Loo-siana

The most spectacular thing to me about southern Louisiana has been the sunrises and sunsets. It's almost like a different sun than I'm used to, it's such a different and vivid orange-gold color. I guess it's all the moisture in the air and the fact it's all reflected off the water from the lakes and swamplands (hopefully it's not also due to industrial air pollution....) This morning I'm at a Cabela's outside of Baton Rouge, and the sunrise was plainer-colored, but was made interesting by the light fog hanging down in the tree-filled swamp. I'm really appreciating the diversity of the landscape across the country. I know this wouldn't be the place for me in the summer, though, between the heat and the mosquitos. They all didn't die off over the winter, and I can't imagine how bad they are when it warms up and gets muggy.

Crossing into Louisiana I took the Creole Nature Trail along the beaches and then up through the swampland. This route required another taxpayer-funded ferry, where I had the front row, as you can see in the photo. It looks more like a view from a boat windshield.



Through each swamp, I've kept my eyes peeled for alligators, but I met up with my friend and former co-worker Cheryl for lunch yesterday and learned that the gators don't really come out of the mud during this colder time of year. 

Today I'm going to travel along the Mississippi and plan to stop off at a historic plantation. The one I have in mind is said to be the oldest in the lower Mississippi Valley. I'll end up in New Orleans for a few days, where I'm planning to take in one of the early Mardi Gras parades and watch the Super Bowl.      GO HAWKS!!!

Thanks for the Free Ride, Texas Taxpayers!

Right now I'm on a ferry from Galveston to Pt. Bolivar. Louisiana swamplands next!

Remembering

Today marks a year since Steve's death. I can't say how many times I've seen something that makes me wish we were enjoying it together, or that I could at least tell him because I know he'd get a kick out of it. People doing something amazing (or ridiculous); an old car, truck or tractor; people out enjoying the water; a restaurant where they cook shellfish right in front of you at the bar....

I miss him. We were fortunate to have many years together and a good relationship. He'd think this cross-country trip of mine is crazy, but he wouldn't be entirely shocked (except maybe that I quit my job). He wanted me to stop working early so we could enjoy retirement together, and we'd been saving so that might be possible. I'm sorry Steve didn't live long enough to get that. To me, it reinforces the idea that you should "seize the day."

In fond memory and with love,
Kathy

Galveston

Well, the view from my RV site isn't a gorgeous view, but it is a water view!

Almost at the Beach Again!

One reason I was in Austin so long is because I had some mechanical trouble with the motorhome (though I still didn't get to all the recommended restaurants on my list). At first it was thought to be an exhaust manifold leak, but then they realized the big problem was that the turbo had gone out. All fixed now.

I knew when I bought a 7-year-old motorhome and then drove it across the country, I'd better budget well for maintenance and repair. And this has been my reality. Almost the worst thing, though, is that I was in another Post Office parking lot today, and another vehicle almost backed into me! I had to honk to get their attention. I'm not sure what would have happened had I not been looking in my mirrors at the time. I'm going to try to stay clear of the PO parking lots from now on.

From Austin, I was headed to Galveston, but the weather has stalled me a bit. Yesterday and today have been rainy and windy, and more so at the Gulf. I decided why pay the premium RV site prices on the island only to have worse weather? So I stopped in Brenham, TX last night and on the edge of Houston in the Sugar Land area tonight. Now I'm looking out my little sunroof at the moon and should see good weather for the next 3-4 days in Galveston.

I've got my RV site reservations at a beach-side park in town where I should be able to walk to the sights, and I bought a ticket for tomorrow night's annual Oak Ridge Boys concert at The Grande 1894 Opera House (not usually my thing, but "when in Rome....") The weather forecast is for sun, and I'm ready for the beach!

If the Dog Could Create Heaven, It Might Look Like Austin

 

I think Austin might be my favorite city on the trip so far. Maybe it's because the weather has been good, and maybe it's because I was fortunate to get a spot at the Pecan Grove RV Park, which is close to so many things to do. One thing is for sure: it's been paradise for Charley.

I've seldom needed to leave him alone in the RV since getting to Austin almost a week ago. This many-acre dog park in the photo is about 4 blocks from where I'm staying. I'm not sure it's an official off-leash park, but don't tell the dogs that. There are a handful of restaurants and two food-truck villages right here within a couple blocks that have dog-friendly outdoor seating. And when I want to broaden my horizons, I can put him in a collapsible mesh airline carrier and take him on the city bus. We've explored all over the place. I've also stopped buying groceries temporarily because there's been so many recommended places to eat. I don't know if it's comforting or torture that I can smell the sweet, smoky BBQ firepits from two restaurants here from where I'm staying, starting when I get up in the morning.

State Capitol of Texas. Charley had to choose the lawn in front of the Governor's Mansion to do his business. (Of course I've always got pick-up bags in my purse!)

Austin is a beautiful city, with the capitol and the University of Texas downtown. The allegiance to the university is loud and proud, with even a section of the city's street name signs being burnt orange color with the Longhorn logo.

It was a fun place to watch the Seahawks for the NFC championship game. Through Google & Facebook, I found an Austin Seahawks fan group, with an open meet-up at a local sports bar. I can't even imagine watching that game alone - I needed to have some companionship for the pain and the ultimate elation. I told a friend that I talked to plenty of people during the game, but I hugged even more afterwards. I'll have to find a suitable place to watch the Super Bowl - not sure yet where I'll be.

After Austin, I'm going to plan to head towards Galveston probably sometime between Thursday and Saturday. It truly is nice not being on a set schedule!

Texas Bar-B-Que

I can't believe I've been in Texas eight days before finally getting to a place to have BBQ. Tonight I went to Salt Lick in Driftwood, TX, a bit outside of Austin. I learned about it after reading someone else's travel blog and it was definitely a good stop. There's even an old campground right across the highway so I was able to just stay and walk over.

Something I didn't know beforehand is that it's BYOB. Most people were prepared and you'd notice them bringing a small cooler in. For the unprepared or those who just like to try the local offerings, they have a winery on-site at a different building where they sold wine and local beer that you could bring over to the restaurant.

Charley's been a happy dog today. There wasn't anyone else in the campground earlier, so he enjoyed the run of the place, running through the dry leaves and down to Onion Creek. The rib bone that came back from dinner sealed the deal.

Next: Planning to drive in to Austin tomorrow and stay there several days.

The American Southwest

Since December 26 I've been traveling all over the southwest. I've been fitting in all the sight-seeing I can, and it seems like the only times I've had a lot of spare time to post an update have been when I don't have an internet connection. (Warning: This post is much longer than most.)

From Los Angeles I stayed a couple nights in Indio in the greater Palm Springs area. From there, I went to the Joshua Tree National Park to stay a couple nights. I had heard it was a great place to view sunrises and sunsets, and indeed, it was. I got up early, made coffee, climbed up onto a big rock with the dog zipped into my jacket and enjoyed the view.

As soon as the sun fully broke over the horizon, the dog growled and I looked around. Out of the campground came the three biggest coyotes I've ever seen. Clearly they were experienced campground raiders. Suddenly my choice to "corner" myself on top of a big rock didn't seem so smart, since the only way I could safely get down was in their direction. I'm sure they wouldn't have come for me, but I wondered if Charley would look like a tasty morsel or a fun, furry toy. Luckily they left us alone.

I went to Lake Havasu where it was nothing but cold and windy. It even snowed some, but not enough to stick. Here's where the weather caused me to modify my plans. I had planned to go up to Laughlin and over to spend a few days at the Grand Canyon. However, the overnight temperatures were forecast to be so low I would have been afraid of doing some damage to the RV, and I certainly didn't want to drive in hazardous weather. So I'm going to try to catch the canyon in the spring when I come back through.

I spent a couple nights with family - first my brother-in-law Rick in Florence, outside of Phoenix. He and his son's family took me to dinner at a fun steakhouse called San Tan Flat.

They have regular indoor seating and a couple bar areas, but the best place to sit is at one of the outside tables. There's a stage, a circular dance area, and surrounding the dance floor are picnic tables, many with their own barrel fire pit. We got there early to get a fire pit table, collected up some wood, had a fire, drinks and steak dinner. The place filled up quickly - we had hit the timing just right. There aren't many places that seem both family-friendly and fun for going out dancing or hanging out, but this definitely was.

I went down towards Tucson, stopping at the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument and driving through Saguaro National Park. In Green Valley I spent a night visiting my uncle Ray and his wife, then headed to Tombstone.

 

I finished Arizona with the Chiricahua National Monument to see the rock formations there, crossed a section of New Mexico, and got the courage to try staying at another rest area overnight outside of El Paso to try to save money. This was a whole different experience than the first rest area I'd tried along I-5 in Oregon. It was nice and quiet, and I won't be afraid to try it again now if I'm just looking for a place to break after a long travel day.

One of the nicest surprises was the Big Bend Ranch State Park in Texas. I was already planning to go to Big Bend National Park (gotta get my money's worth from the annual pass I bought last spring), but I read that the state park was lesser known and included a beautiful drive along the Rio Grande. I saw mountain goats, a javelina (well, it was roadkill), and a couple of the trails were okay to take dogs onto, which Charley fully appreciated. The best trail was Closed Canyon, which was a narrow rock slot of a dry creek. It narrowed down to areas you had to hold onto the walls on both sides to climb down and back up. Unfortunately I was just wearing sneakers that didn't have a good enough grip for climbing the rocks, so we didn't make it all the way down to the river, but we got close. I hadn't seen anyone on the trail at all, and I didn't want to get myself down into an area I couldn't climb out of. It wasn't until after I had headed back that I thought I could have just taken my shoes off to get a better grip with my feet.

After the state park, I actually found the national park a little disappointing. But then that might have been because the wind came up so hard that night I wondered at what windspeed my little RV would blow apart. Early in the evening they told me it was gusts of 50 when I got to the campground, but there was no internet, no radio, no NOAA weather radio, nothing for me to check. Fortunately I made it through the night fine.

Now I'm in San Antonio until Monday, then to Austin. For those who liked pictures of Charley airborne with his ears flying in Bend, OR, here are some of him running through Closed Canyon.
GO HAWKS!



"Um...I'm going to need some help here."
On his first try up, he got wedged into the rocks on the left side.
At least he didn't get into any areas that I couldn't get in and out of!

So Much to Share; So Little Time!

It's late afternoon Tuesday and I'm headed towards Big Bend National Park in SW Texas on the Rio Grande. I'm not sure whether I'm staying at a place with Internet access, so I thought at least I'd take a minute to post where I'll be at for the next couple days. All is going well and I'm having too good a time to sit down at the computer and post more right now. If I have Internet tonight, I'll put up a real post. Otherwise I'll do it when I go to San Antonio in a few days.