The Rambler

Once again, the past month has blasted by way too quickly. I imagined that retired life would come with lots of relaxing leisure, with life slowing down, but it hasn't been that way, with Watlow work, sightseeing, activities. We've been at this RV thing for six months already, though it seems like it has been much faster than that.

It's all good though, and we've found plenty of things to talk about. Here goes:

We left Sand Springs to start our trek to the Gulf of Mexico (yes!). First stop was Crowder Point Family Campground in central Oklahoma, a quiet and odd little park on Lake Eufaula. The campground is interesting in that it has an old cemetary and some ruins suggesting that there had once been some sort of settlement there; the campground now appears as if it had once been a county park, with some pretty well developed roads and trails. An interesting place with all that, though not much else is notable about it.

We finally made it into Texas after leaving Crowder and landing at Cooper Lake State Park near Cooper. This was a quiet and pleasant stop for us, where we mostly just hung out and relaxed. We took a jaunt into Cooper for our Friday burger & beer outing at the 7F Watering Hole (named after the cattle brand used by the restaurant owners), where we were warmly welcomed by the restaurant staff.

On December 31 we proceeded to Lake Livingston State Park in Texas. I had a goal of getting on the air with my radio before the end of the year, so my first task after getting the camper set up was to hang a 20 meter dipole between the trees, hook up the radio, and listen. I found lots of stuff from about 14.178MHz and up, listening to several conversations, but did not try to break in. Later in the week I spent a couple hours trying to make some contacts, and had success several times, which was pretty cool, as I connected with folks from several hundred miles away.

Although the park was very nice, with lots of trails and roads to walk, we didn't find the city of Livingston itself to be terribly interesting. Our Friday outing while at Livingston was at the Wet Deck Bar & Grill, on the lake just a couple miles from the park. The burgers were good, and the beer was only ok due to a limited on-tap selection.

Our stops at Crowder, Cooper and Livingston were mainly to break up the driving distance to the Gulf, so throughout our time there we were eagerly anticipating making it to Jamaica Beach. We finally arrived at Jamaica Beach RV Resort on January 6, expecting to find an island paradise with warm temperatures and lots of sun. Although we had a few days of that, more often we had cold and rainy days, near-freezing nights, and even freezing rain, snow and ice - yuck! The locals told us they hadn't experienced such poor weather for many years!

In spite of the weather, we had a good stay at J.B. We took numerous walks on the beach, separately and together, getting good exercise on the endless miles of hard sand. Finding shells on the beach was fun, more at the beginning of our stay; I gathered quite a few of them and brought them back to our campsite on one day, and we left them there when we left as we don't really need to be collecting such things in the RV. There were some crisp bright days that made the ocean sparkle and glitter. The weekend before the snowstorm we went to the Galveston Island State Park and caught sight of an alligator in the wild!

We went to Galveston on our first weekend and wandered around The Strand, having lunch at Yaga's Cafe, visiting the Juneteenth Legacy Project, buying chocolate at La King's Confectionery, and otherwise just puttering around. At the Juneteenth Legacy Project we met "Professor Juneteenth" Sam Collins and Lawanda Ward (shown in the picture below), who graciously gave us a personalized tour of the museum and building. Fun!

We hosted Karl when he flew down to Houston for a whirlwind visit to see us for a couple days. We went into Galveston both days he was with us. The highlight of our explorations was a tour of the Elissa sailing ship at the Galveston Historic Seaport, and a harbor boat tour. The ship is super-cool, and I'd say it's a must-see attraction if you should find yourself in Galveston. The harbor tour is also cool; we saw The Battleship Texas up close, floating oil rigs in for repair and/or demolition, lots of dolphins, and many other interesting seagoing vessels. We capped off our second day with lunch at The Black Pearl.

Due to the snowstorm and ice, we delayed our planned departure from Jamaica Beach by one day to give the roads time to thaw and to avoid irresponsible drivers. So it was last Thursday that we drove to Lockhart State Park in Lockart Texas, to find a very lovely and small park that is cozy, quiet and comfortable. We had our Friday outing at Load Off Fanny’s bar & grill, and got excellent food, excellent on-tap beer, and excellent tips for things to do and see in the area from our waitress, Jessica. While at the bar, I spotted this can of mineral water and had to post a picture of it here:

Yesterday we went to San Marcos to check out the farmer's market on the square and walk around. The area is very vibrant and dynamic, and we had a nice time being part of the scene. While walking around we found several mermaid statues, so I decided I'd get pictures of them; it turns out that San Marcos claims to be the Mermaid Capital of Texas!

For the short time we've been in the Lockhart area, we're already getting a nice homey feeling. Every place we've stayed has a vibe, a feel; the Lockhart area has an inviting, funky and warm vibe, which we're liking a lot. We've found that people in Texas are very friendly, and that holds true here too. We're eager to do more exploring - more to come!