Disneyworld Trip–Report #1

On Wednesday, we got a call from our DIL that the kids would be ready a little early………… so we headed to the school, and picked them up shortly after 11:30AM, and got on the road. 

Our first planned stop was Lake Charles, LA to meet up for a little while with Mark and Sue.  We had made plans to meet them at a Texas Roadhouse Steak restaurant in Lake Charles.  Mark is waiting for a phone call from the hospital for a major surgery, and I had asked a friend of ours to buy us a couple of Tiffin shirts in Red Bay, so I gave on to Mark to where to the hospital for good luck!  Here is a picture of Aubrey eating her salad at the restaurant and of Mark and Aubrey showing the shirt…….

We got to the restaurant at about 4:30PM and got back on the road at 6:00PM.  We drove until about 9:30PM and stopped at a Wal-Mart parking lot for the night in Hammond.  We had planned to stay at the Mississippi Welcome station, but we decided that we wanted to put the slides out.  We got up, or rather the kids woke us up, at about 6:45AM this morning, and went into the Wal-Mart store to buy the kids extra swimsuits, and to get some donuts for breakfast.

Here are the kids posing at the pool in their new suits…..

Matthew really liked his ‘shark’ trunks!

After leaving Wal-Mart, we headed toward Mississippi and stopped at the Welcome Center.  When we left Victoria, we gave each grandkid their own copy of a children’s road atlas, and we have been teaching them how to read maps and to note mile markers on the interstate highways.  In both Louisiana and Mississippi, we stopped and picked up state maps for them to read.  Matthew even picked up tourist brochures with swamps and gators on them!  The lady at the Mississippi welcome center suggested that we drop down to HWY 90 immediately and drive along the beach….. so we did.  The kids really enjoyed it.  Here are some pictures driving along the beaches and when we stopped……

At about 11:00AM, we checked into our campground, Cajun RV Resort, in Biloxi, MS.  Here is a picture of our site……

As soon we got set up, we hit the campground pool.  It is hot and humid here!!

After the pool, we drove down to a new beach park at Gulfport and the kids played at the playground……

Another thing that was nice to see driving down HWY 90 was fuel prices………

 

It is now 3:30PM on Thursday, and we are leaving to spend a couple of hours on the beaches and back at the campground pool.  Tomorrow, we will hit the beach again for a short while, and then on the way toward Florida, I will fuel up with diesel at a Wal-Mart Murphy station in Gautier, MS with a listed price of $3.50 less a 5 cent Wal-Mart Discover card discount……. $3.45 a gallon, the best I’ve seen in a while.  I haven’t fueled up since leaving Victoria, so I will get a bunch!!!

Tomorrow, the kids will get to drive through the tunnel under the river at Mobile, AL.   So far, they are doubtful that you can do that, since we have been taking large bridges ‘over’ the rivers!!  They will see.

Later…..

Texas Bluebonnet Allegros–Rest of the Story

 

Well………. my excuse is that we stayed up late Saturday night at the concert, and pretty much went straight to bed.  On Sunday morning, we broke camp and headed home to do more work on my garage project, and I just never did get around to completing the blog.  Sorry!

Today, we are picking up the grandkids from school at noon (last day), and leaving directly for Disneyworld in Orlando.  When I started thinking about blogging, I remembered that I had not updated!!

We had great seating at the concert, because the campground roped off an area for campers right in the front, and we were at the front of that area.  NO TROUBLE HEARING….. until after the concert!!!

Here are some pictures of the crew setting up…….

It was entertaining to watch the set up.  A not so famous band opened for the main act, and they were pretty good.  Here are a couple of pictures…..

An hour and a half later, the main show with John Conley, famous for “Rose Colored Glasses”

John is getting up in years……. almost like an RV’er, but he put on a really good show.  Our tickets through the KOA were only $15 each……… so it was well worth it.  Now if my hearing, what I had left, will just return!!

Check back…. our current trip is expected to take 3 weeks, and include Disneyworld, Okefenokee Swamp, the Tiffin factory at Red Bay, AL for a new windshield, and Little Rock to see Granddaughter!

Later………..

The Texas Bluebonnet Allegro Club

This weekend, we are in Fredericksburg, TX at the local KOA campground meeting with 13 couples to form a new Tiffin Allegro Camping Club. 

We had a little bad luck on the way up here……… a passing truck, associated with all of the oil and gas work going on around the Cuero/Gonzales area, threw a rock as we passed each other, and put a big ding on the windshield….. in the tinted area above the driver.  I was loud and sounded like a gunshot!!  Here are some pictures………..

I am pretty sure that the ‘ding’ can’t be repaired, and we will need a new windshield because it is in the tinted area and due to the size!!  I will get a glass place at home to confirm, but I have already contacted our insurance company and have it set up for a Red Bay replacement on the way back from our trip to Disneyworld in June.  I am not as disappointed as I might be, as the Bus is almost 5 years old, and when you get up and clean the windshield it is easy to see lots of “little” dings!

We arrived Thursday afternoon, and Patsy and I toured the downtown area. The club meeting did not start until Friday, so we stayed at the Oakwood RV park because it was $16.50 per night with our Passport America discount while KOA wanted another $49 for the extra night!!  The savings paid for dinner.

We decided to eat German food, and chose the Asulander Restaurant on Main St. in Fredericksburg.  We both had the wiener schnitzel, and although it was good, I am not sure that I would order it again.  The restaurant was nice, and here are some inside pictures…….

On Friday morning, we left at 8:30am in the car to visit the Fredericksburg Trade Days event.  It was interesting, but was mostly antiques and Junque!!  After about 2 hours, we went back to the Bus at Oakwood, quickly washed the bugs off the front, and then departed for the KOA across town.  We got a really nice site, and we were quickly set up. 

On Friday night, the whole group went to a local “K-Bob’s” steak house for dinner and had a good chance to get acquainted.

This morning, we had a group breakfast, and then our initial meeting to get the club set up.  That was interesting………. too much like work!!!

Afterward, Patsy and I drove over to the Lady Bird Johnson Municipal park to walk through a car show that is happening this weekend.  Here are some photos………

 

There were several hundred really nice vehicles.  

Another update as the weekend unfolds…………

An update…….. Finally!!

 

I last published a post when we left Little Rock on the way back from Red Bay.  Our plans were to get home and get a lot of Spring projects out of the way……… cleaning beds and gutters, fertilizing the lawn, ordering our new Honda CRV and selling the old Ford Explorer, among others.  That has all been done, and we even sold the Ford on the first day it was listed in the paper to the first person that called about it!!  That happened about a month ago, and we have been getting used to only having one car every since.  Our new CRV is expected around mid-June.

We also got some medical issues out of the way, including a heart catheter test for me.  All came out fairly good….. not any worse than 6 years ago!   Here is a picture that Mark Didelot took of me in the hospital……

Mark is currently having some issues of his own, and is working with the Methodist hospital in Houston to get a lung transplant.  He recently had to take a lot of tests to make sure that he fit the ‘transplant criteria’……….. and he has!!!  However, he had to have a surgery to get a hiatal hernia repaired, and since turnabout is fair play, here is a photo of him in the ICU recovery room…..

In between hospital visits, Mark & Sue and Patsy & I did go camping together for an outing of the Lone Star Allegro Club that we belong at the Serendipity RV Park & Marina in Palacios, Texas.  It was a nice park, and we had a nice time.  Here are some pictures showing the Tiffin coaches lined up along the waterfront…………….

 

In the picture above, Mark’s coach is behind the white pole, and we are to the left of him with our sign in the front window.  Here is a picture from inside the coach……..

We went driving around and took some pictures.  I found the shrimp boats that catch the seafood for the local HEB food stores that we see advertised on TV…..

We also made the 30 minute drive over to Matagorda beach, and we drove out on the beach…… after paying for a beach pass.  I got stuck in the soft sand, and Mark has pictures of that on his blog if you want to see them. 

Other than the fact that I am stripping my garage and re-painting it to get ready for the new CRV in June, that is about a complete update. 

We are currently in Fredericksburg, TX at a KOA campground meeting with a different group of Tiffin owners who are forming a new Allegro club chapter.   That will be the next update.