Monday, November 17, 2014

November - our life has started again

 

November 1st at 10:30 am we were released from “captivity” as we pulled out of Advanced RV Resort and started our life as a full time RVer again -  lol.  Well that was the way we were feeling.  Advanced is a nice place and was great for what we needed but we are so ready to get out and travel again. 

We headed to Rambling Vines RV Park in Magnolia, TX for a couple of days to see friends, go thank our church friends for their help and just to get away from sitting.  Rambling Vines was an okay place and was good for just  a couple of nights but not a place that you would want to stay for a while.  There are only two places for “overnighters” and all the others are full time residence, but then again this area is not on the main drag and you would not be in the area unless you had a reason.  We were backed up to the road so road noise was a major factor, but for two nights we survived.

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Morning of November 3rd we headed over the Spring Creek Park, with is a County Park that has full hookups and is free.  You are allowed one week a month here and it is really a great park.  It is maintained by the county and is a large city park.  This place is really great and is normally our go to park when we are in the area. 

While at Spring Creek we attended grandkids soccer, baseball games, had lunch with them at school and then to Show Off for cheer competition season.  The week was busy and we were excited getting ready for our travels again. 

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Lunch with Kylie

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                  Lunch with Clayton

Before we left for our north Texas adventure we went to the Meet and Greet of RVers at the Luby’s in Conroe.  Was a good time and we got to met some of the people that we have been talking to on the many Facebook pages.  It is really great to finally put a face to the name and many of us are going to end up in Arizona for the winter so we will be able to meet up again.

In checking out all the systems on the coach before the trip, our generator was not working, but Jason came out and got that working for us so now we were head the the panhandle.  Our plans are to go to Palo Duro Canyon State Park, Caprock State Park, Lubbock, Abilene State Park, Fairfield State Park, Mission Tejas State Park and then back to Houston for Christmas.  Off we go- YEA!!!

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Light at the end of the tunnel

October was our last month of “captivity” to the monster call chemo treatment and cancer.  We stated the month off with Fred getting his last chemo treatment YEA!!! We had been told that he was going to get a new doctor but thank God it did not happen.  We have been with Dr. George through the entire process and was so happy when we found out that he was still there – well at least for a couple of weeks, but it was long enough for us to get Fred’s last treatment.  He now has his three weeks of pills and a couple of doctors visits before the end of the month and we will be free from this nasty thing called cancer that has had us tied down this year.  We are so looking forward to moving on with our life and getting back to what we want to do – travel!!

Sunday after treatment, Fred was feeling well so we took a couple of hours and went to the Greek Festival here in Houston.  Neither one of us had been before so it was something different to do.  Of course the food was great and it was fun, but the heat soon got to him and we headed home

Clayton’s (grandson) baseball season has started so we tried to make as many of his games as we could this month.  He is so busy between baseball games on Tuesday and Thursday nights and soccer games on Saturday plus practice on other nights, he is always on the go.

 We tried to make as many of the Saturday games as we could but with all that was going on this month we only made it to a couple.  It is so much fun watching him.

Not that Baseball and Soccer was enough, his Uncle Brian runs marathons and some triathlons.  He had one that was in the neighborhood where Clayton’s lives and afterwards he told Uncle Brian he wanted to do one.  So for his birthday Uncle Brian got him an entry into a kids triathlon that was local.  His sister, Kylie, was going to do it with him, but she got sick and only swam in the first leg before she had to withdraw.  She has her cheer competition coming up the first of next months so she and mommy thought it was best to withdraw rather than get sicker.   He really enjoyed it and did quite well in it; I do believe the kid found his favorite sport.  I was very surprise at how fast he ran in the running sections.  He is ready to go again.  We were really proud of him.

Fred also got the opportunity to spend time with our other grandson at his cub scout campout at Camp Bovay.  He was only scheduled to spend on night as Brian had a marathon.  Friday afternoon Brian has a major problem at work thus he was running late so Fred went ahead and took Hunter out to the campout and just decided to stay for the night.  He had gone with Hunter a couple years ago so was knew more of what to expect.  They had a great time and as with all our grandkids it is always fun to experience things with them.

Even though we spend a lot of time with our grandkids we did find some time for us.  We spend one day and went out to Brazos Bend State Park that is close by.  It is one of my favorite state parks and is full of wildlife and trails.  The weather this month has been really nice not to hot or cold so we spent the day just hiking and enjoying being outdoors.  The park makes me feel at home with all the alligators – lol.  If you get the chance stop by as they have full hook ups and you will enjoy the peace at the park and all the hiking.  They also have one the largest observatory in the area and you can really get some great view of the skies and stars.

We also got invited to be judges at the Brazoria County Fair this month.  This was a first for both Fred and I but we had a great time doing it.  There were eight tables of judges and each table had six judges.  From there the top two entries were sent over to the final Judge Table and the winner was determined.  We were on a initial judge table and glad we were for our first time.   One day we had fajitas, beans and that evening we did the “feast”.  I have never eaten so much fajitas or beans as I did that day.  It was only the meat but we have 15 different entries at our table; I was surprise at how many entries tried to pass off brisket meat as fajitas and that no one used any salt in their beans.  If you complete remember to use salt in your beans, there would have been some better taste to a lot of the beans if there had been salt – lol.  In the feast we did not know what we were judging until the container was open as each entry was the contestants view of what a “outdoor feast with the family” would be.  We had everything from tacos, to grilled fish, to surf and turf to gumbo.  We had 18 entries that night.   

The next day we had chicken and brisket to judge.  We did the chicken that morning and then had the brisket in the afternoon.  There were 20 entries of chickens and about 20 entries that we sampled.  For the most part it was good, but it is surprising how many different ways people can cook their chicken and brisket.  I must say I only had to “indispose” myself of only two entries thank goodness.  This is certainly something we would do again if the opportunity arises.

Have some pictures of the fair itself as you are not really allowed to take pictures of the judging.   Hope you enjoy.

We even took some time this month to meet some of our Facebook RV friends as they traveled through Houston this month.     Adam and Christine Koeppel were traveling through for a wedding on their way to Arizona and were staying just across the ship channel from where we are at.  We made arrangements to meet up at their coach one afternoon.  Sharon and Kenneth Nelson were also there and we all had a great visit.  Adam has done a lot of fabulous work in remodeling of their coach, makes me excited to get to work on ours.  Sharon and Kenneth have the fifth wheel but just have not headed out fulltime yet, making plans but the time has not been just right for them.  We all had a great visit and Fred and I are looking forward to meeting up with them again while we are in Arizona.

As you can see we have not just sat and waited our time out while we were in having to stay put in Houston.  We did what we could on those days that Fred was feeling well and stayed shut in on those days that he was worn out and needed to rest.  We both are looking forward to traveling again and are anxious for November.  We will be doing some traveling around Texas during November and will be back in Houston for some doctor appointments and Christmas with our kids in December.  But we are off right after that for parts unknown.  We will keep you updated as our travels continue!!