Mon Feb 22- Mon Feb 29 2016 NOTL - San Antonio

Mon Feb 22-Fri Feb 29 2016 NOTL - San Antonio

Monday Feb 22

Set off at 9.30 am in truck to go get the rig. Missed Nexus lane at the border but got through quite quickly anyway. Good day to drive, clear and not too cold. Got down to Elizabethtown, KY. (approx 1000km drive) We had stayed at this hotel (Winfield Inn and Suites) before and room was fine and economical. We were both pretty exhausted from the long drive and hot the hay after a quick snack on cream cheese and crackers.

SUNSET DRIVING THROUGH CINCINNATI

Tuesday Feb 23

Set off in the morning and progressed well. Coolish day but cloudy and bright. Got through Nashville and arrived at Muscle Shoals, Alabama at about 2pm. Had a wander around the Muscle Shoals studio, while under complete renovation makeover. Only a small four room affair but lots of history and it had a cool vibe being the room where so names have strutted their stuff. Had to buy the Tee shirt. Then a mile down the road to the Fame studio. Decided not to wait around for the tour. Again nice to be in the building but that’ll do it. Off to Tupelo.  Had problems with the temperature gauge on the way down (overheating etc)

MUSCLE SHOALS STUDIO DOOR

JANICE MAKING HER MARK ON THE POSTER

GREAT PIECE OF ROCK HISTORY

LOBBY AT FAME STUDIOS MUSCLE SHOALS

Arrived about 5.30 at the Wingate by Wyndham Hotel in pouring rain Decided to go out for a bite to eat at Blue Canoe…best tripadvisor rating. Wow what bad service…ignored as we sat at the bar for 15 minutes…we left in disgust and posted a review!!! By now the rain was torrential. So we got hot fried Chicken at Walmart and went back to our room and watched CNN republican debate and feasted!!

Wednesday Feb 24

Derek took the truck in to a dealer first thing in the morning and the guy found the problem immediately and fixed it… thrilled (just a wire rubbing on something… no mechanical issues thank goodness.) He came back to the hotel and we checked out and hoofed off to see Elvis birthplace. Had a look around and read all the posters. Then we stopped at Helen Keller’s childhood home (small plantation) also in Tupelo. It was a big surprise and hugely interesting as it still has the family furniture and belongings in it. Off to Montgomery. Got to the rig about 2.30 and loaded up, transferred bikes and set off at about 4pm. Relieved that all seems well, no issues that we could see. Only went 18 mile south to the Montgomery South RV Park. It  looked disappointing from highway, but it is operated by a father / son team who were as friendly as could be. I went down the highway to track down some wine at the local “liquor” store…feeling very proud I’d found it, returned to find out that it was off…not a little way off…but a long way off!!! Lol… too far and too tired to return it.

Thursday Feb 25

The rig was fine overnight, all fluids OK and all systems go. Set off on a sunny day for Baton Rouge.  to the KOA on the west side. A very good park, one of the best KOA’s we have stayed at. Derek went out to buy a few supplies (and a good bottle of wine this time)  and we settled in for an early night.

Friday Feb 26

Originally headed just for Beaumont, Texas except we realized that the RV park we were planning on stopping the night at was a Class A motorhomes only park. So being of a lower class, we traveled on a little bit further west past Houston. We stayed at Houston West RV Park, and were surprised how good it was compared to the reviews. This leaves us just a three hour drive to San Antonio. We arrived early enough to make dinner and relax.

Saturday Feb 27

Arrived at Alsatian RV about 1pm. Initially a little disappointed. It is a long way outside of San Antonio, was very quiet, washrooms and laundry are small. Easy drive thru spot for these first few days so got set up quite quickly. Very sunny and no trees for this site. We went down to the Alsace hotel which was opening their new restaurant and had free appy’s and beer and Margarita. Now that’s the way to welcome us to south Texas. We checked out Di and Bern’s room and emailed them to say the accommodations were just fine. Did a bit of grocery shopping and after dinner went to the resorts bar restaurant, a duo were playing and the atmosphere was a bit better.  So we feel a bit better about the place and we are sure we will have fun anyway.

Sunday Feb 28

Unpacked boxes and tried to organize the rig and set up for the next little while.

Monday Feb 29

We went into Lytle  (town about 14 miles West of Castroville) to check out the HEB grocery store there. It was a long drive just for groceries so we plan on checking out the closer but smaller HEB in Hondo next time.

January 1 2016 to Feb 21 2106

January 1 2016 to Feb 21 2106
January was spent enjoying the town and visiting and being visited by friends. Ted and Hillary cane from Toronto during the Ice Wine festival, we went to see a friend, Doug perform in a play in Toronto, followed by a lovely dinner Tindals, Taylors and Addie/Arnolds. We enjoyed meeting with our World Events group for invigorating and challenging discussions. We had painters in to start some painting in the house (family room) and also had some new furniture delivered for the family room. This combined with a renewed effort at the gym and trying to eat healthily with our juicer  being used every day.  Janice's back is getting worse affecting and limiting her daily life. She has had no luck getting any help from the medical profession, but has found a great Chiropractor in town who has been helping to guide her, with the aim of trying to delay the inevitable consequences of spinal and general arthritis. Unfortunately the pain is constant and gets her down at times. 
February was much the same. We did manage to find a designer/contractor who has some good ideas and with whom we both felt comfortable. She has taken measurments and will be working on designs while we are away. We decide to leave for the South on Feb 22nd, so the last couple of weeks were spent preparing to leave and organizing our trip.

16 months later - 2015 in a nutshell

16 months later - 2015 in a nutshell
Well folks I guess you know by now that our care-free lifestyle, tossing around in our beloved RV came to an unceremonious end over the Christmas/New Year holidays 2014/15. It has turned out to be a fortuitous change, and we are so very grateful for all that came to pass over that eventful couple of months. I will likely fill in that period of time in the future, but suffice it to say that, what we thought was a disastrous health issue for Janice during Dec 2014, forced us to look quickly for a place to put down roots, and, as we had totally enjoyed our time in Niagara on the Lake (NOTL), we looked around and found a house. It was one of those times when all the stars were aligned. Someone wanted to sell quickly due to family health issues, and we wanted to buy for the same reason... so we offered, they accepted, and with a couple of weeks we were moving into our 'new' home. Christmas was spent in a rental cottage (1860's farmhouse) in the middle of NOTL. Despite the health scare, which turned out to be a warning, and non life threatening, we had a beautiful Christmas with two of our three sons. We moved into our new home on Jan 24th 2015.
Sadly Janice's brother Tony in UK had been diagnosed with cancer over the holidays and Janice was unable to travel due to her own medical issues. Tony left us on Feb 25th and the following week Janice got the all clear from the doctor to travel, so we went to UK on Mar 10th for a couple of weeks to attend Tony's funeral. We returned Mar 25. A couple of  weeks to settle in some more and we headed down to Texas to pick up our RV that was waiting patiently for us to return (and contained the bulk of our 'personal' possessions.) It was a bittersweet journey, and on our return on April 19th, it seemed very strange to see it parked temporarily outside our house. We cleaned and emptied it and after over 2 years of full-time living in it, we were quite sad to put it into storage.  On May 1st Derek's cousin Gillian came to visit us for two weeks and helped us greatly getting the garden in order. We enjoyed having her and learned much from her and from the weekly seminars at a local nursery about plants and gardening in general. In June Grant moved to Niagara on the Lake and rented a lovely little cottage while he studied for a degree and worked full-time to support himself. So good to have family close by. Also in June our dear friends Derek and Lin form UK came to visit for 2 weeks, also helping us with garden and planning. All visitors enjoyed sitting out on the front porch chatting and watching the world pass by. The front porch has become a favourite place for us to hang out with a morning coffee or a pre-dinner glass of wine. July and August were spent enjoying our new home, making plans for future renovations and making new friends in our new town. NOTL has a vibrant social network and we enjoyed getting to know 'the locals', walking into town for groceries, picking up our mail at the post office, golfing at the local course in town and going to 'locals' night at the Angel pub and attending the world class theatre in the three theaters in town.  Walking everywhere is a new phenomenon for us, having spent 35 years in a home where we had to drive for everything.
In late July the husband of Derek's cousin Jackie passed away. Derek went to UK for 2 weeks in early August to attend the funeral and be a support for her. The rest of the month was spent enjoying the leisurely and active lifestyle of retirement in Niagara on the Lake. We have both joined the gym/spa at the Pillar and Post Hotel and love going over there for  a workout, followed by a swim and a soak in the hot springs.
September started with a fun weekend in Stratford with 4 other friends (the Addie/Arnolds and the Tindals) entailing much laughter, much theatre and much wine enjoyed by all.
In October we pulled our rig out of storage and spent two weeks back on the road going back to Gettysberg for a couple of days to revisit the battlefields, now that we have both read the book 'The Killer Angels'. It was so much more interesting this time. We spent a week in Pensacola Florida for some warm weather, cycling and seafood.  (if you ever go to Pensacola, go to Joe Patties's seafood store..... AMAZING place!!) The trip was fraught with minor issues with the truck and the rig, but we enjoyed ourselves and it felt very 'right' being back in our 'home on wheels'.  We still miss the lifestyle, but NOTL has proven to be the best place for us to settle, so we are happy with our decision.
November was spent raking leaves, attending dinner dance, and battening down the hatches for the coming winter season.
December brought the Christmas season candlelight stroll through town shared with our good friends Tina and Al, the holiday house tour, Santa Clause Parade and of course Christmas, enjoyed with Braden and Grant and visits by family and friends.  So 2015 came to a close quietly with a special dinner at home with Braden while Grant was working. It was a a great year in many ways and a sad year in other ways. So much happened and we are grateful to be surrounded by good friends and our beautiful family. On to 2016.

CANDLE-LIGHT STROLL 2014

SANTA CLAUS PARADE-2014

SANTA CLAUS PARADE 2014

BRADEN IN OUR RICARDO ST COTTAGE XMAS 2014

THE GAZEBO IN TOWN. FORT NIAGARA, NY ACROSS RIVER

OUR NEW HOME

DONE AND DUSTED

LET'S BEGIN A NEW ADVENTURE

SNOW IN TOWN NOTL

BACK VIEW OF HOUSE FEB 2015

Fri Nov 14-Fri Nov 21, 2014- Enjoying Texas

Fri Nov 14-Fri Nov 21 - Enjoying Texas
We started off the week with Karaoke at the resort with friends and we had a ball. Lisa and Mike picked us up in their fancy golf cart (Janice wants one!!!). Derek stunned Janice by getting up to sing a few He rocked Blue Suede Shoes) and finally Janice braved the embarrassment and got up with him to sing a couple... note to self  - Tina Turners Proud Mary is probably not geared to new Karaoke inductees-. In this traveling lifestyle you just gotta try everything and take everything in stride. 
The week was very cold as a cold front struck most of North America. Poor Buffalo, New York was hit with close to 6 feet of snow, a forty year record. 

Nov 13th - Anniversary -- Play and Pizza

Nov 13th - Anniversary -- Play and Pizza
What a great day and quite the accomplishment. Married 43 years ago today in Merseyside UK and here we are in Texas still having the time of our lives. It really does not seem possible that we are old enough to have been married that long... we plan on staying in denial for years to come!!! Various homes, (Merseyside, North Wales, Toronto, Richmond Hill, and Burlington and now our RV) Careers, Kids, and retirement... we have survived it all despite the trials and tribulations along the way.
Anyway the day was spent relaxing. Lisa came over and dropped off a card and bottle of Champagne and some other goodies.. so sweet. We heard from all our kids which meant much to us both. 
We headed into Austin to a community theatre to see a farce (called 'Farce Of Nature'. Very small theatre but the show was entertaining and giggle producing. We topped off our day with a late night visit to Homeslice pizza for a slice of Pizza.... wow... tasted like pizza used to taste when we first arrived in Canada. What a great day... grateful and happy. 

Mon/Tue Nov 10 - 11 Golf / relaxing / remembering

Mon Nov 10 - GOLF
It was the last of what has been beautiful warm days (cold front coming in tomorrow), so with a 77-80 degree forecast we were very happy to join another couple from the resort (Kirk and Susan) for a game of golf at a municipal course in South Austin called Roy Kizer municipal course. 
We had a great day. Beautiful weather, fun golf partners and a lovely course.
Janice was more than a little rusty on the first nine and had to use much self control to restrain from tossing her clubs in the lake... however she recovered a little of her 'mojo' in the back nine and hope for the future was restored!!  Derek had the patience of Job.... and the bravery of Sampson when he tried to give her a few pointers!!!  LOL  We were all hungry after the game and treated ourselves to a delicious burger at the course cafe.
It really was fun being out on the course again and we never cease to be grateful for the opportunity to do what we are doing. We got back to the resort and chilled for a while. We watched a BBC documentary on PBS  about the young Queen Victoria and then one about her 'crippled' grandson - he grew up to be the dreaded Kaiser who was instrumental in instigating WW1. Fascinating stuff. 
Tues Nov 11
Cold front has arrived but it is still beautiful and sunny. We spent the day relaxing, blogging, researching destinations, and a couple of walks round the resort etc... all good stuff to do.
A day also to remember and be thankful.... in your own way for your own reasons. Peace!!

Sun Nov 9th - Duck adventure / Fun in the city

Sun Nov 9th - Duck adventure / Fun in the city

2014-from Safaris to  Duckboats!!! All FUN!!

Duck beaks - Ready to terrorize Asutin

Texas State Capital Austin

And IN WE GO!!

UHHH.... HELP!We're stuck out here!!!

On our way finally!

So the rich and famous live here!! But no privacy!!

Some are living the high life on Lake Austin!!

This paddle trimaran looks fun!!

Top of Tom Miller Dam, Lake Austin

What a great day. We booked to go on a Duck adventure tour with Lisa and Mike.. but the day ended up to be so much more. We all packed into the truck and drove into the city, with plan A and plan B all set for a lunch spot before our tour at 2pm... but Plan A restaurant was closed and Plan B restaurant was lined up out of the door, so we opted for the non-existent plan C and ended up at 'Champion Sports bar". Great spot for a quick bite before boarding the 'duck boat', which is an amphibious bus (drives on roads and navigates the water). Upon boarding we were all issued a yellow duck-bill shaped duck-call whistle which we (well Janice anyway) blew with the great delight reserved for 5 year-olds, at all and sundry people on the streets.
The tour around the city before entering the water was interesting and informative, then we proceeded to the ramp and floated away into the lake, after about 5 Looooong minutes our driver / captain finally managed to engage the propeller. Up to that point we thought we were in for a real adventure… you know ……bus load of tourists rescued from lake by helicopter or something like that!!!! It was a great trip with some lovely lakeside properties.

Back on dry Land

Mini do-nut fans

Shipping container bar

After the tour Lisa and Mike guided us to Rainey St area of Austin which is the 'in' place for eclectic bars/restaurants etc all housed in tiny old houses / food trucks or in one case a bar made from shipping containers all welded together in various positions... very funky! We started our walk through by getting freshly made cinnamon mini-donuts from Lucy's tiny donut truck... addicitive!!! One bar had a fabulous 9 member Ska group called NightOwls... excellent. 

Inside container bar.. containers are lounges etc

NightOwl ska band - great

Good times, good friends!

Beautiful View from Mt Bonnell

On our way back 'home' we went up Mount Bonnell road to see a fabulous vista of the Colorado River and the gorgeous homes on the banks. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Bonnell). We were all getting a bit hungry so we got back to the RV resort, parked the truck, and hopped on Lisa and Mike's fun 'golf cart' to go to the local Mexican retsuarant by the resort (Los Pinos)... the complimentary tortilla chips and homemade Salsa are delicious (but spicy)... Chicken Nachos are a definite 'sharezee' plate. 
What a great day full of laughs, giggles, and good memories.  thx Lisa and Mike!!