MEMORIES

Hey all, I decided to post twice this week, wonders never cease! Actually I was browsing through some of the photos I had taken on our trip to Kerrville and I realized I had not posted them. I don't know if anyone is interested in seeing them, but here are some great memories for Cheryl and I :) ..




Hey Speedy, if you are out there, you look like you were mad in the one picture. Were you losing or what :) .. anyway my focus was supposed to be on the beauty behind you :) ...

Anyway, it is Saturday and I have a whole list of chores to get done. I so them happily because they are all in preparation to get the house ready for the market!! I may not be as close to getting on the road as a lot of my friends out there, but I keep chugging along like the little engine that could :) .... until next time GBY

JUST DAYDREAMING

Well here I am back to work it is all I can do to stop daydreaming! Since the great time I had in Kerrville, all I am thinking about is how to finish this work stuff early and hit the road in an RV :) .. Every once in a while someone will stroll past my work station and glance at the spreadsheet on my screen and they probably think I am working hard! The reality is I have probably been on that same sheet for an hour because I am just staring at it while I daydream :)

Cheryl and I talk a lot about the wonderful time we had with friends at “the gathering”. We aren’t exactly social superstars, but somehow we manage to socialize well with fellow RV Dreamers. We were married as youngsters and immediately started having children right out of high school (we had two before we found out what was causing it) :) .. Anyway we have been “family types” all our lives, until the last one left home about a year and a half ago. Since the military kept us moving a lot, we didn’t really make a lot of close friends, we just became a tight knit family. Now that we are an empty nest, we are enjoying going out and meeting new folks and making new friends. I just know we will make a lot of friends once we are fulltiming :)

Well enough raving for one day, I have to get some work done GBY all …………….

THE GATHERING

I think it is time for me to catch up on my posting. We arrived at Buckhorn Lake Resort late Sunday afternoon after a beautiful drive through the heart of Texas. It was a great drive, but long and tedious. After we set up the camper we joined a group of "Dreamers" on the club house patio and were properly greeted. Kathy was making some delicious looking real strawberry drinks and I was thoroughly tempted to endulge in one, however the Rum involved was enough to deter me from drinking one. We all know how I get when I get a little rum in me.... :) just kidding, I cannot drink a lot of alcohol for health reasons, I may have a small glass of wine once in a while, but that is it. So Kathy if you are reading this, thanks for the offer and please don't be offended because I declined. If I hadn't thought it to be rude on my part I would have asked for a virgin drink, those strawberries looked good. :)

Anyway, we had to do the Walmart run for some groceries and things, then get gas in Big Red, and explored the area a little. Well I explored the area a little too thoroughly and started ignoring "Lola" (our gps) and the next thing I know we were lost in America!! :) Lola got tired of me ignoring her recalculations and locked up on me and by the time I got her reset, we were deep in the hill country and in the dark!! :) She finally got us home after I started listening to her again. Cheryl says that is just like me to not listen to a female trying to tell me which way to go :)

As a result of our late escapades, we missed the smores by campfire get together on Sunday evening. We were fortunate enough to make the "heavy hors devoures" on Monday evening however :) Now it was supposedly heavy snacks, but man that was quite a spread. I probably gained a pound or two that night!!

Tuesday Cheryl and I struck out for New Braunfels and then San Antonio. We visited New Braunfels to go to Camping World and revisit Oma's Haus, a great German restuarant we found a few years ago. Thefood was as good as we remembered it to be! :) We also visited Landa Park on the river.

We took off for San Antonio after that and walked the river walk. Soon I was tried of walking so we took the boat tour. It was a good tour with some informative narration. The only thing that would have been better would have been if they could have dropped me off at the truck instead of taking me right back where we started!





Well we got back into the campground to find out we had missed a birthday party held for Brenda, our Canadian dreamer. We were sorry we missed it, they look like they had a blast! Happy Birthday Brenda......

Wednesday morning it was about 36 degrees and raining like crazy! :( We stayed home all day and the resort looked deserted. I did have to make a propane run, we are going through it quickly trying to heat our little camper!

This morning we slept in until 8:30, had breakfast and finally saw some fellow dreamers outside (the rain has subsided). Leno visited with us for a few minutes as well as Rollie. Cheryl and I decided to visit Fredericksburg, so off we went. I will post about that visit later, now I have to get ready for an outing with fellow dreamers.

Until next time....GBY...

NO, I HAVE NOT DISAPPEARED

Contrary to what most of you may be thinking, I have not disappeared from the face of the earth. :) I will use the same excuse as always for not posting, " nothing happening but a whole lot of work"!! Cheryl and I have both been leaving at daybreak and getting back home after dark. Once we are home, we cook some dinner, catch up on email, maybe watch a tv program (we love the show "24") then off to bed.

Tomorrow is Friday again, woohoooo.... and to top it off we are getting the rv ready to leave Saturday morning for Kerrville for the "Gathering of Dreamers". This is a group of really nice folks that have become acquainted on the RV Dreams website and cannot wait until the next rally to get together again! We can hardly wait to get on the road!

Well Cheryl just walked in and I need to get up and help her get dinner started. I hope to post more while on vacation, or at least take some pictures to post :). I will post again once we are on the road, maybe Saturday evening. God Bless you all.....

GREAT WEEKEND FOR DAYDREAMING

WOW.. a long weekend with an RV show to boot! We started our weekend by dining out after we both ended our workdays. During dinner we planned our weekend activities, which included and RV show, quick visits with the grandkids, dinner and movie and of course some relaxation.

Saturday moring we slept in until around 9AM, then sat around drinking coffee and having some breakfast. We then went to Walmart to pick up the grandkids some little valentine's gifts, then on to present them. After the visits, we headed to the RV show. It is held every year by Bayou Outdoor Sports Center and they only show a few RV brands that they sell, mostly Thor products. We did see a few that attracted us, the only close to full time fifth wheel was the Grand Junction, and it is a beauty, however has some faults, ie very little storage room. Here are a few pictures of our visit.



There were a few motorhomes in the show as you may can tell from the slideshow and we tended to migrate towards them more than the fifthwheels. Hmmm does this mean we are leaning towards a motorhome? Who knows? We still have a lot of time to think about it.

Well we left the show and headed for the movie theater. One thing we forgot about was the Mardi Gras parade this weekend. We had no desire to go to the thing, however in my effort to get us to the movie theater, I landed us slap dab in the middle of the traffic headed to the parade. It was bumper to bumper and we fought traffic for an hour and a half. That was long enough to make us miss our movie. Since we missed the movie, we headed to Ruby Tuesdays for dinner. After dinner we headed home as it was getting late for us (9PM) :)

We did finally get to the movies Sunday afternoon, after another visit to the RV show (yes we are RV show addicts) :) By the way, if you get a chance to see the movie "Taken", go for it, an excellent movie! Till we meet again.......... GBY

Ok, I know it has not been a week, but I have something to post. I went to my grandson's birthday party yesterday and it was a blast! I took a few pictures and wanted to post them here for family and friends. Enjoy..... :~)



NICHOLAS AARON PAYNE... 8YEARS OLD
Nick is the one in the light blue shirt (opening gifts)

The lovely little princess, again in a light blue shirt is my one and only granddaughter. The youngest grandson, loving on a slice of pizza and wearing a dark blue "Wolverine" shirt enjoyed the eats and so did the oldest grandson, wearing the light gray "Auburn" shirt. Happy Birthday Nicholas!

ANOTHER WEEK CLOSER

Here it is another week gone by and another week closer to our rv dreams.. :) I guess I have become a weekly blogger, not by plan, just lack of time or laziness (maybe a little of both). Sometimes I just feel like all I have to write about is work and that is just boring as heck to most anyone who is out there traveling in their rv and enjoying life to the max!

This time of year I am leaving for work before it is daylight and since I have started a new project, it seems most days it is dark when I get home. I am not getting a lot of things done around the house in preparation to sell it. It is probably a good thing I have some time before selling. In fact I hope the housing market will improve before that time!

I was researching some of my options for leaving work and it seems I will not be eligible for the pension until February 2015. I am not willing to wait that long, so I guess I will be leaving without a pension as soon as I reach those financial goals!! I think that will be sometime in the next two to three years. In the meantime I will be sticking to a budget and hoping the stock market recovers to around the 14,000 point mark before then also :)

Speaking of budgets, I am trying to adjust mine to fit in a trip to Kerrville in March, then to South Carolina in September and Kerrville again in October, not mentioning several weekend camping trips to Rocky Point. I love the trips we have planned, but I don't want to slow down reaching our financial goals. The trip to South Carolina is to visit family, the one in March to visit RV Dreams family, then again in October for the rally! Oh well Cheryl just loves working overtime anyway!! :)

Well I have been lounging in this recliner since 7AM and it is now 10:45AM, I guess I better get up and get ready to go to my grandson's birthday party at the local skating rink. Hey, how would you like to see some pictures of me skating? I may get some uploaded, it depends on if they have WiFi at the hospital or not.. :) GBY

I LOVE SATURDAYS

Woohooooo it is Saturday again, my favorite day of the week. I got up around 0700 hrs, fixed a pot of french vanilla flavored coffee and some gravy and biscuits, I then sit around on the computer here until now (1228 hrs). I get to catch up on the RV blogs, RV Dreams forum and I am even taking time to post on my much neglected journal! :) I spent some time working on my financial accounts and budget also. This was important work because it is my blueprint to becoming a fulltimer. The budget is going well and I am getting closer to reaching my RV Daydreams, paycheck by paycheck!

I am going to finish up this little update and get to work on a "fix-up-the-house-so-I-can-sell-it" project. Today it will be sheetrock repairs and hole patching in one of the bedrooms. Although I am an engineering technician, I will need much prayer!! Till next time, GBY.......... Doncat

Don't Worry

Yes, I am still alive and kickin’. Sometimes it is a chore to try and make time to sit and write a post. I have been very busy lately at work and after working long hours, when I get home I can only manage to spend some quality time with my better half, then off to bed. Is that violins I here in the background?
Anyhow, things have been pretty routine around here, except for work. I thought we were going to have some icy weather this morning, but we dodged that bullet by a hair! It was cold and breezy with ice on some bushes, but nothing on the roads or bridges and more importantly no downed power lines! It is still cold and the wind feels like a knife cutting through you. It must be nice to be able to hitch up your house and drive it to a warmer climate! I sure hope to find out one day.
Cheryl says hi and we are both working towards the day we can meet you all out on the road. Until then and until I find another few minutes to sit and write, God bless you all……………………

JUST CHECKING IN

Hey, just checking in to let everyone know I still have an internet connection (so far). We have been having a good holiday weekend that included an outing with the "grands" yesterday. We took the three younger ones to the aircraft museum on Barksdale AFB and they had a ball. The oldest "grand" stayed home and watched football with his dad. I wish I had taken the camera, but alas, I did not. The youngsters wore me out running around the airplanes, but I needed the exercise anyway!

I made a slight change to the website, I had to remove my PayPal purchase buttons for the "Stable Tablecloth". I had a customer from Canada order one and evidently I did not have the system set up correctly, it did not include the shipping cost in the billing. The shipping cost to his address in Canada was about as much as the cost of the tablecloth! He decided to wait for an upcoming visit and save some shipping cost. Maybe he will just drop by Shreveport to visit and I will give him a discount :) Anyhow just to let everyone know I still have a few tablecloths and if you would like one just shoot me an email. I am going to rework the PayPal "thingie" and maybe get it back on the site soon.

Well it is really nice outside right now and I believe Cheryl and I are going out for a walk. See ya next time..........