Tuesday Dec 11th
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| Great Meal ... FABULOUS location |
Another cold night, but we were not beaten by it this time…. Electric blanket on!!! Met our new neighbours (on the other side) who arrived last night in the dark. They too have sold their house (Minnesota) and are traveling for a year or two, working as they go. The water lines did freeze again, but defrosted very quickly in the morning sun. Great day today. Went exploring in the truck and found an amazing place called The Oasis. It is a restaurant on 4 levels with 900 tables capable of serving 2500 people, high on a cliff, overlooking Lake Travis. We sat outside, basking in the sun with an outdoor heater as back-up. Wonderful Mexican Martini and fabulous food looking out over beautiful Lake Travis, which is a huge man-made lake formed by the Mansfield Dam across the Colorado River. The Dam is 265 feet high and about 1.5 miles long. The lake has low water levels right now, down about 25 feet from normal levels, and has some islands in the middle the locals call the ‘sometimes islands’ (sometimes you see them, sometimes you don’t). After two freezing nights we broke down and picked up an electric heater from Wallymart. Derek put outside Christmas lights up on a little tree on our site and we relaxed for the evening with cranberry and peppermint teas. By the way… WiFi Internet provided here for a fee (Tengo internet) is a pain …. Not great for us to keep in touch with family over skype… we may need to find alternative means of connection. Will update later on that issue. The American phone (T-Mobile) that we have works fine, but we cannot get the ‘unlimited browsing’ that we pay for on it to work in this area either, so that is another issue.
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| On top of the world |
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| A Texan map of the US... we are at The Oasis |
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| Pork Tacos.... and Blackened Tilapia |
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| The Oasis from around the bay. |
Monday Dec 10th
After a VERY disturbed night in the wind and cold, we chipped the ice off the water connection and packed up to head further south…. This is supposed to be TEXAS… sheesh it is cold. Austin next stop. The drive down was straightforward and we arrived at La Hacienda RV Resort early afternoon. Site is nice but not as picturesque as The Vineyards was. It was nice to be able to set up in daylight for a change. Janice is starting to feel the enormity of what we have done and getting a little homesick. It’s a dream come true doing this, but it does have a price in missing friends, family and familiar sights and sounds of home.
Quiet night watching Miracle on 34th Street… and oldie but a goodie. (and we put our miniature Christmas tree up) Also, thanks to some great friends (you know who you are) we also have some lovely battery lamps that change colours and look most festive either side of the TV. By the way, those who worry for our safety… fear not!! The guy in the next camper is in the military and apparently has ‘several guns’ ready to protect us with!! We must be in Texas.
Sunday Dec 9th
Longer bike ride today we headed across a type of causeway (Fairway Drive) past 2 lovely looking golf clubs (the Grapevine Golf Club and the Dallas Cowboys Golf Club). It was a windy ride and felt like it was uphill both ways. We only did about 16k, but really enjoyed the fresh air and exercise. Drove back into town for another look round and a couple of photos. While the temperature was beautiful during the day, and dropped like a stone about 30 degrees Fahrenheit and even further overnight (enough to freeze the water line. Winds became a bit scary…
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| Grapevine RV resort is across bay. |
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| Kodak moment.. love my new bike |
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| AWW.... Had to push a few kids around to get on the bench!!! |
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| Grapevine town ... another bench |
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| Did you know Derek could sing??? |
