Happy birthday to my
sweet baby girl, Emry! She turned the big 4 today and she was ready for it, although I wasn't. I got a video of her as she woke up and she had her usual crazy hair. I
asked her if she knew what day it was and she said “no” then I
told her. She walked away & yelled to her siblings “today's my
birthday!” She had to tell them twice in case they didn't hear her
the first time. She showed me with her fingers how she used to be 3,
but now she's 4. We took her to eat at Waffle House then to get an
ice cream cake so we could celebrate at the camp ground. She wanted a
horse cake, but I knew that would be hard to find here on such short
notice, but she was happy with an ice cream cake. We spent the
afternoon fishing before cake time. Once again guilt set in for me
because we didn't have her school friends around to do a big party
and have lots of presents for her, but I was happy her little friend
came over & I invited the family to have some cake. We don't have
a lot of room in our fridge/freezer so I was glad they helped eat
some cake. I know things are different when you hit the road full
time and change to a minimalist lifestyle, but I hope my children see
that even a simple party with family is still something that can be
fun, special & something to cherish. I do try my best to make them feel
special and that their day is indeed a big deal. I hope they feel my
love for them thru the things I do whether it's big or small. Of course I tell them all the time how much I love them, but I don't think they'll truly understand a mother's love until they have babies of their own. I know I didn't understand until I had my first. Happy
birthday Stinkers! Your sweet smile warms my heart and your
stubbornness reminds me how much we are alike. Your spirited
personality is like non other and you have the best dance moves. You
crack me up daily & I love you more than all the chocolate in the world. Please don't grow so
fast! Stay wittle!
Call us crazy or call us lucky. Either way we decided to sell it all, bought a 5th wheel & hit the road full time with our 3 kiddos & 2 little dogs on 9/17/2016. We'll travel across our country, soaking it all in one mile at a time with some whining along the way I'm sure.
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Green River Lake State Park, Campbellsville, KY 10/11/16
After two days at
the place in Columbia we decided to go over to the State Park on the
lake to check it out. Whoa! It was beautiful! I didn't want to wait
three weeks to get into this place so I decided to go into the office
to explain our situation. I was still on her list, but she said if I
started working already then we could surely come in now. What?!
Awesome! She did have one stipulation & that was we had to move
over one row during their weekend Halloween celebration because she
had a full house & our spot was already reserved. We were ok with
that and said we'd be back the next day to hook up. Happy dance! The
only downfall at this place was it didn't have full hook ups, but
Amazon had a deal with a poop truck who would come out once a week to
pump us out. We knew that wouldn't be enough so hubby ordered a
portable poop tank that he could haul with the truck. It was all
falling into place & now I would only be about 12 minutes away
from work. Whew! That made me feel a little better. On top of that
good news this place had 2 playgrounds, a beach area, 2 big bath
houses (2 for men, 2 for women), 3 laundry areas, a storm/tornado shelter, wifi, smooth roads
for bike rides, a huge wide open grassy space with a stage, and
hello….. kids to play with. Score! Things were looking back up
again for the Bergmarks. On top of all that I made a new friend &
in a couple weeks she would be hooked up right next to us & we
would car pool to work. Same shift, same job so this worked out
perfectly.
We were parked in
the area with no trees around, but since there weren't a lot of
campers in the park it wasn't a big deal since we had space between
us. We wanted the tree lined area, but would have to wait until after
the Halloween festivities. Being in the trees is so relaxing &
makes you feel more in tune with nature, but we only had to hold out
for a couple weeks. No biggie & it would be worth it. Turns out
in this first space there was a 4 yr old girl staying in a spot
diagonally from us. She had a 10 yr old brother & a 2 yr old
sister as well. The mom was working at Amazon & said it was her
3rd or 4th year back. Wow! I don't know if I
could come back year after year like that, but the season was new so
who knows. So this little 4 yr old girl came right over & the
kids got to playing and played almost daily. They all brought out
their bikes & rode back & forth, which was pretty much a daily thing. There was a slight slope
from the road & Annika would zoom down & fly past our spot.
It made my stomach knot up because I worried about her falling off.
Of course what Annika does, Emry has to do. That girl has no fear! I
had to tell her not to go to the top of the slope & to use her
brakes. I could just picture the road rash from her falling. Gah
makes my stomach hurt just thinking about it. Thankfully no one had
any accidents….well not until a week or so later. Dalton finally
got motivated to learn to ride his bike so I would run behind him
while holding onto his shirt. He figured out that he could easily
coast down that slope & balance like he used to on his Strider
bike, but simply peddling and riding straight seemed difficult for
him; therefore, he would walk his bike up then coast down over &
over again. I was just glad he finally wanted to ride, but as a mom I
still worried about him falling as a new rider. One afternoon hubby
and I were standing outside when he said “watch me” and there he
went down the slope with his legs out to the side balancing. I told
hubby “I hope he doesn't fall” and what happened next? He
literally ran into a post & flew off his bike. I'm not
exaggerating. The one time I didn't have my camera recording & I
missed it. He had his hands straight out like Superman & he was
airborn off that bike and went several feet onto the grass. I was so
glad he had his helmet on and after a full body check he was fine. He
left a nice chunk out of that post. I can look back & laugh about
it now because he flew like a super hero, but at that moment my heart
sank into my stomach. No more slopes for him until he mastered the
simple riding part. My heart can't take it!
How about a not so
dangerous sport like fishing? Yes fishing is so much better. You
can't get injured from fishing….well technically you shouldn't, but
you haven't fished with my kids. They only had 2 fishing adventures
during our stay at this park & there's good reason. It's simply a
lot of work. From constantly putting the worms on their hooks
(hubby's job) to helping cast out over & over again while dodging
their hooks. On their first adventure they fished off the side of the
lake near the boat launch & it was a rocky area. You really had
to cast your line out in order to not hit the rocks. Annika got
really good at casting & was a natural. The other two kiddos
tried their best & it was pretty entertaining watching them. No
one caught any fish on the first adventure, but Dalton did manage to
catch his hat. He tried to cast out but apparently forgot to let go
of the lever & that hook just came right back at him & hooked
the rim of his hat. Yikes!! I could only imagine if that would have
gone into his eye. Hey it could happen. As always I was on high alert
the whole time because Dalton decided to move to a spot off to the
side & no surprise it was a sheer drop into the water if you
missed your footing. Why must my kids give me a heart attack? His
response “I won't fall mommy”. Well I sure hope not. We had to
cut our fishing experience short that day because I had to go to
work. Mama's bringing home the bacon now!
On our second
fishing expedition a couple weeks later (Emry's birthday) we went to
the opposite side of the park near the tent camping area & fished
off the beach area. I'm happy to say I caught a fish & Annika
caught 2! As we neared the end of the worms, for some reason my kids
got all sentimental & didn't want to use the last 3 worms to
fish. Instead they wanted to keep them as pets because they were so
cute. Uhhh what? I could have sworn I saw Emry kiss one of those
slimy worms. Ick! I told them we couldn't have pet worms & that
they should just put them in the sand so they could create their own
home. That idea wasn't good enough for these precious worms so
instead my thoughtful children created a little house out of rocks
and leaves then put their beloved worms into their new home. As we
walked away they waved & blew kisses and said their many good
byes to their new worm friends. It was quite entertaining and every
day for about a week they asked if we could go check on them. I told
them that the worms were probably deep in the sand keeping cool, but
we did take a trip or two over there and sure enough there were no
worms present. I love how sensitive & thoughtful my kiddos can
be. It's sweet.
Whether it's riding
bikes, fishing or just playing outside with friends. I hope my
children grow to love the great outdoors as much as hubby and I do.
Friday, January 13, 2017
Three Springs, Columbia, KY 10/8/16
Well this didn't
turn out the way we had planned. About two months ago I made
reservations at an approved Amazon campground (Green River Stables).
I called a month later to confirm & the guy said “yes I have
you down” however he never took my credit card information, phone
number or anything. I was skeptical, but he said he went by his word.
Ok, it's a southern thing, I get that so I felt we were good to go.
The day we were supposed to arrive at this campground, hubby saw an
online review that stated “if you have reservations at this place
you'd better call because we had reservations and just arrived only
to be told they had no room for us.” Hubby told me to call to
verify since we would be there in a few short hours. I called &
sure enough they “had some contractors who extended their stay due
to bad weather at their destination and can't leave just yet.” Heck
that's not my problem. That's not how reservations work. When the
current person's time is up then they leave so the new people who
have a reservation can come in. It's not rocket science. There are
other places along the way those contractors could have stayed.
Needless to say I was not a happy camper and it turns out this
happened to at least six other Amazon workers who were coming in to
stay at the same place. Not good business practice at all. Grrrrr! I quickly scrambled to find the other
approved campsites before they filled up. Only one campground (Three
Rivers) had openings and unfortunately it was about a 30 min
drive to the Amazon distribution center from there. I wasn't thrilled about
having our only vehicle for 11 hours while leaving hubby at home with
three kiddos. What if there was an emergency? We didn't have a choice
at that point so we took it. On the bright side it would only be for
about three weeks because I was on the waiting list at the State Park
to move in after their Halloween celebration. The campground at Three Rivers had
NO amenities EXCEPT wifi. No bathrooms, no showers, no laundry, no playground,
no dog park, etc. It looked like a grass field that was cut into a
horse shoe shape then fitted for rv sites. It was very peaceful
there, but there was nothing. The girls tried riding their bikes on
the gravel road, but it wasn't the best. There was however an
underground shelter of some sort, I'm assuming in the case of a
tornado. I was happy about that. We only stayed for three days because this mama worked her magic and got us into a way better place closer to work.
Dad's Bluegrass RV 10/6/16
Hello Kentucky! We
finally made it, but had to make one last overnight stay before
getting into Campbellsville. We pulled into this campground & the
owner met us out front in his little golf cart. He was super nice. He
apologized for the renovations that were under way & asked if
we'd stay long enough to listen to the live music they had on the
weekends. Unfortunately no, but I'm sure it would have been a cool
thing to listen to live bluegrass music. We got an end spot &
before we could get out this young girl, about 8 yrs old or so, came
speeding over on her bike to give our kids the scoop on the rv park.
She was very friendly & mentioned the cat that wandered around &
the lady's dog 2 rows over that you could pet if she was outside and
then there was the nice old guy who would take you fishing &
“it's ok to go into his trailer”, etc etc. Ummm I'm more cautious
than that so I reminded the kids that they were not allowed to go
into anyone's trailer. The girls grabbed their bikes & rode
around with her next to our site. I walked with them so they could
wander the campground. It looked like a lot of permanent campers and
the campground overall was very full. After our walk around the camp
ground & briefly saying “hi” to that young girl's mom we all
made our way back to our trailer. I gave them drinks & goldfish
crackers then the girl asked if she could use our bathroom. Ummm I
wasn't real keen on the idea only because we had just met her, but I figured if she had to go so bad
that she couldn't make it to her trailer then I should say yes. I
didn't want her to have an accident because I said no. Well big
mistake on my part. She was in the bathroom for a long time & I
wondered what the problem was. I also couldn't help but wonder if she
made her way into our bedroom. She finally came out of the bathroom &
oh my goodness I was utterly taken by surprise. She had to go alright
& she made a mess of the bathroom. I couldn't help but wonder
what the heck happened. Not to be mean, but it was so gross. I
quickly cleaned up her mess & had to wipe down the entire
bathroom with Lysol wipes just in case. Never again, sorry. Learned
my lesson. Again not trying to be mean, but I don't want to go thru
that again. I told my kids I hope they never do that to another
person's bathroom & if they did then they'd better clean up after
themselves.
While I was taking
care of business, hubby was researching the area & said he had
something planned for the next day, but he wouldn't say what it was.
I joked & asked “what is it a haunted house?” ding ding ding!
Turns out I was right. He found this place called the Octagon House
that was supposedly haunted. I knew for sure we'd have 3 extra people
in our bed that next night if they knew they were going to a haunted
house. I told myself I'd play it down so as not to over spook our
kiddos. I was curious if we'd actually see or experience a ghost in
the house. Once we got there I was surprised the house was smaller
than I thought, but still an interesting house. It was 3 stories
high, with the basement partially above ground & yes in the shape
of an octagon. There was a really weird nursery room full of dolls
that instantly freaked out Annika & she no longer wanted to be in
any room so she stayed in the hallways & begged her dad & I
to go outside. Of course we wanted to see all the house so we walked
quickly then hubby finally went outside with all 3 kids. Dalton &
Emry weren't real excited about the house. Instead they wanted to be
outside playing with the blue eyed dog. I, on the other hand, went
into each room taking pictures hoping to see a ghost, but never saw
or felt anything. I heard a guy talking to another group of tourists
& he claimed that he had seen a lot of paranormal activity. He
had a group of folks who had the ghost technology & traveled to
all kinds of haunted places to do their scientific gathering. He said
of all the places he'd been, this Octagon House was the most haunted.
Well I guess we arrived on an off day for the ghosts. Back to the
campground we went to get ready for our morning departure. Next stop
Campbellsville!
Millington TN Naval Base & the King 10/4/16
I gotta say before
we made our stop for the night I kept seeing signs for Loretta Lynn's
Ranch. I quickly Googled it & saw that it was on our way, but
this wasn't her home that she refers to in her song “Coal Miner's
Daughter”. This ranch in Hurricane Mills, outside of Nashville, is
where they have a replica of her childhood home, concerts, gift shop,
restaurant, motocross races & more. Apparently when she bought the land to build her home way back when, she actually bought the whole town. They also have an rv park,
but reviews were iffy. I'm putting in my memory bank for next time. I
do for sure want to go to her childhood home, which is East of
Lexington, KY & just so happens to be somewhat on our way out of town after
Breyerfest in July 2017. All the reviews say it's Loretta's brother
who does the tours for $5 & it's not your typical touristy spot,
which I like. I also read that it's hard to find so you have to go to
the little country store & ask about it & they'll call
Loretta's brother to meet you out there. It's literally a one on one
tour & he tells you all kinds of stories from their childhood.
That would be awesome so it's definitely on my list for next summer.
As for our stop over, we decided to pop a
squat at a naval base famcamp. Another huge savings since we only pay $20 a night & you
can't beat that. We had no idea it would be so nice here! We were
surrounded by beautiful trees & spacious sites with concrete
slabs. The roads within the camp were nice & smooth so the girls
could ride their bikes. Dalton still hasn't learned how to ride his
bike without training wheels & he's not very motivated to learn.
No biggie he just runs along side & burns energy, which is a win
win for this mama. Emry on the other hand is riding as if she's been
riding for years. She scares me with her speed & no fear
attitude. She makes my heart race, in a not so good way. I have these
visions of her 10 years from now doing bike tricks & stunts. Gah!
I can't watch!! There was no playground within the rv park, but there
was one across the way, but a bit far of a walk. The laundry
room/bathhouse was one of the nicer ones we've seen so far and get this. FREE LAUNDRY! Awesome & it came in handy since I had a sick child then a sick hubby. One puking & the other sweating out their fever. Yeah lots of laundry, but I got it all done. It was so nice at this place that we decided to stay an extra day & as a result we got to go see a couple
touristy sites.
Our first touristy stop was the ginormous Bass Pro pyramid shop in Memphis. You know when you've seen one Bass Pro or Cabela's you've been them all, but this one was impressive. It reminded me of being at the Luxor in Las Vegas. After looking at all the fish & stuffed animals, I found one of those nifty air lounge chairs that are floating around on facebook. You know the one that they demonstrate how “easy” it is to fill with air then seal it & sit? Yeah tried it & it's not so easy. I felt somewhat foolish running up & down the aisle in the store trying to get air into the darn thing then finally figured out I had to really scrunch the edges in order to make the fabric stiff. Hard to describe, but I got it to work then I sat in it. Oh boy talk about looking foolish now. My butt was on the ground & trying to get back out of the darn thing was making me work up a sweat. Seriously I must have been doing something wrong. My son sat in it & practically sunk in the middle (there are 2 sides to it). He looked like he was getting eaten by the thing. I decided it wasn't worth the $79 & moved on….well after I forced it back into the bag. I'll stick to lounge chairs thank you very much.
Our first touristy stop was the ginormous Bass Pro pyramid shop in Memphis. You know when you've seen one Bass Pro or Cabela's you've been them all, but this one was impressive. It reminded me of being at the Luxor in Las Vegas. After looking at all the fish & stuffed animals, I found one of those nifty air lounge chairs that are floating around on facebook. You know the one that they demonstrate how “easy” it is to fill with air then seal it & sit? Yeah tried it & it's not so easy. I felt somewhat foolish running up & down the aisle in the store trying to get air into the darn thing then finally figured out I had to really scrunch the edges in order to make the fabric stiff. Hard to describe, but I got it to work then I sat in it. Oh boy talk about looking foolish now. My butt was on the ground & trying to get back out of the darn thing was making me work up a sweat. Seriously I must have been doing something wrong. My son sat in it & practically sunk in the middle (there are 2 sides to it). He looked like he was getting eaten by the thing. I decided it wasn't worth the $79 & moved on….well after I forced it back into the bag. I'll stick to lounge chairs thank you very much.
Our next stop was of
course, Graceland to see The King of Rock n Roll. I was here once before back in the 1996-1998 time
frame, but didn't do a tour. Seems like there's even more stuff
around that area then my last trip. I tried to picture what it looked
like 40+ yrs ago without all the touristy stuff. I'm sure it was much
more peaceful. We decided not to do a tour because the kids wouldn't
appreciate it the way we would & why pay for them to whine about
it when we can get that for free. It was pretty warm out so we took
some pics then wrote our names on the wall that surrounds the front
of Graceland and called it a day. One day we'll go back & finally
do a tour. I was reading online that NO ONE goes upstairs in
Graceland. That's off limits to tourists & only for family and a
few close friends. They don't want the bathroom to become the focus
of the tour & I can understand that. I blew a kiss to Elvis then said good bye. We rounded up our gang to head back to our lovely campground so we could leave in the morning. Next stop,
Kentucky. I'm more than ready to get to work at Amazon!
Hope, AR City Park 10/3/16
Our next top after
spending time in TX was Hope, AR. We were just moving along & it was time to stop to rest for the night. Nothing to see here that we had planned, just a sleep & go kinda stop. We found this very inexpensive city
park/fairgrounds area to stay. When you can find a cheap place to
stay for a quick night then you take it. The roads to get into the
park were a bit tight & we had to circle around to find exactly
where we were going, but we found it. Seemed like a good idea
& it was only for one night. We were surrounded by baseball
fields, a couple playgrounds and what smelled like stables or barns
for their yearly fairground days. We backed into a spot (everything
was open) right next to a baseball field. The kids got out & ran
freely with the dogs & once the trailer was set up we went to the
playgrounds to let out some energy. I started to get the impression
that we weren't in the best part of town, but thankfully nothing bad
happened to us. However, that evening we saw flashing lights thru our
blinds. A quick glanced revealed a police officer who pulled a car
over right next to our trailer. Of all places, really? It was a big
park so it HAD to be right next to us. I felt slightly safe knowing
the police were patrolling the area & at the same time it worried
me because what was up with the neighborhood that caused this pull
over in a park of all places? I didn't want to know & was ready
to just leave the next morning. Again just happy all was well with us &
we were safe. Not much else happened during this overnight stay, but the next morning when hubby was prepping the trailer to leave
he found some pennies in the grass. I went over to grab them for
“good luck” and found over 44 pennies! I can't remember the exact
amount, but that's like over 40 times good luck (if you believe in that kinda thing). I was all excited on my….I mean hubby's find. My mother
in law gave us this little tin box for us to put all our coins in
that we find along our journey so we could keep track & this was a nice start to our money tin.
Thanks Hope, AR! Guess you weren't all that bad after all :-)
Escapees in Livingston, TX 10/1/16
My in-laws told us a
while back about this place called Escapees & they deal with full
time RV folks like us. I read up on the husband and wife who started
this whole organization & it's grown tremendously. They have
acres & acres of land with 2 different rv campground areas as
well as lots of full time permanent mobile homes. You can get your own physical
address thru them & they'll forward your mail to you & they
offer other benefits on their website like a job board &
discounts at other campgrounds as well as their magazine. We needed a
TX address so we can change our residency so hubby felt this would
work while we're on the road. We thought 2 nights here would be
enough, which gave me time to see my new nephew. Can you say baby
fix? Squeal!! Anyway, we pulled into the park & there were a few
rigs around, but we noticed something very obvious. We were the
youngest ones here and with children. Yes definitely a place for
senior citizens, but heck if they're open to all then we'll take it.
The price to stay in their campgrounds are so inexpensive, like
$20-$25 bucks a night. Can't beat that, well unless you're in a state
park that's $10 a night, but who's keeping track. You do have to pay for wifi here if you don't use your own. I believe it was $3 per day. One thing that was
definitely different & totally unexpected was the sign in the
bathroom that said “Do not dispose of Depends in restroom trash.
Please place in dumpster outside.” I got quite the laugh out of
that. Usually a sign tells you not to dispose of feminine products or
diapers, but depends? That's a good sign you're in a senior
community. As Jerry Seinfeld would say “not that there's anything
wrong with that.”
While hubby did his
thing with our new address I was looking forward to getting my hands
on my new nephew. I needed a baby fix like no other so I was thrilled
that we were near, well an hour away, from my little brother in
Houston. Even though my brother had to work we went anyway. I wasn't there to see him...haha! My sister
in law let me just swoop up that little man & love on him. There's something about a baby smell (not the poopy part) that is just heavenly. I was
even able to rock him to sleep. Nothing like having a baby sleep on
your chest. Oh how I miss that. My brother showed up later & we
visited a bit, but we had to get back to the campground since we were
leaving the next morning. I love baby snuggles & can't wait to
see him again.Thanks little brother for making me an aunt again! Never say never :-) In a few years my son will be happy to have another male cousin to play with.
We had our last Whataburger meal before hitting the road again. Won't get to dig our teeth into another Whataburger until Christmas so I told them to enjoy it. I was actually glad we would be almost done with all the fast food. Blah! I was craving green veggies & made sure to make smoothies so I felt like I was getting some kind of nutrition. That can be a downer about traveling all the time. A little is ok, but keep it up & you'll have to have your defibrillator along with you just in case. I know how easy it is to just swing thru a fast food place to grab a quick bite, but I need green veggies man! I was looking forward to working at Amazon & hopefully drop a few Whataburger pounds.
Good bye Texas.
We'll see you at Christmas!
Lackland AFB, TX 9/29/16
I gotta say we are
blessed with hubby's prior military service & retirement because
it allows us to use the military bases for shopping & now for
rv'ing. It's only $20 to camp on the military bases, but most bases
don't take reservations. It's first come first served so you take
your chances (kind of like flying Space A) & you can only stay
for 30 days at a time (I know some places have tweaked that a bit).
They may not all be the fanciest places, but that's ok for $20 I
won't complain. On this base all the full hook up sites were taken &
most of the partial hook ups, but we were able to score a full hook
up space since one guy was leaving. Sa-Weeet! We had to wait a bit,
but it wasn't that long & it was worth it to wait for full hook
ups. There was no playground and no doggie park, but they did have
bathrooms with showers & a laundry room. I used the laundry room,
but not the showers. They needed some serious updating. I would think
that Lackland of all bases would have a nice big campground since
they have hundreds of airman graduating all the time. Parents &
family members come out to see their airman graduate & I think a
bigger campground would be beneficial, but that's just me. I'm sure
the air force doesn't see that as a priority. The Air Force is all
about winning awards for this or that so I wonder if they have one
for their FamCamps? If not they should since that would be motivation
for updating & expanding.
Anyway, once we got
into our site hubby wanted to take a trip down memory lane. He was at
basic training back in 1989, I believe, so he wanted to see if he
recognized anything. We drove all around & I was surely lost. I
had only been on that base a couple times when I was in my early 20s
so nothing looked familiar to me. Hubby was going “awww yeah yea
that was the ….” or “oh ok I remember that” then there was
the “that looks different so they must have remodeled.”
Ooookkkay. One thing I was NOT expecting at all was the 5pm Retreat
call over the base sound system. Not all bases do that & well
we're out of practice & simply forgot. Needless to say it scared
the bajeezees out of me because we were apparently near a loud
speaker & just happened to be outside. Of course I wasn't as
scared as much as the crack of dawn Reveille. I was not a happy
camper about that. I don't think in my 18 years of going from base to
base did I hear that in the morning. Ugh! I do have to say; however,
how I miss that fellowship of being part of something. I enjoyed the
military life and always made friends with the other spouses, but
since hubby retired I've felt at a loss of where I fit in. We lived 2
½ yrs in Tucson, AZ but rarely went to the base & in that time I
never really clicked with anyone. It got to be a lonely time, but I
kept busy with my kiddos. However now that we're on the road I feel
that new sense of belonging in a group. It's a full time rv traveling
kinda group that “gets” what you're doing, why & how it makes
you feel. Love it & enjoying camaraderie.
During our two day
stay here I got to see my mom & older brother. They came out to
the campground the first night & just hung out. The kids begged
her to stay the night, but she wasn't prepared & I said next
time. At some point during our little visit one of our little dogs
apparently ate something that was making her sick. She was puking
constantly & I worried that she would get dehydrated. I did some
research & it turns out acorns are bad for dogs. Well that solved
the mystery since we were surrounded by them. I had the kids go on an
acorn hunt & gather them up & toss them away from our trailer
area. After a day of puking, little dog was on the mend & I was
happy to be done cleaning up dog barf. Blah!
The next afternoon
we met up with my mom & brother at the Alamo & walked along
the Riverwalk then had an early dinner at an Irish restaurant. Mmmm
Shephard's Pie, reminded me of my time working at Fado' Irish Pub in
Henderson, NV back in my younger days. Good times. Oh so back to our
visit. I got to briefly explain to the kiddos what the Alamo was all
about. I'm sure my 9 yr old got the whole idea about it, but the
other two, well they were hot & hungry & didn't seem to care
too much. I always have these big visions in my head about going to a
historic place like that & talking to my kids about it so they
can learn some history. Pssssht I really need to lower my
expectations & work on a less grand scale or simply just do away
with the visions in my head. That's ok a quick snap shot was taken
for the memory books. All they cared about was seeing their grandma &
eating her delicious tortillas. I don't blame them one bit. There's
just something spectacular about grandma's tortillas. Perhaps because
they're made with love. Speaking of tortillas. I was NOT about to
leave the city without some tamales & tortillas from Victorias.
On the morning of our departure I got up early (I'm not a morning
person) & drove the short distance to Victorias & stocked up
on my goodies. In my book that's worth getting up early. I think I
bought 150 tortillas & 6 dozen different tamales. Skip the
chicken tamales & just go for the pork or bean. Soooo good. I
probably ate 3 or 4 tamales on my way back to the base. Hey it was
breakfast time after all. Thanks for the yumminess San Antonio &
adios to my family. Time to move along!
Thursday, January 12, 2017
Kyle, TX 9/27/16
Hello my family!
I was so glad to
find a campground only 9 miles from my dad's house in Kyle.
Unfortunately it felt like a longer drive to get to his house because
it was back road driving. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers & I
was so happy to see my family. It had been a year & a half since
I'd seen them…..I think. Either way it had been a long time. I also
wanted to see my mom & brother in San Antonio so we decided to do
2 days in Kyle & 2 days in San Antonio. Gotta be fair. The
campground in Kyle was brand new & very very nice. A bit pricey,
but they were brand new so I guess they need to pay their bills, eh?
They had a huge store inside with all kinds of goods you might need &
you could order pizza right then & there. The bathrooms were
beautiful & so clean & the laundry room was top notch. They
had digital codes on the doors, which I appreciated for safety
reasons. Our rv site was well…...scary for me. You see we were at a
bit of a slope & although hubby said we were level my eyes said
no way. I thought for sure one jump inside by my kiddos would send us
rolling forward & crashing into the folks across from us. I
probably barked at them more than I should about no jumping or
running inside the trailer. Yes I was paranoid. I don't think it's
too much to ask for everyone to tip toe, do you? Ok more about this
place. There was a really nice lake on the property with a huge
cement area with covered seating & benches next to the rails for
fishing. All it was missing was a playground. The roads were smooth
for bike riding, which the girls did. Dalton still had no interest in
learning. They also had a nice spacious dog park next to the entrance
of the campground, which was close to where our site was, but I saw
more than one dog turd in there so we didn't stay long. My kid's feet
are magnets for poop & all other stuff gross. Why don't people
pick up their dog poo? Laziness I tell ya.
I was so glad we
made it to Kyle in time for my daughter's 9th birthday &
my dad's 71st birthday. I wanted to celebrate them
together since I'm always missing my dad's birthday. My sister was so
nice & went out to get some birthday decorations & I picked
up a cake & had my daughter's name put on it. We had gotten her
an early gift, a small laptop, and said it was for homeschool
purposes then games afterward. Unfortunately we discovered that it
wasn't Windows & she can't play her online horse game that she's
all crazy about. I point the finger at hubby on this one. He said
this one would be better so I went with it. Oopsie. Oh well live &
learn I guess. Hey at least she can still do schoolwork on it...haha!
Unfortunately there
wasn't too much celebrating going on because my dad's two Labradors
had gotten out of the back yard the day before & only one was
found & back home. Cadie, the female, was still missing. Sadly on my dad's birthday he found his dog in a ditch area
with her bottom half submerged in mud. She was old & had
arthritis and he said it looked like she got stuck in the mud &
simply couldn't free herself. So sad & not a pleasant way to
spend your birthday. Sorry dad :-(
On the flip side my
son was in heaven during our 2 days in Kyle. He is sandwiched between
his sisters so he has no boys to play with, poor kiddo. He's always
asking for a brother, which I'd gladly give him, but we gotta get the
daddy on board with that. In the meantime he was playing up a storm
with his cousin. They wrestled all over the place for hours &
when it was time to leave my son had a big 'ol frown on his face and
kept hugging his cousin. It was so sweet & kinda sad at the same
time. I told my son we'd be back at Christmas & he could play
again & for a longer period of time. That didn't seem to make a
different. He just hugged his cousin & wouldn't let go.
On our second night
we went out to eat some TexMex food. Ohhhh how I was so ready for
that. When my folks lived in Corpus Christi we would always go to
this one TexMex place called Kikos. Every time we came to visit we'd
go there. I remember years ago when the whole family, spouses & children
would go. At that point we were a party of 14 I
think, but now if we all get together it's more like a party of 21.
Our family has grown fo sho! This place in Kyle, however, was a bit
different & well it just wasn't the same. I had some expectations
& they just didn't measure up. It was ok & filled my craving,
but it just wasn't like Kikos. Oh well at least we got some good
tortillas & I showed my youngest how they were made right there
in the restaurant. They had a machine that did it all so it was
interesting. Of course no one makes tortillas like my mom, but these
were still good.
We said adios to my
folks, my son got more cousin hugs & set out for San Antonio to
see my mom & brother.
Junction, TX 9/26/16
So so close to Kyle
& San Antonio, but we decided to stop here for the night. There
were 2 other people checking in ahead of us & hubby was already
inside. As those two folks left to get into their site I decided to
get behind the wheel. Eeck! I slowly pulled forward about 50 feet.
I was all excited & happy with myself for “driving” the truck
& “hauling” the trailer that short distance. While I did that awesome trick the kids were playing at the playground right in front of the main building where we were parked. When hubby
returned I made sure to show him my big accomplishment. Hey it was a
big deal to me. Anyway, talk about a nice place next to the river! It
had a nicer park then the previous place with an old school merry go
round, swing set & those ride on swaying horse things. The kids
were so excited to play & I was happy they released that pent up energy.
Once we set up the trailer they rode their bikes to the playground then back to our site when it started getting dark. I keep saying I'm going to get a bike too so I could ride alongside them, but for now I walk/run with Dalton by my side. Once he's riding without training wheels then I'll get my bike. We
walked over to look at the river, but I know I wouldn't get in that
even if it was warm outside. Looked too marshy for me. They had all
kinds of cute little cabins throughout the park & I made a mental
note in case we ever found our way back thru here. We were kinda off
the highway, but not close enough that I heard any traffic noise. Nothing a
fan can't drown out. Hubby had to venture out to get jugs of drinking
water & of course he brought back doughnuts. Oh boy, can you say
sugar rush. Back to the playground we go! Overall a nice place to
stay, but again it was a one nighter. I gotta say at this point we
have become professionals at setting up & closing the camper.
Next stop…..my parents!!
Carlsbad, NM 9/25/16
You'll start to see a pattern here. We hit the road & I start Googling to find a place to stay. No exception this time around. Flying by the seat of our pants. It was another one night
stay just to rest up & hit the road again. We were on a time
crunch to get across country (I'm sure I've mentioned that a few times already, apologies). This particular campground was pretty
dated & filled with oil field workers who looked like permanent
residents. I was excited about the indoor pool, but was advised not
to use it since the whole outside was aluminum & they were
expecting a thunderstorm. Bummer deal so that let to an explanation to my
kids on why you shouldn't be in water during a storm, especially when
there's lightening. Instead we played on the very outdated
metal playground. There were only a couple of metal swings & one of
them had the rubber seat torn off so it wasn't very safe in my
opinion. They did have these 4 tire swings on a rotating pole so each
kiddo could sit in/on the tire & I was able to push them around.
I always had visions of a tire swing hanging from a big tree in our
backyard for them to play with. Maybe some day, although they may be
too old by then. Anyway, here was a laundry room, but it was locked &
since I didn't do the check in process I had no idea if there was a key or after
hours thing. No biggie, I wasn't plannig on using them, I just wanted to check them out. There was
this guy sitting outside next to the laundry room & when we walked
passed him he asked if we were they new people staying in site #
whatever (I can't remember). I said “no sorry not us”. Even if it
was us I wasn't about to let him know. I like to do my best to keep
my family safe so I don't volunteer info. I'm sure he was harmless,
but you just never know, right? There was a dog park close to our site, but it was not very appealing. The grass was overgrown around it & it was just
plain ol muddy. I didn't want to take our pups in there because I
didn't want to have to bathe them afterward. Needless to say this
place was bare minimum & the standards were met, but that was about it. The spaceing in between sites was ok, but could have used a little more room. However, we were on the end & didn't have anyone next to us so that was a good thing. It did start to sprinkle, but there was never a thunderstorm. Dang it, we could have used a nice dip in the pool. Oh well, not much else to say about this place
so on to the next.
Tuba City, AZ 9/22/16
Once we left Camp Verde I started Googling Antelope Canyon to get the scoop on tours & where to stay. Seemed like Page was the place to be, but of
course everything was booked in Page. Surprise surprise. I don't understand why there
aren't more rv campgrounds in Page. Antelope Canyon is like one of
the biggest tourist spots in all of the U.S. & Page is right
there to capitalize on all of it & there were only a couple
campgrounds. I tell ya what they really bank on the hotel rooms
though. Geez talk about pricey! This is why you reserve in advance &
not wait until last minute. The closest place I could find was in
Tuba City & thankfully there was a hotel with a rv campground out
back. Since hubby's parents were traveling with us this was perfect
so we could all be in one spot, them in the hotel & us out back.
I gotta say this place was bare bones. Nothing spectacular about it.
The ladies at the front desk were nice so that was something. It did
have a bathroom & laundry room, but we didn't use either. We
weren't planning on spending a lot of time here so we took what we
could get. I did have the privilege of seeing a guy pee on the fence
outside his tent. He was literally across from the bathrooms. Good
grief & ewww. We ate inside the hotel restaurant & I ordered
a taco fry bread. Holy smokes it was huge, but oh so good! Service
was a bit slow, but what can you do. We filled our bellies & got
ready for our morning tour of Antelope Canyon. My father in law
volunteered to stay behind & watch our dogs while we all went to
see the spectacular canyon. He had already been on the tour before so
we would take my mother in law with us since she hadn't seen it yet.
Another site for my bucket list to check off. Woohoo!
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