Saturday, February 28, 2009

Hard to say goodbye

It's not easy. Not at all, but the kids must blaze their own trail. I'm leaving Texas with an ache in my heart, but I'm also very proud. We're both working on a dream, and somehow, someway, we'll share the experience that life throws at us. working on a dream

Friday, February 27, 2009

Mustang Island

Another warm windy day in CC. We went out to Mustang Island, and got in a little beach time. We were able to drive out onto the beach, and walk about, looking for shells and soaking up some rays. We noticed the sand here is much more fine, compared to Florida. Not sure why it is like this, but it felt great between our toes. Was a little hard to find a restaurant that had what we wanted. Picked a bad time to be a veg., as the seafood here looked great. We managed to find the right menu at a brew pub in Port Aransas, which worked out pretty good. The brew was great, and the food and service pretty nice.

The longest car purchase in history

Garvis, our newest family member, and car salesman, spent an enjoyable ten hours chatting with us about life, life in Texas, Texas horses, Texas snakes, scorpions, black widow spiders, cars, his family, our family, and on occasion, some minor snippet about the car we were trying to buy. We waited in the "lounge", we waited in a restaurant, we waited outside, we mostly waited. Our new pal sat with us to watch several interesting shows on the TV. He really liked the travel channel, and the redhead woman who rode a horse, of course, through Texas to gather some rare rocks, only found in Texas, of course. Now picture Garvis as a late seventies guy, with late seventies glasses, and his starched white company logo shirt stuffed into his pants, which were pulled up high to his chest on his five foot four inch frame, pulled tight by the belt with the big buckle. His tractor logo baseball cap, and the pens in his pocket, let you know he means business, and that business is selling cars...eventually. The reason it took so long, was the banks were deciding if Nicole was worthy of a loan. I guess GMAC is being a little more careful with our bailout money we gave them. Wish Bank of America was doing the same. Though it took a lot longer than we expected, Nicole got her car, and is happy, until that damn payment book shows up. We got the car about 8:40pm, and had to drive from Alice to Corpus Christi, about 45 minutes, but it was dark, and we were in unknown territory. Now, it was about 72 degrees last night, and we stopped for a train to go by. On the right was an old Chevy, from around the early seventies, and on the left was a pick up, towing a trailer with two painted ponies in it. Yes, we're in Texas. Except for the driving, things take a little longer here in Texas, and that's OK. The time you wait is not wasted, as the people here are a joy to talk to. Maybe we all need to slow it down and make a little conversation, and get to know one another. You never know who may be your next buddy.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Palm trees and warm Gulf breezes

The truck is empty, the truck is returned, the apartment is being organized, I'm starving, I'm tired, the cable is installed, there is internet access, every muscle in my body aches. But you know what? The sun is shining, and the warm breeze is blowing through the palm tree in front of the apartment, so life is good right now. Well, except or the sleeping arrangements.

Monday, February 23, 2009

You know you're in Texas...

We arrived after dark, and fell into a Chili's restaurant for takeout. The parking lot is full of trucks, and half the guys in the bar had cowboy hats on. At least I had a truck. Big ass budget truck, yea man. I fit right in :( We are in Sulphur Springs TX. Tomorrow we head to the gulf coast. Should be fun. More detail of the trip later. Right now I need to crash in front of the basketball game, unless Nic puts on the bachelor. Ugh, I have no power. At least I got a beer, after a lecture about how tired she was. Um, remember the guy to the left of you, yea, the one who drove you here. I thought you'd see it my way :)

It's a KY morning

How's that for a catchy title. It's a frosty morning in Kentucky, and we're heading to Nashville. Nicole is being impatient with the morning blogging. I guess she wants to get to a warmer climate. This seems warm to me.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Kentucky

Louisville is our first stop. Never been to KY. Seems nice at 70 mph. The Louisville metro area does not appear to be too big, but it was getting dark, and it is hilly, so maybe I'm mistaken. We arrived in good shape, and the truck is still running, but appears to be falling apart the more we drive it. I've filled up the tank three times, in the 600 or so miles we completed. The last time I popped the cap, and the strap that keeps it from hitting the ground broke, so naturally the cap hit the ground and broke. Now it's just a stub stuck in there. Hope I can get it off again. The interior headliner is about to fall on our heads, and the truck is making some weird noises. The front tires appear to be somewhat bald, as the anti-lock brakes came on every time I tried to stop in the snow. Yes it snowed. It started snowing when we got to Erie PA. What a surprise. Dreary PA has never let me get through it without crapping on me with rain, snow, high winds, ice. I bet more birds would crap on my car in Dreary, if birds lived there. We parked the beast in a Hampton parking lot, backed into a spot for easy exit. One thing I didn't remember, was that I had to get the bags out the back. The back of the truck is over a small hill filled with decorative gravel. Nic and I looked like idiots, as we kept sliding down the embankment trying to get our bags. This was after she shined a cell phone on the lock so I could enter the combination. We looked like we were breaking into the truck. Nicole found the whole thing very funny. I am here for her entertainment, after all.