ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Well, we're still in Texas.  After leaving Fort Worth we made our way down south to check out where all the "winter Texans" head.  Our first stop was at the Messina Hof winery.  We had become familiar with their wines while in Texas and though we would pay a visit.  They even let us camp overnight in their parking lot.  Their wines are excellent and we bought a few bottles.  After the winery we headed down to our company's office in Livingston where we did some work getting things ready for our summer trip to Alaska.  We provide our guests with road logs and some perks like jackets so we packed up their "goody bags".  The motor home in the picture is not ours, it belongs to another staff member who was also there visiting. 

Next stop was Corpus Christ where we stayed at the Naval Air Station RV park.  The park overlooks the Gulf on some prime real estate.  The park has a population of hares that are everywhere.   The beaches were disappointing as there was alot of seaweed that, we were told, is quite common.  So no swimming in the Gulf of Mexico even though the water was quite warm.  After Corpus Christi we headed down to South Padre Island - where I am writing this update.  SPI is one of the premier birding spots in the country particularly during Spring and Fall migrations.  We are too late for that but we visited the Birding center and saw many shore and wading birds like terns, plovers, gulls, etc. The  park we are staying at is at the southern tip if the island and  you can see Mexico across the harbor.  The beaches were much nicer and the Gulf waters were warm enough to swim in but the winds have been blowing at an almost constant 30 mph and the undertow has been very strong - so no swimming here either.  SPI is a nice place to visit, it has high rise condos and hotels and restaurants but it is mich quieter than the Jersey shore with its amusements, etc.  The temperatures are approaching the 90's already so I wouldn't want to be here in the summer.  Alot  of fishing and we had an excellent dinner with some of the local fish like red snapper and grouper.   The gulf shrimp are also excellent.

Today we are heading to the Rio Grande Valley today - talk about hot!!!! The valley as they call it has over 500 camp grounds that are full in winter. We just wanted to check it out while we are in the area.

MESSINA HOF  WINERY

OUR GUIDE JACOB, THE WINEMAKER PAUL  AND BETTY

 

THE WINE BAR

BED AND BREAKFAST INN

RECEPTION AREA WITH FAMILY TABLE FROM 1700'S

THE VICTORIAN ERA BEDROOM,
each themed from different literary work 

CORPORATE OFFICE
ADVENTURE CARAVANS

BETTY ON THE BEACH AT CORPUS CHRISTI

OVERLOOKING PORT ARANSAS

THEY GROW RABBITS BIG IN TEXAS

CHRIST OF THE FISHERMAN
at ENTRANCE TO PORT ISABEL HARBOR

THE BEACH AT ISLA BLANKA PARK
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND

MARINA AT ISLA BLANCA PARK

CHEERS

PAYTON TIME

This the reason we stayed in the Fort Worth area after the rally.  For those of you who don't know, this is our grand daughter, Payton.  She will be 2 on July 8th  and she is so much fun.  Since we don't get to see her all the time we notice the changes every time we do see her.  Izzy is Kristine and Hank's miniature schnauzer and, although she was there first,  she is great with Payton.

COME ON IZZY LETS GO FOR A WALK

GRANDPA I MADE BUBBLES

h

HIGHER HIGHER

NOW WHERE IS THE NEXT EGG

DON'T MESS WITH ME

AVC SPRING MEGA RALLY PART II

Hi again. During the rally, although busy working, we did have fun. Ron Kohn spares no expense when it comes to rally entertainment. Our headliner was "Willie Nelson" as well as Ron & Kay  Rivoli.  The Rivolis are known to most RVers because they compose and perform songs that tell about incidents that many of us encounter while driving around this beautiful country.

Our last bus trip began with a visit to the Bureau of Printing and Engraving (no pictures allowed).  There are two with the second one in Washington DC.  The Fort Worth one makes more than 65% of our paper money.  After that we  had lunch (BBQ - what else) then visited one of the many horse ranches that are north of the D/FW area.  The day ended with a visit to the Texas Motor Speedway where we all got the chance to do two laps around the track in an "official pace car" which were all new Camaros.

My only complaint was that they didn't go fast enough.  The drivers kept it at 80 mph.

Our last full day had some of the guests and staff participating in a kayak race on Grapevine Lake and the evening ended with a great dinner.

The rally ended on 4/15 but Ken and I are still in the D/FW area visiting with our daughter Kristine, her husband Hank and their daugher Payton.  We will leave here next week and head south to check out the Corpus Christi area.  Adios till then.

WILLIE

RON & JUANITA KOHN with WILLIE

RON & KAY RIVOLI


and now "MINUTE TO WIN IT"                                                                        

SHERYL OUR CHEF MOVING COTTON BALLS WITH HER NOSE

YOURS TRULY STACKING 8 DEBBIE CAKES, THEY STAY BETTER WHEN SQUISHED

GETTING THE TISSUES OUT OF THE BOX




OUR LAST BUS TRIP

GEORGE DALY HORSE FARM

BETTY ENTERING PACE CAR AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

KAYAK RACES

FAREWELL PRIME RIB DINNER

ADVENTURE CARAVANS SPRING MEGA RALLY DALLAS TEXAS

We arrived at this very nice campground,  The Vineyards, operated by the city of Grapevine in Texas on April 27th a week before guests started arriving.  This is not the typical municipal campground. Before the rally we had time to visit with our friends Bob & Lynette Groves and our daughter Kristine and her family. We also found out some of Texas wine is pretty good and had the opportunity to bottle our own. During the 11 day rally we had four bus tours, games, meals, entertainment and work.  Our bus tours included a VIP tour of the largest indoor sports arena in the world (the Dallas Cowboy Stadium).  Everything in Texas is BIGGER  I have to admit that, even though we are not football fans, it was quite impressive standing on that end zone.  We toured Fort Worth and Dallas.  Our tour of Dallas included The 6th Street Book Depository Museum and Dealey  Plaza as well as sites made imfamous by JFK's assasination.  Our bus driver was a historian whose focus was that time in history.  The Dallas/Fort Worth area has so much to offer as far as history and entertainment.  We have visited before because our daughter and her family live there but, we were glad to have another opportunity to see the sites some ofwhich we have not seen before.

This is Part 1, Part 2 to follow soon.

THE BLOG IS UNRESTRICTED COMMENTS APPRECIATED

        The Vineyard Campground

 

The rally started with a bus trip to Fort Worth 

BREAKFAST AT GREAT WOLF LODGE

FIRST BUS TRIP

DALLAS COWBOYS STADIUM

BETTY IN THE END ZONE

FORT WORTH CATTLE DRIVE

THE FOLLOWING PICTURES ARE FROM THE FORT WORTH CARRAGE MUSEUM

OUR FRIEND AND FELLOW STAFF MEMBER, BARRY

THE BELOW PICTURES ARE FROM THE FORTH WORTH RODEO WE VISITED

HOLEY BOARD COMPETITION

HEX ONE OF OUR FIRST CONTACTS WITH
ADVENTURE CARAVANS AS OUR TAILGUNNER
IN MEXICO 2007

PAYTON THE CHAMP

THE LONGHORN CATTLE DRIVE SCULPTURES
DALLAS

WHERE HE WAS CAPTURED

TWO HOMES WHERE LEE HARVEY OSWALD LIVED


SOUTH FORK RANCH WHERE THE TV SHOW DALLAS WAS FILMED
 

                                                                                                        THE GUN THAT SHOT JR

JOCK'S LINCOLN

A UNIQUE PIECE OF FURNITURE