Getting Home Again

I think it is fair to say that I am back home now. Or better back to my winter home. We got into Bentsen Grove in Mission this afternoon. We have already seen quite a few people that we know from years past. It is good to see them and good to know that every day or every few days there will be more coming in that we know. Any where I turn off the ignition of the Vectra is home. That is one of the nice things about living in a home with wheels. It is rather funny that I feel at home several place in the USA. There is one in New York, one in Colorado, at least two in Texas, and officially one in South Dakota. I also have a home in Kansas sorta.

We drove about two hundred miles today to get here. A lot of the way I was thinking about how today contrasts so much with a hundred or so years ago. Today I drove my 40 foot home along paved roads at 50 to 60 miles an hour being pushed by 350 horses. There were only small potholes in the road and there was no dust to of which to speak. Every stream and gully had a bridge across it that did not even slow me down. My home had AC and a heater to adjust the temp to whatever I wanted it to be. I had entertainment at the touch of a switch that I could change as I wished. At anytime I could stop and have a meal that could either be hot or cold or a combination of both. I carried fresh clean water with me to drink or wash or anything else I could think to do with it. Part of that water was frozen into ice cubes. I had with me phones that would summons help for any problem that I might have had. I had at least three devices that would tell me exactly where I was and where I needed to go, I only used one but I had three. There was not one time that I felt there was any danger from any other human being and I was not concerned about what the weather was like.

When the country was still being settled things were very different. The homes, if they could be called that, were maybe ten foot long and were pulled by two horses or often by two ox. If they had a good day ten miles might be covered. On days that things did not go so well, perhaps with mud mired to the axles, a half mile might be all that covered. There were holes and rocks in some places that could break wagon axles or the legs of draft animals. When the days were dry the dust would get into every part of wagon and into the lungs of all the people. Every stream and gully could spell disaster or loss of property. The people were subjected to high heat, freezing cold, driving rains, snow, wind, insects and hardships that the modern person does not even think about. The food they had was subject to spoilage and would be called coarse today. They carried water in a barrel that at best would be warm. When water was found it was often or usually muddy and many places there were days between refills. If there were problems the people had to solve themselves or perhaps die. At any time it might be a guess as to the location where they were and where they needed to go was by landmarks. During certain times and in certain areas there was danger from Confederate or Union soldiers, Indians, bandits or highway robbers. And of course the weather was always a danger along with disease and accidents.

I have often heard some comment about life in the past being good and in a lot of respects that is right. I think it mostly is a matter of comparison. Do you compare today to then or should you compare then to another area of the country at the same time. I believe that the latter makes more sense than the former. We really do not know what it was in another time unless we have lived in that time. But we can imagine a lot of it must have been. Between what I know of today and what I imagine of times past I am glad that I live in these times. I wish that I could experience other times so that I could know more of those times.

I am hoping that Bentsen Grove does not have mosquitoes like we left in Rockport. With the exception of Mosquito Pass in Colorado I have never been around as many mosquitoes as there were around where we were parked in the campground. I know that it was just the fact that the weather condition were perfect for breeding, because in past visits and areas a mile or so away this year there were a lot less of the critters. I know that there are several varieties of mosquitoes and we saw at least three different size in the past weeks. As you know Texas people always brag about the size of everything. No matter what it is Texas is supposed to have the biggest. That was especially true before Alaska became a state. I can assure you that I am glad there were not a lot of mosquitoes the size of this one that I found trying to make a hole into the side of the Vectra. If it had gotten inside it might have carried both the wife and myself off in the woods for private consumption.


TEXAS SIZED MOSQUITO

We always have fun feeding the seagulls in Rockport. As one of the last things we did there before we left was to have a final feeding to get rid of the last of the gull food. The place we picked was near a kids playground where a little five year old girl and her grandmother was playing on the swing. Erma asked the girl if she would like to feed the gulls. She was eager to feed them as long as she was close to Erma. There were times that she hung on to Erma's arm with one hand and tossed food with her other hand. Also she would lean against Erma's leg whenever the gulls got to close and when Erma moved back a step she would move closer too. As I have said months ago "If you want to increase your pleasure share it with a small child." This little girl was a great delight to us.


FEEDING SEAGULLS BY THE BAY

Till later this is Uncle Duck

New Friends

Before we started full timing we went to a Life On Wheels Conference and I heard an interesting quote. I wish I could remember exactly how the quotation was said because I would expect that it was better in the original than I will be able to come up with. It was something like, "The first time you meet new people it is pleasant. The second time you meet them you say, 'I remember you." The third time you meet them you remember their names and where they are from. The fourth time they are good friends that your are glad to spend time with." While this quote may have been meant to cover several weeks or at least several camps it sometimes works in a shorter time, or at least the time table can be varied. We have met some new friends here.

We are staying in Bayview RV Resort in Rockport Texas. This a camp and area that we have enjoyed six times over the years. One of the places that we enjoy here is a restaurant called The Big Fisherman. It is an early stop for us when we get to Rockport. The fish that they serve is so good and the price is quite reasonable. After we got our motor home set up we were ready for a fish fix. We asked our neighbors, Floyd and Shirley, if they would like to go with us to eat at The Big Fishermen, and they did. In talking to them we decided that we had spent a evening at the same club house table with them during one of our previous visits. During the week we went to several restaurants with them and spent several evenings playing cards and learning new games. We line danced at the club house a few times too. Bayview is one of the few places that there has been a good area to dance. We found out that we have a lot of interest that are similar so now we are looking forward to getting together with them when we get down to the Valley to winter and also introduce them to some of our Bentsen Grove friends. We think that there will be a very good likelihood that additional friendships will develop.

One game that we learned, and really enjoyed, was called Fast Track. It is a card game that uses a board set up that is similar to Pegs and Jokers, but it has a twist or two. I am sure that other people would enjoy playing this game. I may have to buy the boards. The fellow that makes the boards live in Kansas and comes to McAllen to winter. So maybe he can send a set by mail or bring it to Texas when he comes.

There is a ferry that goes back and forth between Aransas Pass and Aransas Port that is always fun to take. The Aransas Port side ends on Mustang Island not too far from a beach that can be driven with cars and even motorhomes. You can drive along the beach for roughly eight miles and camp along most of it. I think it would be fun to spend a few nights within seventy-five to a hundred foot of the active surf. At least if it was not during a storm. But on the other hand I am not sure that I would want to expose my Vectra to the salt spray that would be created there. There were a couple small motor homes along the beach when we drove along it earlier this week. As we drove down the beach there was one spot where the seagulls were just going after something like mad. We drove up close and could see a pile of something that appeared to be a pile of dog food. The gulls would fly up as a group and then plunge back as a group. It was something to see. They will eat almost anything that people eat except salads.




We try not to waste food. Both of us were raised to conserve food but once in a while some thing goes wrong and we have to throw out some. We had some cereal that picked up moisture and was not good any more so we took it out to see if the gulls would like it. They like anything. So now we know that we can have fun with them using cheap cereal or cheap dog food. As you might expect the instant that the gulls determined that we were out of food they left in a mass exodus.



Till later this is Uncle Duck.

Willis, Texas

We are just about ready to leave Willis and head towards Rockport. That should happen tomorrow. We hear that some rainy weather is supposed to be moving in early in the morning. I am hoping that is does not get here too early. In the morning I need to be hooking on the Jeep, loading up the bikes, hooking up the tire sensors and several other items that are required before we move. But raining or not we will move. If it is raining too bad I suppose that we could stay an extra day.

We have been here for three weeks and have not really done a whole lot. I have to admit that I have enjoyed having some time to relax. I had a bunch of things that I wanted to do on the computer and I have been able to complete the items of highest priority. Some of the other ones will take several more years to complete.

We have taken a couple trips down into the Houston area. One thing I wanted to do was to go to the Johnson Space Center. I have driven close to it several times but have never had the time to stop. So that was one of the objectives while we were here. When we went down it was not really a hot day. I suppose that it was in the upper 80's or low 90's but one thing that we decided was that we would never want to take their tours on a hot day in the middle of summer. At a couple points on the tour we were told to be very quiet so we didn't disturb the working personnel. For the life of me I do not know who we would have disturbed. First of all because there is very little or nothing going on in space right now besides the International Space Station activities there were barely any people at work. Especially since it was a Saturday. And then we were never anywhere except in areas partitioned off with glass so I don't know how any worker could have heard us. But in places that quiet was not requested the people on tours talked so loud that it hard to hear the guides. It was a good tour at any rate. I was very surprised that a large building was devoted to activities that would be best described as kids games and activities. If it sounds like I am talking "sour grapes" maybe it is because only kids can play the games that were set up. If a person was skilled on Nintendos, and Pac-Man and Mario they would do better than I could ever dream about. The games were beyond my skills. We had a fun time. This picture shows the main control center at Johnson Space Center. During a normal space flight this would have every chair manned. It would likely be more fun to go back during those times.


MAIN CONTROL CENTER AT JOHNSON SPACE CENTER

On another trip to the Houston area we went out to the Forbidden Gardens. That was almost a wasted trip. The information that we had indicated that it was open until 5:00. We did not rush to get to the place because we did not figure that we needed a lot of time to see it. So we did not get there until shortly before 3:00. They had changed their closing time to 3:00. We had just a few minutes to look around and take a few pictures before the gates closed. Forbidden Gardens is a miniature replica of the tomb of QuinShi Huang-di the First Emperor of China with the 6,000 piece terra cotta army which was discovered in 1974. It is replicated at 1/3 scale. This was about all that we were able to see. The part that we were not able to see, except for a few roof tips, was the 1/20 scale replica of the Forbidden City which was the home to the Imperial family of China for over 500 years during the reigns of two dynasties. The little bit that we could glimpse in the time we were there looked to be impressive. We had called to check to be sure that the place was open before we went there but as many places do their phone answering machine did not have any useful information.


6,000 PIECE TERRA COTTA ARMY OF QUINSHI HUANG-DI

In our travels we have seen many turtle that were extremely shy of people. When they would see movement they would go into the water and disappear from sight. At the Forbidden Gardens they actually swam to the bridge going across the pond TOWARDS the people as soon as they saw movement. I had a hard time believing that they did that until I found out that they had gotten accustomed to getting food which is thrown into the pond by the visitors. Between the turtles and the huge coys it was quite a show.


SOME OF THE RED EARED TURTLES AND THE COY

Our next destination is by a bay where I should be able to get some good pictures of some of the Texas water fowl.

Till later this is Uncle Duck