Back at Padre

We have been back at Padre Island since last Wednesday after leaving Seguin. We will stay here at least 2 weeks but possibly 4 weeks. The weather east of here seems be staying pretty violent so we are thinking that we will stay here thru the end of March and then head back west.

We may travel up thru Oregon and Washington in April but we will just wait and see what the weather is like and how we feel.

The weather here is gorgeous and we have a site with a great ocean view again so we are very happy for now. The temperature is running between 73 and 80 on the island which is just perfect.

That's all the news for now.

Short trip to Austin, now back in Seguin

The boys, Cori, Chuck & Donnie at Cori's house
















Crystal & the boys at the park.

We took a little trip up to our niece's house (Cori) in Austin. The nephew's wife, Crystal, and their 3 boys were coming to Austin from Dallas for a birthday party. We went to the park with the 3 boys, 3 dogs and the nieces. It was great fun. When Crystal and the boys left for the birthday party we went to Round Rock to a cafe for dinner and to watch a belly dancing demonstration. That was something very different. We had a wonderful time.

We are back in Seguin now. We will probably take off for another stay on Padre Island on Wednesday if the weather cooperates.

Seguin

We are settled at Donnie's brother's house in Seguin, Texas for 10 days or two weeks. Their cousin Bill and wife came down from OKC and our niece Cori came down from Austin so we are having a great visit.

We had a great fish fry yesterday at Padre before we took off this morning. Luckily the weather held with warmth and no rain for the event.

Still on Padre

We are in doing laundry and getting the oil changed in the truck. Yesterday was the best weather day in a few days so all of the fishman were out fishing all day long. Therefore, we had fresh fish for dinner and we were able to freeze enough for another 3 dinners. All the folks at the campground are so great. So many are repeats so we know them from previous years.

We have to cycle out of the campground on Friday because our 14 days are up. We have to stay out for 2 days then we will go back for 3 days before we leave next Wednesday for Chuck (Donnie's brother) and Pam's house for 10 days or so. Donnie's cousin from OKC will meet us there at Chuck's and I'm sure we will have a great time.

We aren't sure what we will do next but we are leaning toward coming back down to Padre for another 2 weeks or so.

Padre Island

It almost felt like coming home driving into Padre on Friday. We had to stay in Ft Stockton for 2 nights because the weather was really awful but the rest of the trip has been great.

It was about 75 Friday when we got here but now it has cooled of to about 68 or so but the nights are very warm. We have met back up with some of our friends that come every year (already got some fresh fish from them). Some of the others are yet to come.

We remember now how much we love this place. We are in town for church and shopping today.

Arizona

My niece and Trooper the horse








Desert

Sorry that I've been flaking out on the blog. I've gotten lazy and just been posting to Facebook instead.

So we finally got out of Salt Lake on January 5 after a rush trip to Oregon to see my nephew. We picked the trailer up in Mesquite and stayed over night in the RV park there. We went on to Lake Mead and got organized for 6 days. It was nice to walk and rest up before going on. We got into my nieces place south of Phoenix on January 13. We will be here about 10 days, leaving about 1/24 depending on the weather.

We've had a great time with Debbie my niece and went into Mesa one day to meet up with Donnie's sister Betty, brother-in-law, LeRoy and niece Sheri and husband Bill.

We went to the Flea mart yesterday and visited a great-nephew auto repair shop that he just opened.

Today we went horseback riding for a couple of hours out in the desert. It was great fun.

Albuquerque, NM

We left Oklahoma on Monday morning and went to Amarillo, Texas. Today we drove from Amarillo to Albuquerque. We've been bucking a pretty heavy headwind for the last 2 days which has negatively impacted our gas mileage which is not what you need when diesel is $4.18 a gallon. We are going to try to make it to Kingman, AZ tomorrow although it is 468 miles which is about double what we normally drive. We sort of don't want to stay in Flagstaff cuz it is high and cold. We are going to Laughlin, NV where we will stay for a week. Betty (Donnie's sister) & her husband will meet us there for a couple of days next week. We will stay there where it is warm until it is time to go up by Zion Ntl Park to meet Chris, Yon & the girls for Easter. It's been a great trip but I'm getting excited to be home.

Lexington, Oklahoma

We made in to Lexington after spending last night in Checotah, Oklahoma (home of Carrie Underwood). We have made arrangements to see most of the cousins, aunts and uncles tomorrow and Sunday. So we will mostly be visiting family for a couple of days and then probably try to leave on Monday to head toward home. We need to be near Zions National Park by the Thursday before Easter to meet Chris, Yon and the girls.

Hot Springs, Arkansas

We had a lovely drive to Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas. It seems to be a pretty area in some rolling hills. The campground is great with full hookups for $12 with Donnie's access pass. There is a little creek nearby and some hiking trails. We will drive into town tomorrow to see the old bath house row and the area.

I didn't realize that Bill Clinton came from Hot Springs.

Anyway, we have turned toward home and a little more than 2 weeks from now we will meet Chris, Yon and the girls around Zions for Easter.

Memphis & Graceland

The pictures won't behave so you'll have to forgive this weird format. The duck march Graceland Elvis's Grave Whew .. we are tired. We got on a tour bus this morning for a tour of Memphis. We went by the Sun recording studio where Elvis recorded his first few hits. We stopped at St Jude's Children's Hospital. We ate lunch (barbeque, of course) down on Beale street and got to listen to some live blues. We drove by the site where Martin Luther King was assassinated. We also went to the Peabody Hotel where they have the "Duck March" twice a day where these 5 ducks parade from the elevator across a red carpet and over to a fountain in the lobby at 11 am and then back at 5 pm. Very cute. When we got back from that tour, we got in the truck and drove the couple of blocks from the RV park down to Graceland. It was very interesting. We had really forgotten how many gold records and platinum albums Elvis had. It was astounding. I can't believe that we actually considered not going to Graceland. It was definitely worth the trip. I'm ready to just sit down for awhile.

Fort Gaines

The walking path thru the forest to the beach

















Fort Gaines










Wow, I really need to read the blog before I post them. I hope that last blog made sense to you... it seemed pretty messed up.

We went over to Fort Gaines this morning. It is really in good shape even though it is 190 years old. Actually, the island was first mapped in 1519 which seems hard to believe. It was first called Massacre Island because there were stacks of bones on the island. Perhaps a Native American burial ground. It has had some kind of fort on it since the early 1700's. One was destroyed by pirates. This place really has some cool history.

This area was very important in the Civil War because Mobile was one of the last open supply points for the Confederate Army.

Magic & I went on a really long walk this evening. There is an Audubon Bird Sanctuary next to the campground and some of the walking paths go over there. Magic didn't want to walk the way that the path was going over to the sanctuary so I picked him up and carried him. I don't think that he thought I knew where I was going. Well, turned out he was right. We managed to find our way back but we really walked a long ways. :-) I guess next time I'll listen to him.

Dauphin Island, Alabama

This place is fabulous. I wish that we hadn't stay at the last place so long and had come here earlier. Although I don't know that we couldn't have gotten in the campground. I think that we had to wait for some of their snowbirds to go home.

Anyway, we had a great drive of a whopping 100 miles. The last few miles were on a two lane road down from I-10 and it was a beautiful drive. There were lots of pine and magnolia trees along the way as well as lots of huge azalea bushes all in bloom.

I had no idea how huge Mobile Bay is. You can't see Mobile at all across all that water. The bay is on one side of the island and the Gulf of Mexico is on the other side. From the campground you can see the water of the Bay and then if you take a short walk thru a beautiful forest you come out on the Gulf.

It's really a fabulous place. We drove to the end of the island to the west which is much more just sand and no trees. Then we are pretty close to the eastern end of the island. There is an old fort there that we will go see tomorrow.

I'll try to get pictures tomorrow. I kept forgetting to take my camera with me today.