Saturday - Sunday - Fun-day!

Yesterday, Saturday, was a travel day. We slept in and then had coffee at the only coffee house open in the area, McDonald's, and then proceeded to Henry’s house. The Admiral needed to go to the bathroom but couldn’t use the one in the RV for obvious reasons. He couldn’t wait to go, so he tried to relieve himself in the bushes after asking us to pull over. When he got out of the rig he found a rather inhospitable place along the side of the road and decided to wait for Henry’s house.

  

 Henry is Bob’s brother. He is a volunteer firefighter and works at the YMCA. They are seven years apart, but sometimes even living far away from your family, traits still remain the same. They both have Girl Scout Cookie buying weakness.

Henry and Janice live in Burnet, TX near Lake Buchannan. We were kind of hot so we spent some time reconnecting in the air-conditioned house and then went out to dinner at the Twenty-Three Hundred Café in Burnet. It was really quaint, had live music, (one man and an Ipad). It is what rural Texas is all about, a mom and pop business where most the community knows each other. There’s a “Howdy, how are ya? Haven’t seen you since Tuesdee?” “Yer aunt recover from her lumbago?” “Nice shirt, that new?”

We got home around 7 pm and experienced a phenomenon, Henry has a designation of Certified Nature Habitat for part of his property. He daily pours thirty pounds of corn, nuggets, and protein supplement out on a rocky area on the side of his fenced lawn to feed the deer. This he pays for himself. There were 17 deer all around him gathered from all over the area, they just showed up. It was amazing to watch! He does this everyday!

Today, we went 40 miles away to the Open Road Biker Church where Henry is an integral part of the congregation. We had a little confusion in timing. Bob and I heard different starting times in our head, so we were a half an hour late. (I was right on time) We met some great people, Pastor Butch, and had a sweet sermon about Jesus.

When we got home I was feeling a little rocky due to body aches and pains. H&J (Henry and Janice) announced we were going to the lake for a picnic on their party boat. I went along and per usual had a great time. Something about water always revives me. We went to Lake Buchannan and launched the boat and the first thing I saw was a heron. If you know me, you know I love these birds with a passion. I think they must be my favorite animal. 

The picnic on the lake was great, we parked by an island and went swimming. The bass fish come up and nibble on your body in the water. They did to H&J but not Bob and I. They must not like the taste of foreigners.


We came back to land and had another deer fest with Henry before we washed up and went out to dinner. We talked of miracles, the grace of God, and funny family stories.

Great day…not too hot for this Washington girl.

If God Blessed Texas, Why is it hot as H---?

Let's say we relaxed and took our time getting going this morning but in truth, the Admiral slept in. I think he was a little tired from all the driving and stress of finding a place to view the game, which did not work out as planned. When you have the responsibility of those that you are guiding it is easy to be overtaken sometimes.  Some bright Texas sunshine, and a quick cup of coffee and we all were finally ready to ride

We left El Paso around 11:30 AM and headed off on the next leg of the Texas adventure. We are going to be staying with Bob’s brother Henry over the weekend plus. (Plus however long he can stand us visiting before the game on October 1st when we need to be in Dallas.)

Bob drove, and drove, and drove, and yes we were still in Texas! We went through a border patrol checkpoint and we thought we had taken a wrong turn and were in Mexico. All we had to do was stop quickly and answer one question. Are you US Citizens? Being the pasty white Washingtonian Dutch heritage folk that we, are it was easy for them to believe our responses and they quickly passed us through. No, we were not in Mexico, but we were close enough to the border that it was important to ask.

Just outside of Van Horn, TX tracking along on highway 10, through the more hilly and mountainous (Texas mountainous not Cascades mountainous) area around Saragosa we started to see the scenery and awesome skies above.  Large patches of Cumulus clouds gathered in herds like sheep roaming the skies. They soon took on a darker hue and Bob started seeing flashes of lightning in and around them. We thought they would pass.

True Seattleites, our hearts pounded in anticipation of rain. When it seemed the clouds were passing to the south, we grieved. A few miles later we were blessed with more threatening and ominous clouds and some decent Texas rain! It was glorious. God indeed showered it down on these muggy travelers. The temp went from 97 degrees outside to 79 which is a good respectable hot summer day for us. The sound inside the RV was so cool.

Hard rain and that fresh, dustless smell of clean air! At the end of it, 10 minutes down the road, we were blessed with a full arch rainbow, and then the double one as we faded out of the storm back into the blazing Texas sun.

The Admiral jumped to the front of the rig to celebrate the promise of the rainbow. Inside he was dancing, I know it.

We reached Fort Stockton around dinner time and stopped at the  Sagebrush Cafe and Gifts restaurant where we had Southern Fried Chicken with gravy and mac and cheese for Bob and fish and chips for me with Hush Puppies! Hush Puppies were the delicacy, fish in Texas was….ok.

We were directed to a giant Roadrunner where we would turn and find old Fort Stockton. The sun was setting and the clouds were impressive. The Admiral wanted to try his hand at a covered wagon used by the ‘Duke’ in his movies. Bob took him over to give him a sit on the interesting relic.

They had a nice long talk about the next leg of the journey and why the heck doesn't the wife drive, too, to help.

As the sun set, we found some happy shots and a reason to move along the highway to Sonora.

We are at a ‘Restaria’ enjoying some quiet and looking again at the expansive southern sky thanking God that since he blessed Texas, he also blessed those rugged souls that could live here.

Bob's quiz question of the day.

What song did June Hershey and Don Swander write?

Accurate lyrics about this great state.

Everything's bigger in TEXAS!

The Admiral awakened us and got us off and running with a quick Pledge of Allegiance, and two rousing run-throughs of "God Bless America" Hustling through New Mexico we took to the road with a vengeance.

I had an online meeting to conduct even while moving in the vehicle, a phone that kept dying, and the lack of electricity with the generator not running while we drove. It was hot (well to us Seattlites anyway) and I was in the back bedroom bouncing around trying to be on task. I finally turned it into a phone conference because the attendees were getting sick by seeing my image bounce so much. All was well at the end.

A couple of rest areas and some quick gas-ups and all of a sudden it seemed we were in Las Cruces, NM and heading into El Paso.

We were moving into late afternoon and knew we needed to get to a place to grab some dinner and watch Johnny's Rams game against San Francisco. At one gas rest stop we parked and as Bob got out of the rig a total stranger told his story about being a huge Rams fan. He was wondering if he could take a picture of the RV and would Bob even take a picture of it with him in front of it. It was a blessing to do so. I am trying to get Ramily (Ram fans) signatures and pictures as they come to us all over the country. We have had several honk and wave as they pulled in front of us and showed their Rams Stickers on their cars. It delights us to see them.

We decided to RV park it tonight, we got fast food ribs and checked in so we could watch the game on cable, well they did not get the channel but we could watch the game on our phones since we have Verizon, so we watched the game on a 3" x 6" screen instead of the 3 TVs on the rig.

The ribs were huge. You could only eat one or two and they put 7 in a rack. Bob dug right in and enjoyed them greatly as you can see.

When he wiped his beard and stache afterward it was orange. So funny!



The best part of the evening, of course, was this!
Rams Beat Niners 41 to 39

WWWWWWWWWWWWW its a W!

Joy is revealed in the Morning

Wednesday Rush

We played cribbage with Johnny Tuesday night...which Dad and I lost of course. We hugged each other good night and went to the RV for rest so we could leave early again without waking anyone. Leaving at 4:30 we made good travel time through LA and by the time I awakened we were near to Arizona. We were on a schedule for dinner with my two brothers in the area. Dinner at Manuel's in Tempe was planned for 5 pm. We made it in perfect time. Manuel's was the favorite place my family went for Mexican food since I was a young kid living there. It was a real sentimental surprise. Phil and Marsha, Kent and Nancy and Bob and I had a great time chatting and catching up on the kids in each family. It was so good to see them. Facebook link from Nancy

We kept Kent and Nancy up very late past their bedtime, so we slept in the rig and headed out early again. 

We missed all the Phoenix area traffic and Tucson traffic, well Bob did anyway. I slept at least for part of the night. Finally, around 4:00am we found a rest area that we could turn into called Texas Canyon rest area. We both went to sleep after taking some time to look at the millions of stars in the Milky Way. We were glad we missed all the barren areas of Arizona and New Mexico at night. WE thought we had saved ourselves some boredom until we awakened.

 We were almost giddy at how cool this stopping place was. The Admiral told us he had some surprises in store for us. This was one of them. A historical marker at the site told about how the bluffs here at the Dragoon Mountains were called the Council Rocks where Cochise and the US Cavalry reached a treaty. This was also the land where Geronimo was the leader of tribes in the area. There were many stories and struggles whispered on the wind as we listened this morning.

We walked around the site and looked at the rock formations in awe and then went inside where I got my own personal concert from Bob on his guitar. As we headed on towards the border, we listened to Don Edwards. We talked and dreamed of how tough the life would have been riding a horse to Texas. Our morning was spent thinking about cowboys, and Native Americans, and times so long ago.

This is a song dearly regarded by the grandkids as the "Hoo Yip" song. Bob plays this around the campfires in our backyard often, due to the requests of the Joel and Catie Hekker's boys who sing loud and enthusiastically each time. 

When we visit, you better brush up on your cowboy lore!