GARNER STATE PARK!

Finally the motorhome is fixed and ready to hit the road! Hate staying in a motels, that is why we got a motorhome! Headed out early Thurs. morning and got to Garner State Park around noon, no phone service or internet but believe it or not we have satellite TV, a volunteer told me I could get internet through the park, so here I am! My kids were freaking out because no one could get a hold of us, so we got a visit from a ranger that my daughter was worried and wanted to speak to me, they let me use their phone to call her, I told her we were fine, she said why didn't you call or post on facebook, I told her I didn't have phone or internet service and couldn't contact anyone! She said everyone was worried about us and couldn't get a hold of us, I told her there are going to be times and places that we will have no phones or internet, don't worry about us!

We are in a beautiful park, hills all around us and a the beautiful spring fed Frio river with turquoise water with bald cypresses along the banks! We were going to stay only a couple of days but it is so beautiful and peaceful here! This is what we wanted all along, had a campfire last night, first time since we left Michigan, they finally lifted the fire band in this part of Texas, felt good because the temps dipped into the high 20's last night, had a frost warning, but going to reach up into the 60's today! The sun is shining and we have been sitting outside all day and enjoying the beauty! Felt back about having to leave Mission, but this is the what we really wanted to do, see this country and travel, not stay in on spot for 6 months, but it was the only way we could afford to do what we wanted to do, but the good Lord helped us out with a financial gift and sounds strange but Craig was told by the doctors that he can't physically do camp working! So here we are and loving it!

We are sitting outside listening to music and having a couple of beers! I can't help but think of my parents and their love of travel, I feel them with me and I get so emotional as I think of them, I wish I could have told them that, us kids use to wish they would be home more often and not take off for months at a time, but now and only now do I realize what a wonderful time they had, I am seeing the things they seen and wishing I could call them and share it with them, I wish I could tell them "Ok, I finally get it, now I finally understand, I get it, I really do!" Thank God they had that time together and enjoyed their lives until they died!

Well, gotta go for now, we are driving to San Antonio to see the Alamo tomorrow, will post pictures!

LEFT FALCON STATE PARK..HEADING TO LAREDO!

We left Falcon State Park and headed for Laredo, but the brakes were acting up on the MH, so we went back to Rio Grand to have it checked out with a mechanic there and he said it was possibly the power steering pump, which also has something to do with the brake system, it's an assist or something like that! He said he really wasn't equiped to work on it! So we called a Laredo mechanic and asked if he could check it out for us, he said no problem, but we would have to get a motel for the night because we wouldn't be allowed to stay in the MH because of insurance reasons! He said he is sure he would have it ready to go by today! I hope so because I hate motels, we had to get a pet friendly motel and they always put you in a smoking room and it stinks plus it is also a truck motel, there are semi's coming and going all night!  If we have to stay another night we are going to find another place, this one is a joke, Craig said we got what we paid for, if I would have paid $20 more we could have stayed at a nicer motel, lol, I believe he is right! I am cheap! We were going to stay at a state campground here for a couple of nights but with the setback with the MH we are going to head straight to Garner State Park near San Antonio, stay a few days there then move on towards Arizona. Not sure we want to stay in San Antonio too long, we have noticed the further north we go the colder it gets! I see that Houston has flooded! We will just have to wait and see what happens! 
                 Waiting to call the mechanic and get the news, praying the cost isn't too bad and they can fix it, sure am missing my Dolphin and all the conviences that it offers!  Besides Laredo isn't the safest place to be! Too close to the border and high crime area! This is the type of place we are trying to avoid! Took Lenny out for a walk late last night and Craig stood guard over me, I thought that was so sweet, I said are you afraid I  might be taken hostage by drug lords, he said he was more afraid they would steal Lenny and sell him for drugs!  I said well, Thanks, nice to know that you think Lenny has more of a chance of being taken then me, lol, he said he didn't mean it that way! Yeah, right! If he thinks no one wants to kidnap a 62 year old slightly overweight mouthy woman, I got news for him, there are plenty of 80 yr. old men who would love to have their way with me, plus I am sure the drug lords could get at least a couple of joints for me! Anyways, we both agree on one thing here and it's we want out of this town!
                             Well, heading for breakfast and then checking on the Dolphin, hope it is ready to be released from the hospital!  Wish us luck!!

FISHING DAY!

                             Craig catches a blue catfish!

                                        Steaks on the grill!

                                         Campsite #103

                                         Craig fishing a the point!

                                             Falcon Dam

           

                                     Not sure what kind of bird but sure is pretty and sounds cool!

Craig had a great day fishing, caught a blue catfish and a small panfish, but released them, said wasn't worth the work of cleaning them for the amount of fish he would get! Beautiful lake, could see the Falcon Dam and it is also the road to the International bridge to Mexico, you can actually see Mexico from where Craig was fishing!  I didn't realize how far he was from our campsite and decided to walk down there with Lenny, 3 miles later, well, 2 miles for Lenny because he decided to not walk another step, so I had to carry him the last mile, I was never so glad to see Craig in my life! Checked out his fish and asked how much longer he was going to fish, he said "oh, at least a couple more hours", well I wasn't about to hang around there that long, so me and Lenny headed back for a long walk, I need the exercise anyways! I walked about a half mile when I realized I was lost, tried to call Craig and OF COURSE his phone wasn't on him, so I kept walking another 10 minutes and I couldn't believe it, there was the Dolphin MH, I accidently found a shortcut, or Craig deliberately gave me the long way to go because he knows I need the exercise! And I didn't get attacked by any Javelinas! 
                        Speaking of Javelina's, I was just about to think I would never see one when I looked out my window and low and behold there was one in the site across from us, thank God I had my camera ready and video taped it but it didn't turn out thru the screen, but it looks like a small grey pig even tho they are not even related to pigs! I had added a little info about them:
                  Javelina are members of the peccary family. There are actually three species of peccaries that range from the Southwestern United States south to central South America. The only species found in the United States is the collared peccary, or javelina. In Texas, the javelina is found in the more arid or semi-arid parts of the state, with most occurring in the South Texas brush country, the Trans-Pecos' desert grasslands, and the Edwards Plateau's oak-juniper woodlands.
Javelina travel in small herds or "family groups" and seem to have a somewhat limited home range. In the winter, they are generally active in the early morning and late afternoon. Javelina are largely nocturnal during the hotter times of the year. They feed primarily on cacti (particularly prickly pear), mesquite beans, lechuguilla, sotol, mast, fruits, and insects.
Javelina have long held an undeserved reputation for ferocity. They have poor eyesight and will often remain around humans longer than other wildlife when startled. When cornered, they can defend themselves very effectively with sharp canine teeth or "tusks". Many dogs have been crippled or killed when trying to attack javelina. Yet aggressive encounters with humans are very, very rare. , javelina can be very troublesome to landowners when they become habituated to homes and human activities. They often sleep in caves, and cave like areas, and seem to find the crawl spaces under homes attractive. They may cause significant damage to yards and sprinkler systems because of their habit of rooting for food.
In Texas, javelina are classified as a game animal and may be legally harvested with a hunting license, during hunting season, in counties which have a season. However, local ordinances often prohibit the discharging of a firearm within city limits. Thus the methods described here are usually preferred over the killing of problem animals.
                              So there you go and now you know why I don't care to run into one while on a walk!
      When Craig got back from fishing we had steaks on the grill and enjoyed the sunset before going in for the night! Enjoy the pictures and video of the yellow bellied bird, not sure what it was, but he sang for the longest time outside our MH, you can hear him in the video! Below is another picture of the javalina!

                                        JAVALINA!

Sunset to Sunrise@Falcon State Park, TX

We ended our night here with a great sunset and got up to a beautiful sunrise! We had to run into town to get my son a birthday card, figured it should take only about an hour! Well, first you have to find a store that sells cards, like a drugstore or grocery store, we found a grocery store no cards, when we asked the checkout girl if she knew where they sold them she didn't speak english, well, she tried, but we couldn't understand her and she couldn't understand us, we also needed to find a lumber yard to get a coulple of pieces of wood to put under our jacks, we asked her and all we understood was her pointing east, so after driving about 5 miles we did find a small lumber yard, no one spoke english there either, finally after going thru 2 employees they found one who spoke a little english!  Are we in the United States or not? It is unbelievable, we went into a gas station/convience store/deli, I ask for a taco and she didn't understand me, so I pointed at a corn dog, Craig had to put $90 worth of gas in the MH, if it is over $75 you have to pay inside, they didn't understand him, so they wrote $90 on a piece of paper and asked if that was right and he said YES! Frustrating! We couldn't find any english speaking stations on the radio either! Ok, Ok, I am done complaining!Life's too short, but I feel if you live in this country and work with the public then learn our language, it's not up to us to learn their native tongue! So now to find a birthday card, went thru town twice and finally found a Family Dollar, I had all of 2 choices of son's cards. Mission accomplished! When we got back we decided to go check out the bird watch area, they had a blind set up that was covered in camouflage netting, they had bird feeders and oranges cut in halves in trees! We had to be very quiet and at first we seen nothing, then after about 15 minutes the birds started showing up, I wanted to see the rare and beautiful Green Jay, and low and behold there it was, right in front of me, got my video camera out and was able to get a great a video of him(see the video above)! Was well worth the wait, there were some other rare birds but he was the prettiest!

Weather was only in the low 60's today and overcast, but still a nice day for a walk, we have decided to stay until Monday so Craig can get some fishing in and just enjoy this awesome park, hoping that I don't get ate by the feral hogs or I guess they are actually javelina pigs which are smaller, coyote or mountain lions, lol! I could hear the lion screaming and the coyotes yelping last night, glad I was safe in my little home!
Well, gotta go and take Lenny for his walk, hoping he doesn't become someone's supper! Until next time, God Bless!

                                        A BEAUTIFUL SUNSET WED. NIGHT

                                         AND A BEAUTIFUL SUNRISE THURS. MORN!

THIS IS THE JAVELINE OR SKUNK PIG OR FERRAL HOG!

LOVING THE STATE PARKS OF TEXAS!

We left Mission Bell Resort around noon today, said our good-byes some good people and co-workers! They treated us fair and let us stay until we were ready to leave! Beautiful place and great people! But it is time to move on to new adventures and places! We drove about 70 miles to Falcon State Park, beautiful park, with a bird watching area, that is known for the ferruginous pygmy owl, the brown jay, Audubon's oriole, the pigmy owl can fit in your hand, hoping to get a picture of one! Has a great fishing lake, that makes Craig one happy camper, plus he can have a bonfire here! We are in a perfect site, we will able to see the sunset and sunrise! Going to have my camera charged and ready to go!  Will be staying here for a few days, then head up to San Antonio to see the boardwalk and of course the Alamo!  Then slowly work our way up to New Mexico and stay there a few days before we head for Yuma to meet up with his Dad and Step-Mom, Craig hasn't seen his Dad in about 10 years, plus he will be seeing some relatives he hasn't seen in about 40 years!
                                                 We are so blessed to be able to live our dream and see this great country! I will be blogging and posting pictures on here daily now that I have a few more adventures to blog about! 

                We had a wonderful time with my daughter Susan and son-law Russ and his mother Lorraine and Al, brought the New Year in with a bang! Seen Mexico together and had some awesome meals!  Laughed, hugged, cried, played games, talked until were talked out (not)!
                  Well, going out to sit with Craig and enjoy the sunset! Until the next time, God Bless!

CHANGE OF PLANS!!

Never a dull moment in this life! I haven't been blogging on here because we were waiting to see what was going to happen! And what is going on is Craig has been having a lot of pain and numbing in his arms, mostly his left, he has been trying to get into the VA Clinic to see a doctor, they were finally able to do x-rays and discovered that he has bone deteriorating disease in both shoulder sockets, they ask what kind of work he was doing and he said housekeeping, they said he can not continue or he will totally lose the use of his arms, he can not mop, sweep, move his arms in circular motions, etc., he said what if he just continue workamping until April, they said "no, and if he continued he wouldn't even be able to drive the motorhome back to Michigan", I also found out he was taking 2 pain pills on the days we worked so he could get thru the 3 hrs.  So we made a decision to let the managers here know that we can't continue and showed them the paperwork from the VA, said we were sorry and if we could stay here a copy more weeks until we leave because of needing to see a VA specialist, we will pay to stay, they said they understood and will allow us to stay until the first couple of weeks in Jan.  The VA also said he should be fine until we get back to Michigan as long as Craig doesn't over use his arms, the reason he is having problems now is because of the type of work he has to do here.
                              Now this isn't all bad, the Lord works in mysterous ways, I just found out that I am entitled to my late husbands pension and back pay for 26 years, because I qualified for a widow's pension when he died and should have been recieving it all this time! So financially we will be fine, we wouldn't have to work to continue our life-style. What we really want to do is see the country and we aren't seeing much of anything but Southern Texas, can't go too far because we have to be back to work every 4 days.  So in a way it is a blessing, he will be fine as long as he takes it easy and we can continue to travel!
                   So what are our plans now? My daughter and her husband Russ are going to be here this Friday for 10 days, then we are going to head for a state campground until he has seen an orthopetic doctor here, plus will give us a chance to get our mail service set up, we need the generator looked at because it didn't start the other day when they lost power here and we plan on doing a lot of boon docking in our travels, we are getting the carpet replaced with hardwood floors in our motorhome (has light beige carpet and impossible to keep clean) and we are getting the motorhome washed and waxed before we head out, found a guy that will do it for around $65, that includes the canopy! Then we are heading for Yuma Arizona to see Craig's Dad and step-mom, he hasn't seen his 84 yr. old Dad in about 10 years, his father goes to Yuma every winter, we tried to get a workamp job there before here but no luck, but now we don't have to worry about it, we will be staying at a relative that has a cement pad with full hook-up next to his home in Yuma!  Then after a couple of weeks there we are going to slowly start working our way back home, we will travel the southern route, go to Florida to see our friends Annette and Barry for a few days, then on to Virginia to see my daughter and son-law, will stay there until around the end of April then start working our way back to Michigan. Once we are there Craig will see a specialist their about surgery! Spend the summer at a campground there so we can be with the family! Then who knows! Life sure has a lot of bumps and potholes in this life but you make the best of life you can, every day is a new adventure!
                                            So until next time, have a blessed day!

WORKAMPING DUTIES!

                                          

                                     Eddie and Tony our co-workers!

                                              One of Our workamper potlucks!

                                            Jerry and Cynthia(Alabama), she is an office worker!

Well, back to work after 4 days off! We work 4 days on and 4 days off, 3 hours a day for 3 days and 3 1/2 hours on our late day of work! We clean bathrooms, showers, the ballrooms, halls, pool room, exercise room, mail room, laundromats,empty trash, etc. During the week we clean only at the Trade Winds side and on the weekend we clean the Mission Bell side! We switch off with Eddie and Tony the other two workampers in housekeeping! We also rotate the days, like if we start on Mon. the following week we start on Tues. During the week they have their full-time housekeeper Hope, but she is off on the weekends and holidays!  There is also I believe 8 workampers in grounds keeping and maintenance, some work 6 hours a day and some work the same hours as us! There are also 4 Camp hosts and about 8-10 in activities, and 2 gals in the office!
                                         Jerry and Cynthia (who goes by Alabama) were the first two we knew here, I was in contact with both of them long before we actually started here, became friends with them through facebook and reading their blog!  Jerry is 100% disabled due to a gunshot wound in 1990. He took 2 bullets to the chest, one of which went into his spine. Although not confined to a wheelchair, he has a lot of problems that prevent him from working, Cynthia works in the office full-time as a secretary! You should check out their blog at http://rvroadtrip.us , they have quite a story to tell and give all the credit to God!
                                      The work here isn't bad at all and in exchange for our work we get our lot rent free with  full hook-up, $50 credit towards electricity and get into all the activities here free, the use of the pool, hot tub, pool hall, exercise room, etc.!  There is never a lack of something to do here! 
                                  We don't mind the work but would really like to be camphosts with our next gig but as of right now we will be in housekeeping in Gaylord Mich. but we are still looking, not completely sure if we will take that position or hold out for a camphost position! We would like to someday not work in the summer months and just travel this great country, so much to see yet. Don't mind workamping in the winter months, but during the warmer months would love to go to the Grand Canyon, Colorado, Arizona, Yellow Stone etc., what are hoping to do someday is in the early spring start heading to Florida to see our friends there, then onto Virginia to stay about a month with my daughter Susan and his husband Russ, then head for Michigan and stay a couple months there so we can spend some quality time with family and friends, then in late summer head west, taking our time to see that part of the country and slowly head for our next gig, wherever that may be! We would also like to camphost or work in Arizona so we can spend the winter with Craig's dad and step-mother, their health isn't real good, they are in their 80's and live in Oregon, but spend their winters in Arizona! But getting a gig there is hard because that is where everyone wants to be!
                     Well, as you can see our dreams continue on and still making plans and doing what we have to do so we can live our lives to the fullest to the end!
                            Craig just made a big breakfast so until next time, God Bless!