Yay, today we go home!
Well not until 9pm tonight actually, so first a visit to the Outlet Mall I think : ) Need to fill in the day somehow after all.
Last post from US for this trip!! Cheers!
Our Adventure for 2017
Wednesday, 18 October – to U-Haul, De Montrond and Airway Inn, Houston
Planes flew overhead from early morning but we slept through
most of it. Woke late but not too late
to go down for brekkie, cereal and toast so not too flash but we got a cup of
tea – there are no hot drink facilities in our room. It’s a bit rundown and in need of some TLC
but we are on the ground floor with a carpark right outside so easy to unload
the car.
Yesterday we got diesel at a local Exxon service station,
the same one we had used to fill the rental car a couple of days back. The pump
locked off at $100 which is a higher value than most, often the max is $75. We still needed more diesel to fill it to the
brim but the’ pay at pump’ would not accept my card again. So a visit inside to the cashier is the obvious
next step. But the card still does not
let us buy more diesel, it’s now in the too hard basket so we bail. A little later in the day I see I have a
missed call, a txt and an email from the Bank of America Fraud Office – WTF??
Apparently a forecourt sale of $100 is
unusual and is often fraudulent so the Bank wanted to get in touch to make sure
those were our transactions. Because
they were weird I txt back not accepted and the bank then cancelled my
card. To be fair they routed me through
to phoning the fraud office and I spoke with a charming young lady who sorted
it all out for us and reinstated my card.
Thank goodness - I will no doubt need to go shopping tomorrow!!
We get a final visit to Walmart, want to buy a padlock so we
can make sure the coach stays plugged into the power box while we are
away. So we go back to UHaul to fit the
lock and say another sad farewell to our faithful friend who has once again safely
delivered us more than 6,370 miles over the last five and a half months : (
Next stop is De Montrond to hand the keys and gate clicker
to Andrew who is our second point of contact at UHaul and who will visit to
make sure all is as it should be while we are gone.
Starbucks for coffee, Willowbrook Mall for lunch (yum Cinnabon) and
shopping then back to the hotel for a rest, it’s been another big day!
After a rest and a wine (it’s now nearly 8pm) we are ready
to go eat and find a Good Eats Restaurant nearby, about 4 miles away. It looks busy when we rock up so that is a
good sign. We are seated straight away
and start with their signature margarita – Eatsarita Rocks!! And it was large and very good – happy
face! The food following was also good
and this place is definitely worthy of another visit in the future.
Tuesday, 17 October – to U-Haul, Antoine Drive, Houston
Bit cool this morning, had to put the heat pump on for a
while. Used the camp showers over the road
‘cos my shower is so clean it sparkles!
The bathrooms here are new, lovely tile and the toilet cubicles are timber
clad. Very clean too! Now a final load of towels in the washer and
it’s breakfast time. Just got enough
cereal but Kim has to have toast today, he finished his cornflakes yesterday :
(
We get on the road about 11.30am and have a stilted one hour drive
down the I45 to North Houston, there are a couple of accident residues for us
to manoeuvre around. We get to U-Haul by
1.30 pm and it takes another 20 minutes to register!! Meantime Kim is pumping up the tires and
taking the Tyre Tracker thingies off. We
are in site 0069, same as last year!! We
park up with ply under the tyres, put jacks underneath to support the chassis
and we are all done and dusted just after 3pm.
 |
| Be good coach, see you next year!! |
Good work, as Enterprise should be here before 4pm to pick us up to take
us to sign up for our rental car for the two remaining days. Well that is wishful thinking! Eventually get to Enterprise around 5pm, take
delivery of our nearly new (4,000 miles) Dodge People Mover (Grand Caravan) and
head back to UHaul to load up our luggage and left over nibbles and drinks we might want at the hotel.
Then we make our way to the Airway Inn on Greens Road to
check in for two nights. Hmm, cheap is
not always the best – but we make it home for a couple of days.
We can return the rental car to the airport
for a $25 surcharge but then we have to man-handle our “heavy” bags onto the
shuttle bus to take us to Departures. Much
better to return the rental to the local agency, then take advantage of the
free shuttle from our hotel direct to the airport. They have even offered to collect us from Enterprise so are offering great service.
We are pretty tired after our busy day so duck out to Burger King to get some
takeout for dinner then call it an early night!
Monday, 16 October – TT Lake Conroe, Willis, TX 77318
Cleaning and packing today and many loads of laundry, poor
machine ran all day! Kim takes the rental car back and I get started on the cleaning. It's pretty much all
done by 3pm so time to sit outside in the pleasant 24C and have a read. Everyone else is rugged up in winter clothes, only us still think it's summer at 24C.
Derosted the freezer after dinner so we are in good shape to leave here tomorrow for the
storage at UHaul.
Sunday, 15 October – TT Lake Conroe, Willis, TX 77318
Day started off hot but a cold front is supposed to move
down from the north and cool things down substantially. We found a Radio Shack where Kim wants to
visit to buy some LED’s and stuff. We
were surprised to see it was open, many of these stores have closed down. I got dropped off across the road at Target
to do girls shopping. Then Kim went to Best Buys where he hypothetically spent
many thousand s of $ on new TV’s, fancy heads up displays for the car with I
phone compatibility, accessories for the drone, noise cancelling head phones
etc…..
Frozen Yoghurt for lunch, the first time we have done that
build your own healthy (or unhealthy) cup of various flavours, I picked two flavours - the Cheesecake and
Hawaiian but they had other strange flavours too – taro, spicy pumpkin etc. and
only later did I see they had tiny tasting cups so we could have tried those
weird flavours too. The toppings were
fresh fruit, various candies and syrups, the latter being the unhealthy
options. Anyway it was a nice refreshing
lunch!
By the time we get home around 4.30pm it’s a pleasant 24C
and there is a bit of a brisk breeze. I
go to pull in the small awning on the road side to save it flapping and it
makes a horrendous noise! The arm
attaching the front end to the coach has pulled away from the coach, all four
screws have let go. We go outside to
investigate, get the ladder out and two guys from the site behind us come over
to see if they can help. They told us a
motorhome had pulled in to the site beside us yesterday and hit our awning!! The driver got out to check but didn’t think
it worthy to leave any details and just buggered off! He definitely did hit the awning because the
roller had been shoved along some and the pin bent. It was a good project for Kim although I am
sure he would have much rather continued watching the motor racing on TV - it
was pretty exciting with lots of ‘moments’.
Saturday, 14 October – TT Lake Conroe, Willis, TX 77318
Shopping day today, for lack of any other inspiration. First is the Conroe Outlet Mall, a huge complex
with only about 15% of the shops occupied and the rest empty, quite sad to see. Then Baskin Robbins for lunch (yum) and then
we head south on the I45 about 7 miles to Woodlands Mall which is huge. The three main department stores are featured,
Nordstrom, Macy’s and JC Penny. I must
be losing my touch, don’t come out with any parcels. Kim first went to the Food Court but it was
so noisy he found a comfortable lounge chair at the other end, logged into
the free wifi and was happy for a couple of hours.
Back to the coach for a relax out in the sun by the pool, before a cold
drink prior to heading out for dinner.
‘Cos we can, we have a car!
Planned to go to Texas Roadhouse for a steak, but when we
got there around 6.30pm the queue was outside along the pathway so we abandoned
that, it was too hot to sit outside to wait so went next door to Denny’s
instead. My Chicken served on aone of those sizzle platters, with roast potato, onions, mushrooms and peppers was huge. Kim managed to eat his Pot Roast on mashed potatoes and Chocolate Sundae in the time it took me to finish mine.
Friday, 13 October – TT Lake Conroe, Willis, TX 77318
Ohh Black Friday!! I
was awake early and it was foggy, a perfect time to for a walk!
We have booked a rental car from today for three days, we
only really need a couple of days but Enterprise is not open on Sunday and we
need a ride back to base when we return it, so three days it is. The plan for today is to go to the Texas Govt.
Drivers Licencing office and book in to start the process for a Texas Driving
License, this would mean we could save a lot or $ on our coach insurance. You can book on line for an appointment and
we did give that a try but we couldn’t chose a day/time to suit us and anyway
Kim would rather front up and take it from there. So we rock up to the outfit and there are
about 92 people sitting in the waiting room (maximum seating for 94) waiting for
their turn. Kim hasn’t even filled out
his paperwork so it’s not looking likely that this will go much further! Short version of the long and fraught version,
is that we won’t be applying for a Texas Drivers Licence any time soon!
What to do next, we have a rental car - Kim has been lamenting
not having a car for most of this trip, he says he wants to look around! So here we are, we have a car and a free day
or three, what would he like to do?? It
turns out he has no plans he just wants to have a car. So I win - let’s go shopping. But first we go to Walmart and rent a Rug
Doctor so we can clean our carpet and upholstery. That takes a couple of hours and then we
return the Rug Doctor. It did a pretty
good job too.
Just off the I45 is a shopping centre with a few of the
shops I would like to visit - so that’s where we go. Spend a couple of hours shopping with a good
result (parcels) then back to the coach to check the state of our carpet
etc. It is a bit damp still but we have
a drink and nibbles and think about what we might do next. In the end we eat our own food at home and I
google what where we might go to look around tomorrow., Kim wants ice cream so got that sorted, I
have also found a steakhouse close by so that will be dinner tomorrow
night.
Thursday, 12 October – TT Lake Conroe, Willis, TX 77318
Lazy day, and hot, spent some time at and in the pool : )
Wednesday, 11 October – TT Lake Conroe, Willis, TX 77318
On the road at 9.15 am, starting our 135 mile trip south
towards Houston. It was a good trip, the
roads were OK, some roadworks but no delays.
Saw lots of cotton growing. The
I45 was eventful, on the north bound lanes we saw the result of two 18 wheelers
coming together in a way not intended.
One was facing back our way and the other was in the ditch facing the
right way. Didn’t look like anyone hurt,
luckily.
 |
| Oops! |
Arrived at TT Lake Conroe, they are expanding, 67 new
concrete patio sites (The Reserve) have been laid out next to the existing
park. They hope to have it all open and
operational by November. Good to see
some money being spent by Thousand Trails.
 |
| Nice new flat concrete sites in The Reserve |
This park is much more like the resort style we kinda
expected from Thousand Trails. The roads are pretty good, the pool looks lovely
with it’s matching red umbrella’s and cabana’s as we pass on the way to find
our site.
 |
| Manicured hedges, grass and lovely cabanas |
WIFI here is by a third party and so is the Cable TV, you
pay for both. We picked a 50 amp full
hook up pull through site in section F, close to the pool and activity centre
etc. Usual surcharge of $3 for 50
amp. Our site is almost level but quite
narrow, it’s one of those double side by side sites designed for two rigs, each
facing opposite directions with their road sides together. There is no one next to us though, in fact
most doubles here have only one rig on them.
Our grass area is a bit hilly, will need to watch our heads on the
awning won’t we Kim!
After we have set up and had something to eat, I go off for
an explore. The pool indeed looks very
nice and I will head there soon, there is only the one pool but there is an
adult only hour from 9-10am. The Jacuzzi
is adults only. The cabanas look
inviting!
 |
| Could while away an hour or two here! |
 |
| Poolside, lots of vacant recliners, one has my name on it! |
 |
| Firepit |
There is a sandy beach on the lake with a boat rental kiosk,
some docks and a boat launch.
 |
| Beautiful Lake Conroe |
They have permanents here too but they are away in a separate
area – Extended Vacation Sites they are called here, the ranger told us not to
bother looking for a site in those areas. The activity centre is central and close to us. Outside activities include mini golf, tennis, pickleball,
softball, basketball (I through a few hoops for practise) and volleyball. There is a fitness centre, café (not open
today) and a separate adult centre.
There are some cute cabins in the Getaway Village too.
Overall it has a nice feel and we will enjoy our last six sleeps
in the coach here.
Tuesday, 10 October – TT Lake Whitney, Whitney, TX
Very cool last night, had to put the heater on this morning
- it is only 14C, a big drop from yesterday’s high of 33C. We are staying here one more day, the drive
to the next Thousand Trails near Houston is 3.5 hours but we decided it was
easier to stay than try and split the drive, there weren’t many places to stay
on the way.
It's a misty, cold lazy day, watched TV, did more of the new jigsaw, then we went
for a walk to get some fresh air and for Kim to see the lake etc. On the way back we stopped at the Adult Centre
for the ‘International Pool Challenge of 2017’.
I was looking quite handy at various stages but the end scores reflected
my inferior skills. Good work Kim!
We’ve also given the coach windows a big birthday, took off all the insect screens to
give them a much needed wash and cleaned all the interior windows before
putting the screens back on. Bit of a mission
but a good job done!
Things we will remember about TT Lake Whitney: There is no free wifi hotspot with internet!!! No apology either and no response from multiple
phone messages. Green wristbands. Nice
pool but had to share with families. Bathroom blocks are old and a bit rundown. Black bags over power pedestals effectively closing many sites, they do
this to separate the rigs as if all power pedestals are in use the power cuts
out for everyone. Horses, rabbits and a roadrunner!
Monday, 9 October – TT Lake Whitney, Whitney, TX
I was awake early, before sunrise so left Kim slumbering and went for a walk down to the Lake. I
have learned the first thing you have to do is select a perfectly formed
cobweb fending stick, one with some forks to collect the webs so they don’t
wrap back around the stick and get you. I chose a particularly good one this
morning and off I set. Some bunnies were
also out early enjoying the sunrise.
 |
| This is one web I didn't walk into, little insect did though! |
 |
| And the spider is at home!! |
The lake is actually part of Army Corp of Engineers land but maintained by Thousand Trails. The
lake was pretty and not just a flat expanse of water, there were some
cliffs. There were a couple of benches
to sit at while taking in the vista.
 |
| Lake Whitney to the north with well placed bench to sit and take in the view! |
 |
| Lake Whitney to the south |
I could see the fin of a largish fish right close in the
shallows by the shore, don’t know if it was feeding or laying eggs. It stayed there for some minutes but when I
crept closer it took off, and a second later a huge fish much like a trout did
this gymnastic leap right out of the water.
On the way back I checked out the trail which starts down
some steps by the pool. I didn’t go too
far along this as I’ve already been gone for nearly an hour and Kim might be
worried although I did take my phone and leave his by the bed.
Weird weather, the forecast high is 33C today dropping down to 21C
tomorrow. It’s snowing in Denver. More strife in the USA, bad wildfires in North California, the Napa/Sonoma Valley
wine area particular has been affected, some wineries have lost everything. 15 people have lost their lives! Southern California is now also dealing with wildfires, tragic!
Just another example of things ‘out of action’ at this CG, the
family pool is closed for the day so we have an influx of kids at our
pool. They were all having a good time
though. It was hot, needed to be at the pool! We did get a txt from Management advising of the closure though.
The projected thunderstorms eventually got to us, we had
some lightening and then rain overnight.
 |
| Yep, promised thunderstorms are on their way! |
Sunday, 8 October – TT Lake Whitney, Whitney, TX
Ooh - a bit cool this morning, needed to drag the blankie up
sometime early morning. The sun is shining though and it soon warms
ups. Cook-up for brekkie this
morning. We only have another couple of
weeks here so need to start working our way through the food we have
amassed.
Well lookit that, a couple of young girls on horses ride
past the front of the motorhome.
 |
| Giddyup! |
Kim gets a haircut, then we go over to the Adult Lounge to
play with the WIFI but there is no internet.
I phoned the office and left three messages asking for help but no
reply. Another example of lots of talk
and not so much walk but have a nice day anyway! Anyway Kim had brought his phone so we used our hotspot to
do the buso.
Back to the coach for a
coffee then off to the pool to take a dip or two. The couple we met at TT Lake Texoma are there
and we are soon joined by another couple, teachers, who camp in one of those
cute little DPods. We spend a couple of hours chatting, swimming and soaking up the sun.
There is a roadrunner lurking around the sites where we are,
it has been a bit elusive so haven’t been able to get a photo yet. Will keep trying!
Saturday, 7 October – TT Lake Whitney, Whitney, TX
Woke to see the sun rising over the driving range. Another nice day looming and today is a
travel today as we chose to abandon this TT Lake Tawakoni two days earlier than planned. We have about three hours on the road today
so set up around 9am.
The first little town we come to is Wills Point and the main
streets are brick paved – makes for a rather lumpy tummy jiggly ride.
 |
| Paved brick main street of Wills Point |
We join the I20 which takes us around the bottom of Dallas, we have now circumnavigated the city by about 75%.
Next place of interest is Waxahachie, I just like saying it,
it’s almost like a poem in the one word.
However the Texas Motorplex is here also.
Road works on the I35E don’t slow us down much, there are still
two lanes each way operational. They
have so much room in the States, they just expand outwards. But they did have the forethought when
building the roads in the beginning to allow for expansion.
 |
| OK, we'll just make some new lanes in the middle! |
We turn off at Hillsboro and find we have joined the Texas
Lakes Trail.
Ten minutes later we arrive at Thousand Trails Lake
Whitney. We are hoping this is a nicer
campground than the last. First
impression is that it might be. The gate
house and registration areas are modern and well kept. Mimi & Papa’s Kitchen is open Wednesday
through Sunday. The park and Kitchen is
open to the public so we are issued with fluoro green wristbands to indicate we are members and not just Joe Public?
Wonder if that gets us special treatment?
The roads to the camping loops are in good condition but when
we check out the few available sites we are once again disappointed. The story we are told is that someone drove over one of
the power stands which knocked out power to intermittent sites through the whole CG. Half of the vacant sites had black bags over
the power stands indicated they are out of action. Of course this covers all of the nice 50 amp
full hook up sites and half of the 30 amp full hook up sites so we are limited
pretty much to 30 amp with water, no sewer. We pick a large pull through site and set
up. The power cuts out twice with just
one of the AC’s on. Hmm, we’re not overly
impressed with this Thousand Trails CG either.
Kim of course thinks it is a conspiracy, they just don’t want us to use
those sites and even maybe run around the sites putting bags on them just
before we arrive to make sure we can’t : )
Anyway the scenery is nice, there is a golf course to the
left and Lake Whitney is ahead just down the road from loop A where we set
up. This is close to the adult pool,
family lodge, adult lodge (above family lodge and exercise room) for which we
have been given the gate code. I guess
they need to be a bit careful as the park is open to the public. The laundry is located here also and it has
been upgraded to accept debit and credit cards, no more hunting for
quarters. The Jacuzzi is’ out of action’
- could be another conspiracy! There are
horse corrals at the end of our loop.
The kidney shaped pool was refreshing and we had our pick of
loungers as we were the only ones there for a while. Then another couple came for a dip, but they
didn’t stay long. Time has flown today,
it’s 5.30pm before we leave the pool, we will have to rush through our drinks
and nibbles before dinner!
 |
| Didn't walk down to the lake for the photo, it was pretty enough from our site |
Something interesting
which I think we have only had in Texas are the Government issued Amber
Alerts. A klaxon alarm sounds on our
phones with a notification, this time about a missing three year old girl from
Houston. You can turn the notifications
off but what if we happened to see a lost three year old?? We have had them for
missing teenagers and elderly people missing from hospital wards etc. Plus they often post these messages on the
led road signs.
Friday, 6 October, TT Lake Tawakoni, Point, TX 75472
No sleep in for us today, a bloke has a chainsaw and a
tractor right outside the bedroom window and it’s not yet 7.30am. Heard an owl last night, had a very deep
hoot.
Sun is shining and
it’s 22C, nice! After getting ourselves
organised for the day take myself off for a walk along the nature trail while
Kim does insidey stuff. Whoa, right there
right on the path before me is a big snake, it’s not moving and as I get closer
I see that it is missing it’s head, phew! Maybe a dog got it or something.
 |
| Headless snake |
The rest of the nature trail was way less eventful, lots of
trees and rustling in the leaves but didn’t see any other wildlife. There are critters here though, I see
footprints where the ground is muddy.
 |
| Raccoons I reckon! |
 |
| Nature Trail |
 |
| Could be a tad difficult getting to this jetty from the water |
Then we spend a couple of hours in the adults lounge using
the WIFI. For once we don’t have it all
to ourselves, another couple come in to do the same and then a couple of blokes
come in to play pool. When we come out from the AC it doesn’t seem to be so muggy
so sit outside and have a little read.
I finish the latest jigsaw today, minus the missing pieces
and then take it over to swap with a new one from the club rooms.
 |
| All finished except for missing pieces! Don't you hate that? |
 |
| Swapped it for one of these hopefully complete jigsaws |
Things to remind us about Lake Tawakoni: 39 amp full hook-up,
pool closed, big Adult Lodge with good wifi, driving range, rough roads, dusty
site amongst trees, cobwebs everywhere, jetty, lily pads and frogs, chainsaw and
tractor, snake on path.
Thursday, 5 October, TT Lake Tawakoni, Point, TX 75472
Yay - the brilliant blue sky and big yellow sunshine are
back. Travel day today! Going across the other side (east) of Dallas
to another Thousand Trails CG. Both GPS’s
don’t recognise the address but it is correct, I checked it online. However the Allstays App on the IPAD does
know about it so we should find it OK.
It’s about three hour drive.
 |
| Say 'bye to Dracula - leaving Bay Landing!! |
 |
| Ghosties in the trees |
 |
| Field full o'punkins |
It was a pleasant drive, we decided against the faster option of the I35 so we would avoid Dallas,
been there before. So TX380 did the job, some of this we drove four
days ago to get to Bay Landing. Along
the way we saw a couple of examples of a new town being built in the middle of
nowhere, They do it well, they build
the town around the new spec houses (all but one had the same brown tile roof),
join some new entry roads from the Highway to the suburb and Bobs your Uncle.
Arrived 2.30pm, no Halloween decorations welcoming us today. Checked out all the sites to find the best of
the bunch and eventually were set up by 3.30pm.
All the sites here are 30 amp only, but we do have sewer so can launder
to my heart’s content. WTF – the two pools
(family and adult) are closed for summer - but it’s 29C?? The roads around the park are patchy,
literally and pretty rough. The lakeside
sites are all taken up by permanents as is usual in these places. This end of Lake Tawakoni is not particularly
enticing anyway, some of it is appears to be just stagnant low water. Our site was asphalt at some stage but there
is a thick layer of dust covering everything now. There aren’t many people around our loop but most
of the sites all have rigs in them.
There is a solitary kid riding her bike backwards and forwards. So not really feeling the love today!
Off for a walk to explore the Adult Lodge Pavillion, nobody there but
the AC is on, there are a couple of pool tables, some books and jigsaws, a TV
and lounge area. The pool has water in
it still but management has cancelled the contract to have the pool looked
after so the chemical balance will be out of kilter - no swimming : (
This is the worst place for cobwebs, Everywhere you walk they drape over you. I tried to see what was jumping around in the
lilly pads but didn’t go as far as the end of the pier, the spiders won.
So we have changed our stay here to just two nights, one
full day tomorrow. Then reduced the next
TT booking to 3 nights and extended the final booking to 6 nights – we know
this is a nice place and we will get a rental car for some for the time. All of this I could do on line using our
hotspot : ) There is free WIFI at the two pavilions but we can’t pick it up here.
Wednesday, 4 October – TT Bay Landing, Bridgeport, TX 76426
Another music great gone to heaven this week, RIP Tom
Petty. It’s a pity it was falsely posted
on FB, denied and then it became true.
Shouldn’t be a thing to get wrong really!
Overcast today but I started the ‘borrowed’ jigsaw yesterday
so have plenty to keep me occupied today.
The young girl from the next rig half a dozen spaces away
came to visit. She is 11 years old and
she seemed very outgoing and precocious.
She told me she is autistic. She’s
the youngest of the three kids aged 11 thru 16 and with the parents, one dog
and three cats travel full time in a fifth wheel. The kids are home schooled. The parents didn’t seem to care she had gone
walkabout.
The coyotes howled at the full moon last night. I hope they are feasting on the insects,
snakes and bunnies and not the baby deer or the calves in the paddock adjacent. Also I hope all the campers have their pets
inside tonight!
Tuesday, 3 October – TT Bay Landing, Bridgeport, TX 76426
 |
| Happy Birthday Kim!! |
 |
| Birthday boy enjoying his Chocolate Birthday Cake and coffee outside! |
The compartments underneath get a birthday today too – a tidy
and a vacuum!
We took our bikes off for an explore with a view to ultimately
ending up at the pool for a swim. The
somewhat overcast start to the day cleared to blue sky but then those same
skies darkened mid-afternoon so we didn’t stay too long. It looks like a thunderstorm could be threatening. But we did check out the WIFI at the
Clubhouse first, then a ride to Lookout Point where we saw a family of deer
enjoying the newly mown grass.
Unfortunately I didn’t bring the camera, or the phone so no photos!
There have been some comings and goings today but there
didn’t seem to be too many people out and about while we were exploring.
 |
| Bright yellow butterfly on a pretty red flower |
Monday, 2 October – TT Bay Landing, Bridgeport, TX 76426
Could see the sun rising through the front facing bedroom
window, but couldn’t quite work up to getting out of bed to look at it up close
and personal. The sky is clear, the day
is warm but around noon the wind increases. We are pretty protected here by the
trees on the lakefront, but we can see the wind blowing around the internal
loop sites. So, it’s pretty late by the
time we get to think about food - bacon,
eggs and hash brown etc. are the order of the day! Mmmm!!
We need to work off some of that energy, so the coach gets a
wash and polish. Feeling satisfied!
We learn of the tragedy in Vegas as we turn on the TV to
check the weather. A lone shooter taking
out over 56 innocent country music fans, injuring hundreds more!! What next??
After a coffee and a break we head to that pool. The bike ride there is not all flat, it might
look flat, but it ain’t! There is only
one other couple at the pool and they are really chatty. They are full timers on the road, he is early
retired from the police force. They were
really interesting to talk to and they tell us about local snakes down by the
lake front and the coyotes last night (not my imagination)!! There
are deer here too, so need to go check them out a bit later.
After soaking up the sun for an hour or so and a couple of
dips in the pool, we head back to the coach for nibbles and a cold drink,
followed some time later by dinner and we have had another beautiful day in
Paradise!
Followed by another pretty sunset!!
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| Lake Bridgeport, Texas |
Sunday, 1 October – Thousand Trails Bay Landing, Bridgeport, TX 76426
Woke to a very light misty rain which soon cleared to bright
blue sky and brilliant sunshine. Travel
day today but only around 85 miles or so and we are on the road about quarter
before ten. Driving along the highway towards the I35 we know we are in
Texas, we pass ranches with their names proudly displayed over the gates and a lot display the lone star
of Texas. This area particularly is
horse country but there are cattle too behind white fences in well defined
paddocks. Many Texas flags flutter in
the breeze. Of all the states I think
Texas is the most proud of theirs.
 |
| Texas Ranch |
We drove past several well attended churches this morning,
they even have a designated Cowboy Church, or maybe it was a Cowboy Country
Church!
First stop is for fresh supplies at Walmart in the thriving
metropolis of Denton. Every man and his
aunt and uncle are here this Sunday morning and the lines to the checkouts are
5 or 6 deep. Although it is one of the
new generation, posher Walmarts, they have no iceburg lettuce for Kim and
although they have wine for sale (yay – finally) I am still thwarted because it’s
not yet noon so I can’t buy any!
However there is another Walmart just 12 miles further at
Decatur and we arrive here after mid day so wine sales are on!! Plus they have lettuce and our fav tea bags
so all good. I will be having a wine
tonight : )
Shortly after we arrive at TT Bay Landing, on Bridgeport
Lake. We are welcomed by an enthusiastic display of scary Halloween creatures.
 |
| Ohh, scary!! |
It’s a big
campground, over 300 sites but not many of them are 50 amp and once again there
is a surcharge of $3/night for 50 amp. We’ve
used our free 30 nights so now pay just $4 per night. The needle hasn’t passed 30C today so I think
we’ll be OK with just one AC on at a time so choose a lakeside 30 amp site with water with neighbours only on one side
and they are not here. We are only here four days, if we last that long.
The camp sadly is a little rundown, they had
three empty 50 amp full hook-up sites close
to the Pool and Clubhouse which is the only place you can get their WIFI, but
these sites were out of action for some reason and look like they had been for
some time. All the other sites had been
snaffled up by mostly permanents. The buildings all look OK from the outside, will
explore them later. The sites are large
where we are but just gravel or grass.
There are trees around the outside perimeter by the lake but only a few to
provide shade on the inside loop.
It was almost 3 by the time we drove through the whole campground and sussed out the best spot for us, so we set up and get ready to lax back and
enjoy. There is a nice little rock track
down to the lake and we have a fire pit and a grill. The wooden picnic table is a bit wobbly but.
I did have a wine tonight and I did enjoy it!!
 |
| Beautiful sunset over Lake Brideport, TX |
It was a lovely quiet, starry night except for at some stage
there was some noise from what I thought was a pack of wild dogs or coyotes??
Saturday, 30 September - Thousand Trails Lake Texoma, Gordonville, TX76245
The sun is peeping through the clouds this morning. There’s lots on today. First we go to the Adults Lodge to use WIFI
then back in time to go to JJ’s at the Family Centre for lunch – Three Meat
Pizza. It was pretty good on the pizza scale!
 |
| Lunch - done and dusted! |
As we were finishing up, we were the last they served before
closing time, the activities team started the ‘Football Chips and Dip’ function
to kick off Football season. Tasted a
range of chips and dips, got some new faves.
We were still there at 2pm when the Football Bingo started. Well I can’t remember the last time I played
Bingo, but they do it way better now. We had
these plastic boards with sliding transparent covers. Also it wasn't just a line and a house, there were patterns selected prior to each game which you had to match.
 |
| New Age Bingo Boards |
Anyway I’m very glad I stayed for the Bingo because I won
the four corners game so got to pick my prize - finally I have a proper wine bottle opener –
my lucky day!! Have been struggling with a dumb one up to now. Just need some wine to go with.
 |
| I chose a very useful prize!! |
Then at 4.30pm there is a meeting to showcase the new
benefits Thousand Trails is introducing. We went but the changes probably don't affect us unless we want to upgrade to a lifetime package or have a permanent site at one of the parks.
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