Oct 20, 2019 - Headed West to Big Bend

On the road again headed West to Big Bend National Park. We left home yesterday and stayed the night at Buckhorn RV Park in Kerrville, Tx, traveling with Dave and Sally Durand. We had some excitement along the way when, as we were following Dave and Sally, we saw smoke coming from their RV. Bob says is that smoke coming out of the back of Dave's RV, maybe its because they use diesel. No wait, I smell something HOT!! We called Dave and said, "I think you have a problem"!! We pulled over, the brakes on one of the tires had locked and was...

Oct 19, 2019 - Texas

Arrived in Westwood RV, which is just West of Fort Worth TX. Spend the night at a roadside stop in Abeline Tx. Did the tourist thing and visited the old Stockyards. Walked around, watched the cowpokes herd the longhorns down the street and had a drink at Filthy McNasty's Saloon. Every time we stop here, we have dinner at Texas de Brazil. It's always amazing and we eat too much. Fixed menu with open salad bar and tons of Lobster Bisque. Then waiters walk around with different meats and you just say yes or no to each selection. All you can...

Oct 16, 2019 - Escapees Oktoberfest

Today at the Escapees Activity Center we celebrated Oktoberfest. The weather was chilly and damp but it didn’t actually rain. There was a morning marketplace with vendors, artisan crafts and other activities. The major activity of the day was the 35th annual dessert auction to raise funds to support the Livingston Volunteer Fire Department. It brought in $9,336!! That beat our record, which was set last year. This morning the firemen discussed the features and purposes of various types of fire extinguishers. To demonstrate them, they set a...

Oct 15, 2019 - Didgeridoo Player at Flute Circle

This afternoon at flute circle we had visitors Robert and Cassandra Joy, who brought their musical instruments. Robert played his authentic native Australian didgeridoo and Cassandra played a silver flute solo for us. Then I accompanied her on the piano as she played a couple of hymns. I tried to entice her to come regularly to play duets with me but she wouldn’t commit to it, saying that she is very busy now. They are getting ready to take a cruise on the Amazon River.

Oct 9, 2019 - Amarillo, TX

We got up to see the Balloons takeoff one last time before leaving. We then went from Albuquerque, NM to Amarillo, TX. We had a tail wind, so it went smoothly. We stopped at Oasis in Amarillo and had some leftovers for dinner. We got some sleep for the following day to Yukon, OK.

Oct 7, 2019 - Kaia Time

After Kaia spent the night we traveled to Fort Worth to visit the famous stockyards. The Fort Worth Stockyards are a historic district and encompasses 98 acres and was once the former livestock market which was opened in 1866. At one point they sold over a million cattle each year and not only did they deal in cattle but also sheep and hogs. The stockyards thrived until the 1950’s when auctions were held closer to where the livestock were originally produced. Today the stockyards celebrate the tradition with the highlight being a “stampede”...

Sep 29, 2019 - Sunday 9/29/19

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while. All of my art and office stuff was stacked on the bedroom floor to make way for the new front room windows. The install took much longer than we’d anticipated, but then everything we’ve done has taken longer than we thought it would. The front room is amazingly open now. Before, with the old windows and all their panes, the view was nice, but there was little insulation, so the room got incredibly hot when the sun beat down on them in the mornings. The lack of panes really opens up the view. These windows...

Sep 26, 2019 - Made it to Texas

Good Morning, everyone. We got started a little later than we normally do. We had planned to get started earlier before it got hot but that is kinda hard to do when the day starts out hot and then just gets hotter. The humidity is such that when you step outside we break out into sweat. We have heard reports that WSS is bracing for a winter blizzard this weekend where there is a possibility of 3 feet of snow and wind chills down to 0 degrees.

Sep 24, 2019 - Journey to Cusco Begins

A year and a half ago we signed up for an Audubon Society birding tour in Peru. Today we departed Austin for Cusco where we will meet on 02 October the Audubon group of 10 other people. Cusco is a delightful city which we had visited 12 years ago when also touring Peru through Lima, Macho Pichu, and the Urrubamba Sacred River Valley. Our challenge on this trip is that Lidia suffered a stress fracture of her right foot 2 weeks ago ! The doctor cleared her for this trip, BUT walking while wearing the walking cast more than a few yards is not...

Sep 21, 2019 - Amarillo to Albuquerque

The Long Drive Day 17 We awake to news of appalling floods in Texas resulting in 6 deaths. We feel very lucky to be on the northern edge of the bad weather. Although there is some evidence of last nights storms and the day is cloudy there is no disruption to our plans and the weather is set to improve again. Amarillo's star attraction is the Big Texan Steak Ranch where the steak is free if you are able to eat a 72oz steak with all the trimmings within an hour. I don't think this is a challenge I will be taking on as I have difficulty eating...

Sep 16, 2019 - Visit by Larry and Linda Seelke

Today I was treated to a little visit by Austin friends, Larry and Linda Seelke. We attended the same church, Bible class and home group in Austin. I really miss them; they are two of the reasons that leaving Austin was so hard for me. We had a late lunch at Patrón Grill and enjoyed the delicious food. Afterwards, I showed them around the CARE center and they were impressed with it. Then they continued on their way -- ultimately to Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Sep 16, 2019 - Monday 9/16/19

We finally closed the chapter on the master shower remodel last week. Initially, Bill complained that the shower was too big. In my mind, there’s no such thing as too big a shower or tub or TV. Anyway, he seems to be adjusting to it now. The front room windows are in town and are scheduled to be installed Wednesday. And that will be the last of the contracted work (we hope and pray) for a while. We discovered that the roof needs to be replaced in the next few months, but maybe the insurance will pay for part of it. Bill has spent the last...