|
2006
To see our complete Photo Album at our
Webshots Site.
To see a summary map of our route,
click here.
December
31
Took
a walk to the office and then out to the beach. It was a nice morning, todays
temperature should get up to around 75. It’s going to be partly cloudy. Laid
in the sun at the cow and listened to football on the radio. Then we had a
grilled seafood dinner around 4pm. Watched the Bears game at 7pm and then took
our Champagne and headed out for Jims Pier which is right next to Amberjacks.
The city of South Padre Island puts on fireworks at midnight. We found a place
at the boat ramp. It really wasn’t to crowded. We poped our Champagne and
enjoyed New Years on the waterfront watching fireworks. At about 1230am we came
back to the cow.
30 Got up
and got some things organized. Made turkey chili in the crock pot. Went to SPI
Nature Walk by Convention Center. Stopped at a couple fish markets looking for
shrimp, oysters in the shell and fish. We were disappointed with the selection.
Very little shrimp and fish and no oysters in the shell. So we ent to
Walmart and did some grocery shopping. We did find some good shrimp and fish
there. Came back had lunch and relaxed and watched the movie Deliverance.
29
Went for a morning walk
around the park. Beautiful day sunny and around 80 but a little windy. Laid in
the sun by the cow. We were going to meet Walter at Big Als for dinner, but the
wait was to long so we went to Los Cabos for Fish Fry dinner. Came back sat
outside and had a cocktail.
28 Took
the free shuttle up to the Bahia Mar and then started walking back. We stopped
at Wanna Wanna for a cocktail and then continued on our walk. We walked on to
Boomerang Billys and had a few cocktails. It was pretty windy out and we saw a
lot of kite boarders. We walked to the Blue Marlin Grocery store to pick up a
couple things, then took the shuttle back. We made chicken on the grill.
27
We set the alarm for 6am and got up made coffee and got ready to go bay
fishing. We have to be there by 730am. We called Walter but he wasn’t feeling
well so he decided not to go. We left at 7am. There wasn’t many on the boat
maybe around 15 people. The boat will take up to 50 fishing. We went out to
the end of the jetty and slowly made our way back. We caught some whiting and
catfish. It was a beautiful day and light winds. We also saw dolphins during
our trip. We got back and Jamie cleaned our fish. We were hungry so we came
back, called Walter and made a fish lunch of parmesan crusted fish with yellow
rice and black beans. After lunch we went down to the beach sand sucking for
ghost shrimp. We nailed them. Got a bucket full and went back to sunset point
to do some fishing. We set up our stuff, enjoyed the warm sunshine and had the
Cognac and Christmas Wine Corvette Mike gave us before we left Grass Lake
Campground. We watched the sunset and enjoyed, but we did not catch any fish.
We came back, sat outside for a while and listened to music, John had a cigar
and then it started getting cool, so we went in.
26
It's a bright and sunny morning but cold, about 43 degrees. We took a walk
along the beach and then came back and worked on little projects. Walter came
over and John and Walter played cribbage. I got some rays. Then we walked down
to the nature center but it was closed, so we walked along the beach. There
were lots of people and families out. Some were sand sucking and fishing, using
metal detectors, laying on the beach, walking, biking and running. After a good
walk, we came back and John practiced with his metal detector. We had dinner
and relaxed in the evening.
25
Christmas Day.
We got up and opened presents then visited with Walter. We enjoyed the sunny
windy morning. Then we prepared vegetables for the Christmas Dinner at the
recreation center. We went over about 1230pm. Dinner was at 1pm. The
campground cooked 6 turkeys and 2 hams. Everyone brought a dish. We figured
there were about 160 people. We finished up around 230pm and went back and took
a nap. Then we got up for the sunset. It was clear but still very windy.
After sundown we went back to the cow and relaxed.
24
Today we went to Port
Isabel to do some last minute Christmas shopping and grocery shopping. Then we
went to Amberjacks to watch football. We met a lot of Midwesterners.
23
Headed to Port Isabel
to do some laundry,. Had an all you can eat fish lunch at Los Cabos. Then took
a walk around Port Isabel. We went to the historic lighthouse.
21
It's Rainy and cool – I went to do some
Christmas shopping. John went fishing. He caught some little Grouper but threw
them back. Had dinner with Walter and then went to Bingo. I won 12.00 and
a dolphin watch cruise.
20
Today we got up at 6am
and went sand sucking on the beach. The sun comes up around 714am. It was
overcast and a light drizzle with some wind. We didn’t see the suck holes until
about 7am. Then we did great. We got about 40 ghost shrimp. We came back, had
coffee and got ready to go fishing with our bait. It ended up being to
windy to fish so were waiting until tomorrow.
19
Today we got up before the sunrise and
took a long walk about 5 miles, on the beach. Came back and updated the
website. Then we went to the tackle shop to buy a sand sucker to catch shrimp
bait. Then to Walmart to do a little Christmas shopping. We came back and went
fishing and tried out the sand sucker but the tide was in so there were no
shrimp holes. We used the cast net and got 1 bait but didn’t catch any fish.
Came back had dinner and relaxed.
17
We took a long walk close to 5 miles to explore part of the
island. We stopped at the other campground Destinations RV Resort. Ours it
much nicer and much less expensive. Then we went to the visitors center to pick
up some info. They had a beautiful Sand Castle Christmas Tree. We kept walking
and came upon Louis Backyard. It looked deserted but when we went inside, it
was packed for football. We called Walter and he took the free shuttle to meet
us. Then we all went to Amberjacks for sundowners watching a beautiful sunset
over the bay. Then we took the shuttle back to our campground Isla Blanca
RV Park.
16
We got up at 6am
to take a walk to the beach and watch the sunrise. We walked along the sand and
then headed back. Right when we were arriving at the cow, there were 2 big
Jackrabbits. The campground had a pancake and sausage breakfast for 2.50per
person this morning at 730am. We called Walter but he was still sleeping so off
we went. He joined us about 8am. Then we checked out where we wanted to fish.
We came back and prepared our fishing tackle and went surf fishing on the back
beach. We didn’t catch any fish but we did catch a lot of sun. We stayed until
about 130pm and checked out how the fishing was on the jetty. Came back and
relaxed and had dinner.
15
Got up around 645am
and started getting ready to depart. We left around 830am for South Padre
Island. The drive started out a little foggy but then it was fine. Got in and
all set up by 4pm. Took a walk to see the sunset and there was a little beach
bar right there. So we stopped for Oysters (5.00/dz) and Aqave Margarita Wine.
Then Walter was ready to go home and John and I went for a walk. We saw one
Jackrabbit.
14
Cleaned and
prepared the cow for our journey to South Padre Island tomorrow.
13
Today we picked up
Walter to go fishing at Copano Pier. It was a beautiful day. Warm and sunny.
We caught 3 stingrays. We got back and got ready for the potluck dinner. After
dinner we played some cards with Walter, Garland and Betty and Dick and Denise.
12
Went fishing at
Fulton Harbor. Nice day, sunny and warm. Did not catch any fish. Closed up
and went to camper clinic for some supplies. Stopped at Big Fisherman for
dinner. Came back and took it easy.
11
Went fishing at
Fulton Harbor. I caught a 17inch speckled trout. Saw Ed from the campground
there. He was nailing them. We cleaned the trout and he gave us a couple of
his and we made a nice fish dinner on the grill. Walter arrived in his
motorhome. Then we all watched the Bears Monday night football game and took
Walter back to Walmart
10
Went back fishing
to Rockport Beach Park. We still fished on the channel but a little different
location. Bubba was back. We met our friend Ed. Like always, he said the fish
were biting somewhere else today.
9
Went fishing to
Rockport Beach Park. We fished on the boat channel. We had a friend, Bubba a
heron. He really didn’t care about us, he just kept trying to steal our bait.
We didn’t catch anything but it was a very relaxing day.
8
Today we got up
and went to Corpus to tour the U.S.S. Lexington. We got there about 11am and
got done about 3pm. It was a great tour. We were able to go out on the flight
deck and up to the bridge. We also went to the IMAX movie Fighter Pilot. We
decided to take the long way back and look for Port Aransas. Again we never
made it to the port. But we did find the Moose Lodge # 2063 in Aransas Pass.
We stopped for a cocktail and met Don, Janice and Shelly. We stayed for a
couple drinks and then came back and made dinner. It is very cool (43) and
raining. Actually it’s almost like it’s little sleet pellets.
7
Today it's cool and rainy. We decide to work around the cow. Later
in the afternoon we watched the movie, The Long Long Trailer.
6
Got up
early and went for a walk. We couldn’t see the sunrise because it was cloudy,
but the temperature was nice about 62. Came back and and then
headed out for fishing again. We went to Rockport Beach Park. We didn’t catch
anything but our buddy Bubba was back. We finished up around 3pm. Came back
and went to the Pot Luck Dinner at the campground where everyone brings a dish.
5
Did some Christmas shopping,
then went fishing to Rockport Beach Park – did not catch anything. We had a
white egret hanging around us. We named him Bubba. The town of
Fulton was having a Winter Texan Fish Fry. So we walked over to Paws and Taws for the Fish Fry. The line
was way too long so we went to Moondoggies for a burger.
3 Today is football and the
Bears are only on Direct TV with the NFL ticket. We called around and
found Poor Mans Country Club had the ticket so off we went. We met a
couple also on holiday from Palatine. We may meet up with
them on Tuesday evening at the Winter Texan Fish Fry.
2 It's still cool and windy
outside so today we decided to go to the Texas Maritime Museum,
www.texasmaritimemuseum.org, in
downtown Rockport. It tells all about the history of the islands and
waterways in the Texas coastal bend area. They told us about
the Christmas Parade and Fireworks later on in the day. So we came back
about 530pm for the parade at 630pm. The fireworks started about 830pm.
1 We went to a pancake
breakfast at our campground. Then we worked on projects and for dinner
walked into town - Fulton. The palm trees were decorated for Christmas.
We went to the Boiling Pot Restaurant. They serve the food on the tables
and you don't get any silverware. We went for the Cajun Boil which was a
mixture of Blue Crab, Shrimp, Sausage, Potatoes, and Corn on the Cob.
November
29 Our campground had a fish
fry for all the campers. Everyone brought a dish. They cooked up
over 20 pounds of fish.
28
Went fishing over at Rockport
Jetty near Rockport Beach Park. We were using cutbait and squid. The only
thing we caught were piggy perch. We left about 130pm and took a drive towards
Aransas Pass. We never found the town, so we went to Los Comales Mexican
Restaurant for lunch and then a little shopping and back home.
27
We
stayed around camp, then in the afternoon walked into town. We saw
an Oyster Fishing Boat coming in. We stopped and talked with the owner of the
seafood shop. He bought all the oysters on the boat. Each bag weighed about
100 pounds and cost 25.00 each. There were about 40 bags total. When we got
back people at the campground were gathering for cocktails. We joined them then
went back to the cow.
25 Went to Copano Fishing Pier to
try our luck. We did catch a Sand Trout and some catfish but we threw them
all back. Just down from us were some guys from San Antonio that came down
for the weekend to do some fishing. While we were there, they pulled in a
Black Drum. It was 41 inches long and weighed 37.5 pounds.
24 Got up before sunrise and
headed out to Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. It's about 30 miles away
and it opens 1/2 hour before sunrise. We stopped at the visitors center
but it wasn't open yet. Right away we saw a herd of mule deer. Then
we started driving. We entered the first trail which was the Heron Flats
Trail it was about 2 miles long. We came upon this pond and noticed an
alligator. The pond was only 3 feet off the trail and the trail was not
enclosed. There was a flat spot so we stepped in to get a better picture
and heard a big splash. There must have been an alligator right near to
where we were. Then we noticed a huge alligator over on the side. He
must have been about 6 feet long. We took some pics and moved on. We
saw a tremendous amount of birds and cranes.
We also saw a small herd of
white tailed deer. We stopped at other trails and saw turkey vultures and
hawks. We looked for the whooping crane but didn't spot any. We
ended up at the observation tower and we did see 3 feral pigs and a large flock
of Snow Geese with Sandhill Cranes mixed in. When we were leaving the
park, we went through the visitors center which was very informative. We
came outside and heard turkeys. There were a flock of wild turkeys just
outside along the pond.
We left the park around 130pm
and went home, had lunch and relaxed for a while. Then we wanted to try to
catch some bait. It didn't work out so well. Our new bait casting
net got caught up on an oyster patch and we lost it. We're done for today.
23 Happy Thanksgiving!!
This morning we went for a nice walk. Then we came back and was talking to
Ed our neighbor. He's from Kentucky. He showed us the correct way to
throw a cast net. So we where practicing. The campground had
Thanksgiving Dinner. The campground made turkey and ham and everyone
brought something. You brought your own plate and silverware and whatever
you were drinking. Then you put what you brought in front of you. If
you were seated on the outside, you circled the outside and filled your plate.
Same for the inside. The meal was excellent and we ate way to much.
Not really, it's Thanksgiving. Then we watched some football.
22 We decided instead of buying bait all the
time to buy a castnet and catch our own. We went to walmart and got our
net. Then we went baitfishing. After a couple hours of practicing
how to throw it and then finding a place. We caught bait! We got one
piggy perch. We took it to Copano pier and fished. We didn't catch
anything else. Our neighbor Clayton goes wade fishing almost every day
with some buddies. He gave us about 10 fillets of redfish which we made
for another fish dinner.
21 Today we went to the pool for awhile.
Got some sun and read our books. Then we had lunch and went fishing.
We tried this area where people wade fish. We didn't have waders but that
didn't stop John. He waded out and casted the poles. We didn't catch
anything but we looked good. I was talking with a wader when he came in
and asking questions. He had caught 2 speckeled trout about 18 inches
each. He didn't want them and gave them to us. So we did have a fish
dinner after all.
19 There is a whooping crane boat tour about
2 blocks from us, it's Skimmer. There was a tour at 730am. So we got
ready and walked over. Got there about 7am. Only 2 other people,
Donna and Jennifer from San Antonio were there. Captain Tommy Moore showed
up and said he was going to cancel it. Then he asked if instead of going
on the big boat, we would go out on his skiff. We all didn't care, so he
went and got his boat and off we went to Goose Island State Park to launch his
skiff. It was great. We saw multiple families of Whooping Cranes
about 15 Whoopers total, Roseate Spoonbills, Pelicans, Egrets, assortment of
ducks, dolphins and other cranes and birds. We also saw 2 Javelinas, which are like
peccaries. We stopped along the oyster reefs to watch a family of Whoopers,
and Capt. Tommy havested some oysters and shucked them for a snack.
Since it's Sunday, after the
tour, we were ready for lunch and football. We stopped at Three-o-one.
A little bar across from the tour, they had the Bears game on, so we stayed.
18
Got up and went to the
pool for a while and got some sun. In the afternoon we went fishing again but
didn’t catch anything. We did see dolphins.
17 This morning were heading into Corpus to
drop our TV off for repair. Got back and worked on our fishing poles to get
them ready for salt water fishing. We walked over and got live shrimp for
bait and went fishing on our pier. First cast I caught a spotted trout about 12
inches. We kept it and ended up using it for bait. After that we didn’t catch
anything. They kept taking our bait. We came back to the cow about 5pm. We
walked down the beach road and ended up stopping at Moondogs for an outdoor
cocktail and appetizers. We knew right away we were going to stop when we heard
Radio Margaritaville playing. Then we walked back and went to Alice Fays for a
cocktail.
People cleaning with the pelicans and seagulls Seagulls waiting for their feast
.jpg "Enjoying the day fishing")
16 We got up and took a nice walk and saw the sunrise over the
gulf. We went to Alice Fays restaurant for breakfast and then back to the
campsite. We made some calls to order a new fantastic fan, find a body shop for
the truck door and on-site rv repair places for the awning. We set up
appointments for the awning, then headed out to the body shop. We found one
that was able to pull it out and then we’ll have to do some touch up paint. We
didn’t want to leave it or spend $$$.
We stopped at the visitors center and
got info and walked around the marina downtown. We found a shrimp boat that had
just come in with their catch and talked to them for a few minutes. We went
grocery shopping and back to the campground. Then we made sundowners and talked
with our neighbors.
.jpg "Our campground")
15 Today we learned 2 big lessons
today!
1.
ALWAYS check the weather for our travel day in both our current location and our
destination.
2.
ALWAYS do EVERYTHING on the checklist.
We got up early and got
everything hooked up and ready to go. It was a nice morning. We left at 730am
and had about 265 miles to go. Everything was fine until after Houston. The
wind picked up and it was gusting up to 60mph. John noticed the black awning
rope blowing so we pulled over. The rope was gone, and the awning had started
to open. I secured the latch which was hard with the wind so strong and then we
got back on the road and looked for the first truck stop. Just as we were
pulling off, a trucker beeped at us and pointed to the roof.
When we exited and positioned ourselves against the
wind so we could open the awning. It was now about 1/3 open and partially
shredded. We got the ladder out and worked to get it open, then closed and
secured. However, the mechanisms holding the awning to the trailer had moved
and the screws were loose. We did what we could and hoped. We made it about
another 50 miles and then it was loosing again and the wind was terrible. We
got off and went to Travelamerica truck stop.
This time when we got out of the truck the wind blew the
truck door open and messed that up. Then we noticed one of the roof fans were
open and we could not shut it. Luckily they had a semi-truck repair and they
helped us to tighten the bolts on the awning, then we duct taped the poles and
the roof vent. We stayed at the truck stop for 4 hours reading our books. The
winds were still steady at 25-35 mph with gusts up to 60 mph.
We were prepared to overnight there. About 430p
the wind died down a little and we took the side roads to Rockport. However, we
ended up driving in the dark and we never wanted to do it. We got to the
campground around 630p. We got set up in the dark and were done around 730p. A
12 hour day for 265 miles. We have lots of repairs to work on tomorrow.
14
Today were getting things
cleaned and packed up for our next journey.
9 - 13th It's been so nice we've just spent these
few days fishing on the pier, reading and enjoying the warm weather and sun.
8
Today we went golfing to
Country Campus Golf Course. It’s a 9 hole course that you go around twice on,
par 72. It’s actually an old cow pasture. Since it’s Wednesday there was a
special – it was 17.50 for 18 holes for 2 people including a cart. It was about
85 and sunny a perfect golf day. The whole time there was only a few people out
on the course. After golf we came back and did some fishing. We got a keeper
cat and crappie which we had for dinner.
7 We got up this morning
and checked emails. Then we heard a knocking and I saw a huge woodpecker. We
took a picture but it wasn’t that good. We looked it up and it was a pileated
woodpecker. One of the largest in North America. Then we went to try to get
better pictures. We lost the woodpecker but saw a flock of over 1000
Double-Crested Cormorants taking off from the lake. There were also some
pelicans, herons and egrets mixed in. The flock of cormorants flew along the
water for over 60 seconds and sounded like the wind. Then we went fishing
and caught a bunch more fish, crappie and catfish. Most were 1-1 1/2
pounds. We kept about 8 crappie the biggest about 1 1/2 pounds and one
catfish. Now we have a freezer full of fish.
6 So far today there is
rain and thunderstorms and were inside reading and working on the computer.
5 Football Sunday and we are determined to
watch the Bears game. I checked on some sports bars in Huntsville and were
leaving at 11am to find them. We got to Zach’s which was a great open air like
big garage. The games came on but only Dallas and Houston. Once again they had
cable but not the NFL ticket. They suggested Margaritas. So we drove there.
Same thing. They suggested Chili’s. Off we went. Also no luck. We gave up
and drove back. It ended up we drove over 30 miles to try to see the game.
We did find the game on Sirius radio but not on the sports stations. It was on
news/talk 130 wbbm. Needless to say they lost, but now we know how to follow
them. We sat outside at the campground and listened to the games.
Then we went fishing.
4
Today we went into Trinity
to the Hardware store to get some supplies. We stopped at the dollar store and
grocery store. We drove around town looking for a sports bar for the games
tomorrow. We couldn’t find not one bar, let alone a sports bar. We came back
and did some fishing. Got a couple small ones but no keepers.
3 OK, Johns hand is better and were fishing
again. It's a beautiful day, temperature in the high 70's and mostly
sunny. Johns fishing off the end of the pier and I decided to fish for
Crappie on the inside of the pier. Maria, which fishes all the time says
this is where the crappie hang out. I'm not working to hard at it. I
have my chair and book and my pole with a bobber. I'm doing pretty good.
I got a catfish and a couple nice size crappie. The largest was about 1
pound. John caught a couple also. He had a small catfish and was
thinking of using him for bait but decided against it. He didn't want any
more trouble. We
cleaned and cooked the
fish for dinner.
2 Got up and drove to Huntsville State Park for
some hiking. We hiked 5.6 miles throughout the park. We saw 2 groups
of deer and lots of birds. We didn't really see any other people.
Got back, John did a little fishing but no luck.
1 Today is a little cool - mid 50's and
drizzle. Since John is still recuperating from the catfish barb in his
hand, were taking it easy. We wanted to work on the internet and make some
phone calls, but the internet and cell reception here is very bad. You
never know if it's going to work.
October
31 Today we took a 4 mile walk. It's a nice
day, sunny and 85. We stopped at
the He n House for tea and then when to Tallents Sausage shop and got some
venison sausages. When we got back we when down to the pier to do some
fishing. John got a couple small catfish and decided to use them as bait.
The only problem is the catfish didn't like the idea so he barb John right in
the hand. After we stopped the bleeding we wrapped his hand up and quit
fishing for the day. John decided he is not going to use catfish as bait
anymore.
30 This morning we spent fishing on the pier.
We caught 6 drums 1-1 1/2 pounds each. They are a white fish and are
suppose to be ok eating but a little boney. But we finally had fish for a
fish dinner. In the afternoon, we both did chores. I cleaned the
inside of the cow and John cleaned the outside. It really needed it.
29 Today we had to do laundry and grocery shopping.
We were hoping to get done and watch the Bears game, but since were in Texas the
only game we could get was the Houston Texans. We would have gone to a
sports bar, but the closest one is about 20 miles away. So instead we
fished at the campground on the point. It was a perfect day, sunny and
warm. We didn't get any keepers but it was still nice.
28 Got up early and drove about 300 more miles to
Riverside, Texas which is about 20 miles east of Huntsville.
 We
found Bethy Creek Campground.
www.bethycreek.com. It's a small campground, about 40 sites. It
has a couple of cabins and it's on the north end of Lake Livingston.
When we were checking in, they told us there's a
Halloween/Birthday party starting around 5pm and we're invited. In the
pavilion they had set up tables, Halloween decorations, karaoke machine and a
food table. They had homemade chili, hot dogs, and different
appetizers/desserts.
 We
met a lot of the campers there including Bill which was relocated here after
Hurricane Katrina. His house is one of the homes that was flooded.
Luckily he had evacuated and wasn't hurt but he lost everything.
One of the campers which is a music student in
Huntsville sang great. Then we sang Happy Birthday to Randal Jr. and had
cake. The karaoke started again and went on late into the night.
27 Left Kimberling City, Mo and headed for Hope,
Ar. It's about 300 miles. We plan on only
staying overnight so we found a campground right off the highway. It was a
motel with a few RV spaces. We didn't even unhitch.
25 Today is our Branson day. We left the
campground around 830am and drove 15 miles into Branson. We have to get
there early since the first show were seeing is at 10am. It's at the
Starlite Theater - Lost in the 50's with the Platters. It was an excellent
show. Then we went across the street to the Hollywood Wax Museum.
That was ok.
We went to lunch at Shoneys since they had
a buffet lunch and salad bar. We walked for a while and then drove down to
downtown Branson. They have a new area call Branson Landings. This
is a touristy kind of boardwalk along the river. They have a fountain
display like the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas but on a much smaller scale.
It was designed by the same person.
We left downtown and drove to the Jim
Stafford Theater for the 730pm Jim Stafford Show. This to was an excellent
show. Music and Comedy.
24 Today we got up early and went to Larry's Goodyear to
have the brake controller looked at. We dropped the truck off and walked 1 1/2
miles to Ma’s for breakfast. When we got back, the truck was ready. Then we
went to walmart and Acorn Acres campground to get propane. We came back and
read for awhile. Then we met Bill. Bill and Wanda manage the campground as
workampers. They have been fulltimers for 10 years. He gave us some good
pointers.
23
Got up and did things around camp. About 1pm headed out for a hike on the
nature trail. Saw a lizard, walking stick, blue heron and a huge red headed
woodpecker. Just as we were getting by our RV, we heard a loud bird and looked
up. We saw a huge bird that looked like a red headed woodpecker. But this bird
was huge. We later found out we saw the once thought extinct Ivory Billed
Woodpecker. They are about 20 inches long and have a 30 inch wingspan. They
were rediscovered in Arkansas in 2004.
22 We set up the bird feeder the other day. Johns
been watching the birds and found a
species we haven't seen before. It's the Tufted Titmouse.
21 We found another bait shop
that sells minnows, so we bought a couple dozen and then went out fishing again.
Today is a little cooler around 55 and cloudy. We took the nature trail to
the other side of the park and found a spot along shore facing the bridge.
Once again, we didn't get skunked, but we didn't catch any keeper either.
It started raining about 3pm so we packed up and headed back.
20 We went to the marina bait shop, wanted to get
minnows but they only sold worms. So we got a couple dozen and then walked
through the nature trail and out to the point to fish. We spent pretty
much the whole day there. It was a beautiful day. About 70 degrees
and not a cloud in the sky. We caught a couple fish but no keepers.
19
Got up at 630am and
prepared to leave. Left around 8am. Drove from Chatham, IL to Kimberling City,
Mo. All in all the drive was fine. From Chatham to Springfield, Mo, we
hugged Rt 66 all the way. We had one incident just past St. Louis. We were
almost out of gas and had to stop. We exited and followed the sign, we
thought. We ended up driving 7 miles up and down a winding road to find two gas
stations. The one we pulled into didn’t have diesel gas. We had a hard time
turning around. A man helped us to go up the road and turn our rig around.
In Missouri we have caught up with the fall colors. The leaves are almost
at their peak but not quite yet. We arrived at Waters Edge Campground in
Kimberling City, Mo. around 330pm, got all set up. This time it was much smoother.
17 TODAY we start
our new adventure. We got up around 730am. Had coffee and took our
time getting ready. Some friends stopped by and helped. We left at
about 1030am. We ended up in Chatham, Il. just south of Springfield.
We checked into Double J Campground -
www.doublejcampground.com. Double J is on old RT 66. We had a
pull through spot which was good. We unhitched and was perfectly level,
then realized our electric didn't reach. So we had to hitch back up and
move the RV. This time it didn't work out as well. We were not
level. So we moved the RV again and this time our electric reached and we
were level. YEH!!!!
14 Today we organized our storage
area and found out that we still have way to much stuff. For now we fit it
in and will reorganize and continue to downsize as we go. It will be
interesting to see how much our entire rig weights when we stop at a truck
weight station.
13 Quite a few of Johns fellow
employees met us at Nemos Bar for drinks and we got pizza from Nana's Pizza
which another fellow GBC'er owns.
12 Today is supposed to be golf
afternoon. Since it's cold, windy and flurries, were going out for
appetizers and drinks instead.
11 We went up to see my Dad.
Played some pinochle and went to Lake Lawn Lodge for dinner.
September
30 Today a lot of fellow campers from
Grass Lake Marina is throwing a surpr ise going away party for us. There is
tons of food, drinks and music. We closed our street off and have tables
and a big fire in the middle of it. We'll it went on long into the night
and ended up starting up again the next morning with Bloody Mary's and more
food. Moony came over and played her guitar and then Moony and Dave were
playing the guitar and bongos. We ended up on Daves boat and went to
Blarneys Island for the Drink us dry day.
23 Today is the End
of Year Party at Grass Lake Marina. It's a little rainy but that won't stop
anything. There are horseshoes and volleyball. For the kids, there's
pony rides and a jumpup. The bar has a buffet for dinner and then a DJ.
We are golfing with my Dad up at
George Williams College Golf Course in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. We also
have a family cookout scheduled for Labor Day weekend.
August
Time is getting closer and we almost
have everything done. This month we were in Phoenix on business and also
visited with friends. We had a couple of birthday parties go to and we
went to Ravinia to see the B52's.
July
We're still getting our things
organized and enjoying summer. Grass Lake Marina had their 2nd annual golf
cart parade on fourth of July weekend. We also went out with some
 
friends on
their pontoon boat to watch the Fox Lake fireworks display. This display
was over 30 minutes long and was excellent!!!! We're planning on renting a
pontoon the end of this month.
June
This month we're working on getting
all our stuff changed to our new address. I'm also still in the process of
scanning all our photos. I wasn't able to get that done before
we moved, so I have a big box of photo albums I'm working on. It's a big
project and I'm ready for it to be done.
Also, since
our RV bed is now our permanent bed, we were looking into getting a memory foam
mattress. There very expensive. I did more
checking at Bed, Bath and Beyond I found a 3" memory foam topper and pillows.
Since we could return them if we didn't like it, I
purchased it. So far, it's great. Way more comfortable.
We
also had the Jimmy Buffett concert up at Alpine Valley on June 17th.
There were 12 of us that went.
May
OK, we closed on our stick house on
May 12th. Our home is now our 5vr. Our friends say were POW's with a
COW! That's Parrotheads on Wheels with a Condo on
Wheels. Sounds good to us. For now, we are at Grass Lake Marina for
the summer. Since they have seasonal rates, were going
to stay here until the 1st week in October. Then were heading out.
April
We are still working on selling and
getting rid of our stuff. We have done a lot on Ebay. The people
purchasing our home is also purchasing some of the
furniture. We plan to move into our 5ver the end of the month.
March
We are working on selling and getting
rid of all of our Stuff.
February
We found buyers for our stick house.
We agreed to a closing in early May.
January
It's now 2006 and this is the year
were starting a new chapter in our lives. We are in the RV Fulltiming
class of 2006.
|
.jpg "Enjoying the day fishing")
.jpg "People cleaning with the pelicans and seagulls")
.jpg "Seagulls waiting for their feast")
.jpg "The three stooges")
.jpg "This guy got the goods")
.jpg "Our campground")
.jpg "Fulton Street Marina")
.jpg "Shrimp boat just came in")
