Cold Canadian Air???

March 23/2013  Thursday & Friday only high of 52 and cold at night 35 - and rain
OK so we understand March can come in like a lion and out like a lamb but it feels like it is going out like a lion too!   When we came to Hot Springs we thought it was with the Spring season which was beautiful for the first 4 days.  Then the Weather channel warned us that the Cold Canadian Air Mass was funneling down very low into the US and was going to stay down for the next few weeks.  Living in an RV is also living half outdoors.  So a couple days of inside is acceptable but then we miss being outside.
We looked at the forecast for the next 10 days and it was not going to be much warmer than 50's during the day and getting near freezing at night. 

Interstate Map

 Then it hit us like a revelation "wait a second our house has wheels!!!"  We don't have to sit and patiently wait it out.  To help us look at the big picture of roadways we had our USA Interstate Map and decided that within a day of traveling we could be back in warm weather.

campground file folder

So next out comes all our campground information.  We keep an indexed folder with all the campgrounds we have visited as well and any info we pick up at the Welcome Centres, filed by state. It's still nice to leaf through when you are toying with a plan.  Billy likes the paper and I surf the web and many of the camping APP's we have for our IPhone.  Within half an hour we had a new destination :)

Gulf Shores of Alabama here we come!  As much as we love the Ozarks for motorcycle riding in the spring it will have to wait till our next opportunity to venture back this way.

p.s.  Camping Apps needs a blog page soon.  I will work on that posting.

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.