Hill Country to Rockport, Texas

Moving south past Dallas, Texas, we stopped in Hill Country.

 

The limestone hills sparked in sunshine and clear weather.

 

 

  A group of winter cold storms brought freezing weather.

Our rig was covered with icicles. 

 

Change of plans .... we moved further south to the

Coastal Bend Region of Texas.

 

 

Warm morning fog heading into Corpus Christi.

 

 

Rockport will be our home base for the winter.

The white pelicans enjoying the warm weather.

 

 

Water Street was bustling with building activity.

 

 

A new Texas tropical style home under construction.

 

 

 

Similar homes on the street.

 

 

Homeowner's view across the roadway to

crushed oyster shell beach front.

 

 

Many of the homes have private fishing piers.

This one measured 514 ft. long.

 

 

The migrating birds having a great time in

the shallow water of the Gulf of Mexico.

 

 

 

 



Winter Trek to Texas

 

After being home for a month,

we packed our motorhome and headed south.

 

 

At Needles, California we crossed the Colorado River

into Arizona.

 

In this area near Lake Havasu City, Quartsite and Parker 

 winter visitors park their RV's in the desert or campgrounds.

 

 

Visitors enjoying four wheeling in the desert.

 

 

Following the river road south.

 

 

 

 

Camping in the Arizona desert.

 

 

 

We are visiting three areas of Texas. First stop McKinney

located 30 miles north of Dallas. Next stop Hill Country, 70 miles north 

of San Antonio and then the Gulf Coast for 2 months at

Rockport near Corpus Christi. 

 

 

West Texas greets us with a flat drive east. Wide open

country means higher speed limits for cars.

 

 

 

This is oil patch country. Drilling rigs dot the ranchlands

where cattle graze.

 

 

McKinney, Texas is the home of MCD Innovations. We

stopped at the factory for new blinds and solar shades  

to further update the remodeling of our motorhome.

 

 

Old town has just been restored with many

shops and restaurants.

 

 

 

 

MCD headquarters and factory.  The former

owner of this building was race car builder Carroll Shelby.

 

The office looks like a farm house with a large porch with

rocking chairs.  Inside each office has it's own fireplace.

 

 

Customers including us line up for installation work. Shades

were made after window measurements were taken. It took four

days to complete the job. 

 

 

 

Shelby sold the car kits and package chili from this location.

 

 

Some of you might remember the Carroll Shelby 1966 Cobra with a 427 ci engine.



The Canals of Burgundy

The Canals of Burgundy were built between the 17th and 19th centuries to connect Paris with the Mediterranean Sea to transport cargo.

Today the canal is used by pleasure boats 

and commercial tourist boat companies.

At Pont de Ouch a tourist river boat was coming into port.  A group of 6 can charter this boat for 23,000 euros 

which includes meals, sleeping quarters and side tours.

A canal side road is used by bikers, walkers and lock tenders.

Next to the canal a cattle drive caught our attention.

This farmer was herding in his cows with his car.  There was a stand off between two cows on which way to go.

About two miles down the road, two lock tenders were busy 

getting a boat through the locks.

Everything is done manually.  Each tender had a gate to open.

Boat is free to pass through.

Job completed so both got on their scooters and moved to the next lock. The canal is 145 miles long with over 200 locks.

At the next town we stopped at a campground park and had lunch watching the boat activity with Chateau in the background.

Route des Grands Crus North

North of Beaune the grape harvest begins.

In this region grapes are picked by hand and loaded into carts.

A castle with a moat plus jet fighters.

The owner is a collector of cars, planes, fire engines, tractors, 

motorcycles and also has wine for sale.

Local cafe called Le Bar a Vins where we had lunch.

...and made a friend.

Route des Grands Crus South to La Rochepot Castle

From Beaune we drove the Vineyard Loop south to La Rochepot Castle.

Vineyards ripe with grapes ready for harvest.  Each vineyard is divided by stone walls to show ownership.

Each plot usually has a grand entrance with family plaque. 

Small processing area next to field.

Juice pumped into transport truck for delivery to main wine facility.

Leftover stems and debris went into the green container.

The village of Puligny-Montrachet has a nice tribute statue to grape pickers.

Outside St. Romain we spied a field of stacked oak strips next to this manufacturing plant.

This facility is the Burgundy region's important wine barrel maker.  

The oak wood strips are heated and seasoned with burning oak chips.

A metal clamp compresses the end for installation of metal bands

The worker positions the metal strips with a hammer.

La Rochepot castle was started at the end of the Middle ages and finished during the Renaissance when castles were changed from defense to luxury homes.