Friends & Family

Wed., Mar. 11th – Mar. 16th, 2020

Wednesday morning was still an innocent time before the onslaught of social distancing…

We headed off to San Marcos to visit dear friends Meigs & Paul in their new home. M&P were our neighbors for over 35 years in Nottingham.  We saw their home previously under construction but have not seen it since it’s completion. Just beautiful! All one story in a fabulous new 55+ community. There’s a real  “wow factor” when you walk into their living room and see their large sliding glass doors rolled back to include the enclosed porch. Their furnishings are warm, cozy, and lovely. 

We visited for awhile then hopped on their golf cart (new addition) and they rode us around their community so we could see the new homes recently constructed, new indoor/outdoor pool area, new exercise facilities, the golf course, and as an added bonus, we got to see lots of bluebonnets, the famous Texas wildflower. We also saw bluebonnets on the drive up to San Marcos from Galveston as well as the beautiful red Indian Paintbrush wildflowers. 

Next they gave us a tour around the lovely town of San Marcos, with its quaint historic district and home to Texas State University. Fun to see so many college students hanging out at the San Marcos River enjoying the sunshine and warm weather… again this was before social distancing was necessary. 

For dinner we hit M&P’s favorite bbq joint called Black’s Barbecue in Lockhart, TX which has been serving bbq for three generations. Funky place. As we were entering, Gary held the door open for all of us to precede him. He was last to enter and there was a 20ish young man behind him who said “Dr. Phil?” Gary said “No, but I’d like his paycheck!” Gary patted his own bald head and said to the young man “I’ll have to compare my bald head with Dr. Phil’s.” The kid repeatedly said “my bad, my bad.” So funny! 

Dinner was delicious! We headed back to M&P’s house and had an enjoyable evening, and a very comfortable night’s sleep! Thank you both!

Thursday morning we had breakfast and Gary was transfixed by the sight of the four homes going up behind M&P’s house. This had also caught his interest the day before. The construction method being used is quite different than what we have up north since all of these homes are built on a slab. He made Paul promise to take photos and send him an update of the progress. 

All too soon it was time to say goodbye. 

We then headed a few hours north to Belton to have a quick lunch with (brother) Andy and Linda and see Basin RV Park where they are calling home these days. In route we passed the outer perimeter of Austin where there was an 80 mph speed limit. Are they crazy??? But I digress. A&L are also full-time RVers. It was a quick visit but fun to get a tour of their campground’s rec area including a new pool going in. Linda had lunch ready for us and it was a beautiful day so we sat outside. Fun to squeeze in this extra visit that we didn’t think we’d get to have with them when we said our goodbyes in February. 

After lunch we said our goodbyes (again) and hit the road to head further north to (brother) Bob’s house in Fairview. Before getting back on the highway, we were stopped at a railroad crossing to let an 80 car cargo train go by. Wow. Don’t see that all that often up north. We arrived at about 3:30… just in time for all of us to head over to my great nephew Drew’s baseball game. Fun to see Drew playing ball! My nephew Mike and his wife LeighAnn were there too and we got a chance to see beautiful Ali, my great niece. While we were there, word came down that schools were closed the following week. The kids, of course, were excited by that. Later word came down that there would be on-line learning taking place, not an additional week’s spring break. That was a little less exciting for them. 🙂

Rain was sprinkling on and off throughout the game. Gary was complaining about getting wet. LeighAnn said “what are you made of pure sugar and going to melt?” That, of course, has stuck. Gary says his nickname is now Pure Sugar. 

We had a fun time at the game and said goodbye to Mike and family for the time being and headed back to Bob’s house where he and Deb fed us dinner.  Bob is quite good in the kitchen!

Friday morning dawned rainy and persisted throughout the day. We tried to get a walk in but didn’t get very far. We occupied ourselves by playing cards. Bob & Deb taught us 7’s. A fun game! And Gary tried to help Deb with a few computer issues. 

Friday night we had a very fun dinner with Bob & Deb and Mike and family at Buca di Beppo Italian Restaurant. A family style restaurant where platters of food are put on the table for everyone to share. A really fun evening of laughter and conversation.  Wonderful to spend time with Drew, Ali and Amanda and hear what they are all doing!  

Saturday was another rainy day so we played MORE games with Bob & Deb. We played a few card games: 7’s again and 5 Crown which A&L had taught us. Deb brought over a board game called Othello which we all tried our hand at, in various combinations since you play it with 2 people. And Deb had a board game called Mancala, one of the world’s oldest games. It is played with a wooden board and “stones” that you move from one cup to the next. Very interesting! I enjoyed it. Gary did not. Soooo… since two people have to play, I guess we won’t be buying that game for our tiny home, actually Deb had an extra set she would have given us. My hubby is a fussy gamer. Once again Bob & Deb very kindly cooked for us. We are eating well! 

Sunday, we had a brief respite from the rain so were able to get a walk in with Deb and her doggies around their community. Great walking trails. The trails were a bit sodden but still enjoyable. We also learned a new card game “Up & Down the River.” That was fun. And we all headed over to Mike & LeighAnn’s house in the afternoon for a visit. They are in the process of prepping their beautiful house to go on the market as they want to downsize a bit and get a house on one level with a pool. We had great fun hanging out, chatting, and hearing what they are all up to. The guys headed out to pick up bbq for dinner which we enjoyed immensely. Mike & LA have a ping pong table and Mike and Bob had quite a little match going! Very impressive! Don’t know how this initially came up, but we saw a bit of Dr. Pimple Popper on the telly. If you don’t know what it is, look it up. The doc is actually performing a much needed service but definitely a squeamish factor to it, and I’m the queen of squeamishness. I had to avert my eyes on more than one occasion! All too soon it was time to say goodbye and head back to Bob’s for one final night’s stay.

It was wonderful to have this chance to see everyone. Monday we had breakfast, said our goodbyes, and headed back to Galveston to the beginning of social distancing as the new world order to stop the spread of COVID 19.  

What do full-time RVers do during social distancing and shelter-in-place orders? That’ll be the topic of the next blog post…