Across North Dakota and into Montana

We passed huge fields of sunflowers and listened to the free Sirius radio all the way across North Dakota (very boring state) and ended up on the Yellowstone River in a great KOA near Billings, Montana.  Turns out this was the very first KOA in the country.  When you are in Montana, it really is big sky country with BIG raindrops and even bigger clouds.  What a great state!  Last night we had a great walk along the banks of the Yellowstone River at sunset.

We've not really had the 'perfect' trip as we've battled the fridge not working with the gas on and the toilet springing a pin hole leak....grrr!  But fortunately, the mechanic on board was able to fix the fridge and this morning we were up early and at Home Depot at 8 a.m. to buy plumbers tape and gel instant  glue.  So far, it's holding but a  RV repair is probably in our future.

We decided to drop down to the South and swing through Yellowstone Park rather than heading North to Spokane.  Seniors get a FREE pass into all the national parks so it's a great benefit!  We passed through Cody, WY and toured the Buffalo Bill Dam.  These dams 'on the grid' for Montana and Wyoming are 'remotely' controlled from a center in Helena so no one really works on site.

It's been a good 25 years since we've been to Yellowstone with the kids.  We were at Old Faithful when the geyser wasn't going off and toured the new educational center.  The summer rush is over, the traffic and tourists at a minimum, except of course, when a big buffalo is on the road blocking a lane of traffic.  This thing was huge and I missed getting his whole body in the picture...but good news, there was another one just ahead.

The devastating fires of 1998 that burned over 800,000 acres all summer long in Yellowstone were clearly apparent as the barren countryside displayed huge amounts of charred and burned trees along the road from the East entrance to the West entrance.  The forest is starting to re-generate but it's slow.

We found our way to our KOA park in West Yellowstone around 5:30.  It's still peak season with a deluxe site price of $75 a night.  We got  hooked up and decided to spend two days so we could head back to the park again tomorrow and not have another full day of driving.  Thanks for traveling with us. 

NORTH to Alaska

Here we go...on the road again!  We left from the lake house at 11 a.m. today and are headed towards Seattle, where Becky and Jared will keep Willie, the camper will park at Fort Lewis Travel Camp and we will head to Alaska for a sea and land cruise on Holland America. We figure we will travel by car, train, bus, plane and ship on this next adventure.  We are excited to see our Seattle kids...it's been too long.  Brody was 2 in June and Maycen is 4 1/2.

This morning, we had the final donuts for the summer at the lake (a big tradition) and said goodbye to our special friends as we finished the last minute packing of the rig.

We had a great week with Xochitl (7 1/2) at the lake where she and Willie became best fishing buddies.  What a treasured time with a special little girl.

We are celebrating our 30th anniversary (a little early) with this spectacular trip to Alaska.  It's a dream vacation that we booked through Costco.  It's so fun to be back on the road and in the camper.

We traveled to the Bismark KOA today where it's sunny , breezy and a big rain storm is headed this way tonight. We are so glad we aren't in the tent campground.  It's amazing that all the campsites are taken...who would have thought this was a 'destination' spot??? 

We aren't in the oil field area but will be by tomorrow night so we booked in Billings at the KOA, where we were lucky enough to get the last spot with a full hook-up when we booked at 4:00 p.m. today.

Our first stop today was the new Costco for gas in Fargo, where the crabgrass was abundant and quite beautiful!  Willie is such a good traveler...he sleeps most of the time in his beddie until the sun gets too hot and then he moves to the back of the car.

Tonight we dined on the fabulous ribs from The Piggy in Walker, MN and sweet corn.  Tomorrow we click along at 10 mpg for a night in Billings, MT.  We can't wait to see the mountains again! Happy trails!

Almost Home

March 14, 2014

We are almost home!  It's bittersweet, but we are so grateful we've had a safe and wonderful trip.  We pulled through heavy winds almost all day (3rd day in a row!!) which is so hard on Gil, as he grips the wheel, fights the anti-sway control and we rock 'n roll along the highway.  Winds are the worst when you're pulling 35 ft behind you! I gripped the door handle more than once trying to hold on and thinking we were going to crash over the last coupla days!  

We pulled into Osceloa, IA around 3:00 today to the Lakeside Casino, where camping spots are  $20 for the night with a shuttle to the casino.  There isn't any water hook up yet but that's OK as most of us here have our water with us.  Fortunately, we walked to dinner because we ate enough to never eat again for another week or two.  It was the prime rib and crab leg buffet!  No wonder the line was 3 blocks long!  It was funny to reminisce that 2 1/2 months ago we were parked in the same spot, with lots of snow and -46 windchill!  Tonight, it's clear, a full moon and 65 degrees!  Hooray!

We saw our first robin this morning in Missouri and the ponds and rivers are mostly open in Iowa. Spring can't be too far away for Minnesota can it?  Last year we  had 3 major heavy snow storms after we arrived home on April 17th!!

It will be a short 5 hour pull home tomorrow where our neighbor assures us our driveway is clear.  Imagine only 2 feet of snow left in the yard!  Wow....spring, hurry up!  We need you.  We had to post one last Port A picture and a morning sunrise....(thanks Ev for the great photo!).  Until next year, we'll have our photos and memories of our beloved beach, wonderful new friends and the quirky little town of Port A.  

For our followers, we'll let you know when we're on the road again.  Hoping to make some short trips over the summer and may head-out for Texas in November to take the rig down early.  Happy trails! And thanks for traveling with us! 

Texas Hill Country We Love You!

March 13, 2014

We had a great trip to the Hill Country and our site backed up right on LBJ Lake near Marble Falls, TX.  The Cold Springs Granite Company (from Minnesota) has a quarry here!  Pretty amazing to see and recognize the same name.  We had a fun lunch with a former colleague, Janet Daniel,  from Cargill, who retired in Horseshoe Bay.  The quaint little town is filled with artwork and unique shops and restaurants. 

We ate at a old time cafe, called the Blue Bonnet (state flower for Texas - just FYI) that has been in Marble Falls since the early 1900's. They are famous for pies (really BIG pies with meringue that is at least 4 inches tall).  The LBJ lake level is controlled by a dam on the Colorado River.  Other nearby lakes have gone bone-dry due to the severe drought in Texas.  It's really very sad to see boat docks, laying against the ground, where they once floated on water.  These lakes apparently have been dry for several years. It sure hard to imagine when you're from the land of 10,000 lakes.

We are loving the warm and dry 80 degree temps.  It's just perfect for watching a majestic sunset across the lake.  We've become BIG fans of the State of Texas, and LOVE the H-E-B (amazing grocery store),  the people and hospitality.  This is a place where even the Kleenex box shows a cowboy and the state flag!

On Wednesday, we headed out after a big cowboy breakfast at Sunrise Point RV park and fought high winds to Hico, Texas where our new friends, Mick and Kay have their 1000 acre ranch.  Apparently. Billy the Kid was from Hico, TX.  It was our first trip to a real ranch --- complete with wild mustangs, cowboys and feral pigs!  These pigs are a major and BIG problem in Texas. Just Google 'feral pigs in
Texas' if you're curious about these destructive beasts.  Mick gave us a great tour of the ranch in his truck and treated a fun lunch at the local, Koffee Kup restaurant where again we found unbelievable pies along with the best-ever chicken fried steak sandwich and onion rings! 

The evening of  March 12th we pulled into Denton, Texas just North of Fort Worth.  The sellers of the Gulf Waters lot came to the rig and we exchanged paperwork and money and are thrilled that we will soon be Texas land owners. They are really nice people and wouldn't you know, she travels to Minneapolis frequently for her property management business.  Y'all  just won't believe how much we love it here and are so excited!  Learning to speak the lingo is important ya know!

After a long pull today, we pulled into The Red Barn RV park, just North of Joplin, MO. We're amazed at how lucky we are at finding these fun parks in great locations.  Especially, the ones who greet you with warm cookies.  While we are sad to be heading North knowing the snow hasn't melted and more winter might be ahead, we are very excited to see family and friends! 

Goodbye Beach = Hello Marble Falls

March 10th, 2014

We've had lots going on as our stay in Port A came to an end for this year!  The most fun, of course, is walking the beach and hanging out with friends.  We had our farewell dinner at Doc's on the Gulf and I mean to tell you....I am already going through shrimp withdrawal!  Wonderful grilled shrimp with fresh coconut on top.  Preceded with a Prickly Pear Margarita and followed with a wonderful Key Lime pie.  It was so fun with Ev and Kathleen----we'll sure miss them! But it's no wonder our Biggest Loser scale isn't talking good to us!

Two days ago, we were chatting on a beach walk about how much we loved Port A, the RV park and the quirky little town.  We couldn't figure out anywhere in the U.S. where we could go that we would love as much.  Arizona isn't for us (no beach) and neither is Florida (too expensive and crowded) SO.....we were looking on the Gulf Waters website to see what was for sale.  I may have mentioned, the RV lots are owned at Gulf Waters, and when the owners aren't using them, the lots are in the rental pool.  Well, once we figured out lot 501, which had just come up for sale, was right next to the spot we'd been on for 2 month's, we got giddy! 

Long story short, we called the owner in the morning, made and offer and now we are going to be official Winter Texans!  Yep,  I,  of course, will always be a native Texan being born in Victoria:-).  We are so excited!  Totally spur of the minute and we think it's one of the best pond shore lots in the park.  It's only 800 ft away from the beach and Gulf.  The owner made a profit last year, because the Texan's from Austin and San Antonio, come to the beach in the summer like people in Minnesota go 'up North'.  Summer is really the busy time.  Port Aransas won't allow any more RV parks, so we are hoping it's a good investment.

While it was sad to say goodbye to our beloved beach this morning before we got ready to roll, it's comforting to know, we'll have 'our spot' next year!  Saying goodbye to all the new friends was harder than leaving the beach, but many will be back again next year.  It's really about the people isn't it?

So we rolled out of the park at noon, and headed to the ferry to leave Mustang Island.  At the main 4 way stop light in town, people were trying to get our attention.  Waving and flagging us down. Wouldn't ya know, the sewer pipe popped out of the bumper and was dragging and flying along behind us!  Really? Totally not cool!   Fortunately it was clean and Gil was able to retrieve it and throw it in the car before we got to the ferry.  Once on the ferry, he got it tucked back in the rear fender where it travels!  What an exit from Port A!  Hope we don't make the front page of the Island Jetty paper!

We headed North to Rockport, and stopped for one more fabulous BLT and Patty Melt at the Poor Man's Country Club (our 4th this season!!). 

We arrived in a really nice RV park called, Sunrise Point,  right on LBJ Lake in Marble Falls.  It was a little harrowing going through Austin, which is REALLY a big city during rush hour but, thankfully, we made it safely.  Our rig backs up to the lake and the park is full.  Wonder if we'll be able to sleep without the sound of the surf?

We'll explore Marble Falls tomorrow and then head to Hico, TX on Wednesday to see Kay and Mickey, who we met at Gulf Waters and then up to Euliss, TX, south of Ft. Worth to meet with the sellers to exchange earnest money and write the Purchase Agreement on the lot.

We've decided (at 2:30 a.m. this morning) with so much going on that we will head back up 35W to home.  We need to get the financing in order to close on the lot, do taxes for us and mom and figure out if we're going  to have to sue the dumb taxi company.  Their settlement from the accident amounted to one-fourth of the estimate to repair our car.  Bummer for sure!

Still planning to head to Seattle to watch the kids, but not sure if I'll fly or we'll take the rig out.  Thanks to ya'll for traveling with us.  We feel so lucky and are so excited to officially be Winter Texans!

Bittersweet Goodbye's

March 6, 2014

There hasn't been very much to write lately as we've been buried in cold weather (30's), rain and lots of wind.  I think I got 'SAD' on Tuesday.  It's still NOTHING like the weather up North so we don't ever mention the 'bad' weather to the friends and family suffering through the brutal Minnesota weather.  It's been a strange year for weather everywhere.  The odd thing is when we haven't been able to walk the beach or be outside as much, besides reading and heading to town, we seem to join friends and explore all the fun and unusual restaurants in Port A.  It's so fun but definitely not too good for the waist line.  Thank heavens we have several days of sun ahead!

While I'm not a restaurant  critic, it's amazing you can go one night and have the best dinner ever, tell someone the next day about it; they go and can't get waited on!  It's not consistent service but seems to fit with the lazy life on the Island.  I guess if you have a bad meal, you just go on another day.  So far we've been  really lucky and had great dinners.

It's funny how much we love this place!  We've done our rounds of saying goodbye's, buying more tee shirts and making a list of all the things we wanted to do/see that we didn't, so we don't forget to experience it next year.  We finally had to grill the chicken I'd thawed out at noon today, just so it wouldn't spoil, since we've eaten out nearly every night this week!  Of course, we're still making sure we get our fill of shrimp!

Willie got his hair done in Corpus Christi and he's pretty much ready for a "best-in-class" award in a dog competition.   It's amazing what $50+ dollars looks like on him.  He's adorable, fluffed-up, smells terrific and so it's worth every penny.  I've added learning to groom him to my bucket list.  We'll see how that goes.

Today my friend Jodi and I walked for 6 miles on the beach.  Amazing how fast it goes when you're chatting away!  At last we're back to the beach.  Yesterday was the last yoga with Nancy and she treated at the Donut Place for a final treat.  Best donuts ever!

Mom fell on Monday and after a  trip to the ER,  we thought we would need to go home early.  For now we're staying on the schedule to head to central Texas in the Hill Country early Monday morning and then wander up to Seattle.  Things could change so we'll remain flexible.

Our Brainerd friends just bought a lot here, so now they are owners.  We aren't ready for that yet, but frankly,  I can't imagine a place in the U.S. I'd rather be for the winter.  I'd be lost in Arizona or Florida without my beloved beach.


This little town of Port A is a buzz.  SPRING BREAK!  The beach shops are filled with every kind of tee shirt you can imagine, and the restaurants have beefed-up the staff to handle crowds who are 4- 5 times the normal.  The highway department has re-routed all the roads on the beach and highways to eliminate gridlock.  They say a ride to Corpus Christi which normally takes 20 minutes can take up to an hour or two.  The construction crews refuse to work on the Island during the spring break due to the horrible crowds and traffic.

The snow plows have been grading the beaches to get them ready for days.  So we wonder if the spring break college kids really care if the beaches are graded....we're pretty sure they'll be into other things big time!  

This amazing group of new friends from this park are all heading to various new locations as they run away from the spring break crowds.  Hugs and 'safe travels' abound as we all depart until next year.  It's bittersweet but filled with the anticipation of the next adventure waiting for us as we travel away from the beach --- happy trails and goodbye to the shrimp!

Big Birthday Week and Last Shrimp

March 2, 2014

It's birthday time.  Happy birthday to our son-in-laws, Jared and Dan, and our daughters Laurie and Steph.  We are blessed to have such a great family....it's too bad so many of the birthday's fall in a two week period!  We wish all these kids a great year and happy birthday!

Sadly, the time is flying and it's still a polar Vortex at home.  Hair cut week, more yoga and on Wednesday we had the last 'all-you-can-eat' shrimp at Kody's followed by a big treat at the Dairy Queen!  We had a fun and fabulous dinner Friday with Ev, Kathleen and Jodi and Curt.   Everyone brought something and we had the best peanut butter shrimp on the grill!  We're pretty sure you can never eat too much shrimp.

We have been very good about walking 4 miles on the beach every day, but one day last week, we went to Target and bought a scale.  Just too much good eating to not be mindful about this weight thing.  The added trips to the Dairy Queen aren't helping too much!  I'm not too keen on the fact this scale is a "high occupancy" scale and branded, The Biggest Loser Scale, but at least we'll be more aware.

It's going to be so sad to leave here and all these wonderful people.  Willie will miss his dog buddies too.  I've never been anywhere where dogs are so loved, walked and pampered.  Willie was supposed to get his doo done on Saturday, but when we went to town to the hot pink building, the lady never showed up and never called.  I called her and she finally called me back and said she'd lost her lease and was locked out of the building.  Oh well...things aren't too rigid on the island.  We'll head to Petsmart on Tuesday for another go at a haircut for the beach bum.

We figured this morning that the temperature at the lake was 100 degrees different from here.  Imagine! It's clear now, with strong winds and the North is apparently sending us another polar blast, which will bring in rain, clouds and temps in the mid 30's tonight for 3 days.  I guess it will be a movie week.  We hope it will be nice for the Mardi Gras parade on Tuesday.  Talk about the year of the never-ending winter!

A few of the pictures are of our rig so those of you who haven't been inside can see our 341 sq ft home.  We love this place and so far haven't run into any problems with space or emotions, besides the normal, "I'm too hot" to Gil's, "I'm freezing".  LOL!  We can deal with that!