Where are Cheryl and Dennis?: Christmas at the Winery

11/29/2018 – 12/2/2018

Thursday – Today we left Bennett Spring State Park campground around eight. Destination....Lucky Star Casino west of Oklahoma City. It was 368 miles away so it was a long day of driving, five and half hours. We stopped a couple of times for fuel and a stop over at Camping World in Tulsa. Ended up to be eight hours on the road. Too long! Good thing is we are now only two and half hours (139 miles) from Wichita Falls.

Where we are parked: Lucky Star Casino – El Reno, OK – 10 full hookup sites - Free – 4 night maximum.

Friday – Got up bright and early again today. Dennis took advantage of the full hook up site and recharged the water softener, dumped our waste tanks and added some water to the fresh water tank. Steve and Li packed up as well. We left the casino about 8:15 and headed south toward Wichita Falls. We bypassed the toll roads and took Hwy 81 down to Hwy 70 then Hwy 79 into Wichita Falls. Steve and Li followed us as far as the Hwy 79 turn off. At that point we split up as they will continue on toward their final destination Tuscon AZ. We arrived in Wichita Falls around 11:30, found a place to fill our propane tanks, got a bite to eat then headed out to Scott and Linda Poenitzsch's house at the Horseshoe Bend Cellars Vineyard.

We certainly surprised Scott as we drove in with our rig. He was busy preparing for a Christmas Open House they were hosting this weekend. Scott offered a spot to park the camper so we set up in a field near the winery parking lot. After their daughter Gabby gave us a tour of the house we pitched in and helped hang decorations in the house and string lights to light the parking area. Later in the day we got a chance to catch up with Scott.

Scott and Linda purchased the winery last November after Scott left the company he was working for. At that point he was fed up with the corporate world and started looking for other opportunities. When they found this winery for sale they decided to purchase it and give wine making a try. After being here just over a year is sounds like they are truly enjoying it. It is a beautiful property with a large 4 bedroom house on 75 acres, wine making facility and tasting room.

Toward sunset a few storms popped up to the east. We sat on the deck outside the winery with a glass of wine watching the lightening show along with some of the many guests that came for the event. It was a great evening and we were so glad we stopped.

Saturday – Saturday morning we helped with additional decorations and added more lights to the parking area. Later we went to the grocery store to pick up a few essentials. The remainder of the day we chilled and chatted with many of the folks that were visiting the winery for the open house. High temperature today was around 73 degrees.

Sunday – Another beautiful day in Texas. A little cooler today (high 57) but blue skies and lots of sun. Today we took a drive to check out the area a bit. We went into Wichita Falls to see the World Smallest Skyscraper. It was built in 1919 by J.D. McMahon. The story goes that he raised $200,000 from investors promising to construct a high rise office building. The investors were expecting a building 480 feet high. However they misread the blue prints. All the dimensions were inches instead of feet. At that time it probably did not take $200,000 to build a 40 foot brick building. The investors brought a lawsuit against McMahon but the deal was declared legally binding. Eventually McMahon left with the balance of the investors money.

Then we went to see Wichita Falls Falls. The cities original falls was washed away in the early 1800's. In 1987 a new man made falls was constructed. We also drove out to Lake Arrowhead State Park. We did not drive through the park but took a road around the lake. The lake was pretty but there was little else to see

We are leaving for Fredericksburg tomorrow and I will be sad to leave. We have had a great time visiting the Poenitzsch's and the winery. It was especially fun to be here for the Christmas Open House and meeting so many wonderful people.

Where we are parked: Horseshoe Bend Cellars Vineyard – parked in the field next to the winery parking lot.