Off to Hurst, TX

     Woke up to nicer weather than yesterday, but still cold and very windy. Didn't bother the dogs, though, and Rosie enjoyed her last "race around the yard." After helping tidy up "the Ranch", we all headed back to the DFW area--Lea and the kids to home, Becky and Jim to his mother, Kay's home in Hurst.

Had a nice time sitting around talking with Kay and Jim's two sisters, Jane and Mary Lou. Our dogs got along fine with 2 of their 3, Star and Buda (Dudley in particularly likes to make friends with "little" dogs). The 3d one, Cocoa, felt like he needed to protect his turf and let us know it the entire time we were there.

Jane made a nice dinner, and we watched the first episode of "The Pacific" that evening before retiring to the RV for the night.

"The Ranch" at Possum Kingdom Lake

     After several terrific weather days in the Hill Country, our first night in frigid Possum Kingdom Lake was characterized by heavy rain all night long, 35 degree temperatures, and winds up to 30 mph! Weather actually deteriorated all day, and by late morning (and the rest of the day) we were getting sleet and SNOW! Good grief!! The dogs loved being here, though--they got to run free, and the weather suited them fine! The top photo of sunset was actually taken last night--didn't download it till today. The panorama is what it looks like today!

     It was an administrative catch-up day for us; laundry, refueling the RV, relaxing. We did have an air hockey tournement down in the game room, which brings everyone's emotions out big time! Winner is irrelevant, but it's always fun and even petite Beth can hold her own with the biggest and baddest of us!

Jeff and Lea took us out to their favorite steakhouse here, the Wildcatter restaurant and resort. They took us there last time, too, and for the second time in a row it was cold and snowing. Southport, incidentally, is much warmer and snow free!

A driving day - to Possum Kingdom Lake

     A travel day, 307 miles from Fredericksburg to Possum Kingdom Lake. Not much exciting to report about--saw hundreds of goats--more than anyplace we've ever been! If we're here in April, we can go to the great goat meat cookoff! Guess we'll miss that!

     Jeff got here about the same time we did, and after supper we watched some March Madness and then Batman Begins, the first movie.

     No pictures today--just picture a long day in the RV for us, and in the Odyssey for Lea and the kids!

Fredericksburg

It was a beautiful day in Fredericksburg, and we started the day with a visit to the terrific Museum of the Pacific War, entering through the Admiral Nimitz house and museum. After a short trip through the house, one goes through an open courtyard with plaques commemorating all the units that served in the Pacific under Nimitz. The main museum is complete, educational, and fascinating. We got through 1/2 of the tour in a little over an hour, then visited the gift shop.

     We then went to visit Treys Petmecky's parents, Bill and Fay who retired in Fredericksburg. Their daughter Licia and kids Fiona and Liam were there, and you would think they had been best friends with Beth and Drew for years! The kids flew kites and played Wi while the grownups visited, then we went to Charlies for lunch. Charlies is an unknown local treasure that few tourists find out about, but is crammed full of locals everyday who enjoy wonderful hamburgers (specialty on Jalapena cheese rolls!) and play FREE miniature golf. Needless to say, the kids loved the place, and we all enjoyed it, too. Turns out Bill's family goes back to the beginning of Fredericksburg, and his great-great grandfather was the first Pastor of the VerEins church that we visited yesterday! In addition, his father was a first cousin of Admiral Nimitz! We had a great visit with them.

Lea and Beth then went back to their rental home to relax, and Becky, Jim and Drew returned to the museum. We started with a walk to the "Pacific Combat Zone" 3 blocks away, which is a great add-on to the main exhibit hall and has a one hour tour. One sees among other things a TBM bomber on a simulated carrier deck; the last surviving PT boat that actually fought in the Pacific (PT-309); and a replical of the Tarawa beach head, complete with Japanese tanks. We returned after that to the main museum, and completed the self guided tour. There is so much to see, and it is so well done, that we missed a lot.

     We returned to the house, got the dogs (who loved played in the big yard), and ate sandwiches and relaxed together for a few hours.

Naturall Bridge Cavern and Kerrville

     It's been a beautiful day here in Fredericksburg, and we had a good time in a few different ways. Becky, Lea and the kids drove to Natural Bridge Caverns down near New Braunfels, and had a great time touring and exploring the caves. The went on 2 long tours, hiked for quite a distance vertically, and the kids panned for gems (and came home with some souvenir finds!).

     At the same time, Jim met an old friend of his from American Airlines and Parsons, Bill White. Bill retired to Kerrville, and he picked Jim up and drove him down there where they had lunch with Bill's wife Becky. We had attended their wedding in Corpus Christi in the early 80's, and it was fun getting together. They live on a golf course in Kerrville, and golf every day--thoroughly enjoying retirement.

       After we (the Singers) met up again around 4:30, we went over town and enjoyed another  great Fredericksburg meal--this time in a Southwestern style restaurant, Bejas Grill. Drew had a huge  plate of Chicken fried steak, and did it justice. It was a beautiful evening, so we then walked around the town for awhile and Becky and Jim enjoyed the 1/2 mile walk back to the RV park.

Fredericksburg and Austin

     It poured overnight! Glad we were in our nice cozy RV! We headed off for the Dodge dealer in Austin some 90 miles away, and they quickly diagnosed the problem and said they could get the part in a few hours and have us on our way. Long story short, we were back at the RV park at 4pm. Enjoyed the ride coming back, seeing the sights from Austin to the Hill Country. Lea stayed with the kids, and they enjoyed going to a historical area where they learned how a blacksmith works his shop.

     We rejoined Lea and the kids and headed downtown again, and found a delightful park in the middle of the city with a great playground for the kids to burn off energy on. They did! There is a museum in the middle of the park, a recreation of the first church in Fredericksburg originally erected in 1846 by the original German settlers, the VerEins Church. Interestingly to us, it's shaped much like the "Silent Night" Chapel that we had visited on Christmas Eve in Austria on one of our river cruises about 4 years ago. We enjoyed walking around more of the town, and stopped in a t-shirt souvenir shop where Becky got these cute pajama bottoms featuring moose figures texting to each other. Katahdin will be glad to see her in them!

     The picture at the left is the  "Gelb  Haus" (Yellow House) where Lea and the kids are staying.   The picture below is the impressive Chester Nimitz Museum building that was designed to evoke a river boat.

     As it was Jim's Birthday, Lea picked out a great little German restaurant that she and Jeff had been to a few times before called "Altdorf's", and the Opa sausage in particular was great. The kids had picked out some cute birthday cards for Jim, and they all got a few chuckles. After walking around some more, we headed back to the RV where Jim found lots of birthday wishes from friends on both Facebook and his emails. Nice ending for the day!

Enroute to Fredericsburg, TX

     Today was a driving day, and we went from Jeff's house to Fredericksburg, TX in the Hill country driving a good part of the day - 293 miles. Lea caravaned with us in her Odyssey with Drew and Beth. Had some mechanical problem that retarded the engine on hills, and we made an appointment in Austin, TX at a Dodge dealer tomorrow to get it fixed.

     Fredericksburg is a beautiful little town, and very popular with tourists. We are in a very nice "Good Sam" park, Fredericksburg RV park, that we can highly recommend. Very close to downtown, nicely laid out park, internet & cable, and quite inexpensive--no wonder it's booked full most of the time (or so they tell us!). Lea and the kids are in a cozy yellow rental house for the 4 days we'll be here. It was cold and somewhat damp, but we had a good time walking around the downtown area. Went to a nice German restaurant (after all, it's a good German town here in the Hill Country!) and got ice cream cones to finish the evening.