May 5 2020.   bodes getting so big!

salute to the veterans and all the wars. very cool!

Even John Wayne is aware of COVID-19

John waynes birthplace

Clark Tower over looking Winterset Iowa. Very narrow twisty road to get up there. 

Cutler-Donahue Bridge. built  1870..winterset iowa. Covered bridges of Madison County

our spot at Winterset City park.

may 5th And we are "home"

May 5 2020
 And we are home after 8,884 miles and 7 months on the road. sept 28 2019 to april 28 2020. Saw many things along the way, and no damage to camper, truck or us. A first for us I think,..Got together with brads family twice and stopped at kevins after leaving Pine Harbor last fall.
 After leaving Fredricksburg TX we went to Bowie Tx with plans to stay 3 nights but after totally setting up we find out we cant get any tv stations in, no wi fi, and cable doesn't work. even tho these things we advertised as a plus. Note to self dont' go to Kozy Days..So we found another park Sunset Rv park,packed up and moved to  a passport America park for $17.50 #24. tv was ok, wi fi good and free laundry. . only stayed one night as there wasn't anything to do around there.
 We moved on to El Reno Ok. Stayed at El Reno Rv city park. Stay 5 nights. $20 a night. Beautiful campground right on the lake. FHU, good tv, had to use data for wifi.  Gas 94 cents a gallon for regular and 1.59 for diesel. cheapest around. Again due too the Covid-19 shut down, not much to do in the area but it was a pleasant stop.
 From there we went to  El Dorado Ks state park. stayed 4 nights but had to move the camper 3 times. First time was because the spot we were in was booked when we wanted to stay longer. so we moved to the next spot over. That night the people that had reserved were young and incredibly NOISY. They had their music blasting and the boom boom boom of their system vibrated right thru our camper. I nicely went over and asked them to turn it down some and they did....right up until I got back in our camper and then they turned it back up...ass holes...so we moved again the next morning across the park to another spot but before we left we CRANKED up our outside radio as loud as it would go to a nice religious station, made as much noise as we could, set off the car alarm and honked repeatedly as we left. It was 9am I hope they were sleeping. Never piss off an older woman with no sleep. the park host did report them I guess. I should mention that no one else was on that side of the campground but us and them so our noise did not disturb anyone else but them.
 After leaving there we went to Marysville. Stayed at their city park. Lovely. Price FREE, for up to 5 nights. Water and electric included. dump station on premises. No tv or wifi would come in so we went and bought movies at Walmart and watched them at night. This is the home of the last standing pony express station and home of the black squirrels. They had statues everywhere.  Stayed 3 nights.
  From there we went to Winterset Iowa. Could only stay one night due to the virus. Home of John Wayne and the covered  bridges of Madison County. Srayed the one night allowed at their city park. $22, #27. Lovely city park with walking trails. good tv, no wifi in our spot but I think we were in a low area.
  From there we were going to stay in MN somewhere but d/t the virus no campgrounds would let us in unless we were a seasonal camper. Thought ok southern wi.. nope...no one was open yet. so we ended up at the Walmart in Chippewa for the night. It was cold and rainy when we arrived and even tho Brett (campground owner) said we could come in early we opted to not set up in the rain.  so we came over the next afternoon and set up in the cool sunshine. Good to be home.
  Most of these towns would have been so fun to explore if anything had been open. We did what we could by exploring walking/driving  trails. or walking city streets. but  missed a lot.
  Now we are home and have gotten together with Joel/Karen, went and got my car at cindi's, saw mom and uncle jack at the Manor. Outside at their tables socially distanced of course. Ed/pat stopped over as did wanda and mark. Opening weekend at the campground was quiet as most seasonals didn't come up. they are going to wait until the virus slows down I guess.

Pony express station. Marysville Ks

beautiful buildings in town

relay pony express outpost. 

could shoot a canon down any street in any of the towns we stopped in. very sad for the small business owners

black squirrel statues everywhere in town

our free spot in town.

el dorado state park. first spot very lovely

sunrise over the lake

El Reno City Park. Beautiful campground

sunset over El Reno

lake view

our spot in el reno city park

walking trails

brett and bode are getting big

happy 46th to us!

April 10 2020
We arrived in Fredricksberg Tx on 4/7. cute town! due to COVID-19 pretty much everything is closed up. Darn, we want to come back to this town and explore further. We did go on a drive the other day. Willow City Loop. Such pretty scenery! Today we are going to check out Lady Bird Johnson county park. Hopefully it will be open. All the texas state parks are closed. We are at Hill Country rv park right in Fredricksberg. Lot #18. $180 for a week.  It is a mix of a few short termers and people that live here yr round. The drive from Brownsville to Fredericksberg was uneventful with minimal traffic. except san antonio. a little busy there but not to bad. 

April 2 2020
On a sadder note. Our best Canadian friend John died on March 8th. So sad for all who knew him. We were able to attend the funeral thru facetime and so glad we could do it that way. John was one of a kind and he is going to be missed beyond belief. We have facetimed with laurie on a number of occasions. she is holding up but this is really hard for her. She is hoping to join us for a couple of months next winter. I really hope that holds true.

some campground springtime beauty

yep, we are all bored here. someone is cutting a tree down and the golf carts lined up to watch the days excitement!

Toilet paper is a hot commodity!

Bode is getting so big! 3 months now.

the line at the HEB at 8am! that's just to get in!

of course it has been exceptionally hot and humid this month. we actually ran the air conditioning for days in a row!

Beth trying to steal some of my toilet paper. cant trust anyone!

the only plus these days. Gas and diesel are getting cheap. todays prices are $1.60 regular gas and $2.11 diesel. 

3 weeks ago the shelves at Walmart. 

campground baby ducks are getting big!

swan loves the fountains and daily showers

one of our last days out and about. listening to music at Lauguna Bobs. good band. 

Wisconsin party. one of the last gatherings at the campground before things shut down.

well, we do get a pretty sunset.

Good bye John. you will be so missed. Walk them clouds with your buddy Marlon. I know he was happy to see you. 

we loved our social hours!

April 2 2020
Well, what a difference a month makes.....Corona Virus has overtaken the country. also known as COVID-19. Everything and I mean everything but essential businesses are shut down or a few restaurants are take out only. In a month the country has gone from a couple of cases and a couple of deaths to (todays numbers) 216,000 cases with over 5200 deaths. It has gone from a no big deal sort of virus to everyone is anxious and concerned. Face masks and disposable gloves are non existent on shelves. Along with toilet paper, papertowels, Kleenex, hand sanitizer, liquid soap. ALL Gone and has been for over 3 weeks. Grocery store shelves are nearly bare. No meat, poultry, deli meat, cereal, soup, pasta/rice, fresh produce very limited. no eggs. This is absolute craziness! I never thought I would see the day that lines were formed to get into grocery stores that were HOURS long. People hoarding, rushing to stores if word goes out that TP is available somewhere. .
Nursing homes and hospitals are in lockdown. Funerals are limited to 10 people, if there is a funeral at all. All activities at campground have stopped with the exception of people being allowed to walk or bike if a 6 foot distance is kept from anyone that does not live in your household. So we have gone no where except the grocery store on occasion to purchase what we could. For 3 weeks already..... We gather up with Beth and Todd in late afternoon for a game of bean bags and/or a cocktail but that is it. All the Canadians left 2 weeks ago as they were worried about borders being closed and not being able to get home.They must all do a 14 day self isolation when they get home too.This campground is pretty deserted.
We canceled our Big Bend trip as the campground closed and I doubt that the national park will be open by april 7. We still have our reservation in Fredricksberg tx next week when we are supposed to leave Brownsville but once we arrive there it will be a shelter in place sort of vacation. No businesses are open. Pine Harbor still says they will open may 1 but I seriously question that possibility. I have no idea where we will go if that doesn't open.

3/7/2020
one month till we leave here. plan on heading to Big Bend National Park for 3 days/4nights, then onto Fredrickbergs Tx. for a week. then slowly move our way back to Wi. things move slowly here at Winter Haven resort. We stay busy but just not quite busy enough. We go to muscle toning on M/W/F and occasionally make it to a bingo game a week. Have gone to the hot tub a few nights after dark with a beer. I try to bike ride almost daily an hour or so. finally found a bike trail  outside of the park that is nice but only 7 miles total. We have gone to the island a few times and listened to music. heard a good band The Castaways at Laguna Bobs this week. excellent island music. today we went to Harlingen's first Saturday market days. met jan and phil there. bought the licorice I went for. yummy...then we all stopped for a couple of drinks and chatted. beth, todd and I went to a shrimp boil here at the campground one night. it was good, but probably wouldn't to it again. although we do have tickets for the Hawaii night meal. a mardi gras parade and gathering was fun also one day.

the castaways in SPI. excellent!

beth and I with our st paddy day dates!

sunsets are getting pretty

They had a Wisconsin party here at the park. Met a few other Wi campers. fun night

dolphin watch tour. 

mardi gras parade and gathering. beth is such a ham!

fun day bar hopping on SPI. found chairs at Claytons overlooking the gulf. beautiful day to be out

Had a fire on the one Saturday night that it wasn't windy. had a good turn out of neighbors who enjoyed having a campfire.