Lake Conroe is one of the largest lakes in Texas. Our Thousand Trails park is on a little finger of it. The water was down so much that it was quite difficult for people to get in and out of their boats at the docks.
Our neighbor had a boat and usually went out a couple of times a day--each time catching 6-10 catfish. So, I guess, even with low water, the fishing was still good.
I don't know how we luck out by getting such good spots most of the time. Everyone kept telling us we had one of the best spots in the park!
We only had a neighbor on one side of us and we were backed up to the swimming pool, with lots of nice shade around us.
The pool was really nice, but was not heated--too cold for us to get in. On the weekends, there were usually kids in it! During the week, a pair of mallard ducks would fly in each morning and spend the day there!
The hot tub was the largest one we have seen. It was so handy for us and we spent many evenings, just before bedtime, sitting in it. We avoided it on Saturday night because they had a "hot tub social" at 10:00pm. We would watch quite a few people going by our site carrying coolers full of their refreshments. We didn't think we would fit in too well--they were mostly younger "week-enders" from the local area. As the weather got warmer, the June bugs came out. They can be as big as a quarter and look like a big, flying beetle. They have sticky legs and like to hang on if they land on you! Sometimes when we went to the hot tub, there would be about 100 of them on the top of the water. We would use a skimmer and get them out, and then use a tennis racket to swoop them out as they landed. Terry had a good time attacking them, but I stayed in a corner where there was no light so they wouldn't land on me!
I had my birthday while we were at Lake Conroe. Terry bought me an M & M jacket. (I am kind of an M & M addict!) It is actually a NASCAR jacket for car #18, Kyle Busch. Without me knowing, he has been looking for one to get me for several years. Then, when he found it, there was a special 2-for-1 sale, so he got one, too--but not an M & M one. You will see it on his birthday!
We met some fun people--Juanita & Dickie. They have a "classic" old 5th wheel. It is called a Silver Streak and is a break-off of the Airstream brand. It doesn't have any slides or anything and they seem to really like it. They took us to some fun places to eat. One was called Incredible Pizza. It is in an old "Target" building and is a pizza buffet. Every Tuesday is "Senior Day" and we both ate for $9.00, total. There are several dining rooms. One is the "Drive-In Theater" room. It is quite dark and shows old movies on a big screen. There is also a "sports" room, a "50's" room, and more. Then, behind the eating area there are all kinds of video games (even some simulator rides), bumper cars, a really small bowling alley with small balls and pins, and even a small ice skating rink. It was really fun. We went there all three Tuesdays we were there.
Houston is only about 40 miles from our park so one day we went to the Huston Temple and went through a session. It is a small temple, but is very beautiful.
This is the skyscape of Houston. It was kind of smoggy that day.
Another day we went back to Houston to the Port of Houston, which is the largest US port in terms of foreign tonnage and second in overall tonnage shipped. There is trade with 90 percent of the countries in the world in and out of this port.
They had a great 90 minute boat tour of the port. The Houston Ship Channel is a 52-mile, man-made wonder that connects Houston to the Gulf of Mexico. It was a great tour--and it was free!
One type of ship is a RO-RO ship, which stands for "roll on/roll off." Wheeled cargo, including cars, trucks, trailers, and military vehicles, are transported on these ships. Ferries are a type of RO-RO vessel, but usually travel a shorter distance. The bigger ships can carry 6,000 or more vehicles. The Navy keeps several RO-RO vessels in the port as a part of its military readiness plan. You can see how big of an opening they have to load up their belly!
Panama had quite a few ships in port this day.
This is a general cargo ship that has their own cranes mounted on the ship to load and unload cargo.
These cranes are mounted on the port docks for ships that are not equipped with any way of loading their cargo. The ship docked here is a container ship and will be loaded with box cars or other large containers.
This large cargo boat is being fueled by fuel barge, which is moved around by a tub boat.
There are oil refineries right along the port and tanker ships are filled up with the refined fuel to be taken overseas or to other ports along the US.
This container ship was from Africa.
The belly of this ship is actually being filled with grain. When we passed by, it was a little difficult to breath because of the dust from the grain being dumped into it. The big "silo" on the left is filled by the wheat farmers and then shipped all over the world.
We met this big ship coming in and had to move over to let it go by.
Our tour guide said this ship was emptying it's bildge water. By the time it gets filled with cargo, you won't be able to see any of the red bottom.
There were several types of birds hanging around the port. This is a brown pelican. We also saw cormorants and sea gulls.
The water had a lot of trash in it. The guide told us that if we should see anyone, anywhere in Houston, throwing trash along the street, to let them know that it will eventually end up in the port through the city's drainage system. He sounded pretty disgusted about it.
This is why! The trash was really thick in some areas where there were bridges or boats to stop the water flow and allowed the trash to gather.
It was kind of cool they way they wound the rope around these poles as a bumper for the tour boat. It was a great tour, and any time I can be out on the water, I like it.
Spring has really sprung in Texas. A program was started some time ago by Lady-Bird Johnson to beautify the highways of Texas. Wild flower seeds are planted along a lot of the roadsides and they are beautiful.
The state flower of Texas is the Blue Bonnet. They are everywhere, especially along the roadsides. There are usually red Indian Paint Brushes seen with them. You see people stopped along the roadside taking pictures of kids or couples or others sitting amongst them. So, here I am--sitting in the Blue Bonnets of Texas!
Russ & Louise, from Emmett, found us! It was so good to see someone from home! We had a great couple of days with them. We watched General Conference and. in between, went to the flea market, sat in the hot tub, ate lots of food, and had a great visit.
This was our last Tuesday eating at Incredible Pizza, with Juanita & Dickie, and two other couples from the Park. Bill was good enough to take this picture with his cell phone (since I forgot my camera) and then e-mailed it to me so I could put it on the BLOG.
Well, we are loading up our bikes and getting ready to make the move to our last park in Texas. It was great getting to stay at Lake Conroe for three weeks, but it is time to "Get On the Road Again!"
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