Did you think we got lost?

Not quite, it's been awhile though since we've posted to the blog.  We've had several days of crummy weather, at least for Texas standards.  The normal temp here is 65 in February.  We had two days of 30's with 20+ mph winds.  Didn't go out those days!  And believe me our fifth wheel was feeling those 20mph winds!

Last week we did drive over to Padre Island and checked out Port Aransas. Found one of two brew pubs in the area and had a nice lunch.  The calamari was sooo good!

 

Then we found the gulf water!  There were people in their campers right on the beaches!  I've never seen that before.  Didn't get a picture there, it was so cold, we were bundled up but it wasn't enough.

 

Further down the coast is Mustang Island State Park.  Nice small park.  No one on the beach but us.

 

 

 

These are picnic tables underneath pergolas to shade the beach goers from all the sun.  What sun?



Lots and lots of shells though!

 

We were so cold when we got back to our campground.  We were glad we had a furnace and 2 space heaters!

 

We've also driven over to downtown Corpus Christi, followed Ocean Drive in past all the beautiful homes that face the bay.  It looks like a really nice city on the water front.  Walked a marina and that's about it.  We do want to see a couple things in town, but are waiting for some sunshine.

 

Yesterday morning we spotted a coyote in the field behind us.  He is sort of hard to make out, but he's there.

 

 

We met a couple from Missouri, Sherman and Sally.  They were having trouble with their tv antenna and Rog came to their rescue.  Sherman invited Rog to go dock fishing today.  We woke up to fog so thick, I didn't think they would go,,but nothing keeps a fisherman down.

 

Even when the fish aren't biting!

 

Not sure what tomorrow will bring.  Supposed to be raining and 40's.  Maybe Rog will go fishing again and catch us a nice big Red Snapper....maybe :)

 

Until next time, stay warm up there in the frozen tundra they call Indiana!











Yea,,,,Life is Good!

Greetings from Corpus Christi Texas!

 

We arrived Monday afternoon and are settling in.  Before I tell you all about it, I need to tell you about our last day outside of Houston.

 

Rog's step-brother, Kevin, lives in Houston.  We hoped we would be able to get together with him before we left.  Kevin suggested we meet for lunch on Sunday.  He gave us directions and off we went.  Houston is massive and I think we've mentioned before we are not Big City people.  The clover leafs ands 8 lane freeways are not our thing.  We were meeting Kevin on the north west side of the city at a restaurant called Tampico.  When we exited I10 we both thought we had crossed the border to Mexico. Narrow streets and people everywhere.  We passed by a farmers market that covered a football field or two and on our right we spotted Tampico.

 





 

This is Tampico and it had some really great fresh seafood, Mexican style.

 

We had a nice lunch with Kevin and then he took us back to the farmer's market.

 

This was an amazing place.  Some fruits and vegetables I've never seen before.  We enjoyed our visit with Kevin and we are grateful he chose this location to show us and have lunch.  It was fun!

 

Monday morning we headed south and west toward Corpus Christi.  Only about a 4 1/2 hour drive, which was nice.  We find that is long enough.  Although, obviously, we have done 7-8 hour days too.

We are staying at Corpus Christi Naval Air Station.  One of the perks to being retired military is you have access to wonderful rv parks on military installations. 

 



 

Our site is on the end of a row.  The bay is straight down that road.

 

Corpus Christi sits on a bay the San Pedro islands have the gulf coast.  We can see the waves crashing on the waterfront from our fifth wheel.  Palm trees everywhere we look.  It is a very clean and secure facility.  I feel very comfortable here.  Met some fellow travelers yesterday one from Missouri and one from New Mexico.  I was doing laundry, for free I might add, most parks you pay through the nose to wash and dry. So free is a wonderful thing.  The woman from New Mexico was in her 70's and has traveled alone for several years, with her two rescue Australian Shepherds.

 

At the end of the road in the previous picture.

Campground in the background.

Fishing pier and interesting waterfowl.

 

Yesterday was beautiful!  Got up to 64 and we grilled our dinner outside went for a nice long walk and just enjoyed the warmth and the surroundings.

 

Cheers!

Even Isaac enjoyed the fresh air!

As the day was winding down, we knew we were going to get to see a beautiful sunset.

 

Life is GREAT!

 









Sunshine is a wonderful thing!

Happy Friday everyone!  We just finished a nice 3 mile walk through the woods here at Stephen Austin State Park about 40 miles west of Houston.  We really like this campground and would recommend it to anyone interested.

We need to catch you up on what we've been up to the past few days.  Have a better internet connection today so hopefully I can share some pictures too.

This is what we woke up to in Cave City, Kentucky last Saturday.

 

And, the driving was very slow going.  Saw a couple accidents.

 

When we arrived in Memphis that night, Rog HAD to wash the fifth wheel and the truck

 

 

They were both filthy and thankfully it was 50 degrees and sunny when we got to Memphis.

 

Next morning we were headed west and Isaac didn't want to go into his crate.

As I mentioned earlier we really like the campground we are in now.  Here are some pictures of it.

First night we were here we noticed some very large birds.  A lot of birds.  After a closer look we realized they were buzzards!

A little hard to tell from these pictures.  When they all take off at once its really something.

Wednesday we woke up to deer outside our trailer. Tried to get a picture of them but it isn't very clear.

 Pretty darn cool though to sit and drink our coffee and watch the deer.

We read about a historical site, Monument Hill and Kreische Brewery, in the state park guide, located in La Grange, Texas.  On the way there we stopped in the small town of Bellville and picked up some fresh produce at the Farm to Market store.

It was a pleasant drive through the rolling hills of Texas farm/cattle land.  Monument Hill is dedicated to the 17 Republic of Texas patriots who were executed by Mexican President Santa Anna.  He captured 176 soldiers, filled a pot with 17 black beans and 159 white beans.  Those who drew the black beans were shot.  The monument over looks the Colorado River.  Very peaceful place.

Kreische Brewery was built by Heinrich Kreische, a master stonemason, immigrated to Texas in 1846 from Germany.  His home is still standing.  It's amazing when you consider he did not have the tools we do today.

Front of his home

Remains of the brewery

Rear of his home

Grain mill

The grounds also include a museum. 

 

Yesterday, Thursday, we drove south and east of Houston to San Jacinto Battleground and Battleship Texas historic sites.

 



 

Battleship Texas is the only surviving Dreadnought ship to have served in World War I and World War II. There was a crew of over 1300 sailors.We were able to climb all over it.  I almost felt as though I could hear the sailors.  We saw their crew quarters, laundry, mess, doctors quarters, radar, soda fountain (yes they actually had a soda fountain) and everything else you can think of.  Touring this boat really made you think about how they lived every day.

San Jacinto Battleground is where Texas troops defeated Mexican forces in 1836.  We entered the monument and road an elevator 50 floors up.  It was quite a view!

That's the Battleship Texas in the center of the picture from 50 floors up.

Today it is sunny and 70!  We are really enjoying it!  Especially after the bad and cold weather we left in Indiana and the ice storm that came through Houston on Tuesday.  Don't know what we will do tomorrow yet and of course Sunday is Super Bowl day!  Go Broncos!

Here's hoping all our friends and family in Indiana warm up soon!
Take Care!
Rog and Nita

In search of sun....

After the brutal winter that northern Indiana has been experiencing we couldn't wait to pack up our fifth wheel and head south! Corpus Christi Texas is our final destination. Little did we know Friday morning the 24th we would be "getting out of dodge" in the nick of time.  Left Middlebury around 8:30 and headed south on I69.  The wind chill that morning was -25, but, the sun was out and roads didn't seem too bad.  By mid afternoon we heard from our daughter Heather that the 20 bypass was closed.  After watching the evening news on Thursday and seeing the awful mess on I94 involving over 7 semi's and other autos we were, needless to say, a little apprehensive.

We made it to Cave City, Kentucky without any problems, it was very windy, and cold but the sun was out.  No snow there!  Exciting,,,,right,,,wait a minute,,by 7am Saturday we discovered it does snow in Cave City! Rog had to climb on top of the fifth wheel to sweep the snow off of the slides.  There was at least 4 inches.  The drive that morning was dicey.  Probably didn't go over 40 miles an hour for 2 hours.  Once we hit Nashville things cleared up and we were snow free again. Didn't really have any issues at all between there and Texarkana.  We stopped over night in West Memphis, no, didn't go to Graceland.

If you've ever wondered what's in Texarkana, don't bother.  Hopefully we haven't offended anyone.  The campground we stayed at was literally next to the freeway access road.  Neither of us could sleep much it was so noisy!

Monday morning we got a text from Kevin, Rog's step brother, that Houston had an ice storm and there was more bad weather on the way for Tuesday.  So,, we decided not to stay in the beautiful city of Texarkana another night, which we were originally going to do, and head south that morning.  .  After 3 days of being in a crate for 5-7 hours our cats, Isaac and Andre,  were really not happy with us.  We got out of there as quickly as we could, since there was a 7 hour drive ahead of us.  US59 south in Texas is a nice road.  Not near as crazy as the interstates.  We were making great time and only stopped for fuel.  We were outside Houston and after looking at the map, decided to take what we thought was a bypass around Houston.  WRONG, FM road 1960 is not a bypass!  It is 30 miles of Grape Road with at least that many stop lights.  This after 7 hours and 2 cats who are really disgruntled and letting us know!  We didn't kill each other or the cats and arrived at Stephen Austin State Park around 3:30pm. 

We really like it here.  It's peaceful and we are looking forward to getting out and enjoying mother nature.. Today, however it is 32 degrees and raining.  No ice storm.  AND no SNOW! But still a little cold for a good walk.  Tomorrow it is supposed to be 45 and by Friday 70+.  Sounds great to us! We are headed to Corpus Christi next Monday.

We have some pictures to share, but our internet connection isn't the greatest here.  So, I'll share them next time.

To all our family and friends back in northern Indiana,,,we feel for you.  Stay warm!