Relaxing in San Antonio

Sandy and I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and hope you can spend it with family and friends. The campground, Blazing Star, is putting on a dinner for all the guests. They are going to furnish the turkey and ham and the guests sign up for bringing the side dishes and desserts. I have a feeling there is going to be way too much food. It sounds like a normal Thanksgiving dinner to me.

It was mentioned to me that someone did not get notified for the last few posts, but he has been going to the web site and checking for the updates. I have a new laptop with Windows Vista. Things are different and I think I deleted some people by mistake, so in the future, if you do not get a notice but look at the site and see it has been updated, please let me know and I will add you to the list. As I told Rick, heaven forbid that he would have to miss such riveting newsletter. By the same token, if you would like to be removed from the list, please let me know.

On Wednesday the 19th I went fishing on Medina Lake which is an irrigation reservoir of 5,426 acres with a depth of 152 feet deep. It has virtually no vegetation and is made up of mostly rock (shale) bottom and shoreline. As you can probably see in the photo, the water level is very low, 19 feet, as San Antonio is in an extended drought situation. Hopefully, they will get some rain soon to replenish the water supply.


I did catch 1 largemouth bass the first hour and lost another one. That was it for the day but I found a few potential spots for the future. The lure I used to scout out the lake was an 800 spoonplug. It sure was a different experience for me fishing such a barren lake. But for me, part of the fun is figuring out where the fish are and then catching and releasing them.


Here are a couple of photos of the our site and the campground swimming pool.


Happy Thanksgiving
Dave and Sandy

Finally we are in San Antonio

This morning December 8th we headed south for Branson with a stop at the Bass Pro Shops in Springfield MO. Believe it our not, I found somthing to buy at Bass Pro. In Branson we stayed at the Americas Best Campground. It was full so we ended up with a site that was a challenge to get level. Being that we are in Branson we figured we should take in some shows. So off to the campground office we went and booked 5 shows, one for tonight, two each for Sunday and Monday. The show we went to tonight was Smoke on the Mountain. Its theme was a guest singing group at a Baptist church and the audience was the congregation. It was pretty good and reminded us a little of the Church Basement Ladies play from back home. It was an evening of good comedy and music.



On Sunday we took in the 10:00 AM Dalena Ditto show at the Oak Ridge Boys Theatre. While there Sandy just insisted she wanted her picture taken with the “Boys”







In the evening we went to see Pierce Arrow at the Pierce Arrow Theatre. This was an exceptionally good show. We ended up buying a DVD of their comedian, Jarrett Dougherty. He was really good without having to use four letter words. But then so far they have all been clean wholesome shows. Branson is known for being a place that openly has freedom to express religion and patriotism.




When I went for a walk this afternoon there was this car I had to take a picture of. I believe it is a model 600 Honda that has been shortened.




This morning, Monday the 10th we went to the Roy Rogers, Jr And the High Rider show. This is one show you should not miss if you are in the area. They also have a Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum which was moved from Los Angeles about 5 years ago. The music was great and the museum was full of much memorabilia - including Trigger, Buttermilk (Dales horse) and Bullit (the German Shepherd from the TV shoe). Dustin Rogers (Roys grandson) sang a few songs too and resembles a young Roy.





In the late afternoon we went to Dick Clark’s American Bandstand Theater complex. They have a collection of 1957 cars and memorabilia. There must have been about 75 to 80 beautifully restored cars and there was one ’57 Ford station wagon that had not been restored, but still looked like it came off the show room floor.



I had to take this picture as Dad had a Skelly station in the early 60’s.













After we toured the display it was time for supper which we had at the American Bandstand Grill in the same building. After supper we took in the Larry Gatlin and The Gatlin Brothers show in the American Bandstand Theater. They we ok, but it seemed that they were just going through the motions. From listening to people talking around us it sounds like we need to go to "Six" next time we are in town. They are a group of 6 guys who sing everthing a cappella.

On Tuesday we drove from Branson to Little Rock AR by way of Arkansas Highway 7 south to Russellville. This is a scenic highway through the Ozarks and would have been great for fall colors a couple of weeks ago. Here are a few pictures. A little sunshine would have been nice, but it was still pretty in the rain and cloudy weather.












Along the way we came across this sign. Would this possibly be a place to buy a retirement home? I’m sorry about the quality of the picture, but it was shot as we were driving.




We did run into some rain along the way. The clouds were hanging down in the mountains like in the Great Smokies.









From there we took I-40 east to the Mid-South Cummins to have a coolant leak looked at. We spent the night in their parking lot where they have hookups. While there, they also did a software update on the Cummins engine.

On Wednesday we headed out of Little Rock about 9:00 AM by way of I-30 south to US 70 west that we took into Texas. At Hugo, TX we headed south west to McKinney (a northern suburb of Dallas) for a stop at the MCD factory. The reason we stopped there was because they make wheel covers that slide in a rubber grove that is glued to the wheel well opening. I got tired of fighting the ones you slip over the wheel and tie at the bottom. Now if we would sit tight in a spot for awhile it would not be such a problem. We placed an order for windshield wiper covers, wheel covers and a remote control for the interior solar and night shades.

By early afternoon on Thursday they had us fixed up with everything except the wheel covers. They will be shipped in a week or so, but at least the rubber grooves are mounted and ready to go. By the time we got fueled up it was 3:30 PM and we headed south thru Dallas (during rush hour) for San Antonio. For the night we stopped at the I-35 RV Park/Resort in Elm Mott, TX where they had nice long sites so we did not have to unhook.

On Friday we drove to the Blazing Star Luxury RV Resort in San Antonio. We will be here until at least December 14. When we pulled in it was 79 degrees but it sounds like the highs for the weekend will be 70 and then it will get warmer again as we go into the week. Sandy's happy to see the sun shining again. It's been a couple weeks since we've had some warm sunshine. When we were here two years ago we visited the Alamo and some of the Missions so here a few photos from then.




The Alamo



Missions










Bye for now,
Dave and Sandy

Heading south, just in time.

This morning, 10-16-08, Terry at Al’s Specialty Marine in Rochester called and said that my boat was ready, so Sandy and I drove down and picked it up. There were several things I had to do to get ready before we head out of town. First I had to install the depth finders and GPS units, then I had a cover made and installed. After that it was time to figure out which 20 rod and reel combinations that I should take and finally try to keep the tackle "boxes" to under 200 lbs.





Terry and I were able to get a day of fishing in on the Mississippi up by Royalton. After missing two nice smallmouth bass earlier in the day I finally managed to catch the only fish of the day, a small musky. Before the day was over we did manage to have 5 more muskies follow to the boat with the biggest being about 45 inches.


On Thursday the 30th we had our last supper with our friends Jerry, Donna, John and Pat. It's always sad to say goodbye to good friends. But unfortunately for them we will be back in the spring.

On November 5th we left town and headed to King's Campers in Wausau, WI to get a couple of items fixed as we head south for the winter. On the 6th we got into a repair bay at 9:30 where they replaced 3 Atwood Levellegs (the two in the back and the right front). The right front has been replaced three times. Now only the left front is an original jack. While there we had them adjust a roller on the kitchen slide and adjust a wiper blade. They also replaced the shower faucet, but it leaked worse then the original, so off it came and the old one went back on. We will get it fixed when we stop at the factory on our way back this spring. It was about 2:30 when we left Wausau for the SOUTH. We drove as far as Platteville, WI and stopped at a Wal Mart for the night. Platteville is about 25 miles NE of Dubuque, IA

Its Friday and it looks like we got out of town (the NORTH) just in time as the first storm of the season has hit the upper Midwest. We spent the day driving to Harrisonville, which is about 30 miles SE of Kansas City, MO. I wanted to stop at the Pressure Pro Shop and pick up a couple extra tire pressure sensors for spares. We have gotten to rely on them for monitoring the tire pressures while traveling on the road. We expected the shop to be a normal business with a normal parking lot. Instead, the business was in the old historic part of Harrisonville with narrow one-way streets around a square. That was interesting to get in and out of there. While traveling to day I was able, as usual, to find some narrow two lane roads with no shoulders. So Sandy had her thrill ride for the day. It was an especially wild ride as we had high winds to help with the rocking that was complicated by roads that rolled, dipped and swayed. Why does Sandy get all the fun while I get all the work? She just says OK, let me drive while you sit in a seat that is almost off the road with mail boxes whizzing by your knees. But I do like roads other then freeways. The day started out by leaving Platteville at 6:00 AM and pulling into Clinton MO at 5:00 PM to spend the night at the Cozy Corner RV Campground. Tomorrow we will continue on to Springfield (Bass Pro Shop), then on to Branson for a few days.

Bye for now,
Dave and Sandy