Traveling with the Longdogs

2026-6-11 Breakfast at Granny D's

Every morning started out with coffee at the rally room

Some members just like to visit while having coffee.

Others like a real challenge. There is always a puzzle or two going in the rally room and there are lots of games of Rummicub and Mexican Train played over the course of the week.

This morning we were off to Granny D's for Brunch. It's a Canyon Lake favorite and there can be waiting lines if you arrive too late for breakfast or lunch. They don't do diner.

A full stack of pancakes might not seem like much of a challenge if you have never seen their pancakes.

We had a short wait as we had reserved a huge table but the breakfast club reserved even earlier so we had to wait until they finished.

Just so you know. This is an oversized dinner plate....about 14 inches across and this is half of one pancake. I was going to order a short stack but Elaine had been there once before and told me I wouldn't be able to finish one pancake. She was right. I took half home. A couple came in with 4 young kids and I heard mom ask who wanted pancakes and who wanted waffles. I asked if they had been there before. When she said no, I showed her my pancake and said it would easily feed all four kids.

This is someone else's breakfast special. The waffles are huge and thick too.

I definitely recommend this place. The prices are great but think carefully before you order or you will get more than you could possibly imagine and then some.

2026-6-10 Hat making Fun at the TRR Rally

Our hosts also had some less physically demanding plans for us. They bought a bunch of baseball style hats for everyone to decorate. You had all week to get yours done.

They had tons of decorating items to choose from ranging from ribbon to beads to flowers and everything in between.

There were lots of glue guns available to assist your artistic endeavors. Believe me, glueing all those little doodads was not easy work.

Lots of creativity in our group.

Mary knew what she wanted to do as soon as she was able to snag this cream colored hat.

Others of us had trouble just picking out the hat.

Sometimes simplicity just works.

2026-6-9 Toobing the Guadalupe River

Our thoughtful hosts set up a new experience for many of us. Unsuspecting participants arrival at the Toobing office.

All checked in and ready to board the bus to the dropoff location.

We began to suspect that there were going to be bumps in the road when we got off the bus and had to haul our toobs across the road to get to the beginning of the horseshoe bend on the river.

See that black square on the bottom of the toob? That is a very important piece of equipment.

Anne was smart enough to befriend the teenager helping the bus driver. Getting down to the river was no walk in the park since you were basically walking down a concrete drainage ditch with no rail hauling the big toob.

One by one we launched (fell) into the river.

Looks calm and relaxing right. Not much current so lots of paddling was required. We tried real hard not to let anyone get too far behind.

There are just a few pictures while we were actually on the river as most of us wisely left our phones at home.

Looks relaxing right? Not so much. The first par of the ride required a lot of paddling as there was no current so we really got strung out. We tried to make sure no one got left behind. Several times I heard Elaine say "I'm done. I want to get out now." However, once in you are committed to the ride until you get to the take out point. And the toobing operator pointed out several, and I do mean several times, to get to the right side of the river as soon as you can see the bridge ahead because if you missed the bridge get out point, it was miles and hours down the river before you could get out again.

Once we hit the rapids, keeping track of where everyone was wasn't possible. It was every woman for herself. Rapids, and I mention all the rocks....just under the water where you couldn't see most of them until you hit them or got stuck on them or were wildly trying to avoid running into the person ahead of you that was stuck on the rock. It was not a pretty picture. Several young men were so helpful getting us off rocks.

The youngest members of the group, two of our 18+ granddaughters fared the best of course.

Those surviving, I mean arriving first, tried to help others get out of their toobs and onto the shore at the takeout.

Getting out of a toob in deeper water is so easy, getting out when the water is less than a foot deep is more than a challenge.

Here is the nice young man Anne befriended at the beginning. We were supposed to haul our own toobs up another concrete drainage ditch with no rail and back a block to the toobing office. He figured out up front that was going to be a real challenge so he showed up, with another friend to help him, and got us all out and took care of getting all the toobs back to the office.

Elaine ended up with the only injuries but she made it. She got stuck on a rock and couldn't get off so she ended up turning over and skinning her knee to get off. One of the nice young guys on the river pulled her over to deeper water and got her moving again. She has now sworn off ziplines and toobing

Some of the less adventurous ladies showed up to welcome us back. They were also responsible for many of the pictures. Aspirin anyone???

2026-6-8 TRR Rally at Lake Pointe RV, Canyon Lake TX

Off to a Texas Ramblin' Roses Rally at Lake Pointe RV Resort on Canyon Lake north of San Antonio.

It's been a while since I have been here but I have always enjoyed my visits. My best description of this RV park is that it's halfway between a regular RV park and a campground. In other words, all the amenities with a relaxed campground feel.

A tour around the park is always nice. This is the laundromat. I have to mention that I used to refer to the park as shabby/sheek but the current staff has really stepped up and spruced everything up.