Wheels of Life

April 18 to April 30/2019  Weather.... ugh.   ln 12 days we have had 2 nice days.  Yes!  The math says 10 crappy, cold, wet, windy days.  Half the time we have had to shut our slides for fear the wind gusts would rip our toppers.  It feels like the worst season we have ever come back for.  Come on Mr. Sunshine, please come out and play.  
Only good thing is that we have been so busy with our "to do' list and visiting that we have not been home a full day in the motorhome.   
Isn't this Life Cycle true?????   Oh my gosh we are way past the half point.  Yikes!

Down on the Farm

April 18/2019 Weather started to thunder in Wapakoneta this morning when we pulled out.  But the storm held off and we were able to drive all the way home to Dealtown, Ontario where we will use the Farm as base camp.  It was not even that cold, maybe 60's.  BUT and that is with capital letters the forecast for Easter Weekend is horrible.   Cold, low 40's, very rainy and windy.  We are just hooking up and keeping the rig closed till the storm blows over by Sunday.   Billy is cranky.  He does not enjoy coming home in the Spring to nasty Ontario weather.   Oh well, it's only for 2 days then it is suppose to break and be mid 50's to 60's and sunny.  Come on Mr. Easter Bunny bring on the warm spring weather.   In the meantime my friend Pammy back in beautiful sunny Hill Country Texas wished us a Happy Easter Texas style.  Haha

Quite the ride Mr. Easter Bunny

Last stop

April 17/2018  Weather warm and grey today, storm is coming behind us.   We are in our last stop before crossing into Canada and home.  This Wapakoneta KOA is a nice clean park and a good way to finish up the season.  My brother tells us we must go to the TBone Buffet down at the truck stop here, Travel America.   It is the first service center on the I75.  First as in history,
the location was the first truckstop on the interstate.  It was built in 1956 shortly after President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. For the next 15 years, it was one of the busiest truckstops in the country.  Today it still quite busy serving roughly 1,000 fuel customers a day.  One touristy attraction we have never been to in Wapakoneta is the Neil Armstrong Space Museum.  Put that on the bucket list. 

Neil Armstrong - First Man to Walk on the Moon

Crossing Old Man River

April 16/2019  Weather sunny, high 77/low 55  

Ojibwa misi-ziibi, meaning "Great River", or gichi-ziibi, meaning "Big River"

Today we continued northwest across the USA with a goal to cross the Mississippi River and get past St. Louis before looking for a campground.  We broke our own rules today, putting on 363 miles driving till 3:45.  That is a big day for us.   It will leave two normal days for the home stretch.   We landed near the Illinois/Indiana border in a small town called Casey.  Easy in and out Casey KOA.  We might be the only transients in the park... not too busyi

The river barge could be moving grain, 60% of the grain is moved down the Mississippi for export

 

Harbinger of Spring

April 15/2019  Weather  nice temperature today, 75/55. 

Spring in the Midwest - green and blooms

Perfect spring weather in Missouri.  We did feel some strong south winds that eventually made us tired of fighting the gusts on the side of the coach (we are travelling northeast).  About 2:30 we stopped at Springfield KOA.  We enjoy staying here as we met the owners a few years ago and had some funny episodes with them and their dogs - The Kings.  Once again we chatted and caught up with them when we checked in.  Nice, nice people.
Missouri interstates were willed with Eastern Redbuds!  So pretty.

Redbuds

Follow that Sticky Note

April 14/2019 Weather clear as can be.  Sunny.  Crisp 50 this morning, 70 high/50 in Oklahoma City.   Last fall going West we found a great KOA on the East side of Oklahoma City on I40 so we are staying here tonight.  A good easy drive today.  We did take the toll road northeast out of Wichita Falls, I44.  Had to stop 3 times to pay tolls that amounted to $7.25 in total.  Not much traffic today.  Yesterday we did make a reservation to stop as it turns out snowbirds are on the move.  When we pulled in at 2:30 pm the lady said "i hope you have a reservation as we have only 2 spots left".  When we started RVing 9 years ago we could always find a spot early afternoon, not so much anymore. 
Tonight we pulled out our USA map with the KOA's....  as our friend Eric calls it the "trapline".  It is complete with sticky notes on each stop, forecast for that day including the wind, date and day.  Where to tomorrow?

Trap line

2nd day???

April 13/2019  Weather is a not good.
Heavy rain(2 to 3 inches) and wind(35 to 40 mph gusts) to the north where we would go next - Oklahoma City.
To the East possible Tornadoes - oh joy!
We are staying right here in Mineral Wells another day.  Not opening our slides, wind is too severe.  We are comfy.  Good day to do bookwork, read, watch TV and make cookies!

The Trap Line

April 12/2019  Weather 70/50 where we landed today on our first day headed north in our trap line.  We belong to the 230 club and it was bang on today!  230 miles straight north to a really nice campground on hwy 281 near Mineral Wells (west of Fort Worth).  It allowed us to stay away from FW/Dallas, we don't really need all that traffic do you?  Our camp is Coffee Creek RV Resort and Cabins.  

there we are up by the red truck

We have a nice long pull thru, big park and the ladies were so great checking in.  Tomorrow might be a rain out and we thought we might need another day.... they said "no worries you can decide in the morning and then come pay us, take your time".  So accommodating and customer friendly.   Nice clubhouses, pool and facilities.  Glad we stopped here.  And we have the "quietest neighbours".  

our neighbours

Oh Happy Days

Rosey and Billy on the Creek at Buckhorn

April 11/2019  Weather 79/53  Beautiful last day to pack up and smell the flowers before leaving Buckhorn Lake RV Resort. 

Oh happy days.  We had "way" too much fun this month in our last month of the snowbird season.  One last day to snap some pics of the spring flowers in Kerrville. 

Quick, quick, slow, slow

April 10/2019 Weather 92/63  HOT, HOT, HOT

throw those steaks on

It's never been this hot here when we have have been in Kerrville, Texas.  And tonight is the 11th Street Cowboy Bar.  The bbqs were fired up.  You bring your own meat and use the BBQ's and buy your fixins and ice cold beer. 

Nice Bottlecaps baby

The bar is so crowded on steak and dance night you have to visit when it is empty to see all the crazy walls and especially the ladies washroom in the front bar. The decorating is hysterical.  I will show you some pics at the end of this posting.  After our supper the band kicks up and the dance floor is packed.   Quick, Quick, Slow, Slow.... The Texas Two Step.

A couple Texas two stepping before it got crowded

There was a singles group in tonight and another bus load besides our bus from Buckhorn Lake RV Resort.  Super deal getting on the bus from BLR so we all go together.  We would never drive here on the Harley at night with all the wildlife out at night.    Ok here are the ladies bathroom walls..... crazy, crazy, crazy..... you sit on the toilet and look right at this, can you read what it says: "you are re-entering the wild kingdom home of the untamed male predators"  and "wanna straddle my hog honey"  and "nice jugs"  and so on and so on.  OMG.  Ha,ha.  

 And then you are still sitting on the toilet and look up to the side and there is a window with 3 guys watching you!!!!

So you can see why we love the ambiance of this bar!    Best cowboy bar in Texas 

Harley's and Horses welcome at the 11th street bar

16th Century German Beer in Hill Country Texas

April 3/2018  Weather misty rain day, 64/56 temps.  A group from BLR has put together a research trip to Fredericksburg to Altstadt Brewery.  Interesting research?  Might be;  first the tour and then the taste testing and lunch and lots of camaraderie.  Our kind of research:)

front door to the Alstadt Brewery

The investment to recreate classic German style beer in the heart of Hill Country is pretty much the sky..... as the owner of this venture is William Scripps Jr.  Do you recognize the name, you most likely see it everyday.  Watch the credits after HGTV, Food Network, DIY Network, Cooking Channel, Travel Channel.

inside the brewery

   E. W. Scripps' television division currently owns fifty-one television stations in thirty-six markets.  Mr. Scripps had a dream to have a brewery in Hill Country adhering to the German Purity Law of 1516, the brewery puts nothing but hops, barley, yeast, and water into the beer. The new state-of-the-art brewery goes a step further by mimicking the mineral composition of the artesian spring water of Germany.   The Brewmaster has a Masters in Science of Brewing from Munich, Germany.    After a tour of the workings of the brewery we retreated to the Biergarten for sampling and lunch.  Prost!

A flight of beer (4 samples) and Cheese Fondue

Meat Candy

March 26/2019    There is only one way to complete a day of driving through 100's of miles of wildflowers.  Our ride from Kerrville to Llano to Fredericksburg and back to Kerrville was about 150 miles.  Drumroll please,,,,,,,,,,,,,, OPEN PIT BBQ.   You bet.   By far the best we have ever had is at Cooper's BBQ in Llano.  Brisket is cooked 18 hours, and you order by the pound.  Oh my God it is "meat candy". 

picking your meat at the pit

You pick your meat outside at the open pit then you take it inside to be weighed and get any side fixins like potato salad, coleslaw, pecan cobbler!  An ice cold beer.   Then head to a big communal table and dig in.  Bread, pickles and beans supplied for accompaniments.    It is heaven on earth.

1 lb of juicy brisket, Billy save some for Rosey

Texas Hill Country Wildflowers

March 25 & 26/2019  Weather   Gorgeous!  80 high/59 low

the flower power bike gang- the bluebonnets go on up the hills like carpet

the bluebonnets this year are thick from the fall flooding

We are doing "the loop"  back to back 2 days.  It's the old Willow city loop which is one of the most popular spring wildflower roads in the Hill Country.  Just outside of Fredericksburg you can catch the one way 11 mile ride through private ranch roads.

along the highway Indian Paintbrush and Bluebonnets

   One day we went north and the next day friends said lets go again and we rode it south.  Incredible wildflowers.  We cannot think of anywhere we have been lucky enough to be in Canada or the USA where the flowers are so predominant along the roadside. 

fields of white poppies