Hot in Texas!!

As hard as it is to believe June is almost over.  We have had some amazing times in the last 3 months.

We are in Austin, Texas now.

We had a great time in Florida and still didn't get to see or do all we wanted.  So we will just have to return another time.  We need to start our list of missed places and events now.

In April we spent one week in Williamsburg, VA and one week in Washington DC.  Our original plan had included taking the motor home and spending a month in DC, but the costs become prohibitive.  So we drove the car, spent a week in a condo in Williamsburg, VA, and found a relatively inexpensive hotel in Rosslyn, VA near the Iwo Jima memorial.

The condo in Williamsburg was very nice, with a full kitchen, laundry, living room and bedroom.  When we first checked in Bill noticed the toilet would not stop running so we called and they fixed it.  The reason I mention this is because when we got to Washington DC our hotel room had a toilet that ran, as well.  The hotel staff came right up and fixed it that first night.  The second night we realized that the while the freezer worked the rest of the refrigerator was bordering on hot.  So we called and voila.... they wheeled up a new refrigerator.  On the third night we realized that the microwave was not working.  Once again we called .... within a few minutes we had a new microwave.   By the time we left, the room was in full working order.   We weren't there long enough to test the dish washer but ..... I wonder how many spares they had??

We visited Williamsburg, Yorktown and Jamestown.  We took 2 Ghost tours, walked, walked and walked some more.  Driving over to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge we got to see the wild horses.  We covered a lot of ground in one week.

Washington, DC was a first for me.  Bill had lived there twice during his military career and was the perfect guide.  We were going to skip DC this time, since it is really expensive, but 2 weeks before leaving for Williamsburg we got an email from Senator Maria Cantwell containing White House tour tickets.  We had applied for these about 4 months earlier and never heard anything so we forgot all about it.  You have to send a request to your senator, send them all your info, then they do a background check... at least that is what they say.  Once we got the tour tickets, the decision to go ahead was easy.

The White House tour was interesting right from the start.  We were instructed to bring picture id, no cameras, no purses, no back packs.  You could bring a cell phone but if you used it ... they might confiscate it.  We had to pass through 3 security posts where they checked our ids and made sure we were on the list.  Then as we entered a mobile security building they had us stand on a marked spot and they took our picture.  Inside the building there were security dogs and another spot for us to stand and be photographed.  THEN we were allowed to enter the White House.  Surprisingly it was a self guided tour.  It was a fun experience and I was excited to have been able to see it.

On our way from Williamsburg to DC we stopped at Mt Vernon.  What a lovely place that is.  We only had five days to explore the DC area.  We managed to see most of the memorials, visited Arlington cemetery, explored the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, National Archives, National Air and Space Museum, National Cathedral, and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, plus a few other places.

Security is the name of the game in DC, all of the museums required a pass through a metal detector and a stern look from guards.  Especially serious were the guards at the Holocaust Memorial Museum, then we remember the 2009 shooting where a man entered the museum and started shooting, killing a guard.  No wonder there was extra security here.  The only place we didn't encounter a metal detector was the National Cathedral but the guards inside all carried guns.  Cement barriers are the landscaping decoration of choice, some even contain flowers.

We saw a great deal, but we missed lots.  We took the Metro out to the Pentagon and walked around to see the memorial commemorating the 9/11 plane crash into the Pentagon and the 184 lives lost.  I found out that we could have requested a Pentagon tour from our senator.  This is like the White House approval process and can take up to 6 months.  Rats.... this will be added to the "next time" list.

With all the memorials and museums one leaves DC with a mixture of sadness and pride. Bill always has problems at the Viet Nam Wall memorial.  I could see the emotion on his face and I could feel the sadness he felt as he touched the Wall.  It is so hard looking at the over 54,000 names of young men and women we lost in that war.  Such a tragic loss of our young brothers and sisters.  The memorials and museums honoring dead, both military and civilian, are heart rendering.  But as a nation we do have a lot to be proud of, this nation was founded with an amazing idea of freedom and optimism.  We could use some John Adams or Thomas Jefferson types in Congress today.

Leaving DC we visited Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home and then drove the Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park.  Unfortunately, it was foggy so we didn't get to see as many vistas as we would have liked.  But it was beautiful anyway.  We drove back to Florida, picked up the motor home and we headed west to OK.

If you remember from our last update Bill bought a motorcycle online and had it delivered to our good friends in Bartlesville.  They took care of it and all the other stuff we had shipped to them the last few months.  I have to admit I was skeptical that this would all work ... but it did.  The bike arrived in good condition.  The licensing in WA turned out to be very hassle free.  Bill and Dave tried to modify our car trailer to carry the bike, as well.  I am good at handing tools to workers but as far as coming up with an idea to do something like that ... not likely.  Unfortunately the idea of making the car trailer work for both vehicles did not pan out.  So driving from Bartlesville to Austin was a new adventure with Bill driving the motor home with the motorcycle on the trailer and me driving the car.  Except for the driving rainstorm from the OK border to Ft Worth the trip was uneventful-which is a plus in the RV world.  But let me tell you, TX rainstorms are something to behold.  I could only drive about 30 mph, with flashers on and if a truck passed, I could not see anything and Bill could not see me in the little car.

We have landed in the La Hacienda RV Resort in Austin, and all is good.  It is located near Lake Travis. It is a little further away from Georgetown than we had hoped but it is a nice park and we have a bit shade.  A bit of shade means a lot here.  The temperatures have been in the 90's and we are trying to get used to the heat and drinking vast quantities of water.  

Last Tuesday Bill left on a motorcycle trip.  He is working his way north to Kansas City and then back... enjoying as many scenic roads as possible.... and a few greasy spoons. Judging by the amount of stuff he had on the motorcycle, if we decide to do any long range riding we will either stay in hotels or we need a small bike trailer.

I am enjoying time with Emma and looking forward to meeting Penelope in a very short time.

We hope you all enjoying summer!!! 

Love to you all.... time to BBQ!!!!!!  The picture is Bill getting ready to assemble new BBQ.

Bill and Cathy