Written Thursday, April 13, 2006 @ 8:18pm (Mountain Daylight Time)
Here's a big ol' honkin' blahg post:
Yesterday we made it down to Fort Stockton and stayed at a KOA Kampround. They didn’t have internet connestion so we couldn’t blahg last night. We had some down home southern cookin’ for dinner at the “Road Runner Cafe” (at the campground) which looked more like a converted community rather than a restaurant. There was a young lady (I’m figuring late teens to very early twenties) running the whole show. There were about four tables full of people she was serving and cooking for (and doing dishes). The food wasn’t too bad. We left her a very big tip since she did such a great job doing everything by herself. We braved the elements after dinner and had the kids play at the play ground after dinner (the elements of: “it’s hot and that means critters are out... what lives in that hole...”).
The babies had a hard time sleeping last night. It took until almost 10pm for them to finally settle down. They had gotten used to Big Daddy & I leaving the RV to go in the house (we have a monitor with a camera we would have out in the RV with the kids - plus “Kujo” was always out in it with them, too - just in case you were wondering) so it wasn’t as dark or quiet as they were used to.
The Texas Branch called us today to let us know that one of our nieces completely came unglued after we left yesterday. She was sad to see us go. Today their 1 1/2 year old was grumpy and finally put on his shoes to go outside. He went running around the corner and grunted when he saw our RV was not there. He missed us (or maybe he missed Lil’ Bro)! So sweet. I guess they got kind of used to us RVin’ folks to be there in the mornings. The call made me want to just turn around and head on back to their house.
We gained an hour today since we’re now on Mountain Time. We’re glad for that. It gave us time to visit a wonderful museum in Las Cruces, NM. New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum had displays of old carriages and buggies as well as chuck wagons. We saw a two seater buggie that we called the “sports car”, a much bigger wagon that we called the “mini van”, the chuck wagon was called the “RV”. Given that they also cater to families with small children there was a little play room that had a big ol’ honkin’ fake cow, a teeter totter with saddles, swings, etc. We didn’t have time for such frivolity since we had already had the personalized golf cart tour of the ranch. There were different breeds of cattle. One being the Texas Longhorn... I can’t remember the other ones. Adorable calfs only a couple of weeks old were hanging out with the longhorned types. A big ol’ honkin’ black bull weiging in at about 3,000 pounds was neighbors with “Yankee Doodle Dandee” (born on the fourth of July 14 years ago) and “Big Red”. The name “Big Red” put a smile on our faces since it makes us think of our dear friends in New Jersey. When we visit them both families pile into a big red 15 passenger van to toodle around in.
We missed out on seeing the real live blacksmith shop and the dairy farm since our tour inside with “Slim Austin Green” went pretty long. This man who is almost 90 years old started talking to us. At first we didn’t realize this man was going to give us a tour of the exhibit on saddle making. We just thought the cane wieldin’ walker pushin’ gentlemen was just being friendly. We soon found out that the exhibit on saddle making displayed items from HIS workshop. He had donated items to the museum. He spent 62 years making saddles for the average citizen to movie stars (Robert Redford, John Wayne, etc) to US presidents (Franklin D. Roosevelt). He talked fondly of the time he was about the enter the army when a man approached him (I can’t remember the name but apparently we should have known who he was... someone big in rodeo type of stuff) to have a saddle made. The man waited five years for Mr. Slim to get out of the service. Mr. Slim made the saddle and the man won three big ol’ honkin’ prizes for his riding. Apparently, saddles made by this now elderly man are in other museums and have been auctioned (one recently was sold for $75,000). It’s always a pleasure to talk to folks who are in their 80’s because you can just see “history” in their eyes. It was a treat to listen to this man talk. He came from a time when there really were cowboys! Oh! Embarrassing moment must be reported here. As mentioned earlier this man carries a can (and has those cool walkers that can also be sat in)... our two old slammed his cane while pushing a stroller around wildly! Thankfully the man didn’t lose his balance! That would have been horrible.
Our adventure didn’t stop after we left the museum. We stopped to fill up on gas only to find that one of our gas caps (we have two gas tanks) was either left at our last gas stop way far back in TX or someone stole it. Now I know some people are also into some sort of conspiracy theory type of thinking... I think the cap just never got put back on. So now we can our own version of “I Left My Heart In San Francisco”... “We Left Our Gas Cap Somewhere in Big Ol’ Honkin’ Texas”. After the discovery we went on a hunt for a new gas cap. We located one (a nice shiny silver colored one) as well as some much needed light bulbs (our “porch light” works again! Yeah! Oh the little things in life.).
We had some more down home cooking tonight at “Cracker Barrell”. We’re trying to go to as many of them as we can before getting home since there aren’t any in CA. For those who have never been, it’s a country store type of restaurant that is very accomodating to families. We had an interesting experience there tonight. First off, our server was quite amused by our lil’ family’s eating abilities. Her eyes grew wide when I asked for a side salad to go along with the meal which already had vegetables. She then got a good chuckle when she came back about 10 minutes after serving us our meal only to find that our 10 1/2 year old had cleaned his man sized plate of meat loaf, mashed potatoes, green beans and corn (Big Sis had a tiny bit of his portion) and was ready to have it cleared from the table. Secondly, I noticed more people than usual staring at us tonight. Thankfully the kids behaved themselves (until after dinner while we were walking through the store in which case the two middle kids were completely out of control running and touching and squeeling... Big Daddy got them out of there pretty fast... we don’t have the money to take care of the “you brake it you buy it” motto!). We were just finishing up dinner when one of our family watchers came up to the table. She leaned over to me asking, “ Are ALL of these children yours?” “Yes they are!” I answered emphatically. “Did you adopt them?” she asked. “Some of them.” I replied. She then slipped me a twenty dollar bill and said “Bless you!” I looked down in shock. I thanked her bewildered. It was one of those situations where you know it would be rude not to accept. I thanked her again and waved “goodnight” as we got up to leave. Was a surprise.
We’ve settle in for the night. It’s hotter in the RV than outside but it’s bedtime so I guess we’ll deal with it. The AC worked for thet ime we ran it tonight (it’s not hot enough to tax it) and that helped to cool us off. Today got pretty hot in here while driving but we managed. I’m glad we’re travelling at this time of year rather than in a month or two, that would be unbearable.
I think that covers it for this chapter (that’s what seems like doesn’t it? You’ve read a big ol’ honkin’ blahg entry. If you read this all of it, without skipping anything, pat yourself on the back and leave a comment... maybe you’ll get a postcard! he he).
I’m going to head to bed soon and let Big Daddy use the computer.
Thanks for checking in!
Over and Out - Lil’ Mama