On To Texas

We decided to spend two nights at the camp ground in New Orleans.

That was fine by me. We had a great site . Right beside the water. 

I got to look at boats all day long. These dink boats are my favourites.

I'd like one like this pickle fork if I had a house on a lake somewhere.

So Ruth was planning on spending Sunday doing tours in New Orleans but I said I just wanted to hang out at the camp ground. She ended up hanging out with me. We had a nice easy day.

My friend Gary lives on his boat with his little Yorkie at the Marina from where we kept our boat.

One day he brought over a bottle of this magic cleaner and told me 

I needed to clean the wheels on my coach.

Every few days he would come past my boat to tell me that I should get to it. They look terrible.

Well , today is the day. Here is the before picture.

They turned out beautiful.

Now all I need is some new covers for the lug nuts.

Thanks Gary.

So this is the best price we have found for diesel so far.

It works out to 41 cents per litre.

We just got thru Houston and will be at our camp ground in about one hour.

This joint is a stone's throw from the camp ground. 

Reviews on the net are good so we went in and bought a take out dinner.

They had the biggest smoker inside I have ever seen.

It is a family run business. Has been for decades.

So here's what we had. 

BBQ Chicken , Spicy pork , Baked Beans , and Coleslaw.

I really don't know how they eat this stuff. 

Everything was really salty , the pork was really spicy and salty .

 Even the beans were salty. I couldn't eat the chicken. It was raw.

The coleslaw was good.

I let Daisy eat my plate. She loved it.

A Night At Georgia Boy's

We turned into the entrance around 4:00 on Thursday.

This is a cool area.

Dianne and Kris took in a beautiful little pup last september.

 We met Bell last October when we went to their home in the Villages for thanksgiving.

She's a great little dog.

 The 4 of us sat in 4 different locations in their living room and bell would jump up on each of our laps for about 3 minutes before moving on to the next person. So cute.

It took about 20 minutes but Daisy became a good friend of Bell's.

Bell shared some of her toy's with Daisy which was very nice.

Dianne threw about 30 toys out of the bin into the living room for the little dogs.

So before dinner I asked Kris to take me out to his shop and show me his latest project.

He's sort of a genius when it comes to fabrication.

If I told you where the bones of this custom came from you would think I was wrong.

Once he gets the cowling installed it will become a gorgeous Cafe' Racer.

So Daisy and I were out this morning at 7:00 A.M. checking out the boat launch.

It was very cold out this morning on the St. John's river.

These fishermen are very serious about their sport.

I really didn't expect to see anyone out here in this cold and fog 

but there were lots of guys milling around their bait shop.

I love it here. Some day we will actually stay for a few days and go fishing.

Dianne and Kris are such awesome people. Fun to visit.

So the drive today was beautiful. 

Cool and crisp. No clouds but a little wind.

The only glitch today was when I saw a bench seat from a boat seat on the highway.

I swerved and it went between the wheels.

I thought everything was great.

UNTIL…….

We went for a walk once we arrived at our camp site in New Orleans.

When we returned to the coach I couldn't believe my eyes.

I guess that damn seat jumped up and hit Ruth's bike wheel.

The bike is now toast.

The bad news is that her frame was broken and Scott from Georgia Boy's 

had just welded it up last night for her . She was thrilled he had fixed it for her.

Rats.

So we have paid the extra $30. and have a water front site for the coach. 

We made Julie and Marks

We stopped at this beautiful little park in Lake Dora for lunch.

It's nice that these small towns have such beautiful picnic areas.

I wasn't comfortable turning my back to the lake once I read this sign just a few feet away from the picnic table.

After lunch we took a walk along this boardwalk.

It's such a nice park.

We watched this Gater come in to shore for a while.

We're here. 

Just in time for another party. 

There was a bunch of our friends in the back yard having a party when we got there.

Almost everyone there still lived in Winnipeg or was from there .

Nice bunch. 

It got very cold very quickly as the sun set so we all moved inside for
some of Mark's famous chili.

After everyone left we did what we enjoy the most.

We sat around drinking fine wine while laughing way too much.

It was an early night. We all crashed by 10:00.

The next morning we went to the market.

It was cold out but I noticed Ruth enjoying the sun.

I'm sure Julie was getting a picture for her blog.

So back at their place I took Daisy for a walk and spotted this telephone pole down the street.

You don't see foot holds on poles anymore. A thing of the past.

The house across the street has the most beautiful climbing tree.

My grand kids would love this.

The coach batteries on our motor home have failed so I decided to change them while here.

They are in a very awkward spot under the stairs.

Mark drove me around to 3 different shops for the right price.

They gave me a $15.00 credit for the old batteries.

I'll be more vigilant in keeping the new batteries up.

He also got out his grinder and cleaned up her brackets that hold the batteries in place 

before he repainted them with a black spray he had in his shed. 

Nice job. Looks factory.

We all came out last night for a 6:46 launch from Cape Canaveral.

It had been postponed from the night before because of winds.

They can see the launches from the empty lot just a few doors down.

We were all excited for this but they cancelled it again at 6:44 because of the winds. 

Oh Well. Maybe we'll get to see one next year.

Back inside for dinner.

I made chicken strips with a honey mustard sauce as well as a hot BBQ sauce.

Here my creations got the Julie seal of approval.

Mark was busy checking out a bottle of French Vodka we brought.

Friday morning we are packing up to visit Julie's sister Dianne who owns 

Georgia Boy's fish camp with her husband Kris.

Always sad when we leave the Roger's place.

I'm surprised Mark wasn't making bunny ears over my head.

We had a lot of laughs on this visit.

Next time we'll get in that boat ride and bowling.

It's Warmer In The Interior

It was warm and sunny when we got up on Tuesday  morning.

Daisy stared at a squirrel for about 30 minutes while I hd my morning coffee.

As I'm watching her I started thinking this would be a good time to give her a haircut.

She's looking a little shaggy.

She's a great little dog. 

She just sits there patiently as I trim away.

Finished. 

The difference between a good hair cut and a bad hair cut is about 2 weeks.

She'll look good again by the end of the month.

Now she is ready to hit the road again 

and head up to Leesburg to see Mark and Julie.