31 Dec: The Smooch Family has bahd cohds! We are stuffed up, sneezing, but we don't have Covid. Cynthia has put away most of the stuff we brought from storage yesterday, except for whatever she assumes is recycling, which is still in the car. She thinks everything in the boxes looks like it is to be recycled. Ron hopes Cynthia won't accidentally (or deliberately) take him to recycling. Ron did indeed sleep very well last night starting at 7:30 when his eyes refused to stay open and he laid down "briefly" to rest. He first awakened at 11:30. Cynthia had much less rest last night, but is soldiering on regardless. Since the rain continued unabated until 4 PM, we did not manage to get out for air and exercise today, but "Tomorrow IS another day."
30 Dec: To be or not to be... in Montgomery tonight? That is the question. And we made it despite rain and possibly a tiny bit of sleet. At 6:30 AM Ron pulled up the color radar and color radar forecast. No rain at present. Ditto at 7:50 after we breakfasted and packed. By the time we were rolling at 8:20, the drizzle was falling. Not good, but it stopped encouragingly a few miles east of town, just as the radar had implied. Soon after and eastward, the radar was sadly wrong. We were on wet roads a lot in the next 130 miles, many times with mist, drizzle or rain falling. For a few miles in Austin the rain was quite intense, but the worse downpour was east of Bastrop, when the color radar forecast had assured us (lulled us into thinking) that we would have clear and dry sailing. Our route was US 290 east to Austin City Limits, then Texas 71 east to Bastrop, to Texas 21 east, rejoining US 290 east to Brenham (home of Blue Bell Ice Cream), where Blue Bell Blvd avoids town to deposit us on Texas 105 through Navasota all the way back to Montgomery, where we satiated our hunger with egg white omelets at the Magnolia Diner, before getting the key to our vacation rental from Daniel at The Management Company. Once situated inside with a computer Ron checked the color radar again to see major storms rapidly approaching, so we high tailed it to Enterprise for Cynthia to rent a car, loaded that car full from the storage locker, and stopped at Walmart long enough to stock the pantry and allow those storms to drop a deluge for half an hour. We watched the deluge from the safety of the Walmart store and made a break for home as soon as it stopped sufficiently. We are going to sleep well tonight.
29 Dec: Counting down, Fredericksburg for one more awakening. We are shooting for 6AM tomorrow to get miles in before rain. Ugh, forecast is intimidating. Oh well, the plan is to check the color radar in the morning. The plan is to breakfast at Ollie & Lena's again this morning (despite already eating a bowl of oatmeal in the hotel). Bah humbug, the lines at the restaurant for breakfast were out on the sidewalk, and they could not seat us, so we hustled off to recycle boxboard at the city drop-off, intended to be a drive through, but the employees met us at the "Stop Here" sign. We then walked across town to the girlie salon to see if Cynthia could walk in for her "girlie-acure." Ron walked back to the hotel, Cynthia called to offer him a Subway sandwich, and he surprised her by walking again to meet her!
28 Dec: Fredericksburg for two more mornings, then we (hopefully) transition back to Montgomery, depending upon luck and thunderstorms. Uh-oh! Inclement weather is likely to preclude travel until 1 January. We will be in Fredericksburg during rain Tues, Wed., and snow on Thursday! Bummer. But, stay tuned! We will check the color radar at 6 AM to assess our risk. We were out the door for our morning walk before noon today since the forecast called for rain (which never materialized). We rode out to walk the Fredericksburg Nature Trail again. It is our favorite trail discovered here to date without the concrete and asphalt of our in-city walks. There are other choices, but we haven't explored to find them yet. The one that sounded most appealing was at Kerrville lake. Also the LBJ ranch is not far.
27 Dec: Cynthia suggested our life would make a great movie, “It's a Wonderful Life,” but Ron's comment was, “I think that's already been done." Ron is returning for his second after-oatmeal helping of frozen mango & pineapple. Our major exercise of the day was walking 4.2 miles roundtrip to Subway (for 12” whole grain subs with the inside scooped out and filled with vegetables), then we hustled along the concrete trail to downtown, trying to pass hordes of people aimlessly drifting along, totally ignorant of serious concrete trail walkers. Giving up, we booked back home. Ron shared his newly purchased HEB shredded wheat with Cynthia, and he popped some popcorn. Using Splenda on dry popped corn makes it taste a little bit like kettle corn. Tomorrow, tomorrow, it's almost tomorrow! And you know the drill: "Tomorrow IS another day!!"
26 Dec: Fredericksburg, Texas should be less busy today? Especially since so few restaurants are open until Jan. 2. Subway might be open. The day after Christmas offers a morning for rest. We snared tickets to hike Enchanted Rock this afternoon. Yay. Our hike up required two sit-downs to catch our breath, only once to sit on the way down to rest tight IT bands. With two hours left before sunset, we hiked the "closed" portion of the loop trail, and on to the Buzzard Roost Primitive Camp Trail. Despite looking closely, Ron saw no evidences of a reasonable place to camp, primitive or not. On the way back, blinded by the setting sun, Cynthia tripped on a rock and went down hard on her right hand, shoulder and leg. Her SKreeCH would awaken the dead, and it even got Ron's attention. Cynthia held her injured paw against her chest for the entire return trip. All is well. It is a beautiful day with memories of laughing children climbing a mountain with warm, smiling faces of parents. The copper sunset spread shades of violet over the heavenly dome with a beautiful blue band along the horizon. Wildlife spotted includes a huge black bull (hiking gingerly on the rocks), two even bigger longhorn bulls, llamas, deer, and crazy, two-legged critters congesting downtown without masks. The city is not less crowded. Subway is closed so we microwaved potatoes for dinner. All things are merry and bright for us, and for five great-grandchildren:
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| Jon's multigenerational family gathering |
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| Hudson has a white Christmas |
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| Cory's kids, continuing to be adorable |
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| This looks realistic to me |
25 Dec: MERRY CHRISTMAS !! And we celebrated with smooches to each other, exercises, oatmeal and computer projects, just like every other day of the year. Now that it is noon-thirty, it is time to put on our hiking shoes and return to the Nature Trail. We have discovered that the native grasses hereabouts have incredibly sharp balls of thorns for seeds which cling to footwear until they transfer onto the carpeting in the room, where Ron's bare feet soon discover them. Click here to read about the sticker bur. We had another nice, relaxing hike and enjoyed oatmeal for our Christmas dinner.
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| Brightest light SmoochSmooch in foreground. |
24 Dec: Christmas eve in Fredericksburg promises to be uneventful for us. And we are happy with that. We arose at nine AM! exercised, and walked twice, in very chilly weather, to Ole and Lena’s (oops, Emma and Ollie’s - click here) for a marvelous breakfast of scrambled egg whites, veggies, fresh fruit, sour dough toast, and awesome pancakes. Why walk twice, you ask? Silly question! Second time was to retrieve Cynthia's forgotten purse ... Duh! At the table near us was a delightful young couple from Tyler, Texas, married just two days ago. He is studying to be a professional opera singer. In the evening we walked to Bethany Lutheran Church to receive a powerful gospel message of hope for our fearful, covid-stricken society, that a fearful society needs a strong church sharing the Good News of Christ. The Christmas Eve Candlelight, Carols, and Communion was marvelous. Then we walked outdoors into the Marktplatz just in time to see the Christmas lights being turned on, making all things merry and bright! (see photo)
23 Dec: Only two more shopping days until Christmas, or is it one? Thank goodness Ron finally slept enough last night. Today our sole exercise was hiking to K-Bob's for lunch. The snooty manager said that they would bake a plain potato again for us today, but this is the last time. They are too busy (with no more than 10 customers) to bake a single potato for us. And we agree - it is the last time we will eat there.
22 Dec: Ron awakened at 4:30 and was unable to fall back asleep, so it is another day of dragging along. Cynthia is struggling to find restaurant reservations for a dinner date with clergy friends she hasn't seen in thirty years. Fredericksburg is booked this holiday season, no room for travelers seeking reservations for meals. Aha! August E.’s phoned to say they have room in their “stable” for 29 Dec. Ron is making progress on Volume 7; Cynthia finally has all of her Mac/Apple electronics synced and operative. She has also E-mailed Christmas letters and pictures to our friends. This afternoon we explored Cross Mountain (click here), taking a trail up to a cross with a fascinating history. Once upon a time, Indians used the hill for a lookout and a sent smoke signals when settlers were approaching In 1847, John Christian Durst, an early German settler bought ten acres and discovered a primitive cross on the mountain, hence its name, Cross Mountain. The new cross was erected in 1921, and until 1941, locals held Easter sunrise services atop the mountain. HowsomeEver it was a short hike, so we arrived at K-Bob's early this afternoon, and since we had called a hour earlier, they had a plain baked potato for Ron. At 10pm this evening Ron is already headed for bed.
21 Dec: Morning arrived too early for Ron and too late for Cynthia, so we are up early and Ron is too logy to write coherently. But then a double helping of frozen mango perked him up enough to saddle up and ride to the Lady Bird Park again for another hike on the Nature Trail, this time reading the descriptions at each marker. (It makes more sense that way.) Since our start was late, so was our lunch at K-Bob's, but we finished at 4:53 and were out before the place got crowded. Ron stayed up working on Volume 7 again until 11:30. How does it get so late so quickly?
20 Dec: Ten more days left in Fredericksburg. Today it is Cynthia's turn to figure out the hike. Looks like we will ride the bike to avoid walking too far on concrete. It just amazes us that no reservations are available for Enchanted Rock for the rest of our stay. Apparently the college kids are making the most of semester break. That also implies that Fredericksburg will stay exceptionally busy too. Fooey (for us). Cynthia's hiking choice was excellent, the Fredericksburg Nature Trail adjacent to Lady Bird Park. There was even a printed guide and markers along the trail to educate us. (Well, at least I read the guide a couple of times.) It passed through at least a dozen different habitat zones and along a nice stream and large pond. Then we rode straight to K-Bob's again for another round of baked sweet potato, baked potato, steamed broccoli and salad. Now Ron is back to work on the index for Volume 7. (NO, this is NOT a never-ending job.)
19 Dec: In Fredericksburg, Texas, thunder and lightening greeted us this morning, and the rain appeared intense at 8 am. However at 10:30 it appears to have done, so maybe we can venture outside again today. And venture we did, first to K-Bob's in the early afternoon to feed the starving Weefee a baked sweet potato and some salmon, then to the Japanese Garden of Peace (click here) in the Pacific War memorial (click here), then to the Marktplatz (click here) to see the Vereins Kirche (click here), lights, trees, crowds and crowds of people. (No wonder that covid is on a rampage.) Our legs were a bit tired after yesterday's hike up Enchanted Rock. Good grief, how did it get to be 11:30?
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| I guess this is artwork |
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| Cynthia ascending |
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Cynthia finished ascending |
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| Hey, there is a view from up here |
18 Dec: Once again we are preparing to hike Enchanted Rock, and the temp is already 40 degrees, cool and overcast. We were a bit late for our 10:30 start, because we returned to the hotel for another layer of motor-cycle clothing for Cynthia. The climb was tough for her, but the brave girl succeeded, and we had an awesome view! Since that 0.8-mile hike up went quickly, we decided to hike another loop consisting of the Loop Trail east to Turkey Pass Trail north to Base Trail west to Echo Canyon Trail. Our wildlife sighting for the day consisted of two mountain climbers standing on a sheer cliff 100 feet above us. (Apparently the Base Trail is named as a base for mountain climbers.) Then, as we struggled on the rock-strewn track that is the Echo Canyon Trail, two other climbers with large packs sashayed past us nonchalantly, rope swinging and carabiners clattering. Click here to see the Trails Map PDF. Cynthia's smart watch concluded that we walked 7 miles total and climbed 64 floors, but that hardly measures the energy we had to expend. Again we feasted on baked sweet potatoes at K-Bob's, although this waitress told us that the baked potatoes ARE wiped with oil before baking. And tonight we were both so tired that we went to sleep early and easily.
17 Dec: Cynthia was aghast at a 25 degree temperature reading upon awakening this morning, but we have reservations to hike at Enchanted Rock at 10:30, so we are preparing to ride the bike ... twenty miles from here to there! Fortunately the bright sun quickly warmed the atmosphere so that our ride was 48 degrees instead of 25. The thin, cheery lady at the entrance station admitted us quickly despite the fact that Cynthia brought her mammogram instead of the entrance tickets. We chose to hike the loop trail which was wide and level gravel trail until we ignored the "detour" sign and continued on the unmaintained part of that trail. Apparently part of the trail washed out in a flash flood in the distant past and the trail was left closed despite being very passable if insufficient rain falls to repeat that flood. After we passed Buzzard's Roost, a primitive camping area, we came to the beginning of the Enchanted Rock Summit Trail. Although Cynthia was too tired and footsore to hike it herself today, she was willing to wait for Ron for 30 minutes. Of course Ron decided to make the most of this opportunity, so he did not stop breathing hard for the entire 17 minutes uphill hiking until he got to the summit and the expansive views. The rock surface gives such good traction that the hike down was no problem. 7.2 miles total for the day.
16 Dec: We are relocated to the Comfort Inn in Fredericksburg, Texas for the next fifteen days. Fredericksburg is an old town that began with German immigrants, and it is called a ”Christmas City” because of lighting and events. It is too cold to begin our walk in town until 11am this morning. We walked to town and toured the Admiral Nimitz museum, which was very, very interesting, a thorough, modern treatment of the war in the Pacific 1941-1945. After a several hours in the museum, we walked down the street to K-Bob’s Restaurant which serves baked sweet potatoes and a terrific salad bar. Our waitress said the baked potatoes were not wiped with oil before baking, but they were suspiciously different from the usual dry baked potato. By the time we returned to the Comfort Suites, our walk totaled five miles. Yay!
15 Dec: And today we leave as early as possible - meaning before check-out at 11am. Since the forecast called for showers at 10 and 11am, Ron packed last night, and we arose at 6:15am (while it was still dark !). Happily, the forecast changed, and we should be riding dry all day, but the temperatures are to stay chilly (44 degrees), so there is no benefit in waiting to depart. We should be ready to leave before 9am - record time. WOW, this day was not what we bargained for. At 9am, when Ron checked tire pressures, a mist was dampening everything. It appeared to stop by 10am but five minutes later a drizzle made everything wetter. Finally at 11am we decided to start drizzle or no, expecting it to end as we rode west. We dropped off the keys with Danielle, picked up a prescription at Lakeside, and stopped to put the last few things into the storage locker, but our key code was denied and similarly for another lady there. The manager was nowhere to be found, phone calls went to a machine, and we became quite frustrated and angry as the minutes extended into an hour. Finally someone showed up whose key code did work, and we were able to leave after noon, angry, upset and riding in mist, drizzle, and rain for the next full hour. We kept going, assuming that we would eventually get west of it all, but that didn't happen until we were approaching Brenham, 50 miles later. By then Ron was chilled and soaked through since he had never put on his rain gear. Fortunately Cynthia (the smarter SmoochSmooch) was toasty warm in her heated gear. The sun made appearance as we were bypassing Austin warming us up nicely and drying us out. That sunshine turned against us an hour later when it blinded us as we rode straight towards it. We did get to Fredericksburg before dark and ate at Cultures, who did manage to find potatoes for Ron.
14 Dec: Today's plan was to move things to the storage locker in preparation for relocating tomorrow to Fredericksburg, and we were quite successful except that we forgot about the pole lamp before we returned the car to Enterprise. Ron has backed up his MacBook twice, a necessity before traveling in cold weather. Cynthia did think that the ride on the motorcycle was quite chilly. There is a bit more compost to bury this evening. A crazy busy day, but we enjoyed two walks, a lovely sunset, and lots of very young deer.
13 Dec, Sunday: In Conroe, Texas, we attend Grace Lutheran Church and enjoy fellowship with Pastor Diane. Today the accompanist called in cautious late Saturday, so we had no music, which changes our experience dramatically. Sunday brunch at the Yacht Club was as good as usual, and we were able to walk all the way to the lake and return home just before a sudden downpour which would have made us miserable one minute earlier. Ron needs to take a break from indexing to clean the kitchen and pack two bags for the motorcycle. Both bags "packed" and the kitchen is soon to be "clean." Ron was delighted that the spade made quick work of creating a hole in which to bury the compost. There is now one deceptively deep depression that is no longer quite so deep.
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| Cynthia in dress leather jacket |
12 Dec: And we were up no earlier than yesterday, and we were just as thankful as yesterday (perhaps more so). After breakfast and sudokus we walked to the lake, being careful to avoid the muddy construction area. Dinner this evening at Pappadeaux with a Bankston cousin promises to be exciting, and it was; he and his wife are delightful. The motorcycle ride home after dark was too exciting for Cynthia, especially the exit from Pappadeaux, crossing two lanes of traffic immediately to take the entrance ramp onto I-45. (This BMW K1600GTL is advertised to do 0 to 60 in 3 seconds, so our acceleration was exhilarating.) Cynthia is modeling a jacket she bought several years ago, only to have granddaughter Rachel borrow it before Cynthia got to wear it; Rachel returned it two weeks ago.
11 Dec: Time is flying here at Lake Conroe. We arose late, exercised late, breakfasted late, sudokued late, and then the rains came as forecast. Now we will have to wait for our walk until late, but it rained steadily all afternoon until time for dinner with Jon and Tina at 5:30. We were disappointed that the Caddy Shack is closed due to an employee testing positive, and we didn't get to see the progress with Jon's home remodeling. The food was great at the Walden Yacht Club and they steamed fingerling potatoes especially for me. It was 8:50pm by the time Ron was able to walk to the lake. (And then his cell phone battery gave up before he got home. Progress on index continues, and Ron again stayed up rediculously late, perhaps as late as 2am.
10 Dec: Time for the annual mammogram. (Cynthia, NOT Ron.) Cynthia passed with flying colors - everything terrific. (Ron also passed with flying colors by waking up early enough to accompany Cynthia). But Ron was unprepared to spend 3 hours at the hospital, and he nearly died of boredom. And then Texas Highway 105 was entirely shut down for 8 hours due to some major gas leak, so we had to retrace our steps all the way back to I-45 north in order to take FM 1097 as the next most "convenient" alternative, arriving "home" at 3:45pm. Ron now is convinced that he will ALWAYS carry the charging cord for his computer and a pile of sudokus (Thanks Oke). Then he again was captured by the effort towards a "perfect" index until the wee hours of tomorrow. By the time he finished his fourth day of resuming work, he finally remembered what he was doing when he stopped a month ago.
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| Lake Conroe, terminus of daily walks |
9 Dec: Oops, Ron stayed up too late last night - 11:30, but he slept until 4 am first awakening and felt nicely rested by the time we arose at 8am. Then it was off to the audiologist to tune Cynthia's electronic hearing aides. (Ron is the biological hearing aide.) Then we ate lunch and walked our usual walk to the lake and back. Now Ron is again hard at it with Volume 7 index.
8 Dec: Another good night's sleep, thanks to the miracle of salt water - to make Ron retain fluids - which increases his (very low) blood pressure. (This morning his blood pressure was 112 over 68 with a pulse of 70. Yesterday it was 92 over 64.) Our walk to the lake and back was very comfortable at 70 degrees and no wind. Today Cynthia took pictures of the artwork on the rocks. Woo Hoo! After a second walk at four PM, our total was 8.4 miles. Yay for us. Getting day passes to hike Enchanted Rock was crazy, but Cynthia prevailed, and we now have passes. She checked the driving route to the hill country and discovered our Hilton Garden Inn is booked for Fredericksburg, VA (instead of Texas). There is NOT a HGI in Fredericksburg, TX, sooo back to Comfort Inn & Suites there. Oops, time got away, and Ron stayed up too late - 11:30.
7 Dec: Ron experimented with drinking a mouthful of salt water every time he woke up to pee and is happy to report that it seems to help him sleep longer through the night (two stretches of 3 1/2 hours). We drove over to Cypress to walk with Julie around a neighborhood lake (1 & 1/2 miles per circuit). Here it is 8 pm, and Ron is already tired again. At least today Ron finally tried to remember where he was with the indexing project for Volume 7 of the Colonial Records of the Swedish Churches of Pennsylvania.
6 Dec, Sunday: We woke up early enough to make it to church on time, and we enjoyed the usual Sunday Brunch at the Yacht Club. There were more items there that we could eat than previously. Our Sunday walks allow us to pass through the construction area to see the progress since last year (several new structures).
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| Smooch and SmoochSmooch |
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| Jon and Blalire |
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| Kiira, Lauren and Blaire |
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| Jon, Julie, Tina, SmoochSmooch and Smooch |
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| Cynthia and niece Kelly |
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| All God's children. Baby Blaire in red on left. |
5 Dec: This was the main event for which Ron was summoned home, the Forde family Christmas party, in celebration of a visit by sister Marilee, her daughter Kelly and Jaden. It was too much fun to watch 13-year-old Jaden's constant attention to 9-month-old Blaire. Strangely, there are no pictures on the blog of Blaire playing with Jaden. The party wrapped up by 9 pm, allowing us oldsters to get to bed on time.
4 Dec: Ron is home, do not disturb. Well, we did go grocery shopping and bought way too much. Somehow it hasn't dawned that we are only here for 10 days before heading off to the "Hill Country" for two weeks. Oke sent new sudokus and Ron is completing one or several every day.
3 Dec: And we hope to report that the Smooches are successfully reunited, God Willing. And she awoke at six AM with a joyful heart in anticipation. And he arrived at 11:20 to an empty house. Anticipations is all over the place. Route was Texas Highway 19 through Crockett to Huntsville, right on FM (farm-to-market) 2821 W (Fish Hatchery Road) to TX 75 W to FM 1791 W to TX 149 S to Montgomery, then following familiar shortcuts around town and out the new pavement to the Pointe. And we were indeed happily reunited at 2:30 when Cynthia arrived home 1 1/2 hours ahead of schedule. We celebrated by going for our usual walk to the lake and decided to take Poe Street around the construction. The newest scenery at the lake is painted rocks. Apparently some kids and teenagers have decided to practice art by painting rocks on the lakeshore. Some are quite artistic and well done.
2 Dec: Forecast is quite miserable for this Wednesday in Palestine, Texas. Let's hope that the forecasters missed so that the Smooches can reunite. Ron awoke at 4:45am after getting to bed at 1am, so that is a good four hours uninterrupted, and it was raining here in Palestine, but then he couldn't get back to sleep until he Googled weather to discover that the rains are projected to fall ALL day along the corridor that he needs to travel to get to his beloved SmoochSmooch. Paste a disappointed "smiley" face here. Looks like he picked the cheapest motel in Palestine, so he is happy with that aspect at least, and he bought pretzels and spinach, so he has food for now. Apparently he was more exhausted than he realized because he spent the entire day lying in bed, dozing. After a final downpour at 2:30pm, he arose at 4 and walked to Mama Seafood (click here) for two more baked potatoes with salmon. Route was suspended for this rainy day.
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| Baby Blair seems to like Cynthia |
1 Dec: Ron woke up near the north pole in Pittsburg, OK. Once the blue BMW reindeer is harnessed, he hopes to be making things merry and bright in Texas by evening. Will he reach Paris, Athens or Montgomery? (All towns in Texas!) A cheery "Ho!Ho!Ho!" echoes down to Cynthia from an Econolodge in Palestine, Texas, a mere 120 miles from her in Montgomery. Ron loves saying that he started in Pittsburg, skirted Miami, rode around Paris, through Athens and ended up after dark in Palestine. He now needs to forage for food after another day without food since breakfast. The forecast is for rain all day tomorrow in Montgomery, so it will be a challenge for Ron to get there with the motorcycle. He decided to gather a few provisions in case it does rain all day, but then he started towards Mama Seafood Restaurant going east instead of west, so he got there after they had nominally closed, but the drive-through attendant took pity and accepted his order for two baked potatoes. Ron then walked another mile to Kroger without incident to buy berries, bananas, pretzels and spinach. On the way home Ron just seemed to make one wrong turn after another until he had reached two of the edges of town to the east and south. His buddy Ed looked up directions on the computer and directed Ron correctly back to his motel. It is truly amazing how turned around a person can get after one innocent wrong turn. His 2.9 mile walk turned into 8 miles! Meantime in Montgomery, Cynthia can't slow down. Crazy schedule! Ron's route was US 69 south until Oklahoma Alt 69 south to I-44, a toll road bypassing Miami, Oklahoma, to US 69 south at Big Cabin, to the Indian Nation Turnpike past Antlers to US 271 south to Texas 286 loop around Paris to Texas 19/ 24 south to TX 19 south through Athens to Palestine for the night. (As he rode south on US 69, Ron was quite surprised to pass through Muskogee and to see the expanse of the Eufaula Reservoir.
