Hard to believe that 3 years ago I posted my first blog.  …..8/25/14….I know that date so well as it is also my …..”BIRTHDAY” ….. We had been planning on retirement for several years.  The date was coming nearer…..I turned 64 and I retired the end of Sept. 2014.  Rich worked till Nov. 1 and retired.  He turned 65, Dec. 25 2014.   We were so ready to sign up for Social Security, Medicare A and B and the whole ball of wax.  If truth be told, I would have probably been fired sooner if I hadn’t planned on a retiring date.  Things weren’t going well at Adv. Logistics…..I feel for all you guys still their……They pay a good wage, and good benefits, but they work you like a dog……They’ve lost lots of Really Good people through the years…..

So as the date came closer, we were getting so excited.  We had been accepted as Workampers starting Dec 1 at Eastgate RV & MH Park in Harlingen Tx.  I had been following several bloggers and asking questions about Fulltime Rvers for almost 2 years.  I started to think….”I Can Do That Too….I Can Write”…..This was going to be an Adventure that we had no idea how it would turn out.  What would we see, and do???  So I started to research on WordPress and set up my blog site myself.  I was rather amazed at myself.  I did it by trial and error and finally succeeded.  I wrote my first Blog and published it on Aug. 25 2014, my 64th Birthday.  My goal for writing these blogs was so that the kids and our friends knew what we were doing.  Hence the title…….And Let The Fun Begin……We wouldn’t have to explain to everyone our activities, they could just read about it.  As time went on, I realized  that someday these would all be lost in cyberland.  I needed a way to preserve them.  I also came to the realization, that everyone works back home.  The kids were busy living and working.  Time marched on, we were having fun with no schedules while they still had that regimented life style called work.  They weren’t reading all of them .  I found a company called Blog2Print that would print your blogs into books.  I pick the dates, the covers, set up the dimensions inside and they can print them to soft or hard back books.  So the printing began every 6 months.

This was the first book that started it all.  First I printed them in paper back.  Every 6 months I print one, so I have 2 each year.  I try to make each one a different color and design.  Each book is running around 160 to over 200 pages.

I decided with this last book to try a hard back copy.  It really wasn’t much extra.  We were so pleased with it.  I have been replacing them all now with the hard back.  The black one is the only one left.  I will be done before the year is out.  When I started printing them a book cost around $80 with shipping and handling…..They charge you so much per page after the initial 20 pages…..The last one just cost me around $130…..But they are so worth it….

The pictures inside are pretty nice considering they are all from my phone.   I have the pictures made big and the paper is semi glossy.  Now as time has gone on my goal for the books has changed.

At first it was about our travels and experiences.  Now I realize how much history we see.  When we are at a historical place, it seems so important to write about what we see and how we view it.  Take for instance the LBJ Ranch.  We lived President Johnsons time in office.  I want to take what I know from my time in life to what we see on the tour, and write about it.  Also the different anniversary dates that we pass each year.  We witnessed the assassination of President Kennedy on tv and in newspapers.  I feel it is important to write about that piece of history and what we seen and heard and felt during that time.  It is so important to tell the story of what we were doing at the time these events happened.  The kids nowadays aren’t really taught a lot of these things in history.  I try to research it and convey all the historical facts and what we witness to try to tell a full story.

Also as family pictures and special events happen, they can be captured and preserved.  So many reasons to write these storys and make sure they are preserved for them and the grandkids.

This will be our gift to them, Our Storys……Our Legacy…..lol….(kids your not getting any money,  lol  you’ll have to be happy with these books)

But Rich and I are very “PROUD” of these books.  We hope that someday the family will enjoy reading them as much as we have enjoyed the experiences.  I really enjoy writing them.  I feel that its a talent I would have never realized if we hadn’t embarked on this adventure in life.  Life is good down here in Harlingen.  But only for the winter.  lol.  Sure is hot in the summer.  We do have so many other things to do yet.  We just renewed our Security License for Texas again.  We have other things we would like to do in the summers.  So time will tell what we do next summer.

………So Today I celebrate my 67th Birthday…..are we going out to celebrate????

I’m afraid not…..Another 1st…..Hurricane Harvey……. is on its way in….We are not in the direct path, but we will be included in the outer bands.  Their calling for 4″ to 6″ of rain and up to 70 mph winds.  It will be landing as a Category 3 around Corpus Christi and Port Aransas.  They are doing evacuations right now.  Once ashore it could drop 22″ to 24″ in some areas.  South Padre Island campgrounds were evacuated today.  People boarding up windows.  Even though their not getting a direct hit, it is still front line to the Gulf.  Their expecting huge storm surges of water.  All beaches are closed and most people actually left for the mainland.  Today we took down our screen room, put in all the awnings.  Put away the chairs and everything outside.  The park went around and put away all the pool chairs and anything that could blow.  So we are all prepared.  So well spend my birthday enjoying ….Hurricane Harvey 2017….

This picture is Thursday late afternoon, ready for the storm….Blue Sky overhead….Hard to believe that west of their behind the shed a hundred miles is  Hurricane Harvey 2017, developing from a Category 1 to a 3 at landfall.

These are our new Personal Cards….Rather Cool I think…..Blog address on one side…..This picture was one I took last year as we left Adventureland….