New Orleans II

Day 24
We woke to another gorgeous day! We took the campground free shuttle in to New Orleans French Quarter for a day of shopping and boat ride. Our driver liked doubling as a tour guide, and took us down narrow streets to show us some beautiful homes, a mansion tucked away somewhere, and a tour around an old cemetery for the rich. It seems the very rich here compete for who has the biggest monument to themselves. Every plot had huge monuments, some shaped as churches, others with statutes of people or animals, and a number with stain-glassed windows inside. For health reasons, the caskets themselves have to be burned after a period of time. The family behind the Whitney Bank had what looked like the front of an old bank building. Some of these stones date back to the mid 1800's.
After coffee and beignets, a deep-fried pastry covered with heaping piles of icing sugar (much like the apple version of olliebollen, but without the apples), a N.O. tradition, we set out on our own. George marched straight to the waterfront. Joanie, Gerda and Tina headed for the souvenir stores. I was caught in the middle, not wanting to deprive this region of its economic growth, but also afraid that my enthusiasm for shopping may not match that of the others. I therefore took off on my own, exploring the French Quarter, checking out the stores and scenery. We all met again at 2:00PM to board one of the only authentic paddlewheelers still running for a tour of the harbour. A nice relaxing afternoon, followed by a mad dash to that last store Joanie and Gerda were not quite finished with, before catching our shuttle back. A good day but a little tiring. Retirement is sooo hard!
Driving around N.O. we saw many homes and businesses which were flooded by Katrina and never re-opened. One did have a note on the side by the SPCA informing rescuers of a cat upstairs. Personally, I find the old buildings with their rod iron balconies in the French Quarter very interesting, but outside of downtown, I find most of the streets and shops kind of seedy looking and not very appealing. We were also warned not to wander around the neighbourhood after dark (our campsite was secure) which adds to the sense of seediness. Of course, we also saw where the rich lived, and that was quite different. No sign of hurricane damage there. We also heard several times from locals that news reports about the BP spill were grossly exaggerated, with little evidence of damage in this area. The news focused on the few areas directly damaged and played that over and over to give the impression of total destruction.
The difference in the weather here vs Utah is that the evenings remain warm. We can sit out all night whereas in Utah, it could be 100 degrees in the day and be quite cool by 10PM.

Day 25
Another hot, lazy day. We went to a local plantation house that dated back to the late 1700's. We had a very interesting presentation by a retired black university professor of pharmaceuticals, who talked about all the remedies practiced by many of the senior blacks, even today. Many his mom used on him as a child. e.g. drinking male urine to cure a sore throat, the use of leeches, cow manure for athlete's foot, and sage tea for runny noses, fevers, etc. He and his students tested these things and most could not be shown scientifically to be effective, although some were. He is going to write a book about his findings, published by the U. of Michigan. FYI - if you get stung by a jelly fish, do not get someone to pee on it, this will aggravate the injury. So much for the Friends episode being accurate. For nettles, on the other hand, pee away!
We spent the afternoon in the pool after a visit to Winn Dixie. Tomorrow Walter and Marion leave us as they booked a cruise a few days ago, leaving from New Orleans and going to Mexico. After that they are off to do work for CRWRC in Galveston.

Day 26
Destination: Westlake, Louisiana

Today we left New Orleans. The one thing I will not miss is the trains. Even though the tracks do not cross any roads near here, they blow their whistles almost non-stop until they are far away. I don't know if people frequent the tracks or what the story is, but it is highly annoying.
We said goodbye to Walter and Marion today. The weather was warm, 32 degrees C. at 3PM. We crossed over the swamps and bayous (bayous have water that flows, swamps do not), across Louisiana. In Baton Rouge we got caught in a traffic jam at about 10:30. LSU was playing football against Tennessee at 2:30 and the highways were already plugged with a 10 km. backup on one side of town. Not that is a sign of good fan support.
Near Lafayette we saw our first sugar cane fields. The land is very flat here with areas of dry ground and other areas of swamps and bayous. After setting up camp at 2PM, we took a drive along an "All-American Highway" into the bayou to look for birds, gators, etc. We did see many egrets, lesser egrets, cattle egrets, white ibis, herons, millions of dragon flies, and other flies bent on driving me insane. Nothing all that new to see. Next time we look for an All-Canadian Highway.
PS Maria - there are no new signs of injury on George's head.

Day 27
Destination: Houston, Texas
We did a 4 hour drive to Houston. In Beaumont, Texas and the outskirts of Houston, it was incredible to see the number and size of the oil refineries wherever you looked. I was glad to leave the horrible highways of Louisiana behind. We continue to be amazed at the number and size of the churches we see in every city. We saw many mega-sized churches and World Centers of Prayer. One in Houston had a parking lot the size of a medium sized shopping mall, and it was full!
In the afternoon we, Ken and Alice, Al and Else, and Joanie and I, went to the NASA Space Center. We were not prepared for how long it would take to see all the things we wanted to, and we did run out of time. We enjoyed seeing the actual Mission Control Center, the simulators where astronauts train for flights, touching moon rocks, and sitting in a flight simulator where we had the controls and try to fly it and shoot down enemy forces. We had a great time and enjoyed a pizza before going back to camp. Gerda and George, and Tina drove a different route to Houston, passing through Galveston so arrived after we had left. The weather in Houston was a nice comfortable 25 degrees C.
In the evening we made several attempts to contact our children with Skype, but to no avail. Out of sight, out of mind?

Day 28
Destination: Corpus Christ
Another gorgeous day with temp. reaching about 91 F. Drive from Houston to Corpus Christi was uneventful and not too exciting. Mostly farmland, including cotton fields, and flat areas of trees with more swamps as we approached the Gulf of Mexico. Corpus Christi reminds me more of a tropical resort, despite its downtown office towers. We did a quick drive over to Padre Island and were excited about spending tomorrow on the beach. The water was as warm as the pools we swam in recently, and there are 180 species of birds on the island, plus rattlesnakes and nesting turtles. The beaches are bordered with white sand dunes and you can drive for 60 miles on the beach, although 4 wheel drive is recommended for most of this. It is very quiet with few people on the beach, and no one swimming. Most people are fishing. Deep sea fishing for marlin and tuna is very popular here. There is also a decommissioned aircraft carrier open for viewing.

Day 29
Another great day! Temp. in upper 80's. We spent the day on Padre Island, at the beach. The water was divine, over 80 degrees F. I could just walk right in. We played in the surf and had a great time. We also saw many birds, including flocks of pelicans soaring overhead and in the surf. Just a fantastic day.

Day 30
Decided to camp on Padre Island by the beach. No hookups, etc. but nice to be almost right on the beach. After setting up, we did a long loop drive, up the island, over Mustang Island, Aransas, over a short ferry ride and back through Corpus Christi. We saw dolphins briefly on our ferry crossing. Aransas looked like a fairly new community with fancy condos, RV parks, art galleries and souvenir shops and a DQ with deep fried jalapeno peppers. In the afternoon we swam in the Gulf and had a BBQ with Gerda and George and Tina. The burgers were ready just after sunset. The mosquitoes attacked on mass. Trying to eat in the dark, our hands and faces were covered with the little buggers and who knows if we were eating them or not. We quickly decided to move indoors for the rest of the night. Joanie and I spent a romantic evening by candle light hiding from the invaders.

Day 31
Another day at the Padre Island campground. First we drove to Bird Island basin to see if there were any birds like the white pelicans on the brochure. We saw sea gulls. Then we decided to take the nature trail. We lasted about 2.5 minutes before an army of skeeters drove us back into our vehicle. We spent the rest of the day on the beach, walking for miles, reading, and playing in the surf. The water had cooled to 78 degrees but we hardly noticed. Small fish, referred to locally as whities, jump around us in the surf. They were anywhere from 3 inches to about a foot long, and often landed within a few inches of us. Brown pelicans flew near by.
Padre Island is a ling narrow island running along the Texas coast in the Gulf of Mexico. After a few miles, the single road spills onto the beach, where you can drive for about 5 miles, and camp if you wish. After that there is 60 miles of beach driving that is reserved for four wheel drives only.
We decided to lock ourselves in our trailers after about 6:30PM because of the skeeters.

George's scabs are back. Apparently there was another head-bumping incident.

Day 32
Destination: South Padre Island
Today we drove another 200 miles south to South Padre Island, across from Port Isabel. This is near to the Mexican border and is the southernmost stop on our trip. Today I passed several trucks! This is a big deal. Pulling a trailer, most of us limit our speed to about 60 - 65 miles an hour, even though the speed limit is ofter 70-75 miles per hour. This means for 32 days I have been one of the slowest vehicles on the road. Today I encountered several trucks traveling slower than us, so it felt good to "speed" by them.

South Padre Island is just below Padre Island but is much smaller. It is much more developed with ocean front hotels and condos. The KOA where we are staying is like a Hawaii resort. The large pool is bordered with hibiscus and palm trees and there are palm trees everywhere. However, there is a motorcycle convention on the island this weekend. The campground is full of Harleys going in and out. a little noisy.
We sat outside all night without a mosquito in sight!!! There has been discussion of perhaps just staying here and never coming home. The weather forecast for the next few days is like it has been for weeks, sunny and highs in the upper 80's or low 90's.

Day 33
Its a hot one today. We were concerned about the campground being overrun with bikers and how loud it would be when they went to their convention or wherever bikers go on this weekend. However, the bikers were quiet and we woke up to the sound of children talking loudly at 6:30 AM and birds, crackles, squawking more loudly than crows. We spent the morning in Port Isabel, shopping. The place is overrun with motorcycles. Most cyclists are over 50 years old, and fat. In the afternoon we went on a snorkeling cruise. The water between South Padre Island and the mainland is not very deep. We anchored in water about 4 feet deep. We saw nothing! The water was not that clear and no matter where we looked, there was only sea weed and patches of sand. Very disappointing but we did have a nice ride. The water was very warm so that was good too. If you ever come to this area, forget snorkeling though. By the time we got back and took a dip in the pool, it was apparently too late to start making dinner, so we went to a local restaurant, Pier 19, which overlooked the water. While eating, we saw a pod of dolphins. We also saw few fireworks in honour of motorcycle week.
The beaches here are public, but most areas charge $4 for parking, and there is no shelter, so one frys to death. We therefore decided to stay an extra day but not two days as had been contemplated. However, it will be hard to leave the Gulf and its warm water.

Day 34
It rained today! I got several drops on me before the cloud moved on. It ended up being 92 degrees this afternoon. (low of about 75 degrees overnight). This morning we went to the Island Baptist Church. They had a contemporary service but we miss our own church. In the afternoon we went to the beach and had a great time playing in the surf. I thought the water could not get warmer than what we had on Padre Island but South Padre was perhaps a little warmer. Gerda and George joined us to go to the local bird sanctuary, which ended up being a one block lot with some trees on it. We did see a few different birds I need to look up in my bird book later. Before dinner I went to the pier near our campsite and spotted a number of dolphins. One surfaced only about 10 yards away.
After coffee we enjoyed our last drink together as a group outside under the palm trees. Tomorrow we begin our slow trek home, but Joanie and I are not ready to leave this paradise. It is like being in Hawaii without the Polynesian or Hawaiian cultural flavour.

Day 35
Destination: San Antonio
This morning we left South Padre Island and bid farewell to the warm Gulf of Mexico. It felt a little sad to thing we won't be swimming in the surf any more. The drive to San Antonio was uneventful and not that scenic. It was a 6 hour drive, one of our longer travel days. We saw an awful lot of Border Patrol police and we did go through one border checkpoint. The scenery changed from flat farm land to low rolling hills with trees, shrubs and various varieties of palm trees or yuccas. We did see vultures feeding on a dead cow and a few armadillos.
The resort RV park we are at is quite nice and we ended our afternoon with a rousing game of volleyball in the pool. Unfortunately there were no Olympic scouts here, because we did have some amazing play, including several times when the ball actually hit two people on the same team and still went over the net!
Today is Thanksgiving Day in Canada, Columbus Day in the U.S. We managed to connect with our girls by skype so that was good. We did not eat turkey, although I can not be certain that there were no turkey parts in the wieners we had. It is a little know fact (or theory) that the pilgrims in Texas ate hot dogs and potato salad on Thanksgiving. I did reflect on the day and feel so extremely grateful for family, friends, health, and this awesome trip we are on, which has gone so well so far. We have thoroughly enjoyed the new friends we made here and the things we have seen and done. God is so good. We did get some bad news about Joanie's mom in the last few days, but trust that God will provide and that family members will look after things.

Day 36
A hot, muggy day with temperatures expected to reach 90 degrees. We took to city bus from our campground to downtown San Antonio and visited the site of the Alamo. First we went to the IMAX theatre to watch the presentation on what happened at the Alamo. (about 197 people, including Davey Crockett, were under seige in the local mission from the Mexican army before being overtaken and killed at the battle of the Alamo, but this became the rallying cry for the rest of the Texas army that seven weeks later defeated the Mexicans and gained independence.) We then toured the mission. After lunch we did the River walk which was beautiful. A canal was created in a circle around downtown, with a walkway around it. It is below ground level and is lined with beautiful trees, bars and restaurants, hotel accesses, etc. A very nice feature. We visited a few very old churches, took a trolley bus ride around downtown and had dinner at a restaurant along the river walk. Most people ordered Texas steak, the main purpose for going out for dinner, and I enjoyed blackened chicken fettuccine. The margaritas were also excellent! All in all, a very nice day. We were home by 9:15PM.
The Internet here is extremely poor. I still have been unable to see the BC Lions football game from yesterday because it freezes up after a few seconds, as do other Internet applications. At the end of the day we review the email news from siblings about Joanie's mom, who appears to have suffered a heart attack. We feel somewhat helpless here and are grateful for other family members who have stepped up to look after things.
One local concern is my new camera. It dropped from my camera bag while I was trying on a sweatshirt, and now does not take pictures. Not sure if it will work again before we get home. On a lighter note, we are camped under some trees laden with little acorns. Gerda and George's trailer is right under a tree which regularly drops nuts on the roof, causing a loud bang and a rolling sound as it falls to the ground. We paid extra to camp under trees for shade, but next time Gerda wants to be a little more specific about the kind of trees we camp under.