USAF Band of the West

Judy noticed that the USAF Band of the West was giving a free concert in Kerrville so she organized all 31 of us already here for the rally to attend.  The seats didn't have enough leg room for me so we went down to the front row with all the room I wanted.  It was a good concert but we wished there was less jazz and more 40s big band music.

Following the concert we all went to Billy Gene for dinner.

Then it was back to the campground for a late happy hour.

Johnson Creek RV Ingram, TX

We arrived at John Creek for the TX hill country rally on Saturday April 2.  The rally is scheduled to start April 12 but we are early as many of our RV friends also spend the month of April here so it time to kick some tires and socialize.

One of our first stops was Classic Burger, we've now been there twice with more to come.......

We made a trip to Fredricksburg to have lunch at a German restaurant but it was bad, no pictures for bad food.  We did get to checkout the graveyard and some bluebonnets.

                                              Of course there the daily 4pm happy hours.

This is the start of a happy hour on the patio overlooking Johnson Creek.

The campground owners have always had horses, don't see them riding them, especially these little ones.

We haven't ate at this chicken place, yet, but took a picture and asked Devyn if Dan was driving this car would she go with him?  Dan said he likes the car.

Judy and Heather have joined the Kerrville Center for Fitness and the do water aerobics weekday mornings.  If she isn't doing aerobics, shes walking 2 miles a day.  It's official, she's lost 80 pounds and is looking VERY good.  My little Judy!

Livingston, TX Escapees HQ

On Wednesday we all drove to Livingston, TX and Rainbows End, the Escapee's HQ.  We have been here a few times before but we wanted to see Rudy & Linda plus Bruce & Bunny.  Tom is going to have his rig weighted.  Ron & Roberta were late arriving. They were limited to 55 mph with a check engine error light problem. He dropped the truck off at the Chevy dealer early Thursday morning and we all decided to stay another day hoping it will be repaired soon.  The dealer said it needs a new DEF tank which will be installed Friday morning and he should be on the road by noon.

Westward Ho!

We were going to leave Sunday with Ron & Roberta and Tom & Heather for Texas.  Ron & Roberta did leave but we stayed put due to lots of rain and bad weather.
Monday we did depart and traveled 301 miles to Breaux Bridge, LA were we caught up with Ron & Roberta.  We had dinner at a Cajun place called Poche's and Judy and I (along with everyone else) had some crawfish stuff.  It took me 69 years to have my first crawfish meal and it will be another 69 years until I have my second one.

Patches likes it here and can stalk the ducks...........

Tuesday was a busy day, it started with a swamp tour.

I'm not sure if we saw more trees or alligators.  LOTS of alligators.

Is that enough Alligators?  We saw LOTS more and they allowed us to get very close.

Birds?  Yup, lots of birds too.  Wood ducks below.

A blue heron.

                                Here's an osprey by it's nest.

                                  Roseate Spoonbill

Nesting egrets

We saw lots of cypress trees but only this one "barrel" tree, very rare.  Guys would climb in the barrel and use it as a duck blind.

That was the morning, an excellent swamp tour.  In the afternoon we went to the Tabasco plant for their tour.  We were here last year but the tour has changed and we can see more of the Tabasco making process.  But first lunch........no crawfish.

 Unfortunately we didn't see the peppers being mashed and ground up.  Here the sauce fermenting in barrels for up to 3 years.  Salt is on the top to seal the lid closed.

These are mixing vats that will also eliminate the skins and seeds before bottling.  Tabasco spend a couple weeks in them.

And finally the sauce is bottled. 

And shipped around the world.

Yes, it was a VERY busy day.






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Ron & Roberta visiting NAS Pensacola

Ron & Robert along with Tom & Heather arrived Sunday the 20th. We are planning on heading west together to the Texas hill country rally Sunday the 27th.  Today we had breakfast at Krystals then drove to NAS Pensacola to see the Blue Angels practice and a spend a little time in the museum.

  

I believe everyone in Florida was there, really!  We were stop and go for over 30 minutes waiting to enter the base gate.  The guards were not slowing us down, it was all the traffic.  We've never seen it this busy, the Angels buzzed over us many times while we were waiting in traffic.  All the lots were full and we were guided to the grass/sand yard in front of the museum, at least we were very close and got to stand outside and watch several passes.

                   Look how skinny my Judy is!!  Look Look!!