Hill Country

The Texas Hill Country has some really nice fall color .... maybe not as dramatic as New England .... but really nice.  We are in Kerrville visiting friends .... who gave us several hours of country driving tours (Medina, Bandera, Center Point).
Here is a view from their porch:

And more ..... I really love the limestone bluffs along the rivers:

Back to Houston tomorrow.
Later, Marilyn

Houston !!!!

Back here at Advanced RV in Pearland ..... nice to be back in familiar territory !
We'll be here one month (except for this weekend we are going up to Kerrville to visit friends).

Our last nite out we stopped in the parking lot of the casino at Delta Downs in Louisianna. I parked it next to 3 or 4 other motorhomes facing the fence. Next morning we awoke to the sound of hoofbeats .... just like in the movies. We looked out and not more than 30 yards away was the racetrack with at least 30 racehorses out for their morning exercise. It was quite a treat.

The dogs are excited to be back to familiar territory ..... they practically dragged us to the dog park.
And we have encountered several friends here in the campground that we got to know last year.

Later, Marilyn

Roosevelt State Park, Mississippi

We're still here ..... but we moved from the horsebarn.  We decided to kidnap Charlotte to 'get her out of Dodge' for a while, so we moved up to the nearby state park.

 

thru our windshield

 

Charlie and Charlotte

2pm Saturday .... heading for Houston !

in the barnyard

We are still here in Pearl, Mississippi, parked in the horse barnyard, tucked in between the horse trailer and the stables barn.

 

 

This is the BEST camping spot (MY opinion) that we've ever had. Our front windshield overlooks multiple training corrals .... where they work with the horses just about from sunup till after dark. 
Charlie and I have even been helping with the barn chores, feeding and watering, and putting down straw for their bedding (fortunately we haven't been asked to 'muck' yet).

During some days, we take the dogs to Charlottes house and her huge backyard. They really get caught up on their exercise.
As for their curiosity about those 'big dogs'...... Bugsy and Toby finally got to sniff noses with one of the horses; and Toby even licked the horse on his nose.   Boo-Boo is a natural born 'yapper' .... and as such, is not horsey-friendly.

We are having such a good time we will stay until Saturday, and then head straight for Houston.

Later, Marilyn

Asheville, Atlanta, Pearl

Pearl, Mississippi ..... a suburb of Jackson, Mississippi ..... parked in front of a horsebarn at a horse training facility ..... where a friend of Charlie's has her horse (and volunteers here a lot).  They have "about 30" horses here, some in training, some for boarding, some for recovery (rescued).... it's a wonderful place for me.  I was raised on a farm with horses and love the sounds, sights, smells, etc.  When I walked down the aisle between the horse stalls and said "ah-h-h, it smells good in here" --- you should have seen the expression on Vera and Charlie's faces.  It's the same look when Vera says " when you've seen one lake, you've seen them all".
But for me it was great last nite (even though it rained)..... to be here in a country setting with the windows open, listening to the horse sounds, the crows calling, the train in the distance .... just about heaven (for me).
We can look out our front windshield at one of the training corrals, and watch the trainers; and see horses in the pastures beyond. One trainer is working "starting" a young horse, introducing it to the saddle blanket and saddle (lots of patience).
Of course our dogs have never been exposed to horses (that I know of)..... and they just think these things are extra big dogs.
Yesterday afternoon we had a wonderful outing in the park, which included watching some disc golfing. The setting was around the shores of a lake, but among the tall pine trees. Often a fairway would be through a narrow gap in trees..... we really were intrigued by it.
We'll stay another day and nite here.
More later,
Marilyn

Wytheville, Virginia

This morning we left Winchester, took a  (wrong) road west into West Virginia; and were thoroughly enjoying the 'real' West Virginia (steep hills and valleys, with tight winding, narrow road) ...... when we realized we were not intersecting the interstate like we thought we would ......
Then, it took probably 20 miles before we passed thru a little town big enough that we could change course.  With the car attached we are 58 feet long and it takes a w-i-d-e spot in the road for me to turn us around. But we continued on to complete a sort of 'loop' .....
Long story short:  3 hours later, we rejoined the interstate approximately 15 miles further down the road !  But wow!  we saw some really beautiful hills.

Tomorrow we cross the Appalachian mountains to Asheville.
Later, Marilyn

Winchester, Virginia

Back in January, 2011, we were stranded here by an ice storm for three days.  Same campground, but today it has green grass instead of the yellow brown straw it had back then.
Another thing we noticed yesterday is that we have knocked around this part of the country long enough to be criss-crossing our previous paths. Especially the state of New York. We have entered and crossed the state from three of its four sides.  But then, our path on a map is usually quite 'zig-zaggy' ..... we just identify places we want to visit and then connect the dots.
Tomorrow we will aim for making it all the way (diagonally) across the state of Virginia.
We will then cross down into North Carolina and spend some time in Asheville (one of my favorite places).
Later, Marilyn

Scranton, Pennsylvania

Just an overnite stop on our trek south.  After visiting our friends in Massachusetts, we headed west to try to get further inland and avoid gasoline and other shortages (normally we would have gone down the coast thru New Jersey).  So tomorrow we head down thru Virginia and into North Carolina.  Tonite here has snow flurries predicted, but not to accumulate ..... I am a little worried about the new storm coming up that we will have to go thru late tomorrow and Wednesday.  Oh well, worse case scenario is we would have to stop and get winterized ..... but we could still travel.  Thank God for our furnace working smoothly !
Later, Marilyn

shop shop shop ... shop

We're on the move again .... whoope-e-e-e.
Freeport, Maine.   We made it two hours down the road;   found a huge outlet mall ..... and you can guess the rest.   We're still here in the parking lot; gonna spend the nite.
Tomorrow we'll try for a little further.  Next stop is about 3+ hours away, visiting friends Mark and Debbie in Charlton, Massachusetts.
More later, Marilyn