Today, Sunday, was another good day of rest and fellowship.  We started the day off with breakfast at the Taft First United Methodist Church.  The church has a Sunday morning breakfast every fourth Sunday.  We enjoyed a breakfast of Pigs in a Blanket, fresh strawberries, two different coffee cakes, orange juice, coffee, and some fresh picked Sumatra's from one of the church member's own tree.  We enjoyed the fellowship of meeting more of the congregation.  We, our NOMADS team, was able to get a good group picture as you can see below.

After breakfast we all went to church for the Sunday morning service.  The pastor preached on excepting those that are different.  It was very well presented.  Holy Communion was also given this morning.  Taking Communion is a very special time, the sharing of the bread, signifying Christ's Body, and the wine, signifying Christ's blood, both shed for us, makes one humble and thankful for His sacrifice.

Later in the day, we all gathered for a cook-out prior to the Super Bowl.  I grilled some chicken; Leanne and Steve brought some potatoe salad, salsa and chips, and some pickles; Art and Sue brought baked beans, cheese cubes, develed eggs, and hot wings.  Of course there were more iitems, but I can't remember them all. 

The Super Bowl was about to start so we cleaned up and got ready for the game.  Sharon and I left Steve, Leanne, Art, and Sue to the game.  We went to Lowe's to get some tools I need for the next week.  Mel, if you are reading this, I got myself a power nailer.  Sharon and I will now settle in for the evening to watch Downton Abbey on PBS.  This is a very good program.

The group at breakfast

From left to right: Gary, Sharon, Art, Sue, Steve, and Leanne

Waiting for the Super Bowl to start

Have a great day and
Remember, God Loves You

On Friday, Steve and his wife Leanne, and Sharon and I, did a little sight seeing.  We first went to Rockport, Texas where we found a nice little town of shops and museums.  As we parked in the parking lot along the marina, a lady came walking out to the car to meet us.  Steve has magnetic NOMADS signs on both side of his car, and they caught the attention of this lady.  She saw the Methodist church emblem and had to see who we were.  She knew of the NOMADS and gave us a big welcome to Rockport.  She told us where the many sights were to be found in the area.  It just happens that she is a volunteer at the aquarium.  She pointed out theTexas Maritime museum, an art museum, a seacoast education center, and of course the aquarium.  We were a little early for any of them so we decided to go to Goose Island State Park to see the Texas State Tree, the oldest tree in Texas.  The size of the tree was not that impressive, but the tree itself is about 1000 years old.  It told us many stories of things that it had seen, and heard, over those many years.  Wish I had had the time to hear them all.  Sharon made friends with a squiral, as you can see in one of the pictures.

After we left Goose Island State Park we returned to Rockport to visit the Texas Maritime museum.  The museum had displays, and information, about the early settlers and the industries throughout the history of the Rockport and gulf coast of Texas.  Did you know that Texas, as a republic, had it's own navy at one time.  I never knew that Texas had naval battles with Mexico during their fight for independence.  I also saw some photos of canons retrieved from the ship LaBelle, a ship that was used by French settlers many years ago.  The family crest, and name on the cannon, caught my eye. (Picture below.)  LeCompte was my mothers maiden name.  I know that her family fled France during the French Revolution to England, but not much after that.  Just thought that was neat.

After we finished seeing the Maritime museum we decided it was time for lunch.  The nice lady in the museum gift shop told us of some nice places to eat.  We went a little ways up the road to Lamar, where we found  Charlotte Plummer's Seafare Restaurant.  We all had seafood.  The lunches came with side salad or shrimp gumbo, I chose the gumbo.  Boy, was that good.  I knew that the fish would be good.  I had ordered the seafood platter and was not disappointed.  I will say that it has been a long time since I have had seafood that fresh and good.  We had a table next to the windows facing the docks in the marina.  It is oyster season for the fisherman, so we got to watch as boats were being unloaded with bags of oysters.  A couple of boats came in so heavy with their catch that it looked as if the top rail along the boats were below water level.  I would recommend this place anytime for lunch or dinner.

We then went back to Rockport where we went to the coastal education center.  Here we saw a wonderful presentation of ocean movements.  The center is one of many around the globe that has a sphere used for the presentation.  It is a development of NOAA.  The sphere hangs from the ceiling on thin wires.  A projection of the earth, with the many different displays of info about the movement of sea currents, is done by several cameras that are computer controlled.  It shows the earth all around, so no matter where you sit you see the display.  You can see in the pictures that Steve and Sharon are trying to help hold up the earth.

When we left the center it was time to go back to Taft.  We decided we would go back to Rockport another day to finish seeing the sights.  Of course no NOMAD outing would not be complete without a stop at Walmart.  Did that, nuf said.

It was a great day of sightseeing, but the best was spending time with Steve and Leanne.

Hope this posting wasn't too long, but it was a good day.

Remember, God Loves You

Today was the last work day of the week.  We will take a break until Monday.

We have done a lot of work this week completing the front of the house and getting all of the windows installed on the south side.  We have had a lot of fun while working.  The weather has been beautiful, except for the wind.  Thursday is the only day that the wind was somewhat calm.  You can see by the pictures the work that was completed this week. 

The first picture show where we were on Tuesday.

The last pictures show where we are today.

Of course there have to be some pictures of some of the team working.

Here are Art and Sue, the team leaders installing siding, and Steve sitting down on the job working on a window frame.

Some of us are planning a day of sight-seeing down on the coast around Corpus Christi.  The church has invited us to a church breakfast on Sunday morning.  Looking forward to both and some resting over the weekend.

Remember, God Loves you

Taft, Texas, NOMADS project, Taft First United Methodist Church, First day

After a wonderful Sunday church service at the Taft First United Methodist Church, the team, took a few hours to prepare for the first day of work at the job site.  A couple of us found a great little Mexican resturant for lunch.  The food was plentiful, or course those that know me, I emptied my plate.  I had some grilled cactus with peppers and onions, it was very good.  At four o'clock, we got together for a briefing from the team leaders.  They briefed us on on the job safety, and around the area.  We were advised where we could shop and the some of the best places for eating out.  We all agreed that we like to eat most of our meals in our RV's.  We also discussed what we would be doing for the next three weeks.  A NOMADS team had already been here for the three weeks prior to our arrival and had started the project.  We are finish up what they started.  The project consist of removing old wood siding from a families house and install new hardi board siding.  The previous team completed one side and part of another.  We will be completing the front and one side that had no work started.  You can see from the pictures what has been done, and where we have started removing from one side. 

Remember, God Loves You.

Victoria, Texas to Taft, Texas 1/26/2013

Well, after a restful night at the Texas Rest Area and RV/18 wheeler Resort, we made the long three hour haul to the mighty metropolis of Taft, Texas.  We had no trouble finding the Taft First United Church, where we will be parking for the next 3 weeks.  NOMADS installed power, water, and sewage hook-ups here over several years.  It is really a nice place to park.  The church is just across the street behind us.  We have already met the team leaders and the other couple in our team.  More about them later.  After church tomorrow, we will meet and get to know each other better, and find out more about the work we will be doing.

Hattiesburg, MS to Victoria, Texas 1/25/2013

We left the WalMart RV Resort about 8:00 and headed south.  The trip was very uneventful, the traffic on I-12 and I-10 was no as bad as we have experienced before.  We stopped in Jennings, Texas, at a nice park/museum for lunch.  As you can see from the pictures that parking was tight.  Glad the road was one way, would have been fun trying to turn around.  We timed our driving to arrive in Houston during the evening rush hour.  I really enjoy driving the RV in bumper to bumper traffic doing anything from 0 to 60 in two hours.  I was plesantly surprised to find that the many lanes of concrete, and a well used HOV lane, made what I expected an easy trip through Houston.  We picked up US Highway 59 off of I-10, towards Corpus Christi.  For those that know that route, you know the traffic I am talking about.  As it started getting dark, we started looking for another WalMart RV Resort to spend the night.  We called ahead to Edna, Texas, and were told they had a spot for us, just to find one of the vacant spots anywhere on the perimeter of the parking lot.  We were all excited to be able to spend another night at one of the finest RV Resorts in the country, and have an good meal from the Deli.  When we arrived, there was no place to park a large RV, hardly room for one of a Texans large pick-up trucks.  So on the road again.  We called another Walmart in Victoria, Texas, and were told that they had no places to park.  As we approached Victoria, we came to a Texas Rest Area.  We pulled in to see if we could spend the night at this fine establishment.  A sign was posted stating that no parking over 24 hours.  There was only one more RV, and one 18 wheeler there.  I asked the driver of the 18 wheeler if he knew the policy for overnight parking.  He only knew of the 24 hour restriction.  We spent the night.  When we left early Saturday morning, the rest area was full.  We had more neighbors that we thought.  Had a good night.

From Dawson, Alabama to Taft, Texas, 1/24/2013

We are finally on our way.  Due to impending winter weather approaching north Alabama, we decided to leave a day early.  We hooked up the toad, the car being towed behind the RV, early Thursday morning, went to Bible study at the church, and left home around 11:30.  The weather when we left was really nice, and got better as we traveled south.  By the time we got to McCalla, Alabama, where we fueled up for the first time on this trip, the temperature had gotten up to 68 degrees.  We traveled onto Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where we spent the night.  We found a wonderful spot at the WalMart RV Resort, and parked amoung the other over-nighter's.  We went into the WalMart and checked in to let the store manager we were there, then ventured to the WalMart Deli and selected a fine salad from those already made to order.  After a good meal, watching a little TV, we went to bed for a good nights sleep.  We were blessed with the low, constant drone of diesel engines running in our neighbor's 18 wheeler's.  We had at least 3 neighbor's that night.  The best part of the night was the visit by the vacuum truck.  At about 2:30, the vacuum truck made a couple of sweeps by the RV.  It was nice to get out the next morning to see a clean parking lot.