Toon Town Ranch Revisited

Sunday found us sleeping in a little later than normal. I guess our day of shopping might have been to much on us. After our breakfast we drove back to Toon Town Ranch to see if the buffalo were in the pasture.

We were able to see these African cattle in their winter coats.

 A little further down we saw these which we thought might have been buffalo but turned out they were something else perhaps from the water buffalo family.

As we were driving out Sandy saw something lying on the side of the road. She said...."that's a bobcat". Sure enough upon closer examination it was a bobcat. Evidently it had been hit by an automobile and not that long ago.

We drove back to the motorhome and spent the rest of the morning setting up our booth.

If you didn't get the chance to watch the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie “November Christmas” with Sam Elliott Sunday night make sure you catch it when it comes around again. I guarantee you want regret it.

Until next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers.

Are You In Your Winter Yet?

I had a very dear friend send this to me and it sure hit home.

Read it slowly
. . and think about life .  .

You know, time has a way of moving quickly and catching you unaware of the passing years. 

It seems just yesterday that I was young,

just married and embarking on my new life with my mate.

And yet in a way, it seems like eons ago,

and I wonder where all the years went.

I know that I lived them all...

And
  I have glimpses of how it was back then

and of all my hopes and dreams...

But, here it is the winter of my life

and it catches me by surprise...

How did I get here so fast?

Where did the years go and
  where did my youth go?
I remember well... seeing
  older people through the years

and thinking that those older people

were years away from me and

that winter was so far off that I could
  not fathom it or imagine fully what it would be like... 

But, here it is... my friends are retired and getting gray...

they move slower and I see an older person now.

Lots are in better shape than me...

but, I see the great change... 

Not like the ones I remember who were young and vibrant...

but, like me, their age is beginning to show
and we are now those older folks

that we used to see and never thought we'd be.
Each day now, I find that just getting a shower is a
  real target for the day!  And taking a nap is not a treat
  anymore... it's mandatory! 

Cause if I don't on my own free will...

I just fall asleep where I sit!
And so, now I enter into
  this new season of my life unprepared

for all the aches and pains and
  the loss of strength and ability to go and do things

that I wish I had done but never did!!!
But, at least I know, that though
  the winter has come, and I'm not sure how long it will last...

this I know, that when its over...

its over....

Yes, I have regrets.

There are things I wish I hadn't done ,,,,,

things I should have done,

indeed, there are many things I'm happy to have done.

  It's all in a lifetime....
So, if you're not in your winter yet...

let me remind you, that it will be here faster than you think.

So, whatever you would like to accomplish in your life

please do it quickly!
   Don't put things off too long!!
Life goes by quickly.
   So, do what you can today,

as you can never be sure whether this
  is your winter or not!
You have no promise that you will
  see all the seasons of your life...so,

live for good today and

say all the things that you want your loved ones to remember...

and hope that they

appreciate and love you

for all the things that you have done for them in all the years past

"Life is a gift to you.

The way you live your life is your gift

to those who come after.

Make it a fantastic one."
LIVE IT WELL!!!----

ENJOY TODAY!!!!-----

DO SOMETHING FUN!!!----

(Author Unknown)

Until next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers.

The Day After Black Friday

I let Sandy talk me into going with her to Tyler for a little shopping.  most of the stores where busy with shoppers but we think the big crowd was yesterday. Most of the stores made the proper preparation in staffing their stores with floor salespersons and cashiers. While driving the loop we saw two pretty bad accidents on the opposite side of the lane we were on.

Best Buy was the busiest and their inventory was adequate along with plenty of floor people to assist and answer your questions.
We stopped at SAMs on our way back to Canton and it was wall to wall with shoppers. The lines at the check out went pretty slow.

After leaving SAMs we drove across the way to Rudy's real Texas BQ. Sandy had their chopped beef and I had their sliced  beef sandwiches. All I can say is delicious.

They have two types of BQ sauce "sissy and regular". The sissy was a little to sweet for me. Their country store was interesting.

On our way to Canton Friday I saw a field of buffalo, camels, ostriches and zebras. It wasn't that far from Canton so we took a drive over to see what this was all about. The buffalo were not out or they were further back in the pasture. This place is called Toon Town Ranch and we suspect you can drive down the road and get a close up of the animals.
(click on photos to enlarge)

There were about four zebras, about a dozen camels, and one ostrich. We will try to go back tomorrow to see if the buffalo are out.

Look at those horns on the cow or bull laying down. I don’t believe this is a Texas longhorn there to close together and extend up instead to the side.

Some times the zebras would chase the camels and then the camels would chase the zebras. The ostrich just watched.

I guess these guys thought we might have something for them to eat as they came charging from the back of the pasture up to the fence line where we were.

 

This place is south of Wills Point TX off I20, exit 516. The service road is a two way road and if in the area drop by and take a look for your self's. Sandy thought if we got to close to the camels they would spit on us.

I could just kick my self in the buttocks as I probably missed the best football game of the weekend Nevada vs. Boise State. I turned the game off when Boise State was leading Nevada by 17 points. Woke up this morning and I be darn if Nevada didn't tie Boise in regulation time and won it by a field goal in the 2nd overtime 34-31. This loss obviously knocked Boise out of the BCS hunt.

Until next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers.

Our Move To Canton First Monday

Sure was glad I did most of our make ready chores yesterday as it was cold this morning. We got our goodbye hugs and said "se ya down the road". Our departure was around 9:30am with our arrival at 11:25am. Before going to the Pavilion we stopped and filled up with diesel at $3.05 a gallon. our fuel mileage was 8.7 mpg not bad considering the extra weight we were carrying. I  filled our fresh water tank before leaving Cowtown not knowing if the water would be on at Canton. Also the six grids used to display our product isn't normally on board as we store them at Canton with our neighbors grids.
It didn't take us long to set the home up behind our booth. Afterward we had lunch at the Diary Queen and had their $5 Texas Burger meal deal which was a hamburger, drink,  fries and a mini blizzard.

Watched football the rest of the afternoon. Could not believe Auburn came back and won after being down 24 points. I can see why Oregon is rated #1. They are one of the best balanced teams I've seen and just about turn over free.

We had left over taco soup tonight boy was it good. Talked to my mom tonight and she had Thanksgiving at my sisters house. She fell and broke her big right toe so she was a little sore. The weather man says our low tonight will be in upper 20's. May have to run the furnace tonight so we can get heat to our bays. Don't need for our plumping to freeze.

I learned tonight that The City of Canton has launched a First Monday App. for I-Phones which will show you how to get here via GAPS, show different First Monday locations, and eventually enable you to take pictures of where you are to save. Next month they will have all this on Android phones.

Until next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers.

Our Final Day At Cowtown

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. We  had a shock when we woke up this morning to a little rain. The wind was out of the North 20-25 mph and boy was it cold. When you opened the door you had to hang on for dear life as the wind would literately pull the door from your hand.
Most of us hung out in our own rigs for most of the day. It was just to cold to venture out. I made all the necessary preparations for our departure in the morning for Canton today as our low in the morning will be in the low 20's with a wind chill in the teens. I did not want to have to do those outside chores in the morning. 
This evening Brenda and Sandy each made their Taco Soup (a break from tradition). We all gathered at the club house for our social hour and Thanksgiving meal. Both soups were just outstanding along with the corn bread muffins, salad and deserts.

After dinner the guys settled in and watched the Saints and Cowboy game. To bad the Cowboys fell a little short. After the game was over we all departed to our rigs for the night to watch the Aggie and Longhorn game. While the guys watched football the  ladies did their thing.
I can say  we have certainly enjoyed our stay here and this being our first to meet up with these friends it was certainly worth every minute. Hope we can do it again soon.

 

Now I can not wrap this blog up without mentioning our first encounter with Meg. She is one of the smartest, high energy dog’s I’ve ever been around.

She belongs to John and Brenda as most of you know. I was cautioned about not playing sticks with her but old softy me could not resist. I played one time with her just to be able to say I did and to watch those big brown eyes really soften you up. Now how does one refuse this.

See those big brown eyes and if you will look closely you will see a strand of grass on John’s shoe just begging me to pick it up and throw it.

We had one injury this week as Joe dropped a chopper on his big toe and here it is. Please send him all the get well wishes you can as I'm sure he will appreciate it.

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.

Lets See Now. . .How Many People Can You Feed In A Motorhome. . .How About Ten

Last night we decided to eat pizza for dinner. The girls went to the local Pizza Hut and brought back pizza to eat outside. When they got back we decided it was a little to cold and windy to be eating out. Lets see. . .there are ten of us do you think we can all fit in one of the motorhomes? Mark and Dortha assured us we would all fit in their motorhome. So off we go. Sure enough we all fit in their very well. We had to use two lawn chairs but we made it. Lets see how we all fit. Sorry for the out of focus pictures but hope you get the idea. hummmmm I wonder if this might be a Guinness World Record????? Thanks Mark and Dortha for opening up your home to us.

I meant to show the following rig that was at the KOA in Arlington in yesterdays blog. These are for Mike McFall and Rollie Thurston.

I don’t know if all black would have been my choice but it sure looks sharp as long as it stays clean.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and Sandy and I have sooo much to be thankful for. Hope you have a great day with your families as we will be having a great one with our RVer families here at Cowtown.

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.

Our Move To Cowtown RV Park

Sandy and I both were in bed early Saturday night as the events of our final day and load out just zapped us both.
You would think we would sleep in Sunday morning but no Sandy was up at her usual 6:15am time. Plan was to drive our departure route in the Jeep since we could not exit the RV park and go back to I20 due to the medina on Cooper Street.

We also remembered a Mimi's Cafe on the feeder road of I20. We first experienced this restaurant  chain in Southern  California doing craft shows several years back. What we remembered where their homemade muffins. So our game plan was to also find Mimi’s.

Sandy put on a load of laundry and off we went. Soon we found Mimi’s and Sandy purchased four of their muffins, let's see blue berry, carrot, and two buttermilk. Boy they were just as good as we remembered.

We made one last trip by the Dallas Cowboy’s Stadium as I wanted to take this photo of the stadium near the small lake. This lake also backs up to the the Ballpark where the Texas Rangers baseball team plays.

Back at the motorhome Sandy was able to do three more loads of laundry before our departure to Cowtown RV Park where we would spend our Thanksgiving with friends Mark/Dortha , Joe/Sheri and new friends John/Brenda and Rod/Deb.

We departed for Cowtown around noon and arrived right behind Joe and Sheri. After setting up Joe and Sheri dropped by and we caught up on all that has gone on in our life's since our last contact. Later we went and ate at a wonderful pizza place called Zinna Pizza. Boy was it good. Afterwards we did the Walmart thing.

Monday was the day everyone else arrived John and Brenda, Mark and Dortha, and Deb and Rod arriving last. It was certainly nice to meet up with old and meet new friends. Boy were their some jawing going on around the circle last night. Around 6pm we decided it was time to go eat. We decided on BQ and the 5 girls loaded into Marks Jeep and the 5 guys in Rod’s Edge and off to Spring Creek BQ we go. We all had excellent meals and enjoyed the friendship of everyone.

Tuesday the girls left for their shopping fixes at Costco, The Container store and I’m not sure how many more stops they made. The guys just hung around discussing and resolving all the world problems.

Untilk next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers.

Peddler Show Final Day

We had to get up a little earlier this morning as we wanted to get to the show early to assure ourselves a close by parking for our load out this evening. We did our usual stop at McDonalds for breakfast. We noticed for some reason there were a lot of street people there. Particularly their bathroom where two guys were washing their face and brushing their teeth. My heart goes out for people like this that have fallen on hard times.  One particular gentleman who was setting in a corner next to a window caught my eye. It seems he was staring off into space I'm sure pondering his today or perhaps just his past. It was quite cool this morning and I just don't know how they manage
to survive.

When we arrived at the convention center we found other vendors had the same idea as the best parking spots were already taken.  Was able  to park fairly close to the load out door. While setting in our Jeep waiting for the doors to open we noticed a Arlington police car pulled into the parking lot escorting a truck trailer with a portable watch tower on top. We don't know if they were setting it up for today's show or tomorrows Cowboy game.
This being Saturday and our last day the crowd waiting to get in looked larger than the past two mornings. We had our first sale right away so maybe we are off to a good start.

Went to the Jeep for my morning nap. This guy stopped by and looked in on me. The plane traffic was just as busy as the prior days and the roar of the jet engines at a distance did their job of luring me to sleep.
While Setting  in the Jeep I couldn't help but fell this day was going to be a good crowd day. Cars kept circling the lower parking lot, like vultures circling a dead animal, looking for a spot to park. Eventually I noticed most of them headed up hill to the upper parking lot which is a pretty good walk to the entrance of the show.
Hey I better get back in there with our back up inventory just in case Sandy was running out of some colors. Sure enough as I walked into the building all I could see and hear were people, every aisle wall to wall and no bowling balls down the aisle today as it would be a guaranteed strike.

I noticed while setting in the back of our booth and observing Sandy as she pitched her product If you tied Sandy's hands I don't believe  she would be able to talk or sale a thing.

One of the sponsors for the show is Chick-Fil- A and the black and white cow was walking the aisles. Tried to get Sandy to have our picture taken with the cow and she wouldn't have any part of it. Haha 

What's this a vending machine that accepts credit cards! What's next?
We quite accepting credit cards about three years ago. We first were scared to death that it would hurt our sales. We went ahead with the decision to stop and haven't looked back. I can not count on one hand the number of sales we lost since making that decision. Most would pull out cash or wrote us a check once they learned we didn't do credit cards.

Well the sun is about to set on another show. there is only one hour left before it closes and we began the tear down and load out process. Over all on a scale of 1 to 5 with one being excellent we rate the show as a 2.75 not excellent but not the worst either. We had to make four trips to the Jeep wish our product before we were out of there.

We check out tomorrow and head over to Cowtown RV Park where we will meet up with our good friends the Halls and meet for the first time Rod and Deb Kendall as well as  John and Brenda Brown.  We've been following both of their blogs for some time and we feel we already know them. Can't wait for the fun to begin. Hope we haven't board you to much with this craft show business.

Until next time . . . .MtnAire Travlers.

Peddler Show Day 2

We were up before 6am and proceeded to put things together for our day two of the Peddler Show. Our morning was a little crisp and windy. We stopped for breakfast at McDonalds. Our crowd was not bad outside waiting for us to open. 

Long about 11:30 I felt like it was time for the morning zzzzzzzz's. Went to the Jeep for a little nap. While out there I couldn't help but recognize the convention center must be close to the DFW airport as the overhead air traffic was pretty busy with their landing and take off patterns. The jet engine noise was like a tranquilizer though as it certainly aided in my zonking out.

After about a thirty minute power nap I returned to the booth to fine Sandy had done quite well in my absence. She does this anyway whether I'm there or not. The crowd was a little light for a Friday. Oh well there’s always tomorrow.

It was nice when we ran into a lot of our friends that are still doing the Peddler. Brought back memories when we did the shows on regular bases. Hey... guess what I let Sandy take a brake (wasn't that nice of me) and your not going to believe this but I sold a large black purse insert to a lady who was buying for her mother.

This is where I hang out during the show back where I don't bother anyone. A customer came to the back table where I was and I said hi there and scared the dickens out of her. I gave her the product pitch while Sandy was busy with a customer up front… yep she purchased two of them. Maybe I can sell these things after all.

About 3:30pm I felt a nap coming on and ventured to the Jeep. After a brief nap I walked back onto the convention center and knew right away things might be a little slow. When you see vendors outside there booth visiting and you can throw a bowling ball down the aisle and maybe hit a customer or two .... yep things were pretty slow.
We are expecting the crowd to pick up after 5 pm when people get off work.

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.

Peddler Show

Day one started at 5pm and went till 9pm. Our start  was a little slow but gained momentum as the evening progressed. I learned real quickly how I missed not having the motorhome behind our booth like at Canton. What I'm getting to is this….just sitting in the back of our booth just doesn't cut it. I miss the ability to go inside the motorhome, lean back in my Lazy Boy and take a nap. Boy am I spoiled. I just can't imagine what tomorrow and Saturday are going to be like. Those show hours run ten hours each.

I don't do well selling a lady's purse insert.  No sir re.Let's see I find myself telling some women who are beyond the child bearing age  that the purse insert it will also work well in their diaper bag. The look I get just runs chills up my spine.

Or, how about “these sure helps you keep your purse organized where you can find things.” and their response is I don't want to be that organized. We’ve had men buy them for organizing their center consoles in their SUV’s or trucks. Had one guy ask if they came in camo as he would use it for organizing  his ammo.

The best of all is "it allows you to change purses fast and your husband doesn't have to wait long while you do the shifting”. Her response…. well he just will have to wait.
Just like what happened tonight I had given Sandy a break and a lady asking if we had other key finders ring and clumsy me says sure I reach back to bring out the third

fey finder and the rack slipped out of my hand and fell to the floor. The lady was real nice she just laughed and proceeded to purchase three of them.  Yea......We're in the money. Boy, if there was a way to bring the motorhome here I would but the Jeep will just have to do tomorrow for those little siesta's.

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.

Our Move to Arlington

Sandy and I both were up at 6am and made our final preparations for departure to Arlington. Our morning low was 43 dredgers. Trying to roll up the 50amp power cord was like trying to roll up a 50ft board. Took several attempts to get it tucked away.

An interesting point most of our counties are dry. You have to drive awhile to find a wet county to purchase alcohol. The small community of Winnoa recently voted itself wet. It  seems overnight they opened six liquor stores all within 50 yards of one another. Their draw is from Tyler and other dry counties in the area. We also learned from BIL James Lone Star voted itself wet in the past election and property on Hwy 259 through town has sky rocketed. He said the many empty buildings will be converted to liquor stores. It' a shame that the it takes the evils of alcohol to turn a community from a ghost town to a thriving business community again.

After getting up on I20 and headed west the winds picked up to 30 miles an hour so much for good fuel mileage. It wasn't long before we came across this accident that had just happened.

 

After getting through this we headed to Loves that has a  Carl’s Jr for one of their scratch biscuits.
What has happened to diesel prices $3.12cash or $3.17 credit card. Also look what they have done if you want to dump they now have a $5.00 fee.

Now tell me what has happened to that friendly attitude toward RVer's. Now that Pilot owns Flying J their fuel prices  are no longer the cheapest. Is all of this a conspiracy against RVer's. Enough ranting.

We arrived at Speedco where David our assigned crew chief directed Sandy into one of their bays. Before long three crew members jumped on the motorhome and did their PM service on the engine and chassis. They changed the oil filter and two fuel filters. The one on the engine was not that easy to change. JD finally won out and “got r done”. I was surprised to see the ISL 400 Cummins took 26 quarts of oil.

While here I had them change the oil, fuel filter and oil filter on the genset. Now this took some doing as it took one hour to perform this service. Most of the delay was due to not having the proper wrenches to undo the fittings of the fuel filter. While they backed Sandy out I went in to settle up. After paying them $254 I went outside and Sandy already had the Jeep hooked up. What a gal!

We arrived at the KOA at 1pm and was assigned to our spot #321. We loaded our displays and product into the Jeep and headed to the Arlington Convention Center where we set up our booth from 5pm till 9pm. We arrived back at the motorhome about 9:30 where we had a quick snack and settled down to some TV watching. Tomorrow the show starts and we hope their will be a good crowd.

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.

Been Awhile Since We Have Done A Peddler Show

Tomorrow we head out to Arlington, TX where we will do a Peddler show this weekend. We have not done one of these in several years. We use to do most of them held here in Texas but with aging parents and the slow down in our economy we quite doing them. Our supplier of the purse inserts asked us to do this show as she had a conflict with the dates of the show. 

We hope to get off in the morning pretty early as I want to get the oil and filters changed at Speedco in Dallas before we get into Arlington. We have reservations at the KOA of Arlington for Wednesday through this Sunday. This RV Park is about eight miles from the Arlington Convention Center. Also the Texas Rangers ballpark is nearby. 

For the past 33 years, The Peddler Show has offered shoppers a truly remarkable and one-of-a-kind shopping experience. Currently operating over 25 Peddler Shows annually, the Show's Jury Board is devoted to maintaining a fresh and unique marketplace – offering repeat shoppers something new with each visit. Shoppers will find a vast selection of unique items including personalized designs, home décor, hand crafted jewelry, fashionable clothing, gourmet treats, creative gifts and so much more!

The Peddler Show offers shoppers a one-of-a-kind custom shopping experience. A trip to the mall will never feel the same after you've seen the vast selection of unique items the Peddler Show has to offer! It's never too early to start shopping for Christmas!  Beat the crowds at the mall and find everything for everyone on your list this year at The Peddler Show!

***DUE TO THE DALLAS COWBOYS GAME ON SUNDAY, THE PEDDLER SHOW DAYS AND HOURS WILL BE CHANGED TO THE FOLLOWING:
Thursday 5pm-9pm (Sneak Peek-Stroller-Free Shopping)
Friday: 10am-8pm
Saturday: 9am - 6pm
Closed on Sunday

They normally go through Sunday but since the Dallas Cowboys have a game that Sunday and their new stadium is near by they need the parking space for the fans. lets hope they show up after their poor performances. Just maybe with there new coach Garrett they may be able to salvage whats left of their season. One would certainly hope so anyway.

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.

Fall Foliage In Northeast Texas

I don't know about your area but the Lord has been real busy painting in ours. Despite the rain fall defecate we experienced this summer our fall foliage are just magnificent. According to those who know this area better than we say one reason is the area has not experienced it’s first frost yet and the leafs have not fallen.. Also this just isn’t the best place for color anyway. It’s simple, this area lacks deciduous trees, trees that loose leaves in winter. Not based on anything scientific, but maybe half the trees in this area of Texas are evergreens and because of this those that change their color really stand out..

Sandy and I’ve been out driving around in Northeast Texas this last week and have seen some glimpses of color along the road. Not really solid color, just spots of yellow and red here and there. Hope you enjoy.

Hwy 259 from Lone Star to Longview.

FM1844 and Hwy 529

 

 

 

 

 

When we got back I suggested to Sandy that we pick up her mom and head toward Lake O’ The Pines and Jefferson TX. Unfortunately it was later in the evening and their was a cloud cover put we did get to see some foliage.

These are taken off FM 729 toward the lake. The colors were not as crisp as you can see but we fell her mom enjoyed the outing as she was good at telling us what trees we were seeing the different colors. Lets see dogwood, sweet gum,  hickory nut, any many others that Sandy and I had no clue as to what they were.

(Click on any picture to enlarge)

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.