Our Little Home Sweet Home in Texas

I was too tired to Blog last night so here it is Thursday morning and I'm typing up yesterday's Blog. 

Well, here we are in Texas, hauling out all the stuff we stored in the trailer, and hauling in all the stuff we brought with us.  We have been to Walmart, to get some basic groceries, unpacked half of the truck, and we are exhausted.  Trying to throw some burgers together for supper and realizing all the supplies we don't have in the trailer.  I know it will take days and days to be properly stocked. 

Sesa-Enna is so happy to be out of the truck.  I think she recognizes things.  She certainly is sniffing, sniffing, sniffing, and greeting people as if she knows them.  You can never quite tell with her though as she is so friendly with everyone.  Well, I guess I better get back at it.  I am sitting here with stuff piled all around me, that I need to find a place for.  That's the very true saying, that definitely applies to a trailer, about "A place for everything, and everything in it's place.", otherwise it is Kaos.

WE MADE IT TO TEXAS

Time for todays Blog. 

We accomplished three things that we always look forward to.  1. We reached Green Grass.  2. We had to turn the heat off in the truck.  And last but not least, 3. We made it to Texas. We are only 33 miles over the Oklahoma / Texas border in Denton Texas.  We still have a full days driving of approximately 600 miles, but at least we are in Texas and on the home stretch.

 We left St. Louis this morning at 7:30 am and made a diagonal journey across Missouri from St. Louis to Joplin.  I was surprised to see the lovely rolling country side out side of St. Louis.  It was a very pretty drive all the way, much like the Oklahoma that I am very familiar with.

 Here is the green grass we saw today.  Very different from the snow we left in Ohio.




 Then we made a diagonal journey across Oklahoma through Tulsa and on to Oklahoma City, then straight south toward Dallas. 

  

  We stopped at 4:30 as we did not want to tackle Dallas in "Rush Hour".  We have done that before (with the trailer in tow, no less) and it’s no fun. 

So,  with any luck at all,  we will be at our little home away from home by  dinner time tomorrow. 

OFF TO TEXAS

We left Youngstown at 6:00am with a light sprinkling of snow in Lisa's yard, that turned into absolute white outs from time to time as we travelled across Ohio.  All the way along the highway there were cars and trucks in the ditches, which of course caused tie ups and traffic jams.  Everywhere there was an accident, there were always at least 4 cars involved.  As we travelled through Indiana it became intermittent. It would clear and we would think it was all over, then it would be back again. 

Finally as we entered Illinois it started to clear.  We still had the odd streak of snow come through but nothing to serious.  And as we entered St. Louis Missouri, the sun was shining just like us prairie girls like.  The wind was howling and it was cold, but the sun was shining as if it was Manitoba.  I can live with that.  (I'm used to it.)  So we are settled in here in southwest  St.Louis, and going out for dinner.  We will try to make San Antonio TX, tomorrow, the forecast there for tomorrow  is 62 .   I'll take that.

Our Last Day in Ohio

Today was our last day in Ohio, so we had a family dinner kind of get together at Lisa's.  Leon and Lynn came for dinner, but I forgot to take their pictures until after they left.  Oh, well, we did talk about them possibly coming up to Canada next summer so I will keep my fingers crossed. 

We had a wonderful time at Lisa's with her and Micheal and Racheal.  It was great and thank you very much for your warm hospitality.

After dinner Loreen and Carmelo came over with Carmelo Junior and we had a nice visit.  So it's off to bed early tonight and up and at it bright and early in the morning.  We hope to be on the road by 6:00 am.  Some yucky weather is supposed to be heading this way, so hopefully we will drive out of it. 

      TEXAS HERE WE COME. 

New Year's Eve.

Today Lisa drove us over to Leon's for the afternoon.  We visited with him and Lynn, then he took us over to see the new unit he has purchased in the Condominium Complex he lives in.  The new unit is double the size and is just studded out.  He is having the work all custom done with upgraded finishes rather than the standard condo finishes.  It is quite impressive. 

The Architects have been in and drawn up the plans for all the changes

It`s a very nice complex

The new unit will have an upper balcony as well as the lower porch. 

We`ll get to see it finished next time we come down for a visit. 



We then went back to his first unit and Loreen and Carmelo and Brittany and her boyfriend joined us. 

We visited with them for a while then called it a day and came back to Lisa`s. 

We spent a quiet evening at home while the others went out to celebrations elsewhare this evening.

A Visit with Georgie, and Chinese Food

We took the day off on December 29th and just hung out around the house.  We vegged out and watched TV and visited with Lisa and her twins Racheal and Micheal, that is when they were not working.  Lisa has the whole week off, but the kids both have steady jobs they have to go to, when they are not at University, which doesn't resume until mid-January.  We needed a good rest after the long drive, but yesterday we were raring to go.  So, off we went to Akron for a visit with Georgina, my old school chum, and the widow of Dan's best man, whom we haven't seen for years.  We had a nice afternoon at her place.  A few drinks and a lot of laughs, reminding each other of old times and old memories.   We also met Bill, Georgina's friend and companion of the last number of years.  Georgie and Gary's son Steven stopped by for a visit. 

My goodness, if it weren't for his stature, which he certainly inherited from his father, Gary Holcroft, I would have sworn, I was sitting talking to his Grandfather Garnet McClelland.  His looks and mannerisms were so much like him.  I haven't seen any of the children for sometime and it was nice to catch up and put the memories of them, as little children, into the prospective of grown adults.  All in all it was a very pleasant visit and stroll down memory lane.  When we got back to Youngstown we decided to make a night of it and go out for Chinese food.   So, that's the latest from Ohio.  . 

It's Tomorrow, So, Here's the Update.

We tackled Chicago early yesterday.  Oh, how I hate those big cities.  I'm sure glad we did not have the trailer with us.  The traffic is insane, but I have seen it worse.  It was not rush hour or anthing like that, but mid-morning.  Thank God for GPS, I don't know how we used to do it before we had GPS, but we did.  Of course the city itself was not as large or traffic laden as it is today.

The rest of our drive yesterday was just long and boring.  That's a long drive through scenery we have seen many times before, so it is kinda something to be indured, rather than enjoyed.  Arriving in Youngstown on the other hand was wonderful.  Everyone here is fine, Warm and wonderful.  We met Leon's significant other, a very nice girl named Lynn.  Lisa and Micheal Jr. and Racheal are the same as we rembered.  Happy and healthy.  Pictures to follow tomorrow.