August 2016 - The Journey Begins - It was a slow start

When I retired in 2015 Susan and I knew our days as sticks and bricks homeowners were coming to a crossroad with many decisions to make. We had long talks, we began making plans and in August 2016 after selling everything we could sell and boxing up the rest for storage we were ready to hit the road.

These ladies helped make the day go by with lots of fun and laughter

We put everything into storage on July 31st.                                                 Thanks to my wonderful cousins Memorie and Deloris for helping us unpack the moving truck, my truck and the 16 foot flatbed which we had loaded for bear!

It would have taken forever for Susan and me to have moved everything on our own.

We knew the first few months were going to be challenging but we were ready for yet another chapter to our life.

Our beloved BS Duck Ranch

We left our home in Iola, Texas on the 10th of August and headed a short distance to Thousand Trails Campground, on Lake Conroe, Texas. Susan had given her notice to her employer but still had a few days committed to Huntsville. We also had to wait for the closing on our house and attend to some medical issues. The house closed on August 12^th and Susan had her surgery the following week on August 17^th.  We remained at Lake Conroe until the end of August to be close to doctors should they be needed during her recovery.

If you remember from our last entry I gave a big thank you to Bill and Mary and said that story was for later…… It is now later and here is the story:

Shortly after our arrival to Lake Conroe we were walking and noticed a new motorhome with a Coast Guard license plate pull into the campground. Coast Guard plates are not seen very often in the Conroe area so we stopped and said hello. Bill and Mary were just arriving so we didn’t talk long, but we learned that Bill had been in the Coast Guard some years ago – it was an instant bond of shared service. We didn’t have the chance to talk to them again until the day Susan and I were leaving. Literally as we were getting ready to pull out, Bill and Mary stopped by to say hi. We talked for a few minutes and I asked where they were headed next. Bill replied they had a few stops before heading to Decatur, Indiana. What a coincidence – us too! We of course have our American Eagle and they have a Fleetwood Discovery – the factory that built both coaches is in Decatur, Indiana. Further conversation found that both our appointment and theirs was for the same day, October 17th and we would all be arriving on the 16th. We had a good laugh and just like that we had met new friends we would see again in a month and a half. In the time since we met, Bill and Mary have become really good friends.

As you can see, we didn't make it very far in August. Not only did we not leave Texas, we didn't travel more than an hour away from Iola until we left Lake Conroe on August 31st.