Happy 2017!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

(and all that other stuff)

New Years Celebration complete with horns and balloon drop

Welcome to 2017!  We celebrated, well Cindy and two of the grandkids did, in style.  They welcomed in the new year with a big party in Matilda while I sat by making the final adjustments to our first quarter travel plans.  Our first stop was to be Branson, Missouri for a couple weeks.  That would have been okay except one of the reasons we wanted to travel is that we wanted to avoid the cold and we found out after arriving in Branson that we just hadn't traveled far enough south to get "warm."  We stayed in Branson for a few days but the weather report one night was my warning sign to head farther south.  The prediction of ice, snow and bitter cold prompted me to contact my brother and his wife to check out whether or not we could come down a bit earlier that planned.  Nancy told me to come on down so off to south Texas we went!
Now, the last time we went to Cut-n-Shoot, Texas, I was accused of bringing the cold with me so in true obligation to my reputation, I brought the cold with me.....again.  We got to the suburb of Conroe and parked in my brother's yard.  That next morning found this little community facing freezing cold (by their standards) weather that managed to hold on for a couple days.  The original plan called for us all to go to a campground on the 15th so Cindy and I just hung out at Bob's place until then.  On the 15th we all loaded up and headed for The Preserve of Texas, just outside of Cleveland, Texas.  By this time the weather had warmed to what was expected of this southern Texas area and Bob set up his camp and we set up ours right next to his. 

The campground that we had chosen on this complex had been utilized by Bob and Nancy before and I do have to admit it was in a gorgeous area and the only company we had was two empty camping trailers that had been on site for quite some time without any attention.  One was adjacent to our spots, the other (thank goodness) was at the very far end of the campground. 
Cindy was excited about all the wildlife that was right outside our door while Bob and I had become very curious about some wildlife that wasn't very welcome.  Seems that the camper at the end of the grounds had been claimed as home by some 75 plus vultures.  We were okay with the huge menaces as long as they stayed at their end of the park.  Every morning we would awaken to all these vultures surrounding and roosting on that camper.  I even reported it to the security person at the gate and they told me that the vultures had been there for quite some time and that the camper owners could not be reached to get it moved.  Now, most RV resorts we have had the pleasure of staying at had a policy that if you were even going to be away from your camper even overnight you had to inform the main office, Bob said the policy here allowed people to leave their camper vacant up to two weeks but not any longer.  Bob said that this particular camper had been there since October.

Just a few of the "neighbors"

We left the vultures to tend to their business and we set about just enjoying being out and just relaxing.  We had our campfires, sat outside, talked a lot and helped the Coors Brewing Company pay off some its bills.  The time went very smoothly and without any concerns, UNTIL Sunday.  The people that owned the camper came in Saturday night to discover that they had left some food in the camper that had obviously ruined and that was what had attracted the winged crowd.  They, (the owners) for some reason, proceeded to clean the contents of the camper out and put several huge garbage bags out for collection.  Since the collection services weren't scheduled to run again until Monday, the vultures decided to empty all the garbage bags and it appeared that they devoured everything that was in the bags.  This was still no big concern to us, but that was soon to change.  Now, I do have to admit that this did actually become a very valuable learning experience for both my brother and my self.  We witnessed first hand just what kind of damage a vulture could do to a camper.  This camper had massive holes eaten in the roof, resulting in lots of water damage, topped off by the slimy mess that this huge number of vultures had "deposited" inside.  The law of  nature when it comes to vultures is that they follow the food.  The food supply had been depleted at their normal place so it was only logical that they move on.  Let's just say we weren't prepared for where they decided to move on to.

Vultures were upset their free food was gone

I was awakened at the break of light by Ginger barking continuously.  I figured she saw a squirrel or armadillo or something.  Imagine how I felt when I raised the shade and all I could see in front of my camper was a sea of black feathers!  Seems the vultures thought I was responsible for their next meal.  It only took a few minutes to scare them off then we went to the front gate and informed them that we wanted new  camping spots at another campground, the vultures had become far to close for comfort, not to mention that since the food supply was gone, they had now become very violent and were even fighting amongst themselves.  We were granted new sites.  Just a side note here; this particular campground, like many in the Coast to Coast network, sold properties so any Coast to Coast member that came to stay here would, in my opinion, be a prospective customer so the presence of these vultures and the parks lack of concern about even getting that camper out of there definitely turned this prospect into a non-prospect for sure. 

Cindy and her new friends and a view from our front door

We did see some very interesting wildlife while we were here.  The lakes had an abundance of white cranes, blue herons, some huge turtles that could be found sunning each day and even saw an alligator out sunning on one particular day.  Cindy made  friends with some horses that were residents just a few hundred feet rom our original campsite.


January 29 came and it was time for us to move on.  We sadly said goodbye to my wonderful brother and the woman that I give full credit for saving his life, his wonderful wife, Nancy and pointed Brutus and Matilda east towards Mississippi.  Brutus' first trip with Matilda in tow was to my aunt's house in southern Mississippi and that is where we were heading again.  We had a spot out under that huge old oak tree in her front yard just calling our name. 

Cindy and My Aunt Rie (and me)

My aunt lives on a limited income so whenever I visit, I try to help her with something I know a little bit about, her car.  This time was no exception.  I had to move the car for some reason and even with my hearing issues could hear an unwelcome noise from under the hood.  I replaced the a/c clutch and bearing for her and she paid me very well for my service with not one but two home made, none better anywhere pecan pies.  Now mind you, I don't offer deals like this to any one else, so don't ask, besides, no one else could make a pecan pie as good as her anyway.  We only stayed a few days at Aunt Rie's house but they were, as usual, a few days that were well worth it and will never be forgotten.  We loaded up Brutus and Matilda and pointed them south, towards New Orleans and our next camping adventure in Abita Springs, Louisiana. 
That is where I am going to end this segment.  We arrived at a very clean, very hospitable and very comfortable camp site and set up for the next two weeks.  I look forward to doing some fishing in one of their extremely nice fishing lakes and even promised Cindy I would go to the Valentine's dance with her and if the Coors company is willing to help, I might even get on the dance floor....time will tell.
Until next time I will close with our new found slogan discovered carved into a shelter at a camp site of ours in Beaver Lake, Arkansas "Gypsy Life= Destination Unknown"

Just wanted to leave you some pictures of our home for the next two weeks, Abita Springs RV Resort, Abita Springs, Louisiana