February 3-9 Back on the Road, Meeting Up With Friends, Waco and Canyon Lake, TX
I spent quite a bit of time yesterday and today working on the blog to catch it up (today is Feb 11). I had just completed 5 days of detailed events and pictures. I'm not sure what happened, if I did something, or the computer just went blank, but all of a sudden everything I had typed was gone. I don't know if I did something wrong, or what. The words and pictures were there, and just like a flash they were gone. I hit the Undo button, but nothing changed. I am heartsick and I'm calling it a night. This happened one other time but I had not typed very much. Today I lost so much work, that I'm feeling a little down about it all right now.
March 1, 2021 - I'm finally at a point that I am ready to try again; and finally, due to weather conditions, I can actually post again. We've had quite an interesting travel time this February. Here's a synopsis of each week (what I can remember) beginning:
Wednesday - Saturday, February 3-6,2021 Durant KOA, Durant, OK; Airport RV Park, Waco, TX;
Wednesday, Feb 3. Dean and I relaxed in the RV most of the day waiting for Preston from Performance Trailer Braking to arrive and replace the disc brake on Bentley. He had previously scheduled a complete disc break install here in McAlester, so it will be awhile before he will get to us. It was about 3:15 when he arrived. We were quite happy with his work and he had us ready to pull out prior to 5pm. We quickly walked up to thank the family members at Earl's Lake Country RV in McAlester. They were amazing and treated us so well. We could not thank them enough for their hospitality.
We closed up Bentley and headed to Durant, OK where we will stay the night at the KOA RV Park there. Normally we would not travel this late (and after dark), but we are familiar with the drive there and the RV Park. We wanted to get some more miles behind us; or our drive tomorrow would be a very long day. Once we arrived we quickly set up, hurried to Freddy's for burgers and returned to relax for an hour or so before we headed to bed. Tomorrow is another travel day.
Thursday, Feb 4 we left Durant at 10am and arrived in Waco, TX a few minutes before 4pm. The highlight of our travel day was stopping at a Bucee's for a wonderful brisket sandwich,
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| Gas Station and Store |
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| Great brisket sandwich at Bucee's |
and happening upon this roadside sign honoring Audie Murphy.
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| We enjoy watching a number of films he was in. |
It was really good to see our friends Keith & Drena when we arrived at Airport RV Park in Waco. What a beautiful park, with a wonderful water view. We sure enjoyed the sights while sitting outside of their rig.
We visited for awhile before heading in for the evening. We were both super tired. I thought we would have sewer hookups here, but discovered they are only at a few sites, and ours was not one of them. What a disappointment, but it's just one of those blips of life that happen. RV Parky said it had sewer, and I didn't think to check for sewer when choosing a site. Lesson learned!
Friday, Feb 5 our friends Alvin and Linda arrived this afternoon. We have today and tomorrow before we will move on to our next site. Dean and I headed into town to Walmart and Sam's for some much needed groceries this morning. We enjoyed a campfire around our Fire Genie this evening watching all of our neighbors, especially all of their small children who were having a great time together. It was good to be back with camping friends.
Saturday, Feb 6 we all traveled into Waco to the Texas Ranger Museum. Dean and I had been there before but today we enjoyed an hour long film about the Rangers that was very interesting. Our next stop was at the Dr. Pepper Museum. It was interesting and there were some neat things to see, however overall I was a little disappointed. The free Dr. Pepper at the end was really good though.
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| A blast from the past with a Dr. Pepper bottling company in Joplin, MO, very near our hometown. |
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| Hot Dr. Pepper? Who knew? |
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| Dr. Pepper Truck |
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| Dr. Pepper Museum |
Sunday- Friday, Feb 7-12, 2021 Cranes Mill Park, Canyon Lake, TX
Sunday, Feb 7 was moving day. We traveled from Airport RV Park, in Waco to Cranes Mill Park a Corps of Engineer park at Canyon Lake, TX.
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| I took a picture of this courthouse in Gatesville, TX, the county seat of Coryell. My picture did not turn out well, so I had to share this picture I obtained from the internet. Isn't it a gorgeous structure? |
The park was small and very nice. We were soon set up and Dean was hurrying to get the satellite dish set up so he could watch the Super Bowl. Drena brought us candied popcorn in red so we could cheer on our Chiefs. Well, what can I say about our Chiefs? It was a disappointment, but sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. We'll wish them better luck next year!
We enjoyed our time here, especially morning walks Monday and Tuesday, and the many deer we enjoyed watching. We had evening fires and just enjoyed visiting with our friends.
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| Our site. |
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| We enjoy the lakes. |
Wednesday (10th) we all drove to San Marcos. Dean and I wanted to return there for the brisket we had at Hays County BBQ over 6 years ago on our first year of traveling with Bentley. It is the best brisket we have found. San Marcos has a Tanger Outlet Mall, so we stopped there first to check out a couple of shops. It was so bitter cold, we didn't last long, so we moved on to Hays County BBQ. Let me tell you, the wait was worth it. Their brisket was just as I remembered it, so tender and delicious. After lunch, we headed back to the campground as the rain was increasing.
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| Hays County BBQ - great place for brisket if you are in the neighborhood! |
By Thursday the 11th, the weather got worse and the next morning, Friday the 12th we had ice and it was COLD. The roads were not bad, but ice was beginning to build up forming on the trees and bushes in our park and especially along the highway
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| Ice covered trees. |
as we drove into town to get a few things at Tractor Supply. I was looking for wool socks. My feet were so cold and I only had two pair of wool socks. We found a farm store and I bought two pairs of men's wool work socks. They were much thicker than the ones I have. I'm so thankful we found them. The evenings were really getting cold in the RV with only 30 amp service. We couldn't run the fireplace, the furnace, the microwave, etc. at the same time. When we arrived at the park the 50 amp service did not have enough voltage, so we only had 30 amp. We contacted the office, but the guy they sent out offered to let us move (rather than have someone fix it...he really didn't think that was the problem even though our surge protector showed that WAS the problem). We declined to move, as the site they offered was several sites away from our friends, besides, having to tear down and set up again, after just setting up. Thankfully, Thursday morning the guy we talked to when we arrived stopped by to let us know someone would be repairing the electric this morning so we would be able to use our 50 amp service. I told him I was extremely grateful for that. I bet the guys who had to do the work wish they had done it when we first notified them, instead of having to work on it in freezing temperatures. Dean went out to talk with them. The surge protector was on spot of the problem. It was expensive but it has already saved us several times this year. We've rarely had problems in parks before last fall. Linda and Alvin opened their RV to all of us for a visit earlier in the morning, which was nice. While there, we were watching a young family whose fifth wheel was parked right behind Alvin & Linda. They were packed and almost ready to leave Friday morning. It was bitter cold outside. The wife and kids were in the car, while dad was closing up the RV slides. The two back slides were stuck and he could not get them to go in or out. Dean went out to see if he needed any help. Evidently a towel, or article of clothing got caught in the slide mechanism. Friends they were camping with had pulled out only a short time earlier. He called them and his friend came back - a short time later we noticed they were gone. We were all glad they were able to get it fixed. We spent the rest of the day inside trying to stay warm.
Saturday-Thursday, Feb 13-18, 2021 Cagle Recreation Area, New Waverly, TX
Feb 13 was moving day. Fortunately, the roads were clear for our move today.
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| I loved this mural as we passed through Giddings, TX |
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| Grimes County Courthouse in Anderson, TX |
Sunday, Feb 13th, we were blessed the weather warmed for our travel day from Canyon Lake to New Waverly, TX. We are 13 days into the month, and the first day went well at this park, except for the fact we had little to NO internet. We could occasionally get a phone call but internet was almost non existent. I was able to do several loads of laundry when we arrived, and a few the next day. We needed propane so Dean and I drove to New Waverly to try and find a place that had it.
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| Notice the ice buildup in the right upper corner. |
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| Beautiful church in New Waverly. |
It wasn't long before snow and ice arrived here...this was the week of EXTREME COLD in Texas. Electric, water, gas, propane, was needed by everyone throughout the state. The park water was from a well, so unless you already had water in your tank, water was hard to come by. I believe it was Monday morning when the electric went out for the first time. Fortunately for us, it was rolling blackouts, longer at first and gradually the time in between lessened. Thursday morning when the electric stayed on after we were up we were so happy! We all definitely learned to layer well to stay warm. It required a few trips to New Waverly, and later to other towns to obtain more propane to keep our heaters going. Wow! What a trip this has been. I think being with the other two couples has kept us all centered - or at least it has us! All in all we weathered the 2.5 days of freezing temperatures pretty well considering the circumstances. The first night we left our slides out, and Dean spent the next day working diligently to remove snow and ice. After that, we pulled our slides in at night to prevent more ice buildup.
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| 64 inside, 14 outside on Feb 15, 7:40am |
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| Snow was beautiful with the sun shining through these trees. |
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| Feb 16 - 7:28 am - 68 inside and 11 outside. |
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| The slides are in. We are having our coffee and banana bread. |
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| When the slides are in our table to the left of the island, almost touches the island. We are able to remove the table from the desk, and that's what we did the next night before we went to bed. |
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| Taken at our site on Feb 18th at 4:12 pm. Who does this? Do you think we were cold? That fire wasn't nearly big enough for us to stay warm! |
It made for tight quarters when the slides were in, with the table blocking our way to our recliners, since we had to crawl under the table to get to them. I made coffee and handed it to Dean, then back under the table I crawled again. It's funny now - but it wasn't so much at the time. The second night we pulled the table out of the desk, so we could walk between the island and the desk to our chairs. What an experience, but we made it through. Alvin and Linda rode with us to New Waverly our last planned day here to get a few grocery items and more fuel for the truck. Drena and Keith drove in as well. The roads still had quite a bit of ice on them. Fortunately no one had reserved our spots for the next night, so we were able to stay another night at this park. It warmed up on Thursday, allowing quite a bit of ice to melt. We were able to move on down the road on Friday the 19th. All in all, we were extremely blessed that we had the electric power we had, and we all had water in our tanks. So many people were in much worse shape than us and we were very thankful for what we had. What more might we face?
Friday-Tuesday, February 19-23, 2021 - Sandy Creek COE, Jasper, TX.
We left Cagle Recreation Area at 10:30 and arrived at Sandy Creek COE at 2:15pm. We really liked this park, although when we first arrived and saw our site, we weren't sure what to think. Alvin and Keith had nice back-in sites with tall pine trees around them. Our site had a live oak with huge sprawling LOW limbs. I didn't think there was any way we could get in the site without hitting a limb, but by golly, Dean backed it in and not a branch hit a slide when we put them out. Woo-hoo! Other than our worry of the tree, once parked, we agreed that we too had a very nice site. However, I don't know how the couple next door got into their site, because it was worse than ours. What a beautiful lake with amazing sunsets. We had fires every night at either our place or Alvin's. Linda bought some bird feed to put out on a wooden table (we think it may have been built by park workers for that purpose) at their site and we enjoyed watching all of the bird & squirrel activity. How I miss birdwatching in our backyard!!!
Fortunately the weather was pretty good at this stop. We needed that! Dean and I were sitting outside one morning around our fire pit, when a couple walked by and noticed our Kansas tags. They were also from Kansas - Allen County, a couple of counties north of us. They told us they lived in Iola, so I had to ask if they knew Richard and Jan K. Well, yes they sure did, they went to the same church. I explained Jan was my step-dad's sister. Wow, what a small, small world it is. We had a nice visit with them. They were leaving the next day. I wish we would have had a chance to visit with them more. On another day I walked over to visit with our neighbors (who shared the same large live oak tree as us). They were from Rhode Island - a state we have yet to visit. I enjoyed visiting with Ray and Dot. This was also the same day Dean and I fixed lunch for everyone. We had pulled pork, cole slaw, and baked beans. Linda was going to make us a cherry pie, but forgot all about it, so Drena brought a lemon cake she had that was really, really good. I love anything lemon!! Linda promised a pie later this week!!
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| As we left New Waverly, headed to Jasper, TX we passed this statute of Sam Houston. As you can see, there is still a bit of snow. |
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| Tyler County Courthouse in Woodville, TX |
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| Our view at Sandy Creek Corp of Engineer Park, Jasper, TX |
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| I was amazed at how tall these pines were. So pretty against that blue sky! |
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| These two pictures (above and below) are of the downtown area in Jasper, TX. |
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| Jasper County Courthouse in Jasper, TX |
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| This is Drena, as we set around the campfire, enjoying a beautiful sunset over the lake. |
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| Alvin and Linda hosted the campfire tonight at their site. |
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| This is the live oak that our neighbors and Dean and I had to back under to get in our sites. |
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| I love these small puzzles that I can work on in the RV. Dean cut this small board for me last year and it was perfect to use, allowing me to move it to an alternate site if we needed to use the table. I hope to find more of these to work on in the future. It was missing a few pieces - but I found 3 later on the floor. They were face down, blending very well with our carpet. |
Dean and I walked at this park every morning. It is a beautiful park and one I would not hesitate to visit again. We had decent internet service here which was a bonus. We drove into nearby Jasper a couple of times. Once to Walmart for a few groceries and a stop for propane, and another day we all went in to visit the Goodwill store where I found a couple of shirts I really liked, plus two small jigsaw puzzles. I couldn't wait to get started on one of the puzzles and almost had it done, when it was time to head to Alvin and Linda's for dinner. Linda made a Mexican chicken dish that was delicious, along with a side salad, and the cherry pie she promised us. It was all very good!!! Afterwards we enjoyed our fire. The sunsets were gorgeous and the moon was so bright. What a wonderful five days we had here.
Our last day, Dean and I needed to drive to the Escapees Headquarters in Livingston, TX to pick up our mail. We were supposed to pick it up last week while in New Waverly (much closer) but due to the weather Escapees mail service was closed down. They had not received mail for at least a week. We wanted to wait until our last day here before we picked it up to give them time to get mail sorted. Alvin and Linda rode along with us. Alvin is President of Ozarks Chapter 17, our Escapees group. He and Linda were both interested in seeing the facility. It was interesting to see the mail pickup area. I thought we would have a box inside of a building to obtain it from, but you go to a window, give them your box number, they gather it from your box and bring it back to you. Of course, the line was quite long due to the mail being delayed, but we had a great visit with some of the members who live onsite. In fact when someone asked where we were from, I said Southeast Kansas, Oswego. A guy waiting said, yeah it's by Parsons. He had just come from there. It always amazes me when things like that happen. We really enjoyed the opportunity to be near the Escapees organization to check it out.
Our last night here Keith & Drena prepared dinner for us. We had kielbasa, red beans and rice, salad and the remaining lemon cake. It was all delicious. I love that we share several dinners, giving each family a break from fixing a meal every night, but most of all I really enjoy our time together around the campfires.
Wednesday-Friday, February 24-26, 2021, Purtis Creek State Park, Eustace, TX.
Wednesday morning we left Sandy Creek at 10:20am and arrived at Purtis Creek SP in Eustace, TX at 2:15pm. Eustace is near Canton, TX - Home of the First Monday Trade Days. The market opens on Thursday and runs through Sunday (before the First Monday of the Month). It is supposed to rain this weekend, so we decided Thursday would work best. We like this park, but we have little to no internet at our sites. Phone calls work pretty good, but internet service is very slow, if we have it at all. Using my Mifi I could email, etc. but it was eating my data up very quickly so I didn't spend much time on the internet. Our Dish did not work well here either due to the trees blocking the signal, but we were able to pull in enough stations on our antenna to satisfy Dean.
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| Our site at Purtis Creek State Park, Eustace, TX |
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| and our yard behind the RV. |
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| Outdoor furniture on display at Canton Trade Days |
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| Charcuterie Boards |
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| Swinging bed - great for a large back porch or a she-shed. |
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| Just one of many large buildings we walked through |
Wednesday evening we had a wood fire at Alvin and Linda's, but it turned cool pretty quick, so we headed home. We did enjoy a walk around the loop where our camping site is located earlier in the day.
Thursday morning we all drove into Canton, spending about 3 hours walking around the grounds. Each couple went our separate ways. Fortunately, we were in covered buildings so
even though it was cool outside, is wasn't too bad inside. There was so much to see and we barely touched the various areas on the grounds. We all met and had lunch at one of the food booths. Dean had a cheeseburger and fries and I chose a chicken salad sandwich. They were both very, very good, much better than I expected. The only thing, other than lunch, that we purchased was a bag of popcorn. I found a few things I'd like to have had, but left without any of them.
Friday morning we drove into Canton to pick up a few things at Walmart, and to get propane at Tractor Supply. On our way out of the park, these buzzards were just standing in the road and on the railing with their wings out - trying to dry them. They were not going to move until we were almost upon them.
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| Buzzards |
Since Friday is our last day together, I wanted to fix dinner for everyone at Bentley. I made corn and ham chowder, and a peach crisp with ice cream. Today was our 27th wedding anniversary, and it was fun to spend it with our friends. It was a good day with lots of great conversation after dinner. We are sure going to miss our traveling buddies, but we'll see them again in April for our Escapees first Casual Campout at Grove, OK. Dean and I are hosting it and we hope to see many of our members.
Saturday-Monday, February 27-28, March 1, 2021 - Black Rock Park, Buchanan Dam, TX
Saturday morning we left our friends after goodbyes to both couples and headed to Black Rock Park, Buchanan Dam, TX. We backtracked several miles to visit here, for a couple of reasons. 1---gives a little more time for the cold winter weather to pass before returning to KS, and 2---we have traveled Highway 281 in Texas for many years, first when Matt & Megan were stationed at Fort Hood, TX, and then as we traveled to Mission for the winter. We have passed the Blue Bonnet Cafe in Marble Falls, every trip always saying - we need to stop there sometime. Since we have some time before returning to KS, we decided to backtrack a bit so we could act on our promise to make a stop at Blue Bonnet a reality. And why, would you ask? They are known for their pies....something we both love!
We left Purtis Creek SP in Eustace, TX at 9:20am and arrived at Black Rock Park in Buchanan Dam, TX at 3:00 pm. It was a long travel day for us. When we pulled into our site, I looked around and I believe it was the last site. This is a really nice, but small park on Lake Buchanan. The sites are nice sized and nicely spaced from neighbors. Besides the RV Park, they have cabins to rent, a meeting room, miniature golf, a nice beach, and fishing areas with a boat dock. The only negative I have is our site is near a very busy road. Over the weekend it was bad enough I had to use ear plugs to sleep. After everyone left Sunday, I don't remember even hearing traffic when we went to bed. I spent most of Saturday doing laundry. We had not been able to do any since we were at Cagle Recreation Area, and we won't have sewer hookups again until we return to Kansas.
Our drive today started out with a nice morning, and within an hour we were in a heavy fog, an hour later we had rain, and another hour behind us we were driving through heavy road construction in Waco. We'll be glad when we arrive at Black Rock Park!
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| Heavy fog |
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| Heavy fog with rain |
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| Still fog with rain as we pass through Waco's construction on I-35 |
As we neared Temple, Harker Heights and Fort Hood, we continued to drive through rain. Of course, we can't be in this area without thinking of Matt and Megan who lived here for a few years. Josh was born here almost 7 years ago. It's hard to believe time has flown by so quickly.  |
| Rain again as we pass by Fort Hood - that's an exit sign for Fort Hood. |
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| It started to let up shortly after the previous picture. Part of Fort Hood to our right. |
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| The rain finally stopped! |
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| Neat barrier wall on the left as we passed near Copperas Cove, TX. |
We were glad to arrive at our destination. It was a long, mostly tedious drive, with the fog, rain and road construction.
Sunday, we drove into Marble Falls, via Burnet, TX. Wow, Burnet must be the local lake traffic area. It made Grove, OK look calm during their summer peak. Lines and lines of cars at every stop light, some backed up over a block. Some kind soul let us slip in or we might have been sitting there for quite awhile. We explored the area, mostly driving around, something we enjoy doing. Since Blue Bonnet is only open until 1:30 on Sunday we will visit it tomorrow for lunch and pie! We splurged and ate at an Italian restaurant for lunch today as a late anniversary date. My trio plate was delicious. Dean ordered spaghetti and meatballs - and left half of it. I should have ordered for him...again!
As we left this morning, the sky was really beautiful.
After we returned to the park, I continued my laundry detail. We were both tired and went to bed before 10.
I awoke early Monday morning to a loud drumming beat..... on Bentley's roof - RAIN, again? Yep, at 4:15 or so it brought me out of a wonderful warm slumber. After just a few minutes, I gave up going back to sleep. It was much quieter downstairs, so I made the coffee and settled in until Dean made his way down too. I was able to wash another load of clothes. Fortunately, the rain stopped before we left around 10:15, making the drive to Marble Falls quite nice. We arrived right at 11.
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| Neat sign where we parked at the Blue Bonnet Cafe. |
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| My meal. It was very good. |
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| The Blue Bonnet Cafe |
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| The pies were good, but the pecan pie was by far the best!!! |
We certainly arrived none too soon, as within 15 minutes the restaurant was at full capacity (75% availability). We both ordered chicken fried steak, one of our favorites with mashed potatoes and gravy and a salad. Dean chose fried okra and I chose baby carrots as our third side. The food was very good. The carrots were especially good. Dean said the okra was just okay. I liked the salad, but it was in a small bowl in big pieces - very hard to eat. I finally took my knife and cut it up as best I could in the small bowl in order to finish it. They brought the salad with the meal, which made our steak and potatoes a little cool by the time we finished our salads. All in all the meal was really good. We chose two slices of pie to bring home with us. As I mentioned previously, the pies are what they are known for. Dean chose coconut cream and I chose pecan, after I asked the waitress which she would recommend between peach and pecan. I can assure you she did not lead us astray, as the pecan pie was amazing. (Keith, I thought of you, as we enjoyed our pecan pie. You and Drena have to make a stop here someday.) The coconut cream was good, but we thought it would have meringue and instead it had whipped cream. It was not the best coconut cream pie, but it was good! When we returned to Bentley, we split each piece so we could each share them. While there were some things we liked and some we didn't, we WOULD go back again. We both love chicken fried steak and it was very good, but they have many choices to choose from. I was still too full from lunch to even think about eating this evening.
Before, we headed back to the park, we made a quick stop at Walmart for a few groceries and at Lowe's. Upon our return, I finished the last two loads of clothes. For those of you who might not know, we have a combo unit, so it takes awhile to complete one load of clothes since it both washes and drys in two separate cycles. I do not fully dry the clothes, but hang them damp in the shower. I have a small fan that I turn upwards that dries them pretty quickly. With two runs in the washer for each load it takes awhile to get it all done when you haven't done any for 2 weeks. Tomorrow we will begin our trek north with three more stops before we reach Kansas.
This brings us up to date. I hope our internet holds out and the weather remains calm for the rest of our journey to Kansas. Thanks for following along.
