Williamsburg Settlement

Sorry for the delay in posting to blog.  My old Sony camera quit working and I bought a new Sanyo.  The photos are of such higher resolution, that I am having to resize to get the blog to accept them.  I will add more pics to this post as I resize them.  My first test photo:

On Wednesday, we loaded on a bus and headed to WS.  This is the orginial settlement for Williamsburg.  Some of the buildings are orginial and some have been reconstructed to look like the orginials.

 Oldest continuous active church in the US.

Governer's Palace

Our Govener's Mansion Guide, told great stories like you were there in the day.

Garden behind the Mansion.

 An acre of land today = how much land a pair of oxen could plow in 1 day.

Armory

Bethpage update

Ellen got into Richmond airport Saturday with no problems.  We went to Crakerbarrel to eat and the stopped at Walmart to stock up on some items.  We got back to Bethpage and spent the evening with friends.

Sunday, we visited and talked, got registered for the rally and talked some more.  We to the welcome social where they had all kinds of finger food.  Finished the evening sitting on the deck behind the rally hall overlooking the creek.  This creek is near 100 yards with, not like Texas creeks.

Monday, we were served a catered breakfast.  Vendor booths were open and seminars were presented.  We skipped the afternoon seminars.  Joe and Jeanie, our VA friends, had arranged for us to visit their friends who live across the river in a beautiful home overlooking the river.  While their sailboat had been slightly damaged by Hurricane Irene, their power boat was fine, so we were given a tour our 3 rivers and several creeks.  There are some beautiful homes overlooking the rivers.  The intersection of the 2 of the  rivers produced an area larger than Lake Conroe in which to boat.  The river opens in the Chesapeak bay and points beyond.  We had a great afternoon.  Back at the campground, everyone was on their own for dinner and a movie was shown in the evening.

Camera is broken, hence no boating pics.  Heading out to Walmart for camera and a few items. 

Bethpage Camp-Resort

Made it to Bethpage today in Urbanna, VA.  Rained on me all day today.  Glad it was only a 275 mile day.  Hard day of driving.  Up in the mountains, I ran into rain with fog of 1/4 mile viability, on winding twisting mountain road.  At one point there was an accident blocking the highway.  We sat for 15-20 minutes before it was cleared and we were moving again.

Made it into Bethpage around 2 PM.  Sat up in the rain.  Went down to rally hall and helped with the unpacking of the items for the goodies bags that we will be given when we do our official check in on Sunday.

Walking around the KOA last night was really good.  People had campfires going and were grilling dinner outside.  This is something we have not been able to do in Texas for a while.

No pics today, rain.  Maybe tomorrow.

In VA

Made it to VA this afternoon.  This is beautiful country to travel through.  Everything in TN and what little I have seen in VA is so green.  Full lakes and river, fat cattle grazing in the fields.  Will Texas ever get some rain?

Diesel today was $3.65 at a Pilot truck stop.  Paid $3.54 before I left home.  Paid $3.71 yesterday.  Another easy day of driving.  I was told that I-40 was bad to cross due to the mountains.  I did not find them bad at all.  Not nearly like AZ last year or Colorado. 

My goal for today was to make it to VA.  I'm not far into the state, but I am here.  I'm at Wytheville KOA tonight.  Tomorrow, Bethpage RV Resort in Urbanna, VA. 

This first picture is of the large group hall here.

On the road to VA

Left home early Monday morning and drove toward Texarkana.  My sister lives about 10 mile west of town on 40 acres and I left my trailer in her driveway plugged into a 30 amp plug they had installed for me several years ago.  Unhooked and drove to my Mom's home and arrived around 1 PM.  We had a good afternoon together.  We joined my sister, brother-in-law, their 2 kids and my nephew and his fiance at a local BBQ place for dinner.  Great company and good food.

Mom and I ran errans on Tuesday and met my other sister for lunch.  Had some really great time with Mom.  Up early Wednesday, had breakfast with Mom and drove out to my sister's, hooked up and was on I-30 headed east by 8 AM.  Had some heavy fog in Ark. early on, but cleared off to be a pretty day.  Made great time and pulled in around 4:15 to the KOA in Hurrican Mills, TN for the night.  I was less than an hour out of Nashville.  A trucker at the last rest stop I pulled into warned me not to hit Nashville traffic between 4:30 and 7 PM.  Nice place to spend the evening.

Baytown/Galveston Bay KOA

Ellen had to take a software class over in Baytown.  She was going to drive back and forth from home each day, but I told her it was too far.  Her classes were Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday.  She drove over Tuesday and after traffic thinned out, I took the trailer over to the KOA.  Beautiful place right on the bay.  Ellen got out to the park around 4 after her class.  We walked for a while, talked to a nice couple out on the fishing pier and then deceided to go to the pool. 

A fellow came walking down the sidewalk toward the pool and said "they let just anybody in here".  Didn't have a clue who it was til he got closer.  It was Darrell, a friend of ours from the RV club we used to belong to.  Due to working so many hours, he was living in his trailer at the KOA to be closer to work.  We had a great time catching up and again on Wednesday night. 

Turns out, the owners of the park have a home a few blocks from ours.  When the fire broke out in Bush Park, we watched the news together and talked about the neighborhood.   Owners and staff are all wonderful people.  They run a well kept campground.

We will return one day for some down time in a beautiful location.

Labor Day Weekend

We went out to Boerne, TX for the Texas Boomers rally.  Hot and Dry.  We were at the Alamo Fiesta RV Park, cool rally room and great pool.  Lots of friends and great pot luck meals.  The ladies gathered and learned how to t-shirt weave.

The Labor Day Rally is the fund raiser for the year.  Everyone bring wrapped items to be auctioned off.  You cannot see what you are buying until after you buy.  Raymond won the bid on the prize of the night.  I was kidded because I won 2 jars of jalepeno peppers for $14.  I told everyone that I had gotten the hottest deal of the night.

We raised lots of money and had a great time. 

On the down side, this is when the Bastrop fires started.  We drove through heavy smoke down on I-10 on our way home. 

Galveston July 2011

Our first stay back at Galveston Island State Park since Ike.

Ellen's brother's rig.

Michael, Ellen & Cindy (our sister in law) and her dog Ginger.

Picnic covers survived.  New tables.

2 of the new bathhouses they had before Ike survived. 

Ferry Landing

Gary (Ellen's brother) and wife Cindy boarding the ferry

Boarding the ferry

There were 4 dolphin swimming straight at the ferry as we were leaving Galveston

Lots of ships at anchor waiting to enter harbor

On the ferry

Our neice Lauren, her husband Dustin and son Brenden (17 months)

at the beach

Waiting to ride the duck.  Skies opened and rain poured.  We got wet and duck did not go due to lighting.

Afternoon fly over every day all following the leader

Future plans for Galveston Island State Park