Leah and Joe

Scotsdale

2012-01-22T06:33:00.001-08:00

20 - 21 January 2012
We had planned to stay at the Desert Edge RV Park in North Phoenix, but we missed the driveway and ended up at the Phoenix Metro Park. At first we thought it was the same place. It is mostly long term residents, but it is nice. We picked up a rental car, a
bright red Kia Soul. On Friday night we went to dinner at Los Olivos with about a dozen people. We had a great time catching up. We had lunch at a Cracker Barrel on Saturday and shopped in Walmart. In the evening we were at Anita and Glen's for a great birthday party. We saw all the kids and grandkids. It's amazing how everyone has grownup but we didn't age! We took a lot of pictures and Joe was a skilled bar tender.

Quartzite, AZ

2012-01-22T05:46:00.001-08:00

18 - 19 January 2012
We left home with the Downings, stopped at Chiriaco Summit for lunch. We dry camped in the Greasewood RV Park (across from the post office). We did a little shopping and a lot of looking! We were able to get a rock chip repaired in our motor home windshield at Windshield Magic at the park. They were very nice. Then we headed for Phoenix to celebrate Glen Bonner's 80th birthday.

Lake Mead

2011-10-06T10:42:00.001-07:00

4 September 2011
We are now on our way to the RVF Rally at Lake Mead, NV. Today we drove from Tulare to Barstow to Peggy Sue's Diner where we met Bob and Hedy. During the last two days we passed a lot of cotton fields and orchards. We stopped in Bakersfield for gas and some shopping at Target. Then we stopped in Tahachapi for a quick lunch. It was cold there as we climbed to 4000 feet. The rest of the day was nice, but windy in spots. We had a good dinner at Peggy Sue's then dry camped in their lot.

5 October 2011
We arrived at the Lake Mead Recreational Area RV Park this afternoon after having breakfast at Peggy Sue's. Bob and Betty met us at Peggy Sue's and caravanned with us. It was overcast and rainy much of the afternoon. But the lake was very pretty with the sun, clouds, and shadows. There was a brief rain bow. Our outdoor happy hour was cut short due to rain and wind. The heavy wind even scared our Samantha during the night.

6 October 2011
Today was a beautiful, sunny day. The lake was awesome! We've been taking numerous pictures. The morning was spent walking and just enjoying the beauty. Then we rode with Bob and Betty to Willow Lake. That was a beautiful drive. We had never been in that area before. Some of the terrain reminded us of Death Valley. The Willow Lake Marina is being built up and it looks to have very nice facilities. The store had a display of the large fish (stripers) that had been caught there. We visited the fish hatchery where fish are raised for stocking Lake Mead. They range from small fingerlings to large trout.
There was a short shower in the afternoon, then it became sunny again.
After happy hour our wagon-masters served home-made baked beans, franks, salad, and carrot cake. A ranger- volunteer spoke about the highlights and history of Hoover Dam and the Valley of Fire State Park.

7 October 2011
We enjoyed a delicious flapjack breakfast prepared by Bob and Betty. Then we departed for the newly opened Memorial Bridge and a walking view of Hoover Dam. We saw several presentations on the history and construction of the dam, and on how the water is distributed today. This is really quite a marvel.
In the evening we were guests of the Boulder City Rotary Club. We were served a beef stroganoff dinner prepared by a top chef. The guest speaker did a monologue presentation portraying a woman living at the time of the dam construction. They had a very hard life.

8 October 2011
The day started with more good flapjacks. We Then went to the Las Vegas Renaissance Festival. It was spread out over a large, grassy field. It was a beautiful day for walking around looking at everything. The fair was much smaller than what we are used to at home, and there was much less food variety. We had a good time.
After happy hour Rudie served lasagna with salad and ice cream for desert. Ranger Tony gave another presentation on the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Then Bob and Betty built a campfire and we sat around and talked. It was a beautiful evening.

9 October 2011
Our get - away breakfast was this morning. Ken and Rudie thanked everyone who helped make this a good rally. Joe presented them with their Wagon-master's badges. Some then said good-bye before leaving. Those of us staying over until tomorrow went on the Nevada Southern Railway Historic Train Ride. We shopped at a market with lots of metal yard decorations. We bought a bobbing peacock for our garden.We then relaxed, played marbles, and enjoyed the lake scenery and the beautiful day. Hedy cooked us a sauerkraut, sausage dinner.

10 - 11 October 2011
On our way home! We packed up and said our good-byes. We drove to Peggy Sue's in Barstow where we enjoyed a good dinner and stayed the night. We arrived home about noon on Tuesday. Then the work begins!

Lake of the Springs / Concord

2011-09-25T05:38:00.001-07:00

24 September 2011
It was a long day's drive from Salem to Lake Shasta. We are headed for the Thousand trails LOTS Preserve near Marysville. We did stop for rest several times and had a good lunch at the Seven Feathers rest and truck stop and Casino in North Canyonville. It was a very nice complex. The dogs enjoyed the enclosed dog run. We arrived at the Lakeshore Villa RV Park in Lakehead, CA near Shasta Lake. We had a nice view of Mt. Shasta on the way. It was a bit overcast, warm and muggy most of the day. It stayed warm all night.

25 September 2011
Today we drove about 3 hours to the LOTS. It was rainy and misty all day. We had lunch in a little cafe near Oregon House before setting up camp. We tried to find a site where Joe could get his satellite TV, but it is quite woodsy here. We set up in a site in the A section close to the laundry, etc. But no TV for football! And no sewer connection! The lake and trees are beautiful. Deer are roaming around. Bob and Hedy rented a kayak and had fun rowing.

26 September 2011
Bob and Hedy had to leave this morning. We did laundry and sat around in the sun. After the misty day yesterday, today was warm, sunny, and dry, just perfect. Then we decided to move to a sewer site in the X section, but we were still unable to get TV. Joe suffered from not having Monday Night Football! Also, there is no WiFi, 3G, or cell phone service. It seems we want the beauty and peacefulness of nature and the amenities of the city! I took the dogs for walks to the lake and will do more tomorrow. There is supposed to be WiFi at the lodge, so I may walk up there tomorrow.

27 September 2011
Another perfect day! Leah took the dogs for long walks around the park and to the dog beach. Samantha played in the water a little, but I was afraid to let her off leash. She is still unpredictable. We enjoyed a champagne brunch in the motor home. We sat outside reading, talking, and doing needlework.

28 September 2011
After I took the dogs for walks in the morning we had our champagne brunch in the motor home. We then walked up to the lodge. Here we were able to get WiFi and catch up on e-mail. But there was still no cell phone service. The day became quite hot so we spent a little too much time indoors in air conditioning doing needlework, reading, and Sudoku. What a lazy life!

29 September 2011
Another hot, lazy day! I took Samantha to the dog beach again, and took Arden around part of the lake to the dam. We went up to the lodge again for WiFi - it was very slow today. The later afternoon was too hot to be out.

30 September 2011
We drove to Jean's today. We set up at Sunny Acres RV Park, then Jean picked us for dinner at Tahoe Joe's Steak House. After a very big dinner we visited in the RV. Jean met Samantha for the first time.

1 October 2011
Jean picked us up and we went to Pinata's for brunch. Then she took us to the opening of a photographers' exhibit in Hayward. We met several very accomplished photographers and admired their work. We had supper at Mimi's, then visited more in the RV.

2 October 2011
Joe wasn't feeling well this morning so Jean took Leah to Mass. We came back to the RV, picked up the dogs and went to Jean's. She made us a breakfast of bacon and eggs, and Joe could rest and watch football. We enjoyed hanging out and talking. Samantha was hyper and had to be kept out on the patio most of the time. Jean then made us delicious BLTs with avocado. We had to say "good-by" until Thanksgiving.

3 October 2011
We left Concord and drove about 135 miles to the Apricot Inn in Firebaugh off I-5 for lunch and to buy apricot pies. We intended to go to Kingsberg on Hwy. 99, but somehow missed Hwy 180 connecting I-5 with 99, so we ended up going a little further to Hwy 198 and stayed in Tulare at the Sun & Fun RV Park. We had a quiet evening.

Mt. St. Helens

2011-09-21T05:22:00.001-07:00

22 September 2011
Today we just drove about 135 miles to the Silver Cove RV Park in Silverlake, WA. We stopped for gas and shopping at a Safeway in Woodland, WA. We had wine and pot luck heavy hors d'oeuvres and deserts. Then we took the dogs for a walk around the park. It was a nice balmy evening.

23 September 2011
This is the last day of the rally. After a bagel, lox, and cream cheese breakfast we headed out on a 40 mile scenic drive to the Mt. St. Helens Volcano National Observatory. We learned a lot about the eruption in 1980. A huge area was demolished. Since then there has been vast reforestation, roads and bridges built, and scientific study of volcanoes. It was a clear sunny day for photography! We would have liked more time there, but we wanted to get on our way. This has been a fantastic "Rolling Rally" with good friends.
We drove to Salem for the night with Hedy and Bob, staying at the Hee Hee Illahee RV Park. The name means a "Happy Location". It was a very warm evening.

Memaloose State Park

2011-09-20T06:36:00.001-07:00

19 September 2011
This morning we drove to the Maryhill Museum. This is another fascinating museum with exhibits of dance, art, Rodin, chess sets, history of the area, and extensive Native American exhibits. We ate a box lunch at the museum. We then went a little ways to Stonehenge, a WWI memorial. This was followed by a visit to the Maryhill Winery for tasting and shopping.
We had a delicious gourmet dinner at the 6th Street Bistro in Hood River.

20 September 2011
We had a very nice lunch at the Columbia Gorge Hotel. The grounds were beautiful, including a beautiful waterfall. After lunch we went with Dora and Warren to take a drive on the "Fruit Loop", a guide to local farm stands, wineries, etc.
We bought gifts and things for ourselves including jams, fresh apples and pears, a long votive candle holder made from oak barrels, alpaca socks, lavender oil, and more wines. We didn't get back to camp until after 5:00.

21 September 2011
We drove to Cascade Locks to take a cruise on a sternwheeler. It was a beautiful sunny day with beautiful scenery on the Columbia River. It was most interesting going through the locks. They are quite an engineering feat. Very good food was served on the boat including breakfast, lunch, and afternoon tea. All the food was prepared fresh on the boat. We got back to camp in time for Happy Hour. We didn't need much dinner!

Elgin to La Grande, OR

2011-09-18T14:53:00.001-07:00

17 September 2011
We left early for the little town of Elgin to take the Eagle Cap Excursion Train ride beside the scenic Grande Ronde and Wallowa Rivers. They served a nice lunch on the train. We then drove to the Eagles Hot Lake RV Park near La Grande where we had Happy Hour and another potluck dinner. Kirk gave us more information about the Exson-Valdez investigation with pictures.

18 September 2011
After coffee and donuts we drove a short distance to the Manual Museum at Hot Lake. This is the hottest hot springs in the U. S. David Manual, a renowned bronze sculptor and Indian Historian and his wife, Lee, told us about how they have been restoring the historic buildings at Hot Lake which included a hospital, to include a museum, B & B, restaurant, studio, and store. The museum includes displays of military history and Indian history. We had a good Italian chicken lunch at the museum. Lee enacted the story of Marie Dorian with much enthusiasm and David demonstrated some sculpting techniques. We admired the beautiful bronze work and wished we could aford it. There is a lot more at this museum than I can write about here. It was almost 2 o'clock when we started the 185 mile drive to Memaloose State Park west of The Dalles, OR. We are camped on the Columbia River with lots of sunshine and trees. Beautiful scenery and weather!

Joseph, OR

2011-09-16T09:17:00.001-07:00

13 September 2011
It was a beautiful, scenic 70 mile drive to Joseph on a winding road. We caravanned with several others. The leaders notified the rest about oncoming cars and bicyclists, etc.
We are at the Park on the River. We saw fresh water salmon spawning in the adjoining stream and we are surrounded by pine forest. The weather is perfect. We had a delicious shish kebob dinner at Vali's Alpine Restaurant a block from the park. They opened especially for us.

14 September 2011
After a leisurely morning at camp with huge cinnamon rolls from a local bakery, and doing some laundry, we went to the Enterprise, OR Rotary Club lunch meeting. The food was provided by local ranchers and businesses - wonderful! Our own Kirk was the speaker, telling us about his experiences with the Exson-Valdez investigation. We stopped at a Safeway market to prepare for the evening pot luck dinner. How much weight did we gain today? After the dinner a young park ranger spoke to us about the local ecology and history. She was very dynamic.

15 September 2011
It was raining off and on this morning, but we were happy it stopped before afternoon. We went into the town of Joseph to see beautiful bronze work, go through the historical museum, and to window shop interesting stores. We went into a hardware store for a clasp and longer rope leash for the dog and received friendly personal service.
In the evening the Reeds invited us to their beautiful home on Lake Wallowa for a wonderful ham dinner. This was followed by a fresh Oregon Marionberry cobbler to die for.

16 September 2011
Today we mostly hung around camp getting ready to move on tomorrow. We had a Mountain Berry Shake in the afternoon and bought some shirts. At 5:00 PM we carpooled to the Mt. Joseph Cattle Ranch. We toured the beautiful ranch log houses and grounds, and enjoyed a big camp fire. Then we sat down to a wonderful steak dinner. A local rancher gave us a presentation on the details of cattle ranching. This was most interesting and inspiring. It is amazing how much work it takes to get a steak to our plates!
It got quite cold so we were ready for bed when we got back to camp.

Hells Canyon

2011-09-13T06:34:00.001-07:00

September 2011
It was a beautiful drive from Baker City to the Hells Canyon Recreation Area along the Snake River. The river is the boundary between ID and Or. We had a good lunch in the little town of Halfway. We are at the Copperfield RV Park in Oxbow, OR on the river with lots of trees. It is a beautiful, clean park.

12 September 2011
We drove to the Hells Canyon Visitors' Center to board a jet boat for a 6 hour cruse though the canyon. It is the deepest canyon in the US. We went through several rapids including 2 class 4. The occasional water splash felt good in the very hot sun! Lunch was served on the boat. The mountain and river scenery was awesome. We hope some of the pictures are good! It was unbelievable how pioneers homesteaded and ranched in this very remote, rugged area. It was a most enjoyable trip through the deep canyon.

Baker City, OR

2011-09-11T05:33:00.000-07:00

10 September 2011
This morning we had a gourmet breakfast at the historic Geiser Grand Hotel in Baker City. After breakfast we went through the Baker Heritage Museum. An interesting display about the history of Air Stream Trailers was featured. We didn't know there was so much history in this area. From there we drove up to Sumpter to see the Sumpter Dredge. All the machinery and gold mining history was educational. It was a nice drive and a beautiful day. We met back at the RV park for Happy Hour and a pot luck dinner.

Baker City, OR

2011-09-09T15:09:00.000-07:00

5 September 2011
We left home this morning, caravanning with Bob and Hedy. We took Hwy 14 to the 395, stopping in Mojave for lunch. We stayed at the Boulder Creek RV park in Lone Pine. It was a beautiful warm day.
Our new dog, Samantha, is getting used to motor home travel. She wants to jump on everthing, including the driver, so we have to keep her tethered to the soofa seat belt. We hope she'll settle down before long.

6 September 2011
This was another beautiful drive on Hwys 395, 6, and 95 to Fallon, NV. We stayed at a Passport America Park, Sage Valley RV Park.

7 September 2011
We drove through a lot of desert land. We passed a lot of military installations and Indian reservations. There was no cell phone, WiWi or 3G most of the way. I haven't been able to open Blogger.com on the iPad. We had a slow day going to McDermitt, OR on the NV/OR border. We walked to a casino for dinner.

8 September 2011
Today we drove north to Baker City and arrived a day early for the rally. It was nice to have time to set up and to rest. This is a pretty park with lots of shade trees. The evening was lovely for taking a walk. We can relax and clean up tomorrow morning before the rally starts with Happy Hour at 5 PM.

9 September 2011
We slept in this morning, then cleaned up the motor home. Other members started to arrive after noon, so we could relax and catch up. Samantha and Arden greeted all the other dogs. Since I still couldn't access Blogger.com on the iPad, I tried the parks WiFi on the netbook, which works fine. I'll have to see what went wrong with the iPad because it worked perfectly in New Orleans in May.
I found that Blogger no longer works with Safari. It was necessary to download an app for the iPad. I don't know how to use all the features. It doesn't seem to allow much formatting.
We carpooled to the Haines Steak House in Baker City for a wonderful prime rib dinner. When we got back to camp Samantha broke away and had to be chased. She tried to pick a fight with a big black lab. What are we going to do with her??

29 May 2011

2011-05-29T05:05:00.000-07:00

29 May 2011
Heading for Home!
We are planning to get out early this morning to beat the heat.
We started out early yesterday, at 7:45. We stopped for breakfast at a Cracker Barrel in Goodyear, AZ. This will be our last Cracker Barrel "fix"for awhile!
We stayed in Ehrenberg, AZ at the River Breeze RV Park. It was full of boaters on the Colorado River celebrating Memorial Day. It was very hot during the day, but cooled off in the evening.
When we get home we have to catch up on everything, then we are going to the SW Computer Conference in San Diego on June 1- 5. We're going directly from there to a RV rally in Lake Elsinore with the Kamper Klub until June 10.

27 May 2011

2011-05-28T05:25:00.000-07:00

27 May 2011
It was a hot and windy drive to Tucson, AZ. With the dash air not working we had to keep windows open which was noisy. When it got hot we turned on the generator for coach air conditioning. We stopped for lunch at a Country Fare Restaurant at a truck stop near Willcox. The service was very slow so we spent too much time there. We stayed at the Tra-Tel RV Park. It's a Passport America Park and is quite nice with a pretty desert view. But it stayed hot all night and loud train whistles blew about every hour. It was difficult to sleep. The time zone changes didn't help either!

26 May 2011

2011-05-27T04:29:00.000-07:00

26 May 2011
We stopped at an Iron Skillet restaurant near El Paso, for lunch. We drove to Deming, New Mexico and stayed at the Little Vineyard RV Park. It is very hot, dry, and windy. The official humidity was 2 percent. I didn't know it could get that low! The country side is so dry we fear that the wildfire danger is very high. And to think that there is flooding in other parts of the country! What a contrast from Louisiana and east Texas!
No air is coming through the dash vents in the motor home. Joe looked for a bad fuse but couldn't find one. We called a couple of local places for service but couldn't find anyone who would work on it. We'll have to open windows or turn on the generator for air.

25 May 2011

2011-05-26T03:50:00.000-07:00

25 May 2011
We had lunch at an IHOP in Fort Stockton, TX, then drove to Van Horn, TX. Texas is big with long stretches of road! We're at the Mountain View RV Park. It was a Passport America park, but it is under new management and isn't anymore. The new manager has plans to fix it up. It is quiet and peaceful with desert vegetation and some cactus flowers. There's a ranch next to the park with pretty horses. It is very hot, dry, and windy, but the night cooled off.

24 May 2011

2011-05-25T03:43:00.000-07:00

24 May 2011
Again we stopped at a Cracker Barrel near Kerrville, TX for a late breakfast. We arrived at the Circle Bar RV Park in Ozona, TX. The park is just a big parking lot, but they have a good restaurant and a gas station. It was 100 degrees, but the humidity wasn't as high as it had been. Leah and Arden took a little walk after 8 PM and it was still sunny and hot. But it did cool down during the night. We were not able to get 3G here in the evening, but it worked fine the next morning. No cell phone service here.
We watched the news about the terrible tornados in Missouri and Oklahoma.

23 May 2011

2011-05-24T03:56:00.000-07:00

23 May 2011
We had breakfast at a Cracker Barrell about 5 miles from the Houston East RV Park. Delicious granola pancakes with fruit and nuts! After about an hour we stopped at a Camping World to have our refrigerator looked at, but their service department was backed up for three weeks. We continued to Seguin, TX. We found Twin Palms RV Park, located just off the freeway. It is a small private park with mostly long term residents. The manager was very helpful, even helping us to hook up! We had to change to a second spot because of an electrical problem. The river ran under the freeway. After dinner we walked down to the boat dock, saw people fishing and water skiing under the noisy freeway. It was very pretty under there, but we were constantly aware of heavy traffic overhead. Unique!
There was a tree in the way of the satellite TV. It stayed hot and humid all night. We slept well to the hum of the freeway!

22 May 2011

2011-05-23T03:38:00.000-07:00

22 May 2011
We drove to Baytown, TX and are staying at the Houston East RV Park. We stopped at Cracker Barrel for lunch. We filled up on propane. Our refrigerator has been running only on propane instead of switching to electricity when we plug in. The RV park is next to a little lake. It is very hot and humid so we waited until early evening to take a walk. It got a little windy during the night.

21 May 2011

2011-05-22T04:56:00.000-07:00

21 May 2011
After our get-away breakfast a Ukelele ensemble from Vancouver entertained us. They were very good. We said good-byes and put away all the stuff we had out. Most of the rally attendees stayed for the Rotary International Convention, but we had decided to move on. A couple of more rigs came in just for the convention.
We drove to Poche's Fish 'N Camp RV Park in Breaux Bridge, LA. We saw some high water along the way. We ate a late lunch at the Poche's Restaurant for craw fish estoufee and BarBQ chicken. It was very hot and humid so we stayed in air conditioning looking at the lake from the coach. Later Arden and Leah took a walk around the nearest lake, watching the sun set. There are 5 fishing lakes here. It was a beautiful evening, but stayed hot all night.

20 May 2011

2011-05-21T03:51:00.000-07:00

19 May 2011
First we had breakfast at the Alumni Center. We took an informative bus tour of the city. We toured the Longue Vue House and gardens. There is a lot of history in the old estates. This house had quite a collection of antique dolls and ceramics. Also we saw more of the effects of Katrina. After the tour we took a cruise on the steamship Natchez. We got back to camp tired and ready for Happy Hour. Leah won a handmade bag in the raffle. We ate leftovers in the Motor Home.

20 May 2011
After breakfast we went on a bus tour of two plantations: the Laura and the Oak Alley. The tour got off to a late start because of some miscommunication. The first was a Creole Plantation. Our guide told us a lot of stories of the families who lived there. The gardens were beautiful including flowers and vegetables. The second was much more formal with a long alley of gnarled old oak trees. We just had time for a snack in the cafe before boarding the bus. On the way back we saw a lot of water gushing from the spillway on the Mississippi into Lake Pontchatrain. At dinner the new board was introduced and we had Dixieland music entertainment.

18 May 2011

2011-05-19T03:31:00.000-07:00

18 May 2011
After a breakfast of oatmeal and fruit at the UNO Alumni Center we got on the bus for the French Quarter Tour. Not much has changed since our visit here in February, 2010, but the tour included other points of interest. A highlight for me was a tour of the home of the author Frances Keyes. Her books are out of print but they sold old paperback copies and used hard copies. I bought one paperback and wished I had more time to browse through more. The tour was moving on. We had a muffaletta for lunch. Then we went to the Cafe du Monde for a beignet for desert, then bought some Coffee with chicory and some pralines to take home for ourselves and for gifts. In the evening we had a catered dinner at the Alumni Center consisting of crab bisque, lemon chicken, and bread pudding. I won't get on a scale for months after this trip!

18 May 2011

2011-05-18T03:52:00.000-07:00

18 May 2001
A beautiful day in New Orleans! We stayed around camp greeting members as they arrived. Leah walked to a nearby store to pick up a few things. Joe attended the RVF Board meeting at 2 PM. We had a big crowd and lots of hors d'oeuvres for Happy Hour. We went with the Traisters to check out the location for the meals at the University of New Orleans Alumni Center. Lake Pontchartrain is big and full of water. It looks like the ocean! I hope to have some time to take pictures of it tomorrow. We went to the board dinner at the famous Tujacques restaurant. After a fantastic 5 course dinner we could barely walk. The restaurant was established in about 1850 and has a lot of history. The big mirror behind the bar was brought from Paris.

16 May 2011

2011-05-17T05:08:00.000-07:00

15 May 2011
We took a beautiful drive from Little Rock to Alexandria, LA, mostly on US 167. There were lots of green trees and fields and interesting little towns. We then went about 30 miles south to the Crooked Creek Recreational Area Campground. The roads were winding and narrow making it quite an adventure! At the end of this we came to a beautiful park with all the facilities. We were nestled in a forest next to a lake. We wished we could spend a few days there.

16 May 2010
We drove from Crooked Creek to the University of New Orleans RV Park. Along parts of I 10 from
Baton Rouge we could see the rising water, and water coming in from a spillway. The highway is a bridge over the waterways, so we were high and dry! It is just so sad that so many people lost everything with the flooding waters when the spillways were opened.
A lot of rigs arrived early for the rally which doesn't start until tomorrow. So we had a great time greeting old friends and meeting new. There were a lot of burrs on the ground which got into the dogs' fur and paws. We gathered for an impromptu happy hour. The weather was beautiful during the day, but a fierce wind blew all night.

15 May 2011

2011-05-15T03:39:00.000-07:00

14 May 2011
We visited the Old Court House in Little Rock. There is a lot of Civil War history and local history here. Then we took a 50 cent trolley ride around the city. The driver described every thing we passed. A real bargain! We browsed through a farmers market and ate lunch. We took a trolley back to our car, then stopped at a Walmart before going back to camp. In the evening we went to a Chinese Restaurant with a big buffet.

13 May 2011

2011-05-13T14:32:00.000-07:00

13 May 2011
There were loud thunder storms during the night. We visited the Clinton Presidential Library today. It is quite impressive. We learned a lot. They also had a special display of Dr. Suese's art, books, and cartoons. We did't know he had done so much. The Arkansas River, bridges and surrounding landscape are beautiful. Construction is being done for a walkway and bike path on the bridge. We had a good lunch with a sandwich and gumbo in their cafe. It got too windy to eat outdoors. We will have left over spaghetti tonight. This RV Park offered a special giving Saturday free, so we plan to take them up on it to visit more historical sites in Arkansas.

12 May 2011

2011-05-13T14:06:00.000-07:00

11 May 2011
We stayed at camp today doing laundry, cleaning in the RV, taking walks, and resting. Betty made us a spaghetti dinner followed with spumoni ice cream. We made plans for what to do on the way to New Orleans and prayed that the impending flooding wouldn't affect us.
12 May 2011
We ate breakfast. Then we packed up everything to break camp. We drove with the Lunds and Traisters to the North Little Rock KOA RV Park. We were finally able to get good cell phone service so I could retrieve voice mail messages and make some needed phone calls. We shared champagne for happy hour. We got Hedy on the phone and we all talked to her. For dinner we ate left over tritip and mashed potatoes. Betty made more of her Italian bread.
While we were camping at the Crater of Daimonds we could hear the cicadas in the trees. We also saw a lot of their exoskeletons on the ground. They have a very interesting life cycle beginning underground, then in the trees. Also we were facinated by a red cardinal who was often seen pecking at mirrors and chrome on cars and RVs. Did he think his reflection was another bird?

11 May 2011

2011-05-11T04:29:00.000-07:00

10 May 2011
After breakfast we went with Ken to visit the Historic Washington State Park. This is where the Confederate Capital was after Little Rock fell to the North. First we took the surry ride to get an overall view of the whole place. Then we visited and had excellent docent tours of the old court house, the printing museum, and the gun museum. We had an excellent lunch at the Williams Tavern Restaurant. We got back to camp just in time to walk Arden and go to Happy Hour. Betty made a delicious dinner of turkey meat loaf. We were tired and went to bed early.

10 May 2011

2011-05-10T04:20:00.000-07:00

May 7, 2011
We drove US 82 through green fields and tree lined roads. This is not what we thought Texas looked like. It is good to get off the Interstate! We drove through pastoral scenes, small towns with very old and brand new houses and stores. There are a lot of churches. We arrived at the Crater of Diamonds State Park in the afternoon, met old friends for happy hour. This is a beautiful camp ground, well laid out, lots of trees, a walking trail to the Little Missouri River. But Joe can't get his Direct TV due to the dense trees. Cell phone service is poor, and the 3G access is spotty.
May 8, 2011, Mothers' Day
Our wagon masters made a pancake breakfast. We went to the Visitors Center for an orientation presentation and to look around. We learned how to go about hunting for diamonds. We went back to camp where Leah and Arden did the 1.2 mile River Walk. It was so beautiful and peaceful. The weather was warm and overcast so pictures may not be great. Our wagon masters outdid themselves preparing a delicious tri-tip dinner.
May 9, 2011
After the pancake breakfast we gathered shovels and buckets and set out to find a big diamond. We rented screen sets and a saruca, a round screen slanting to the center so that the heavier diamonds will wash to the middle. We spent several hours sifting and sleucing soil and rocks. The best we came up with was quartz, jasper, calcite, etc. No diamonds! But we had fun playing in the mud!
We came back to camp, cleaned up, and prepared for a pot-luck supper. There sure are good cooks in this group!
It got very hot and humid, and stayed hot all night. We're concerned about thunder storms predicted for the next few days.

7 May 2011

2011-05-07T04:24:00.000-07:00

6 May 2011
We drove from Vernon, TX on US 287, cutting off on US 82, going to Paris, TX. It was a pleasant drive, one lane in spots, going through a few small towns. It would have been nice to have had the time to stop at interesting little stores and restaurants. Often the road was treelined with green fields. A lot nicer than the Interstate!
We did stop at Saint Jo for gas and picked up huge delicious hamburgers for lunch. They were made on wonderful homemade buns. I don't know what they are called. Joe is still fighting his cold and did't feel up to sitting in a restaurant.
On the Internet we found a little, new RV park about 5 miles East of Paris, TX, right on US 82 - Live Oaks RV Park. The address on the Webpage was just a mailing address, so we had to call to find them. It is next to open fields with sheep, goats, and horses. It's a quiet, pleasant little park in a ranch-like setting. It stayed warm all night.
7 May 2011
This morning we'll head for Diamond Crater State Park near Murfreesboro, AR to meet other Rotary RV Fellowship members for a rally. We hope to find a big diamond!

6 May 2011

2011-05-06T04:41:00.000-07:00

4 May 2011
We drove from Grants, NM to Tucumcari, NM, staying at the Cactus RV Park, a Passport America Park.
5 May 2011
It was a longer drive today to the Rocking A RV Park in Vernon, TX. We took US Hwy 287 after Amarillo, TX. It was a nice drive with a little slowing through a few small towns. It was a warm, windy day. The park is next-door to a Walmart, so we picked up what we needed for the pot luck in Arkansas.

4 May 2011

2011-05-04T05:19:00.000-07:00

3 May 2011
We drove to Grants, NM. Since Joe still has a cold we made several short stops. We stayed at Bar S RV Park in Grants near a Love's Truck Stop. Leah walked over to the Kiva Cafe to pick up Indian Tacos and sopapillas for dinner.

3 May 2011

2011-05-03T06:39:00.000-07:00

1 May 2011
We left home on Sunday, May 1 to meet the Rotary RV Fellowship at Diamond Crater State Park in Arkansas. We started out caravanning with Bob and Hedy, stopping for lunch at Peggy Sue's near Barstow. We stayed at the Elk's Lodge in Needles. They have nice RV sites with full hookups and a nice bar where Leah could celebrate her birthday! The weather was warm and windy.
2 May 2011
Hedy was having stomach pain, so they decided it was best for them to go back home on Monday. That was a real bummer! We continued on our own to Flagstaff and stayed at Black Barts. Joe came down with a bad cold so we didn't go to their dinner show. It was sunny and breezy when we arrived in Flagstaff, but it got down to 19 degrees on Tuesday morning. We had put some water into the fresh water tank and did not connect the hose for fear of freezing.
We plan to head for Grants, NM today.

April 7, 2011

2011-04-08T05:52:00.000-07:00

April 7, 2011
We picked up huge, delicious donuts from Donut Time in Buellton. We carpooled to Lake Cachuma for a pretty and interesting tour on the Lake. It was overcast, and after awhile the wind became very cold. We cut the cruise a little short and took in the Nature Museum. We canceled the drive to Figuroa Mountain to see the wild flowers because of threatening storms. We then were going to eat our box lunches at a Rotary Park in Buellton, but it was still too cold and windy. So we went to the Rideau Winery where we ate indoors and tasted more wines. We went back to the RV Park for a little rest, then went to the tritip BarBQ put on by the Los Olivos Rotary. We ate and socialized in an interesting historical building. Also had more wine! I will post pictures on our Website.

April 6 2011

2011-04-07T04:55:00.001-07:00

April 6, 2011
We started the day with a breakfast of bagels and fruit. Then we carpooled to Vandenberg Air Force Base. We didn't realize how big and extensive this place is. We got a lot of information about the history and current operations on the bus tour through the base. A lot of the technical stuff was over my head. There is a Amtrak tain route along the coast through the base. That should be a nice ride on a clear day. The base has 42 miles of coast line. We had a very good lunch at the Pacific Club on the base. We got back to camp with just time to set up and prepare for our pot luck dinner. We hope we don't gain too much weight on this trip!

April 5, 2011

2011-04-06T05:38:00.001-07:00

After a continental breakfast with pastries delivered from Olsen's in Solvang we had a day to pursue any of the attractions in the area. We went with the Downings to visit Mission Santa Ines, the miniature horse farm, and the motorcycle museum. We had a late lunch at the Red Vicking in Solvang. Back at the RV we rested a little, then set up for Happy Hour. After the late lunch and Happy Hour snacks we had no need for dinner! Solvang is celebrating it's Centennial this year. The name means "Sunny Meadow".

April 4 2011

2011-04-05T05:56:00.000-07:00

April 4, 2011
We started the day with delicious Danish pancakes at Ellen's. We went to Solvang with the Downings to look at a yarn and quilt shop. Then we visited the Ostrich and Emu Farm.
Most of our group came in today so we were happy to greet old friends. Happy hour was followed by a very good lasagna dinner catered by the RV park. A local resident and Rotarian gave us a rundown on what to do in the area. He was entertaining with a good sense of humor. All the dogs enjoyed being together, too!

4/3/2011

2011-04-04T06:44:00.000-07:00

3 April 2011
We left home on April 2,2011 for a Rotary RV Fellowship Rally in Buellton at Flying Flags RV Resort. We are expecting about 20 RVs. We visited the La Purisima Mission on Sunday. It is now a California State Park and has been beautifully renovated. We spent a lot of time there, then had a good Mexican lunch in Buellton. Back at the RV we met up with our wagon masters and started setting up the rec room for the rally. It was a beautiful day. Our dogs enjoyed the off-leash dog yard here.

Gold Point, NV

2010-09-30T09:03:00.000-07:00

30 September 2010
We left home on September 28, stopped for lunch at Peggy Sue's in Barstow, then spent the night at the Longstreet Casino over the Nevada border. It has been very hot! We arrived in Gold Point on 29 Sept. About 10 other rigs from our group are here, 18 are expected. We came early to get one of the electric sites, but we have to rely on our own water tank. Activities start on the first. It's supposed to cool down a little. We are enjoying the scenery, chukars, and cottontail and jack rabbits. We took a walk and did a little exploring this morning before it got too hot.

1 - 4 October 2010
We had a great time at the Gold Point Rally. We explored the old mining town of Goldfield, drove along old railway beds and collected railroad spikes along the way, visited the Hardluck Mine Castle, and a couple of other 4-wheel drive runs. The weather was beautiful with bright blue skies and white clouds. One night we had thunder, lightning, and some rain. Herb from Gold Point cooked us some delicious meals. 18 motor homes got together and it was fun seeing old friends.

5 October 2010
We had our farewell breakfast this morning. We had planned to go up to the Lake of the Springs RV Park near Marysville, CA and to meet Jean there. But there was snow and bad weather in the Donner Pass and the other passes to get there. So we decided it may be too dangerous to go there, and drove straight home. That was a great disappointment! We spent the night at Peggy Sue's on the way home.

Bishop Creek

2010-08-02T07:31:00.000-07:00

25 July 2010
We cleaned up and said good-bye to the Downings and Herrings who are staying longer. We stopped for gas where the nozzle got stuck in our gas tank. Several people tried to help us to get it out. One man thought to get underneath and push on the hose. It came loose. We drove to Soledad Canyon in Acton. It was warm and nice. We took walks around the duck pond and drove home Monday morning.

Bishop Creek

2010-08-02T07:26:00.000-07:00

24 July 2010
Joe decided to stay at the RV today because he wasn't feeling well in the altitude. Leah went with Hedy and Bob to fish in streems along the road, then went back to the dam at South Lake. We only got a few fish. It was a beautiful day with blue sky and white clouds over snow covered mountains. It got a cloudy and windy later and we heard some thunder, but no rain.

Bishop Creek

2010-08-02T07:20:00.000-07:00

23 July 2010
Another beautiful day! We relaxed around the camp until about 11:00. We fished at Mile High Creek and then went up to South Lake which is 9700 feet high. We caught a few fish. We were very tired after walking on steep trails at the high altitude. We enjoyed a relaxed Happy Hour and dinner in our RVs. We went to bed early.

Bishop Creek

2010-08-02T07:17:00.000-07:00

22 July 2010
The pond at the RV park was stocked with rainbow trout today. We all caught our limit of two fish and had a good dinner. It was a beautiful day in the 80's, with a clear blue sky.

Bishop Creek

2010-08-02T07:11:00.000-07:00

21 July 2010
It was warm all night. We left at 8:30 and stopped in Big Pine at the Country Kitchen for a good breakfast. It was a nice drive to the Creekside RV Park. It was warm, but not too hot. This is beautiful country. We took it easy to adjust to the 8000 feet altitude and got our fishing gear together. It got quite cold during the night. There is no WiFi or cell phone service here, so we had to wait until we got home to publish this blog and to put pictures on the Website.

Bishop Creek

2010-08-02T07:05:00.000-07:00

20 July 2010
Boulder Creek RV Park, Lone Pine, CA
We left home at 6:00 A.M, caravanning with the Downings. We stopped in Mojave for breakfast at 8:00 where we met the Herrings. It was very hot in Lone Pine, over 100 degrees. We sat around talking, drinking and nibbling.

Palm Springs

2010-05-16T18:25:00.000-07:00

13 - 17 April 2010
We left the Kamper Klub rally on 13 April and drove just 15 miles to the Indian Wells RV Resort in Indio. This is just 4 miles from the La Quinta Resort and Club Hotel where the Rotary Regional Conference was held. It is a very large and beautiful facility. We paid $28 per night at the RV resort as opposed to almost $200 at the hotel! Our friends Bob and Hedy drove us back and forth in their VW Bug.
Friday night was the hospitality night where many clubs served international foods. There was so much delicious food and drinks it was impossible to try everything. We became fully stuffed. The fellowship was very enjoyable, too. We talked with interesting people and saw old friends.
The Governor's Ball was Saturday night with a delicious fillet mignon and shrimp dinner, presentations, and dancing. The music became too loud! We enjoyed a good brunch on Sunday morning. We heard inspirational presentations and speeches during the three days.
We returned home on Monday well rested and well fed. We went from 97 to 60 degrees! And from clear, blue skies to cloudy skies!

Palm Springs

2010-05-13T05:48:00.000-07:00

April 8-13-2010
We left on Saturday, 8 April to attend a Kamper Klub rally in Palm Springs at the Palm Springs Oasis RV Resort. It was very hot the first day, but became beautiful the rest of the time. We enjoyed getting together with old friends since we hadn't attended one of these rallies for awhile. We spent a very relaxing time taking walks, playing shuffle board, and shopping at Walmart and Burlington Coat Factory. We enjoyed afternoon happy hours with White Cows and Margaritas. The pot luck suppers were scrumptious. We had pizza one night and went to Don and Peggy Sue's for dinner Wednesday night. On Thursday Morning we're leaving for the Indian Wells RV Resort in Indio. We'll stay there for the Rotary Regional Conference in Indio. It's less than 4 miles from the La Quinta Resort and Club, the hotel where the conference will be held.

Chowchilla to Home

2010-03-22T08:24:00.000-07:00

21 March 2010
After our breakfast we started for home after saying our good-byes to RVFers and dogs. We took Hwys 99 and 5. It was a slightly long, but nice, drive stopping for lunch near Bakersfield. We quickly unpacked the perishables and went to Mass in the evening. This was a memorable rally with 19 rigs.
Until next time!

Castle Air Museum

2010-03-22T08:13:00.001-07:00

20 March 2010
The Castle Air Museum has a fine collection of historic World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam Conflict aircraft. At the present time the Museum has restored and maintains our entire complement of aircraft. Many of our members had served in these wars and had a lot of experience with these planes.
In the afternoon we played Bean Bag Baseball. This was good for a lot of laughs and fellowship!
We enjoyed a good pot luck supper in the evening. We put our heads together to make plans for future rallies. This had been a fun and educational rally with beautiful weather.

Mariposa Tour

2010-03-22T07:36:00.000-07:00

19 March 2910
After a breakfast of local oranges and breads and coffee cakes made by our wagon masters we carpooled to the old mining town of Mariposa. Others chose the Wine Tour. The Mariposa Museum and History Center is an indoor historical museum and display of a one-room miner's cabin, outdoor mining equipment and Indian Village.
We visited the old Mariposa County Courthouse which was formed in September 1850, even before California became the 31st State of the Union. The Court has conducted normal proceedings continuously in this courthouse ever since, the longest active period for any courthouse west of the Rocky Mountains.
As there was still some time we went to the California State Mining and Mineral Museum. They had a lot of mining history and exceptional specimens of minerals and gems from around the world. The geological forms and colors were spectacular!
After Happy Hour we had dinner at the Putter's Restaurant at the golf course next to the RV Resort. This was followed by cookies and coffee back at the RV Park Clubhouse.

Morgan Hill to Chowchilla

2010-03-22T07:21:00.000-07:00

18 March 2010
It was a beautiful, peaceful drive along CA Hwy 152 with green hills, blue lakes, colorful wildflowers, and blue skys. We arrived at The Lakes RV Resort where we met up with a lot of old friends from the Rotary RV Fellowship. We attended the Chowchilla Rotary Club dinner meeting at Farnesi's Steakhouse. They celebrated St. Patrick's Day with corned beef and cabbage and they gave each of us a bottle of local wine. We enjoyed talking with the Chowchilla Rotarians. This is predominately an agricultural community.

Home to Oceano

2010-03-17T14:14:00.000-07:00

15 March 2010
We left home this morning for a Rotary RVF Rally in Chowchilla, CA. We drove to Beulton, North of Santa Barbara. We had lunch at Pea Soup Anderson's. Then we stopped by Flying Flags RV Resort to get information for a possible rally in this area. They were very friendly and gave us a lot of info. about things to do. But they are a bit expensive. It was a warm sunny day, the ocean and sea coast were beautiful, and the wild flowers and Spring green hills were lovely. We had dinner at the Hitching Post in Casmalia, then spent the night at Pacific Dunes RV Resort in Oceana.
Labels: Chowchilla

Oceano to Morgan Hill

2010-03-17T14:10:00.000-07:00

16-17 March 2010
We continued up Hwy 1 to the Thousand Trails Preserve at Morgan Hill to spend two nights. We got more info for a future rally in Oceana and Pismo Beach. We stopped for lunch at Margie's in San Luis Obispo. where they fed us a lot! It was another warm, sunny day.Morgan Hill was pretty with a lot of water in the Uvas Creek. This is a good place for taking walks. We spent a lazy day doing needlework, making a model plane, walking and taking pictures. Arden enjoyed the walks and meeting with other dogs. The trees are leafing out and everything is a pretty green.

Home!

2010-02-26T05:48:00.000-08:00

25 February 2010
We drove straight home, with just a stop at the Indio Costco for gas and lunch. We arrived home at about 2:00. Leah had made doctor's appointments for both Joe and Arden for Friday morning.
Mardi Gras was very interesting and lot more structured than we had thought. Each Krewe, a Carnival organization and social club, designed their own floats using a common theme for each float in their parade. Each Krewe then has a formal Bal Masque to present that year's "royalty". There were parades most every day and evening. We just couldn't sit through very many because of the very cold winds which tried to spoil an otherwise fantastic experience. Joe's cold and breathing difficulties made him very uncomfortable. But at least we did see Mardi Gras so we could check off another thing that we've always wanted to do!
We will get some pictures on the Web Site when time permits. We didn't take as many pictues as we should have.

NM to Arizona

2010-02-25T04:30:00.000-08:00

23-24 February 2010
It got very cold last night in Deming, NM, down to 23 degrees. Even though we turned off the water, our hoses froze and the faucets were frozen shut. . We didn't know it would get that cold! The water pump decided to work again so we could take showers, etc. with what we had in the fresh water tank. There was snow on our table and steps, and a little on the ground. We didn't leave until 10:00 waiting for the hose to thaw so we could pack it away.
We drove to to the Prince of Tucson RV Park in Tucson. It was warm and sunny! From there we drove to Ehrenberg, AZ near the CA border. Leah and Arden took a walk in the sun at the Colorado River. It was pretty and sunny. Joe is still not well with his cold and lung congestion.
The water pump is not working again!!??

Texas

2010-02-22T14:43:00.000-08:00

22 February 2010
It was again very windy on the road with some rain. We're in a different RV Park from when we came, A Deming Roadrunner RV Park in Demming, NM. We're keeping warm and dry watching Olympic hockey on the TV and having a drink. WiFi is good here. Joe is still coughing too much.

Texas

2010-02-22T14:37:00.000-08:00

21 February 2010
It was very windy on the road, making driving a motor home difficult. We're in Van Horn, TX at the Mountain View RV Park. Much of the park was closed and no one was in the office. We just left payment in the slot. There were a couple of other RV's here. Even though WiFi connectivity was excellent, we could not get connected.

Texas

2010-02-20T14:02:00.000-08:00

20 February 2010
We had a light rain shower this morning, but it was warmer and windy all day. Joe still has a lot of lung congestion from his cold. We are again at the Circle Bar RV Park in Ozona, TX. We are taking it easy and eating nin until Joe gets better. Arden always likes taking walks. He is getting some skin irritation again, so I guess it's back to the vet when we get home!

Texas

2010-02-20T13:55:00.000-08:00

19 February 2010
We are back at the River Shade Rv Park in Seguin,TX. We got the last site which was near the river, but too far from the WiFi. We got propane as we used a lot in New Orleans trying to keep warm. The water pump on our fresh water pump won't work. Seems there is always something to go wrong on an RV!

Texas

2010-02-19T03:20:00.000-08:00

18 February 2010
We drove a short distance today to Beaumont, TX because Joe is quite congested from allergy or a cold. We stayed again at the Gulf Coast Resort, a Pass Port America park. The WiFi is very good this time. Since we were early Leah used the time to do laundry and work on her cross stitch project. This is a nice park except that it is quite muddy. There are a lot of marshlands around here.

Mardi Gras Ends

2010-02-17T13:43:00.000-08:00

17 February 2010
Time to head for home! We were given farewell coffee and doughnuts this morning. We said good-bye to everyone.
We found out there is a lot more to Mardi Gras than we thought. A lot of work and energy is put into it. New Orleans suffered much loss during Katrina, but they are coming back. There is still a lot to do. There are still many destroyed homes and damaged roads. There is construction everywhere and a lot of spirit. We are planning to come back to N.O. in June, 2011 for the Rotary International Convention. It will be nteresting to see the progress in that time.

We are now back in Breaux Bridge at the Poche's Fish N Camp with the pretty lakes.

We did not have WiFi while we were camped in New Orleans, so I'm sending all the journal entries now. The times of the posts are PST since I didn't change the computer to the local time zones.

Mardi Gras

2010-02-17T13:36:00.000-08:00

16 February 2010
Today is Mardi Gras Day with a lot of excitement all around. We left camp at 7:30 after being given a boxed lunch and lots of cookies to take with us. Pete Fountain and his Half-Fast Walking Club led the parades. This was followed by the Krewe of Zulu Social and Pleasure Club parade. The participants were dressed in colorful and elaborate African costumes. This is a Black Krewe which pokes fun at itself and others with a lot of humor. We got so cold and chilled that we did not stay for the Krewe of Rex Parade nor for the Truck Krewes. These decorate all kinds of trucks from 18 wheelers to pick-ups with various themes. One is the Krewe of Elks-Orleans with the theme “Elks Care-Elks Share”. We were disappointed to have missed these lasts parades but we were chilled to the bone. Back at the RV we took a little nap then had to start packing up to start back home tomorrow. This has been a great week with excitement, education and fun. It was spoiled only by the rain and very cold, windy weather. I guess we don’t own the right clothes for temperatures in the low 30’s with heavy winds! Or we a spoiled Californians!

Mardi Gras

2010-02-17T13:34:00.000-08:00

15 February 2010
It is very cold and windy this morning. We were taken to a tour of the Krewe of Throth’s Den. This is where the Krewe keeps the floats from previous years. Many of them will be sprayed white, then repainted with the designs for future themes. It was fun to examine and climb on the floats. After that we went to the New Orleans School of cooking. A very entertaining woman gave demonstrations on Louisiana cooking and history lessons while we ate chicken and andouille gumbo, jambalaya, bananas foster and pralines with a local beer. It was all delicious. After we visited their gift store to buy seasoning mixes including a blend named “Joe’s Stuff”. In the evening we went to the Parades of the Krewes of Proteus and Orpheus. We collected more beads and enjoyed the elaborate floats. It got so cold and windy that we left after the first parade before 9:00.

Mardi Gras

2010-02-17T13:30:00.000-08:00

14 February 2010
A pretty sunny day - still cold! We went to a non-denominational church service in the Arena. It was nice. We were upset that there are so many historic Catholic Churches in New Orleans but we had no way of getting to any of them. We probably should start towing a car.
We visited the National WWII Museum. They showed a marvelous film by Tom Hanks. We ate gumbo at the museum restaurant. There was not enough time to do the museum justice since we had to be back at the bus by 3 PM.
We went to the Krewe of Bacchus Parade. The had 33 huge floats with 1200 members riding on them in costume, and at least as many marching bands from all the schools. We left after the 24th float at 11:00 PM. Drew Brees from the Saints was their King. In the stands we spoke with several native New Orleans. Everyone is so friendly and nice. The Saint’s victory really united the city and gave new hope after Katrina. After Katrina the news media seemed to depict New Orleans as a city of crooks and lazy bums. Even though, as in any city there is some of that element, the majority seems to be hard working, good people. There is hope that the new mayor will work to solve some of the lingering problems.
As soon as we got back to the RV there was a heavy rain and wind storm. We made it back just in time! I feel sorry for the last float riders if the parade didn’t finish before the rain.

Mardi Gras

2010-02-17T13:27:00.000-08:00

13 February 2010
We saw the sun this morning! But it was still cold and windy until the afternoon when it warmed up a little becoming a pretty day. We visited Blaine Kern’s Mardi Gras World where most of the parade floats are made. They also make floats and props for a lot of other occasions and places. Then we went to the River Walk along the Mississippi River and browsed the many shops and restaurants. We had shrimp and crab stew and chicken gumbo in the food court. We took the trolley back to the French Market to buy some pralines and a tee shirt. Being Saturday it was crowded with several music groups entertaining. People watching was also fun! Mardi Gras and Saints spirit was very evident.
We were served a Cajun dinner of cat fish, rice, craw fish estoufee, and blue berries on pound cake. There was a good Cajun band and dancers who performed and gave lessons.

Mardi Gras

2010-02-17T13:24:00.000-08:00

12 February 2010
Today we visited 2 old plantations, the Destrehan and the San Francisco plantations. They were quite different and both had a lot of interesting history. We were sorry we couldn’t walk around on the grounds because of the rain and cold wind. The rain did stop about noon, but it was cold and windy all day. The high was in the low 30’s. We had a buffet lunch at Armand’s Restaurant. We didn’t get back to the RV until 4:00. Our Bal Masque started at 7:00 PM. They did a beautiful presentation with girls in elaborate dress depicting various parts of the world. We were sorry we didn’t bring our cameras. The food and dance band were very good. Walking back to the RV we took a wrong turn in the dark and had to backtrack. We thought we were going to freeze in the icy wind. It didn’t take long to snuggle up in bed. We were sorry we missed the Olympics Opening Ceremony.

Mardi Gras

2010-02-17T13:20:00.000-08:00

11 February 2010
This started out to be a nice day, just cold with some wind. We were bussed to breakfast at Brennan’s, located in the French Quarter. The sit-down breakfast consisted of French bread, a baked apple in a cream sauce, eggs Houssarde (like eggs Benedict over a red meat sauce), and banana flambé. We then were given a 2 hour walking tour of the French Quarter, ending at Café du Monde. There is a lot of history here from the French, Spanish, and American eras. As time for the bus to depart was approaching we took out beignets. There was not enough time for shopping. As soon as we got back to the RVs the rain began. The parades were cancelled for this night, so we cocooned in the motor home. We had to take the dog out in the rain and mud!

12 February 6:00 AM
The wind and rain were fierce all night, making it hard to sleep. We are worried about how much damage was done because the ground is already so saturated. We hope this stops so the parades can continue tonight. The groups building and riding on the floats pay for everything themselves: the floats, costumes, beads, etc. No public money is used for Mardi Gras.

Mardi Gras

2010-02-17T13:16:00.000-08:00

10 February 2010
That cold wind won’t stop! The high today was 45 but it felt much colder. We took a bus tour of the city. Our guide was very knowledgeable and interesting. Evidence of Katrina was everywhere with road construction, detours, and destroyed homes. Some homes have been beautifully restored, some removed leaving vacant lots, and a lot of homes barely standing and not livable. This was true in the 9th Ward and in the middle and upper class neighborhoods. A lot of shops, restaurants, churches, etc. were also damaged or destroyed. Our guide had lived in a FEMA tent for awhile. It took 3 years for her insurance company to come through. She described in detail what happened during and after Katrina. She blamed the Corps of Engineers for a lot of the problems. Levees were built using the wrong kind of soil, trying to get the jobs done fast and cheaply. We stopped at an old cemetery where the technique of above ground burial was described. I wish I had a tape of her talk.
After the tour we had a fantastic buffet brunch at The Court of the Two Sisters in the French Quarter. After eating we browsed some shops and a flea market before returning to our bus at 2:00.
At 6:30 we boarded buses again for the Krewe of Ancient Druids Parade. We had bleacher seats at the end of the parade route so we had to sit for almost 2 hours before we saw anything. The floats were interesting. We caught some beads thrown from the floats. It was hard to take pictures because of the poor lighting, and the people in front of us were jumping up to catch beads. There were about 15 floats each designed to depict an expression with “Hole” in it, like Black Hole, 19th Hole, Hole in One, Blow Hole, etc. Several school bands and drill teams marched. Even though we were dressed in several layers, we were frozen by the end, but it was fun.

Mardi Gras Starts

2010-02-17T13:03:00.000-08:00

9 February 2010
It rained hard all night making a lake in front of our RV! Today we had a cold fierce wind all day! We slept in a little and made ourselves a good breakfast. We got our registration materials in the morning. and had an orientation meeting in the afternoon. We are going to be very busy for the next week! The Mardi Gras Season begins on 6 January, Twelfth night or 3 Kings Day, and ends with Ash Wednesday. In the evening was the Masquerade party in the Lakeside Arena. We had an open bar and were fed a good pork dinner that started with the traditional King and Queen cakes. The ones finding a baby in their cakes became the King and Queen. There was a costume parade and the best costumes were selected. That finished with praline cheese cake. Then there was dancing to a live jazz band. We fought the strong , icy cold wind walking back to the RV.

Louisana

2010-02-17T13:02:00.000-08:00

7 February 2010
It was a cold and sunny morning. The RV park gave us a complimentary waffle breakfast. We were soon in Louisiana. We arrived early at Poche’s Fish N Camp in Breaux Bridge, the “Craw Fish Capital of the World“ . There were 5 one acre lakes with beautiful blue water. We ate crawfish estoufee and Cajun sausage at the Poche’s restaurant and market nearby. We bought some sausage to take with us. Then we took a walk around one lake. We did some laundry then settled in to watch the Super Bowl. There is a lot of Saints fever here and excitement when they won. We’ll be in New Orleans tomorrow.

8 February 2010
It was a pretty morning so we took another walk around the lake. On the way to New Orleans we went over several very long bridge structures. One must have been over 15 miles long - quite an engineering feat! We went over marshlands, swamps and rice fields. It was amazing to see cypress trees draped with moss growing in the water. We crossed bays, rivers, and streams. It was hard to take pictures from the car window because the sun was shining directly in the window. Maybe on the way back!
On the way to the State University of New Orleans we saw several destroyed and damaged homes from Katrina. There was a lot of construction repairing roads and a levee. The campus has a very nice set up for RVs near the athletic fields. We have ample space with full hookups. There are 54 rigs in our group from all over the US and Canada. Registration and Orientation will be tomorrow.

Still accross Texas

2010-02-07T05:45:00.000-08:00

6 February 2010
The River was pretty with the morning fog and sun. We had an early breakfast at IHOP in Seguin then headed toward Houston. East of Houston there was a terrible accident, a tanker truck caught fire and there was a fatality. The back-up was over 10 miles. It took us over one hour to go just 3 miles! We finally arrived at the Gulf Coast RV Resort in Beaumont, TX at 5 PM, very tired and hungry. After some food and a martini our attitude was adjusted for the better! The WiFi wouldn't connect in the motor home, but it was fine outside. But my fingers got very cold trying to type. This is a nice park with lots of ammenities. The Passport America rate was good.

Across Texas

2010-02-05T13:58:00.001-08:00

4 February 2010
It was in the 30's this morning with a shower and lots of fog. Driving visibility was poor. Then it became cloudy and cold the rest of the day. At times the sky was very pretty when the sun tried to peak out of the clouds. We had lunch at an IHOP in Ft. Stockton, TX. We spent the night at the Circle Bar RV Ranch in Ozona, TX. It was nice, but didn't have WiFi. They had a small Auto Museum and a restaurant across the street.

5 February 2010
There was morning fog again but it soon became sunny and clear and reached about 65 degrees. We stopped in Kerrville, TX for lunch. We are camped on the Guadelupe River at the River Shade RV Park in Seguin, TX. They have WiFi, propane sales, etc. With all the cold weather we had we went though our propane supply quickly! We took a walk along the river before dinner.

On Our Way

2010-02-03T14:48:00.000-08:00

We finally found an RV Park with free WiFi on Wednesday 3 February 2010!

Sunday, 31 January 2010
We left home at about 9:00 AM. We stopped at the Farm House Restaurant in Banning, CA for an early lunch at 11:00. We then continued to Ehrenberg, AZ, staying at the River Breeze RV Park. Total drive was about 235 miles.

Monday, 1 February
We continued down the road on I-10. We had lunch at the Cracker Barrel in Buckeye, AZ. Many RV parks around Tucson, Az were full due to a big gem show. We found a place at the Prince of Tucson RV Park.They wanted a lot of money for WiFi so we decided to wait. The weather has been cool, sunny, with some wind.

Tuesday, 2 February
We stopped at Camping World for a few supplies then had lunch at the Apple Farm in Benson, AZ. We took out some delicious breakfast rolls and apple crisp. We stayed in Deming, NM at the LoHi RV Park, a Passport America Park. The weather was sunny and dry but rain was predicted.

Wednesday, 3 February 2010
We woke this morning to heavy rain and wind. It was very cold. It rained most of the day and at times the wind was heavy. We made it to the Mt. View RV Park in Van Horn, TX, another PA park. We huddled in with a drink, TV, WiFI, needlework and the heater. As I write this at 5:00 PM the rain is rather heavy and cold. At least the WiFi connection is very good and the motor home is cozy!!

Our Travel Journal

2010-01-17T19:22:00.000-08:00

This is our first post on this site. We plan to publish journals of our motor home trips here. Let us know what you think of this project. On January 31, 2010 we will be leaving for New Orleans to join the Good Sam Club at Mardi Gras. It should be fun!
Leah and Joe