Tuesday 19, 2016 El Paso, Texas

Saturday the 16th
This was our last full day of this cruise.  It was a day at sea.  We had our coffee and breakfast in the cabin.

At 1:30 we had another meeting for geocachers.  The entire group from the first meeting wasn't there, only Grand Penguin.  There were two others who were interested.  One worked for parks and recreation in a Virginia town.  He set up programs for the parks and the community and wanted to see if programs could be designed around geocaching.

Some time in the afternoon the Captain announced that rough weather was ahead with probable delays in arrival in Houston.  True to the Captain's word we had a bumpy afternoon.  It wasn't terrible but very noticeable.  We did take the precaution and took Dramamine.

For dinner we went to the Crown Grill with a couple we had met the first day of the cruise, Dan and Sherry Chance.  They are from the Woodland, north of Dallas.  They are also RV'ers.  The Crown Grill is one of the premium restaurants on the Caribbean Princess.

It was still rough seas when we went to bed.


Sunday the 17th
Some time during the night the wind calmed down.  We were only 1 1/2 hours late getting into Houston.  Our original disembarkation was scheduled for 9 AM.

Since we were late we went to the Horizon Court and had breakfast before going to our meeting place to wait for our group to be called.

We were in our car and on the way to Corpus Christi.  We had decided to visit Aunt Gloria and Uncle Curtis before hurrying home.  Our original plans had included a visit in Corpus Christi before the cruise.  As you may remember those plans were changed by my medical procedure and its complication.
We got to Corpus in the late afternoon.  My cousin Lael had come down from Houston to visit.  Gloria, Lael and I are the last of the Barker family from West Virginia. Lael was born in West Virginia but has lived in Texas most of her life.  Even though I still think of West Virginia as home, both Gloria and I have lived most of our lives elsewhere.  Gloria in Texas and me in Nevada.

Gerri, me, Curtis Ford, Gloria Ford, Lael Ford Miller

We visited until dinner time and then went to a nearby Cracker Barrel to eat.  Back at the house we played various card games until bedtime.










Monday the 18th

Lael left for the drive back to Houston this morning. We had a relaxing morning and then went to Sparky's BBQ pit for lunch after Curtis stopped to feed some gulls in a parking lot near their  home.








The BBQ had just changed their name.  They had great sandwiches beside the usual ordering the BBQ meats by the pound.  They also featured a salad bar.










We took a drive in downtown Corpus Christi and along the waterfront.

A replica of one ofColumbus' ships

In the afternoon we played some more cards.  I hope we remember how to play them later.  They were all quick games designed for large groups.  We played Left, Right, Center; 31; Mess with your Neighbor, also know by other names and Memory.

After more visiting in the afternoon we went to La Playa Mexican Restaurant for dinner.  We had a great meal but after our lunch we weren't able to do it justice.  I had a dish I had never heard of; deep fried avocado, stuffed with shrimp. before deep frying it was wrapped in the white cheese we normally see inside chili rellanos.

We played more cards before bedtime.  I felt like I was starting to come down with a cold and started taking a Z-pack of antibiotics, in hopes of warding it off.

Tuesday the 19th

A Texas Rest Area

We were up at 5 AM and had coffee with Curtis and Gloria.  By 6 we were on the road.  We gassed up before getting on the interstate.  As usual I slept most of the time when Gerri drove.  After one stop for fuel I drove to the next fuel stop in Ft. Stockton.  We had lunch at a restaurant in Ft. Stockton, well Gerri had lunch, I had French Toast and eggs.

We did stop at a couple of rest stops.  I found a cache at the first one.  Texas has some really nice rest stops.  They also have Picnic areas and Parking Areas, the later two don't have restrooms.  But, if needed they make handy places to take a break.

The antibiotics seem to be working and I felt better  by afternoon.  At one of our fuel stops we had decided to stop for the night in El Paso instead of driving straight through.  I called ahead and made reservations at Hawthorn Suites where we had stayed before.  We arrived at the hotel at about 5 PM.

We went to dinner at Appleby's.  Back at the hotel we called it a night.  Tomorrow will be a long day of driving, with no more Texas 80 MPH speed limits.