Big Change

This morning we woke up to a very soggy but at least not stormy day. Fortunately we leave here today! Originally we had thought we’d get an early start today but the dogs had been stuck in the RV almost the entire day yesterday and we have two long driving days ahead of us so we decided to take a nice walk around the property this morning.

Well that would have been a good idea had we had hip boots. The good thing about it being so wet and muddy was that there was no one else around. So the girls got to be off leash the entire time. And they both took advantage of it big time. We don’t know for sure what they thought they found (probably an Armadillo) but they seemed to have thought they had it “contained” to a half acre area. There was a large trail around that area and Sparkie must have circled the area at full speed at least 20 or 30 laps. Perfect – we needed her to get some of her energy out.

Later on Wazzu must have found a deer trail as she disappeared and didn’t return for quite some time. She must have run a long way as when she did come back she had a huge tongue. She never left my side the rest of the walk. Sparkie however got busy following her nose and lost track of where we were. A while later we saw her zooming back and forth way ahead of us. She was definitely looking for us. Since she couldn’t find us she went zooming back down the circular loop we were on at full out speed – but she went the opposite direction from us. It was a very large loop and even at full speed it took her three or four minutes to get back to us. Great! Another big run to help wear her out!

Even though Slugger was on leash the entire time his morning wasn’t without excitement. He came across a Crawdad. Turns out Crawdads don’t really like to be nose nudged by cute little doggies. Suddenly Slugger is jumping around with a Crawdad stuck to his nose. Slugger was more than happy to have Mike help him get free.



The river was anywhere from 10-40’ higher (depending on the spot) than it had been when we arrived. It had been a very calm river but now it was anything but calm. Here you can see the water rushing around a large tree.



This spot was only about 8-10’ wide the day we got here. As you can see it is MUCH winder now.



This next shot is the same spot I took a picture the first day we were here. The angle is a little different though as the first day I was standing to the left of the trees that you now see in the right side of the picture with water all the way around them.



After a very fun morning walk we got out of this very wet and stormy area. It rained on us all morning but by afternoon we hit the desert. What a change! It was now in the 90’s and as clear as could be. The road smoothed out and became almost completely straight. Not the most scenic drive for Mike but he is a happy little driver now that he has his Sirius Satellite Radio to keep him company – along with his little Navigator (aka Slugger), of course.

It is a long way across western Texas. We drove and drove and drove some more and are still out in the middle of nothing. There is only one RV campground in about a 400 mile stretch and everyone sure takes advantage of it. I’ve never seen such a thing. The people that own this campground must be rich! I’m sure land is very inexpensive out here – it’s just desert land with nothing around for pretty much ever!

Anyway, they have 80 sites. By about 8:00pm every spot was full. And from what we could tell, it doesn’t look like anyone stays more than one night. When we pulled in there was a line of about eight RV’s waiting to check in. It was a steady stream of RV’s all evening.

They had a trail, called Six Shooter Trail, that was listed as two and a half miles that goes around in the desert from the campground.



I don’t know that it was really that long but it was long enough that the dogs could stretch their legs a bit. Even though we were out in the desert we were next to the freeway so we didn’t want to chance letting the girls off leash in case they found a rabbit to chase.

As you can see, the trail just goes straight out into the desert.



And this is pretty much all you see in any direction with the exception of the freeway on one side.



Wazzu thinks it is way too hot here. She and my computer would both like to go live in Alaska. I just got my computer fixed three and a half months ago and it is already on the blink again. In cooler weather it will stay on about two to three hours. In hot weather I have about 10 minutes to try to read my email – certainly not enough time to do the blog or all the other tasks I have to do. So right now I can only be on my computer very very late at night or very early in the morning. Argg. Silly computers, they are nice when they work but so frustrating when they don’t.

Debbie
3/14/07

What A Night

In addition to a Tornado Watch last night there was also a Flash Flood Warning. We didn’t hear of any tornados touching down but we did experience the flash flood. From midnight until 2:00am we got almost six inches of rain! I have truly never imagined that much rain could fall from the sky in such a short amount of time. That much rain hitting an RV is LOUD! And if that wasn’t enough, there were very strong winds and definitely the loudest thunder we’ve ever heard. It truly was so loud that it literally shook the RV. None of us got much sleep last night. But fortunately we are located above the river so we didn’t have to worry about actually getting flooded.

When we (finally) got up it was a nice looking day. I think I told you that this place wasn’t much. We are really out in nothingness. No matter which way you look you just see empty fields.

Here is the entire RV parking area.



These are the only RV spots at this park. Needless to say, Mike really wasn’t impressed with my ability to find us a place to stay.

However, after we got up and around and he took the kids on their morning walk he changed his tune a bit. The property here is over a hundred acres and has a river running through it.



There is a very small dirt road that goes in and around the entire property.



There are lots of trees and maybe a hundred campsites. They are very spread out – each spot is probably at least a half acre.



They are just campsites – no water, electric, etc. Just for tents – which the dogs may be okay with but just not quite our style anymore. We did that a long time ago and it was great but not anymore.

Anyway, I guess it isn’t the season as there is no one down there at all. If there had been they would have been rained out for sure! It’s good for us as it is a great place for the girls to run around to their hearts content. Slugger could swim in the river if he wanted but for the very first time ever he is showing no interest in going in the water. Makes sense to me as the water just looks like mud. Mike says it’s just because of the all the rain.

After their morning hike, Mike took off to visit the Alamo. Remember The Alamo? I sure hope so as I've been trying for two days to get Mike to write a little something about it but he says everyone knows about the Alamo. So no write-up. Just some pictures.











While he was gone Wazzu and I took a nice little walk around the river. Okay, so Wazzu also took a walk in the river.



There was a very old bridge at the river that was not safe to even walk on and didn't even go all the way to other side. It really wasn't good for anything....except to take a picture of.



There was no one around so Wazzu was off leash the entire time. She might as well have been on leash as she never went more than five or ten feet away from me. She was really keeping an especially close eye on me. Other than hundreds of birds we heard everywhere, we were all alone. It was very pleasant and we really enjoyed the time to just be together all alone in the forest on a very nice day with no reason to rush. It was so peaceful.

Debbie
3/12/07

Alright Already!

The rain started again last night around 7:00pm. But this time it didn’t stop after a couple hours! It rained hard all night and finally let up about eight this morning. Mike took the dogs for a nice long hike around the property here as he wanted them good and tired as he had a special day planned for me.

We left the dogs all tucked safely in the RV and headed for downtown San Antonio. Unfortunately we couldn't find a parking spot. We drove around and around for a long time. Since we have the car top carrier on the car we don’t fit into any of the parking garages. While we were still looking for a spot it started pouring! Mike had planned on taking me to lunch at one of the many outdoor restaurants on the boardwalk and then doing a walking tour of the very busy downtown area.

But we still couldn’t find a spot and it starting raining harder and harder – and then the thunder and lightening started. So we gave up and went back home. Poor Mike was so disappointed as he thought he'd planned something really nice for me. After we got back, I really wanted to go for a walk and the rain doesn’t bother me. But the lightening was only about a half mile away from us so we decided it would be better to wait a while. It continued ALL day. At one point we thought we hadn’t heard the thunder for a couple minutes so we decided to try to take a short walk. It was short indeed. We only made it about 50’ when another flash of lightening occurred and the thunder clapped loudly only about two seconds later. So we high tailed it back to the RV.

By dinner time the storm was still going on so we broke all the rules and let the dogs eat their dinner inside! Fortunately tonight was canned salmon night so it wasn’t a messy meal.

This isn’t Pacific Northwest drizzle – it’s a continuous downpour. They said on the TV that we’re in a Severe Thunderstorm Warning and a Flash Flood Warning. I always thought “flash flood” meant a sudden flood. Shoot it’s been raining really hard for 40 of the last 48 hours – how is a flood going to take any of us by surprise!

Fortunately, none of our dogs are scared of thunder. But this is a little overboard and Slugger does get worried when it is so loud that it literally shakes the RV. So instead of lying on his pillow like usual, he is plastered right next to Mike on the couch. With each loud thunder clap his eyes get really big and he pushes even harder into Mike. The girls don’t even open their eyes. Hopefully, Mike and I will be able to sleep as well as the girls!

Debbie
3/13/07

Houston, We Have Lift-Off

I slept better last night. But Mike got up saying he couldn’t sleep all night because he kept thinking it sounded like he was in a car wash. Guess, I shouldn’t have said anything about that yesterday!!! LOL

This morning after taking the dogs on an early and quick outing, Mike went to the Johnson Space Center. Here is his write-up of his time there...in his own words.

This is headquarters of NASA, where the astronauts live and train, and where the space shuttle and the International Space Station are controlled. The visitor center, just outside the Space Center, is a very new looking facility with some very nice displays and several movies. A lot of the stuff was very kid oriented however, and even worse, there were kids actually there.

But there was a good museum, with stuff from the history of the space program, such as an actual Apollo capsule,



a full scale Skylab replica,



a lunar rover trainer,



a Saturn V rocket,







a space shuttle cabin,



and a lot of space suits. There was a tram tour of the actual Space Center also. One of the stops was the building that houses the Mission Control Center.

The tour is not allowed to see the current Mission Control used for the space shuttle, but they did let us in to see the Mission Control room used for the Gemini, Apollo and early space shuttle missions.



It has been restored to look just the way it was for the Apollo moon missions. The tour also stopped at the building that holds mockups of the space shuttle and the space station,






where astronauts train and where they develop new equipment and procedures for space. Overall, the visit was interesting, although the Kennedy Space Center in Florida was better.

As soon as Mike got back we made a quick trip to the beach as this is the last time the dogs will get to see the ocean for a long time. Mike and I decided that if the dogs could only do one thing together ever again it would be to play on the beach. They have always loved the beach – together. One at a time – not so fun, but together – well there really is nothing better.

They were a little more subdued than yesterday but not my much. Yesterday when we came we notice horseshoe prints in the sand and some horse poop here and there. We had managed to keep the dogs from paying much attention to it as they were so busy playing.

But when we arrived today, we noticed there was a little horse stable area right on the beach. Yesterday there weren’t any horses there but today there were probably 30 horses – most of which were saddled up and ready to go. It was very obvious from looking at the beach that they had many riders today as Mike now figured the name of this beach must be Horse S___ Beach. We had a lot of trouble keeping the two youngsters from snacking between toy throws. Gross!!

Today’s visit wasn’t the perfect outing like yesterday was. That’s always the chance you take when something is perfect and then you try to duplicate it. In addition to all the horse droppings there were a couple guys that had two dogs (a boxer and a chow) tied up when we arrived. We went down to our empty spot on the beach and started playing. But only a few minutes later the guys came walking down the beach with their two un-neutered dogs off-leash. We saw them coming as we always keep a very close watch on our surroundings. When we saw them headed our way we put all three of our dogs on leash and started to walk further down the beach – following us. So we decided to stop and let them go on by. As they got closer I yelled for them to please get their dogs. Well, these were two young males, probably in their very early 20’s, and their two untrained one year old dogs. They had no chance of getting those dogs on leash. Mike took Sparkie and Slugger and headed the opposite way. I then took Wazzu off leash so she could distract the dogs so they wouldn’t head over toward our other two.

Wazzu seemed to know exactly what her role was as she sparred with them a little bit leading them in the opposite direction from Slugger and Sparkie. Since she was keeping them occupied it gave the guys time to get over and try to catch their dogs. Even though Wazzu was keeping them within a four foot area the guys still had a lot of trouble catching them. They kept telling me not to worry, that the dogs were just a year old and wouldn’t bite. I tried to explain that even though their dogs may not bite that if they charged one of ours they may feel threatened and a fight could start. While I truly didn’t think it looked as though there would be a problem you can just never be too safe – especially with dogs you don’t know. And my number one job is to protect my dogs, no matter what. They finally got them on leash and headed on down the beach. I told them that before they started getting near us on their return to be sure to get the dogs on leash and that we would do the same. They assured me they would and said they know a lot about dog training because they watch the “Dog Whisperer” on TV. I figured we were in trouble if that was their sole source of education.

Sure enough we saw them coming back and got our dogs on leash while they were still well down the beach. But they had no luck (or they didn’t try) getting their dogs on leash. Their two dogs both charged straight at Slugger. Bad thing to do for two reasons. 1) Two charging against one can be seen as potential danger by the one being charged. And 2) Slugger was on leash – that always adds tension to the situation. All the dogs were good but Slugger was definitely on alert. The guys finally did manage to get their dogs on leash and continue on. So there were no real “incidents” but it did add stress to our time at the beach. After the other two dogs safely on their way we were able to let the dogs off leash to play once again.

Mike said Wazzu was being a little B____ today. Wazzu and I both took offense to that comment although it was kind of true. We had two toys to play with. Wazzu would go get one then come about half way back and stand there and wait.



Then as soon as we would throw the other toy she would drop the one she had and go chase the other one. That meant the original toy was still out in the water so we had to try to point that toy out to the other dogs. They would always end up finding it but it took a long time!

Slugger loves chasing toys in the water but will ALWAYS differ to any and all other dogs if it looks like they are going to get there first. But when he goes for the toy he can move a lot of water.





Mike was throwing the toys out farther today than yesterday so Slugger was getting out to where the waves where bigger. But Slugger has no fear. Here the wave completely over took him – if you look closely you can see a small portion of his ear and that’s it. But he came up with only one thing in mind and that was to find the toy.



Of course he always has to keep an eye out for the girls to come steal his toy as he gets closer to shore.



We were at the beach a little later than yesterday and after a while Sparkie got cold. When that happens she just goes up the beach a ways and just sits there and shakes. Poor Sparkie….



Here is a picture of a bird. It has absolutely no story to it – it was just the only picture I took that wasn’t of the dogs!



So long beach. Hey, that may actually be the next beach we go to – Long Beach in Washington. But no matter what time of year we go to Long Beach it won’t be as warm as it was here. I do however think that we’ll probably still have some Galveston sand with us!

Bye bye, ocean.



Debbie & Mike
3/8/07

A Perfect Day

What a LONG night! Between pain, noise, and worry I was wide awake all night long. The park we're at is literally the road width from the freeway. And I guess lots of people in Houston like to drive at night as it was extremely noisy all night long. At first I thought it must have been raining really hard - but I knew there was no rain in the forecast. So then my brain tried to tell me that we were in a RV wash - you know - like a car wash. After quite a few hours I realized it was just the rush of the non-stop freeway traffic.

In addition, we are jam packed in this park like sardines. So much so that we actually had to park our car behind the RV in the road. So all night I was listening for someone to hit our car. I was sure glad when morning came! But am I ever sleepy. Oh well, another night will come - although I'm sure it will be noisy as well.

Mike and the dogs went out to explore Houston parks this morning. They found some nice ones although they were definetly on leash parks. But the walked for about four hours and it is really hot here - oh gosh that reminds me of a funny story. Anyway, the dogs were plenty tired when they got home.

Okay, short break here for the funny story. When I was in high school we had exchange students from Japan stay with us quite often. One guy that came to stay with us, Shusaku, bought a bus pass so he could take a trip around the United States. This was long before cell phones and the internet so every once in a while we would receive a post card from him. As was with all of our exchange students, while they could learn a fair amount of English, they all had trouble learning our sayings. Shusaku got to Houston in the middle of the summer. He sent us a postcard telling us all about Houston and then added "It is hotter than Houston." I'm sure you can figure out what he meant to say. Oh, I guess you had to be there. But to this day when it is really hot all my family members will say "It is hotter than Houston."

Anyway, after Mike and the dogs got back from their hikes they picked me up and we went to Galveston to play on the beach. It turns out you can drive on the beach here so we drove drown the beach a ways until a sign that said you couldn't drive any further on the beach. So we parked the car there. For some reason everyone would park along the beach and then play or fish in front of where they parked. There was absolutely no one on the beach on the part where cars weren't allowed. So we walked there and went down the beach a ways and we had our own private beach.

This was one of the highlights of our trip as all three dogs were oblivious to anything going on anywhere except for playing with each other. Normally Slugger will swim and the girls will go around sniffing or chewing sticks or just sit and watch. But today all three of them chased the toy into the surf all together at full speed. All three were determined to get the toy. Wazzu was so happy and had a big smile and Sparkie was running around like she hadn't played in days...oh I guess she hadn't as we spent the last two days just driving.

I took over 300 hundred pictures and almost every one of them was great! I'll share just a few of them with you so you can see how much fun the dogs had. It truly was continual motion - and nonstop barking from Sparkie. Gosh she was noisy! That means she was having fun.

Mike rarely looks at the pictures I take as he says he was there so why does he need to look at the pictures. Maybe that's why I enjoy sharing them with you. He did happen to glance over as I was going through them and said this one could be in a magazine. Great action and good color - looks better large but you get the idea.



Here they are just playing together like the best buds they truly are. Off they go for the toy.



Ah, Wazzu got it this time! She was actually very motivated the whole time and got the toy fairly consistantly.



Slugger finally got it but Wazzu wasn't about to let him come all the way in with it.



Victory!!



Look at that happy face! I just love it! Here they are anxiously anticipating Mike throwing the toy.



The one place Slugger has no fear is in the water. This is what Slugger looks like when you say "Ready."




Here he fights the waves for his toy.



Victory over the waves!



When the water is deep enough that the dogs have to swim there is no competition - Slugger wins hands down. But here the water was very shallow so there wasn't any swimming unless you got way out. When it comes to running through the water the girls are much taller and can jump over the waves much better than Slugger. So most often they got the toy first. But that didn't stop little Slugger from wanting the toy.



And it sure didn't stop him from trying really hard to get there first.



Even when we held Wazzu so that Slugger could get a big head start that didn't stop her from running out there and chasing him back in to try and steal the toy.



The chase is on!



Sparkie was so happy when she was actually able to get the toy. While she would usually get to the toy first, Wazzu would let her know who's the top dog.



As you can probably tell, a good time was had by all.

Now it was my turn for fun in Houston! Houston is home to Lakewood Church and Joel Osteen. It is the largest church in the United States and is held in what used to be the home of the Houston Rockets - the professional basketball team. As you can imagine it is huge! I don't remember how many people it holds - but more than for a basketball game as there are chairs the entire floor area as well. On Sunday's every seat is full and they have three services! They've really fixed it up so nicely inside. In addition to the arena they have many other buildings as well on their campus. It takes up a few blocks. It really is an amazing place.

Since a number of churches turn me away I almost didn't go at the last minute. But Mike said we should give it a try since I'd really been looking forward to it. On every telecast, Joel Osteen always says "If you are ever in Houston I hope you'll stop by to see us. I promise we'll make you feel right at home." And did he ever keep his word. The people there were extremely accommodating. They found a perfect place for Wazzu and I where we were out of the way and could still see. I think it's the first time I've seen in church in the past seven years! And the usher that took us in met us at the end of the service to make sure we got out fine and found our way back to where we had entered as it is a huge place.

I didn't want to use a flash during the service so my pictures are blurry since I couldn't hold still enough without the flash. But I thought I'd include them anyway so you could get an idea of the place.

Being Wednesday the place wasn't nearly full but that was fine with me. It was still so exciting. The atmosphere was electric and the people were all so nice. From the view in this picture you can only see a small portion of the lower level. There is another whole level upstairs.



I got this whole bench to myself for most of the service so I could lie down and still see. Wazzu, while ALWAYS perfect, was especially tuckered from the day's activities so once she laid down she didn't open her eyes the entire time - even when people wanted to come pet her.



What an awesome evening! Talk about a natural high! I think I might move to Houston....if only it wasn't in Texas! LOL

Debbie
3/7/07