We're Planning Our First Cruise - Bon Voyage!

We've met many of our neighbors in the Park. One couple in particular, Joe and Cheri Gallemmo, have been an absolute wealth of information. You see, Joe and Cheri are retired military and they've travelled all over the world. They have been avid RVers for over 30 years and they've been on more than 15 cruises, so you can only imagine how interesting our conversations have been.

At some point during the evening we talked about the places we've been and where we'd like to go in the future. Australia came up, as did many other places in the U.S. and around the world. You see, Cheri and Joe are always on the lookout for the next great trip. They have access to a travel agency catering to the military and airline pilots. This agency provides them with tremendous travel deals.

The following day Joe and Cheri let us know about an incredible cruise they were considering. Cheri said "What do you think about a 30 day cruise from Seattle to Sydney, Australia?" Of course we were intrigued, and with little thought, we said "Let's do it!"

The cruise has a number of ports of call; Seattle to San Francisco; to Hilo and Maui, Hawaii; Bora Bora in French Polynesia; Papeete, Tahiti; Rarotonga in the Cook Islands; Pago Pago, American Samoa; Fiji (Suva); Auckland, Christchurch (Lyttleton), Dunedin (Port Chambers) and Fjordland National Park, New Zealand; ending in Sydney, Australia. An absolute dream holiday for us.

We will begin our journey on September, 23rd and plan to stay on in Australia and New Zealand for an additional month to explore more of those countries.

We cannot wait for this adventure to begin and look forward to sharing the details with all of you.

February 22, 2007 - Go Fly a Kite!

When you tell most folks to "Go Fly A Kite" they get their feather's ruffled. Not everyone - several of our neighbors in the park have Kites they like to take to the beach for flying. There is almost always enough breeze to get them airborn.

Chris Christensen, our neighbor here at Gulf Waters, recently had a great day to show us how proficient he was with his kite. To view more photos of Chris and Stan with their kites click here.

February 20, 2007 - Mardi Gras at the Gaff

A local pub hosted a Mardi Gras Parade for the Port Aransas community. It was great fun and everyone enjoyed the event. It was a colorful bunch and it is the only town I know that allows Jell-O Shots to be thrown from the floats. Of course there was candy and beads and lots of fun for everyone. For more photos click here.

February 16, 2007 - The Medicare Band

Another local hot-spot in Port A is Sharky's Pub. The Headliner on Friday night is the Medicare Band.

Joe and I had driven by Sharky's for weeks and chuckled each time we read their sign. We recently met a couple here in the park, Bob and Peg Fortmann, who invited us to join them to go hear the band.

All kidding aside, these fellas are pretty good. You need to get there early to get a table, and when they announce "It's Mommmbbbaaaaa Time!" get out of the way. There is not an open spot on the dance floor. We can't really say the music is our cup of tea, but these guys are talented musicians.

The band plays from 6 pm to 9 pm and when it's over - it's over. As the clock strikes 9:01 - it's butts and elbows lined up to get out the door. We didn't know what they were rushing off for, but they really don't mess around. Heck - the band is out of there by 9:05.

All-in-all we had a fun evening.

Peg shared a cute story about another band in town she wanted to hear. The flyer said music from 9 to 12. She and Bob showed up at 9 and there wasn't a soul in the place. She inquired with the waiter when the band was to start and got quite a chuckle. "Oh Honey, that was this morning from 9 to noon!"

Just remember, if you're in Port A - bring your dancing shoes and check out The Medicare Band! For more photos at Sharkey's click here.

Local Activities

The weather over the past two weeks has improved a bit. We've been able to enjoy the beach and soak up some sunshine. It will be short-lived so we need to take advantage of it while it lasts.



We met a few of our neighbors and have visited a couple of the local gathering spots. We're looking forward to taking part in some of local extra-curricular activities, Belt Sander Races and Chicken-Shit Bingo! They're held at a local pub on weekends and are said to have quite a following. Should be fun and good for a laugh.



The Belt-Sander races are held in the back parking lot. Sanders are raced side-by-side down wooden tracks about 30 feet in length (reminiscent of slot-car tracks, only bigger.) The sanders have names and are decorated to resemble sharks, racecars, outhouses, etc. They even have a PA system to announce the winners, no prize money - just braggin' rights.



The Bingo game should be a hoot - or at least a cackle anyway. The games are held on Sunday afternoon, weather permiting. I wonder how long it takes to finish a game? I guess it depends on how much the chicken has had to eat that day.....



The weather turned cold so the games have been postponed. I guess we'll hold out for the weather to improve (we've done that before.)




Will take photos and post when we get a chance to see the action!

Raindrops keep falling on our heads

Yes, we're singing...the blues! It has rained, and rained, and rained. As luck would have it, the Gulf Coast is experiencing an El Nino weather pattern. It seems as though we've been trapped in the bus for days on end. The weather cleared a bit on Sunday, we even had a ray or two of sunshine and were able to get down to the beach for a few hours. That evening, however, it returned with a vengance and it hasn't stopped. Joe has been pouring over the web trying to find us a place to escape that doesn't have rain in the forecast. No luck - it seems the entire Southwest is in a wet weather pattern.



We resorted to DVDs, and after watching Lost in America (an Albert Brooks movie) we've decided we should rename our blog as this movie most appropriately fits us.



All for now and enjoy the rain.

January 2007, Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!

We are spending part of the winter in Port Aransas, Texas at Gulf Waters RV Resort. Our site is about 100 yards from the ocean.


We've met a number of folks who have been fulltiming for a number of years. It is apparently more than a trend!


We've had good success adjusting to retirement - we are really having a great time. We wake up to coffee and the local newspaper. After breakfast we lace up our shoes and head down to the beach, (we spend most of the morning there.) We finally wind our way back home, have lunch, maybe take a nap or go for a drive, watch a little TV, go back to the beach, think about dinner - or better yet - where to go for dinner, oops! it's happy hour, eat dinner, take a walk, play cards or watch a little TV, go to bed. Most importantly, we are lulled to sleep by the sound of waves from the Gulf of Mexico, the cries of the laughing gulls and chirping crickets.

If we are so inclined, there are a number of organized activities offered at the JELM Center in Port Aransas. We plan to participate in an organized beach clean-up in March and Nancy is planning to try out the Yoga class offered at our complex.