BURKE ADVENTURE TIME – DURING THE Corona Virus Pandemic – April 2020

My-oh-my, where do we begin?  Well, we first left our winter spot, at Rincon West, Tucson, AZ. on 3/23, heading east to meet up with some buddies, visit several Texas state parks, and eventually move on to Ohio to the Jackson Center Airstream Factory for some Airstream repair work and additions (e.g., a second A/C unit).  Who knew we would be caught up in the Global Pandemic? Anyway, some changes had to be made to our itinerary and fast!

Right now, upfront, we can’t say enough, not now, not ever, about the support and love from our family.  Our son, Michael, is a true life-line!  He continues to share with us what he is hearing on the news and what he is concerned about. He asks us GREAT questions, and his sharing is more than we could ever have asked for, not in this lifetime!  What a hero he is to us.  Our Grandsons Nathan, Dylan, and Cameron have also been a wonderful support in this difficult time: they all have shared text pictures of their family fun and adventures! They have FaceTimed and Zoomed (oh, and now, Google Duo’d) with us! Honestly, it makes our hearts smile! Our sister Judy and brother Jim have been another solid support to us in this weird era. Their calls and FaceTime with us mean more than they will ever know!  We know there are many folks who wish they were connected as closely to their family… WE ARE ETERNALLY GRATEFUL FOR OURS!  When you are traveling in truly uncertain times, this family connection keeps you moving forward with courage and hope! Grateful is what we are!

So we left Rincon West (Tucson) on March 23rd, planning to make our way to Texas in a few days and then tour a group of Texas State Parks recommended to us by our Texan friends, Jim & Gayla Burnett.  Alas, that was not to be… but I got ahead of myself. Our trip from Tucson to Kerrville included:  Fort Wilcox RV, AZ (overnight); Alamagordo KOA (3 nights – we had hoped to take in the White Sands National Park, but it was closed!);  Caprock Canyon State Park, in Quitaque, TX. (pronounced Kitty Kay, TX. – 3 nights); the Old Town Cotton Gin RV Park (Quanah, TX. – 7 nights); Whistle Stop RV Park (Abilene, TX – 1 night); then on to Buckhorn Lake RV Resort in Kerrville, Texas.  

We followed our planned itinerary as far as Caprock Canyon. It is a truly beautiful park with great canyons (somewhat like the Grand Canyon only smaller), bison everywhere (some walked right through our campground!), and wonderful trails surrounded by immense fields of wildflowers. However, there was no wifi or Verizon phone coverage. Not being able to connect with our remote world just didn’t work for us, both personally and work-wise. So, reluctantly, we made the decision to cancel our plan to visit the other state parks, thinking rightly or wrongly,  they would likely have the same connectivity issues. Shortly after we canceled, the Texas governor shut down all Texas State Parks, so our decision was timely.

As we were looking at our maps to figure out where to go next, having canceled the State Parks, our buddies, Jim and Gayla, called and recommended Buckhorn Lake RV Resort in Kerrville, where they had enjoyed a wonderful stay last year. It sounded so good we called and made our reservation for 30 days. Then we got a call back from J&G saying they had decided to go there, too! We arrived on April 8^th, a few days after our friends, and we have now decided to stay until May 24^th, when we pick up our original plan, moving on toward our June 24^th appointment in Jackson Center Ohio.

That’s a whole lot of information but we want you all to know we are here, safe and sound, and our “hunker-down” time and location have been good.  The park is beautiful; the people/guests here are mostly following the guidelines for staying home and staying safe:  we go out with masks on and stay mindful of staying 6 feet apart from folks!  It is now April 30^th and we are hearing that things are beginning to open up. We are hopeful that the nation and world will remember to thank those who do so much to protect us:  the first responders; all the medical people; the people who bring us news to keep us informed; those who protect us; and our families who keep reminding us we are loved! We are loving the creativity being shown by our family and others around the world, as they deal with this! Their out of the box thinking makes us laugh and smile, deep down… and keeps us filled with hope!

Our pictures here focus on where we are staying in Texas – Kerrville.  It is in the “Hill Country” of Texas. We had no idea how beautiful it could be here.  We hope you enjoy what we have been seeing.  We will catch up on our blog with pictures of the places we have stayed while traveling here from Tucson. That will come later in a special blog edition.

Thank you all for understanding the gap between our leaving Tucson, AZ. to Texas.  We hope you are still following us! We love you all, friends, and family! The 3 Burkes (of course we include Lili!)