December 7 2015 Grapevine Tx

Well what a year it has been in and around the lakes in North Texas.

In May 2015 Lake Grapevine rose to a point it forced the city to close The Vineyards on Lake Grapevine due to rising water. The water rose from under 535 to over 560 taking over the entire park. We returned in time for the November/Thanksgiving opening to help with preparing the park for the reopening. We made it thru Thanksgiving, then the water began to rapidly take over the park again.  Opening the 24th of Nov and we closed again on the 29th. So sad to be in this situation again. the water is presently at 551 and it looks like the Corp of Engineers are releasing 500cfs, and now it appears that the lake may begin receding. Its amazing what 16 feet of water can look like. Our RV site at the Vineyards is definitely Water front today.

Our return to the DFW area was to be near family and friends for a while and this sure stretches our interest to be in the area. We have chose to camp out basically in a parking lot at the Elks club. Fortunately we had water and electric. To have sewer is important and we have contracted with a company for an external holding tank that will be pumped out weekly. We are thankful for this as it has allowed us to stay close by for our work schedule.

With that said, I was able to accomplish one of several goals and that was to convince my 89 year old dad to move to assisted living. Nine months without my mom and his over all decline in health made this necessary. So over the next few weeks we will be working to get him settled and hopefully finding that some of the stress of living alone can be helped by the staff at Preston Wood Court. I definitely have to say that my hat is off to Jeanette who stopped by while taking a tour of the facility. She stepped in introducing herself , sitting down on the floor next to my dad who stated that "today is the worst day of his life". She took his hand and said "WOW then you must have had a wonderful life then if this is the worst day".  My dad then began thinking and talking about his life and you could see he was proud to reflect on his many years. I believe she single handedly turned this situation around. From there going forward he was more responsive and accepting of the idea of moving to an apartment.

My dad is making a big change from living in the house he and my mom bought over 38 years ago to moving across town to be closer to my sisters that live in Carrolton and Plano.

In addition, I'm here to support my son who is in the process of a divorce and taking on the responsibility of their six year old son. Over time I feel this will be good for my grandson and of course my son. Jeffrey thinks the world of that kid as most dads do of their sons.

Other than that, have not gotten to see any of our Dallas friends yet and hope we will get that opportunity soon.

North Texas weather has been so pleasant over the week and we could only wish for it to hold out like this for a few months.


  

November 14 New Orleans

WOW another night in Florida after leaving Tampa then we traveled thru Alabama, Mississippi and landing in New Orleans. Last day was about 357 mile a long day of driving by our normal standards. Although Bill drove the majority of the way, I drove the last 40 miles getting us to the park in New Orleans. When playing on my phone, acting as a DJ on Pandora and txting the trip was quite short LOL

Got word Oncor has agreed to turn the power on and the city of Grapevine is throwing all resources it sounds like on getting the Vineyards in top notch shape to open for Thanksgiving.

So we will still leave NOLA headed to Dallas Monday, stopping over in Shreveport then cruising on into Grapevine Tuesday. May stay at the Elks club for a night so we are close by and can make the big move over to the Vineyards.

We're looking forward to seeing everyone and imagine it will be like riding a bike we'll fall back into a routine and seeing familiar faces.

Winter in Texas oh yeah! We hope for a mild one!!

November 9 Tampa Bound

Well its time to say good bye to FTL, headed to Texas. We enjoyed the boat show here yesterday although very warm in the sun upper 80's felt like 95.

We'll spend a day or two in Tampa with friends we hosted with at the Vineyards then we will begin our journey to Tx in hope they are ready to accommodate us after the big flood of 2015.

Last we heard power should be back on by the 12th, we hope or we maybe hanging out somewhere else until they get everything up and running.

They are hoping to be open for Thanksgiving, which should be totally a booked weekend.

After we get to Grapevine Tx I will post to sum up our trip and what we encounter along the way.

October 9 Tampa Fl

Well we have been in Tampa this week with our coach in service at Lazydays. The door needed to be replaced and it required a new door, paint and etc. So we have had a two night hotel stay. Seemed very odd for sure.

We'll return to Fort Lauderdale to see our friends Sid and Phyliss before heading west returning to Grapevine Texas.

We'll be working as camp host at the Vineyards when they reopen after the floods that flooded the park in May 2015.

They are trying to get the power back on but needed to order new electric panels which will be 4-6 weeks delivery before they can do that.

They are hoping to get us back in the 1st couple weeks of Nov, opening for Thanksgiving weekend. (maybe)

August 25th Key West, Fl

Well its our last day here in Key West. We are headed up to Ft Lauderdale to spend about 10 days or so. We will get to see our East coast friends.

Our trip out to a sand bar on Sunday was very nice. The water was nice blue and green color and for the most part the day was awesome. Had a little storm roll thru, but it was a brief shower cooling it down a bit an then it was gone. Ate lunch before going back out to enjoy our play on the sand bar seeing many sand dollars, a star fish and other little sand cleaning items.

If ever in Key West taking a charter out is the bomb!

August 22, 2015 Key West, FL

Made our travels to Key West. Florida. WOW wondered what it might be like in Florida during the summer… well its hot and very humid. We had hoped to get in plenty of biking but, its just too much like a sauna. We walked Duval street and only after a few hours we were soaked. Too often we have a couple changes a day because its so easy to sweat.

The beaches are pretty vacant here

We have spent time at a guest house in and around the pool, checked out the night life and Sunday are taking a boat to a sandbar to swim and snorkel.

On Tuesday we head back to Hollywood where we will spend a little time in preparation to return to Tampa where we will have our entry door replaced on our coach at Lazy days.

I'll be back in a few days to share our sandbar experience.

August 2, 2015 Cortez, Fl

Well after Dade City we spent some time in Seffner, Fl at Lazydays RV to have some service performed on our coach. As it turned out it seemed most issues seemed to be resolved with the replacement of our 6 AGM Gel batteries. WOW that was a pricy replacement, but it is maintenance that has to be done from time to time.

We now are in Cortez, a small little area just North of Sarasota, Fl. We'll be here til Tuesday when we head further south to check out Ft Meyers and Naples area.

The rain seems to have settled over the sunshine state and we have seen our share in the last few weeks. Although I must also admit that it is August and its been kinda of nice to have complete overcast which has helped keep temps in the 80-70 range. Shouldn't this be good for your skin too with all this moisture in the air?

July 16th, 2015 Dade City, Fl

We've been sitting here for a little more than a week at a favorite RV park where we enjoy the pool. We have been just chilling and working on enhancing our long lost tans that we had when going to Grapevine over a year.

Otherwise its been hot, with afternoon showers that help cool things down each afternoon.

July 2, 2015 Jasper Florida

Well its been an entire year since posting anything here.

This year has been full of challanges. Our plan was to continue working at the Vineyards until this coming fall. This would have allowed us time to be there to support my dad after my mothers passing. But we were unable to find any RV park anywhere near the DFW area due to the wide spread flooding closing other area parks.

After our departure from Grapevine we made our way thru Arkansas stopping in Little Rock, then Tennessee, who could miss the oppurtunity to go see Elvis, then Nashville country music city. Then we continued up to Bowling Green Kentucky to visist the Corvette factory and the notorious corvette museum that fell into a sink hole a year ago. We geocached in route to our destination hitting Indian, Ohio where we spent 3 weeks at Cross Creek RV Resort. We departed going thru West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland an Pennsylvania where we visisted  Frank Lloyds Fallingwater. We continued south thru North Carolina, South Carolina getting an opputunity to eat at Paula Deens "The Lady and her Son's. then on thru Georgia before landing in Jacksonville Florida.

We proceeded on to our RV lot in Jasper where we were to resolve some present issues with the resort owner.

We may head on down to Dade City and stay at Sawmill RV Resort for a little while before heading further south to Ft Meyers.

Heard that the Vineyards is thinking maybe September now is their target to open back up but it will be dependent on how quick the water recedes. Today the lake is still going over the spillway and therefore still well into the park