Must be Sunday we are in Tucson AZ!

This morning the skies were cloudy but the rain held off long enough for us to get on the road! Ted stayed dry! It had rained most of the night so that was lucky! The KOA campground at Las Cruces was on a hill and the view this morning with the clouds was beautiful. The camera really doesn't capture how pretty it was. In the distance (under clouds) is the Guadalupe Mountain range. The mountains were difficult to see but beautiful.

On the drive to Tucson we were in and out of rain but felt very lucky that huge storms stayed north and south of us, it could have been ugly!

We decided to stay at one of our membership reciprocal resort campgrounds. It is a huge park with space for RV's and an area that has mobile homes/park models for more than 1500 spaces. They have a restaurant, bar and grill, hair and nail spa, barber shop, tanning salon and more. It is a nice park. We decided to have dinner in the restaurant. My grilled salmon was good but Ted's chicken fried steak was pretty hard and his potatoes were cold.

Tomorrow we head for Camp Verde, Arizona. Should be a short trip about 200 miles. I hope to get my nails done before we leave.

Missing the bad weather..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Las Cruces, New Mexico

We made it out of Texas today!  We drove about 275 miles today to Las Cruces.  We didn't realize we gained back an hour today so we were here early!  We drove around town and much to Ted's dismay came upon a Starbucks yum!  We refueled the truck and checked out the town and then headed back to the campground. 

Shortly after we got back to the campground the skies opened up with rain, thunder and lightning.  Poor Max really distresses over the noise of it all.  Fortunately it stopped pretty quick but still looks very dark.  It is supposed to rain here tomorrow.  Hopefully it will let up long enough for Ted to get us hooked up to head to Tucson, Arizona.  It's supposed to be raining there also.

White chocolate mocha from Starbucks..."Ain't Life Grand!" (for me anyway!)

Thanksgiving Dinner

Ted and I enjoyed our Thanksgiving and of course ate tooooo much! Cheryl and Dan cooked two turkeys and a ham plus all the trimmings. Gloria baked pumpkin and pecan pies and yummy yams! We had homemade cookies galore! We played a couple of different games, Imagine If and Apples to Apples. Both are fun games and even the little kids played. It was a fun day! Max was very busy following everyone around and "vacuuming" anything to eat that fell on the floor! When we got in the truck to go home his head hit the pillow and he was soon snoring! He was pooped!

This morning we left Boerne and are in Ft. Stockton Texas, about 300 miles west. We got in this afternoon and drove in to town to gas up. Tommorrow we will head for Los Cruces, New Mexico.

On the road again..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is a good day to give thanks.  Ted and I are very thankful for our friends and family.  We are thankful for all of the service men and women all over the world doing their best for our country to keep us safe.  We are thankful for each other and Max too!  We hope you all have a blessed day and enjoy your family and friends.

We are spending the day with Ted's cousin Gloria, John, their daughter Cheryl, her family and a few of their friends.  There will be two tons of great food to eat but remember Thanksgiving calories don't count!

Yesterday we had breakfast with our friend Laura as she was on her way out of town to Waco, Texas to visit her daughter and son-in-law for Thanksgiving. 

Last night we had dinner with Gloria and John and their two youngest grandkids.  We played games after dinner.  The two youngest kids were very good at the "Shut The Box" game so I gave it to them.  It helps teach math.  They are only 4 and 6 years old and did great.  Then we taught Grandma and Grandpa to play Phase 10, a favorite game of friends Jim and Della Crownover.   Jim and Della always beat us so we thought we had a chance with the beginners...WRONG!   John was the big winner!  He was so excited he was ready to play another game but it was already 10:00 p.m. and time to call it a day!

Happy Thanksgiving to all and remember..."Ain't Life Grand!" 

Camp Verde and more...

On Monday we drove to Kerrville (approximately 55 miles from our campground) to meet friends Martha and Victor Milting. We know them because my ex-husband's Aunt Lucille was a cousin to June. Martha and June have been friends for fifty years and Martha came to San Diego with June one time. We didn't know Martha very well and Victor not at all. Victor is a retired Continental Airlines pilot and he and Ted enjoyed talking about airplanes and flying. Victor was celebrating his 80th birthday so they took us to Camp Verde for lunch to celebrate. We had a very enjoyable day with them.

Camp Verde is an experience. It is a general store, post office and cafe! Camp Verde is a historical monument with an interesting history. In 1855 Congress approved a bill that appropriated $30,000 for the army to experiment with using camels for army transportation and other military purposes. Three loads of camels with brought to Ft. Camp Verde and they became pack animals traveling longer distances and carrying heavier loads than mules. After the civil war there was no money to continue the camel experiment and they were turned loose to range the countryside. The fort was deactived in 1869 and in 1910 the fort buildings were destroyed by fire. After the fort was deactivated the general store and post office continued serving pioneer ranchers who had settled in this area.

The food is delicious and inexpensive and it's a lot of fun to look around the store.

Yesterday we took the RV in to have the trailer brakes bled and for them to install a new microwave. Thank goodness we purchased the Good Sam Warranty Insurance, this is the second time it's been helpful. Of course a 9:00 appointment turned into a 2:00 appointment and we finally got out at 5:00! In the meantime we went to Cracker Barrel for an enjoyable breakfast/lunch and did some shopping. After we got the RV rehooked up, we took off to Cheryl and Dan's for tamales! We played some games after dinner and of course had dessert! It was a full and fun evening!

Lunch at Camp Verde..."Ain't Life Grand!"

The weekend in Texas!

Saturday turned out to be a pretty sunny fall day in Boerne, Texas. We met Laura at Dodger Duck for dinner. Dodger Duck is a microbrewery/restaurant in an old house. Across the street is the Guadalupe River filled with ducks but don't know if that's how the restaurant got it's name. After a good dinner we went over to Ye Kendall Inn for a nice glass of port. A very enjoyable evening.

Today around noon John and Gloria picked us up at the campground and we were all starved. We headed to Bandera for lunch at Busbee's Bar-B-Que restaurant. Bandera is noted to be the "Cowboy Capital of the World"! Main Street looks like it could be right out of a western movie except it is paved!  We had delicious barbeque brisket, turkey and sausage, potatoe salad, beans and coleslaw.

After lunch John took us to Lost Maples Texas State Park in the Texas Hill Country on the Sabinal River.  We were a little late in the season to really see the spectacular change of color in the bigtooth maple trees but it was still very pretty.  The trail we hiked went along the river which was pretty shallow and really clear!  It's a nice little park to hike and I imagine it looks very different with each season change and very pretty.

On the drive home several hours later we decided that after that large lunch and that nice little hike, DQ was in order!  John, Ted and I had hot fudge sundaes and Gloria had a German chocolate blizzard!  We decided that would be dinner! 

Ice cream for dinner..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Homemade Apple Pie!

Last night we had dinner at Gloria and John's house.  Gloria set a beautiful table (which I forgot to take a picture of) with all of her matching dishes and glassware.  She had a greenbean casserole, sauteed squash, a nice green salad and baked potatoes and John barbecued pork chops.  You are probably wondering why I would feel the need to write about this????  It's because she also made an apple pie from scratch including the double crust pie shell.  Ted and I have voted this the "Best Apple Pie Ever"!

Bet you can guess what makes..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Chores and things!

This week we have continued trying to get things done on the RV, get our satelite problem fixed and miscellaneous chores!  Monday was spent getting nails done, a Costco run and some other things.  Tuesday was to get the satelite to work in the bedroom.  We had a good signal on the dish but could only watch TV in the living room.  Matt from Ultimate Theatre came out and couldn't see any problem with the set-up or the splitter so decided it may be the receiver.  I took off to Boerne and brought back a new receiver.  Ted hooked everything up and now we couldn't even get a signal on either TV and of course the shop was now closed.  After talking to Matt he said we go and get a new satelite head from the shop! 

We then headed back to Boerne to have dinner with John and Gloria.  They took us to Papa Nachos.  They have very good Mexican food.  On Wednesday we went to Boerne and picked up the new head, retrieved our old receiver box and ran some other errands.  We had lunch at the Little Gretel German Restaurant across the street from the river.  Had a nice lunch and then headed back to the RV to hookup the TV stuff.  After Ted got it all hooked up, it still was acting up, turning itself off and on and trying to run tests over and over.  We finally replaced the cable from the satelite to the RV (our last option) and that worked.  Of course it still took over an hour to do the testing and process the guide etc. but we finally had TV in both rooms! 

Today we finally washed the last side of the RV.  It's probably going to rain tonight or tomorrow but we still needed to get the road grime off from the past rains!  Tonight Gloria and/or John are making dinner for us.  Last Friday night John cooked a roast, with potatoes, gravy, green beans, corn and rolls.  He's a pretty good cook!  (Don't get a big head John - I know he reads the blog!).  Gloria made two cakes for dessert that were yummy!  John also cooked a great breakfast for us last Saturday before we took off to Sea World.  Their daughter, Cheryl, made dinner for us Saturday night.  We are definitely getting spoiled with all of the good cookin'!

Good eats, a clean RV and TV..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Sunday afternoon!

On Sunday we drove over to the east side of Boerne to visit our friend Laura and her four dogs and three or four cats. She has an older dog that loves to chase sticks - into her pond!   It had rained and I don't think the water in the pond was too warm but she loved jumping in to fetch the stick! Laura showed us around her two acres of land, with the nice pond and lots of beautiful oak trees. She is planning to build her own house and has her work cut out for her! She is currently building a one room house with a loft to practice on and already has her plans for the main house she is planning to build. Very industrious woman!

After we looked around her property, she followed us back to Lakehills where we are camped. We showed her around our 40' RV! That took a couple minutes and we sat down, had a glass of wine and talked.   Laura stayed for dinner (and survived my cooking as far as we know)!

Later in the evening when it was time to go to bed, Max ran in to get his chewy, something he does to indicate bed time. I thought he looked so cute "smoking his pipe"!

Around 2:00 this morning we had a heck of a Texas storm! It was thunder and lightning with a torrent of rain! Max was scared too death, shivering and shaking and asking us to make it stop! It finally did and we were all able to go back to sleep. It was a doozy! Today was very windy with clear sunny skies. It never got over 61 degrees today as far as I know.

Sunday afternoons..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Sea World Texas!

Yesterday John and Gloria took us along to Sea World Texas with their daughter Bonnie (from the Dallas area) and her son Rick. We also took Oliva and Jack (two of their other grandkids). Ted and I had not been to Sea World in a very long time.  We had a lot of fun!

We went to the dolphin petting pool.  The dolphins were being very playful!  We took a walk through the Shark/Coral Reef tanks.  They have jellyfish, of course lots of different types of sharks, lots of coral, little frogs, eels, beautiful sea anemone's and much much more.

Being this is the fall season, there were only a couple of shows open but they were good ones!  The sea lion/walrus show is really great.  It's so amazing what they can train these animals to do!  It's really a cute show and you've gotta love the sea lion's RED LIPS!  (Vicky eat you heart out!) 

The walrus, Uncle Max, didn't want to come out through "his fish company" so came swimming out instead.  He soon got his rhythm going and charmed us all.

Ted, Bonnie, Olivia and Gloria were very brave and rode the Journey to Atlantis ride.  I took a video of them but it didn't want to download.  It's a roller coaster with a very wet ending!  They all seemed to enjoy being cooled off!

Jack indicated he wanted to go to the 4-D Pirate movie.  After discussion we all agreed to go.  It was a packed house so Jack sat on my lap.  There were lot's of things happening to the bad pirates, and us such as bird's pooping on us and Jack was having a good time.  But when the hornets buzzed us and the spider tried to get us, it was too much for both Jack and Olivia and we had to leave the theatre (along with lots of other small kids).  Jack said he is NEVER going back to that movie, but as we left he was sure watching the bats flying towards us!

Next was the amazing Shamu Show.  You just have to see it to believe it!

The last thing we did was walk through the "fishy" penguin encounter.  They are so funny when they play in the water and so serious when they are standing on land!

Throughout the day I took pictures of the cute animals spotted around the park:

What a group!  The weather was beautiful, the kids were great and a good time was had by all!

Watching the fish tank..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Truck Repairs - again and Max gets a haircut!

We've kept busy this week with appointments. On Tuesday we had Class A RV (RV repair place) coming out to the campground to measure the space for our convection microwave which stopped working. The keypad won't work and the fan for convection continues running so while waiting for them we got to washing the RV. The RV was filthy from driving in lots of rain. You'd think it would be cleaner but the road stuff sprays the entire body of the RV with mud. I must say it is somewhat satisfying to wash something that is so dirty but now my back and neck are stiff! Too out of shape for manual labor!

On Wednesday we took the truck to the Ford dealer for brakes. They started making a sound about 3 days prior. Of course the back discs were already gouged and had to be replaced for a fortune. The service writer was astonished at how huge the discs are and apparently they have to be turned (whatever that means) prior to installing. We also had a leak in the radiator reservoir that needed to be fixed and oil and filter change. It is never ending! After we dropped off the truck the shuttle took us to town. We dropped off Max at the groomer and went to the Peach Cafe for a nice breakfast. We spent the morning walking around town checking out all of the shops and then headed back to the dealer to rent a car since they had to order the discs. We picked up a freshly groomed Max and visited Gloria and her 4 "charges". She does day care for 4 babies under 1 year old! She is a very brave woman. Max of course looks very handsome (except for all his old age warts)!  He was quite the poser!

Yesterday I got my hair cut (and colored) and we picked up the truck. Met John and Gloria for dinner. We headed toward San Antonio to Chesters. They have "the best hamburgers in the state" - their claim to fame! We had lots of laughs and a good dinner with John and Gloria and headed home.

Eating cheeseburgers in Texas.."Ain't Life Grand!"

Ye Kendall Inn in Boerne, Texas

Yesterday we had lunch with our friend Laura Joann at the Historic Ye Kendall Inn, a national landmark. In 1859 the land was purchased for $200 and a house was built. Originally travelers would stay as guests of the owners then they started renting out the rooms of the house and it became an authentic stagecoach Hotel. They added two long wings in 1978 and in 1982 extensive restoration began that is ongoing today. The main structure is constructed of native rock walls 20" thick. There is approximately 6.5 acres of property and includes several buildings. There is said to be evidence in the cellar of a tunnel which connected the old hotel with another building a block away! It is a beautiful hotel and lunch was delicious! It was fun looking around the hotel.

Outside views of the courtyard, cabins and the front of the hotel:

Ye Kendall Inn..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Football & Food!

A day of football and food, does it get any better than that???? Our friends John and Gloria took us over to their kids' home; Cheryl (daughter), Dan (son-in-law) and three kids: Haley, Olivia and the famous Jack, for food and football! This is a "Sunday Event" all football season. I thought they must have been cooking for days (except they weren't even sure what they were having on Saturday afternoon)! They cooked a pork loin stuffed with jalapenos and cheddar cheese - now those of you who know me, know I can't comment on the taste of that! But they also had a plain one for wimps like me! They also barbecued chicken, had fresh cooked green beans, a 5-cheese mac and cheese and corn on the cob. Everything was so yummy! Of course there was dessert, brownies and a yummy white cake with a pudding frosting that was delicious!

Oh yeah, and there was a lot of football!!!!    They are originally from Illinois so they are Bears fans. Dan subscribes to all of the sports channels and has a channel that shows six or seven games at a time, with one screen that shows any game with action on the goal line! A few friends stopped by to enjoy the day, along with a rain storm and cute little bitty frogs! It was a great day even though the Bears lost. (But the Chargers won!  YEAH)...

There are tons of deer (and a few dogs too) at the campground and lots of fawns!  As we were leaving yesterday I took a couple pictures of just a few of them wandering around.

Great food and football..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Back to Boerne, Texas

We are back in Boerne which is just a few miles down the road from Fredericksberg.  We are camped at Lake Medina in the Hill Country west of Boerne.  They told us the draught is over but the lake is still really low.  So low you can't use the boat ramp to get your boat in the water!  This is the campground that is full of deer.  They pay attention to you but don't seem to be afraid.  Yesterday afternoon there were a dozen hanging around an RV that must feed them.

In the afternoon we took off to Boerne to visit with John & Gloria Eaton (Ted's cousin).  We went to dinner at Willie's!  It's a very popular place.  You go in and order, get your drink, and then take your order sheet to your table where the waitress takes it and processes it.  They have large glass garage doors that they raise as long as the weather is nice (which it was last night).  By the large outside seating they have a big sand box for the little kids, and it was full of little kids!  I had the baby back ribs and they were very good!  Everyone enjoyed their dinner.

We headed back to John and Gloria's for more gabbing..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Shopping & Dinner in Fredericksberg!

"Today our friends took off to Kerrsville to look at the area.  Ted and I spent the day in Fredericksberg shopping and walking around town.  It was such a beautiful sunny day in the mid 70's.  Our friends Jeri and Stan had given me a welcome banner for my birthday and today we found another banner that said "Island Attitude" with pretty hibiscus on the banner!  We also found a table decoration in fall colors for the RV. 

We met up with Pam, Jonathan and Nicholas for dinner.  A friend of theirs had recommended the Rathskeller Restaurant.  It is a small underground restaurant with very friendly servers.  We all had a great dinner!  It was a fun evening with our friends.

Finding small things to buy..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Fredericksberg, Texas

We got to Fredericksberg yesterday afternoon. We are in a pretty camground that has big pretty trees (and unfortunately mosquitos)! This morning we drove to the Austin, Texas Airport to meet our friends the Pullens. They were surprised to see us! We got to the airport early and looked around. The guitar display was at the baggage claim area at the airport.

After they collected their bags and their car, we had a nice lunch together and we both headed back to Fredericksberg. They were going to check into their hotel and probably take a nap! They left Murrietta around 3:30 a.m. and by the time they got to their hotel it must have been 5:30!   I think they were all pretty tired!

Cool guitars..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Moving on down the road...

After we left Long Lane we drove south and a bit west to Checotah (She-co-ta) Oaklahoma!  We were camped on the Eufala River (you know eu falla and can't get up river)!  Max and I wandered up on three deer early one morning, very pretty. 

One of the "benefits" listed in the campground brochure was the storm cellar.  Is that scary or what????  We were parked next to it but I forgot to take a picture of it.  It looked somewhat like a quonset hut but to make it pretty they painted pictures all over it.  It was made of thick steel and had large air vents.  I think that was the first one I have ever seen.

Last night we spent the night at Lake Whitney, Texas.  It was a beautiful warm sunny day. We are moving down to Fredericksberg, Texas.  Our friends from Murrietta; California, Pam, Jonathan and Nicolas Pullen are visiting there.  They are looking at various "retirement areas"!  You might recall we visited Salida, Colorado to check it out for them!

Not sure if I mentioned lady bugs in Illinois.  We can't get rid of them.  We still have dozens showing up in our RV every day.  They must have hatched babies.  Instead of red and black they are gold and black and they do bite.  I got 3 bites on the neck!  I used to like lady bugs but they are being a big pain!

Enjoying our travels..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Long Lane Missouri

We were in Long Lane, Missouri since the 28th visiting our friends, Bill and Ginny Nasse. Ted lived at the Reynard Arms apartments after he got out of the military and came back to San Diego. Bill had also rented an apartment while he was starting a business in San Diego. Ginny and their children still lived in Los Angeles while Ginny took care of their business up there. She would come down on the weekends. They had lots of fun with several residents at the apartments having barbecues and get togethers. We had a good time catching up on their lives and ours.
Unfortunately we didn't have wi-fi so have gotten behind in our blogs so please be patient while I catch up! 

The first night there Bill and Ginny took us to "The Cave Restaurat".  We drove to the restaurant where we waited for a shuttle.  It was raining pretty hard and the van took us up a narrow, rutted road up 1200 feet above the river.  It was an "E" ticket ride if you know what I mean!  You have to be old enough and lived in Southern California to understand what that means!  The van stopped by an elevator that took us up to the restaurant that is totally in a cave.  They have special equipment to help keep the spring water in the cave to a minimum.  It was very interesting and the food was good.  The owner, Gary, knows our friends and spent time with us telling us about the cave and his future plans.  He's owned the cave for about 6 months.

The next afternoon Bill and Ginny took us to the Fantastic Caverns in Springfield, Missouri.  In this cave they have a jeep that pulls a cart so you just ride through.  It's not a very big cave but has some interesting things in it.  It had two really large sink holes in it and lots of stalactites and stalacmites.  There were a group of women scientists who went in by themselves in the 1930's to check the cavern out, crawling through a tiny hole and using candle power to see what they were looking at.  I think they were very brave!

On Friday they took us to Bennett Springs.  It is a State Park with a huge spring and fish hatchery.  They also have a lodge, restaurant, campground and a general store.  The spring averages 100 million gallons of water per day, every day!  They stock the spring with rainbow and brown trout so fishing is very popular there.  We saw a crawfish in the water and I took a picture of a gentleman's Rainbow Trout!  It was the first beautiful, sunny day we had in a long time!

On Saturday Bill borrowed two ATV's from their neighbor.  Bill has 5 to 10 acres around the house that he keeps mowed and the rest of it is wooded.  There are lots of deer in the woods and his lets his friends hunt there during deer season.  Hunting season for kids started on Saturday so we all wore bright colors in case anyone on one of the surrounding properties was hunting.  We rode the ATV's around his entire property.  He has a couple of ponds, a 50' deep by 200' wide sink hole that is probably a cavern and lots of springs.  We had a fun ride!

We truly had a great visit with Bill and Ginny. It was fun to get to know them and they are wonderful hosts! Oh yeah, forgot to tell you how we got stuck in their yard! With all the rain, the truck got stuck in the mud, fortunately our RV wasn't stuck. Bill's son came over with his semi tractor and Bill hooked up his yard tractor and together they were able to pull us out. We ended up parking in the gravel driveway and they were able to drive the car around us in the grass without getting stuck and we were able to level the RV!

I've really enjoyed Missiouri (except for all the rain).  The rolling hills and trees, it's very pretty.  I found it interesting that the State Road names are all letters.  We camped on UU Road in Cuba which was close to ZZ Road.  Bill and Ginny live on P Road and we drove down A Road to get there!

Enjoying Missouri..."Ain't Life Grand!"