Where Were You...?

It is pretty hard for me to remember where I was a year ago -- except last year.  Last year we were at the Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta GA.  Talk about a once-in-a-lifetime experience!  Being there was one of my all time favorite golf moments!

Then I got to thinking - where were we two years ago (April 2012)?  Florida? Lets see...
Yep - in the Cocoa Beach area soaking up some sun and enjoying my new Grill Guard wind shield.

Then we go back to three years ago - where were we  in April 2011?  Here in Arizona about ready to head north and east for Albuquerque.  Our Norcold refrigerator died (as in quit entirely) and we decided to buy a temporary one until we could get to Red Bay (Tiffin Factory) and get a new residential style refrigerator.

At this point you know I am going to go back a couple of more years:  In April 2010, we had been on the road almost a year and were en route (with a stop in Maynardville TN) to Michigan to see him and also to see Meghan.

"For the Love of Meghan" bracelets we wore hoping somehow our support would turn the tide against her breast cancer.

At that point, she was in a fight for her life.  One that she would lose a few weeks later at the young age of 29.

And in 2009 - five years ago - we did not even have the Roadrunner.  We put our house on the market in Friday and it sold in record time!

Wow -- were we excited.  A month later we bought our 2007 Allegro Bus and got ready to hit the road!

Five years have flown by and it is hard to remember where we've been at times.  The Roadrunner Chronicles helps and so does my Financial spreadsheet that I keep to log expenses.  It shows exactly where we have been so it is a good reference point too.

There you go--from the Masters to Fairfax, VA in a look back at this date in each of the last five years.  Thanks for joining us on this edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Care-A-Vanner Habitat for Humanity, Dade City, FL

We are in Dade City, FL for a week-long Habitat for Humanity Build.

We are here with nine other couples and two single ladies.  The area where they parked us is called "Volunteer Camp".  It has full hookups and as you can see, it is a bit crowded.  But we are not here for the amenities or scenery this time.  It is completely adequate.

The work has been great.  Jerry and John and the other leaders keep us moving and explain things and let us do alot.  This has been the biggest Care-A-Vanner groups (20 people) so it takes some planning to keep us productive throughout the day.

Stuart and John laid out the floor and made marks where the walls go.  And others put felt on the roof and put nails in the outside walls.

And we started framing the walls and setting them upright out of the way until we were ready for them. And others put the house wrap up on the outside.  On this house they secure rods the full length of the walls and bolt them into top and bottom for hurricane protection.

 Once the walls were in place, we square it and secure it, then make some more walls.

And we have our breaks-- one at 10:00 for about 20 minutes and another for lunch at 12:00 for about 35 minutes.  Then we wrap it up about 2:00 or 2:30 which is fine with us.  The heat and hard work take their toll.  Then there is that aging thing…we run out of gas about then, so it all works out.

Yesterday, right after lunch about eight of us went over to a warehouse and loaded some pre-made walls onto a trailer for the house next door.  These walls were made by a church in Tampa and sent over to Dade City.  It is impressive that there is such good coordination with other communities and churches in the area.

It has been a good build and we recommend it.  The group here is a hard working bunch and the work has been fun.

Tomorrow is a bonus-- we have a house dedication at 4 PM and will see Dedication Ceremony for a new homeowner and many of the folks in the Habitat Office who made their house possible.  This affiliate is going to finish their 100th home sometime later this summer!

That is all for this edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles.  Thanks for joining us.  Until next time…

A Big Thanksgiving Weekend

We thoroughly enjoyed the weekend.  Adam rode the train down from DC and stayed with Kelly in Norfolk, and we were in Virginia Beach ~ so we were all nearby.

It was a beautiful weekend and I was able to take a couple of bike rides.  The Virginia Beach boardwalk is about 6.5 miles from our campground which makes it a good distance for a ride.

 Thanksgiving day, 'we' got down to business and prepared some food.

Since Adam is a vegan, he put together a granola-squash-honey thing that was delicious.  Pam cooked some potatoes mashed potatoes we took to the group pot luck.

At the pot luck, I got to carve a turkey and everyone put their dishes out for a big spread.

 Meanwhile, Ryan was deep frying three other turkeys in the back yard.

They turned out great and was one of the favorites of the day.

One Friday, quite a few of the same group got together to do some decorating at the church.

 Along with the new curtains, we made a wire mesh Christmas tree for Angel Tree tags.

Up front, NOEL  was placed on the wall.

 I wish I had taken more pictures of all the help that was there...

While we were doing that, Adam was back at the RV studying.  Then we all went over to Kelly's and then out to eat at Razzo's which is a really good restaurant in Oceanview.

Razzo's is an Italian place with great atmosphere in the Oceanview area near Kelly's house.  After dinner we went back to Kelly's house and hung out for a while.  Adam was getting on the train heading back up to DC the next day and was spending his last night at Kellys.  I thought it would be a good time to get a family group photo for Christmas.  

But alas, it was not to be.  My attempts were thwarted…I quickly lost control and never got it done...

On Sunday, after church, a group went out to lunch and had a good time.

Yesterday, Pam and cleaned up, ran errands, packed up and got the coach all ready to travel.  We leave in a couple of hours for parts south and Florida in the next few days.

Our 7 weeks in Virginia has been great.  We especially enjoyed getting to see Kelly and Adam and our friends in Fairfax.  And seeing Adam and Melissa run the Marine Corps Marathon.  And getting involved here in Habitat for Humanity again.  And the beach and nice weather. And the golf and the…

Thanks for checking in again on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Hope you have a great week.  Until next time...  

South Texas - Fort Clark Springs

We have a couple of friends here in Bracketville, Texas that live in Unit 37 at Fort Clark Springs.  The town and nearby Fort Clark were established in the early 1850s.  Later, the town became a stop on the San Antonio - El Paso stagecoach route.

The first day we arrived we took a tour of the museum on post.

Some famous people were stationed here at one time including boxers Sugar Ray Robinson and Joe Louis.

General Wainwright of Corregidor and Bataan fame was here.  Lt Col George Patton was also stationed here at one time.

Fort Clark was a major calvary base of the U.S. Army and the last active calvary base in the Army.  It ceased training here in 1944.  The base today is on the U.S. National Register of Historic places and a large part of the buildings are intact.  A civilian community of approximately 2,000 people currently live here with a town council and full city facilities.  On the base are a number of permanent RV homesteads that each have an RV pad, RV shelter, full hookups and attached RV buildings/storage facilities.

Our friends Joe and Frances live here three driveways away from Jerry and Kit.  There are RV loops/streets (called 'units' here) and it is a very unique place.  People live here full-time in their rigs while others live here during the colder months of the year and travel during the summer.

Jerry and Kit currently are 90 minutes away working as gateguards for a drilling company and invited us to use their place while we are at Fort Clark.

They put in an extra set of full hookups for visitors which is a pretty sweet deal.

We are here seeing Joe and Frances who gave us a golf cart tour of the Fort.  It took us along the river, down some back roads and we saw some of the older buildings, different neighborhoods and an armadillo.

We joined a large group of about 30 at lunch on Monday.  In addition to it being Valentine's day, the wood carving club at Fort Clark wanted to have a surprise birthday party for Wallace who teaches and leads the group.

We traveled up the road to Bill and Rosa's Steakhouse and Saloon.  It is one of those one-of-a-kind places with excellent food and a lot of atmosphere.  The chicken friend steak was great!

One of the highlights at lunch was meeting long-time blogger reader and new friend Darlene. She was nice enough to come over and introduce herself and we chatted for a bit.

She and her sister live at the Fort with their husbands who are brothers.  -- Talk about a close family!  All are RVers and have their places in Unit 37 near where we are staying.  Meeting readers of the Roadrunner is a big thrill and it was nice to meet them!

The weather here has been great (high 70's, low 80's) and we played golf on the base course.

It started out overcast but by noon it was bright and sunny.  We had a good time and will try to play again later in the week.

Folks here get together a lot and did so on Tuesday night to say goodbye to a couple that is returning north.  They had a cookout-social for them and we all brought some food to share.  William and Mary hosted the event for about 10 couples.  They are on unit 14? (I think) and have a very nice place.   Their property backs up to the desert with a great view.   They have all kinds of animals that come by every day to check out the bird seed.

We had a great time watching the birds, deer and turkeys wander by.  The cardinal kept his distance in a tree about 30 yards away.

Yesterday we made the 90 minute trip to the spot where Kit and Jerry have their gate guard gig.

We got there in time for lunch.  We had stopped in Eagle Pass to pick up some fried chicken and McDonald's large diet cokes for the occasion.  It was great to see them and visit.  The last time we saw them was in Galveston at a NOMADS project last spring almost a year ago.

We are may be interested in getting a position with this company so we asked a lot of questions.  Jerry and Kit are working a lot to put aside extra money so they can build and add to their RV property at Fort Clark.  The position requires one of them to be at the gate 24 x 7 and the pay is $125/ day.  The job is not hard but they have to deal with the weather and being fairly isolated.

We chatted and got caught up and learned a lot about their job.  We also learned about the drilling that is going on nearby.  We had a fun time in the great weather and had more fun chatting with them.  They are such nice and generous people.  They have told about their experience on their blog at kitandjerry.com.

That is it for this edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles.  Thanks for viewing!

Grand Illumination at Williamsburg

One great thing about this time of year is the many Christmas events.  Over the years we have gone to see things we normally would not have seen.  Like attending functions at the Kennedy Center.  It was fun to dress up and go see a musical or Christmas program there.  Or see the Christmas tree at the capitol like I mentioned last week.

This year, we ventured up to Williamsburg for the Grand Illumination.  It was about a 90 minute drive from here and we went with a few of Kelly's friends.  Williamsburg is an interesting place.  You see all kinds of costumes

And yours truly...

It was a beautiful afternoon at Williamsburg and we walked around for a couple of hours before the fireworks (i.e. Grand Illumination) started.  If you have never been to Williamsburg it is really a neat and interesting place.

We stopped by a sheep pen and handlers came by to feed them.

And walked down the main road along some homes and farm houses...

There were lots of people and the Illumination is a very popular event...

It was also very cold and we stopped over near the shops for some hot chocolate and cider

After that we went over to one of the many outdoor stages and watched some groups sing Christmas carols and we saw a group dressed up in revolutionary era British uniforms as part of the fife and drum corps.

It was pretty cold after the sun went down but we toughed it out until 6:00 PM when the fireworks started.  They went on and on and on.  And apparently there were two or three places on the grounds that had fireworks going off simultaneously.  It was quite impressive.

 It was a chilly evening, but the fireworks were quite spectacular and well worth the wait and the cold.  We enjoyed our time there and left shortly after the display.  We hadn't really had anything to eat since lunch so we stopped at a Mexican restaurant on the way back to Norfolk and Virginia Beach.

Thanks for stopping by today and joining us on our visit to the Grand Illumination!