MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM TEXAS!!

The Christmas tree in Bryan, Texas is all decked out with the finest ribbon and the presents are under the tannenbaum ...

and Buster is ready with a smile and hopes that a pupperoni willl be there ...

and a glass of wine in front of our tree to toast all of our friends and loved ones around the world as they celebrate this holiday season.

Love from Bruce and Jo-Anne in Texas!

A week or so ago we went over to the little town of Calvert, Texas. Calvert is on Hwy 6 about 25 miles north of Bryan and is known mostly for its antique shops on the main street. The town also hosts a periodic tour of some of the beautiful mansions that are present in this town of 1400 folks. Here's the brochure from the Chamber of Commerce talking about the tour.





In the tour were four homes from the beginning of the 1900s and all were very well preserved. Numbers two and three in the brochure were of particular interest because of the huge amount of money invested to accurately restore these places to their original splendor.



I took this picture of number 2, which is the Barton-Satterwhite home. The owner met us at the door and explained all the details of the restoration of this 8000+ square foot home.

All in all, Calvert is a small, unique part of Texas history, created by the railroad, cotton, and cattle, all converging in the middle of the prairie in 1870. Neat place.

And oh by the way, we had to stop at Cocoamoda, once a bank building, and now the chocolate truffle store for a cup of tea and several chocolate truffle samples.

As I am working to learn about the new camera, here are a couple of images from the local area as I experiment. Last week we had our first hard freeze and the frost on our roses was pretty spectacular.

Then, another intruder took over the hummingbird feeder for a sweet snack .... don't want to make him mad!

And this one about a block from our house would have made Alfred Hitchcock proud!

Happy Thanksgiving 2009!!

We hope everyone had as great a Turkey Day as we did. Here's our bunch enjoying turkey and all the fixins ... and even smiling as I interupted the feast.

Brother Richard, Son-in-law Brooks, and the patriarch, Clare, expounding.

Brother Tom, Mom, and Tom's wife Debbie.

Tom and Deb's daughter Tammy and her daughter (the actress) Brooke.

And Brooke with a dinner setting for two ... I know ... poor Buster!

After all that, I think it is time for naps and then the Aggies versus the Longhorns (Ags lost, but it was still a great game).

On Veterans Day I was given a real treat from my father. In Bryan/College Station they have built an impressive Veterans Memorial Park nestled in the live oaks with winding pathways and memorial plaques.




One of the features of the Park is a set of marble stones with the names of Bryan/College Station, Texas veterans, living and dead from all wars and/or service, topped here with a bronze statue of soldiers in combat.







Unknown to me, Dad made a contribution to have my name placed on one of the stones in the park, which was a really super thing to do. Each Veterans Day, the names of the new inductees are read in a ceremony, and we were privileged and honored to attend. Especially to have my name in marble and still be alive to enjoy it, eh!





And on the way out after the ceremony we followed Patton on his way to review the troops. Actually this guy runs what I understand to be an awesome museum of GI equipment in the local area that's only open one day a year and we hope to attend the open house this winter.

Thanks again, Pop!

Yes we have been busy … I guess you’re used to that and to the frequent lapses in our reporting. Our major project after the summer was to completely clean out the Flying Scotsman after two and a half years of use. I mean, right down to the way we bought it as it was getting pretty bad. We finally accomplished that and then hauled it down to our old stomping grounds in New Braunfels to the Crestview dealer who has taken care of us so well in the past and left it in their super care to analyze the page of discrepancies that we have accumulated over the last summer. That was on Thursday, the 12th. Just making sure the HHR follows obediently!

We then moved into the Prince Solms Inn in New Braunfels for Thursday and Friday nights. The Inn is a wonderful historic landmark in the city and we have always wanted to stay there but never had the opportunity. For Bob and Julie Tillema … of course we hit the Uptown Piano Bar in the basement both nights ... and of course Jo-Anne had the chocolate martini and I had the scotch … ahhh the constancy of life is wonderful! And because our room (two front windows to the left of the door) was directly above the bar … we kinda went to bed when the bar patrons did, after exhausting all the Frank Sinatra/Billy Joel songs ever sung.

That front suite is called the Sophie suite and is the only room on the ground floor.

The two room suite is about 500+ square feet with 14 foot ceilings and very well maintained in the 1890 to 1920s style and a king sized bed in one room and a huge sitting room or parlor next to it.

In addition to our suite on the ground floor, there is a breakfast rooom and a parlor, all very nicely done, and then there are 8 more rooms on the upper floor as you can see from this shot looking down toward the front door. On Thursday night we were the only residents of the place and the owner doesn't live there, so he handed us the keys at 5 pm and said, "Have a nice night." Really spooky in the big house that night ... and of course the rumors of the resident ghost ....

Here’s Friday's breakfast of quiche with jalapeno flavoring, sausage, a fruit cup, and a biscuit. The day before we each had two really neat poached egg cups topped with a spicy sauce, bacon, a fruit cup, and a croissant.

On Friday night we had dinner with our good friends the Neelys at the new restaurant called McAdoo’s Seafood Company which was a real treat. It is in the old New Braunfels Post Office and with a million dollar redo it is quite an impressive place. I had Tilapia with a huge shrimp/crab/scallop sauce that covered it and Jo-Anne had a prime rib done in the chicken fried steak style that was awesome with garlic mashed potatoes.

Saturday we said goodbye to Pat and John and some of our other neighbors in our old New Braunfels neighborhood and came back home to Bryan. The Flying Scotsman will remain at Crestview RV for a week or so to determine the extent of the refresh operation and to see what needs to be ordered and done … hopefully not too long.

Upon getting back into the swing of things here in Bryan, Texas, the first place we re-establish contact with is the Messina Hof winery which is about a mile from our house. They always have an interesting wine seminar on the last Sunday of the month and this month was all about the history of Texas wines which was really interesting. Here is a fun shot of the entrance to the winery ... little cherubs and all ... or whatever.






Then we celebrated my Dad's 93rd birthday at a local Italian restaurant. Yes it was really 93 years young, not 33 as the baloons show in this shot ... even though he still tries to act 33 on occasion! And this picture is in the garden room of their home and not at the restaurant, however, the food at the Cenare restaurant was, as always, excellent.






And the last shot for today is of our truly Texas front door glass as the sun came up this morning. Beautiful sunrise to start off a nice 70 degree Texas day in the Lone Star State!

Happy Halloween 2009 Y'all!

This week, after getting the real house livable, was to get the Flying Scotsman cleaned up from the last six months of living in the mud and dirt. First was to get the bus over to the house and empty the 12 under bins or "basement" of all the stuff, grime, and critters, that have been with us since May. As you can see we could have used about five more feet of driveway. This is the first time in the 2.5 years we have had the RV that we have cleaned all of the lower bins out and hosed them down.





Then all that crap was piled in the garage. Keep in mind that the first couple of tons of stuff from inside the RV was already moved into the house last week ... this was just the contents of the lower bins ... flamingos and all.






Then off to the Macy's parking lot to have a good wash and wax ... all that good Canadian mud going down the parking lot drain!






And then into the garage with a sigh of relief. The next step will be the cleaning of the interior which needs to be done as well.

Lotsa work but well worth the freedom and fun!

We have been sooooo busy! OK, the last post was from Rusk, Texas, and obviously we have arrived back home in Bryan and not stayed in Rusk for the last couple of weeks. Although what they have in Rusk is worth exploring on a future trip; especially the narrow gage railroad that has some pretty good reviews.

We got back on Tuesday the 22nd of September and off-loaded the Flying Scotsman of the excess 10,000 pounds of “stuff” we need for long term living …. good living to be more precise; a lot of carrying boxes to the garage. Then we tucked the bus into the safety of its storage garage and began the next task; moving our daughter.

Leighanne and Brooks bought a house in Richardson, Texas, a Dallas suburb. Currently they have a loft in south Dallas which serves as both a wedding photo studio and living quarters and has been great until now. Now they have purchased a house in Richardson to live in and have contracted for a different, smaller loft in the same complex which will serve as a wedding studio and office.

On Monday the 28th we got a U-Haul trailer and hooked it to the car and loaded all the stuff we wanted to get rid of (cleaned out the garage) into it and headed for Dallas. The HHR has proved to be a wonderful trailer to be towed (a toad in RV parlance) behind the Flying Scotsman, and now proved to be a super tow vehicle for the trailer; maybe we could hook all three together....

On Tuesday, we helped move about 10,000 pounds of their belongings, splitting them between the new office with mega computers (fortunately on the same floor) and the new home about 10 miles (45 minutes) north of where they were living/working. They had hired three dudes and a truck for the heavy stuff and the movers were really great and helpful.

We then split our time between cleaning the old place and getting the new place sort of moved into for the kids. Unfortunately their schedule was so busy between a wedding in Dallas, a wedding in Houston, and a photo shoot in New York City,that they were maxed out in helping in the move. Hopefully this weekend they will be able to chill out in their new place … and we’ll chill out in our new/old place, eh. Really nice house in a really nice neighborhood.

We turned in the trailer and headed back to Bryan on Friday the 2nd of October … stopping by Buckees truck stop in Madisonville on the way; huge place with an awesome store and plenty of parking for the large RV or the U-Haul if you need to.

Back in Texas!

We spent Monday night at the Rusk KOA in the Piney Woods area of east Texas as it was about 120 miles from Bryan, making a nice short day to arrive home and then unload the Flying Scotsman and get it tucked into its barn. The KOA in Rusk is absolutely first class with large, level, gravel sites and 50A power and wonderful hosts (we were the only customers). It is new and has all the facilities including a salt water pool ... new for me, but I guess it is the newest thing for public facilities.

Here is the intrepid blogger at work with his dedicated helper on the last night in the bus for awhile.

And as we were sitting at our picnic table at the site this was the view for over 20 miles to the west ... spectacular way to end the trip!

On this Sunday night we are in Hot Springs, Arkansas in a great KOA. It seems that we are doing more KOAs than before, but not through any special intent; it just seems that they are the better alternative for most of our destinations.




This one is particularly impressive. The sites are all gravel with paved streets and the infrastructure is well managed and professional. We got one of the "normal pull through" sites, but below is one of the premium sites next to the duck pond. You pull your monster bus through from right to left, putting your entry door and awning toward the pond.






And a close-up of the site showing the pond, the table and chairs, the hammock, the bird bath, and all the other stuff you need to really enjoy your "camping" experience.





"OK guys, watch my hand signals ... one, two, three, quack ... hey you ... the motley one ... you aren't quacking on cue!"

Tonight we are in Tom Sawyer's Mississippi RV Park located just to the south of picturesque (housing projects) West Memphis, Tenn. The park itself is a nice level place with all the amenities and while not a great photo of the Flying Scotsman, that is the Mississippi River and Memphis itself in the far distance.






While we have seen a lot of RV park rules and regulations this one is the best so far; "Our insurance company wishes to inform you of the existence of poison ivy, snakes, mosquitoes, fire ants and chiggers within the boundaries of our RV park." I guess that is our welcome to the South, eh?

We see a lot of things on the road, but this one is new but you have to look close to read it .... nah, I won't go any further.

And finally for today, I realized the similarity to what we are doing to my previous life as a pilot. Today, initially, we checked our fuel load and plotted the potential destination. As we were well into the trip, with me controlling the beast on cruise control at a smooth 70 MPH, Jo-Anne noticed on the real-time weather radar display on the laptop that we were about to be into some extended red rain cells and she then re-plotted our route in the GPS to a new destination and got a new estimated distance and arrival time to which we deviated successfully. Never underestimate the value of a great co-pilot!

After all our repairs were done on the 16th we settled into the Erie KOA which is just south of town on I79. This is a really nice park with level sites, 50A power, and some really nice property. There's a nice lake if I just turned around from where I took this picture. The movie on in the pavillion was "RV" with Robin Williams ... a must see for anyone thinking of this way of life.









On Thursday the 17th we left the Erie area and headed south toward West Virginia. Our plan was to head generally south following the mountains and maybe on Friday get to Knoxville and then head westerly. Thursday night we stopped at a KOA RV park in Flatwoods, West Virginia. This is a great facility with paved roads and pretty level sites. It was unusual that we had to register at the Days Hotel up on the hill before entering the park ... you can just see the top of the hotel in this picture. Really great place and as the hotel clerk said "It ain't level but it is the most level place in West Virginia!"






On Friday we made a decision to head more westerly rather than south because of weather and the hilly/curvy road toward Knoxville. So we then picked a course heading west from Charleston West Virginia, through Lexington, KY, and then down toward Cave City. After a 386 mile run and several rain showers we got to Cave City. Here's the Cave City park ... really nice! Our kind of RV park ... 50A power, level gravel sites with adjoining grass, and 35 foot wide sites. There's even a Cracker Barrel restaurant within sight of the place.

Tomorrow we are off toward Memphis and Little Rock and we'll see how the bus runs and how the weather is as to where we will stop. Right now the plan is to be home by Monday night, but we'll see how that plays out.

On Tuesday we left the familiar and beautiful Meaford Memorial Park for the road to the south. The first part through southern rural Ontario is pretty until you get to the Toronto burbs and have to work around the end of Lake Ontario and then on to Fort Erie and the crossing into the US.

After crossing into Buffalo a wrong turn got us into some side streets in a pretty rough part of Buffalo … if there’s even a good part; but we muddled along until hooking up with IH 90 to the west along the Lake Erie shore. The border crossing was so quick and smooth that we really didn’t realize that we were in the US until we arrived in the crappy part of town.

About when we crossed the border we noticed that the AC, while not really needed, was only blowing hot air and we opened up the windows and vents. About the same time the cigarette lighter outlets in the dash as well as the radio, ceased to function. As we pulled into our planned stay at the KOA in Westfield, NY, we noticed the slides were very difficult to extend and the leveling jacks took a bit to work. All of this pointed to some serious problem with the 12V coach battery system and the possibility that our batteries were dying or at least failing to charge.

We got up this morning and made some calls for the service help. Erie, PA, was about 30 miles from our KOA and a fairly large town, so we thought that we could get some help there. We left the KOA and made it over to the Boyer RV repair place in Erie and they worked out our slide and level jack problems. Basically they had to rewire the battery leads to the coach battery supply, clean the batteries, and build a substitute battery post connection. Super service and personnel. The bottom line is that we had about a maximum of about one more day with the melted battery terminals and leads before something nasty might have happened. So we got that fixed by noon and then headed over to the Ford dealer to see about the AC and the dash 12V problem as those parts are under separate warrantee.

About 4 this afternoon we were informed that they had ordered a new AC compressor and that it should be here by Friday and that they had fixed the dash 12V problems … blown fuse I couldn’t find. We agonized for a while and decided not to wait here in Erie until maybe Saturday for the potential of a compressor and the prolonged installation while we were trying to live in the “Flying Scotsman” while they were working. We will deal with the AC when we get back home when we have more time to install the compressor. We then booked the KOA in Erie off IH 79 tonight, which is actually very nice, and will leave tomorrow for home.

Tomorrow somewhere in West Virginia and then the next night in Knoxville.

As the last domino game is played ...

and the last of leaves fall from the trees ...

this shot through the vent of the RV ...

and the miniature horses graze outside for the last few weeks ...

and Jo-Anne says goodbye to her dad for the summer ...




we close up the RV, shut off the water and sewer, and prepare to head south for the winter!