Whirlwind Trip To Texas

Just to grab your attention, we're putting a pleasant photo in this blog now.

Putting this post on our travel blog is really a duplication of our Flickr photo album -- almost. Let us just tell you that we (with Jerry and Ella Jane) crammed in just about as much as oldsters can in three days in the Arlington, Texas, area. It usually takes us the better part of two days to make a trip from Foley, Alabama, to Arlington, Texas. So, that's what we did.

The Hatfield's kept apologizing for the fact that some time was spent showing their house and other real estate sales activities so that they could finalize a contract for the sale of their current home. That's really why we made the trip because it had been quite some time since we had visited with them. It was pretty much now or never unless we visited them later in the year in California.

We really did have a good visit -- so much so that the weight scales will likely reveal a sizable increase from all the delicious food we consumed while in Texas and on the way to and from there. After all, isn't that a good part of what enjoyment is? Trying to get you (any readers we may have) to agree with us.

We'll just close with the photos we took because they speak for themselves.

2015 Texas Trip

P.S.: Hope you can comprehend how interesting the tour of the Money Factory was without any photos. A picture from the parking lot showed what a beautiful Texas sky with puffy Texas clouds occurred on that day. Mae Dean added to her T-shirt collection that day with "the buck starts here"

Southwestern Trip

Walt Grayson took a trip out west in 2012 that I found very interesting.

Our own Southwestern trip covered some of the same area in 2005, and we were very aware there was much more to see that we just could not cram into a month. For instance, we bypassed Monument Valley because we were in such a hurry to get to the Grand Canyon.

Since our trip included parts of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas Hill Country, and Utah, there is really no way to share those photos because they are so numerous.

The main result of that month-long trip RVing in our Dutchman Travel Trailer is it caused us to decide we could live that way fulltime if we just had a bigger RV. So, we traded in our TT for a vintage Airstream motor home and hit the road in 2007.

We'd still like to be on the road from time to time RVing, but we're very happy living in Sweet Home Alabama.

Here's Walt's trip of Arches, Bryce, Zion and the Grand Canyon as well as some other points of interest in 10 days:
Arches,Bryce, Zion and the Grand Canyon

Be sure to watch the video to the end to see the head-in-the-hole photo op!

On the Road to Texas and Back

We've been back from Texas for four days, but it's been a little more difficult to recover because we set off foggers right before we left to rid the place of pests. Even though it was an excellent time to do this, making sure things are safe to use -- like washing all the dishes, in addition to washing a week's worth of laundry has kept us from telling you about our fun-packed trip.

Rather than a blog post that really covers it, we're resorting to showing you photos we took, like we did on our trip away from Alabama last spring. You can see them on Flickr at:

On the Road - Sept. 21, 2011
On the Road ~ Sept. 22, 2011

On the Road ~ Sept. 24, 2011

On the Road ~ Sept. 26, 2011
On the Road ~ Sept. 27, 2011

You may have noticed there are no pictures for Sept. 25th. We are saving perhaps the best for last. That afternoon we went to see a live musical at Theatre Arlington entitled "FOREVER PLAID." The four men performing had done this musical many years ago and said they wanted to do it again before they were in wheel chairs. What a treat it was. This YouTube video gives you a good example of what variety this show contained, but you would have had to be in the audience to have the full benefit.

Christmas Hallelujah!

WHEN? Sunday · December 14

WHERE? First United Methodist Church, Arlington, Texas

WHAT? Gloria by Vivaldi ~ Christmas Music Program

This classic music was performed in Latin. The two videos below provide a taste of this splendid program:

• Gloria by Vivaldi
• The program concluded with Vivaldi - Gloria (RV 589): Cum Sancto Spiritu

Holiday Fruitcakes

WHEN? Saturday · December 13

WHERE? Theatre Arlington

A very funny and entertaining show! We had front row seats, right beside the pig that blew up. That's because we have a "pure heart".

From Artistic Director B. J. Cleveland:

Fruitcakes is a celebration of Jamie and Jack who, during a Christmas season of confusion, hurt, and loneliness, find in each other the strength to reach out to those they love the most. The story also touches on how chance encounters change our lives -- change them as much as a visit from a mystical angel might change them. As Miss Alice notes in Act Two, "Perhaps we're all angels."

Dancing Dames Christmas Show at O.W.L.S.

WHEN? Tuesday · December 9

WHERE? First United Methodist Church in Arlington, Texas · find us on the map

WHAT? Taps 'n Tunes Dancing Dames Christmas Program

My sister Ella is a member of a church ministry called the OWLS (Older Wiser Laughing Souls), and invited me to join her at their December luncheon. This month's event included an outstanding performance by the Dancing Dames, an area group dedicated to providing entertainment to the community. The Dancing Dames are in high demand by Ft. Worth and Arlington audiences, and at least two of their annual performances are dedicated to area seniors and physically challenged.

OWLS member Ron White's photos of this event can be seen on flickr:

Dancing Dames Christmas Show at O.W.L.S.

Trip to Texas

WHEN? Saturday · March 1

WHERE? Arlington, Texas · find us on the map

Airstream parked at: Timberlake Campground at Mississippi's Ross Barnett Reservoir

After this week's Texas visit to catch up with family and friends, a new Websters Dictionary entry may be in order:

" POWER POWWOW " A get-together with such intense chitchat, reminiscing, pleasure and thrills that even a shutterbug like Mae Dean doesn't stop to take photos.

Now that's intense visiting!

Tinseltown

WHEN? Christmas morning

WHERE? Arlington, Texas · find us on the map

Christmasing with family in Arlington:

Hoppy Halidays from Mae Dean

More Christmasing in Texas:

LIVING... MAEDEANS STYLE A Texas Christmas Christmas in Texas on flickr

A year older and wiser

WHEN? Thursday · December 20

WHERE? Arlington, Texas · find us on the map

Has it really been only a year?
In spite of hitting the road as full-time RVers only last Spring, this lifestyle's busy-ness encourages quick "veteran-ship". Like last December, we met with several full-time RVers at Treetops RV Village in Arlington, where we swapped the past year's road-trip stories and shared upcoming travel plans. Before going separate ways, we made arrangements to get together again. When another Full-Timer tells us, "I know just what you mean" ... they really do!

Today's visit allowed us to catch up with several of our fellow 2006 Escapees graduates:

• Jeff and Suzanne · AKA The Canned Hams
• Dave and Barb · AKA Geocachers Extraordinaire
• Jim and Sherri · AKA The Datastormers
• And attending for his first year, Steve · AKA the guy whose website address I need to get

To view our party photos on flickr, visit
Escapees in the Treetops

Remember whens

WHEN? Wednesday · December 19

WHERE? Cleburne, Texas · find us on the map

Having fun along the way is one of our favorite perks of full-time RVing. Although Christmasing with family is our eventual destination, we're sure having a good time getting there.

---

We're the class of '55
We're the class with hep-kat jive

An evening reminiscing with several Cleburne High School classmates left me feeling like a kid.

L to R: Mae Dean, Freda, Charlie Dell, Mary*

*This order was how a group photo was taken of the "girls" that evening. We do not want to overlook three hubbies were there as well, and we all enjoyed those pizzas so much. Can you believe they came from Joshua? Or am I wrong? We would have never "thunk it" in 1955.

M-m-m good!

WHEN? Tuesday · December 18 · (today's second post)

WHERE? Kilgore, Texas · find us on the map

We worked up a Texas appetite while touring Kilgore's oil museum and knew exactly what we were hungry for:

The best ribs in Texas!

We made the short drive just west of Kilgore to Country Tavern Bar-B-Que (State Highway 31 & FM 2767), known in East Texas since 1930 for its famous pork ribs and beef brisket. After several years of good intentions (including one late-Sunday attempt after closing), we finally got in the door! Its large lunchtime crowd was a good sign.

Once our eyes adjusted from the noonday sunlight to the tavern's all-day darkness, we realized that there were no menus to bother with. When we told our waitress that we were undecided between ribs and brisket, she promptly told us, “You want the ribs!” We each settled on a half ribs / half brisket order. This place has earned its good reviews over the years.

M-m-m good!

Wendell left with a full belly
and a rib-eatin' grin on his face

See more Country Tavern Bar-B-Que photos on flickr

Honorable mentions:

• Mae Dean's Country Tavern photos have been included with online reviews from Georgia, Maryland, and Arizona.
• A DFW food enthusiast also visited Country Tavern Bar-B-Que recently. See what she had to say on her food blog: Donna Cooks

Boomtown

WHEN? Tuesday · December 18 · (today's first post)

WHERE? Kilgore, Texas · find us on the map

Motorhome parked at: S&S Apache Camping Center in Jackson, Mississippi for routine service

The story of Kilgore's oil-rich history is a Texas legend: Discovery of the world's largest pool of black gold, derrick-lined streets, and one plot of ground known as the world's richest acre. We lived and learned the legacy of those boom years in the East Texas Oil Museum at Kilgore College.

As one of six cities in the Holiday Trail of Lights, over eighty steel replicas of Kilgore's 1930's wooden oil derricks are topped with a fantastic display of lights, maintaining its title as the state's official City of Stars.

See more East Texas Oil Museum photos on flickr