3/25/12
Hello from the SKP park in Livingston, TX. The plan was to be here about a week before we leave our rig here on April 14 and fly to New Orleans to begin our Spring transatlantic cruise to Barcelona. But because our fridge stopped working on propane last Wednesday, when we were in Corpus Christi, and we couldn't find a trusted person or place down in that area to get it fixed, we hot-footed it up here on Friday. When we called the recommended place, they told us they were booked up for 2 weeks!!!! After some whining by me, they agreed that I could call them at 8:30AM tomorrow and they would try to squeeze us into their schedule. So hopefully, that will happen...
Since we have been here, the weather has been bordering on HOT. Today it is about 85 outside, with no breeze. Can't believe this is March!! We are wearing shorts and tank tops and trying to get a little more tan before getting on the ship. What we are learning is that we can go just about anywhere and we will know somebody!!!! On our very first walk, around the campground loop where we are parked, out from her rig came Kathy Howe to greet us. She is the editor of the World Wide Travelers BOF monthly newsletter. Her husband, Rick, was in Houston getting some computer upgrading done. They are REALLY world travelers, having driven their Tiger traveling RV all the way from the tip of Alaska to Ushuaia, Argentina, the tip of South America. We met them down there when our Around the Horn cruise stopped there in 2009. Next they shipped the Tiger to Europe, where they have been exploring for the last 2 years. They have been back in the USA for a few months while they take care of some things, including getting some needed parts for the rig. On Thursday they fly back to England to pick it up again and spend another 9 months exploring everywhere. We had a delightful Happy Hour with them yesterday here at our site:

We had several wonderful hours of travel talk with them, and another nice visit today when we went to see their Foretravel RV. They are a wonderful inspiration to all world travelers, and they do an awesome job of editing the newsletter (and writing wonderfully entertaining articles about their exploits) while they are traveling!!!
Last week, when we drove to Corpus Christi, Jan and Barry Kessler joined us at our rig for a nice Happy Hour on Wednesday. They are Boomer friends and we haven't seen them for 3 or 4 years. Here is a picture of them in our rig:

They have been volunteering at Mustang Island State Park for long stints for the past 3 years. They love it down there and so do their dogs. The next day we drove out there to see them, and the park, and Jan was working. Here is her picture in her uniform:

And here is Barry with their 2 Springer spaniels:

We went for a walk on the beach which is very flat, has a lot of seaweed, lots of sea birds, and lots of beached Portugese Man-o-wars. Here are some pictures from our outing there:



We had intended to stay in the area, camping on the beach, for about a week, but the fridge problem caused us to relocate to Rockport. We found a place there, called Camper Clinic, where they said they could fix our fridge problem on Friday. But when we went in there, we weren't comfortable with the way the place was run and the technician, and they wouldn't let us be in the area when they were working on our rig, so we left. Yesterday we were walking around this park and ran into Tom & Jeanne, a couple who used to be assistant managers at Park Sierra. They have spent lots of time in the Rockport area and they said it was a good thing we left, because that was the worst place in Rockport to get anything done.
Tonight we will go for a long walk, as it cools down. This park is so big, because there so many deeded lots, that we can get a good long walk in without going out onto the public streets.