JOURNAL OF TININTHEWIND: October 2010 Archives

Love These Texas RV Parks

Wide Open Space Between Rigs

Conroe Texas Thousand Trails Park

Yup, Texas sure is Big and the one thing Kathleen and I like about spending time here is usually the sites have a lot of room between neighbors. It seems like we have our own little 'ranch' around our coach.

We have been at this Thousand Trails RV Park for about a week now and will be leaving Sunday for an overnight stop in Houston so we can pay a visit at the 'Camping World' there to pick up a few needed supplies.

Monday morning we will head down to Rockport, Texas and find our spot for a Month (November) stay at 'Lagoons RV Park'. We have been wanting to get acquainted with this park as we really like the Rockport area and may decide to spend the entire winter there in 2011/2012. We are of course still going to 'Fun-n-Sun RV Park in San Benito, Texas for December thru February.

The weather for our stay here in Conroe has been spectacular and we have spent as much of it outside that we could. It has afforded me a chance to get a little work done on some more diamond willow hiking sticks. I know it is close to Halloween but don't let the little fellow below 'spook' you, as he is just my latest 'wood spirit' carving on a stick I was working on.

Happy Halloween -- be sure to put your cursor over the picture!

Boo

Posted by George at 05:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Russellville Arkansas

Corp of Engineers Park on Arkansas River, Russellville

This is our second visit to the Russellville Corp of Engineers park along the Arkansas river. We visited here on our way North two years ago. It is a beautiful park and getting here through the beautiful hill country of Northern Arkansas from Branson, Missouri is always a treat. The leaves have not reached there peak yet but we will be leaving tomorrow for Hot Springs, Arkansas and hopefully while there we will be able to catch some brilliant color.

A couple of other pictures follow. I assume you can guess which one is out of character.

Great area for a walk

In my deams

Posted by George at 05:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hannibal

Flock of geese over Hannibal

Kathleen here

“One can sit on the pilot-house for a few hours and watch the low shores, the ungainly trees and the democratic buzzards, and then one might as well go to bed. One has seen everything there is to see.”

Mark Twain

What a lovely couple of days we have spent, and right along my favorite water way.

Hannibal, Missouri rests on the banks of the Mississippi River about an hour south of the Iowa border. Had it not been for a “favorite son,” it would have been a forgotten quiet little river town with memories of long ago showboats, and watchful eyes for today’s long tow boats.

I spent the day gazing at beautiful old buildings and century old homes proudly inviting visitors to take a walk along streets shaded in ancient oak trees. Wherever one goes in Hannibal, a reminder of a famous little boy and his side kick can be seen on store fronts, or street corners. Museums and theaters proudly display artifacts from their childhood in the mid-1800s.

I browsed through museums imagining Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn with Becky Thatcher trailing behind. I saw the famous white coat that Samuel Clemons always wore. Pictures of life on the Mississippi River made me lonesome for my own childhood along the same river back in Northeast Iowa. I toured Mr. Clemons’ childhood home and bought a couple of books. Do you know where Samuel Clemons got his pen name: “Mark Twain?”

He worked many years on Mississippi Riverboats. A riverboatman cried “mark twain” when the depth of the water was safe for the boat to float over. A fathom is a maritime unit of depth equivalent of two yards; “twain” is an archaic term for two. The cry “mark twain” meant “there are 12 feet of water under the boat and it is safe to pass.”

A name fitting for a writer who loved the river and whose stories entertained us throughout our own childhood. Our day spent in Hannibal was pleasant, with autumn sites and smells in the air. A tow boat pushed a line of barges south and a mighty goose gathered his flock overhead. Leaves whirled in the breeze while we awaited night fall.

Hannibal, a small town whose beloved fans of its famous “son” refused to let it be forgotten.

RV Site at Wakonda State Park