A Dallas Texas Thanksgiving

We just finished a wonderful Thanksgiving week with family in the Dallas Texas area.  We finally make it to Texas after a long driving year from Florida all the way up to Maine and then back to the southwest.  Texas will be our winter home for the next four months.  Four locations for about a week each and then down near the Mexico border for three months at one place.  That will be our longest stay in one place since going full-time RVing!

In Dallas, we stayed at the Destiny Dallas RV Resort near the town of Denton Tx.  They have quite a few amenities but we did not use any since we were spending our time with family.  It was located about halfway between two of Pat’s brother’s homes.

The Drive In

I should have listened to my brother-in-law Robert, but went with the special RV GPS routing instead.  Bad move.  The GPS directed me to drive the big rig on I-635 in the express lane.  That sounds good until you realize that it is very narrow and I drive the rig rather slow by Texas standards and many people were not very pleased.

Soon all seven lanes became backed up and I had to cross them to make an exit.  The white-knuckle episode was not the low stress relocation that I was going for.  The Dallas metro area has 7.3 million people and it appears they are all out driving somewhere.

After another missed exit and re-routed through five or six turns, we were back on course again.  About an hour later now and blood pressure near the top of the chart.

We did safely arrive at the RV park with Robert and Sherri patiently waiting to greet us.  Very sweet!  We quickly parked the rig and then took off following them to a great Tex-Mex place about 15 minute back up the road.  After a Texas size fire and ice margarita, the world was looking much better.

Bryan and Jennifer Visit

Our son Bryan and his new wife Jenn flew out to visit with us and family for a few days.  That was very nice.  It was good to see them again after their two-week honeymoon to the Greek Isles.  They had a great time exploring the country.

Family in Texas & Thanksgiving Day

Three of Pat’s brothers and their wives and family all live here in the Dallas Metroplex.  Two in Keller and one in Plano.  We stayed overnight with two of them and also drove over for day visits a few times.

Robert and Sherri live in Keller and they met us upon arrival and then immediately had to leave for their place in Colorado.  They are also retired and enjoying some travel.

John and Cindy also live in Keller and hosted us for visits to the popular tourist towns of Grapevine and the Ft. Worth Stockyards.  Both very cool sections of the Metroplex.

John and Randy outside after the feast of BBQ

Then it was a fajita and margarita night at Scott and Andrea’s home (niece) in Plano.  This was the warm up to the big feast on Thursday.  We got to spend some time with their two sweet kids, Caroline and Isaac, at six and seven years old.

Trish and I spent Wednesday night at Mike and Lorna’s in Plano to help with the big Thanksgiving dinner.  We had all the trimmings plus ham and two turkeys cooked by Scott.  One deep fried and the other smoked on a grill.  Very yummy and a good afternoon watching some football on TV as the local hometown Cowboys beat the Redskins.  A great time was had by all.

A special treat was a visit by a niece who had been separated from the family for many years.  Paige flew in for the holiday week and we all enjoyed catching up on her life.

Some Other Notes

Some other highlights were a trip to a Plano escape room.  This was a first for us, but Bryan and Jenn were experienced and a huge help.  Lorna, Pat and I also enjoyed the endeavor.  After a successful escape that went just a little longer than their one hour time limit 🙁 – we ventured to the old downtown section of Plano to tour the old railroad depot turned into a museum.  Very interesting.

On another day, Mike and I went to a shooting range and then to Total Wine and More, a humongous wine and liquor store.  It seems everything in Texas is larger!  At the range, I’m trying to improve after a lack of any recent practice, compared to Mike’s great marksmanship.  More fun.

I hope that you had a great Thanksgiving and were able to spend some time with family and friends.  We are now in Waco Texas for two nights, then on to Austin Tx.

Take care and God Bless.