Deep in the Heart of Texas

One of three mail forwarding rooms
Remember the Alamo
Memorial to the Fallen
Riverwalk Boat Ride
Building at Fort Sam where I had classes.
El Mercado
Mission San Juan

After spending five days at Rainbow's End, the Escapees headquarters park in Livingston, Texas, we are now in San Antonio. Escapees RV Club has a mail forwarding service that handles mail for so many people they have their own zip code. An 18 wheeler arrives twice each day from Houston to deliver and pick up mail. The park also has a CARE Center (Continuing Assistance for Retired Escapees) that provides temporary or permanent professional service for members who can no longer travel. They have sites where people can live in their RV while having treatment with meals and laundry provided to them for a small fee. In San Antonio we spent Sunday touring the Alamo and enjoying the Riverwalk. The Alamo is a shrine to Texans because of the fight to the death of the nearly 200 men who fought to defend it during their war for independence from Mexico in 1836. We heard a couple of historical presentations on the battle and the revolt. After winning the war, Texas was an independent nation until becoming a state in 1845. The grounds of the Alamo have been beautifully restored and have a large variety of native Texas flora. The Riverwalk, which started in the 1930's, is now an area of shops and restaurants that continues to expand. We took a riverboat ride through the most developed area and learned a lot about the history of the city. We visited Fort Sam Houston where I was stationed over forty years ago while in training to be a lab tech for the Army. Even though much of it has changed, it sure did bring back a lot of memories. We had lunch in the El Mercado, the largest Mexican market outside of Mexico City. We took a driving tour of Spanish frontier missions that were part of Spain's colonization of the Southwest in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Parts of some of them are still being used today.

Betty's RV Park

Betty (back left) and Happy Hour
Crawfish Dinner
Potluck Dinner
Nanc prepares to attack the claws
Chillin in line at Cafe' Des Amis
Touchet's; The sign tells how it is said.
Jammin at Touchet's
Zula & Ollie
Hot Times
Bottles for Arabia

Jungle Garden's Cleveland Oak
The Rookery

We are now in Cajun country at Betty's RV Park in Abbeville, Louisiana. Betty has the reputation with RVers of being a great hostess and friend. At check-in she told us to make sure we come to the pavilion at 4 for happy hour. Even though there are only 17 sites here, there were over twenty people gathered and having a great time. We immediately made many new friends with whom we did a lot. One night we all went out to dinner for crawfish and zydeco music. Another night we enjoyed a pot luck dinner and many laughs. On Saturday morning 10 of us got up at 5 AM and drove 30 miles for a Zydeco breakfast at the Cafe' Des Amis. (see video) We were the first in line at 7 and by 8 it was standing room only. It was a wild and wonderful time with music, dancing, breakfast and Bloody Marys. On Saturday afternoon we went to a Cajun (French) music jam session at Calvin Touchet's. Many local musicians were playing and the place was packed. Within a few minutes everyone in the place knew where we were from and we had a great time talking to them and listening to the music. In the late afternoon Calvin feeds everyone in the place. They hugged us when we left and told us to make sure we return. On Sunday while walking down the street in Abbeville someone blew their horn and waved at us. It was a couple we had met the afternoon before at Touchet's. We have really had a wonderful time in this area. The Cajuns are so proud of their culture and celebrate it every chance they get. As a group they are by far the friendliest people we have met. On her card it says, "Get caught up in Betty's web" and we believe we have. We decided to extend our stay for two more days and are planning on making a return visit. While there, we visited Avery Island the home of Tabasco Sauce and Jungle Garden both founded by Edward Avery McIlhenny. The factory tour showed how the sauce is made and bottled for distribution all over the world. The bottles being filled when we were visiting were being shipped to Saudi Arabia. We also got to sample some Tabasco products including jalapeno ice cream. Jungle Garden, which covers over 250 acres, includes a large variety of plants and animals. In the spring of 1892 McIlhenny created a heron sanctuary to lure snowy egrets. Each spring a double decked structure of bamboo is built for the returning egrets. As many as 20,000 heron families return to hatch and raise their young each year. This rookery is credited with saving the egrets from extinction not only in Louisiana but in all of North America.

Katrina Aftermath

Says it all
Notice how all the signs are bent forward from the storm surge.

Missing rails and temporary barriers on the I-10 bridge
Temporary Steel Bridge on I-10
Repaired Homes

Damaged homes, notice the FEMA trailer
Height of the Industrial Canal Levee. The water was over the one story home on the other side.
Looking along the Industrial Canal Levee. The area on the left was under two feet of water and inside the levee on the right there was more than 10 feet.

Spot in Jackson Square where Bush stood to address the nation, promising to rebuild the city.
Damaged park shelter in front of a new levee

The damage done by Katrina to the New Orleans area is evident long before you get into the city. When crossing the I-10 bridge east of the city there are two long sections that are temporary steel bridges sitting on the old pilings. They have to close the bridge periodically to re- tighten the bolts holding it together. On the same bridge some of the rails are gone and construction barriers are all that is between you and the edge. As you drive around the city you see entire neighborhoods that are nothing but empty houses, while in others a few houses are being repaired. There are shopping malls, schools and other buildings that are still boarded up. In some areas there are still piles of rubble as more buildings are torn down. Even in the downtown, some high rises are empty because there was so much damage to the first floor. Under I-10 on Canal Street is a tent city where many many homeless live. In the area we stayed, on the Industrial Canal near Lake Pontchartrain, all the one story homes inside the levee were totally under water. One of the popular t-shirt sayings is, "I drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was gone." Another problem is hiring enough workers because people have no place to live. We went into a huge new Winn Dixie supermarket and had to stand in a checkout line for an hour because only four registers were open. It really does anger me that we are spending billions and billions on BUSH's war and rebuilding Iraq while an American city two and a half years after this disaster is not in better shape.

New Orleans

Yacht on the Industrial Canal
Cornstalk House

French Architecture
Oldest Tavern in America in Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop

Nancy at the Carousel Bar
Bourbon Street at Night

Steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi
Carriage Ride

Aw Shucks

Oysters on the half shell

D-Day DioramaHiggins Boat

We are at the New Orleans RV Campground located on the Industrial Canal near Lake Pontchartrain. We have had a great time during our stay seeing the sites, eating and listening to the music. We spent a lot of time in the French Quarter just walking around, admiring the architecture and people watching. That part of the city had very little damage from Katrina. More on that later. We saw Jackson Square and strolled along the Mississippi on the Moon Walk. We took a carriage ride through the Quarter and picked up a lot of information about it from the driver. We went to the Garden District and Uptown areas to see the beautiful homes they are famous for. We had recommendations for restaurants from Valerie and Richard who had visited here many times when they lived in Baton Rouge and, as a result, we had great meals at places frequented by many locals. One dining adventure was Nanc's first time eating raw oysters on the half shell which ended with Jim having to fight for his share. We also toured the National WWII Museum which chronicles both the European and Pacific theaters with displays on each major battle. Another section illustrates the prelude to the war and the contributions on the home front. The museum started as a D-Day museum to honor the role of the Higgins Landing Crafts, which were built in New Orleans and used for amphibious landings in both theaters. Congress has now designated it as the country's official WWII museum.

Not an April Fools Joke

We are in New Orleans and had an absolutely weird and wonderful day yesterday. We were sitting in the Crescent City Brewhouse having a cold one and a bite to eat. A man who stepped up to the bar next to me to order drinks for his friends looked vaguely familiar. I asked where he was from and he said Pennsylvania, so I asked where and he said Washington. My response was, "Are you Erik Hargrove?" which blew him away. I had Erik in class over 20 years ago. He had been in the army for nine years where he was in the band. He is now following his passion and is a professional drummer who has played with the James Brown Band and others while traveling to six continents. His home is in Orlando and he was in New Orleans doing a gig at the Zurich golf tournament. One of his friends was Heather Wolf who had played in the circus band with Josh Dunlevy and has visited the Dunlevy home in Washington. We had a great time talking about school and and he asked about many of the teachers he had at WEEP. We enjoyed listening to the stories of all his adventures as he has travelled the world. We also got to hear him play as he and a friend, the guitarist, sat in with the band for a set.

Sweet Rhome Alabama

Curtiss NC-4
Pensacola Lighthouse

USS Alabama Memorial Park Aircraft
Plane damaged by Katrina (tail is gone)

Jimmy in the Brig
Inside the 16" Gun Turret

Live Oaks & Azaleas
Mistletoe

While in Alabama we went to see the Navy's Blue Angels at Pensacola Naval Air Station and visited the Navy Aviation Museum. The Blue Angels practice their show two days a week and it is open to the public. It was great to be able to see them without the huge crowd airshows draw. The museum has a large number of Naval aircraft from early flying boats to the latest jets. Some of the oldest planes are the same ones we saw at the Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport, New York last August. We also saw the Pensacola Lighthouse located on the base. We toured the battleship USS Alabama which is part of a large memorial park in Mobile. The tour was self directed and allowed us to go into all areas of the ship. The park had a submarine, a collection of aircraft and memorials honoring veterans. Many of the planes had been badly damaged by Katrina. We took a bike ride and found a beautiful street lined with live oaks and azaleas in the little town of Magnolia Springs. We also found a nice restaurant, Jesse's, where we ended up going twice. We learned from Richard the origins of mistletoe. It grows like Spanish moss and air ferns on a host tree. I am sorry I did not get a picture of Richard with a ten foot branch knocking a piece of it out of the tree. We really enjoyed our time in Alabama and doing things with Valerie and Richard.