2025-5-20 A Trip Over to Port Aransas

 This was a really busy rally for Elaine and I so we didn't get to do anything we usually like to do while we are in this area. We were leaving on Wednesday so Tuesday we decided to head over to Port Aransas via the ferry. We asked Jo if she wanted to tag along since she had never been there. We lucked out and had a very short wait to get on the ferry over.

Taken from the ferry boat pier.

One of the smaller ferries. They have quite a few ferries and put them in use depending on the traffic at the time. The ferry is actually part of the highway system between Aransas Pass and Port Aransas out on the island.

The dolphins like to swim in the bow wave of the big boats.

I had to use the full telescopic range on my phone camera to bring this structure up close enough so that we could tell what it was. From a distance you couldn't tell if it was on land or water or what it was.

There is a really nice park right near the ferry landing on the island.

The dolphins were putting on a show for their audience.

This was the best shot. A mama with her baby in a synchronized swim. Another dophin showed up who was probably the male but I didn't get a good shot of him.

We wanted to have lunch on the island and Elaine loves her seafood. The first place we tried was extremely expensive even at lunch so we beat a hasty retreat. Our second choice which turned out to be great was FINS Grill and Icehouse. We had a nice window view where we could see the pirate ship next door and the food was good. They even had a seafood lunch special that Elaine and Jo wanted.

We will be headed out tomorrow but not early since we can't check in to our next stop before 2. 

2025-5-19 Rockport Rally - the end

Okay, normally our rallies end with a hitch-up breakfast which as a hostess, I sometimes don't have because you just never know how many women to plan for. Some get up and go real early if they have a long way to go, some are in the middle of packing up, and some just want to sleep in. This particular hitch-up breakfast was going to be served up by the chapter officers. We had plenty left over from the brunch was it was a big spread instead of just bagels, cream cheese, and coffee.

But was the rally really over??? Well, some women were staying through at least Tuesday so Jimmie offered to have a fish fry Monday night. She spends most of her time here in Rockport and is a big fisher person so she had some fish she caught in her freezer. Hmmm.  A lot of women immediately expressed interest so another fishing trip was scheduled for that day.

Elaine headed out with a small group and was thrilled with the fish she caught. They fished from the bank because the water out a little further was pretty rough for Jimmie's boat.

Jimmie decided we should also give blue crab a try as they are pretty popular here but those came from a local shop. Elaine, our chef extraordinaire, had never cooked live blue crab before.

Cookie stepped in to show her how you toss them in the pot without getting pinched. Can't you tell Elaine is not really into this part of the process?

In the meantime, Jimmie is busy frying up pieces of fish. We also had some really great hush puppies.

I made a Caesar salad and several others brought salads or desserts so we had another feast. Rita brought some great chicken drum sticks for those not really into fishy food, lol.

This time the actual rally was over. What a really fun time if I do say so myself......everyone else did too.

2025-5-18 Rockport Rally Day 4

 Our chapter usually has a big potluck dinner on Saturday night. July rallies that I host at Wilderness Oaks are hot and usually mean that we order pizzas and fix salads for dinner. This year the rally was in May and Elaine, Barb, and I as hostesses decided to do something completely different. Okay, the pajama party was very different too. Anyway, we decided to host a big Sunday brunch. We had biscuits with sausage gravy or jelly and homemade friendship and banana bread provided by Elaine and me along with 3 kinds of juice, several great fruit trays, other whole fruits, meat and cheese platters and too many other items to remember. Being that I was in the thick of things cooking and serving, I didn't get any photos. I miss my friend Caroline Patin at rallies and I also miss never having to worry about getting photos because she gets them all. 

After the big brunch, there were announcements, and most definitely the big group photo of the Texas Ramblin' Roses.

It was dinner on your own again but Cookie and Eva invited everyone over to their rig for sandwiches so not many went out again.

2025-5-17 Rockport Rally - Day 2/3

The other separate event that happened in conjunction with the Rockport rally was the RVW Booth at the 25th Annual Babes on the Bay Fishing tournament. When TRR chapter members signed into the rally on Thursday, many of them also signed on to help with the RVW booth. Elaine, Teri, Shelley, and I headed over bright and early on Friday morning to set up the booth. Everything was loaded into Elaine's big truck including us. You know how things always seem to crop up when you RV, that was the case here. We got the canopy frame set up and guess what? The cover was missing from the case. It was a brand new in a fancy canvas bag canopy that someone gave Elaine but the cover was not in the bag. So on the phone and then off to Ace Hardware we went. We purchased a new heavy duty canopy and headed back. Teri has lots of experience with canopies so we were able to get it set up without any further problems.

The Texas Ramblin' Roses lent us the chapter banner, Wilderness Oaks lent us concrete blocks to weigh things down for the predicted winds, we set up a couple tables, and we were nearly ready.

We added a tablecloth, hung some TRR shirts for decorations, and put out magazines and some RVW flashlights to hand out. I also added some sheets with RVW talking points to make sure the booth managers had all the details they needed.

Did I mention that this is the 25th annual Babes on the Bay Fishing tournament which is for women only. Great place to showcase RVW right?! Some of the teams really get into the team costumes when they show up to sign in on Friday afternoon. I couldn't resist.

Most of the group headed over to Panjo's Pizza and Pasta in Rockport for lunch. Could have sworn that I took pictures of the group but they have disappeared. Anyway, we took up about 3 long tables. The pizza and other Italian dishes are great.

We also had an RVing Women team entered in the tournment. L to R, Anne Moursund, Jimmie Andrews, Shelley Freeman, and Eva Joy Kirten sported their Babes T-shirts and hats at the TRR group dinner held at the Poor Man's Country Club.

Between Friday and Saturday, about 20 different women handed out magazines, flashlights, and information at the booth. Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures of all of them supporting RVW.

While our team did not win any prizes, they did catch fish, just not the right size redfish, and had a great time doing it. They also got a lot of nice event swag.

Some of our chapter members turned up for the closing event Saturday night while others who manned the booth Saturday morning, took a Sunset cruise on the bay.

2025-5-15 Texas Ramblin' Roses Rally - Day 1

 Check in time for the rally was Thursday afternoon from 4- 5:30 PM. Dinner was on your own and then we had a pajama party starting at 7 PM. Several of us made homemade cookies and there were a ton of other goodies for munching.  Almost everybody got into the spirit. I'll just let the pictures tell the story for the most part.

And then it got a little more spirited when one of the ladies urged everyone to strut their stuff modeling their outfits.

These are a fun bunch of women as you can readily see. Next on the agenda was a wild game of musical chairs. I am not great at planning group games and I was just hoping for no broken hips. I did check out the location of the nearest hospital just in case.

We also played a game of charades and everyone also jumped in to play. There were some prizes involved in each of the events but, in the case of charades, the prizes went to the performer for being such a good sport instead of the person who guessed. Their prize was to be the next performer. All in all, everyone seemed to have a great time and it was definitely a new rally event.

2025-05-14 Trip to Rockport TX

 Elaine drove over from Abilene and stayed at an RV park in New Braunfels on Monday. She actually just picked up her new to her long bed crew cab 4 wheel drive Ram 3/4 ton truck right before she left. Tuesday we met at Walmart and headed down to Rockport TX. We planned to arrive two days before the Texas Ramblin' Roses rally which was starting on Thursday afternoon. We thought we would have down time but a number of our friends arrived early also.

We stopped at the office to check in. I told Elaine to go first since I had to unhook my car. They escorted her to her spot and helped get her backed in. It was her first time parking in a back-in with her new to her truck and the road is narrow in the row closest to the clubhouse so it was challenging.

This park is wonderful for rallies. In addition to a great location, they have a huge rally room.

A fun game room.

And they also have a great kitchen. They also treat us very well. I have hosted about 6 rallies there over the years.

We managed to get a walk in every day which isn't easy. One of the cactus plants was blooming.

This palm tree was struck by lightning and survived. The top is mostly there but you can see where the lightning entered and exited the trunk. Pretty amazing.

We cooked burgers on my grill for my two co-hostesses and me the first night. 

Another night, Barb cooked spaghetti and pasta with shrimp for Elaine, Kathy, and I. It was great!

This was my first RV trip without my co-pilot Harley. Getting in the RV and taking off that first morning was hard because he was always ready to hop in and go with me.