Places Visited:
Texas: Point, Lake Tawakoni, Emory
2003 Travelogue#1 Point, TX
Friday, July 25, 2003
1000 Trails (TTN) Lake Tawakoni Preserve
As you can see from the title, we are calling this Travelogue#1, even though
we've had other Travelogues in 2003. This one is special because it is the realization
of a dream we've had for many years. We want to share that dream and how it
became a reality.
More than 10 years ago, when we were in Sedona, Arizona, we had stopped at a
Scenic Overlook to view the magnificent scenery, when a MotorHome drove up and
a couple joined us. We struck up a conversation about their lifestyle. They
were Fulltimers, which was a term totally new to us. This meant that they lived
fulltime in their RV. They pulled a small car called a "toad" in RV
talk and were touring the country. They had a system of traveling about 200
miles, parking, and then taking the "toad" 100 miles in different
directions to see, touch, taste, and smell all the wonderful sights of this
great country. I thought then, and even to this day, how cool!! That's something
that I would really like to do someday!! That event and goal has been imbedded
in my memory all this time. There were days in my business career when I would
reflect to that Overlook and wonder if that was just a passing dream or could
it be reality someday.
As a salesman in the securities industry, I had to be self-motivated. My mother started me out in high school with "The Power of Positive Thinking" by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale. Later I acquired a tape of Earl Nightingale's "The Strangest Secret" in which he refers to a quote from Claude Bristol…"you are what you think about all day long".
Today, Friday, July 25, 2003, we have just returned from our morning walk and are sitting on a shaded peninsula overlooking Lake Tawakoni. Our dream has come true. Our journey across the USA, as Fulltimers in our motor home, is beginning. The IRS has a term for folks like us; they have classified us as "moderate affluent homeless".
We sold our home; sold or gave away most of our possessions, and put the remaining "things" into 4 storage vaults. This has not been easy to do. You don't realize how much "stuff" can accumulate after 36 years of marriage and how hard it is to dispose of it in a prudent manner. It has taken us over 9 months to get to this point.
We will be spending two weeks at Lake Tawakoni, as we get the motor home organized. With all our earthly possessions in a relatively small area, things are somewhat crowded and some areas have become over weighted. I told the bride, after 3 boxes of cosmetics, shampoos, lotions and face creams and my one bottle of shaving lotion we needed to consolidate or we will be like the "Clampett's"(Beverly Hillbilly's) going down the highway. She said, if we were over weight, to get rid of some of my tools!! (VBG) I weighed the MotorHome on some truck scales to see what the weight was per axel and will definitely have to do some item shifting for balance.
We have had a series of events that have caused some delays in our schedule. The most important area of concern is for our dear friend, Charlotte H, from J, TX, who has recently undergone surgery to remove a malignant vertebra in her spinal column. We ask for your continued prayer for her healing and for her husband John and their two children Brent and Mary Kay.
Thursday was a beautiful morning and we enjoyed our morning walk around parts of the lake. We have two wonderful little Carolina Wrens that pop in and out of the bays on the motor home inspecting everything and then they fly into a Post Oak and just sing their little hearts out. Our campsite is on a peninsula and each of the last two mornings after returning from our walk we take our lawn chairs, coffee, books, and sit (in the shade) and read and watch the water for activity. In the evenings we go for a cooling swim at the Adult Pool.
Thursday we needed to go into Emory, TX for some groceries. While on our drive, we stopped at Mr. Burn's roadside market. He had fresh picked vegetables from his farm, just over the fence. The veggies were on tables with cantaloupes and yellow and red watermelons on the ground. We bought fresh eggplants, vine ripe tomatoes, banana peppers, cayenne peppers, cantaloupes, and a red watermelon for $5. We iced the melons down in the cooler and will eat them Friday afternoon.
The next place, which is a candidate for www.Roadfood.com, was the "Ya'll Come Back Café" in Emory. We arrived at 12:30, as the lunch crowd was in high gear. All the local farmers, ranchers, and town folk come here for their homemade cooking as well as pies and cakes. They were so crowded that they sat us at a table for 6 to be joined by another couple. The waitress greeted Mr. & Mrs. Ramsey, and told them she was glad to see them. Obviously, they were regulars. We introduced ourselves and he said they had been coming here fairly regularly since giving his dairy farm to his son. Said he and the Mrs." don't cook lunch too much anymore after 62 years of marriage". A fun couple and they knew other neat places to eat in the area. The" blue plate special" for the day was smothered Swiss steak, mashed potatoes with cream gravy, butter beans, and squash casserole with home made yeast rolls and corn bread muffins. Finished off with a cut of cocoanut cream pie, carrot cake and a slice of German Chocolate cake for the road. Wow! What a lunch! Needless to say, we had no dinner that evening, just a slice of the cake. We will go back for lunch again before we leave the area.
We look forward to Friday nights here at TTN for two main reasons: they open the Armadillo Café for burgers, and then its "Pick'en and Grinning Night". That's where the locals of Point, TX and some of the folks here at TTN bring their instruments and get with the Country and Western music, I must say it's a hoot!
Yes, it's good to be on the road again. Each day will bring new surprises.
We won't be writing as often as we have in the past but we do want to keep a
written picture for our "rocking chair" days. We hope these words
will bring a smile to you.