Serenity

Mirror Lake

Another View of Bellingrath House

A Small Home on the Fowl River

Bellingrath Home & Front Garden

Thursday - April 12 - Today was a gorgeous day, sunny and in the low 80’s. We decided to go to Bellingrath Gardens, it is south of Mobile so about 60 miles from here but having been there a number of years ago we knew it would be worth the drive.

The gardens were the creation of Mr. & Mrs. Walter Bellingrath. Mr. Bellingrath had the first coca cola distributorship in Mobile and was a very successful business man. His doctor suggested he find something to do for relaxation so he bought a fishing camp on the Fowl River, his wife then decided that it would be a good place for gardens so they purchased another 60 acres and hired the best architect in Mobile and developed the gardens, which were opened to the public in 1934.

In 1935 they built Bellingrath Home which is 10,500 square feet in size and is English Renaissance style. Mrs. Bellingrath had a very large collection of decorative art which is showcased in the home and is beautiful. Mrs. Bellingrath died in 1943 at the age of 64 and since they had no children, when Mr. Bellingrath died in 1955 at the age of 86, his estate had been converted to the Bellingrath-Morse Foundation to oversee the gardens and open the house to the public and it continues to be open to the public.

While there we took a cruise on the Fowl River aboard the Southern Belle River Cruiser. This river is home to 11 pairs of Osprey and their nests are amazing, they are huge and weigh over 140 lbs. We could see heads sticking out of the nests but didn’t get a good view of the Osprey other than that. The cruise was very informative and enjoyable.

Coming home we drove along the east side of Mobile Bay through some pretty little towns and couldn’t believe the number of new homes being built along the bay. They are all being built on very high stilts in order to protect them from flooding in the case of another hurricane, they look quite funny up on their stilts and there sure are lots of stairs to get in and out. When we got back we went to Doc’s Seafood Shack for a shrimp dinner which was very good.

Wednesday - April 11 - Today was overcast until about 3 then the sun came out and it turned beautiful. We had a quiet day, I read and just took it easy, then when the sun came out we went for a nice walk. Tomorrow is supposed to be warm & sunny so we are planning on going to Bellengrath Gardens.

Tuesday - April 10 - Today was a wet one, it rained early this morning then the sun came out so John went out and washed the trailer and truck - he wanted to make sure it would rain! And it did, it started to rain before he was finished washing and rained off and on all day with a very heavy rain and thunderstorm this evening.

There is a new Camping World back towards Mobile so we drove up there then came back and drove around Orange Beach and Gulf Shores where Ivan hit in 2004. There are so many new places here, it is hard to imagine a hurricane ever came through. We drove through Gulf Shores State Park and that is where we saw what Ivan had done, the sites used to be very private with lots of trees, now there are no trees - everything is open. They have just reopened the park and there are all new cement pads and hookups, which were badly needed before Ivan, but there are very few trees and where there are still some they are totally dead, very sad. The park is very large so it was the front part closest to the beach and where the camping is that took the brunt of the storm, at the back of the park there are still lots of trees and bush and it still looks the same. There is a new Wal Mart just behind the park so we stopped and got a couple of things there then came home and did laundry.

The internet here is very iffy, I can’t get on tonight so hopefully will be able to get on in the morning and get this posted.

Mr. Alligator

Egret in Swamp

Cypress Stand in Swamp

Houseboat in Swamp

Monday - April 9 - Today we left Abbeville for Gulf Shores, Alabama. Interstate 10 is a terrible highway in places through Louisiana, we were doing lots of bouncing!! Fortunately it was better through Mississippi and Alabama. Going through Mississippi we couldn’t see the coast at all, but Bucaneer State Park, where we stayed a number of years ago, is still closed from the hurricane as well as bridges along the coast. I guess it will take many years to get everything repaired.

We crossed the Atchafalaya Basin which is located in mid Louisiana and is about 20 miles in width from east to west and 150 miles in length. It consists of about 595,000 acres and is the nation’s largest swamp wilderness containing bottomland hardwoods, cypress stands, swamplands, bayous and back water lakes. There is abundant wildlife in the basin - alligators, snakes, bears, cougars, many species of fish, etc. etc. Interstate 10 crosses the basin on elevated pillars and is a continuous bridge for over 18 miles. We spent about a week in this area a few years ago and found it very fascinating. I didn’t get any pictures yesterday but will post a couple that we took a few years ago.

We are at Gulf Breezes RV Park in Gulf Shores for a week. The people next to us arrived yesterday as well and are from Barrie and it turns out they go to the same park as we are going to next winter in Yuma, in fact they will be about 5 or 6 sites down from us. They have been going there since it opened about 5 years ago and love it, so it was nice to talk to someone who stays there.

Sunday - April 8 - Happy Easter everyone, hope you all had a nice day. Today was fairly quiet, we did some cleaning this morning and then went to the potluck dinner at 2. All the food was very good and there was a ton of it. We were just finishing eating when Betty’s aunt came in, today was her 90^th birthday and she didn’t look a day over 70. She still lives in her own house and does all her own work except cut the grass, she walks two miles a day, drives and goes to dances - amazing. She has also had two bouts of cancer, but said she doesn’t have time for that nonsense! Certainly an inspiration.

Saturday - April 7 - Today was a miserable day - cold and wet. We took a drive up to St. Martin, Breaux Bridge and drove over the Achafalaya Basin. At one point the temperature dropped to 38 and we had sleet - not nice! We got back around 4:30 and then went out for dinner around 6:30. We had another Cajun type dinner - I had crawfish and John had catfish and both were very good.

Tonight I downloaded some pictures so my blog is a bit mixed up as it has a couple of pictures from the Moody Aquarium as well as pictures from yesterday. I guess I should keep the pictures more up to date, but it is always John’s I am waiting for as his pictures are better than mine.

A Peacock at Rip Van Winkle Gardens

This Chimney is All That is Left of the House That Slid Into the Lake in 1980 Disaster

Joseph Jefferson House

Flowers at Rip Van Winkle Gardens

Live Oaks

Penguins

Pretty Fish at Moody Gardens Aquarium

Friday - April 6 - Happy Good Friday and I hope all our family enjoyed their dinner at Pat’s, we’re sorry we weren’t there. I had an e-mail from Barb and she says there is snow there so we hope the driving was okay for everyone. The weather here sure beats snow, it got up to about 70 today and was sunny so we aren’t complaining. Tomorrow and Sunday are supposed to be cold - low 50’s, and wet so I guess we will also be having some rotten weather.

Today we went to Rip Van Winkle Gardens and toured the gardens and Joseph Jefferson house which was built about 1870. There weren’t a lot of flowers out yet but the gardens were still nice and there were a lot of beautiful old live oak trees. The house was very interesting and it is the first home we have toured where you could actually walk through the rooms and touch things if you wanted to. It was a beautiful home so we enjoyed the tour. We went to the café there for lunch and had a bowl of Crawfish Cardinale which was a cream soup with mushrooms, cognac and lots of crawfish - it was wonderful and quite spicy. We then split a Po Boy sandwich so tonight’s dinner will be very light!

In 1980 there was a disaster at Lake Peigneur and I have copied this report about it from the internet as I think it is quite interesting:

Lake Peigneur is located between New Iberia, and Delcambre, Louisiana, near the northernmost tip of Vermilion Bay.

The name Peigneur is Cajun French for "comber", relating to someone who works with wool in the process of weaving fabric, a highly regarded skill among early Cajuns. It was an eleven foot deep freshwater lake popular with sportsmen until an unusual man-made disaster on November 21, 1980, changed the structure of the lake and surrounding land.

At that time, Diamond Crystal Salt Company operated the Jefferson Island salt mine under the lake, while a Texaco oil rig was drilling down from the surface of the lake searching for petroleum. Somehow, the drilling bit entered the mine, starting a remarkable chain of events, turning an eleven foot deep lake into the deepest lake in Louisiana, and changing it from fresh to salt water.

It is difficult to determine exactly what happened that day, as all of the evidence was destroyed or washed away in the ensuing maelstrom. The now generally accepted explanation is that a miscalculation by Texaco regarding their location resulted in the drill puncturing the roof of the third level of the mine. This created an opening in the bottom of the lake, similar to removing the drain plug from a bathtub. The lake then drained into the hole, expanding the size of that hole as the soil and salt were washed into the mine by the rushing water, filling the enormous caverns left by the removal of salt over the years. The whirlpool easily sucked up the $5 million Texaco drilling platform, a second drilling rig that was nearby, a tugboat, eleven barges from the canal, a barge loading dock, seventy acres of Jefferson Island and its botanical gardens, parts of greenhouses, a house trailer, trucks, tractors, a parking lot, tons of mud, trees, and who knows what else. A natural gas fire broke out where the Texaco well was being drilled.

Local media reports at the time stated that at least one fisherman had to abandon his small boat in the mud and walk back to shore, as his boat was now sitting on the lake bed, with him still sitting in it. So much water drained into those caverns that the flow of the Delcambre canal that usually empties the lake into Vermilion Bay was reversed, making the canal a temporary inlet. This backflow created, for a few days, the tallest waterfall ever in the state of Louisiana, at 150 feet (50 m), as the lake refilled with salt water from the Delcambre Canal and Vermilion Bay.

Remarkably, there were no injuries and no human lives lost in this dramatic event - all 55 employees down in the salt mine at the time of the accident were able to escape, some through heroic efforts by co-workers, and the staff of the drilling rig escaped the platform before it was sucked down into the new depths of the lake - though three dogs were reported killed. Days after the disaster, nine of the eleven sunken barges popped out of the whirlpool and refloated on the lake's surface.

It is important to note that the lake is not salt water as a result of water entering the salt mine. The salt water came in from the Delcambre Canal and Vermilion Bay, which are naturally salt or brackish water. The event permanently affected the ecosystem of the lake by greatly increasing the depth of the lake from eleven feet to 1,300 feet at its greatest depth, and changing the lake from freshwater to saltwater. The biology of the lake was taken into account as salt water plants and wildlife were introduced over time, replacing what was there before.

The drilling company, Texaco and Wilson Brothers paid $32 million (USD) to Diamond Crystal and $12.8 million to nearby Live Oak Gardens in out-of-court settlements to compensate for the damage caused.

Our tour guide said two rooms of the Jefferson mansion were pulled away from the rest of the house during the disaster - can you imagine!

When we got home there was happy hour over at Betty’s so we grabbed a beer and went over and enjoyed meeting some of the people who are here.

Friday - April 6 - Happy Good Friday and I hope all our family enjoyed their dinner at Pat’s, we’re sorry we weren’t there. I had an e-mail from Barb and she says there is snow there so we hope the driving was okay for everyone. The weather here sure beats snow, it got up to about 70 today and was sunny so we aren’t complaining. Tomorrow and Sunday are supposed to be cold - low 50’s, and wet so I guess we will also be having some rotten weather.

Today we went to Rip Van Winkle Gardens and toured the gardens and Joseph Jefferson house which was built about 1870. There weren’t a lot of flowers out yet but the gardens were still nice and there were a lot of beautiful old live oak trees. The house was very interesting and it is the first home we have toured where you could actually walk through the rooms and touch things if you wanted to. It was a beautiful home so we enjoyed the tour. We went to the café there for lunch and had a bowl of Crawfish Cardinale which was a cream soup with mushrooms, cognac and lots of crawfish - it was wonderful and quite spicy. We then split a Po Boy sandwich so tonight’s dinner will be very light!

In 1980 there was a disaster at Lake Peigneur and I have copied this report about it from the internet as I think it is quite interesting:

Lake Peigneur is located between New Iberia, and Delcambre, Louisiana, near the northernmost tip of Vermilion Bay.

The name Peigneur is Cajun French for "comber", relating to someone who works with wool in the process of weaving fabric, a highly regarded skill among early Cajuns. It was an eleven foot deep freshwater lake popular with sportsmen until an unusual man-made disaster on November 21, 1980, changed the structure of the lake and surrounding land.

At that time, Diamond Crystal Salt Company operated the Jefferson Island salt mine under the lake, while a Texaco oil rig was drilling down from the surface of the lake searching for petroleum. Somehow, the drilling bit entered the mine, starting a remarkable chain of events, turning an eleven foot deep lake into the deepest lake in Louisiana, and changing it from fresh to salt water.

It is difficult to determine exactly what happened that day, as all of the evidence was destroyed or washed away in the ensuing maelstrom. The now generally accepted explanation is that a miscalculation by Texaco regarding their location resulted in the drill puncturing the roof of the third level of the mine. This created an opening in the bottom of the lake, similar to removing the drain plug from a bathtub. The lake then drained into the hole, expanding the size of that hole as the soil and salt were washed into the mine by the rushing water, filling the enormous caverns left by the removal of salt over the years. The whirlpool easily sucked up the $5 million Texaco drilling platform, a second drilling rig that was nearby, a tugboat, eleven barges from the canal, a barge loading dock, seventy acres of Jefferson Island and its botanical gardens, parts of greenhouses, a house trailer, trucks, tractors, a parking lot, tons of mud, trees, and who knows what else. A natural gas fire broke out where the Texaco well was being drilled.

Local media reports at the time stated that at least one fisherman had to abandon his small boat in the mud and walk back to shore, as his boat was now sitting on the lake bed, with him still sitting in it. So much water drained into those caverns that the flow of the Delcambre canal that usually empties the lake into Vermilion Bay was reversed, making the canal a temporary inlet. This backflow created, for a few days, the tallest waterfall ever in the state of Louisiana, at 150 feet (50 m), as the lake refilled with salt water from the Delcambre Canal and Vermilion Bay.

Remarkably, there were no injuries and no human lives lost in this dramatic event - all 55 employees down in the salt mine at the time of the accident were able to escape, some through heroic efforts by co-workers, and the staff of the drilling rig escaped the platform before it was sucked down into the new depths of the lake - though three dogs were reported killed. Days after the disaster, nine of the eleven sunken barges popped out of the whirlpool and refloated on the lake's surface.

It is important to note that the lake is not salt water as a result of water entering the salt mine. The salt water came in from the Delcambre Canal and Vermilion Bay, which are naturally salt or brackish water. The event permanently affected the ecosystem of the lake by greatly increasing the depth of the lake from eleven feet to 1,300 feet at its greatest depth, and changing the lake from freshwater to saltwater. The biology of the lake was taken into account as salt water plants and wildlife were introduced over time, replacing what was there before.

The drilling company, Texaco and Wilson Brothers paid $32 million (USD) to Diamond Crystal and $12.8 million to nearby Live Oak Gardens in out-of-court settlements to compensate for the damage caused.

Our tour guide said two rooms of the Jefferson mansion were pulled away from the rest of the house during the disaster - can you imagine!

When we got home there was happy hour over at Betty’s so we grabbed a beer and went over and enjoyed meeting some of the people who are here.

Thursday - April 5 - Today was a beautiful day, sunny and cool this morning but it got up to about 69 this afternoon which was very pleasant after all the hot, humid weather we’ve had.

We drove down to Morgan City then returned on back roads, what a lovely drive and we were amazed at the number of beautiful homes along the Teche River. There were also lots of live oak trees, which were the first we’ve seen this trip. On the way back we checked out Jefferson Island and Rip Van Winkle Gardens, they look interesting but we were too late to do them today so will go there either tomorrow or Saturday.

When we got back I went over and asked Betty where a good place to go for a crawfish dinner would be and she recommended Cajun Claw if we wanted boiled crawfish. When we got there we were told it would be about a 45 minute wait so we made a reservation for 7 then went to Wal Mart. When we got back we got a table right away then the fun began, what do you order, the waitress said they came in either 3lb or 5lb orders. We ordered 3 lbs and a Pistolette, which is a deep fried bread stuffed with crawfish, onion, etc and a sauce and was it very good. We had to wait a while for our crawfish and noticed everyone else had ordered either the 3 or 5 lbs each and here we are going to split 3 lbs., wow, are we going to go hungry? The waitress brought us each a dish of mayo and on the table were all kinds of condiments - ketchup, Tabasco, a garlic hot sauce, Worcestershire, etc. and you mix what you want with the mayo for dipping the crawfish. We finally got our crawfish and what a huge tub of them there was and they were very large, we were both full when we finished and really enjoyed them.

When we were finished eating a man at the table behind us asked where we were from, so I asked if it was that obvious that we hadn’t done this before. He said no, we had done very well but he had heard the waitress ask where we were from (but not our answer) and noticed she had shown us how to break them apart (much like a lobster). Anyways we had a nice chat with them, they come to Cajun Claw once a week from Lafayette, which is about a half hour drive as they say it is the best crawfish around (and they all ordered the 5lb serving!). They told us the crawfish season is almost over and the ponds we saw are used to grow rice for part of the year then crawfish. When we were leaving I asked the waitress what the restaurant does when the crawfish season is over and she said they close from June to February, so not much of a season.

The woman behind us suggested we try the Cajun desert which was the same fried bread as the Pistolette but stuffed with ice cream and topped with chocolate sauce. I couldn’t resist so we split one and it was delicious. As you can see we enjoyed our Cajun crawfish.

Wednesday - April 4 - Today was a wet day, we had a lot of rain while driving this morning. We had some rain between the park and the ferry, then it stopped while we were on the ferry then started again shortly after we got off the ferry and it really rained hard for a while. Fortunately by early afternoon we ran out of it but never saw the sun. Right after we crossed on the ferry the temperature dropped down to the low 60’s and at one point it was in the 50’s but by the time we stopped it was back to 63. Haven’t had it this cool in a long time!!

We drove to Abbeville, LA where we are staying at Betty’s RV Park until Monday. We drove mainly the back roads and they were on the whole very good - we hit about 20 miles where the road wasn’t great but it still sounds better than what I-10 is in spots and there isn’t a lot of traffic on these roads and you see more of the country. We passed miles of ponds and wondered what they were growing, Betty informed me they are crawfish farms. I also think there were some rice paddies as there is talk about this being a large rice area. We will find out when we go out exploring.

Tuesday - April 3 - Today was another hot, humid day with not much sun. We didn’t do too much, did some laundry and then we went to a seafood store and bought some shrimp. I was sitting here this morning and saw a shrimp boat go by and thought that maybe some shrimp for dinner would be good so that is what we had.

I wish I was like my friend Janet and loved the humidity, however, I do not like it and find it just drains me so it is very hard to get too ambitious when it is this hot and humid. Thankfully there is a good breeze, otherwise it would be really brutal.

Monday - April 2 - Today was a funny day for weather, it was quit foggy all day but late this afternoon it cleared off in town and was actually sunny and hot but as soon as we started to head back home we ran into the fog again. I guess we are lucky that it isn’t rain!!

Today we thought we would go to Moody Gardens, it is a park with a pyramid rainforest, aquarium, discovery centre, an I-Max theatre, plus, plus. When we got there we found out that it is $45 for a pass for all the exhibits, just a tad expensive, so we decided just to do the aquarium. It was a nice one but one exhibit they had that we have never seen before was penguins, there were three different kinds - the king penguin which is very large, the chinstrap and the rockhopper and they were fascinating, we spent a long time watching them and could have spent a lot longer. It’s interesting to watch them swim then either jump or fly out of the water - depending on where they are going on land. I was watching a couple of penguins and I swear they were having a conversation, their mouths were going a mile a minute at each other. There was another pair who appeared to be having a fight, they flew into the water and just roared around, jumping and diving with the one chasing the other the whole time. Needless to say they provided excellent entertainment. .

After that we found where the ferry is that we have to take to get over to the road to Louisiana, the ferries are very large and I couldn’t believe how many vehicles they hold. The ones we watched had a real mix of RV’s, transport trucks, cars and pickups. Guess we won’t have any trouble with the Airstream on it.

We then went to the historic district (The Strand) and there were a couple of things we wanted to do but we couldn’t find any parking so we left and headed home. We found a Krogers so stopped and got a couple of things then stopped at Wal Mart and got the rest of our groceries. When we got back we stopped at the office and paid for another night so we are now here until Wednesday.

Sunday - April 1 - Today was a nice day, it was cloudy while we were driving but the sun came out this afternoon and it turned into a beautiful day. We drove to Galveston Island State Park and what a beautiful park, it is right on the gulf and we are sitting here listening to the waves crash in and can see the gulf from here. There was a beautiful sunset tonight which we quite enjoyed.

There is a lot of flooding here, apparently they got about 4-12” of rain yesterday and a lot of the campsites are under water. We got a nice dry one so are happy and hopefully there won’t be a lot of rain in the next couple of days. The truck and trailer were filthy when we got here so John gave them a quick wash. We went for a walk along the beach and then I read for a while. Tomorrow we will go exploring, it looks like there is lots to see and do in this area.

Bonus, there is also free wi-fi here so I am happy!!

View From Our Front Door

Port Lavaca for the Night

Saturday - March 31 - Happy Birthday Mike - Oh my goodness, our baby is 35 - scary!! Hope you had a good day.

Today we woke up to rain and no wind - figures when it is the day we are leaving. We started our trek north and drove to Port Lavaca which is between Corpus Christi and Galveston on the Gulf coast. It was a good day, we were in and out of rain all day but when we got here the rain had stopped and the sun even came out for a bit and it is much cooler than in the valley. We are staying at a municipal park which is right on the water, our front window looks out into the gulf. This area is renowned for bird watching and there is a huge marsh here with a wonderful boardwalk through the marsh which we did before getting dinner ready. We saw lots of egrets, a red winged black bird and different kinds of sea gulls but I was disappointed that we didn’t see any herons.

Friday - March 30 - Today was the same weather wise as yesterday. We had a fairly quiet day, John washed the truck and got everything packed away ready to leave tomorrow. I didn’t do too much - read a good book.

This afternoon about 3 we went out shopping, I am trying to find a couple pairs of shorts and believe it or not there are very few shorts out there for the finding. After shopping we went to a place called Terri’s Bistro for dinner, it was really nice with a lot of small rooms and there were tablecloths on the tables - very elegant. They had a senior’s menu and we both ordered off it and our meals were very good and filling - I can’t imagine how much you would get on the regular menu.

Shortly after we got back George and Marion stopped by to tell us how to head north without going on 83 which is all under construction. They took this road today and said it was really good so we will give it a try tomorrow.

Thursday - March 29 - Today was fairly cloudy but still hot, humid and windy - now the wind is being blamed on the bad weather and tornados in northern Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado etc. I don’t care what causes it, the wind really gets on the nerves after a bit.

This morning we cleaned then went out and got a few groceries as we had invited Marion and George for dinner. This afternoon I got as much as possible done for dinner then went down for a swim which was very refreshing. Dinner was very good and we had a great visit.

Tomorrow they are going to Harlingen to pick up their son and daughter-in-law who are flying in for the weekend so George is going to try out a different route north and see what the road is like and let us know. Interstate 83 is all under construction so we are hoping to find a better way north than having to take 83 to Harlingen. Right now the wind has died down a bit but that happens occasionally, it dies down for a few minutes then comes back full force,

Wednesday - March 28 - Today was a repeat of yesterday and we are wondering if this wind ever stops blowing. It sure gets on our nerves.

This morning we went to a flea market but it was mostly junk and the t-shirts etc. were a lot more expensive than the same thing at the Arizona market. We went across the road from there to a fruit and veggie market (mainly fruit) and got a few things there then came home. I went and got my hair cut, then did laundry, by the time I was done it was almost 5 and I was more than ready for the pool. The pool was quite quiet by then so it was nice and it certainly helps to get cooled off for the evening.

Tuesday - March 27 - Today was mainly sunny but still windy. We drove to Padre Island and it reminds us of places like Myrtle Beach - lots of hotels, condos, t-shirt shops, etc. etc. The beach isn’t as nice as in Gulf Shores and there was a lot sea weed on shore which was quite smelly. It was very rough today so lots of waves coming in.

We drove through Brownsville on our way back but again didn’t find anything real exciting about it. I went for a swim when we got back and Marion & George were in the pool so invited us down for a drink after dinner, we had a good visit with them.

Monday - March 26 - And the wind continues to blow hard and the sun doesn’t shine - that is until 6 p.m. at which time the sky cleared off and the sun came out, but the wind didn’t die down - I couldn’t stand a whole winter of this wind!!

Today we drove around the area and checked it out, this park has a sister park about 10 miles from here so we checked it out and it is much nicer, the lots are a lot bigger. Oh well, too late as we paid for a week here this morning. With the cloud and wind we didn’t feel like a swim so gave it a pass for today.

Not too much else too exciting around here, tomorrow we are hoping to drive to Brownsville and check it out as well as Padre Island and see what they are like.

Sunday - March 25 - Today was a quiet day. I vacuumed and dusted and John washed the trailer (again!). I talked to mom, the girls and my sister so got caught up on the news - I was thrilled to hear how well Derrick’s team did in the robotics competition in Waterloo on the weekend. I also did some reading, so a real lazy day.

We drove around the park looking for another site but they are all small, so we decided we might as well stay where we are for the week. We went for a swim about 4:30 so that cooled us down for the rest of the day. The wind here is a pain, it has been really windy all day but seems to have died down a bit tonight. I know I couldn’t stand a whole winter of this wind - give me the desert anytime!

Saturday - March 24 - Wow, did a storm ever blow up last night about the time we went to bed, lots of thunder and lightning, and the wind was vicious, but not a lot of rain. It was blowing so hard that John had to run out and put up the little awnings over the bedroom windows

This morning was cloudy when we headed out, we had a good drive but went through lots of small towns, large towns, and some in between. At Eagle’s Pass we missed the truck route so ended up going right through town, the only problem was that there was a parade and they had the main highway blocked so we ended going around a couple of residential blocks then returning to the truck route - an interesting detour. At one point we saw a fellow on a horse crossing at an intersection where we were stopped and he was talking on a cell phone - I guess you call that progress!!! During our drive today (500+ miles) we had cloudy skies, rain, sunny skies and cloud again - a real gamut of weather,.

So far in Texas we have traveled the Texas Mountain Trail, the Pecos Trail and the Tropical Trail, wonder if there are any more trails to travel.

We arrived at Victoria Palms in Donna about 6, it was a long day, and we managed to get a site but we are not impressed with the sites considering they are $30/night. We were getting set up when George and Marion walked by so talked to them for a few mintues, then a couple from East Caledon, who have a 25’ Airstream Safari, stopped by and chatted so needless to say we had a very late dinner. We were truly surprised when we turned on the TV tonight, we get both CBC and CTV - wow, now I can watch Canada Am Monday morning! I noticed Bev Thompson was doing the news tonight so will have to watch Canada AM to see who is co-hosting it.

Friday - March 23 - John was off shortly after 10 to Mr. Dodge to get the truck done, he arrived back shortly after 2. I did some cleaning, made salsa, checked the internet, etc and next thing I knew he was back.

We drove back to the Amistad Dam but couldn’t cross it as it was a crossing into Mexico, we then went into Del Rio and got fuel and groceries, not a real exciting day. Today was mainly overcast but the sun came out about 3 so it was nice for a while. We came back and had dinner and a quiet evening.

Thursday - March 22 - Today was overcast but warm, we had a brief shower which is the first rain we have seen in over 3 months - can’t say I have missed it!

John was off first thing this morning to Mr. Dodge to have the truck looked at, it turns out the transmission fluid was leaking and the culprit was a bent transmission pan - guess that happened in Yuma when they worked on the transmission. Anyways, to make a long story short they have to order a new pan so John agreed to pay to have it expressed here for tomorrow, so it should be here around 10:30 tomorrow morning. We went to the office when he got back this afternoon and booked another night here, hopefully the truck will be fixed tomorrow and we can be on our way on Saturday.

This afternoon we took a tour of Del Rio and got groceries and when we got back I did laundry. Because it looked like rain all day, and with the wind we can’t get the awning out, we bought a cooked chicken at HEB and had chicken and salad for dinner. Not an exciting day but relaxing.

Wednesday - March 21 - Last night about 9:30 the fellow across from us knocked on the door and said the javelinas were around the trailer. We went out and walked to the back of the trailer and all of a sudden I heard a snort, rustling and smelled a bad smell and there was one right beside me. They are ugly creatures! John tried to get a picture but it was too hard to get it in the light of the flashlight then take the picture.

Today was a beautiful day, it was about 11 by the time we got away and we had a wonderful drive. We took a back highway from Fort Davis to Del Rio but it was a wonderful road, and in over 300 km we only had 3 cars pass us - certainly not a busy road. There was a bit of traffic coming the other way but mostly we had the road to ourselves, so it was an easy day for John. We came through a variety of landscapes, mountains, plains, hills and it was all pretty. We went through about 6 small towns, two were quite bustling but the rest were pretty well ghost towns now, sad. There were lots of picnic areas along the way so no problem for stopping. We passed Judge Roy Bean’s saloon but didn’t stop!

Tonight we are in Del Rio, we are right across the road from Lake Amistad which is a large lake and quite a large recreation area, it has been a long time since we have seen so much blue water!! We have booked here for 2 nights but John has found all kinds of oil all over the bottom of the truck so tomorrow morning it is off to see Mr. Dodge and see what is happening - hopefully nothing serious so that we have to stay longer.

Country Side Around Fort Davis

Some Interesting Peaks

Tuesday - March 20 - Today was another beautiful day, sunny and warm but it sure got cold overnight, it was only 50 at 9:00 this morning. We went to the office to see if we could renew for one more night but they are full so today was our only day here.

We took a scenic drive which was very pretty, we went from high altitudes with lots of trees (we haven’t seen that much green since last year at home) to lower altitudes with lots of cacti etc., quite a pretty drive. We stopped at the Visitor Centre for the McDonald Observatory and would have liked to take the tour but just didn’t have the time, it looked interesting so hopefully sometime we will be back here again and be able to take a tour.

We came back and vegged out, a good afternoon for John. We were sitting outside when a fellow stopped by, it turns out they are from Pine Meadows at Lake Belwood, how many times have I said it is a small world!!

The fellow beside us said we had 5 or 6 javelinas (the j is prounced as h and they are wild boar) around our trailer last night so tonight we will be watching to see if we can see them. We enjoy watching the deer when they come out and wander around.

Our Site at Davis Mtn. Lodge State Park

More Deer

One of the Deer (Notice the Growth by It's Fore Leg)

Monday - March 19 - Today was another nice, sunny day but the temperature only got to the mid 80’s so it was quite pleasant. We are at Fort Davis State Park and what a beautiful park, we are surrounded by mountains and it is very quiet. We booked in for 2 nights but we are going to go down tomorrow morning and see if we can book one more night. We were sitting out at the picnic shelter before dinner and all of a sudden there were a couple of deer wandering around, they are very tame and not afraid of people.

We lost our other hour today but the bonus is that we are now only one hour difference from home. We have no phone signal here but hopefully we can get one in town if we need the phone.

We had just finished the dishes when a couple stopped by, they were each one half of two couples travelling together and both have Airstreams so stopped to chat.

There is no internet connection here so it will be a few days before I can get this posted.

Sunday - March 18 - Today was another hot, sunny day, the high in the truck was 85, a bit more pleasant than yesterday! We got to just south of El Paso today so it was a good day’s drive. We thought we would lose two hours today - one for daylight saving and one when we left Mountain time, but we are still on Mountain time here so only lost one hour. We passed quite a few cattle stations coming into El Paso, thousands of cows and the stench was terrible - I sure would hate to live anywhere near there!

We are staying at a gas station, RV park, nothing special but it will do for an overnight. There is no internet here so I don’t know what the weather forecast for tomorrow is, we will have to wait and be surprised!

Sunset on our Airstream

Sunset at Benson