9/22/15
The BLOG is back for a few weeks. Sue and I are back on the road completing the trip as was planned this time last year....better late than never.

We closed down the traveling and BLOG in April of this year due to family health issues. In my last blog I had mentioned that my sister had suffered a stroke. Well the fight is still on for her but as time has passed she has fought the good fight and is doing really well. She is continuing her weekly rehab assignments with noted progress. She is currently getting around on her feet utilizing a hemi-walker and a lift chair in her home. Left arm is still a work in progress and not very useful as of yet, but hope is that as time passes there will be improvement with this limb also.

The fact that Sue and I had our new home close to our families was an additional blessing when my mom became ill and had emergency surgury. She made an early morning trip to the emergency room with pain and vomiting. She was found to have a twisted colon resulting in removal of a chunk (20%). Was able to be with her during her week long hospital stay and then she stayed a week with us at our new home. Her recovery went well and she is actually doing better than she has in quite some time.

Now....enough catchup....to the present......

 

A shot of Sue with a big ol smile (kind of hard to see, but it's there) in front of the sign coming into our place of stay for a couple of nights. Location is Coeur d" Alene, Idaho. What a beautiful spot next to lake Coeur d" Alene. Enjoyed the lake front and the down town area. Found a street full of antique shops. Did not buy much which is usually the case, but have a great time browsing and reliving the past. Typically we spend enjoyable moments figuring out what the various contraptions are, how they were used and marvel at how our ancestors accomplished the many laborious and intriquite processes with such fantastic results. Living was a little rough back then, but in many ways much simpler than todays technological tangle. Focus was on food and shelter, not worrying about personal ID thieves.

 



The Endeavor in it's slip at Blackwell Island 

 

Waterfall in the park

 This little RV was a blast from the past. Renovated and shiney vintage 1937

Not sure the year of the boat that was attached to the RV, but it was very shiney also



 

A couple of shots of Lake Coeur d Alene

 

Well...down for the night after agreat day of travel smooth roads, no traffic and no wind. Beautiful weather to boot. A quick nap at Walmart in Butte Mt and the best that we have encountered. Grass lawn to set our chairs and a nice moutain view...Sue posted a pic on Facebook.

Will post this for now with more in a couple of days when we have a 2 day layover in Medora ND. Will visiting Roosevelt National Park just north of there.



4/17/15.......
Travel and blog will be put on hold for some time. The past 3 weeks have been spent in Nebraska supporting my sister Rose as she recovers from a stroke. She will be 55 this week. Way to young to be fighting thru something such as this.
We came back to the rig just today so that we can pilot it to our Nelson Nebraska house closing on May 1. I guess it was meant to be that we contracted this house close to our families. No way expected Rose to be the one that would need the support.
My sister was released fron ICU this past Tuesday and accepted into a lengthy rehab period in the Madonna unit in Lincoln Nebraska.
The next few weeks/months we will support her in any way and as long as necessary.
We currently still have the July camp host job in Washington state that we hope to keep, but time will tell.

Wife is back and heat is on.

High Life........

3/28/15
Sue flew back from Minden, Nebraska (helping her mom get into her new assisted living unit), great having my partner back.

We definitely are no longer shaking off winter chill, Phoenix is setting heat records for this time of year. Averaging 15 deg over typical, should be 80 high (nice), hitting 95 (hot). While Nebraska and Colorado are enjoying 60s and 70s. What is the deal with the weather??

Attended our 2nd spring training game, against SF......win 5 to 2. Met and visited with our old friend and realtor from Littleton. Guila, her daughter, "Tesla" and husband, "Randy". They were at the game as part of a spring break vacation.

Managed to find a softball game, courtesy of Jim Doerr a team mate from the senior team that I have been playing with the past couple of years. He has wintered in this area for several years, actually turns out to be just a few miles from our park. Had lunch with Jim which got us talking softball and Jim commenting on his playing Tuesdays and Fridays, invited me along for the ride.
Well what I got into turned out being enjoyable, but seemed like past years of youth.......everyone lines up, teams are selected and Rod is the last one to get on a team..no one wanted the new kid. I got in the last swing though, with a couple of sharp singles which set up the out field playing in on me so that the blast that went over their heads wound up being a triple. Nice bat plus some catches and a put out at third. Not a bad day considering I had not touched the gear since the last game of last August. Of course soreness set in the next day and I earned every stiff muscle.

 Jim and I

 Triple coming up....suckers

 

This next little adventure is one of those experiences that was not expected but exciting in that the opportunity presented itself and we jumped on it. Did not ever imagine that I would be checking camel racing off the bucket list, but ostrich racing on the same day..........what a score!!!!

 

And now.....a quick picture of some desert beauty. Spring blooms are every where.

 

 

Road Rash.......

 

Along with the spring blooms comes the spring pollen and am I suffering. Do not recall struggling this much with scratchy throat and runny nose..........keeping stocked up on kleenex is a must.

3/20/15  Have had a pause in the Endeavor journey due to some life changing events (good ones)!!!!

High Life......

Closed up the ship and took the shuttle (vue) to the outer parameter of space.....Nelson Nebraska. Just a few miles north of Superior (where my mom lives). The new objective.....believe it or not....to look at a home to purchase. I know at the time we were beginning this adventure, we did not have the intentions of having another home for some time, not knowing where we might like to settle. Things change.....Sue and I have felt that we should be near our mothers and spend more time with them as the years seem to be flying by. As I write Sue is still in Minden Nebraska (north of Nelson app 60 miles) helping her mom (Luella) get moved into an assisted living facility. So as the decision was feeling like the right one, I began doing web searches of available properties that would give the following...close to our moms, acreage, nice house, out buildings for storage and wood working shop, low cost. We came across what we feel will satisfy all requirements with some work to be done. The below are pics of the property that we will be closing on come May 1st. With the help of our advisory team (my sisters, mom and brother in-law), we were able to weed through some properties long distance (my brother in-law took a stack of pictures and sent them to us for the long distance review)and finally made the 1200 mile trip to look at and eventually put a contract on this place in Nelson. Has 2 acres, 3 bedroom, 1 and 1/2 bath, ranch style with full walk out basement, 1275 sq ft main, 1275 sq ft basement, built in 1978 and has been fully updated in the past couple of years.  Price is 1/4 of what we got for our place in Colorado, so have the extra change to put up the buildings that we desire and make it what we want.....this including an RV storage structure.

 Main upper level door and walk out basement

Vaulted ceilings in main living area

New kitchen and hard wood flooring

Redone main bath

Nicely finished basement

 

We had not considered Nebraska due to the winters, but we feel that we can have our cake and pie and eat them both. This being the piece of property that we were hoping for allowing us to keep the motorhome to continue travels in between the Nebraska springs and falls. We like Phoenix for winter and we still have the Colorado cabin for extended summer stays in the rockies. We feel that we now have everything, including being closer to the family when it is needed.

 

So....with the house in work and Luella making her move, we have not been around to pursue further Arizona adventures. Soon to continue though.

 

Oh yea......did stop at the Sky City casino (west of Albuquerque) on the way back to Phoenix and walked out with an extra $1100.

 

Road Rash.....

 

Have been missing my partner, comrade, team mate, navigator, co-pilot, hiking buddy, etc. She will be flying in this Monday..so I will again be complete.

 



3/5/15   Geeeeeez.....March, it has been nearly a month since I have updated, regretfully......time is flying.

High Life.......
Have not made it to Cave Creek or Sadona quite yet (as I had mentioned in last post), but lots going on to keep us busy.

On sight......we did a biscuits and gravy breakfast with a couple that all of a sudden had us introduced to everyone. Sue now knows the Monday sewing club gang. She has been invited to come and share her sewing experiences (might wind up teaching the group).
Myself, I simply was asking about some possible tournament activities and now have been throwing horseshoes most mornings with the horse shoe group which includes the past Wisconsin runner up state champ.  He throws "V" shaped horse shoes. I commented on them not looking like the game name (horse shoes??). He came back with them being "camel" shoes. Again I mentioned "horse" shoes and I was immediately made aware of the fact that they are legally sanctioned shoes....no matter what a person might want to call them. I think they had magnets in them.......

The park being named "Pioneer" RV park, of course there had to be a "Pioneer" days celebration. The activities group had several days of happenings. We did a pot luck, poker run, the mentioned breakfast, represent your state parade, Liberty wildlife birds of prey presentation.

The Nebraska entry was very interesting

Peregrine Falcon

I Want a Screech Owl

 

 

The gun range next door (Ben Avery Gun Range) to the park had 3 days of a national shooting competition. Sounded like the 4th of July on the other side of the hill for those days. We went to check it out and found that all competitors were required to dress in historical dress of the old west for the competitions. Was way cool in the way the competition was held. There were several settings of staged old west scenes (as shown below) that had the shooters running from window to window, a couple shotgun blasts, then grab the lever action rifle for a few shots and then finish with pistols. Was way better than what we saw at Tombstone. Cool quick draw contests.

 

 

 

Thought I had a UFO sighting the other morning. I am generally (OK always) up kinda early (OK really early) so I go out for a "before sunlight" walk. As I was returning, I caught what seemed to be a very bright flash of light in the darkened sky out of the corner of my eye. I gazed at the spot that I thought the light came from and nothing......I guessed that I was delusional (nothing new). Continued walking and after a few minutes thought I saw it repeat, again out of my full vision, but was sure that there was something. Then in the sky at where I was looking this time, a very bright flash, then nothing. At last, this is the real deal. Another flash........cool, only this time I detected an audible kind of roar. Then it dawned on me.....I was experiencing my first night balloon flight. The light and sound was the burner activation as it was maintaining altitude. A little dis-appointed in that the object was no longer "unidentified" but it was another first and still kinda cool.     

 

Spent 3 days at the PIR (Phoenix International Raceway) to partake in our first RV rally. Another great time and very educational for "still" newbies. To many seminars to be able to attend them all but the ones that we did attend were very helpful and thought provoking. The best was the last when the freightliner manufacturer had some reps to go over our motorhome chassis makeup and some good dos and don'ts. Now know that I have some further maintenance to get done plus some things that I need to stay aware of.  Also was able to get some minor pieces/parts at some great discounts. Another first was attending an outdoor concert in February. Temp was 66 deg for Super Diamond, a tribute to Neil Diamond.

Have never been a NASCAR fan, but I must say that the facility was very impressive. There is the first race of the season here in a couple of weeks, might attend so it can be added to the "done it" list.

 

Road Rash.......

Having some issues getting my blood testing done. I had been told by various medical folks that I would be able to go into any lab and get a simple INR (blood coagulation test) as long as I paid out of pocket. Well......not so, I could not get a test without a drs written request. I did get it done finally utilizing a close urgent care unit. Wound up costing me $150. I can get tested over the next couple of months for around $5 so that will not be so bad. I will be on my own if my testing should come back out of whack, which luckily it has not. But.....even if it did, I have been at this long enough to know what I would need to do.  Will get through this for now, at least until we get back to Colorado in May to meet up with our new primary care physicians. One of the many things that we are experiencing and learning from as we go.



2/16/15 Mid February is on us, our 2nd week in Phoenix and we are enjoying every second. Other than a couple of days of wind (really just a heavy breeze) the weather has been super. Lots of sun, upper 70s and lower 80s with mid 50s at night. I would actually say paradise so far. With the weather news consisting of winter storm after winter storm in the northeast (now cold and ice more south), it really makes us appreciate the sun and 80 as we take our daily walks through the park.

Sunset

High Life......
Met with my nephew Max and his girl friend Rose for breakfast. They moved here from Nebraska a couple of months ago. They are both very busy as they are successfully carving out their piece of Phoenix. They were able to find jobs and an apartment in a very short amount of time. In fact Rose is working double duty. We have plans to get together and hike Camel Back which is a local peak that is a must do for locals and visitors. Waiting for the go ahead from the youngsters as their free time is much harder to come by.
Used this trip to run by Talking Stick Resort. This is the facility that was constructed a few years ago to accommodate the Rockies spring training. In addition to the practice and game fields there is a casino (seems to be a casino around every corner now days) that we did a quick checkout of. Was there long enough to get our playing cards and loose $20.............maybe 10 minutes. Plan on more casino time (can I afford it??) and a few of the spring training games.
In the mean time Sue and I have had no issues in keeping busy. It is very easy to be content with a chair, book and sunshine, but we do have goals of things more active. We found a peak (Pioneer Peak) that is easily hiked from our RV location.

Views from Pioneer Peak

A view of the RV park from Pioneer Peak

My Sue enjoying the views from Pioneer Peak

 

Have been doing bike rides and found a local tennis court.

Did a day trip to Prescott Arizona. Was a nice drive through some of the back country but was a little dis-appointed in Prescott. Spent a couple of hours in the historic district, but nothing special in our opinions, but hey....that is what we are all about. Checking these things out for ourselves so we know.

Have plans this week to head east and do Cave Creek and Apache Junction. Again....lots of history and hiking to be found.

Also planning trips to Pleasant Lake, Sadona and will take a few days to go hike the Grand Canyon.

 

In addition to our physical activities have been partaking in some of the weekly activities that are coordinated by the parks activity group. Bingo, ceramics, wood carving...(yea, yea...remember that this is a 55+ plus park and these activities gives us a chance to meet our senior neighbors). Our latest event was what they call "Zingo". A version of bingo that is played with a deck of cards. There are teams of 4 that gets 13 cards as the deck is divided up. Then the caller pulls from the deck so that you can play your cards as they appear. The first one to play all cards yells "Zingo" and wins the pot (as determined by the quarters and dollars contributed by each player for each game). I actually won twice and came away with a $10 profit. Better than I did at bingo.

Again, this allows us more group time and the chance to meet folks from around the park.

 

Road Rash........

This is easy this week. Almost incited a riot at bingo this last week. The older crowd did not appreciate the moment that I took in the middle of one of the blackouts and yelled...."stop the game....my dobbers dry"!!!!! For those non bingo folks, you use what they call a dobber that is filled with ink to mark the numbers as they are called. Probably should not show up at bingo night any more. No sense of humor.

Note.....this story is fictitious.

Jan 27 (update 2/4).......The Endeavor is anchored in Las Cruces for tonight, smooth drive from Fort Stockton.

High Life......
A first encounter as we were driving, had never seen an actual Geococcyx Californianus prior to todays experience. Should have guessed it was in the cards, a couple of miles prior to the encounter we had noted a dead wiley coyote on the side of the road. Looked like he had been run over by a truck with APME ablazoned on the side. Do these clues tell you that we saw an actual road runner?? I had never seen one other than the cartoon version prior to this lively fellow darting across the road in front of the RV.
This RV park has the best view of any that we have ported in to date. Sits on a hill with an overview of Las Cruces city with the Organ mountains in the background.  Not quite the Rockies, but very nice. I even noted a hint of snow in a few of the upper shaded peaks, inquiring hoping to validate that it was in fact snow, I found the park host all giddy (with pictures) of the 5 inches of snow that fell here last Thursday. Actually the second time that mother nature has dropped the white stuff this winter season.

Las Cruces stayover

Same view.....twi-light

Same view.......morning sunrise

 

Picking up blogging on Tuesday Feb 3........location........Pioneer RV Park, Phoenix. But wait...have some catchup to do.

 

After Las Cruces, our travels took us to a location 9 miles south of Benson, Arizona..........Kartchner Caverns State Park. Not a bad day traveling, partly sunny, mid 60s. But the weather report had us turning cold and rainey for a couple of days.......imagine that.

The park is set up really great, plenty of room between sites and very quiet.

With the weather turning, we took the first day (the projected less dreary of the coming 2) and tripped to Tombstone hoping that we would be able to walk the streets with out the need of rain coats. The 2nd objective is the tour of the cave so we figured if there was to be a day of torrential rain, where better to spend the time than in the bowels of the cave where we would never feel a drop. Our plan worked to perfection, cloudy with an occasional sprinkle temps in the lower 60s for Tombstone.

Appr 30 miles to Tombstone, enjoyed the history of the various buildings and western antiquties.

Of course while in Tombstone it is a must that you do the shoot out at OK corral.

My newly learned history lesson from the Oct 26, 1881 shoot out experience is this.......maybe my heroes the Erps and Doc Holiday (especially the Doc, after Val Kilmer did such a great job of portrayal in the movie....."I've got your huckleberry") were not such good guys after all. It is not totally clear in the history recall if the bad guys (McLaury's and Clanton's) were even armed. So there leaves some doubt in my mind how fair the fight was. Was interesting history and I came away with the below pic for my blog. Checkout the look that Wyatt (to my right) waas giving me. I guess he did not appreciate the home boy stance. 

    Sue found a couple of new boy friends.

 

 

The second day of touring the cave was incredible. Carlsbad Caverns may have the size, but the Kartchner Caverns are less busy and great care is taken to preserve the caves. As the group enters, you go through several heavy doors that are in place to keep the inner environment prestine. The tour guides are consantly turning on and off lighting, this to prevent the heat from the lights effecting the inner temp. As you enter you go through a series of misting sprays, this is to dampen the various lints, hairs, dust, etc that could fall from the bodies of the group. Each night cleaning crews go through the caves and clean/vacuum the walk ways. Of course pictures are not allowed inside, in fact you cannot take anything loose into the caves, jackets accepted. 







 This creek bed was dry on the day of our arrival. After 2 days of record setting rain fall, it was a rushing river.

 

Did one over night (2/1) in the parking lot of the Dessert Diamond Casino on the south side of Tucson. Did not get rich, lost a little......as they say....had fun.

 

Arrived in Phoenix at the Pioneer RV Park on the 2nd. The below pictures pretty much say it all.

 

 

I do have one story to tell about a gentlemen that we met not more than 30 minutes after we arrived on site. We were walking to the office to do paper work when this elderly lady (will call her Loraine, because.......that is her name) approached us talking a streak that would not stop. By the time we could seperate ourselves and continue our office trek, we found that Loraine and her husband (will call him Ray, because.....that is his name) have been in the park for 17 years. They will be celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary this year (do not remember when exactly but I am sure that she told us). But what caught my history ear was her bragging about Ray surviving Pearl Harbor. Ray was standing in the back ground tinkering with a plant, Loraine mentioned that he did not talk much about his military experience, but later I was able to set with him and he was very much willing to share his past....and it was very interesting.............

He joined the Navy as a 17 year old. He tried to enlist at 16 (at that time you had to be 18) but the recruiter knew he was lying so he was turned down. Later the age restiction was changed to 17 which he was by that time, so he was in. Wound up as a 2nd class gunnery mate on the heavy cruiser vessel named the USS Northampton. Well, on Dec 6th of 1941, his ship was heading into Pearl Harbor when thay encountered an issue with some cabling going over board and getting tangled in the props. By the time they had the divers get the cabling cut off, they were not allowed in the harbor because it was under attack. The 5 hours that they got delayed due to the repair probably saved their lives. They were allowed in the harbor the next day and they were witness to the after math of the event, fires and carnage all through the harbor. They resupplied and went back out to hunt japs.  Did some research on the Northampton and found that she was sank in Dec of 1942 at Guadal canal in the battle of Tassafaronga. Took 2 torpedoes from a jap sub. Hoping Ray will feel comfortable sharing the further story of the final attack. I am sure that he had to be on board.  

 

 

Road Rash........

Too hot, 80 deg tomorrow..........just kidding!!! Loving it!!!!!

Sunday 1/25/15
What a glorious day.....sunny and 65 deg. Have not had many of these over the past months. Maybe our weather encounters are changing for the good. Current location is KOA campground in San Antonio Texas.

High Life......
Spent Jan 19 thru 22 in Tomball Texas (NW of Houston appr 15 miles). Reason for Tomball you ask (other than being able to say that I stayed in Tomball), there is a website that I utilize  http://www.freecampgrounds.com/index.aspx that gives free (or at least inexpensive, usually around $10) RV campgrounds for all states. It allows you to search within a radius of towns/cities for affordable campgrounds....deleting the walmarts and truckstops. Tomball county park "Harris Spring Creek Park" came up as a result of my Houston trip planning. This throws the old, "there are no free lunches" saying out the window. This place was great, 8 sites....clean, beautiful, quiet, safe, full RV hookups, cement pads for no charge. Unbelievable......we felt like we had stepped up our place on the social ladder while we were there. We actually had a lawn boy (grass had just been cut at our site and then they came around and blew the clippings off the pad) plus it was a gated community (the park gates closed at 10pm and re-opened at 7am. The toilets and showers were fairly new...and just across the street from our spot.

Harris Spring Creek Park (Tomball) Set Up

 

Restroom/shower facilities (right across the street)

 

The Tomball location allowed us to trip through Houston to the "Johnson Space Center". Expensive ticket ($23.95 each) but after the day I would say that it was worth every penny, I found myself regressing back to the old work days in a few areas.  I guess that is not a bad thing, does not hurt to revisit and recall the glorious and proud days of the past. Was able to share a few details of the early work days with Sue and how they related to what we were looking at. Will I ever be able to share some of the later really cool stuff.......I hope so......some day.  

 

Space lab training facility

Space lab module mock ups (for training)

 

 

Had 1 perfect weather day in Tomball (found that we could BBQ and picnic outside that evening). The day we arrived it was mid 60's with lots of sun, but that went to hell really quick. The next day was cloudy, rainy, breezy and cool. Luckily we were inside at the Space Center most of the day so no harm done. Then Thursday was a down pour with wind and cold all day long. Took the day to watch a couple of movies (RV redbox) and get the oil changed in the Vue. Want to share a personal encounter while having oil changed..........

I was reading when this gentleman approached me....asked what I was reading which lead into one of those religious encounters (the hat that read COP (Christian Officer of Prayer) I guess should have tipped me off....well maybe not) that I actually listened to. The reason being that this particular person had an explanation for the stock market crashes of the past and the one soon to come. It seems, according to this average dressed typical cowboy garb, person....gods word not only says that on the 7th day we are to rest, but every 7 years we are to take a year of reflection. Since no one seems to follow this guidance we have found that God has been making it rough on us....2001 (twin towers) and then 2008 stock market crash. Looking at 2015 as the next 7th year and stock market down turn to come. Although events do not cycle at the beginning of the year, usually towards the end. We chatted a little as I mentioned that was the first time I had ever heard anyone tie religion and stock market together. We were conversing on this when my time came up to pay my bill and checkout.

 

When we left Houston Friday morning it was still very cold, wet and windy. Eventually coming towards San Antonio we got out of the rain. Still cloudy and cool though. But.......when we woke up yesterday, we found an orange orb poking us in the eye for the first time in like forever. Great day to check off our San Antonio bucket list items......The Alamo and The Riverwalk.  

 

Found the Alamo interesting.........

construction began in 1724, originally named "Mission San Antonio de Valero", home to missionaries and their Indian converts for 70 years.  In the early 1800s the Spanish military stationed a Calvary unit there and renamed it the "Alamo" in honor of their home town (Alamo de Parras). Alamo is Spanish for "cottonwood". In 1835 the Texas Revolution found a band of Texas and Mexican volunteers forcing the Spanish from the mission. On Feb 23, 1836, Santa Anna was determined to take back the structure. The defenders held out for 13 days, but reinforcements never arrived....the rest is history.

............but rather hard to really suck up the history. I think it is simply because the city has been built up around the fort to the point that it will not allow the imagination to get past the many buildings, traffic noise and the touristy aspect. The battle fields of the Little Bighorn allowed a person to get lost in the many stories of the different characters and imagine the ghosts of the soldiers and warriors. Even as I was viewing the old Houston control center at the Space Center, I could go back in time and allow my imagination to take me back to the the point in time that the airwaves carried the "Houston we have a problem" radio signal from Apollo 13.

Guess who.......in front of the Alamo

 



 

The Riverwalk was very pleasant. Consists of many eateries and shops. Cannot believe that I am going to say this but, was a little disappointed in that it was not quite the touristy type of area that I was expecting. Thought that maybe there would be sidewalk vendors and have a little more of a circus atmosphere. Will say that it is very clean and well kept. You can tell that the city spends a lot of time keeping it up. Could imagine it being a kick ass place to hangout on those hot summer Texas nights. Lots of lights, atmosphere and coolness (being near the water).  Walking/exercise felt great.  

 Riverwalk

 

Will leave here tomorrow morn heading for Kartchner Caverns State Park in Arizona.

 

 

 

Road Rash.........

Nothing to mention, lifes good

Hi all.........
Present location is the "Hidden Lake RV Park" just west of Beaumont Texas. Settled in here this past Tuesday (Jan 13), not exactly as we had planned.....things change. Monday the 12th went as planned. Left our many friends at Lowes Creek and arrived at the Beaumont Freightliner truck depot as planned. A quick night of parking lot boondocking so that the service folks could do a quick radiator flush for us on Tuesday morning. Determined that to be some required maintenance that we have been avoiding. With our ship having set for some time prior to our purchase, I thought this something that should be done. Well........a temp sensor test found that the temp gauge was not reading accurately (assuming that the cruddy fluid had corroded the gauge) so it was determined best that the sensors and thermostat should be changed out (a conservative approach to ensuring that we have no issues down the road). It was necessary to order the parts so we found our current park just a block away from the servicing center. Well....after settling in here we decided that we liked it, so we stayed in wait for the parts. Parts are in and final work to be done tomorrow (Mon the 19th). Expecting to be on the road by mid day and settled in "Harris County Spring Creek Park" in Tomball Texas by tomorrow night. Will be there doing a couple of Houston things until Thursday, then heading for San Antonio.

High Life.......
Spent Thursday antiquing the local area. Once again nothing bought but....did come across a very interesting bit of nostalgia with a family twist. Another Rosie Burge, you have got to be kidding....right?? This new Rosie was born locally in 1937 and is known as a folk art painter. Paintings seem some what childish (I guess this is folk art) but very colorful and whimsical. Prices were from $500 to $750 so I guess she has a wealthy following. 
With the weather breaking (sun and 60s) we took Saturday as an excursion day and headed towards Galveston.
First stop was "Sea Rim State Park" following highway 87 through Port Arthur. Solved a riddle as we were progressing amongst the nasty oil refining infrastructure of Port Arthur......the stench that we had encountered and wondered about in Beaumont....was actually the same smell that now made our noses wanting to close up. I guess Beaumont is not far enough from the coastal refineries (50 miles) to avoid the pungent fumes as the sea breezes flow inland.
Luckily the park was far enough west that the refinery mess did not effect the sea air or the scenery.
Great little park (with RV electrical and water) that gave us a chance to walk the beach, enjoy the gulf sunshine and collect a couple of sea shells. Just a couple of small ones, have to be careful in what we are collecting, could lead to being over loaded.

Sue Silhouette

Looking Up the Coast

A Pretty Proud Fellow

 

Drove the coast (a bit of a detour envolved...ref road rash) with occasional stops to enjoy the day, until we ran out of road (no this is not in reference to the detour). We had reached the tip of the Bolivar Peninsula in which we could see Galveston across the bay. Now what, what's this line of cars for???? How about boarding the auto transport system (I refuse to say, "I rode the ferry").   

Fairy (???) Line

 

 

Eventually off loaded onto Galveston where we ran the island until we wound up at "Seawolf Park" which is located on "Pelican Island". The park is home to the retired WWII naval vessels, destroyer "USS Stewart" and submarine "USS Cavalla". Toured both.....do not see how anyone was able to allow themselves to be aboard a small metal tube with barely room to move while 300 feet under the ocean. Not only would clastrophobia be an issue, but my head would be nothing but bumps and bruises from the consistent bulkheads getting in the way. 

MySue with the Sub and Galveston Bay in the Background

 

Not sure why Sue wanted me to stand here, can't see the bay, only a bush......puzzling!!!

 

Then we eventually found parking on Strand street. This is a renovated historical section of Galveston that is now the trendy place to hangout. Kind of the typical touristy thing with the many shops, resturants and entertainment. This day found us in a mass of people as there was an ongoing chile and beer festival underway. We fought the crowd for some time until we found "Fishermans Wharf" where we pigged out on a shrimp poboy and crabcake sandwich....mmmmmmmm!!!!

 

Road Rash.......

As we sped down highway 87 towards "Sea Rim State Park", the trusty road atlas was to have us in Glaveston within a 45 minute drive along the coast after our park visit. Little did we know that our intended route as we were to leave the park turned from a 20 mile jaunt to "High Island" into a back track and around route that was in total more like 75 miles and an extra 1 1/2 hours of drive time. Our map lied to us as the rangers informed us that the highway past the park had been closed for several years as a result of past hurricane damage. The result of this was running out of time and daylight that was to allow us a trip to "Galveston State Park".