Getting to Know Miranda and Her Owner

It's always fun to meet other RVers and get to know them a little better.  About two weeks ago, I first met Rae Crothers in person at a lunch gathering of women RV friends.  Rae is the highly successful Canadian author of Travels with Miranda.  She has been full-timing and earning her living while she travels for five years.  We had lunch a second time last Thursday.  You can read about that and our trip to Gruene in a previous post.

Saturday afternoon I was invited out to Hidden Valley RV Park in Von Ormi to meet the famous Miranda, Rae's home on wheels.  Hidden Valley is a small RV park but it's appeal to Rae was the fact that she could boondock there for a small fee.  Miranda is completely set up for living and working comfortably off the grid.  The second part of the park appeal was that it is located about a mile off of I-35 south so day trips into downtown San Antonio were a matter of minutes away.

    

This picture was taken very late in the afternoon when the trees in front of Miranda were providing shade.  For much of the day, Miranda is out in the sun so her solar panels can capture as much sun as possible.  

Rae has customized Miranda into a very personal home.  Her living room and kitchen area are painted a bright sunny yellow.  The loft area where she sleeps is a cozy little nest.  As you move toward the back of Miranda, you enter the dressing room area which can be closed off from both the front and back of the RV.  It is painted a pretty fuschia pink.  She has both a small closet and a built-in wardrobe with drawers uniquely made out of wooden wine boxes.  The toilet is in a separate room painted a pretty lavender color.  The final room in the back of the RV is Rae's office.  She has a full desk where she does all all her computer work as well as file cabinets.  Also included is a lounge platform which can be used if she has a guest.  The whole color scheme is harmonious and is tied together with pretty flowered curtains.  Take a look at her blog to see how Rae has made her home uniquely her own.

Rae is a very well known blogger with four e-books published.  Are you familiar with Squidoo?  Rae is a well known contributor and it would be worthwhile to take a look at Rae's posts.  She has some great insight on RV issues as well as her travels.

I have really enjoyed meeting Rae and getting to know her.

Lunch with Celebrities and a Visit to Gruene

Wednesday Rae drove up from her RV park in Von Ormi to meet me and then I drove us up to meet Malia Lane (http://www.maliasmiles.com/blog) in Buda for lunch.  Another friend, Diana, drove down from Austin and met us there too.  Malia had a surprise for us too.  She invited Judy, another full-timer, to join us.

You may already know Malia.  She has been a solo full-timer for twelve years now.  You can read about her Inspiration to RV on http://www.maliasrv.com/.  Inspiration was actually the name of her first motorhome.  Now Inspiration will be moving on to inspire someone else because Malia just got a new RV and is in the process of settling in to her new home. When we arrived at Crestview RV park which is onsite at Crestview in Buda, TX, her sales rep, Rob, was visiting her to make sure everything was going smoothly.  We all chatted about our RVs.  Rob actually sold Malia Inspiration as well as her new RV but I will let her tell you all about that.

Diana, Malia, Colleen, Judy, and Rae at Chili's in Buda.  Everyone thought it was hilarious that there was a dachshund photo right over my head.  Really, I didn't plan it.

We had a great lunch.  After lunch, Malia had to get back to work while Judy and Diana headed north to Austin.  Rae and I headed south and made a stop at Guene Tx so Rae could see the oldest dance hall in Texas.

There wasn't anyone playing while we were at Gruene Hall but they were setting up for later.  Rae wondered about the floors being sturdy but they have crowds in there all the time.  We looked at all the pictures on the walls from the many different bands that have played there.

We spent some time looking around in the antique store.

We checked out the General Store.

And we looked at some of the local bed and breakfast places.  Not quite sure about the little low building in front.  I thought "storm shelter" but that wouldn't work with the windows in place.

It's always fun to visit Gruene and play tourist.  I think Rae enjoyed her visit to this small town and really liked Gruene Hall.

A Day with Karen-in-the-Woods and Stevio

What an exciting day!  Two of my favorite bloggers are in town for just a day and we get to meet up.  I've been following RVing: The USA is Our Big Backyard for quite a while. There have been some changes in their lives over the last year or so and you may remember it as RVing: Little House...Big Backyard or think of it as KarenintheWoods.  When I saw they were coming to San Antonio, I immediately thought of my friend Susan from Travelbug and a three way meet up.  I contacted Susan to let her know they would be coming to Travelers World RV Resort.  And guess where they ended up....right next to Susan.  Karen and Steve's Serengeti Safari is even prettier in person than on their blog.

After battling traffic due a an accident enroute, I finally made it and we all headed across the street for lunch at Taqueria Guadalahara.

 All the ladies had Enchiladas Verdes and Stevio had Chicken Fried Steak.  Just so you non-Texans know, that is not chicken; however, I have to admit that I have never seen it served with french fries and rice.  lol.

The plan was for Karen and Steve to head downtown to see the Alamo and the Riverwalk later in the afternoon to take advantage of San Antonio's free city parking after 5 on Tuesdays.  So we headed down the road a very short distance to show them Mission San José y San Miguel de Aguayo which is one of the 5 National Park Missions in San Antonio.  The Alamo is also one of the 5.  You can see the church part of the mission behind the very animated ranger.

It is very pretty and still in active use as a Catholic church.  The San Antonio Diocese maintains the church itself and the National Park service is responsible for the rest of the buildings and grounds. Both times I've been there, the rangers made this very clear so that no one would get any wrong ideas. The whole entrance area was recently renovated.

This area is part of the outer wall/building.  See the cacti growing out of the porch area?  The outer area is comprised of limestone and was rebuilt.

Susan and Karen were busy snapping pictures.

I caught Steve here in the granary.  This wasn't open when I was here the last time.  They had a large display area with lights and narrative in one corner.

This jug is embedded in the wall.  Since the walls are so thick, you could pour water into the top of the jug to keep it cool.  There is a spigot at the bottom.

The gate was open to go out and see the mill and the acequia this time too.

This is inside the ground level of the mill.

The front alter area of the church has been recently repainted and guilded.  It is really beautiful. The church is open for public viewing as long as there are no services or ceremonies in session.

I did get to see this area last time.  It is the corner of the outside wall where defense was conducted.  The small holes on top were where guns would provide the protection while the larger holes near the floor area were for cannons.  I guess they had to shoot blind once the weapons were in the holes.

We watched the film in the Visitor's Center after realizing that it was 4:15 and the Alamo closed at 5:00pm.  We headed back to the park where Karen graciously gave us a tour of their rig and we got to see many of the neat modifications that Stevio has made.  It has a great layout with lots of light.  We also got to meet Duke and Duchess (Duck).  Karen had them do the treat on the nose trick which they did impressively.  Then she put the other half of the treat on their paws.  After a minute, she told them they could have the treat and they just sat there.  She tried several different time but they sat there like stone statues.  I can so relate to doggy tricks on their human pack leaders.  lol.

As most of you know, Karen is an accomplished weaver and knitter.  Susan and I were both surprised and thrilled when she gifted us with a pair of socks that she knit on her sock machine.  They are so nice.  Karen has an etsy store The Loomatic Works where she sells her beautiful items.

After following Karen's blog and being Facebook friends, it felt like we were already good friends.  Be sure to check out the posts from Karen and Susan because no two posts on the same subject are really the same.  Karen and Steve headed down to the Riverwalk after we left but you will have to read about that on RVing: The USA is Our Big Backyard.

We'll see you down the road and please come back to San Antonio real soon.

Visit with Blogger Susan

On Sunday, I drove out to Fentress TX to visit my friend Susan.  She is a fellow blogger and full-time RVer who is currently working at the Leisure RV Resort.  Susan and Angel, her sweet little white dog, have a large 5th to call home.  I headed out across country following the directions from Hillary the GPS.  It was definitely a cross country back roads trip from New Braunfels on.  It was a pretty gray day with rain in the distance but I didn't actually run into any.

Susan fixed us a fantastic salad for lunch and then took me on a tour of the resort.  It's located on the San Marcos river.  During the warmer months, you would see toobers floating along here.

This lower area is for primitive camping. but there were no tents the weekend I was there.

In addition to full hook-ups for RVs, the resort has cabins to offer.  They are on wheels so, on the rare occasion that the river floods, the hookups can be disconnected and the cabins pulled to a higher location.  These cabins have a separate bedroom.

These cabins are all in one room.

You can also spend the night in a "treehouse" if you want to try something different.

The park has a pool but Susan and I have both seen hot tubs bigger than this although the area around it is nice.  I guess the river gets more use.

There is a nice playground for the kids.  And, although I forgot to take a picture, there is also a large enclosed area for dogs.

We sat outside after our walk and had a really nice visit.  Susan went in to get something and Angel is keeping a close eye on her.

Thanks for a really nice visit Susan.  I enjoyed seeing your park and having a great visit with you and Angel.

Post Script:  I forgot my camera up at Susan's on Sunday.  She had to make a trip to New Braunfels this week so we met at the Fork and Spoon for lunch.  The Tortilla soup and the Tomato Bisque soup was great.  Susan brought my camera and also brought me a cute little box of cake pops and cookies that she made.  Thanks again Susan.

Three Bloggers GTG

Wednesday morning, Susan and Angel, from What's Up with Susan & Company, picked me up and we were off to meet another Susan, from Travel Bug.  If you have followed Susan on Travel Bug, you will know that she fell about three weeks ago and broke her face (bones, nose, skin, teeth). Her jaws are still wired together to allow the bones in her face to heal.  After we picked Susan up, we went to IHOP and sat around chatting and drinking tea and coffee.  Then we went back to Susan's RV and visited some more.  It was a great afternoon.

I really enjoyed meeting Susan.  Not only do she and her husband Bob lead an interesting life full-timing in their 5th wheel, she is a very courageous woman who is not only dealing with the trauma she is going through but blogging about it and continuing to lead her life one day at a time.

Yesterday she wrote an interesting post, Be Independent, which describes perfectly her philosophy and the way she lives her life.  I think that philosophy is why she is getting through her current health issues with courage and poise.  Thanks again Susan, I hope we can get together again soon.

After we left Travel Bug Susan, What's Up Susan and I headed back to my house so I could pick up my truck and follow her back to Camping World.  Susan wanted to show me her 5th wheel which is there for some work and to get some help with computer programs and blogs.  Two hours later, I headed homeward.  What?????  Camping World's gate was chained.  Susan is hooked up to electric and staying at CW while they do the work since she is a full-timer.  They told her the gate would not be locked.  Susan was prepared to call the manager who assured her she could get out but I decided to check closer before she made that call.  The chain was wrapped tightly around the metal gate, but wait, there was a link hook holding the links together rather than a padlock.  So, I was able to unhook and unwind the chain, open the gate, drive out, park, and come back to redo the whole process.  Whew, staying overnight at Camping World was definitely not in my plans for the evening.

A Day with Another RV Blogger

The RV was unloaded and back in the RV storage lot and my son Steve was headed off back to Florida.  And I was off to.....Camping World....to meet my friend Susan from What's Up with Susan and Company.

After following each other's blogs, Susan and I met last spring when she came to Texas to take on her first camphost job at Garner State Park.  She had just recently become a full-time RVer.  This summer she took on a Gate Guard job in south central Texas.  It was hot and not easy since she travels solo but she stuck it out all summer.

Susan and Angel (the little furry bundle on her lap) are at Camping World to get a new awning installed as well as having a few other minor booboos fixed up.

I picked her up and we headed out for breakfast at Denny's.  Then we were off to do a few errands.

Once the errands were done, we headed out to Canyon Lake for a little tour.  We spent the whole day together and had a nice time.  Angel tagged along while Susan's 5th wheel was being worked on.  As soon as it is done, she is off to a new workcamping gig in West, Tx.  That would the town of West not the part of the state.  It's up by Waco.

Hope you enjoy the new job Susan and hope we can get together again soon.  It's fun to meet other bloggers and get to know them.

Women RVers on the Road to Alaska

Those of you who read my blog regularly know that I have a number of friends who RV.  A lot of them are women who travel alone but get together with friends whenever the opportunity presents itself.  Some of them full-time and some part-time.  I thought you might be interested in what some of them are doing this summer.  

Picture a group of five independent women on their way to Alaska.  They are traveling more or less in a group but that doesn't mean they follow each other all the time like an old fashioned wagon train.  They set certain stops and arrange to meet up.  Sometimes someone will leave early or late or stop along the way to check out someplace different than the rest.  

Birdie from The Egg and I travels in a Class A and is a full-timer.  She started in a Casita hence the name of her blog and then moved up to a larger Class C and into her beautiful Class A. Birdie and I have camped together a number of times and always have fun. Liz from Where's Liz-2012? is also a full-timer and recently moved up from a Roadtrek to a small Class C.  I've met Liz in person several times.  Now, all the other women I know from WomenRV, an online forum just for women.  Tina from Expeditions and Adventures is also traveling in a small Class C with her three small, medium, and large furkids all of whom are pretty experience travelers.  Next we have Mitch who is traveling with a small bundle of fur in a small travel trailer.  As you can tell by A Bacon Collar for Abby, Mitch has a wild sense of humor.  In Nan and Bear On The Road, you'll find adventures with Nan and Bear and this time they have another furry friend with them.  Right now the ladies are all in Montana and they've had snow and plenty of rain.  Stop by and check out their adventures.  Some of the women were a little worried about the fact that they all have blogs but, if you check them out, you will find they each bring a different perspective to what they see.

Two other women who belong to the WomenRV forum are already in Alaska.  Anita, Anita's Adventures 2012, headed up real early so you'll have to hurry to catch her.  Beth, On The Road With Beth, is also a full-timer traveling with her dog.  This summer she is in Valdez, Alaska working on a tour boat.

I hope you enjoy meeting some of my friends.

Meeting "What's Up with Susan and Company"

Most of us who write blogs love the chance to meet other bloggers that we read. That’s what happened this morning. If you read What's Up with Susan and Company, you will know that Susan is a full timer currently camp hosting at Garner State Park. She contacted me a couple of days ago and said she was coming into San Antonio so we decided to get together for coffee. Coffee at IHOP turned into splitting an omelet for brunch. We ended up chatting for hours and had a great time.

Sometimes when you have been reading a blog for quite a while, you really feel like you know the person and that turned out to be the case here. I’ve followed Susan since before she packed up her stuff and became a full timer. Her cute little dog Angel was back holding down the fort at her RV and the longdogs were at home so they didn’t get to meet today. See you again soon Susan!

RV Visiting

This afternoon turned out to be a great afternoon to visit a couple of my RVing friends out at Potter's Creek.  They had a couple of errands to run so we arranged to meet about 1:00PM.  All three of my dachsies headed out the back door to play while I was getting ready to go.  Willy came in first while Harley and Gretchen were still occupied with the squirrels so that made my decision about who was going to go visiting with me real easy.  Grabbed Willy's leash and headed out the door with him hot on my heels.  All of my dogs are always ready to go anywhere.  We had to make a quick stop at HEB for salad fixings for lunch so Willy waited for me in the car.  I don't know if he has ever done that before but he was real good.  I opened the sun roof and he was happily looking out the windows when I returned.  Of course, there is now some "nose art" on the windows but that is not a big deal.  When I rolled up at the gatehouse, I told them I was on my way in to visit Birdie and Liz and gave their site numbers.  The woman said she wasn't sure if they were home but I told her that they were either right ahead of me or right behind me.  Since she recognized me, she didn't have a problem with that.  I figured that if they were right ahead of me, she should have known that so I decided to take a quick turn around a couple of the other loops to check them out.

 Lots of visitors here and here.  In fact, not too many open sites even though it is the middle of January.  Some of the people are here for longer periods of time in the winter but some of them are just weekenders.

 Pretty sure these people are just weekenders but there were actually a number of sites occupied by tents.

 Now, if you are member of the WomenRV forum, you will recognize this vehicle the "Silver Lining".  In fact, the picture on the forum was taken here at Potter's Creek in the site I occupied a couple of months ago.  Bandit's outdoor pavilion is right out front. Two of the sides are screen so Bandit the cat has a great view of everything going on around him.

 Right next door is Birdie's "Bunkie".  You can see Willy and Simba lapping up attention.  They did have a good time together.  Liz gave them each a "greeny" which Willy (being a dachshund) promptly inhaled.  Simba is still learning the tricks so he was trying to bury it in the gravel around the table.  He notices Willy eyeing him and decided to move it out beyond Willy's reach.  Smart kid--he's learning already.

 We had a great lunch, salad and barbequed chicken sandwiches, out at the picnic table.  Then there were a few chores to do.  Birdie is in the process of doing a bit of reorganizing.  You'll hear more about that in a few days.  We were looking at a vent that might need to be removed and Liz popped right up there saying "I can do that".  She got all the screws out and all the goop around it cleared away but it just wouldn't budge.  Then Birdie remembered that the installer might have put some purple stuff around the vent before he put the cover on.  Glued!  So Liz patiently put it all back together again.  Birdie and I were busy reorganizing bins but I took the picture of Liz because that was much more interesting.

 Here is Birdie back playing with the dogs.  She needs one, she just doesn't know it yet. lol.

 She was going to hook up the hitch on Herbie but once again, we caught her playing with the dogs.

 You can tell they love her too and she did eventually get the hitch back on.  See that 5th wheel in the background?  That is where the WomenRV's photo of the Silver Lining was taken long before I got to meet Liz.

It was beginning to get dark so it was time for me to head back into town while I could still see the deer meandering across the road.  Wish I was out here in my RV too but I am really enjoying having my oldest son around for a while so wouldn't want to miss a minute of that either.