Dains Traveling Days: Issue #9 -- April 2017 - On The Road

April 1st and it's time to get back on the road. We truly enjoyed our winter in the West and the visits with family and friends, both old and new. This month of travel is a busy one for us, lots to do in a very short time.
After leaving San Diego our first top is an overnight at Fiesta Grande RV Resort, in Casa Grande Arizona. The park is associated with Thousand Trails/Encore parks.

This is a nice, clean park, Easy in and easy out. You can walk across the street for a bite to eat or just enjoy a brew. We found the food, drinks and service to be excellent at Macayo's. It's a Mexican food restaurant, known throughout Arizona for great, reasonably priced food.

After some good food and a relaxing evening we were back on the road April 2nd.
We were able to get all the way to El Paso, Texas. In El Paso, we spent the night at Mission RV Park. This is a Passport America park, so the rate is 50% off the regular, daily rate.

April 3rd was another day on the road. After arriving in Abilene, Texas we checked into the Buck Creek RV Park, for a three night stay. The RV sites are nice and large.

During our stay in Abilene we found some very good places to for a good meal. The Dixie Pig Restaurant, a great place for breakfast that is known for the best biscuits & gravy in this part of Texas. Also, Sharon's Barbecue, known throughout Abilene for some of the best BBQ around.

Abilene was established by cattleman as a stock shipping point for the Texas and Pacific Railroad, and was originally named after Abilene, Kansas, the original endpoint for the Chisholm Trail cattle drives. Abilene has a distinct Texas cattle town flavor to it. We found the Frontier Texas Museum extremely interesting and well worth your time, if you want to learn about Texas history. David found pickled quail eggs, along with other cool goodies in the museum gift shop. ONLY IN TEXAS, PEOPLE ...

Abilene is also known for its Zoo. Personally, I have a difficult time touring zoos outside of the San Diego, California area, I guess I'm just spoiled.

In addition to several other legal issues we need to take care of on an annual basis, one of this years items is to get our passports renewed. If renewing your passport is on your list this year, be sure to check the expiration date and submit for your renewal at least a good six months before the expiration dates. If you need passport information this link should take you right there.

After out short visit to Abilene we were ready to move on to Texoma Lake, in Gordonville, Texas. Here we take care of two more of our annual legal issues. Before we go on to the Thousand Trails Lake Texoma RV campground we'll get both the RV and our vehicle inspected. Texas requires an annual vehicle inspection as part of the registration process. Because we spend most of the year traveling in the RV we are able to get a waiver which is good until we return to the State. Our vehicles don't require an emissions test, so the process is actually handled, very quickly, with just an equipment safety inspection, sent digitally to the Texas DMV.
The other legal issue we take care of is our annual firearms carry renewal. Since we are both retired law enforcement, per federal law, if we qualify with our firearm once a year we are able to carry our firearms in all USA states and territories. As this must be completed in our state of residence, we qualify in the Dallas area with Mike Lane, and his company Texas Firearms Training Academy. Mike is also a captain with a local police department in the area. He even has a classroom, range & building simulation range on his ranch for training local officers, and school teachers, how to stay safe. He also qualifies other civilians for firearms carry. Thanks Mike, we'll see you again next year. Stay safe!

Now it's time for some fun, (not associated with shooting firearms)!

While staying at TT's Lake Texoma, we are able to visit some friends, Jim & Robbie Collins. Last year I helped Robbie learn a crochet pattern for making a scarf and she made this beautiful scarf for me. Thank you Robbie, I love my new scarf!

I know it may seem as though we talk a lot about food, but that's because there are so many places to choose from we thought we should share them with y'all. Huck's Catfish in Denison, Texas is definitely a must try. The food is exceptional and prices are reasonable.

Ok, enough about food. You can't go through Texas in the spring or summer and not take in a Texas Rangers baseball game. We were lucky enough to catch a home game in Arlington on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. They won!