Currently in San Angelo TX (Low 55 Breezy with Plenty of Sun High 91)
After two and a half months for Bob to establish doctors and get some diagnostic testing done we were ready to hit they road. And so we did departing Kerrville yesterday and headed to the KOA in San Angelo Texas.
It was approximately 154 miles, this was the route we took.
One thing we should have blogged about yesterday when comparing nomadic vs sedentary living is the first couple of nomadic trips. After being sedentary for awhile the prep for departure takes a little longer than usual, it takes a little while to get back into the rhythm.
We will be here for a short visit with Midland Texas as our next stop.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Kerrville TX (Low 46 Sunny Currently 49)
Heading to San Angelo TX (Currently 41 Mostly Sunny High 83)
As we got closer to leaving Kerrville after almost three months there we realized that we fell into our regular habit of not blogging much when we are at place for more than a few days.
When we are nomadic there are updates on our travel days, the sightseeing we do, birdwatching, and a review of the parks we stay at. Here are a couple examples.
When we are sedentary we use that time to catch up on laundry and other things to do around the RV and go to some movies. If we want to so some sightseeing there seems to always be time so the urgency is just not there and a lot of times we find something else to do. So the end result is that our blogging slows down to a trickle.
If we have been to the place before we already have a list of places to eat so we hit our favorites first. Then we add new places to eat, especially if we are in new place, occasionally blogging about foodie stuff. Then of course as we are getting ready to leave we have to eat one last time at our favorites. Here is the brisket from Bill's BBQ in Kerrville and the smoked salmon benedict from The Sunset Grille in Fredericksburg, two of the places we had to eat at before we left.
Since we will be traveling the next few months we should be back to our old blogging selves.
We are leaving Kerrville today and heading to San Angelo Texas.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Kerrville TX (Low 48 Partly Sunny High 80)
We really like this park nestled right next to the Guadalupe River, although we call it the "Wrong Way Corrigan" park. Wrong way because our GPS took us to the entrance on the other side of the highway. Luckily there was someone entering the gate on that side and he entered the code so we could enter and turnaround. If not we would have had to back onto highway which would not have been fun.
It was also wrong way when we tried to park. Approaching our loop we saw the power box and decided we had to back up and go in the other direction. When we got into the site we saw that the sewer connection was on the other side, the wrong side if you were. So we drove off and approached the way we originally came into the loop. With the power and water on the other side we had to run the water hose under the RV and we needed a couple of 25' hoses. The power cord was at the back so it wasn't a big deal.
After we got the "Wrong Way Corrigan" aspects of the park and got setup we can say we like the park. The roads and sites are asphalt. Every site in the Sycamore Loop is a pullthru with 50amp full hookups. We also had a great line of sight for our roof mounted satellite dish. This park is not a 'Winter Texan' type of place because there is not a clubhouse so there are no social activities. This is a city park that caters to short time visits so we didn't talk with that many folks. We did try to help a few people as they were coming in to explain the utility setup. There were a lot of RVs that we saw go one way, then a few seconds later we saw them head the other way.
A review would not be a review without some pictures. Here is the Lifestyle from the front, also showing to the left due to the layout of the park. You can barely see on of the primitive cabins along the river that the park has.
To the right.
From the rear.
We have to be back here in mid-September to followup on some of Bob's medical tests so we have made reservations here. Hopefully we will remember the setup and get into the site on the first attempt.
Note: Bonus points if you understood the "Wrong Way Corrigan" reference!
We leave tomorrow for San Angelo Texas for our abbreviated travels this year.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Kerrville TX (Low 60 Partly Cloudy High 84)
While in Kerrville we drove to Fredericksburg and visited the Wildseed Farm, which is the nation's largest working wildflower farm.
We came to see the bluebonnets which were at 100% blooming and the red corn poppy which are at 50%. Here is an up close view of the bluebonnet.
There were many fields with bluebonnets.
A red corn poppy up close.
Fields of red corn poppy were also viewable.
There was a trail behind the gift shop where you could walk to the various fields and if you got tired they had park benches along the way.
A lot of neat stuff on the trails, giraffe and Lone Star.
When we had finished we went through the gift shop which had a lot of neat stuff. Here is one display.
We had a great time, it was neat to see so many bluebonnets. We have seen them on the side of the road a lot but then the mowers come. We did find this one picture kind of funny. They had gardens of flowers and herbs they were planting in neat rows for sale and for research. Look at the neat rows and then all the wildflowers that are encroaching on the area, they are wild after all :-)
We'll end with a display out front that reflected a lot of the things we see in Arizona. Maybe we are a little homesick for Arizona.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Kerrville TX (Low 60 Patchy Low Clouds and Fog Giving Way to Sun High 79)
Bob has had an up and down NCAA Tourney so far. After a great 15-1 start on Thursday he was 10-6 on Friday. On Saturday and Sunday he only got 7 right out of 16. Added to that the Iowa State Cyclones lost their Saturday game and did not advance to the Sweet 16. He does have 2 remaining in the Final 4 and his National Champion, Arizona, is still alive. Even with all this it has been a fun tourney.
After 2 and a 1/2 months in Kerrville we will be heading out the end of the month. We have to be back in mid-September so it will be a short trip up to Colorado via Albuquerque and then to the Kansas City area then back down to Kerrville.
While here we went to a wildflower farm which we will blog about later. Until then here is a closeup of some bluebonnets.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Kerrville TX (Low 60 Partly Sunny and Pleasant High 80)
"12 Hours, 16 Games, Sore Butt" that's how Bob described yesterday.
Beginning with an 11:15 a.m. Central time tipoff between Princeton and Notre Dame and ending with Nevada versus Iowa State, Bob watched 16 ball games yesterday on four networks.
Bob was correct on all 8 games for the afternoon session on the ESPN Tournament Challenge. For the evening session he was correct on 7 games, including correctly picking Iowa State (his alma mater) to beat Nevada. 15-1 is the best Bob has ever done, currently in the 99.2 percentile.
A couple of observations. Bob noticed a difference watching the games in the Central Daylight Timezone. When we are in Goodyear, in a state that does not abide by daylight savings time, the games start 2 hours earlier but more importantly, end 2 hours earlier. The last game ended last night at about 11:00 p.m. so Bob didn't wind down until about midnight. Winding down at 10p is easier for sure.
Even with a sore butt March Madness is the best sports time of the year. There weren't any buzzer beaters and only a couple of upsets, one in the afternoon session with a 12 (Middle Tennessee) beating a 5 seed (Minnesota). The evening session upsets includes Xavier (11) over Maryland (6).
One other thing we noticed is that the commercials for March Madness are much, much better than the ones we saw for the Super Bowl. The Capital One commercials with Charles Barkley, Samuel L. Jackson and Spike Lee were very funny. The Navy Federal Credit Union commercial was also very good. There were also a lot of Jersey Mike commercials and they do have great subs.
Bob does it all again today, 16 games in 12 hours beginning with Oklahoma State versus Michigan, probably one of the more entertaining games of the day. He doubts he will do as well as he did today but time, and a sore butt, will tell.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Kerrville TX (Low 57 Morning Mist then Mostly Cloudy High 75)
Jo deserves a lot of sympathy all of the time considering whom she is married to :-)
But this time of the year, NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, aka March Madness, Jo needs a whole lot more sympathy.
Bob spends 12 hours in front of the TV watching as much as four games at one time on Thursday and Friday for a total of 32 games over those two days. It does get better on Saturday and Sunday as there are only 16 games total. The games are spread out over four television networks, CBS, TruTV, TBS, TNT.
So be thinking about poor Jo these next four days.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Kerrville TX (Low 58 Breezy and Cloudy with some Sun High 79)
We saw another movie while in Kerrville, this time we saw "The Shack".
If you are expecting a theologically correct movie then "The Shack" is not the movie for you. This is a work of fiction after all. If you can overcome this, and a movie that does does drag in spots, you are going to see a movie with some interesting spiritual overtones. On the surface the main character, Mack a church going husband and father, has a model life with a loving wife and 3 kids. Beneath the surface was a troubled childhood followed by another tragedy causes Mack to question in his believe and trust in God.
Getting an invitation from God to spend the weekend at "The Shack" at first Mack is reluctant to go but at last relents. What follows is a weekend full of symbolism, forgiveness and reconciliation. Whether the visit actually occurs or just in the mind you'll not find out but it does not matter.
This is a movie that probably isn't for everyone and is slow in some spots so it is difficult to give this a recommendation.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Kerrville TX (Low 60 Cloudy with a Thunderstorm High 78)
We saw another movie based on Marvel comic book characters, this time "Logan".
Set in the future after a cataclysmic event that finds Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Wolverine aka Logan (Hugh Jackman) as one of the few remaining mutants. There is a sense of finality with this movie for the X-Men, first cast in the movies in 2000. There was a time travel reboot that sets up a younger cast so future X-Men movies will probably feature them.
In this movie both Logan and the professor are ailing but they have enough left for one last adventure. A eugenics type experiment to create better and more controllable mutants for super soldiers goes terribly wrong. Don't they always? Logan finds out there is a young girl with wolverine-type claws. At first Logan wants nothing to do with his girl but with sinister thugs chasing her he gets drawn in to this adventure while discovering an amazing fact about the girl.
The movie has an R rating and thus has a little too much swearing and graphic violence (Jo says way too much) but it is a fitting end to the X-Men (old farts) series, or at least for Wolverine. If you like Marvel and movies based on comic book characters this one is for you. If you don't like comic book movies, but do like character driven stories where the main character is confronting his own mortality with an excellent performance by Hugh Jackman, then "Logan" might be for you.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Kerrville TX (Low 48 Mostly Cloudy and Warmer High 67)
When we got our new Lifestyle fifth wheel in February of 2015 we noticed the official cargo carrying capacity listed on the sticker on the unit was about 1000 pounds less than listed on the brochure. This got Bob worried so we decided to get our new RV weighed. We went with the Escapees SmartWeigh program at North Ranch in Congress Arizona.
Under any circumstances getting your RV weighed is a good idea. From the Escapees website, SmartWeigh program administrator Neil LeKander indicates, "There are
many reasons why you should not overload your RV, but four stand out as
being of greatest concern:"
- First, the reliability and durability of the RV will be greatly
diminished as a direct result of our demanding that it do more work than
it was designed for.
- Second, the personal safety of the RVers, their passengers, as well as others on the road, will be in jeopardy.
- Third, any warranty coverage for what is likely the second largest purchase ever by the RVer may be lost.
- Finally, and probably most importantly, the legal and financial
liability of operating the RV beyond the federal and manufacturer's
limitations is more than most RVers are willing to accept.
"In the past, it has never been easy to resolve these issues, but
now, with the introduction of SmartWeigh, the process has gotten much
simpler, so why not do it right and do it now."
We have to agree that it is pretty simple. We setup an appointment and met George in parking lot on the way in. We chose SmartWeigh because it is comprehensive by weighing all the axles, first with the RV and truck tethered and then the truck separately. We wish we would have taken our own photos, we borrowed this one from the web.
You could go to a truck scales but that would just be the total weight. By doing each axle we found that the weight is shifted to one side. This is mostly due to the all the heavy stuff (refrigerator, stove, cabinets, etc.) being on one side. Predictably that was the side we were overweight 30 pounds on one axle and 50 pounds on the other. The good news is that we were a couple hundred pounds light on the other side so all we have to do is shift some things in the Lifestyle and we are good.
The truck was a little bit overweight too but we had all of our books to read, miscellaneous stuff and a full auxiliary fuel tank. All that means it will be easy to shed the pounds from the truck too. Not only did we get that weight info we also got the tongue weight which was within safe limits too. Additionally we got information on the correct pressure for all the tires with the weight. Bob had them set correctly and monitored with the TST 507 TPMS system that we got from our friends Dutch and Di at PlugItRight.com. Finally the true overall height of the Lifestyle was measured. George recommended that we set our GPS' to a height of 13'8" which is 6" higher than was measured.
With factual data we now know that we won't need the expensive axle upgrades that Bob feared that we would need. This makes us very happy.
We think that every RV should be weighed at least once so add that to our list of tips for those considering RV'ng.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Kerrville TX (Low 35 Plenty of Sunshine High 64)
Driving around Kerrville Texas you cannot help but notice this empty cross high on the hill overlooking Kerrville. So after Ash Wednesday Mass and lunch we decided to visit.
A local sculpturer and a foundation setup to build the sculpture prayer gardens had quite a battle with atheists and others who were in opposition. A lawsuit was filed but settled after a 9 year battle so that work could begin. The first thing installed was the empty cross in 2010.
In addition to the 77’7”
contemporary sculpture called “The Empty Cross” there are seven other sculptures that can also be viewed at this location. There is a path throughout the garden, called the “Path To Heaven” consisting of 77 Bible verses, in multiple languages,
to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Here is an example of the scripture tile.
Other sculptures.
As you can see here there is a lot more that is planned.
Although the work has just begun it still was neat to visit. We did have a GPS glitch that took us the wrong way but we eventually found it. It was windy and a little chilly, Jo wished she had her jacket. This site will be similar to Crazy Horse in South Dakota. You can come by every few years and check on the progress.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
