Survived the Cold in Williamsburg

We had a great time after I last posted on this blog. Our Saturday breakfast and evening meal were both a great success. We had lots of different soups for our meal on Saturday evening and everyone seemed to think it was a great idea and a change from the usual turkey and ham. Us girls did get to do a little shopping at the Outlet Mall on Saturday afternoon and then Donna and I went again on Sunday afternoon after most of the people had left. We had already decided to stay until Monday. The four of us went out for a bite to eat and then "retired " to our coaches to either watch TV or sleep and I did some of both. We watched Pittsburgh pull out a game that just did not look possible and then I got nice and warm and cozy under my fleece blanket and let's just say I was history.
We had another Christmas Party this past weekend with our Old Dominion Cardinals Good Sams Group and had a great time. We have survived two birthdays and an anniversary this month and now we are awaiting Christmas with Bryant and family. Madie is really excited for Christmas to come.
After that we will be packing and heading to Florida. I was thinking today that I need to start thinking about what needs to go in the "bus" since we will be gone for about 4 months.
Will continue after we get on the road.

Cold Weather and Camping December 2008

The Big "A" Bus is back on the road. We came to Williamsburg Virginia yesterday, Thursday Dec. 4th to help host the FMCA Dogwood Christmas Rally. We joined this group about a year ago and were asked to host this rally. We have three other couples helping and according to some of them I volunteered but I am not sure that I didn't get railroaded into this.
We have 26 coaches and some other people coming just for the meals on Saturday. We have about 60 people to feed.
For some of you who like to keep up with what Larry and I are doing we will be heading to Florida in January to do some resting and working. We will be doing 3 Habitat for Humanity Builds before we come back to Virginia in April.
Also some of you have asked for pictures of the Halstead grandkids since I seem to always post ones of the Hedricks so I am going to try. The pictures are of Madie & Taylor, Bryant and Julie's girls and then the other is all 5 of the grandhildren. Taylor 14, Madie 9, Noah 6 , Kate 4 and Isabella (Bella) 19 months.
More later,
Mem

PS: The dinner tonight went great. Had plenty of food and everyone thought it was great.

Learning more about West Virginia 10-17-08

What a beautiful place. Larry and I have always just driven through West Virginia trying to get somewhere in a hurry and have never taken the time to explore. Our experiences there was staying in the truck travel plaza in the motorhome and also being towed back into Beckley once when the motorhome decided to be "sick". Well, with the help of Tolsons and Parsons we covered a lot of ground and I must say it was fun. The New River Gorge is a must see when you travel through there. We happened to hit it when the trees were in all the different colors and it was great. Having lived in Michigan for so many years and enjoying the color there in the fall it was like being back home again. We visited little towns along the river as well as the railroads, saw coal trains, visited a railroad museum in the town of Hinton, W. Va., had lunch sitting out on a deck right by the river.Once a year around the town of Fayetteville they have "The Bridge Festival". They actually close the bridge over US 19 and let people bungee jump or parachute off the bridge. No thank you. We stayed a day longer than planned still did not get to see all that was recommended so I guess we have to go again sometime. We missed the Coal Miners Exhibition and of course the Tamarack, which is suppose to be a major shopping place but the guys thought we did not need to shop anymore.
Now we are home until next Thursday when we go to the Maryland Samboree.

More from Renfro Valley, Kentucky 10/2008

I am thinking that I need to write a few things in the Blog before I forget. It has been very busy since we arrived on Wednesday. Of course we have met a lot of new people since this is our first Discovery Ralley. The members are from all over but believe it or not there are three couples from the Columbus, Georgia area. We have found out that we know some of the same people in the Bainbridge area .

Thursday we went to the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame and Museum which was very interesting. After this we decided that it was time to EAT so off we went into Berea Ky. to find the Cracker Barrell. We had lupper, as Ralph and Janice call it which stands for lunch and supper. By the time we arrived back at the campground after our daily stop at Wal Mart for supplies it was Happy Hour. Out came MORE food so we had a little more to eat and then waddled to our coaches to get some rest to be ready for Friday.

Firday morning our host provided a great breakfast of pancakes and sausage and then some of the girls took in a couple of pottery studios and got lots of information and some purchased some nice pieces of pottery. I do not know how we ever found one of these places . It was really far back in a Holler as they say. Around 5 pm we all gathered for a wonderful dinner up at the entertainment center. It was family style and there was plenty of fried chicken, ham, mashed potates, corn, green beans, bread, cole slaw and "Nanna pudding". After dinner we attend the Tribute to Legends Show in the Old Barn. This was a very good show and I would put it right up there with what we saw in Branson.

Saturday morning after another huge breakfast of eggs, bisquits and gravy we had a business meeting and then off shopping again. The was a Arts and Craft Festival in Berea and of course we had to check that out.

Saturday evening some of the group went to "The Barn Dance" but we had tickets to see Loretta Lynn. Her show was very good and for her age of 73 she still has it. She had two of her daughters and a grandaughter performing also.

Sunday morning we said goodbye to everyone and started on our way back to Virginia. We traveled to Beckley West Virginia and are staying in the camping area of the Amory for the next two nights. There is a bridge over the New River Gorge that we are going to check out tomorrow. Once a year they have the bridge festival and it is this next weekend so we will miss the crowds, which the web sites says is around 200,000 people. They even bungie jump from this bridge.. No thank you.

Trip to Renfro Valley Kentucky October 6 2008

The Big A Bus is ready to go again. The Tolsons and Parsons arrived at Camp Halstead on Sunday afternoon 10/5 and after getting the rigs in their places for the overnight we visited a little and then Larry adjourned to the "barn" with all the fixings for our fish dinner. He and I had gone down to our pond on Friday and caught 15 large bluegills or bream as some people call them. We also cooked fried green tomatoes, french fries and hushpuppies. What a feast. Janice made a great coleslaw and Donna brought the BEST lemon bars. You always need something lemon with fish. After dinner everyone settled in for the night so we could get an early (9 am) start on Monday heading south. We drove to Bristol, Virginia and stayed in a small campground. Chuck had called and they were to keep 3 places for us but the owner got sick and when we arrived there was only one large site so we gave that one to Parsons and we doubled up on other lots with smaller rigs. It worked for one night.

Tuesday we had a very good breakfast at a local restaurant and then started out for Cumberland Gap. Chuck had mapped out this route and it was beautiful wiht some color lots of curves and narrow bridges but we did just fine. We stopped at an overlook telling about the history ofthat area of Southwest Virginia . On to Cumberland Gap Kentucy. We stopped at the visitors center and watched a couple of films about the locating of the Gap and the people that came through.

We took a drive in the car up to Pinnacle Point where you can see, Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky.

Later we arrive at the Wal Mart in Middlesboro Kentucky and set up for the night. Donna and I went in to the store to purchase our supplies for this week and while there I got a phone call from my cousin Alicia and her husband. Ed who were on their way home from a 6 weeks trip to Minnesota and other places and they came by and stayed the night with us in the Wal Mart. Small world.

We are now in Renfro Valley Kentucky with the Discovery International Club and will be taking in lots of music, museums and craft shows.

Visit in Indianapolis and trip back to Virginia

We had a very busy visit in Indy with Ally and Family. Kate was not feeling well when we got there so I spent most of the day on Monday holding her which was really a chore since I love having her in my lap. I hate her being sick but it was fun to just sit and hold her . She was excited about spending the night in the motor home and sleeping with "HER" papa. Of course we had Noah come too . I slept with him and believe me he does not sleep still as his mommy had led me to believe. Needless to say Larry or I either one got much sleep on Wednesday night and after leaving Indy around 11 am on Thursday we only made it to Charleston W. Va. for the night. Our plan was to go as far as Beckley but by 6 pm we were both saying it was time to STOP. The Wal Mart was a welcomed stop and we got a good nights sleep and drove on to Kings Dominion on Friday. We had a great campout with the ODC group and arrived home on Sunday afternoon. All this week has been catching up with things around here. The "Big A Bus" is in the Barn until Monday Oct 6th and then we head out to Kentucky for Renfro Valley with the Discovery International Group for a long weekend.

I managed to get a couple of pictures on here. One of Bella and her hat and one of Papa with Noah and Kate. Also Bella with her Papa.

Mem

A little visit from IKE

Well, we had a "little" visit from Ike.
Saturday afternoon the Tolsons and us attended a show called "Six". This was amazing. It was six brothers from a family of 10 boys. Yes, I said 10 boys. They were very good and did a wonderful job of singing with NO instruments but you would have thought there was a full orchestra. Several of our group had attended and insisted that we see the show. Again we met for dinner and then attended the Mickey Gilly show at 8 pm and really had a great time there. Joey Riley was a comedian on Mickey's show and he was FUNNY.
We really did not see a BAD show in Branson we just liked some much better than others.
When we left the theater it was raining and then it got harder and then it got even harder about 2 am and the wind came with it. The actual eye of IKE came right over us. Finally about 6 am it was done. Larry and I had decided to wait and see what was what on Sunday morning before making the decision to travel or not. The campground had lots of limbs and debris around but nothing of any major proportion and no damage was done to any of the motorhomes or other camping units that we saw so we were much luckier than the people in Texas.We left the campground around 9:30 a.m. and even though we had some wind it was not a bad travel day. The storm was ahead of us so we just took our time. Spent the night in Effingham, Illinois and met several other Discovery Coaches that had been to a rally in Indiana.
After a good night sleep we were ready to tackle another day and arrived in Indianapolis at Ally's house around 11:30 a m. Of course we have not stopped since. The children keep us moving and wanting our undivided attention. Noah is in 1st grade so he is gone most of the day but when he gets home he wants to be right under us. I also helped him with his homework so that took some time and lots of patience. He and Kate are sleeping in the motorhome with us tonight. It will be an early morning getting him up and ready for school but he loves to be in this motorhome..

We will leave later in the morning to travel back to Virginia and get ready for the next trip .

My oh My!!!!!!! 9-12-08

After a 10 am show with the Gatlin Brothers I don't know what to say. They were wonderful!!!! Rating the top show would be very hard since all of the ones we have seen so far are so different. After a restful afternoon back at the motorhome we met with our group to EAT again. As Larry Gatlin said at the show the schedule for Branson is Eat, Show, Eat, Show, Sleep and sleeping is included sometimes in the 8 pm show since by then you are exhausted.

The Presley Show the first theater in Branson, was a wonderful variety of everything from gospel, country, comedy and beauty. The outfits were very classy and the people in them were fine too.

Today, Saturday, fines us cleaning up and packing up somethings for departure tomorrow, hopefully, but a lot depends on the path of IKE. The prediction is rain and more rain but we willjust have to wait and see. We hope to leave and make it to Indy on Monday but we will see what tomorrow brings. We certainly don't want to take chances with the weather.

We are going to see 2 more shows today. One at 2pm and another at 8pm and of course EAT somehow between.

Pictures of Mem and Larry Gatlin, The Gatlin Brothers, Dick Clark's Grill at the American Bandstand Theater,where we had lunch. Janice and Ralph Parsons at the Shoji show.

Enjoying the Music Sept 11, 2008

Before we arrived in Branson I remember saying that we shouldn't plan too much for one day but guess what, we have. There is just so much to choose from.
Yesterday, Wednesday, we decided to have a slow morning and then enjoy the 8 pm show we had tickets for so we did except for a trip to Wal Mart and then out to eat a "late" or "early" meal whichever you call it and enjoyed barbeque.
The show of the evening was the Shoji Tabuchi Show and it was wonderful. A big variety of music from country, gospel, 50's , Broadway, etc. It was just amazing the instruments played, singing, dancing and costumes.We had hoped to find somewhere for dessert after the show but believe it or not things were closed. Chuck and Larry were of the opinion that all the bus tours had to take their people back to their hotels , pass out medication and put them to bed. We are not being ugly but we do feel younger here as I think the average age is somewhere in the late 70's and 80's. Of course, Linda and Chuck are the "babies" in our group both still in their 50's.Finally, we found a McDonalds and had ice cream which actually hit the spot.
Today we are going to the Jim Stafford show at 3 pm, then join our group for dinner and then the Joe Diffie Show at 8pm. Ally surprised me the other morning when I told her we were seeing Joe Diffie and she said "John Deere Green" which is a song of his . I guess I forgot she had to listen to country music growing up since that was our preference.

I am adding a picture of the group when we had dinner with friends from Oklahoma on Monday night. Floretta & Mason Young have a park model here in Branson . I also forgot to add the picture of Jim's half hairy chest. That is mine and Janice Parsons hands. It is a long story and we will have to share it another time.

Continuing

We had a great time in the St. Louis area. Actually St. Charles and St. Peters. We got to visit with our friends, Dallas and Shirley with whom we have spent the last two winters in Texas and my "old" high school pal, Rhodes Rich and his wife Mary. The downtown area of St. Charles is quaint and I found some great Christmas presents and of course some jewelry for whomever.

We had dinner on Friday night at the Beefeater which is the restaurant on site at the campground. Wonderful food. Some of the group went to the Casino on Saturday and I think they came out ahead on money except they spent it on lunch. Later we checked out the RV Show at the mall and then on to an Italian Restaurant for dinner.

Traveled on to Branson today (sunday) and now are trying to plan the rest of the week. So many choices of shows.

Continuing on to Branson

Oh man are we glad that we drove as far as we did yesterday and did not have but the 99 miles today. It was raining and raining and the visibility was awful but we made it safely to St. Charles, Missouri and into the RV Park without any problems. Trust me I might not have had a steering wheel or brakes but I did help drive with my eyes(all 4 of them).
An afternoon nap was enjoyed by all after arriving and then of course time to EAT again. Fortunately, there is a wonderful restaurant right on site here in the campground so we enjoyed a nice dinner and now everyone has adjourned to their coaches to rest, write blogs, take showers and then listen to the speeches at the Republican Convention.

Trip to St. Louis and Branson, Missouri , Sept 2008

The Parsons, Tolsons and Mathenys came out to our house on Monday Sept 1 and we had a cook out (of course we had to eat) and then got a good nights sleep and headed West on Tuesday. We had a short day traveling to a Wal Mart outside of Charleston West Virginia .
Wednesday morning was an early departure and a LONG day. We drove over 400 miles to Mt. Vernon, Illinois to another Wal Mart. Tomorrow we will travel the whole amount of about 99 miles to St. Charles, Missouri to Sundermier RV Resort until Sunday. We will be doing a little resting, visiting with friends, eating, and sightseeing.

July & August 2008---Family & Trip

The motorhome spent the month of July in the "Barn". We decided to do something different this summer and have the kids and grandkids for a differnt vacation. I went to Indianapolis July 1st and drove back to Virginia with Ally and her children. We spent a week here at our house along with Madie, Bry's youngest, and Julie's neice Lilly. Noah, Lilly and Madie attended Day Camp at our church everyday and had a great time. The other time was spent swimming at a neighbors pool, shopping and just letting the kids PLAY. The next week we all went to the beach at Virginia Beach. We rented a house big enough for all 11 of us and had a great time. They enjoyed going to the beach several time but enjoyed having a swimming pool in the backyard even more.We had a "cold" pool and a "hot" pool . Now you have to understand that Kate ( 3 yrs) thinks a hot tub is a hot pool and by the end of the week we were all calling it that. She went from one to the other. It was lots of fun watching all the kids interact with one another and try to keep everyone fed and happy.
I drove back to Indy with Ally on the 19th and 20th of July and then came home on the 25th. Larry had some surgery to repair a hermia on the 28th and then we both just rested for a long week. August 14th we finally let the bus out of the barn and went to Oak Grove Va. with our camping group for a long weekend. Madie went with us as she loves going in the motorhome and camping. She has spent a lot of time with us this summer. In fact she is here now as Julie went back to work at school this week and when we take her home tomorrow she will have spent 31 ni
ghts with us this summer.
Larry and I will be leaving on Tuesday Sept 2 with 3 other couples to travel to Branson Missouri.It is time to get on the road again so I will update this as we travel.
I am going to try and put a picture on here of the grandchildern.

CHECKING OUT THE WINE MAKING PROCESS IN VIRGINIA

Sunday, June 8th after attending church and the annual church picnic Larry and I took a "Long" trip over to Crozet, Virginia to join a group of motorhome friends called The Gourmands.  This is a group that likes to EAT & DRINK.  The purpose of this trip to was to tour some of the Virginia Wineries and for most to sample lots of wine.  We toured 9 different wineries from Monday until Thursday and found some rather interesting places to eat.  

The heat was awful from Sunday until Wednesday through out Virginia and of course we had to have some severe weather for it to cool off.  Nothing too bad at the campground but over by our house there was some tree damage to some of our neighbors property.

We will be going to Greys Point on Thursday, June 19th with our Old Dominion Cardinals group and are taking Madie and her cousin, Lilly with us. They went with us last year and are looking forward to going again.

No more long trips scheduled until September when we head West to Branson, Missouri  with about 5 other couples.

Later, MEM

Okay, We are getting OLD

We arrived in Indianapolis on Monday, May 18th around 11:30 am and today is Wednesday, May 28th and we are headed back to Virginia, WORN TO A FRAZZLE as my mother would say. The grandchildren are wonderful but on the move constantly and want us to be on the move also. Noah is becoming quite the young man and we got to attend his kindergarden graduation on Thursday, May 22. Katelyn is such a typical 3 year old whom I have a nicknamed "Bossy Kate" and she is having some issues with Isabella becoming a little person, not a baby anymore and is giving her Mommy and Daddy a rough patch right now. Papa Mark, the next door neighbor calls her "MJ" (which stands for Mem Junior) so I am not sure that is a good thing. Isabella is stiil the happiest baby and just goes with the flow. She is taking a few steps but not completely on her own yet.
Papa and I just can't keep up with all the activity so we escape to the motorhome at night and try to get some rest to tackle the next day. I think if we were living closer and could spend less time more often it would be easier but that just isn't the case and not an option right now.
Hope this finds all doing well and we will catch up later.

WEST , I GOD, VIRGINIA--MUD AND MORE MUD

Oh what a great time we have had since Thursday, May 15th when we met up with 6 other rigs on I64 and headed West . We had a a great day for traveling until we arrive at the 4-H fairgrounds in Mineral Wells West Virginia around 4:30pm when it decieded to RAIN. Now of course setting up in the rain is always fun. We all got registered at the WV Samboree and parked in the grass which was already soggy with previous rain. It rained ALL night and on Friday morning there was a fine mist which continued most of the day. We spent most of the day getting to know what was to be going on for the weekend and checked out the local attractions. On Saturday the girls and I found a Coldwater Creek clearance center and had fun spending a little money and enjoyed a nice lunch just doing "girl talk". The opening ceremonies and entertainment on Friday night was great and we were welcomed by everyone. There were four other chapters from Virginia also. Saturday afternoon Larry and some of the other guys in our group thought it would be a good idea to get the "Big Buses" got as they were predicting more rain for that evening and night. WELL, guess what 3 hours later the buses were moved. 5 of the 7 had to be pulled out. One of them had to be pulled by 3 pickup trucks that were F350 with dual wheels and 4 wheel drive. Now trust me we provided the afternoon entertainment for all who wanted to watch. Now you really can't appreciate this story without being there and knowing how most of these men "love" their buses. Most of us women know where we stand and it ain't first in line. We decided to just stand back and pray and when our bus was out of the MUD we cheered and clapped. Everyone left WV this morning heading in different directions but trust me this will be a trip none of us are likely to forgot anytime soon. We did have a wonderful time.

Mem

On the Road Again in 2008

The Big "A" Bus is ready to go again. We have done a couple of weekends since we got back to Virginia. One with the Old Dominion Cardinals Good Sam Group and one with the Dogwoods which is our Family Motor Coach Group. Both weekends were great weather until we left to come home on Sunday but at least no rain before then.
Tomorrow, May 15th , we are leaving from our house with a group of our Old Dominion Cardinals to go to the West Virginia Samboree in Mineral Wells, West Va. We have never been to another State Samboree so this should be a new experience for us.
On Sunday some of us will head back to Virginia, others plan to stay in the area and do some sightseeing and WE are heading to Indianapolis. Imagine that!!!!!! We have not seen those wonderful grandkids since Dec. 27th and believe me we are READY. Noah will be graduating from Kindergarden on the 22nd and we will stay through Memorial Day Weekend and probably do the downtown parade on Saturday before the famous Indy 500 on Sunday which Doug will attend but not sure about Ally yet. We, Larry and I will spend the day with the "grands".

More later, MEM

April 3, 2008-- The Big A Bus is Parked

The Big A Bus arrived back in Virginia on Sunday, March 30 around 1 pm. and then the fun began trying to unload 3 months of traveling. I say every year that I am not going to take as many clothes and guess what, I do. You just never know what you will need. Since we left in December and went to Indiana we had to have "winter things" and then in Texas, one day winter and the next summer.

We have settled into being home and did our annual doctors appointment today to get prescriptions for the year so we can GO again.Everything was fine with both of us and we hope it continues to be that way.

We have several weekend trips planned and then a long trip in the later summer to Branson, Missouri with some of our motorhome friends.

Until later,

MEM

PS I am going to put some new pictures of the younger grandchildren and then hope to get some of the older two this weekend and will post them later. Kate as Cinderella, Isabella as just herself and Noah as Peter Pan.

Wednesday March 26, 2008

We had a wonderful week in South Georgia, Bainbridge, with family and friends. The only problem in this little cornor of the world is there is NO cell phone coverage for ATT in that area and of course that drives me nuts along with my daughter, Ally. Yesterday while we were traveling to Canton, Ga. , north of Atlanta, she and I talked four times just because we COULD. Everywhere we have been this trip had coverage except that little part of Georgia.
Larry got to go fishing and he Keith & Keith , Jr. got 75 nice fish. We had a great fish fry on Monday night before we left on Tuesday. I got to see some friends and spend time with my cousin, Carolyn . We got to see other family too and just really enjoyed our visit. We also got some much needed "Down time" after our 2 weeks working with Habitat.
We are now in Canton, as I have already said and will be here until Saturday and then head to Virginia. Hope to be home on Sunday and then start the wonderful task of unloading the "Bus".
We will let you know about the trip home later.

MEM

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Another week has flown by and we are greatful for all the great things we have done. The work on the Habitat House went great and we were all tired by the end of the day but made it until bedtime (around 9 pm for some of us) and managed to enjoy some things other than work. Monday we went in to Thidobaux and enjoyed some Cajun music by a group of locals that get together on Monday and just play their music. I did not know much about Cajun music until now but it is mostly in French and tells a story. They tried to sing some of it in English but not too successfully. We still enjoyed it.
Linda and Jim had to leave us on Wednesday morning as they had to go to S.C. to have some work on the motorhome. We certainly missed having Linda work with us on the house and I am sure Larry and Jim #2 missed having Jim #1 around. We enjoyed meeting and working with the young people from Penn. State. I do believe the group from Boston College out worked them though.
We finished up the week by getting the front wall up on the house and the beam across the front of the house, and OSB board on two sides of the house. A group from Wisconsin will be working there next week.
Saturday morning the Settles and us headed east and drove on US 90 for a while through Gulfport and Biloxi Mississippi and oh my what a MESS. Katrina about wiped those two towns out. I remember going to Gulfport in the 60's and trust me there is nothing left that I could remember. All the older anitbellam houses are gone . We stopped for lunch in a parking lot of a Casino and a security guard talked with us and told us how Katrina just battered them for 12 hours. They have re built the Casinos on land now instead of having them on ships but it will take a long time to rebuild the "Gulf Coast". We drove on to Mobile and got settled in a nice RV Park and today we toured the USS Alabama. Peggy's step father had serviced on the ship so it was special for her. We had a great day and now tomorrow we head to Bainbridge, Georgia for a week to visit some family and then on to Canton, which is north of Atlanta to visit a cousin of mine who is having Chemo treatments . Then we will be on our way to Virginia around the last of March. We should be back in Virginia by April 1st.

MEM

What an exciting week!!!! March 8,2008

Oh my what a week we have experienced. We started off on Monday morning meeting with the powers that be from Habitat. Along with us "kids" (they call us old folks the kids) and a group of about 18 college students (they are called the young adults) from Boston College we started working. Of course most of you know that Larry and two other guys built our house but this old gal has never hammered a nail except to hang a picture. Well let me tell you, I know how to hammer a nail now. Linda, Peggy and I worked on helping frame a house . We have three outside walls up and three inside walls up and will continue to work next week on the same house with another group of "young adults" who will arrive tomorrow from Penn. State. We will have to teach some of them how to work also, as some of the ones from Boston were as bad as I was to start with.

Larry, Jim and the other Jim, were put to work on another house doing siding and oh I forgot, some drywall which is Larry's most favorite thing to do. They had some boys helping them also. I think Larry said this next week they would be putting cabinets in. He is having a wonderful time and enjoying himself as this is what he loves to do.

We have met two of the families who will be getting houses here. They have been here working their "sweat equity" as it is called. The stories of these people is very heart breaking but they have a great attitude. They have to work and prove that they are worthy of getting these houses and have to take care of them and pay for them. One of the people from Habitat said they have only had to foreclose on one house so far.

We are going to New Orleans tomorrow since Peggy,Jim, Larry and I have never been. Linda and Jim are going to be our tour guides.

Last night we went out and had shrimp and crawfish. It was really good.



I will try and post pictures when I can get my husband to download from the camara.

Mem

Sunday, March 2, 2008

We are no longer "Winter Texans". We left the Valley yesterday and had a long day of traveling. The traffic was not bad until we got to Houston and I think that about finished all of us off. We did drive about another 85 miles to the Beaumont area and found a Flying J truck stop to get, fuel, propane and a place to PARK. After a light dinner at the restaurant we all crashed.

Today we traveled on to Louisana and got all set up in the RV section of the Habitat for Humanity where we will be living for the next two weeks. Imagine our surprise to find out we are working in the subdivison that Oprah and Bon Jovi started. I remember seeing her show about the subdivision she was starting in Louisana and the families that we chosen to live here. We have met several of the young children and some of them have very interesting stories of how they were rescued from New Orleans and also all the things they have been given and telling so about all the celebarties that have come here to work. I remember one in particulary, William Shatner. They say you never know when someone special is going to show up so hopefully we will meet someone famous. Ha Ha. We will start working tomorrow and I am sure we will have lots of interesting stories to tell before and after we leave here. There are six motorhomes here and we saw two van loads of people come in later this afternoon who are staying in a couple of houses that belong to Habitat.

Will keep you informed but right now I am going to bed. We have to report EARLER than my liking tomorrow morning.

MEM

Feb 21,2008

After having 52 mph winds on Saturday things have settled down and this week has been great. Last Saturday I thought the motorhome was going to "fly". Larry made some braces for the awning so it did not blow away or go over the top of the motorhome.



Shirley and I went to Mexico without the guys this week and of course we had a much better time as they were not looking over our shoulders and asking how much longer. I was about to think I had small children again.



Jim & Linda Matheny our friends from Virginia who are going to Louisana with us arrived on Wednesday afternoon. It was good to see them. They had been in California and Las Vegas visiting family since early January.

Now most of you think that I never run out of steam or get tired but let me TELL you yesterday did it. Dallas, Shirley, Jim, Linda, Larry and I headed to Progresso Mexico and by the time we arrived back at the RV Park around 5 pm I was DONE. Since I had made the statement that I was trying to eat my way through Texas, I have to recount that as I was too tired to eat last night. My feet and legs thought I was MEAN and I just thought they were right. We had a great time, got some good bargins, got some "drugs"( the legal kind) and had a great time laughing and catching up on things. Today is GOING to be an R & R Day.

We have another week here and then we have to start working on the Habitat project in Louisana so I guess we should get a few days of rest before then.

Later, MEM

Another Week in the Valley Feb 13,2008

We have enjoyed another good week of warm weather with not as much wind. I can't believe that we only have about 2 more weeks and we will be moving on to other things.

Today is a special day as our first grandchild, Taylor Halstead who is having her 14th birthday. It seems only yesterday we were awaiting the arrival of the first one and now we have 5.

We have been touring the Valley trying to find another RV Park that is closer to Mission and McAllen Texas than Harlingen. We think we enjoy that area a little better. So far we have found two that we really like. The problem is most of these parks were built long ago for the smaller rigs and it is very hard to fit todays coachs in the smaller spaces. I know , a tough problem to have.

We still have to make another trip or two to Mexico as I didn't get all the "goodies" yet.

Hope this find everyone doing well so I will close for now.

MEM

WIND and more WIND

Since my last update it has been nothing but WIND. Larry and Dallas took a suggestion from another Winter Texan (from Michigan) and went out and purchased the material to make some braces for our awnings which were trying to fly. I am not kidding the wind has been such that it was actually making the motorhome move. Larry was to the point of saying he was ready to go back to Florida next year. They spent most of yesterday making these braces which are doing a great job.

Today was much better with some wind but not much so we decided it was time to head to Mexico. There has been a lot of violence around some of the border towns lately but Progress, where we went last year and today has been spared. However , this year there were members of the Mexican Army with rifles very visible. We felt safe with all the other people there but I would not want to stay over after dark.

Until later, MEM

Changing Things

Finally the weather is changing. Monday and Tuesday have been much better days for us with sun and much warmer weather. Suppose to continue and we are certainly hoping for that. I know you people who are having the 9 and 10 degrees and SNOW don't like to hear this 70 and 80 degrees.

Last evening we attened a concert of the United States Air Force Band of the West. They are based at Lakeland Air Force Base and travel through Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and Louisana. What a performance. Of course having been involved with band through out Ally's school years we have always loved bands and their music. Also there was a young woman who sang a couple of solos and she was wonderful. It was about a 2 hour program and it was great.

We are going over to South Padre Island this afternoon to meet some friends and have some seafood. We seem to always be able to find good food wherever we go. Thank goodness there is a Curves here that I can work off some of the food.

Haven't done any interesting pictures yet so will just write .

MEM

Hello to All

FINALLY the sun is shinning today. Actually we had some sunshine yesterday afternoon for a while so we got out and rode our bikes for a while. Now don't get too excited, you people who have SNOW, it is going to get cool again on Thursday so that will be a day for the movies or something inside.I was just reading in the Holland Sentinel about the Blizzard of 30 years ago and trust me I do remember THAT. For a gal from south georgia that was a BIG thing. I had never seen that much snow come down in such a short period of time. It was also a good experience of getting to know your neighbors better and everyone shared whatever we had as we couldn't get out of the subdivision for days to get groceries.
We will keep you posted on the warmer weather from Texas.

MEM

COLD WEATHER

Okay,so we left Virginia to come to Texas where it is SUPPOSE to be warm. It decided on Tuesday to get cold, windy and rain. Wednesday afternoon the sun came out for a short while and we did get a 3 mile bike ride in.Now I have had enough of this bad weather. I want SUN.
We did get out and go to a movie and if you have not seen "The Bucket List" go see it. There is a wonderful message to it and lots of laughs which we all need every now and then.
There was a craft show here at the Park this morning so Shirley and I checked that out and who knows what we will do the rest of this WINDY day

Hopefully by the time I update this again it will be WARMER.

MEM

Becoming a Winter Texan again

We are settling in to become Winter Texans again this year. Since we are in a new location this year we have naturally found the local Wal Mart, H.E.B. grocery store, Target and Sams Club. Harlingen is a little smaller than the McAllen area that we were in last year but it is going to be fine. Our friends, Dallas & Shirley, from Missouri are arriving today. I am getting ready to be teased, ragged on and whatever for the next two months as Dallas does like to blame me for things going wrong. He must be friends with Jim Matheny as he also blames me for things, like his windshield cracking while we were in Michigan and now it has happened again to the other side and I was no where near him and it is STILL my fault. GO FIGURE!!!!!!!!!!!

The weather has been good actually a little hotter than I like but at least we don't have a use a shovel. I thought for a couple of days the motorhome was going to fly as it was WINDY.

Wednesday night we had dinner with about 900 other people and then the entertainment was a band called "Senior Moments", no comment Todd. We enjoyed dancing and listening to the "good old music". The park has lots of different entertainment and the Air Force Band will be here on the 29th of January so we got tickets for that.

I am going to try and attach a few pictures of the grandchildren from Christmas. Noah is handsome in his pj's and the "do rag" he got from Uncle Bryant.

Later----------