Heading Back Toward Kansas

I am sorry I have not updated my blog in quite some time.  I started on some new medicine that has made me feel pretty sick the last two weeks but I am finally, evidently, adjusting to it because I am feeling myself again. 

We left the Escapees Park in Livingston on April 7^th and headed to Nacogdoches – about an hour from there – a really long travel day!  We were originally headed to Topeka for a funeral but I just did not feel well enough to travel that far, so that is as far as we got.

 We stayed at Shady Pines RV Park right off of Highway 59.  Their weekly price was $100.00 with full hookups so we stayed a week.  The spots were extremely close together and not a park you’d want to be in if you planned to spend any time sitting around outdoors because of the closeness of the rigs. Also, being so close to the highway there was a lot of noise. It worked for us though, because for the most part, I slept the majority of the time we were there. No TV stations to speak of using the antenna either, so we read a lot, which is how we spend most of our free time anyway.  Clark is not a big TV watcher and we both love to read.

The park was located right behind CC’s Smokehouse.  In fact, that is where you pay for your spot.  We got there at lunch time so we decided to eat lunch there since we were there anyway to pay.  They serve what they called a Cowboy steak.   It was a 10 oz sirloin which was pretty thin so quite large in diameter.  They served it on wax paper right on a tray and that was your plate with your fries right alongside.  It looked so odd to see people cutting a steak on a plastic serving tray!  But I am telling you, that place was jam-packed with men in work trucks.  We talked to one guy who said whenever he is working in the area he always plans his routes to be around CC’s for lunch.  It was a busy place the whole time we were there.  Clark ate a smothered hamburger steak with mushrooms, onions, and brown gravy.  He thought it was pretty darn tasty, but I am not sure he enjoyed as much as he could have had he not been looking at all of those cowboy steaks!  You know, the grass is always greener.  We did plan to go back there so he could get one but we never made it. 

As I said, we didn't do much since I didn't feel well but we did make it over to their azalea garden one day. The azaleas were in bloom and there were paths all through the garden.  It was very pretty.  I love azaleas.  I even tried growing one a long time ago but it was just too cold in our neck of the woods.   

We saw a lot of beautiful flowers on our trip with all of the wild flowers that can be found in Texas.  The wisteria blooms are very pretty but the plant itself is spindly and not all that to look at. 

And of course there are those Texas blue bonnets growing wild.

 In addition, we were in the Piney Woods of Texas so there were pine trees everywhere.

Overall, a very pretty spring time trip!

I Hate Spiders!

Clark was outside getting the bikes out and airing up the tires and I was inside making the bed.  I saw a cobweb around the frame of the closet.  Now, this place isn't that hard to keep clean and I couldn't believe we already had cobwebs!  I wiped it off and went back to making the bed.  Well, the closet door was not closed completely so as I was sliding it over I saw a fairly large spot on the sleeve of one of my nice blouses I wear to church.  I went to brush it off and then remembered the cobweb.  I pulled my glasses down to take a closer look first and saw a spider like I had never seen before.  It was the size of a baseball with hair all over it and it was licking its lips!  Okay, it was smaller than the tip of my pinky and bald and I couldn't see the mouth, but still it was a spider. 

Of course, I immediately went to the door and hollered for Clark but he didn't come fast enough to suit me; so I went back to see if the spider was still there because I wanted him gone but I didn't want him to just scurry off on his own and then not know where he was.  It was still on my shirt so I decided to be brave and take the whole shirt – hanger and all – out of the closet and calmly give it to Clark to take care of.  I reached up and got the hanger, holding it so I could see the spider at all times, and started for the door. 

Now, this wasn't all that easy for me to do. I was really creeped out by even carrying the shirt with a spider on it but I did what had to be done.  Seriously, what would I do if Clark weren't here?  After all, I couldn't really expect Clark to come running every time I see a bug.  Besides, that isn't a healthy thing for either of us to be doing – running, that is – nor is it a pretty sight.  Just as I reached the door, the man-eating spider started running up the sleeve toward me.  I freaked out! 

I opened the door and threw the whole thing outside on the ground with a shriek.  Unfortunately for Clark, that is when he decided to answer my call of distress so he was met with the blouse, the spider still on it, full on in his face!  As I am screeching about what happened, he is realizing that this could be a bad thing for him.  He quickly grabbed up the blouse from off of the ground to see if the spider was still there.  It was, but not for long.  My hero knocked it off and killed it ever so quickly. 

For some reason, I keep feeling things crawling on me when I go to bed at night…