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.