What a way to start off Thanksgiving Day

My eyes blinked open this morning about 7:15. Sherri was still asleep. I laid there for a while thinking about what all I needed to do today and then I realized it was Thanksgiving Day!

I swung my legs out of bed and and pulled the rest of me out from under the covers. It did not feel cool inside which is a good thing because they are calling for colder weather to hit today. I beat the cold weather up and I told myself I would have time to finish some projects outside before the first blast of cold air hit the park.

I went down into the kitchen and got the coffee on. I took my shower and then went back to the kitchen to pour me a cup. While reaching around to get a spoon I drug the vegetable chopper off the counter and thanks to gravity it went to the floor cutting my big toe.

OK so here I am hopping around in the kitchen...toe bleeding...me trying to find the paper towels...and trying not to bleed all over everything. I finally got a towel off the dispenser and held it on the cut. This was not working at all so I had to call Sherri and wake her up. She told me to come to the bedroom so she could see to me but I told her that would not be a good idea seeing as how I was bleeding pretty good. She said that she would bring me a band-aide and some antibiotic. Well when she got down to the kitchen and saw the cut toe...Sherri does not do good with blood...she had to sit down and compose herself.

She did get herself together and bandaged up my wound. We do not have any tape for cuts so we had to use some packaging tape and a paper towel for my dressing. All is well now.

Sherri said that she would need to go to Wally World to get some things for tonight. While she was there she would get me some real bandages. I just sat back and tuned in the football game.

Here I set in my recliner toe in the air bandaged with a paper towel some packaging tape and a white sock pulled over it. I will have to remain here most of the day.

We do have football games today so I will be able to recline here and watch them. The weather outside is not conducive to setting out so all will be well with me. I just want to be able to eat with everyone for Thanksgiving. We are having Taco Soup and it sounds soooo good. I can't wait for that first bowl.

The time finally arrived for us to go to the activity room and eat. Sandy and Brenda made taco soup and let me tell you they were both delicious. We had corn bread and salad and for dessert we had apple pie and pecan pie with vanilla ice cream on top! OK so it's not on my diet...this is Thanksgiving.

We all watched the Cowgirls get beat by the Saints...Go Saints! We all wanted to watch the A&M game but it was not on the cable channels we have so everyone packed up and went home. We had a wonderful time with all our friends this Thanksgiving. Sandy and Weldon will be leaving tomorrow for Canton Texas. Soon we will all separate and go our different ways but we will always have these memories we made...

Somewhere in Timer

A Wonderful Day With Friends

I heard Sherri's phone alarm going off somewhere but could not tell what the location was. I was laying in bed trying to hone in on the sound so I could go and turn it off but I could not. OK so I will get up and go find it. I really did not want to get up but I knew that I would not be able to go back to sleep until I turned it off. I finally found it and crawled back into bed. My eyes would not shut now... so I was back up... down to the kitchen and made some coffee.

Sherri was up now and we both waited for the coffee to complete its cycle. I fixed us both a cup and brought Sherri her cup. We sat for some time drinking our coffee and talking about staying here until Saturday. We will have to be at Hickory Creek on Sunday. We have a reservation for then and it cost if you cancel it. We need to get there because we will be leaving for Mexia Texas on Sunday night.

Sherri and I finished our coffee and decided to take our walk for the day. We really like to walk at least one mile a day to stay in shape. We did not realize how large this park was until we completed our stroll. On the return trip down to our site we spotted John and Mark out working on their rigs. We stopped off and visited for a while and then we returned home for a shower.

The guys got together and headed out to Camping World for supplies and the girls packed up for a shopping trip in town. We would meet back at the park later and make plans for our dinner tonight. The girls put together some BBQ...dips and chips and came over to our house. We had a good time visiting and eating. The girls could not set still for long and they were back out shopping again!

 

John, Mark, Weldon, Rod and I sat around and talked until they returned. We had hoped that they would return with Blue Bell ice cream but that did not happen. We all went outside to visit some more...the weather was nice...the wind had died down and the temps were still pleasant.

It was about 10:00 pm when we all said our good nights and headed to our homes.

Another wonderful day with friends had come to a close...

Somewhere in Time

The gang is all here

 

Ahhhh! another beautiful morning out there...I think...it is still dark and I hear Sherri down stairs fixing the coffee. I opted out to lay there for a few more...then the aroma of coffee started filtering through the bedroom and I had to follow it. She had my cup out and ready for me to pour. I have to be the luckiest man in the world today!

Here we are waiting for the rest of our friends to show up. This will be a great weekend for sure. Mark and Dortha are coming up from the south...John and Brenda are coming in from the north...and Deb and Rod trucking east and soon all will converge on our location. Sherri, Sandy, Weldon and I are settled in here waiting on their arrival.

The first to arrive are Brenda and John. We all headed out to great them. Hugs were exchanged and Weldon and Sandy were introduced to the two of them...whom by the way had been long lost friends over the Internet for some time. How great is it to meet folks you have been chatting with for years and now you are shaking hands with them. This is a great life style...I don't care what you say!

Next was Mark and Dortha. We converged on their site to welcome them and then backed off while they got set up. Soon we were all gathered in a circle to visit. Soon all the stories were told some flowered up and some just down right true. We laughed and snaked for some time. Not too much later the last of our party came rolling in. Deb and Rod had arrived from a long journey from Abilene. Once again hugs and hand shakes were traded and then we retreated so they could get set up.

It did not take them long to get their things in order and they came over to join in the visit and story telling. We sat around until dark and decided it was time to head into town to get some dinner. Mark and Dortha knew of a BBQ restaurant that we could get some good food at. We all piled into two cars...guys in one and gals in the other...and off we went to eat.

We had a great meal and continued to tell stories and laugh until we all hurt! We over stayed our welcome at the restaurant and when we saw them locking up the kitchen we knew it was time to get going. Back in the cars and we were off.

We visited for a short while upon our return but eyes started to get heavy and we all decided to call it a night...

Somewhere in Time

Thanksgiving is just around the corner

Sherri and I are up early this morning getting our house ready to move to Ft Worth Texas. We have changed our original plans so that we can meet up with some of our Dreamer friends at the Cowboy RV park on I-20. Sherri was finishing the laundry while I unpack some of the things we don't need and load up some of the things we will need. This is a process we go through when traveling.

It was about 10:00 am when we pulled in the last slide and headed out of the driveway. It was Sunday and we did not expect too much traffic on the route we would take to the park. We had contacted John and Brenda and Sherri at the last minute had talked to Dortha and Mark to find out when they all would be arriving. As we found out they would not be arriving until the next day but this would give us some time to set up and be ready for the fun to begin.

The drive was uneventful except for the bad highway between Terrell Texas and Forney. Whoever built that stretch of road need not build any more! We arrived at what our GPS said was the exit to the park only to find out that these instructions were incorrect. We both knew that the park was not were she was taking us and good thing for us we followed our own instincts and pulled into the park safely.

It was only last week when Sherri and I were in this area setting a store. We had passed this park so we knew just about where it was. We got out and went inside to get our assigned spot and upon talking to the lady at the desk found out that some more of our close friends had already arrived. We did not know that Weldon and Sandy would be coming this week. We had not seen them in some time and were excited about getting to visit with them.

We got set up and headed down to let them know we were here. I knocked on the door and Weldon met me with a mouth full of crackers. "Come on in", he said. And we had a great visit...catching up on all the news.

Plans were made to go to diner that night. We would meet up around 5:00 and go to Weatherford for pizza at Nizza Pizza. We ordered two medium pizzas and had plenty left for lunch the next day.

We had to make our Wally World run after diner to load up on some needed items. Weldon and I found a comfortable bench up front where we could spot the girls as soon as they finished shopping. Believe it or not they did not take long.

It was just a short hop down the Interstate to the park. We said our good nights and we were off to bed. It turned out to be a wonderful day with great friends...

Somewhere in Time

Up to Denton for the Day

 

What the....Who is calling me this early in the morning??? Hello...Hello Oh it is my wake up call. DUH! Yes I left a wake up call so I would not over sleep. Now that we have so much time off between jobs I am not use to getting up this early in the morning so a wake up call is the only way that I can get up.

Sherri was still sleeping when I rolled out of bed and headed to the shower. I try to get up and get myself ready first in the morning so Sherri will have plenty of time to get ready. I got showered and got dressed in record time and then woke Sherri up. I always lay back down to squeeze out a few more minutes of sleep before coffee call comes.

Seems like I just laid down when Sherri informed me that she was ready to head downstairs for coffee. I finished dressing and then we both rode the elevator down to breakfast. They had eggs...bacon and biscuits with gravy! Man was it good! We helped ourselves and sat down. Soon our co-hearts showed up and we all visited while drinking coffee. We all like to ease into the day this way. Getting to work after a good breakfast and coffee sure makes the day go better. Here again the store was not feeding us so we had to buy our own lunch today. We worked a little longer and made lunch about 3:00.

We stopped at Applebee's and just had a light lunch. Then we all drove to Denton to the hotel. We arrived around 4:30 and checked in. We all decided to meet back down stairs in the lobby for the Manager's special...beer and hot wings. We snaked and visited to around 7:30 and then it was time to drive to Brahms for ice cream.

What a tuff life this is! We returned to the hotel and parted ways. We would all meet back down stairs in the morning for breakfast before work and start the process all over again.

Up to the room and watched a little TV before falling asleep...

Somewhere in Time

What happen to the time?

 

 

I woke up this morning in Tyler Texas and realized how long it had been since I posted on my journal! The last few weeks have flown by. We have been at the lake working on our Casita there. Yes it is no longer a barn but a Casita. Sherri's half is complete and looking real good. She has her walls painted and trim in. The only thing that is yet to be completed is the flooring. She is thinking about installing some type of flooring that will clean up easily.

We have done some traveling in between working on the Casita and keeping the grandkids. When you are not working all the time the days seem to shoot past you so fast. We have enjoyed this time off and used it to our advantage to get so much done. When we hit the road we will not have to worry about unfinished projects at home.

But here we are in Tyler Texas and ready for work this morning. Sherri is in the shower and I am just posting away with hopes of uploading this to my site tonight when I return. It has been a busy three weeks and we accomplished a lot in that time. I wont bore any of you with all the details of our project but will tell you that it turned out well and we will have a nice place to return to after our travels.

Better head on out the door now. We have a date with a cup of coffee here at the hotel...then it is on to work.

We had a good day at work and it was a short day too. We re-set the freezers here at one of the stores and stayed cool all day. It has been raining here lately and being in the freezers makes you cold real quick. We had to find us a place to eat lunch today...the store did not provide us with eats. Usually the stores feed us lunch but today being a short day no lunch. We walked across the parking lot and had lunch at McDonalds.

We got back to the hotel after work and made reservations for our next week. That being done we made plans for diner and headed out to eat. Outback was our destination. We both ate a good steak salad and garlic potatoes.

Back at the hotel we watched a little TV and then it was off to bed. I will try to keep up a little better from now on...

Somewhere in Time

 

 

Moved on to Tyler

 

Up early and left late. We could not leave too early this morning because the Service Center did not open until 11:00. We took our time and drank out coffee discussing the last 3 weeks we were on the road. It sure will be hard to return to work tomorrow. This was a good test for us...having time off to see what it would be like. We both liked it very much and think that we will fit right in to this life style.

For now we have to get our house brought up to par and while we are at the dealership we want to check out some of the new models they have on the lot. We looked at several...one of them was the same model that Dee and Jim Walter have. It sure is a nice floor plan and we like it very much. I especially like the "Big Foot" leveling system. We were a little to early in the buying to get this system. They started putting this leveling system on in '10. OH Well...Always a day late and a $ short!..

We stopped off in Mesquite and ate lunch at Red Lobster. I had a sirloin steak and grilled shrimp. Sherri just had the shrimp and was it all good. We are back on expenses this week so eating out is the only way to go.

When we left the Lobster we headed to Wills Point to pick up our mail and stop by and visit with the kids. Jennifer made dinner for us and we brought some ice cream for dessert. Sherri and Jennifer made banana splits and that put me over the edge. WOW...was I stuffed! We left there about 8:30 and drove to Tyler. We arrived there about 9:30 and checked into our hotel room. We are both tired and know we need to get to bed. 5:00 am comes mighty early and we have to be up and ready to go. 

This week we will be working for the next 3 days. We will return to Denton and pick up our house on Thursday morning. We have the grandkids that weekend and will entertain them at Hickory Creek COE park. I will bring you up to date on how our week goes...

Somewhere in Time

One Down One to Go

 

One day of leisure down and none to go. Today will be our last day of doing nothing and then we go back to work. I have to load up and take our house to the service center on Sunday and drop it off for warranty work. We have to be in Tyler Texas on Monday morning to set a store. We will be working there for 3 days and then return to Denton to pick up our house.

So today we are just going to hang out and relax. I have a few things to clean up on the outside. If it is cool enough today I am going to clean and wax some. The outside has really taken a beating while on the trip. I will have to use the Solution to clean with...seeing as how the park here wont let you wash with soap and water?

Which brings up the subject of the environment. The tree huggers say that soap will harm the ground if allowed to run out on it. My question is what does all the oil and gas do to the water in the lake with outboard motors running all the time? How about all the dog and duck poop on the edge of the water here? What are all the tent campers doing with their dish water when they finish washing their pots and pans. Why are the same tree huggers using Dawn dishwashing liquid to clean up all the wildlife on the coast? Sometimes I wonder if we have a real grip on all this Green stuff or is it all touchy feely? We RVer's are more environmentally Green than the tree huggers that come up with these ideas.

OH well such is life...I follow the rules and smile. I have the Solution to clean with and will wax my little heart out without harming any living thing. Well I take that back I did slaughter 1020 bugs on the way back from Amarillo. Sorry!

This is the last day for us. We have had a great 3 weeks of travel and adventure. The rest of this year will see us traveling some more but for now we have to return to or assigned jobs. We plan on taking some time to rediscover the Gulf coast between now and January. My sister and BIL live down there and our good friends Connie and Rod of Rod n Reel also live in that area. We plan on paying them a visit as well. Not sure where we will stay there but I know we will find us a home for a while.

We are getting real serious about planning out our travels now that we get closer to doing so. It is not so much the name of the place we will go to but the direction we will head. South if it is cold North if it is hot. Makes sense to you?

Today...we have to go to Explore USA to drop the house off for some repairs. They are replacing a pocket door and a shock on the axel this time. We have a list of other items that we would like to have checked out before I 2 year warranty goes out. We do have a 5 year to follow up on but this will all be factory stuff.

Not much more to report today just have to get ready for the move. We will be in Tyler this evening after we stop off and pick up our mail and see the grandkids in Wills Point. I will report how our first day back on the job was tomorrow when I post. Until then I hope all our friends stay safe while traveling...

Somewhere in Time 

 

  

Back at Hickory Creek

 

Back in Texas...H O T

We woke up this morning in Amarillo Texas to cool temps. They said a cool front would be moving in and sure nuff it did. It was dark outside when I rolled over and looked out the bedroom window. I looked across the room at the clock that said it was time to get up. OK I know...get up and get started. It is a move day and I have a lot to do before we pull out.

 

Last night we finished up all the wash at $.50 a load and Sherri got it all tucked away in the closets and drawers. That is one thing we don't have to worry with for a while. Now all we have to worry about is getting everything stashed away for travel. First we had our coffee and planned out the day. Sherri made some tuna fish for the trip. We would stop along the way and have lunch and then keep on trucking. This will be a 5 to 6 hour trip to the Lake and I really dread that long of a drive. We could have broken up the drive but we had to make reservations at Hickory Creek due to the Boy Scouts being there. We got the last 50 amp spot in the park when I went on line.

Be that as it may we left out at 10:30 and pulled on to the Interstate heading southeast. Sherri found a real nice roadside park and we stopped there to eat our sandwiches. Back on the road again after a short break. We had a tough side wind until we reached Childress Texas...my home town. We topped off with diesel there and kept trucking. Childress is 1/3 of the way there GEEE it is a long trip.

We finished the last 2/3 of the trip visiting and counting RV's as they passed us heading west toward the Balloon Festival in Albuquerque NM. I just know that is where they are all headed. We counted over 300 RV's.

This passed the time for us and soon we were on I 35 heading south. Not far now I said to Sherri. And then it happened...traffic ahead dead stop. We sat in stop and go traffic for 45 minutes. Sherri and I both had to go potty and here we sat stopping and going. We finally got to the wreck that had us backed up and it was not a bad wreck at all. We both expected to see a major wreck with the freeway being shut down this way. OH well we were on our way again with only 2 miles to go to the turnoff.

We arrived at the gate and got our pass. By this time Sherri and I both were hurting for a potty break so we just pulled in the bathroom parking lot inside the park and went our separate ways.

We found our site and Sherri helped me back in with little or no problem. This was the last site with 50 amp service and it is one of the hardest sites to back into. This is probably why it was still available when we made our reservations.

We got set up and then it was time to relax watch some TV and eat dinner. Sherri made some tacos and salad. It was good and then we just settled in for the night. Sherri fell asleep while I watched the Mentalist and I followed suit shortly there after. We had a wonderful day traveling and we are thankful that it was a safe trip. Now all we have to look forward to is going back to work...

Somewhere in Time

A Day of Leisure

 

I always start my journal entry off with me getting out of bed and making coffee. OK so what's new?...That is what I do every morning and this morning was no different. I am not going to tell you that this morning...or did I. Oh well it was nice to sleep in and we were in no hurry to do a thing today. I have to finish filling out my report and get it turned into the office so I can get paid but other than that I am free to do as I please.

We did just that this morning. We sat and drank coffee and watched the weather and then turned on the computers and talked with some of our friends and shopped around and then read some journals. Over all we did absolutely nothing at all until 10:00 when I fried up some bacon and made some waffles for my lovely bride. We had a nice breakfast and then I followed that by doing the dishes.

Sherri made the bed and we both got ready to go to the Post Office to mail my report. From the Post Office we drove over to Super Cuts where I got sheared. I have been needing a hair cut for some time and finally found the time to get it done.

Hair being cut we went across the street to Wally World to get a few items for the RV and some food for the next couple of days here. Are you setting down...We have been getting out of Wally World for under $100.00 for the last 3 visits!!! I know...Have you ever heard such? We have set a new record for us this last few months. I hope we can keep that up from now on.

While at Wally World I picked up a Memory Stick for our Adventure Pictures. I have well over 100 and I want them to load up on my Picture Frame Viewer. I will spend hours revisiting all the places we have been this last 3 weeks.

We are going to make some chicken tonight and Sherri is going to do the trimmings. This may be the last time we get to grill out for a while. We have to get ourselves ready for the change that is coming this next week. I know that we will really miss all those sleep in days and cool mornings around the campfire. All good things must come to an end...

Somewhere in Time

Palo Duro Canyon 36 years later

 

Entering Palo Duro Canyon State Park

We were up early early this morning. We had gone to bed early last night so we woke up early this morning. It was 5:30 and both of us were drinking coffee in the living room. It was cold...yes cold this morning. We had to crank the heat up to knock the chill out.

We are headed to Palo Duro this morning. The last time we were there was 36 years ago. The kids were babies then and Jason...our oldest got a staff infection that showed up the first night at the park. It was after 10:00 pm so when we got to the gate on top it was locked. We had to make a phone call to the police to contact the gate attendant to let us out. The man came and opened the gate and we took Jason to the hospital where they gave him a shot and meds. We had to leave that next morning so we did not get to see any of the canyon.

This time we arrived about 9:00 am. It was all new to us because we had not remembered the first thing about the park. I did recall the gate going out that was locked! In the picture below you can see the building and the gate post. Years ago that post was wooden and there was a pay phone to the left of it. I was on that phone and there was an owl on the post about 3 ft from me. I thought it was a statue but when it took off flying I took off the other direction. That coupled with my son being sick and the gate being locked just about did me in.

 

We had decided not to camp in the park due to the 10% grade going down and the same going out. I did not want to put that kind of a strain on the truck so we opted to stay at the Oasis RV Park in Amarillo. Nice park if you ever pass through there.

The drive through the park was drop dead gorgeous. We drove the entire 16 miles of road and enjoyed every mile. We did not get to hike any but then that will give me a reason to return. We did find our old campsite from 36 years ago. As I stood there looking at it I could almost see the kids playing in the sand next to the RV. That was so long ago and yet I remember it like it was yesterday.

No that is not John Wayne                  Two good looking people at the overlook

Rock formations galore                        Campsite 36 years ago

Found me a house in the canyon      Sherri and I on the overlook

Sherri in the Informative Center       Informative Center behind Sherri

Outcrops on the canyon walls           One beautiful Ridge shot from the road

We ended up at the Trading Post and Sherri bought one of the Grandkids a necklace and I bought me one too...a manly one....OK. Then we started to get a hamburger there but decided to go back to Amarillo to eat a good lunch.

We arrived at Furrs Buffet and had a real good meal. I ate just enough and left there comfortable. Then it was time to go shopping...which I had told Sherri we would do. I went to the $ store and Sherri went to....Kolh's...where else! Then it was off to Penny's and last but not least we ended up at...where else...Wally World! If you guess all those stops you must know Sherri pretty good.

We bought just enough grub to get us to Sunday when we will drop the RV off at Explore USA in Denton Texas. No need to haul too much on the last leg of our adventure.

Tomorrow is a long travel day. We will leave here and go all the way to Hickory Creek COE park on lake Lewisville. There we will spend the last 3 days of our adventure with heavy hearts and memories of Colorado for ever etched in our minds...

Somewhere in Time