Great Visit with Friends

This past Sunday we drove down to Whitsett to visit with our friends Bobbie and Jim at their new job. Whitsett is about 80 minutes south of where we are in Schertz, TX (we are just outside of San Antonio). It was so cold and damp this weekend. Brrr….We had arranged to meet Bobbie at the little convenience store just off the exit. We arrived a little early so I could have one of their awesome sliced brisket sandwiches. Wow, they are so good and huge that it took Linda and Bobbie to help me polish it off. I think I mentioned that Bobbie and Jim are working as gate guards at the sites where wells are being drilled. Their well is in the early stages so the traffic is slow in and out of the gate right now.
It was so nice to see them and chat about their new job. It’s taken them a little getting used to as far as their sleeping in shifts to make sure that they cover the 24 hours in a day. Bobbie does nights and Jim does the day shift. While talking to them, it reminded me of all the goofy shifts I’ve had over the years, whether getting up at 2 a.m. to make donuts in my bakery or at 4 a.m. to go to Busch Gardens to work on the grounds crew. I’ve also done 11 p.m.-7a.m shifts for Mr. Donut and would go to Eddie’s truck stop when I got off work at 7 to get a cheeseburger and coleslaw. That was my supper time ! Then go home and sleep the day away. The shift I think I’ve disliked the most, over the years, is the 11 a.m – 7 p.m. I’ve had that as a waitress and also as a shift manager, at Cornell University, and don’t care for it. The whole day is shot. Old memories of bygone days….
Here’s a shot of Bobbie and Jim, in front of their gate. Bobbie had made cookies and those lucky truck drivers were getting a treat when they left for the day. What a lucky crew to have Bobbie and Jim working with them ! We enjoyed our time visiting…we won’t see them again till later this summer when we pass through Colorado.
On Monday night, Linda’s cousin Rob and his wife Karen came over for supper. We went out with them last week so it was great to squeeze in one more visit while we’re in the San Antonio area. I didn’t get any pictures….we were too busy talking about RVing and our dogs that I forgot to take any pictures. We had such a good time with them and as Linda pointed out, there are so many things we have in common with them. They had just lost their dog the other night to cancer so we were reminiscing about our pets and their crazy antics. Our pets give us so much joy and losing one is like losing a child. They both loved Boomer and thought he looked a lot like a dog they used to have.
Temps warmed up today into the 60’s. Supposed to warm up even more tomorrow but rain is moving in tonight (yippee…rain !). Wrapping up here tomorrow….getting hitch itch to get on the road once again !

Final Thoughts & Sites on Port Aransas

We went to the University of Texas Marine Institute the other day. It looks like it’s in a building that used to be a school building. It’s free to the public and there are some interesting exhibits. This one was really interesting. It’s sand samples from around the world. Each of the little white things you see in the picture is a label on the region where the sand came from. There was another case in addition to this one. Who would have thought that there were so many different types of sand. No two looked alike.
The wind has been crazy strong here lately. I had hoped to get up on the roof today to install the last fan cover and wash the salt residue off the rig, in preparation for us leaving tomorrow but with 25 m.p.h. winds….no way. The water from the hose would have come back, on the wind, to give me a bath. Miguel, the mobile RV detailer, was going to give our undercarriage a salt neutralizing treatment today but we had to reschedule it for tomorrow morning. It’s supposed to be calmer tomorrow. Look at the blowing sand in these pics ! Brave souls sitting on the beach. I was freezing walking around on the beach…don’t know how they could stand it. That sand plow we watched the other day will have his work cut out for him because there were big sand drifts forming off on the side of the road.



We went out to eat at one of our advertisers’ restaurant the other night and was really thrilled to see them put their takeout food in compostable containers. Having been in the food business for 30+ years, I like to see new types of packaging. The larger takeout container wasn’t as rigid as a foam 3 section container but would work to get your food home in. I could see where it would compost right up…..I was able to squash it right up once it  was empty. Typically packaging costs are impacted by sharp increases in petroleum costs due to it being part of the manufacturing of containers. These containers are not oil based, which is really cool. Years ago these types of containers were really pricey to use in huge quantities like we used to use at the college. Hope the cost of them have come down to make them more affordable for wide scale use.

Leaving in the morning for Schertz, Texas. Our friends Bobbie and Jim will be working a gate guarding position within a couple hours of us. We’re hoping to stop and see them on our way to the park tomorrow. Love to intercept our friends on the road ! Took our final drive on the beach tonight….will miss having the beach close by. Will leave you with a picture of one of my favorite things to watch in the area….pelican. This guy was catching fish off the pier the other day and he was so much fun to watch. See the bulge in his gullet…that was lunch.