Just the Two of Us

My husband and I are still adjusting to the changes brought on by emptynesthood but I think we’ve made good progress. We don’t seem to be as depressed and worried. Our evenings are usually pretty quiet, and since its just the two of us, every night seems like date night.

We recently went on a trip that was carefully planned to encompass several tasks, ending with picking up our daughter for her Spring Break.

We have a business in south Texas, which we were going to check on. It’s a long trip of about fourteen hours that we’ve become accustomed to, but this time we’d be towing a “fifth wheel” which meant we had to drive slower. We had also been advised not to plan to drive more that about 6-8 hours per day.

My husband had spent a lot of time getting both his truck and the new-to-us trailer ready for the trip, so that it would go as smoothly as possible. I was mentally prepared to just relax and enjoy a slower pace.

When it was time to go and the truck was loaded, I found myself thinking, “Is it really this easy? Can we really just get in the car and go? Are we forgetting the kids? Do we need to check their schedules?”

Although I miss the kids, I’m enjoying this time with my husband to reconnect and enjoy doing things we like to do.

Small World

The first night we pulled into an RV park and started setting up. Another truck and trailer soon pulled up beside us and its occupants also started settling in.

The gentleman looked a little familiar to us, but I guess we both passed it off as him just having “one of those faces.” However, a little later when my husband and I were outside, he approached us and, having noted our license plate, asked us where in Missouri we were from. Well, it turned out that they were from a small town 30 minutes from ours and we knew each other, we just hadn’t seen each other in several years. We all had a good laugh.

Cowboy to the Rescue

The next morning we headed out, thinking we might be able to reach our destination by nightfall. At lunchtime we stopped at Dairy Queen in a tiny Texas town.

As we sat eating, my husband was looking out the window at the trailer and thought something didn’t look quite right. When he finished he went out to take a closer look and discovered that a leaf spring had broken. I’m not real knowledgeable about trailer parts, but evidently that’s something rather important. Scott said that’s what holds the axle on the trailer.

It was a Sunday afternoon in a small town so we worried about being able to get the trailer fixed and thought we’d be stranded there at least another day. Thankfully, we were able to find a mobile mechanic from another town that could come fix it, but had to wait a few hours while he went to a third city to get the part before he came. He arrived, still wearing spurs because he had been out riding his horse, but he was a friendly and hardworking guy and had it fixed in no time.

Divine Intervention

While they were working on the trailer, I had called ahead to an RV park about an hour down the road to make a reservation, but by the time the trailer was fixed it was nearing dusk. My husband was tired and didn’t want to set up in the dark. Rain was also forecasted that night and he didn’t want to risk packing the trailer back up the next morning in a storm. We decided to stop at a hotel in the next town. It was nicer than expected, and the owners were friendly and didn’t mind our truck and trailer taking up one whole end of the parking lot.

That night, strong storms came through, waking us up to the windows rattling and being pelted by pea-sized hail. The next morning Scott was chatting with the hotel owner and learned that there had been tornado warnings and 100 mph winds in the town where the RV park was. The news reported a train being blown off the tracks, so we were especially thankful to not have been sleeping in our camper.

My first blog giveaway was scheduled to go live early the next morning and I was nervous about everything working right. Due to the turn of events, I ended up being in a hotel, safe, and even having good internet to work out a last-minute kink. I had asked friends and family to pray for our safe journey, and I really felt that God had answered those prayers.

The afternoon of the third day, we finally reached our destination in Fulton, Texas. The weather was beautiful and we were able to tend to our business as well as visit with family.

Bird Watching

One morning our cousins took us out in their boat, hoping to show us some Whooping Cranes.

“Whoopers” are on the endangered species list and protected. That area of the Texas coast is one of the few places they can be seen, so bird watchers from all over the country come, hoping to get a glimpse, and maybe a picture, of them during the short time they’re in the area.

We lived in Rockport for many years so I was familiar with the birds and the special events designed to capitalize on the tourism, but I don’t think I had ever seen one before. Our cousins knew where to find them so we were lucky to get to see them.

You’re not supposed to get too close or disturb them, so we stayed at a respectful distance. I took the best photos I could, so I’m sharing the best one I had, which, after zooming and cropping, isn’t all that good. Yep, there they are!

When we returned to the boat ramp, there was a large group of pelicans waiting patiently at the fish-cleaning station hoping to get an easy lunch when fishermen came in. They seemed disappointed that we were empty-handed.

I enjoyed taking photos during our visit, trying to capture the charm of the area.

Smooth Sailing

The rest of our trip went well. We were able to visit with my parents and then pick up our daughter, all according to schedule.

Scott and I really want to enjoy the freedom to go and do, so I’m blogging on the go while we get re-accustomed to it being just the two of us.

Update

Just five months after our trip, Hurricane Harvey made landfall in the Rockport/Fulton area, destroying everything in my pictures. You can read about Hurricane Harvey from my perspective in In the Eye of the Storm and Rockport Revisited.