Back Before Thanksgiving

     We met a lot of people on the road the last few days who were going south and could not understand why we were driving in the other direction.  I just can't imaging missing the holidays with my family.  We planned the trip to get back home in time for Bennett's birthday and for Thanksgiving.  I find it amazing that the warm Minnesota fall means that the grass is still green and I still have flowers blooming.   I really expected to find some snow on the ground when I was looking at the calendar.
    Our last 250 miles were uneventful except for the three deer who decided to cross the highway just in front of us.  I would have been seriously crabby if we had to spend a couple days in Iowa messing with a deer mashed on our bumper.  However, Bambi and his friends made it across the road safely.  We got home by mid afternoon and had the whole camper unloaded before dinner time.  We have this down pat now.
     We were gone 4.5 weeks, traveled over 4000 miles in the RV and around a thousand more in the car we tow.  We spent more time in big cities - Lincoln, NE, San Antonio, TX, Galveston, TX, Houston, TX and New Orleans, LA - than our usual trips.  We were in the plains, the desert, the seashore, bayous, rivers, forests, farms and miles of city sidewalks.  It was a trip of contrasts from the wide, open expanses of Big Bend to the crowded, urban streets of the French Quarter.  We were healthy and happy the whole time (not counting the irritating bites I had on one foot).  We had no problems with the RV or the car aside from the minor bathroom flooding which  required a mop up.         My house is a disaster.  We closed the cabin just ten days before leaving on our trip so I still have laundry, canned goods, and other junk from the cabin sitting around.  Now I have all the camper stuff too.  I am relieved that Thanksgiving is at my brother's house this year.  It may take a while to get this place back in shape.  But first I have to hug my grandchildren, I miss them more every time we leave home.
    Our next trip is to Maui.  I look forward to traveling with you all again.
 
   

Lazy Acres RV Park

    We have been searching the Internet for the campground closest to home that is still open.  The warm fall worked in our favor in that this really nice park just north of Cedar Rapids which usually closes October 31,  is open until Thanksgiving this year.  It's going to be below freezing tonight so we drained our water hose and are using water just from the tank.  Tomorrow we will dump for one last time and head for home.
     If Minnesota weather had been cold and snowy by this time we would have had the camper winterized in Iowa before driving our last leg.  But, wow, it is supposed to be almost 60 on Sunday so Rick can doing the winterizing in our driveway and we get home two days earlier than originally planned.
   Our drive today was mostly on a four-lane divided highway along the river - U.S. 61 - The Great River Road.  This highway starts in New Orleans and goes 1400 miles to Wyoming, Minnesota.  Until 1991, when I35 replaced a section, the highway extended north on what is now MN 61through Duluth to the border at Grand Portage.  We have driven the Minnesota sections of this highway many times and drove it in New Orleans and Memphis as well where it is called "The Blues Highway."  We were happy to discover that there was very little truck traffic on the Missouri/Iowa segment.  The wind was still fairly strong today, but more steady with fewer huge gusts, so we managed to stay on the road.  Tomorrow, the winds should be fairly calm, thank goodness.
    When packing for this trip we prepared for much colder weather.  Only today did we finally wear our warmer jackets.  My long underwear, stocking cap and gloves remain packed.  We run a little space heater besides our RV heater to keep us warm.  I'm keeping the bathroom door open tonight to keep the heat moving in there as well.  Tomorrow, we will pack up for the last time in our camper this year and THEN WE WILL HEAD HOME, YEAH!

Still not in Iowa

     The bad news is that we only got 100 miles closer to home today.  We did not have big winds over night and the morning was really calm, so we thought we had lucked out of the storm.  But by the time we got going the wind was brutal.  I had a couple of potential campgrounds chosen - one close by and one further north.  After driving 30 miles and working hard to stay on the road, we knew we should cut our driving day short.
    We drove to St. Charles, Missouri - the good news.  This is a small town just north of St. Louis, right on the Missouri River.  It was founded in 1769 as Les Petites Cotes ("The Little Hills") by French Canadian fur trader Louis Blanchette.  It was a busy river town and the main street became a place of shops and services.  Today a ten block section is a registered National Historic District and still has many pretty shops and restaurants in the restored old buildings.
   We stopped for lunch at a Soda Shop and sat at the counter and sipped milkshakes.  It has been a really long time since I had lunch at a "lunch counter."  It reminded me of the many milkshakes that I had downtown St. Paul with my friend, Beth Jorgens, on our way to our synchronized swimming club at the YWCA.  Rick and I had to walk up and down the ten blocks to work off some of the lunch. We enjoyed seeing all the beautiful old stone and brick buildings.
   Another claim to fame for St. Charles is that it was the jumping off spot for Lewis and Clark.  We have been to many other places along their route including Fort Clapsop in Oregon where they finally reached the Pacific Ocean.  A small museum along the river in St. Charles holds replicas of the boats they used to go upstream on the Missouri River.  The boats were huge, heavy, and wooden.  I can't imagine the effort it must have taken to move those boats against the current.   A National Geographic movie at the museum helped us recall the facts about this amazing trip.
    So it turned out to be a pretty good day, but we are still two days drive from Apple Valley and I would rather be home.  Sigh.

Jellystone Park, Perryville, Missouri

     We were in four states today - Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Missouri.  We were trying to put some miles behind us before the predicted storm hit.  It was an uneventful drive except for the ruts in the road created by all the truck traffic.  When we bounce around we often hear things banging around in the back of the camper.  I do my best to put everything on the floor or stowed in a cupboard, but we still get surprised.  One of the design flaws to this Itaska camper is the device which gets levered in between the wall and the slide out.  It is supposed to prevent the slide out from sliding out while we are traveling.  Instead, anytime we hit a bump, no matter how tight I screw it in, it falls to the floor and scares us to death because we think we have blown a tire or some other dire problem.  Fortunately, I can see the stupid pole

World War II Museum

on the floor and I know what the noise is.
     This late in the year many of the campgrounds in Missouri and points north have closed for the season.  We are juggling the mileage, weather, and list of open campgrounds as we plan the last few days of the trip.  Today really severe weather was predicted for the afternoon so we got on the road quickly and had a place we could stop early if necessary.  We lucked out and the weather held off until we got to this spot 80 miles south of St. Louis.  We got the camper hooked up and managed a nice walk before the rain started.
    The weather man said on the evening news that most of the really severe weather went north of us and is pretty much past us.  It is a relief not to be worrying about it over night.  Tomorrow we may find lots of wind - or not.  We have a plan for a long drive, but also a short drive if it is too windy.  This has been a trip that has been constantly redefined because of weather, but luckily we have not had any serious problems.

Frog Hollow Campground, Grenada, Mississippi

     Yup, you never heard of this place.  It is conveniently located 300 miles from where we started this morning, so this is where we are spending the night.  Our campsite is a stone’s throw off the Interstate, but a line of trees keeps the headlights from shining in our window.  As we were checking in another RV from Minnesota pulled in.  They were amazed that we were heading NORTH.  They spend the winter on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast.

     I forgot how pretty Mississippi is.  We saw a lot of it when we drove the Natchez Trace.  I am happy to see big pines along the road instead of water or swamp.  I have more confidence that I will survive a blown tire when there is a dirt shoulder instead of a tiny guardrail separating me from the swamp.  The area has some rolling hills, too, and no more hurricane emergency route signs now that we are finally above sea level.

     I learned something new in New Orleans, however, about hurricane flooding.  John, the mule driver, told us that the reason that the French Quarter didn’t flood is because it is so close to the river.  Over thousands of years the Mississippi has flooded and left mud behind on its banks.  Thus the land closest to the river has been become higher than the land further away from the river – sort of a reverse valley.  In the Katrina flooding of New Orleans, it was not the river that caused flooding; it was the broken dike which allowed water from Lake Pontchartrain to cover the city that was the problem.  Neighborhoods near the lake were flooded, those that were on the other side of town by the river, were not.

     I have a correction to yesterday’s post.  Brad Pitt and not Tom Cruise has the house in New Orleans with Angelina.  Just checking to see if you are really reading this.  Ha ha.  Cheap thrills when we are in the middle of nowhere.

     The weather is beautiful, but tomorrow is supposed to bring a storm.  We will see how far we get before the rain comes.  I am ready to soak in my tub and hug my grandchildren.

The French Quarter, New Orleans

     I can remember being in grade school and each student was supposed to create a big poster for a city.  My city was New Orleans; so I drew a balcony with fancy ironwork, lots of flowers, and a door with colorful shutters.  I always wanted to see the real thing; today I did.  The French Quarter is both amazing and awful.
    It was a good day to visit because the weather was cool and this is not a busy time for New Orleans tourism.  We found a spot for our car near Jackson Park and walked the narrow sidewalks.  Around the park we saw dozens of art vendors and street musicians.  We walked down Royal Street which has lots of nice shops and restaurants.  The shops all had apartments above which had nice balconies, lots of flowers and doors with shutters.  I loved it.
    We found a casual seafood cafe for lunch.  Rick had some great shrimp.  I have shellfish allergies so I had blackened chicken and stole most of Rick's hush puppies.  We left lunch and walked down the incredibly tacky row of bars and junky shops that is Bourbon Street.  We are probably too old to appreciate it.
    We wanted more history about the area so we took a carriage ride with John and his mule, Moon.  We left the busier parts of the French Quarter and drove through the more residential areas.  We saw blocks of wonderful, historic homes.  The carriage took us past Tom Cruise and Angelina Jole's home which is for sale, and Nicolas Cage's haunted, 11,000 sq. ft. home.  We peeked down the alleys between the buildings to see some beautiful courtyards with fountains and gardens.
     We topped off our New Orleans experience with
cafe' au lait and some fresh beignets.  This is usually a breakfast treat, but we were lucky to find an outdoor cafe that was still serving the wonderful, flaky, sweet pastries.  The sun had finally come out so we sat on top of the levee and said goodbye to "The Big Easy."  Tomorrow we start our long drive home.

Mardi Gras World

     On this chilly and gray day we considered our options for sightseeing.  The Saints had a home game today which means lots of traffic and extra party goers in the downtown bars.  We looked at the map and saw - Mardi Gras World.  A bright and happy place that is along the river.  We took a long way around drive to get there and our bonus was that we saw lots of beautiful old mansions along St. Charles Avenue.
     Blaine Kern Studios has been building parade floats for Mardi Gras since 1947.  The company makes paper mache' characters and other decorative items for parades and displays all over the world.  Many of them start with a styrofoam base that is covered with paper mache'.  The building is over a block long and filled with huge characters.  Mardi Gras is now ten days long and includes over 55 parades.  Each year a theme is chosen and the various Krewes decide on a design for their float.  Some of the floats carry up to 35 members of the Krewe.  The parades may go on for over six hours so the floats include a bathroom as well.  It was a fun back stage view of the preparations for this wild celebration.
   We had lunch at Mulates, a Cajun restaurant, and listened to some Louisiana Creole Cajun zydeco music while we ate gumbo and red beans and rice.  The gumbo and red beans came either in a cup or a bowl.  We chose a bowl and now have another whole meal to eat.  Wow! these were big portions, but just delicious.
    Feeling full, we drove to the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge to take a hike on the boardwalk that goes into the bayou.  I hoped for alligators, but apparently the large ones go into hibernation as the weather gets cooler.  We DID see a large flock of beautiful great white herons, a few great blue herons and some funny looking cattle egrets.  Fortunately no snakes or other poisonous creatures, although I have some seriously itchy bites on one foot from something that got to me yesterday.  Thank goodness for Benadryl.
   

National World War II Museum and Lafayette Cemetery

    The top place to visit in New Orleans according to TripAdvisor is the National World War II Museum.  Since Rick and I are both Baby Boomers we have a connection to World War II and this museum looked like it would be interesting if we had rain.  Today it rained, again.  But that's okay because the museum was terrific.
    I wondered why this museum is located in New Orleans and that question was answered by a display of a landing craft, vehicle, personnel (LCVP) or Higgins boat.  This boat was a landing craft used in amphibious landings in World War II.  The boat was designed by Andrew Higgens, a boat manufacturer, based on boats used in New Orleans swamps and marshes.  Every film of the landings at Normandy Beach shows men walking off these boats.
     The museum consists of five large buildings including a massive theater which shows a movie introduced and produced by Tom Hanks.  The movie was on a huge screen and had many special effects to produce a sense of being part of a war zone.  The movie was attended by 40 young Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts.  I wondered what they thought of pictures of hangings, shootings, concentration camp victims, thousands of bodies on Normandy beach and the aftermath of two atomic bombs in Japan.  The ultimate  message was one of hope and victory, but also one which stressed the huge cost to the whole world.  I would have a very hard time explaining it all to my grandchildren if they had seen it.
    Another building of the museum is sponsored by Boeing and displays many planes, tanks, jeeps and other vehicles used in the war.  This was a big hit with the scouts (and Rick).
    We left the museum with sore feet so we did some driving to the Garden District to see some of the grand old homes in New Orleans.  The streets are really narrow, it was raining, and there were dozens of walking tours, but we enjoyed seeing the grand old mansions.  I am also fascinated by the many one-room-wide homes called "shotgun" houses.  After Katrina when many houses were rebuilt and new versions of the old designs were made to fit homes on the very narrow lots.
      We also stopped to walk around one of New Orleans old cemeteries.   New Orleans is built on a swamp so all the graves are above ground.  All these varied tombs give the cemeteries the nickname "Cities of the Dead."  They are really interesting places and we saw many walking tours.
    We got back to the camper in time for the rain to really start pounding.  I may have to rethink my assumption that the river won't breach the levee.

Destrehan Plantation and the Mississippi

   I seriously do not understand why anyone built a city on all this water.  What were they thinking of?  We drove on Interstate 10 from Lafayette to Kenner (just outside New Orleans).  Large portions of the Interstate were built on piers over swamp, bayou, or river.  One section was 16 miles long with nothing under us but alligators, snakes, and mud.  We also crossed bridges that had to go really high up so that the big ships could pass under them.  I really don't like these tall bridges, but the view was spectacular.
    We got into our campground at lunch time so we chatted with the manager about nearby places to visit.  Our campground is right on the river road which follows the Mississippi, and just down the road is one of the dozens of old plantations.  Destrahan was built in 1787, and is the oldest documented plantation home in the Lower Mississippi Valley.  Indigo was initially the primary plantation crop, but ultimately sugar cane made the plantation very successful.
    The story of the plantation was also the story of slavery in this part of the country.  Our guide told us that slaves owned by the French in Louisiana fared better than those who were owned by English.  He also made it clear that it was not a good life for the slaves, just better.  Interesting perspective, I think.
    As we drove beside the levee along the river, we talked about the Katrina flooding.  I said that I wished we could see more of the river.  Rick told me that the campground was probably at a lower level than the river, so without the levee we would be swimming.  Freaked me out a little.  We stopped in Kenner which is an historic river town, The riverfront park had a lookout at the top of the levee.  We stopped to climb up and look out at the river which, fortunately, was NOT higher than our campground.  It will have to go up about 25 feet before we have to worry and I think by the time it gets that high we could be halfway home.
   So we sat on top of the levee and watched some huge ships go up and down the river.  The sun was setting and there was a nice breeze.  A perfect evening on the river.

Lafayette, Louisiana

    Whew, summer type weather hit the Gulf overnight and the humidity was so thick the air could support a small child.  Combine that with the salt air we had a swamp in the camper this morning.  The windows were dripping with salty water and my bedding was sticky.  Yuck.  We closed up and turned on the air conditioning to dry things out.
    Our drive towards New Orleans took us on a highway that wandered between the bayous and rivers along the Gulf.  The area near Galveston was all oil industry and shipping.  We could see oil derricks out in the Gulf serviced by lots of helicopters.  Huge ships carried oil and containers.  A long line of trucks carrying containers headed for the port.  It was a really busy place.
   Then we went over a very high, very long bridge and got into an area of harbors full of fancy boats and beautiful, huge homes set up high on piers.  Everywhere the water was high from the rains last week and we went through two areas that had been hit by tornadoes.  I am so thankful that our only problem with all this bad weather has been having to stay in an ugly, muddy campground.
    We crossed the state line into Louisiana and went to the Visitor Center which had no RV parking. Before stopping there we looked for a Interstate Rest Area but there is only one on I10 in all of Louisiana.  At the little Visitor Center we found an area for viewing alligators.  We were also warned of several poisonous snakes and insects.  I have never been so cautious about where I put my feet (or any other part of my body) when I am outdoors.
    We have now officially filled in three more states on our travel map - Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana.  We have also found the folks who speak another language - Southern.  The Texas accent was pretty mild, but Louisiana southern drawl is thick, really thick. We will see if we understand anyone at all when we hit New Orleans or should I say, "Nawlins"

Galveston Port

     We left the quiet of our state park to explore more of the island and the sea port.  We followed Google’s directions and found ourselves in a snarl of closed roads along the wharf where a huge entertainment area was being set up for the Lone Star Motorcycle Rally that starts tomorrow.  Google was a little wrong about where we were going, but we couldn’t get there anyway, so we gave up.  Instead we took a free ferry across the Galveston ship channel to the Bolivar Peninsula. 

     I love to get out on the ocean – even on a big ferry.  We hopped out of our car and stood at the rail where we saw dolphins right away.  It was a fun ride to nowhere.  The Bolivar Peninsula has very little to offer, just a park built around some old bunkers left from the days when the area was Fort Travis during both world wars.  It was a good point to watch some more big ships come and go.  Then we lined up to get back on the ferry where we had to go through a “security” search.  I can’t imagine what they were looking for, but we didn’t have any of it.  Once again we hopped out of our car to look for dolphins, but, SURPRISE – we were heading into the waves and got just soaked.  The folks on the motorcycle at the front of the line also got really wet.

     We stopped at a local seafood cafe for lunch.  Cajun fried fish with hush puppies.  Yum.  I love to eat at little local places rather than the same old chain restaurants.  Not the fanciest place or fastest service, but good food.

     Our campground has filled up quite a bit with folks attending the rally.  The weather report is not favorable for a good time for them as it is supposed to rain again.  The ground here is soaked, and there is standing water everywhere.  We had a nice smoky fire for a while to chase the mosquitoes away, but eventually got chased into our camper.

  I am hoping the rain holds off until we finish our 250 mile drive towards New Orleans tomorrow.  It is much easier to drive on dry roads. 

Galveston Island State Park

     

We are camped about 20 yards from a beautiful beach on the Gulf of Mexico.  AHHH.  We got here before lunch since it is only a short drive from Houston, so we spent the afternoon walking the deserted beach searching for shells and bird watching.  The water was still warm and felt great as we went wading.  What a perfect day, there was no competition for finding good shells.

     This is a small park with 30 campsites set just behind the beach dunes.  There is another set of campsites on a bay across the highway.  Mid-week in November is a quiet time here so we share the space with about four other campers and a lot of sea birds.  I logged five new birds in my journal.

    Camping this late in the year is different than summer camping.  The days are short, and sundown comes really early.  We walked the beach at sunset, and then, to top off our lovely, quiet day we built a campfire and roasted some hotdogs for dinner.  This is an island with almost no trees, but it still came as a surprise when the firewood was 2 for $3.  That is two chunks of wood – NOT two bundles of wood.  Ha ha!  We are not in the north woods now. 

     We are hoping that the rain that is moving in waits for a day so that we can enjoy one more day at this beautiful beach. Wish you were here!

Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center

      Rick and I grew up during the early days and excitement of the space program.  I remember the intense competition between Russia and the U.S. - especially in the realm of space exploration.  When Russia put a man into space in 1961, I clearly remember President John F. Kennedy declaring that the U.S. would have a man on the moon before the end of the decade.  Schools put new emphasis on math and science and the U.S increased their space budget by 500%.
    It was an exciting and challenging time.  Each launch was broadcast on TV and the whole school watched.  I remember sitting with my Norwegian relatives in Oslo and watching Neil Armstrong walk on the moon.  I remember the shock of watching the Challenger explode taking the lives of seven astronauts.  We relived the excitement and shock as we watched some of the same footage today at Space Center Houston.  
    Most of the exhibits were at the Visitor Center (Space Center Houston) adjacent to the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center which is the NASA center for human spaceflight training, research, and ultimately, flight control.  A tram tour took us from the Visitor Center to the huge campus of the Space Center.  Our first stop was the Space Vehicle Mock-up facility used to train the astronauts.  Then we went to the Mission Control center where the communication with the astronauts and control of their space vehicles is managed.  They are currently actively working with the International Space Station and planning ahead for the Mars mission in the 2030's.  It was eerily familiar after just seeing the same Mission Control in the movie, "The Martian."
   The final stop was Rocket Park where we could see the amazing progression in size from the small earliest rocket to a huge Saturn V which is 363 feet tall.  A mock up of the Space Shuttle Independence mounted on top of the Space Carrier Aircraft is in the process of being setup to be toured.  It is just immense.
    While there is a lot of information about the history of the space program, there was also a strong sense of excitement about the future
as the U.S. partners with other countries and with businesses. We had a great day remembering the past and celebrating the future.

Just Another Rainy Sunday

     We have found when we travel for a long time we need to take days off from sightseeing.  We get tired.  So we slept in this Sunday morning, had a real breakfast, and did chores.  But everyday errand running in a new town is interesting.  We needed a new smoke detector so we decided to go to Walmart which has a bunch of RV items.  Good old Google Maps helped me find the nearest Walmart SuperCenter and we headed out into the rain to buy groceries and RV stuff.
    We got back, did laundry, and cleaned the RV.  The upside of having less than 200 square feet is that it doesn't take long to clean.  As a reward for our hard work Google found us a movie theater so we could see an early show.  Our campground is in an industrial area, so there is nothing close by. We followed Google's directions across town to the theater.  Our drive took us through some really nice neighborhoods with huge houses.  It seems like the homes are really close together, though.  I don't understand why they are on such small lots.  I really like the older homes built in a Texas Cottage style with a front porch and a metal roof.  We saw a lot of these in New Braunfels, but they are crowded in between the McMansions as well.
   I also thought about traveling around a town without any idea of whether we are in a "safe" neighborhood or one that is a high crime area.  As it turned out we certainly were in a nice neighborhood and the theater was a two story, 24 screen monster.  We saw "The Martian" which had a bunch of scenes at the NASA Space Center in Houston - our planned sightseeing spot for tomorrow!
   We set off on foot in the nearby neighborhood for dinner and found a great Mediterranean Cafe for dinner.  When we left the cafe we could see stars!  A clear night sky!  I have high hopes for tomorrow.