Trip to Alaska and West Coast

December 1, 2013 – 46 F and partly cloudy. Today is the last leg of our trip. We will be home in Gulf Breeze in 5 hour. We arrived at 4:30 pm. It was great to see Pensacola Bay and a wonderful sunset to greet us. Our trip was 16485 miles of fun, beauty, wonder, and excitement. God blessed us the whole way with no problems. It is great to be home and we live in a beautiful place. The house looks great with flower beds and bushes that have a lot of work to be done on them. The lemon tree is full of lemons, bananas are getting ripe, and the outdoor poinsettia is blooming. We will have to find a place to park the camper; our other place went up 100%.

Sunset on Pensacola Bay

Need a little weeding here

Not a great place to park

No problems on the whole trip.

Trip to Alaska and West Coast

November 30, 2013 – 43F and cloudy. We drove to Vicksburg today and are staying at Ameristar Casino Vicksburg RV Park. It is a nice park and does not cost much. They have a shuttle to the Casino and restaurants. Alabama lost today to Auburn on a last second field goal miss and 100 yard run back play. Alabama 28 vs Auburn 34; Tennessee  27 vs. Kentucky 14.

Trip to Alaska and West Coast

November 29, 2013—33 F and sunny. We had nothing frozen this morning. Gina and the boys will be over soon and then it is off to eat, movie, and Christmas lights. We had a excellent lunch at Esparza’s Restaurante Mexicano, dinner at Olive Garden and saw the movie Hunger Games- Catching Fire. It was a fun day. It was great to see Seth and Pierce. We got to drive down Grapevine’s Main Street which was lit up for Christmas. We are looking forward to Christmas when Gina and the boys will be visiting us in Gulf Breeze. Tomorrow, we are moving to Vicksburg, MS and watching the The Iron Bowl on TV.

Main St, Downtown Grapevine, TX

Dinner at Olive Garden

Main St, Downtown Grapevine, TX

Main St, Downtown Grapevine, TX

Main St, Downtown Grapevine, TX

Trip to Alaska and West Coast

November 28, 2013 – 28 F and partly cloudy. Our water is frozen. We will have to find out what is causing it. The bottled water in our truck was not frozen so we were able to make coffee. We had another great day in Dallas. It was off to Gina’s house to help put a desk hutch together. Thanksgiving dinner at Cracker Barrel was great and then we saw an excellent sad movie “The Book Thief”.

It is always great to have two good looking girls to go to the movie with

Trip to Alaska and West Coast

November 27, 2013 – 32 F and sunny. A great day in Dallas. We ate with Gina at Sweet Tomatoes. It is a buffet of soup, salad, pasta, and dessert bars. We had been getting ads in the paper in Pensacola but the closes restaurant is in Tallahassee. It was great. I am glad we finally got to eat there. After lunch we went to Grapevine Mills Mall and AMC 30 movie and saw Captain Phillips. It was a good movie about an American ship being taken off Africa by pirates and US Navy seals rescue. The temperature is forecast to be 28 F tonight. It is Thanksgiving tomorrow.

AMC 30 Grapevine, TX

Trip to Alaska and West Coast

November 26, 2013 – 37 F and cloudy.   We met Gina and had a wonderful lunch/brunch at La Madeleine French Bakery. It was great seeing Gina. We had not seen her since July. We talked and talked and talked. Friday Seth and Pierce will come have dinner with us. The wind is blowing 18 – 25 mph and the high temperature was 49F. It is winter in Texas.

Trip to Alaska and West Coast

November 25, 2013 – 43 F and raining. Today it is off to Dallas to see Gina for Thanksgiving. We arrive at the Vineyards campground in Grapevine, TX. It rained all day but it did not cause us any trouble. The Vineyards Campground is a real nice and expensive camp ground. It is on a lake with cabins, boats and paddle board rentals, swimming pool and more. We are camped on top of a hill so we overlook the whole area.  However, the wind is blowing and the trees have lost their leafs so it is cold and cold looking. We went to Walgreens to purchase cold meds. Carl has a cold. It started yesterday. Hopefully, it will be over buy Thanksgiving.

Marina at campground

Rental Cabins at Campground

Downtown Dallas, TX

RV site Grapevine, TX

Trip to Alaska and West Coast

November 24, 2013 – 45 F and cloudy. We cleaned the trailer for guests today. Jo Ann's sister Lee, her daughter Rebecca   and husband Tate with daughter Lilly are coming over and visiting our little trailer. We then went out for Texas BBQ at Pappas BBQ. Jo Ann and Lee had a long visit setting on the bed and I had a nap. It was great fun to see all of them. We got gas and hooked up the trailer so we will have just a few things to do when we leave. It is going to be raining in the morning.

Lee and Jo Ann

Pappas BBQ

Trip to Alaska and West Coast

November 23, 2013 – 45 F and cloudy with rain. Our temperature is about as low as some we had in Alaska. We visited Lee, Bob, Tate, Rebecca, and Lilly all afternoon. Thank you Bob and Lee for the great lunch at Saltgrass Steak House. We had a wonderful time catching up on family and our lives. Today is football Saturday. Tennessee 10 vs Vanderbilt 14; Alabama 49 vs UT Chattanooga 0; Florida State 80 vs Idaho 14. Tennessee’s fourth losing season in a row. Next week Tennessee plays Kentucky and Alabama plays Auburn.

Trip to Alaska and West Coast

November 22, 2013 – 56 F and cloudy/rain. We arrived in Houston. The wind was blowing at 20-30 mph from the north and made the trailer move around a little but the Anderson sway controller worked excellent. We are staying at the All Star RV Resort in downtown Houston. It is a nice park with TV, wifi and all the rest, trees, concrete pads but on the expensive side. It is surprising how quite the park is to be in the middle of Houston.

Trip to Alaska and West Coast

November 21, 2013 – 71 F and cloudy. I checked the tire pressures and Jo Ann washed our clothes. We are moving to Houston tomorrow to see Jo Ann’s sister. We went to the Fort Sam commissary and got a few things that we would need for the next two weeks. Monday is Dallas for Thanksgiving, Gina and boys. The Ft Sam RV Park is right by the railroad tracks so if you like trains and their whistles you will love this park.

Downtown San Antonio, TX

Trip to Alaska and West Coast

November 20, 2013—61 F and cloudy. We had a great lunch in downtown San Antonio at Mi Tierra Café and Bakery. It is one of my favorite Tex-Mex Restaurants in San Antonio. We also, visited Mission San Jose built in 1720 and saw the rose window. We went to an ATM today and got money. We learned last time that it cost 5.00 for any amount. Fort Sam has a BX and Commissary which we found. The price of gas has really come down; it was only $2.89/gal yesterday on base. This summer in Canada it was $6.60 a gallon out on the ALCAN Hwy.

Mi Tierra Cafe

Downtown San Antonio

Mission San Jose built in 1720

Wall around mission served as homes for workers

It's always good to rest

Rose Window in San Jose Mission

San Jose Mission

Inside Chapel of San Jose Mission

Trip to Alaska and West Coast

November 19, 2013—60 F and sunny.  Lazy day. We did a little laundry, read books, and were generally lazy. Great day.

Trip to Alaska and West Coast

November 18, 2013 – 55 F and cloudy. We are now in the central time zone. We lost another hour of sleep. The drive from Fort Stockton, TX on I-10 was good. We are now at the Fort Sam Houston Recreational Vehicle Park in San Antonio, TX. It is a nice park with level concrete pads and trees but no cable TV or wifi. I do have 4G Verizon data, Facebook, phone, G- mail and internet. We got the last site available for Monday to Friday. Friday we will move to Houston to see Jo Ann’s sister.

Trip to Alaska and West Coast

November 17, 2013 – 59 F and sunny. It was very windy last night. Today the wind has gone down and we will try to move to Fort Stockton, TX. We made the trip on I 10 to Fort Stockton RV camp. It is a nice camp out in the middle of west Texas. All we saw was miles and miles of cactus and sage brush. There were a few Pecan orchards, cows, and many trains and trucks. We had a little fender bender on the trailer by trying to go around a gas pump to close. I think it can be straighten and you will not be able to see it. What a bummer we made 14,000 miles and now have a dent. We did our tire pressure and lug nut check.

Desert and Rocks

Rocks and Desert

Lots of rocks

Many trains run between El Paso and San Antonio

Fort Stockton RV Park

Pecan Fram along I-10 to San Antonio

Trip to Alaska and West Coast

November 16, 2013 – 51 F and partly cloudy/ windy. It rained last night and the wind made the trailer shake. The wind has blown all day 10-16 mph with gusts to 30. It is another football Saturday. Alabama won 20-7 over Mississippi State not their best game but a win. Tennessee was off. We got to watch the game in the RV site family room just across from our trailer.

Trip to Alaska and West Coast

November 15, 2013 – 49F and cloudy.  We had a busy day. We toured Biggs Army airfield. I land there many years ago at about 2 am. It was fun to see it at noon time. We ate at a very good Mexican restaurant established in 1926 and the number #2 restaurant on Trip Advisor in El Paso – L & J Café. The restaurant had a waiting line. Carl got a army haircut and we made a commissary run. We studied many foods and their sodium content. It was surprising that in a category you could find many different amounts of sodium in the same product. The wind is blowing 17; Gust to 20 mph.

L & J Cafe

L & J Cafe

Downtown El Paso

Base Housing on Ft Bliss

Trip to Alaska and West Coast

November 14, 2013 – 49F and sunny. We visited the Ft Bliss Museum (Old Ironsides) and a replica of old FT Bliss (1857). It took us sometime to find them. The main road to them does not show on the map that they built their BX complex in the middle of the road. We also, visited the BX complex. It is like a large mall. It has 20-30 mix of shops, restaurants, movie, banks, gas station, class six store (liquor Store) and a very large BX. Tomorrow, we will try to find the airfield and go to the commissary.

Display in Ft Bliss museum

Old Ft Bliss from 1857

Old Ironsides

Display in from of Ft Bliss Museum

Trip to Alaska and West Coast

November 13, 2013 – 49 F and cloudy. We drove around Fort Bliss and El Paso. It is hard to tell the difference. There are several gates to stop and show ID but there are many areas that are still on Ft Bliss with no guarded entrance. The BX Mall must have 20+ off base type stores. The commissary is very large. We are not use to being on Army bases. They must have 300 to 400% more people than at an Air Force base. We only covered the west side of the base. The airfield is a whole east base. I guess tomorrow we will explore the base more.  We, also, went to Wal-Mart and purchased toilet drop-ins and a toilet cleaning wand.  The campground has a family TV area and we can get ESPN there. Hopefully, we will be able to watch the Alabama game there Saturday at 5:45 pm. Otherwise; we will be watching the game at Buffalo Wild Wings on Fort Bliss in the BX area.

Ft Bliss RV Park TV Center

Ft Bliss RV Park

BX Shopping Area

El Paso, TX sunset

Trip to Alaska and West Coast

November 12, 2013 – 54F and sunny- forecast winds 20 -30 mph. We had a great down day.

Trip to Alaska and West Coast

November 11, 2013 – 46F and sunny. Today it is off to El Paso on I- 10 and Ft Bliss Fam Camp. We arrived and got the trailer setup. It is a nice campground. The city of El Paso is all around. We will see if we can find our way around Ft Bliss tomorrow.

Pecan Trees -many very large orchards

Mountains we crossed on I-10

Dairy Farms -- We must have passed 5 miles or more of cows