17 March 2023 Monahans to Terlingua

 Our drive south to the Big Bend country was pretty easy. It is only a 189 mile drive on reasonably good roads. We had very little winds but did run into some light snow showers in Alpine. As we pulled into the Road Runner RV Park in Terlingua, it was starting to spit rain and sleet. We wasted no time in getting set up and starting to warm up the Wanderer. The Road Runner is a fairly new RV Park in the area and the utilities seemed to be in good shape. It’s all compacted dirt and gravel but the site is level. The WiFi is strong and we were able to stream Netflix easily even though the park was full. We decided to avoid any of the bar type restaurants in the area since it was St. Patrick’s Day and the last busy weekend of the Spring Break season. We drove over to Starlite Theater but one look at the long line sent us headed elsewhere. We ended up at the Rustic Iron BBQ. The food was delicious and we ate as much as we could but still left some sides behind. On the way back, we drove down the Fulcher rRoad to get a fund view of the Chiso’s Mountains in the rain/snow and clouds. The rain picked up in the evening and it rained all night. The next morning we met our friend Rick at the Study Butt Café for a late breakfast and sat around catching up on events. His homestead building is going slow but steady. He is living out of his little offroad RV Trailer for now and is looking forward to having more room. As we ate, the rain changed over to heavy snow for 30 minutes or so. The road to Alpine has closed due to snow and ice and most of the roads in Big Bend NP have closed for the same reason. On the way back to the Wanderer, we noticed the slide cover over the Vanity slide had ripped in the winds and was flapping. Not much we can do about it down here. So, we are hunkering down and staying Warm and Dry. 

Chiso Mountains in the clouds, rain and snow

Road Runner RV Park after rain all night

15 - 17 March 2023 Mansfield to Monahans

 We reluctantly left our friends and family behind in DFW and headed on our western journey. This is the longest drive of our 2023 itinerary at 375 miles. We had a strong cross wind (25-35MPH with gusts up to 55mph) the whole way. We only got 6.6Mpg since we were climbing most of the way and the wind. We are staying at the Out West RV Park. It’s a new RV park that is wrapped around a veterinary clinic, the roads are paved and all the utilities worked well. Even the WiFi, even though it is only a 2Ghz system, worked well and we could stream Netflix. We are only here for two nights. We ran into Odessa on Thursday and picked up some supplies, topped off propane and fuel. We stopped for lunch at Leslie’s favorite restaurant, La Bodega, for lunch (Chile Reno’s of course) and drove around to see some of her old haunts. The weather reports for Saturday in Big Bend are looking ominous. 

Chile Reno's!!! Yummmmm!!!

Out West RV Park, Monahan's Texas

 

12 March 2023 Lost Oak

 We realized that we have been missing out of visiting our favorite local vineyard since we started RVing full time. So we took the afternoon to run down to Burleson and the vineyard where we have so many great memories of, Lost Oak Winery. We sampled their latest reds and got a bottle of the Cab Franc and headed out to the patio to sit back and relax while enjoying a great bottle of wine. Before we left, we picked up 4 bottles to take with us for our summer travels. We decided to stop at our favorite restaurant in Burleson, Babes, to enjoy some southern fried chicken with all the fixens! It was a wonderfully relaxing day after a couple of weeks of hectic running around.

11 March 2023 Eating with Friends

 We finished up all the doctors and dentists yesterday. They believe we will live for another year. We had lunch with our friends Mona and Wade in Fort Worth at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, Uncle Julio’s. Then rushed over to Dallas to meet our friends Ann and Bill at one of their favorite Seafood restaurants, Lovers Seafood, for dinner.  We had a great time visiting with everyone and catching up on each others lives and plans. 

Dinner with Ann and Bill

8 March 2023 Official Ambassador’s

 We received our New Horizons Ambassador’s plaque today and hung it off the hitch. I guess that makes us official ambassadors for the company now. 

5 March 2023 Birthday Party

 Leslie was able to attend Sharon Greenstone’s birthday party in down town Fort Worth. David was stuck at home preparing for a colonoscopy on Monday. The party, at Istanbul Grill, was well attended by her downtown friends and everyone had a good time. 

 We pulled in the slides, dumped the tanks, aired up the tires and hit the road in the start of 2023 travel itinerary. First stop is Fort Worth for two weeks. We stopped along the way and got the Wanderer’s mandatory safety inspection. We had planned to stay by the Will Rogers complex in their first come/first served RV park but when we called last week, we found out they were having a show and they were already full and would be through 5 March. So we headed back to the Texan RV Ranch down in Mansfield. We had a warm but pleasant drive and only had a few sprinkles along the way. With the shower repaired, the water pressure at Texan RV Ranch was more than adequate. It will be a busy two weeks with doctors, dentists, friends and family to visit.