Gun Barrel City, Texas

In 2006 we went to work for Rock Solid POS Software Company.  We did tech support and training over the Internet and we were allowed to live anywhere as long as the Internet was good.  We rented a home in Gun Barrel City on Cedar Creek Lake.  We made good friends and had wonderful fellowship with many people here.

We try to get back for visits, but hadn't been here for nearly two years.  It was so good to see everyone!!!

We are staying in Lake Ridge RV Park which is right in the city.  It's always nice to come back to places that once were home and to renew the relationships that we have!

A fishing pond in the RV Park

And Craig caught a few.  Here's a little blue gill.

The bridge between Gun Barrel and Tool.  We also rented a home in Tool, which is just on the other side of the lake.

Kelsey bakes pies to raise money for different charity events.  She made this beautiful Cherry pie for us.  It was as good as it looks!

On Wednesday night we used to have a group from church that met at the DQ for a night of food and fellowship.  We were so glad to see everyone and we so enjoyed the conversation that I totally forgot to take any pictures.  I missed that moment all together.  Sorry, y'all!

We visited with Paul and Marilyn and we took this sunset picture from their yard.

 

We took a drive over near Tyler and looked at a property.  It was a bit remote, but I loved this road!

We were a part of a Home Bible Study group and it was wonderful to share a meal and fellowship together last night.  We all stayed too late, but it was so worth the time together with each other and with the Lord!

Marvin, Mary, Paul, Craig, Joyce and Marilyn

  We attended church this morning at Life Fellowship near Athens and were invited for a Sunday dinner with Marvin and Mary's family.  What a great family!!

Craig, Kathy, Mary and Marvin

  

Mary and Marvin

The wild spring flowers are just starting to bloom.  Hope we can see some blue bonnets while we are still in Texas.  These are Indian Paint Brushes and they are all along the highways.

This will be our last night here.  It's been a little windy and cool and they had so much rain that the big Cedar Creek Lake is pretty churned up.  Sure hate to move on before the Crappie start biting.

We will drive 100 miles north to Bonham in the morning.

Good night and good-bye Gun Barrel City.

Blessings,

Kathy

Coolidge, Texas to Palestine, Texas to Gun Barrel City, Texas

It was another rainy day as we made the last long leg of our trip over to Texas.  The country side was so green and I still enjoyed it even with the light rain.  I was thankful that we seemed to missed all of the major rains along our back roads routes. We saw a lot of wildlife, dead and alive and even some wild turkeys on the side of the road.

We passed by the south end of Cedar Creek Lake and saw how much flooding had gone on.

We were driving across country as our old friends from our time living in Germany were making their way down from the Dallas area so we could spend some time together.  Their friends had opened the "country cabin" and said that we were welcome to stay. It was a pretty narrow and overgrown path down to the house. So, Craig and Andy trimmed back some of the branches and we made our way down and squeezed into a place to park near the house.

What a wonderful retreat house that they provided for us!!

The "Cabin"

This is a deer feeder and you can see the private pond in the background.

The lake had bass, bluegill and catfish and we really enjoyed the time to catch a few.

Always a joy to be together with our long time friends, Andy and Teresa.  Thank you for the fellowship and weekend!

The birds and wildlife were active in between the rain storms.  The new mounting of this bobcat inside the house was so realistic.

What a wonderful sight to see the sunrise and clear skies!!!

The pond was pretty muddy from the rain runoff.

You know there was fishing going on with water that close by!

There was also a babbling brook that runs on the backside of the property.

We all learned a song from our friends Jay and Nancy while we were stationed in Germany, so we took time to sing it for them.

Teresa, Craig and Andy.

Andy runs BESTWA a ministry to Liberia.  He had just returned from time spent with the orphans there.

Today we made just a 50 mile trip up to Gun Barrel City.  We lived here in 2007 and 2008 when we did Tech Support for a software company.  We loved the chance to live on a lake and then we also got to know wonderful people like Paul and Marilyn.

Once we got set up in the park, they came by for a visit.  We plan to be in the area for several days.  We have many friends here that we hope to see.

What a wonderful thing to have so many friends located around the country.  Hope to see many of you this week!!

Blessings,

Kathy

Arizona to Texas

We pulled away from Willcox, AZ after a great time with friends and headed down the road to Texas.  We weren't sure where we were going until just a few days before we left Tier Drop RV Park.  That's the good news/bad news about living in a Motor-home.  We have the freedom to go wherever, but have a hard time hearing where the Lord wants us to go, at times.

We heard from good friends in Texas and have been wanting to get back to visit many friends we know there.  We have lived in several places in Texas over the years.

Laredo

Big Spring

Leakey

Azle

Gun Barrel City

Tool

Bonham

We like to do just short mileage in the Whale each day if we aren't in a rush to get to any one place.  We look for Passport America RV Parks so we can stay for 1/2 price. Most of the time they are nice places for the money.

Day 1 Willcox to Western Skies RV Park in Vado, NM

We crossed into New Mexico.  It amazes me how much of the southwest has the same terrain.  Sandy flat lands with barren mountains and scattered with different kinds of vegetation.

Our GPS had us turn off one exit too soon to get to Western Skies RV Park.  We ended up in a quarry construction area and had a little tricky maneuver to get back onto route 10 heading east to the right exit.  It was a very nice park.

Day 2 Vado, NM to Ft. Stockton, TX

El Paso is a very big city.  We got through there without any troubles and the weather was still holding.  We had started to get reports of big storms passing from southwest to northeast and we kept a close eye on our cell phone weather.

Parkview RV Park was pretty basic, but great for the price.

Day 3 Ft. Stockton, TX to Brady, TX

We decided to go down some of the more country roads and avoid the big cities.  We got to see some beautiful Texas Hill country along route 190, but we did get into light rain for the last two days.

Interstate 10 and 20 have taken business out of many small Texas towns.  We made a stop in Menard thinking we would stay at a small park there.  

Menard, Texas

 Below is Menard County RV Park and we only stayed there long enough to have some lunch and then headed out to the Walmart.

We got in and set up to find out that the amount of rain they had messed up their electric.  We decided to press on down the road for another 34 miles to Brady.  

 We have had issues with bad electric two others times in the past three years and we weren't really looking to go through that again. 

The RV Park in Brady looked a bit shady. So we just found a Walmart and spent the night in the parking lot with many other RVers and truckers.  I didn't take a photo in the Walmart lot.

It was noisy and we had very little cell or Internet, but we were able to sleep and then got an early start this morning.  The RV does have a generator so we are able to run that for short times to make coffee and use the microwave if needed.

Day 4  Brady, TX to Coolidge, TX

We are thankful that for the most part we have only had to drive through light showers.  I know many are praying for us and it is greatly appreciated!

We saw a few wild turkeys along the road, but no deer traveling. There were green fields and cattle grazing all along our travel today.

Texas also has a Colorado river.  It was really muddy due to all of the rain in the area.

We were glad to see Lakeside RV Park in Coolidge, Texas.  We have a nice spot with a view of the lake.  I had time to make us a nice dinner and we even had a little nap before hand.

The rain stopped while we were setting up.

 

Taken from inside the RV.

The Park owner told us we could fish in the lake.  It was in the 60's and the rain stopped long enough for us to have a little fun.

Craig is much happier with a fishing pole in his hand than he is with the steering wheel. 

A very full lake, but we were able to fish for about 20 minutes.

I had one bite, but Craig was able to reel this one in.

This area of Texas feels a bit more like home since we lived not too far from where we are.  We will meet Andy and Teresa in Palestine, Texas tomorrow and stay for a few days.  We met them while stationed in Germany.

We hope to visit many Texas friends while we are here.

Blessings,

Kathy