Sherri and I arrived here at Lake Tawakoni on Friday. We met Leslie and Mike as soon as we entered the park. It was so good to see our friends. Mike helped us get backed in and then said he would give us some time to get set up and then we would all get together. We put the finishing touches on the set up and then we headed over to their house where Leslie and Mike had dinner ready for us.
We had a great dinner and then spent the rest of the night catching up on everything that has happened since we have been apart.
I must tell you a little bit about the trip to Tawakoni in the snow….yes I said snow. We left the hotel in Opelousas at 7:00 am on Friday morning and traveled to Marksville where we had left our house. We stopped at the casino buffet and ate breakfast then hooked up and pulled out of there about 10:00 am. We drove 2 hours to Shreveport and stopped at the Flying J for diesel and it started snowing…and I mean snowing hard. If the ground had been cold enough it would have stuck and we would be in a mess. As luck would have it we made it through the snow and down the highway about 4 or 5 miles the snow stopped. Houston received 2 or 3 inches of snow from this storm…and that was a first in Houston since the early 1900’s.
Saturday
It was real quite in the park when I got up. I fixed the coffee and turned the TV on to see what the weather would be like. It was 23 degrees outside and about 68 inside. All I had on was the electric heaters and they had done real well keeping the house warm. I went and turned on the furnace to knock the chill out. Soon it was really too hot and I had to turn it off. I wanted to run the one bottle of gas down as far as I could. The reason for that is they charge you $23.00 to fill a bottle and it does not matter if it is half full or empty. If I am paying like that I want to get my monies worth.
About 10:00 I called Mike to see if he was ready to go to town. He was still piddling around but assured me that he would be ready to go post haste. After loading the empty bottle in the truck Mike and I headed off to town to get our errands done. We went directly to the propane station and had the bottle filled. Then back in to Wills Point to get the mail from the post office. Stopped at the 24 Hour Market and picked up some beer and ice and then headed to the barn to turn on the heater.
Saturday Wills Point was having their Christmas Parade in town. We invited Mike and Leslie to join us for the great event…HE HE…If you have ever been to a small town parade you know why I chuckle here. Also the State Park was having a hay ride that very night. We planned to do both…what an adventure.
The parade started at 6:00 pm and the hayride was every hour starting at 7:00 pm. We watched the parade which lasted about 30 minutes. Our granddaughter Sarah was in the parade…riding on the fire truck as a junior fire fighter. We picked her up after the parade had ended so she could ride on the hay ride with all of us.
We made the second running of the hayride and had a real good time seeing all the Christmas lights in the park.
After the hayride we all went to the park office for hot cocoa and chocolate chip cookies….WOW was that good on a cold winters night.
The staff here at Tawakoni State Park are so fiendly. We had a great time visiting with them. We will have to do this again next year.
We did not make the first run on the hayride but did manage to get there for the second trip around the park. It was cold to say the least but the sky was clear and the stars were out in full force. We had a lot of fun on the ride and when we finished the trip we stopped by the park office for some hot cocoa and cookies. The staff at the park were so friendly and we all had a real nice visit with them.
It was getting late so we headed back to our home for the night.
Sunday
We all woke up around 6:00 am…I say all except Sarah who is not an early riser. Sherri and I made some plans to do the wash and clean the house up somewhat. It was really foggy and drizzly outside but the temps had stayed in the 50’s. I got a few things done outside and Sherri cleaned up some stuff on the inside. Sherri gathered up all the clothes to go to the wash and got them ready to take to the barn. She called Leslie and told her to gather up whatever she had and go with us.
We all got our stuff together and loaded in our truck and Leslie and Mike decided to take their truck so we just met at the barn. Mike and I took Sarah home and then returned to the barn for a game of Ten Penny…guys against the girls. We split two games and had a lot of laughs. How many people did you know in your other life that would set in a barn doing their wash and play cards. Yes this is a different kind of life style that only a few would understand.
Mike and Leslie came over to eat and visit with us after our Ten Penny Game at the barn. We sure will miss these two…
“What a nice going away smile from a great friend” said Sherri.
We finished the wash up about 5:00 pm and headed back to the park. We were all starving so we fixed our left over food from the night before and had a real nice meal. We visited until almost Midnight. We really did not want to say good-bye but we knew that time was coming. Mike always says this is one of the things about living like this that he does not like….having to say good-bye to friends and move on. We just said so long for a while and left it at that. Hugs all around and they were gone.
Monday
Our SIL Becky was to have open heart surgery this morning. We were up early and tried to get ready to leave at 7:00 am but that did not happen. We ran a little behind and did not get out until 8:00. As things would have it the hospital was behind and Becky did not go in until 11:00 am. This gave Sherri plenty of time to visit with Becky before they sent her off to LALA land. I did not go in but stayed out in the waiting room with Rodney. They started the surgery about 11:30 and it was all over by 2:30. Man they must have put her in the express lane. We had thought it might be as long as 5 hours.
We waited for the final report from ICU. They said all signs looked good and she would not be awake until late that night. We decided to head on out. Sherri is working tomorrow in Farmersville so we will be staying in Prosper at our son’s house. He and Susan were just married a few weeks ago and we wanted to take them out to dinner.
We arrived there at the same time that Jason and Susan were pulling into their driveway. Susan was coming from her job as a teacher and Jason works in the corporate offices for Frito Lay. We all three park the cars and went inside. We decided to go to a local Mexican Food Restaurant not too far from the house. We had a real good dinner and spent some time talking about the kids honeymoon…in Hawaii.
We returned to their house and let Jason have his belated birthday present…only 4 months late. Well….We have been on the road a long time. We then spent the rest of the evening watching TV. I did fall asleep in the recliner and missed the rest of the football game and all of the movie Sherri and Susan watched.
We had a great week so far and we are so thankful for Becky’s surgery being a success. Thanks to all of you that prayed for her. I am sorry that I have let my entries get behind and have made this one sooooo long. I will try to do better…
Somewhere in Time