2026-5-2 Purtis Creek Texas Ramblin' Roses Rally

 Elaine and I arrived on Tuesday and found about 6 women already there. They came directly from another rally so were all set up and playing games.

Debra mixed up pancakes the night before and fixed a ton of pancakes for anyone that wanted some.

 

Cynthia manned the skillet for all the bacon. they had a great set-up.

Several of us went in to Eustice to The Roost. It had great reviews but the outside was not impressive at all. Never judge a book by it's cover as the food was reasonable and very good. We opted to get the family meal for $34.50 which was more than ample to feed all of us. It included 12 large steak and chicken fingers (homemade) and three vegetables with unlimited refills. We opted for onion rings, mac and cheese, and sweet potato fries. Kathy asked in advance what the mac and cheese was like and the waitress said "just a minute and I'll bring you out a sample". We did add a fried green tomato appetizer. Then we also got one slice of pie because none of us had ever heard of oatmeal pie. Unique but good. We had leftovers which they packed up for us. The service was even better than the food.

There was lots to do at the park itself. Judy went hiking.

Some of us played games in Kathy's new trailer.

Ileana caught several fish. The lake is very popular for fishing.

Debra and Cynthia rode their electric bikes. Elaine & Tianna and Xena & I walked the loop every day.

Friday night we all went to Bellitos Italian Restaurant in nearby Gun Barrel City. The food was fabulous and the waiter was a hoot. He had a great time serving us and we really enjoyed it. 

Saturday morning I made biscuits and Elaine made sausage gray for everyone. There was also bagels, granola, fruit, and coffee. This was Elaine's site as she was the host. Our other host, Sherry, was unable to make it due to a family emergency. Elaine and I each had a canopy. Elaine bought what she understood was a canopy to replace her missing canopy.....it turned out to be a whole screen room which wouldn't fit. Debra disappeared and came back with a canopy that she just happened to bring with her. She saved it when the frame was destroyed. Presto, the Roses created a whole set-up from two different people. Many thanks to Debra also for tutoring us on how to set the canopies up.

We had an impromtu popluck dinner that night. Everyone brought something. We grilled burgers along with lots of other good food.

We took our rally group phot at Bellitos. The waiter insisted on doing the honors.

Debra, Cynthia, Karen, and Ileana had to leave early. I took this photo hoping to insert them into the group photo but couldn't get it to work. Something new to work on for the future.

It was a great rally inspite of the rainy start. Everyone had a wonderful time. Until we meet again. Maybe June at Canyon Lake?

2026-4-30 Canton First Monday Trade Days

Thursday morning we all headed out in several different cars to the First Monday Trade Days in Canton. It actually starts on the Thursday before the first Monday. It was a first time visit for most of us.

This place is absolutely enormous. There are a number of very large buildings, smaller buildings, and many outside booths.

After we parked and walked to the entrance, one of the first places we saw was a big building with nothing but Fiesta ware dishes. They had hundreds of every piece ever made in every color ever made. It was piled up inside and outside.

We walked down this hill and then Kathy and Katheryn decided to go back up and rent chair scooters.

There are hundreds of these chair scooters for rent and not just for the handicapped but also for the abled but dedicated shopper with baskets fore and aft.

The sky was overcast and threatening.

This place had lots of seating on the backside of the building. It was empty when we arrived and packed when we left.

Inside of the hanger size buildings was everything you could think of. 

It was not busy when we arrived but the traffic was building. I can't imagine what it was like when all those scooters were rented out and prowling the isles. 

Jo was entranced by these glass balloons but alas, they would not stand up to RV travel.

So much to see. We didn't see one quarter of the place before were were worn out and the rain was on the way in.
 

2026-4-29 Purtis Creek State Park

Two weeks later I was on my way to Purtis Creek State Park near Eustice Texas for another rally.

It was a first visit for me. It is a very nice park.

Most of the sites are large and well separated. My site was plenty long although a litte wider for stepping out of the rig would be nice.

There was lots of room in the rest of the site. each site also has a tent pad. A few sites were two car widths wide but very short pads....okay for Class B or tent.

I think a raccoon might have visited me one night. I heard a noise right outside my bedroom window where the grill was sitting. I banged on the window and opened it. It may have been a cat instead because they knocked the grill brush on the ground but didn't make off with it.

There were a couple nice lakeview sites but they were the short wide pads with not much privacy.

We drove around the park to check it all out. Over in the day use area we saw these boxes on poles and think they might be bat houses.

There was a nice beach area but it was cool and wet the first 3 days we were there.

There was a great fishing dock in the day use area and another one in the camping area. Fishing was very popular.

I would definitely go back to this park again.

2026-4-24 Lake Buchanan Potluck

We gathered to bless several new rigs. The first one was Kathy White's new travel trailer. Jimmie aimed the big water gun and passed on best wishes and safe travels.

Next up was Katheryn Ostergard's Class B. She had some electrical connection problems so she definitely appreciated best wishes for fewer repairs.

Then it was on to the rally room for a potluck. No one goes hungry when we really. There was a bit of competition to get a bit of Barbara Elliott's famous pecan pie.

The three Barbara's posed for a picture. I'm not telling how old Barb Long and Barb Costino are but Barbara Elliott is 100 years old and still makes it to some of our rallies.

Barb Long took this very unique sunset picture. 

Xena and Retta were making new friends. We have to set up some play dates for the girls.

They are about the same size. Xena is just a little bigger and longer than Retta.
 

2026-4-23 Texas Chainsaw Massacre Film Location

One day a group of us went to Hoopers for lunch. The "Texas Chainsaw House" in Kingsland, Texas, is a restaurant called Hooper's, named in homage to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre director Tobe Hooper, serving Southern pub fare in the original house from the 1974 film, which was relocated from Round Rock in 1998. 

The food was good and the decor is all themed from the movie. They even had souvenir T-shirts and other items for sale.

We gathered on the front porch for a group picture after lunch.

On the way home Pat and I took the back way around park road 4 to check on the wildflowers.

Bluebonnets were scarce but there were other wildflowers.

It was a nice drive and we enjoyed the flowers.