Reet On the Road: Fulton Oysterfest and Social Hour at Southern Oaks

Saturday, March 6, I slept like a rock and got up at 7:00. We had a light breakfast and stretched. No walk today. We leave for Oysterfest in Big Bertha with Nan and Tom at 10:00. It is chilly and windy, or 'breezy' according to the weatherman. It is mostly overcast early but clears off later. We park in the old Wal-Mart lot and Tom pays $2.00. We wait about 15 minutes for the shuttle and cram onto the second one that arrives. It is standing room only and we hang on for dear lives. The bus driver says the parade has started so she'll get us as close as she can. She lets us off two streets behind Fulton Beach Road.

Bob, Nan and Tom wait for the Oysterfest Parade

We sit on a rock wall in front of the light blue hotel just down from Charlotte Plummer's. This is the end of the parade route so we have about a 20 minute wait. At last we see the police and fire departments leading the parade. Of course the ubiquitous beads and welcome candy are thrown from the floats. I am surprised the only RV Park float we saw this year was Raintree RV Park. Usually quite a few of the parks enter a float. Maybe it's been too cold and rainy to work on them. My favorite parade entrant was the empty gas-hogging school bus following a group of kids marching for the environment!

Bob and Reet love a parade!

After the parade we pay our $3.00 entry fee and browse the craft tent. What a surprise, we see Heather from the office at Southern Oaks. She has a booth and is selling some nice jewelry. She said it was slow the first couple of days but is picking up now. The highlight turns out to be mini-fudge ice cream cones for $1.00!

We walk through the beer and oyster tent. I snap a picture of the guys shucking oysters. There is a contest later. I wonder if any of the workers will enter? After assessing the food situation we make a command decision to eat at Charlotte Plummer's if we can get in. But first we walk back through the craft tent. We missed the Oysterfest t-shirts the first time. Bob and Tom both find one; green and black respectively. However, I like the trailer t-shirt Tom has on today.

Ubiquitous Shriners!

As we walk towards the restaurant we see Nancy and Reggie (?I think?), the couple Nan and Tom met in Kerrville. She tells Nan they came by Southern Oaks but we weren't there. They just ate at Charlotte Plummer's on the upper deck so maybe there's hope for a table.

Oysters on the half shell

We get a table downstairs after I nix the upstairs suggestion by the waitress. Tom's knee is probably not ready for a flight of 30 steps. Nan, Bob and I all have the salad bar except Bob and I add Shrimp Quesadillas. Tom is in Rome and has oysters-what else? It has always been on my list of things to do to go to the Oysterfest and eat at Charlotte Plummer's.

What's a parade without clowns?

After walking to the shuttle stop and encountering a huge line that we finally spy around the corner, we decide to brave the walk back to the truck. It is not as far as I thought it would be. Tom seems to be okayunless he's faking it well.

Politcally incorrect 'green' bus!

We stop at HEB on the way home and $22.00 later we are enjoying sitting in the truck again. They have no San Antonio paper at Valero so we skip it. Back home we have a whirlwind packing of the cooler with cheeseballs (Tropical Coconut and Aunt Dot') before going over to get Nan and tom. We put all of their goodies and ours in The Smart. Of course this takes up the front seat and the back hatch. Tom drives it to the clubhouse as Nan, Bob and I walk over.

Bob and Tom get a fishing gizmo demo

They have a nice crowd of twenty or so people and a good variety of snacks for Social Hour. I'm sure they are all glad to be able to use their clubhouse at last. Lois brought a great dip. She said it was Terry's Buffalo Ranch Chicken Dip. We met Loretta and her husband Don from Nebraska who are renting one of the permanent sites. She brought a chorizo-like queso. Someone had mini-Reese's PB cups that I ate way too many of. Nan shared her Black Smirnoff's with me and Tom shared his Kahlua.

Heather's jewelry booth

We met Julie (she teaches in Alice, TX) and Willie, a young couple who are in the permanent sites next to her parents Joyce and Paul. They are in the two RV's on the very end. We had a nice evening and left about 7:00. Nan, Roxy and I took a late evening walk. I love having an eager walking partner. It is chilly but it feels good as we all got a little sun today at Oysterfest. It's 8:06 p.m. and 61 degrees with 73% humidity. The high was 68 and the low was 60.