TEXAS TO ARIZONA March 29 - April 4, 2013

With Easter weekend on us we decided to spend the holiday in the Hill Country of Texas, north of San Antonio.  I was able to get us a 2 night stay at a great county park: Kerrville-Schneider Regional Park. There was so much to see, but our biggest outing was to the Lyndon B Johnson Ranch.

 To tour the property you are given a CD and a driving map allowing you to drive all over the property and spend as much time as you'd like at each site. Our first stop was the schoolhouse he attended and where he later returned as President Johnson to sign major educational Legislation. A Park Ranger gave us a walking tour of his home, The Texas White House. With televisions and telephones in every room, he was able to conduct much of his work and entertain dignitaries there on the ranch.  He died in that house of a heart attack at the age of 65.  Paul and I were both so surprised at this fact...he had always seemed so old to us... and we both know that 65 is NOT OLD! 

 After our visit there, we still had time for lunch in the nearby German town of Fredricksburg...a wonderful brat and sauerkraut lunch at Auslander's. We were up early Easter morning to get some major miles done. By the end of the afternoon we were across Texas near the town of Balmorhea, staying at the Passport America's Saddleback Mtn RV Park. Definitely just a stop on the road, right off the highway but with full hookups for only $10, it was perfect for us.

Monday, April 1st,  we passed through the enormous city of El Paso, which surprised both of us, and entered New Mexico. Arriving in the early afternoon was a much needed break from driving so we stopped at Dream Catcher RV Park, an Escapees membership park near Deming, NM; basic but with a nice laundry room to use. We took an evening drive up to the nearby mountains to catch a beautiful sunset.

 We could have driven the rest of the way into Arizona but wanted to let Emily have some days alone with Harry before we arrived so we spent the next 2 nights at the Kartchner Caverns State Park outside of Benson, AZ. As we headed that way we made an impromptu stop at Fort Bowie National Historic Site. To get to the fort built in 1852 we drove about 10 mi off the interstate, parked the car and then walked the 2 miles into the park. All that's left now are the ruins but we had a wonderful hike and picnic.

 Really? Geronimo was here?

Typical Apache house

Fort Bowie in the distance

 We hiked out a different trail with views of the valley below.

We were set up at Kartchner Caverns by mid afternoon, Tuesday. The spectacular living caves were first discovered in 1974 but required many years before being purchased by the state of Arizona and developed as a park, opening in 2001. We took the tour of the Big Room the next morning, an amazing sight. We planned to leave on Thursday morning and were able to get an 8:30 tour that morning of the Throne Room and still be out of our campsite by noon, perfect!

After our first tour on Wednesday we spent the afternoon visiting Tombstone, just 20 miles south from our campground.  A true western town, stage coaches, cowboys, gunfights and all.

Lunch and a beer at Big Nose Kate's, including a visit from Doc Holiday and Wyatt Earp.

As always, Arizona sunsets are gorgeous!

From here we only had a 60 miles drive west and a bit south to Green Valley and time with my brother, Harry.

CHANGE IN PLANS March 20-30, 2012

Our original plan to stay on the east coast for the next year took a detour in early March when my Mom passed away on March 14th in Green Valley, Arizona. I was so happy that I'd seen her only weeks before on our visit to Arizona. Always her sweet smile and happy greeting when we arrived.

                 Such a pretty woman at 90 years old!

                                                     Harry and I with Mom,  Feb 1, 2013

As happens when life changes, our plans also changed. Mom's services were planned for April 9th. We needed to turn west for that as well as other events in the upcoming months...Peggy's wedding at the Grand Canyon late May, spend time with my brother, Harry, in Green Valley and make it to my annual girlfriend getaway in Santa Ynez late June. So, we decided we would postpone our trip to eastern Canada for a year and return to Florida before driving west. We had already made another big decision on something we've talked about for quite a while, to buy a 2nd motorhome and leave one on the east coast and drive one to the west coast. We love the idea of being able to fly back and forth between coasts and always have a home there for us to continue our travels.

So, with a few days before needing to drive west, Paul started to work on our new RV.

Here's how we looked on Wednesday, March 20th. Both motorhomes in one site at Cooksey's RV Park just north of St. Augustine, FL.

Paul started a renovation to the one on the left. Just as he did before he tore it apart from floor to ceiling and started to modernize it all.

The oak walls and blue carpet are gone. Cabinets were painted white, wood flooring installed and he began painting the walls. We chose a rusty red for the living room.

He was working so hard trying to get it ready for us to take west and... Thursday was our 43rd wedding anniversary.  I really thought with so much going on we'd just go out for a simple dinner that night but my sister, Emily, had other ideas.  I woke up Thursday morning to find an email from her telling us we were going to have a wonderful anniversary dinner at Rhett's Piano Bar in St. Augustine that evening, with a gift certificate already waiting for us there. 

As Emily knows we have always made our anniversary a real celebration for all these years, but somehow with all that was going on in our lives this year, I had let that slip to the back burner. I'm so glad she didn't! We had a delicious dinner, with piano music playing and a very private 2nd story corner window table.  Yes, getting Paul to break away from working was hard and his hands were totally covered in white paint but that didn't stop us from dressing up and enjoying a wonderful evening. Thank you, Emily!  It was perfect!

Emily drove up that next weekend so she and I played and did some sights of St. Augustine while Paul kept on working. By Saturday a huge thunderstorm blew in and settled over us for most of the day.  

Paul had already put much of the house together...here's our new bedroom

The living room got a new sofa, dark wood blinds, new carpet and a large mirror to update it all.

Now all that's needed is the pub table for the empty space. Oh, there's still tons of work left to do on it, but what a great start he's made. Though we wanted to bring the new one west, after talking it over we changed the plan.  A little too risky to drive so many miles in an RV we hadn't really tested fully.

Sunday morning we were up early, Em left at 6AM, and we put the RV back into storage, locked it up and headed for the west coast by 10:00. It will be a new experience to see what happens to the RV as it sits through a Florida summer.

We drove I-10 West and had our first stop at Falling Waters State Park in northern FL. A small lake creates Florida's tallest waterfall, at 73' falling  into a sink hole. Neat to walk all around this area.  Paul was exhausted and we were able to get a 2nd night at the park though we had to change sites, it was worth it.

From Florida we drove on through Alabama and into Louisiana for a 2 night stay at Fontainebleau State Park. The park was once a sugar plantation with some of the ruins still standing. Absolutely gorgeous!

Quite the entry! One thing we love about state parks on the east coast is the expanse of lands for the park.  We often drive 2-3 miles into the park before coming to the campground area, making it quiet and so removed from the nearby towns and noise.

The nearby town of Mandeville is home to a fun restaurant, Louie and the Red Head Lady. Since it had been featured on the Food Network's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives we stopped for lunch.  Make mine fried green tomatoes with shrimp, yum!

We also spent another afternoon along the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain with New Orleans straight across the 25 mile causeway south. After driving along the lake front we stopped for a local beer at the Oats and Barley Draught House.  It was a warm afternoon, perfect for sitting outside on the upper balcony.

After such a nice 2 days we were back on the road to the opposite side of Louisiana at Sam Houston Jones State Park.  We were camped right across from this swampy marsh. Beautiful! 

On our way to that park we took a little detour to see the Longfellow-Evangeline Historic State Park. I had always remembered my Mom reciting pieces of the poem, Evangeline, and I had read it and loved it several years ago, so this was a great find for me. This area was originally settled by Creole and French Acadians in the 18th century and the park has several historic houses. 

The 19th century home of Charles DuClozel Olivier

An Acadian Farm with out buildings

The guide showing us the house pointed out this "roller pin headboard". Since mattresses at that time were made of feathers which would get lumpy a rolling pin was used to smooth out the feathers when the bed was made in the morning.

We drove south just a bit in the town of St Martin for lunch at St. John's.  In the nearby church yard was this statue of Evangeline.

Since it was the beginning of Easter weekend, we could only get one night at the Sam Houston Jones Park, but had enough time in the evening for a beautiful bike ride all around it.  The next morning we were up early again and on our way to Texas. 859 miles down, and a few left to go!

CHARLESTON, SC March 17-18, 2013

Oh, My goodness...I think I'm back int he Blogging business!!!! I'm trying out the new hotspot on my NEW iPhone and it has amazing new capabilities!  That means I don't have to go find an internet wifi spot and sit there trying to write and post, that's become so arduous. If this does work as well as I think its going to, I can keep up with frequent posts.  That's the best part!!!

So here we go!

Ill start with our weekend first...We were parked just south of Charleston for 2 nights at Lake Aire RV Park, a Passport America stay, $22. When we got there on Saturday afternoon we had a huge group of little Cub Scouts running all over, fishing and hitting balls on the driving range. Too fun!  They were there to work on their badges for camping.  Our site had a perfect view of the little lake and other than some happy kids running all over, the park was quiet and set back off the road in a pine forest so we didn't hear any road noise.  We set up our site, made dinner and enjoyed an old movie.

Sunday we did a little Costco shopping before going into the city for a visit to the Apple Store...and my new iphone purchase, then we had tickets to the matinee at the Dock Street Theater to see Boeing, Boeing. A funny and well presented little play in Americas oldest theater! The sunny day had turned chilly by the time we got out so we headed back to our place for dinner and an early night.  Yes, the little Cubs were still there but by now it was campfire time so the campground was quiet.

Monday morning we were up early to pack everything back into the motorhome, drive it to the parking lot at Costco then drive the car on into Charleston for a historic walking tour that began at 9:45. As we were waiting for the tour to begin we looked across the street to see the cutest buggies ever...3 of these red buggies carrying tiny little ones out for a walk of the city.  It was so cute!  Guess they were from a nearby child care center and they are often seen walking around town.  The kids wave as they go by!

 We met at the steps of the Old Custom House and our guide began telling us about the once "walled city" of Charleston. Fascinating!

 As I listened I took photos of doorways and flowers. My favorites!  This is one of the first cities where we've seen flower boxes, and they were lovely.  One thing about the east coast is we see beautiful green vegetation, palm trees and forests but no bedding plants and color gardens like we have in CA...but Charleston changed that.  It's a wonderful destination. I think Charleston is every bit as interesting as Savannah, if not more so!  The history and architecture are fascinating.

 The strange metal post at the front of this house is an old cannon stuck in the sidewalk

 This is an example of a Charleston Single House, well suited to the hot and humid climate. They are only one-room-wide and the narrow end of the house faces the street.  Two-story verandas (called Piazzas) stretch down the long side. It provided cross-ventialtion in the days before air conditioning as well as a perfect place to sit and enjoy the enclosed gardens below. The other thing about the Single House is that the front door is on the porch. Yes, you enter the front door from the street and you're on the porch not inside the house. The entrance hall is centered on the side of the house.  They are everywhere and so beautiful!

Here are more flower boxes...makes me want to put one of the side of our motorhome!

After our walking tour it was time for lunch so we stopped at a little french bakery for a sandwich and had a wonderful visit with a lovely woman from Charleston. Then it was time to say good bye and head south again as our plans have changed and we're leaving the east coast and going back to California for the summer. We drove 185 miles south and stopped near Brunswick, GA for the night at Golden Isles RV Park, another Passport America stay.  Since we only need to stay for an over night, it's easy to find private parks but I already was missing all the beauty of the state parks.

so, now ill give it a try to post this and see how it goes...keeping my fingers crossed.