Thursday, December 25, 2008

Christmas 2008 in Bossier City LA

This has been a fast and furious year. It was time to kick back and enjoy a little leisure time.

We decided we would spend Christmas Eve in Bossier City, LA.

My youngest sister, her husband and Mom went with us. We left Christmas Eve morning and drove to Bossier.

We made reservations at the Horseshoe Casino. We visited all the casinos. Everyone had a great time.
We drove home Christmas afternoon.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Road Trip through Mena Arkansas

















We woke up this morning and decided to drive to Mena, AR to take in some of the fall colors. Wow, what a beautiful drive. The drive was relaxing and the colors were outstanding.
This was our first trip to Mena. It has to be the perfect time of year for the drive. The weather was cool and the colors of fall were everywhere. The trees were showing their fall wears of copper, brass, golds and reds. The view from the lookouts were awesome. The country side looked like a giant quilt done in patch work colors.


















We took our time and drove the mountains and stopped at all the lookouts. We shot plenty of pictures and enjoyed the cool autumn day. We left the Mena area and drove over into the Broken Bow area of Oklahoma. We stopped for dinner and arrived home a little after six.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Daingerfield in the Fall 2008

We were able to get away to our favorite camping spot this past week. We spent the week at Daingerfield State Park. It was beautiful. The weather is starting to cool and the leaves are starting to change. The large pines have such a comfortable feeling. The smell of camp fires and the stillness of the country. Wow, I can't wait to go back.












We were able to spent some times with some old friends, Jerry and Elizabeth. They were camped across from us. We had a great time visiting, playing cards and walking the trails.















The Park was busy all week with people coming and going but it was still peaceful.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Possum Kingdom Lake


We made a run to Possum Kingdom Lake on Saturday for a day trip and to visit some old friends. This is a beautiful lake.

The water is pretty clear for a Texas lake. We spent the day in a boat touring the lake and looking at all the houses being built on the shores and cliffs. The area is really growing. The houses being built are large and beautiful. It appears that each home site has a great view. We will be checking out the campsites in this area for sure.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Locked In!

We were able to spend four days at Dangerfield State Park. It was beautiful as always, but it was really hot! I believe it was 100 or better everyday. We put that fifth wheel AC to the test. The AC worked like a champ. thank God, because there is nothing uglier than two large middle aged women stuck in hot flash mode on a hot summer day without AC. We spent most of our time indoors. We watched a couple of movies and did some reading. We had a pretty uneventful trip.

Last week we bought a king Pin Stabilizer tripod. I could not believe how well it works to stabilize the front of the trailer. It really does remove the movement. I was able to walk around in the bedroom and bathroom without experiencing that drunk feeling. There is nothing worse then getting up in the middle of the night to potty and feel like you walking aboard a fast moving ship in ruff water. It was well worth the money.

We did have one interesting experience. We decided to walk the dogs and found that we were locked in. That's right, locked in! We have been locked out in the middle of the night with no hidden key. After a few minutes of what on earth has happened? How do we get out of the thing without killing ourselves. It is a long way to the ground from these windows and better yet, which one of us can fit through these windows? Finally, I came to my senses and realized I could reach out the window next to the door. That worked great and no one got hurt! I just reached out and open the door from the outside. We were both relieved when it opened. It appeared the locking mechanism had come loose. I was able to take a screwdriver and tighten it up. Works like a charm!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Tybee Island GA

















Beach Money

Rusk, TX Train Ride

We recently went on a weekend camping trip to Rusk. We took Mother with us. She has always wanted to ride the train. It was a Mother's Day gift of sorts. We left on a Friday afternoon. The drive was nice and the weather was great. On Saturday morning we packed a picnic lunch and boarded the train. The train ride was really nice. I shot a lot of pictures. At Palestine we got off the train, found a picnic table and had lunch. It was a nice relaxing day. Did I mention the cowboys that rode the train with us? That would be Mother with the deputy.

Rusk, TX KOA

We recently visited the Rusk KOA. It is not a beautiful campground by any means, but it is very clean and has a lot of amenities.

Rusk KOA is centrally located between Dallas and Houston, enjoy the beauty and history of the cool Texas Piney Woods region. Ride the Texas State Railroad's steam train, walk the longest footbridge in the nation, play golf at local courses, visit a wildlife park, browse antique and specialty stores, enjoy the local food and wines, or just relax on the campground. The area hosts a wide variety of festivals and rodeos throughout the year.
KOA's hilltop location offers breezes and beautiful sunset views. Cool off in the large saltwater swimming pool.













The surroundings are wonderful. It sits perched on a hill overlooking trees and offers beautiful sunsets. It is quite and is located in Rusk, Texas. It is close to the Dallas area. The real attraction is the train ride and the longest wooden foot bridge.













Little Kitchen Cooks Great Meals

When we travel we like to eat at restaurants that serve local flare and we make a point to visit the local grocery stores and markets.
Dawn enjoys cooking even when we travel. This is a great little kitchen to cook in. It is very practical for a small space.


















There are a lot of pros to having your own kitchen when you travel, you can eat at our leisure, you don't have to wait in line and you know the food will be just like you like it!
We are really looking forward to this years annual Thanksgiving trip. We can both work in this kitchen at the same time.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

The Perfect Fifth Wheel

We have been doing lots of research and reading a lot of full timing RV articles. We both like to research everything before we take the big leap. That comes with maturity and some bad experiences!



We have planned a camping trip for this weekend at a local campground so we can spend some time alone with the fifth wheel. We have only camped a few times since we bought it and have had people with us.

This is a weekend to better learn the rolling condo inside and out. I am still amazed at all the room this fifth wheel has compared to the motor home. There is only two foot of difference in the length.


I for one love the desk area and all the windows.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Finding a Truck

We have spent the last week looking for a good used truck that would pull this thirty-five foot fifth wheel travel trailer. I believe it was Dawn that said, it won't be difficult to find a good used truck.

Well, we have spent every waking moment looking through the newspapers, Internet and driving through car lots. We have made a lot of new friends (salemen) along the way!

We have done it by the book. We bought the trailer we wanted and now we are in search of the truck to pull it.

It is recommended by the dealership that we buy a one ton truck. OK, Now we have a few additions to that. We need a one ton truck that will pull the trailer and accommodate at least four adults comfortably. It has to have low miles and look good too.

After a week, we are thinking this is no easy task. We were starting to panic!

We have also discovered what I consider to be nice and clean and what someone else considers nice and clean are two completely different things!

One dealership we stopped by had a saleman he had just what we were looking for and it was just gently used. I couldn't believe my eyes when we walked up on this truck that didn't have a window in without a crack and the mirror on the drivers door was hanging on by a thread. He said he thought the tail gate was on the lot somewhere. He said it wouldn't be too expensive to replace the windows if that was something that we thought was necessary!

Young Chev on I-30 in Dallas is were we finaly found our truck. It is a 2004 Chev, Silerado 3500.
Wow! It is nice, it's clean, low mileage with a large crew cab.. This truck is fully loaded. It is way more truck then we had planned on. He cranked it up and told us to take a drive while he looked over our trade in.

I have only driven a dually one other time so this will be interesting! This truck drives like a dream and is loaded with all the bells and whistles.

Now we are once again excited!

Friday, May 30, 2008

Our Rolling Condo


One Saturday while we were waiting for an oil change at the dealership we wondered out into the lot. It is a great way to kill time while waiting on the oil change. What a mistake that was. There before us was a sea of motorhomes, fifth wheels and travel trailers. We walked around the lot and decided to take a look at the fifth wheels. We knew there was lot of them on the road and thought we would just take a peek.



We were shocked at the amount of living space these things had. The kitchens were large and the living rooms were larger. The motorhome we traveled in had a small kitchen and only one slide in the living room.









This fifth wheel had three slides verses our motorhomes two. This fifth wheel had a sofa and two large recliners. I built-in desk and flat screen TV. The kitchen had more cabinets then you could fill. The closet in the bedroom was large and the bathroom was larger then the motorhome.

We were drooling all over this trailer when a salesman appeared. How are you ladies, he asked. We told him we were killing time while getting the oil changed in our rig. He asked if we liked the trailer. We told him we thought it was a beautiful trailer. He went on to explain the trailer next door was even prettier and had a larger kitchen. He invited us to take a look at it. We told him we didn't want to take up any of his time. We were not there to purchase a trailer, we really were just killing time. He explained that it was not problem. He was also killing time. We followed him to the trailer next door. Wow! He wasn't kidding. The color scheme was beautiful and the kitchen was larger. The windows were large and had plenty of room. He asked a few questions about the motorhome and then like any good salesman he told us he could make a us a great deal on this trailer with the trade in of the motorhome.

He left us alone to look around. We walked thru the trailer and talked about how nice it would be the have a trailer like this to travel full time in. Reality Check! We are here to get the oil changed on the motorhome. It is paid for and we don't want any payments to make.

Then he appears again! he told us it would only take a few minutes to look at the numbers! Numbers, why did he have to go and say that? Dawn loves numbers. I told him there was no need in taking up anymore of his time. Dawn said it wouldn't hurt anything to just see what we were looking at.









 indows. No matter how bad the weather we can still enjoy the view.

We are now the proud owners of a fifth wheel travel trailer and have no truck to pull it with! Dawn said it shouldn't be any problem finding a good used truck to pull this trailer with.

We both have agreed that our goal is to sell the house and most of it's contents and try fultiming. we have given ourselves three years to get some things done and then we are going to live our dream. To see as many places as we can, while we can.



After an hour with our new best friend, we were signing the paperwork. We traded in the motor home and bought a travel trailer. We just bought a beautiful 35 foot fifth wheel travel trailer. Boy, we have plenty of room now. The travel trailer has lots of large w

Monday, March 10, 2008

Dawn Turns 50


Dawn celebrated her 50th birthday. We had a few get together to celebrate. The first being a meal of crab legs and margaritas at one of Dawn's favorite Dallas restaurants. We stuffed ourselves with crab legs and shrimp and had many margaritas.
The second celebration we enjoyed mexican food, more margaritas and a lot of friends.

The food was great and the company was even better.



"Happy 50th Dawn"