SUMMER 2018

We spent our summer in Virginia. We were Gate Attendants for the Army
Corps of engineers at John H. Kerr Lake. We had a lovely campsite. It backed right up to the lake.  We got chased out on Sept 11, 2018 because of Hurricane Florence. We managed to get of harms way before it landed. We managed to get in a few "vacation" days before we had to start our next job in Texas.

SUMMER 2015....We left Ft Worth April 1, 2015 and spent tge
Month of April in Missouri. We spent a few weeks at Bibder Park in Jefferson City,  MO
We spent the last part of the month at Mark Twain Lake
not too far from Hannibal, MO.  We got to visit with our son, John
and his family. Those kids sure have grown.

We left Missouri and headed up to Iowa
and spent a few days at Coralville Lake in Iowa City.  We visited the Amana Colonies and
tge Herbert Hoover National Monument.  We enjoyed them both. Then we started workibg our way up to South Dakota.  We stopped off at the Badlands for
a few nights. It was beautiful. We also went to Walls Drug Store.

If you've never been there you should stop in if you're driving by. It's very interesting
and takes up a whole block of downtown Walls.

We arrived in Spearfish, SD on April 29, 2015.

Its been two years since I've updated our blog. I'm sorry. I'll try to catch up
After we left Longview Campground Sept 30, 2014 we went to Benbrook Lake in Ft Worth, TX. We worked for the Army Corp of Engineers there as Gate Attendents. We loved the area.
There was plenty to do.

It actually snowed while we were there. That was a susurprise.  

Thought Texas was suppose to be warm.  We didn't mind. We

Were snug Iin our motorhome. 

I'll post some more updates later....I promise. 

SUMMER 2014

We had intended on spending this summer in Spearfish, SD but an opportunity presented itself so we ended up working as camp hosts at Longview Lake Campground in Lee's Summit, MO.  This gave us a chance to spend some time with our son, John, and his family.  They live in Boonville, which is about 2 hours east of Lee's Summit.

This campground is gorgeous.  It's almost hard to believe that it's just a few minutes from downtown Kansas City.  We have seen so many deer here.  One morning on our way to town we saw 17 deer from our campsite to the main road.  There are some pretty impressive turkey in this area as well.

Longview was actually a community established in the early 1900's by Robert Long.  He owned about 1000 acres here.  This would have been considered his summer home.  He had a large dairy operation, several kinds of horses.  There was a big horse barn.  His daughter was a well known equestrian and had a lot to do with the American Royal, here in the Kansas City area.  There were several houses surrounding Longview Mansion for people that worked for Mr. Long.  A lot of those buildings are still standing.   His main residence was in Kansas City and is actually used as the Kansas City visitor center, now.  Mr. Long was a lumberman.  He eventually left this area and established a town in the state of Washington called Longview, as well.  There is a subdivision not too far from the campground and all the homes are built to look like they are from the 1920's.  Longview Community college, now Metro Community College is within this community, also, with some little shops across from it...Like Subway and a pizza place to name a few.  It's really a very nice area.  I'm glad we decided to spend our summer here.

CADDO LAKE NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE - Feb 2014

We arrived here at Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge, in Karnack, Texas (Ladybird Johnson's home town) on Friday, January 31st.  Caddo Lake NWR is located about 11 miles to the west of Marshall, TX.  Right on the Texas/Louisiana border.  It's the only natural made lake in Texas. This refuge consists of over 8000 acres.


 This property used to belong to Mr. Taylor....Ladybird Johnson's daddy.  The land was mostly share cropped. The refuge became home to a great mix of early pioneers, including settlers who took up residence and trappers and fishermen who camped along Caddo Lake's shoreline. Timber operators and cotton plantations took advantage of this site's abundant forests and rich, river loam soil.


In 1942 Lyndon Baines Johnson persuaded the Army to buy the land from Mr. Taylor (that's how he met Ladybird) so the army could put an ammunition plant here.  Longhorn Army  Ammunition Plant was here for over 55 years, manufacturing  incendiary devices to rocket motors. During the Korean War, Longhorn expanded its mission to include loading, assembling and packing rocket motors and pyrotechnic ammunition.  Production of the original Nike-Hercules rocket motors began at Longhorn in 1956. Longhorn produced illuminating and pyrotechnic ammunition during the Viet Nam War. .  At it's peak this facility included 451 buildings, operated its own power and water treatment plants and was interlaced with rails for movement of the raw materials and finished product.  On September 9, 1988 Longhorn played a significant role in history when it was the site where the first U.S. missiles were destroyed as a part of the U.S. and Soviets INS treaty...the beginning of the end of the nuclear arms race between the world's atomic age superpowers.   


The history here is awesome.  It's very scenic, as well.  In 1997 the Army determined that this property to be "in excess of its needs" and the following year the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service requested that the site be transferred to them for the purpose of establishing a national wildlife refuge.  The Service began focusing on the management of the habitat for the conservation and protection of the migratory and resident waterfowl and neo tropical migratory birds that utilize these important wetlands.

BORDER FENCE, Texas 2013

I'm thinking most of my friends have no idea what the border fence looks like separating US from Mexico.  Well honestly it's a joke.  What purpose it serves totally escapes me.  It is not a solid continuing fence.  It's a panel here and there, big openings with no gates and no "protection".  Most of the time the "fence" goes along the levee, which in reality is not on the border.  Sometimes it leaves lots of US federal land behind the fence before reaching the Rio Grand.  There are some sections of it that make me think of the movie Jurassic Park.  You know when they are entering the walled in area and there is a big gate.  Some sections of the border fence have big gates.  I don't have any photos of those yet.  But it's my goal to get some.  Here's what I've got so far.  The fence is probably 15 ft high and it's made of metal.  When we went to the Sabal Palm Sanctuary we had to drive through the fenced area to reach it.  We had our passports so I wasn't worried about leaving the country, but once we reached the sanctuary we realized it was still in the US.

We actually don't have a fence like this along the river, here at the refuge.  There is a chain link fence, though.  There are lots of places along the river that have no fence.  We got a great look at the Rio Grand when we were at Sabal Palm Sanctuary. 

SABAL PALM SANCTUARY, Texas 2013

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.  A few days before Christmas we took a drive to Brownsville.  We went to the Palo Alto Battlefield and the Sabal Palm Sanctuary.  The first battle of the US-Mexican war started on May 8, 1846 at the Palo Alto Battlefield on the edge of Brownville.  The National Park there has a very nice facility and tells all about the situation leading up to the battle and the circumstances afterward.  Dale found it interesting that this took place a little over 100 years before he was born (May 17, 1946).  After checking out the battlefield we drove over to Sabal Palm Sanctuary.  The vistor center there is in a 2 story Victorian home that was recently renovated and just opened.  They have some wonderful walking trails there.  We really enjoyed our walk there.  There use to be over 50,000 acres of Sabal Palms along the Rio Grand.  Now all that remains is approximately 500 acres there at the sanctuary.  We have a few at Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge but less then 20 trees, I'd say.  Sabal Palms are native to Texas, withstanding the occasional cold weather we get here.  It takes them 100 years to reach their full height of 50-60 feet.