Memorial Day

Gerald Howard Stark 1951-2008

Today we remember our fallen soldiers, sailors, Airmen and Marines. For me today is especially poignant.

From Memorial Day 2009

This past July 4th my younger brother Gerald died. Gerald was a Vietnam Veteran with a service connected disability. He was part of a fire team that battled a blaze in the hold of his ship. They fought the fire for over 8 hours, several hours after the air masks were rendered ineffective. He suffered for the past several years with COPD, unable to walk across a room without being winded. He was very active in the VFW and never wavered in his love of God, family and country. Everyday and today especially, I salute Gerald and all the other Veterans who have died serving their country.

Herb Stark USMC 1961-1965.

Visit to Wefing's Marine I

As most of you know our current boat is a SeaDoo Challenger. While it is a very nice boat and very fast, it is not quite the best boat for us at this time. We were turned on to a C-Dory by our friend Jim who has a 25 Cruiser and lives here in Port Isabel.

From Visit to Wefing's Marine

So we joined the C-Brats, a discussion forum for C-Dory owners and wannabees. In the meantime, we found out about the Ranger Tugs. They are neat diesel powered boats with an enclosed cabin. They are extremely economical to run which appeals to Wilma.

From Visit to Wefing's Marine

We kept hearing really good reports from a dealer in Eastpoint FL, Wefing's Marine. Wefing's is a dealer for both C-dory and Ranger Tugs. The owner Marc and I started some email conversations and soon we were planning a trip to Apalachicola for sometime in the future. We had a trip to Louisiana planned for early May and thought we would continue on to the Gulf Coast after Louisiana. Due to some scheduling problems, we were not able to make the Louisiana trip, but decided to go ahead to the Florida Gulf coast anyway.

We loaded up the motorhome and headed North planning to take three days to travel to Apalachicola. The first day we made it to Orange, Texas. A little farther than we ususally like to travel in a day. But we wanted to be on the other sided of Houston to start the next day. We fueled up and spent the night at the Flying J.

We crossed into Louisiana and soon came to Rayne where our good friends Karl and Emily live. We called them and they came out to meet us at the Frog City Truck Stop. A nicer place than it sounds...grin. After a very nice visit, we continued on our way arriving at the Wal-mart in Mobile Al. for our second night out.

Having only a short drive to Apalachicola, we called our friend Patti in Pensacola for a visit. She recently moved actually to Pensacola Beach from Kentucky with her job. She said we would have no trouble parking our 42 foot motorhome in the parking area for her condo on the beach. She actually was right (this time, but that is another story). Her home in Kentucky was not so easy. Ask me how I know..grin. Wilma and I enjoyed a long pleasant visit and lunch with Patti. Then it was on to Apalachicola. I had forgotten how white the sand on the beaches are in this area.

Marc had suggested that we dry camp under the big bridge in Apalachicola. We arrived and did just that. We got a nice spot by a pier going out into the bay.

From Visit to Wefing's Marine

A little noisy, because of the dredge that was working in the channel. But it was very interesting to talk to some of the workers and watch the operation.

Apalachicola is a very old seacoast town that for some reason has dodged most of the Gulf hurricanes. There are many 100 year old oaks that provide shade for the mix of old and restored homes and new coastal homes. The downtown area has loads of interesting places and restaurants. The town sits aside the Apalachicola river which empties into the Apalachicola Bay. The river is part of the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway.

Our first visit to Wefing's was to meet Marc and look over the selection of boats he has in stock. I was impressed. He has a Ranger Tug 29, two 25s, and two 21ECs in his new stock. He also has several new C-Dorys in stock. After crawling over most every boat he had in stock, we made a date for 5:30 to take the R21EC out for a spin. He arrived at the City Marina at the appointed time along with his wife Anita. The four of us launched and headed up the river. After an hour or so we turned around and headed back down river to the bay. A short loop into the bay and we returned to the marina for the night. We then drove to an oyster restaurant Marc recommended. After about 10 dozen oysters, we called it a night.

The next day we started out about 3:30 PM with some fresh diesel in the tank. Ask Marc why...grin. We had quite a wind and some chop on the bay. A good test to see how Wilma would fair. The little tug handled like a dream. We went across to St. George's Island and just a bit out into the Gulf beyond. As we started back, the wind kicked up a little thunderstorm that passed to our East. Wilma really enjoyed our trip as she was clicking pictures the whole time.

From Visit to Wefing's Marine

The Ranger Tug is a fantastic little boat. I can see why folks take them many places. It feels so secure and safe. Even in the chop we had in the bay, the cockpit stayed dry. The little tug just bobs like a cork and keeps on chugging along. I was very impressed and extremely grateful to Marc and Wefing's for going the extra mile to show us the boat. We were treated like a buyer, even though we told him up front that we were not quite ready to buy now. Maybe he figured that a guy who would drive a motorhome over 1000 miles one way just to look, was maybe a bit serious. And we are. We are pretty sure that the Ranger Tug is our choice now. A C-Dory still is a possibility, but the Tug is way out front. Of course Wefing's is our first choice for a dealer.

We went back to Wefing's the next morning for a dollars and cents meeting. We resisted temptation and in the afternoon started back toward Texas. A good thing as we got a call that a medical appointment we needed was moved up to Monday. So we just had time to get back and make it.

Thanks again to Marc and Wefing's for a wonderful visit.

Our album for this visit is here

Walldog, Willie and Jake

A Day on the Water South Padre Island

Saturday May 23, 2009

A really neat day spent on the water of the Laguna Madre. It starts with the obligatory pictures of the Dolphins that reside here in the bay. One of the highlights of the day was as we were idling along the channel, three dolphins came along side of us and after riding with us a few moments then dove underneath our boat and came up on the other side. Of course we missed the pictures of this treat. This being Memorial Day Weekend, many people were on the water enjoying the day. You can see a few more of our pictures here.

Walldog, Willie and Jake

Interesting Tug

Friday May 22, 2009 3:31PM CDT.

Neat interesting tug came into our canal and harbor today. "Moonglow" out of Rockwood, ME. If anyone knows about her please post.

Thanks Walldog, Willie, and Jake.

Updated links to Alaska Blog Entrys

We took an 83 day motorhome trip to Alaska in the summer of 2006. During the trip or shortly thereafter, Yahoo decided to cancel their photo storage and all our links to the trip have been broken. I finally uploaded over 1 GB of photos to Picasa Web Albums (Thank You Google) and updated the links on the original posts. So you can see some nice Alaska travel photos now if you want to follow the first posts in this blog.

Or you can skip the daily commentary and go directly to the daily albums here.

Thanks for Looking

Walldog, Willie and Jake

Our Progress

Our Progress
We are making progress with the construction project. At this point we are probably about half done. Hopefully we can be moving in by July. Continue to check the links to our pictures on the previous post and to the right, as we update them more often than our posts here. We relocated the motorhome to the West side of our house. Hugo and his crew are putting stucco on Bob and Myrna's house and we wanted to be a little further away from the fallout.

Last weekend we took the motorhome to McAllen for the homebuilders show. Not much new to learn, but a nice visit. The show was at the new McAllen convention center. We camped next to the Veteran's Memorial across the parking lot from the center. A great spot...no hookups, but quiet and convenient to the center, shopping and restaurants.

We rode the trikes down to the Lighthouse Square yesterday to watch the motorcycle parade across the causeway bridge. The Beach and Bikerfest is this weekend. Lots of loud and colorful motorcycles in town. Jake enjoyed a front row seat beside us at the foot of the bridge in Port Isabel.

Walldog, Willie and Jake

Christmas at Point Isabel

We are back in Port Isabel Texas. Currently camped at our construction site. Construction on our new house is currently underway with a break for Christmas and New Years. You can see progress here http://picasaweb.google.com/herb.stark/NewHouseConstruction

Walldog, Willie and Jake

Fouth of July

Hope everyone had a great holiday. Ours was quiet as we spent the day going through old papers and pictures. We have been getting rid of unnecessary things in preparation for our up coming move. Amazing what we packrats keep. Later in the day we watched the Boston Pops and fireworks display on television. We look for our daughter Patrice in the crowd, but she was probably at home watching also.

Finally we got the bay tv reinstalled and working properly in our coach. Four trips to Lewisville for that snafu. For an item that I really did not care for in the first place, it sure has caused us some grief. We considered removing it entirely, but would just have something else to store. I cannot say enough about the first class service we received at Buddy Gregg's RV in Lewisville. They have bent over backwards to make us happy. Our list is issues is now gone. We may have more in the future I am sure, but for now they have made everything right.

Soon we will be in Louisiana visiting our children and later in the month at Wilma's family reunion in Pitkin. We had too much to do in Longview, so missed our planned trip to Colorado this month. Maybe next year.

Walldog, Willie and Jake

What are we up to now??

We are buying a waterfront lot on the Laguna Madre in Port Isabel Texas. It is in a small gated community called "The Point at North Shore". We will be selling our home in Longview, Texas and moving into our motorhome fulltime as we build our new home. You can see details of the sale our home with RV garage in Longview Texas here. Of course our new home will have a garage for the motorhome also. We will also have a boat slip at our back door as our friends Sam and Bob have corrupted us with fishing fever.

Our granddaughter from Pearland has been visiting with us this week. Willie and she are at our old blueberry farm picking today. It is the peak of the season now, so find a farm nearby and stock up on these healthy berries.

Walldog, Willie and Jake

Adios South Padre para ahora

Today we leave South Padre Island for now. We plan to return in December for another three months. We made our final walk on the beach today. Another beautiful sunrise greeted us and bid us farewell until December. Today we move over to Port Isabel Wal-mart so we can have a farewell dinner with our friends at Long Island Village, then on toward Houston to visit Willie's sister. In a few days we will be in Longview for the Spring.

Walldog, Willie and Jake

Update 2007

Since mid December, we have been at Isla Blanca Park at the very South end of South Padre Island. We are sitting on a small sliver of sand with the Laguna Madre in our front window and the Gulf of Mexico to our rear. Jake gets a nice walk up the beach and a romp on the sand dunes every morning His schedule allows his owners to view fantastic sunrises over the end of the jetty. Most days we get to ride our Trikes on the several miles of roads here in the park. Occasionally we venture up the boulevard but mostly stay right here in the park. Sometimes we take the Jeep up on the North beach and let Jake swim in the surf. We even tried a little surf fishing this year.

The ship channel passes right out our front window. We see shrimp boats, transport ships, tankers, amd huge drilling rigs pass by daily. It has been very interesting to google the names of vessels and see what they are and where they are going. We have seen a couple that were inroute to the scrap yard. We were able to determine their names from the Port of Brownsville web site, but the names had been sanded off and they were not flying a flag.

Two friends of ours came down this year and bought adjoining Sea Cottages out at Long Island Village. They have boat lifts and docks on the canal. Since they are avid fishermen, this is a great place for them. We considered it, but decided we like our MOBILE condo and our standing reservation at site S30 here at Isla Blanca.

All good things must come to an end. The spring breakers will be arriving in March, so we plan to be somewhere else...grins. Soon we will return to North East Texas to enjoy its beautiful spring.

We plan to start our summer sojourn in Creed Colorado....our jumping off point last year for our Alaska trip. Our plans are to visit fewer places this year and stay longer.

Walldog, Willie and Jake

Update 2006

Lots has happened since we returned from our Alaska Journey. We attended the FMCA rally in Beaumont and fell in love with the new Monaco Dynasty. Since we have decided after two years in the Discovery that we like doing this, we decided to upgrade our condo on wheels.

After the Discovery National Rally in San Antonio, we went to Dallas to "look" at new Monacos. We figured we would trade sometime in early 2007. Short story, they had what we wanted and made us a deal we could not refuse. So we left with a 2007 Dynasty.

We went on to Longview and were glad to find that the new coach fit in the garage. A short trip to Louisiana to visit Willie's homeplace and then on to Marksville to visit Walldog's sister and our great grandkids. We are pictured at the Paragon Casino Resort a Passport America site $6.48 one of the best values around.



Our shakedown cruise was to Ft. Davis and the McDonald Observatory. We wanted to put enough miles on to get some fluids changed as part of the negotiated purchase agreement. We enjoyed several programs at the observatory and saw plenty of wildlife. We stayed at the state park in Ft. Davis. A nice place to stay when you are in this area. It is convenient to the observatory and other attractions. Our next update will tell you where we are now.

Walldog, Willie and Jake

North to Alaska and South to Texas Epilogue

May 16 - August 7, 2006 Longview TX to Longview TX Log 12,261 Miles
Alaska Day 1-83 Epilogue:
We had a fantastic summer. We started our trip with the Discovery Texans Rally at Shallow Creek and ended 83 days later back here in Longview TX. We traveled 12, 261 miles in the D and probably another 1200 or so in the Jeep. We went from summer to spring to winter and back to summer. It was just a little traumatic returning to 100d F. days. Most of our days were in the 65d range with the nights in the 40’s. We followed the Klondike Gold Rush Trail from Skagway- Dyea and the Chilkoot and White Pass to Dawson City. We missed the strike though by over 100 years. However we found that the Canadians and Alaskans are still mining for gold from the many tourists that cover this route. We panned for gold on the Klondike and north of Fairbanks. We found about $9.00 worth of gold specs, which is more than most of the original seekers found. We walked on glaciers and watched whales feed in the Gulf of Alaska. We fished for halibut off the Kenai Peninsula. We were in the 4th of July parade in Valdez with our trikes and Jake. We took a dogsled ride with an Iditarod veteran. Jake swam in everything from mountain streams and lakes to the mighty Yukon River. We took 4, 218 digital pictures and 13 hours of video which we plan to use to make a DVD that we will share with you soon. For those of you who are worried about the cost of diesel these days, we spent considerable less than a two week cruise would have cost. We found that our mobile condo has the best back yard and view in the world, and we are counting the days until we can continue our Journey.

Walldog, Willie and Jake
Herb and Wilma Stark

Alaska Day 83 Home in Texas

Sunday August 7, 2006 Denton TX to Longview TX Log 160 Miles
We awake to another beautiful sunrise, this time with the orange ball appearing in the pink and glow of the sky. As we leave Denton, it begins to look a lot like Dallas -- (don't let Herb see Frye's Electronics!) --next the signs for Hwy 80 which runs thru Longview, and the sign for Tyler/Shreveport and we know Longview is in between them. Are we excited yet? Then comes the familiar pine trees and rolling hills. Longview is not far away.

We are silent as we approach our house, unhook the Jeep and back the Discovery into its garage. We dont close the door of the garage with the trikes still on, so we do not surprise our neighbors, David and Patti Harwell. We later learn that coming home "early" spoiled the surprise Welcome Home party they had planned, but promised to have it in another day or so. No details shared. We join them for a celebration of our homecoming and catching up on the news.

Pictures are here.

Waldog, Willie and Jake

PS. This will be the last Journal for a while. We are taking care of our business and planning our next trip <Grins>

Alaska Day 82

Saturday August 5, 2006 Clines Corners NM to Denton TX Log 565 Miles

We are greeted by sunrise of pink, orange and yellow reflected on the scattered clouds, and welcomed to Texas. It is comforting to see Texas, but it is also sad to realize that we are so close to the end of this part of our journey. Strange to again be seeing sights familiar, like TA and Love's fuel stop with Carl's Jr. restaurant, and to think we could be home tomorow. We are now afraid of the dark, as it comes upon us while we are still awake and lasts about nine hours, instead of zero.

In Texas along I-40 we see fresh plowed fields, crops growing, then a large burn area with a plowed fire-break. We really know we are in Texas now when we see a giant watermelon on a flatbed trailer advertising the store behind it. And cows.......... Then at Denton we head for Camping World like kids in a candy store, but all we purchase are a ladder and vegetable steamer basket.

Jake plays fetch the dummy until the 103 degree F chases him inside the RV for cooling off. Welcome to Texas!

Pictures are here.

Walldog, Willie and Jake

Alaska Day 81

Friday August 4, 2006, Cortez CO to Clines Corners NM Log 300 Miles
We leave beautiful country and enter beautiful country. Different shaped rock formations that we have been seeing, and deep washes where streams once ran. Ship Rock, 7178 el, is just south of CO/NM line on Hwy 491, and near the town of Ship Rock NM. Then come the clouds, quiet for now, and we wonder if they are the same ones causing the floods at El Paso.

Jake finds a nice large pasture for exercising, as he has been sleeping all day. At Clines Corners we did not buy the fudge, but we can just TASTE the chocolate!

Pictures are here.

Walldog, Willie and Jake

Alaska Day 80

Thursday August 3, 2006 Soldier's Summit Tucker UT to Cortez CO Log 312 Miles

Our day begins with a view of the sunrise reflecting on clouds that moved in over night, and we capture the moon just above. Darker clouds appear and we wonder if we will have the predicted storms Meryl told us about. The sun returns.

We drive Hwy 6 over Soldier Summit at 7490 el heading for I-70 and south to Arches National Park. Lots of steep grade and rock. Dust from the road machines in the construction area.

As we approach the Arches park, the mountains turn salmon colored, which we learn is Entrada Sandstone; then we see the sand colored, which is Navaho Sandstone. The campground at Arches is full, even tho we arrive before noon, so we have to settle for driving thru the park.

The beauty of the rock formations, arches, and desert vegetation, as well as slowly decaying fallen trees is indescribable. There are many trails for hikers, and we are warned that the temp could get to 110 F. We head for Colorado.

We see a field of sunflowers and are amused at all of them facing the sun..............

At Cortez CO we find a Passport American campground, La Mesa RV Park, and the host tells us of an Indian dance presentation at the Cortez Cultural Center.

The side of the Cultural Center where we sit has a life-like mural of an Adobe house. The performers are from Gallup NM and are decended from the Lakota and Dineh (Navaho) people. They tell us they compete in song and dance at Pow Wows and invite the public, but at sacred dances, there are no outsiders, no lights, no electronics. One of the performers is Blue Star Boy, who looked to be about four years old. He first dances with his grandfather Norman, and steps like his grandfather does. Each performer describes his/her dress, and the most interesting one was Romona's red dress circled with rows of silver bells. It is called the Jingle Dress, and she wears only one feather in her headdress. Her beige dress is buckskin. Norman wears a more elaborate one, called Roach. He does a dance with hula hoops with which he forms a flying eagle, a horse he rides while roping a calf, and makes a form of the world. At the end we spectators are invited to do the round dance with them and Herb persuades Wilma to join them while he photographs.

Pictures are here

Walldog, Willie and Jake

Alaska Day 79

Wednesday August 2, 2006 Ontario OR to Tucker UT Log 477 Miles
We know we are in cattle country when we stop at the Rest Area for traveler information and see a sign at the pet leash area that prohibits unloading livestock or horses. Lots more wheat and irrigation of crops. We exit Oregon, cross Idaho and get into some traffic around Salt Lake City UT. Flying J country. Oooops! Elsie reminds us about Joe and Justine being at Detroit State Park in Oregon, but we have turned a more easterly direction. We do find it on the map and wish we could have visited with them.

Now come the mountains again, and beautiful red hillsides. Suddenly we see stripes of strata and then the hills turn to greenish gray in the soil and stone.

We find our day's end at a rest stop with a small stream running through and two domesticated sheep slowly grazing just outside the guardrail from the highway. Before long they wander in and Jake-on-leash walks nearby. (Where is that video camera -- there is sure to be action!) Each approaches the other in small increments until Jake poised for attack or play -- not sure which -- but for some reason the sheep spook and run. Jake really missed a good play time and his Woof Woof friend Willie.

The rest stop we spend the night at is at Soldier's Summit at 7000 feet.

Pictures are here.

Walldog, Willie and Jake

Alaska Day 78

Tuesday August 1, 2006 Grande Coulee WA to Ontario OR Log 393 Miles

We said goodbye to Bob and Myrna as they drove down the hillside from our balcony RV site, and readied ourselves for our day's journey, which took us through more wheat fields. The day starts out smokey from the large forest fire about 20 miles north of Grand Coulee.

WA Hwy 21 South follows section lines except for some areas where Farmer Brown insisted it go around, or when it needed to go around a stubborn rock. It was interesting to see the stacks of bales of wheat chaff ready for feeding the cattle in winter.

Along the way we come upon an RV pulling a truck loaded with four-wheelers side by side. We marvel and take a picture. At the massive roadside produce store of fresh fruit, veg, and other tempting items, and where we opted not to buy blueberries, a man tapped Herb on the shoulder, asking how he liked his recumbant trikes. He was the guy towing the four-wheelers.

Oregon has quite a few dump and fresh water stations at rest areas. Their signs state no camping, though, and are posted at the truck rv lanes. We opt for the Wal-mart Supercenter in Ontario for a quick overnight and to restock our supplies.

Pictures are here.

Walldog, Willie and Jake

Alaska Day 77

Monday July 31, 2006 Grand Coulee WA Log 0 Miles
In search of excitement today, and with Bob and Myrna along, we drive a circular scenic route up the countryside, first passing by Grand Coulee Dam and the bigger than life bust of FDR, who authorized building the dam, and a reulting Lake Roosevelt. Much rock and lava rock beauty along the way, and at one point where traffic was stopped by a flagman, we find it is because of a helicopter lifting logs from the mountainside near the roadway -- not road construction.

Near the town of Omak we visit St. Mary's Mission, where there is the only boarding school in the state of Washington. A great mix of religious icons and totems grace the grounds. Wilma and Myrna take many pictures inside and outside the mission. After lunch, we stop in Okanogan for a visit to the Okanogan County Historical Museum. It is a well organized display of artifacts from the early days of this area. This includes the old-fashioned main street with its buildings of the day, farm implements, apple industry display, and a settlers cabin. We find very interesting an "in a word" explanation of how the most unusual terrain of the area was formed; one point made was that the lava flowed up through crevices, and was not a result of a volcano eruption.

Our circular route continues past Chief Joseph Dam, a Corp of Engineers site. On back into our home of the past three days brings us by another great view point of the Grand Coulee Dam. We decide that it may be a little better than the previous night's spot to see the laser show. After dinner we drive up and watch the laser show again. The audio portion we find is broadcast over an FM radio station. So our front row seats are warm and comfortable in the Jeep. Just like a drive-in movie without the PIC. All the mosquitos must be "North to Alaska."

Pictures are here.

Walldog, Willie and Jake