# Our Family's Thanksgiving



## Collinsfam_WY (Nov 9, 2006)

We decided to spend this Thanksgiving out in East Texas on the old Dairy Farm my father in law grew up on. Later in life, he also worked on this farm while married and my wife, as a child, also got to live on it. The Dairy operation has been halted now for a good number of years and my father in law and his siblings have spent a great deal of time cleaning the place up. I got to see it before they started and it was durn near a death trap. Now - the place is beautiful. We couldn't have asked for a better place to spend Thanksgiving nor a better camper to spend it in than our Outback! We arrived and parked the Outback underneath the awning of the old truck barn where they have rigged up a 30amp RV connection. My in-laws were in their "new to them" Arctic Fox just out of the picture to the right.










Grandma Ryan still knows dairymen around the area and at her request, they brought some new friends for the kids to meet and have fun with. Being a "car guy (truck guy?)" I noted that their TV was an older Dodge chassis-cab. The 5.9 had around 200k on it. They had another at their farm with over 300k. The dairymen were shy about the new 6.7's since their trucks idle so much and run at low speeds - they didn't think that they had the bugs worked out (dpf regens etc.) for the way they worked with their trucks. These guys were hard on their trucks - they are the kind that have diesel engines running strong with trucks falling apart around them!










Before long, they brought out the milk and showed the kids how to feed the calves. Such awesome fun - even our littlest one had a blast!


































After the calves were fed, our oldest daughter (blue shirt) and one of her cousins ran off down into the pasture to go "feed" the cow you can see off near the tree line. By the time the trip was over, all the cows had been named and the adult cow down by the tree line had been named "blackspot". Great stuff.










--More to Follow Below--


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## Collinsfam_WY (Nov 9, 2006)

We had a great hayride pulled by an old Massey - sorry no pics - I "lost" our camera in a pile of clothes on the front queen bed of the 23RS.







. Camera was later discovered and before long, the kids decided that the calves needed more hay in their pens to give them a nice soft place to lay down.

Where would one find more hay...why on the hayride trailer of course! Gotta hop up and grab a handful...










Jump down and RUNRUNRUN over to the pens!










Toss the hay into the pens and you might need to crawl in to adjust it just perfect so the calves would have the best beds!










Whew...that was tough work but it was worth it! I was chuckling thinking that those calves would never sleep on a softer place ever again in their lives thanks to the kids. heh.










Mornings were just awesome. I would wake up and usually DW would have the coffee pot already going since she would typically be up with our littlest one getting her fed and dressed. I would step outside with my mug full of hot Starbucks and just stare at the mist in the pastures. It was chilly...enough for a coat...but not so cold that I couldn't stay out for a half hour and enjoy it. Here are a few views of what it looked like. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed being there.


























And last but not certainly least...we have an escapee on the loose Momma! Korynne just started crawling about 2 weeks ago and she loved adventuring all inside of our Outback! Smile!!!










Well I hope you enjoyed seeing pics of our Thanksgiving adventures. I wish I had been able to take more pics of the hayride and bonfire. No more temporarily losing the camera! We loved being there - deer hitting the Outback on the way and all. I wouldn't have changed a thing about it - the memories we made were just wonderful. I have to thank Grandma Ryan and her friends the Mileskas (the dairymen) who helped to make it so great.

-CC


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## dianee67 (Oct 12, 2008)

*Your children are adorable. Your morning fog was a perfect setting with a perfect cup of fresh hot coffee. Great pics & thank you for sharing.
You are blessed.... *


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## ember (Jan 17, 2008)

ricknchris said:


> *Your children are adorable. Your morning fog was a perfect setting with a perfect cup of fresh hot coffee. Great pics & thank you for sharing.
> You are blessed.... *


X 2


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## campfirenut (Aug 9, 2006)

Looks like you all had a great time. Thanks for the pictures.

Bob


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## mswalt (Sep 14, 2004)

Curtis,

Looks like you guys had a great time.

BTW, the little one is growing up fast!

Mark


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## rdvholtwood (Sep 18, 2008)

Looks like you all had a great time!!







Thanks for sharing your pictures with us!

Rick


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## Doxie-Doglover-Too (Jan 25, 2007)

what a great share! Thanks so much!


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## Fanatical1 (Jan 9, 2006)

Thanks for sharing your great pictures with us! I agree 100% with your idea of a great camping trip . Would have liked
to see the pictures of the bonfire too.


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## luckylynn (Jan 9, 2007)

Fanatical1 said:


> Thanks for sharing your great pictures with us! I agree 100% with your idea of a great camping trip . Would have liked
> to see the pictures of the bonfire too.


I know this trip was great in more ways than you think of now. DH and I grew up in East Texas...........where was this dairy farm? I have always heard the ole saying "you cann't go home again" and I know that is true because things are just never the same..........but sometimes I"Think" I would like to go back to the East Texas town and farm I grew up on.

Glad you had such a great time and East Texas is beautiful this time of year.


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## john7349 (Jan 13, 2008)

You just can't plan those kind of trips.... They just happen. Not often enough.


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## Collinsfam_WY (Nov 9, 2006)

luckylynn said:


> Thanks for sharing your great pictures with us! I agree 100% with your idea of a great camping trip . Would have liked
> to see the pictures of the bonfire too.


I know this trip was great in more ways than you think of now. DH and I grew up in East Texas...........where was this dairy farm? I have always heard the ole saying "you cann't go home again" and I know that is true because things are just never the same..........but sometimes I"Think" I would like to go back to the East Texas town and farm I grew up on.

Glad you had such a great time and East Texas is beautiful this time of year.
[/quote]

Lynn - the farm is about 1mi. North of Douglass, TX on RR225. Douglass is about 10mi. West of Nacogdoches.

-CC


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## RLW7302 (Feb 27, 2005)

Sounds (and looks) like a wonderful way to spend the holiday!


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## skippershe (May 22, 2006)

Glad you had a great holiday....priceless memories for sure!


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