On The Road Again in 2013: Hello from Lakewood, NM

Entrance to the East View RV Park in
Georgetown, TX

We have to laugh because we couldn't find Lakewood on the map and according to some of the folks we've met here at the RV park, Lakewood only has a post office and a community chapel and both are pretty much wholly supported by the folks here at this park. I googled the population of Lakewood and the internet says 166 folks live here & that's probably about the population of this park. We are members of an RV club called Escapees and they have parks across the country, this being one of them so we decided to check it out. They advertise as the 'friendliest' Escapee park in the country and so far, in our several hours here, we can definitely say they welcome you with open arms. When you register, they ring a big dinner bell and folks come out of their rigs or stop as they're walking by from the Rec Center and give you a hug and say 'welcome'. I was starting to unhook the car as Dick was registering us and I think 4 people came by to say welcome and then they went in the office to say the same to Dick. Wow! At 4 p.m. every day they have 'social hour' and, of course, we were invited so we went and had to say a few words about ourselves, etc. etc. and got many more welcomes. Lakewood is about 20 miles north of Carlsbad, NM and about 16 miles south of Artesia, NM both much more sizable towns. We have never been to this part of NM so the obvious thing to do on our list this week is Carlsbad Caverns and I will tell you about that next week. Caverns are NOT my thing but I think I'm going to put my 'big girl panties on' and try to enjoy this underground experience.

Courthouse Square in Georgetown

We had a great visit with our two friends while staying in Georgetown, TX earlier this week. Both ladies are doing well and Becky, at 87, is having some hip issues right now and having to use a cane 'just for balance' she made sure to tell us. Turns out she has a pinched nerve and the doc is trying to treat it with rest and meds with surgery being the last resort. Nancy is very busy with her parents and their health issues but is beginning to find time to get acquainted and participate in some of the Sun City activities offered there. It also turns out that Nancy knew another of Dick's friends from his Goulds days lives in Sun City so Chuck called Dick and we ended up going over to their home for a nice visit as well.

After leaving Georgetown on Wednesday, we took the state highways to Fredericksburg, TX in what's known as TX Hill Country. We visited this part of TX in 2010 and really enjoy this very touristy town. Fredericksburg is best known for the National Museum of the Pacific War and is one of the best museums we have visited (and I'm not a museum buff). This entire museum is a six-acre property and includes the Admiral Nimitz Museum, the George HW Bush Gallery, Pacific Combat Zone, Plaza of the Presidents, Memorial Courtyard and the Japanese Garden of Peace. There are stunning exhibits throughout the Bush Gallery describing the tensions between Japan, China and the U.S. and continues through to the attack on Pearl Harbor. More exhibits including Midway, Tarawa, Iwo Jima and the Philippines and ending with the use of the Atomic Bomb, the Japanese Surrender, the release of the POWs, homecoming of the troops and the final exhibit shows the terrible cost of the war. We did not do this museum again just because we had done it only 3 years ago. Several times a year they do a re-enactment of some of the battles and we had planned to do that on Saturday afternoon, however, it was 100 degrees and we just decided we didn't want to sit outside for 90 minutes watching that. We can only imagine how uncomfortable those folks were doing the re-enactment because those old uniforms are mighty heavy and warm.

There are a lot of wineries around Fredericksburg but not being wine drinkers we passed on those. LBJ's National Historical Park is located outside of town and you can drive through there and the LBJ Ranch but Dick has some pretty strong thoughts about LBJ and his sending Dick and thousands of other men to Vietnam so that was not on our list of things to do while there. Lots of good german food in this area and we did partake in that a couple of times.

We did take a day trip to Boerne, TX and check that area out. There is a big RV dealer there and so we went to see some of the RVs we've been doing factory tours on. No, we didn't buy one!

It was just a hot hot humid week in TX and we just couldn't get excited about some of the hikes and things we wanted to do outside because after about 9 a.m. it was HOT! We did go to the Wildseed Farm which is the largest working wildflower farm in the U.S. Acres of wildflowers are grown on the farm for seed production and one of the gentlemen said that April was the 'perfect' month to visit the farm as everything is in various stages of growth with some fields in bloom, some being planted and some ready for harvest. There were still some fields in bloom this week but definitely the hot summer weather isn't the prime time to see them at their best. There is also a butterfly garden but they don't come out until late morning and we were there too early. Still beautiful to walk through though as well as a nursery with all kinds of plants and trees for sale all grown for TX by local TX nurseries, as well as beautiful pottery, and yard art.

Another fun stop this week was Opa's Smoked Meat Market near the RV park. Opa's has been producing the finest in smoked meats and cheeses for many years. We stocked up with as much as our freezer could hold. The TX hill country has a lot of fun and interesting places to visit and some good shopping so I know we'll be back.......maybe we'll make it a winter visit next time as they claim to have pretty mild winters.

Dick keeps some pretty extensive logs of our costs of full timing and one of the interesting tidbits he told me this week was that he calculated our RV park costs for the past year, including the dues we pay for two RV clubs we belong to.......Thousand Trails and Escapees, plus the parks where we have to pay our own electric, and the average cost per night is $18.60. Pretty inexpensive we think. Maybe next week he'll have our fuel costs calculated.

Happy Labor Day to all!