Christmas Season - 2011

Family and Friends. This is our 1st year away from you all and we miss you dearly and the blues come and go. However, we "Thank God" that he led us here to the Escapee Adult DayCare Center in Livingston, TX as many of these folks only have us volunteers for the holidays. We are so blessed we have our health and can help those in need. So many have dimentia/alzheimer, blind, or other issues and are so grateful we are here. Many are so lonely. They love to talk and We all become family with the 37 full time residents. All live in RV's or 5th Wheels and are right next to the Center. This year they/we all donated and adopted a family of 7 to sponsor.  We collected over $600 to provide the kids with sosme nice gifts/clothes and food for the family.  So humbling and none of the elder wanted a gift. They do not care about gifts and are so grateful to have us and still give to others. How rewarding this has been being here. Please be grateful for what you have and thank God you have your health. Love ya All
Merry Christmas from John and Pat Morgan

WOW - I CAUGHT THE BIG ONE TODAY

We are getting ready to leave in a couple of days so wanted to get some fishing done.  We went out fishing today and I got a huge 30-40 lb Red Drum.  It was so heavy it tuckered me out bringing it in.  John caught a beautiful crab and lots of fish. This is right at the river where we are staying at San Jancinto Riverfront RV Resort in Highlands, Texas.  This place is awesome.

Our stay at Highlands Texas - San Jancito Riverfront RV Resort

San Jancito Riverfront RV Resort has been very enjoyable.  We have the most beautiful sunsets here, the fishing is great and we are near Houston, Bayfield and Galveston.  We enjoyed going to chuch to see Joel Osteen and life has been so relaxing.  Galveston and the Gulf has some beautiful sites.  We definetly will come back as we have enjoyed this place the most of our travels.  We are getting ready to go back to Livingston to volunteer at the Care Center for the elderly/sick for a month or so.  We look forward to it.  We just wanted to post some of the memories here in Highlands.
Here is our neighbor Eagle, eating his catch (fish).

 My first Flounder ever that I caught. Not big but had to share this one. John brought in his black drum and not sure how big it was. Great fishing.

Here is Lila and Victor. We sure enjoyed their company and spending Thanksgiving with them.  We played Mexican Train and of course, John won.   Lila came here and became a fisher woman as she had not fished before.  She is out there all the time and has done great catching some big fish.  She caught a huge Flounder, which made her become addictive to the fishing,  but this is her 35 pound Black Drum she caught yesterday (11/27/2011).  Had to post this catch. It was fun watching her pull this monster in on ther little pole with 10 lb test line.

We sure have had the most beautiful sunsets so had to post some of the scenery.  We shall return and Love It.

Galveston - Ferry ride

We went back to Galveston today with our friends Judi and David to take a boat tour of Galveston Bay. It was a beautiful day for a cruise and we really enjoyed it and saw so many dolphins and jellfish.

After the cruise, we went down to the end of Galveston Island and took the 15-minute ferry ride to Bolivar Peninsula in the vehicle. What amazed us about the ferry is that they carried motorhomes, 5th wheel trailers, 18-wheel tractor/trailers, etc. - just an extension of the highway! I took gold fish and we fed the birds while we were on the ferry.  Birds loved them. We then drove down the Bolivar Peninsula and could tell that they are rebuilding from the last hurricane. We passed a new grammar and middle school built up on pilings. All the buildings on the peninsula were built up on pilings. Lots of homes for sale in the area....not interested.  We drove to the Gulf side and saw a cement pad where a house had once stood (the lot was for sale) and lots of new homes had been built in various colors (bright).

When we went back to the ferry we were randomly selected for screening by Homeland Security. David had to get out of the truck and open all the compartments. Judi heard one of the security guards say "We may have a problem here" and couldn't imagine what it could be. David had an empty 2 gal gas can in one of his storage boxes and because it had had gas in it in the past we had to pull off to the side and David had to take it to the beach and fill it with sea water - then we had to go through the check again. (Judi and I enjoyed looking for sea shells while David filled the can with water!) We passed the second check and were allowed to board the ferry to return to Galveston.
We had lunch/dinner on the seawall in Galveston before heading home. There were quite a few people surfing outside on the Gulf as the water and tides were high.

On our way back home we passed so many amazing Mansions and the Popes Mansion.  The historical homes are open for tourists.  It was an enjoyable and wonderful day with my baby and our friends!

Sunday November 13, 2011 - Visited Lakewood Church

Houston Texas - Could not come to Houston without visiting Lakewood Church and hearing Pastor Joel Osteen.  It was fantastic and the message was so uplifting to both of us. "Appreciate those around you and do not forget to thank all, regardless of who they are if they are involved in your life."  Since we were new visitors, we had the opportunity to sit up front near the family.  We were seated 4 rows from the front right in the center.  Victoria is a fantastic speaker and also made up feel like we were family at church. The worshipping was beautiful and we also got to see Danny Goeke, who was on American Idol.  He sang and he was so thankful to be on the stage with Joel Osteen.  After the service we were allowed to go upstairs and meet Joel and have him autograph his new book; We had him sign both the book and my bible. I asked for a hug and he was so gracious and gave me my hug.  So upltifting and we plan to go back on Sunday.

Our day ended with a BBQ with a few of our neighbors in the park.  Thank you Dear Lord for a Wonderful Day.

Touring Galveston Island - Texas

 Today John and I got up early and found a Credit Union to deposit a check we have had for a while.  We do not want to change Credit Unions so we improvise.

Such a nice day we decided to tour more of  Texas and left for Galveston and went to Moody Gardens. They are decorating for Christmas and will be having a light show at night soon.
The weather was fantastic so we decided to go to Galveston Island, which was very nice and we walked the beach.  We then went to eat at the Kemah Boardwalk and again were charmed with the great food.  Saturday was packed with people and it was fun.  Great Day hanging out with my hubby.

Touring Texas with Friends Judi and David Kruse

Today was an amazing day and we toured the The San Jacinto Monument which is a 567.31-feet.  Took some great pictures from the top of the monument, not sure how to post them now on this site.

We then left and right next door is Battleship Texas.  What a wonderful historical ship and going inside was an eye opener to realize how the soldiers lived while on the ship.  26 toilets for over 1000 soldiers. Very historical and informative.  We then got on a barge in our friends truck and was taken over the San Jacinto River.  Lot of freighters and barges on this river. 

After our site seeing we then went to Kemah Boardwalk and it was nice.  Had a nice dinner and drinks with friend.  As we arrived home we had an amazing sunset.  Our dogs were angry because we left them so long, especially Muffin.  They are just like our kids and don't like to be left at home.  All in all it was a great day and such beautiful scenery over here.

First Month of Travels

We left Colorado October 3, 2011 and journeyed to Dawsonville, Georgia. We traveled through Kansas (stayed overnight); Missouri, Illinois (stayed overnight), Kentucky, Tennessee and then arrived in Georgia.  It took us three days to get to Dahlonega/Dawsonville, but we passed the most beautiful country and what a ride.  Our coach was great.
We enjoyed visiting our daughter in law Amanda, Ryan and Matthew. We went to a pumpkin patch maze with the kids, Ryans football games, shopping, out to eat and the boys stayed with us a few nights at the park at Etowah River. We BBQ'd at the park had a lot of things for the kids to do.  They loved it and we were right by a river so we watched people panning for gold. Overall it was a fantastic visit and we loved spending time with the family.

After our visit we went to Lazy Days in Tampa Florida. We were treated with lots of attention and enjoyed their treatment. We did not buy a new rig, but we enjoyed the Driving School. Learned alot. Then we left to Hoover Alabama and met Ellie and Jim Meacham, our friends that have been full timing for some time.

We then left and wanted to go site seeing in New Orleans. So we stayed at an RV site right outside of New Orleans. That was fun and we are satisfied visiting the state. We then left to Beaumont Texas. This was very nice and we stayed there for a few days just to relax. We then left to Livingston Texas for Boot Camp. We have now completed all of our training and are very pleased with both of the training sites. Throughout this journey we have met so many folks and plan to stay in touch with many. This journey has been great and I look forward to the future.

After touring, we left to Livingston Texas where we stayed for two weeks.  Escapees is a real nice RV park and they have some nice sites.  We did a tour and enjoyed learning about the history of the park.  The founders of the park are selling their house.  Joe passed away and his wife left to live with her children in another state so their beautiful home is up for sale. 

Our Boot Camp was here and what a great class.  We learned so much and met alot of people.  We exchanged names and will meet up again.  John and I realized we have to make some business cards to share with others.  We got lots of them from people we met.  Overall Livingston was very nice and we enjoyed all .  We plan to return December 1, 2011, and volunteer at the CARE Center for the elderly. We will be there a month to help out with maintenance and office work.  Look forward to it as they are always looking for volunteers.  Now we are off to Highlands Texas, near Houston.

Soon we will be on the Road

We closed on our home on September 9th, and are presently staying with our kids, Jason and Kallie Pino.
We just helped them with their landscaping and will be getting ready to leave to Cancun on Saturday and not returning a week later, late evening.  We then will have a Farewell BBQ at the kids home and leave on October 3rd to Georgia.  We plan to spend time with our grandkids and Daughter in Law.  We will shortly leave and head to some driving training classes in Tampa, Florida.  Once that is complete, we plan to take our time to Livingston, TX and enjoy the fall covers in a few states.  In November, we will be attending Boot Camp with Escapees.  We are so excited and this is a condensed version of what is up for the next couple of months.  I will post as we start our journey.