SURPRISE!!!!!!

 
Last Monday, Brenda and I were discussing Christmas when it was decided that maybe we should go to Memphis for Christmas.
So, on Friday morning we loaded the car, and made the 400 mile trip to see our family and friends in Tennessee.
We arrived in town about 11:15am, and Brenda called Bev when we were less than 10 minutes from her house.
She became so excited that she began to cry.

After a short visit, we went onto my brothers house. He knew we were coming, as we stayed at his house. He was the only one that knew.

Sammie & Brendan

His house really looks nice. As you may remember, his house was flooded in May, and the construction company is almost through. They finally installed the doors between the solarium and the house, but the woodwork and painting is not yet finished.

Rachel

That night, we went over to Vickie's house. She was having Christmas celebration and dinner for her family when we we arrived and the surprise on the look of their faces was priceless.

Rena & Vick & Ashley

Bev, her family, Debbie and her entire clan, and Dennis, Donna and their son Blake came over. At one time, there was close to 40 people at Vickie's house. It was great.

Jennifer & Daniel

Adam, Ann, Brian & Ethan

We went to church, at Nativity on Christmas morning, we were joined by Vickie, Vick, Rena, Jennifer and her 2 children, Samantha and Brendan.
Brenda and I went onto Bev's house for a snack, then Brenda went with her sisters and families to Debbie and Sam's house for the day, while I went back to Mike's for a day with him, Barb and his kids and their families.
We had a great time visiting and just grazing all day. Mike and Barb had put on a nice spread.
Brenda, Vickie and Rena came to Mike's house and spent a couple of hours visiting and enjoying each others company.

Yesterday, we went to 7:30am mass and after wards went to breakfast. We had planned to eat with the 'Breakfast Club', but Bev and her family, Vickie, Rena, Adam and his family came and we we ate with them.
We did say our good by's to our friends and then said our good by's to our family and hit the road.
The trip home was uneventful and we got home before dark.

WHAT A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS.

Ta ta for now.

John C Stennis Space Center.

We have been on the gulf coast now for almost 3 weeks and there is a NASA facility just east of here. It is called the John C Stennis Space Center. We visited it yesterday and the tours are free.
It is named after a very powerful senator from Mississippi, who died about 14 years ago.
They do all of the rocket engine testing for Nasa.
They have tested all of the rocket engines from Gemini program all the way through the Space Shuttle program.
They also test the engines for the military as well as commercial endeavors.

E-1 Test Facility

We were fortunate enough to hear and see a test firing while we were on our tour.

 Test firing as seen from about 2 miles away

Also the site is shared by the Navy Research Laboratory. They do computer and software development for the Navy. There is a large contingency of Naval personnel there.

This just one type deployed by NOAA

NOAA has a facility there also. They construct and maintain their weather buoys at this facility.
The buoy seen above is in front of the museum. There are other items too large to be inside.

Rocket engine for Space Shuttle

Inside of the museum are multiple displays. Some of them are interactive.
You can land the Shuttle, Monitor weather from Noaa labs, and do an engine test.
These activities are designed so that they are interesting to both adults and children.

I tried to land the Space Shuttle only to destroy a multimillion dollar space craft and kill myself. Ther is a heads-up display on a screen, but no feeling of flight. I tried twice to land, but I was just too heavy handed on the stick. I was all over the sky and eventually ran out of altitude. It was fun.

Brenda and I tested engines (simulated) and that was very interesting. You have to transfer the fuel to the test engine and fire it.

There is audio while the test is being prepared and during the test. We both enjoyed the experience, especially after having seen a real test earlier.

There is a mock-up of one section of the ISS. It has a full scale Toilet area and shower that are used by the astronauts while in space.
Personal hygiene must go on and it was interesting how those functions were handled.

There was only 5 of us on the tour and the driver of the bus was very informative.
I highly recommend it if you are ever in the Bay St. Louis or Slidell area.

Ta ta for now.

Met a new friend

Monday we met a wonderful lady who just happens to be Ted and Donna's sister-in-law.
She lives here in Slidell and about 3 years ago became a widow.


She maintains a 4 bedroom home which is beautiful and so nicely decorated for Christmas. (She says that she has already completed her shopping and is ready for Christmas.)
As you all know, a house needs constant maintenance and hers is no exception.
She is mechanically inclined and her house is well looked after, but there are things that are just too much for person to do alone. She gets help from her son and a close neighbor, but they have their own houses and families to attend to.

Brenda and I were looking for somewhere where we could volunteer and help someone who could use our services. We thought of volunteering for a church or volunteering serving Christmas dinner. Then Erma came along and we were able to help her with some things that needed done.

Brenda and I worked for a few hours and she fixed us dinner. She is so thoughtful and dinner was delicious.
Brenda and I enjoyed helping her and she was so grateful.
I don't like just sitting around and I enjoyed the activity and fresh air.

We went to the Silver Slipper Casino in Bay St. Louis, MS last Friday and Brenda did pretty well. I didn't, but I don't have much luck in casinos, so I don't play much.
We went to the Hollywood Casino and Brenda didn't do too well there. I didn't do well either and we have decided that is all of the casinos for this month.

We plan to go to New Orleans next week. But, if we don't make it we will be in the area until February so we have plenty of time. We have never been to NO, so we will make it while we are this close.

Ta ta for now.

Livingston and Slidell

Monday, we left Castaways for Livingston after Brenda finished her appointments.
The trip was pretty uneventful and we got both the MH and the car inspected in Livingston before we went to the park. We are now legal.

Rainbows End is a nice park and we took the tour of the park on Tuesday.
It was interesting and we learned a lot about the Escapees Club that we didn't know.
We toured the mail facility and we now know why it is so efficient. They are really organized there.
We got to see our 'home'. It is a legal file folder and box when the file folder gets too much mail. Very interesting.
That file folder, by Federal law, is our legal residency. The Escapees club was very instrumental in getting that law passed after full time RVer's  were sued for trying to establish residency with out a permanent structure as a home, back in 2000. It was a voting issue initiated by the people of Polk County, TX.
We won, and I don't vote in local elections. We are only there once or twice a year for a few days.

We had a talk from Mark Nemeth, who is the Technical Advisor for the club. He also writes an article in the Escapees magazine.
He wears many hats for the organization and seems to be proficient in all of his jobs.

We took the trolley around the park and we stopped at Joe & Kay Peterson's home to look at the memorial garden that was put in front of their home.
They started the club back in 1970 and are SKP # 1.
They are not active in the club like they used to be, as both are now in their 80's.
They are very nice people and came out to talk with us while we were admiring their garden.
We also learned that our SKP # will never be reused. When we quit the club or die the number is retired.

The trip to Slidell was much more eventful. The roads through Beaumont and parts of Louisiana make California roads look great. things in the coach were all over the place.
Cabinet doors came open, and the closet door came off of it's slide. It was a mess in here. We cleaned it up and all is well now.

The park is a nice place. We are in the back with the long term. neatly arranged with no dilapidated trailers or MH's.
The site is paved and level and all of the utilities work.
They don't allow a lot of junk on the sites so it is pretty neat. Each site has a small picnic table and a grassy area. And it is quiet here.
We are going to be a month.
We now have satellite TV again after 2 months.
I didn't know that coaxial cable can go bad, but after about 4 hours of working with the system, I finally replaced the cable between the dish and the coach. It started working.
It worked at Lake Sammamish, so I don't know what happened to the cable  between then and now.
It is working so that is all that matters.

Ta ta for now.

Our Time in Texas

Today is moving day again. Cleo will hide as usual, she hates the motion of the coach, as we head to Livingston for a couple of days.
The coach and the car both need inspection stickers, and we will get that done while we are there.

We moved the rig from in front of Val's house last Wednesday and we are now @ Castaways.
There are more improvements in the park, but a lot of things are still 'Mickey Mouse'. They are supposed to improve the security here in the park and we are supposed to get photo id's. We tried to do that yesterday, but they don't have a camera.
I don't understand how you can implement something if you don't have all of the equipment necessary for that project.

Monday we met Jay & Stella at Sweet Tomatoes for dinner and we were surprised that Ted and Donna were able to come and join us. Their family didn't start arriving until late Monday evening.
A couple we had never met, but heard a lot about on Jay's blog, came with Jay & Stella. We all seemed to have an enjoyable time and it was nice to meet Mike & Patrice.

Thanksgiving was probably the smallest gathering that I can remember.
Chris & Linda, and we gathered at my sisters house and had a great Thanksgiving dinner. There was only the 6 of us and we had a great visit together. The meal was a community effort so there wasn't a big burden on one person.

Saturday, Mary, Christi and her husband Barry came over to Val's house for a 'Tony prepared Italian Meal'.
The food was delicious, as usual, and we all enjoyed it immensely. Michelle and her family also joined us. She and her girls became the waitstaff and kitchen clean up crew. What a nice gesture.
We had not seen Mary since before her stroke. She had her stroke when she was teaching English in Thailand a couple of years ago.
She is doing so well, and has a great attitude.
Her ability to speak has been greatly diminished, but her facial expressions pretty much tell you what she is trying to say.
It was a pleasure to see Christi & Barry again,, as it has been a long time since we have seen them.

Last night, we went over to Liz & Harry's home for a gathering of some of my former co-workers.
Liz is so busy, and we are leaving today, so our little get together was pretty spontaneous. Not all attended as she had hoped, but it was Thanksgiving weekend after all.
We enjoyed ourselves and had a good visit.

Brenda has some tests this morning, so I will get the rig ready to move while she is gone.
We will probably leave around noon, but it is a short trip to Livingston.

Ta ta for now.

Family and friends in Spring

We arrived at my sister's house early Monday afternoon. The trip from Fredericksburg was uneventful and a fairly easy trip.
My brother Mike was there with his friend, Barb, from Memphis and enjoyed the afternoon with them and Val & Tony.

Danielle, Michelle's youngest daughter, put on a spontaneous play. and involved Mike, Barb and me. It was fun and she has a wonderful imagination. She was creating on the fly.

We are getting our doctors appointments accomplished, my new c-pap machine will be delivered today, and we do our yearly visit with our financial advisor.

Wednesday we went over to Timber Ridge and saw Stella and the new office. It is very nice and a great improvement to the office that we had when we were there. We made plans to visit with Jay and Stella on Monday evening as that is Stella's day off and we can visit.

We had some good luck on Wednesday also, as Ted and Donna's busy schedule had some cancellations and we got to spend some time with them. We thoroughly enjoyed the day and we got to see Ted's new truck. It is a honey.
Their family is coming in for Thanksgiving starting on Monday and with our scheduled events and theirs we may not see them again before we leave. We wish them a Happy Thanksgiving if we don't see them again before our departure.

Thursday we went to Galveston and to the Bishop's Palace. We lived here for over 25 years and never went to see it. It was an interesting tour and the tour guide appeared to be very knowledgeable.
We then went to Gaido's Restaurant for a late lunch early supper.
The food was excellent and we all seemed to enjoy the day.
Chris, my youngest brother, drove as he has a 7 passenger van and is familiar with the area. It was nice not having to negotiate the traffic to and from Galveston.

Val, Mike, his friend and Brenda all went to see the new Harry Potter movie.
I personally lost interest in the series many books back and was not interested in seeing the movie.
My c-pap machine is supposed to be delivered shortly and I couldn't have gone any way.

Ta ta for now.

Back in Texas

We passed through El Paso yesterday after almost 2 weeks on the road.
We are now in Fredericksburg and headed to my sisters home tomorrow morning. We are not sure when we will leave, but probably before 9am.
We have been in 14 states, some longer than others since we left Texas in March. We have been gone for almost 8 months and about 7000 miles.
The trip home is a more circuitous  route than the trip north, but weather was a consideration on the trip back.

We have stayed in some interesting parks on our way back. For instance we stayed in a Passport America park in Balmorrhea, TX. Balmorrhea is a wide spot in the road on I 10. The park is just off of the freeway, but there was little roadway noise.
There were about 50 long pull through sites, full hook-ups all for $10 a night.
The interesting thing was, that we were the only ones in the park.
There is a large gravel parking lot behind the convenience store, that also serves as the park office. It was filled with large semi trucks when we left early yesterday morning.

We spent 3 days at Saguaro co-op Escapees park in Benson. The people there are very friendly and accommodating.
We ran into some people that we had met when we were there in 2007. It was a nice reunion.
We learned a new game called backup 3. it is similar to Pegs & Jokers, but a little more cut throat. It was fun playing with them and learning a new game.
There was a Veterans Day dinner put on by the park. It was free for veterans, but the spouses had to pay. The food was good and the price was right.
There was a small band who played. They were pretty good, but we chose to go back and play cards and not listen to the band as we were leaving early Friday morning.

We then stopped in Deming, NM at another Escapees park.
There was a terrible cross wind all the way to Deming and I was tired when we arrived. The desert can produce some pretty strong winds when the sun hits that sand.
The drive yesterday was very difficult in some places with the wind blowing briskly out of the south and us going east. I got so tired that we had to pull into a rest area for a while.


We have lots to do while we are in the Houston area. Mike, my brother, is here visiting Val so it will be a great time, I am sure.
We will be seeing friends and family as well as doctors appointments and a visit with our finance guy.

Ta ta for now.

Beth & Phoenix

We arrived in Phoenix on Sunday after several days of driving.
California is beautiful, but their roads are awful. There are many, many pot holes and miles of just plain rough road.
When we got to Needles, Ca, we found that our tires we separating from the core. they were in bad shape. We were lucky that we didn't have a blow out.
We replaced all 6 of the tires,(yes, very expensive) although we could have gotten away with just 4. The tires were so worn that replacing just 4 might have caused a bigger problem.
I didn't realize how badly the coach was handling (thought it was just California highways), until we got on the road with the new tires.
There are a lot of miles out here in the desert where there is nothing. I would hate to have blown a tire out there.

Beth is such a sweet person and great hostess.
We spent Sunday night at her house as the rig was 20 miles away. Phoenix is the 5th largest city in the country, and is spread out like Houston is.
She took us to several places that she thought might interest us, and we thoroughly enjoyed our time with her.

Fluorescent rocks

Rocks that look like food

Beth and Brenda

Last night, after we went to the Arizona Mining Museum, she cooked steaks, baked potatoes, bake butternut squash (yummy), and salad.
Kathleen came over, but unfortunately, Kirsten was unable to join us, so we didn't get a chance to meet her.
Kathleen is a hoot and really nice person. We had met her back in April at Mike's house.

While we were at Beth's house, my C-PAP machine died. It just quit in the middle of the night. I have contacted the company that furnishes this machine and all of the parts, and I am getting a new one when we arrive in the Houston area.
In the mean time, I am using Brenda's as she doesn't use hers any more. It is not quite adjusted to my needs, but I slept well with it last night.
She says it dries her mouth out so badly and she has a hard time with the facial apparatus, that she just won't use it anymore.

We are heading to Benson, AZ, this morning, for 2 days then onto Deming, NM for 2 days. Both are Escapees parks and a good place to squat for a couple of days.


We plan to arrive in the Houston area on Monday the 15th, and start getting our yearly business done.

Ta ta for now.

Portland and points south

The chassis batteries on this coach don't charge when it is plugged in. I failed to put them on a charger on Sunday, so the coach didn't start when we tried to leave the park on Monday.
I borrowed a much larger charger, than I have, from the park and we finally got on the road by 11:00 am.

The weather was stormy and rainy and by the time I got the coach started I was soaked.

It rained all of the way to Portland and rained up until early evening. Everything was damp and it was quite miserable. The drive, with the  traffic was a little scary at times. We arrived at the campground in Vancouver, WA. at about 3:30pm.
We were invited for dinner at Kristen's house. It was delicious. Kristen is such a great cook. Alex had to work so he couldn't join us, so it was just us , Kristen and Taylor, her roommate. We had a good time catching up and we enjoyed the evening immensely.
Heather came down Monday evening after work, and we caught up with her and Alex about 11:30am.
We hung out together all day, and we had dinner at Kristen's, again, only we furnished dinner.
Tony, Mag and the girls came and we enjoyed the evening with them.

Kristen's animals

We got on the road before 9 am. and the trip was pretty uneventful until we got to the mountains.  Some mountain driving can be very stressful, especially with narrow lanes and trucks moving slowly up the grades.
I broke one of my cardinal rules and drove over 400 miles. I was bushed when we arrived at the Trail In campground in Lakehead, CA.
The campground is down in a depression and not very level. It is pretty rustic and a lot of permanent residents are here.
There wasn't any wind when we arrived, and these folks like their campfires. There was a cloud of smoke hanging over the whole area. The whole scene reminded me of the movie Deliverance.

We have a shorter drive today and we will be in CA for at least 3 days.
I haven't checked the price of fuel yet, but I don't want to have to buy too much fuel here.


Ta ta for now.

Our time here is done

It is hard to believe that we have been here for over 4 months.
We are leaving here tomorrow and heading to Portland, Or. to spend a day or two with Alex and Kristin.
Kristin's B'day is Thursday so we will be there to wish her an early happy Birthday.
Heather is coming down on Monday night so we will see her again before heading to our winter quarters.

It has been a special summer for us, as we have learned the art of volunteering in state parks, and the birth of our precious gift, Gracie.

Uncle Kenny with Gracie

She is so beautiful and such a gift. Becky and Fred were not really expecting to have any more children, as Lindsay is now almost 8 years old.
Fred is a doting father and is a real help to Becky with the baby.
He works all week and takes his turn feeding Gracie at 3 or 4am on weekends. He takes her before leaving for work.

He also makes time for Lindsay always has a lap for her to climb in, and he is very attentive to her needs.
You can tell by watching them that there is a close bond between them.

Lindsay has grown so much in our time here. She is becoming quite the little lady.
She loves to wear dresses, but is quite the tomboy, too.
She has a friend who is a boy, and she can keep up with him with ease.
She is pretty popular in school, too. She was elected to be her class representative on the student council. (My, how things have changed since I was in 2nd grade.)
She has spent the night with us several times this trip, and she is here now. She loves spending time with us and her paternal grandparents. We must take advantage of it while she still has time for us.

Both she and Gracie are very lucky to have both sets of grandparents. Becky and Heather lost their maternal grandparents when they were very young.

We are planning to stop in Phoenix for a couple of days to see Beth. We met her at Mike's house while Nancy was so sick. She is a hoot and we get along well. She and Mike became very good friends during his years with Nancy.

We are planning to stay in the Houston area for a couple of weeks, while we visit friends and family and get doctors appointments done.

We probably will be staying at Castaways while we are there. Maybe, park the rig in front of Val's house for a week or so. We will see as time gets closer.

Ta ta for now.

Time with Gracie

Gracie is now 10 days old and her facial expressions and the general look on her face changes every day.

She is a wiggler and she is holding her head up. she moves in your arms so much that you really have to pay attention, if she is awake, while you are holding her.
She is such a God send and such a joy.

The crew

Earth Corps

I went up on the trail on Tuesday and escorted an Earth Corps team up near the middle falls of the Wallace river.
Earth Corps received a grant and is furnishing the labor to repair and improve the Woody Trail.
This crew is all girls except for one guy.
They are all young and enthusiastic about this project. There are several crews and each only work for 4 days.

a small water fall

It is a good hike up there and some of the grade is really steep. I had to stop several times to catch my breath during our hike there.

265 foot drop

Unfortunately, we did not hike up there when Lindsay stayed with us. I was asked by the ranger to take a couple of broken gates over to Lake Sammamish to be repaired. The maintenance shop for this portion of Washington Parks is there, and I knew the route to get there.
I hope that Lindsay will stay with us again and we can hike up the trail.

Top of the middle falls

From the bottom of the middle falls

We are at Fred and Becky's house today and Brenda is volunteering at Lindsay's school.

She really enjoys helping in Lindsay's class and Lindsay enjoys her Grammy being there.

We have just over a week left here and as the weather is getting cooler and cooler. We are ready to start south. We will miss our family, but we will be back next June.
We have to finalize our plans so that we can make reservations and let Beth know when we will arrive in Phoenix.

lurlene suggested that we have a Thanksgiving meal before we leave, so we are meeting at Fred and Lurlene's on Saturday.
They are such nice people and we really appreciate their thoughtfulness.

Ta Ta for now.

She has arrived

Gracie and Mom

Grace Elizabeth arrived at 8:33pm 10/12/2010.
She was 8# 12oz and 21" long and she is beautiful. (No prejudice just fact, See for yourself)
Mother and baby are fine.
According to Becky, labor was easier and shorter this time, and she was in great spirits after Gracie's arrival.

Grammy with Gracie

I was the first after Fred to hold her

Grandma Lurlene holding our newest addition

Auntie Heather

Becky was very hungry after wards and she was given a sandwich.

Grandpa Fred

Fred and Lurlene (Fred's parents), Brenda, Heather, Lindsay, Katrina (Becky's friend from Walmart) and I were present, and we were allowed back in the room after the delivery.

Katrina

We came home this evening and was greeted by Binga.
She knew something was going on for the last several weeks, now she knows, but can't figure out just what Gracie is.

Ready for Travel

Big Sister

Lindsay did not want to hold Gracie at the hospital, but the first thing she asked when they got home was if she could hold her little sister.

Ta ta for now