JUST WANDERING--- A DAYTRIP

After the lousy week we both experienced, Cheryl and I decided to load the Toyota with some essentials (cold drinks, GPS and camera) and hit the road! We didn’t have a specific destination in mind, just needed to get away for a little while. We started out on I20 and headed toward Texas, every bit of a 10 minute drive from the house. After crossing the state line, we stopped at a rest stop (I know 10 minutes driving and we stopped), mostly so Cheryl could pick up some of those prized travel brochures. :) Since we were so close, we decided to check out Ellie’s RV Park. I had been seeing it advertised on websites and blogs a lot lately. We were not impressed with Ellie’s. It is right on the interstate, sites are close and facilities are minimal. It may be a good overnight stop to rest a few hours on the long haul?

We then decided to head for Lake of the Pines and check out the RV campgrounds. It was a beautiful day and the drive through the Texas countryside was relaxing. It was getting hot outside, but with the help of Mr. A/C we stayed cool enough (a little of Tioga George writing style). :) The first campground we visited was a Corp of Engineer park named Buckhorn. We had been there about 4 or 5 years ago, but man it has changed! They have added sites and it seems a little more compacted. There are sites that still have space between and the views are great. There were plenty of folks out enjoying the water on this hot and humid day.



We then went across the dam and visited another COE campground, Brushy Creek. The sites here are a bit close too, but again you can find a couple with adequate space. I kept noticing the picnic tables and the various ways folks were securing their tablecloths :) , man they need the stable tablecloth, I should have brought a few with us! :)






After checking out those campgrounds, we started back across the dam to head into Jefferson, Texas. Before we got across the dam, we spotted some people fishing in the spillway and decided to drive down to check out the action. We saw a few people fishing, no catching, just fishing.



I spotted this one guy holding a bow and arrow, watching the water intensely. Suddenly he drew back the bow and cut loose with an arrow! He then reeled in a large fish, couldn’t tell what kind from where I was standing. I wish I had caught that on camera! He had a line on the arrow, attached to a reel on the bow. I watched a while longer and he took one more shot, but missed.



This family was also catching a few “mini whoppers”. :)



We didn’t watch the fishing too long, it was long past lunchtime and my stomach was growling. We drove into Jefferson and began our search for lunch. Jefferson, Texas is a quaint little southern town with mostly turn of the century buildings, vintage style lamp posts, elegant old churches and some of the streets are brick. The architecture around the community is Greek Revival, Neoclassic, Victorian and Italianate. Now before you get too impressed with my abounding knowledge, I read all that on a sign. :)





We passed a few little café s in the downtown area, but it wasn’t until I came upon “The Hamburger Store”, with the parking lot packed with cars, that we decided, “this is the place to eat”. The Hamburger Store at 101 North Market is a unique little café specializes in hamburgers of course, but not only the regular run of the meal burgers, they also serve specialty burgers such as avocado bacon burgers. Of course you know what we ordered? We had the chicken fried steak (always have to be different) :) They also have homemade meringue pies with the meringue mounded on the pie like a small mountain! I had to steer clear of those, but they did look delicious!




Another aspect of this unique little café is that every wall in the place was covered with one dollar bills that patrons had pinned to the wall. The waitress told us that started back with the evacuees from hurricane Katrina were sheltering in the area. It seems that a pastor that had a group of evacuees there had taken a love offering for the owner of the café for his kindness and help. The owner would not accept the offering, feeling the evacuees needed the money more. The pastor being persistent brought his group in and they all pinned money to the walls. Now customers are writing messages on the money and still pinning it to the wall. I started to pin the tip to the wall, but didn’t have a pin, besides if I did the waitress probably wouldn’t get it.:)





The local "tour bus"



The town meeting place:



We were on the way out of Jefferson when we spotted one more RV campground. We thought this one was especially unique (check out the bath house). :)





I would have taken some pictures of the RVs parked in the campground, but there weren't any that I could find. :)

Until next time, remember each day of life is truly a gift from God, unwrap your gift slowly and enjoy every minute.......... :)

LONG SAD WEEK

Hi everyone, yes I am still here, still working and still dreaming. :) It has been a week of sadness though, we lost some brothers at arms in the B52 crash at Guam. Five of them, the regular crew members, were from Barkdale AFB where I work. One of them, the Flight Commander, Major Chris Cooper was the fiance of one of Cheryl's good friends that she works with at Barksdale Federal Credit Union. She attended the memorial service with her yesterday. It was a beautiful, but sorrowful ceremony with many remembrances of the crew members and thier lives. Please pray for the family and friends of the these men who served to defend our freedoms.

Today is Saturday and in spite of our grown children all having different plans for us today, we are going to take a daytrip. We feel like we are in a "depression" with all that has been happening this past week and need to get away. I am taking the camera and hope to have something interesting to post by Monday! :)

Until then remember.... life can be short and the time we have is a gift from God.. Enjoy your gift :)

ANOTHER GREAT DAY...IT'S FRIDAY!

I guess it is about time to catch up on what’s been happening in my day to day life. I am finding that making time to post can sometimes be difficult. It sure will be great to be able to slow down and smell the roses (that is on a day when my sinuses are not clogged!). It seems that all I am able to do is get up at “o dark thirty”, get ready, go to work, dodge the boss all day, get ready to go home, cut the grass, trim the bushes, clean the pool, eat some dinner, and go to bed to get ready for the same routine the next day! Sound gloomy?
There is hope! It is Friday and the long awaited weekend has arrived…:) whoopee!!! I get to sleep to about 8am and hang out in the pool! Also we have been planning a weekend camping trip for the near future… more hope. I found out there is a “get-together” of some of the RV-DREAMS family in March, in Texas… close enough for me to attend …. :) absolutely more hope!



This past week I received notice of a community meeting scheduled to discuss the offers that are expected from an oil company. It seems there is a large pocket of oil that was discovered beneath a large portion of our region. They call it the “Haynesville Shale”. It seem s folks are expecting to make a lot of money on mineral rights and selling property. Now there is some hope. Let them offer to buy my property! I will be out of here so fast it will make them dizzy and I will even throw in the furniture… :)!! I have a puny ¼ acre lot with a sticks and bricks, but because of the mineral rights; I will be asking above appraised value. Most likely, they will only offer to buy the mineral rights; then drill within a mile or two from our community. Who knows what the future may hold?
lately I have been burning the candle at both ends (so to speak)… :) When I start feeling that way it is time to remember each day is a gift from God and not to be wasted, but enjoyed. I found a quote which conveys that idea rather well; I think it was George Carlin who said,

“We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.”

Until next time…………………

TABLECLOTHS ANYONE?

It has been a week since I posted and I have probably scared off everyone with boring pictures. :)... I will not have another family picture day for a while, so hang in there.

I wanted to tell everyone about my newest "undertaking". While at the RV Dreams Rally in Branson, I saw the tablecloth Howard and Linda were using and naturally I wanted one. I went back into the journal and found the link they had posted for obtaining one. Howard is so good about giving those sources out to us wannabes. :)... Anyway, long story short, the guy who was selling them has retired and he gave me a link to the only other place he knew to get them. The company was located in Canada and would not ship to the United States. :( ... However after a little more research, I found the inventor and after making a deal with him, I now have more tablecloths than I can use!! :) ... So I guess I am going from posting boring pictures of my family to selling "STABLE TABLECLOTHS". :)

I don't envision making a million or two on this business venture, just want to make these available to fellow RVers and campers that would like to have them. These are made of heavy duty vinyl and have water fillable jackets along each seam that really makes it tough for them to be blown off the table.




The tablecloths are available in red, blue, gray and biege. I am selling them for $14.95 plus shipping cost. You may use the Paypal link at on the right side of the page, specify the color you want in the comments or email me for alternate arrangements.

Other than the new business venture, which started with my yearning to own the new tablecloth, nothing new is really happening. We keep listing things we need to get done and so far we have a lot of lists! Not much work towards completing those list though. It seems that by the time we get home from working, we only want to relax. The weekends seem to be the only time we can get anything done. Anyone else have this problem? Oh well, if I sell enough tablecloths, Cheryl and I can quit work, buy that $300,000. motorhome and travel!! :) ....... When that happens satan better start shopping for cold weather gear! :)

LAZY SATURDAY

After all that excitement yesterday, we were worn out! :) Cheryl and I both slept in until almost 9am, that is rare. We prepared some eggs and bacon with our regular fix of coffee. We finished breakfast and then went to the pool deck to watch the hummingbirds and finish our coffee. The pool looked so inviting, we decided to take a morning swim. No pictures were allowed. :)

I know a post without pictures can be more boring that usual, so I went back into my archives and found some more pics of the family. I figure this will help introduce them.

My son, Matthew and oldest grandson, Anthony:




"The Teenager", Anthony:



"The Son-in-Laws", Ron and Harrison, Harrison is the hairey one! :)



My oldest daughter, Sheila:



Papa with Brendan:



Nana with Brendan:



Princess, aka: Hayley:



Anthony:



Crystal and Hayley:



Harrison (in the background), Crystal and Nicholas:



Nicholas:















ok, are you still awake out there? Well I guess that is enough of that! :) Until next time, remember, "Live every day like it is a gift from God" :)

CELEBRATING AND RELAXING

Our holiday weekend began with Cheryl and I sleeping late, until about 8am. Two of our grandsons spent Thursday night with us and of course they awoke hungry. We had a nice pancake breakfast complete with coffee for Nana and Papa. Cheryl and I finished our coffee on the pool deck while the boys watched some morning cartoons on TV. The excitement never ends around here! :)

A little after noon or so, my two daughters, their husbands, our granddaughter and youngest grandson arrive. My son shows up later (just in time for the food) to complete the family gathering. We spent the day grilling brats, burgers and playing in the pool. About 8pm we gather everyone together drove downtown to the river front for the fireworks show. It was a pretty good show, but I mostly enjoyed watching the kids enjoy the show.

Here is most of the family:



We found a nice site to park ourselves and watch the show. My youngest grandson was more interested in the "choo choo" that passed on the nearby tracks. :) As the show got started he seemed annoyed at the noise.



This is Nana and Papa's "Little Big Man", Nicholas, the next to the youngest grandson:



Papa's "Little Princess", Hayley tells Nicholas something astounding?



Nana and Papa's "Little Man", Brendan, our youngest grandson:



Our oldest grandson, "The Big Guy", Anthony. He is one of those (teenagers)! :) My youngest daughter, Crystal, and her husband, Ron.



My oldest daughter, Sheila, seated next to Cheryl and wearing a red shirt. My son in law, Harrison is always hard to catch in a picture, because he moves around too much! :)






Just a big kid at heart:



Well that is how we spent Independence Day, celebrating and relaxing. Until next time let me leave you with this advice, "enjoy every day as a gift from God!" :)

Just Another Typical Day

I just started this blogging thing and already I have fallen behind in posting! It has been just another typical day in my life, the third this week. :) I told you this may not be that interesting, but let me tell you about my typical days.

I usually awake sometime between 0530 and 0600 (5:30am and 6:00am for civilian types). I get myself ready and head to Barksdale AFB, a place I like to call my “second home”. I hang out there and every couple of weeks they give me a paycheck, whether I want it or not. :) Of course I always seem to want it! Barksdale is home to the B52 bomber, known for taking care of business in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.



My day is never complete until I make a visit to the FamCamp. Our FamCamp was recently renovated with new concrete pads, full hook-ups and a new office, lounge, showers and laundry. If you have access to the base and plan on staying in the area, I highly recommend this RV Park. The new sites that were built are all 40 feet long and they are concrete. The fees are $14.00 per day, $90.00 per week or $350.00 per month with a maximum 30 day stay. There is also Wi-Fi available at the sites for free! The only drawback is the B52s flying over during the day can get quite noisy; we shrug it off and term it “The Sound of Freedom”! If you would like more information on the FamCamp and other recreational opportunities on Barksdale AFB, visit this link: www.barksdaleservices.com/outdoor.









Approximately 1630hrs (4:30pm), I head back toward the “sticks and bricks”. I generally term this as my “honey-do” time. :) I get started on “the list”, which these days consist of tasks to get us ready for fulltime RVing. :) Some of the tasks may be items that need repair around the house or making it more appealing to potential buyers when the time comes. Lately we have been gathering and preparing “stuff” for yard sale or eBay. I will be so glad to get rid of “stuff”!! I firmly believe that “stuff” had cluttered and complicated our lives. It amazes me the “stuff” I have accumulated and harbored in case “someday” I will need it and most of the time, “someday” never arrives!









After working a little on “the list”, it is time for dinner and maybe a little couch potato time in front of the TV. If the sun has set and we have had to use artificial lighting for an hour, then it is past our bedtime! ;)

I have been pleasantly surprised at the comments to my first post and the words of encouragement on the forum from my fellow RVers and friends. Thank you and keep me informed on what I am doing wrong (or right). :)

Well that is typical day in the life of this wannabe fulltimer. Now you can see why we become obsessed with the fulltime RV lifestyle, especially after reading my blog and comparing it to fulltimer’s blogs such as www.rv-dreams.com. :)