Feb 4th PM - Day Trip

We took a 150 mile drive this afternoon. The campground where we are staying is on the west side of Beaumont, close to I10. We drove down through Port Arthur, out to the Gulf, then across Hwy 82, back up Hwy 27 to Sulfur and then back to the campground. The stretch along the Gulf was desolate, in a way, yet there were several hundred homes and some fairly large energy company installations. One of the most interesting things is that there was not one grocery or significant convenience store on the entire stretch along the Gulf. Some of those folks have to drive 20-30 miles to get to a store. There were a couple of small gas stations along that area. They might have stocked a few, but very few, items.

I took the photo below as were coming down off one of the many bridges in the area. Note the canal that shows up behind the truck. Also, all the area way out looks like swamp.

Sure wished I knew what this was. It was several miles from the highway and must have been some type of crane mechanism. I wouldn't be surprised if I found out that it was 200' tall. There was no obvious road leading out to it.

We had a late lunch at LeBleu's in Sulfur, LA. The food was awesome. The sign said "Fine Cajun Cuisine" and it was spot on. I ate off the buffet and Kathy ordered several things off the menu. My only complaint was that it was so good that I overate until I was miserable. (We ate over 4 hours ago and I have walked about 2 miles since I got back to the campground. I'm still almost uncomfortably full.)

There were three meat (chicken & sausage, pork & beef) dishes, kind of like stews, on the buffet that were awesome when poured over rice. (There was also fish, fried chicken, boudin, rice, mashed potatoes, 2 bean dishes, green beans, etc. on the buffet). The food was spicy, but just right. By the time I had finished my head was sweating from the spices, but it was a good sweat <grin>. Kathy had shrimp & something gumbo, boudin (sausage) rolls, some type of crawfish pie & a baked sweet potato. She said everything was good. I don't think she managed to eat half of it. We brought home a large "to go" container.  In the one end of the building they had a meat market with pretty good prices (according to Kathy) on beef. She would have bought a prime rib if she thought it would fit in our motorhome freezer.

 



The morning was rainy but no rain after about 11AM, but no sun either. It was an enjoyable day.

May God bless you and yours.

Feb 4th AM - Rainy

It has been drizzling rain here since about noon yesterday 2 days. Temperatures have been cool. Highs in the 50's and lows in the low 40's.

Yesterday morning I went over to the campground clubhouse to check out their breakfast. They had a couple of waffle machines set up and you could make waffles. In addition they had biscuits and gravy (the store bought gravy, not the good stuff), several different cereals, some donuts and bagels and fruit juices and coffee. A pretty good set up for a free breakfast. (but this morning I stayed in the RV and fixed myself country ham, eggs, toast, hooch & coffee; a real breakfast).

Yesterday we went to Willy Burger for lunch.

The old airstream is actually connection to the building. We were going to sit in it but the music was so loud that we changed our mind and sat in the main building.
In the photo below the colorful wall section on the right is made of pool balls glued to the wall.

Kathy had a blue cheese burger and cheddar fries and I had a Willy Burger and onion rings. The burgers were good, but not any better than those at Big Daddy's in Alabama. They were a LOT more expensive.

The place next door to Willy Burger looked interesting. So many restaurants and so little time to check them all out.

On our way back to the campground we did some grocery shopping and then came back to the motor home and stayed in for the remainder of the day. Today I think we are going to take a sightseeing trip along the coast, back into Louisiana.

May God bless you and yours.

Feb 2nd - TEXAS!!!

We are in Beaumont, TX for the next few days. The drive here was about 275 miles.

Lake Pontchartrain was quite impressive as we drove by it. It was windy when we drove by it this morning and there were a lot more white caps than what show in the photo.

 It covers an area of 630 square miles. It is roughly oval in shape, about 40 miles from west to east and 24 miles from south to north. Now that is a LAKE!

Scenery driving across Louisiana was a little boring. Lots of miles of this

 Much of the road is elevated. The cost of construction must have been incredible.

Finally Texas.

The office at Gulf Coast RV Resort. The place looks nice although the sites are much smaller than those at either Rainbow Plantation or Bayou Segnette.

Parked and set up by 4 PM.

Weather was cool and windy today. I'm not sure it even made it to 50 today. Tonight's low is supposed to be 34.

Paid $2.829/gal for fuel at a Flying J in Orange, TX.


We will be here several days, we couldn't get a site in Surfside Beach, where the wedding will be, until the 6th. Tomorrow we will have to do some exploring. I briefly met our neighbors as I was hooking up the water/sewer/electric. They have been full timers for 16 years. I hope we get a chance to visit with them before they leave. They seem like an interesting couple.

May God bless you and yours.

Feb 1st - Back to New Orleans

Yesterday we took the day off and stayed at the park. Kathy felt puny and I was tired. I did walk around the park some. Below is one of the boardwalks in the park. The park is mostly swamp. They must do a lot spraying because there are very few mosquitoes.

This is the levee along side of the road back to the campground. The "dirt" bank is probably 6' above the road. The precast panels sections add another 8-10' of height. I couldn't find a place where I could see the other side of the levee. According to Google maps there is a channel on the other side that runs to the Gulf. My guess is that the two pipes you see in this photo are so that water on this side can be pumped to the other side. On down the road there are a couple of 36" diameter pipes that also look like they are used to pump water to the other side of the levee. We could hear boats, just couldn't see them.

 There was construction going on at the far end. I took this photo through the chain link fence that prevented entry into the area.

 

This morning (Sunday) we took the first ferry across to the city, at 11AM. The "castle" on the right side of the photo is a VERY old catholic church in the French Quarter.

I walked over to the WWII museum and spent a couple of hours there. I probably only saw a quarter of it. It was interesting but it was so "politically correct" that it about made me sick. I saw nothing about all the Jews that the Germans slaughtered, only minimal mention of Bataan Death March (where the Japanese murdered thousands of Filipino and American prisoners during the 60 mile march),  and nothing about the hundreds of thousands of women the Japanese forced into sexual slavery during the war. The Germans and Japanese started WWII, THEY were directly responsible for the deaths of over 130,000 Americans who were killed while defeating them.

Kathy went back to the Market in the French Quarter and looked around more. We met for a late lunch. We walked over to Bourbon Street and intended on finding a place to eat. We found that Bourbon Street is a dirty, stinky little street. We walked down about 6 blocks trying to find some place that looked reasonable. We found nothing that looked good. On the way back we did go into a restaurant. After sitting down and looking around we left: partly because the place stank and partly because it looked dirty.

Later we found a small place that looked decent. I can neither spell, nor could I pronounce the name of my sandwich. Kathy had crabs benedict. We both enjoyed our meals. I know they had to be good because it cost $32 for what you see on the table, that doesn't include the tip.

After eating we walked over to one of the Hop & Go bus stop, caught a bus, and rode around the perimeter of the French Quarter before heading back to the ferry and catching the 5:30PM ferry back across the river.

One thing I found to be interesting. None of the area we were in was flooded during Katrina. It is the area closest to the Mississippi and yet it is some of the highest ground in the city of New Orleans.

There is enough to look at that we could probably spend another day or two here, but we are both tired of New Orleans. It is now in the "been there, done that" category. The plan is to head to Beaumont, TX tomorrow.

May God bless you and yours.

Jan 30th - New Orleans

Actually we aren't staying in New Orleans, we are at Bayou Segnette State Park in Westwego, LA, across the Mississippi from New Orleans.

I didn't realize how far New Orleans is from the Gulf of Mexico, nor how the Mississippi river snakes it way around New Orleans, nor that Lake Pontchartrain is so large.

As I said above, we are in Westwego, which is in bottom left of the photo below. Notice the way the Mississippi snakes its way through the area.

We arrived here mid-day yesterday after an uneventful trip from Alabama.

We stopped at the Louisiana Welcome Center on Interstate 10 to have lunch. It was a very nicely done rest area. As you can see the weather was beautiful.

 

 

Our campsite.

 Camper at rest. It was cool in the evening.

 

 

This morning we drove to the Algiers ferry, parked there and took the ferry across the Mississippi to New Orleans. $5/day to park and $4 for the two of us to ride the ferry both ways.

 

The Mississippi from the back of the ferry.

When we got off the ferry in New Orleans the first thing we saw was a huge Harrah's casino.

 

 

We bought tickets for the Hop & Go bus that runs a figure 8 route around the main tourist area of New Orleans. The pass is good for 3 days and you can ride as much as you want and get on and off at any of the stops. We got off in the Garden District first and had lunch at the Rum House. I had a Cuban sandwich and Kathy had a Crab Salad sandwich. They were awesome.

 

 

We walked from one side of the Garden District to the other. What a bunch of magnificent houses. These were 2 of the larger ones. We were surprised to see several Magnolia trees in bloom.

 

We got back on the bus and rode to the French Quarter. We stopped in at the Café Du Monde so that Kathy could get a beignet and we could both get cups of chicory coffee. She thought the beignets were okay, but not as good as the ones at Joe Patti's in Pensacola. We both thought the chicory coffee was good, but it wasn't nearly as strong as we had been told.

 

Café Du Monde is an open air café. Less than half of it shows in the photo below. It was so full that people were waiting in line to get a table.

 

One interesting factoid we learned today, when we were going by the New Orleans Superdome. We all know about the incredible attendance at Super Bowls. When New Orleans held WrestleMania at the Superdome the attendance was higher than when the Super Bowl was there.

We saw the following sign while in the French Quarter. One of the lines you probably can't read says "Let our Repair Apostles perform a Miracle on your iPhone!!!". I wondered if this were a sign about Mohammed if it would be a basis for bombing the establish. I thought it was a cute ad. In hind sight I wished I had gone it to talk to them to see if they were Christians.

 

Looking at the Mississippi from the New Orleans side.

 

Back on the ferry and heading back to Algiers and then on to the campground.

 

It was a full day and we are pooped.

 

May God bless you and yours.



Jan 26th -- Back in Alabama

We arrived back at our motorhome around 2PM today. Our trip was enjoyable, and without problems. We sure enjoyed our time with Lydia and Kelsey.

We went to Centertown Baptist for church yesterday and then stayed for a potluck dinner. We had partially loaded things before going to church. By 1:30PM Sunday we were on the road headed south. We had light drizzle for the first several hundred miles, but it wasn't a problem. Traffic was light and the lowest temperature we encountered was 36 degrees. The routes we took got us here in 760 miles. Only about 100 miles was interstate but a lot of it was 4 lane divided highway.

We drove a little over 400 miles Sunday afternoon and then spent the night at a motel in New Albany, Mississippi. On the way to the campground we stopped off and picked up my work boots that we had left to be re-soled. They look good, but I haven't tried them on to see if they feel much different.

This afternoon we walked over to attend the 4PM information meeting at the clubhouse. There is a lot going on, especially with Mardi Gras coming up in a few weeks. I almost hate to leave here Thursday, but we should have some interesting times in New Orleans.

Across the street from us is a couple and a young adult traveling in a 5th wheel. I had noticed that Ivan, the young adult, had some physical limitations when watching him get into their pickup. I was sitting outside this afternoon, enjoying the 60 degree, sunny afternoon, and he came over and introduced himself. His parents were off doing something and he decided to hang around the campground. He is an interesting young man. Some years ago he was hit by a car, he "died" and was resuscitated. He was in a coma for 8 months. He is paralyzed on the left side, due to massive head injuries, but he manages to walk without crutches or a cane. He earned his Boy Scout Eagle Scout standing after the accident and is quite proud of that accomplishment, as he should be. His Dad is a Post Office retiree. They are now full time RV'ers. They "workamp" most of the year but will be here a couple of months, between "jobs". Last summer, and again this summer they will work at the Manistee National Forest in Michigan. We get to meet a lot of interesting people while RV'ing.

Good evening. May God bless you and yours.

Jan 22nd - Still in Missouri

We have been enjoying our time with Lydia. She will soon be here this morning and I figured I had better post this now, because I would get a LOT of help with the keyboard once she is here.

My new phone arrived early, a Huawei Ascend Mate 2, and the guy at Best Buy got it connected in a matter of minutes. So far I really like the phone.

We had lunch with Kelsey and Lydia the day Kelsey left for Washington DC, to participate in the March for Life. She made it to DC safely and is scheduled to return on Saturday.

I had breakfast with 3 guys from Centertown Baptist Church yesterday, a couple of them have been meeting regularly on Wednesday mornings while I have been gone. I thoroughly enjoy meeting with them and discussing how we as Christians should act and view current events. Kathy is having lunch today with a lady from the church.

Lots of wildlife here while we have been here. We have seen turkeys up close to the house a couple of times and had 5 deer grazing out behind the shed. There are 2 of the 5 in the photo below.

We can hardly keep the squirrels off the back deck. They stay right there, pigging out on bird seed, even when you walk up to the patio doors. You have to open the door before they even take notice.

The weather is cooling off here, but it is still very mild for January. I'm pleased with the performance of our new heating system. The heat pump keeps the house at 68-69 degrees (the thermostat setting) until the outside temperatures dip down into the mid/low 20's. While we were gone we left the thermostat set on 50. Our electric bill for last month was less than $70. I checked the propane tank on Dec 1st and it read 77% full. I checked it yesterday and it is 72% full. If the thermostat was at 69 or 70, as it would have been if we had been here, we would have used a lot more electricity/propane but so far it looks like things are working well.

Today I'm taking my log splitter to a place to have them work on the engine. It won't start because there is no spark. I'm sick spending an hour working on it for every 2 hours I use it.

Have a great day. May God bless you and yours.