Home and getting ready for Christmas

We had a very good flight back from Orlando to Manchester - only just over 7 hours - and were only a half hour late arriving 8am. The delay was due to a couple who didn't board the plane in time and their luggage was taken off.

We were amazed to see the amount of snow and ice lying on the ground - they had had over two feet of snow which is very unusual - especially in November in the UK. Fortunately, the main roads were clear and we had a good run over the highest motorway in England, getting home around lunch time. Our street was lethal - like a skating rink with very deep snow and ice, so Terry was very careful in negotiating the front so we could unload our luggage and then taking the car round the back alley to put it in the garage. It has been very cold too, but the temperature has eased up the last couple of days and most of the snow has melted. There are still patches of ice on the side roads and the pavements and walking out is treacherous . We have seen a lot of damage to roofs and gutters as the weight of the ice was quite considerable. We seem to be OK. The cold weather is due back later this week, so we may yet get a White Christmas.

We have been busy doing last minute shopping and posting cards and all the usual hoy palloy in the run up to Christmas. We are off to Derby for Christmas and then Terry and I are flying to Guernsey for New Year. Cannot wait to see all the grandchildren.

Terry has already booked our flights for the next visit to the USA - flying into Orlando on the 8th March ( we WILL be at Jim and Connie's Party - whoo hoo) and then onto Dallas on the 14th March to pick up the trailer. We will return directly from Los Angeles on the 24th May as this time as we really are heading west.

Looking back over this last trip, we have had another amazing time. We have travelled a total of 3,700 miles in the truck, 1815 miles with the trailer in tow and flown approximately 11,00 miles. We have met up and spent quality time with some of our friends and met and made some new friends. Our address book is getting quite full. We have sampled and enjoyed Cajun food, - gumbo, jambalaya, etoufee, boudin - Mexican food and Texan steaks. We have eaten lots of shrimp and Terry learnt how to prepare and cook shrimp from our expert friends. We have learnt about Cajun, Arcadian, Mexican and Texan cultures and music. We visited two State Capitol buildings and learnt about politics in Louisiana and Texas. We have seen the country changing from the wetlands and sand of Florida through the swamps and prairie lands of Louisiana, the beautiful coastal area of southern Texas to the drier hill area further north in Texas. All beautiful in their own way. We have seen fossilised dinosaur tracks, Spanish Missions, the Alamo, beautiful plantation houses, lovely rivers, sweeping plains and rolling hills, lively cities like New Orleans, Austin, Baton Rouge, San Antonio and Dallas and enjoyed some wild country in the depths of Louisiana and Texas. We have seen coyotes, snakes, raccoons, deer, opossum, armadillos, and myriads of birds from pelicans to cardinals, from hawks to eagles.

Our love of America and American people just grows with each venture into the New World.

Homeward Bound

Well, we are sitting in Orlando airport waiting to catch our flight back to the UK. We flew from Dallas Fort Worth airport to Orlando this morning after putting the trailer and truck into storage yesterday. We spent a night in a motel near the airport so we could catch the early flight to leave us plenty of time in Orlando. There is a big freeze on here in the USA, so we were glad to find out that all our flights have not been affected and we should be OK to get back to the UK. What we'll find when we get home us another thing - been freezing there for the last week. Will our car start, will the roads be clear - fingers crossed!!
The last 5 days have been taken up with slowly getting our rig ready for storage. Washing everything in sight, cleaning all within an inch of it's life, draining water systems, packing all linens in vacuum bags etc. etc. It's also been very cold, so we have been unable to wash and dry things which will not go in the tumble drier - will have to do them when we next get back. Anyway - we managed to get everything done and leave for Dallas at the time we wanted.
We have had such a great time here and cannot wait to get back again. We plan to return in March - fingers crossed. Sally

Ray Roberts Lake

Today we have moved on to our last campground for this trip. It is a State Park beside a huge reservoir – they say it is 30000 acres, which is 46 sq. miles. A large part of the 118 mile journey was spent in going round the outside of Fort Worth, which is a large conurbation. We decided to stop en route for lunch, rather than making a packed lunch and then cooking in the evening. Since we did not know the area when we thought it was about time for lunch we just pulled off into a town area and looked. We saw a sign which said Café, great, so we pulled up and went in, only to find that it was a Mexican Restaurant. What the hang, we had never eatn proper Mexican, as Sally was bothered that everything would be too spicey, also that everything seemed to have wheat or corn in it (fajita, burrito, enchilada, tortilla, etc.), however we were pleasantly surprised that we were able to find some great food there.

We arrived at Ray Roberts Lake and have a great campsite almost beside the lake and this evening we sat and watched a massive red sunset as the sun went down over the lake. It was very beautiful.

The Lost World of Dinosaur Valley

Wednesday we set out bright and early to take the road to another world. The Lost World of The Dinosaurs. Yes we were going to stay at Dinosuar Valley State Park.

We had a good journey, using mostly back roads, which though only two lane were very straight and fast. We travelled through the Hill Country to the north of Austin. Worth mentioning is that when we passed through Hamilton we passed a cemetery and Sally had to do a double take as she saw a sign over a gravestone which said ‘Billy the Kid is Buried Here’. Sure enough this is where Billy the Kid is buried, but we didn’t get a picture of it.

We arrived at Dinosaur Valley State Park and were set up by 3.00, so set out to investigate what the place was about. The Paluxy river is a small (15m across) river that flows in a deep gully through the park. Along the banks on either side a hard layer of limestone is exposed, providing a flat shelf of rock, in which we should be able to find dinosaur footprints. We climbed down into the gully and used giant stepping stones to cross the river. There we found our first footprints, we could see them in the bottom of a small pool of water, clearly an elongated foot with three toes. We moved on and there, under the lee of the wall of the gully was a large flat area of rock, covered with footprints. The three toed clawed feet were the easiest to see, but then we picked out big round impressions in the rock. As we moved round we could see other tracks, clearly there were four impressions showing that the animals had been walking. The footprints are huge and of two different dinosaurs. One is a large, plant eating monster, with feet shaped like an elephant’s feet, but larger, these are the footprints of a sauropod, most likely the Paluxysaurus Jonesi.

The other footprints are of a 3 toed carnivore. We could see it was a carnivore as each toe ended in a huge curved claw, leaving marks in the rock 4 inches long. The footprint impressions were made some 110 million years ago, when what is now hard limestone was a hard, shelly clay, a bit like playdo. Most likely it formed the bottom of a shallow lake or estuary as once the mud had been stepped in it was never disturbed again, but covered over by more layers of shells and mud. Over millions of years the lime/clay became hard, but the layers above stayed soft and shaley. When the river eroded down to the soft shale it was easily washed away, leaving the hard limestone exposed, complete with its fabulous footprints.

Finding these dinosaur footprints was amazing. It was something I read about as a child. The whole afternoon had a air of Jurassic Park about it. To be actually treading here dinosaurs walked was very exciting. To be doing it in this beautiful river setting made it even more of an adventure.

Tourists in Austin TX

So today we were tourists, we took the tour bus round Austin. The bus took us out into ‘The Hill Country, which is a very pretty area of limestone hills, with some great views of Austin, then a quick shuffle around the town showing some of its best bits. It was a very entertaining couple of hours. After this we were ready for lunch, so decided to go back up to the Hill Country to a BBQ place we had passed call ‘The County Line – Lake Side Place’, this as one will realise is beside Lady Bird Lake. I had combo ribs, pork and beef, Sally had combo of beef rib, brisket and sausage. I really enjoyed the ribs, but could only eat half of them, the rest we brought home in a box.

Lady Bird Lake is artificial and is a recreational area in the centre of Austin. It is named Lady Bird Lake after President Lyndon Johnson’s wife Lady Bird Johnson. They were local to Austin and there is an awful lot of stuff named after them as they were well thought of. They have several museums about them and a library (every President has a library which holds, among other things, every public speech, every bill, book and paper made or published by that President, which is pretty well everything that was done during and after their term of office. The library, I think, is always in the capital of the home state of that president).

After our meal we returned to Mount Bonnell, on the West side Hill Country, to visit the small park right on the top of the highest point in the area, with its great views of the Texas Colorado River and Austin. This unfortunately left us on the other side of Austin at 5.00, drive time (as they call rush hour in U.S.A.) is horrendous here, so a twenty minute drive turned into nearly an hour of crawling. Even so we really enjoyed our day today.

McKinney Falls State Park

We have set ourselves up in McKinney Falls State Park, we have had a quick look at Austin, which is less than 10 miles away and also had a wander round the park. It is a very plwasant park, there is lots of space betrween sites. the hard standing is now quite old and often uneven. No Foraging for wood is allowed and the logs are very expensive: $1.00 PER LOG!!!

Moving On From San Antonio

Saturday. We said more goodbyes to our new Canadian friends Clint and Joan as we left Travelers World today. We wish them safe and happy journeys as they move Eastward along the Gulf to Florida.

We drove on the interstate through San Antonio and struck North towards Austin. As we travelled we could see a change in the countryside. It became drier, with yellow grass, with rolling hills. A number of quarries making cement indicated that the bedrock is limestone, which explains its dry appearance. We stopped for lunch in a strip mall car park and made it to McKinney Falls State Park by mid-afternoon. A short cruise around the park found us in a very nice campsite (#44) with about 50 yards of woodland either side before the neighbours could be seen.

NO BURNBAN!!!! We set up the trailer and immediately started a campfire, as we did not really want to sit out late.

NO MOSQUITOES!!!!!! Pleasant evening as it was too cold for mosquitoes, but only moderately chilly, nothing that a sweatshirt couldn’t take care of.

We sat round the fire watching the sunset through the trees.

Tomorrow we intend to do some food shopping and perhaps a quick tour of Austin.

Christmas lights and The Riverwalk Boat Parade

We hope today will be a special day as we are planning to go into San Antonio in the evening to see the Boat Parade and the Lighting up ceremony for the Riverwalk lights.

But first, I needed to go and visit with Clint and Joan to make sure that they were happy with their new mobile broadband and to finish giving them campground details.

They surprised us by inviting us to have lunch with them at the local Mall. So we set out to see for ourselves the other Thanksgiving tradition that has frown in the U.S.A. –‘Black Friday’ not, as you would think, an evil day! (though some would think that) but the first day of the Christmas Celebrations – Thanksgiving is over, out come the Christmas lights, the canned music and –Christmas Shopping. The shops have sales and everyone is out looking for bargains. We needed to see this first hand (we have always been at the Thanksgiving Bluegrass Festival before), so we set out at about 11.00 to join the traffic jams and the general throng at the Mall. It was busy, but did not seem unusually so, still it was good fun to just get those last bits of Christmas shopping. At 1.00 we met Clint and Joan for lunch at a cafeteria called Luby’s. The food is cheap and was surprisingly good, even that nemisis of American restaurants – the vegetables, we cooked properly (not done to death). After a pleasant lunch we returned to the trailer to get ourselves organised for the evenings entertainment, because the weather forecast had let us know that the temperature was going to plummet down to freezing, so it was two pairs of socks, two pairs of trousers, T-shirt, shirt, sweatshirt and fleece for me, carrying a blanket and a cushion (those folding seats can get very cold). Sally was similarly prepared, just as well because although it was not down to freezing while we were there it was jolly cold and frost appeared on the car the next morning.

The parade would pass where our allotted seats were at about 7.15, so we were advised to get there early – by 5.00!, so being overprepared we decided to get there for 4.30, of course we found a parking space very easily and then had a couple of hours to wander round and look at what was happening. Sally wondered if anything might be happening at the Alamo (a stones throw away form the Riverwalk), as we approached we could hear music, the all lady Mariachi band was playing, there was a massive tree erected in front of the Alamo’ distinctive front wall and crowds of people were standing listening. San Antonions were celebrating the lighting of their City Christmas Tree.

We stood and watched the spectacle as the band played and Santa arrived in front of The Alamo in a white carriage, lit with fairy lights (Not Santa Anna this time) and flags were trooped and the national anthem sung and then the switch was thrown and the Christmas Tree and the whole area was lit up with little lights (which we had been assured were energy friendly LED’s). Oh what fun.

This was the appetizer, we now wandered our way, along with the whole of San Antonio, through the streets and down the elevator to the Riverwalk level and to our allotted seats for the Boat Parade. There we sat by the riverside, across the river the restaurants were serving to those people who were making a night of dining on the Riverwalk (and paying up to $100 a head to do it). At about 7.15 the Riverwalk was suddenly lit up as the lights came on, lots of twinkling coloured lights set in the trees all along the banks, which added to the restaurant and house decorations made a very pretty sight. As we sat the decorated boats came along with lots of music, some of it live, some of it canned. Lots of Santa’s, fairies, elves, a Ronald Macdonald, waved madly at us all, it was another great American Spectacle.

We made friends with a lovely family sat next to us (as well as about a dozen passers by, the volunteer steward, his wife and a security guard), who had come down from Fort Worth for the weekend. So ended another great day as we drove wearily home.

Thanksgiving Day at Travelers World

Today is Thanksgiving day for Americans, a national holiday set aside to celebrate God’s provision for their safety and well being (although of course the U.S.A. has no link between church and state). This year we are celebrating it in Travelers World Campground in San Antonio. The centrepiece of the day is dinner and the management have done us proud, they have generously provided turkey and ham and ‘taters’ I n large quantities, everything else has been brought in the form of ‘cover dishes’, or ‘dishes to pass’ by all those taking part and there was more than enough excellent food to go round. For the rest of the day we relaxed and in the evening we had a pleasant game of Rummikub with a very pleasant couple from near Vancouver in Canada, called Clint and Joan. We have seen them on and off all week, so we spent a quiet evening with them. They are planning to travel East to Florida to meet their family in January, so we bored them by giving them lots of info about campgrounds we know and love. I also helped them get their new Mobile Broadband up and running, so they are now in touch with the rest of the world

Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving

It’s that time of the year again, when we can wander round the shops looking at all those things that we think would best suit our friends and family. So to day we set out with our coat and scarves to trudge through the snow and freezing weather to visit those exclusive shops with their rows of bright shiny presents all waiting for us to carefully choose just the right gift for our loved ones, lavishing our love and care on making decisions that we hope will bring joy and laughter on Christmas Day. (Well there is a touch of poetic licence their as the temperature was actually in the 80’s, and it was sunny and warm).

Wildlife on the Move

Well, I have been doing my video editing bit and come up with a couple of animal movies that woudl be good to record for posterity
'Nine Band Armadillo' is a short video of our sighting of armadillo.


"Raccoons" is a video about the very friendly raccon we met at Sam Houston Jones State Park, near Lake Charles, LA.

A Mission to A Mission

Tuesday. We have now moved our trailer to a new campsite as we are going to stay in San Antonio until Saturday.
This campground is called Travellers World and though quite expensive is very pleasant and only 10 minutes from the city centre. The sites are well sized though a little too close to each other. It has good facilities, pool, laundry, hall, library. Lots of long term snowbirds, many of whom are Canadians. Apart from the price of $37 p.n. I would recommend this campground.
Moving was hot work as the temperature climbed again to 80, so we cooled down for a bit, had some lunch and then set out to have a look at one of the other local missions. The closest one to us is San Jose Mission, just about half a mile down the road. It is a 7 acre enclosure which was started in 1720 and finished by about 1780, though it has had lots of changes to it in it's past. The mission was placed there to provide an outpost for the Spanish, as a way of converting the local Indians and giving the Indians a chance to improve their lives.
It seemed to work, but when the Spanish left in 1810's the Mexicans secularised the mission and it became a village, then a fort to keep out the Apache and Comanche Indians. Over the years it fell into disrepair but was restored in the 1930's as part of Roosevelt's WPA plan

A Story Remembered

I must add a short addendum to our blog. Last night in talking round the campfire with our friends, I recalled an event and think that I should include it in our blog. Way back in October when we were staying in Chicot State Park, Sally decided that it was time to get her hair done, so on enquiring round she was given the name of a local hairdresser, about 10 minutes from the State Park. I dropped Sally off and having an hour and a half to amuse myself it went to a Flea Market (it called itself Antique, but it was a flea market) I had noticed on the way to the hairdresser. I had a lovely time there. It was an old barn completely full of junk, overflowing with junk in fact. The dear lady their invited me to dig around as I wanted and left me to it. There were old books, old record (even found an old Rolling Stones E.P.), cowboy hats, boots and shoes old video games (saw a really old ping pong game), however resisted the temptation for everything, except a nice ‘no parking’ sign, which I paid $2.00 for, mostly for the entertainment value of my time there.

As I was approaching the entrance to the shop a young man walked in, looked a bit of a scruff (but so do I) and was looking round - seemed a bit strange for someone his age to be in a flea market. So the three of us talked, he seemed quite pleasant, the woman kept offering items at silly prices, but it was a pleasant way to pass the time (I was still waiting for Sally) We sort of looked at some of the bits and pieces. As we were casting round the lad came across some sports equipment, a whole bag of soft balls and a variety of bats. So we looked at these, swinging the bats, to get the feel of them.

Then as the conversation proceeded.

I mentioned I was from the UK, he mentioned he was from round here.

I said I was retired, he said he was on parole!.

I said I was just looking to see if there was anything interesting. He said he was looking for a baseball bat. (Now at this point I could have got slightly alarmed).

That was because he was on parole he could not carry/own a gun.

“Right” I thought, checking where the exit was.

But no, there was no malice in his voice at all.

He was just your average local, country hoodlum making sure that he could defend himself. So we spent a good 10 minutes checking out every baseball bat, discussing the weight distribution, length and swing inertia, finally deciding on a fairly short bat, with a heavy end, which he paid $5.00 for. Having had a satisfactory conclusion to his shopping we went our separate ways, the best of friends. I went to pick Sally up and he went home feeling well defended.

Once again the phrase ‘Only In America’ rang loud in my mind.

Return to the Riverwalk

On Monday we decided to return to the Riverwalk, partly because we had enjoyed the boat trip, but partly because coming up this Friday is the Annual Lighting of the Riverwalk and Boat Parade!!! We had delayed our departure from San Antonio to go to this and ordered tickets on line, but wanted to pick them up in person to make sure that they understood Sally would be in a wheelchair.

Although this should have been a pretty straightforward task, the use of the wrong address on the internet meant that we criss-crossed the Riverwalk district a couple of times to find the ticket office. However, that meant we were able to explore the streets at ground level, above the Riverwalk, because from above you would hardly notice the almost secret world of the Riverwalk. When we collected the tickets we actually talked to the director of the event on Friday night and he was able to reassure us that our tickets were OK for Sally, but suggested that we should arrive by 5.00, for the show at 7.00, as there would be a lot of people and parking may be difficult. They expect 150,000 people to come and watch, each with a reserved seat! We also found out that the event is televised on national US TV (don’t know which channel). So we are looking forward to this event, which is Friday, the day after Thanksgiving – Official start to Christmas!!!!.

After this little adventure we felt in need of a drink, we found a Starbucks which had a terrace overlooking the Riverwalk and relaxed for a while. Following this we descended to the Riverwalk in one of the elevators and strolled round one section of the Riverwalk, just relaxing and nosing, it was great fun.

Gosh then it was time for lunch, so we chose the Saltgrass Steakhouse in the basement of Landry’s Hotel, where we had a balcony table, again overlooking the Riverwalk, where we could people watch, boat watch and Mariachi watch.

Mariachi are wandering Mexican musicians who cluster round tables with their instruments and play traditional Mexican music while you eat, until you pay for them to go away. It adds a very nice background atmosphere to dining on the Riverwalk. We had a great lunch, in fact one of the best we have had this trip. Sally went for a steak and shrimp combo, while I had baby back ribs, very nice. We then wandered home feeling very full and ready for a good stretch out. In the evening we had a wander round the campground and sat and talked to a couple from Colorado Springs and a chap called Clint from Canada. Yes it was warm enough to sit out and there were no mosquitoes, an experience that has been all too rare this trip.

The San Antonio Riverwalk

Sunday, though tired, we visited San Antonio's second biggest attraction, the Riverwalk. Rather than walking, we took a boat trip, which on reflection was a very good idea. The Riverwalk is a small section of SanAntonio which has a small river flowing through (about 20ft wide). In 1928 some architect, called Hugman, had the bright idea of using the river as a nice spot to have a town walk and a place for restaurants, so he drew up a plan for creating a small loop in the river, putting walkways either side, and since it was below street level, lots of stairways and elevators to create easy access. America’s Corps of Engineers put in a weir and later flood control so that the water stays at a constant level. The effect is a delightful walk through a narrow river valley, with buildings on either side, but plenty of trees, tropical shrubs, cool shade and spaces with many places to stop and have a meal or drink, it is quite delightful.

It sometimes has a feel of Venice about it (although I have never been there), a narrow waterway with tall buildings on either side, also it reminded me of the Pirates of the Caribbean, as the architecture has a very Spanish feel and the whole environment is controlled with the gently meandering waterway, with its unexpected turns, narrow arched bridges and tour boats. The boat trip is very good value at $6.00 (senior rate!)and takes you at a very gentle pace round the whole of the Riverwalk, with lots of useless information about special bits of it. We loved it.

Remember the Alamo

We arrived in San Antonio on Friday after a difficult journey.

On Saturday we decided to take it very easy, so we decided to drive into San Antonio (we are only about 5 minutes from the centre) and found a vacant Parking Meter to park at. (Sally's disabled parking badge means no payment needed )

Then we set out to see that most famous of all historical Cliche's - The Alamo.
We had a great time as we took the audio tour and found out about how they built the Mission.

The Mission is a fascinating place. It is really old, by any standards, dating back to the 1700’s when it was built as a Spanish Mission. Because of hostile Indians, the Missions were often fortified. It is most know for the Battle of The Alamo which took place in 1835 as part of Mexico’s civil war, which in turn brought about Texas independence from Mexico in 1836. I am still not clear why Americans such as Senator Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, Travis and John Wayne were mixed up in a foreign war, but they were. The story of the Alamo can be read in a number of places, most accessible being Wikipedia. However it remains one of the central stories of American history and the site is treated as hallowed ground by all who visit it. For us it (a) filled out a bit of America’s history, that everything West of the Louisiana Purchase was Spanish, then Mexican, for about 300 years, (b) started to place into context the relationship between U.S.A. and Mexico. It is hardly surprising that the border is so flexible as many people of Mexican origin lived in Texas from when it was part of Mexico, indeed it often appears to be more Mexico than U.S.A.

We listened to the Daughters of The Texas Revolution tour guides tell us all about the battle at The Alamo, and about the fascinating history of Mexico, then we went to see the John Wayne Collection of memorabilia from the film The Alamo.

The battle of the Alamo was about claiming equal rights with other areas of Mexico and did not solve much at all, indeed the battle was lost by the Texans. However it galvanised the area into declaring its independence from Mexico and after a couple more reversals Texas was allowed to become a separate and independent country, which it remained for some ten years before entering into the United States in 1846.

While on the tour we listened to a couple of excellent expositions from the staff at the Alamo.

After our visit there we decided to eat out, so stopped at a local steak house The Red Barn and had a very mediocre steak - still you can’t win them all.

Gorgeous day in Galveston

Today we hit the jackpot.
The sun rose in a cloudless sky - there is a cool breeze and it has been cloudless all day. High in the upper 70's. Even by Gulf coast standards this is a great day.
We had a leisurely breakfast (Sally's Special Pancakes, maple syrup and bacon), then we said a leisurely goodbye to the Canadian friends we have just made (they are going off to live the winter life boondocking on the sea shore further south). We then took a leisurely wander round one of the nature trails, followed by a leisurely walk to the beach (after parking the van 20 yards from the beach. We returned for a leisurely nap with a cool breeze blowing through the trailer. Then we gathered three weeks of washing and I have come to the local washateria, called Soaps, to do a leisurely (ha!) mega clothes wash. I am writing this blog as the three loads are going through the wash cycle. (another 4 minutes to go).
On our wander round we have seen the return of the Roseatte Spoonbill, Red tailed hawks, blue heron, large white egret and White Tailed Kite.
Tomorrow we move on towards San Antonia to do a remake of The Alamo.

Leaving Louisiana

Tuesday

In leaving Sam Houston Jones State Park we were leaving Louisiana and the Cajun culture we had come to see this trip. In some ways I felt that I had not seen enough, yet we knew that we had had enough of Louisiana, not that there were any bad experiences, quite the reverse, just that we knew it was time to move on.

We rose early today and were on the road by 10.10. One of the things I have noticed with Sally that I think may be the result of her diet is that she is waking much earlier and has been alert much earlier in the morning, which has been great. We bumped along the rough Louisiana Interstate 10 and crossed the Sabine River to land in Texas. The first thing I noticed is that the roads are much smoother.

We were planning to stop at Galveston State Park, now Galveston is a town built on an island, well really a 20 mile long sand spit which has been cut off from the land. We found it difficult to understand the scale of the waterway it is built on. It is at the mouth of what is called the Bay area, this bay is about 15 miles wide. The Intracoastal Waterway is the strip of water between the sand islands and the mainland. This waterway is up to 10 miles wide and stretches for many tens of miles along the southern coast of Texas. It is part of the offshore sand strip which is a couple of hundred miles long and goes from Louisiana to Mexico.

This was a long trip for us – 180 miles – and we were both weary and stiff by the time we arrived in Galveston, only to find that the State Park was 9 miles the other side of it. Still it is a beautiful park, if you like sand dunes and wetlands. We had the choice of a site right by the sea shore, but out of site because of a fence/hedge, or a waterside site on the edge of the Intracoastal Waterway, so we chose the waterside site. We have a great view right across the waterway. Out of the trailer window we can watch pelicans dive bombing the fish, Macawber like herons, waiting for something to turn up, large Red Tailed Hawks soaring across the wetland, an Osprey perched on a stake sticking out of the water and Killdeer skittering round the wet sand/pools. I have been keeping a good lookout for dolphin, but have not any confirmed sitings. But it is very relaxing just sitting watching.

As we were leaving Sam Houston Jones S.P. we met a couple of Canadians, who were also on their way to Galveston, so we endeavoured to meet up when we arrived. I had to go back to the Rangers office this morning and ran into them. They have moved onto the Intracoastal campsite and invited us to eat with them, we have just come back from a lovely time spent with them.

National Wetlands Area

Since arriving in Lake Charles we had planned to tour the National Wetlands Area, which is to the south of the city, on the way to the coast. Well Today, Friday, was the day. We set off early and drove South. As we left the city behind we drove across a wide level plain, the cattle fields gave way to rice fields then marshes.

It was very, very flat and very,very big. We made several stops along the way, looking at the wetland birds, many heron and egret, lots of hawks and osprey.
Also we saw at least six alligators during our trip.
We headed south to the sea, then followed the sea shore for about 25 miles, crossing the Calcaseiu river by ferry, we watched dolphins doing somersaults out tf the water as we crossed. We stopped on the beach for lunch, it was deserted, you could see for about 10 miles in each direction and it was deserted. Just mile after mile of sand beach. This, we realised, was the first time we had been to the seaside on this trip!
By the way, we saw no oil on the beaches or in the salt marshes.
I get the feeling that the tales of pollution have been greatly exaggerated for the benefit of those claiming restitution. We actually drove the car on to the beach at Helen Beach, but were advised by notice that 'donuts, figure of eights and wheelies' were forbidden. The area was very desolate in places, in others there was all sorts of activity, shrimp boats, oil wells, several helicopter bases, to supply the oil rigs, dormitories. We then frove up the other side of the Calcaseiu River, which was really an estuary about 5 miles wide, through another wetland area. In all the wetlands here seem to be a coastal strip of land about 30 miles wide and following the coast for about 100 miles. it was a fascinating day, and surprisingly plenty to see. So we were quite weaqry by the time we got back to the trailer, so we built a nice campfire and had burgers for tea.

When The Wildlife Gets Friendly

Following our somewhat hectic 'Cajun Tour' we have slowed down a bit, taking more time to relax. Yesterday we went in search of a Cold Stone Ice Cream, but the shop was shut due to 'technical problems', so we settle for a Starbucks coffee and cup of Earl Grey Tea.
We are still seeing all sorts of wild life in the park. Last night we saw raccoons up close as they tried to empty our trash bin. I couldn't get a decent photo though, so we await a further visitation tonight. The park is just about empty now, although I am sure that more campers will arrive tonight and tomorrow for the weekend. I managed to take this picture of a pot bellied woodpecker

Sally went for a wander and took some good pics of a heron

and some turtles sunning themselves

Sally also took a good picture of the raccoon
.
As we are in relax mode we have had a campfire, while we sat round the fire, just watching the flames, who should come along but our friendly raccoon.

This time I managed to get some nice pics and some video.
It wandered up to us and sat around the campfire with us, then climbed a tree nearby and cleaned itself. Then came back down the tree and wandered off. Incidentally, in case you, like me, are wondering, a raccoon climbs down a tree forwards and makes it look easy.

Lake Charles

On Tuesday we took a ride into Lake Charles. After stopping at the Visitor Center, which was very nice, we took a self guided tour round the Charpentier Historical District. This is a district of houses which were built around the turn of the Twentieth Century. They glory in the the fact that they were not architect designed, but rather built from plans bought off the shelf, then modified by the carpenter builders of the time. There are lots of pretty houses, but nothing that you would want to have made a special journey for.
After this we were ready to eat, so we went to one of the recommended restaurants, called Shasha's. It was an OK meal, but I felt it was a little overpriced and undersized - are we getting use to the massive portions usually served do you think?
We finished off the day by getting the shopping in at a local Farmer's Basket, which is a big chain of supermarkets in this area.
In the evening we watched The Appalachians. This was the first of three programmes which we had bought when we visited The Carter Family Fold in April last year, when we were in Tennessee. Unfortunately it made us think thoughts about returning to the area, but it will probably not be for several years yet!

Lake Charles

Monday we left behind a nice State Park and a new friend. This week we have spent a bit of time with Camilla. We have done a bit of exploring together, shared some lovely meals, sat round a campfire together and even had a bit of a jam (she plays a pretty good violin). This left us a bit sad.
Now travelling West we made good time and found ourselves a nice spot at Sam Houston Jones State Park, right on the Western Border of Louisiana in time for lunch. We are now poised to travel into Texas. But first we want to explore a little bit around here.
The campground is split into two areas, we are in the smaller of the two. The sites are small and often very close together, however it is a pleasant enough campground, while it is empty. The facilities are good, with the newer style en suite arangement found at Chicot North Campsite. Four private rooms, each with a shower, toilet, basin and mirror.
Anyway we are now safely encamped in a nice little spot by a (now dry) swamp.
We have already had deer, squirrel and a pileated woodpecker come within 10 yards of the trailer. Sally has taken a number of really good pictures of some of them.

About Cajun Music

Having now firmly placed the Cajun Culture in our mental framework we moved on to ‘Mark Savoy’s (pronounced Savoy) Music Shop. Here he makes accordions for the Cajun musical elite. We had hoped to meet him, however he was away on business at the time, so we spoke to his wife.

Like many other colonising cultures, the Acadien’s brought their French music and dance with them. (it was cheap, didn’t need books and is an excellent way to help keep an extended family together and sane). Originally the instruments were home made and consisted of fiddle, iron triangle (le Tit Fer- you work it out), spoons and washboard. The accordione (I know nothing of the niceties of squeeze boxes) was introduced from Germany in the 1850’s (New Orleans was a big port). The standard German accordion was a small, diatonic (different note sucking and blowing), single row button accordion with 4 voices, with only two bass voices on the left hand. This provides music in a single key. C and G are the favourite, although many players will have several, often to suit their voice. I have seen/heard C# and D.

The characteristic Cajun Sound is created by an interplay of accordion rhythm and the rhythm provided by the rest of the band.

I classify Cajun music as being a music form which has come about to support dancing. Almost everywhere that Cajun Music is played you will find dancers. Most of the dancing seems to be couple based and much of it looks like it has come out of the huge explosion of dance forms that were created post world war I, with the advent of dance halls. Two step, waltz, lindy hop have all been taken, but modified to suit the driving rhythm of Cajun music.

What Cajuns Eat

Together with their own culture, history, food and habits, the Cajuns more or less disappeared into the swamplands of the Bayous,staying in the South and the Achafalaya areas of Louisiana, they are known as the Bayou Cajun. Many of them found their way through the swamp/bayou and settled the otherwise inaccessible prairie lands to the West of these swamps. They are know as Prairie Cajuns. They meet approximately at Lafayette. Although now good communications mean that they mix a lot more.

The clay soil meant that normal cereal crops would not grow, but would hold water, so rice became the main cereal crop.

So it is hardly surprising that most of the traditional dishes have rice in them. Jumbalaya is a rice dish (like risotto), Gumbo (a soup) has rice in it and Etouffe (thickened Roux sauce) is served on a bed of rice.

The Creole influence ensured the introduction of spicy flavours to all these specialities. The bayous and the rice paddies provided a place for crawfish to grow and then to be farmed (they ar a freshwater crustacaean), the Coastal Bayous provided giant shrimp.

The Cajuns on the bayou lived by trapping, fishing and hunting, so meat was often whatever they caught (possum, raccoon, deer,), along with their ‘annual hog’. The variety of meat, the ‘make do’ culture and spices ensured the popularity of meat by-products such as sausage (the local favourite is Boudin Sausage, pork or chicken (or ?), rice and spices). These spicy sausages also found their way into many of the local dishes, which often gives them their spicy flavour, such as Red Beans and Rice (the closest thing you will find to baked beans, without tomato), but also gumbo and jambalaya.

Where Cajuns Come From.

The Cultural Center hit it just right for us as it explained the origin and history of the Acadian – Acadjian- Cajun people. They actually arrived in Acadia from France in 1604, 16 years before the Pilgrim Fathers landed further south. In the 1750’s they were forcibly removed from the land, exiled and transported to other colonies by the British in a political move that looked very much like the clearing of the crofters in Scotland and similar actions in Ireland. The area was then renamed Novia Scotia (New Scotland) by the British. Several thousands fled, or otherwise made their way to the old French Colonies on the Gulf of Mexico and a community was set up in Louisiana, separate from the New Orleans French Colonialists. In 1790 the Slave revolt in Haitti meant that some 10,000 French/black refugees fled across the gulf to Louisiana and provided the Creole influence. So there were really three different French influences all jumbled in together in the bayou areas round the lower part of the Mississippi.

You Nice people of Eunice.

Thursday, the weather has returned to sunny skies, although the temperature has dropped to the sixties and thirties at night. It now feels like the crisp autumn days back home that tell us winter is around the corner. In this case high pressure build over The Rockies and forces a cold North wind to sweep down from Canada and the Great Lakes across the Mississippi plains, right down to the Gulf of Mexico (where we are).

As it was a nice sunny day we decided to return to Eunice to see the things missed on Saturday. As we drove down we took a couple of pictures of the extensive rice fields we drove through. Many of them were still flooded for the rice in them, others were dry and bare, but with the little levees between the fields.

In Eunice we visited the Jean Lafitte Acadian Plains Cultural Center, which is a National Park. It is one of six locations which make up the park, some of them are just buildings, like this one, others are land areas which reflect the geography. There is a big bayou park near Westwego, where we camped, outside of New Orleans. There is also a park at the site of the battle between the English and Americans, which is the story of the song made so famous by Lonnie Donnegan, (UK) and Mac Wiseman (USA), The Battle of New Orleans. This battle was fought as part of the little known war between the Americans and the British in 1812-1815, where the English 10,000 troops came second to General Andy (later to be President) Jacksons 1500 assortment army, mostly militia men. It also included the famous Pirate Jean Laffite, who is a big name round Louisiana, hence the name of the National Park.

We Visit Washington

Almost every state has a Washington, either town or county named after their first president.
Louisiana is no different. We had heard that it was a quaint old town which still had a number of old houses, so we decided to give it a visit. Camilla said she would like to come along as well.
Washington has the strange characteristic of being a port almost 100 miles from the sea and its bayou is quite narrow (it's too small to call a river). It is now a small town with only a single stoplight. However it has a small museum, some very nice houses and a plantation house (Magnolia Ridge). We toured the museum and spoke to a couple of very nice guides. They told us quite a bit about cotton and rice growing.
We then understood the significance of Washington. It is the only high ground that is reachable by river on the west side of the Achafalaya Swamp area, and although the bayou is quite small it meant that it was the only way that people on the West Prairies could get their cotton and rice out and goods in, So until the arrival of the train in 1830's if was a very important port. Steam paddle boats would come in during the winter, when the bayou was at it's highest, and take away the goods.

We then toured the little town, looking at all of the very old houses. Most interesting of all was the Magnolia Ridge Plantation. It was very well preserved and had beautiful grounds, although we could not go into the the house as it is still a private dwelling place. However as we walked round we met a very nice couple who are the caretakers. They were very friendly and we stood and talked to them for about an hour.
We ended up with them giving us a big bag of Pecan Nuts to take back to the trailer (this is big Pecan country, and this is the time to gather them). We then went and ate at the very posh Washington Steamboat Warehouse, which is a converted steamboat warehouse in Washington. We had a very nice, if slightly pricey, meal, Sally had Srimp Betsy (like a soup), I had Crawfish Etouffe and Camila had seafood Surprise (a pasta with a creamy seafood sauce).

Grumpy Old Man

Monday. This Blog carries a ‘GRUMP WARNING’. It is a moan about poor service, so readers may probably ignore this blog, but I need to make a record of it. Now there are one or two small plot threads to our vacation this year that I have not thought merited the attention of any reader, however things have now (almost) come to fruition, so it may be worth mentioning them. Last year we lost a small seal from under our trailer (no not the fish eating kind), it protects the corner of the slide out and prevents water from splashing up into the trailer. We needed to repair this, which I did using Wal-Mart plastic bags and duck tape, with only marginal success. However in the long term we knew that we would have to buy a replacement part. Here the logic of logistics meets the incompetence of companies.

To obtain a new part we would have to:

1. Describe the missing part accurately, not just the model and serial number, but provide photographs for the manufacturer to be able to decide what it was.
2. Find a retailer who handles Starcraft.
3. Know where we will be when the part is delivered.
4. Which means we need to know when the part will be delivered.

Well, we figured the best thing to do would be to get it delivered to Jim and Connie, as we were seeing them when we left the trailer, and when we were returning.

We also wished to fit an extra door on to the cabinet in our bedroom (they only put three across where four would fit, so you constantly had to grope round a corner to find clothes). So we photographed and measured the door we wanted.

We found a dealer who would order the parts, but they suggested we wait until we knew when we were coming back and they would order them to arrive when we did. They suggested that three weeks would be enough time. HA!

Middle of August (we were coming back the end of September - 6 weeks) we duly got hold of Ashley at Leisuretime RV and she assured us that she would order the parts that day.

A week later, checked up. She could not order parts unless they were paid for.

She would find out how much they would be. Two weeks later (Starcraft do not seem to be in any hurry!) she gets a price and we pay for the parts (only $70, but $40 carriage). So she will order them.

A week before we leave for U.S. she tells us that she has ordered the parts and they will arrive soon.

Just before we leave they have not shown up.

When we arrive we call and she says that Starcraft have located the cupboard door and are checking the schematics for the seal.

We plan to be with Connie and Jim for a week. (5^th October). No way.

Ashley then tells us that yes they have located all the parts and they will ship on 11^th October (ground delivery is 3-5 working days). We cannot wait that long, as we are going to visit Jim and Kathy in North Florida for a few days, so we decide to get the parts shipped direct to Jim and Kathy and wait for them there.

We got to Jim and Kathy, who are wonderful people and were prepared to settle for a long wait. However, Jim and Kathy said they would like to come along with us to New Orleans.

There is no point hanging around for a package, so we decided to get going and Jim and Kathy would forward the parts to us when they got back. We had a great time in New Orleans and Jim and Kathy duly returned home, via a bike weekend in Destin. Two packages awaited them, which they shipped on to us at Chico State Park. We actually got them on Thursday 28^th October, more than two months after ordering them!

But wait, two packages, when opened, became a cabinet door and the glass insert to the door. NO SEAL! A phone call to Leisuretime RV back in Florida (we are now in Louisiana) verified that the third part (which Leisuretime RV had not realised was coming to them, as they had changed the delivery address to Jim and Kathy) had arrived there and they had just, literally just, shipped it to Jim and Kathy, without any reference to me. So this part has now arrived at Jim and Kathy’s and they have now forwarded it to us at Chicot State Park. We are now waiting for the last part to arrive.

On a more positive note, I have now remodelled the bedroom overhead cabinet to have four doors instead of three and it looks excellent.

Opelousas and the Great Yambilee Festival

We returned from Eunice too late on Saturday to catch any of the Halloween Fun (oh yes, don’t let the wrong night get in the way of a good Saturday night). On Sunday we had considered going to Opelousas because they were celebrating their most celebrated item – the Yam, not to be confused with the Sweet Potato (because I am). Yes it was The Yambalee Festival in Old Opelousas. It had been going since Wednesday, so today was the last day and the day of The Great Parade.

So we set out at about lunch time, found our way to Opelousas, got out the lawn chairs and joined the throng on Main Street, just in time for The Great Parade to come past.

The Great Parade was made up of the police, bikes and cars. Two high school marching bands, a couple of dance schools and then an assortment of company cars, a couple of floats and, and, for some reason I cannot explain…… The politicians who were running for Congress, The Senate, The State Governor and The Opelousas City Mayor. Why, because Tuesday is VOTIN’ DAY, not for the president, but for almost everyone else. And they was out in force. They all came past with their campaign slogans, and music and shaking hands with folk and kissing babies, and throwing out sweets and garlands and shaking hands with babies and kissing folk and asking for their vote.

Well, because I like to be loved, as they came past I told each one of them I thought they were the right man (though one of them was a woman) for the job and I would vote for them (then quietly to myself I had to say, well I would if I could, but I is British, so I can’t). Still it made for a great parade.

When the parade had gone past we picked up our lawn chairs jumped back in the van and went on down to the funfair and met Miss Yambilee 2010 and some crazy woman dressed in a Whoopie Cushion! (Only in America)

We then came home via Wal-Mart. We tried to find somewhere to eat out, but there was nowhere that was suitable, so we came home and I cooked Chicken and Rice with Gravy (which my friend Kathy had taught me to cook last week).

Just as a footnote, while at Chicot Park we have made friends with a full timer called Camilla, she comes from Oregon. She is very sweet and so we invited her to join us on our trip to The Great Yambilee Festival Parade and we all had fun together.

Saturday Night in Eunice

Saturday. Well after the excitement of Fred's Lounge this morning (we really pushed the boat out by going to Fred's Lounge) this afternoon we determined to go a bit further south and go to Eunice. ( Sally's mother was called Eunice , so it's a bit strange to find a town of that name!!) Eunice has a very nice Art Deco Historic District, consisting mostly of its Main Street. It has several stores and The Liberty Theater, which first opened in 1924. Now every Saturday it is used as the venue for a Cajun Music Concert, "Rendez-vous des Cajuns," which is broadcast live on a local radio station, Radio KVRS and is available on the Internet as a TV broadcast.

You have to turn up at 4.00 to buy your ticket ($5.00), though the show does not start until 6.00. Inside you will find a number of volunteers/audience old timers who will tell you almost anything about Eunice, The Liberty Theater, Cajun music, the local area. Using their expertise we asked for a good place to eat before the show. That would be 'Ronnies' - pile it high and sell it cheap. Sounded good to us. True to their description we had a great Cup of Gumbo followed by beef tips on rice, with Purple Hull Peas (like a red bean stew, no sausage though), corn or green beans and two drinks set us back $20.00. We couldn't eat it all!!

On returning to our seats the the Liberty Theater, we watched a great concert of two Cajun groups, both with young accordionists. Cameron Dupuy of The Cajun Troubadours is only thirteen years old.

The show was introduced by Barry Jean Anclet, in crazy 50/50 Cajun French/English. It sounds French, but has an awful lot of English words that get ejected from the Gallic flow of talk. All the vocals/song names were in French. As the bands played so couples got up and danced round the small space between the the very uncomfortable old cinema seating and the stage.

It was another great night of Americana. An event that is unique to Eunice, Louisiana and its Cajun Heritage. For us it had echoes of the Carter Family Fold. It was a gathering as much as a performance. An event that required the positive participation of everyone. It was a great evening which we enjoyed immensely.