Feb 17, 2019 - A delightful relaxing Sunday

Date: February 17, 2019 Weather: mostly cloudy Temperature: start 68 º High 77º Wildlife count: Year List: 201 Birds: We met Keith and Gail at Jimmy’s Egg for breakfast, then shared worship. Robert spoke about discipleship, a very intriguing sermon. After a quick stop at HEB for fruit and goodies for tomorrow night’s party, we completed laundry and enjoyed reading outdoors. Randy and Fran joined us for a little happy hour, then dinner was left-over from our dinner at El Dorado. It has been a good relaxing day.

Feb 17, 2019 - February Catch-Up

We have had a very busy month, this will be a fast update for all we have done. February 6th was our anniversary, we had snow and decided to just stay in and enjoy a take out pizza. For Valentine’s Day, we celebrated at the Route 66 Casino Resort, they had a wonderful buffet with all the snow crab legs you could eat and much more. We both love crab legs and both got our fill. :) When we have crab legs we fill up on them and hardly eat anything else with them, we did try a bite of steak and some sushi with them. It was a little pricey at $36...

Feb 17, 2019 - Moorea/Bora Bora...cancelled Moorea

As expected the winds are up, the waves are strong with white caps, the winds gusts over 50 mph. Captain Jonathan made the decision it was unsafe to tender so off we sailed towards Bora Bora where we expect to anchor at 8 pm tonight. Dad sat up in the Lido waiting for the tender tickets to be handed out when this announcement came, I was waiting with him for a short time having brought him a cup of coffee. Meanwhile the staff is scurrying around to develop a program for today, but nothing very interesting I am afraid. No painting class as...

Feb 17, 2019 - What's An Arcosanti?

Before leaving on my journey last fall, I Googled things to see in Arizona, and the name Arcosanti popped up. I jotted it down in my notebook (which is a hodge podge of stuff) and promptly forgot about it, only to rediscover it while looking for something else. Its name comes from the term “arcology”. Here is a brief blurb from Wikipedia: “Arcosanti is a projected experimental town with a molten bronze bell casting business in Yavapai County, central Arizona, 70 mi north of Phoenix, at an elevation of 3,732 feet. Its arcology concept was...

Feb 16, 2019 - Saturday 2/16

Have I mentioned lately how much I love interacting with animals? We had a great time Thursday afternoon at the Y.O. Ranch! They piled us all into an old school bus (and we don’t fit in those small seats as well as we used to) and took us through their 15,000-acre ranch. The highlight for me was feeding the Mama giraffe. She and her daughter are both pregnant, due for delivery soon, so they are penned in for their safety. After they give birth, they will be let loose again. The guide brought a large box of oatmeal cookies, which we thought...

Feb 16, 2019 - Farewell to Malia Lane

Today I’m saddened to learn that my friend, Malia Lane, has lost her battle with lung cancer. She had been a full-time RVer since 2001 and had written about her adventures (and misadventures) in her blog. I will miss reading her blog and drooling over her beautiful photographs. She was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer in June 2018 but decided against chemotherapy and radiation. She chose to use drugs only for the pain. She had been working on her book “Fear Less vs. Fealess”, which was published last month. She was determined to...

Feb 16, 2019 - Group hike at Estero Llano Grande

Date: February 16, 2019 Weather: foggy and cloudy, misty till noon, sunny afternoon Temperature: start 68º High 86º Wildlife count: alligator Year List: 201 Birds: Hooded Merganser, Swamp Sparrow We joined Huck’s walk this morning, since we didn’t have to work – what fun. There was a large group of beginners along and Huck shared lots of information and had lots of fun – he’s been leading a lot longer than we have, and it was good to see his style. We completed the lakes loop, then, after a short rest, walked the tropical loop, and were...

Feb 16, 2019 - San Marcos to Corpus Christi, TX

San Marcos to Corpus Christi, TX 2-18-19 Taking a road trip to Corpus Christi, TX. First up, breakfast at a local IHOP. Upon arrival, I noticed the parking lot was full so Julie, reading my body language and knowing how much I love waiting in lines said, “Just chill out, we may have to wait a bit.” I chilled. We had to walk through a crowd on the sidewalk just to get to the front door (IHOP is this popular?!). There was standing room only in a crowded lobby. Julie muttered something like, “Oh Hell no”, pivoted 180 degrees and walked out the...

Feb 16, 2019 - Three good days...

Thursday it was raining. Not like back home but rain none the less. I think the forecast was for us to get less than 1/2 inch. But, it took it all day to do so. It started clearing about 4:30 or so. When I took Ziva to the Dog Park Thursday morning even the dogs did not want to get out from under the tree. All four dogs stayed under the tree with all of us parents instead of getting out and running around like they do normally. So Thursday was a stay in the Bus and watch a little television. I even managed to get Ziva off the sofa and I...

Feb 16, 2019 - Texas Hospitality and Lots of Kaia Time

After we left Alamagordo we stopped overnight in Brownfield, Texas and pushed through to Frisco, Texas to surprise Kelli and Kaia. Dan was in on the surprise and we kept him up to date as we traveled from western Texas to their new home just north of Dallas. Kelli, Dan and Kaia moved to Texas at the beginning of December; Dan works for an aerospace company based in Alabama but he works the majority of the time he works remotely from home. Kelli got her Texas RN license and is working part-time at a women’s and children’s hospital very close...

Feb 16, 2019 - Papeete, Tahiti (day 26)

Woke early to take some pictures as we coasted into the port. The winds were high so we did have to go very slowly towards the dock but at least it is not raining...yet! The sky is overcast with grey/ dark grey clouds and it does look like rain will arrive sometime. After breakfast, around 10 an we left the ship and walked around, bought a couple of things in the local drugstore. Spend some $ in the Pearl store and went along the main street visiting local shops and enjoying the day. In total we walked over 2 1/2 miles today. Wrote out four...

Feb 16, 2019 - Crighton Theatre, Conroe

Tonight I went with a group on the CARE transit van to Conroe to see the musical, “42nd Street” at the historic Crighton Theatre. I enjoyed it very much. There are some very talented people involved with this theater. It almost made me tired watching the tap dancers. I just wish I could bottle some of their energy! On the way to Conroe we were delayed about 45 minutes by a terrible wreck just ahead of us in which a little Nissan SUV ran into the side of the engine compartment of a pickup truck. The car was demolished and even the truck was...