Bonham State Park

Our next adventure was a short stay in Bonham State Park over Veteran's Day.  We left on a Sunday and set up next to the lake.  This is a short drive from Dallas, but it is a great get-away.  We were enjoying the nice crisp weather when we noticed a car drive up, and here came our friends, Regina and Bert.  They had driven to see us at the campground.  It was a great surprise. They came with steaks and firewood.  What a treat!!  We had a wonderful fire that night!!  While they were there, we saw something we had never witnessed before, a huge flock of Canadian geese flew into the lake.  We heard the noise, but didn't know what it was.  Then we saw them sweep down and land.  What a sight!!  They came in around 6:00 p.m. and on Monday they did the same thing!!  We loved it.

This park was made by the CCC, like many of the parks in Texas.  We loved the experience.  We walked, I sewed, and we read.  It was a great time!!

Caddo Lake

Our next adventure was in October.  We went to a very interesting state park, Caddo Lake, in northeast Texas.  It is located on the only natural lake in Texas.  It is a beautiful lake with amazing cypress trees and moss hanging everywhere.  I had no idea there was a place like this in Texas.

We went with our friends, Regina and Bert.  They have an RV, also.  We parked next to each other, shared dinners and good times.  Bert introduced us to campfires at the state parks.  He had an amazing fire the last night we were there.  While we were enjoying the fire, a big rain storm blew up, and we all had to run for the RVs.

While at Caddo Lake, we visited Jefferson, TX.  It is a lovely town with quite a history.  We shopped and enjoyed the local sites in this East Texas town!!  We also took a tour that told the history of Caddo Lake.  We went through bayous and twists and turns of this amazing lake on a Pontoon boat tour.

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Cleburne State Park

We were able to go to Cleburne State Park for two days in July, and we had such a nice time.  Our favorite thing is being out in nature.  At Cleburne we were parked next to the lake, and we able to see lots out of birds that were circling the entire park.  We thought maybe they were eagles, but they were a type of vulture.  Interesting!

One of Tom's favorite things to do on our trips (or really anytime) is to cook and eat breakfast.  He fried up some eggs on this trip!!

Eggs at the Lake

My breakfast favorite is coffee!!

Itasca Ellipse

The lake by our RV!!

Lake Lavon

Our adventure at Lake Tawakoni was a big adventure.  As we were heading to the lake, we backed into a small fence.  The damage was pretty extensive, so we decided to head to the dealership, National Indoor, and have it fixed immediately.  We knew it was going to take a while, but we just got our RV back last Thursday, July 3.  We were so excited!!  We decided to have it parked under the cover at the Plano storage facility.  This should make it better on our RV.

On July 4 weekend, we were able to camp on our own at Lake Lavon campground.  It was a great place to go for our first real adventure, because it was close to home.  We set up the camper, walked, and enjoyed our time there.  The lake was especially low due to the drought we are experiencing in Texas, but we enjoyed our time there!!

First Real Trip

Our Big Adventure began on May 4, 2014.  We had looked at motor homes a few times and were considering what to do when Tom retired (December 31, 2014.)  We knew we wanted to travel, but were a little tired of traveling to Europe, which we had done over the last few years.  We were ready for a new adventure, and we felt we had really not seen much of the USA.  We had thought about an RV, but hadn't camped since we were young.  Our last camping experience was mainly in a VW camper that we had when our first child was born.  We took her once when she was approximately 2-3 months old, and then our family went tent camping once with our church when our oldest was 7 and our youngest was 2.  Those were busy years, and camping didn't seem to fit us!!

As we looked at RV's, we got more excited about the possibilities.  We could take our dogs.  We would be in charge of where we wanted to go.  My favorite was that the bathroom, shower, kitchen and bed would be ours!  We saw lots of traveling in our future, and we believed an RV was the way to go!!!  On May 4, we went to an RV dealership, National Indoor, in Lewisville, Texas.  It had been recommended to us.  We found the first RV that I really liked.  It was a 2006 Itasca Ellipse.  It was clean and beautiful.  It has 3 slides and was very nice!!  We decided to make the move, and we bought it.  When we went to sign our papers, I felt like we were really buying a home.  WOW!!!

Our first experience in the RV was on May 25 and 26.  We camped in the parking lot of the dealership.  They wanted us to learn how to use the coach and to make sure that all went well.  We had a great time getting it ready to use.  I cleaned and cleaned, and then we papered the shelves, and did all the things you do when you move into a house.  We had bought lots of things you need to set up a house:  dishes, silverware, glassware, cleaning products, etc.  We had a great time outfitting the camper.  Tom had worked so hard getting everything ready for the first night.  I had been in Atlanta seeing my mother, and he was the one at home washing and getting everything ready.  I don't think he slept well while I was in Atlanta, because all he was doing was thinking about our new adventure.

Tomorrow we leave for our first really big adventure.  We are headed to Tawakoni State Park in our new Motor Coach. Tom has the fishing poles and equipment ready for us.  I bought a day fishing pass for tomorrow, and then we learned that tomorrow is a free day of fishing in any Texas public fishing area.  I have made those type purchases before.  Can't wait to fish.  That is another thing I don't remember doing since I was in college at Georgia, when I was visiting my friend, Gayla Gay, and her husband, Ronnie.  The weather will be warm, so it should be a great day.  Pictures to follow!!