It's confirmed!

This past week, Dick and I received email confirmation that we have definitely been assigned to Mary's Lake Campground near Estes Park, CO as volunteer camp hosts for the 2012 summer season!  Our signed contract is in the mail and we report for training on May 10, 2012.  To say we are excited is an understatement!  We are looking forward to our kids and grandkids visiting us and would love to see "others", as well.  ~judy~


Mary's Lake Campground, CO - where we will be "summering" in 2012!



It's Cold Season Again!

It's been a busy week, at least for me.  We went to Houston last weekend to visit our kids and take part in Ben's 3rd birthday.  The trip down was made via Hwy. 6 and turned out to be quite pleasant, avoiding the hustle of the larger towns on the way.  Ben, the birthday boy, was amazingly patient.  He knew it was his birthday and we were going to have a special dinner for him, but he was never demanding and kept a fantastic attitude all weekend.  The day of the party was his brother's (Colby, age 4-1/2) day to shine.  Colby would patiently watch Ben open each and every gift with no impulse to interfere or show of jealousy.  At one point, he even helped assemble one of the gifts.

When you haven't seen them in a while, they're anxious to sit with you!
This is Colby with his latest LEGO creation

Logan & Colby...Cousins, just hangin'

Ben, patiently anticipating.

The "wait"... Yes, it was worth it!

Saturday night, we made the trip down to Seabrook to spend Sunday with Michelle and Logan.  After church, Logan and I headed out to do some "man shopping" for computer components and a gift for his Mom's birthday on the 5th, while Judy and Michelle "birthday shopped".  That done, we met for dinner at Pappa's to get some "real" Gulf Coast seafood.
Yes, Judy, there is a severe difference in the frozen, pre-breaded shrimp found in Waco, and the hand-breaded, delicious flavor of fresh shrimp available throughout Southeast Texas and South Louisiana.  I'm not showing any prejudice here, am I?  We have never been disappointed with Pappa's, and this occasion was no exception.  My favorite dish is the Shrimp Acapulco Cocktail.  The combination of boiled shrimp, diced tomatoes, avocados, jalapeño, cilantro and lime juice is pure heaven.  It's an absolute must have for anyone eating there. 

Logan & Shelly at Pappa's.  Logan with his new book we gave
him for a perfect straight "A" report card!

This was Logan's Halloween costume for school dress-up day.
He went as Indiana Jones.  Grammy and Grampa forgot the whip
could be considered a "weapon".  Our bad!  No repercussion, though!

Monday morning, we saw Shelly and Logan off to school, packed up and headed back.  This time via I-10 (with a short stop at Camping World in Katy ) and Hwy. 71 to Georgetown to see our long-time friends Skip and Kathy Mayer, who are soon to become RVrs themselves. 

There's still a burn ban in much of Texas.  This is a good example of why.  Just east of Austin near Pfleugerville.

Long-time friends, Skip & Kathy and new friend "Coco"

Afterwards, we decided to drive on to Waco and have dinner at "On the Border".  All in all, a great trip and lesson on how to turn a 3-hour trip into a 13-hour journey.  But what the hey, we don't have a J.O.B.
Tuesday night, Judy and I were making a gumbo when Joe came over and got an impromptu invite for supper.  We learned that Dave, another of our fellow "workampers", was "batchin'" it while Sue, his wife, was visiting at home in Minnesota, so we had Joe fetch him for some additional company.  No pics, unfortunately, but a good evening with great company!


Wednesday morning, Judy woke up with the making of a cold so I took her shift this week and now, Sunday, it has basically run its course and she is on the road to recovery.  We don't have to show up at the store until Thursday, so we have a good part of the week ahead of us to relax and do our thing.  ~dick~

No More Buying Ice ... hopefully

Well we finally bit the bullet and ordered a new portable Ice Maker from Walley World.  It came in early yesterday so we took the drive up to the Hillsboro store and picked it up, then made the long trip to Waco to grocery shop.  Although we have an Ice maker built into our fridge, at only about 7 or 8 pounds in 24 hours it is too slow to keep up with the constant demand.  Sadly, the new unit cost less than half  of what we paid to have the built-in installed and makes about 25-30 pounds a day. This amounts to a glass full every 15 minutes.  Right now we are bagging the excess we don't use and freezing it to get ahead.  When we have enough, we turn it off and drain it.  We have been using about one 10# bag every 3 or 4 days.  At $2.54 a bag, it won't take long to recoup our investment.

I think our kids will appreciate it this weekend when we go for our grandson's birthday.

  A glass full is delivered in about 15 minutes.
The Coke and Sprite bottles are for scale.

Got Rid of That Yucky Carpet

Our RV guy, Ken, left with his helper just a short while ago and Judy and I enjoyed a meal of baked boneless chicken stuffed with crawfish jambalaya.  A little too much red pepper for our taste, but still good!  We keep looking at the new floor, relishing the thought of no more carpet to hold all that sand and other trash.  Now, if Judy spills a bowl of bar-b-que sauce like she did when Dave and Lesa visited just after we moved in, all she needs is a towel to wipe it up and not a trace will be left!  According to Ken, the real work was in taking the carpet out.  Of course, he didn't say that until I had pulled it all out.  All in all, just about a flawless job, and we are well pleased.  Next week, he is coming back to take care of a few small items, and I promised Judy I would build her a table top to accommodate her laptop so we don't have to move it when we want to eat supper.

This is what the carpet looked like just before

we moved in.  The stains and wear are barely

visible.

Midway though the process of removing
carpet, foam, glue and staples

                                                   

Finally, after a day and a half of scraping,
tugging, and yanking, followed by long showers,
the old carpet was gone and ready for Ken and his crew.

For us, it was all worth it!

It's "SEE-YA" Time for Some Great New Friends

Our good friends and fellow workampers, Lee and Martha Rommel ("Beach Lovers"), pulled out of Waco North RV Park about an hour ago, midst ample tears and close hugs!  We will truly miss Lee and Martha - who are visiting various states on their way home to North Carolina through the holidays and, then, to Maine for a workamper gig next summer.  Hopefully, we will meet again one day soon and, in the meantime, keep in touch through our blogs, Facebook, email and cell phones.



Last drive over park bridge



Lee and Martha's Rig







  

Martha's last walk thru park!

                                                 


Lee's ready to roll!

   

A Dream Come True

10/14/2011

Beaver Pond - Rocky Mountain National Park (1983)

They say, if you try hard enough, you can make your dreams come true.  Since 1972, we have vacationed as a family in our favorite place in North America. That place is Estes Park, Colorado and specifically, Rocky Mountain National Park.  Both are located in Larimer County, Colorado - not far from Boulder.  Michelle, our daughter, reminded us today that, when she was a little girl, we would tell her that one day we would come back up here to volunteer in the campground as camp host. 

Well, that day has a date put on it!  Today, we answered a call from the Larimer County Park Rangers and, after a 30-minute phone interview, we were offered the position of volunteer campground host for Mary’s Lake Campground just outside of Estes Park from May 15^th to October 1^st of next year. Tomorrow morning, we start our fitness program to insure we will be in good shape to enjoy the 8,000+ foot altitude we will be living in. The position is strictly that of a volunteer and has the benefit of having a motorhome site with full hookups. Our duties will be to smile, show our fellow campers where to park, and help them out in any way we can, as well as helping the rangers when needed.  In addition, the rangers were interested in utilizing Dick's photography for flyers, brochures and ranger websites and Judy's proofreading for proposals, etc.  We will most likely be on duty three days with four days off, then four days on and three days off. This schedule will be shared with another host couple. The rangers actually said they want us to explore the area and enjoy ourselves on our off-duty rotation. 

Lone fly fisherman surrounded by a herd of wild elk  - Rocky Mountain National Park 2002

Our son and daughter (with their families) are already planning their summer vacations, and we hope others will also come to visit.  We plan to return to Texas/Louisiana next fall and winter to visit family and friends and for the holidays.

This will be a difficult winter to get through!

Elk Meadow - Rocky Mountain National Park (2002)

10/12/2011
Yesterday was a great day!   Since this is Martha and Lee's last week here, we had them over for dinner.  Martha said she loved Shrimp Creole and Lee said he had never eaten it.  So Judy and I rolled up our sleeves, peeled and deveined a couple of pounds of shrimp and, that evening, we fixed them a "country cajun" dinner.  This isn't what you will normally find in most restaurants.  I like to explain to people that "Cajun" on a menu doesn't mean peppered. It means seasoned and filled with flavor.  You can always add heat at the table via cayenne, Louisiana hot sauce or whatever your poison may be, but don't kill the flavor with pepper and no taste.  We also served smothered green beans with new potatoes and sweet corn.  If I say so myself, it must have been good, because there wasn't much left.  While we visited, I popped the cork on one of my nephew-in-law's first batch of wine and shared it.  It was dryer than my favorites, but a really good rendition of a Chablis. Martha had made a pound cake for dessert, and we topped it with Bluebell Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream.  Guys, you're gonna miss that Bluebell when you get to Maine, and we're gonna miss you guys!

Martha & Lee, with Dick over the Creole

Sitting down to that cajun meal

10/11/2011

Monday night, Charles, John and Joan invited the workampers over for a Brat & covered dish get-together.  This was a great time for this sort of thing, because the night was cool and several of our comrades were moving on.  Martha and Lee are leaving this weekend to make their way toward theer next gig in Maine, and Charlie and Paulette are supposed to move on to another campground closer to the end of the month.  Our contribution to the gathering was baked beans (homemade from scratch).  Everyone must have enjoyed them, because we had no leftovers to carry back.  Other dishes were Martha’s Veggie Casserole, Jodie’s corn-filled cornbread muffins (like a baked corn fritter), Terri’s pickled carrots, string beans and dills – I had to mop the sweat from my head after sampling those.  The main course was brats (beef, beer and jalapeno).  The brats must have been really good, because Judy even liked them and she usually shies away from sausage.  Joe provided dessert fare of peach cobbler and apple crunch, and  other workampers provided additional dishes.

Charles John & Paul

Coming together

Joan at the "Stove"

John & Joe - Just Hangin'

 John and Charles built a fire in the fire pit and Joan was our chef-of-the-evening with assistance from Joe.  Later, Charles treated everyone to a brief show of his homemade fireworks that were really, really loud!  There was some excitement when one of the fireworks “miss-fired” and shook the ground with its secondary detonation.  Fortunately, the ground was still wet so no fire followed.  After the miss-fire, things started to wind down and the gathering began to break up.  A few of us stuck around and some really good conversation followed.  All-in-all, things came together really smoothly and it was a good night.

Sue & Dave -
Our Newest Workampers

Lee & Martha

Jodi - Havin' a good laugh!

Jodi & Carl

Chow Time!

The early bird got the worm!

10/09/11l
This afternoon, I went to Martha's home (one of our workkamper friends) to learn to do t-shirt braiding.  The company was great and I actually enjoyed learning a new craft that I hope to do more of in the future.  


Judy, Terri, Martha (our hostess), Sue and Mary



Judy getting ready to braid t-shirt

Terri with finished braided t-shirt

Here is another interesting story and another reason we love this lifestyle.  By messaging Gail (Gypsy Turtles) and talking with Martha, both of whom are from North Carolina, we realized that they all met last spring at an RV Dreams rally.  We have been following Gypsy Turtles since we became full-time RVers in June, and they will be coming to Texas in December (when we will meet for the first time).  We met Martha and Lee when we began workamping in late August, and they will be leaving next weekend to return home for a few months.   What a small world!  We will all keep in touch through our blogs and Facebook and, one day, meet again.   ~Judy~

10/09/2011

Last evening, Richard and Barbara (our neighbors) and Judy and I got together to try out Denton’s Catfish Caye, a new restaurant that opened last week a couple hundred yards down the highway from us.  The portions were ample, as you can see, and the catfish pretty good. Their hush-puppies I will rate as superior to 95% of all the restaurants I have eaten at, but still far below the deliciousness of those of our dear friend, Linda Whidden, who is no longer with us. Judy, however, being the shrimp aficionado she is, rated their fried shrimp to be just so-so.   Their prices were really good and the location convenient, so we’ll probably be returning soon. 

Barbara, Richard and Dick - Judy was there, as evidenced
 by the ever-present phone, but taking the picture.

While we were there, the weather started building to the west of us and, then, started sprinkling about 10:30.  By 1:30 a.m. this morning, it was raining so hard that I was forced to turn Hulu off because I couldn’t hear the TV for the noise of the rain on our roof - a really welcome sound for these parts.  It’s 10:40 a.m. now and still coming down.  The ground is wet, but still soaking it up as fast as it comes down.  We’re so dry that it will take rainfall like this every week for the next several months to begin to restore the balance.  The rain is supposed to continue into this evening, so it looks like this will be a day spent indoors.  ~Dick~

10/08/11
Yesterday, Dick and I made a trip to visit to our friends Terry and Joan (and their beautiful puppy Nano), who are the winter camp hosts at Koehne Park on Waco Lake (about 30 minutes from our campsite).  We met Terry and Joan in mid-May when we moved onto our RV and were "neighbors" in San Leon, TX for 2 weeks.  We have been keeping up with their travels since June and now we are able to renew our friendship.  We discovered so many similar interests and are anxious to spend more time with them over the next few months.

Dick, Terry, Nano and Joan at their campsite

10/03/11


Took out some rotten landscape timbers today and put in new ones.  Now our outdoor living space looks fresh and clean.  When we leave here, the owners will probably decide this is now a "premium" site and charge extra!  I also found out there is a reason why I didn't like owning a house.  The physical labor involved in changing those timbers out really, I mean really hurts!

10/03/11
Yesterday was a great day!  The weather was super pleasant, the evening was great for a warm bowl of chicken gumbo and earlier in the day, Judy and I were able to gather some limestone pieces to put around the border of our Iris garden.  We probably had more "drop-in" company than any other day since we arrived at Waco North RV Park. John and Joan (our boss Charles' parents) stopped by for an hour or so and some great conversation ensued.  While they were here, Mary and her boyfriend, Ben, stopped by, as did fellow workampers Joe and Dave and our next door neighbor, Richard.

   

John & Joan

Our new Iris garden with the new limestone rocks,
mulch and solar lights around it and along our patio.
Judy also put out her Autumn decorations.

09/30/11

Good news!  We just found out that the first couple we met in San Leon, TX when we started full-time RVing in mid-May will be workampers thru the winter on Waco Lake (within 30 minutes of us).  How neat is that?!  We have been following their travels since June and should see them again in the next week or two.  This is part of what we love about this lifestyle!


We also took today to re-organize our patio.  When we brought Liberty Belle home the other day we were able to park so that we had more space.  Dinner tonight: Grilled marinated pork chops, Baked Beans (our recipe) and potato salad.
One of these days we'll learn how to cook for two!

Judy must have really felt weird standing next to the grill!

09/29/11 10:30 A.M.

WOW!~ Never realized just how inefficient the basement AC was! We slept great and the temp held true all night. Today it's supposed to go up to 101°F so we're going to find out how well it holds through the heat of the day. The plan is to set it for 68°. That's not our long-term plan, just today. Will post more later!

Our new AC look!  They feed directly into the existing duct work!

09/28/11

Well it's after 1 P.M. and we still have not received the "job done" call from Ken. We told him we wouldn't bug him but...

Picked Liberty Belle up this evening and got the "drive-thru" of the installation. Ken still has a few tweaks to make, but it's 10 PM now, and the front living area has never been this cool before. Tonight we are going to add a blanket and enjoy a night's sleep at 69°F. By this weekend I'll have the bay that originally held the basement AC converted into a tool bin.

Because it was so late by the time we got settled in again, we paid a second visit to The Pizza House of West. A neat little college hangout that isn't a college hangout - just a great place to eat good homemade pizza, spaghetti, fried catfish and their specialty Skunk Eggs. These are made up of three cheeses, bacon, chicken, jalapeños and only God and the cooks know what else, all battered then fried into a five-inch egg shape that is a meal unto itself (a very rich dish).

9/27/11

Dick took Liberty Belle in to the shop today. The new AC units look great and tie directly into the existing duct work.  Before it was all done, however, Mott's Corallary to Murphy's Law popped it's ugly head. This corallary simply states that our friend Murphy was an absolute optimist. Somewhere in all the wiring that was done, the control unit was not communicating with the "brains" of the two AC units. Bottom line is tonight we spend the night in one of the cabins at the campground so Ken can get with the manufacturer and get this cleared up first thing in the morning. Heartfelt thanks to Charles Stanley and Mindy Ray!

One of the cabins at Waco North RV Park

9/25/11
We got a visit from our long-time friend, Dave Haensly today, on his way home from the Houston area. It was a short but really good visit. Hopefully we can get together sooner than later again, but who knows? Dave is a commercial pilot and his schedule doesn't really lend itself to regular get togethers. He was in the mood for bar-b-que so we headed up to a local restaurant called "Up-In-Smoke". Good food, great company, so what more could anyone want?

Dave & Dick enjoying the warm breeze under our canopy since the AC was down.

09/24/11

Unfortunately, we have again had additional equipment failure – this time, the air conditioners.  We are waiting for 2 roof AC units to be installed, hopefully, by Tuesday.  Fortunately, we have an extended warranty on the RV, so it’s best to get all of this out of the way before next spring and summer.  Also, the weather has been cooler (especially the nights), so it has been livable!  Daytime temps are again in the mid-90s and expected to be 100 today, and we have an extreme fire danger again due to the dry weather and winds.  Time for cooler temps and some rain!  The 2 nights last weekend are just memories!!

9/17/11
Today we went to the Waco Mammoth Site just outside of Waco.  In 1978, two guys looking for arrowheads in a dry streambed came across a huge bone sticking out of the creek bottom near the Bosque River.  Knowing it was too large to be cattle or buffalo bone, they took it to Baylor University for evaluation.  Baylor opened up the excavation and found the remains of a full herd of the animals (bones) still in a protective circle, much like modern-day elephants form to protect their young.  Evidently, some 70,000 years ago they had been buried by mud from a flash flood which provided great preservation for their bones.  For the full story, check out this link! This site should be on everyone's "must do" list when in Waco.