Well, I realize I have written anything in a few months. Not
since we were headed to the Spartan Chassis class in Charlotte, MI. All’s what I can say is “Where has the time
gone? I’m going to do a quick summary of our trip home to Texas and what all happened
in our 2018.
First off, the Spartan class was the best thing we could
ever have done since we purchased our motorcoach. If you ever consider a purchase of this type
in the future, please consider it. The
Spartan folks are great, they fed you well and they gave us great gifts! But mostly, they inspected the coach and
found a few issues and fixed them – all warranty. Ron got to talk underneath this thing and
inspect it and learn it. We learned the proper start up procedure (which
dealerships don’t teach you), they taught me how to drive it, and just overall
provided a lot of knowledge to boost our confidence when driving.
Well we decided to skip out on the Friday class as our
grandson Aiden was going to be showing chickens on Sunday at the Brazoria
County Fair. How could we miss
that? So Thursday afternoon we began the
almost 1,400 trek home. Now this kind of
driving is sure easier to do in a motorcoach for sure! We arrived at our winter home at Brazos Bend
State Park late afternoon on Saturday.
We sure like this place as it is half-way between both our daughters, a
great staff and a great group of winter volunteers, not to mention cool
alligators, trails, deer, etc.
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| Somebody was glad to see us! |
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| Proud of that ribbon! |
And Aiden placed one of his pens of 3 chickens!
He made the sale too which is so
awesome!
That afternoon we all met up
over at Amy’s house to butcher all the remaining 40 something chickens.
It went smooth!
These are some really plump and I’m sure
tasty birds. But glad to be done with this chore.
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| Aiden, his friend Ethan and his dad Mark holding chickens! |
Ron and I are getting back into the routine here with our
volunteer work. There’s always something
to do here. So the other thing that
happens when we’re home is all the yearly doctor appointments and tasks to get
caught up on. Two years I had a bad fall
and really dislocated my left ankle. Earlier this year I decided to have an MRI
on it as things just kept bothering me. There’s just too many trails to keep
walking and hiking! Long story short, I
had surgery on it to fix a torn ligament and tendon. The worse part is no weight bearing for 6
weeks. This is my 5th surgery
on a foot so I know what that means…..6 weeks no weight bearing, then therapy,
and slowly working your way back to normal, usually in about 3 months. It was a good thing that Texas this fall and
early winter has had a lot of cold and rainy days so it made staying inside the
coach a little more bearable. I hope to
never need a knee scooter again though.
In mid November we, along with Ron’s 3 brothers and
sisters-in-law planned a Janda family reunion and a surprise 90th
birthday for his mom. It was held at his
twin brother’s house. They just finished adding on to it and it was roomy and
great. The weather was beautiful. Our son-in-law cooked briskets all night. Had
some great potatoes and pinto beans. Lots of fun was had by all, and yes our
Mom was surprised! The first time in a
very long time that she had all of her brothers and sisters together, along
with grandkids and great grandkids.
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| Four generations of Koether's! We're missing one niece, Kim. |
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| There's the bbq pit! |
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| Don, Rene', Larry, Lynn, Mike, Terry, Ron and me all propped up. Mom - Lillian |
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| Great grandkids |
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| Lillian and all of her siblings - Leo, Joanne, Dorothy and Arnold |
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| Surprise! |
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| Getting a pre-party pedicure! LOL |
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| Briskets getting seasoned and injected |
The week of Thanksgiving we pulled out of the park and
headed to Amy and James’ deer lease near Burnet, located across from Inks
Lake. We pulled the coach to Rockaway RV
Park, on the shore of Inks Lake. The
weather was cool and beautiful. We ate a
wonderful, traditional Thanksgiving lunch. There was hunting and campfires, and
just a lot of fun and visiting. We don’t
travel on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, so after everyone left we just took a
ride around the area on some back roads we haven’t ever traveled on. Pretty country up here.
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| Our window decorations |
So the first full week of December, I have to go report for
jury duty in Angleton (Brazoria County).
Well, as a full time RVer I could probably get out of it because
basically I don’t live or reside there, I just get my mail there. But at the
same time, I feel strong that should all share in this duty.
But at the same time, remember that in order
for me to get anywhere at this particular time, I need crutches and a knee
scooter. Surely they won’t pick me because it’s a huge hassle.
Wrong……
This was a very difficult trial for me as it involved children and an
adult accused of sexual molestation.
But
I survived.
Things and situations like
this require a lot of prayer.
The middle of December I reached the 6 week point and was
able to start taking physical therapy and walk and all that good stuff. It’s not perfect yet, but it will get there!
The other thing that has taken a lot of my spare time was
music – Christmas music! The one that
didn’t fit in our RV was my baby grand piano that I waited all my life
for. So I was able to fill in for the
regular musicians during November and December and they gladly handed me the
responsibility for planning a Christmas Eve Service, something I did before we
hit the road. I just had to find time to
travel back and forth a few days to practice. Christmas songs can be some of
the hardest! And the Christmas Eve
Service went quite well!
And the Brazos Bend State Park Christmas Party was lots of fun! Heck all of the volunteers are fun to hang out with!
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| Mike sure likes our steak! |
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| And Marva! |
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| BBSP Christmas Party |
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| Richard and his ugly sweater. |
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| And Alden |
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| Marva scoping out the Christmas gift swap party. |
We had the Koether family Christmas gathering a few days
before Christmas. Not everyone was
there, but we really enjoyed having family fun with those that made it. On Christmas Day we worked with Ron’s mom and
made a delicious Christmas Day meal! It
was very special! So glad I had leftover
dressing from Thanksgiving.
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| James getting those venison wraps ready! |
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| Kids decorating Christmas cookies! |
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| Aiden's favorite Christmas present! |
We ended the year with a New Year’s Eve party with the other
park hosts here at Brazos Bend, playing games and having a large time. Of course it didn’t last until midnight! But Ron and I made our campfire and got the
Bose and our iPod with our favorite dancing tunes and danced outside the RV
until midnight! Made for a special
night, especially since I have recuperated enough to do that!
So that’s my wrap for what has been a very good year, filled
with enough challenges and trials for some of our family and balanced with the
beauty of seeing and experiencing more of our beautiful country.
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| Our dancing patio |
The first part of 2019 has brought a flood to Brazos Bend State Park from the Brazos River.
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| Big alligator! |
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| Sunrise over flooded Big Creek |
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| Add caption |
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| Closing the park gave the game warden a chance to check duck blinds. And the birds weren't happy! |
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| Fishing pier going under water at Hale Lake |
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| Primitive campsites under water |
And a beautiful wedding for our step granddaughter Courtney and her new husband Hunter. We had a blast.
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| Love! |
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| Me and Liz |
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| A selfie of us girls! |
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| Lucy and our bride Courtney |
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| Aiden was so involved in being a ring bearer for his step sister. |
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| James and Amy |
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| Late night and up to no good! |
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| Mr. and Mrs. Hunter Gann |
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| Me and my girls! |
Here’s what we’re looking forward to in 2019! First thing will be a 14-day cruise out of
Galveston that will take us down to the Panama Canal. We’ve never cruised so this will be an
experience!!!! We’re then going to be
volunteers once again at the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park
February through May. We just love the hill country springtime! In May and June we will enjoy some good old
relaxing Texas River and lake time before heading to North Carolina in July
where we will be volunteers for 3 months at Mattamuskeet National Wildlife
Refuge. We’ve not had an opportunity to
explore much of this area and we’ve never worked at a wildlife refuge. We’re
excited!
Next up I will be sharing our experience on the Carnival
Freedom!
