Not exactly.  We are in a smaller town that does not appear on this map named Fulton, TX, which is just to the North of Rockport.  While it appears that we are right on the Gulf of Mexico, there is actually a barrier island to our East called San Jose Island which has the effect of making the waters quite calm in this area, Aransas Bay.  We will be spending about a month here before heading West where we will spend a bit of time in Del Rio, home of Laughlin AFB (pilot training facility) and near Lake Amistad where several of our group are hoping for some good fishing.  We have only a few photos from this area so far.

Merry Christmas to all of our family and friends!

The Alamo, the Tower of the Americas and Paseo del Rio

We are nearing the end of our San Antonio adventures and will be heading toward the Gulf Coast tomorrow.  While in this area, it was our great pleasure to spend a little time and share a nice dinner with some folks that I had not seen since my days in Okinawa.  While that time may have been many years ago, there were aspects of the visit that made it seem as though no time had passed at all.

Our touring in the city consisted of a visit to the Alamo, several walks and a boat ride along the River Walk (or is it Riverwalk?), a stroll through what was the HemisFair '68 grounds (the 1968 World's Fair which was under construction while I was at Lackland AFB), a visit to the National Cemetary at Fort Sam Houston and an excellent meal while enjoying vistas from near the top of the Tower of the Americas.

Photos of the Alamo and Paseo can be found at this link, while more of the walk, the tower and the fair grounds can be found here.  Also, the following are links to information about the San Antonio sites:The Alamo Mission
Tower of the Americas
HemisFair '68
Paseo del Rio

Cowboys and Christmas Lights

Our last full day in the Dallas area was spent mostly spent in a tour of the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX, home of the Dallas Cowboys.  We're certainly not the biggest football fans, but there is no doubt that the stadium is impressive and we are including a whole bunch of photos here to give you some idea of what we saw.  Our tour guide, Bob, made the whole thing so much more interesting by providing all sorts of facts and stories about the building of the structure.  For instance, the construction started as one huge hole since the actual playing surface is located about 50 feet below street level and the area immediately surrounding the field is large enough to easily accomodate tractor-trailers.

On our trip from Sanger, TX, toward the San Antonio area, we stayed for two nights at a place called the Hofbrau RV Park in Marble Falls, TX.  Thanx to recommendations by our host, we enjoyed an outstanding meal at the Blue Bonnet
Cafe in town and then had a nice walk along the river through a display of Christmas lights which are also shown in the photos.

We are now in Boerne which is just 30 miles or so from the Alamo which will be one of the subjects of our next blog entry.

Sanger and Dallas, TX

Babe's Chicken Dinner House

 

Over the last several days, we have been enjoying our short stay in this part of North Texas.  The weather is improving and it appears that we will be a bit further South before the next round of cold weather rolls in.  Thanks to our hosts, Ken and Janet Woolston (owners of the Wagon Master RV Park) and other residents' contributions, we had an excellent Thanksgiving dinner here at the park with Pat and Deb contributing their pies and pumpkin rolls to the event.

On Friday we visited the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum and viewed some incredible displays of this very significant period in U.S. history.  No matter where you may find yourself in the political spectrum, there is much to be learned and absorbed in visiting this facility and we were quite moved by the experience.

Wagon Master and Museum photos available here.

A delightful surprise on Saturday was taking the word of locals and paying a visit to Babe's Chicken House for a great meal served in the family style which included a variety of chicken preparations as well as other goodies all made on site.  Here is a link to more information about Babe's. 

Here at the park we were introduced to "Horse Apples" or "Osage Oranges" which you can learn about by clicking here.  We've also enjoyed seeing the Alpacas and their protector, Gus (photos).

Welcom to Dallas

ONLY 3 hours to cover the last 50 miles of yesterday's journey from the LA/TX border and into the Dallas area.  I had no sooner made a comment to Deb that we seemed to have arrived in the area at a good time since traffic was reasonable when we entered some of the worst construction congestion that we've ever experienced.  It took nearly two hours to cover about 7 miles on I-635.  Adding to our great delight, thanks to the cold front and associated Winter Storm that has been rolling through the area for the last several days, as I write this it is still only 30 degrees (yes, that is Farenheit) at 9:30 am.  Hey, we're in the South to keep warm, right?  No photos to share to day since what we've been seeing was mostly traffic.

On the positive side, we are now situated at a very nice RV Park and Alpaca Farm in Sanger, TX, where we be staying for a week as we explore the area (you can bet we'll find some alternative highways to get around) and we've been invited for Thanksgiving dinner with the owners and about a dozen other folks that are staying here.  This is a link to the park's information if you'd like to see where we're staying.

More Vicksburg 2013

The second half of our week in Vicksburg, MS, included a chance to see two paddle wheel boats that provide  7 day tours up and down the Mississippi River, but I'm sure Mark Twain would be astounded at the prices.  We next had the
opportunity to see about 30 murals that have been painted on the flood wall in the historic downtown section of the city.  Other stops included the CocaCola museum (did you know that Vicksburg was the birthplace of that beverage?), some
downtown shops and eateries and a return to the Memorial Park to visit a couple areas that we missed earlier when time ran short.

Again, you can find quite a number of photos at this link.  Also, some have questioned the few lines of a poem in our earlier blog and you can click here to read the entire poem.

Vicksburg National Military Park

The Vicksburg National Military Park commemorates the campaign, siege and defense of Vicksburg in 1863. The park includes 1340 monuments of various sizes, markers and plaques that mark locations and events, a restored Union gunboat and a National Cemetery. Pat, Dick, Deb and I spent the better part of a day exploring quite a number of the sites along the 16 mile road that winds through the park.

I know we all had some profound reactions to what we observed and felt as we made our way around the park. For myself, it was a deep sense of loss. We heard an account of a battle where over 3,000 died in just one day.

There are pretty many photos posted at our Shutterfly Site, mostly of the park, but a couple that include friends Jim and Wanda from just before our departure from Alabama. You will see some similar photos as Deb and I were both snapping away most of the day.

Fort Pickens Visit 2013

We are presently starting a short stay in Foley, AL, having just completed a two week visit at Fort Pickens, FL.  The area surrounding the fort is one our favorite places to visit and we shared it this time with friends Pat and Dick.

Over the last few years when we had intentions of spending some time on the island which includes Pensacola Beach, we were forced to cancel our reservations at least three or four times due to bad weather in the Gulf of Mexico or other reasons beyond our control.  This time the weather was just perfect and we were able to spend some great days on the beach, or on the fishing pier, or doing not much of anything, just enjoying our surroundings.  We also managed to have some great meals, both here in the park and at some local eateries.  Of particular note on the fishing front, if you view the included photos (click here) you will see Deb and Pat with the 'catch of the day' on one outing, a 35", 15 pound, Red Drum which had to be returned to the bay since it was considerably larger than the legal limit.

Be sure to review the captions provided with the photos for some additional remarks about our stay.

Birthday

USAF - 66 Years

Summer of 2013

The Summer of 2013 has found us spending more than the usual amount of time in PA; however, we are looking forward to a much more varied Fall and Winter when we will be dividing our time, for the most part, between areas reaching from the Gulf Coast to Nevada and a host of points between the two.  Over the course of the Summer, we've accumulated a few sets of photos that we'd like to share:
1)  Ben and Elizabeth participated in an abbreviated version of The Sound of Music
2)  Alice Springs RV Resort near Ionia, MI and a short trip across part of Canada
3)  Another trip with Grandchildren to Knobel's Amusement Park
4)  Two shots of a Walking Stick

Click on this link for photos.

Salutations from Michigan

We just arrived in Ionia, MI.  Having had enuf of PA for   the moment, we are traveling with Mary and Bill in their 5th wheel for a short visit with friends Pat and Dick.  We'll be back in PA on Monday, but will send along some reports and/or photos as opportunities and events permit.

Dinner at Natural Bridge KOA

Along the trail from AL to PA we stopped in Natural Bridge, VA. Last night we enjoyed and excellent dinner prepared by Pat and Dick which consisted of Shrimp, Pasta Salad, Creamed Corn and Asiago Bread. The weather along this journey has been pretty much as good as we could have hoped for except for today (Tax Day, 2013) which was a bit cool and overcast. Naturally, this is the day that Pat and Dick visited the Natural Bridge.

Just Another Tornado Watch

So it is our last full day in Foley, AL for the season.  There is a Tornado Watch in effect as I write this, we've experienced some severe thunderstorms, high winds and a fully visible sun just appeared to our West while a river runs down the road.  Fortunately, as has usually been the case in our time here in Alabama, the worst of the storms has stayed politely to the North of Interstate 10 which is only a scant 15 miles away from us.  Tomorrow (Friday, April 12, 2013) we will head up Interstate 65 a bit earlier than usual and expect to be exiting Alabama sometime on Saturday and will arrive in PA, weather permitting, sometime in the Sunday/Monday time frame.  It has admittedly not been the greatest Winter here, both in terms of weather (cool and frequently rainy) and for other assorted reasons.  This has not dampened our enthusiasm about living the RV lifestyle, but we are determined to set or sights on some new locations.  Stay tuned!

Disney 2013

Last week we joined up with Mary, Bill, Pat and Dick for a trip to the Florida Disney parks.  Although Deb and I have visited the area in more recent years, the rest of the crew had not been there since the 80's.  We parked our rigs at Fort Wilderness on the Disney property and used the available boat, bus and monorail service to reach other locations of the park.
Day 1 - Mostly travel - stayed over night in Old Town, FL - we've all decided that Cracker Barrel is NOT a favorite place to eat.
Day 2 - Arrived at Fort Wilderness and visited the stables - oh Pat, it is Chip 'n' Dale, not the Chippendales.
Day 3 - The Magic Kingdom - Ok, we were kids for a day.
Day 4 - Epcot Center - always a favorite, especially visiting the countries around the lake.
Day 5 - Animal Kingdom - safari was great, many more animals in view than on our previous visit.
Day 6 - Was supposed to be a visit to the sponge diving village of Tarpon Springs, but the place was so much different (crowded with tourists) than we had experienced years ago & no place to park the rigs.  We opted instead to enjoy a nice dinner at the RV park.
Day 7 - We decided to stay for the night along I10 since there was some nasty weather in the forecast for Southern Alabama.
Day 8 - Arrived back in Foley to rain and cooler temps - so happy the weather was just excellent while we were at Disney.
Click here for photos.