1626 Miles to Go

Friday Feb 17th marked the beginning of our 1600+ mile journey to the east coast. This was going to be a busy day. Carol spent the afternoon on Thursday brushing and grooming Qianna. This morning she (Qianna) and Cody had a bath appointment in Corpus Christi early in the morning at the Dog House. We dropped them off after they agreed to have the fur babies ready for pick up at 10:30.

Next stop was breakfast. We had been going to Town and Country Cafe for years so we thought it was fitting to stop by one last time for a hearty breakfast. After breakfast, I stopped at Home Depot to pick up a couple of blades for my circular saw. Next stop was Advanced Hearing Solutions to pick up Carol's hearing aid that had been sent back to factory for repair. Finally back to the Dog House to pick up the fur babies. Corpus Christi tasks are completed.

We headed back to Taft to hitch up our house. As we got closer to the Corpus Christi ship channel, we ran into fog and misty dew. Crossed the channel and ran into light but steady rain in Portland. By the time we got to Taft about 11:00AM, the rain stopped. God gave us a window of no rain to get hitched up. I had already packed away things outside on Thursday so today, I helped Carol inside with moving the recliners and some boxes of photos. By noon, we were done with everything and hitched. The church chimes rang at noon as we pulled out.

The first half of the trip to South Forty RV Park in Giddings was uneventful. As we headed North on Highway 77, it felt a little weird to know we are not returning South in a few days. It was like a trip down memory lane. In Refugio, we turn off on Highway 77A headed for Goliad, Cuerro, Yoakum and Hallettsville. Stopped for a quick lunch in Cuerro. Light sprinkles started just as we headed back to the truck. Doggies got a potty break as well.

Second half of the trip was a different story. By the time we got to Yoakum, the rain was pretty steady. Rejoined Highway 77 in Hallettsville and the rain was heavier. As we were approaching Schulenburg, I commented to Carol about the rain run off filling the many ponds that were bone dry. I saw a sign on the side of the highway warning of a low bridge ahead. Sign said 13' 8". (Not to self - measure height of RV.) About 2 blocks from this low bridge, I turned off the main highway, drove past a school, crossed over (not under) the R/R tracks and stopped for a potty break at Besetsney's Kountry Bakery. Of course I purchased a few pastries for Saturday's breakfast. The rain was still coming down in buckets.

The closer we got to La Grange, I remembered the comment Carol made to me in May 2007 while returning home from a family reunion in Giddings. She said, “You do know, dear, when we retire, I do not want to stay in Corpus Christi, I would like to live closer to family.” I wrote about that conversation on The Plan. Here we are almost 5 years later. Another sign on the highway reminded us of a steep twisty down grade on the final approach to La Grange. Due to the wet road conditions, we opted to take an alternate route. Of course we did not know that Country Club Drive would be under construction and we would drive on wet, very rough caliche. About a mile after I turned off Highway 77, the road transitioned from black top to caliche. I was traveling about 35 mph and realized very quickly that we had to slow down quickly since we did not need the RV to shake, rattle, and roll down the road. Twenty mph was almost too fast. SHEESH, that was a slow 2.5 mile trip.

We left La Grange, headed for Giddings. Thirty miles to go and it is still raining. Now it is time for a serious prayer. "GOD, Thank you for bringing moisture to this dry state of Texas.  However, we could use a sort period of no rain so we can set up. Thank You for understanding." So for the next few minutes, it continued to rain. As we pulled into the South Forty RV Park, it is still raining. As we pulled into our site, it was still raining. About 5 minutes later, the rain slowed to a light sprinkle. Yea God. He is so good.

After we unhitched, we met Harold Dean from Palestine, TX and Ray Sagar from Sevierville, TN. These are two of the founders of the Cedar Creek RV Owners Club. I've chatted with these guys on the internet for the past several months so it was good to put a face to their names. They are here at South Forty for the month of February. Shortly after we got settled in Ray came over and gave us a patch that his wife made and a couple of Cedar Creek coffee mugs they give to new members as they meet them. Thanks fellas.

We drove to Winchester for an amazing meal at Murphy's Steakhouse. I normally do not order Ribeye steak because I have not found many places that cook up a Ribeye as good as me. Not bragging here just the facts. Ask my family. The drive through more rain to get there was certainly worth it. When we got back to our home, we walked the fur babies, raised the bat wing (TV Antenna) and settled in for the rest of the evening.  Carol nested in bed with a book. I was waiting for the weather report but decided to turn in early. The weather will be what it will be.

Murphy's Steakhouise

Saturday we are expecting company as my brother and S-I-L make the trip from their home in Burton and our eldest daughter and youngest grandson make the trip from Houston for an afternoon visit.

Thanks for stopping by. We will keep you up to date as we travel on to our next stop on our retirement adventure.

NOMADS Project 1

Welcome our new followers Teri, Kenny/Angela and Lady Dyna Ryder. Thanks for coming on board. Hope you enjoy our adventure.

Our first NOMADS project was a success. We completed all of the major tasks assigned plus a few others we discovered as we were working. Our new RV friends have all moved on to other places. Overall, it was a great experience and super blessing to see how God put together a team of volunteers who had the experience needed to get the job done.

In my previous post, I failed to give you a little info on Odem  and Sinton.  We parked in the overflow parking lot of First United Methodist Church Odem and worked about 7 miles away at First United Methodist Church Sinton.  Our team project report is available here. I must warn you it is a large file.

Odem was platted in 1909 and contains about about 1.1 square miles of land. The city is located about 20 miles north of Corpus Christi on US Highway 77. The city is at the intersection of two major rail lines that are heavily used today. I am certain the locals are accustomed to the train whistles as they approach the many street intersections. For fine dining, I highly recommend the Seafood Railroad Station.

Sinton is the county seat of San Patricio county so it hosts the county court house as well as the San Patricio County Fair Grounds. Sinton is also at the crossroad of two major railroads as well as US Highways  77 and 181. Colonel George W. Fulton, founder of the Coleman-Fulton Pasture Company, received approval from the board of directors to give 640 acres for the town site of Sinton on the south bank of Chiltipin Creek in the late 1880’s. For fine dining, I highly recommend Back Street Café and Flores Mexican Restaurant.

Our NOMADS team was given a private tour of the Welder Wildlife Foundation. This 7800 acre refuge is one of the largest private wildlife refuges in Texas. For additional information about this gem, please visit Texas State Historical Association On Line. They have an incredible collection of over 400 bird species and 55 mammal, amphibians and reptiles. They have a large library containing over 24,000 individual books and journals some dating to pre 1800. All of this is available for research to college students and research scientists.

At the end of our three week project, Carol and I made a quick overnight trip to San Antonio for Carol to pickup her new Viking Embroidery Sewing machine. We had time to include a quick visit with Carol’s sister Donna.

Thanks for stopping by.

The Adventure Begins

What we figured to be a quiet last week at Colonia del Rey RV Park turned into a scurry of activities. We completed a bunch of small projects that took longer than expected.
On selling the house -  inspections are completed, workers are busy fixing a couple of issues discovered during inspection. We are still on track for a closing in 30 days or so.
One of the projects on my list was mounting a piece of metal art on a display board. The metal art belonged to our pastor from St. Luke’s Methodist Church. That sounds simple enough unless you know I like complicated over simple.
Here is Pastor Pamela and the finished project.  From the intersection, there are 12 segments of Yellow Heart that radiate outward. The natural shine of the yellow heart wood represents the Shekinah Glory of God. (Ezekiel 1:4; Ezekiel 1:27-28; Ezekiel 8:2) and Christ as the glory of God. (Ezekiel 1:28; 2 Cor. 4:6; Rev. 21:23)
The 12 segments represent the 12 tribes of Israel (Gen. 29:31–30:24; 35:16-20), the 12 Apostles (Matthew 10:2–4), and the 12 heavenly foundations in the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:19-20).
Saturday morning, we had our usual breakfast with Margaret and Margie. This has been a standing breakfast tradition for many years. Margaret is a CPA. She shares a home with her mom. While the relationship with Margaret and Margie began through Carol, it has grown through the years to include me. For the next 6 weeks, we will still be able to see them, just not weekly.
Saturday was also moving day. We packed most of the RV on Friday afternoon to make things easier on Saturday. Slides in, stinky slinky, water and power disconnected, trailer hitched – we pulled out waving to friends as we left our site. We stopped at the office to let them know our site was empty and gave Roxy a Poinsettia plant Carol had received. Roxy said they would plant it on the property. How cool, the Pearson Poinsettia has a permanent home. 
About an hour after we pulled out of Colonia del Rey we arrived at our new location – the overflow parking lot of First United Methodist in Odem, TX. That parking lot has hookups for 6 RVs. Our team will have a team meeting Sunday evening to discuss the work that needs to be done. We may be parked in Odem but we will be working in Sinton about 7 miles away because the work site in Sinton does not have hook ups. We will be working four six-hour days for the next three weeks.