Thomasville, GA and on to Livingston, TX
The road took us from Tifton, GA over to Thomasville to visit for a few days with a dear friend of many year's standing, Sylvia. We made two forays to one of the best eaterys in that sweet old town, The Market Diner, which is situated right next door to the State Farmer's Market. Are you getting the picture? Another interesting sidelight was attending the Mennonnite School Auction/Bake sale/BBQ Chicken Dinner at Meigs, GA. All the items being auctioned (to raise funds for their school) were handmade...beautiful quilts, lovely furniture items like dining room tables and chairs, wood shelves, etc. And, of course....those baked goods! Man, can those ladies cook! The rest of the time was spent just visiting with Sylvia, attending worship services at the First Baptist Church of Thomasville, and just "cooling it".
Monday, May 8th, we said our last "see ya later"'s over breakfast then headed out of town and on toward Texas. An interesting side note on this leg of the trip: we ran into a fellow at a rest stop near Dothan, Alabama who had ridden a bicycle ALL THE WAY FROM ALASKA! He had been a year and five months on the road. His name, David McCarthy (a third cousin of the famous..or infamous Senator Joe McCarthy of the 50's). He had been a career Coast Guard officer, retiring as a Lt. Commander. He was on his way to Pensacola for a reunion...and to win a wager with his old base commander as to whether he would actually complete the trip. Among his adventures...being bitten by a rattlesnack that had crawled into his sleeping bag while he was camping in the Mojave Desert. That little escapade landed him in the hospital for 5 days. His 12-year old son shot the snake's head off with his dad's 9mm pistol!
Monday night found us at another Passport American campground, Rivers Edge RV Park, near Holt, FL. Very nice, quiet park that seems to cater to the fishing crowd.
Tuesday night we were at Poche's Fish N Camp (pronounce POE SHAY)...a true Cajun place near Breaux Bridge, LA. The whole campground was set up around fishing ponds...hummmmm, I see a pattern taking shape! They had a beautiful pool and the laundry room housed brand new washers and dryers. The mosquitos were quite vicious as dusk approached and ran us indoors.
Wednesday, May 10th: We finally made it to the Escapees park outside Livingston, TX. Mapquest sent us on a circuitous route out through the hinterlands, onto a narrow, dirt/gravel road in the middle of nowhere! Buddy was sweating whether we would even make it out of there at all when we came to the end of that road and a choice of going left or right. While we sat there pondering...a gentleman came up in a pickup. Ah, a human! He gave us directions: 300 yards took us to the hardroad. Whew! We were literally just up the road from the entrance to the Escapees park, Rainbow's End.
We spent all the rest of the week there, taking the tour of the park, which included the National Headquarters building, the mail service area (very impressive) and the history of the club the first day. Day Two we toured the CARE facility, a one-of-a-kind facility for Escapee members who are elderly or need medical assistance due to some need or other (recovering from surgeries, other health issues, even Alzheimers).
They are able to stay in their RV's with their caregivers, right there at the CARE center which has Adult Day Care, meals, and all sorts of activities for them. There is even a Ronald McDonald-type respite cottage on the grounds! We picked up applications to serve as volunteers there sometime in the future...perhaps next summer (?).
We took a day trip over to Lake Livingston State Park, did laundry, walked and walked and walked...Just enjoying the park and the people.
Sunday, May 14th, we went into Livingston to another First Baptist...and some of the friendliest Christians we have yet encountered. Those Texans really know how to make you feel welcome. We also discovered some fellow Escapees attended services there. Sunday evening at the park we had an ice cream social and Elaine tried her hand at a dominos game called Mexican Train. Since I had never played any type of dominos before, my game-mates were very kind to show me how to play this particular game. I played two rounds with them while Buddy checked out the library, then stopped in at the free computer to check on and send some e-mails.
Monday, May 15th, we head on to Durango, CO.
The Road Runners,
Buddy & Elaine
1st Thess. 5:18
PTL!
Monday, May 8th, we said our last "see ya later"'s over breakfast then headed out of town and on toward Texas. An interesting side note on this leg of the trip: we ran into a fellow at a rest stop near Dothan, Alabama who had ridden a bicycle ALL THE WAY FROM ALASKA! He had been a year and five months on the road. His name, David McCarthy (a third cousin of the famous..or infamous Senator Joe McCarthy of the 50's). He had been a career Coast Guard officer, retiring as a Lt. Commander. He was on his way to Pensacola for a reunion...and to win a wager with his old base commander as to whether he would actually complete the trip. Among his adventures...being bitten by a rattlesnack that had crawled into his sleeping bag while he was camping in the Mojave Desert. That little escapade landed him in the hospital for 5 days. His 12-year old son shot the snake's head off with his dad's 9mm pistol!
Monday night found us at another Passport American campground, Rivers Edge RV Park, near Holt, FL. Very nice, quiet park that seems to cater to the fishing crowd.
Tuesday night we were at Poche's Fish N Camp (pronounce POE SHAY)...a true Cajun place near Breaux Bridge, LA. The whole campground was set up around fishing ponds...hummmmm, I see a pattern taking shape! They had a beautiful pool and the laundry room housed brand new washers and dryers. The mosquitos were quite vicious as dusk approached and ran us indoors.
Wednesday, May 10th: We finally made it to the Escapees park outside Livingston, TX. Mapquest sent us on a circuitous route out through the hinterlands, onto a narrow, dirt/gravel road in the middle of nowhere! Buddy was sweating whether we would even make it out of there at all when we came to the end of that road and a choice of going left or right. While we sat there pondering...a gentleman came up in a pickup. Ah, a human! He gave us directions: 300 yards took us to the hardroad. Whew! We were literally just up the road from the entrance to the Escapees park, Rainbow's End.
We spent all the rest of the week there, taking the tour of the park, which included the National Headquarters building, the mail service area (very impressive) and the history of the club the first day. Day Two we toured the CARE facility, a one-of-a-kind facility for Escapee members who are elderly or need medical assistance due to some need or other (recovering from surgeries, other health issues, even Alzheimers).
They are able to stay in their RV's with their caregivers, right there at the CARE center which has Adult Day Care, meals, and all sorts of activities for them. There is even a Ronald McDonald-type respite cottage on the grounds! We picked up applications to serve as volunteers there sometime in the future...perhaps next summer (?).
We took a day trip over to Lake Livingston State Park, did laundry, walked and walked and walked...Just enjoying the park and the people.
Sunday, May 14th, we went into Livingston to another First Baptist...and some of the friendliest Christians we have yet encountered. Those Texans really know how to make you feel welcome. We also discovered some fellow Escapees attended services there. Sunday evening at the park we had an ice cream social and Elaine tried her hand at a dominos game called Mexican Train. Since I had never played any type of dominos before, my game-mates were very kind to show me how to play this particular game. I played two rounds with them while Buddy checked out the library, then stopped in at the free computer to check on and send some e-mails.
Monday, May 15th, we head on to Durango, CO.
The Road Runners,
Buddy & Elaine
1st Thess. 5:18
PTL!
posted by Buddy & Elaine at 5:38 PM
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