House/Dog sitting in Austin

Feb 22 to Mar 22, 2016:

Connie and I have been house/dog sitting for a month in Austin. This is for the same couple, Vic & Pam Gallagher, that we took care of their two King Charles Spaniels, Murphy & Emma, last year. They have a two bedroom apartment located in the Arboretum area of northwest Austin. It is a great location with lots of shops, grocery stores and restaurants within walking distance of the apartment. Pam & Vic go to the British Virgin Islands each winter and their kids/grandkids come to visit them during spring break.

Vic & Pam Gallagher

Murphy on the left and Emma

We got to see Xena, the labradoodle that we raised from a 8 weeks old until she was about three. We found her a great home with Crockett & Carol when we decided to go full timing in our RV. Crockett takes Xena almost everywhere he goes, even to work. The two of them take long walks every day. We spent about an hour with Xena at our friend's house, Katie, when Crockett was having his acupuncture treatment.

We have been able to visit with a number of friends here in the Austin area during the month. There have been a couple of happy hours with friends and we have gone out to dinner or lunch with friends on several occasions. We been able to eat fresh fish from the Highland Lakes caught by Brooks Ivey at their house. It has been good to visit with everyone here in Austin, but we are both ready to get on the road again. We are amazed at the changes in Austin during the year we were gone. Austin continues to be a boom town with all of the good & bad that go along with the growth. One thing we will not miss is the Austin traffic.

Connie was able to visit the senior living facility in Cedar Park where her parents resided for several years. Connie and her sister, Debbie, attended the "happy hour" that happens every Friday afternoon. One of the ladies at the facility, Dorothy, was a close friend of Connie and Debbie's mom and they all had a nice visit.

Dorothy & Connie's sister Debbie

While we were here we accomplished several tasks: (1) we both updated our wills, power of attorney, durable medical power of attorney & medical directives, (2) had blood work done to see if we need any changes in medications/diet, (3) had Jeep serviced & tires rotated, and (4) bought clothing to replace some we had worn out during last year.

We also purchased several items for the motorhome: (1) InstaPot pressure cooker, (2) Viair RV air compressor with accessories (much smaller than the one we had been using), (3) crossbar for the screen door in The Duchess (I'm not sure why the manufacturers don't install one of these with every RV), (4) a small Dutch Oven, (5) small sitting stool that folds for the bedroom and (6) a small Char-Broil propane grill that uses Tru Infrared Technology. Notice how many times I used the word small: see a pattern here? We have used the InstaPot several times during our stay and it seems to do a good job of cooking food quickly while keeping it moist and juicy. We also purchased a few smaller items for the motorhome kitchen and some tools to have onboard during our travels.

Connie went on a "girl's wine trip" with 12 other women to help celebrate Pat Robinson's 65th birthday. It was an all-day trip through Slowpokes Winery Tours that included visits to 3 wineries along with an outdoor lunch. The trip was organized by Heidi Ivey and a great time was had by all.

The group that went on the tour.

A good time was had by all!!!

We were able to meet with Fred and Bonnie Lee for lunch before we left Austin. The Lees  were staying in San Antonio/New Braunfels over the last month. They travelled to Nova Scotia last summer and we were able to gather a lot of good information about their trip during our visit with them. It always to great to talk to someone who has travelled in an area before to get their insights and advice. Fred & Bonnie are going to travel along the Lewis & Clark trail from Missouri to the west coast this summer. We were able to hold one last HAPPY HOUR at Brio's Restaurant near the apartment we were house/dog sitting. We had a good turnout with about 20 people attending over the 3 hours we were there.

We are planning to visit the north east part of the USA along with spending a month in New Brunswick & Nova Scotia, Canada during the summer. Our route will take us from Texas to Florida before we head north to an Escapee's Escapade in Vermont at the end of July.

House Sitting & Upgrades to The Duchess

February 3 to February 21:

On February 3rd we drove the motorhome from the Travelers World RV Park in San Antonio to the ranch that my dad owns in Rosanky. We found a place to park the motorhome on the ranch while we are in Cedar Park house/dog sitting for the next few days. I drained all of the water lines and then hooked the motorhome up to 20 amp electrical service using a couple of extension cords. This will be enough power to keep the batteries charged while we are gone.

We spent a couple of hours visiting with my dad before we left to spend time house/dog sitting for Brooks & Heidi Ivey. They are going on a cruise for a week and we will be taking care of their 4 dogs along with Heidi's mom. We spent a couple of nights with the Iveys learning about their house. We have been there on a number of occasions, but living there for 12 days is different. The Iveys left on Saturday to spend the night in Houston before boarding their cruise ship (Princess line) on Sunday.

The next few days we took care of the dogs, made sure that Heidi's mom Sandy took her short walks along with being ready for the physical therapists that came by on Mon-Wed-Fri. Connie also took Sandy to Walmart one day and spent a couple of hours "shopping" there.

From top left: Daisy & Chopper - Eli - Daisy & Chopper (again) -
Delilah

We enjoyed the hot tub at the Ivey's: using it almost every night we were there. It was great sitting in the hot tub and seeing the stars above. Thanks to Brooks for making the repairs to get it up and running for us. We found out that Brooks became a "star" on the cruise. He competed in a VOICE singing competition on the cruise and finished in the top three. We saw a video of his final performance and were amazed that he did not win (Heidi had uploaded it on Facebook).

After Brooks & Heidi had returned from their cruise, we traveled the 50 miles southeast of Austin back to the ranch in Rosanky. We were going to spend the week making some repairs to the motorhome, added some additional antennas on the roof and going through all of our "stuff" to see what we could get rid of and what we wanted to take from storage.

We spent the first couple of days going through all the cabinets and storage areas in the motorhome to see what we had used and what we could ditch. We were able to gain some space in several areas of the bay storage. We used this space to move our inflatable kayak from the Jeep to the motorhome.

Over the next few days we replaced two light fixtures inside the motorhome where the ballast had stopped working with LED lights from M4 Products. These repairs were made without any problems and the lights worked the first time we turned them on. We then worked on getting several new antennas put on the roof. Our first connection was to add an additional cable from the Winegard antenna on the roof to our DirecTV DVR so that we could watch one channel while recording another or record two programs at the same time. I was also able to connect both of the DirecTV boxes we have in the motorhome to our WiFi Ranger Go2 router so that we can share recorded programs between the two boxes. The conduit that we used to run the cable through we not large enough for any additional wires so we started looking for another method of getting wires/cables from the roof to the inside of the motorhome.

We spent an entire day searching for a way to run wire/cable from the roof without cutting a hole in the fiberglass. We were able to use Fish Tape to get a wire inside through a radio antenna connection, but we could not get the cable through all the turns needed. So we were down to cutting a hole in the roof and in the cabinet inside the motorhome to run two wires through. One of the wires was for a Wilson 4G Cellular Booster that we will use to improve our cellular service for the internet if we do not have a WiFi connection. I had to install a small piece of metal on the roof for the antennas to attach to since we have a fiberglass roof. The antenna mounts with a magnet and the metal will also help the signal boost. The second wire was for a WiFi Ranger Elite Antenna that we mounted on the batwing TV antennas to improve our ability to bring WiFi signals inside the motorhome through the WiFi Ranger Go2 router. I cut the hole in both the roof & cabinet and after some struggles we got both of the cables through the hole and connected to the proper devices.

WiFi Ranger Elite Antenna mounted on batwing.

I then "cleaned" up the work I had done on the roof, sealed everything with Dicor and Enternabond tape. I also made sure that everything was working before I started sealing up the roof.

I want to thank the RV Geeks for their videos on how to do antenna connection and the change over from fluorescent to LED lighting. Since they also owned a Newmar motorhome, the videos are easy to follow and make sense to me. If you own a motorhome, I would recommend that you view their videos to gain valuable information.

On Saturday we cleaned up the motorhome and got rid of a few more items that we had not used. I ordered some additional items for The Duchess: a Viair air compressor system designed specially for RV's, a replacement crank handle for the batwing antenna and a crossbar for the screen door. I also order some Dicor to keep on board in case we ever need it.

On Saturday, February 20th, our good friend (and the person we rent a room from for our permanent address) Marty Rexroat came to spend the night with us in the motorhome. Unfortunately she got caught in Austin traffic/construction and the usual 1.25 hour trip took her 2.5 hours.  Once she finally got to Rosanky, we enjoyed a nice meal of pork ribs with sides and then several hours of conversation.

Two Weeks in San Antonio

January 21 to February 3:

We made the short trip from Port Aransas to San Antonio by going through Corpus Christi to pick up I-37. Connie drove most of the way: across the bridge from Padre Island to Corpus, through Corpus Christi and about 2/3rds of the way to San Antonio. This is the first time that Connie has driven the motorhome for an extended period of time.

Connie driving across the bridge between Padre Island and Corpus Christi

I finished driving the motorhome to our location for the next two weeks: Traveler's World Carefree RV Resort. The campground is located on the San Antonio River about 3 miles south of downtown San Antonio. The area around the park is mostly industrial but the park itself is very nice.

Site 102

View down the road in the campground

This park has been here for a number of years and was recently purchased by Carefree RV Resorts. The campground has access to the River Walk as well as being located close to a number of shopping areas (Walmart, Home Depot, HEB, etc). There is also a golf course located next to the park. The park has been a winter home for a number of Canadians over the years, but this year with the Canadian dollar losing value against the US dollar the Canadians have not been staying as long in the park. We heard a lot of French being spoken in the park as there were more Canadians from the Quebec province that any other of the provinces. All of the people we met in the park were extremely friendly and easy to have conversations with.

Connie and I took several walks and bike rides along the River Walk. If you headed north along the River Walk from the park you would end up in downtown San Antonio. One day we rode our bikes all the way from the park to La Villita Village which is located near the convention center. We stopped at the La Villita Cafe and sampled some of the local beers.

Parking the bikes outside the La Villita Cafe

Barry, the owner, served us our brews

Enjoying a sampling of local beers

Another day we rode south from the park to the Mission San Juan. This is one of a series of missions built by the Spanish along the San Antonio River to protect their interest in the region after the French started settling in Louisiana. The mission is being "restored" and not all of the building were open to the public, but it was interesting to how the building were arranged inside the walls.

One of the building being restored.

Church at the Mission

Unfinished church at the Mission. There is a burial site along this side of the church.

Cross at the entrance to the Mission.

Getting ready to head back to the campground.

There are number of parks located along the River Walk with playgrounds, ball & soccer fields, pavilions and restrooms. The city of San Antonio does a great job of keeping the area along the River Walk clean and well maintained. There are several places along the River Walk where artwork has been installed.

Some of the artwork along the River Walk.

"Unusual" art along the walk.

We spent several evening visiting with our friends, Fran & Mal Vaughn. We ate dinner at their house one evening along with some of their friends, went to happy hour another day and joined them for dinner at Josephine Street Cafe one night.

Patti and Fran @ Happy Hour

Fran, Mike & Connie - Happy Hour at the Canyon Cafe

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in San Antonio. The park had a nice heated pool and hot tub that we took advantage of during our stay. We ended up spending a couple of days in Austin during our stay in San Antonio to attend the funeral of our good friend Marty Rexroat's dad who passed away at the age of 91. While on our way to Austin we stopped off to see my dad in Rosanky who is recovering from pneumonia (he is doing OK).

On February 3rd we packed up the Duchess and headed to Rosanky where the motorhome will be parked for the next couple of months while we house/dog sit in Austin. We will take a week in February to spend time in Rosanky working on some maintenance items along with adding some antennas on the roof for cellular, DirecTV and WiFi.

Two Weeks in Port Aransas (1/7-1/21/16)

We made the 280 mile trip from Lake Georgetown to the Pioneer Beach RV Resort on Thursday (1/7). The distance is longer than we usually travel, but the weather was nice and we stopped for lunch at a roadside picnic area along I-37. We also stopped near Corpus Christi to fill up with diesel and the price was a $1.89 per gallon. On the way down to the coast we listen to an audio book that our friend Fran Vaughn had given us and it made the trip go faster.

Entrance to the Mustang Island State Park. 

We arrived at Pioneer, checked in and were assigned to Site 68. We had asked for a site close to the hot tub and the one we were given is only a few steps away. We have stayed at Pioneer several times before and are very familiar with the campground. It is a large RV park with over 320 sites with a boardwalk over the dunes to the Mustang Island beach. The beach this year is very clean with no seaweed unlike the last time we were here and the beach was covered with seaweed. We got the Duchess set up for our stay here and took a walk around the park. The park is almost full with a lot of license plates from winter Texans who will spend several months here in Port Aransas.

Our site @ Pioneer Beach RV Resort

Looking at Gulf from boardwalk

Looking at campground from boardwalk

Pioneer Beach from the sand dunes

During our first week here we spent most days taking it easy in the park. We took long walks along the beach, spent time in the hot tub and enjoyed reading in the sun. One day we ate pizza for lunch at The Brewery in Port Aransas. The place used to be called Port Aransas Brewery and we had enjoyed their pizza and beer on our previous trips here. The place in under new ownership and they are changing out the types of beer that will be brewed. So we had the supreme pizza but no beer.

Our supreme pizza. It was very good.

One day we went on a 2 mile wildlife trail that takes you into the salt marshes along one of the “cut throughs” located between the mainland and Mustang Island. The island is named for the wild mustangs that used to run free on the island. The area we visited is called Charlie’s Pasture after a rancher who ran cattle on the land for most of the 20th century before the land was donated for a wildlife/birding preserve.

Picking up a map of the trails.

View of the salt marshes.

View of Salt Island.

One day we took the ferry from Mustang Island over the mainland to do some grocery shopping at the HEB in Aransas Pass. The ferry boats run all the time (depending on the time of day and month of the year).

Sheri Jones and two of her friends, Karen & Laurie, came to visit us on the second Saturday we were in Port Aransas. Karen and her husband have a house in Rockport and the three of them were having a girl's weekend at the coast. We gave them a tour of The Duchess and then walked on the beach.

Sheri Jones

One of the nicest days we had during our two weeks

Karen, Sheri & Laurie

The second Monday we took a trip over to Rockport/Fulton and made a quick visit to Goose Island. We drove through several RV Parks in the area to see if there were any we would want to stay at if we came back to the area next winter. Rockport is much larger than Port Aransas, has more stores and activities, but does not have the sandy beach like Mustang Island does. We stopped and had lunch at the Paradise Key Dockside Bar & Grill. Connie had grilled fish while I had the fish & chips. Both were very good.

 On Tuesday we went to Corpus Christi and had lunch with our good friends and fellow full-timers, Fred & Bonnie Lee. Fred and Bonnie are spending a month at the Corpus Christi Naval Base. We met them at the Water Street Seafood Restaurant where we all ate seafood.

Mike, Bonnie & Fred

We then took a stroll along Corpus Christi Bay before stopping at the Green Light Coffee Shop for coffee. We had a great time visiting with the Lees and getting caught up on our adventures during our first year of full-timing.

We have had a good two weeks here in Port Aransas. The weather has been a mixture of great days along with days of fog, mist and wind. On Thursday we will be headed to San Antonio where we will be spending two weeks before heading back to Austin.

A few days at Lake Georgetown

January 1-7:

On January 1st we loaded up the Duchess and moved from the LaHacienda RV Resort to the Jim Hogg COE Park on Lake Georgetown. While on our way we stopped and ate breakfast at Jardin Corona's restaurant with a number of friends who we had celebrated the arrival of the new year the night before. We have stayed at Lake Georgetown a number of times before at the Cedar Breaks COE Park on the south side of the lake, but this was the first time that we stayed on the north side of the lake. We were staying in the area to have the motorhome's annual maintenance performed along with the state inspection. The site we were able to get was on the lake with a covered picnic table.

Site 44

View of the south side of Lake Georgetown - Cedar Breaks COE Park

There were a number of people in the park over the week-end but by Monday afternoon the majority of them had left. Most of the remaining RV'ers were either full-timers or snowbirds. On Tuesday we had lunch with Connie's cousins, Betty and her brother Allen Frederickson and his wife Scooter, who live in Sun City Georgetown which is a 55+ Del Webb retirement community located close to Lake Georgetown.

One night it was cold enough that we had a small fire in the firepit located near our site. We gathered some wood that had washed up on the shore of the lake and used it for our fire.The wood was still a little damp, so it took some work to actually get a fire going.

We originally were going to leave on Wednesday, but the weather forecast called for rain so we delayed our departure until Thursday. It did rain Wednesday afternoon and evening, so I was glad we waited. I don't like driving in the rain unless I have to.

On Thursday morning we left the park and made the trip south to the Pioneer Beach RV Resort in Port Aransas where we will be for two weeks.

Ending the year in Austin

December 2015:

We ended 2015 at the LaHacienda RV Resort & Cottages located near Lake Travis in Austin. So we ended up the year where we started from after traveling about 5,000 miles through 14 states.

Connie decided to get her hair cut so that it will not take her as long to dry it. She ordered several inexpensive wigs to see if there was a "style" she liked, but ended up deciding to have it cut similar to a news anchor she had seen on the TV. She has been going to the same stylist for years, Willa Kay Warren, and trusted her to make the final result come out looking good. Here is a picture of the "after" look.

Here are both of us after getting our haircuts!

We had a "Happy Hour" with several of our good friends in early December. It was great to see everyone and kind of get caught up with events that had occurred during our travels.

We returned to Austin to see our doctors, dentists and have our eyes checked. Our dental checkups and my eye exam were routine, but both Connie and I both ended up having medical procedures done during the time we were in Austin. I had a hernia repair procedure and Connie had a large polyp removed from her uterus. Seeing doctors, having lab work done along with radiological exams, scheduling appointments and procedures took up most of the month. It felt like we spent way too much time with medical personnel during the month. Both of our procedures went well and we are both on the road to recovery. We also were able to visit with family and friends here in the Austin area during the time we were here.

A few days before Christmas my grandson Rhys McKay along with his mom, Grace, came out to the motorhome to visit with us for an afternoon.

Rhys & Grace visiting The Duchess

We spent Christmas Day at Connie's sister house in Round Rock. My dad and son, Greg came to Debbie's along with Connie niece, Lisa, and grand nephew, Josh. We brought in the New Year at our Brooks & Heidi Ivey's house along with several other friends we have known for a number of years.

The LaHacienda RV Resort is an upscale park located close to Lake Travis. It has the most amenities of any park we have stayed in this year: full hook-ups, 2 heated pools, 1 hot tub, workout/exercise facilities, large game room, 2 clubhouses and a putting/chipping green. The park was sold earlier this year and is now part of the Sun RV Resorts group.

Outside porch - Game Room

Exercise Room

Smaller heated pool with hot tub

Larger heated pool

Larger of the the 2 clubhouses

Duchess on Site C-5

We met Jeff and Jan Van Horn who were located in the site next to us during the month. They have been full timing for 11 years and gave us some tips on some of the places they have visited over the years. They left a few days before us headed to Florida to spend the rest of the winter in warmer weather.

Jeff & Jan in front of their Monaco Dynasty

We had a wide variety of weather in Austin during the month: a number of days of warm weather with highs in the 70's and 80's and then quite cold for Texas with overnight lows near freezing towards the end of the month. Central Texas has several record rainfall events during the year and the lakes in the area are either full or almost full for the first time in a number of years.

Connie and I both enjoyed our first year on the road living full time in our motorhome, The Duchess. Hopefully we have gotten the repairs and upgrades done for a while and can spend more time traveling in 2016. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE.