Corpus Christi Botanical Garden

Corpus Christi Botanical Garden was one of our visits today.  We first had some family business at the Bank of America and the local representatives were surprised that we were from Missouri and Maryland and doing business in Texas.  Our mission accomplished we found some lunch before visiting the Botanical Garden.  This is a small but well kept garden with cages of exotic birds and reptiles.  In the pictures below you will not see any of the snakes but will see the iguana lizard.  The orchid display was spectacular and we were told that we were lucky as most will go dormant for a year after this bloom.  Jo also bought a yellow columbine (Texas gold) that she has been looking for a long time.

Some Martin birds

today a walk to the beach

The clouds parted and the sun came out for awhile so Phyllis and I took a walk to the beach.  The daylight was so bright that I couldn't see the display and missed a few shots of sand pipers.  These three were what I did get.  The trailer has been camped on the beach without facilities but the salt mist and winds would make it hard to take for long.

together again

It's good to have Phyllis with us again.  She said that she didn't have any problems with her flights except for lots of turbulence.  Her flight was delayed for whatever reason for a little over an hour but all is well now and after a good nights sleep we will see what we can get into around here.  Our GWF isn't cooperating very well with forecasts of rain most every day of our stay here in the coastal area of TX.

more oohs and aahs

More of the oohs and aahs for Mother nature's color palette.  More of the bluebonnets and paint brush patches along with sweet clover, flox, yucca, and primrose.

We have arrived in our campground in Port Aransas, TX with walking access to the gulf beach but because of the dunes, out of the direct gulf winds.  Phyllis arrives around 2:00 tomorrow afternoon and we are so looking forward to her visit.

bluebonnets and indian paint brush OH MY!

Across Oklahoma we saw lots of indian paint brush blooms but once we crossed the river into TX there were the bluebonnets everywhere and oh so pretty.  There are also indian paint brush but here the color is more red than orange like in OK.  If anyone watched the NBC nightly news last Monday they had a brief article on just these same blooming attractions.

Tonight we are near Waco and tomorrow will make it to Port Aransas and get set up for Phyllis' visit.

Headed back to the south

Today is the start of our second trip for this season.  Tonight we are in Sallisaw, Oklahoma just a little bit west of Ft Smith, AR.  Tomorrow we tackle the Dallas traffic for a goal of Waco for tomorrow night.

This morning as we were getting ready to depart there were severe storm warnings for our county but the issues were in the far north portion and we were dry and good to go.  On the drive down we did have a brief strong burst of rain for only a couple of moments and then we had fairly strong winds the rest of the drive.  After we turned south from Joplin we were pushing a head wind so this tank of fuel will have a very low mpg.

back in familiar territory

That is we backed in to our driveway around 2:00 this afternoon.  The washing machine is already running as this will be a one week turnaround before we head back out next Tuesday.

Stay tuned!

breathing Missouri air

Tonight we are back in Missouri settled in to a campground near Sikeston, MO.  I have altered our original planed route and we have driven north on I-55 for the past two days.  Mississippi sure is a long state in the north/south direction.

We have seen a lot of red bud trees and service-berry and even 3-4 dogwood in bloom.  This morning was overcast with spotty showers and then the sky opened up with plentiful sunshine the rest of the day.

headin' toward the house

We have surely enjoyed our time on the coast but it has come time to head back homeward as we have appointments next week.

We put a great big hook on the  back of the trailer and are dragging as much of these warm temperatures as we can back with us.  Hopefully the snow from this weekend will be all gone by Tuesday when we arrive.

2nd birthday

Today was Jo's birthday that she has celebrated for most of her years as the day her mother said she  was born.  This afternoon she had a nice call from our daughter and while on the phone our 2nd claimed daughter (Tammy) joined in for a happy birthday song.  Then we enjoyed left-overs from last night's birthday dinner with still some good shrimp remaining for a topping another day to a salad.

This has been a very restful and WARM get-away that we have enjoyed enough that we just might repeat this campground again in another springtime.  The atmosphere here is calm and quiet without a lot of activity which is just right for us old folks.  If you look at our map of campground locations on our web-site you can see that this gulf shore is lined with campgrounds that we have visited which shows that this area is to our liking.  We always seem to find that our time hurries by while here and alas tomorrow we turn back northerly toward the ol' Martin Manor.

In a freak accidental phone call this afternoon we did talk with some old friends from our years in Rolla who told us that over the past couple of day they have had snowfall.  We plan to drag some of our great warmth back as we travel northerly.

1st birthday

Jo has two birthdays and today was the official "birth certificate" one.  I took her out to one of the great seafood restaurants that we have found and it was super.  Again, I ordered a half dozen oysters on the half shell and the server brought us a Methodist measure serving of seven so I let Jo have one, it being her birthday after all, but no pearl was found.  Tomorrow will be the traditional birthday as her mother always said that she was present at the birthing and knows what day it was.  Nobody knows when the country doctor took time to fill out the birth certificate and just couldn't remember the exact date of birth so that is the date we are stuck with for SS and Medicare.

The meal was great with enough left overs for a couple more meals.

rainy day

This is our first rainy day while here.  We had a light shower early one morning a few days ago but this is the first to last through most of the day.  It hasn't been a hard rain but just steady showers with a little thunder.  Sometimes the thunder could be mistaken for a jet airplane flying over as the nearby Keesler AFB is going to have an air-show this weekend and the Thunder Birds are supposed to arrive sometime today along with other flying craft for the show.  We don't mind the rain as the pitter-patter on the roof provides a nice tempo for a good nap.

Sorry to hear about the storms with hail, rain, and high winds back in Missouri.  I called our good neighbor and found out that the severe stuff had missed the ol' Martin Manor pretty much.

necessary days

Sometimes there are days when "necessary things" must be done, such as yesterday and today.  The holding tanks got emptied, a propane tank got filled, the windows started to be washed (broke my scrubber/squeegee tool, darn it), the floors were vacuumed, a latch to the propane compartment has been fixed (when it is supposed to move and doesn't there's WD40).

JoAnn also found the name for the nice pink bush in our campsite.  I've ask our campground manager twice and she thought the name began with "L" but said she would get back to us.  Here it is again...

 

What Jo found is that the genus name does begin with "L" as in (Lychnis flos-cuculi) but we prefer the common name of Ragged Robin because we can pronounce it.  The book talks about it being native in northern new-England and Canada blooming in May-July so because it is here in the south that blooming season is earlier.

a leisure day

It was a leisure day for sure.  We had a rain shower early this morning but then this afternoon the sun came out and we still have temps in the low 80s.

Jo brought her crochet hooks with her and picked up some yarn at Wall Mart so has kept her fingers busy.  I opened up the mandolin and hit a few licks and we both have read a few pages in our books.

If you haven't already googled the artwork of Alice Moseley here is a link to some of her work and the museum of Bay St. Louis mardi gras.

alice+moseley+paintings

Alice Moseley

We had a very nice seafood lunch in town and then visited a museum of Mardi Gras costumes from the local celebration, quite elaborate and flashy, like New Orleans but on a small scale.  In the floor above that small display was a museum of Folk Art and antique collectables of Alice Moseley.

She was 65 years old when she started her paintings never having picked up a brush before that.  In a video she told that after a painting was complete it was hard to come up with a title so she came up with witty sayings first and then put those thoughts into her paintings.  One titled "three sheets in the wind" had a man with his jug sitting down by the pond and the family had hung three white sheets on the clothes line to let the preacher know to pass right on by at this time.  Another titled "How could I know that they would all grow" shows herself standing in front of her house with her yard full of colorful flowers, we bought a small print of that one.

It was a very pleasant afternoon.

to the beach

This morning we took a nice drive along the Gulf beach road.  We found a very quaint spot for lunch on a pier over the water and the shrimp po-boys were very good.

In the town of Bay St. Louis, MS we found these buildings with painted murals.

 

Then Jo took this picture of folks enjoying the beach.

 

This is the pink bush by our trailer.  It sure looks like some form of spirea but still haven't heard from the campground manager.

 

 

Jo finds a pearl

Today was a nice restful day.  This evening we went to a local restaurant for our first seafood dinner in the area and it was GOOD.  Whenever in this area I always order a 1/2 dozen oysters on the half shell because I really like them.  Some times Jo will try one and she did this evening and then spit out a pearl.  It was smaller than a BB but the restaurant shuck-er agreed that it was indeed a pearl even tho it was not much bigger than the grain of sand that started it.

On the way back to the trailer we saw a large military airplane flying by and then 5 objects fell from it and soon the parachutes opened and glided toward the ground.  There is Keesler Air Force Base nearby and we are sure that is where this exercise originated.  The only problem was that while we were watching this maneuver I missed my turnoff and had to go 10+ miles out of our way to get back to camp.

Happy St Patick's Day

Happy St Patrick's Day to all Irishmen, engineers, and those that are Irish only on this day and wearing the green.

It's been an eventful day here as I completed several chores that needed to be done involving a trip to Lowe's for needed supplies.  The front face of our hide-a-bed below the cushions is attached with six screws and several time before this, as well as this trip, it has vibrated loose and fallen off, that was reattached.  Jo's computer table also had surrendered to those same vibrations and almost fell apart.  There was one board that was splitting apart and thanks to Lowe's I found one that was only two inches too long and made a replacement after being cut to proper length.  Then I sat up the satellite dish so we can now get our Dish Network channels along with the good over-the-air network channels.

Jo has the Irish menu underway for this evening with the crock pot working overnight last night, it sure smells good inside this afternoon.  The Guinness is good also.

nice day

We came down south for warmer weather and then see the weather forecast for KC, MO today predicted to reach the mid 80s, who would have thought.  Here the forecast for the next week is for highs in the upper 70s and lows in the low 50s, we can enjoy those temps even with a few showers thrown in.

Don't have a name for the flowering bush beside our campsite but have ask the campground manager and she said that the name begins with an "L" and she is supposed to let us know, it's pretty anyhow.

We did some grocery shopping this morning for the necessary ingredients of corn-beef and cabbage to be put into the crock pot overnight.  Jo plans to make some soda bread to celebrate St Patty's day tomorrow along with my Guinness, of course.  We have to celebrate the patron saint of the engineers.

Bay St. Louis, MS

We have arrived at our destination for the next two weeks.  This is a very nice campground but we are some distance from any beach although an easy drive to anything in the area that we might want to venture out to.

Jo is happy as just south of Memphis we began to see daffodils blooming and then around the middle of Mississippi fruit trees began to show blossom, mostly ornamental pears and other fruit trees.  Now here in the campground there is a pink blooming shrub that Jo says is a (   ) right beside our rig.  Did you know that she likes flowers?  I'll fill in the blank when she has time to determine the name.

2015 day two

Another damp drive today but our GWF was kind this morning with warm temps (a foggy mid 60s) and no rain while breaking camp.  There wasn't any hard rain and only light showers infrequently along the way with no precip during setup here in Canton, MS, a little north of Jackson.  Tomorrow we arrive at our destination for the next couple of weeks near Bay St Louis, MS.

beginning 2015

Today begins our travels for this year with a trip from home to Marion, AR with a side trip along the way to Springfield to visit Wilma.  Our GWF was with us today and we say thank you.  It rained over last night but was only a light mist in fog as we put the final last minute breakfast items in the trailer and headed out.  As we entered Arkansas it began raining hard and still dense fog in areas but most of the way at least a half mile visibility.  Arriving at our campground again the rain diminished to only a light sprinkle and my jacket worked well without the YELLOW raincoat.

cold morning

When I got out of bed this morning our thermometer said 33° but later I spoke with a campground worker and he said that the night's low was 25°.  That might have been the weather mans low which was probably down by the river in KC's downtown airport.  The next ten day forecast looks like more seasonal temps so we have a little bit of time to get the freezable items out and winterize the trailer.

We backed into the driveway a few minutes till noon after a fun two weeks plus a few days.  Now its time for 2015 planning.  I have a few items already in the idea box.

Tune in again next March for more of our travels.

service complete

Our appointment each year is to be at the service doorway at 7:00 in the morning when the crews begin their day.  The door opened at that time and we were guided into the shop to park where they could work.  We sat in the service lounge and two hours later they came to say that our work was complete.  We then headed for Kansas City and made it to the Oak Grove KOA right at noon.

Tomorrow we plan to visit with cousin Al and then head home on Saturday.

The weather forecast isn't sounding very nice for the Halloween night low temperature.  They are saying that Friday's high will be only in the 40s and be in the upper 20s at wake up time on Saturday, brrr!

Chanute

We are now sitting in the Chanute City Safari Park and Campground.  This is a very nice little park that is only about 1/4 mile from the NuWa factory and the price is right, it's free.  The sites have only water and electric but there is a dump station if needed.  Our appointment for service is for 7:00 in the morning and if the work goes as it has in the past few years we will be out by noon.

NuWa doesn't manufacture trailers any more, since late 2012, and now call themselves The Kansas RV Center providing sales and service for all brands of trailers.  The service personnel are the same folks that used to manufacture so are quite well experienced in any kind of repair.  We always have the roof and all seams checked for need of re-caulking and any other minor fix-it-up items.  This time we have a seal across the top of one slide-out that needs replacing.

They do have a couple of new HitchHiker models for sale that are now produced by Peterson Industries which is another Kansas RV manufacturing company located just west of Marysville in northern Kansas.  Peterson is also a top notch company producing high quality units and considered to be one of the top three RV companies.  However Jo and I believe that the trailer we now have will be our last RV since we know it is a quality unit and we customized it when it was built and have done our best to maintain it in top condition.

Adios Indian Nation

We have surely enjoyed our past couple of weeks here in Oklahoma.  Tomorrow we say adios and relocate in Chanute, KS where we have our annual service scheduled with our trailer manufacturer.  This is the same kind of trip that we have enjoyed the past several Octobers in neighboring States close enough to end up in Chanute.

We have had comfortable and well kept campsites along with beautiful weather while here these past two weeks.

the calm after the flurry

After yesterdays marathon of pictures from the Woolaroc Ranch today was calm and quiet.  It was windy but still quite warm.  Our pictures from the museum were only a brief glimpse of the magnitude of that interesting place.  The western art was exceptional as was the display of everything including the Colt and Winchester collections.

Woolaroc Ranch 3 of 3

 These last three were taken inside his lodge which is totally his furnishings and we could only look into a couple of rooms.

He died in 1950 and his wife in 1948

Woolaroc Ranch 2 of 3