Hot Springs National Park

March 20/2013 Sunny, cool about 64 at night 39

On top of Zig Zag Mountain

This Bath House is run by the National Park.

It was a beautiful spring day in Arkansas but a bit on the cool side for going out and putting a long ride on the motorcycle so we decided to head downtown Hot Springs and see the much acclaimed reasons to visit since the early 1800's.   Hot Springs National Park was founded back then and is the only one to be fully inside an urban center and it is the smallest.   There are two scenic rides up the mountains in the National Park - East and West.

Only 1 lane traffic, 1 way - lots of hairpin turns

The federally-protected, natural thermal waters are also used for thermal bathing at several downtown hotels and a hospital. The water is available free for drinking at several fountains in the downtown area. It is also available free throughout the city in the homes of the residents. In the 1900's it was a baseball spring training area and there is much about Babe Ruth hanging out at the Oaklawn Thoroughbred Racing Track and the local row of Bath Houses on main street to soothe his athletic body.

The Arlington Hotel is in the Center, this view is from the West Mountain lookout.

This was also a favorite retreat of the gangsters and Al Capone who use to rent the whole floor of the largest hotel downtown.  Gambling was in Hot Springs till 1967 when it was permanently closed down.

Hot Springs, Arkansas - Garvan Woodland Gardens

March 16 - 19/2013 Spring - 82, 79, 70, 64 - nights 60 down to 39
Weather is all over the place here in Hot Springs.  The normal average temp in spring is 69 and so far it has been above and below and one morning we had a big thunderstorm with a beautiful clear sky in the afternoon.  Not sure what the next day will bring so we are going to ride and see the sites on the good days; there is so much to see and do here. 

Peony Tree

We have booked in for two weeks at Catherine's Landing RV Resort to stay far enough south in the warmer weather and do some riding in the state of Arkansas.  This is Billy's new favorite place to ride:)  Just enough hills and valleys and sweeping roads to be interesting and so picturesque in the spring with the blooms.

Today we visited the University of Arkansas Garvan Woodlands Gardens.  We are lucky to have hit the prime of the Tulip Festival in bloom.

Chapel

We also saw a bride and groom amongst the grounds having photographs taken and just out side the garden area there is a Chapel with a bride and grooms buildings.  Could you imagine a more beautiful spot to have a ceremony???  The Chapel was designed by an architect who studied under Frank Lloyd Wright.  The wood vaulted ceiling and windows were sensational.  It was easy to imagine a candle light ceremony in this lovely setting and after the ringing of the Carillon chimes. 

Slinky a Bus Conversion

Every so often you run across the wildest RV's......   This was a city bus in downtown Houston once and an Engineer apparently picked it up and converted it into his living quarters! His front license plate was titled "Slinky".

Texarkana, Texas or Arkansas ???

March 15/2013 Gorgeous Spring Day high 70's

We headed north east from Houston towards the top corner of the state and then planned to cross into Arkansas.  There is a city there called Texarkana which has half of the its urban coverage in each state!  Cool they actually share government state funding from both Texas and Arkansas for many of the cities services.
We only stayed the one night passing through at a little RV park called Shady Pines RV Park.  When we stopped it was a fresh spring day with a pear tree blooming at our site and little wildflowers in the grass blooming - made you happy to be alive!

Houston area - Old Town Spring - New Caney

March 8 - 15/2013 Weather beautiful - no wind! high 70's to 80's everyday sunny.  One day complete downpour - thunderstorm.

Just 25 miles out of the heart of downtown Houston there is a nice park with big pull thrus - Forest Retreat RV Resort.  Quiet nice and they have free coffee and paper every morning, what more could you ask for? 

We moved up here to get away from the windy Texas Gulf Coast.... and to hang on to some warm weather for another week before we start to move a little north.  Once again the winter is coming to an end.   It makes me think of some thought I read the other day "The years are short but the days are long".   That is so true!

Cowboy Boot Birdhouses :)

Houston is huge.  It just keeps going and going all around it.  They are working on their 3rd bypass to move traffic more expediently.  We did happen to find a cute little "Old Town Spring" within the city where it has kept the little shops and cowboy restaurants as a tourist destination.

It has been a warm winter here and spring has begun the Azaleas are blooming every where.... and these wild trailing yellow flowers along the road sides in the trees.  So pretty.

Quilting in many of the campgrounds

March 6/13  Quilting Wednesday's at Pioneer Beach RV Resort

Quilt on the wall is being raffled off, the quilt club made it together

The ladies here are so similar to many of the parks where you come in and winter for 3 or 4 months.  They have a craft day, and a wood carving day and a fly fishing tying day and a quilting day.
I went up to nose around a few times with the ladies and they just want to take you under their wings!  These ladies were so friendly and knowledgeable answering every question I had and showing me on quilts how do do things too.  So I really have the bug to make a quilt.  Billy thinks we will have to get a trailer twice as big and make a quilting room in it!!! 

Cutting table to the left, teacher in the middle and quilters with machines to the right

Texas Driving - It's Just Wrong to a Canadian

March 8/13

Texan's driving on the side of the road to let others pass!!!

On our way from Galveston to the Rio Grande Valley and then from South Padre to Port Aransas  we had to take some State Roads and even some County Roads.  The State roads are mostly 4 lane highways but do have access on and off without exits, which is ok.  Well as it turns out when you drive on the SR's and CR's the Texan's make up some of their own driving protocol which we are not fond of.   When driving in the motorhome in one area we had people behind us honking the horn as they went by and flashing their lights.  We checked our speed and so forth and really didn't understand what it was about.  Then we started to watch traffic coming the other direction and noticed that if you are traveling slower and someone wants to pass you are expected to drive over into the paved shoulder area and let them get around you.......????  But there is a solid white line on the side of the road that you cross onto the shoulder.  Billy and I both thought this seemed like a very "unsafe practice"  and would it be really legal driving?  Not to mention what about junk that could be on the paved shoulder, such as pieces of tire that are blown out.  We had the same situation happen again when in Mustang Island when we were on the motorcycle.  OK now this just seems down right wrong to us.  We had a pickup flashing his lights and Billy eased over and let him go by much to his chagrin.  This is definitely not a safe driving practice.  Grrrr!  That was Billy's opinion of the way they drive in Texas:)

Bad Rosey and the Gold diggers

March 1/13

When we were packing up the day before to pull out of South Padre KOA I noticed a couple walking around all the empty campsites with a metal detector.........
So I was thinking if they find something what are the chances they give it to the office for the lost and found?  What if some poor woman loses a diamond ring!
I saw them just a digging away in the site across from us.  I asked Billy if we had any bolts or washers he did not want so I could bury them under the rocks in the site.   He just laughed and said "I know what your up to.  You want them to waste time digging for nothing!!!!  Bad Rosey sending them on a wild goose chase:)

Mustang Island, Port Aransas

Feb 22 - Feb 28/13  Weather always somewhere in the mid 70's once in a while 80, always sunny, always windy - but not as windy as down in SPI.  nights about mid 40's to mid 50's.  Sun is dry here, not so humid.

kite flying at Pioneer Beach RV Resort - Port Aransas

Mystery of the Winds - Weather Lesson 101
These winds have been such a quandary for us.  All along the Gulf Coast from Alabama to the bottom of Texas we have found in the last two years it "is" windy.  Not just breezy but windy.  Never understood why.  Here's the deal;  if you watch enough Weather Channel you will finally get the answer!   Every time a weather system moves through the northern part of Texas and the Mid-West of the USA it creates a pressure change below and leaves behind wind, not just a breeze but windy gusty conditions usually for a day.  Then you will just have a breeze for a few days then above the snow storms push through again and voila we get the wind.  The light bulb has now been turned on :)  It has been perplexing to us since last year sitting in the wind in the Gulf Shores of Alabama. 

Border Security check

From South Padre Island to Corpus Christi on Hwy 77 it is mandatory you run through a Border Security Control Checkpoint.  All vehicles.  There are so many cameras pointed at your vehicle you cannot count them; and also about 3 or 4 dogs running around every unit as well.  No problem if you have no one to hide.
We moved from South Padre Island a couple of hundred miles north on the Texas Riviera to Mustang Island, a small town called Port Aransas.  It is very close to Corpus Christi.  There are a few nice RV parks and we have chosen Pioneer Beach RV Resort.  This park has direct access to the beach which is just like Daytona Beach in Florida, you can pay $12 to drive on it for miles and miles.  Also everyone is out there fishing everyday and lots of campers too!  It seemed a little more out there than we would want to be..... that kind of camping is called Boondocking!

Port Aransas is a fishing community and shrimping.  As well there is a deep water strait that takes large vessels into Corpus Christi.  The local fellows told us some large oil rigs come in and out and that is why there is no bridge between Port Aransas and the land across the strait called Aransas Pass.

All vehicles under 90ft long and 80,000 lbs take the ferry, oh and there are 8 of them running 24 hours a day.  We took a ride over to get the feel for leaving in a few weeks with the motor home... we have never used a ferry anywhere in our travels. 

8 ferries run around the clock

Seemed like we could manage this as the one ferry worker told us they would give us the complete one side of the ferry, no worry about being too tightly packed in.   About 25 miles down the road we ended up in Rockport and Fulton Beach.  It is a nice little artsy downtown and just off the mainland was a Key like Florida has.  The properties were quite nice with canal and deep water access. 

We are finding it not too busy, the sun feels good, our park is very nice so we are going to stay for a while.  Ooops,,,, as it turns out that will be 2 weeks.  Since we do not book ahead and reserve the park is going to be full shortly as this is a very popular area for March break coming up.    That's ok we will stay another week and enjoy our time.  

South Padre Island, Beach & Christ of the Fishermen

Feb 21/13  Windy, Windy, Windy - Sunny - 80 and only 69 at night
Did I say Windy????  The wind just never stops and it is more than a breeze its gusty up to 35mph.

view from Isla Blanca towards the city center

With this wind the kite surfers and regular surfers just love it here.  Everyday they are out and the Red Flag on the beach is too, so you need to be a serious surfer to contend with the Riptide.  All the beaches are public and allow dogs.  

At the south end of the island there is a state park; Isla Blanca - it is the largest State Camping Park in Texas, with over 600 sites.  In the park there is a memorial  El Cristo de los Pescadores; which means Christ of the Fishermen.  The base of the statue has an inscription in spanish and english: "Father! Receive the souls of these brave fishermen who have sailed through this pass and never returned." Plaques inserted into the statue's base provide the names of all the fisherman who never returned.  The location is beautiful, right on the beach with amazing views from your motorhome; but be forewarned of the winds.  Since we are so cautious we did not want to camp there in the winter months you will take the brunt of the weather and last year we had to replace a topper awning from winds so add that $ risk into your decision to stay there.

 

South Padre Island, Texas

Feb 15 - 22/2013  Windy, Windy, Windy + warm 75 to 80, night only down to 60's

Bridge onto the island

 South Padre Island is a spit of sand that follows the Gulf of Mexico all along the border of Texax.  When I say a spit its not much more... in the city you can see from one side of the island to the other.  It might be about 6 city blocks.  

One side of the island to the other

 We road out of the city center to the National Seashore which start out ok, just a paved road with sand dunes on each side.  But then a few miles farther we found the sand encroaching onto the highway.

And then..... "Road Closed".   It becomes completely covered over with sand.  So it was time to turn around and head back to civilization.    The ride back into the wind surprised us with sand blowing into our faces, it can really sting!

time to turn around

It is always always windy.  And so there are many kite boarders and surfers and wind boarders out on the sandy seashores.  We hear it gets pretty crazy for March Spring break too!   Our campground was full for the week but you could see where the bars and restaurants and condos were getting ready for the big party.

is that a salad in your Ceasar?

Taking the Kids on the Road

Feb 15/13

Classroom + us in the middle + Family motorhome

We pulled into a KOA in South Padre Island, Texas to find ourselves wedged between two campers.  We have not been to the Keys in Florida with the motorhome but we imagine it is the same type of scenario from what we have heard - they cram as many rv's into the park as possible.  But that is the not the big news.... what we find out from our neighbours is that the motorhome is the Family ride and the truck and trailer on our other side is the Classroom and teachers quarters.  We asked them if they were homeschooling when they explained they come equipped with a young elementary teacher to school the children (3 of them from kindergarten to grade 4) on the road.  The parents from New Jersey decided to take the family cross their country for the next 6 months.  Each morning the kids go to school in the trailer while the parents have their quiet time. 
When we contemplated this later we realized what an expensive proposition this is since they have their unit + the salary of the teacher + her unit.   This is the first we have come across this arrangement in our travels!!!

Rio Grande Valley, Texas - Pharr

Feb 8 - 15/2013  Weather is hot!  up to 92 Sunday, then cooling into the 80's.  low at night is high 60's.  Very nice weather.

Only 1 main road across the Rio Grande Valley Hwy 83

We received an email from friends of Billy's (hockey buddies) that they are in Pharr, Texas and our presence is requested at a Canadian Chatham-Kent BBQ.  So we decided that it would be easy to change our route and just go from Galveston right down to the border of Texas/Mexico.   Not getting carried away we drove about 4 hours and stopped overnight at Victoria-Coleto Koa.  The Rio Grande Valley is about 75 miles along the Rio Grande River which divides Texas from Mexico and starts at the Gulf of Mexico.  It is a very busy area and we did not take the motorcycle out the whole week - just too congested for our liking.

Happy Hour in the pool at Tropic Star

Christmas Cactus

This area is Snowbird haven; there are over 450 RV parks and it reaches across about 7 different cities that run into each other - Mission, McAllen, Pharr, Mercedes, Harligen, Rio Grande City, Brownsville and Edinburg.  We stayed at Tropic Star in Pharr, Texas it is a mega RV park, with about 750 sites.  Nice place with great amenities and tons of activities. At first we could not understand why?    After spending the week we understand what draws the Winter Texan's here - the very warm weather, not too humid, cool evenings, and very inexpensive.  Now there are so many parks that the activities abound.   It is also known as the Square Dance Capital of the World.   You have to see this.  We snuck into the dance on Saturday night and it was sold out - over 500 people.  The outfits were something and the dancing looked like fun!  (The two short videos you just need to hit the arrow button to play them.)

As well we find it funny that we are 1676 miles from home and what do we do?  Get together with 30 other people the same distance from home to have a BBQ.  Ironically there were two other couples from Lighthouse Cove!   Glad we came to see this area but it is time to move on to something a little slower paced for Billy and Rosey - not so much traffic so we are headed to South Padre Island.

Mardi Gras in Galveston, Texas

Feb 3/2013  75 Sunny, Breezy low of 62

We don't know much about Mardi Gras since at home we only associate it with New Orleans and a festival or carnival with masks and costumes and beads.  It seems it is so popular along the southern coast that from Alabama to Texas all the cities have their own celebrations along with the biggest in New Orleans.  Galveston celebrates for 10 days... every day they have parties and parades.  The actual meaning of the words means "Fat Tuesday".... thus it is the last hurrah before the Lenten season begins.

So since we were here we decided to go a parade on Sunday in the historic area of Galveston known as The Strand.  It happened to be the kids parade put on by the Shriner's - so much fun, the kids were having a great time.

Galveston Island, Texas

Feb  1 - 7, 2013  Breezy from the Gulf Coast, High of 72, low 55

Ever since we got here I keep thinking of that Glen Campbell song Galveston.  And "no I am not a fan of his"  but you know how sometimes things get in your head and ramble around in there???
This city is know for its devastation in 1900 from a hurricane that had one of the highest fatalities in history - 6000 to 8000 people.  When you visit Galveston you will travel for miles along the water and a cement seawall.  After the 1900's hurricane this Seawall was constructed to keep any future storm surges out of the city.  It goes for 10 miles along the front and everyone walks and has public access to the water from it.

Seawall

There is Paradise Pier that reminds you of the Jersey Shore (although its my impression only; we have not been there) - it has a Ferris Wheel and Roller Coaster and other family rides that is open year round to the public - right out into the water on a huge pier.

We found a campground right on the seawall coast - Dellanera RV Park  it is run by the city.  It felt new with lots of pull thrus and cement sites/pads.
It was such a great spot for walking on the beach and up on the seawall and the sunset was right over the local biker bar next to us;  life is just about perfect!

Just like home

Digital Picture Frame on the left

One thing that you would not think of is how hard it is for people to buy you a present when you are living in your motor home.......
See we don't think about it because we are the recipients but we hear it every christmas and birthday.
In a motor home you do not hang pictures or put out photos typically since you don't have any empty wall space and if you did it would most likely shake off when you travel down the road.  We received a digital picture frame and it is so nice to just plug in a memory stick and presto our memories come to life.  We love it!