Sitting at Fun N Sun - Our winter home!

Last Saturday we rested at Hollywood Casino RV park.  The day was beautiful and warm, and lucky for us, Sam's Town Casino was holding a Chili Cookoff. For a mere $2.00 we got to sample from the contestants and pick our favorite. What a great lunch.  

Later that afternoon we went back to Hollywood for their first annual hot air balloon festival.  Neat to see the balloons light up in the dark.

Sunday morning we left Tunica and headed for Kinder, Louisianna.  We stopped at the Coushatta Casino RV park - a good choice since our last hour of driving was thru a major rainstorm. At the Rv park all sites are concrete pads, so setting up is a breeze.

Monday morning we left Kinder and arrived in San Benito around 7:45 pm!  Our trip of over 2,300 miles was done!  We are home for the winter.  Now the activities begin - get out out calendar !

Hollywood Casino RV Park

Saturday morning finds us resting at the Hollywood Casino RV park in Tunica, Mississippi (Just south of Memphis TN).  We arrived late yesterday afternoon in time to unhitch and set up the trailer in the fading daylight.  Then it was off to the casino for a crab leg dinner. It was great to sleep in our own bed last night.  We will stay here until tomorrow (Sunday) before we head out on the next leg of our trip.

Was fun to finally switch into shorts and sandals yesterday!!!!

We're Back!!!

Where did the summer go??  We had great plans to keep you all posted with our adventures - 2 Titanium rallies, a cruise of the Greek islands, a golf weekend in Canton, cataract surgery, etc etc - but not one picture made it to this blog.  Oh well next year.  LOL

Perhaps we should call this a blog of our Texas adventures!!

In any case, we hitched up yesterday and drove to Sarnia, Ontario where we spent the night at a Super 8.  Early this morning (8am) we crossed the border and drove to Horse Cave, Kentucky.  This is just south of the time change line, so we actually gained an hour.  Nonetheless, it was still 8:30 our time and 12 hours on the road!

A quick dip in the hot tub helped chase away the aches!

Stay tuned for our next update.

Back Home In Ottawa

Our journey home ended on Monday evening - April 16th. 

We crossed into Ontario at Sarnia, and were not delayed at the border.  All the posts were manned, so we were processed quickly.  A nice treat after a long journey homewards.

Getting through Toronto was not such a treat - but it is quickly forgotten once we arrived on our street. 

We spent Tuesday unloading the fifth wheel and then on Wednesday morning, Paul took the unit up to it's summer home at McGowan Lake Campground.  Once it warms up, we'll be summer camping!!

Our next scheduled trip is at the end of May.  We will head to Kingston for the annual Titanium Owner's Rally.  Looks like a fun time, so we'll post some clips from the event.

Happy Summer!!

Casino RV’ing in Tunica, Ms

We arrived at the Hollywood Casino parking lot in Tunica, Mississippi late Monday night.  We put out our slides and called an end to a long drive.  On Tuesday morning we registered in the RV park and set up for the next three nights.  

Tuesday was ‘Senior’s Day’ at the neighbouring “Sam’s Town Casino” – so off we headed to get our free slot money and our senior’s buffet discount coupons. There were also hourly draws, so Jane made sure we were entered. The food at Sam’s Town is usually good – and the evening buffet did not disappoint. Heck for $5.00 each (including free beer ) – what a deal. The slots were ok – Paul walked out $10 richer and Jane was still looking to win.

 

Wednesday is Senior’s Day at the “Fitz Casino”. But before we headed over, we spent a morning around the trailer. Paul got out the hose and washed the front of the trailer and the truck. We certainly did a number on the butterfly population and all those yellow splats really didn’t look good on the black truck!! After lunch we headed over to the Casino Outlet Mall – very small by comparison to San Marcos, TX – but nonetheless Jane is not one to pass up on the chance to find a deal. We didn’t spend much time shopping and then we headed over to the Fitz Casino.

Slots were not so good, but Jane won a free buffet – Paul won a free night at the hotel (not much use to RV’ers). The evening buffet was ok – and this one only cost us $5.60 for both after the free coupon and the senior rate. After dinner we headed over to the Bally’s Casino – just to stretch our legs in a new setting.

On Thursday we drove part of the way into Memphis to buy groceries for the rest of the trip back to Ontario and also to pay our Kohl's bill.  We stopped for lunch at the Memphis BBQ Company where we tried their specialty - Nachos topped with pulled pork and lots of jalapenos.  We decided we like this better than last year's spaghetti topped with pulled pork. We aren't sure what kind of cheese they used but this is a dish we will try to duplicate once we return home.
 

We took a detour on our trip from Tunica to Terre Haute, Indiana on Friday so that we could eat lunch at Lambert's Cafe in Sikeston, Missouri - the only home of the throwed rolls. Fortunately there were no tour buses there so we were able to easily get a table.
We weren't quite sure what they meant by "throwed rolls" but we watched as a waiter tossed the hot rolls to waiting diners.  Were they ever delicious as was all the food!! We bought a cinnamon bun for this morning's breakfast - it actually large enough to cover a small dinner plate. If you are curious about this eating establishment - check out http://www.throwedrolls.com/

 
Our last two nights on the road were spent in KOA campgrounds - in Terre Haute and Holly (near Flint) Michigan. Both had nice pull thru sites with good wifi. What more could we ask as we are getting tired and ready to end our trip.

 
 

A Visit with Mary & Marcus in Austin, Tx

Jane's college roomate (Mary Eckert) and her husband Marcus Felson have recently moved to a suburb of Austin Texas.  Here are some photos of Mary's house.  Note the longhorn emblem on the curb's street address.  Yes, Austin is the home of the Texas Longhorns. 

     
                             

On Saturday April 7th, Mary and Marcus picked us up at our campground and we headed out for a day of touring Austin. After a short drive, we ended up at the Whole Foods Market flagship store. We were able to sample some wine there and had a delicious lunch.

After lunch, we drove down 6th street - which has the largest conglomeration of bars and interesting watering holes in Austin. We stopped at the historic Driskill hotel and wandered through the lobby.
    
       

After visiting some eclectic neighborhoods, we drove to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower center. Check out the photo of the field full of Texas blue bonnets.  What a display of color.

            

On Easter Sunday, we started the day at the Cathedral for the 9:30 am mass.  We hooked up with Mary after the service, since we had been relegated to the cheap seats in the overflow area.  After mass we headed over to Mary's house for a brunch treat of soup with matzo balls (cooked by chef Marcus) and a lovely blueberry coffee cake.

       

After lunch while Mary cooked the lamb, Marcus drove us out to McKinney Falls State Park.  We toured the campsites and determined we could use this park for our fifth wheel.  We walked out to the river's edge and watched the locals swim in the currents.
  
       

Dinner at Mary's and Marcus' was outstanding.  After a leisurely dinner we bid our hosts a farewell and headed back to our campground to begin preparing for the next leg of our journey.

Monday morning we began our journey before 8am. The weather was perfect and the driving was good.  So 15 hours and 707 miles later we pulled into Hollywood casino in Tunica, Ms.  Since it was late at night, we pulled behind the casino hotel, extended our slides and called it a night.  Tuesday morning we registered at the RV park and here is a photo of our home for the next three nights.

On the road to Austin, Texas

Tuesday morning April 3rd, we hitched up the fifth wheel to our truck and after a quick swim to cool down, we said our last goodbyes and headed for San Marcos, Tx.  As we approached the San Antonio / San Marcos area, we became aware of the storm that was approaching the Dallas / Austin area.  In fact 13 tornados struck that area - but luckily we were just far enough south to have completely missed the fury of the storm.  Whew - missed another adventure but have decided to pay more attention to the forecasts as we head north.  Maybe we a weather warning radio would be a good purchase.

We checked into a pull-through site at Pecan Park Campground in San Marcos. It is a small campground located just outside the city's confusion and traffic.  Although easy to get to, getting anywhere in San Marcos involved congestion.  The campsites were level and came fully serviced.

Here are some pictures of the campground's river front and the wooded hills - yes we have left the palm trees in San Benito and we are now in what's called 'Hill Country'.

After an afteroon of shopping at the two super huge outlet malls (a major attraction of San Marcos)  we found a lovely pub by the river and had a pleasant dinner on their patio as we watched the locals go tubing in the river.

On Friday morning (Apr 6th) we moved up to Austin, Texas.  We pulled into Oak Forest RV Park - a definite step up in parks, with its concrete slabs and full service sites.  Sure is nice to not have to level the rig. 

After a quick lunch, we headed into Austin's catholic cathedral - St. Mary for the Good Friday services.  Our campground is located only 3.5 miles from the downtown core - so access is really convenient.

When the service was over, we headed over to the Texas State legislature building.  Austin is the capital city of Texas and the facility is open to visitors every day.  We took a short guided tour and then were free to roam the corridors at our leisure. We were amazed to see the number of wedding parties taking pictures in the rotunda. Tomorrow we will hook up with Jane's college friend for some guided touring.