No more cabin fever

Left the camper after three days. Feeling so much better. Needed to run a few errands so went to Walmart, Lowes, Walgreens, and HEB (grocery store). Kind of fun to do a little running around again. Stopped at an A&W for lunch. Love that draft root beer.

This morning before we left an alarm sounded in the camper. It was very long and loud. Couldn't figure out for sure which one it was. It wasn't the smoke alarm nor the CO alarm. I least we don't think it was the CO alarm. Pressed the button and it tested just fine. Thought it might be the propane alarm but it appears fine. Either today or tomorrow we'll be checking the batteries.

Decided to sit down at the computer for a little bit. Need to do dishes just not in the mood. At the store, Sharon found a newspaper. And not the USA but the San Antonio Express News. Wow, she's been looking for a local paper. She's sitting in the recliner with her feet up just enjoying her afternoon.

The weather is beautiful. 72 degrees, sunshine and a slight breeze. It was strange seeing pansies on sell next to Christmas decorations. Not sure if I'll get used to that. Instead of seeing snow blowers - seeing lawn mowers and grills. Imagine.

Have a great Halloween. Not sure yet what we're doing this weekend. A couple of ladies we met at the convention are supposed to be pulling in this weekend. Maybe we'll have our own little party.

Thursday - sunshine

The last couple of days have gone better. My sinuses decided to act up. Yesterday, I had a sinus headache, sore throat, etc. etc etc. Today, the headache is gone, minor sore throat but still feel very very tired. Wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't 83 with high humidity. Oh well, tomorrow they say will be cooler.

We're re-evaluating what we'll be doing in the next few weeks. Sharon found out that our old neighbor will not be buying the house. She's talked with a realtor and waiting to hear what he says after he does his walk through. Depending on his advice we may or may not be going to AZ for the winter. We're looking into all options at this time.

Hopefully, I'll start feeling better. We want to go through the missions and take a small day trip to LBJ ranch and museum.

Back to the Renaissance Fair. My cousins treated me royally. On Sunday we went to the King's Feast. It's a 7 course meal with a show. Some pirates came in and put on a small show as well as the minstrels and belly dancers. The food was unbelievable. The first course was cheese and fruit. There were bread baskets and large bowls of fruit at each table. The second course was a caesar salad. The third was bisque of butternut squash. The entree courses blended together. Bowls of seasoned potatoes and grilled vegetables (asparagus, green beans, mushrooms, yellow squash). The meats consisted of smoked sausages, grilled chicken breasts, smoked turkey legs, prime rib, BBQ pork ribs. I know I'm forgetting a meat. The dessert was a chocolate cake with whipped creme. If anyone went away hungry it was their own fault.

Had an excellent time both days. Here's a couple more pictures from the weekend. I didn't get very good pictures of the feast.

Some of the performers dancing at the start of the festival.


Minstrels performing at one of the outdoor venues called the Sea Devil


A random picture of the village. There were several streets and shops throughout.

Tuesday - Weekend is now over

Had a really great weekend. Sharon said she enjoyed hers, too. Started out meeting my cousins at the Alamo and going to lunch on the Riverwalk.




CJ with Cameron, Angie and Haley



Lunch - Linda, Haley and Angie


Denise & Marty



After that, drove back to Marty's house for them to pack and for me to try on my costume. Want to see it. Here's one that we took at the Fair.



Need to go to the pharmacy and grocery store. More later.

Friday - Beautiful Day

Had a great day yesterday. Put some more stuff away in the camper. Looked through a few more brochures. We're about ready to catalog the DVDs and CDs. Then we may get some floor space. Hallelujah!

Last night visited with some friends here in the campground. Had a very nice time. Caught the end of the ALCS game. Sharon says Go Angels.

Meeting my cousins today to head off for the Renaissance Fair this weekend. I'm so excited. It should be so much fun. I'll take a FEW pictures. Hopefully post some here.

Have a great weekend.

Rainy Wednesday Morning

We're going to have rain off and on today and tomorrow. Haven't paid much attention but it's something to do with a cold front coming down (50 lows, 70 highs), some after affects of Rick from the west and something else coming from the east.

Needed to change camping sites on Monday. Will be at this site for a month. There's a hay field behind us. They were baling yesterday. I'm so glad the wind was going away from the camper. Didn't affect my allergies too much.

Looked through the touristy brochures yesterday to determine what we're going to do while we're here. We've determined the Alamo and going down on the River Walk. Some of the state parks have a daily admission fee but you don't need a fishing license if you fish within the park. Guess where Sharon may be fishing?

We're in luck, at least 3 other people from the convention are staying for the next month, also. We met them at driving school. That will be nice. 2 of them have been in the area before.

May do some cleaning in the house - notice I said MAY. It could also be a game or reading book day. I took a couple of pictures the other day of the small lake here so I'll try and attach. This lake is catch & release. This lake has bass, bluegill, catfish, and a few others that I can't remember.

Last full day of Convention

See, I can be earlier in the day. Have some down time before dinner. Having a Texas BBQ tonight. This afternoon I went to the annual meeting. Hawkeyes were on - guess what Sharon did? It lasted 3 hours. This was a very very long meeting. For the most part very interesting until they let the members ask questions or make comments. Usually, that's when it gets interesting. Let's just say that most of them could have written their comments and submit them rather than make the rest of us listen. Oh, did I say that.

Iowa won! Yeah. When I left (half time), I figured I'd be coming back to a very disgusted individual. Boy, was I happy.

Back to the meeting. At the end, I couldn't stand it. Volunteered for 2 committees. Not one but two. When I told Sharon I volunteered, her words "you didn't say WE did you. I'm not doing it if you did." Boy, was I lucky that I only volunteered myself.

Getting warm this pm. Wind is dieing down. May need to turn the ac on. For you guys back in Iowa - so sorry that it's not beautiful weather for you. :)

Oh, we went shopping this morning. Did I mention our shopping trips are now different. Well, let's see what did we buy: a convention pin for Sharon's cap, a key ring (for the camper key I'm going to replace), waterless wash & wax for the RV & camper (includes a mop), velcro coil wraps, quick release (for water hoses), and (Sharon is real excited about this) a clear adaptor for the sewer hose. Amazing what she gets excited about when out shopping.

Tomorrow am will be a church service followed by a Tex Mex breakfast. I'm excited - Sharon not so much. You know how much she loves peppers.

Will probably do laundry tomorrow pm while football is on.

Everything is going well. Still feels like we're on vacation. Maybe in a month, this new lifestyle will start to sink in.

Have a great day tomorrow.

Texas Day

Day started out badly for Sharon. She woke up with a headache. Headache disappeared late morning. So she missed her birding trip. Watched the NLCS in the afternoon.

I played in the Texas Holdem tournament this afternoon. For learning the game yesterday, I did very well. I made it to the final table and placed 6th out of the final 9. So feel good about that. It was a lot of fun. Think I'm hooked.

After the tournament, had Texas wine tasting. Found a couple that I liked. Sharon continued watching the game.

Had a quick supper and went to the Talent Show. Had a great time. The ladies were hysterical performing in costumes. Had a sing-a-long at the end of the show. Remember those old songs you learned in grade school. Well, we sang them tonight. We even managed "Happy Trails to You". They had a song book so for some it was a little easier.

The weather was beautiful. Sun and breeze. It may get a little chilly tonight. Fresh air was great today.

Did I mention that we played bingo last night and Sharon won $60. May need to go spend some in the vendor area. She found a sewer hose adaptor that she wants. New way to shop. Kind of different for us.

Tomorrow will be a little quieter day. Sharon's thinking about going fishing in the morning. The annual meeting is early in the pm and we have the banquet tomorrow night.

Have a safe one.

Vendor Day

We had the "walk about" at 9:00 this morning. Finished at 11:00. Sharon flushed out the water heater and checked the battery. Rachel (our very new best friend) climbed up on the roof and checked everything out. Everything looked good. Looked over the gears and checked to see if needed lubrication. Wow. We feel so empowered.

After this we had a voltage protector installed on the camper. Took about an hour.

This afternoon I took a beginners class on Texas Holdem. It was great. Maybe I'll try the tournament tomorrow.

Tonight, we're going to play bingo. Sharon's thinking about getting up tomorrow morning to go birding.

Still hot. Tomorrow is supposed to be cooler. We may enter the Rodeo. Rodeo???? The events are horseback riding (stick horses), cow chip throwing and lassoing an iron steer. What do you think?

It was another good day.

Seminars/Opening Ceremonies

Went to breakfast at 7:30 this morning. Yes. I said 7:30. Talked with several people about their travels around the country and other continents. One person told us about her trip to the Antartica, Africa and the Amazon. We discussed various places to visit in the southwest and the best way to tour Alaska.

Went to several seminars on fulltiming, electrical systems, holding tanks and birding 101.

Learned some new words today. Such as y'all is singlular and all y'all is plural. ing doesn't exist in Texas, it's mornin, parkin, eatin, campin.

Opening ceremonies was done very nicely. The colors were presented. We pledged allegiance, sang the Star Spangled Banner and O Canada. There are several Canadian members. At this convention, there are 351 women attending.

There were a couple of pink hats with flamingos on top. Thought of buying a couple for Christmas presents but no one would part with them.

Way too hot and humid. Tomorrow we have a couple of people stopping by to show us how to flush tanks, especially the water heater. They will also walk on the roof and check it out for us.

Very tired.

Lost my camper key. Since today was a get stuff done day, decided to get a copy made and go to the grocery store. Of course this was after laundry. Slept in today - woke up about 8:15. Rain and 70 degrees.

We found the locksmith. We had to drive down SE Military Dr until we found El Pollo Loco. It was around there. The key didn't fit. Will have to take it back and try again. Or maybe get new locks. Time will tell.

Almost missed the block party. Met some people from California, Michigan, Wisconsin, and, of course, Texas. Interesting group. Current and prior occupations ranged from teacher to artist to nurse.

The Texas Roundup was o.k. Met some people from Mesa, AZ area. Will get together with them later this winter. Talked to a lady from Austin. She was on her 3rd career. She's now an artist - watercolor paintings. Some women flew in from the UK, some drove a rig from Fairbanks, AK, and others from California and Maine.

Met our new neighbors starting tomorrow. We got to talk to our other neighbors today. One has MS and is in a scooter. The other lady does the driving and setting up. They also have one very large dog.

Tomorrow the conference starts. Breakfast starts at 7:30. Will have a luncheon for the first timers and a reception in the vendor area (fajita supper). Plus seminars most of the day.

Night.

Beginning Maintenance Class

Wow. Who would have thought there was so much to check and do on an RV. Simply amazing. The class started at 9 and ended at 4, actually 4:30. Received wonderful information. Now to put it to good use. Thought it was very nice that the person who taught the class is in the camper next to us. Have a few more questions.

Mostly cloudy today. Sun did peek through a couple of times. Going to a chapter meeting tonight. Sounds official doesn't it. Just waiting on the brownies to get done so I can take them. Well, brownies took too long to cool down so guess we'll eat them. I could take them to the block party tomorrow night. Notice, I said maybe. :)

Learned a new card game tonight. 31. Very interesting. Only lost 75 cents.

Tomorrow is a laundry and grocery shopping day. Block party at 4:30. Texas Roundup tomorrow night.

Will try for pictures tomorrow. Supposed to be sunny.

Sunday, October 11

We're at Braunig Lake Resort. We were so lucky to set up in the rain. Getting very tired of rain. Sharon's extremely happy - no tree cover. That means the satellite is working just fine. Football - all afternoon.

We're extending our stay after the convention, so we'll be moving to a different site in a week.

Tomorrow we're attending a basic RV maintenance class.

Already met some very nice people today. Get this: we (mostly Sharon) helped our neighbor level her RV. She's never had to level before. We felt very knowledgeable.

That's all for tonight.

A very pleasant evening.

Spending the night at the KOA in San Antonio. Tomorrow morning we move to Braunig Lake Resort for the next few weeks. Trip down was interesting. Saw several ranches along the interstate: cattle, horses and cars. Only in Texas can you find a car junk yard labeled "auto ranch". Definitely a lot of trucks and SUVs in Texas. Driving through Austin was a nightmare. I still don't know how there wasn't a multi-car pile up considering the "quick change lanes" and "let's see how close to the back bumper we can get" drivers.

Have I mentioned how much I love the GPS unit we have. The voice is so soothing and so far always correct.

Not all gas stations are RV friendly even if they say they are. Let's just say we came very close to needing another new tire.

It was very nice pulling in with the sun shining. We could even open up some windows. At least for a little bit. The breeze is slightly chilly - remember it's only 60 degrees here. But the fresh air, smell of freshly cut grass, and hearing an owl in the distance is making for a nice stay.

Can't get a signal for the satellite dish - too many trees. So following the hawkeyes on the computer. Sharon did find a game on the radio - probably Texas, you think?

Heading to San Antonio

Going to try and blog. May not be each day. We've started on our first trip to San Antonio. First day - off to a rough start. Needed air in the tires. Ever tried putting air into duallies. Neither Sharon or I could. Good thing we were only 5 miles from the campground. Dave & Patricia (KOA owners) came to our rescue. Actually they did it. In the rain, too. So - off to a late start. Didn't actually hit the road until 12:36 pm. Had rain and construction all of the way. Sharon was REAL pleased when I took a small nap while she was driving. lol

Arrived at Emporia, KS safely. However, they had rain all day, also. Set up in the rain, mud, and clay. When it rains, it pours. Sharon forgot to set the water indicators back so we filled the fresh water tank all night. Well, at least you couldn't tell the overflow from the water puddles of the rain.

We set off for Marietta, OK. Clouds most of the day. We did see the sun for about 15 minutes off and on all day. Staying at a KOA campground off the interstate. They had rain all week. So, more mud, clay and puddles.

It's been damp and chilly. Have needed the furnace. In looking at the weather station, we'll take 53 degrees over snow any day. Tomorrow it looks like our high will be 77 with sunshine. San Antonio here we come.

I'm (Sandy) going to try posting most days but it will be in the evening. Sharon says she's not but I'm working on her. So, since I'm not a morning person and Sharon wants to start the day before noon - it will be evening posts.

Sorry we'll be missing the first snow fall in Des Moines. (NOT).

Need to go and watch the Twins beat the Yankees.