Happy Anniversary!!!

Today was Sheryl and I's 6 year together and the anniversary of our first date. Since we are here at Barksdale were I spent 6 years, we headed out so I could show her the sights.

My how things have changed after 15 years, the casinos were just going in and Shreveport was just beginning to reap the benefits of them. Now the area has really grown, even on the Bossier city side, we even found the new outdoor shopping area next to the new Bass Pro Shop, it's a great thing that has happened to the area.

After spending the day sight seeing, it was time for our anniversary dinner. Being in Louisiana, we decided on Cajun food and I remember this place "Ralph and Kacoo's" an upscale Cajun restaurant. It is still there so we figured it had to be good to last all these years. Well all I can say is dinner was great!!!

So instead of showing you the food, which pics never do justice, I thought I'd take a different approach and show you just how good the food was, yup cleaned those plates!!! Sheryl had the Shrimp St Charles (Deep fried shrimp stuffed with crab dressing and topped w/hollandise sauce) man it was good. I had the Crawfish Special (fried crawfish and crawfish etouffee over rice). Both dishes were excellent definitely check this place out for great Cajun food!!!

We had a great anniversary here at Barksdale, it was nice to beable to show Sheryl around one of my old haunts. The next couple of day will be more sight seeing and getting ready to head out on Tuesday. We'll have more from Barksdale before we leave, so stay tuned and we'll see you then.

Barksdale AFB, LA. Family Campground

We have arrived here in Louisiana and are staying at the Barksdale AFB Campground. Looks like we'll be here for a week, which is fine, all the more time to check the place out. I was stationed here in the early 90s for 6 years, so it's interesting seeing what has changed.

The campground is really nice, much has changed in the years since I was here. There's an office with clubhouse, shower house and laundry.

The sites are level with more than enough room between them. The campground is located well away from the main base and is very quiet.

Except for these little guys, who seem to fly directly over the campground each day. Each B-52 has 8 engines, which make a very distinctive, yet annoying sound (ahhhhh the sound of freedom), but after a few flyovers you tend to not notice it as much. So, overall a nice campground, and well worth the visit. Barksdale also has a large reservation which I am looking forward to exploring, we'll have that for you in upcoming entries. Ok, take care and keep lovin your life as we do ours!!!

Dinner with the Kids

This was our last night in Dallas with Chris and Kayla. We decided on dinner out at a place we have heard great things about, Babe's Chicken. All we can say is WOW, what a great place!!! food is just fantastic, service was great, and the atmostsphere was very local. The menu is limited to 6 meats and then all the veggies you can eat. The food was some of the best we have ever had, so if you are in the Dallas/Ft Worth area, check this place out, you won't be sorry. Our waiter was kind enough to get a picture of the 4 of us infront of the Christmas Tree.

The front patio is a sample of things to come.

The decor inside is very backroads Texas and with the family style servings, you feel right at home.

Were now in Shreveport LA. at Barksdale AFB Campground for the next week. It was great visiting Chris and Kayla as well as spending Thanksgiving with family and friends. At the same time it is good to be back out on the road again.
So stay tuned for more from Louisiana....................

Dallas Backroads

It's almost time for us to leave the Dallas/Ft Worth area, so I thought I'd post some photos of interesting things we've seen along the backroads of the Metroplex. Don't normally see to many Llamas just hanging out.

Beautiful fenced in ranch.


Well, it just speaks for itself.....lol


Where we want to live!!!


Rural TX sense of humor.


Abandon Barn in the middle of a new housing area.


Old Homestead.


Just goes to show, even around the big city you can find a little bit of old charm. You just need to head off the beaten path, slow down and just take a look around, you'd be amazed at what you find.
We should be headed toward Louisiana in the next day or to so stay tuned for more!!!

Mansfield, TX. Tree Lighting

Yesterday evening, Chris and Kayla took us over to Mansfield (next town over from theirs) for the Christmas Tree lighting, and it turned out to be quite the time. There were food booths, snow slides for the kids, a stage with music and much more. Directly after the tree lighting a beautiful fireworks display was put on. We were so close to the fireworks that the cardboard and paper wrappings rained down on us, it was great!!!

The Grinch even showed up to light the tree, he must be having a change of heart.....:)

The local school children were singing Christmas Carols

The crowd was quite large for a small community.

The elusive north Texas Penguins even made an apperance.

Small communities are great to visit, from their charming downtown areas to the festivals they put on. We'd rather visit them, than the larger big city events, as they are so much more real and heartfelt.

Evicted

Well yesterday we were evicted from in front of our daughters house by the Home Owners Asso. Actually it was the Cities Code Enforcement Dept (HOA didn't have the nerve to knock on the door and talk to us). Came home from shopping and (coincidentally looking at a local RV Park), to find the above nasty gram stuck to the RV window. I started to take it off and it just tore (they use some goooood glue on those things) then I thought I'd get a pic before removing it completely. HOAs do serve a purpose, but I have never been a fan of them.

Not a big problem as we had been staying with the kids for just over a week and were getting the itch to get back in our own home. We checked a few places on line and decided on the Mockingbird Hill RV Park in Burleson, TX (just south of Ft Worth). It's a nice park with very friendly hosts. The park is actually a Trailer Park with several RV sites intermixed, however it's quiet and well kept. We'll be staying here for a week to start and then maybe longer as we are waiting for a peice of medical equipment to arrive for Sheryl. This is a new experience for us, finally in a park with real trees, however we have found with trees, comes squirrels which run across the roof.

One thing we can say so far about this lifestyle, never a dull moment!!!

Thanksgiving With Family

Well another Thanksgiving has come and gone, but not the memories. It was great to see everyone again, Sheryl son and his wife came in from Oklahoma and her daughter and grandbaby came in from Georgia, meeting here in Dallas for the holidays. Not alot of pictures were taken as we just enjoyed our visit with everyone and and gave thanks that we could all get together.

Here's the little one, and you think we could get her to hold still for a picture..............well that was the best we could do.....lol.

Sheryls daughter Kaileigh.

All the ladies preparing the feast to come.

Our gracious hosts, Tiffany and Dave, Kayla's best friend since grade schools, who now just happens to live 7 doors down from her. Wow, what a small world.

A little snack before the main event.

Ahhhhhh Dinner is served!!!

After dinner at Tiff and Daves, we met back at Chris and Kayla's house for desert.

Again, we were so gratful to spend this special day with friends and family. I hope you were able to do the same and stop for a moment to give thanks for all the friends and family in your life worth living.

Happy Thanksgiving All!!!!