Not Much to Report

Monday I wasn't feeling the best again, a little left over cold or something. Did manage to do our favorite thing though....yes you guessed, a trip to Walmart and the rest of the day was spent in the recliner.

Tuesday we decided to see how Falcon State Park looked for moving to next week in order to stay close so Nolan can see his niece before we leave the valley, she doesn't get her until February 5 to visit her parents. Well, I should have looked up how far it was from McAllen because it was way to far....we didn't drive all the way but did drive by a couple of other places in Mission that I had looked up. Seven Oaks RV Resort looks good if we decide to move; however, during the drive, I think we decided to just stay put for another week. Made it back to the trailer in time for "Tea Time" and we joined in. The the rest of the night was spent in the recliner.

Today, we went to Walmart to pick up a prescription and then off to the Flea Market to spend the rest of the afternoon. I did manage to pick up a few bargains today.....a baseball hat to control my hair when it's windy, a couple of boxes of cards, and an ankle bracelet. Again, we made it back in time for "Tea Time" and then off to the recliners. The "Tea Time" group was going to an Air Force Concert at one of the schools and Ginger and Skip asked us to go with them but that's not quit Nolan's cup of "Tea".

I'll update you again in a couple of days.....oh yeah, the weather here is really nice even though it was a little cool today starting out around 55 then it warmed up to 65 or so.....nice in the valley!!!

King Ranch and Flea Market

THURSDAY: I've waited too long to post....I don't remember what we did on Thursday!!!

FRIDAY: Today we had made plans to meet at Jerry and Leona's so that we could make the trip to King Ranch. We were supposed to be there at 8:00 am....that's really early for me, but I made it! We met Kenneth and Charlcie at the King Ranch around 10:45 am....tour didn't start til 12:00 but we had heard that we needed to get there early or we would not get on the tour and I think that was right cause the bus was full....I was the last to get on because I was on the phone and I had to sit in the very back between two other couples....I didn't even get to sit by Nolan. I was on the phone because my mother had called. She wasn't feeling good and didn't know what to do. I convinced her to call her doctor and the next hour was spent on the phone with my sister trying to arrange for her to get to Jefferson City with my Mom to see what was going on and with my Mom trying to figure out what she was going to do....thus the reason I was the last one on the bus. We took off on the tour which was a bus tour....no stopping and getting off....so I was stuck between those two couples for the entire trip. We saw the main house, the horse training area, the research center, the fields, the cows, the horses, the village where all the workers live, their school, and the whole works.....very interesting!
Here are Nolan's sisters and brother-in-laws while we were waiting for the tour.
This is the cows that they raise here....the Santa Gertrudis and Santa Cruz.

They also have some long horns.

After the tour we went to eat and then to the museum. Got home around 6:30 a long day for the dogs to have to wait to go outside but they did great.....Lucy didn't even chew up anything!

SATURDAY: We left yesterday with no plan but that they would call us to see what we would do today. Neither of Nolan's sisters had seen our trailer yet so around 11:00 or so they called and said they were on their way over and we would decide what to do after they got here. Showed off our trailer and then we decided to go to the Don West Flea Market.....WOW, what a big flea market....Nolan and I will go back again before we leave Alamo. We then went to find a Luby's for dinner that we had seen on our shopping tour of a Mexican restaurant the other day. Finally found it and had a great meal. Said our goodbyes and went back to the trailer to let the dogs out. Fun Day!

SUNDAY: Well, it was time for a do nothing day and that's exactly what I did, nothing except sit in my recliner with the computer and my knitting. Later in the day I did manage to get on a couple of conference calls with my Longaberger National Sales Team Leader and sent out some Longaberger emails. Everyone I talked to at home today made fun of me cause I said it was cold here when they were having in the teens temperatures.....sorry!

Visiting and Nothing

TUESDAY: I had talked to Leona yesterday and told them we were here and would come to visit tomorrow afternoon. So, that's what was on today's agenda. Finally got around and was hungry....boy was that a mistake not to eat before we left. I was kind of hungry for mexican food and thought surely we could find a good mexican restaurant in this large place of restaurants and stores.....NOT!!!! We started out just fine, just driving and looking....I should have known better. Nolan started getting anxious and lost all patience for looking and told me to stop giving directions and he would just find some place to eat. Well, that's kind of hard to do but I did manage to keep kind of quiet while he drove around for another 15-20 minutes. He finally stopped at a fast food kind of mexican place that was not good! Needless to say I won't ask to go some place again without knowing exactly where I want to go. After that we drove to Leona and Jerry's temporary home here in Texas....sat and talked for a while and decided what time we would meet Friday to go to the King Ranch. Got back home and was glad of it!

WEDNESDAY: No plans for today except go to the store and guess what we found yesterday only a couple of blocks away....yes you guessed it Walmart! So, around noon we went to Walmart and picked up a few items.....back to the trailer and I sat outside in the sun for a little while. Around 4:00 we joined the group outside for "Tea Time". Met some new people and after about an hour or so back to the trailer for the rest of the night....nothing too exciting for today!

Moving Day

Today was the day to leave Rockport.....nice place to stay.....not too big but big enough. We got on the road about 9:30 am. A very uneventful day. Our plan was to visit a couple of parks and decide which one to stay in. With a 36' trailer behind you, that doesn't work very well and we decided to stay at the first park we stopped at.....Alamo Plams in Alamo, TX. A hugh park with small sites. We picked a site that we thought would work and went back to the office to sign in.....Nolan decided that we would only stay 2 weeks here instead of a month....kind of expensive at $360 for 2 weeks, however, we do not have to pay for electric separate. Nolan got back up into the site OK but when we started putting out the slides, one of the slides in the living room was going to hit the roof of the trailer on that side and the other one was in an orange tree. Nolan went to look for the help to see what we needed to do. They came back and said we could pull out farther out in the road. So, we are stuck out a little farther than most but the slides are out and not touching anything except the orange tree on the right side of the living room.....not a big deal. We just relaxed the rest of the afternoon and then around 4:00 pm they started bringing lawn chairs to the site next to us which was empty for their "tea time" gathering.....won't have to go very far for Happy Hour here! We'll wait and see but I'm not sure how much we will like this park.

Two Uneventful Days

Saturday was Hot Dog Roast day....around noon we decided to go to an antique store that Nolan had saw an ad for.....lots of stuff there but because I don't have anywhere to put anything, I walked away empty handed. Stopped by Walmart for food for the hot dog roast and went back to the trailer. I knitted the rest of the afternoon. Because I thought the hot dog roast started at 5:30, I was out walking the dogs at 5:00 when Nolan said that everyone was already at the fire. I hurried but we were still late.....everyone had already roasted their dogs and filled their plates. We went ahead and cooked our hot dogs and ate but by the time we were done everyone was picking up their chairs and taking off.....oh well, guess I should have looked at the calendar more closely!

Today, we didnt' have any plans at all but I really wanted to see if I could find some double pointed needles to use on one of my special projects. So, I talked Nolan into going to the Walmart at Aransas Pass but they didn't have the right size. He agreed we could drive on to Corpus Christi to the Michaels store I saw the other day on our outing. Got there and they had everything I needed plus lots of different types of yarn.....can't wait to start something else and get my yarn from there. Back home we did a bunch of nothing; kind of picking up stuff to get ready to leave tomorrow. I did managed to finally take some pictures of the park where we have stayed for the past month.....

Beautiful and warm day in coast bend Texas!!!

Breakfast and Movie

We had made arrangements to meet Debbie and Rod for breakfast at Alice Faye's today at 9:00. Didn't dawn on us that we should see if they wanted to ride with us so we took off about 8:45. Got there and they were not there yet. Waited for a while and they showed up but they were laughing cause they had walked over to our trailer and knocked on the door to see who was going to drive.....they figured out we weren't there and rushed to the restaurant which they weren't sure where it was. Oh well, we'll know better next time.....sorry Deb and Rod! Had a great time talking and an OK breakfast.....Alice Faye's is not one of those memorable restaurants but one of those that's just OK.

On the way home Nolan stopped by the theater to see when Gran Toreno was playing today and we decided to come back for the 4:00 showing.

Got back to the trailer and I decided to take Lucy to the vet to see why she is scratching so much. Well after $80 and a talk with the vet, she has a yeast infection in her ears and a staff infection on her belly. He said 90 percent of the dogs that visit this area come in with the ear problem.....glad I took her in.

Spent the rest of the afternoon on the internet trying to decide where to stay at McAllen when we leave here on Monday........have I said how much I hate trying to decide where to stay. After calling two of my choices and them both saying sure they had room. I quit worrying about not finding a place and will just make a list of the possible places I've found and we'll just leave early Monday and check a few out before we park. While I was doing that Nolan BBQ'd one of the best pork roasts he has ever cooked.....it was really, really good! By the time we got done eating it was time to go to the movie.

Gran Toreno with Clint Eastwood.....a great movie!

Crafts and Port Aransas VFW

I was very slow getting around this morning but eventually around 12:15 I decided I would get ready and go to the club house for crafts. Glad I did....it's fun to sit and talk to the other ladies while I knit my surprise project.


On the way back to the trailer, Nolan was sitting outside talking to the neighbors so I had a seat and knitted some more until it was time to drive over to Port Aransas. Nolan had called a friend he had worked with in Iowa named Buck a couple of weeks ago and Buck mentioned that his father-in-law was wintering in Port Aransas. The next day Nolan got a call from Tom, Buck's father-in-law, introducing himself and asking us to come over for a visit. Well since it was almost time for us to leave Rockport, we decided today was a good day to make the trip. On the way there I asked Nolan if he knew who we were looking for and he said "no".....I didn't say any more. Tom had invited us to meet them at the VFW in Port Aransas. Wasn't hard to find but the parking lot sure was full for the size of the building. Lots of people inside. We found a table and sat there a few minutes and I suggested that maybe Nolan could call Tom on his cell phone. As Nolan had the phone to his ear the guy sitting right beside him at the next table started digging out his cell phone and turned around. It was Tom. He and Nolan had a good visit and then we headed back home.


A good day in the life of full timers....wonder if it will last?

Texas State Aquarium and USS Lexington

Woke up today and the sun was shining so we decided today was the day to go in to Corpus Christi to visit the Texas State Aquarium and the USS Lexington. First stop was the aquarium. Great place to go! Would have loved to take Cain, Cara, and Brenna.....they would have had a great time.
The dolphins were great.....took lots of pictures of them. One was throwing a ball around and swimming after it. This picture was taken from inside in an underwater viewing area of them. Really cool!

This is an otter that was so cute. He didn't move the whole time we were there but I thought he was still cute.

They had lots and lots of tanks with every kind of fish imaginable. They also had a pond that had 15-20 small stingrays in it that you could actually put your hand in and touch them. Well worth the trip!

Walked down to the USS Lexington after going to the aquarium. Wow, what a big ship.....just never stopped to think how big these aircraft carriers have to be; but, they are huge. This is the entrance and we walked around inside of it on self guided tours for about 3 hours. They have tons of stuff to read and look at and I'm sure we weren't even allowed on but about a third of the ship. Very interesting!

On the way home we stopped at Kentucky Fried Chicken and you guessed it......Walmart!

Crafts and Movie

Today was the day to meet with the ladies of the park for craft time again. I finally felt like being around other people so I made my way down to the club house at 1:00. Spent 2 hours knitting and talking.....good time and enjoyed myself.


I had been hinting that I wanted to see the movie Marley and Me for a couple of weeks and Tuesday nights here you can bring your own bowl and get popcorn for free. Nolan said we could go but when I started looking for a bowl for our popcorn, Nolan said he didn't want to carry a bowl around so we went and bought our popcorn. What a funny movie! However, it has a sad ending so I left crying.


A good day in our new life!

Choke Canyon Lake and The King Ranch

We had decided yesterday that today we were going for a drive......to Choke Canyon Lake and The King Ranch. What a beautiful day! After about a hour or two we got to Choke Canyon Lake. A different kind of lake than what we expected. Not very pretty and not a lot of businesses or activity. A very big lake though....maybe we just didn't get to the right spot. Stopped at a DQ for lunch and ice cream and we were off to The King Ranch at Kingsville. Found the visitor's center but did not take the tour because we plan to do that later in January or early February with Nolan's sisters. It was 3:00 p.m. before we left there and we found out that the museum was in the town and closed at 4:00. We tried to make it there but ran into some road construction so we just went into the King Ranch Saddle Shop to look around. First thing Nolan picked up was made in China so we didn't shop around very much. Got home before dark and walked the dogs....it had warmed up and was a nice afternoon!

Sick and Cold

Friday, we decided to go to the Rockport Beach and walk around....I wanted to see if there would be any shells to find. We didn't get out until around 1:00 and of course there was nothing on the beach if there was to begin with.....but, it was a nice walk. It is so beautiful to walk along the ocean in the sand.....I could do that every day. I don't think Nolan enjoyed it so much, but it was his idea to go. Drove around town for a little and then back to the trailer. Nolan grilled the steaks he got a couple of days ago and that was about it for the day.

Saturday, Was supposed to start getting cold around 9:00 am today but Nolan was outside talking to the neighbors around 10:00 when he rushed in and said that it had just dropped about 20 degrees outside and got his coat. I'm convinced that is why I got this cold.....hot and shorts one day then the next it is sweaters and jeans the next. Really felt bad today so I didn't move out of the recliner only to warm up a can of soup.

Sunday, Woke up feeling much better but still not completely over the cold. Took a shower and Nolan said he would take me up to the Dairy Queen for ice cream.....I was ready and waiting in 10 minutes. Wow, I really am not well yet.....that little trip made me so tired.....I was back in my recliner for the rest of the afternoon. Tonight is Bingo night but I decided it probably wouldn't be a good idea to go and cough on everyone all night.

So....that about catches me up on what we've been doing. Only one more week here then we'll be moving on.....I'll try to get some pictures taken of the park next week.

Aransas Wildlife Refuge

Even though I got up feeling worse with a cold, I wanted to get out so we went to the Aransas Wildlife Refuge. It was a beautiful day, 70 degrees when we got there and sunny. We took Oscar and Lucy. It's a driving tour with places you can stop and look for the different types of wildlife. Great place!

Nolan thought he counted about 25 alligators in this pond.

Just a few of the pictures I took of the animals. It's about a 14 mile drive through the park and we couldn't have picked a better day.

As we were driving home we passed a Used Book Warehouse and decided we would go there later and out to eat Mexican. Around 3:30 we took off again. I think that's the most used books I have seen in one place before.....anything you wanted you could find there. We bought a couple of books and then went to the restaurant next door. We were the only ones there.....that's always a little pit scary but it was really good. Guess it was just the wrong time of day. And, then guess what we did, you got it.....off to Walmart cause we needed diet coke, milk, bread, and cold medicine. We didn't make it until Monday!

What Have We Been Doing?

Friday, 2 January: Must have went to Walmart but I really can't remember what we did.

Saturday, 3 January: Decided I needed some kind of carpet shampooer cause Lucy had thrown up 3 times on the carpet and it was red stuff. Had trouble getting it out without one! Went to Walmart....duh.....and the one here in Rockport was out of the one I wanted. So guess what, I got to go to the Walmart in Aransas Pass. Bought the Little Green Compact Deep Cleaner made by Bissell. It has a heater that makes the water hoter than comes out of the faucet. All that shopping at Walmart wore me out though so I didn't try it out!!!!

Sunday, 4 January: We got very energetic and got the stuff together to go to the car wash and clean the truck....it really needed it. We hadn't cleaned it since we before we left Missouri. Made it back to the trailer without it raining. For dinner we decided to go to Popeye's and guess what, it sprinkled on the way there on our clean truck!!!!

Tonight on the park calendar it said "Bingo". Well, stupid me just thought they would play bingo probably for money. Got there and they had specific "rules". I was supposed to bring 4 quarters, 4 dimes, and 4 nickels.....I had a $20 bill.....had to borrow $1.60 from someone at my table. And, oh by the way they played with decks of cards not bingo cards. Same concept kind of but there were four people on a team that divided a deck of cards 4 ways and then the caller started calling off card numbers and if a card was called that you had you got to throw it in the middle and the first person to get rid of all their cards called Bingo! I didn't win!!!!

Monday, 5 January: Today was a day to get away from the trailer for a while. We took off for the ferry and Port Aransas and Corpus Christi via Mustang Island. Got to the ferry and while we were waiting to take off I took this picture of a pelican. Made it off the ferry and got on the right road. Nice drive across Mustang Island.....not as far as what I thought it would be. Drove through Corpus Christi and back to Rockport.

Before we left Rockport on our drive, we stopped at the Rockport Vet Clinic that the park manager had recommended to me and found out that they did not make appointments, it was just walk in. I was getting paranoid about the dogs getting heartworm (I had looked up heartworms on the internet and it said that 45% of heartworm cases came from the Gulf Coast area). Lucy had some bites and Oscar was scratching.....I just knew they were going to get heartworm!!!! After the drive I decided I still had time to take them in. Vet tested them and they were negative so I bought the preventive medicine and now I feel better!!!

Oh yeah, when we got back we made a trip to Walmart.....I forgot to get something of course!!!

Vowed to try not to go back to Walmart until next Monday.....think we can do it??

Tuesday, 6 January: Tuesday and Thursday is Craft Day at the Club House. So, I did nothing until it was time to go for that. Nolan went out and found a hair cut some where.....and we needed Bounce so he went somewhere and got that and a couple of other things to cook.....didn't ask where he went.....sure hope it wasn't Walmart! A lot of the ladies at the Club House were working on projects incorporating the swedish weaving in the project.......kind of like counted cross stitch only on bigger weaved fabric with yarn. Had never seen it before but looked like fun...I just stuck with my knitting surprise!

Wednesday, 7 January: Signed up to go to lunch with the ladies today. Supposed to meet at the club house at 11:00. There were 20 some going. We went to Charlotte Plummer's Restaurant, seafood. Very good!!!

This was picture taken out the window.

This is a closeup of the pier in the picture above.

I'll try to remember names (left to right).....of course, that's me, Loretta, Corrine, Maryls, and Maryanna.Karen, June (has three Yorkies), don't know the next two ladies, and Sandy.

Don't know, Doris, don't know anyone at the back table, Pam, Carol, and don't know.
Same table, different view...Pam, Carol, don't know, Vee, Don't know, Doris, and Don't know.

This is that back table again, that I didn't know who they were......

This was our table and that's Corrine, Maryls, Maryanna, and Pat (she was taking the picture in the first one).

We had a very good time and Pat who was driving our vehicle took us to a couple of shops downtown and we walked around looking for a while.....very nice ladies!

New Years Day

Well, today was lunch at the Club House......chili and black eyed peas. Didn't get out of bed until 9:00 today....didn't sleep good again. After I did get out of bed all I did was sit in the recliner and work on the surprise for the girls some more. Finally got ready and we managed to get out the door with our cheese and crackers by 1:55.....we were supposed to eat at 2:00. This time Deb and Rod saved us a spot.....thanks so much.....again, there were no spaces available. As usual, we enjoyed Rod and Deb's company and the food. Came back home and sat outside with the dogs in their pen for a couple of hours until it got cold and then the rest of the night was spent in front of the TV working on the surprise! Tomorrow we plan to do something so maybe I'll have some pictures to post.