Storm Day.

WHERE ARE WE?           Magnolia Beach, Texas for a couple weeks              

NEXT DESTINATION?     Kickapoo Casino, North Falcon Heights, Texas

We woke up to the surf pounding again and the temps were around 8C.  Brrrrrr.  In the morning we headed out to do laundry and a bit of shopping.  Home by noon and sat and played on the computer.

A Little History Tour

WHERE ARE WE?           Magnolia Beach, Texas for a couple weeks              

NEXT DESTINATION?     Kickapoo Casino, North Falcon Heights, Texas

This morning Jerry and I headed into Port Lavaca to get some propane and water.  Water is now available at the Lighthouse County Park.  This park was closed last year when we were here because of the damaged done by the Hurricane.  Nice to see the area slowly recovering.  The park charged us $5 to get in to the park and told us to go ahead and fill up.  That works.

A Day on the Beach

WHERE ARE WE?           Magnolia Beach, Texas for a couple weeks              

NEXT DESTINATION?     Kickapoo Casino, North Falcon Heights, Texas

Woke up this morning to the sound of gentle waves breaking on the sand.  There is no better sound to sleep to in the whole world.  We normally get up around 8:30 or 9 and grump around until our first cup of coffee kicks in, but today we were up by 7:30 and raring to go.  Charlie was whining and running back and forth to the bed and when we looked out the door we could see why.  His friend Jerry was sitting outside again.  So out he went to get his morning nuzzle.

A Ferry Ride to Magnolia Beach

WHERE ARE WE?           Magnolia Beach, Texas               

NEXT DESTINATION?     Kickapoo Casino, North Falcon Heights, Texas

We had a nice night at Winnie in the fair grounds and all met in the morning for happy hour.  We are trying to figure out what is happening to John and Val and their repair.  We thought if they were going to be fixed this morning, that we would wait for them to catch up, but they said they needed a part that would not be in until afternoon so we decided we were not doing them any good sitting here, so we may as well move along.  We drove for about an hour before we got to the Galveston Island Ferry.  This is a free ferry service and will be the first time some of the Motorhomes in our group have been on a ferry.  Pretty exciting.

Moving on down the Road

WHERE ARE WE?           Winnie, Texas              

NEXT DESTINATION?     Magnolia Beach, Texas

Today was a travel day.  We will be leaving Chuck and Angie behind because they are heading to see their son in Alabama, and we will be heading west on our migration home.  We will have a convoy on this trip because Pat and Harold, John and Val, Jerry and Deb, and Ed and Lessie will be coming along with us. We will miss those two because they are fun to be with.  Chuck is always up to something and Angie's smile never ends.

Chuck holding the tree apart

A Little Taste of Norlans!

Since before we left last fall, I wanted to make a stop at New Orleans to experience the French Quarter.  Originally I wanted to be here the first week in March to immerse myself in Mardi Gras at the height of the party.  I have no urge to party like they do, but I just wanted to say "Been there, done that, bought the shirt".

Well as you know, the Ponderosa decided otherwise by breaking down so I had to settle for going when not much was happening.

Friends Reunited

We started the day with morning happy hour.  First to arrive were Angie and Chuck and Pat and Harold followed soon after.  You can see some cupboard doors that Sue has been working on.  She is painting all the cupboards and doors in the whole of the Ponderosa.

Off to the Beach

Although we are fairly close to the Gulf of Mexico, we still have to drive a half hour to find a nice beach.  We headed down south east of us to the Silver Slipper Saloon where there is a nice beach called Waveland Beach.  The day was perfect, with a little breeze to keep us cool.

Got Drone out of Mothballs

Another one of those sit around days.  You would think we were retired or something.  It was another beautiful day with the sun shining.

Pretty Fire

Not much was happening today.  We did up some odd jobs and mostly sat around and chatted.  I worked for a few hours in the afternoon and the girls got together and planned a little shopping trip.  These are the days when the camera seems to stay on the belt and when it comes time to write about what happened, there are no visual aids.  We are so much enjoying the southern weather and know that we will soon have to migrate north and we are almost guaranteed some of what we now call "cold weather"!!

The Mighty Oak

So I have always wondered why the poets and writers of old would refer to "The Mighty Oak".   Manitoba has a lot of oak trees but they are not all that mighty.  They are very gnarly and harbour lots of wood ticks but they are actually on the small side.  Well that is not so down in these parts.  The oak trees here are huge with great crooked limbs and a lot of them are probably 50 or more feet tall.  Some of them are 60 or 80 feet across at the top and the trunks of the trees would take 4 or 5 people to reach around it.  So now I know the origin of "The Mighty Oak"!

Swamp Tour and Alligator Bites!

A couple hundred yards up the road from the little camping area we are in, is the Honey Island Swamp Tours office.  They run 5 or 6 boats up and down the West Pearl River doing tours.  They only charge 25 bucks a person, so we all decided to go check out what a Louisiana swamp has to offer.  Even before we got on the tour we were sitting waiting and in the swamp behind the office were a couple logs, and on the logs were turtles, sunning themselves.  The funny thing is that if another turtle wanted on, he would try to crawl up and the log would tip a bunch of them off into the water.

A Short Move

It was cloudy here all day yesterday so we didn't really think much about the position of the Ponderosa with regard to the sun.  Sure enough, we were parked just in the perfect spot so that we will be in the shade all day!!  So it was time to reposition.  We just had to back around the corner and get out of the shade.  Here is where we ended up.  Thats us on the far side.  Pretty nice eh???

Back with the Gang

Its a little bit chilly today but what the heck, it is still winter in the south!!!   Chilly for us is anything under 18C.   We have absolutely nothing planned for today other than relaxing and catching up.  We are all set up in the square circle again and just waiting on Ed and Lessie to get here to close up side 4.

Happy St. Patricks Day!!

Paddy, the Irishman is struggling to find a parking space.  "Lord," he prayed.  "I can't stand this.  If you open up a space for me, I swear I'll give up the Guinness and go to mass every Sunday!  Suddenly, the clouds part and the sun shines on an empty spot.  Without hesitation Paddy says, "Never mind, I found one!!"

Moving Farther West

Well it was time to move on down the road.  We all met at Uncle Terry and Aunt Diane's for morning coffee around 10 am.  A few trips down memory lane and it was 11 o'clock and time to pack up.  We have to vacate our spot by noon.  Everyone gathered around for a family picture.  Its been fun spending a couple days with everyone.

A Family Day

Charlie and I went for a little walk this morning around the park.  The weather was real nice so he was feeling good today.  He managed to find a squirrel and watched it run up a tree.  He then sat down and watched it for about 5 minutes.  He has more patience than I do, because I was the one that had to coax him to finish our walk.

A Day on the Beach

We took a relaxing day on the beach today.  A short walk in the morning, then just lazing on the beach.  This is such a gorgeous spot to do that.  The sand is white and squeaks when you walk on it.  the Gulf is beautiful.

Panama City Beach

We headed out on our last leg of this adventure this morning.  We are heading to Panama City Beach to spend some time with Uncle Terry and Aunt Diane.  They spend 3 months in a condo on the beach and whenever we pass by, we like to spend time with them.  Their kids and grandkids will be arriving later in the week so we will get to see them as well.  It will be a little family reunion!

On the Road Again, Finally.

Well we had our last sleep in Camp Cummins.  This morning Rich was getting the bill together for us and then we could hit the road.  It has been a long time here but we have enjoyed it.  Got to do some things we never would have otherwise.  Changes in plans yield some of the best experiences.  Right from the time I fired up this morning, I knew that the Ponderosa had never run right since we replaced the pump back in November.  There must have been something that wasn't quite right in there all along.  It had no power or get up and go then and I even remember how I had to crank it more than normal to start it.  This morning it fired right up and had that healthy sound to it.  So glad we got this problem fixed up.  So around 10:00 we headed off on our next adventure.

Start your Engine!!

This was an exciting day for us.  Rich told us on Friday that Chris the mechanic would be on our doorstep at 7 am to get started putting us together again.  Now with the time change, 7 am is a little dark still, so Chris worked on the pump for a while in the shop before bringing it out to the MH.

Brier Final from Brandon Manitoba

Today is the final day of the Brier in Canada.  The Brier is the Canadian Men's Curling Championship.  This year the Brier is being held in Brandon, Manitoba which is the city that is close to us back home.  A lot of our friends will be attending the games I'm sure.

Visiting Gary and Jean

Our friends that we met in Three Lakes this winter are on the move and have made their way to Zephyrhills FL.  They are staying at the Elks Club there so we thought we would go spend the day with them.  The Elks have RV spots with power and water but Gary and Jean don't really need either one.

A Package arrived from the North!!

When I went over to the shop this morning to talk to Rich, there was a car hauler sitting outside.  He was having some problems but that is not what made me stop and talk to him.  All of the cars he was hauling were definitely Corvettes but I had to ask him why they were covered.  I thought maybe they were prototypes or something but the driver assured me that the covers were to keep road rash off of them.  He admitted that he loved to drive them off the truck and he gets a little thrill from the vroom vroom!!

Why Do they call it a Bucket List?

Today was going to be a good one.  Time to do something I have said I need to do since we started coming south.  Time to tick one off the Bucket List!!!   This time of year is Spring Training Season for all of the Major League Baseball Teams.  There are ball games every second day at least in each of the surrounding camps.  We are going to head down to Lakeland which is home to the Detroit Tigers.  They will be taking on the Philadelphia Phillies today.  Having spring training here means lots of money for the local ball park and the community in general.

And it just gets Better!!

We decided to shoot a quick email off to Mike at BK Diesel up in Dubuque Iowa to see if he actually had received the pump yesterday and to get a feel for when he might be rebuilding it.  Well we got a surprise!!  He had received it at 9:30 yesterday morning and put the guys on it immediately and had it all ready and boxed up in time to get it on FedEx back to us before 3 yesterday afternoon.  Now that is service!!!  We are impressed, so if FedEx does its part, it could be back here in at Cummins tomorrow morning possibly.  I went in to let Rich know and to tell him to go ahead and order me new injectors which will arrive tomorrow.  We could be outta here before the weekend but that is very very optimistic!!  We have lots to do here if we have to stay over the weekend so are not worried.  When I went into the shop Kris, who is the service advisor had brought her dog Mac to work with her today.  He is a pit bull and his face just about talks to you!!  He is so handsome and personable.  Just goes to show you that with the right people owning them, they can be super dogs.  Kris is Charlies best bud around here because she gives him treats every time he goes in the shop so Charlie had his nose out of joint today because I didn't take him, but rather let Mac be the King of the shop today.

Good News!

When we sent our Injector Pump back to the rebuilder up in Dubuque IA on Friday, we were told that it would be delivered on Wednesday.  Well guess what?  We checked this morning and it was delivered at 9:25 this morning!!   Now we hope they can get it rebuilt and get it on the way back to us.

Project Day

We had a busy weekend so today was just a day to hang around home and do some of the things we have been trying to get done for a while.  A few days ago I bought a board and left you hanging as to what it was going to turn into.  I bet you thought it was going to be something spectacular, although anyone that knows me should know better than that.  I am a down home country boy and there is nothing spectacular about me.  The same holds true to the board.  Here is what it turned into!!  Yup a plain old square shelf hidden in a cupboard.

Friends come for a Visit

This morning we thought of a wonderful lady who has gone on to be with her maker.  Our youngest 2 daughters Kaitlyn and Karalee are actually step daughters of mine.  Their biological father is Ed Aarhus and he has always been a friend of ours and we like to keep him in the family.  I never refer to them as step daughters but I am not their biological dad and because of that they were blessed with grandparents who are not directly related to me.  Ewald and Dorothy Aarhus were those grandparents. Ewald has been gone for a couple years now, and last week Dorothy went to be with the Lord and Ewald.  I only met them a few times myself, but it didn't take long to feel like they were a part of my life as well.  She was a wonderful lady, and a shining example for all of her kids and grandkids.  She loved each and every one of them unconditionally.  She was a lady who lived for everyone else.  She had few needs herself, but rather spent her time making sure everyone elses needs were looked after.  I know both of them will be missed by everyone and I hope that her example will continue to shine down on everyone and that her godly ways will in some way influence everyone who she touched in life.  Our heartfelt sympathies to the whole family and a couple big hugs to my girls.

Ewald and Dorothy Aarhus

Start Your Engines!!!

Yesterday we had planned to go to the Ocala RV show which is just down the road from us and then with all the changes and having to go get our pump put on Fedex, we ran out of time.  So today is gonna be the day to go wander around all the RV's.  But first thing was to view a rocket launch.  It was set to go at 2:45 am  so I set the alarm for 2:30 am and we bailed out of bed and into the Jeep and drove down the road where we would have an unobstructed view.  This is a test of the rocket that will be manned from now on as they travel back and forth to the space station.  This one will actually be docking with the space station before returning back to earth.  Rather than a shuttle, they are now capsules that operate a bit like drones and will land back on earth where ever they need to be.  It is neat to know that the next time this one goes up, it will have astronauts in it.  Really hard to take pictures so this one is just for proof that we saw it.  It is the white light in the middle of the picture.  There is something chilling about watching it go up there.  I always thought they went straight up but they don't.  They follow the trajectory of the earth so this one turned on a North east bearing to meet up with the space station, which was over Iraq when this rocket launched.

Shifting Gears!

Another blog I read is called Shifting Gears.  That was what we did today.  Since the removal of our injector pump we have been trying to figure out what happened to it and who is gonna pay the bill for a new one.  Rich here at Cummins said he has a couple engineers coming this way to look at it and decide if it was a Cummins part that caused the failure.  We have waited since Tuesday for them to show up and today was the day.  Shortly after lunch Rich informed us that Cummins found no fault with their part of the original rebuild and they will not offer any warranty.  So now the onus goes back on the rebuild company and after contacting them today they said ship the pump back to them and they will rebuild it.  So off to the Fedex shop we went with plans to overnight the pump back to Dubuque Iowa where it was originally rebuilt.  Boy did we get a surprise when they told us the rate for air overnight!!  $700.00.  Quick change of plans.