24 Apr 2024 - Arrived at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi RV Park

 

This morning at 0918 hrs we said goodbye to my sister Karen in Mercedes TX and headed up the coast towards Naval Air Station Corpus Christi RV Park.  It was an uneventful and relatively short drive at 163 miles.  On our way we were passed by another Alliance Paradigm RV and I knew from the truck it was our friend Mitch!  Small world.  We will see him at the Texas Rally also.  

We stopped once for a pottie break and once briefly at the US Customs and Border Protection checkpoint. 

 The United States Border Patrol operates 71 traffic checkpoints, including 33 permanent traffic checkpoints, near the Mexico–United States border.  They serve to deter illegal immigration and smuggling activities with an increased focus of terrorism detection following 9-11.  We barely came to a stop when the agent asked us if everyone was a citizen and then they waved us through.  Canines were walking around vehicles in the other lane.

At about 1230 hrs we rolled into the main gate at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi.  We were greeted by friendly security forces personnel and moments later we were headed for the auto hobby shop which is where the RV Park check-in office is.  There they assigned our site, took payment and we were quickly on our way to the RV park, just a few blocks from there.

The RV sites here are back-in, full hookup with 50 amp electric which is most common.  We have camped here twice before, once in 2019 on the way to my sister's 50th wedding anniversary celebration, and once last year after we left my sisters and were headed to Galveston for the 2023 Alliance Texas Rally.

We found our site quickly, got unhooked, set-up, connected up to electric, water and sewer, and settled in for the afternoon.  

The RV park here is located right on Corpus Christi Bay and our RV site is just a short walk to the Bay.  The winds coming off the Gulf of Mexico can be incredible.  Tomorrow the forecast is for warm and humid with gusts to 45mph, so we will lower the satellite dish and stow everything before we head out for the day.  I never use my flagpole here, either.  

After dinner we headed out for a walk with Liberty and spoke with a fisherman who was just finishing for the day.  Near the pier a dolphin was enjoying a swim.  

We are only here tomorrow and we have seen most of the sites here before, but we plan to head out to the island and visit the Texas Marine Sanctuary, sample some oysters on the half shell, visit the Naval Exchange, and refuel the truck before we head inland to our next stop which is College Station.

23 Apr 2024 - Wrapping Things Up at Llano Grande RV Resort

 

Our last day at my sister's at Llano Grande RV Resort in Mercedes TX.  Doreen spent the morning wrapping things up in our RV and I worked at sister Karen's finishing things up with out IT project.  The park IT folks arrived this morning and spent a couple hours sorting out the cable TV wiring in her park model.  They traced the problem to an obscure splitter located under the house and a disconnected coax.  They also replaced a bad section of cable and now all is well with the cable TV feed to her screen room.

 

I spent some time and created schematic drawings of her IT and audio-visual setup that we ended up with yesterday so that if she has issues in the future they will be able to troubleshoot easier.

This afternoon Doreen and I washed both our coach and our truck.  That is a huge job.  They both badly needed a good cleaning.  This evening we went out to eat in Weslaco at Uncle Chop's restaurant, across from the Weslaco Elks.  One of their specialties is burgers and they were giant and delicious!

After we returned to the park Karen and I continued our family reminiscing about Mount Pleasant Iowa where I was born, Denison, DeWitt and Cedar Falls Iowa - the towns that we lived.  Like I mentioned before, Karen is six years older than me so she is able to fill in the blanks as it pertains to our family, relatives, etc.  Great conversations!  I am so thankful we were able to get together again!

Tomorrow we will pull chocks and head about three hours up the coast to Corpus Christi Naval Air Station, our next stop.

22 Apr 2024 - Slideout Skis, Khan's Grill, sister Karen's AV/IT Refresh

 

We had heavy rain most of today.  Again this year we again volunteered to pickup stainless steel slideout skis for those attending the Texas Alliance Rally who needed them.  The rear slideouts ride on "skis" which are plastic and wear out.  You can purchase replacements that are fabricated out of stainless steel and they wear much better.  The fabricator that make these is just a few miles from my sister's RV park, so we transport them to the Texas Rally saving them shipping charges.  

As we traveled between the fabricator and our various stops the reminiscing continued and we discussed long forgotten factoids about our childhoods.  Again, Karen is about 6 years older than me so many of the facts she remembers I did not, like me tripping her with a broom handle as she roller skated in the basement.  She fell and broke her arm!  Our family cat had kittens in my crib.  Oh, the stories when on and on!!  

We stopped at Khan's Grill and had a wonderful Mongolian Barbecue-type lunch.  It was so filling and such a nice change from the normal lunch.  We did some shopping on the way back to the RV park including a stop at H-E-B for some groceries and picking up a new HDMI cord for my sister as part of a project to update her TV and Internet.

Back at the RV park sister Karen and I worked to get her TV's and Internet working.  We identified a dead outlet in her Casita, park cable that was inoperative, and a replacing a corroded HDMI cord.  In her Casita we got everything working including a new Roku unit.

Inside we tore into her AV cabinet and eliminated some unused items, cleaning and cable organization. It is much cleaner and easier for her to use now.

Tomorrow we will do some further labeling of cables, creating a system drawing and ensure everything is working properly.  The RV park cable TV guy is stopping over to get her RV park cable TV sorted out and she has her park electrician coming over to troubleshoot a dead outlet.

Tomorrow is also our last day here before we head up the coast to Corpus Cristi, so I plan to wash both the RV and the truck before we leave.  They both badly need it.  Tomorrow night we are going out to eat with friends of my sisters.  It will be a good time! .

21 Apr 2024 - Sister's Home Repairs, More Virtual Ballgames, Dinner in the Casita

 

Busy day.  I helped my sister's friend, Lynus,  who helps her with maintenance items, on a project involving her sliding glass door.  The bottom track was badly pitted and the door rollers needed maintenance so the door was very rough and hard to close.

Lynus contacted the door manufacturer and found a small stainless steel u-shaped cover for the malformed aluminum bottom track.  So we removed the door, serviced the roller assemblies, installed the track cover and adjusted it all.  Bottom line is her door works smooth as silk now!

Also starting at 0900 hrs were Ankeny grandson's baseball games on Game Changer.  We saw parts of their games and both boys caught behind the plate and pitched.  They did great as usual.  Our Michigan grand daughter Lindsey played the second day of her Indiana volleyball tournament today.  Although it was not streamed, we did receive this video of her serving.  

This afternoon was more streamed ball games.  Daniels Team won their tournament!

Calvin's team took runner-up and he had an outstanding weekend at the plate and on the field!  Again, we are so thankful we are able to stay in tune to all of our grandkids and their activities while we are gallivanting around the country!

  

Calvin (Titans 2) and Daniel (Iowa 40) and their medals

Karen stopped over and we continued our conversations and reminiscing about our childhoods.  This evening we gathered at her house again and had cocktail hour followed by dinner and more conversations.  We don't get to see Karen that often and since she is six years older than me she is able to fill in a lot of blanks when it comes to our family history.  Both of our parents are deceased so she holds answers to most of my unanswered questions.  So here is one!  One of the thousands of photos I have scanned from my childhood is of this young lady that I am less than thrilled to have my picture taken with.  This was taken in Denison Iowa likely in 1960 and possibly not developed until Feb 1961 as shown on the print.  

According to my sister this is me holding hands with a Monica Jones.  At this point that is all I know!  So if anyone knows of a Monica Jones, about my age (old), from Denison Iowa, holler out!

This evening Doreen and I and Liberty borrowed Karen's golf cart and cruised the park a bit.  Things are very quiet here now but it is obvious this is a thriving park especially during the winter months when the snowbirds are here.  Two of my sister's renters are Canadians and they have returned until next fall.  

Tomorrow we will be visiting the RGV Fabricators in Pharr TX and picking up the stainless steel slide skis to transport to the Texas Alliance Rally.  Then we will have lunch out with my sister.

20 Apr 2024 - Maintenance Day and Dinner with sister Karen

 

Today was a maintenance day.  Doreen spent the morning doing laundry.  Thankfully the site we are camping on is owned by my sister and she has an air conditioned shed with a washer and dryer in there.  I spent the morning sorting out a hiccup with our leveling system.  When we got here and unhooked yesterday we went through our normal process and auto-leveled our coach.  It went through the process without errors and says it was successful, but Doreen mentioned that it seemed like it was nose low.  If it is that obvious to her, it must be off.  So I carry a small digital level for just this type of issue and sure enough, it was nose low!.  So I made like we were leaving picking everything up off the floors, pulled in the slide-outs, and loaded the coach up on my truck.  I then went through the process again, lowering the front jacks, unhooking from the truck and auto-leveling.  It completed that without issues but it was obviously level when it completed, as verified by my digital level.  I have no idea why it did that.  I guess we will keep and eye on it in the future.  

In addition to the releveling, I lubricated my bedroom Schwintek slide mechanism which made it operate much quieter and smoother.  I also re-flushed my black tank now that the coach (and tanks) were level.  Still on my list are washing the coach and washing the truck, but we have several days to do this before we leave.

Update from our son Dan from Iowa!

As we were in and out of the camper we just caught bits and pieces of Ankeny Iowa grandson's Daniel and Calvin's baseball games.  They were both on Game Changer but we only caught parts.  Near-freezing temps this morning not very conducive to little league baseball, but they persevered.  Grandson Daniel hit a home run over the center field fence, but unfortunately we did not see it live.  While that was going on our grand daughter Lindsey (Battle Creek MI) was playing in a volleyball tournament in Indiana.  We were unable to watch that either but daughter Jennifer provided an update.  All these kids play again tomorrow!  Doreen and I regularly reminisce about how we remember those days with the kids being busy with sports.

Karen's house

This afternoon we had margaritas with Karen and continued our conversations from yesterday and then we reconvened for dinner at her house.  As mentioned yesterday they have lived here since 2009.  She has a beautiful "park model"  with an attached casita with a dining area and her sewing / embroidery / quilting room.  Since I failed again to take any pictures of Karen and I while we were at her house, here is another from the archives!

Doreen and I finished up this evening on a walk with Liberty.  This is a beautiful park but many of the "snowbirds" have headed north so there are a lot of empty sites.  

One of the many orange trees here

A walk down the main street

That is it for tonight.  Tomorrow my sister has a friend coming over and we are going to work on her sliding glass door.

19 Apr 2024 - Arrived at Llano Grande RV Resort Mercedes TX + Stats

 

We pulled chocks at Fort Sam Houston RV Park this morning at 0909 hrs, after rush hour had subsided here in San Antonio, and boogied on down I-410 southbound towards Mercedes TX.  It was a fairly straight forward drive led by the Garmin.  We quickly transitioned from I-410 to I-37 and then Hwy 281 and I-2.  We stopped a couple times for pottie breaks but the big ol' brown truck had plenty of fuel so we just used rest areas.  Scenery was not much to speak of.  

At 1415 hrs we rolled into Llano Grande RV Resort in Mercedes TX after driving right at 260 miles.  If you do the math, our travels average out to 50 mph.  I try to keep it at 60 mph on the speed-o while towing which saves on tire wear/tear and fuel mileage.  Upon our arrival we were greeted by my one and only sista Karen who has lived down here since 2009. 

Look who has not changed a bit in 68 years LOL except the hair!

Dr. Karen S. (Schellhase) Nantz is a retired professor from Eastern Illinois University as well as Brigham Young University and the University of Northern Iowa,  She is for sure the brains (and beauty) of the family and it is great to see her again!  We are missing her late husband James D Nantz, a Vietnam-era Navy Veteran who passed away here on 11 Oct 2021.  Jim was a jack of all trades, a proud Navy Veteran and a great guy!  He served primarily on the USS Bennington and the USS Kitty Hawk.  Jim was one of those who influenced me in joining the military service.

After we arrived and setup, Karen stopped over for a bit and brought me a welcome package!  She knows what I like!

We then headed out for dinner at a local restaurant, The Blue Onion. We had some great conversation and some reminiscing about our family history.  This will continue while we are here for sure.

We have been down here a couple times before so we don't have any huge plans.  It will be nice to relax a bit and get caught up with what Karen has been up to as well as helping her out with a few projects.  Social media is fine but it will never replace in-person conversations.

Stats:  This is campground #7 of 42 

# States Traveled Through So Far This Trip, in order: 5 (IA, MO, KS, OK, TX)  

# States left to visit on this trip: 27 (AR, MO, IL IN, OH, PA, NY, VT, NH, ME, MA, CT, NY, PA, MD, WV, VA, NC, TN, AL, MS, LA, TX, OK, AR, MO, IA)

Baseball Parks Visited So Far This Trip:  1 (Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, Oklahoma City OK)

Lighthouses visited:  0 

Lighthouses climbed:  0

Point to point travel miles:  1471 miles 

  - Avg point to point travel miles between campgrounds:  163 miles

Vicinity miles:  513 miles 

  - Avg vicinity miles:  73 miles

Total miles driven:  1984 miles 

Total point to point driving time:  29 hrs 50 minutes

Total diesel fuel purchased: 209.579 gals 

Total diesel fuel cost:  $755.47 

Average diesel fuel cost/gal:  $3.677

Max diesel fuel cost:  $3.899 (Bradt TX) 

Min diesel fuel cost:  $3.499 (Mustang OK) 

Avg MPG:  10.79 miles/gal

Cost/mi of operation:  $0.35

# Nights at end of this stay:  40 (Includes Griff's start)

Total lodging cost:  $1008.87  (includes Griff's start)

Average cost/night:  $25.22

18 Apr 2024 - Last Day at San Antonio and Rebecca Creek Distillery Tour/Tasting

 

This was our last day here in San Antonio TX and Fort Sam Houston RV Park.  We had a great time here and will definitely be back.  There is, of course, a lot to do and see here and we did not finish everything we had on our list.  I spent the morning making several phone calls and then completed our predeparture tasks a bit early because we made arrangements with our friend Frank Leota to meet him at Rebecca Creek Distillery for a tour and tasting.  He had a little surprise for us yet to come!

The tour start time was 1800 hrs and anyone that knows the traffic in and around San Antonio understands what the traffic is like this time of day!  So we started out early to be there in plenty of time for the tour.  What normally would be about a 35 minute drive was almost an hour.  As we arrived the parking lot was already becoming full.  

We made our way to the saloon and they were set up for the start of San Antonio Fiesta which lasts from today through Sun, Apr 28th.  

The saloon filled rapidly and soon our tour guide arrived.  It was Frank Leota!  He apparently works for Rebecca Creek Distillery and has since 2009!  We just thought we were going to meet him here tonight and do a tasting, so what a surprise!  So we headed over to another building along with one other couple, and Frank guided us through the process of making whiskey and vodka.  

Our tour started in the bottling area and Frank explained the process.

The bottling line

We then moved into the distilling area and Frank described starting with processing the mash and the differences in their products.

Filtration equipment eliminates impurities and refines the flavor

A huge copper still

Some nearly pure alcohol

Equipment used to measure alcohol content

We then moved into the tasting room which is also their store.  We sampled many of the Rebecca Creek whiskey and vodka products

We bought a couple items that we will include in a fund raising auction at both the Texas Alliance Rally and the National Alliance Rally in Goshen IN.  

Again, it was great seeing our friend Frank Leota last night at dinner, and tonight at the distillery wrapping up our stay here in San Antonio.  As we arrived back at Fort Sam Houston and passed the National Cemetery, we reflect on those who raised their hand and swore to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic and those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.   What a beautiful area this is.  

Tomorrow morning after rush hour we will head south to Mercedes TX where my sister Karen lives and we will be staying there for the next five nights.