ANOTHER WONDERFUL SATURDAY WITH CARRIE

Saturday, October 21 – These are exciting times in Houston for sports fans. Now that our Cleveland Indians are out of the playoffs, it seems only right to cheer for our second hometown's team to win the World Series. What a boost it would give to the residents of Houston. Go Astros!!! We were sure happy to eliminate the Yankees from the playoffs! LOL

But I'm ahead of myself. Saturday means college football in our family, and we were meeting up with Carrie and some of her friends to cheer on our teams. Being in a town like Houston with young people relocated here from all over the country for work means we have to find a place with about a hundred TV's to watch NCAA football. That's no problem with numerous sports bars all over town. We met at McIntyre's in what is referred to as the Heights part of Houston. Of course there was food and beverages and cheering going on. We were here to cheer on Virginia Tech, Carrie's alma mater.

Virgil, Carrie, Nick

We've been with many of these friends in the past and always have a great time. They sure know how to have fun and always make us feel welcome. Not only were we eating, drinking, and cheering but there is always some competition involved. Today it was shooting hoops. Now why would a couple of “seniors” let kids half their age challenge them to shooting basketballs. LOL It was great fun but a little embarrassing for Paul to be totally out of their league! Note from Marsha….I came in second….WOW!

Paul’s is the second score…hehe

Guess who the winner was.

We always make an early exit from this gang. No way to keep up with their enthusiasm and youthfulness. We're not as young as we once were......ahhh the good old days! We arrived back at the Elks in time to settle in and watch the seventh game of the ALS – Houston elimination of New York and a trip to the World Series. The girls (Marsha, Carrie, and Kelly) enjoy watching these games together via iPhone texting. What fun!

The World Series begins Tuesday night so it will be another exciting week here in Houston! I'm sure we'll find some way to cheer on the Astros. UPDATE:  The World Series is tied 1-1. Houston plays there first home game tonight. GO ASTROS!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

TEXANS/BROWNS GAME…ANOTHER DEFEAT FOR THE BROWNS

Sunday, October 15 – We never dreamed we would be attending the Houston Texans vs the Cleveland Browns football game while here in Houston. We didn't even have our home team shirts to wear....dang! Carrie, our daughter, got extra tickets at work – in the corporate Club Seat Section - and they didn't cost us a dime. She already had four tickets down by the field, so we joined a couple of co-workers of hers and enjoyed the game. This is Marsha’s first professional football game.

Prior to the game there is the necessary tail-gating. What a fun time that was. We joined Michele, a friend of Carrie, and her family and friends in the parking lot for food, drinks, and people watching. There was even the required bus decorated in Houston Texan colors to complete the experience. It was a fun group, and we enjoyed getting “pumped” for the game.

Our Hostess and Host, Peggy and John Wayne.

They have a great tailgating set up.

We arrived early to see if we could lend a hand.

There were tons of Browns fans tailgating.

Of course, Carrie had to welcome them with her famous pudding shots.

Nice boots.

Most people wear the name of a player on the back of their shirt. Not the Browns’ fans.

Ignore those shirts we have on.

Unfortunately, the Browns continued their losing streak. Our adopted team – the Texans – put on a good show for the fans. It was nice to enjoy the game in a stadium with the ability to close the roof. It was 90 degrees outside so the roof was shut and the AC was going full blast. COOL....LOL

Before the game started, we walked around the Club section…so this is how the other half lives…LOL  There was a very good band playing songs to get the crowd fired up. Before we knew it, the lead singer grabbed Carrie, and she was out there dancing with the band. Y’all probably know she is our shy daughter…NOT!

Texans getting ready to enter the stadium.

All Browns’ players standing for the national anthem.

We had such high hopes for the Browns starting with the first play.

Yes, we did get a touchdown, and Marsha can actually prove it with her photo. Look at the bottom left part of the photo. Browns have the ball and touchdown.

After the game we returned to the tail-gating area and enjoyed a cold beverage and ate a few left-overs before saying our good-byes to Carrie and her friends and headed home. We rode the light rail train to the stadium, so we avoided the post game traffic. We had a pleasant ride back to our truck. This is a pretty good deal. For $15, we parked all day and everyone in the car received free round-trip tickets on train.

Once reaching our train stop, we jumped in our truck and were back at the Houston Elks campground in about 20 minutes. Even though the Browns lost we sure enjoyed our day. Another fun weekend here in Houston!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

CELEBRATING EIGHT YEARS ON THE ROAD.

Monday, October 16 – Tomorrow is the beginning of our 9^th year of traveling. We no longer “full-time,” but we continue to travel more than six months per year.  We completed the circle by ending the year at the same location we started – Houston, TX. I guess that's why we refer to this as our “Southern Home.” It is also home to our youngest daughter, Carrie, which we enjoy spending some time with each year. It didn't seem like we did much exploring this past year, but looking back we were pretty busy. Here's just a sample of where we ventured and what we saw during our eighth year of travel.

Langtry, TX – Judge Roy Bean Museum and Pecos River. An out-of-the-way place, but a great place to visit.

El Paso, TX – Explored the city, Chamizal National Memorial, Missions, UTEP. There is a ton to do and see in El Paso. It was a nice surprise.

Las Cruces, NM – Old Town, White Sands Missile Nat'l Monument & Missile Range, N.M. State University, Dripping Springs Hike. We had a wonderful visit with our good friends, Pam and John, while we were here. What fun.

Maricopa, AZ – Reunion with long-time friends from Class of 2009-10, the Dwarf Car Museum. We had a fantastic boondocking place. What fun having happy hour each day and sitting around the fire enjoying each other’s company.

Yuma, AZ – Los Algodones, NM, Cloud Car Museum, Yuma Proving Grounds. A visit to Mexico is always in order when we are in Yuma.

Organ Pipe, AZ – Organ Pipe Nat'l Monument, Hickiwan Trails hikes, the “wall.” “The Wall” was one of the highlights for Paul…Marsha not so much. The Nat’l Monument is an awesome place to see so much beauty.

How much excitement can one person take?

Tucson, AZ – Saguaro National Park, Hiking. One of our favorite places to visit.

Sedona, AZ – Red Rock country, Hiking, Truck towed for repairs (yuk). Sedona is gorgeous, but way too crowded for our liking. Even when we went out for a hike at 8 a.m., there were already tons of cars in the parking lot. Not fun.

Usery Mountain Park, AZ – Hiking and relaxing. We will be back!

Apache Junction, AZ – Superstition Mountains, Hiking. Always a beauty.

 

Phoenix, AZ – Spring Training Cleveland Indians Baseball. Love those Indians!

Back to Houston – Rodeo time, Art Car Parade, Visits with daughter, Houston Ship Channel and Kelly & Dave (daughter & SIL) arrived from Ohio for visit. What a wonderful time we had when Kelly and Dave arrived. We did more in three days than most people do in a year. The kids are young and can go nonstop. We try our best to keep up. After they left, we chilled for a week…lol

With May heating up in Texas, it was time to head north. We arrived back in Ohio to spend most of the summer. Long-time friends, Duane and Louise, were in the area, so we met up for a nice long lunch.

We did scratch off another “must see” on Marsha’s bucket list. We made a trip to Gettysburg, PA, to visit the Civil War Memorials. We really enjoyed the history of the area and recommend it to fellow travelers. While in the area, we added Harrisburg, PA, to our list of State Capitols we've visited.

Right before our departure from Ohio, we had a wonderful lunch with our dear full-timing friends, Margery and Paul. They spend all summer in Ohio Amish country. How could they be so near us all summer, and we had to wait till September to meet up. Boy does time fly!

Marsha always takes photos of everything, but for some reason didn’t take one this visit. Probably because she was yacking so much. Anyway, this is a photo back from 2012. This works better anyways because we all look so much younger…lol

We did add a new state to our map of “States Visited,” …Pennsylvania.

 

SOME INTERESTING STATISTICS FROM OUR 8TH YEAR ON THE ROAD:

Starting Date: 10/17/16

Starting Location: Houston, Texas

Ending Location: Houston, Texas

Truck travel miles: 13,574

Number of different cities visited: 23

Average length of stay per visit: 4.52 days

Average campground cost: $19.93

Highest price paid for diesel fuel: $3.099 (Sedona, AZ)

Lowest price paid for diesel fuel: $2.05 (Houston, TX)

Average price for diesel fuel: $2.45

Average miles per gallon: 10.005

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

HOUSTON, TX, HOME FOR A FEW MONTHS

Monday, October 9 – With Houston, TX, just down the road about four hours, we took our time getting on the road this morning. Many of you will get a kick out of this but it was about 8 a.m. when we headed south on US-59 (future I-69). That's a late start for us. We like to head out early and finish our day's drive early.

Skyline of downtown Houston.

We arrived at the Houston Elks Lodge before noon finishing another uneventful drive. Wonderful not to have driving problems! We feel at home at the Houston Lodge. This is actually Paul's home lodge. He transferred his membership here last spring. Our youngest daughter lives in Houston also, so it's nice to spend some time with her. We've learned our way around the Houston area and even are pretty use to the driving. We also know when NOT to drive through town!

The Elks Campground has ten full hook-up sites. Eight are concrete pads and two are gravel. The road to the sites behind the lodge is gravel. The sites are not spaced very far apart, especially when some insist on crowding their car of truck in between the sites. There's a 100 space parking lot thirty feet away but people don't walk much these days. The Lodge does have free internet, but you have to be in the first four or five sites to pick it up.

We always try to get the end site (Site # 1) so we have a little privacy on our patio side, and it is Bella’s favorite spot. Although the lodge patio and swimming pool are nearby, people aren't there until evening. There are a couple sites occupied full time by permanent residents (not happy about that) but most are over-nighters or monthly renters like ourselves. We've tried several times to convince the Lodge to add some sites but they don't seem to interested in doing that.

Looking right.

Looking left.

We will be here through the Christmas holidays. Well, our RV will be here. Marsha flies back to her Ohio family in early December to spend the holidays, and Paul and Carrie fly in just before Christmas. We then return before New Years with intentions to head to the Rio Grande Valley for January.

Update to Elks Lodge membership: Marsha is now a member of the Ladies Auxiliary group. If we were here fulltime, she would quickly work herself up to President….lol   She also read all the By-Laws. Who does that?

WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI

Saturday, October 7 – We had an uneventful trip today from just south of Louisville, KY, to a little west of Little Rock, AR.

MIGHTY MISSISSIPPI

We are staying at JB's RV Park in Benton, AR. We've stayed here several times in the past and always enjoyed our stay. It is located a little over a mile off I-40. It is in the woods, so getting satellite reception can be a challenge but we've always managed. The streets are gravel as well as the huge sites. Spacing between the sites is good but some sites are laid out front to back with the neighbor so you are sharing patio space, which we don't necessarily care for. There are FHU sites and some water and electric only sites. All sites have 50 amp service. It is a nice park to sit out under the trees and relax. It has always been quiet and peaceful when we've been here. They have filled up nearly every night we've been here, so call ahead and reserve a site. We called the day before and was able to get the last site. The cost is $27/night for W&E or $30 for FHU.

Looking right.

Looking left.

 

Sunday, October 8 - Another uneventful travel day. How nice that sounds.....I hope I don't jinx us! We stopped for the night, or should I say afternoon before lunch time. We are at the House of Prayer RV Park in Tenaha, TX. We are just off TX-59 (future I-69) about 45 miles north of Nacogdoches, TX. We considered pushing on to Escapees Headquarters at Rainbow’s  End in Livingston, TX, but decided to make a short day of it. We want to get everything (meaning satellite) all ready for the Indians vs Yankees baseball game tonight. The Indians are ahead 2-0 in the five game series.

Looking left.

Looking right.

Lots of friends to keep Bella company.

A little bit about the House of Prayer taken from the Internet: Through the years we have had many faithful campers and snowbirds come through our park. We cater more to senior citizens and disabled and allow no drugs, drunks, and whatever other deviant behavior that may be unpleasant for a retirement community. We also have 22 nice 1 & 2 Bedroom cottages with bills paid available to be rented monthly. Very nice for a widow or older couple looking for a quite place to live away from the bustle of the city.

House of Prayer RV Park has eight overnight sites ($10/night). They are laid out very nicely with plenty of space between very long sites. FHU sites with all the utilities located nicely, mid-way on each site. No trees but for some reason we had difficulty hooking up the satellite. The one negative is that the sites are on grass, so one must be alert for red ants!

Speaking of insects....are you fighting the dang stinkbug infestation? They are all over the country. Remind me of the Japanese Beetle infestation of years ago.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention in a recent post concerning the highway conditions. I am frequently critical of the poor highway surfaces in Louisiana. Well, Ohio I-71 from Columbus to Cincinnati is as bad as I-10 in parts of Louisiana. I just don't understand states letting interstate highways become nearly impassable. It sure isn't very enjoyable to drive an RV on American highways. I don't see how truckers survive. Rant complete! LOL Sounds like I'm in a grouchy mood with the bugs and the rough roads but I'm my usual sweet self....right Marsha! One more short day of travel, and we will be in Houston for awhile.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!