Texas...I know we ate Chinese with Mark and Dortha Saturday...Hey we love Chinese...what can I say. It was good and I ate too much as usual...there goes my weight loss.

We went back by our barn and picked up another load and took it out to the lake. Got it unloaded and dropped Becky off. Good-byes were exchanged and we went back to our barn. I mowed some and picked up around the place. Sherri had done a load of laundry at Jen's house we picked it up and then headed back to Carrollton. We got back and I had to go to the laundry mat and dry some bears...yes bears...stuffed ones that Sherri had washed and they needed to be dried so I took them across the street to dry them in the Park's dryers. Well I guess one of the bears had been shot and the wound was open when it got in the dryer cause we had little beads in the dryer when I opened it. Oh my what a mess! I spent 20 minutes picking out little beads.

Got that all done and returned to the RV and fixed me some cereal for dinner watched a TIVOed program and then said my good nights and went to bed.

What an exciting day! I know that we have many more like this before we can relax. I have a plate full today and will relay those projects later....

Somewhere in Time

Plans All Canceled

Pitter Patter Pitter Patter.....I could hear this on the roof of the RV this morning about 4:30. What is the deal here! Sherri and I planned to go and have the yard sale today and it rains. You know last year we went through this every weekend for months and then summer got here and then it was too hot and so no yard sale. I just know we are headed back into that same routine. I don't look for us to have a sale for some time and when we do it will be hot as fire.

I guess now that we can't do that we will have to find an alternate plan. Dortha and Mark http://rvingwithpoppa.blogspot.com/ had asked us to do something this weekend but we had this yard sale planned and had to beg out. I do need to pick up some cleaning supplies from Mark...by the way who has a franchise on one step wash and wax. We will give them a call this morning and see what they are up to.

Well now that all our plans have changed and we are trying to re-group here I will check it to you for now. This post will be continued when we have got our new plans put together.

OK this is tonight. We met Dortha and Mark as planned at their RV base camp in Ft Worth Texas. They had just sold their house to their daughter Karen and she invited Sherri and I in to see the remodel they had done. Does it look nice. They have it looking so good and are so proud of it...and well they should be...it is beautiful.

We spent some time visiting and Kourtney...their little girl...who fixed us some ice cream ...pretend like..she is two years old. It was very good and she is a real nice hostess.

The ice cream made us all hungry so we decided to go and get something (real food) to eat. The decision was made for Chinese and Mark and Dortha had just the place. I can't recall the name of the restaurant but I will tell you the food was really good. We ate several good selections and then visited until the waitress started cleaning the table off and we got the hint.

I needed to go to Super Target for a watch...Mark could not figure out why a guy retiring would need a watch. Really I got to thinking about it and wondered that myself...still got one...I need to know what time it is at least for two more weeks.

Got that and Sherri got her a pair of shoes. Mark and Dortha refrained from buying anything and after checking out Sherri realized that they had charged her too much for the shoes so that meant a wait in the return line. That did not take too long and she got the difference back and we were on our way.

We stopped by a COE park on Benbrook lake and checked out the campground there. From there we went by to see Scott and Jenifer's house. This is Mark and Dortha's oldest son and his wife. They too have a beautiful home and their yard is out of site....gee I wish I had the camera...it was worth a picture. Looked like a carpet.

From the kids house we returned to the base camp and went inside for some more serious visiting and some one on one Garmin instructions from Dortha. We learned how to use our Garmin in many more ways than we knew. Told some funny stories about getting lost with our GPS and then it was time to part company.

Thanks Mark and Dortha for a fun day. We will have to get together for that Breakfast at the Windstar on Wednesdays....

Somewhere in Time

My Doctor Day

This morning I flopped over several times like a well oiled politician. Something was drawing me out of my dream state and then I realized my subconscious was telling me that it was time for me to get up and get ready for my doctors appointment. I have to have blood drawn today and all vital signs have to be monitor for the last time as a premium paying health insurance participant.

Sherri just popped out and got her some coffee and she has decided to go with me to the doctor. I guess she has some plans on going shopping after I get my stuff done.

Today my office staff is taking me out to eat at Sugar Babies BBQ. They told me last month that they wanted to do this for me. I guess they must like me…they have tried to talk me into staying to no avail I must say…but I think it is nice of them to want that. The thing about this is I have to go in early so that they can take me out during their lunch break. I guess being their boss I can give them a little extra time to feed me…LOL

Well that is about all that is going on today. After we eat lunch I will just stay at the office and work till 3:00 and then do my 8 hours and go home. Guess I will see many of you tonight on chat…

Somewhere in Time

One More Day of Laundry

I heard a distant rumble this morning. Sounded like someone rolling 55 gal drums around on the street outside. It was getting closer as the fog of sleep was swept away and then I realized it was thunder. I got up...would have peered out the windows but it was pitch dark so I just went to the bathroom and then headed back to bed. On the way back I noticed it was just 3:30 am. I had finally fell asleep about 12:30 so the fog returned to my eyes and I laid back down.

About 5:30 I heard Sherri up getting ready to go to work. She had to be in Forney Texas at 7:00 to reset a display. She left out shortly after I was awake....the fog did not return to my eyes this time so I laid there for about 30 minutes thinking about what I need to get done today.

Another load of laundry was in the plan this morning. Sherri's clothes from her last trek out were in need of cleaning so I pulled my large self out of bed and got all the things together to go and wash clothes. I ended up with two loads and then went to the laundry room to crank up the machines. $2.50 later I was on go for the wash and back at the RV having my coffee.

I decided at this time to set down and post on my journal. Yes to let you know what all I have been up to in the short time that I have been absent from the key board. Well between now and the last post and the time I was on chat....well you pretty much know what I have been doing. Not near the excitement of traveling and seeing new sites would hold.

I was talking to Mac http://macandnette.blogspot.com/ about inverters last night. We are both thinking about getting an inverter to run the TV and the Computer off of when we are off the grid. We neither one know what we need but we have a feeling that we need one so we're looking into it. Mac is headed to the SKP's rally this month and I was hoping he might get some info there on what we might have to get to satisfy this need.

As I have mentioned many times before...Sherri and I are planning on staying at some casino parking areas...roadside parks...Wally World parking lots...and anywhere where we don't have to pay a rent. If we can do this enough then we should be able to stretch our budget out to be comfortable. We have the generator and that will help but you don't want to have to run it all the time to get TV or Computer. If we can fill those non generator times with inverter time then we can stretch out being off the grid a good ways.

Sherri and I will have to purchase two 6 volt batteries and the inverter which will run about $400.00 I am guessing .

Well I guess I better cut it off here. I have to go and get my laundry out and put it in the dryer. Mac should be calling her before long and I will have to be free to speak with him. I hope I have an exciting day today so I can entertain you more tomorrow. Until that all happens I want to wish you a fun filled day....

Somewhere in Time

Laundry and Cleaning

This morning I awoke once again to the sound of work vehicles leaving out. Thinking to myself, as I lay there that in two weeks  me doing that would be all over. Well to some extent…I know that somewhere down the road I will have to work camp to supplement my income. We don’t have any bills to pay other than insurance and rents groceries diesel miscellaneous things we all have. There will be other things that will send us over the edge of our budget so having a work camp job will cushion some of that and still allow us to see things and enjoy ourselves along the way.

I joined Workamper.com so I could see what type of jobs were available out there. Reading through the list of opportunities I could see that there are many things to do that would  be OK for me. I am not too crazy about cleaning bathrooms but then if I get a free site laundry allowance propane discount and other amenities I think I could clean a nasty toilet now and again.

There were jobs in there from the Pacific to the Atlantic and many in between  that we could choose from so I will see how things work out this first year and plan from there.

OK, I pulled myself up out of bed stripped the sheets off and made coffee. Next I went to the laundry mat to start my two loads of clothes and  then returned home to have some coffee. When the laundry is all done I have to dust and vacuum the floor make me some lunch and pack my dinner for tonight. I will be a busy guy this morning but then I must get use to this because I will  be taking on these responsibilities from now on. I made a promise to Sherri that when I retired that I would help with the cleaning so she could enjoy some time for herself…and I stick by my word pardoner.

I was reading about H and L’s work camping gig they have lined up in California.RV-Dreams.com Sounds like a nice park. Saw the pictures of their site and it really looks nice. I think they will be working full time from what I gathered. Not sure what their duties are as of yet but I am sure they will reveal them in time. Interesting to know that many of us out there have to work some to support our lifestyle. It is much better than having to report to a job at the factory every day.

Yes I wish I had a retirement that took care of all that but I was not lucky enough to get that. The company I worked for did away with the retirement program years ago and started the 401k. They contributed to it up until last year and then that stopped. When the dot Com’s failed I lost most all of my investments and what I did not lose in that debacle 911 took care of the rest. So when it came my turn to retire all I had was the  balance sheets of what once was my future. I don’t look back at that now  I just look ahead at what I can do to make my last years here on earth as happy as I can. Sherri and I are survivors and we will do OK and have fun and see many things.

Speaking of which I hope to see many of those things with many of you. We look so forward to meeting up with our friends and having fun times visiting and sharing travel stories. I hope that we all stay in touch and plan “ Gatherings”  as often as we can.

Well I better get busy and do my chores…I will talk to you all again…

Somewhere in Time 

Getting Tuned UP

This morning I heard the morning workers outside starting up their cars and heading out to work. It was 7:00 am and I was still in the horizontal position….meaning I was laying down…with only one eye exposed to the faint hint of sunshine coming in from the windows. Risking only one eye to this early morning event seemed safe enough…so I scanned the room for any signs of someone to help me up….but to no avail. This only left me with one alternative and that was to roll out onto the floor and pull myself up on the edge of the bed.

I know what you are all thinking….Speedy is out of shape….but actually Speedy is trying to get into shape and this is the end results for that. Exercise can kill…don’t let them fool you! You always hear people tell you that you need to stay in shape so you can keep going…well this is true….the getting in shape is what might do you in.

Which makes me think of the ads on TV about the meds they have out there for all of us to use for certain conditions. Have you ever really listened to the after effects that some of these drugs could have on you??? Take Cordialconditional Veinventing Plaxelational Flusher and be guaranteed no cholesterol build up in those pipes of yours….But then the kicker is….Common side effects of this wonder drug are …Watery eyes to the point of blindness….uncontrollable growths of giant moles in places of prominence….excessive body hair…bleeding fissures in rectal areas…uncontrollable bowel movements at inopportune times  and headaches that have been linked to suicides in some individuals.

OK now what moron out there will start taking this drug and not have a worry in the world that none of these side effects will curse them…I guess if you don’t watch the ads and you can’t read then your safe to flush that unwanted cholesterol down the pipes so to speak. I myself will take the chance that exercise and good eating habits will suffice.

One last thing is the Sex enhancing drugs that they have out there.  Causes excruciating headache pain…loss of some of the body senses…to include feel…sight…smell…and the ability to make sound judgment calls….I guess this would account for the two people on the beach setting in separate bathtubs holding hands? I would have to have some other drug involved in this to get Sherri to climb into a tub on the beach and hold hands with me as the sun set on the horizon.

OK nuff said here…I think I have made my point. We are all being led to slaughter by the drug companies when all we have to do is use common sense to take care of our problems. Get lots of exercise eat right and keep your bathtub in the bathroom…believe me all you need is one tub….it is so much more fun…

WOW now Speedy has gone and done it….stepped over the threshold of clean humor into the shady side…HE HE :) I apologize to those of you that take offence to this and from now on I will put up the WARNING sign to lead off my questionable journal entries.

OK I guess this long winded post makes up for me not having any thing to say yesterday. I will close out here with some profound words of wisdom…

Oh I already gave you those….enjoy yourself…

Somewhere in Time 

Nineteen Days

 

 

My this morning when I woke up I knew that the time was getting shorter and that soon I would be retired. I got up anyway.

The closer the time gets the more I realize that I am going to be without a job! I will be making soooo much less that I am making now and it is really a little frightening. OK then I got over that.

Sherri is leaving today…heading to Pine Bluff Ark. She will be there until Wednesday when she will head back home. Then on Thursday she will go to Forney Texas and work there one day and then back home again. I on the other hand will continue to go to the office until the 29th.

That is about it for today…. You say…. “That is not much news”. Hey there is just not a whole lot going on now. The day after Mothers Day and things are just not happening.

It is late too and I just got home from work and I am tired and I will just have to bring you up to date on everything else in the morning when I am rested and can think.

I’ll catch you on the other side of today….

Somewhere in Time