This & That!

4-10 Feb 2010-Been toodling around the past week, doing a little of this and a little of that. We arrived at the Famcamp at Lackland AFB last Thurdsay, and are staying here for a month. For those of you who don't know, The "Gateway to the Air Force" sign is here because Lackland is the home of Air Force Basic Training (boot camp), so this is where it all begins for enlisted Air Force people.

As soon as we got to the Famcamp we ran into a couple friends who are staying here, too. Dennis is retired from the AF, and he and his wife Marion used to sell jewelry and Egyptian cotton sheets at the BX like Cathy and I did with sunglasses. They actually bought their RV a few months before we did, so they helped us with info we needed to make a smart purchase. They have travelled all the way to South Dakota and back already, with several stops along the way visiting friends and family, and also stopping to sell their wares.

Later Thursday evening we hooked up with Tamie and her daughter Jordan (left to right), and also to see our friend Barb again. We had already seen Barb, but I forgot my camera that day, if you recall. We all went out to dinner to catch up on what is going on. The bases are always good for gossip!

Tamie used to work for me and Cathy, and is one of the two people we sold our sunglass concessions to. She now owns the concession at the Army base--Fort Sam Houston.

On Friday we didn't do a whole lot, mostly things around the RV, but we did go over to the BX to see who we could see that we might know. This is Amir, the other person who bought a sunglass concession from us. He is from Israel, has been selling T-shirts at the BX for a long time, and now sells sunglasses there, too.

On Saturday we went to visit with Donna and Hallie again. We met at their house in New Braunfels and then went out to a town called Seguin where Donna's pride and joy of a car is. Donna just bought this car on E-bay. It is a 1972 VW "Thing", and she has wanted one forever. She just got it a couple months ago, and is now having it restored. So this is how it looked when she brought it home originally.

And this is how it looks now. She is working with a guy who refurbishes cars for a living to totally dismantle her car and put it together again with mostly new parts that she and Hallie have to find on the internet. It won't be completed until the end of March, so I will be back with "new: pictures later.

These are just 2 other cars the guy had worked on...I was taking these pictures when I saw the guy with horse right outside the garage across the street. I didn't know what he was doing at first, and then realized he was checking his mail while drinking a beer and walking his horse.

When we were leaving Seguin we passed this...the largest Pecan in the world! Just had to get a picture.

Headed back to Hallie's and Donna's house, but 1st went down to the river that runs down the street from their house. They go boating and kayaking here a lot in the summer.

When we got back to the house, Donna and I went out to the backyard, and while looking at the cows in the field across from the yard, I suddenly saw a pig heading away from the houses and towards the cows. That is it just to the left of the thick tree, and then again up in front of the cows. The cows were really funny to watch...they all gathered around to see the pig, like they were as surprised as we were.

We didn't know if the pig was someone's pet or a wild hog...Donna was pretty sure it was a pet, so we were worried that it would get lost or the cows would hurt it, so Hallie came to the rescue. Here she is climbing over her back fence and climbing the hill to get to where the pig and cows are. Just as she got up there the pig took off...it turned out to be a wild pig, so it wanted nothing to do with Hallie.

Sunday we watched the Super Bowl at the house of some people we used to bowl with...no camera!

And on Monday I started back to the gym!!! Cathy is going to go also, but she has been feeling lousy the past 3 days, so she is hoping to join me tomorrow. For those of you who watch The Biggest Loser, Cathy is going to be my Jillian and Bob...kicking my butt to keep going!!! Wish me luck! And safety!!!

Good to be Back, and The Leak!

3 Feb 10--Seeing the response I got the other day with the pictures that included Hallie and the rooster (11 comments!), I have another rooster shot here...and Hallie later in today's blog...haha.

This is the same rooster as the other day, but now he was up in a tree. We were walking the dogs last night, and lo and behold, there he was. Who knew that roosters went up into trees?

Yesterday we had to have the car inspected, and from there we went out to eat with our friend Barb. I forgot the camera, so "Barb" pictures will have to come later.

When we got home we took the dogs for a quick walk, and then I hot-footed it to the clubhouse to see how the "dance lessons" were going. I was not disappointed. I counted 22 people in attendance, not counting myslef or the teacher. That is the teacher, by himself, in the red shirt. Seeing as this is Texas, he was teaching the two-step, and most of the people were pretty game to try it. Ellen, you would really like this!

This couple below were there too...but they clearly didn't need any lessons. They just basically sat around waiting for everyone to get comfortable, and then took the floor in a whirl of competence. They spun so fast my pictures came out a little blurry!

We dropped off the RV at Camping World this morning for them to do their leak check, and just kept our fingers crossed that they would find it and be able to fix it for us before we had to go back out in the rain...the rain that has not stopped in 2 days. After dropping off the RV we went to the base because Cathy had a medical appointment and I had to pick up a prescription. From there I went to the BX, where I used to sell sunglasses, to meet my great friend Virginia. Virginia is originally from the Phillipines, married a GI, and it was Virginia and her husband who bought our hat business when Cathy and I went into sunglasses.



While there I ran into a couple co-workers, Missy and Tamika. Missy actually works for the government and does the scheduling of vendors in the BX, and both Cathy and I used to work with her husband, another GI. Tamika is a fellow vendor, and will basically sell anything she can get her hands on! haha We were surprised that they were the only familiar faces...but we know we will see more friends as we visit again later.

From the BX we went back to Camping World to pick up our RV, where they thankfully not only found the leak but were able to fix it for us. There were actually 2 leaks (no wonder there was so much water), one at the top and one at the bottom of the arm that secures the main awning to the RV. When they do a leak test, they somehow blow bubbles into the cavity of your RV, in the space between the ceiling/exterior walls and the interior walls, and then wait to see where the bubbles show up. They said it could take from one to nine hours, so we were more than happy to have it back in about five.

Once we picked up the RV and set up again at the RV park, we went over to our friends' house to pick up Fluffy and Jabba. We had dropped them off earlier in the day on our way to drop off the RV, so they had been penned up for hours in a room over there because our friends have dogs of their own. This is Hallie, who you met the other day, and Donna...I have never really noticed this before, but notice how short both she and my other friend Virginia are...!!! And those are their dogs. Hallie is holding Luna, then the little blond dog is Sammy, followed by Emmy!

And then here is Hallie again...more punishment for not reading my blog enough!!!

Home Again!

1 Feb 10--Arrived in New Braufels about 3:30 this afternoon, so, surprisingly, it only took us about 5 1/2 hours to get here from Dallas. New Braunfels is just north of San Antonio...almost a suburb of San Antonio. We'll be here till at least Wednesday, when we have the appointment to find the leak in our RV. If they find and fix the leak right away we will go to San Antonio and hopefully stay at the Air Force base while here, so that I can go to the gym for at least a month and get a grip on my fat ass!

Right now we are staying here at the Hill Country RV Resort, an amazingly large RV Park...they have 333 spaces for RVs and park models. I took these pictures of park models here so I could ask Lynne if this is the kind of park model you will have at the new RV park you will be managing? Or will they be more elaborate?




We had just set up our RV, levelled it and put out the slides, when I stepped outside and I swear not 5 feet from me was this rooster. I took and posted a few pictures so you would know it was real, not a statue. I lived in San Antonio for all but 3 1/2 years of the past 26 years and I had never seen a rooster here. It actually took a few aggressive steps towards me when it saw me, but I backed away quickly to reduce the threat it felt! haha

Down in the Rec Room I noticed some activity, so I went in and was told they were having a game of "card bingo". Something to do with a deck of cards and bingo combination. If we are here longer than I think we will be, I will have to check it out. When I was leaving, I noticed a sign on the wall advertising "dance lessons" on Tuesday nights...I will definitely be down there with my camera, so I will keep you posted.

Ever since seeing all the license plates in Florida, i have been looking at other states plates, so i took these for you so you could the ones in Texas. The 1st one is the one we have on both our car and RV...the old one. We were hoping they would mail us the new one for our RV, but no luck. The 2nd picture is the new one. And then I saw one for for someone who had been awarded the Purple Heart, so I took a picture just in case you had had never noticed one before.

I took these pictures of HEB for Christopher...I just know he misses it! HEB is the main competition, maybe the only competition, for Super Walmarts here in the San Antonio area. I feel like I could do a commercial for them, because they truly are a great grocery store...just ask Chris!!!

Here is my long time friend Hallie. She is from Missouri, and is also retired from the Air Force. Hallie actually came in the Air Force when they still made women wear the 3/4 length Jackie O white gloves!!! In the 3rd picture she is describing to us how she had to have the front teeth removed from one of her 3 dogs...I included the picture here as punishment for telling me that she has been too busy lately to read my blog!!!! haha

Lewisville, TX

1 Feb 10--Left Gladewater Saturday morning and spent the weekend in Lewisville, TX, (just north of Dallas) visiting a couple friends. I took a couple pictures on the road hoping to show you how hairy it seems when an 18 wheeler is passing right next to you in the RV...this guy seems to be right in Cathy's pocket!



And I took these pictures as we drove thru Dallas to show Ed and Eleanor what it looks like to drive thru a big city like Dallas...and this is not rush hour, mind you. Every time we go under these bridges I feel like they are going to shear off the top of the RV.



This is the sign to the campgrounds we stayed at...only a few miles from our friends Lynne and Breena.



This is Breena (left) and Lynne (right). We have known Lynne for what seems like forever. We were all stationed together at Lackland and were TIs at the same time. They are also full-time RVers, and have been for several years. Breena is a school teacher and sports coach, while Lynne is currently working at DFW airport, but will soon be managing an RV park of her own that a friend is building and is set to open in October. Right now they live in their RV on Army Corps of Engineer grounds right on a lake surrounded by several friends who also live full-time in their RVs. I foolishly didn't take my camera when we went to their house...should have taken pictures!



And this is a Mastiff we saw someone walking in our RV park...can you imagine living with this beast anywhere, never mind in an RV???



This is our car this morning...can you see all the frost covering it? What is with this weather?



Left Lewisville this morning, heading to the San Antonio area for probably at least a month. We are going to start in New Braunfels, just north of San Antonio, because we have to take our RV in to Camping World on Wednesday for a leak test. We weren't able to get an earlier appointment, and just our luck, there is a 50% chance of rain tomorrow and 80% on Wednesday!!!

I'll keep you posted!