Saturday - April 26, 2008aa

Well, we did get rain last night but nothing serious, it rained for a few hours during the night and we heard a bit of thunder off in the distance but that was it. Fortunately it had stopped when we got up so John didn’t wet getting us ready for the road!! By late morning the sun had come out and the high on the truck thermometer today was 74F – perfect.

We took the trace to within 10 miles of the end at Nashville then cut up to I-40 to pick up I-65 north. The Trace drive was very pretty and today we met early spring in Alabama and Tennessee – the trees were just starting to bud and the wildflowers along the side of the road were starting to come out – they made a beautiful carpet along the shoulder! Closer to Nashville I saw my favourite spring flowers – lilacs, sure did enjoy the drive. We had two detours along the Trace but they were well signed and no big deal to do.

Flowers Along Trace



The Tennessee River



Gone Fishin



Along the Trace



Nashville



Tonight we are in a nice little park at Cave City, KY, we stopped here on our way home last year and had noted it as a good place for a stop over. There is free wifi but it seems quite slow so it will be interesting when I try to post my blog. Last night it took me forever to post my pictures so I don’t know what will happen tonight but if it seems to be taking too long I will probably just give up as I don’t have the patience for it.

The Departed is on TV so I have one eye on it and one eye on doing this so please forgive any typing or grammatical errors; once the movie is over I think it will be bedtime. And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to the mystery of tomorrow.

Friday - April 25, 2008

Last night we had a nice cool breeze coming in so it was a comfortable night for sleeping, thank goodness, as I haven’t slept well for about 5 nights! Today was another bright, sunny day but there was a lot less humidity and a nice breeze so it was a really great day.

We picked up the Natchez Trace about 15 miles north of where we stayed last night and enjoyed a nice peaceful drive to Tupelo MS (Elvis’s birthplace), the speed limit on the Trace is 50 mph so it is a bit slower going than other highways but the lack of traffic and nice scenery more than make up for the slower drive.

Here are some views of the Trace and one from an overlook









There are a few state parks and Trace parks along the way but they tend to have small sites so we opted to stop at a park in Tupelo, we got to the park, Campground at Barnes Crossing, about 2:30 and got the last site, so were glad we had decided to stop. The next park was about another 160 miles and we just didn’t feel like going that much further this afternoon.

After we finished checking in the woman suggested we keep an eye on Channel 6 as there is a slight possibility of severe thunderstorms tonight and hail – boy did that freak John but we finally decided to tough it out here as it looks like we won’t get too much bad weather.

The sites here are very large and there is free wifi so we are happy, after we got set up we enjoyed just sitting out and basking in the nice weather.

John Enjoying a Cold One



Looking Up the Road



Looking Down the Road




We even sat out after dinner for almost an hour, we really enjoyed it as it will probably be the last chance for a while! This park seems to be a mixture of seasonals and transients and is on lots of different levels, when we were sitting out we were looking over the roofs of the trailers on our curbside!

I have some route planning to do for tomorrow so had best get this posted then get at that. And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to the mystery of tomorrow.

Thursday - April 24, 2008

We awoke to another hot, sunny, humid day – sure do like the sun and warmth but I do hate the humidity. It was almost 10:30 before we got away, chatting as usual instead of driving down the road.

Kay and Bob are just an amazing couple and a joy to talk to, Kay is 80 and Bob is 84 and they are still enjoying being on the road in their Winnebago View. They were telling us last night at dinner that in 1972 Bob had bought a 31’ Airstream for $12,000 and they sold it in 2001 or 02 for $5,000 – guess that says why we like Airstreams!! They came over to say goodbye so I asked Kay if she would like to see inside our trailer so we ended up with everyone in the park having a tour. Pris’s parents had an Airstream years ago so she was quite interested in seeing what they are like today, and you know me, I never mind giving a tour. After the tour of our place we went over to see Kay & Bob’s View and were really impressed, they have had some custom work done and it is very roomy with lots of storage – we are keeping something like this in mind for when John no longer feels comfortable pulling the 34’ Airstream!!

We took kind of a long way around today but had an interesting drive, we went down to almost New Orleans then picked up I-55 North and are now just south of Jackson, MS. The water levels in Louisiana are very high and the bridge structures there are just phenomenal, I am sure there is no other state with as many bridges, let alone 10 – 15 mile bridges as Louisiana.

Crossing the Mississippi


Just One of Many Large Lakes


Here's One for Our Friend Terry


We are now at Byram, MS and it is a nice park but quite large, it appears that there are a lot of workers living here and a few families. There is no free wifi here and when we checked in the fellow gave us a pamphlet for Peristar, we handed it right back and said we wouldn’t touch them with a 10’ pole as we got burned by them last year in Texas; so I will have to wait until we have wifi to get this posted. Tonight will be TV (at least there is cable here so lots to choose from) and if I can’t find anything interesting there is always a good book.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to the mystery of tomorrow.

Wednesday - April 23, 2008

Today was another sunny, hot, humid day – I hate to complain but I really am looking forward to a bit cooler days! This morning I got the garlic bread made for dinner and did a few odd jobs then this afternoon we went out and got some groceries and fueled up so we are set to go in the morning. I also found time to finish my book – Special Genius by David Baldacci, which was a good book.

About 4:30 we went over for happy hour and there were 4 new people who had come in today, Kay and Bob are from Tucson and Suzanne and Gary are from Florida.

Suzanne, Gary, Betty, Jim & Cookie


We had dinner shortly after 6 and it was awesome – Betty’s gumbo was out of this world, Cookie made a great potato salad and there was lots of garlic bread as both David and I made some. There were cookies, fruit and cheesecake for desert (David made the Cheesecake), so tons of food - everyone went away stuffed, and Betty gave out lots of left over gumbo so we are looking forward to another meal of it.

Rick and Brenda, the couple from Port Elgin, gave Betty this pair of underwear for her patio, sure are a conversation piece! Betty also collects license plates, she has all her customers who give her one sign them and she has them up on the patio rafters – neat!


This little lizard was climbing up the side of Betty's house


We sat out and visited till after 8, so now it is a bit of TV then off to bed. And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to the mystery of tomorrow.

Tuesday -April 22, 2008

Today was another hot, humid one but it was sunny all day. The couple beside us who are from Colorado left this morning so right now there are only three trailers left here but Betty said there are a couple more coming in tomorrow. She has 17 sites here and has been pretty full since last November so she is probably happy to see it slow down a bit.

Our Site at Betty's


I Love Her sign


Today was laundry day, there is no laundromat here at the park so I asked Cookie and Priscilla where they go and then headed out right after lunch to get it done. John stayed home as there is no use in the both of us sitting in the laundromat for an hour and half or so, actually I didn’t mind in the least as I took my book and it was really nice and cool in there so I actually felt comfortable for a while.

About 4:30 we went over for happy hour and as usual the conversation was lively and covered a lot of topics. About 6:15 Jim & Cookie, Dave & Priscilla and John and I headed out for a crawfish dinner; they all had recommended Black’s but when we got there they didn’t have any crawfish so we went to Cajun Claw and they did have them so John and I were real happy as we had been looking forward to a feast of crawfish for quite a while. Dinner was very good and it was made even better with good company. Betty had a cousin visiting and had invited her for dinner so she passed on joining us for crawfish.

Tomorrow night Betty is making gumbo for dinner and she needed smoked pork sausage for it so I said we would get that and I would make garlic bread so after dinner we went to the grocery store and got the sausage and bread. I need to pick up some more groceries tomorrow but Betty needs the sausage first thing in the morning so we figured it would be easier to get it tonight than have to run out first thing in the morning and get back with it.

It is almost bed time – where does the time go!! And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to the mystery of tomorrow.

Monday -April 21, 2008

Today was mainly overcast and very hot and HUMID – I just lose all ambition in the humidity so needless to say it was a very quiet day. John got our tax returns and my mom’s finished and filed so that is one job that he is glad to see done!

I did some vacuuming and dusting and other than that managed to spend the day doing a bit of this and a bit of that!!

Yesterday at happy hour the people here had told us about another restaurant for crawfish, Black’s, so we thought we would try that tonight. We decided we would go over and join happy hour for a bit before going out for dinner and as we walked over Priscilla said that Black’s is closed on Mondays, woops there go our plans for dinner. Some of them were going to Shuck’s for dinner and invited us to join them but we passed as we want to go to Black’s tomorrow night, I think at least one other couple will be joining us tomorrow night and they didn’t go tonight night either. John barbecued burgers for dinner and now we are still looking forward to our crawfish dinner.

Tonight I rerouted going home about three different ways, so at this point I am not sure if we will take the Trace or go east to Mobile, AL then head north, my vote is for the Trace but we will see when it is time to head out which way we go.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to the mystery of tomorrow.

Sunday -April 20, 2008

Today was another beautiful day, sunny and warm and the wind had died down so it was quite pleasant. On our way out of the campground we stopped to say goodbye to Pat and Jack and ended up chatting for ½ hour – oh well, we didn’t have that far to drive so it wasn’t a problem.

We had a good ferry crossing across Bolivar Peninsula (Texas Highways have a ferry crossing (free) across the peninsula); we were about ½ hour from the time we got to the ferry crossing until we were heading out on the other side so we couldn’t complain about that!
One of the Ferries


Looking Back At Galveston


Refinery on Bolivar Peninsula


Seagull Perched on Front of Ferry


One of the Large Ships in the Peninsula


One of the Ferries Crossing the Peninsula


The Little Tug That Could!


Coming Into Dock


The traffic from where we got off the ferry to I-10 was light and the roads were good, we picked up I-10 right at the Texas/Louisiana border and were planning on taking it pretty well to the cut-off to Abbeville. Like all good plans that one went awry – I was on the phone talking to Nan and not watching the interstate and all of a sudden we were on the road for the Lake Charles bypass, oh well, this is the way we went to Abbeville last year so we did it again today! At least there was little traffic so it wasn’t a major inconvenience.

On our way here we passed a number of oil drilling rigs and chemical plants, the sights and smells again reminded us of Sarnia and how we don’t miss all the pollution and smells!!!! Once into Louisiana coming in the back way we passed a number of crawfish farms/rice paddies. At this time of year they farm crawfish then when crawfish season is done they grow rice. We also passed a number of rice milling plants.

Marshland On the Way to Abbeville


Crawfish Farms



We got to Betty’s about 4:30 and she was out so Priscilla and Dave directed us to our site – it was a tricky back up as there was a 5’er which had just come in 2 spots over and their truck was sticking out but John backed in perfectly; much to his pleasure he had a number of people compliment him on how well he did it!! By the time we got set up Betty had returned so I went over and paid for 4 nights and got the password for the internet. There were a number of people gathered for happy hour so we grabbed a brew and joined them. Shortly after we sat down another couple came back from an outing and joined happy hour – they are from Port Elgin (retired there) but lived in Drayton and Elmira and he was a millwright for a fabricating shop that the company John worked for a number of years ago did business with – how many times have we said what a small world this is!!!!

Needless to say we had a late dinner and I am doing this now but will post it with pictures in the morning – I just don’t have the patience to deal with trying to do it all tonight.

Today we talked to my mom, our two daughters and our son so that makes it a good day!! And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to the mystery of tomorrow.

Saturday - April 19, 2008

Today was a beautiful day with temperatures in the high 70’s and just a very light wind, much pleasanter than the constant blowing we have had.

We headed into town as yesterday I had seen a mattress topper at Wal Mart that I thought might be good – it is 2-1/2” of foam with 1-1/2” memory foam on the top so altogether another 4”. John thought it would be okay so we got it then we went to Kroger’s where I got some fresh fruit and veggies and my yogurt, I really like Kroger’s yogurt the best.

There were a lot of people on the beach, and in the water today - with the calmer winds the water wasn’t so rough so would be okay for swimming. There were cars parked for almost a mile down the road from the pier and it was packed with people fishing, wonder if they were catching anything!

When we got back John got us hooked up so we are ready to head out in the morning. We also got the new mattress topper on the bed, looking at it I think I will need a stool to be able to get up into bed – lol!!!

I saw Jack and Pat, the couple from Newmarket with the Airstream, come in about 3:30 so invited them down for a drink. They are a great couple and we really enjoyed getting to know them, hopefully we will meet on the road again sometime!

John is barbecuing salmon for dinner and it is about time for me to do the noodles and cook some corn on the cob so I guess I will close off. Tonight will be another night of the usual – TV if there is anything on or else reading. I bought David Baldacci’s Simple Genius so think that is what I will be reading tonight. And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to the mystery of tomorrow.

Friday - April 18, 2008

Well, today was a much cooler day than yesterday, it rained off and on during the night but this morning the wind had switched to out of the north so it was much cooler, can’t say I am complaining!!!

This morning was pretty quiet then this afternoon I headed out to Wal Mart for a haircut, pedicure and some shopping; John stayed home and cleaned up the outside of the trailer etc., probably more to his liking than shopping!! Driving into town I noticed the surf had calmed down considerable, then coming back I saw a shrimper out in the bay.

By the time I got back it was time to think about dinner – where does the day go. Today I bought the new David Baldacci book “Simple Genuis”, so guess what I will be doing tonight! And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to the mystery of tomorrow.

Thursday - April 17

Okay, enough is enough, this wind is going to drive us crazy – how can anybody live with this most of the time!! Today was mainly overcast and still warm but the wind hasn’t let up, can we hope that it will tomorrow?

I took this picture of people walking along the pier today, bet they were getting wet from the waves!



Today we decided we would visit the Battleship Texas which is the last of the battleships designed after the British Dreadnoughts, this is something that John wanted to do and I don’t mind as I have enjoyed the other battleships, aircraft carriers and submarines that we have toured. Finding the battleship and San Jacinto (pronounced Yacinto) Monument was a real challenge, even Alice (our GPS) had a problem finding it, but we did eventually find our way there. This is a bridge we had to cross


San Jacinto Momument


It was an interesting tour, the Texas is not as big as the USS Alabama but is still a good sized ship and it is hard to believe that 1800+ people called this ship home – I think it would be awfully close and cozy to have been stationed on this ship, and just as a matter of interest part of the crew was a compliment of 80 Marines. There was a band on board ship that played every day at lunch as well as numerous other times and one of the crew’s main recreational activities was dancing when the band was playing at lunchtime! The Texas was operational from the 20’s until after the second world war but was decommissioned in 1945.

The Texas


Artillery


The Bakery


The Marines Sleeping Area


The Laundry


The Tailor Shop


The Post Office




We saw lots of huge refineries today on our drive to San Jacinto Bay and in the bay itself there were lots of tugs and barges activity.


We got home about 6 so had a bit of a late dinner, I want to get this posed and then I think it will be bedtime. And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to the mystery of tomorrow.

So much for getting this posted last night, I couldn't download any pictures last night so finally gave up and did them this morning!

Wednesday - April 16, 2008

This morning was cloudy and windy when we got up, the cloudy I didn’t mind for driving but I am really getting tired of this wind!!!

We left the park about 10 a.m. ( we are not early get on the road types) and by the time we got to Austin the sun was starting to peek out; the traffic to Austin was quite heavy but once we cleared there it was really good driving all the way to Galveston.

Around Lake Jackson we passed a lot of refineries, it made Sarnia’s Chemical Valley look like small potatoes. We had to cross this bridge,



as soon as we saw it we remembered it from last year – hard to forget!! We drove the spit of land between Crystal Beach and Galveston, we finally saw Galveston Bay and there were lots of beautiful beach houses - all built on stilts with beautiful flower beds, and an oil rig out in the bay. We had to cross a bridge with a $2 toll, that was fun as the lanes were really narrow!!















We got to Galveston about 3:30 and went into the state park; well how things change. There were only two sites available for 4 nights and they were both beside a washroom and there was an extra $5/night because they were an ocean side site, somehow a site beside a washroom doesn’t seem like it should be an extra $5/night to me and I don’t care whether or not it is right on the ocean!! The woman said it would be $31/night and the wifi was iffy – right $31/night with only water and hydro and iffy wifi!! We had just passed a new park that had looked pretty swish so I called it and the fellow listed all their amenities and as to price it would be $38.50/night with the Good Sam discount. I thanked him for the info and as I was about to hang up he said maybe he could do a bit better as it was between seasons, his bit better was $30/night! So here we are at Jamaican Beach RV Park with paved roads, a paved long pull through site, full hookups, cable TV, free wifi and a free breakfast on Saturdays and Sundays for $30/night – gotta love it.





Right after we pulled into Jamaica RV another Airstream pulled in behind us, we got talking to them in the office and they bought their 25’ Safari from Can-Am (John Hoekstra sold it to them so they must have a sense of humour!) - they are from Newmarket and know John Wylie – a small world!!!



We are now set up, have had dinner, have the 70 channel cable TV working and are ready for a quiet evening before heading for bed.




And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to the mystery of tomorrow.

Tuesday -April 15, 2008

Today was another nice, sunny day but it was WINDY!! Fortunately today was a stay at home, do chores, day – Molly Maid has yet to make an appearance so I did a good cleaning and washed the floors. I also go the laundry done as the park where we are going doesn’t have a Laundromat so I figured it would be just as easy to do it here where there is a good, cheap laundry and have it over and done with.

John finally thinks he has everything pretty well done for the taxes so today we got out the printer and got all the tax stuff printed off so he could make sure he had everything, another job done.

John got the truck hooked up this afternoon so that is one less thing to have to do in the morning. Tonight is another quiet night of TV or reading – so what else is new!! And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to the mystery of tomorrow.