So Where is Spring?

Dale, I don't think that is how you milk a cow!

We have been so many places I am beginning to lose yesterday. After Oklahoma we headed north to Kansas, stopping in Assaria. The campground was beautiful with a big lake and beach area. We went to the Rolling Hills Zoo and spent the entire day almost alone, up close and personal with the animals. One of the best zoo's I've ever been too.

In Seward, Nebraska we stayed at a city park. For 2 nights we were the only campers and the 3rd night one more arrived. Found a neat 2nd hand store, purchased a new straw hat, some scarves (25 cents each) and a Catherine Cookson book. Ms. Cookson is my very favorite fiction author and I purchase her books wherever I find them. We also walked a very nice 5 mile walk with Daisy. Okay, Dale had to carry her for the last mile. Then she slept the rest of the day.

We left Nebraska on the 23rd of April for Newton, Iowa, stopping at Rock Creek State Park. So many of the campgrounds we have stayed at are so beautiful (well I can think of two or three that I would not care to visit again) We arrived on Thursday, just about had our pick of sites, choosing one directly next to the lake. Not much to do in Newton. We just spent one full day enjoying the grounds and leaving Saturday bright and early for Wisconsin. It was a full day of driving (326 miles). An RV takes longer to get somewhere than a car and we drive to enjoy the day of driving. Getting into Illinois getting out at the welcome center it was a surprising 76 degrees, two hours later it had dropped to 48...wow! And since arriving in Muskego, Wisconsin it has been cold. Right now it is 55....ouch!

We are at Dale's brother's home. Dale is building a new kitchen for our sister-in-law Sally. We only have four weeks here before heading to my Dad's 90th birthday so he is working long days trying to get as much done as possible. Dale's dad is cared for by Mark and Sally 24-7. It is a huge job to care for him, so we are grateful to be able to offer Dale's abilities.

Kansas heading north

We arrived in Kansas yesterday. Much cooler as we head north and very breezy...okay seems like hurricane force winds. I was told that they had a foot of snow just a week ago so let's look on the bright side....it is a very pretty place and VERY quiet...It is Sunday. We found a church this am to attend and enjoyed the service. Dale is now off somewhere looking for treasure with his metal detector. He says he must upgrade. Why not...he has found at least $1.28 so far...

I don't have any pictures of this area yet, so I thought I would indulge and show off my stunningly gorgeous grandchildren, Daniel 5, Josh 3 and Alena 2...

Oklahoma

We spent just two days in Enid, Oklahoma. Two nights were quite enough at Brown's RV Park, directly off the main road through town and also one of the main highways through Oklahoma. I did purchase some fantastic ear plugs that muted the road noise down to a dull roar. And it was not too bad navigating through the carpet of cigarette butts on the ground. The neighboring bars music wasn't too bad either.

We did enjoy Enid anyway. The town was having its annual Bar B Que cook off and gave out free FANTASTIC bar-b-qued pork sandwiches Friday evening. Yummy! Seems the barbeque folks travel some kind of circuit with their very fancy huge barbecue cooker thingy's trying to win best barbequer of the world. We ran into the same thing in Texas. Quite a hobby. The cookers are actually pulled around on trailers they are so big.

I forgot to put some of the "pump jacks" pictures on from Luling, Texas. The town has more than a dozen of these differently decorated "pump jacks" through out the town and tourists like us go around the town following a map to take pictures of them all.

Meeting Tye

Yesterday we met our brand new great niece Tye Slocomb, eight week old beautiful daughter of our nephew Dean and sweet wife Bonnie. They live in Austin, Texas a BIG Texas city of about 1,000,000 folks and growing. We enjoyed a fun day at their home, out to a great Tex-Mex lunch and a visit to the Capitol of Texas building. A very Texas size building.

We enjoyed a great Easter service at the Central Baptist Church here in Luling. Very refreshing!

Then a picnic in San Marcos and a walk along the river. Beautiful weather and a peaceful refreshing day.

We've been really enjoying Texas. If we were to move, Texas definitely has the call. Of all the states we have visited we feel at home here. The history, the people, the climate and the terrain are great. I think we might come back next winter for a couple of months.

We are leaving Luling tomorrow (Monday) to start heading north. We've go to northern Texas for a couple of days. I hate to leave the warmth of this area.

A Day in San Marcos

I just love San Marcos, Texas a beautiful town located on the same San Marcos River that we are presently camped on except it is 20 something miles upriver. We visited this town three years ago on our last trip to Texas. We remembered enjoying a wonderful day walking the river path along the San Marcos River as we enjoyed it today. A breezy upper 70's day with plenty of Texas size sun. One of my fondest memories was the discovering of the Aquarena. The Aquarena was an amusement type park that operated from 1951 to 1996. It closed because of the rise of big fancy water parks. It boasted a swimming pig, water dancing mermaids and a tram ride. There was a motel and the beautiful aquifer that feeds the San Marcos River. It reminds me of a movie "Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken". It is a time capsule...the grounds are now owned by Texas State University and maintained by them as a ecosystem. The skeleton of the submarine ride, the tram and building are left intact. The water is crystal clear with abundant waterfowl, fish and birds. To me it is walking back in time to a simpler time, before grunge, loud music and individualism.

Texas Travels

We are in Luling, Texas camped (okay parked) with the San Marcos River behind us. We are 20 feet from the river and on the far side a farmer field with cattle. The sides of the river bank are washed away and the drop to the water is about 25 feet. The cattle sometimes try to get down and have succeeded to walk along a path they have made 6 to 10 feet down. Looks very strange and I wondered how the two who tried would get back up again, but they did.

We drove about 300 miles from Newton, Texas a couple of days ago. While spending just two days in Newton we came across an awesome sight birding at a Texas state fish hatchery. A bald eagle was also enjoying the fish hatchery looking for dinner! It was my first sighting of a bald eagle in the wild.

Yesterday we went into Luling and had a Mexican breakfast summer sausage and egg soft taco. Interesting! The town was having a car and bar-b-que thingy. Only you could not buy the bar-b-que...interesting. We enjoyed the Oil Museum and spoke for while with an older fellow (yes older then us!) whose mother had worked in the store where the museum now resides, something of a old time Walmart of the 1920's. Starting with his dad in 1920ish, him and his sons they have worked for the same oil company for over 80 years. Luling and many of the the Texas towns look very much like you would find them in the old cowboy movies.

Luling is also where Tiny Texas Houses are made. These are one room house, with a loft for sleeping made from salvaged materials. Each one is unique ranging in the very surprising price of $38000 to $90000. I was shocked at the price. They look more like $25,000 to me.