HitchHikers of America International (HHAI) rally pics

Here's some pictures of the rally, one is a seminar on waterless washing & waxing RVs. Water is messy and we have seen the waterless work done & it looked easier....so there went some $$$$. The pic of 10 of us sitting & standing is the founding fathers (& moms) of the Haulin' HitchHikers Club. We are from MI, MO, WA, & VA. We started talking about a non geographically based group of HitchHikers (most clubs are based on where RVers live but most of us are homeless) in 2007 in MO and TX & started the club in 2008. We have 59 couples now and are by far the largest and most active chapter of HHAI. One pic shows us having our annual meeting before a pot luck diner. The formal (as formal as we get) pic shows the 20 couples attending the rally (there were 75 to 80 couples total at the HHAI rally) on the stage. The first pic is Mike Mitchell, CEO & owner of NuWa who makes our RVs, ya see the hat he's wearing, he's a member too! He joined us at this nights Haulin' HitchHiker's happy hour. He's here telling the rally attendees what's happening & had 2 new HitchHikers here for us to check out. We like the one we already own.

Happy birthday Judy!

We celebrated Judy's birthday with a few RV friends this evening. I took a break at noon from parking incoming HitchHikers, there were only a few arriving today, & we went out for a nice lunch....chicken fried steak & pork chops. Judy also went to church this morning here at the CG with a few of the other ladies (after water aerobics) while we maned the parking duties. Great weather still.

Montgomery, TX & the HHAI Rally parking

We made the 175 mile trip to Montgomery and are getting ready for our Haulin' HitchHiker chapter to park incoming HitchHikers for the rally which starts next week. You can see the CG is pretty empty but not for long. We are meeting up with some good RV friends we haven't seen for months.

Texas Ranger Museum

Today Dave & I made the drive to Waco to check out the Texas Ranger Museum. The Rangers started long long ago to protect settlers in Texas when it belonged to Mexico. The Rangers had a no nonsense reputation and even fought at the Alamo. They fought Indians & outlaws & criminals. It was from the Cherokee Indians that the Rangers learned their fighting tactics. It was a Texas Ranger that finally caught up with Bonnie & Clyde. In one of the pictures there are guns the 5 lawmen used in the ambush and some of Bonnie & Clyde's arsenal taken from their car in which they were killed. Frank Hamer was called out of retirement and spent 101 days following them and living in his car just like the two outlaws until he caught up with them in Louisiana. The Rangers even offered to go to Britain during WWII to help educate citizens how to fight. We were told that the Germans learned of this & were concerned that the Texas Rangers were going to be used to invade Europe, apparently even the Germans were aware of the rangers reputation.

Visit with Patches big cousins

Today we visited a large cat sanctuary. There are 53 lions, tigers (snow, yellow & white), leopards, & mountain lions at the non profit shelter. Some were former entertainers, pets, & some seized by officials. We learned more here than at any zoo we have visited. When we arrived there was a sick horse in a pen nearby & we figured this was a dumb horse being so close to the big cats. Well, during the tour we heard a shot & the horse wasn't there when we left. They fed the animals old or sick cows & horses.....sorry Kristi. We were told it was better for them than meat chunks that zoos use. This way they can also gnaw on the bones and use a horses mane to clean their teeth, really.....sorry Kristi.You can see one carcass in a picture. The most interesting was a white tiger transvestcat. There was a growth that was removed that turned out to be a testicle on a female. None of the other cats, male or female, will associate with it. Another tiger was constantly moaning....it's mate died 2 years ago and she is depressed and still grieving. The keepers talk about them as if they were almost human with their emotions & feelings. An interesting visit!

Young Nellie & the UFO

Jeff & Susan went with us for a ride to Aurora to check out the cemetery. We read that in 1897 a UFO crashed into a windmill and the pilot was killed. The concerned local citizens buried him/her/it in their cemetery but there is no headstone, just the state marker. The marker also told us about an infant, Nellie Burris, 1891-1893 whose headstone says "As I was so soon done, I don't know why I was begun."

Beware Patches.....bath time!

I I think this weather is making up for the cold wet winter we had, it's been really great the last couple weeks. 4pm and 86 degrees under an all blue sky. So nice in fact it was time for Patches annual bath whether she was ready or not. She was not. The cat survived but it was touch & go for Judy.

Yesterday afternoon we had our usual happy hour, or two, or three.

This morning the guys had breakfast here at the CG then Jeff took us for a ride to meet Wayland Long at 2L Custom Trucks in Poolville. This is where Jeff purchased his Freightliner last year. Wayland is an interesting character, a real Texas redneck who says what he's thinking. We talked about lots of things besides trucks.