Retired!

Well, today was the last day of my contract with Aramark. Remember, they shortened my contract by one month due to financial restraints. So I passed all my work to a co-worker, submitted my timesheet and logged off. I will hand in my equipment when I return to New Jersey in March.

Sooo, rather than look for another position, I am going to join Nancy, Richard and Joanne in the retirement world. Nancy and I are now free to dance, travel, and whatever, whenever! As long as the money holds out, at least. Sleep as late as I want in the mornings, without having to get up early to get online.

I'm looking forward to it.

Back in the USA

We woke up yesterday, had breakfast with Phyllis and George, said our goodbyes, and grabbed a taxi to the airport. Because it was an international flight we had to arrive 3 hours early. So we arrived at 11am for our 2:20pm flight.

Two hours and forty minutes later we arrived at Denver International Airport. We collected our bags and breezed thru customs and immigration, then had to recheck our bags (since we had to get them thru customs), go thru TSA, and waited for our flight to San Antonio. We had just enough time for a bagel and a potty break.

After another two-and-a-half hour flight, we arrived to a rainy night in SA. Ron was there to pick us up and bring us to Marjorie's home, where we arrived a little after 10 pm. Parker, Cuddles, and Cinder were excited to welcome us home. We were tired, but not enough to keep us from watching three episodes of McLeod's Daughters, after which we dragged ourselves to bed.

Today we will go out to breakfast, then pick up Tiffin and Cocoa from the sitter's, and relax. Tomorrow I start my final well of work, and then retirement! 

Casa Kimberly

Today we relaxed, although Marjorie and Phyllis went to aerobics at the pool. Mom and Nancy's back swere hurting from all the walking at the flea market last night. We had a light lunch, then headed out for Casa Kimberly.

Liz Taylor lived here for years and Richard Burton bought a smaller house across the street. He then built a small walkway over the street so they could easily get to each other and avoid the public.

Of course they modified the interior. It is now a boutique hotel with nine rooms and a large restaurant area on the veranda, and in front of where their pool used to be. It now has a fountain in the center with iguanas on its base (think: Night of the Iguana).

Her home is huge, four or five levels, his not so, only two. His is now a private residence. As you walk into the foyer off the street, you see this sculpture.

And closer up's

From there you go up one level of steps (or take the elevator up to the restaurant) 

where the concierge sits and the entrance to the hotel, and as you walk up the next set of steps, Liz greets you.

From there you are on the main level, where the restaurant and access to the rest of the house is.

We had excellent meals: salads, sweet corn soup for appetizers, and entrees included filet mignon, salmon, sorry ribs, and Caribbean lobster tail.

We took a few photos of the city on the surrounding hills

and some pictures of ourselves...

then walked around a little...

thanked our hosts George and Phyllis...

for inviting us down and showing us around, then took a taxi back to the Villa to start packing for our return trip tomorrow. Because it is international, we must be there three hours before flight time to go thru inspection, passport control, etc.

Catching Up - Part Deux

Tuesday we lazed around the Villa, had lunch from Carl's, Jr., then at 5:45pm took a taxi van to the marina. We took a very bumpy one hour boat ride across the bay. The crew told us about a show they were doing for the passengers on the return ride. When we arrived at our destination, we trekked from the pier up a mountain to an amphitheatre where we watched a show called Rhythms of the Night, which was a nightly show similar to Cirque du Solei.

After the show we walked back down to a buffet meal set up for us along the beach and then waited for our boat ride home. On the way home the crew put on their show on the bow of the ship, a review of Village People, Michael Jackson,  and Magic Mike. Needless to say, it was an enjoyable trip back to port. Another van ride back to the hotel had us arriving at 1am.

Wednesday we went downtown for brunch at Freddie's Tucan, a restaurant in the romantic (read gay) part of town, did some shopping at the street-side vendors, and walked along the beach. When we were tired, another van ride took us to Sonora Grill Prime, a fancy steak house in town. Most cuts of meat start at 1 kilo (2.2 pounds). Naturally we all shared our plates.

Tonight we went to a flea market at the marina.

 The booths were set up all alongside the water. We purchased a new wind spinner as the ones we have are rusted from so much use. Afterwards we saw the Ballét Folklórico,a group of young kids doing traditional Mexican dances. They have been all over the world, including China.

Bien viaje to Richard and Joanne who start their first retirement voyage tomorrow, traveling the east coast all the way to Key West. Safe journey!

Relaxing

This is one of our neighbors. There are several on the grounds here. There are also iguanas

And a trained hawk named Dur that they fly around to keep the iguanas at bay. 

All the fish ponds here have large koi and carp that keep a lookout for people and beg for food. It is a riot to see them come across their ponds as fast as they can sticking their mouths out of the water and behind. Only approved fish pellets bought at the store are allowed and the fish almost eat it out of your hands.

Yesterday we went to the marina and walked around a little. Some nice yachts here but nowhere the size or class of Saint Maarten. We are at a little seafood restaurant named PezLimón. Most of us had Coconut shrimp. Each platter had a dozen large shrimp. We will be going back again soon. I after some before I took a picture.

We followed that up with coconut ice cream.  We spent today down at the pool. Electricity was off for 7 hours as the hotel had a repair to be made so it was the best place to be, especially with temps being in the mid-eighties. 

Tomorrow morning we will be going to a Spanish class, the in late afternoon we are boarding a ship and cruising to a small island, having dinner on the beach, a show in the island's amphitheatre then back. It'll be late so no update on Tuesday night.

Arrived in Puerto Vallarta

We got up this morning at 5:45 to get ready for our flight, which first took us to Houston, then on to Puerto Vallarta.

 We arrived here at 1:30 PM, and it took us over an hour to get thru immigration, baggage claim, and customs. Because we had some wheelchairs the airline took us from the arrival gate thru the terminal, expedited us thru immigration, then to baggage claim, thru customs and to our transportation, where we met Phyllis and George. We gave each of the assistants a $10 tip which we understand is over one half a week's pay!

We got a van to the hotel, Vela's Vallarta. The place is beautiful!  We are all in a the room lockout with a shared living room.

After we all caught a short nap we came down to dinner. This is the view from our balcony

And this is the view as we went to dinner

We sat on the edge of the veranda on the edge of the beach where a Mexican wedding was taking place.

Later tonight we are going to see a mariachi band and tomorrow spend the day at the pool. We don't envy you folks with your snow. It's 84 degrees here with cool Pacific Ocean breezes.

Glad and Sad

The past few days have been routine, work, eat, pack for vacation, watch TV, sleep, repeat.. Finished my next to last week of work today. One week of vacation, then one last week of work. Then retirement!

Our final task today is the sad part. We took Tiffin and Cocoa to their new residence tonight. Aside from being overwhelmed by eight female dogs sniffing all over him, he was fine. Cocoa however was upset. He hated the bigger dogs getting near him, and when all the other dogs were taken outside and before we could sneek out he huddled in the corner of the room near the gate and shook. Domenic, the male dog sitter, went to pick him up and Cocoa snarled and snapped. He doesn't like change, and it takes him a long time to get used to it.

Suzie and Domenic said they are going to send us a text report with pictures every day. That will be nice! Hopefully we can get them in Puerto Vallarta. We are taking our hotspot with us to improve our chances of getiing them, and also so that we can keep all of our readers up-to-date on what we are experiencing in Mexico.

By the way, the state department recommends extreme caution in Jalisco, the Mexican state we will be in due to high crime (kidnapping, theft, etc.). BUT, it is not as bad a warning in other states down there. So we will be leaving a lot of our stuff here and only taking the basics. Will keep you informed.

Be Careful of What You Wish For!

  Our last post I mentioned I was looking forward to full retirement. Well, tonight I got a call from my manager informing me that  the company wants to cut my contract short by a month. So as of February 1st I will be fully retired rather than at the end of that month. Oh well! On the bright side, it will open up more time to go dancing and catching up on sleep.
  Sunday we went shopping. Our friend Phyllis called from Mexico and asked if we could find a particular pair of Capri pants and bring them to her when we visit. We couldn't find them here, only online at the Beall's store in Florida. Only problem was they couldn't be shipped here in time. But while looking around, Mom, Marjorie, and Nancy proceeded to spend over $300 for themselves. Thanks Phyllis! :-)
  Aside from working on Monday, we did nothing. Had sandwiches for dinner and watched TV. Today I worked and then we went to dinner at Huisache, a fine dining place in New Braunfels. Excellent food but we found the service slow. Tomorrow after work we will go the bank and exchange dollars for pesos in preparation for our trip on Saturday.

Catching Up

Work really puts a damper on being able to write about exciting things we've done or are able to do. It cuts down the hours available to enjoy oneself. Looking more and more to full retirement.

Thursday after work we went to look at a boarding house for the dogs for when we leave for Mexico, but wow! what prices for so little! For both dogs to be in the same 6x4 enclosure and let out twice a day would cost us $165 each day. Marjorie has some friends we are going to visit who may be able to board them. I hope so. It would be a better experience for the dogs.

Thursday evening we joined friends Margaret and Erick for dancing at The Watering Hole in New Braunfels for some live country music performed by the Keen Country Band. 

 

The band was very good, and it was nice to get out and do some dancing. But I have to warn you, the only thing they do here is the two-step and shuffle, and they have no dance floor etiquette. Sure they move in the right direction, but they move all over the floor, thru the middle, backwards, you name it. Some go fast, some go slow and some go very slow. It's like bumper cars: How many dancers can you carom off before the end of the dance? Ralph would be proud (insiders joke). We did get in a few cha-chas and waltzes, even American Kids, and not necessarily on the dance floor, but by the pool tables.

Nancy did some shopping on Friday and we were going to go dancing at Gruene Hall in Gruene, but the weather forecast precluded that. We went out for Italian at Caperelli's, then some shopping at, where else, WalMart, to get some items for our trip. That's when the weather forecast came true. Severe, heavy downpours for over a half-hour, high winds, and let's not forget the tornado warning for another half hour: seek shelter immediately! We made it home, let the pups out of the RV, and watched a few episodes of McLeod's Daughters, then hit the sack.

Today we all slept late and later will be checking out Marjorie's friends places for the dogs. 

Running Around

Worked all day, then went for a late lunch at Garcia's, a fantastic Mexican restaurant. We bought a huge bag of their tortilla chips to eat later.

We looked at a kennel for the dogs for when we go to Mexico. Their cost would have been about $169/nte for the two dogs, way too much and it wasn't that great! Will keep looking around as we have ten days to find one, or someone to watch them.

Nancy and Marjorie went grocery shopping while I

I blew leaves and dead grass off the drive. Vines had covered a lot of the walkway so I wanted to trim them back, but there was no edger or shears. So I spent the better part of an hour trimming with my pocket knife. I have to say it looks good!

Marjorie went to the gym tonight while the rest of us are watching a Bluebloods marathon. 

Have a great evening! 

Schertz,TX

Sorry for not posting last night. Worked until midnight then up again at 4am.

Left Elm Mott around 10:30 yesterday and arrived here at 1:15pm after stopping at Buc-ees for fuel. Only $2.54 for diesel. About what we'd pay for gas in NJ, and less that in PA.

  The entire trip was one of the best. Imagine, no repairs of any kind!

Took a dinner break last night and went to Outback Steakhouse with Marjorie, Mom, Ronald and Phyllis, his fiance, then back to work. (There is back up software the company subscribes to in Ireland that the contract expires on Wednesday and I had to create the manual installation for a replacement software that had to be tested, passed, and then installed by them.

Today I finished it and we went out lingerie shopping for Nancy and Marjorie.

  Ron bought dinner for everyone, Bush's chicken, and now we're all relaxing. So Y'all have a good evening.

Elm Mott, TX

We left this morning at 8:22. Stopped twice for fuel. The first time there was a long line so we left. Second time was a winner! Had an early lunch at 10:30 at the Hardy's there then drove non-stop. Arrived at the I-35 RV Park in Elm Mott, TX at 4:05 PM.

About 35 miles from our destination the inside of the RV was so warm we had to put our AC on. It was 68 degrees outside and getting warmer tomorrow. Sorry to all of you in the Northeast. 

We have an easy ride tomorrow, only 185 miles. Then we will be stationary for two weeks until we fly to Mexico. 

Little Rock, AR

Left this morning at 8:55 and drove for two hours. Stopped for brunch at a Denny's in Jackson, TN. What was 72 degrees yesterday here is now a blustery 38 with a feels like of 28 and with 25 mph winds. And we thought we were leaving the cold in the Northeast!

353 miles later, we arrived at Little Rock KOA just off of I-40 West. A nice little campground set up mainly for overnighters. A patio, table and chairs, and a chiminea, rather than a fire pit.

After setting up, we went to a place named American Pie and shared a very nice Pizza and salads. Now to get some rest as our next leg tomorrow is a little over 400 miles.

YeeHa! Back in Country Music City

Left Fort Chiswell RV Park in Max Meadows, VA, this morning at 9 AM and drove non-stop all day in the rain, arriving at Two Rivers RV Park in Nashville, TN, at 2:45PM CST. 

Thank you Rich for the Bon Voyage wishes, and no, we did not do any low flying. 

Not really much to say as we did nothing but go to Logan's Roadhouse for a steak dinner, which is where I am writing this.

Tomorrow we leave for North Little Rock KOA. We decided to only stay in Nashville for one night instead of two as we plan to stay here for a few days next month on the return trip.

Last, but not least, Happy Birthday Brian! 

On The Road Again! Finally!

We've been cleaning up and tossing things out for a week now to get ready for this trip. After saying all of our goodbyes to everyone we were up at 5:30 AM this morning to put everything away. We tried to pull in our slides and lo and behold, the two passenger slide-outs would not come in. Climbing up onto the roof, I found 1/2 inch thick ice on each slide topper. Had to break it up and scrape it off. Then we took off at 8:32 AM for what one website said was a 366 mile trip, but turned out to be 448 miles. We arrived at 5:05 PM. To be honest, we stopped once for fuel and twice for pet stops. It began to rain as we were setting up and is supposed to rain all day tomorrow, so we have to decide whether to wait for better weather or press on to our next stop, Nashville.On the bright side, it is almost 61 degrees outside.

Back in Jersey

We left this morning at 9am and arrived at Old Cedar Campground at 2:30pm. Then it took us til 3:50pm to get leveled. The ground is very moist and soft. During the moving back and forward to get centered on the tire supports our step caught the end of the deck and bent. Not Nancy's fault who was directing. Took a Sledge hammer to it to try and get it back in position. Not perfect and will have to be replaced ($$$) but at least it goes out. 

Next, while connecting our water hose the male threaded part broke off in the connector and it took an hour to get them apart, but we now have water.

Then we noticed someone had backed into our shed and not only bent the wall but split the corner join. Nothing was missing that we could ascertain, so at least that was good.

Then we surprised Nancy's brother-in-law Jim and best friend Karen as they weren't expecting us for a few more days.

So this ends our journey this year. Over 9700 miles on the RV, another two thousand miles in the car, a small fortune in RV repairs, and ending with more repairs to do. So we now have a lot of things to work on tomorrow. We are very tired, so are calling it an early night. Night all!