Greetings from Tucson AZ.  Today we decided to put in some hours and see how far we could get.  You can tell that we are getting a bit punchy.  This morning Claudia announced that we could only talk if we exchanged the first letter of each word with the letter B.  Try it it’s not easy.  But hilarious.   Anyway that was our wake up in Texas and 10 hours later we are here at our favorite Rv park.  This is the place where we traded in our pickup and camper for a class C motorhome on our way to do some laundry.

 On this trip all I could think of was a dip in the pool and an hour in the hot tub.  That mission was accomplished and now it is time for a bowl of cereal and an early end to a long day.

Tomorrow we will sleep in as our final destination is only 3 hours away.  Good old Happy Trails...our home away from home.

March 31, 2012

Well, guys, this seems to be the end of our adventure.  We had a ball exploring new places and new cultures.  It is just mind boggling the immense  size of our country and it’s diversity.  It is pretty humbling as not everyone thinks the way we do, talks the way we do, dresses the way we do, etc.  

The one thing that we all have in common is our independence.  This is especially true in the deep South.  In fact the Mississippi state flag has the rebel flag as part of it’s design.  Talk about independence!

This is the third day that we have been “home” here in Surprise and we are still exhausted.  Rv travel is exhausting and exhilarating at the same time.  About all we have done is sleep since we got back.

I suspect that when we add it all up the cost isn’t much different from flying to a destination, eating out, and sightseeing.  The big difference in the two modes of travel is that we had our own bed to sleep in each night and that was a real blessing.  

The one common theme of every day is that we wished that each and every one of you could have been with us.  Hopefully this little blog gave you a glimpse into our experience on the road.  After all “this is living.”

Love to all

Grandpa

Greetings from Balmorhea, Texas.  We have been traveling the last two days through Texas.  Big state!  Yesterday we started from Vicksburg, MS and drove 300+ miles to the west side of Dallas/Fort Worth where we stayed the night in the nicest Rv park of the trip.  Nice trees, grassy areas and paved sites.  And hardly any work campers.  It was obviously a place for traveling Rvr’s.

We wanted to get through Dallas on a Sunday as the traffic is legendary around the twin cities.  Not bad on the weekend.

Yesterday the entire trip reminded me of Oregon.  The trees were very green and the roadside landscaping was always grass with wild flowers.  The Texas Blue Bonnets were in full bloom with whole hillsides in a blaze of blue.  There were many stretches of I 20 where people were parked alongside the freeway and taking pictures of the flowers.  I thought it was really dangerous but it apparently is something they take in stride every spring.

This morning we got an early start as the weatherman forecast windy conditions.  And windy it was but we pressed on.  The landscape is totally different in central/west Texas.  It was really dry and dusty.  

It looked like Midland, Tx is booming with employment.  It’s all about oil.  From exploration to refining it to removing it from shale.  We stopped at Odessa for lunch and fuel and the place was full of workers on their lunch break.  I want to learn more about what is going on in this area.

Pres. Bush has a presidential museum outside of Midland and there is an oil museum there as well.  There is lots of money being spent and made in the oil business and politically it will be impossible to make any major changes in our energy policy.

Although just before we got to Midland we passed a huge wind energy farm that spread for miles.  It made the windmills in the gorge look like playthings.  Both in numbers and size.

We have stayed at Balmorhea state park a couple of times in our travels to so. Texas.  It is a historical place where the native indians first found springs in the hills.  They used their ingenuity to irrigate the land where they cultivated corn and other crops.  Today there is a large swimming pool and surrounding activities for the locals to enjoy.  The Rv section is very nice.

Tomorrow we will get through El Paso in the AM and then make our way into New Mexico.  We are making good time but still feel that we are able to “smell the roses” on the way.

Love

Grandpa

Today we spent our time touring the city of Vicksburg.  We first visited the welcome center and got an idea how the city is laid out.  When we got to main street we were pleasantly amazed at the music that was playing.  I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from and finally realized that the city had installed in- ground speakers the entire length of Main St.  I was in heaven as they were playing the coolest jazz/blues music.  After all Mississippi is the birth of the blues.

The city’s main claim is it is the site of a major battle during the civil war  which pretty  much decided the fate of our nation in 1863.  There were fierce naval battles on the Mississippi river and a horrendous land battle that ended in a stalemate.  The north (Union) laid siege to the city and the south (Confederates) held out for 47 days before surrendering.  Leo you would have been in hog heaven being here because of your interest in things involving the Civil War.  Wish you could have been here with us.

Prior to the war Vicksburg was a center for the southern aristocracy whose wealth was based on cotton and lumber.  Thus the many beautiful homes on the streets surrounding the city.  We had hoped to tour at least one of these homes but most are now restored as B&Bs.  We got some good pictures however.

The old court house was a beautiful structure (circa 1858) and was the site of Jefferson Davis’s last speech before he was removed as the President of the Confederacy.

The more I read and observe in this southern region the more I am convinced that cotton farming was the root of all evils for our nation.  It must have been unbelievably profitable but in order to harvest their product they needed cheap labor and that’s where  the scourge of slavery started.  Such a sad chapter in our nation’s history.

In some ways some of this is still going on.  All through Alabama we saw one large co. after another with manuf. plants.  Mercedes Benz and Nissan for example have operations in this area.  Also chemical companies are prevalent.  My sense is that it is all about cheap labor.  There doesn’t appear to be a middle class down here.  Just the workers on the bottom and management on the top driving their Escalades and Porsches.  On our travels through Baton Rouge there was the biggest BMW dealership that I have ever seen.  That tells you something.

Well enough of that.  Tomorrow will be a long day as we will cross Louisiana  and start our crossing of Texas.  Since it will be Sunday we hope to get through Dallas/Fort Worth before the work week starts.  That should be a 350-400 mile trip.  Wish us luck.

Today we had our final punch list of service items completed and by 9:30 this A.M. we headed out from Red Bay, Alabama.  We had a great stay but we had the itch to head out once again.  Because of storms that were predicted along I-40 we decided to take a more southerly route.  So we went basically from the NE corner of Mississippi (Red Bay, AL is right on the border) to the SW corner of MS.  We travelled around 340 miles.

We were going to bust right through and put long hours driving west towards Happy Trails in Surprise, AZ.  But we decided to land here in Vicksburg which is on the Mississippi river

The town is famous for it’s Civil War past.   On this trip we haven’t paid much attention to  Civil War history but the South is right in the heart of most of the troubles.  We’ll report more on what we see in tomorrow’s blog.

Lots of driving and not much to talk about.  Except for something that I have observed occasionally behind the wheel and that is the waving habits of men in pickups we have encountered.  In Texas if we were on a rural road the style of wave was a kind of “boy howdy”.  A full hand wave with a typical Texas type of exuberance.

In LA and especially Al I would have to call the style a “finger wave.”  That is right hand always on top of the wheel and just a subtle and relaxed index finger salute.  It’s always nice to get a friendly acknowledgement on a lonely road.

It is full on spring time down here in the South.  All of the deciduous trees are leafed out and  the various greens we have encountered are just stunning.  In many ways the landscape reminds me a lot of Oregon.  We have included a shot through our bug smeared windshield.

Erik, thanks for including us in your day on the mountain.  This smart phone business just amazes me.  Mom just loves her IPhone and it was great to get multiple “whohas” from you...that’s the sound her phone makes when you text her.

Bye for now

Grandpa

A quick update for today.  We finally got in to have some small warranty items repaired.  They assign 3 technicians for three hours per rv and today we had one hour of service.  First thing tomorrow we will get the additional 2 hours to finish out our punch list.  Just little annoying things like:  stuck shower door,  front door seems to be acting up, cabinet door that exploded on us in the humidity in So. Texas and so on.

I checked on the repair work of the shark bit motorhome and they already have a complete front end cap installed and are installing hardware like mirrors and lights.  Just amazing what these techs can do.

When we were sitting in the waiting room a couple came in with pictures of their coach.  They had it towed 300 miles to Red Bay as the complete electrical systems were torched by a lightning bolt that hit a tree next to them in a campground.  The bolt destroyed a pine tree and travelled through the ground to his Rv where it followed the electrical service box into his systems.  It fried everything including the wiring in his big diesel engine.  He figures the tow alone would cost his insurance company over $3,000.   The overall bill is approaching $30 grand +.  All covered by his comprehensive insurance coverage.

We should be pulling out of here tomorrow at noon and hope to make Jackson, Miss. before dark.  We’ll keep you posted.

Here is a pic of Grandma relaxing before night night.

Love

Grandpa 

Hi, Everyone.  We are still in Red Bay, Al waiting in line to get some warranty work done.  We were able to get a window replaced with one that opens.  Apparently new rules for motorhomes require an emergency window that opens for fast exit but can’t be used daily.  Tiffin said that they could sell us a new window assembly but they couldn’t install it.  But across the street there was an independent that could do it.

While I was at the indepent shop I talked to an owner of a coach that looked like a shark bit off half of the front end.  He was driving up from Dallas, Tx at night and a deer jumped out from the median and ran right into him.  Major damage to the front end cap.  His insurance co. will have to pay for a complete front end plus all new paint.  It is a really big job but the job will be finished in four days.

The company makes their front and rear end caps in Mississippi and his will be here in a day and a half.  This is the main reason why we traded motorhomes as our old unit was manufactured by a co. that is now out of business.  Who knows where a replacement part could be found.  This co. can manuf. any part for  their motorhomes going back to 1980!  

We took a tour of the manufacturing plant where they complete and ship 11 new units each day.  I have never seen such dedication to getting things right the first time.  I’ll put a couple of pictures on that show how these things are put together.

We have been watching the weather forecast closely as the storm that originated in your neck of the woods is right over New Orleans and moving our way.  We are hoping to be out of here in the next couple of days so hopefully we’ll miss the storm all together.

We had lunch at a BBQ joint today for lunch and it was fantastic.  We are addicted to sweet tea.  We split a pulled pork sandwich (on white bread of course) with potato salad .  Both to die for.

Sorry that there is not much excitement to report.  We are just sitting here with at least 100 of our best friends waiting to get into service.  There are 58 service bays that are constantly moving vehicles in and out.  Very impressive.

This morning around 8:00 there was a huge bang outside and all of the workers that heard it ran outside to see what was going on.  I heard one guy say “ I thought that we were going to be “keeled.”  Such is the continuing trouble understanding the language down here.

The noise came from a blown transformer servicing the park where we are all staying.

Bye for now.

Grandpa

We had some fun yesterday as we decided to leave the Gulf and head north.  We got a bit mixed up (my fault) and took some back roads heading to our destination here at Red Bay, AL.  Because of the slow going on mostly rural roads we stayed last night at Tuscaloosa.  We couldn’t find any Rv parks in the city and it was too warm to stay at Walmart so we found online a park outside of Tusc.  It had a nice website and looked nice on the computer.  But when we arrived it was kind of overgrown and a bit sketchy.  

It turned out fine as it was really quiet.  The park manager (toothless) mentioned that we should keep Andie on a leash as his brother across the field and in the trees raised fighting roosters and they were protected by Pitt Bulls. 

Right off the bat we had no power in our 50 amp hookup so the manager had to call his maintenance man to trouble shoot.  He got us going but I asked him why they didn’t have breakers at the box.  He said it was because of “aints!”  I’ll let you figure that one out.   He didn’t have any teeth either.

It’s a different world here in the South.  We stopped for lunch at a Subway and for the life of me I couldn’t understand what the lady was saying.  I just gave her a $20 and let her make change all the while she was talking in a foreign language.

We have never seen so many churches.  Mostly they seemed to be Baptist churches and a few Methodist operations thrown in for good measure.  Simply amazing. But we did the math and decided that a little town of say 3000 souls could fill up several churches since there must be some kind of mandatory church rule down here.  Claudia counted 7 churches in a town with a population of 5,000.

Today’s journey was  beautiful with mostly pine forests and hardwood deciduous trees along the highway corridor.  There was one stretch of highway that had pond after pond for as far as you could see.  I thought that it might be rice farming but we spotted a sign that solved the mystery.  They were commercial catfish farms.

Dogwood trees are in full bloom as are azaleas. Purple wisteria seems to bloom in the wild and is really beautiful.  All of this is unseasonably early as the locals said that normal temperatures are usually in the sixties.  Today it was 82.

Here are a couple of pictures of the Tiffin (our coach manufacturer) repair facility where we are today.  We want to get a few things fixed and tour the factory.  More on that in the days to come.

I’ll be loving you.

Grandpa

Hi, All.  We’ve decided that this will be our last day on the Gulf.  It is kind of bittersweet as we have a lot more to see.  However, the Florida panhandle where we are is a zoo this week because of spring vacation.  Plus we are starting to get a bit homesick for our AZ home and just home in general.

As they say “Lord Willing” we will do a trip specifically to Florida and give it the time it deserves.  There is so much to see it is mind boggling.

Today we just drove around the city of Gulf Shores.  We got a Starbucks (our first in a long time) and visited Ft Morgan a Civil War site.  The fort is located on a finger of land that juts out into Mobile Bay on one side and the Gulf of Mexico on the other.  What a spectacular place for boaters.  The Olsons would go bonkers if we all lived here.  We saw every kind of boat imaginable.  Mainly big open water boats with a couple of Yamahas for power.

This part of Al is beautiful with an abundance of pine trees and their beloved live oak trees (see pic).  Everything is green and the area is full of beautiful golf courses.  Cindy don’t let Leo read this last sentence :)

Here’s another observation:  all along the way except for a couple of high end parks we stayed in we continue to see “work campers” living in 5th wheels mainly.  You can almost bet that a trailer with a white pickup sitting outside is an itinerate living there.  In this park there are several.  We also just found out that there are a few couples (families) that were displaced by Katrina.  That’s very sad.

I had this thought earlier today that anyone that is working should “hug” their employer and be thankful their paths didn’t lead to construction work.  Pretty sobbering.

I also got to thinking how blessed we all are for good health and happiness.

We’ll write next from Tuscaloosa.

Love y’all.

Grandpa

Greeting from here in the state of Alabama.  We arrived yesterday and will be here in Gulf Shores for the next three nights.  Gulf Shores is just outside of Mobile on the Gulf of Mexico.  We did just a windshield tour of Mobile but what an impressive city.  But like other areas we have visited the port is wide open to storms and hurricanes.  Like Galveston and others we have visited they are so vulnerable but huge locations for commerce.

Today we wanted to get into Florida and so we visited Pensacola and the beaches of the western panhandle.  We have included three pics showing the famous white sand beaches of Florida.  Also the pictures show a crowded beach (by Oregon standards) as spring vacation begins today through next week.

That’s our cue to start heading north again.  We really felt out of sync with all of the teeny bikinis and buff college men.  Oh well we’ll let them have their fun and we’ll visit this fun place another time when they are hard at work at their universities.

On Sunday we plan to leave here and head North to Red Bay, Al where our motorhome was made.  We want to make a couple of changes and have some minor warranty work done.  Yesterday we talked to some people who were heading that way as they have ordered a new unit and want to watch it being constructed.  I think they ordered a new 42 footer!

Our trip so far has been amazing for us and I hope that you have enjoyed “traveling” along with us.  It will be interesting but different being away from the coast.  So far Alabama has been beautiful as it is very green with large stands of pine trees.  It kind of reminds us of a greener Sun River with a ton of water all around.

Tomorrow we will check out more of the beach areas here in Gulf Shores.  This is a bit of a secret as far as the spring crowds are concerned but with the same white powdery sand beaches.  We’ll keep you posted. 

One more thing, we had a great lunch at a restaurant where the locals hang out.  We ate outside with temperatures in the low 80s.  Perfect.

We wish all of you were with us.

We’ll be loving you.

Grandpa.

Continued greetings from the Gulf Coast.  We are staying at Indian Point RV resort in Gautier, Mississippi.  It is about 10 miles from Biloxi and 5 miles from Pascagoula.  We arrived here yesterday after a short drive of about 130 miles.  I am getting really spoiled with these short trips.  The longer trips we have made to get down here were usually around 300 miles.  With any wind to deal with it can be really stressful driving this beast.

Yesterday we kind of panicked as we didn’t have reservations for our stay in this area.  We called several parks that we found online but they were all taken by...you guessed it Snow Birds!  What we have found is that a lot of northerners spend their winters here in the Gulf Coast.  Anyway to make a long story short we lucked out and found a nice place to spend two nights.  Price is $32 per night with full hookups and 32 channels of HD.  Now that’s living!

We have been looking forward to seeing Biloxi and wanted to spend more time with our friends from Colorado before we part ways.  So we made a date to meet for brunch at one of the casinos on Ocean Dr.  We had your typical casino buffet where we ate too much food that isn’t that good for you to begin with.  We had a nice time with Jim and Lois and gave hugs all around with promises to keep in touch in the future.  Nice people.

Biloxi just blew us away with its beautiful location on the Gulf.  However it was bittersweet to see so many vacant waterfront lots for sale.  You could see where a structure stood but simply nothing but a concrete slab.  They are celebrating the 5th anniversary  of Katrina this summer.  We forget that this storm hit in the height of the summer season with high temps and awful humidity.  The same as most of LA went through.  It was pretty sobering to see just what Mother Nature can dish out to us mere mortals. 

But life goes on and everywhere we looked there was new construction.  Claudia was interested in some of the historical homes that survived or have been reconstructed and we have included a few examples.

Here are some observations that we have noticed in our travels.  There is a tremendous amount of history down here.  Texas was all about Spanish and Mexican exploration and domination.  The farther East you go there is more historical French involvement .  As a result there are many French names that pop up all the time.  It helps that Claudia vaguely remembers her one term of high school French...that’s a joke, Claudia :)  We’ve had fun with that one.  In Texas we saw a lot of Hispanics.  Here we see virtually no Hispanics but a lot of African Americans.  It has been interesting to see the change in demographics.  Oh and did you realize that Arcadians (Cajuns and Creole) came originally from Nova Scotia?  I want to read more about this fascinating bit of info. 

Oh and we are finding that a Bayou isn’t really a swamp but a body of fresh water.  I have been looking for a swamp for 1500 miles.

OK that’s enough of that but it has been a real eye opener for us.  One last thing.  You never want to judge a persons intelligence by their goof ball accent.  You should see the ads on tv down here.  Smart people they just don’t sound like us !

Gotta go as Survivor is on in a few minutes...speaking of intelligent people and intelligent use of our time.

Love always

Grandpa 

Greetings from the Big Easy.  We are still here but yesterday I wasn’t able to write of our day as last night we played Mexican Train with our friends from Colorado.  

Yesterday was a day to just visit  and enjoy the sights and sounds of the city.  We especially wanted to get pictures of Jackson Square and the Cathedral named after St Louis the King of France.  It was a gift from him after we won our independence from the British.  Walt Disney patterned Cinderella’s Castle after this structure.  It is the second most photographed site in the US.  You guessed it, Walt’s Disneyland castle is the most photographed.

We walked through the French Quarter where they have a market that reminded us of Pikes St Market in Seattle.  It was a fun place but real busy.  There were several musicians playing my kind of music so I sat and listened while Claudia did some shopping.

All of the restaurants on the main streets were busy with people waiting to get in.  So we decided to walk  the quieter streets where we found art galleries galore and a very nice restaurant that had windows open to the outside.  We had Sunday brunch in a setting to die for.  Real classy.  It was a perfect day to end our visit.

Today was a rest and cleaning day.  We did some wash and cleaned the motorhome.  Did I mention that this RV has a built in vacuum system?  We are really roughing it in our new coach.  We love it.

While Claudia was waiting for the wash to dry she talked to a fellow traveller that mentioned a great spot in Alabama.  She said the beaches are beautiful and they are a lot more dog friendly then Florida.  We’ll stop there before our swing north.   Tomorrow we are going just 90 miles from here to a state park in Mississippi.  We will meet our Col. friends there before we part ways.  I am not real keen on spending any time in Miss. because of the state’s past.  It just takes me back to the 60s when there was so much strife and sadness in the land.  Going across the Huey H . Long bridge here in LA was bad enough.  He was one bad dude during the 60’s equal rights marches .

There is so much to see and do here.  So our measly few pictures just don’t do it justice.

Again we miss all of you but the road beckons once again so we’ll be talking to you soon.

Love

Gary & Claudia

Hello everyone.  We had another really fun day in the city.  We haven’t always taken the tourist route in cities we have visited but we are now firm believers in doing professionally run tours.

Today we went on a two and one half hour bus tour of the city of New Orleans and what a city it is.  There is so much more to see and experience besides Bourbon St.  We especially enjoyed seeing the Garden district and the Audubon district.  These are upscale neighborhoods with fabulous old historic homes.  Much like Eastmoreland or Grant park at home.  Our tour guide took extra time to explain how they build homes on a swamp.  It is pretty amazing to hear how much they go through to ensure that they have a stable base in which to start construction.  First they sink pilings 20 feet into the ground then they pour a concrete foundation and then build from there.  This is in the high ground areas of the city.  Most homes are built on pole or block foundations.  Very interesting.

We got to see Brad Pitt’s area where he is rebuilding musicians  homes.  He has donated 5 million dollars of his own money into a foundation and then others can contribute.  He asks architects from all over the world to design green homes fit for the area.  As a consequence you see all kinds of designs for smaller homes.  All with advanced green building techniques and all with substantial solar installations.  I am hoping that I can find a book showing homes that have been built by his group.  That would be interesting.

Afterwards we had lunch at Frank’s Italian Specialties.  Our tour host recommended it for their Mufaletta sandwiches.  Along with the sandwich we had a cup of corn and crab bisque.  We shared one sandwich with our Colorado friends as it was huge.  Erik, you would go crazy over this concoction! 

The town was really crowded today as there were Kentucky fans in blue all over the place.  They were playing for one of the final positions in the SEC finals.  Kyle you would know more about this.  Such a happy crowd.

It is about perfect out tonight so we decided to take Andie for a walk in the park.  There are a lot of families camping here for the weekend.  It made us a little bit homesick. This summer we need to make plans to do the camping thing together.  Those are special times for all.

Of course it is dark out and we are surrounded by swamps.  We had a flashlight which Claudia wanted to make sure she had control of.  We were walking (in the middle of the road) and she heard a sound in the bushes and off she went.  She pretty much left Andie and I for gator bait.

The local campers don’t seem to be concerned with critters.  I think that it would be similar to camping at Lake Billy Chinook and us not worrying about rattlers.

Tomorrow we are going back into the city to do some more exploring.  I think that we will extend our stay one more day as the winds are supposed to really pick up.  Next stop will be Mississippi which is less then 40 miles to the east.

I’ll be loving you,

Grandpa

Greetings from New Orleans.  We arrived yesterday afternoon after a trip of just 130 miles.  My kind of driving.

But before I say anything about our present location I must make a correction on our previous entry.  I mentioned that the Atchafalaya basin waterway looked like the Willamette river.  Not!  When we left Breaux Bridge and headed east the first thing that we noticed was the bridge over the river.  What a bridge it was as it turns out that the bridge is the second longest  in the US at 18 miles!   Sooo it looks like the river is that wide and as we proceeded east it was amazing what we saw.  Simply an endless body of water covered with water plants and small islands.  It makes the Willamette look like a trickle in comparison.  Ok I got that issue off my chest.  Phew.

This morning we took the ferry across the Missippi and walked off directly into the historic district of the city.  What an amazing place and just like we have all read about but more. The first thing we did was go directly to Cafe DuMonde where we had our obligatory coffee and beignet.  The place was packed with happy people getting charged up for the day.  

Afterwards we were accosted by a carriage driver that sucked us into a tour of the French Quarter.  It was the best thing that we could have done as he gave us an idea how the district was laid out.  We are still blown away by  the age of the buildings and the history of the place.  Our driver grew up there and had amazing stories to tell.  

We drove down most of the length of Bourbon St. and true to what we have all seen on TV it is a pretty wild place.  Loud music and lots of drinking.  Again just amazing old historic buildings.

After all of that exertion we just had to have lunch and the driver gave us the name of his favorite restaurant.  It was called the Gumbo Shop and of course I had to have another bowl of gumbo.  I just love that stuff.  It’s interesting as they called it Cajun gumbo at our last stop but here in the District it is called Creole gumbo.  I think because of the French influence in the city.  

I could go on and on but you get the idea and besides we have to get ready for our TV show “Blue Bloods.”

Talk to you later

Greetings from Breaux Bridge, La.  Right in the middle of Cajun country.  This  is our second night staying here as we wanted to experience the real southern lifestyle of these Cajun people.

First thing this morning we booked a tour on the Atchafalaya Basin swamp tour boat and what a tour it was.  We were surprised that it wasn’t more like you might imagine in the Florida Everglades.  This was completely different.  It was kind of like motoring on the Willamette with a full carpet of swamp plants and ancient dead trees all around you.  Oh and full of alligators...more on that later.

Our tour guide was a true old salt whose family has lived in the area for centuries.  In fact as we got off the boat someone asked him his lineage and he said on his mother’s side their  family name is Breaux.  Thus  the city was named after his family.  He was full of stories of hunting and fishing in the bayou and of his ancestors living on the water.

Claudia made a point of saying that she had never seen an alligator and he was amazed.  It was like you mean you haven’t seen rain before?  Pretty funny.  So he proceeded to point out a small gator just for her enjoyment.  We didn’t see more as he said that it has been too cold for them to be out as they are cold blooded animals.

He talked about this complex river swamp ecosystem with tales of frog hunting which he does often (at night with a light and his bare hands), hunting for deer, and all kind of animals that you wouldn’t think lived in this habitat.  Oh and he explained with some reverence all of the species of venomous snakes.  It’s definitely not for the timid.

We couldn’t muster enough people to book a tour on an air boat so I might not be able to report on that experience.  I did get some good pictures of these boats so you kids can copy with your Legos.

We chose this park because right outside the fence is a famous restaurant called Crawfish Town USA.  It was a blast.  Zydeco music in the background and real southern families enjoying their favorite delicacies.  Mainly mountains of crawfish.  We kind of don’t get as all you eat are the tails after spending time peeling the shell off.  Definitely “Stickiness” involved and not for me!

Claudia had jambalaya and I had shrimp gumbo.  As you know I had gumbo in Texas and this was completely different.  LA style gumbo is made with a flour rue that is browned in a skillet which makes it have a brown tone.  Texas style apparently is made with tomatoes.  When we told the waitress about tomatoes in gumbo you would have thought that I taken the Lords name in vain.  Oh and for dessert we had bread pudding.  I’ll never taste anything better.  Mal, it was ambrosia!

Tomorrow we are leaving the area.  We will meet our new friends from Colorado at a state campground outside of New Orleans.  Talk to you then.

Kyle, take care of yourself and Luke too.  Love to all.

Papa/Grandpa

Today was a travel day as we left Texas behind.  We had one last look  as we had breakfast alongside the  Galveston breakwater.  There is nothing like an rv for finding the perfect site for breakfast.  This morning the weather wasn’t nearly as calm as yesterday but still warm. Cold cereal and fresh coffee never tasted so good. 

After breakfast we took Andie on a short walk along the seawall and sure enough a couple came up to us and said that they have two friends that live in Bend.  The couple was down from Houston.  It still amazes me how those Oregon plates are such a magnet. 

We took the ferry to the mainland and followed east to I-10.  Claudia took pics of the homes in the area.  Pretty amazing how they live in these low lying locations.  Not for me as it looks like another hurricane disaster waiting to happen.

We entered LA and stopped at the welcome center where we picked up brochures and maps of the area. Right on the border and south is Cajun country so we are in a perfect spot to begin our adventure.

We got the idea to stop at this rv park (Cajun Palms RV Resort) from a couple from Wisconsin that were traveling from east to west and had visited this area and liked it.  The place is huge and has over 200 sites a fishing pond, three pools and a hot tub.  Plus my obligatory 50 tv channels :)

We will probably need to stay in Walmarts all the way home as the cost of fuel keeps going up.  Today we paid the closest to $4 per gal as the price was $3.999.  I’m still holding out hope that fuel costs will go down but it doesn’t look too promising.  I know, I know I’m not going to get much sympathy from you’all.

There are a ton of things to do in the Cajun country so we’ll make a plan in the morning and see what  transpires.

Talk to you later.  Later tater.  Be loving you.  

Today was a really fun day.  It started off on a sour note as we had a slow leak on one of our front tires and it made me nervous to think about driving until I had it fixed.  The left front tire was down to 80 lbs from a normal 100 lbs.  

The park host had a name of a tire man that services the area and when I called first thing this morning he said that they would send a man right out as they had a lull in work.  Sure enough out he came and found out that the leak was in the valve stem.  Fixed it and no more worries.

So the fun part.  We spent the entire day on Galveston Island.  A true island about 45 sq. miles.  Two miles wide and something like twenty five miles long.  It was really surprising how compact it was.  But a thriving port city with lots of tourist sites to explore.

Ok here is what we did.  Kids you will have to start building “Duck Boats” with your lego sets (see picture).  We stepped aboard the Duck and proceeded to drive down main street all the while hearing about the rich history of the area.  Then all of a sudden the driver turned onto a boat ramp, changed the motor from tires to a propeller and off we went into the harbor.  Really a fun experience.

The Duck is an original relic from WW2 when they used them to ferry troops to and from their mother ship.  Now they are used all over the US for tourist transport.  Anyway what fun.  All the way the driver gave his running commentary on the history of the land.  As well as stopping frequently in his dialog to wave at a car and give them a “quack quack” over the PA system.  Really hilarious.

When we finished with the tour we asked him where the locals would go for lunch.  He recommended Shrimp N Stuff.  A great little low key restaurant where we sat outside and enjoyed our first taste of real Southern classics:  a bowl of shrimp gumbo and a catfish PoBoy.  Both delicious.

From there we drove/walked all over the island.  I especially wanted to check out the ferry to the mainland as that is the way we will leave sometime tomorrow.  If traffic allows we might also have breakfast on the breakwater.

Speaking of the breakwater.  It looks like it could be easily 20 miles long with parking and access to the beach equally that long.  A boardwalk goes that far as well so there are lots of people out bike riding, skating, running.  It reminds me of the boardwalk at Santa Cruz.  This kind of lifestyle really speaks to me and I guess I missed my calling by not staying in San Diego when we were first married. 

The Park we are staying at is a real find again.  But really scary getting to as we had to totally trust “Mag” our Magellan GPS.  We went through some really narrow streets to finally turn the corner to find a perfect spot on the water named Galveston Bay RV Resort.  We got a prime spot and as usual when we get a nice park we are reluctant to move on.  But the road calls us to places unexplored to the east.

Until then we miss  y’all lots and every minute of each day we wish that we could share more of our travel days with you.

With love

Gary/Papa/Grandpa

PS  Jill, we sent you a pic of the rigging on a real tall ship so you can spend the next month helping on Elliott’s project.  Have fun :) 

Hi, Y’all.  We have been here at Port Lavaca, Texas for the last two days.  We are staying at a real find.  It’s called Port Lavaca Light House RV park.  Another one of those million dollar sites with views to die for.

We are only NE of Corpus Christie about 70 miles but in another world.  We are now in Bayou country.  Lots of salt water marshes and signs warning of gators.

Our RV site is looking right into the bay with an 180 degree view.  But like Corpus we have abundant wind.  In fact so much wind that I didn’t sleep much last night.  It was blowing from the North which always means lower temperatures according to the locals.  Today it was in the high 60s and will be warming up in the days to come.  Hardly no humidity which is nice for a change.

Today we did some wash and dried out our sheets and towels from our days dry camping at Bird Island.  I have to admit that roughing it in a park with 50+ channels and full hookups is really the way to go.  Every day I tell Claudia that “this is living.”

We got an email from the Gesslers and they are heading home from So. Carolina and are fine but looks like they are very concerned about weather conditions.  We are as well but haven’t had any threatening conditions yet.  We have yet to experience the down pours that they have gone through.

We got some interesting pictures of some weird shore birds.  Claudia is, as we speak, checking out our bird books.  Our goal is to see and get a picture of a red cardinal.  We’ll see.

On one side of us our neighbors are from the Texas Hill Country.  Really nice and travel all over the states in their 40 footer.  The other side is a couple from Wisconsin .  They gave us some good tips for visiting Louisiana as  they are working their way from East to West.  That’s half the fun of traveling as you meet the nicest people who are rv’rs.

We are all leaving Lavaca tomorrow morning and going our different directions.

Claudia just found one of the birds we saw today.  It is a Western Sandpiper.  Another one is a Long Billed Curlew.  Check out your books you bird lovers !

Tomorrow we are off to the Houston area and Galveston Island .

Hello again.   We are about to leave Bird Island and head northwest to Port Lavaca, Tx.  It is about 170 miles from here so that will be a nice easy trip.

We have enjoyed our stay here but as always we get real tired of dry camping with high humidity and lots of wind.  Wind !  I thought that is why we came here in the first place.  I know but it still gets old.

The sailing was great yesterday but today I am whipped!  I’m just not in shape yet for the season.  Hands and legs are cramping up.  Today we had high winds and the parking lot was full of locals who only come out when it is “nuking.”  Not for me.

We stocked up on food at the local H E B store.  Don’t ask me what that stands for.  It is a lot like Freddys but maybe bigger.  Claudia was beside herself trying to find our favorite goodies.  Too many choices!

We had a nice talk with the proprietor of the windsurf shop here at the park.  He has a son that is an engineer with Delta airlines and is in contract with them for a year in Seattle.  He is already crying the blues for some sunshine and blue skies.  It’s hard to explain just how amazing it is here in So. Texas.

Andie seems to be doing fine although the heat really gets to her.  She told me that just the other day.  Love that dog.

We talked to the Gesslers and they are in Georgia and about to make the turn back home.  They are concerned about which route to take back west because of the threat of Tornadoes.  We’ll keep in touch with them as their travels progress.

We just got a message showing Jonah’s new hair style.  Very nice Jones.  Love you Buddy Boo.

Pappa/ Grandpa