Home Sweet Home

Me in the kayak with the last sunset of the trip.

Jeff fly fishing in the egrets fishing spot.  

We arrived Thursday around 3:30pm and you've never seen two girls unload an RV like ours did! They were practically running to and from the rig to empty it out.  They both acted like they were nesting or something getting their beds all just right and everything they way they wanted it.  I told them the reason we take them on these long trips is so they appreciate home more - lol!  So the RV is unpacked, washed, and tidied; the laundry is done, we are settled back in.  The last three days at Lake Livingston were fabulous and we are putting that on our list of places to return to some day. Jeff spent yesterday and today trying to get the yard back in order.  Good grief, weeds and stuff can grow a lot in 7 weeks.  The flowers all look wonderful but the weeds took over.  The girls and I even helped out today.  We all got a spot we had to tidy.  The girls wanted to know why they had to pick weeds and I told them it is character building!  They whined but they got out there and did a great job.  So that's it for this year - at least for long adventures.  We will have to see what the year brings and what we decide to do next summer.  But I'm pretty sure that was it for LONG trips. We covered 6,039 miles in 7 weeks.  Not bad.  We have 11 more states and all those Canadian provinces to fill in on the map although Canada is probably not happening.  Jeff is still mad at the Border Guard.  We'll see what a year of getting over it does:-)

Nineteen states and one Canadian province this year!  

Swamp Tour

Norbert LeBlanc - explaining that "right there" is
the only place you can kill and alligator.

Egret or Heron?  

Our tour of Lake Martin into the cypress swamp was amazing.  We had the best guide ever - such a character: Norbert LeBlanc He speaks fluent french and our other passengers were French so he spoke both French and English for the entire trip.  Jade was fascinated because she wants to learn French.  Not a lot of that spoken in South Texas I'm afraid.  We would motor along and he would tell us the history of the place and then we stopped in the shadows of a grove of cypress trees and he'd give us some more information.  So relaxing, informative, and enjoyable.  He even offered us a sip of homemade moonshine!  Jade tasted it - didn't like it; Mya got a dribble on her finger, licked it and said, "No, thanks!". After a few tentative sips, I followed the example of our European fellow travelers and "bottom's up"!  It burned all the way down; I could feel it hit my stomach.  Not exactly Bud Light:-)  It's made from peaches.  Actually tastes quite good once you get used to it.  I could have sat there all day listening to his stories and drinking moonshine!  I wonder what a day-long trip would cost, with moonshine - lol!  We didn't get to see an alligator though.  He said the best time to see them is at the end of March.  This time of year the mama's are all on land guarding their nests. The babies take 60 days to hatch.  The dad alligators wait patiently for the babies to hatch and then try to eat them as they head for the water.  That's just not right!!!  Although, I'm pretty sure that a few times along this trip Jeff has wanted to eat his young - especially the last week or so.

Water Lily - an invasive species but pretty.

But we did see a lot of birds like the Great Egret. I thought it was a Heron but a Great White Heron has yellow legs. I've got my bird book and it's so confusing.  One little difference like yellow feet instead of black and it's a different bird. (FYI - a Snowy Egret has a black bill and legs and yellow feet, in case you were wondering!!)

Banana Spider - ACK!

The swamp was covered with these water lilies the leaves of which are HUGE!  Such beautiful flowers.  But sadly they are an invasive species and taking over the area.  It was like floating through Jurassic Park what with the big flowers, big trees and big spiders.  This giant spider was the biggest I've even seen.  Mya came up with a joke - what do you call a banana spider cut in half?  A banana-split, of course - har! har!  The other thing we've seen are hundreds of cormorants. There are so many of them and they look so funny sitting out on a limb drying their wings.  Looks like they are trying to get a tan or something.

Cormorant drying it's wings.

We did finally see an alligator in the swampy area alongside the road as we were leaving and I tried to take a picture but the camera focused on the leaves and not on the 'gator.  But at least we got to see one.  There is a sign posted along the road that says "Don't feed the Alligators!"  Maybe we'll have to go back during spring break when those mama's aren't guarding their nests.  Oh, Mr. LeBlanc said there are somewhere around 1500 alligators in Lake Martin (the swamp).  No place for swimming that's for sure.

Cypress trees - had some homemade moonshine sitting in here! 

Jeff caught this guy just right.  Tons of them eating
pesky bugs.  We didn't see any mosquitoes. 

So we are in a final spot of the vacation on Lake Livingston in Texas.  The girls would have liked to just zip on home but Jeff and I wanted to have a few days to just relax and play in the water, and me, to kayak.  We also have found that giving the RV a good cleaning before we head home is easier than trying to clean it when it's sitting on the street in the neighborhood on a slant and we can't leave the slides open.  So today was cleaning day and we will head out early tomorrow morning for home.  The girls have asked us every day, "How many days now?"  They miss their friends.  People told us this would be an issue as they got older and they were right.  I don't know what we will do next year. We are going to have to find some kind of compromise or something.  Or maybe shorter, closer to home trips.  We'll see. I'll have to put together a slideshow of all our photos and remind them of all the cool things we got to see and do on both these trips these last two summers.  Maybe that will convince them it's a good thing what we are doing. I mean really. How many people can say they road horses across the battlefields of Gettysburg - geesh!  So we'll have to see how it goes.

Cypress "knees".

That reminds me.  Jeff and Mya and I were out in the lake here swimming and Jade was just finishing up her lunch.  I came inside to make my lunch and the whole inside of the RV smelled like propane!!  I looked at Jade and said, "Did you turn off the stove?"  She gave me that duh-13-year-old-mindless look.  She had made some soup and left the back burner turned on with the flame out!!! Kaabooom!  That would have been just a lovely ending to our summer - good grief! I have her and Mya a lesson on what NOT to do with a gas stove.  Oh my.  It is time to go home.

Great Blue Heron

New Orleans

St. Louis Cemetary #1 in New Orleans

Now we can say we have been to New Orleans. So strange to actually see a place we've heard so much about what with Hurricane Katrina and Mardi Gras and all.  But once you see the place and see the levees and see the water everywhere, it's pretty easy to imagine the devastation that a hurricane would cause.  We toured the famous French Quarter, the oldest part of New Orleans.This graveyard was just across the street from what is designated at the French Quarter.  Because the water is right beneath your feet they don't bury anyone. They put them in these crypts.  This is still an active cemetery (unlike the one we saw in Savannah) and family members are still added to the crypts. The oldest ones we saw were from soldiers born in the mid-1700's.  Some of the newest in 2012.

Buildings in the French Quarter 

Hmmm??  Shall we buy it?

The buildings are beautiful especially the ones that people have taken really good care of and kept up like this one.  We laughed when we saw this sign about leasing this building.  The other side says "not haunted" - I guess you can take your pick of what you want to believe! 

The Family on Bourbon Street

"Intriguing and disturbing" Bourbon Street

Then we came to the infamous Bourbon Street.  The first time we just sort of passed by; some nice lady from New York took our picture.  We made our way down to the the waterfront park on the Mississippi River; a beautiful stroll along there and then up Canal street which divides the French Quarter from the business district. Kind of touristy along there what with Harrah's casino and such.  We stopped and had a seafood lunch and then, in my infinite wisdom, I said, "Let's go back down and walk down Bourbon street and then back to where the car is."  I didn't realize from my brief glance previously what all was REALLY on Bourbon street.  Oh My!!  It's bar, after bar, after strip joint, after strip joint and most of the establishments are open-fronted so you can see right in. I was a bit shocked and wondering what kind of mom I was to bring my girls down there!!!  Jade kept gawking at everything and Mya is just like, "mom, put your head down and just keep walking".  The woman in the doorway in her skimpy panties and top was almost too much for Mya. We saw these garbage-bag type raincoats in one store and she wanted to go buy a bunch and hand them out to all the ladies who were improperly dressed - lol! After we made it through the "gauntlet", Jade said "That was both intriguing and disturbing!"; Mya just thought it was "disturbing".  Jade wanted to go back and gawk some more  Apparently, Mya even looked in one place and there was some lady pole-dancing.  Mya was mortified!  We had a good laugh about our "adventure" the rest of the day.  I love Jade's description - she hit it on the head!

We drove from New Orleans to a place called Breaux Bridge, LA still on the coast but east of Lafeyette.  We came across yesterday, still on I-10 through Baton Rouge.  The highway from just west of there for about 20, maybe 30 miles is all elevated highway above swampland or I guess it's called bayou.  It's two lanes both ways with just a small shoulder on each side.  A truck towing a camper broke down and OMG!, you should have seen the mess that caused.  There was nowhere for him to go so all the traffic was backed up behind him for MILES!  A bunch of 18-wheelers, RVs, cars - it was a complete mess.  The traffic was backed up for at least 15 miles.  And then farther down the road because of the mess, some 18-wheeler smushed a car between it and the cement wall of the highway and two other cars must have hit each other and one looked like it's front bumper was just dangling on the car.  Those poor people must have been stuck there for hours!  I kept thinking two things.  One, where does one go to the bathroom when stuck like that? and two, I sure as heck hope these elevated roads are in good condition with all that weight sitting on them like that.  Actually, I was thinking a third thing too - how lucky we were to be going in the opposite direction!!!

So we landed safely at our campground.  Memorable name: "Catfish Heaven".  It's cheap and convenient but there is a reason for that.  The power hookup can't handle both air conditioners, let alone the microwave and hot water heater (even though it's supposed to) so we have to juggle everything to cook dinner.  We are so tired of sweating.  We are all glad to be heading inland a bit tomorrow to get out of this humidity.  It's stifling.  The wi-fi isn't great either so I'm going to try to post this and then tomorrow do another post of our Swamp Tour with Monsieur LeBlanc - a true Cajun. It was awesome!

Sittin' near the Mighty Mississippi

USS Alabama - Built in 1942 and served in WWII

We are settled just this side of the levee on the northern bank of the Mississippi River about 13 miles from the French Quarter in downtown New Orleans.  We've made our way slowly west only doing about 100 miles a day.  We asked the girls if they wanted to do a long drive and stay two nights in one place or if they wanted to "leap-frog" across these southern states; they chose leap-frogging. From Tallahassee we spent one night in Pensacola (who knew it took that long to get across Florida!), blew across Alabama in about 35 minutes, and then spent last night in Mississippi. We are traveling on I-10 so it's pretty quick traveling.  We are giving Florida high marks for the condition of their part of I-10 - so smooth.  Not so much in these other states. 

George Wallace Tunnel under Mobile River, AL

We are encountering plenty of rain.  Seems every day there is a thunderstorm and all the rivers are full to their banks.  So sad that it's all falling here; wish we could make it rain in south Texas.

Jeff's new friend - "Hammy"

Jeff made a new friend at the place we stayed last night.  We named him "Hammy" because Jeff fed him some ham luncheon meat which he scarfed down immediately.  He was very friendly - not sure who he belonged to - but he wasn't a feral cat.  The lady at the RV office said that because the place is located at the end of a road, people will often dump their unwanted cats around there. They have about 6 "regulars" that hang out there.  There was another black one that came slinking out of the underbrush and that one probably was feral.  He never came near us. Hammie stayed around most of the night.  We awoke to a cat fight around 2 a.m. He was sitting on the steps of the RV when Jeff went out this morning and followed him everywhere - to the bathroom, to empty the garbage; it was so cute! He was very affectionate, rubbing on our legs. Too bad we couldn't keep him.  

Bridge over Lake Pontchatrain just East of New Orleans

We will be here for 3 nights. Tomorrow we plan to spend most of the day touring the French Quarter and surrounding areas.  Lots of history here including the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park.  I'm just hoping the weather cooperates.  It hasn't been that hot (well, 80-90s), but the humidity is stifling. We will be on the lookout for the perfect place to go out to eat; I'm hoping for some Cajan cuisine!  Some gumbo or some jumbalaya - yum!

Downtown New Orleans - in the rain

Go West, Happy Campers, Go West

Our entertainment for the evening - he sang and played well.
Reminded us of Cousin Mischa!

Jeff enjoying a glass of wine and the lovely surroundings.

It's with mixed feelings that we pack up today.  From now on we will be heading West toward home.  We have spent the last 5 days here at the beach and it has been fabulous.  North Beach at St. Augustine, Florida is definitely on our list of places to return one day.  Although, if we stayed here much longer, I might turn into one of those "leaf blower ladies".  Geesh.  The sand is everywhere and it's not even that super fine dusty stuff like down in Port Aransas.  I also don't think our poor faces could stand any more sun.  It's hard to keep sunscreen on the girls faces when they are in the ocean for hours.  We kept reapplying it but Mya is still looking a bit cooked.  She has much fairer skin than Jade.  Jade just keeps getting darker.  She is happy now that her feet are as dark as her legs since she has been in flip flops instead of socks and tennis shoes - lol!

Peach Cobbler -Yum!

 I went for a run/walk on the beach yesterday morning around 8 and there were maybe 5 people for as far as I could see in both directions.  But by about 1 the place was hopping although still not as crowded as you'd expect for a Saturday.  I guess when you live in that environment every day is a beach day - no big rush.  We've had a little rain every afternoon - just briefly - but today they are saying 80% chance and thunderstorms so we may be headed out just in time.  The humidity in this part of the world is amazing.  Jeff took his camera outside to take a picture of the roads in the RV park (the trees make beautiful arches over the sandy roads - really pretty) but the lens fogged up and he couldn't take it.  Same thing happens to your glasses when you step outside.  Now that's humidity.  Home will seem like a desert after this!

Some kind of decadent chocolate thingy - Yum!

Just stopped and got gas and are headed to Tallahassee.  We have the rest of our nights stays reserved except tomorrow and Tuesday night but since it's the middle of the week, we figure we can wing it.  Laundry day today I think.  Got to wash some of that sand away. Oh, and we didn't want to do laundry at North Beach.  I don't know if it's because the place is located on a barrier island or what their water source is but thank goodness for filters on our RV.  The shower at the pool (unfiltered water) smells like rotten eggs - and not just a little bit.  It's hard to even rinse the sand off using it because it makes you want to gag.  Even our filtered water tastes and smells like eggs but it's nothing like that shower.  The pool smells like eggs and chlorine - yuk. We don't want all our clothes to smell like rotten eggs.  Hopefully, our new place will have some fresher water. We could all use some.

In the jungle, the mighty jungle . . .

Home in the Jungle

So what woke me up at 8:00 this morning?  The lovely sound of a, wait, yes, a LEAF BLOWER! There is no sound I hate worse than the high-pitched whining of that infernal contraption!  I looked out the bedroom window and sure enough, the neighbor lady is using it to clear sand from the big mat at the entrance to her RV. Jeff took one look at my face and started laughing.  He KNOWS I hate those things.  He doesn't even use ours when I'm at home - he waits till I'm out somewhere. He said it did make sense though, it's a perfect device for getting the sand swept aside.  But really, at 8:00 a.m.?  That and her middle school age boys running around.  Not my favorite age of boys - I deal with too many of them during the year and they are all the same - crazy and obnoxious!

Yes.  They are as big as they look and they are EVERYWHERE!

Lots of these little guys too!

So we are in St. Augustine, Florida just south of Jacksonville. The place we are staying is on a barrier island just outside of St. Augustine and it's like a jungle here.  The little lizards are everywhere as are these awful spiders.  They are actually really pretty, sort of reddish in spots.  They make these giant webs and they are literally everywhere in the trees.  We have one right at the entrance to our spot and when we came back from the beach this afternoon we noticed it was busily adding to it's already huge web.  I'm hoping it's not planning on capturing us!

It's warm even when it's cloudy.  The Atlantic Ocean.

We've had some wild weather the last two days - mostly in the late afternoon - storm clouds moving in and lots of rain, thunder and lightning.  We love it!  It even knocked our power out briefly yesterday.  But the beach is within walking distance, hardly any people, and the water is warm.  Today has been spectacular.  Sunshine and about 85 degrees.  Both days we've been in the water around 1 pm and seen pods of dolphins swim by.  The first time I saw the fins I freaked out.  I was on the beach and the girls were in the water.  I'm yelling at them to get out of the water and Jeff said, "They are only dolphins!".  I asked if he was sure and of course he said, "I think so!"  They must chose this time for lunch or something.  They are about 7-8 of them all swimming together and today we even saw them flipping around, tails in the air.  Pretty awesome!

Can't believe there isn't anyone here.  You can see the sticks
and caution tape in this picture - protecting a sea turtle nest.

There are thousands of shells on the beach and the sand it a lot coarser than what is on the gulf beaches we go to in Texas.  There is also no seaweed - nice!  It's a shell collectors paradise.  Also, no garbage.

Walk on the beach after dinner - beautiful.

There is a sign at the entrance of the beach about not taking motorized vehicles on beach between 7:30 p.m. and 8:00 a.m.  They are protecting the nesting turtles.  They must have someone come out at night and watch for them laying the eggs because they put up sticks and caution tape that are marked with the date and a warning sign to leave the turtle eggs alone.  I'm wondering if we could go out there at night and see if we see any.  There was one marked with yesterday's date and you could see the track that the mama turtle made going back into the ocean.  Amazing!

Selfie - out kayaking on Tolomato River (yes,
mom, I put on sunscreen and I'm wearing a
life jacket!)

So since the crazy leaf-blower lady woke me up with that horrid noise I decided to take out the kayak.  We are on a barrier island, the inside side is an intracoastal zone and part of the Tolomato River. I'm not brave enough to tackle the open ocean and this seemed like a good choice. It was.  I saw so many sea birds. Cranes and egrets and best of all, the Roseate Spoon Bill.  They are this pale pink color and have that funny shaped beak.  A few flew overhead and another I watched catching it's breakfast in one of the little inlets that flows into the river.  I guess I have to thank the leaf-blower lady for waking me up after all.  The birds are out and feeding early but by my return trip, most of them had gone.  Kayaking on the ocean is a lot more strenuous than on a lake and I happened to be working against the tide on my way back.  Plus at each little tributary, the water gets real funky the way it feeds into the main river so it was an interesting trip.  I had a hard time drinking my morning cup of tea because I kept having to paddle and keep myself going in the right direction.  Not to mention watching out for the wakes of other bigger boats going by.  I couldn't do this all without Jeff's help though.  He loads and unloads the kayak for me (I'm too short to reach it on the rack on the car not to mention lifting it over my head!) and then we both carry it to and from the water.  I said to him this a.m. that I get all the fun and he gets all the work!  He said, "as long as your happy dear!"  Just what I love about him - lol!  And what were the girls doing this whole time?  Yes, you guessed.  Sleeping!  But we roused them and hit the beach for a few hours this afternoon and they play like two little puppies in the surf.  So good for them and I'm so grateful we gave them swimming lessons when they were little.  They are fearless in the water.  Also makes me less nervous knowing they can handle it. Until I see another fin!!!  

We are staying here through Saturday night and then heading due west, back home.  The girls asked us the other night what we missed about home.  Jade said her privacy, Mya said her big bed and her comforter, and I said absolutely nothing!  Since we are all living in such close quarters, I'll let you guess what Jeff is missing - lol!

(P.S.  The leaf-blower and her family left this a.m. only to replaced by another "leaf-blower" family across from us - REALLY?  Can I offer to sweep their damn mats for them.  I'm watching her from our RV window right now - can I kill her NOW! Not to mention the "mat" is like a carpet covering the entire RV spot - ACK!!!!! It's toddy time for goodness sake!  SHUT UP!)

History Southern Style

Ft. Sumter - First shot of Civil War fired here

There were 60 of these but they only had enough soldiers
to man 35 of them.

Getting a good dose of southern history and enjoying a visit with my brother Clay.  The girls love Uncle Clay because he is so funny.  He is a hoot to be around just like when we were little.  Always making folks laugh! Thank goodness he was with us on the way to Ft. Sumter National Monument.  We put it in the GPS and we didn't realize it was taking us to Ft. Moultrie, also part of the Ft. Sumter National Monument.  We would have literally "missed the boat" because our ferry was leaving from Liberty Square in downtown Charleston.  GPS was taking us about 8 miles away.  You can't DRIVE to Ft. Sumter so it's no wonder it was confused!  So we gave up on the electronics and went with good old fashioned know how - lol! The island that Ft. Sumter is built on is one of the two forts (Ft. Moultrie is the other one) that guard Charleston Harbor.  This is also where the Union ships tried to blockade shipments of supplies and equipment to cripple the Confederates.  The USS Hunley, the first submarine, sank here and they only found it in 1995.  Finally, in 2008 they recovered it.   (Please do not quote my historic facts - I'm trying to remember the information from the tour.  Double-check all facts for accuracy - lol!)  It was amazing to stand where the soldiers fought and also to see Charleston from out in the harbor.  We got back right before a big thunderstorm blew threw.  I sure hope the girls remember some of this as they study the Civil War in their classes.  They'll definitely have pictures for show and tell.  Heck, I can't wait to show the history teachers at my school!

Northern Flag at Ft. Sumter

Flag of the South - Palmetto Guard Flag

Visiting the park with Uncle Clay.
 He'd never been here before and he's
lived in Charleston for 30+ years.

I picked up Gods and Generals by Jeff Shaara that gives the history leading up to the Civil War.  It's all so fascinating. I'm also trying to listen to the audio book version of Killer Angels by Michael Shaara (Jeff Shaara's father), but I think it might just all confuse me. Again, why didn't I pay more attention when they were teaching me this stuff?!?!

Monument to Indian Chief Tomachichi

Monday we headed to Savannah, Georgia, the "most haunted town" in America.  We promised Jade we would take her on a Ghost Tour so my work began.  Do you know how many Ghost Tours are offered in Savannah?  I refused to take the one that took you around in a hearse - gross!  So we did a walking tour that started at 9 p.m.  Our normal bedtime - we were stretching it!  Savannah is absolutely gorgeous and so much history.  The Spanish moss hanging from the trees just added to the haunting beauty.  So many beautiful old buildings.  Both Jeff and I said we would like to go back and spend some more time there.  A very interesting place.

Hanging Tree

Skippy, our ghost tour guide, was very knowledgeable about the history of the area.  He told us that Chief Tomachichi was actually buried under a different monument (some railroad tycoon has this giant monument that was built on the site of Tomachichi's actual burial spot)  and so folks say they often see him wandering between where he is buried and where they put this stone to honor him. I say, kick the tycoon off the spot and let Tomachichi rest in peace!

Colonial Graveyard - One of the oldest graveyards
 in United States - burials back to the Revolutionary War.

We also got to see this hanging tree.  People were housed in a building just at the corner of this square and could see where they were going to be hanged. Looks like a good sturdy limb to me!  It was really awesome to wander the streets at night.  Put a whole different perspective on the area and the historical monuments.  We would have liked to walk through the cemetary but it was closed.  However, because of how they have developed the city, we were actually walking above the bones of the dead.  The graveyard holds about 600 tombstones but there are over 9000 people buried under the streets of Savannah.

St. Augustine, Florida - Three days on the beach here

 As we drove from Savannah down to Florida we saw a bunch of "roadkill".  But unlike Texas where it's all raccoons and possums, here it's little alligators!  They are everywhere and I don't think it's wise to wade or swim in any random pond around here.  Clay said there are at least two in the pond behind his place.

So we have made our way to the northern part of Florida just south of Jacksonville.  The town is called St. Augustine and is actually on a barrier island.  Quaint little town and the beach is spectacular.  So clean and no seaweed.  Tons of seashells.  We had a refreshing thunderstorm tonight; temperature got down to 74.  So tomorrow is going to be spent at the beach.  I'm going to take my kayak down there and see if I can run around a little in that.  The only thing that's creeping us out is there are these big spiders everywhere - hanging in their spiderwebs.  YUK!  There is no way we are walking through the woods around here!!  I don't know if they are poisonous or not but they sure are creepy!  We may try to stay here through the weekend but they are booked so we will wait to hear about any cancellations.  It is beautiful!  We are so fortunate to be able to make this journey.  We live in a beautiful country despite what the politicians are doing.  They all need to get out of their Ivory Towers and see what REAL America is all about.  Might get them to rethink their ridiculous behavior (oops!  got up on my soapbox there for a minute!)

It's started to rain again.  The tree frogs are all singing to one another.  Another magical night on the road!