Along the way to TUS

We made it to Tucson this afternoon and we're all set at the Air Force Base through our grandson's graduation and the family cruise. It's a relief to know the rig will be secure and our friends will be checking in case anything goes wrong, ya just never know! The Horned Toad posed the morning we were leaving DreamCatcher in Deming, NM and the Quail were at the SKP Park in Benson this morning. We had a great visit with Rick & Terri, so wonderful to see Rick looking so good (even tho he's lost quite a bit of weight) and Terri a bit more relaxed. Hopefully we'll see them again before they leave to head to IL. The ESCAPEES and especially the Class of '07 are so special, we've formed what we hope are lasting friendships. Tomorrow is a hair cut for me and can't wait to get the appointment for a mani/pedi with the girl that sinfully pampers me, I deserve it and she deserves the big tip! I'll try to do better about posting if we don't melt in this Arizona heat. Til next time, safe travels / be happy!

Baby Bell's Vireo

Momma and BABY came Thursday evening to let us know everything was okay. The BABY flew onto the deck railing right in front of me, flew a little bit away and then disappeared, while Momma was in a nearby tree. Made me feel so much better ! Do believe these birds are Bell's Vireo (s.)

We're back in Texarkana at the COE Park, Clear Springs, since Monday. This afternoon we found a baby bird under the RV, poor little thing. The mother was wonderful, she kept coming to feed and encourage the baby. Momma didn't seem to mind that I was so close, got some awesome pictures! Never managed to snap fast enough to catch momma stuffing the worm down Baby's throat, tho. Haven't made an identification yet but won't give up. Will get "THE BOOK" and compare picture to picture. The little guy disappeared while we were having supper, hope momma got him somewhere safe.

Beebe Arkansas

We left our beautiful spot in Texarkana this morning and headed for my brother's place in Paragould, AR. We had good weather all the way and saw some pretty wildflowers along I-30. We pulled off the Interstate in Beebe, AR for fuel and quite by accident found the ROAD HOG BBQ place. The people were sooooooo nice and the food was the best BBQ we've had in quite awhile. If you're ever traveling I-30 thru Beebe, take x 31 and look for this place, we had to park the rig across the street at a motel (with permission from the "desk") and cross a busy street but it was worth any effort. They're open Friday 11:00-1:30, then 4:30-7:00 and Saturday 11:00-7:00 , two days isn't a bad work week. The owners are sooooooo nice and added a sample of Road Hog potatoes and their beans to our order. We arrived at my brother and sister-in-law's around 3:30
to find my bro laid sewer and water pipe to our rig. Don't have to run 100 feet of water and sewer hose anymore.
There's a lot of wood to stack from damaged trees in last winter's ice storm, so maybe Dave will do that to repay the accommendations. So far no bad weather altho the rain is supposed to start around midnight. We miss everyone.............Love & hugs, Dave & Kathy

Texarkana, TX

We have a beautiful spot at Clear Springs COE, look at all the room we have. There's lots of birds so I'm a "happy camper"! Have to make sugar water for the hummers and get bird feeders up before Dave gets dinner, of course. We drove in and the "host" said go find a spot, then come back to pay. While Dave worked on the satellite set up I went back to settle the bill and lo and behold, Roger & Brenda drove up. We had a pleasant visit last evening and they stopped to say goodbye this morning. They're anxious to reach Ft Smith and see that new bundle of joy! The view of Wright Patman Lake out our back window is fabulous, as you can see. Oh, and if you have a "GOLDEN AGE PASS" the cost is $10 @ night for this spot. Some of the spaces along the water view have decks, that would've been nice except lucky people beat us to 'em. We'll check out some of the trails today and soak in the beauty surrounding us! Love and hugs....

Leaving "HOME"

We had to move on from Livingston yesterday, boo hoo! We had such a wonderful time with the Class of 2007 members that were there. We're preparing to leave, Dave is doing the final break down. Then we stopped at the office to settle up and get one more hug from Marcia, a classmate and "host" at Rainbow's End. Look forward to connecting with classmates down the road and via blogs/email.

Livingston Lake

Happy Easter to all of you!
Dave and I spent most of the day walking and touring Livingston Lake State Park yesterday, big and busy lake. It's so neat to see families out camping/rving with the kids. Texans sure seem to take advantage of the outdoor facilities available. The Cattle Egret (bottom left) was on the way to the lake, upper left is a pair of Eastern Bluebirds, some of the wildflowers in the park and a wonderful boardwalk that's a mile loop. The birds we saw on our walk wasn't new to us but so nice to see anyway, at least they didn't hide! Several places along the trail was posted yield to horses, didn't see any horses, just lots of other people enjoying nature the same as us. We'll be going to the Activity Center this afternoon for Easter dinner, taking an asparagus casserole as our side dish for our table.

Big Thicket National Wildlife Preserve

Dave, Marty and I went to Big Thicket Wednesday and spent the better part of the day there. It's located about 60 miles and a little bit southeast of Livingston. Big Thicket was established by Congress in 1974, is composed of 12 units with 97,550 acres authorized for protection. The birds were elusive, the ones we did see didn't stay long enough to be identified but they continued to haunt us with their songs and calls all the while. I especially like the colors in the tree that's upper left hand corner. Wish I could remember what the tree is..........memory fails again. The cypress (second row left) are interesting with their "knees", (center row under Dave.) Info for the Water Tupelo tree states that the wood of the roots has been a substitute for cork so Marty is trying to check it out. One could spend days and not see all of Big Thicket, it's so spread out. We had dinner Wednesday evening at Florida's BBQ with Joe, Marcia, Greg, Jean and Marty. The food was good altho the ribs were beef and of course my preference is babybacks. Jean had just gotten her hair cut and it looked cute, so we called Thursday and got appointments for later that afternoon. Finally got Dave out of the barbershop and into a salon! Miss Paula gave us good cuts and we're probably okay now til we get back to Tucson. Thursday night we played games with Joe, Marcia, Greg & Jean, one Greg brought (2 decks of cards) with pennies Marcia supplied. Never heard a definite name for the game, the first hand was poker, second was bingo, third hand was count out, fourth hand was take out, fifth hand was count for the dealer, you use the original five cards dealt to you at the beginning for all hands. Anyway my point is that it was fun. Then we played Mexican Train. Always with our love...

Texas BlueBonnets & other wildflowers

The wildflowers were so breath taking beautiful as we crossed part of Texas yesterday. I've now changed my mind about Virginia
being the most beautiful state because of the flowers, my HOME STATE of TEXAS is now top of the list. Sure would've loved to share this sight with all of you...................maybe next time with some of you???? Remember we love you!

Canyon Lake

Tomorrow we leave our spacious, bird filled parking spot. Sure will miss the birds but hope
there's many more at Rainbow's End. We're going "home" to visit our mailbox for a few
days and hopefully connect with friends. It's really windy today, a tail wind tomorrow
would be great but those head and side winds are killers.
Love and Hugs,
Dave & Kathy

We arrived at Canyon Lake this afternoon to find someone in our reserved space. There's only nine rv spaces here...........Anyway Dave went to the office and received permission to "move" to another space and this little fellow came along to welcome us. A whole herd of deer came thru, hung around waiting for a hand-out and weren't at all shy about getting up close. Got my bird feeders out and have a pair of cardinals, tufted titmouse, and chickadee. We extended our stay thru Sunday, will move on to Livingston Monday.

We have enjoyed our stay at NAS (Naval Air Station) FamCamp in Corpus Christi, it's been a good home base while we checked out this area. Yesterday we stopped at Goose Island and Marty went with us to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge for a day of birding and alligator viewing. Tomorrow we go to Fort Sam Houston Recreation Area at Canyon Lake for three nights before heading to Livingston. Sure hope some of our classmates are still there when we arrive. Definitely want to visit south Texas again.