Camping @ Cedar Hill State Park

Tina and I camped at Cedar Hill State Park in Cedar Hill TX the weekend of Friday September 25th to Sunday September 27th, 2009.  I went there about 2 PM Friday and secured campsite #52, which had a good view of the lake on three sides.  All the sites to the south of the park were closed due to recent heavy rains causing mud and mosquitos. 

Tina got off work at 5 PM and we got to the park at about 6:30 PM.  The first thing we did was to find a Geocache at the park entrance that was soooo cleaverly hidden.  Then we setup our tent, hammock, and other stuff and then took a walk.  We watched a lovely sunset.  Later we cooked dinner; Sloppy Joes and potato chips.  Then we built a fire. 

About 10:30 PM we went to the restroom and ran into a nice couple named Chris Byrd and Dawn. They had locked themselves out of their RV.  Inside their RV were their keys, dogs, and cellphone.  The couldn’t get the dogs to unlock the doors, so we got in touch with their insurance company on our cellphone.  The company sent out a locksmith named DJ.  He was a very nice man and we talked about fishing while he unlocked the door.  We went to sleep about 12 AM, after bible study. 

Saturday morning, we got up about 10 AM and took a walk to the restroom and found another Geocache nearby.  Then we ate breakfast and relaxed a bit.  Then we went Geocaching on one of the trails.  It was muddy and mosquito infested.  We ran into Chris fishing and chatted and then we found a nice Geocache after all the mud near the Cedar Hill overlook.  Tina became lunch for the mosquitos, so we headed back to camp. 

Our friend Darla, her two sons Eli and Luke, and our friend Christi came to join our campsite after lunch.  They setup their tent and then we all ate.  Then we all went Geocaching and swimming at the lake.

We came back to the campsite and ate dinner.  We watched the a gorgeous sunset afterwards.  The kids were so well behaved.  Eli found a fisherman’s knife and he and I shapened it.  We also gathered kinlin for the fire.  We made a fire and hung out and chatted and ate smores (roasted marshmallows, Graham crackers, and chocolate; if you’ve not familiar with the word).  Tina and I watched the fire die down and hit the sack way after everyone else.

Sunday morning we got up and ate breakfast and chatted.  The others broke campsite and left before noon.  Tina and I saw Chris and Dawn come by with their dogs, so we walked with them for a bit.  We stopped at their campsite and Chris brought out his Alvarez guitar.  We both played while we all chatted.  Then Tina and I went back to break camp.  We broke camp at by 1:45 PM and went Geocaching again.  We searched high and low for one cache that we later found out was inactive.  Then we went for another one, which also was a no find.  We decided to head home at 5 PM instead of fishing because we we worn out; we thought!  We left the park and saw the overlook a few miles down the road and decided to look for that cache again.  We ended up hiking all the way back to the park across river beds and through the jungles.  We did not find the cache.  We got home about 6:30 PM.  Another successful camping trip!  We found four out of seven Geocaches.  Geocaching is using 10-million-dollar satellites to find Tupperware filled with toys in the woods. See http://www.geocaching.com .  Also, see our photo page later for pictures: http://photos.TinaAndAlan.com .

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Lake Whitney State Park

Tina and I went camping at Lake Whitney State Park on Sunday Sept. 6th and Monday Sept. 7th.  First we went to the Grand Opening of the Spiritual Freedom Church in Waco.  It was a great service with Pastor Bruce Hines.  Afterwards they had food; which was great as well.  We met a few people and had fun.

Then we headed to the state park.  We scoped out the sites and changed from the assigned site to one with shade and then setup camp.  We setup our hammock between two trees, got a cold drink, and relaxed a bit while jamming to some music.  Then we took a walk to locate the restrooms.  

Then we headed to the beach to swim.  We inflated our floats and floated off-shore for about an hour-and-a-half.  We have barbells for anchors, so we don’t have to worry about floating away.

As the sun set, we headed back to camp, fixed some dinner and then enjoyed the almost full moon while listening to music.  It was nice and cool, about 80 degrees.  We headed to bed about 11 pm. 

We woke up Monday about 10 am, ate breakfast and headed out for a hike to find a GeoCache (see www.geocaching.com) .  We hiked a bit then found the coordinates of the cache, but I couldn’t find the treasure.  Then, finally I let Tina drive the GPS (Global Positioning System) and she led us right to it.  We opened the treasure and had some fun looking at all the goodies.  Tina worked the number puzzle and a little ball-in-the-hole puzzle.  I cleaned the leaves out of the cache and examined all the goodies.  We took pictures and we took a GeoCoin left by some German folks who had originally deposited it in Florida.  We left a Morse Code chart.  We hid the treasure and finished our hike.

Back at camp, we relaxed a bit in the hammock, then tore down camp and headed to the beach.  We floated again for a bit, then we noticed a bunch of folks by the shore.  It was a church having a fellowship.  We left our floats and got close to shore to listen, but it was in Spanish.  They sang, we clapped.  Tina interpreted pretty good.  Then the pastor took some people off-shore and had a baptism ceremony.  We watched and cheered them on.  Pretty cool.  Then we went back to our floats, floated more; got more sun.  Then we had a picnic. 

At about 5:20 pm it was time for fishing.   We headed to our favorite fishing spot.  We fished and fished and caught nothing.  Then about 6:30, the turtles started eating our worms.  This one turtle kepth chasing our bait.  We named him HotRod since he was pretty fast moving from left to right to eat our worms.  About that time the FISH finally showed up too.  We starting catching them pretty consistently.  We caught about 15 Bluegills; some were pretty small.  We put them all back to keep growing for a later trip!    At sunset we decided to head home; another successful camping and fishing trip and geocache find.  We got home at 9 pm; ready for a bath and some rest.

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El Paso-Tucson-Grand Canyon

On Saturday August the 15th, Tina, Kim (Tina’s sister), Itza (Tina’s mom) and I took off for Tucson AZ.  Kim needed to get back to UA for her second year and she needed to take most of her stuff since she was moving into a house with some other friends. 

So, we packed up Tina’s Jeep and Kim’s BMW.  We drove to El Paso and hung out with Tina’s aunt Irene.  Then we stayed overnight at Tina’s grandparent’s condo. 

Sunday drove to Tucson.  Nice weather, short 5 hour trip.

Monday we went shopping and helped Kim get some bedroom furniture; a bed, night stand, bookshelf, printer stand, and such.

Tuesday day we organized and went to the UA to look around.  We connected with my friend Jim Hackley and he showed us where he worked there at UA.

Wednesday we took off for the Grand Canyon; all four of us in the Jeep.  We arrived about 5 pm and were able to go and see the canyon for a few hours.  Tina and I went to the Star Gazing talk and Kim and Itza went to the Condor talk.  We stayed at the Red Feather Inn right at the entrance of the Nat’l Park. 

Thursday day we spent all day at the Grand Canyon.  Tina, Itza, and Kim hiked 1000′ down into the canyon and back up, while I enjoyed the view from the top. 

About 6 pm we went to We Cook Pizza.  It is owned by an acquaintance of mine, Wayne.  We met the co-owner Bryan and his wife Verna.  They comped us some food.  Then we had Ice Cream.  Wayne used to run the Grand Canyon’s only radio station from a closet at the pizza parlor, using radio station software that I wrote called ‘Digital DJ’.  Then we headed back to Tucson. 

Friday Tina and I went with my friend Jim Hackley and we hiked the back hills of Sonoita AZ.  We found a GeoCache (See www.geocaching.com , cache number GCV8NN) and 4-wheeled in Jim’s 4-Runner into the hills, hiked and took pictures.  We treated Jim to dinner at the Stake Out, a cool out back place with a two-man C&W band.  They were good.  I requested the song Rose’s Cantina (Marty Robbins - “Out in the West TX town of El Paso…” ) for Tina.  Then we hung out at Kim’s.

Saturday we headed back to El Paso; bidding Kim farewell. We stopped at a Winery near Bowie AZ called Coronado Vineyards.  We met two cool people, Karen and Bob.  We also went to Annie’s Orchard where we bought 6 different kinds of fudge. There you can pick your own apples and pears. At El Paso, Tina & I went to a party and hung out with Tina’s aunt Irene.  We went across the state line into New Mexico to a casino to watch two friends celebrate one of their birthdays (we watched; we don’t gamble).  Then we stayed at Tina’s grandparents condo overnight. 

Sunday we drove back to TX and took Itza to Plano and ourselves back home.  Tina crashed at 9 PM to get enough sleep for work the next day.  We had a great time and will post pictures on our site soon. 

2779 miles in 9 days; 147 gallons of gas; and 46 hours of driving!  BUT we had a blast!

We listened to two mystery/thriller/suspense ‘Books on CD’ along the way:
Ghost At Work - by Carolyn Hart (real good)
7th Heaven - by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (pretty good; good twist at the end)

Side note: Why does Tucson have a “C”?  It should be Tooson or Tuson.  With the “C” it should be Tuckson’.  Just curious!

– Alan Freeman 8/25/2009

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Bob Larson - Raddison

Tina and I got to see Bob Larson at the Raddison in Richardson both Friday night and Saturday day.  It was awesome.  Friday night we got to see some people healed of demons and on Saturday we got to learn about ancestrial curse-breaking.  Other folks were healed Saturday too.  Do you have demons?  Take the Demo-Test at www.demontest.com . Also visit Bob’s site at www.boblarson.org to learn more about it.  Bob is called “The Real Exorcist!”  For spiritual healing, Bob’s DWJD Church (Do What Jesus Did) in Arlington is at www.freedomandtruth.com headed by Pastor Bruce Hines.

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The Revival was awesome!

Wow, the revival was awesome!  The last day was Friday night and almost everyone in the church was touched by the Holy Spirit and was on fire for God!  On Saturday morning several hundred of us went out and evangilized to various locations in Fort Worth.

The team that Tina and I was in had two other adults and five teens under the age of 16.  We went downtown Fort Worth, Wal-Mart and Target.  Our little group won 155 souls to Christ!  It was so great.  We posted a Soul Winning Script on our site, if you wish to accept Christ or Rededicate your heart and life to Christ.  It only takes two minutes; please take the time.  I means we’ll be friends someday in Eternity after we leave this ole world! 

~~ Love, Alan ~~

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Campmeeting - Calvary Cathedral

The week of July 12th trough July 17th a revival is being held at Calvary Cathedral just north or I-35/I-30 in Fort Worth.  Come get a blessing.  See www.calvarycathedral.org and www.revival.com for details.  It’s a Rodney Howard-Brown ministry.  Awesome fellowship with fellow Christians.  — Alan

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Healing School

Once a month Tina and I attend a Healing School in Argyle TX taught by Pastor Thurman Scrivner.  He teaches straight from the bible the scriptures say that relate to sickness and healing.  The bible says sickness is a result of sin and that if you repent and remain blameless and in God, then you will be rewarded with a long healthy life; otherwise you will be tormented by sickness and aching in your bones.  Many people say, “God wouldn’t hurt people.”  However the bible is chock full of examples of where God allows people to be sick or killed.  Beginning with Adam and Eve where God says woman will suffer pains during childbirth; the plagues of Egypt; the first born of Egypt being killed, Lot’s wife is turned to a pillow of salt for looking back, and many many more.  God created everything; good and bad; life and death.  If you say, “I am sinless”, then be sure that you have confessed all your sins, and renounced all generational curses as well.  Please visit Thurman’s site at www.tlsm.com and watch or order some of the free sermons.  It will change your life.   — Alan

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Freeman Family Reunion - July 4th 2009

The Freeman family had a reunion at Lake Lavon over the weekend of July 4th.  Descendants of Wesley Newell Freeman (1831-1890) gathered and had fun at Lake Lavon.  This included a DUCK ride that originated at Grapevine Mills Mall to include the Gaylord Texas area.  Attending where two branches of the Freeman family; the Richard Waldo Freeman family, from Wesley’s first wife Mary Welch and the Alan Freeman family from Wesley’s second wife Julia Emma Gordon.

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Hi Everyone!

Hi welcome to my blog. Please come back soon. I will be adding pictures and posting entries soon.

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