|
|
 Camper Show That would be RV show time. This is the time of year that most of the RV shows are held throughout the country.
 Warren and Myra at the camper show They usually start in earnest in January and go until the end of April. There will be some shows in May and then some others in the fall of the year but most RV shows are held before the summer gets into full swing. After all, the spring and summer are the busiest times of the year for campers. If someone is looking to buy for the first time or possibly looking to trade up or trade in a camper, the spring and summer are the most likely times for that and the dealers know that. Therefore that’s the best time to hold a camping or outdoor show.
If you are looking to buy a camper for the first time, going to an RV show is one of the things you need to do if there is one convenient to your location. An RV show will draw most of the major manufacturers so that you will have the opportunity to see in one location a good representation of what a particular manufacturer has to offer. This gives you the chance to compare different types of trailers and see the quality or lack of quality that is in each trailer. A lot of people who go to RV shows already have RVs. Like us they go to get an idea of what is new in the market and sometimes just go for entertainment. As a potential new person to the camping community, you might be able to visit with someone who owns a particular camper that you might be interested in. You will find that camping folks are very friendly and like to talk about their rigs, either good or bad.
Before we bought our first camper, we spent a lot of time going from dealer to dealer but also went to several RV shows before we finally made up our mind about which trailer we wanted to buy. You will find deals at the camper show but I’ve never been able to tell for sure whether you would be getting the best deal that you can get at the show. Some people do buy at the shows but I don’t think that I would ever do that. I’m not the impluse type buyer.
Other than the campers that you will find at the camper shows, you will find a lot of the after market products available as well as a lot of campgrounds there pushing their product. To find a RV show near you, check out the camping show page of our website. Happy shopping!
Later!
 Big Rigs
A few days ago I added Garner State Park to the Campsites page of my website. Since the campsite page of my website is to just tell about the basics of a campground, I can’t add some of my personal experiences of a particular place. This blog is a better place to add personal experiences and impressions of a given area.
Garner State Park and the Concan area has played an important role in my life. I first went to Garner with my church MYF group when I was about 12 or 13 years of age. As a kid I was very impressed with what Garner had to offer and thoroughly enjoyed the time we spent outside. As youngsters we took advantage of all of the things that Garner had to offer, including the paddle boats, swimming and tubing in the Frio River and hiking up Old Baldy. Until I graduated from high school, I came back to Garner a number of times, not only with the MYF goup from church but also with the Boy Scouts.
One of the things that made Garner memorable was the nightly dances at the pavilion. In fact, the dances at the pavilion is what makes Garner rather unique among the State Parks here in Texas. The nightly dance is a family tradition that goes back to the early 40s. The dance draws not only from the people who are staying at the park but from the locals who live in Concan, Leaky and other areas around the park. The nightly summer dance is the reason that a lot of teenagers went to Garner. My wife has told me hundreds of times about her mother taking her and some of her friends to Garner every summer mainly for the dance. In that era, the girls wore the petti coats under their dresses so they had to pack all of the petty coats for the trip. Her father would follow her mother to Garner just to take all of the paraphernalia that the girls needed for the dances. All I needed was a pair of jeans, a T shirt and tennis shoes!
As I understand, at one time there was a live band that played for the dances. However, that gave way to the jukebox which now provides the music for the dances. In fact, that’s the only music I have ever heard played at the dances. The dance is so popular that people take their lawn chairs up to the pavilion in the early afternoon and stake out a place to sit. This is a very family oriented event. There is always a bunch of teenagers there for the dance but there are kids who are barely old enough to walk out on the dance floor along with folks almost too old to walk or should I say stand up. Everyone has a good time and no one cares whether you really know how to dance or not.
Many years ago when our children were young, we took them to Garner State park and to Concan. At that time we, stayed at Neal’s Lodges in Concan rather than in Garner. However, we did the things in Garner and tubed in the Frio River. The kids loved it! Now we are going back to Garner State Park and the Concan area and taking our grandchildren with us. Since we have a camper, we stay at Parkview Riverside RV Park which is across the river from Garner. We can walk across the river into Garner. We still do the things in Garner and I climb Old Baldy every year that we go. From atop of Old Baldy you get a panoramic view of the entire area. The most favorite thing for the grandkids is the nightly dance at the pavilion.
Later!
I don’t have any camper stuff to talk about today, so I thought I’d talk about the Houston Auto Show. My grandson likes the show so we usually go every year. I don’t particularly care to see any of the cars but I do like to go and see if there is anything new in the truck division. There is always a range of autos there to suite any size pocket book. Since I have a small pocket book, I have to stay in the lower end of the building.
One of the things that I notice each year is that the cars seem to get smaller. If the price of gas keeps getting bigger (that means going up in price), the cars will continue to get smaller until they are as small as the average European car. I don’t mind that the cars are getting smaller, I just don’t want the trucks to get smaller. If they do get smaller, how will we be able to pull our 38 foot campers?
Along with all of the flex fuel models and hybred models, electronics are becoming more pervasive in our autos and trucks. In one of the demonstrations, the presenter talked about the electronic key, or the lack of a key to enter and start the vehicle. All you need is the electronic key to be on you somewhere. You can then walk up to the vehicle and enter your code to open the door, sit down and put your foot on the brake and then push the start button. Then there’s all of the navigation systems, buckup sensors, side blind spot sensors, backup camera’s, electronic ride control, etc,etc,etc. When I was growing up, the talk was about the fact that someday you wouldn’t have to steer your vehicle. It would be guided down the road by electronic guy wires. Maybe that day will come, or maybe I dreamed that!
“So what did I see in trucks”, you asked. I have always been a GMC man when it comes to trucks and cars. I love my GMC Duramax but I think that GMC is loosing the battle when it comes to trucks. GMC had a minimal showing at the show. I only saw one Duamax and it isn’t any different than the one that I have now. On the other hand, Ford and Chrysler (Dodge Ram) had a great showing of new trucks. Both of those manufacturers are doing a pretty good job with their new trucks. I even liked what I saw in the Dodge Ram and I have always said that I wouldn’t own a Dodge. Their new trucks looked great! Their presenter there really talked up the towing capability of the diesel truck. What I really liked about Dodge and Ford is that the new trucks come with exhaust brakes built in and integrated trailer breaks. The built in exhaust brakes really got my attention. The new Ford trucks have some great features. Supposedly, the engine and transmission are all new. They have a great electronic package with a menu system that looks at a lot of the things on the truck. It even has a inclinometer for off road. It shows the incline of the hill that you are either going up or down. Both the Ford and Dodge have a greater towing capability than the GMC product. Looks like my next truck will not be a GMC product, unless they get their head out of the sand.
The neetest thing that I saw was a truck by Toyota. It was a Tundra that was decked out to be a tailgaters dream. They call it “Midnight Rider Tundra Tailgater”. It was inspired by Brooks and Dunn to celebrate their 20 years together. There is a cover over the bed of the truck to protect all of the tailgate gear that is installed. When the cover is open there is a 42″ big screen TV that pops up, a great sound system, large cooking pot, BBQ grill and other containers to hold your food. You’ll see in the pictures that follow that there is a slideout extension at the back in the bed of the truck. I’m trying to figure out how I can pull my camper with this truck. It would be great at a campground as well as at a tailgate party.
Hey! I got some camping info in this post after all.
Later!
 Toyota Tundra Tailgater  Cooking pot and BBQ grill  My grandson in a Jaguar convertible  New Ford F250
This blog was suppose to go out Thursday, but due to technical difficulties with my internet connection it has been delayed until today. Friday was a travel day back from The Farm Country RV Park.
 Morning sunrise Thursday morning started out much nicer than any of the other days we had on this trip to The Farm Country RV Park in Medina, Texas. A nice dry line front passed through and gave us some nice dry air which then gave us a beautiful clear morning with a bright sunrise. This was much nicer than the early morning fog that we had experienced almost every other morning.
 Outside of 11th Street Cowboy Bar The Farm Country RV Park, like many other parks, publishes a calender of events throughout the month. They have bingo night, domino night, men’s breakfast and the ladies get together once a month and go to lunch somewhere in the area. My favorite event occurs on Wednesday night. This is “Steak Night” at the 11th Street Cowboy Bar in downtown Bandera, Texas the self proclaimed “Cowboy Capital of the World”. There’s always a group of folks from the RV park who go there almost every Wednesday. The idea is that everyone brings their own steak, or chicken if you’re not from Texas, and the Cowboy Bar provides the fixings for a nominal fee and the big fire pits for your cooking pleasure. The folks start gathering shortly before 6 pm and the cooking starts as soon
 Outside Stage for 11th Street Cowboy Bar as the fire pits are up to speed. There is always a live band that starts playing around 6:30 pm so that you can sit around and do a little visiting or maybe get in a little dancing before it’s time to cook. After the cooking and eating is completed, it’s time to get down to some serious dancing. Everyone always has a good time! The old folks, which is almost everyone there on Wednesday night, are starting to leave around 9:30 pm.
This past Wednesday night was a good night with a good group of folks from the RV park in attendance for steak night. When I walked in this time, I noticed a large roped off area reserved for Buckhorn Lake Resort. Buckhorn Lake Resort is located in Kerrville, Texas about 34 miles north of Bandera, Texas. Buckhorn is a very nice RV park and they also have organized events for the people in their park. They have their own bus which they use to provide transportation to various events around the area.
 Leary, Bob and wifes Here we have a picture of two of the couples from The Farm Country RV Park. Leary is on the left and Bob is on the right. These two cowboys used to work the cattle drives to Kansas in the early 1800s, at least that’s what they told me. They would be well preserved if that was true! Well, maybe they were just pulling my leg and they are just wanna be cowboys. They sure do look like cowboys!
 Fire pits below windmill
 The young lady with the curly hair is Flossy, the manager of the Park.
 Some folks from The Farm Country RV Park  My wife and I getting a little dance time. Later!
We have another foggy start to the day here at The Farm Country RV Park. This fog was supposed to lift in the late morning but here it is almost noon and it isn’t any better than when I first got up. There must be some strange atmospheric anomaly going on because we know that the weather men/women are never wrong? Maybe it is actually clear and I just don’t know it. I hear that strange things happen to you as you age.
 Camp Verde General Store While we are here at The Farm Country RV Park, we always try to make it to lunch at Camp Verde at least once so yesterday was our day to go to lunch at Camp Verde. Evidently it was also a day for lunch at Camp Verde for other folks here from the campground. We met a group of five women from the park and two other couples from the park while we were there.
Camp Verde is popular with the lunch crowd around here. They only serve lunch but they do a good job of it with their soups and sandwiches. The general store is mostly a gift shop but they also sell a number of homemade salsa, jellies and snack spreads. They always have a table with samples of their jellies and salsa so you can see how they taste. Yesterday they had a small crock pot with some really nice tasting sausage balls in a great sauce. My first thought was that I could stand there and eat enough off of the sample table and call it lunch. That’s kinda like going to Sam’s Club at noon and going through all of the samples that they have out. If you make several trips while you are there, you can fill up. Since my wife didn’t want to be embarrassed, I went in and sat down for lunch.
There’s a herd of buffalo accross the road from Camp Verde. We stopped by and invited them for lunch but they declined. I think they were afraid they might be lunch. Maybe next time!
 Buffalo accross from Camp Verde General Store Later!
Today turned out to be a very nice day here at The Farm Country RV Park after a very foggy start. The fog eventually gave way to a bright sunny day with the temperature warming up to the low seventys. This was very nice after the cold and rain of last week. According to the weather folks, this won’t last long with another chance of rain this week.
My wife went into Bandera to do a little shopping while I stayed here and worked on the computer and watched the deer out of the camper window. We have a beautiful view of the grounds and the hills from our campsite. The park is full of deer most all day long. They know that they are safe here in the park and sometimes it is possible to get within just a few feet of the deer. They seem to be very curious about us humans and although we are not supposed to feed them, some folks do.
Later!
 View out of camper window  A view from outside the camper  A Black Buck Antelope
We finally got the camper back from the repair shop this past Monday. Hopefully everything will go well and we will not have any major problems for a long time. Minors things tend to pop up with campers every time that they are pulled down the road. It becomes a necessity to learn how to deal with the minor things, otherwise the camper would be in the shop all the time.
After picking the camper up from the repair shop, we thought it would be a good idea to take the camper to Rayford Crossing RV Park for an overnight stay in order to clean the inside and to give the camper a quick washing. After opening the camper and putting the slides out, we noticed that the fascia board on the top of the kitchen slide had a lot of nail holes that had been puttied with a putty color that didn’t match the color of the fascia board. Also there were nails sticking out in the bottom of the slide where there was supposed to be a trim piece. This was not acceptable so I called the dealership and gave them the information. They were very apologetic and agreed that it was not acceptable. After some discussion, they decided to send a technician out to the RV park and take care of the problem. The tech was able to find the correct color of putty and fixed the nail holes. He wasn’t able to do the trim on the bottom of the slide but will do that as soon as we return home. I was very impressed that Camperland sent a tech to us at the RV park to fix our problem. They have bent over backwards to take care of us but have been hampered by the parts department at Heartland.
The next morning I brought the camper back to the house so we could load it up and head out for Medina and The Farm Country RV Park. We will leave the camper here for the next three months and travel back and forth from here and home. We are glad to be back in Medina but haven’t been able to do anything for the last two days due to the steady rain we have been having. The rain is very welcomed out here since this area has experienced one of the worst droughts in decades. Hopefully the drought has come to an end. We are looking forward to some dry weather this next week so we can get the four wheelers out and ride around.
Later!
In the November issue of “Highways Magazine” published by Good Sam Club, there was an article about Rest Areas or Safety Rest Areas (SRA). I found it interesting that some states are closing or haved closed a majority of their Rest Areas in the name of budget shortfalls. For example, Arizona is closing 13 of their 18 Rest Areas, Louisiana closed 24 of 34 Rest Areas last year and Virginia has closed or plans to close 18 of 40 Rest Areas. I don’t know about you but I find this to be an appalling development. They are doing away with some of the nostalgia of the American landscape.
I was born before the end of WWII and before Dwight D Eisenhower conceptualized the Interstate Road System in 1959. Since the Interstate Road System bypassed most of the towns where travelers normally stopped to eat and rest, there developed the need to have areas where travelers could stop and take a break and have toilet facilities. Many people taking long trips would also pack food so that they could eat at the rest areas instead of stopping at a commercial facility. I have fond memories of stopping at what we called Roadside Parks to take a break on our road trips. This gave my sister and I some time to run around and burn off energy before getting back in the car.
As the Intersate Road System grew so did the need for more and more Rest Areas. Individual states developed their Rest Areas so that they reflected the character of the state they were in. This gave way to some rather interesting designs such as the Indian Tee Pees at the Rest Areas in Oklahoma. There is quite a bit of history that goes along with the development of the Rest Areas in America. I found a website where you can find more information on the history of Rest Areas than you probably ever wanted to know. It is interesting and I have read through most of it. The website is RestAreaHistory.org. For those of us who travel the American road system, it is worth a visit. They are trying to preserve the Rest Areas and the history that goes with them.
For those of us in the RVing community, we should be very much interested in what is going on accross this country in regards to the closure of Rest Areas. Each of us has a vested interest in seeing that the Rest Areas remain open. For us, one of the most obvious reasons is that we need more room to park than is provided at most McDonalds. Going through the drive through is pretty much out of the question. RVers need the large parking areas provided at most Rest Areas. When we are traveling, we always plan on stopping at a roadside area of some type to eat lunch. On our very first trip in our camper, we made the mistake of thinking we could find a place to eat going down Interstate 10. It’s a long story but after a few aborted attempts we gave up and skipped lunch that day.
While some states are closing their Rest Areas, Texas has been improving the quality of their Rest Areas by tearing down some of the older Rest Areas and rebuilding. We have some very nice rest areas here that even include free WiFi and play areas for the kids as well as special areas for giving our four legged traveling companions a place to relieve their bladders. The pictures at the bottom of this article are of a Rest Area a few miles north of Huntsville, Texas. It is on the site of an old Rest Area that was torn down to make room for this one. This is truly a very nice Rest Area with restrooms as clean as you’ll find anywhere.
There are still many very nice Rest Areas across the country but if something isn’t done there will be less as the years go by. A lot of these closures are caused by the money crisis in various states. My suggestion would be to us the stimulus money that was created during this past economic crisis and rebuild old Rest Areas and put up new Rest Areas. This would solved the problem of Rest Area closures and would generate a lot of jobs which would in turn strengthen the economy and create even more jobs.
Some people might say that we don’t need the Rest Areas anymore since there are plenty of commercial places along the highway. To that I say baloney! There are advantages to stopping at a Rest Area. Here you can take a nap in your vehicle if you need to, walk in the grass, have a picnic or walk the dog if you have one. It is just a more relaxed atmosphere. Let’s all do our part in trying to prevent the closure of our Rest Areas.
Later!
 Rest Area north of Huntsville, Texas  Play Area  Picnic Area
Over the air TV is free to anyone who has an antenna and digital TV. If some people have their way, free TV will go the way of the Dinosaurs and become extinct. I don’t know much about the movement but I have been hearing commercials on TV that state there is a movement afoot to get rid of over the air TV. Could that be people like the Cable companies, Satellite companies and anyone else who charges for watching TV? Probably so! This is something that should not be allowed to happen!
There are a lot of people in this country who can’t afford to pay for the priveledge of watching TV. They should not be forced into a position of having to pay to watch TV or just give up TV. I grew up in the era where for many decades there was no such thing as satellite TV or cable TV and I did just fine. I could still do just fine if there was only over the air TV. If you can afford to pay for 500 channels of stuff you never watch, then it is your right to do so. If you can’t afford to pay, then there should continue to be the option for free over the air TV. The new digital broadcasts are as good as you’ll get on cable if you are close enough to the antenna.
 Over air antenna for RVs “What would the absence of over the air TV mean to the RVing community”, you ask? It would mean that when you go to a campground that still doesn’t have cable installed, you wouldn’t be able to watch TV. That could be a real bummer on a cold rainy day when you and the wife aren’t speaking and you need something to do. Oh sure, some of you have your own satellite receivers so that wouldn’t be a problem. What about those of us who don’t have satellite? We still need over the air TV! The Farm Country RV Park in Medina where we stay doesn’t have cable so we have to rely on the San Antonio local broadcasts. We are close enough to get a pretty good digital signal that is as good as satellite, most of the time.
Whether or not you have cable, satellite or the new AT&T Uverse there should always be a free TV option for those who need it. This is just another case of big money and probably big government taking away from those who can least afford it. If any of you hear about legislation to do away with broadcast TV, do your part to prevent its passage.
Later!
Another year has come and gone and some will say that another decade has come and gone. However, since there was no year zero the decade doesn’t acutally end until the end of 2010. Could I be wrong about that? Not likely!
A friend of mine sent me an email that I thought I would share since I feel that it is very appropriate.
YOUR DAILY SURVIVAL KIT FOR THE NEW YEAR
Today, I am giving you a DAILY SURVIVAL KIT to help you each day…………
Toothpick … to remind you to pick the good qualities in everyone, including yourself.
Rubber band … to remind you to be flexible. Things might not always go the way you want, but it can be worked out.
Band-Aid … to remind you to heal hurt feelings, either yours or someone else’s.
Eraser … to remind you everyone makes mistakes. That’s okay, we learn by our errors.
Candy Kiss … to remind you everyone needs a hug or a compliment everyday.
Mint … to remind you that you are worth a mint to your family & Me.
Bubble Gum … to remind you to stick with it and you can accomplish anything.
Pencil … to remind you to list your blessings every day.
Tea Bag … to remind you to take time to relax daily and go over that list of God’s blessings.
This is what makes life worth living every minute, every day
Wishing you love, gratitude, friends to cherish, caring, sharing, laughter, music, and warm feelings in your heart in the 2010 year.
Hopefully we will get our camper back from the repair shop next week and will be able to resume our camping experiences. We will take it out to Medina to The Farm Country RV Park and leave it until the end of March. We are thinking of taking the camper out to the Big Bend National Park before we bring the camper home. Let us hope that in the year 2010 we will not have any more trouble with our camper. At least nothing that will keep it in the shop for an extended period of time.
Happy New Year and Happy Camping in 2010!
Later!
|
|
Recent Comments