Days on the road

We traveled to our home town of Wilmington (OH) Monday late afternoon, and stayed through Wednesday morning.  Visited with Connie's dad (forgot to take pictures!!!) and also stopped by an old friend from HS that opened a new shop, the Wooden Moose.

Wednesday and Thursday were total travel days. 

Wednesday, we boondocked in a WalMart parking lot in Normal, IL  There was a Pizza Hut across the street for dinner, and (bonus) a bakery inside the WM for fresh donuts!

Thursday, we boondocked at the Isle Casino in Waterloo, IA.  They had a nice restaurant (one of four), The Brew Brothers, inside that had local craft beers, and some pub grub. 

I had some loaded fries (pulled pork, BBQ and cheese sauce) that were fantastic.  Couldn't finish it, but they were so good.  Not sure why else people go to casinos if not for the food and drinks?



Friday we rolled into Sioux Falls, SD and the Sioux Falls KOA.  Had an appointment at 5p to renew our driver's license that we just barely made due to some construction.  Our Google GPS taking us to a closed exit (thinking it was open) then having to follow a detour back to an open exit (that was what Google thought was closed).  Let me tell you, we zipped in and out of the DMV in 32 minutes.  They were the nicest DMV workers I've ever encountered.  What a pleasant experience.

After the licenses, we went downtown to a "First Friday" event put on by Downtown Sioux Falls and met our new BDM (business development manager) for Sandals (Adults Only All Inclusive Resorts) and Beaches (Caribbean All inclusive resorts for families), Monica Huether.  Great weather and company.  Talked a lot about our business, our backgrounds, ways Sandals and Beaches is growing and thoughts for expanding our niches.

Really enjoyed the small town feel of the event.  Also got introduced to Monica's friend, Julio Espino.  Great story.  Came to Sioux Falls as an engineer, noticed there wasn't an authentic Mexican restaurant in town, so he started it.  The restaurant did well, but people started wanting his salsa.  So, he started marketing his Inca salsa and sold the restaurant to his sister.  He's getting outlets at Hy-Vee, Wal Marts and working on expanding elsewhere (including H-E-B in Texas).  Fascinating conversation on the ins and outs of his business.  Was nice enough to give us some samples, looking forward to trying them.

Need a day of rest, and what better way than to watch College Football.  Weather is supposed to get crappy, so that will make it even easier to hang in the rig.

Sanger to Mount Pleasant

I had a great time in Sanger, TX at the Wagon Master RV Park.  Was a little bothered when I arrived and none of my non protected outlets were working.  Turns out there was something wrong in the pedestal that the park couldn't fix on their own with the 50 amp outlets, so I ran on 30 amps for the week.  Not a biggie.

Tuesday was another father/daughter day as Bethany had the day off so I went into Arlington to pick up her and a co-worker and we were off to Fort Worth.  Connie and I had been there before, so had some local knowledge.  Bethany was like "Finally!  I've been here almost a week and THIS is what I was expecting!" as we went to the Stockyards.  Had to stop at the Stockyards Hotel and have a Buffalo Butt Beer <link> while Bethany and Matt (or maybe it was Dan?) sat in saddles at the bar.

We stayed for the 4p cattle drive which I had a movie of, but something happened that I can't view it now.  <sigh>.

After the Stockyards, we headed down to Sundance Square and Riscky's BBQ which was fantastic eats.  Amazingly, it was started by two immigrants.  If you like good BBQ at a good price ($9.99 AUCE ribs???) and you're in Fort Worth, have to give it a big thumbs up.

Wednesday & Thursday were "work nights" as I was happy to go to Miguelito's to have dinner and a beverage with some cruise clients.  All great folks, and we certainly appreciate their business.  Connie and I used to do a "Client Appreciation Tour" every summer as we tried to figure out whether this full time RV'ing and keeping a business going was able to work.  This really brought me back to those good days.

After my Thursday night dinner (which was pretty early), I came back to the rig to share my last evening in Sanger with the two best card players in Texas (just ask them....), Fred and Vickie.  Played, drank and giggled through about 6 games of 3 handed hearts.  Fred killed us, both in the game and with his remarks.

Got away early (for me) Friday morning and put about 150 miles behind me.  Planned stop here in Mt. Pleasant, Texas at the Ramblin Fever RV Park.  Instantly got in trouble as I put up the dog pen for the girls and was told by "the guy" that I couldn't do that.  Didn't matter that it wasn't in the rules, he said.  So I took it down.  Just as I'm finishing setting up, the owner comes by and says "Mr. Sams (sic), I don't care if you put up your little dog pen."  So I put it up again.  That was fun in 80 degree heat.

I'm here till Monday, when we move again.  Thanks for visiting!

We've Been Busy...Kinda

Hope everyone had a great holiday season.  Hard to believe it has been that long since our last post.  We will try and catch you up on what we have been doing.

Since landing in Portland, TX, we have been learning our way around and getting to know the neighbors.  Made some great friends that we have been hanging out with on occasion.  Unfortunately, they did not have a long-term reservation and had to move to another park.  Good news is that their new place is near the beach and within an easy drive.

We can now say that we survived the first Christmas alone.  It wasn't easy, but thanks to technology (video phones), we made the best of it.

The new year came and went with no big fanfare here.  Pretty much business as usual for us.

Bob celebrated a birthday on January 8th with a trip to Galveston.  We were supposed to have a luncheon and tour on Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas, but due to fog in the harbor, that was cancelled.  However, he was surprised by a visit from our daughter from Ohio.  We had been secretly planning the visit for some time.  Sure was fun to spend a few days with her!

Now, why have we been so busy?  Well, for one of our Christmas gifts, we received a monthly golf membership to the local Country Club - Northshore Country Club.  We have been making the most of the membership and playing nearly every day.  Feels great to be back on the course again.

That, coupled with running our travel business, has kept us hopping.  Things are starting to get back to normal and we are feeling very settled in.  Hopefully, we will be able to post more regularly again.

See ya down the road!

Weekend Recap

 

After a 'solid' four hours of work for Sims Family Tours & Travel in the morning on Friday, we decided to check out the golf at Two Rivers Golf Course which is about a mile or so from the Two Rivers Campground where we're staying here in Nashville.  The greens had been aerated earlier in the week, so it wasn't the best experience, but we both thought it was a nice layout.

Saturday was a great day, with a rally down the street to "Stand With Gibson" which featured good entertainment and some good speakers.

Finally, while we were college football watching, our neighbor "Peggy" (the mayor of Hell's Half Acre) made some terrific chili that would have fed the whole campground I think.