Hanks Creek COE - Lake Sam Rayburn, Texas

We left Oak Park on January 9. We decided to make one more stop before going into the Houston area. We selected another COE park on a lake. Notice a pattern here?

We selected Hanks Creek Park on Lake Sam Rayburn in East Texas. The drive was about 170 miles. We went more East than south, but it was a nice drive through the East Texas piney woods. I have been having a strange issue with the truck, so that creates a little anxiety, but I don't think it is a major issue. I will write more about that as I do some troubleshooting.

We were a bit surprised to find that the park's office was closed for the winter. There are volunteers working in the park, but they just do maintenance. I talked to one nice lady and she told me to just go on the Recreation.gov website or call the toll free number to get a site. We had very weak cell signal, but I was able to get a call through. We waited on hold for over 30 minutes. I decided to just move into a spot and hope they would eventually get on the phone. They did, and we got set up for 3 nights. Kim really liked one site that was right along the lake (She is still all about the view), but there were some guys with a cherry picker working in the area trimming trees. She went to ask them if it was OK, and they said, "no problem".

 
The site was $26 per night with 30 amp and water. We had a few TV channels and very weak Verizon cell signal. We were out on a point jutting out into the lake. We had no signal in most of the rest of the campground. We were the only rig in this part of the campground. We loved it!

I went for a long bike ride around the park and neighboring roads. It looks like a nice quiet lakeside community.

After the bike ride, I decided to take full advantage of the day and go for a walk with the camera. The forecast for the next day was for rain and wind. I had walked for about 100 yards when I noticed two large birds at the top of a tree. I thought the profile was that of an Eagle, but I moved closer to be sure. Sure enough it was a mating pair of Bald Eagles. They look to be young, but had the distinctive white head and tail. I did not have the best lighting, but I did the best I could. This is the reason I was excited about this camera that my son is allowing me to use.

As I moved closer, one flew off, but the other stayed for a bit longer and let me take a few more shots.

One Eagle taking flight

It was an awesome experience. I love Eagles, and this photo session was special. I did get a shot of what I think is their nest.

The rain came as expected the following day. We stayed inside and just read. I have not taken some time and just read a book since the last time we were on the road in May. It does not take too long to settle into the "rhythm of the road". We were in a very good place.

We got up on Friday the 12th to temps about freezing. We waited for a bit of warming and then headed south to Baytown, Texas. Why would we go to Baytown? I will tell you in our next entry.

Time to Relax – Oak Park, Navarro Mills Lake

Many people think that “Relaxing" is what we do all of time. That, for the most part is true, but we have been very busy since we left the ranch. It was a fun busy visiting with family, but we were ready for some down time. We love to find a quiet, empty park in a natural setting and do very little. Kim likes to read and I do a lot of blog stuff and go for hikes. This time, I have an added thing to enjoy. Our son Mark has allowed me to use his Nikon D3400 DSLR camera with two lenses on this trip. He traded with me for the GoPro that he bought for me. This has given me a much better camera to shoot wildlife and other natural features.

This guy even posed for me

We arrived to Oak Park on Navarro Mills lake mid afternoon after a 90 mile drive. We were just looking for a COE park that was not too far and looked like would be empty this time of year. We were greeted by very friendly camp hosts that have been full timing for a long time. I think there were 4 sites occupied when we arrived. We drove the loop and Kim chose site 48. It had the best views of the lake out our back window.

Our view behind the rig

I was ready to walk all over the area taking pictures. The variety of birds was excellent. I had fun with the zoom lens.

Sandpiper

Cedar Waxwings

Mallard Duck taking flight

We ended up staying 6 nights. Kim read 5 books and I watched countless football games and caught up on a number of blogs and paid the bills. We really enjoyed our time at the park. On the last day we decided to take a drive to hit the Walmart in Corsicana and take a drive around town. I did not bring the big camera, but I took a few with my phone. It is a historic town that is the county seat of Navarro County.  

Cool street of old buildings

Court House of Navarro County

Christmas Tree right in the middle of the street

Beautiful United Methodist Church

We extended our stay twice. We really loved this little park, but it was time to move south. Another cold front was coming and we need to be in Houston by Friday. We made reservations and everything! 

Happy 80th Birthday Mom

Kim and I are very lucky people. We both have both of our parents still alive. The reality of that fact is that we have parents that are getting up there in years. The fun part of that is getting together to celebrate milestones in their lives. When we left Missouri, we had a timeline because of my mother's 80th birthday on December 29. My brothers and I had planned to celebrate this milestone with a night on the town.

The only bad thing about the night was that my youngest brother, Bob could not attend. We did have Alan and Denise, Brian and Julie and Kim and myself. We started the evening with an early dinner at the clubhouse at the community that my brother Alan lives in. We had a nice dinner, but Mom and Dad had no idea what we had planned for the rest of the evening.

Yep, that is me wearing a tie. There is only one person in the world would wear a tie for. Alan's oldest daughter, Erin and son Colby joined us for dinner. 

Just my three brothers and my Mom and Dad. 

When we arrived back at my brothers house, the limo was waiting for us. My Mom was giddy with excitement.

We all fit, but it was a bit tight. 

We headed out to Irving. We went to see The Manhiem Steamroller Show.

It was a very good show. I really like to listen and watch live music. I think the night was a success. Mom and Dad enjoyed the show and we enjoyed the time together. A special thanks to Alan for doing all of the planning and Denise for most of the pictures in this post.

We did get in a few more visits while we were in the DFW area with both my brothers and with Kim's parents. Phase one of this trip was complete.

We left the Benbrook park on January 3. We had to wait until after noon to leave to let our rig thaw a bit. We were not able to dump the galley, but we got the grey water in the front tank dumped. We moved about 90 miles south to Oak Park on Navarro Mills lake. We were able to get the back tank dumped when we arrived. It was 50 degrees. That was the first time we had seen above freezing temps in 4 days. We have really enjoyed our time at Oak Park. I will write all about that in my next entry.

On the road again

We left the ranch in Missouri on December 21, 2017. We were very ready to move. We only went 60 miles to Ozark, Missouri. We invited ourselves to our daughter and SIL's house to moochdock in their driveway and enjoy the Christmas holiday with the family.

Our son Mark came down from KC on the 22^nd. It was great to see him. We were sad to hear that our son Michael's youngest son, Cameron was sick and they were not able to make the trip. I also got a call from our son Scott. He was replacing the water pump in his truck and was having problems. I headed down to his place near Branson to give him a hand. We got it done and we also got to spend some quality time together. That worked out just fine. That night it got cold and we got a little bit of snow, so we can say we had a white Christmas.

Kim's sister's oldest son was on his way to Oklahoma for Christmas and stopped in Ozark for a night. It was great to see Ryan and his girl friend Cherida and daughter Cienna. We really enjoyed our time together.

Shannon, Amelia, Jake, Isabella, Will Cherida and Ryan playing spoons at Shannon's huge dinner table.

Kim, Mark and I decided to make the drive down to see Michael and his family. We went down on the 23^rd and just stayed one night. Michael just moved into a new house a few weeks before. We had gone down to help him move, so we had seen the new house, but Mark had not seen it yet. Michael's wife Audrey did a great job with the decorating and the place looked great.

Michael and Cameron cutting loose his new tractor

Connor and Cameron opening presents

We arrived back at Shannon's on Christmas eve just in time to make the Christmas Vigil mass. After church, Brian, Mark, Brian's BIL Jimmie and I read Christmas stories to the kids. 

Me reading to the group. I chose the original Christmas story.

Me and Will. I just like this shot by Mark.

Isabella and Amelia

We all went to bed and waited for the kids to wake us up on Christmas morning. We had a very traditional Christmas day of opening presents and playing games. It was great to be part of it this year. We missed it last year.

Chaos on Christmas morning. Just the way we like it.

We played a crazy game where you wrap up prizes in celophane wrap and try to unwrap it. It got a bit wild.

The kids then played with all of the new toys.

Will playing with his new BB gun out in the snow. 

We were never able to get all of our kids in one place, but we did get to see all of our kids and grand kids and that is what it is all about. 

We left Shannon's on the 26^th and headed south. Jake, Isabella and Will were going to spend some time with their father in Texas, so we decided to take them as far as Dallas. It was the first time we have traveled with the grand kids. It was fun and a little challenging. We made one stop in Eufaula, Oklahoma. We stayed at the Terra Starr RV park. It is very nice and with our Passport America discount was only $13 for full hook ups.

And then we made the drive through Fort Worth to Benbrook, Texas. We like to stay at the COE park called Holiday (Texas). It is a bit pricey at $28 per night with W/E, but the location is perfect to see all of the family. 

Huge site in Benbrook, TX in a grove of Live Oaks. The only problem is that we were frozen up most of the time we were there. Oh well, all part of the adventure. 

We had a very eventful time in the DFW area. I will write about it in my next entry.  

I'm Back!!

I am making this entry on January 2. That is my “Freedom Day”, that I celebrate each year. That is the anniversary of the day I declared my plan to quit my job and start my new lifestyle. The rest of this was written a couple of weeks ago.

It has been over 5 months since I wrote my last entry. The rig has not moved since we arrived at the ranch around May 25. After arriving, we settled into life at the ranch and the surrounding area. The Springfield, Missouri area is where we have lived since 1992. It does not take long to reintegrate ourselves into society.

Our Site at the Ranch

First off, we both agree that we have had a very good time over the last 7 months. We have been able to spend a great deal of quality time with our grand children that live close by. We badly needed that. Kim has been watching our youngest grand child, Amelia a couple day each week. That requires her to make a 60 mile drive to Ozark, but the reward of some one on one time with the now 2 year old is worth it. She also stays one night and gets some time with the other 5 kids in that family. They are now very busy teens and sub teens, so it is not easy to get time with them. I have also made many trips over to spend time with all of the kids. We have also had them come out to spend time with us at the ranch.

Kim and Amelia enjoying breakfast

Kim and I with 7 Grandchildren and my bike

We have not been able to spend as much time with our grand children that live about three hours away in Arkansas, but we did get some time with them over the past few months.

Time at the ranch for us has been very busy. We were involved in 5 events over the last few months. That included 4 races and one rally. All of the events went well, but kept me very busy. Kim also helps out with the events on the weekend of the event. I spent weeks and weeks working on the trail set up and marking. It is hard work, and it can get frustrating, but I do enjoy it.

I have also spent a great deal of time working on my own riding. I have raced off road motorcycles for many years. When I retired and moved into our trailer, I thought I was done with all of that. When I got back here, I was motivated to do some riding. As I rode and got myself in shape, I felt very good on the bike and found myself pushing the speed more and more. I was riding 3-4 times a week for most of the 7 months that we were here. I was doing a bunch of riding with much younger riders. I really enjoyed that and it motivated me to keep up with some that are as young as 1/3 of my age. I have spent some time helping the newer riders with both riding and bike maintenance. I really do enjoy that. After doing all of that riding, I decided to test myself and enter a couple of races. I took home two second place trophies in the over 55 C class. I am pretty happy about that.

A shot taken of me riding through a creek bed. Shot by Carol Brooks

I had a good day. I actually got 2nd.

As I wrote in my last entry, we spent very little time at the lakes this past summer. I did get a little skiing in, but it seems this year was a motorcycle year.

I really enjoyed my time with my friends in this area. We even had some visitors from around the country. Some are friends that we made since we started traveling and one from my former work life.

My Friend Gordon driving my boat

I have wondered how much the problems with the rig last spring influenced our decision to stay here for all of this time. It may have, but I think we were just ready to get off the road for a while and spend time with family and friends. That is the beauty of this lifestyle, there are no rules, you get to do what feels right.

We are now ready to get back on the road for the winter months. We are very ready to get started. We will depart the ranch on Thursday, December 21.

I do not know if I will get inspired to write when we get back on the road. I have always had a rule about writing. I will not write if it becomes something that I do not enjoy. I have not written these past months because I feel that my life is too much like “normal” people. Most “normal” people don't write blogs, so why would anyone be interested in reading about my “normal” life? I have been very surprised how many people read what I write and have asked me to start writing again.

If you are still with me, Thanks for reading. We are now in the DFW area to see family. We are heading south from here. We have some new plans in Houston on January 13th that I am really looking forward to. We will then head to the SE US.    

Water, Water Everywhere, Visitors and A/C repair

It has been over a month since I have written in my blog. We have been at the ranch in Missouri for more than a month now. We really like it here, but we do miss traveling. I have trouble getting interested in writing because I feel like our life is uninteresting. We live almost like "normal" people. 

It is amazing how fast you get into a routine which includes getting involved in all of the normal local activities. We have been spending time with the grand kids and helping out with baby sitting when we can. We have made numerous trips to Ozark, which is about an hour away, to see baseball and softball games along with other activities. Baseball is now over. The summer is getting hot and we are ready to head to the lake, but we have a big problem. We normally like to boat on Bull Shoals Reservoir. Here are a couple of COE parks we like to park the trailer. The water is still up around 40 feet. It does not look like we will be going down there this year. 

Our favorite site #8 at Beaver Creek Park in 2014

Same site #8 in 2017. The park is mostly closed.

One of my favorite all time rig shots at Theodosia on Bull Shoals in 2013. 

That same site would be under about 20 feet of water in 2017.

We can put the boat in Table Rock, which is only about 20 feet up, but we do not like that lake nearly as much due to the boat traffic. I am really looking forward to getting on my water ski and enjoying the lake. The temps are going to be in the 90's this week, so I lose my interest in riding my motorcycle and look to the lake.

We did have an exciting end to the baseball season. Will's team won the regular season league championship. He got a nice trophy for that, which was the first trophy in his young life. Then the team went on to win three straight games in the tournament and won that also. Will played great and contributed to the success. We were all very excited.

We have had some visitors come by the ranch. Dick and Cathy from Arkansas stopped by and we enjoyed a nice evening visiting.

Then Tony and Debbie stopped by last weekend. Tony and I used to work together (he was my boss) back in the early 2000's. He was my best boss ever and I really enjoyed catching up with him. It was great to learn the real story on some events at the old company back when I cared about such things.

If you look at the chairs behind Debbie and Tony you will see them in this next shot. This was a few days later, but we had a visit from a black rat snake. We have actually seen him a number of times now. We leave him alone, he will kill the mice and take care of other varmits.

Other than mowing and normal ranch stuff, I have been working on a problem A/C on the rig. The good news is we have two, so we are still comfortable. After extensive trouble shooting that took days. I determined my problem was a faulty fan motor. I was fooled by the motor working for a period of time and then failing. I had replaced the control board and the thermostat before it failed when I was watching it. Replacing a fan motor is not easy, but I got it done.

That is enough for now. I will try to write periodically, but it looks like we are going to stay in this area for a while. It may be until the end of the year. We have some major happenings at the ranch and I want to be involved. It seems like normal life to me, but normal still feels pretty great.