Our first “honeymoon” activity was the Dinner Train with the Branson Scenic Railway. It was an amazing train ride and wonderful dinner. We arrived about a half hour before it was supposed to start, got our tickets, found a souvenir t-shirt to commemorate the occasion and waited to be able to board our train. We were some of the first people on the train and as we walked past the cars to board we both started getting excited as we saw the pretty tables inside prepared for dinner.
We found our place marked with our name and sat down to a table starting with a Caesar Salad and some really delicious rolls. They also had Iced Tea and Water on the tables for us along with a bit of candle light and a carnation.
As we departed the station everyone started digging in to their salads and rolls. We rode out of the city of Branson and started seeing some beautiful scenery even before the main course was served.
Dinner was very delicious. We had our choice of Prime Rib, Chicken, Fish or a Vegetarian option. We both picked the prime rib which came with potatoes and a vegetable medley. Iced tea and water were both refilled often on the train ride as well. The prime rib was done very well and we both enjoyed it immensely. We saw people around us get some of all of the variety of options but the beef seemed to be the most popular choice in our car at least.
As we enjoyed our meal we had a wonderful time watching the scenery go by outside our window. Partway through our entree a gentleman was going through the different cars playing the accordion. He played two songs from the 1940’s – the era of the train cars we were on.
Cows from the window as we prepared to head back to the station
Well we did it – June 18 with some of our closest family and friends (both in person and on Zoom) we got married. It was a short and sweet ceremony filled with love and even a few tears (I get emotional – it’s normal for me). We enjoyed a wonderful lunch after with sandwiches, salads, and a delicious cake topped all off with a fun champagne fountain. After living together for 2 years you’d think it wouldn’t be much different but there are subtle differences – that joy of saying my husband/my wife being one of them. There’s also a little bit different connection that I know I feel with Michael – it’s hard to describe or explain.
A few days before the wedding we found our new truck. We picked her up the Tuesday after the wedding – we needed time to empty the old one out and have the wedding and Father’s day. We have a brand new Dodge Ram 2500 Big Horn. She’s a beauty.
Calypso our new Truck
Friday after the wedding I headed for New York to see my family. My uncle’s 70th birthday was the 25th and a great time to see most of my family in NY for the first time in many years. I flew in to Hartford and after a really bad hotel room that night I loved spending part of Saturday and Sunday with my family before heading back to Hartford to fly back to Oklahoma on Monday. It was a whirlwind trip and I’m still recovering from it. Anxiety and lack of sleep wore my immune system way down and I’ve been battling exhaustion and some sinus garbage. I’m on the way to feeling better but it’s taking it’s dang time to happen.
These next 10 days are going to be busy for us as we leave on the 15th for more adventures and some exciting plans coming up. Michael is at the clinic getting his eyes examined today, vet appointments for both dogs for yearly shots on Wed. and Thurs. afternoon (they are too complicated to take together), repacking the Travel Trailer bearings, and replacing 2 new tires (if they ever get here) are all on the agenda for this week. We want to get all our laundry cleaned up and we need to re-load all our stuff in the truck that we usually store in there. We put some step rails and a tonneau cover on the back to help try to keep our stuff protected from the elements. We want to make a few casseroles before we leave and head to Branson next week. I’m so excited to start getting to take some pictures of places I’ve never been before and update with posts on the new things we’re seeing. Make sure you follow our Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to follow the photos that don’t make it to the blog. The links are on the main page here.
For those who keep coming back thank you so much. I love getting to share our adventures here with everyone.
Arriving in HartfordCampsite we visited as a kidNorth LakeNY Pizza it was so freaking goodBarn at my Aunt and Uncle’s
This week in Oklahoma we’ve had amazing weather to enjoy. We were blessed with almost a full day and a half of rain – which after the dry weather we dealt with in South Texas was a joy to hear pitter patter on the roof of our home. It also brought a few days of cooler temperatures including a full day where we were able to leave the windows open the entire day – what a treat that was. We’re warming up a bit into the weekend but it’s been windy the last few days as well – nothing like the wind from Choke Canyon but definitely enough we can not put our awning out if we wanted to.
The RV park we are staying in during our 2 months in Ada has mostly long term RV people. Seems like some oil field and wind turbine workers along with a few nurses judging on the uniforms on some we’ve seen out walking the dogs. It’s not the prettiest place we’ve stayed but the convenience of being so close to family and the remarkably low price that includes: sewer, electric, water, cable and internet are wonderful. Also, the proximity to being able to do the things we want to do legally – this week Michael got his license here (I’m waiting till after the wedding and my trip to see my family in June to change mine) – changing the plates on the truck to the tribal plates, and just some odds and ends we need to take care of – this makes this an ideal place to stay.
This week we have a plan to go look at an RV we”ve been eyeing since Keystone RV Company announced it last January. They have one in Oklahoma City along with a few others that we want to check out. Because of the chip shortage and Covid – there’s a huge shortage on the 3500 trucks we’ve been thinking we would get. If we like these RV’s it would mean we can go with a bit smaller truck – bigger than current 1500 – either a 2500 or the 250’s and still be safe. There are many that tow huge 41 foot RV’s with a 2500 but the pin weight is over the limit on a 2500 and if there’s an accident the insurance company could refuse to pay because of being over the limit. We don’t want to have to worry about such a thing – we want to be safe while we travel. It’s a discussion we’ve had a lot over the last year and a half and we’re re-evaluating how we approach it.
We’re at almost 6 months full time in the RV and we’re seeing what works and what doesn’t work for us. The length of our current rig isn’t as big a deal as the width – if we had slideouts on both sides it would be a bit roomier and help us have a bit more room to manuever in. That being said – we’re both incredibly happy in our life and looking forward to our adventures in the coming months. We’ve revamped some of our plans – Labor Day we changed our reservations to a campground literally across the road from the Pacific Ocean and 20 miles from the top of the Redwoods area of California. It was a great find thanks to a post in an RV group we are in on Facebook. What a great resource for finding a place that looks incredible so far.
As we close this post we want to say thank you to all those who gave their lives in service of this country. We honor you and thank you for the blessings we have in this country because of your selfless service.
We arrived in Ada, Oklahoma on Sunday – this will be our home for the next two months while we visit family and get married. We’ve enjoyed spending some time with Michael’s mom and pop while we catch up on ALL of our laundry. We had a whole bunch of clothes and linens saved up for when we got here as it was so difficult to do laundry when we were at Choke Canyon.
Upon arrival and setting up in our shady spot – we get great late afternoon shade which is very nice as we move in to the summer months soon – we headed over the 3 or so miles to visit his folks. It was great having time to catch up and pick up mail and packages that we’d had sent there. Now that my job is done we’ve had time to be over there often this week and even took the dogs one afternoon so they could go run and play in their fenced in backyard. Our pups get daily walks sometimes even twice daily – but when we can let them go over there and run off leash and play it’s so good for them and we love watching them play together and run free. I also loved getting the chance to cook for his folks this week – we made some hamburgery stroganoff in the Ninja Foodi for them. I’m planning on a chicken taco salad for this coming week to make for them – we love this recipe.
Michael’s mom and I ordered the wedding cake this week and picked out a few decorations for the wedding day. It’s also been exciting as my wedding dress came in – nothing too formal but pretty and can be worn again. We aren’t planning on anything large or formal – just a few family members outside in the yard and then grilling some food afterwards. Michael’s brother is performing the ceremony for us which makes it even more special.
As I type this on Saturday afternoon the weather has been wonderful today. We woke up to 59 degree weather today and it didn’t make it much above the mid-60’s for temps today. It’s been such an amazing change from the 90’s we’ve been in for a while in Texas. We’ve even been able to have the windows open and enjoy some fresh air. We took advantage this week of having his folks nearby to store some food as we needed to defrost our refrigerator and freezer as well. It’s been a productive week so far for us and we have more plans for productivity this coming week.
Flower along our walking route New towel from Michael’s mom – very appropriate since we dance a lot in the kitchen Bella and Moki seem happy and relaxed lately.
Currently writing this from Cedar Hill State Park in Cedar Hill, Texas. We have been here almost a week now after a few days in McKinney Falls State Park in Austin. We were able to take care of a few things we needed to do and start on to our next adventures. It’s been a busy few weeks for us – we got engaged on almost two weeks ago, moving on from where had been home for 3 months, and just trying to reacclimate. We learned this week that my contract job that I’ve been doing remotely since October is ending this Friday. This gives us a great chance to get back to Oklahoma, take care of some things we need to do, plan a wedding for June 18, and in general relax with family.
We had a final date night in Three Rivers at the Agave Jalisco restaurant that has some of the best Mexican food we’ve had. We followed that with a drink at the little bar/restaurant across the street from there – the bartender makes a super tasty Whiskey Sour. Our time in Choke Canyon is where we started trying to implement date nights to have time out together which was very necessary for me. Working remotely I’m in the RV or our campsite with no in person contact and while Michael is fine not seeing people for days – I enjoy a bit of social interaction to keep me going.
We had a bit of a scare last weekend Moki, one of our two pups, started to act very lethargic and just not himself. We’ve been battling allergies and skin issues for a few weeks – for the third time in several months – and it eventually moves to his ears. He finally let me put some drops in his ear and I wonder if it messed up his equilibrium while it worked the ick out. By mid-day Saturday he started perking up – eating and drinking – and acting more peppy in general. When we walked at lunch today you’d have never known we were so worried over the weekend – he was full of energy today and trying to lead Michael instead of the other way around.
We’ve enjoyed having access to restaurants and a bigger variety of food choices in the stores here. We had Mother’s Day Brunch at Panera – one of my favorites and Chinese food from Panda – one we both enjoy a bunch for takeout in a hurry. We’ve also grilled a skirt steak for tostadas and some pork chops since we got here. But, we are anxious to get back to Oklahoma to see family again and spend time with them. We are so happy we’re going to have two months there with them to enjoy and visit. We’ve also enjoyed having more tv channels and reliable internet service for our viewing as well as gaming hobbies. I’m planning to work on finishing my medical coding class after my job ends Friday as I’ll have more time for things like that. I’ve been having fun being able to hang out with some of my online friends in games as well as streaming on Twitch.
It’s a week early but it really is almost the end of our 3 months here in Choke Canyon State Park. Michael and I have been together a bit over 2 years now and from the beginning we’ve always felt like we’ve known each other much longer than we really have (in the good way – it’s a connection we’ve had between us). We’ve very much felt like we’ve been here much longer yet felt like we just got here. So much has wrapped up here between selling the house, relationships, and really starting our full time adventures. This has truly been a great place to start RV living for us. There are some things we won’t miss here – spotty tv, radio or internet connection, the need to drive 40 miles in one of two directions to be able to get all of what we need – groceries, haircuts, gas that’s 40 cents a gallon cheaper than it is in Three Rivers, mail pick up. The quiet, the loop we get to walk the puppies on at least once a day where we see birds, bunnies, armadillos and deer, having our own private little camping area where we see hardly anyone – those are definitely things we will miss and remember for a long time to come.
Michael has enjoyed park hosting but his here has been unique compared to other parks. He as actually sent off an email to try to park host next January through March again in South Texas at a different park. It will be around more people but is right on the ocean. I’ve had big things on the job front and have an interview Monday for a full time permanent position at the company I’ve been contracting with for the last 6 months. I’m crossing my fingers – it would also be fully remote which is ideal for me. It will also take me very much out of my comfort zone – pushing me in ways I haven’t before. Thankfully my manager for the last 6 months is also on the interview panel and knows how hard I’ve worked. In a meeting with him earlier this week he praised my work highly – and was very appreciative of how hard I’ve worked and how much attention to detail I’ve paid on everything I’ve done.
We’ve started making plans for the next several months and are looking forward to the new journey we are starting to form. We leave here May 2 and travel to Austin (McKinney Falls) for 3 nights – we have a few things to do there I’m having lunch with the people I work with and a massage (hey I’ve worked hard I’ve earned it). Michael is using a zipline tour package I got him two years ago on Father’s day. It’s a 3 hour zipline tour in Austin he’d been wanting to do. From there we go to Cedar Hill for 10 days. Cedar Hill – one of our most favorite state park stays. We know we get a gazillion over the air channels, great internet reception and near every store and restaurant we love (it’s like 5 miles from the entrance to the state park). The spot we have we’ve stayed in before – it’s shady and kind of private and our favorite so far there. May 15 we head to Oklahoma for a couple months. We’ve got some legal things to do there and want to have some time with family before we leave. I’m actually flying out in June to New York for a weekend to see my family – most I haven’t seen in almost 7 years I’m very excited for this opportunity. When we leave Oklahoma we go to Branson, Missouri for a few days then travel up through Missouri, Nebraska and Wyoming to spend 8 days in Billings Montana where we will be over my 50th birthday. I’ve driven through MO, NE and WY – but I’ve never been to Montana or through Idaho where we’re going to drive through a corner to get to Spokane Washington. We have a few nights there before we head to south Washington for 2 weeks at an Army COE park. When we leave there we travel about 120 miles to a state park in Oregon where we spend another two weeks. From there we head to the coast – the Pacific Ocean – I’ve never been before and am so excited. We have reservations about 15 minutes from the ocean for a week over labor day in Oregon.
We haven’t booked past that though have general ideas where we want to go from there – we’re looking at the Redwoods and maybe by Sequoia National park. Hoping to hit a show in Vegas and possibly even the Grand Canyon. We may even get to a state park that looks amazing in Arizona – we were supposed to be there last year for my birthday until we had brakes almost catch fire coming down the mountains in New Mexico and had to rearrange our plans. Our goal is to be back in Oklahoma by the first of November for the holidays. Below is a map of our planned trip so far. You are only allowed to put so many destinations in so not all are in this but it’s the general route we are taking.
Friday morning and we were rounding in to the final few weeks at our Park Host Job in Choke Canyon State Park. We woke to drizzle coming down and had a moment of panic to get our internet hotspot into the RV. Normally we store the hotspot inside however something about the internet connectivity in this particular area and inside the camper makes it difficult to get a decent signal. It shows several to almost full bars on the hotspot but for some reason the signal strength to our laptops is terrible. On a weird whim we tried using it by putting it in the screened canopy outside and the connection difference is HUGE. We’ll clock 0.5 to 1 mb download inside and with it outside we get 15 to 20 mb download speeds.
Back to today – we hurried and got the hotspot inside and I took the pups for an early outing in case it rained for a while as Michael went to his post at the gate at 6 am. As the pups and I were a bit rain soaked after their outing I sat up hit the start on the coffee early and just listened to the news with my blanket on my lap. UNTIL – 7:30 everything blinked, the microwave beeped like it does when the power flickers and we had no power. The batteries were working as the lights it runs were on. I called up to Michael at the gate and as I told him power was out here he calmly says “well that’s probably because there is an electrical pole across the street on fire”. My thought was is that all lol. He called 911 and eventually the fire trucks showed up he said it was quite a sight to see them shooting water from the hoses on to an electrical pole. He came back got the generator running (it decided to be stubborn – if you are traveling with one be sure to start it every month or so) and I made sure to charge my laptop for work so I could keep working despite the lack of power. After about an hour and a half on generator power with a few fans going to circulate the humid sticky air it decided to quit. He came back after a bit and got it running for us again. At lunch time I had him stay here with the running generator – he’d been going a bit crazy this morning – while I took the pups for their lunchtime walk. As I walked the pups I could see the electrical company get to the pole that had been on fire this morning so I was hopeful we’d have power soon. We also knew that in one of the buildings near us is the Dam Operations for the City of Corpus Christi and they would probably prioritize this area a bit. By about 1:30 thankfully we had power and could run the A/C again to get some of that stickiness out of the air and I could finish the workday in comfort.
Fire truck and electric pole that had been on fire
I’m so grateful in times like that of his calmness when a “crisis” arises. There’s been a few times in our relationship where there have been situations that have happened i.e. a flat tire in Grand Junction a few hours before we were supposed to check out, the brakes almost catching fire coming down a mountain in New Mexico to name a few. In previous relationships these occurrences would have been life or death, end of the world situations – not with him. He takes it all in stride and just makes it easier for me to not panic as well.
We were grateful we’d planned a date night for dinner – the physical exhaustion from the humid heat this morning, him lifting and tinkering to get the generator running – neither of us felt like cooking tonight. As Michael says – these things like today – those are our adventures. The memories we’ll have years from now that we can say – remember that day the power went out in Choke Canyon….
So, we’ve decided to merge some things together. As we’ve merged our life together more it made sense to us to merge these Blog posts with our GnomadicLife Facebook and Twitter accounts (we’ll be starting an Instagram account this week as well). If you haven’t followed us on those sites the links will all be updated on this site this week. We have spent this week planning for future adventures and making reservations like crazy people.
We have been park hosting for 2 months now and have entered our final month of our stay here in Choke Canyon State Park. We have learned a lot about ourselves, park hosting and about what we want a bit more out of future park hosting options. We do know we’d like to do more work like this starting in 2023 but have some travel plans we’d like to accomplish first. It’s been a very different park hosting gig than I believe some our – we’re in a part of a State Park that is for Day Use only. After 10 pm the only other people in the park is the State Park Police officer and his family (their house is in this part of the park). The only interaction we have is with the boaters and people coming in to fish so we are quite often isolated and secluded from the rest of the world (and we’ve loved it). We have enjoyed camping in so many State Parks it feels good to be able to be in a position to give back a little to making it enjoyable for others as well. Michael has done a wonderful job of helping the park out here and works hard at making this a great place for people to access the boat ramp and fish cleaning areas. I work remotely full-time still so while I don’t contribute to the actual park I feel as his partner and in supporting him (I’ve been known to make some pretty decent breakfast burritos for him to have for his early morning work sessions) that I’ve been a part of helping too.
In our next post we’ll be sharing some of our future plans – we have camping reservations booked through a few days after Labor Day – and will recap more about some of the things we’ve learned here in this adventure. In the meantime we’ll be updating this site and our Social Media accounts so that everything is linked together. Safe Travels!
It’s been an adjustment for us having Michael working really early 4 days a week – while I’ve been working since October I don’t start until 8 am but he’s up Friday – Monday to work 6 – 12 noon. We’ve been finding our way in navigating spending time together – when it was just me working we had all weekend to sleep in, walk the pups, and just generally do whatever we wanted. Now our weekends involve him up at 5 am – at which point I usually wake up at some point shortly after – and when he’s done we take advantage of the time to drive to Beeville (eventually we’ll check out Kenedy another bigger town about the same distance away as Beeville) where they have an HEB and a Walmart for more serious grocery shopping. The little market here is great in a pinch but as is common in most small towns they are very pricey. We still get to spend time together and are blessed in that – we’re just finding our way in a new schedule and adjust accordingly.
We’ve gone the last 2 Friday nights to a nice little bar/restaurant in Three Rivers – Live Oak Sports Bar and Grill (though we’ve never seen any sports on just country music which suits us). The first week we didn’t realize they had a separation between the restaurant and the bar area and had dinner first then went to the bar for a drink. This week we went right to the bar where we could order dinner and a drink and visit with others as well. The same bartender was working and she remembered us – it feels good to be establishing some connections that aren’t just online for us.
Thursday night we walked down to the dam that is here. To walk to the dam and back to our RV is about 1.25 miles. We’re trying to get a few good walks in at least a week for both our health and the puppies. The dam here is maintained by the City of Corpus Christi which is about 80 miles south of us. The reservoir with the dam actually feeds the water for Corpus. We see the city guys driving by several times as they maintain and keep things safe with the dam. Their office is down the maintenance road we live on in the park. It’s weird being a part of the park but not actively seeing other campers. Michael sees the boaters coming and going when he’s working the gate and from our site we can hear them drive by (to much brush between the road and our RV to see them). Last night as we got back to the park at the end of the sunset we drove to the dam to see the tail end of it from there – it’s a great view. I think in a week or two we’ll have a picnic for dinner at sunset. We can sit on the tailgate with dinner and watch and maybe even get some neat photos.
Sign near the dam at Choke CanyonNorthern Crested Caracara – aka Mexican EagleChoke Canyon Reservoir
We arrived here at Choke Canyon State Park on Tuesday afternoon and immediately met two of the park rangers here who were very, very kind to us. Cody who was one of the two people Michael interviewed with met us and took Michael on a tour of the South Shore Unit where we are staying as well as the Calliham unit where the camping is in this State Park. The South Shore Unit is day use only with a picnic area and a very large boat launch area. Part of Michael’s duties here include hanging out at the gate headquarters to ensure people are paying their day use fees or at least checking in with their park pass information so the park can receive credit for those entrance fees. Just having that presence there in the early morning hours when the serious fisher-people are coming in, may help the park with some revenue that can help with improvements to the park. He also will be cleaning the restrooms and the fish cleaning stations in this part of the park. For 24 hours a week (4 days 6 hours each day) we have a full hook up campsite in a part of the park where the only other person in here at night time is the park police officer and his family and us. It’s quiet, remote, a bit isolated and beautiful.
We’ve seen so much wildlife in the first week we’ve been here. Within a few hours of being here we’d seen road runners, deer, bunnies, cranes, various other bird species and Michael has seen one of the Javelina wild boars. We’ve seen some wildlife around before but never this many in one place. There is also a chance of gators and mountain lions though as far as we know neither have been seen in a while.
The closes town – Three Rivers – is very small. The population of Three Rivers is around 1800 people – the only fast food places are a Subway in a gas station and a Dairy Queen. There are about 5 Mexican restaurants and a few bars as well. We ended up going to one of the bar/restaurants on Friday night and enjoyed visiting with a few locals and some time out among other people. While Michael has some interaction in person with people with what he’s doing for work – during the work week I’m fairly isolated in the RV with the dogs and Michael when he’s not working. I interact with others virtually for work and on Twitch when I’m streaming but it’s not the same as seeing people in person and having that connection.
Now that some of the cold weather has moved out, it was a bit chilly here this week, though we didn’t get the ice and snow they did more north of us in Texas – we had the windows open today and even had a fire in our propane firepit tonight. It was a lovely night for a fire and a bit of time just relaxing the two of us. We took the dogs on a walk to the boat launch Sunday night – it’s about 1.75 miles there and back for us to walk and was good for both us and the pups.
GnomadicLife 