FINAL DAY - Day 59 – Tue Mar 1 – Trip to Mustang Island 2011

Awoke this morning to 35 degrees, Welcome to Missouri, Brrrrr. We pretty much slept in today as we only have a 2 hr drive on to Branson. Left Joplin at 10:45.

“Happy March 1st”.

A short 2 hrs later, we were in Branson West where we off loaded the PT Cruiser. Wanda needed to go to the Post Office and pick up a LOT of mail. JW went on to Sams Trailer Service to top off the propane tank and then on to the Branson View Campground & “HOME”. It took JW a couple of hrs to setup the MH and then we needed sustenance (food) so, Fuddruckers was our next destination.

As we write this “blog” it brings to mind just how much we appreciate our WIFI “Hotspot”, High speed internet, Yea.

Looking back at our time on Mustang Island, Port Aransas, Tx., we will miss the sights, sounds, climate, and fellow “Winter Texans”. We will really miss our time spent at Grace Community Church and the blessings that came forth. Pastor Mark is an excellent preacher/teacher and we will miss him. We will miss the Gulf beach that we saw every day, the sound of the surf that could be heard throughout the entire RV park, the beach kites & kite surfers. The Port A Ferry that took us from the mainland to Port Aransas, the The multitude of playful dolphins & the many BIG oil tankers that we saw. We will remember the Island cuisine and atmosphere of the many restaurants that we visited. It was a very relaxing 2 months and provided us with many pleasant memories that will stay with us for a long time.

Thanks for travelling along with us this year, we hope it was as entertaining for you as it was for us. As I find time, I will add some pictures of our trip to this blog. Don’t worry about missing it, I’ll post a notice on FaceBook and in an email.

As we complete writing this years blog, we are planning to go to either Florida or San Diego, CA next year & we would like to invite all of you to journey with us as we once again share our adventures and mis-adventures. That’s all for now, thanks again for keeping up with us. See y'all down the road . . .

Day 57 – Sun Feb 27 – Day 58 – Mon Feb 28 – Trip to Mustang Island 2011

Sunday - Left West, Texas around 10:00am on Sunday the 27th, headed for Ardmore, OK. Short drive today (2 hrs 51 min). We plan to stay at “Hidden Lake RV Park” just outside Ardmore. We really like this place and camp there whenever we’re in the area.

We had planned to fuel up at Gainesville, Tx but never did see a Murphys station so we drove on to Marietta, Ok. The gas gauge showed 1/8th of a tank as we pulled into a 66 station. Apparently the fuel gauge reads a little “off” as JW put 60.8 gal in the tank (it holds 75 gal) $3.29 p/gal, $200.00, Ouch!

On a non related note, JW thinks we have a battery going bad. When he shut the MH off to fuel, it wouldn’t start back up later. The station manager had some jumper cables and got the job done. (JW had bought a 1000 Amp Battery Pack in Corpus Christi, but it wasn’t charged up yet). JW has noticed that when we park the coach overnight with the shore power plugged in, the coach’s chassis batter is just fine, so will have to have this problem investigated.

Anyhow, we arrived at “Hidden Lake” at about 2:30 or so. Got all setup, had supper and watched one of our favorite shows, The Amazing Race. Tomorrow, Joplin, stay tuned . . .
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Monday – Once again, we left at 10:00am headed North. Pretty windy today (strong winds out of the west). We planned to fuel up in Sapulpa, OK, so JW exited onto Hwy 66 into Sapulpa and wouldn’t you know it, somehow he missed the Murphy station (This seems to be becoming as habit). Sooo, on to Joplin. (We finally gassed up at Miami, OK on the turnpike).

We arrived at the Joplin KOA at approx 5:00pm, setup and met John and Peggy Danner for vittles. John and Peggy are good friends of ours and used to work at Silver Dollar City with us. They took us to “Jim Bob’s Steak and Ribs” on Rangeline, where we ate and visited for a couple of hours. Back at the MH at 8:00pm. Tomorrow, Branson . . .

Day 56 – Sat Feb 26 – Trip to Mustang Island 2011

Up and at ‘em fairly early. JW wanted to be out by 9:00 or so. We didn’t quite make it but did leave at 10:00, not bad. When I was checking out, one of the parks work kampers (Jack) came up to me and asked if he could check the air in my tires. Sure, I’d appreciate it. We really liked this park with the exception of the almost non-exsistent WIFI. Staff and work kampers were all great and very helpful;.

As we left, we just had to take one last drive down the “beach drive”. Got some pictures of the MH set against the Gulf. Looked pretty good. We opted to take the short drive off the Island, so instead of taking the ferry (which we really like), we went south to S. Padre and then North thru Corpus Christi saving about 20 – 30 miles. With gas at $3.20 plus a gal, we felt we needed to save as much gas as possible.

JW had planned to stay in Austin but it was only a 4 hr drive so drove on to West, Tx. Instead. 6 Hr total driving time. We had to stop for gas at Pleasanton (Birthplace of the Cowboy) $3.16 a gal. After a short fill up (51.8 gal, $164.00) and sandwiches for lunch, we were on the road once again.

After we went thru San Antonio, we started seeing signs that I-35 was closed in Austin and to take a detour. We thought it was really going to be a problem but it was four lanes all the way and not that far off course. We arrived in West, Tx at the KOA at 5:00. 7 hr after we left the Island.

Tomorrow, Sunday the 27th will be a very short day. We plan to drive to Ardmore, OK (2 hrs and 46 minutes) and stay at Hidden Lake RV Park. We have stayed at Hidden Lake now for a couple years and really like the place. Monday, we’ll drive to Joplin, Mo and stay at the Downstream Casino (free camping and “BUFFET”. Stay tuned . . .

Day 55 – Fri Feb 25 – Trip to Mustang Island 2011

Today was a “work day”, getting ready to head to Missouri. Wanda defrosted the refrigerator while JW “Windexed” all the windows on the MH. JW also tried, once again, to get the new back-up camera working but to no avail (he’s not a happy camper about this).

We visited with our neighbors on both sides of us and soaked up some more of this South Texas Gulf sun. Ah yes, the good life.

We both donned our swimming apparel and headed for the Gulf waters. We can officially say, “We have now put our feet in the Gulf”. And that’s about all we did because the water was not very warm, cold as a matter of fact. Oh well, we had good intentions.

As this was our last night on the Island, we just “had to go” back to Castaways for their filleted Giant Tiger Shrimp on the half shell. Best shrimp on the Island. If you’re ever in Port A, be sure to visit the “Castaways”, you won’t be sorry.

Before heading to the MH, we had to go to the Islands one and only grocery store for some much needed supplies. When we got back to the MH, Wanda finished cleaning and putting up some clothing while JW continued for a while in preparing to leave, lawn chairs put up, check; Old Glory taken down and safely stowed, check; Ladder secured to the back of the MH, check; flat screen HDTV safely removed from the dash and stowed away, check; etc, etc, etc.

Beddie bye . . . stay tuned.

Day 54 – Thur Feb 24 – Trip to Mustang Island 2011

Well, since we relaxed all day yesterday, we must do double duty today. Just two more days and we’ll be back on the road. We really like traveling, but wish we were heading for another warm location.

JW washed the Motorhome while Wanda went into Port A’s laundrymat. At 5:00 in the evening we went to La Playa Mexican Restaurant. Wanda had wanted to try some “fish tacos”. She said they were actually pretty good. She did say however, she liked the shrimp taco a little better than the fish taco.

As we returned to the MH along the beach road, we saw lots of folks fishing, flying kites and “kite surfing”.

Day 53 – Wed Feb 23 – Trip to Mustang Island 2011

Today we had planned to start getting things ready to head back to Missouri. JW was going to work on the camera. I was going to do the laundry, some special cleaning, and some computer work. We both decided we really didn’t feel like doing anything so we went to “Fins” for lunch, went to one of the shops here on the Island, but didn’t find anything we could not live without, then we came back to “On the Beach” and laid out in the sun for a while. We can’t seem to get enough of this relaxing. We are lovin’ it. What a life. The weather is beautiful and looks as though the warm weather is here to stay. We sure will miss it when we get back up north. Temperatures have been in the high 70’s for several days now.

Day 52 – Tue Feb 22 – Trip to Mustang Island 2011

We left this morning, earlier than usual, to go to Corpus Christi for breakfast. We were out of milk and eggs so decided to eat out. After breakfast at IHOP we went to several different car dealerships to look at cars. We decided that was pretty hard work. We were both worn out by 4:00 so decided to give up on that and go buy a few groceries at Walmart, actually it ended up being more than a few. After a stop at O’Reilly’s we headed on over to Aransas Pass and ate at “The Butterchurn” then headed back to the MH. It was our first experience on the Ferry after dark. We had to wait while a big tanker passed by, that was also a first. A big tanker after dark, besides being dark it was quite foggy out. We could see the light at the front of the tanker and the light at the back and nothing in between. It was little scary.

Day 51 – Mon Feb 21 – Trip to Mustang Island 2011

Today we got up and ate breakfast then just laid around doing basically nothing. We watched our usual daily TV, then about 1:15 we decided to take the ‘other’ Dolphin Sightseeing Tour. We had a “sold out” group. They could only take 20 at a time. We were just about out of the “No Wake” zone when a Jetty Boat came in at too high a rate of speed and drowned out one of the motors on our boat. We had to return to the dock. We went ashore and hung around until the mechanic arrived. It was bad news; they were going to do some repair work on another engine they had on hand, but would not be back up and running until Thursday. It sounded as if “Jetty Boat” was going to have to replace the drowned out motor. We aren’t sure if we will try again later or not.

We decided to drive over to Aransas Pass and eat dinner at “The Butterchurn”. When we got there we found they had closed at 2:30 for Iowa Day, so we drove back to Port A and ate my favorite food here on the Island, Tiger Shrimp grilled on the half shell, at “Castaways”. Then it was back to “On the Beach”. We had thought about looking at cars, but decided to wait until tomorrow.

Day 50 – Sun Feb 20 – Trip to Mustang Island 2011

Well, today was the last Sunday that we will be attending services at Grace Community Church. The services were very good, different, but good. Many people were ministered to and souls were saved. It is such a blessing to have the privilege of seeing the lost coming and accepting Jesus as their personal Savior. The Pastor had a sermon prepared on “Fallen Angels” but set that aside for another day and spoke on “Angels”. Today was Missions Sunday. I am always amazed to see how much can be done through one small group of people. This church contributes to foreign missionaries, a prison ministry, the food pantry on the Island and many other causes. They are a blessed church that has a heart for the Youth of the area. New programs are springing up weekly. We will miss the great times we have had on Sunday’s.

After lunch out, we came back to the MH to watch the “Daytona 500”, then just relaxed the rest of the day. The winds were pretty high today, so we just opened the door and windows and enjoyed the cool breeze. The temperatures started dropping early and I ended up having to put on a sweatshirt in the middle of the afternoon. We watched “The Amazing Race” and are looking forward to the rest of this season’s series (JW said, “Go Cowboys, I agree). We also watched “Undercover Boss”. And, believe it or not, we are going to bed much earlier than last night.

Day 49 – Sat Feb 19 – Trip to Mustang Island 2011

JW got up early this morning because Chris is supposed to bring the propane tank back today, and he will have to raise the right side of the MH so the tank can be replaced more easily. I fixed French Toast, bacon and eggs for breakfast today. We don’t have that very often but do enjoy it every once in a while. JW hadn’t quite finished his when Chris arrived with the tank, so part of his breakfast was on the cool side before he ate it.

We pretty much stayed in all day with the doors and windows open and the fans blowing, but in the afternoon decided to sit out in the sun for a while, (almost too long a while). Around five o’clock we did leave to go to the Pizzaria for dinner. We once again just beat the crowd. They say they have the best Pizza in town (I think they have the only Pizza in town), but it was good. They had a salad bar and Pizza Buffet, all you can eat, for less than $8.00. We thought that was quite reasonable.

We drove along the beach on our way to dinner and saw a ship towing an oil rig platform out into the Gulf. That was a first for us and we were a little disappointed that we weren’t at the Park when they brought it out. We thought that would have been quite interesting. Following dinner we did our usual, returned back to “On The Beach” for our evening of TV watching. We stayed up way to late, “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” was on and didn’t go off until 2:15 a.m. Why do we always do this on a Saturday night when we know we have to be up early to go to church?