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.