TWO DAYS…TWO STATES

Friday, April 1 – We pulled out of the Houston Elks RV Park this morning after rush hour.

Gorgeous sky to send us off on our journey.

We usually hit the road early in the morning, but we had to go right through the city so we thought it best to wait for the traffic to thin out. By 9:30, traffic had thinned out a bit. We headed north on T-59/I-69 toward Texarkana, TX. Hard to believe we drove all day and are still in Texas. If we were driving west, it would have been several days before leaving Texas.....Jeesh!

Unfortunately, we spent the most part of the day driving in light rain. Occasionally, the rain came down pretty hard, but it didn't seem to affect our progress. We sent the entire day on T-59 which is a nice divided road but not an interstate. It will eventually become Interstate 69 in the distant future.

We stayed at the Texarkana RV Park right on T-59. It is a Passport America park, so we enjoy a 50% discount. Our FHU site cost us $20/night. Fortunately, the park is not crowded because the sights are fairly narrow. It would certainly be crowded if full. The sites are gravel with a small concrete patio. The street is concrete. The electric, water, and sewer are nicely located. We chose not to unhook and had plenty of room length-wise to be off the street at both ends of our sight. The streets are very narrow. The campground is okay for a night or two. We certainly wouldn't want to pay full price at $40/night!

Looking right.

Looking left.

This guy pulled in at about 8:30. It was pitch black. Look what he is towing.

 

Saturday, April 2 – We got an early start this morning getting on the road soon after 7 a.m. We had another six hour day driving from Texarkana, TX, to Blytheville, AR. It was an uneventful drive. No rain today, just sunshine. We arrived at the Grizzly Campground just after 1 p.m.

The campground appears to be predominately full-time residents. There are three pull-thru sites, and the rest are back-ins. The back-in sites are on grass with a nice gravel parking area in front. They are fairly spaced. There is little or no landscaping. The pull-thrus are very closely spaced. Obviously, they are intended for short over-night stays. Since we did not want to unhook and are only here for one night, we decided to take one of the pull-thru sites. Hopefully, no one will pull in next to us. The good news is the sites are only $14.00/night, PPA, for a 50 amp FHU site.

Looking right.

Looking left. Ignore that big puddle with the junk in it…jeesh!

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

A VERY BLESSED EASTER DAY!

Sunday, March 27- We celebrated Easter at Carrie's apartment. But, we actually started our Easter weekend at the Houston Elks Lodge Easter egg hunt. We enjoyed watching the kids from our patio here at the Elks campground. Members of the Lodge hid nearly 1000 eggs in the lawn area next to our site. It only took six minutes for the kids to collect the eggs, but it sure looked like fun.

Who do you think came over to our campsite for a visit? The Easter Bunny! We both posed for a picture. Thanks Easter Bunny for taking time during your busy day to stop and say hello!

After church on Sunday, we headed to Midtown Houston to celebrate at our daughters. We arrived early so Marsha could help with the meal preparation. Paul busied himself with a couple household projects for Carrie.

We took some time out to enjoy the gorgeous day. Carrie is only about a mile from the downtown area.

Beautiful but very windy day.

The dinner was delicious. The traditional ham dinner, with mashed potatoes, asparagus, sweet potatoes, and home made bread. Perfect! We were so stuffed that we took a couple block walk around Carrie’s neighborhood. Living in Midtown means there are lots and lots of restaurants. We took special notice of some of the crazy signs outside some of the establishments.

After dinner it was time for Paul to blow out the candles on his birthday “pull-apart.” A giant pastry Marsha made. Decked out with trick candles that couldn't be blown out. We eventually had to drown them in a glass of water to put them out. Marsha.....such a joker! By the way....the next time Paul's birthday falls on Easter Sunday is March 27, 2086. Paul will be 136 that year!

We then turned to the Easter baskets that the Easter Bunny left for Carrie and Michael. They must have been pretty nice because that rabbit sure left them with several nice baskets.

We weren't done yet. We had eggs to color. We all got highly involved in this annual event. We had paints for the first time this year along with our normal dyes. We had a blast coloring eggs and writing our initials on several. We even decorated a couple with feathers.... :-)

Traditional decorating of the family eggs.
Dave, Kelly, Paul, Marsha, Michael, Carrie.

Thanks Carrie for a wonderful Easter Sunday. It was an awesome conclusion to a wonderful weekend.

The End.

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

FRIENDS, ERIN AND MUI, AND A BIRTHDAY

Sunday, March 27 – We've both followed Erin and Mui's blog, Two To Travel’s Phaeton Journeys, for many years and were delighted to find they were passing through Houston, TX. We decided to meet for lunch last Wednesday. We suggested the Sugar Land Town Center. This area is full of unique restaurants and outdoor bars. After viewing the area on the Internet, Mui gave us three suggestions. One was a Turkish restaurant. We jumped at the chance to eat at Turquoise Grill and Bar, a Mediterranean restaurant.

 

Both Erin and Mui are from Turkey, so wanted to have two experts with us when we tried our first Turkish dish.

We met at the selected time, and wouldn't you know, Erin and Mui were already there and talking to the restaurant owner, like they were old friends. The owner, Turkish of course, made several suggestion of tasty dishes. After introductions, we decided to let Mui do the ordering and that ended up being a great decision.  The only stipulation we gave Mui was NO HUMMUS. Neither Erin nor Paul like hummus. We started with an appetizer called Sigara Borke, fried feta rolls. Our main dish was the Family Platter which feeds 4-5. It was a huge platter of Gyros, Chicken Kebab, Beef kebab, Inegol Kofte, grilled vegetables and rice. The lunch selections were fantastic!

It was nice to finally meet Erin and Mui face-to-face, although as many bloggers know, it seems like we were old friends already. We discussed past travel experiences and future plans. Erin and Mui and full-time RV'ers and have traveled extensively overseas and on many ocean cruises. What an interesting and fun couple to enjoy the day with talking about good times. We really enjoyed our “taste of Turkish” luncheon and especially the friends we were able to share the afternoon with.

For the past two weeks, we have had two hawks visit us daily. We are very mindful not to let Bella out without proper supervision. We don’t want her to become an appetizer for any animal.

Right outside our door.

Watching from above.

Today, yes, today is Paul’s birthday. He says that he doesn’t celebrate birthdays anymore, but Marsha insists on making him a cake and singing Happy Birthday.

We would like to wish everyone a very Blessed Easter day. We will be spending this blessed day with our daughter, Carrie and Michael. Carrie is cooking a ham, and Marsha is taking all the fixins.

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