DAY 12 – Thur Jan 13 – Trip to Mustang Island 2011

49 degrees and cloudy. The sounds of the crashing surf can be heard throughout the RV Park. 3 – 4 ft surf this morning.

Stayed at the MH (inside) all day. Wanda got several things done that she had been wanting to accomplish and JW, well, he basically sat on his duff the entire day and watched TV. (He’s found a station that is showing old reruns of “In the Heat of the Night”). We still do not have WIFI so (other than using the iPhone) we have to go to a WIFI hotspot at a McDonalds or a few other places (none within walking distance). Stay tuned for more later . . .

DAY 11 – Wed Jan 12 – Trip to Mustang Island 2011

Again, left the MH at noon. (seems to be becoming a habit). JW looked for an iHop on his iPhone and found a couple of them in Corpus Christi. We drove to the nearest one (21 miles) and had a great breakfast. The waitress was very friendly and the food was very good.

As we drove back to the RV park we took a detour down to the beach (short detour, about 100 ft or so). Still lots of whitecaps and 2-3 ft surf, but it’s great to be on the gulf of Mexico and not slip sliding away on the snow in Missouri. JW keeps reading (on FaceBook and emails) about all the cold weather and snow up north. We are sure glad we are here and not there.

Wanda seems to be getting better (still has a nagging cough) and JW seems to be doing much better also. Maybe soon we can both get out and do some exploring.

DAY 10 – Tue Jan 11 – Trip to Mustang Island 2011

Cooler today, high near 45. Still beats the single digits back in Missouri. Once again, we didn’t even get out of the MH until after Noon. Took a trip back across the bay (via the ferry) to Aransas Pass. Did some shopping at Wal-Mart, drove around the city for a while then, back on the ferry to Port A. We had supper at the “Castaway Seafood Bar and Grille”. Seems like almost all the eating places are some type of “bar and grille”. Anyhow, good food. Wanda had jumbo shrimp that was flayed open (like lobster tail), She said it was some of the best shrimp she’d ever had. JW just stuck with the ribeye steak (and he said it was too much). Home around 7:30 pm.

DAY 9 – Mon Jan 10 – Trip to Mustang Island 2011

Another beautiful dawn on the Gulf. (44, cloudy) What a day! LOL.

With both of us still under the weather somewhat, we spent most of the day confined to the MH. We did manage to get out for a while and went to Turtle Cove park (on the NE end of the island, to watch porpoises and big ships come into Corpus Christi Bay. Pretty interesting.

We decided to eat at Whataburger (big mistake) because JW had been saying ever since we hit Texas, “There’s a Whataburger”. After one double Whataburger, JW said, “I don’t think that was too good an idea”. There are only two “franchise” places on the Island, a Whataburger and a Dairy Queen. We should have went to the DQ. Seems like they (the islanders) have an aversion to Big name companys. They want to keep everything “local;”. JW kinda agrees with them. Lots and lots of local gulf businesses with islander names. Returned to the MH and called it a day. All in all, another nice day on the Gulf.

DAY 8 – Sun Jan 9 – Trip to Mustang Island 2011

Saturday night / Sunday morning (actually around 3:30 in the morning) we had wind. Now I’m not talking a little gulf breeze, but WIND and a lot of it. It lasted for about 30 minutes and then it started raining (reminded JW of the monsoons in SE Asia). The park manager said, “I’ve been here for 23 years and that is the worst wind we’ve ever had, outside of a hurricane”. JW said he was really glad when it was over, “strongest wind I’ve ever experienced since we’ve been in the MH”. Sunday morning dawned clear, sunny and 45.

On the Beach RV Resort is really “On the Beach” right outside our front window. The Gulf waters are really rolling in and lots of whitecaps.

We have an excellent site facing the Gulf with a lot of room on both sides of our rig. WIFI is not working right so talked to the manager and he said “We’re working on it”. JW thinks he has heard that tune before. Blog updates may be sporadic BUT It’s gonna be a great two months, we're on the Gulf of Mexico, sun, sand, surf and it's warm. Now, if only we can get to feeling better, we’ll enjoy it a lot more. Stay tuned . . . it may be a day or so . . .

DAY 7 – Sat Jan 8 – Trip to Mustang Island 2011

The Austin Lone Star RV Resort was a really nice place to camp It is a gated RV park with lots of trees and plenty of room for the slides. Roads appeared to be a little narrow but two RV’s were able to pass each other. JW seems to be getting a little tired and Wanda is still not feeling well.

Up at 8:00 am. Broke camp and headed for Mustang Island (Port Aransas). GPS said it is 4 hrs 13 min. We thought it was 7 hrs and something so glad to hear that it will be a good easy day. Believe it or not, JW made all the right turns at San Antonio, he was running co-pilotless as Wanda is still under the weather and keeping the couch company. Just south of San Antonio, we started running into a lot of wind which made for difficult driving. (What was that about an easy day?).

JW handled the coach just fine, even in all the Corpus Christi traffic. Made one wrong turn at Aransas Pass (actually, missed our turn because the sign was missing). A mile down the road we got it straightened out though. We did get to put the rig & the toad on the Port Aransas ferry. That was pretty cool, took 2 ½ minutes to cross the bay and we were in Port Aransas, on Mustang Island.

Now, all JW had to do was follow SH 361 down the Island for about 3 miles and we would be at the RV Park. Would you believe that he missed the only Hwy on the Island ! Somehow he went right past Hwy 361 and wound up on the Beach Road.

I bet we looked pretty strange driving a 34ft Class A Motor home pulling a PT Cruiser down the beach. Guess he was anxious to get to the Gulf waters. Sooo, we drove down the beach for 2 miles and found a road back to the Hwy and there we were, at “On the Beach RV Resort”. 68 degrees and windy. Journey completed, motorhome is setup and watchin’ the Saints and Sea Hawks. JW is really tired and needs a day or so to rest before we start exploring. Stay tuned .

DAY 6 – Fri Jan 7 – Trip to Mustang Island 2011

Up at 8:00 am. Plans are to visit the Texas State Capitol in Austin. We’ll see how the day progresses. It’s 41 right now with a projected high in Austin of 71. Gotta love it. First stop this morning was for propane, $2.08 gal. pretty cheap compared to what we have been paying. Arrived in Austin at 1:30 pm. High today was 76.

We are camping at the Austin Lone Star RV Resort 6 miles south of Austin on I-35. We setup the motorhome and hot footed it to the capitol just in time to catch the last tour of the day.

Pretty impressive capital bldg. Lots of history, ie; the many battles fought in Texas, Sam Houston, Austin, Travis, Bowie and Crockett, just to name a few.

Looked for and found pictures and a bronze bust of James E. “Pete” Laney (speaker of the House 1993 – 2003). We believe he is some relation of Wandas. Gotta look into that. Lotsa pictures.

Supper was next on the agenda (seems like that’s about all we do). We drove waaaaay south of Austin (actually about 6 miles or so) and found a “Texas Roadhouse”. Too noisey for me but the food was good.

That’s about it for this day. Relaxin’ and watchin’ the Cotton Bowl. (Gotta say this quietly cuz we’re in Texas, but, “GO LSU”. Have a good night y’all.

DAY 5 – Thur Jan 6 – Trip to Mustang Island 2011

Up a little earlier today. Wanda still not feeling any better. I have a headache and body aches also. Lounged around a bit then headed to iHop for breakfast. No WIFI at McClains RV Center so took the laptop with us in hopes of finding a McD’s As luck would have it, right next door to the iHop was a McD’s and they had really good WIFI. Took care of some internet business, downloaded about 300 emails (295 of them junk) and updated the travel Blog http://we3brvn.blogspot.com/ JW received a call from a friend of his, Jim Elkins, (the lead for the Frisco Silver Dollar Line Steam Train at SDC), he was in Rockport, Tx and wanted to have supper with us. JW told him that would be a little impossible as we were still 400 miles from Corpus Christi. He was leaving Rockport for Florida early on Friday morning. “See ya later Jim.” Returned to the Motorhome and awaited a call from the service dept. At 2:00 pm, the service man called and said to bring the coach over cuz the part was in. An hour and a half later after spending $825 to get a new motor installed so the jacks and slides will work, we were on the road once again at 3:50 pm. It seems to be becoming a habit of having the privilege to pay double the price quoted on RV repairs. Whatever?! We were just glad to be on the road again. We were headed to Austin and if we are feeling better tomorrow, we will visit the Texas State Capitol. Oh yeah, I think I mentioned earlier in the blog, that we were in need of fuel. No Wal-Marts were to be found (even using JW’s handy dandy Murphy app for the iPhone). Sooo, a few miles down the road, JW pulls into an Exxon station, $2.95 gal. WOW ! ! ! Gotta have fuel, so fill ‘er up. $150.00 later and we’re on the road again only to find a Wal-Mart Murphy down the road about 3 miles and $2.80 gal. JW just shook his head in disgust. Speaking of Murphy, all this must have something to do with Murphy’s Law, that’s all I can figure. 5:00 pm came and we found the first RV park available, Waco North KOA, a welcome sight indeed. Setup for the night (with jacks down and slides out), boy we got a lotta room. As sick as Wanda is, she still managed to fix our first meal on this trip. We’ll get an early ???? start in the morning. G’night all.

DAY 4 – Wed Jan 5 – Trip to Mustang Island 2011

Both of us slept in. No reason to get up early as the parts for the slide system won’t be in until sometime on Thursday. Wanda is really under the weather (seems she got some bug along the way). Finally got around and went to breakfast (lunch?) at 11:30 at Cracker Barrel (Our favorite place to eat).

We’ll be needing to get fuel for the Motorhome when we leave so scouted out the nearest Wal-Mart (Murphys Gas). We found it fairly close to McClains RV Center, but is not negotiable for the Motorhome. Sooo, the next closest Wal-Mart is about 50 miles down the road and way off the Interstate. Guess we’ll use a regular gas station then.

Needed to do some shopping for a few things then Wanda decided to cut JW’s long “grandpa” hair.

Decided to meet with Dustyn for the 5:30 showing of “True Grit”. It was a really good movie (more like the book). Afterwards, we all went to Logans Roadhouse. Very good food and the conversation was great. (For those of you who don’t know Dustyn, he is married to Wanda’s Grand-daughter, Kara, and is a super nice young guy). 9:00 pm, Time to head for the Motorhome and see what tomorrow brings.

DAY 3 – Tue Jan 4 -- Trip to Mustang Island 2011

We left Hidden Lakes at 10:45 a.m., crossed the Texas border at 11:10 and arrived in Fort Worth at 12:45. We are currently at McClain’s at Camping World and have gotten an estimate of a little over $600 for a new motor to fix the slides and jacks. They are not sure if the solenoids are good or not. If the whole system has to be replaced we are looking at approximately $2000. We told them to replace the motor, because it will be here Thursday and we can get back on the road. The only good thing we are getting out of this ordeal is free camping. However, in the long run I think it would have been cheaper to pay for camping spaces. We do have electric and water hook ups here; no cable, WIFI, or sewer. We are able to get 13 digital “air” channels without cable, so we are not totally without entertainment.

Wanda woke up with a sore throat, stuffed up nose, and cough this morning. She has been fairly puny today but is looking forward to a better tomorrow. We did enjoy an all you can eat soup, salad and bread meal at Applebee’s this afternoon. We just found out that our grandson, from Lubbock, is here in Fort Worth, so we are planning to have dinner with him tomorrow night and then will all go see “True Grit.”