The Winter In Review - #77

Today is our last Sunday in Mississippi: we leave next Saturday, April 1st - heading east, then north. We estimate being home Thursday, April 20th.  We are a little sad to leave; we love our Gulf Coast home! 

Our travel is planned, reservations confirmed. We’ve gradually been reorganizing, packing up, discarding -    preparing for getting back on the road. We have eleven stops along the way.  

 

We had a wonderful winter! Weather wise, we certainly had a lot of rain, some wild thunderstorms (even today!) and a sprinkling of colder days, but for the most part, we were outside! 

There is a lot to do and see on the Gulf Coast. If you have never been, you are missing a beautiful part of our country! We had so much fun visiting the towns dotting the coastline, learning about the area and immersing ourselves in our community. We visited many different venues - from art galleries, model train and plane museums, the space center, lots of casinos and southern historical sites…

Sculpture in BSL

Hancock County Beach

 

Beauvoir

Ohr-O’Keefe Museum 

                                 Antiquing 

                   Beautiful Old Live Oak

We loved having our family visit, even though that particular week Charlie and I were not at our best. I’m hoping they’ll join us in Bandera next winter, too. 

We celebrated Mardi Gras! This is serious business in the south! We learned the history, traditions and enjoyed “participating” in the BSL parade - despite the black eye I received after getting hit in the face with a heavy set of beads thrown from one of the floats. I even bought a King Cake to take home! 

King Cake 

Our friends Ellen and Yori surprised us with their impromptu vacay to Biloxi! We had a blast and celebrated Yori’s special birthday! At 65, he’s the baby in the group. They really enjoyed their visit and were surprised at how pretty and friendly this area of the country is!

We loved our campground- Bay Hideaway! We had a comfortable site, enjoyed the activities and met a lot of really great people. For a smaller campground - it had everything we could want! 

 

We made some really cool crafts - both at the libraries and our campground - tie dyed shirts and flag, Mardi Gras decorations, jewel painting, rock painting and jewelry making. 

  

We celebrated our 25th anniversary on Valentines Day! Our campground hosts made a wonderful Valentines Day dinner for all the campers; we were serenaded by Michael, one of our camping friends ( a former opera singer as well as our yoga instructor!) 

We met up with cousins Sally and Jerry again yesterday - also RVing in Gulfport for the winter; they treated us to a wonderful lunch at Island View Casino!

 We had our final Bingo, last Mexican Train and  Left-Right-Center games. Tomorrow morning- we join another camping couple for breakfast at their favorite spot and hopefully- we can fit in a few more things we enjoy by Friday. Wednesday is the final snowbirds barbecue by our camp hosts which should be amazing, as is every meal they’ve prepared! 

Needless to say, we did have our challenging and costly moments. Just after arriving in November, we had a flat tire on the trailer, had to replace our trailer roof, and needed to bring our truck in several times for service. Certain things we do not mess around with; we need to make sure everything is in the best working order as possible to reduce the possibility of problems on the road. 

Leaks are no fun!

Last but not least, our camping cat, Minnie, had a great winter! She actually caught a mouse the other day when she was outside in the tent!

                Recuperating after the mouse ordeal 

We are on the road again in just few more days!  When we return home from our winter adventures - our world feels so much larger. Winter in Mississippi is now a part of us, a great memory. We hope to make more for as long as we can! To be continued…

Year to Year - #76

Now that we’ve reached the halfway mark of our stay in Bay St. Louis, almost everyone has asked me how our trip this year compares to last. Hmmm… that’s a question to ponder.

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Firstly, I chose both Bandera and BSL for the same reason- weather. Although not tropical, they are definitely warmer and no snow. If you look on a map of the U.S. both locations are pretty much on the same line of latitude.  The weather is similar although we probably get a helluva lot more rain and thunderstorms on the Gulf. The landscapes are totally different; Bandera is dry, scrubby, hilly while Bay St Louis is flat and beachy. Each area has its own beauty, but I do prefer the beach.  I love the open feeling, endless views of the sky and water; though we did have some spectacular sunsets in Texas.

BSL

Bandera 

Both RV campgrounds we chose are community oriented meaning they offer activities and encourage socializing. We take full advantage of these get togethers. We enjoy meeting new people, participating in crafts, learning fun new games and sharing meals. Skyline Ranch in Bandera, attracts a great group of Winter Texans. We become “family” and have kept in touch via Facebook throughout the year.  We have met some fun people at Bay Hide Away, but many of the “regulars” seem to keep to themselves. (The first timers are a good group here and we do lots of things together.) This is what makes Skyline Ranch so special; warm, welcoming to all.

                      Skyline Ranch Campfire

                        Mexican Train in BSL

Each of these areas also have active local communities: In Bandera, I joined Silver Sage Senior Center where I took exercise classes, painting, lunch. BSL has very active libraries offering wonderful programs all which are free! In addition to activities- both places have unique small, fun towns - hosting parades and all kinds of events. Bandera’s claim to fame - “cowboy capital of the world” is also known for its giant motorcycle rally “Thunder in the Hills”; BSL - “less known gem on the Gulf” hosts “Cruisin’ the Coast” for antique and vintage car enthusiasts. So much to do - so little time!!

In BSL, shopping is very convenient, yet not in your face. Bandera is limited and we often had to drive to Kerrville (26 miles) to H.E.B or to other retailers. (Though I must say, I did enjoy the drive!)

The big attraction on the Gulf Coast is definitely the casinos! We love ‘em! Though we are small time gamblers (penny slots) we just have fun! It’s nice to be able to just pop in for an hour or two in the evening. The Gulf also really caters to the senior lifestyle and offers lots to do at discounted prices. Like the $8.00 all inclusive buffet available twice a week at the Silver Slipper. (we have to pace ourselves). BSL is sandwiched in between New Orleans and Biloxi; we are  still exploring the area. We also love all the fresh seafood! 

                                                            Fresh shrimp on the dock

Texas is huge; we’ve only explored a small portion of this monstrous state but we did get to visit a lot of the major cities - San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, Austin, Waco as well as a lot of unique smaller towns - Llano, Utopia, Fredericksburg, Eagles Pass - just to name a few. Plus we had some really good bar-b-que!

Bandera is about 650 miles farther from our home than BSL. Distance certainly did have a bearing on my decision this year  however, we do pay $200+ more rent per month in Mississippi than Texas; still within our budget.  Truthfully- as newer long term campers- we just want to explore different areas! 

In the past two winters- we have discovered Texas once imported camels for military use, admired the famous and beautiful blue bonnets, viewed “ the grassy knoll” in Dallas, visited the Magnolia Silos in Waco, gawked at white buffalo sunning by the road, rock hounded for llanite in the Llano River, stepped around crawdads’ mud houses while hiking in the woods, swamp toured, watched the sunrise on the Gulf waters, joyed in the payout from a winning slot machine!

There is so much to do out there- so much to experience and learn! 

 So we have made the decision - we will return to BOTH Mississippi and Texas next winter (23/24). We are planning to spend 3 mos in BSL (October thru December) then January through March in Bandera. From Bandera- we will head north and begin our travels through the northern and central states; living in our trailer almost a year!  Adventure awaits, y’all!

The Big 75 - #75

My 75th entry coincidentally coincides with Charlie’s 75th birthday - January 9th! Geez- how can I possibly be married to someone that old! It’s at that point I look in the mirror and get a bit of a reality check. Time has become our most precious commodity; that and good health!

In addition to this wonderful birthday milestone- we will also be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary on Valentines Day, as well as my birthday February 12th ( Lincoln’s Birthday) which turns out to be the day of the big Mardi Gras Parade in BSL. Lots to be thankful for. We have decided to spend a couple of days/nights in New Orleans at a nice hotel to commemorate these special events sometime later in January. 

We had a bit of a cold snap for about a week ending around Christmas weekend when the kids arrived from Boston. They rented a really nice house in Waveland, just a short distance from Bay Hide Away; we even spent a couple of nights at the house with them. We loved having them visit and share some of our winter experience; unfortunately both Charlie and I were sick just about all that week. I really pushed myself but I was just not up to speed.  We did do some fun things and the littles were the first overnight guests in our trailer! I hope we have made some good memories with them! 

 

 

Activities are starting to ramp up at our campground now that the holidays have passed. I’ve been assisting with craft projects and ideas and set up a weekly Mexican Train game.  We had a really good turnout yesterday and are now up to two tables.  We have lots of upcoming dinners, game nights, bingo, yoga, crafts to look forward to.  Our schedule is quite full and in addition we are still touring different museums and casinos in the area. Charlie is busy practicing his keyboard and may have another musician to jam with at the campground. He also has his H.A.M radio set up and has a new, improved and much more compact antenna to reach his fellow radio operators.  I also frequent the Waveland library for exercise and craft classes.  It is nice spending time with the locals.

For the new year, I have rededicated my efforts to eat better and move more. I’ve been getting in my 10,000+ steps daily and keeping a food log.  I joined a Wellness Team offered through one of my special FB groups.  We meet weekly through Zoom for 12 weeks.  Our first task was to choose a word which would represent what I hoped to strive for in 2023.  My word in “consistency”.

I started working on our trip home. This is a process that takes a lot of thought and has many revisions until I come up with the best plan.  It’s a combination of what we want to see and who we want to see along the way. We leave April 1st and will need to be home by May 1st or before.  I will be sad to leave this area. I have come to love the ever changing beauty of the Gulf Coast.