Mimosa Time?

south along interstate  25

Oct 29 & 30/17  Weather is so nice we thought lets stay a couple of days in Las Cruces.  78 high, low 44 then 80 high, low 47.  When you are located in Albuquerque it is pretty much a straight shot south on I25 to Las Cruces.  Easy 240 mile day.  Oh yes much more our style.  Not much along the way but we noticed it was the best leaf peeping day we had on the road this fall.  Kind of odd it is in New Mexico; that would not be the place you would expect.   The yellows and golds were effervescent!

golden bronze tree at the entrance to this ranch in New Mexico

Hacienda RV resort is a nice place to stay and it has a close proximity to Old Mesilla Village where the restaurants are great.  We unloaded the Harley and went for a ride out into the countryside through pecan orchards; on the way back we stopped at St. Clair Winery & Bistro.

St. Clair Winery & Bistro in Las Cruces

Billy just liked the name since we lived on Lake St. Clair for years.  As it turns out it was a fantastic lunch and we left with a bottle of Mimosa!!!  Didn't know you could get it bottled and we thought this will be great for brunch one day soon.

Mimosa from St. Clair Winery

Winnnnnnddddyyyy

Oct 26/17 Weather high of 78 today but wind is on the way, by late today gusts could be up to 50 mph. The night is bringing cold down to 34 by morning. Ugh!  That will not be fun.  Across Oklahoma we kept thinking what reason is there to stay, couldn't find one so Billy decided a big day behind the wheel would get us across the state.  380 miles later with a strong front wind most of the day turned into a bit of a nightmare the last 30 miles. We stopped for diesel fuel before getting to our Elk City KOA campground.  It was actually wicked.   We saw a poor RV fellow on the side of the road with half of his roof flapping in the wind!!! Oh no.   He ended up at our campground and Billy gave him our staple gun to staple what he had left to the roof.  It was an older unit but still sad to see.  Then a brand new Redwood fifth wheel came in with half the underbody dragging behind.  No good things happen in that kind of wind.  We did not put any slides out since you are just asking for toppers to be torn off.  Many campers that night did the same.  Some have no choice to open because they cannot get to their beds or kitchens.  We are good with it closed, its just like a sailboat inside..... all inline living!!!  And we had no damage.

cotton fields in the panhandle of texas

Oct 27 & 28 /17  Weather high of 70 and night 35 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  We wanted to stop in Amarillo, Texas overnight but no stopping allowed since the night was forecasted to have 11 hours below 29.  Yikes.  Keep going.  That means another long haul day.  Gosh feel like truckers.  453 miles.  I know - really???  Can we make it.  This is unheard of for us.  We belong in the 230 club.  230 miles or off the road at 2:30 pm.  Billy put the coach in high gear and kept on rolling.  Wind died down and it was cruising weather.   There is nothing in the panhandle of Texas.   You can see for miles.   Stopped at one of our regular nice spots in Albuquerque, New Mexico - American RV Park.  When we registered we asked to stay an extra night.   Rosey and Billy need an extra day for R & R.

red, red dirt in the panhandle - talk about flat land you can see forever

Big Shout Out

Oct 25/17   This is a story you have to hear about the owners of the Springfield, Missouri KOA.
In the Fall of 2015 we camped near Charleston, SC at James County RV Park.  Great camping spot.  Our back in lot was kind of a buddy lot to the next lot which was a really friendly younger couple with 2 greyhound dogs.   The dogs really kept this couple moving, one time the lady came back with mud and dog poop smeared allover her legs.   They had take the dogs to the dog park and let them off then realized there was no fencing.   Apparently Greyhounds tend to chase a squirrel or whatever they see till they drop or catch the squirrel which is why they use these dogs in the racing circuits.  Both dogs were rescue from the racing.  The lady kind of went crazy calling and chasing her dogs to come back and get them on a leash.  She did get them but thus the mud and dog poop as she fell along the way!!!  It was hilarious and we had happy hour a few times with the couple.  Super nice people.  Turns out they own the KOA in Springfield, Missouri.
We wrote it in our KOA book and vowed to stop and say hello if we ever went by their campground.   When we checked in we said "do you still have Greyhounds? We camped beside you quite some time ago in Charleston, SC.   These people must meet hundreds if not thousands of campers.   They remembered us!!!  Billy said "well we have been on our way here since then".  Hahaha.  We had a good laugh.
Small World and once again you meet the nicest people living the camping life.

Crossing the MidWest

Oct 24/17  Tuesday the weather was blustery, rainy and cold .... almost freezing at night!!!  32 F.  We stayed overnight in Casey, Illinois at the KOA.  It's just a  small town but to draw visitors they have built some Guinness World Book of Records items such as Wind Chimes, Rocking Chair, Knitting Needles, Crochet Hook, Pitchfork, Golf Tee, Yardstick, Wooden Token, Dutch Wooden Shoes, Mailbox, Pencil and Birdcage.  Well it was so nasty out we put the furnace on and the electric blanket and stayed in where it was toasty warm.

casey, illinois

Oct 25/17 Wednesday the sun came out which was wonderful to travel in and we headed towards St. Louis.  Crossing over the mighty  Mississippi into Missouri we started to hit a fair amount of corner head wind and Billy had to hang on to the steering wheel !!!  The farther west we went the warmer the day became reaching a high of 70.

sunny warm in Springfield, Missouri

It felt great to camp in Springfield, Missouri at the KOA and have our dinner outside on the patio.  It was quite a change from the last two days. Low tonight only 47. 

crossing the Mississippi

Busy Border Crossing

Oct 23/17 Weather ~ Fall is here.  A cold front is coming and today will be rainy, windy and mid 50's.  Low about 47. 

Ambassador Bridge

 We are crossing from Windsor into Detroit and will take the Ambassador Bridge.  On a normal day this is a busy commercial crossing as it takes up to 25% of the trade between Canada and the USA.  Lots of transports.  Today for 10 days the tunnel is closed for maintenance so all the cars are using the Bridge as well.   We waited till about 10 am to cross hoping that the double traffic would be cleared by then.  As we came across we were right the car lanes were empty.  Oddly enough the RV's and Buses have a specific lane in the car lane area.  In the last 7 years crossing we have always been made to use this lane...... but not today.  One guard was waving us to the lane , another was pointing to the left and a third was putting up a big stop hand sign.  Billy was waving back.  Well where am I supposed to go????  They decided that we had to back up and cut across all the lanes to go between a couple of pylons and over to the truck lanes.  Oh great.  Yeah sure, we'll just back up this mini cooper.  Luckily there was no car traffic coming and we could do this.  Pulling up in the truck lanes which was packed - 7 lanes with at least 10 trucks in each lane.  Oh boy!  1 hour later we cleared with no problem and entered the freeway.  Now don't forget I75 is also closed in Detroit for 11 miles so you have to detour out I94 past the airport then catch US23 south to I475 and back onto I75 at Perrysburg.  It pays to check your DOT pages before heading out with a big rig.  Well a few hours later we had put in our 235 miles and it was 3:00 pm; time to stop for the day at the Wapakoneta KOA.  We really like this campground, so convenient and we had enough fun for today.

Wapakoneta KOA

Is it still Summer?

May 10 to October 22/2017  Great Summer in Ontario

Aerial shot of Wildwood RV and Golf Resort

Our snowbird winters are filled with such great RV resorts and coming back to Ontario it can be a challenge to find campgrounds with the same amenities.  Wildwood RV Resort & Golf is one of the nicest places to pull your rig into for the summer months.  Our site again this year was the first one into the park; with a beautiful view of the golf course.  It definitely adds a bit of risk to it though as we have taken a few hits from the golf balls.  When we are away for the day and return Billy's first thought is did we get hit today?  He especially worries about the windows.  We did get a few hits this season but nothing too severe.  It's just a really nice campground.

18th green; our site is just to the right in this picture

As it turned out we left after Thanksgiving and moved to the Farm.  We had some things to take care of and stayed a couple weeks longer than we normally do.  However; Mother Nature blessed us with an usually warm and extended Indian Summer.  I think we got the very last day in before packing up and heading south.  Crops are off.  Yard is fall cleaned.  Family is taken care of ...... And away we go.

What to do at a Mtce Rally?

May 4 -10/17  Weather  has recovered but the temperatures are about 10 to 15 degrees F below normal.  Days are just into the 50's and we had 2 nights of frost but it is only 40ish at night for the next few days.  Is it because the winter was so mild in the north the spring is begrudgingly here? 

entering the Elkart Fairgrounds, beautiful spring flowering tree by their emblem

Vendor building and new coach display

there we are - 1st one on the right in the long row

The Elkhart 4H Fairgrounds are a great place for a Rally.  Facilities can accommodate huge numbers, I think they said there were about 350 coaches here this year.  Below will be a few pics of the camping.  It is very organized and everyone has full hookups, just no cable TV.   The week cost $245 and they feed you breakfast daily, lunch at least 5 times, 2 dinners and an ice cream social.  Everything you want serviced on your coach happens right at your campsite.  It is so convenient.  The REV Group that owns Monaco, Holiday Rambler, American Coach, Fleetwood and Beaver will service 2 items on your motorhome for free labour, you pay the parts.  We had a new swing arm on the door and a new step motor installed.   Billy had the parts waiting.  2 technicians were on it for 1 hour so at $100 an hour there is $200 we recovered.  Then we had another fix on our topper awnings, springs put in last year were readjusted for free by the service shop.  Another 1 hour with 2 guys at $200.  We will also have our generator serviced by Cummins Crosspoint and a new heating element put in our hot water heater.  In the days there are seminars from 9 am to 4 pm on all kinds of topics.  Billy went to a TV tips and tricks and info while I went off to a Convection/Microwave cooking class.  Most functioning equipment on the coach is covered in a seminar.  Fire Safety, Aqua hot, furnaces, hot water heaters, TV, roofs, toppers and awnings, electricity.  and much more.  This year we tried to take in the ones we didn't get to last year.   It might take a few more years to really cover all the topics. 

more camping inside the horsetrack (we were there last year)

driver training for co-pilots, the teacher and driver wear microphones to talk to each other

sign in one of the motorhomes - priceless!!!

Indiana Rally

May 5/17. Weather cool 50, but the rain stopped thank goodness.  In the afternoon the sun even came out!  We were in an out most of the day checking out the vendor booths, and the rally fed us breakfast, lunch and dinner.  We heard there are over 350 coaches this year., and 80 first timers.  Wow that's big.   It does seem like the numbers are up, you can see the difference when the food comes out. Haha. 

Lined up inside the main hall for dinner, new coaches in the background

Sunshine, what a difference a day can make 

Oh boy ,,,,, Mother Nature Is not cooperating

May 3 & 4/17 Weather Forecast is nasty, cold, rainy, windy!!!  We have boots and raincoats and gloves and scarves and long underwear ready.  You think we are kidding?  Haha. Well it's true.  Last year we came to the Holiday Rambler 419 Mtce Rally in Goshen, Indiana and it was the worst weather we have ever participated in.  Participated is the word since we were walking around everyday in the stuff...... this year we had hoped it would be better but it's not starting out so good.  
We decided at the last minute to leave Wednesday afternoon while it was sunny and calm to get the big drive in from Blenheim, Ontario to Shipshewana, Indiana.  We stayed at Shipshewana South RV park.  It's a great campground.  We are patting ourselves on the back this morning.   Smart idea.  Today is rain, wind, cold (high of 44).  So glad we only had 1/2 hour drive to the Elkhart Fairgrounds in Goshen.  
Isn't life fun???  Ok, out we go in our raincoats, good thing I got one to go to Scotland (never needed it there)!!!!

Our view from our motorhome - clouds packed in 

The radar show a massive storm front

Wake Up!

Apr 12/17 Weather sunny 67, low 40.  

Apr 12/17 in Ontario.... weather 67 sunny, low of 40.  
Pulled into the Farm, hooked up to the shed.  Mum was happy to see us.  We will stay here for a few weeks to take her to appointments and do the spring yard work.  
This morning we were serenaded !    The roosters came right up to our coach from the neighbours!!!!
Bad chickens I told them, go away, we are sleeping.  
If I catch one maybe we will stuff for Easter!!!! 

Smells like Texas Pecans in here

April 10/17  Warm, hazy day.  Storm front coming in by end of day.  We traveled to Indiana and stopped at Indianapolis today and hooked up at 3 pm before the rain came in about 5:30.  We also jumped ahead 1 hour; 2 pm was actually 3 pm, now back on Ontario time.  On the east side of Indy is a nice park, Indianapolis East KOA.  There is a MickeyD's right across the street so we can pop over for a ice cream cone.  Tonight while getting my morning coffee ready I noticed that I only have one Texas Pecan Coffee Beans bag left!!!!!   Oh no!   Spirit Wind Java in Ingram, Texas has the best coffee in the whole world.  There are pecans roasted with the coffee.   When you grind the coffee the whole motorhome smells heavenly....  then the next morning the coffee brewing smells even better.  It is my favourite treat in Hill Country.  Good thing they ship globally.  I'm never going to be able wait a whole year for Texas PecanCoffee.

One bag left

2 for 2

April 7 & 8 & 9/17  Weather good.  No storms.  Time to head North.  Travel temperature was very comfortable high 70's so we did not heat up in the motorhome.  Today there was a Wind Advisory with gusts up to 57 mph. South to South West direction.  We got lucky since it was mostly at our back corner.  It was so strong that if we had been traveling the other way we would have sat out the day.

Texas Flag

 1) We went sideways across Texas heading towards Texarkana.    We thought we would stop before 3 pm at a park that was in our Big Rig RV Guide called Staway Ranch RV Park in Murchison, Texas. (if you look at the link to the park it does not look like the advertising).    Last year I looked at it on my camping map and I thought it meant "Stay Away"'; like stay away from this area.   But "no that can't be"  the people that write the guide have a beautiful big rig so they only pick good places.  HA!!!!   Yes the name says it all.   Needless to say we were the only transient RV, and the park needed a bit of TLC.   

Arkansas Flag

2) Second day we went up towards Little Rock, Arkansas and across almost to West Memphis.   There wasn't a whole lot of parks to choose from so we kind of kept going.  Stopped at a small park in Forrest City called Delta Ridge RV Park. 
Yes the park did look like the advertising it was just the area around it was bad. 
The area was very sketchy, a motel out front of the property was in some stage of dereliction/remodel, police sirens going, heard about muggings in the Walmart parking lot in broad daylight.  Park owner told us to lock everything and no walking around after dark!!!
Thus my title of this posting:   Billy told me I was 2 for 2.  

Illinois Flag

3) Today we took our time and made it just into the Illinois border taking I55N & I57N.  In Benton we found a nice KOA.  Really KOA means no surprises.  You can pretty much count on it being just fine.  Well usually a bit noisy by a freeway and also a train station but hey after the last two nights choices it is great.  No adventures tonight!

redbud trees blooming at Benton KOA

Prayer Garden

March 6/17     With Easter coming we wanted to go up to The Coming King Sculpture Prayer Garden in Kerrville as our last stop.  Simply a special place.   The Empty Cross is 77feet 7 tall and 40' cross arm.    The gardens are shaped in the cross.    The walk in the Cross is full of scriptures and sculptures.  Then you will find the prayer garden where thousands of rocks have been written on to pray for someone or be thankful to God.  Really beautiful and moving.   You feel your Guardian Angels here.  Peace everyone.

The empty cross

scriptures

sculpture by evangelist/artist Max Greiner Jr.

God's Rock Garden

Poppy Fields

The Windmill Gang at Fredericksburg Airport diner

April 6/17  Weather 80 sunny.   Last ride today.   Time to tie it down and pack up and head out tomorrow.  We have been so lucky with the weather - since  arriving in Kerrville a month ago we have put 2200 miles on the motorcycle!!!  Maybe we had 6 days we did not ride?  That gives us an average of 92 miles a day for 24 days.  It has been much warmer here this spring than 2016.

Billy & Rosey leading

Billy is leading the Windmill Gang through the backroads today.   Lunch (of course) was at the Fredericksburg Airport Diner.  So cool.

Poppy Fields at Wildseed Farms

Cool Dude!

After lunch we popped down to Wildseed Farms.  The poppy fields are amazing. 

Old Yeller

April 2/17  Weather 80 sunny. 

The Windmill Gang

Today the Windmill Gang really grew in size.  Mostly we ride in a pack of 4 or 5 but today we were up to 9!  Big ride heading north to Mason.  You guessed it; yes we are going for lunch.....  hills were a pretty ride.

north to Mason

 Mason is has a pretty little town square with old storefronts and a beautiful courthouse in the center of the square.  But that is not the best part.

courthouse in town squre

 In 1956 Fred Gipson wrote Old Yeller here.  A boy and a stray dog in post-civil war Texas; and the struggle for Travis into adulthood understanding life and death. Ahhhhhhh!  Love that movie.  Get your Kleenex's out, you know you cried when Old Yeller dies.  And that is not a spoiler alert:)

Travis and Old Yeller in the Disney Film

Future site of an Immortal Village

March 30  Weather 82 sunny, night clear down to 50. 

waterfall running strongly in Centerpoint

  Today our friends took us for a ride to Centerpoint for a burger then up a long Skyline Drive in Comfort.  Just a regular day and another beautiful Hill Country Road.  NOT. 

gorgeous ride along Skyline Drive near Comfort

What appeared was a beautiful 18,000 square foot Antebellum home built in the 80`s.  It is perched high above the hills.  We pulled into the gated driveway and the story behind the gates took shape. 

Antebellum estate home

This 645 acre property is owned by Stasis Foundation who have plans to build a $200 million cryonics castle.
Just so you understand the scope of what will be coming...
Human cryopreservation has been around for about 40 years, Patients have been frozen to the temperature of liquid nitrogen, which stops all biological and chemical activity.   Earlier cryopreservation technology, though, led to ice crystals that damage tissues and cells. (Think freezer burn.)
Under a process called vitrification, however, something akin to antifreeze is added to water to prevent water molecules from assembling and forming ice. The water becomes solid but doesn't freeze.
The fortress — dubbed the “Timeship” by its creators — will be a “Fort Knox” for the cryopreservation of patients, organs, the DNA of humans and endangered species, stem cells and tissue samples.

A research facility, exhibition area, assembly plant and conference center also are planned. Stasis' plans also include the construction of a facility to assemble Thermos-like vessels to store bodies and heads — for those who choose the neuro option. Stasis holds a patent for a cryogenic storage system.  The Timeship will hold 50,000 vessels and be the largest in the world. 
So now when we are standing at the gates we can just try to grasp all this,,,, the ride was into the future.    Wow.

sitting at the gates of future Timeship.org

 

Willow City Loop

wild Texas bluebonnets

March 28/17 Weather high into the 80's, low 60.  This week is solid warm weather.  After the rain last night the Windmill riding gang thought it would be the  right day to head over to the Willow City Loop near Fredericksburg to see the Bluebonnets.   In 2016 we went several times to see the wildflowers and they were ``spectacular``...... this year they seemed quite a bit thinner.  Apparently the flowers need plenty of rain in October for germination and unfortunately it was a very dry month in 2016.  Lots of rain came in November and December but just not at the right time.  Really it is hard to believe that has to be so exact but the stand of flowers does show the difference.

That Texas star is everywhere!!!!

First stop was for lunch in Harper.  Just have to show you what I found in the ladies restroom.   Another Texas Star...... Love it :)

winding down towards an old mill

Back on the bikes we wound our way through the back roads with a couple of turn arounds and a few stops to check the county map to find another road across the back country.

flowers along the cattle guard crossings in the Willow City loop

Then we popped out at the Willow City Loop.  The ride is about 15 miles and part of it ventures into private ranch property; this is a very popular tourist attraction every spring.  We respect the signs posted and do not stop and park and walk into the fields.    Usually this is the best viewing of the Texas bluebonnets, white poppies, and several fields of a yellow flower that we are not able to name.  The little pink flowers that are everywhere are so pretty - named Winecups or Poppy Mallows!

winecups or poppy mallows

field of yellow and white flowers along the way