Week 2 - even better!

Ken and "the boys"



Good advice



Ken in "The Poor Man's Country Club"



View from above venue



Again, view from "The Poor Man's Country Club"



Our campsite



Kallie, watching out for us



"Windswept oaks", as they are described here
(they lean away from the sea)

Decided to post a few pictures at the beginning, to give you a chance to see what I'm writing about.  So far, we have truly fallen in love with this area.  Enough so that we have made reservations to stay here for three months next winter, beginning on December 1st.  The beautiful weather, the multitude of interesting activities, the friendliness of all our "neighbors" who come back year after year, plus the opportunity to really relax and just let the days go by, have all convinced us that we are where we should be at this time in our lives.  This past week we spent touring more of this southeastern Texas town, finding several fun places to eat, drink, watch the wildlife and the water, and generally enjoy the amenities the area has to offer.  Apparently George Strait, the country music singer, lives right across the road.  (I drove up his driveway, between the black wrought-iron gates with the large "S" on them, but didn't dare to knock on the door!)  There are huge, gorgeous mansions here on the Gulf, spaced amidst the poor living conditions of shanty-town folks.  The H-E-B grocery stores here in the south rival Muscatine's Hy-Vee in variety, size and prices, and there are two WalMarts within five miles in either direction, so we can easily replenish all our necessities.  Ken has been working on a few 'honey-do's, such as:  fixing the hard-to-turn shower faucet / the non-responding doorbell / the low battery fluid / the over-flowing 'black-water' tank / the tow dolly fenders that were damaged in-transit, etc.  And, I've managed to finish reading a few novels that have been collecting dust on my bookshelves for way too long.  So, after extending our stay here another week until March 14th, we will then head over to Fort Worth where we will meet up with nephew Jeff, wife Carrie, and their kids, and my "FUN" sister Karen, who will be visiting them then.  Meanwhile, we will be re-visiting some of our favorite places to eat/drink/people-watch.  But, on the not-so-fun side, we'll also be swatting Texas-sized mosquitoes / dealing with hair-frizzing humidity / sweeping leaves from our wind-swept campsite / etc.  Hope you all are enjoying life, too! 

First Week in Paradise...

Neighbors across from us

Ken and Kallie

Nearby campers

Ken talking with some other Iowans

At the restaurant on the pier



The bay bridge



A week ago today we arrived here at our original destination in Rockport, Texas, near Corpus Christi. This is where we had a reservation to stay for a month, and we are very glad we chose this resort.  Everyone has been so friendly, and there are plenty of activities to keep us busy. The weather has been awesome, and we are enjoying it so much that we've extended our stay for another week.  The campground has about seventy long cement pads to accomodate campers, with many shady oak trees to house the squirrels that constantly torment Kallie, our dog. The brand-new rec hall is where the community breakfasts, potluck dinners, dances, musical performances, poker tournaments, and other activities are held.  The sparkling pool, the fitness building with daily exercise classes, two laundry rooms, the lending library and opportunities for day trips have pleasantly filled our days.  There are two SuperWalMarts nearby, each about five miles away in opposite directions, which we have frequented a few times already.  Today we drove down to Corpus Christi and ate a relaxing lunch on a patio overlooking the water, while seagulls flew around us. On the way back we took a ferry, and saw many beautiful homes along the coast.  And on a side note, the Muscatine Journal editor Chris Steinbach contacted us earlier this week about our "turkey trauma" on the way down here, and there will be an article about that in the newspaper soon!  Hopefully, the pictures posted here might give you an idea of our surroundings.  Thanks for all your comments and good wishes!

YAY! We MADE it!



Waffle shaped like TEXAS

Beaumont, Texas

Crossing the Gulf

More Gulf views



It is Saturday, February 12th now (Happy Birthday, Abe!) and we are FINALLY at our original destination, only two weeks late!  Luckily, the nice managers here have kept our reservation, although we still have to pay from our planned arrival date.  But, this RV resort is wonderful, and surprise!...Ken has already made a few friends who are camping near us.  I will post pics later, but for now, will update on our last couple of days on the road.  We arrived in Beaumont, TX yesterday around 4:00 PM, when we should have gotten there around 2:00 PM.  Heavy traffic and a vicious headwind delayed our arrival.  However, the campground where we stayed was awesome!  We would consider staying there for a longer time next year, if the price were more to our liking.  We paid $35.00 for the night, then they deducted the AARP discount of 10% (getting older has a FEW perks!), but it costs $599. a month to stay there (with electricity).  Unfortunately, as we were setting up, Ken realized that we had no GAS CAP, as it was apparently left somewhere in Louisiana, where we had filled the tank about three hours earlier.  That in itself had been a trauma/drama... we pulled into a Flying J/Pilot gas station, only to be trapped by the big rigs and had to wait for them to fill and leave.  Then we pulled off into another town, where we were again stuck waiting for the (noonday/lunch) traffic to clear, so we could get back on the Interstate, since "local" gas stations have no facilities for motorhomes towing cars - we are too L-O-N-G.  We finally got re-fueled further down the road, and the good news is that the gas station in Louisiana where we left our keys will mail them to us, free of charge.  Seriously, we have encountered SO many wonderful people on this journey...makes us truly thankful for that!  Everyone just reminds us that "these things happen", and that we should try to relax and enjoy ourselves!  Meanwhile, we also crossed some really awesome bridges with amazing views of the Gulf, so hope you can enjoy them on here as well.  Will post more pics of this sweet campground and our "life" here next time... thanks to all for your encouraging words! 

On the ROAD again!

Pavillion across the lake



Shower house



Well, very soon after I posted that last blog, the body shop repairman called and said that our windshield had arrived, and that he and Orville, the glass-guy, would be by in about an hour to replace/install it!  However, by the time they were done, we had decided that it would be wise to wait until the next morning to leave, and be able to travel several more hours down the road in a full day.  It would take at least two hours to pack everything up and check out, so having a good night's sleep and getting an early start made  sense. But again, it seemed like Fate was against us, as there was yet another snowstorm headed for the southern plains, dumping several  more inches of snow from Dallas to Atlanta, blocking our departure.   So, we hung out for yet another day in Perryville, Missouri, where we experienced a local BBQ deli for lunch.  Also, in another one of those great "Really?" moments, the highway patrolman who assisted us at the accident site came to the campground to check on our progress.  He said he had even come by the night before at 11 PM (when we were obviously asleep) to make sure we had our new windshield installed and hadn't ventured out on the dangerous roads yet.  We have been so blessed with the generosity and kindness of complete strangers during this journey!  Even though it was only six degrees outside this morning, Ken hooked up the tow dolly and our car, and we headed out of town around 8:30 AM.  We managed to arrive in Jackson, Mississippi around 4:00 PM and are now spending the night at LeFleurs Bluff State Park, right on the edge of an awesome local lake.  Tomorrow, we're aiming for Beaumont, Texas and hopefully, some warmer weather, since tonight it is predicted to be around 21 degrees (the ceramic heaters are again on the water tanks, since all the water pumps here in the park are frozen).  Enjoy the pictures, and thanks to all who have called/e-mailed/commented their good wishes to us! 

Day 10 and still counting...



Cabin being repaired (near lake)



Office/showers/laundry near camper

Traffic on highway



 It's ironic to remember that when the turkey crashed through our windshield nine days ago, one of my thoughts was, "Looks like we'll have to be spending the night here."  So clueless!  At least we've had some pleasant distractions during our imposed captivity.  Remember Angie, the girl from the eye doctor's office who said we were welcome at her family's SuperBowl party?  Well, she and her husband and three kids actually came to the campground to pick us up and take us there Sunday afternoon.  We politely declined, but were obviously touched by her generosity and kindness.  By Monday morning, we certainly expected to hear that our windshield had finally arrived, but the body shop manager called at noon and said he would put a trace on it, since no one could determine what was taking so long.  Later in the afternoon, he called back to say that it was sitting on a loading dock in Mississippi, apparently because there was nowhere to deliver it here over the week-end.  Now, Mississippi is not exactly on the way from Indiana to Missouri, but we still hold out a faint hope that it will arrive back here in town by tomorrow (Wednesday).  Needless to say, our attitudes yesterday were in definite need of some positive reinforcement, but that wasn't about to happen.  So, Ken busied himself with trying to rig up our sewer hose so we could dump the "black" water tank, and then he refilled the fresh water tank.  We also had to buy another small ceramic heater and hook it up to the campsite next to ours to help keep the camper reasonably warm.  On a side note, one of the cabins in this campground was seriously damaged by a former (evicted) tenant.  It is being repaired now, and Ken went over yesterday to view the progress.  Today, he is there helping to rebuild cabinets and making other necessary "fixes", as it gets him out for a bit and allows him to do what he does best.  I am doing more laundry, and waiting for the propane gas truck to stop by, since we need another refill to keep us from freezing (more snow coming tonight!).  The pictures show where the office/showers/laundry building is in proximity to our camper, and the cabin where Ken is working.  Oh, and one final (positive!) note:  the resort in Texas e-mailed us and said, "We're holding the site for you so there's no need to worry about that."  YAY!  (Still, it's weird to be paying 'rent' at three places, but only living at one!  But, at least we're not homeless!)  Hopefully, very soon we will be back on the road with all the other traffic that we see zooming past us on the nearby highway...

More Daily Details...



Inside our motorhome

We ate lunch here

Perry Lake behind campground



More snow!

and more!

Relaxing potion...

So, Wednesday dawned with the groundhog saying we'll be having a short winter, which would be fine with us!  The water pump quit, leaving us with frozen tanks and no running water.  Ken (Mr. Genius!) hooked up our two ceramic heaters underneath the camper, raising the temperature to around 60 degrees, which thawed everything out.  (Interesting to note what little victories make us thankful lately!)  I went to the laundry room here at the campground and did three loads of wash, since I was having serious withdrawals (I LOVE empty laundry baskets!).  We had homemade onion soup for dinner with provolone cheese and garlic bread, that Ken made pre-trip using Rachael Ray's recipe.  It was fantastic!  On Thursday, we went to WalMart to get some transmission fluid and a new windshield wiper, which Ken installed.  Lunch was at a cool old-fashioned 1950's diner called "The 51" where we had a yummy reuben and patty melt. On the way back to the campsite, we took a side road and found a huge lake that is behind the campground - awesome!  Back at the camper, however, we had to empty our gray water tank (which holds waste water from the kitchen & bathrooom sinks and the tub/shower).  The sewer drain was frozen shut, of course, so we had to find a nearby one that would open, then haul the water there by the 5-gallon bucketsful and pour it down.  The temp was in the teens, and after about ten trips, we had to quit because we were so cold!  After warming up, I did some online banking transactions, which made me more confident that we could manage our finances while on the road.  In the middle of the night the electricity went out, but luckily was restored within a couple of hours, so the water tanks didn't freeze up again.  Friday morning Ken called the State Farm claim reps again and verified that most of our damage, both physical and structural, would be covered, which was a big relief.  We celebrated by having dinner at the China Buffet, about a mile down the road.  Their "walnut shrimp" was highly recommended to us, and we were glad we tried it, as it was excellent!  We relaxed afterwards by watching a DVD of "Forty-Year-Old Virgin", which gave us the comic relief we sorely needed.  Saturday morning we woke up to 4 inches of new snow, and unfortunatly, some serious depression set in with the realization that we would be spending the week-end here since the windshield had not yet arrived.  So, I did two more loads of laundry(!), we played some computer games, had spaghetti for supper and watched "Remember the Titans" on TV.  And, several people called us to see how we're doing, which made us feel a lot better.  We'll see what SuperBowl Sunday surprises might be in store for us!  Stay tuned...

The Saga Continues...



Ken, Kallie and the Kamper

Lake in campground



Bleak campsites

It is actually now Day 6, and we are still freezing in Missouri, not-so-patiently waiting for our windshield replacement. Thought I'd fill in some details of our experiences here, most of which have been positive, considering the situation.  On Sunday, the patrolman who escorted us here to the campsite gave us his personal cell phone number, and said we could call him after his shift ended if we needed anything.  He also contacted Orville, a glass repairman who immediately came to our campsite with his wife Pat to inspect the damage.  They even offered us the spare bedroom in their home (which we can see from here).  After the accident, it became apparent that Ken would need some medical attention for the glass still embedded in his face and the puncture wound that the turkey inflicted in his leg.  We called State Farm again on Monday and were surprised to learn that we have medical insurance for this.  So, we went to an optometrist's office and an urgent care health clinic.  Luckily, the eye doctor assured us that Ken's eyes were full of "dust", but no glass or scratches.  The female staff of four all wanted to see the pictures on my phone, and one of them (Angie) even gave me her home phone number and invited us to a SuperBowl party at her home on Sunday, if we were still in town!  The Immediate Care clinic was apparently mis-named, however, as it took almost three hours for Ken to receive a tetanus shot and a prescription for antibiotics. After returning to the camper, we filled the propane tank in order to have fuel for the furnace, as the temps here are quite cold, especially without a a front window.  The campground owner and managers then offered to pro-rate our stay from daily to weekly, or to let us stay in one of the cabins here instead. (They even gave us some huge baking potatoes for free that a farmer had delivered).  Soon the body-shop owner came by and took pictures of the window, and Orville, the glass-repairman came back to measure the opening.  He said we should have a new window by Thursday, though possibly as late as Saturday, and that he would be able to install it here on-site, which was great news.  We spent most of Tuesday on our dueling-computers, watching the news for the "storm of the century" to arrive, trying to keep warm.  Everyone here has been very helpful/friendly/generous, and we realize how fortunate we truly are.  More updates soon... 

First Day Out - and first day drama!



Ken's face splattered with glass



Broken windshield



Turkey feathers and glass under the driver's seat




Turkey feathers and glass all through the motorhome



No window left!

Glass on the dash

Dead turkey - after being shot twice by the patrolman

OK - for those of you who might be interested, this begins the "Journal of Our Journey", if you will.   The first day of the rest of our lives begins here.  After selling our home and most of its contents, we are now on the road aiming to spend a couple of months in Texas, away from the cold Iowa winter.  We left Muscatine, IA at 6:00 AM on Sunday, January 30th.  Our first overnight stop was scheduled to be Memphis, arriving after an 8-9 hour drive.  Unfortunately, after six hours on the road, a huge wild turkey crashed into our windshield and literally flew under Ken's feet.  The glass from the windshield and the feathers from the turkey covered the inside of our motorhome.  Miraculously, Ken got the coach pulled over to the side of the road, and threw the turkey out the door, as he tried to wring its neck in the process!  I ran up the road to find the mile marker of our location, called 911, and within minutes the ambulance and patrol cars arrived.  Ken was able to drive the motorhome to a local campground, escorted by the police.  He managed to "bandage' the broken window with plastic, and we have spent the last few days here trying to keep warm and waiting for a new windshield to arrive from Elkhart, Indiana.  Will update with new posts soon.