Memphis and Graceland

We have moved on to Memphis and are staying in the Graceland RV Park across the street from the Elvis Presley's Mansion. We toured the Mansion and his car museum and air planes yesterday. The tour took almost four hours and their was alot to see.

Beale Street

Soul Food

The Coyote Ugly Bar

The Mansion

The Grave Site of Elvis

His mothers Pick Cadillac

Today we went downtown to Beale Street and listend to music and checked out the sites. Here are some pictures. We are headed north tomorrow.

Hot Springs Arkansas

This is the Spa we soaked our old body's at.

In this photo you can see the old tub, cooling table and steam cabinets.

We stayed in a very nice National Park near town for $11.00 a day with the old geezer pass. This is a beautiful area in the Ozark mountains and it has a great history.  Back in the early 1900's they built large bath houses and piped in the hot mineral water to soak in. These bath houses are very large with three story's to accommodate dozens of bathers. Some of the bath houses are still operating and have been updated with ceramic tile and modern Jacuzzi tubs. The water is 130 degrees coming out of the ground. The water is very clear and has no smell or taste.Their are fountains down town that people collect the water in glass jugs for use at home, it is free for the taking. Lynn and I sign up for a hot bath and a massage, boy did that feel good. The rest of the day we did not do much. Hot Springs was very popular with the Mafia back in the twenty's and many celebrities visit regularly. In the 20's and 30's the major baseball teams came here for spring training and lived it up. I will try and attach some pictures.

Easter in Dallas

Grandma and Ashley

Bryan and Ian

We stayed in the same COE park that we stayed in in December on Lake Lavone. Grandma spent Saturday running around town with Ashley and Ian. And we went to Ashleys for easter dinner. We left Monday morning for Hot Springs Arkansas. Safe travels.

Heading Home

We are leaving Mission Texas Thursday morning and headed for Dallas for Easter. We will spend the weekend with our grand daughter and then head for Hot Springs Ark.
We had a very bad storm hear the other night and the town is a mess. We lost our patio awning and thought the trailer was going to take off with it.
We have had a great time here in Fiesta Village and plan to return next year.

Mission Texas



Driving on the beach at South Padre Island
Click on photo to enlarge.

Cocktails on our patio with Jen and Rich

Preparing the Spigetti Dinner

One of my Blue Ribbon Pictures.

A Block Party

Dancing at Crazy Joes on Sunday afternoon.

The biker seem to like this place.

Sinkronized swimming at the varity show.

A County Western Dance at the hall.

Our Condo in Brownsville

Well we made it to mission the day be for Christmas and have been having a great time. I will try an give you an idea of our routine. Tuesday through Friday Lynn does Water Aerobics at 8:30 am, and I walk the entire park, about two miles. Tuesdays Lynn goes to Line Dancing Class, Thursdays we have a Spanish Class. I think about three more years and I will be able to count to ten. We take a Country Dance lesson on Thursdays. I take a photo class on Tuesday mornings. I play shuffle board on Tuesday's and Thursdays and also play Water Volleyball on those days. Lynn has done some sewing classes also. Their are just to many activity's to mention. Every week one of the blocks puts on a dinner. Our block did a Spaghetti Dinner last week, we served 312 people. They had a variety show last week that was very entertaining. A couple of weeks ago there was a park wide craft competition and I entered four photographs and won four Blue Ribbons. Lynn goes shopping with the girls on the block every week and she always has fun. Every evening there is a cocktail hour at somebodies place on the street. Every month we have a block party, more drinking and eating. The middle of March the bock is having the big end of winter party, this year is a Circus Theme so we have to dress up in costumes. We generally spend every afternoon at the pool keeping cool. I will post a few pictures of our activities. We will head home the first week in April.

San Antonio

Lynns last day with her great grandson.

These fish hang under an overpass on the river ride.

One of the many waterfalls on our boat ride.

The boat is entering a lock to transfer to the new section.

Lynn in front of the Alamo. Notice the other folks are in short sleeves.

Well we left Dallas yesterday morning and headed south to San Antonio, about 250 miles. We are in the Stone Creek RV park. This is another full hookup, half price campground with Passport America that has a pool and hot tub. It was a nice day for a drive, I did have to stop and repair the right out side mirror that came loose and was useless. I wanted to stop and show Lynn downtown San Antonio. I visited here about twenty years ago and enjoyed the River Walk and seeing the Alamo. We took a boat ride down the river and had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe along the river. It was a beautiful day and reached about 75 degrees. They have expanded the river walk since I was here last and it runs for about eight miles now through downtown. We expect to arrive in Mission TX tomorrow and spend the winter with my Dad, he is excited we are coming. We will miss the adventure of traveling in the motor home and being able to change our scenery whenever we choose. The RV lifestyle is not for everyone but we sure have enjoyed it for the past five months. We will return to Michigan in late April and take a couple weeks to drive home, camping in the Smoky Mountains. This will be my last blog until April so check back in the spring. I hope you have enjoyed reading about our adventure.

Trip Downtown

The last couple days we have been site seeing the big town of Dallas. We went and seen a beautiful Bronze sculpture of wild Mustangs that are larger than life size and are remarkable in detail. We also went to the spot John F. Kennedy was shot. They have built a memorial and put a museum of the assassination on the sixth floor of the book depository where Oswald supposedly shot the President. Their are allot of people who believe their were two shooters, one in the building and the other on the grassy knoll. Ashley's husbands grandfather was the lead investigator for the Dallas police department and he believes their was a man dressed as a police officer behind the wall on the grassy knoll.

Mustangs running across the river

There are fountains under their hooves

This picture gives an idea of their size.

Book depository where Oswald was hiding.

The old county building.

The grassy knoll.

There are allot of sky scrapers downtown.

This is the first cabin built in Dallas.

His first Santa picture.

OK we are having fun now.

We walked down to Ne mas Marcus so Ian could see Santa and their was quite a lineup to see him. The store was decorated beautifully for Christmas . After our site seeing we returned to Ashley's and Lynn and Ashley made us a delicious pork loin dinner. The weather was great today with full sunshine and 63 degrees. Tomorrow is supposed to be nice again. I don't think I mentioned gasoline here is $2.98. Here are a few pictures.

Dallas Visit

We arrived in Dallas yesterday about noon. The drive was pretty good except for some wind. When we entered Fort Worth I knew why I moved to Traverse City. We drove right through the middle of Dallas Fort Worth OMG the traffic was something I am not used to. It was raining and very difficult to see so it was a difficult drive. It took hours to drive through these cities. We are staying at the Corp of Engineers camp ground on Lake Lavone. It is beautiful here and cost $9 with full hookup with the old geezer card. We are about fifteen miles from our grand daughters apartment. Miles don't really count, it took us an hour to get there yesterday. We will find an easier way today. Lynn was all excited to see her grand daughter and great grandson and just could not wait to get here. We will be here a week and then head for San Antonio before going to Mission TX for the winter. Here are a few pictures.

I have been hauling this chair since August. I think he likes it.

Learning to read.

Grandma's happy now.

I think he likes me too.

Carlsbad Caverns

Friday we just hung around the campground and visited with our neighbors. Saturday Lynn went shopping with six ladies from the park. They went to a craft show at a school and some local shops then stopped for lunch. Lynn said she had a lot of fun. I fixed a shower door for the lady next door and helped another friend install a new counter top in his Casi ta. Today we went to Carlsbad Caverns and walked through the caves. it was cold this morning and very fogy driving up the mountain to the park. The fog was freezing on the plants when we got to the top. The caverns run for a hundred miles under New Mexico and have not all been explored yet. The old geezer pass covered the entrance fee of $20 each, boy that thing has really paid for it's self. We took the elevator down 750 feet to the cave and hiked for two hours through the Big Room. All I can say is WOW this place is awesome. It reminds me of walking up to the edge of the Grand Canyon for the first time, it just takes your breath away. The pictures do not do it justice, it is too dark for the camera to see very far. If you are ever in this area this is a must see. It is spectacular. We will be heading for Dallas Tuesday and the weather looks good. Stay safe and warm.

A frosty morning.

Ice from the fog on the cactus.

Does Lynn look cold?

Entrance to the Big Room

Click on the picture and read the sign.

These are the remains of the fire

Everything was burnt for miles/

Caves are cool.