From New Orleans to SE Texas Gulf!

Where does the time go?  From our fun time in New Orleans, we headed to Hammond, LA for one night to get the RV jack control board replaced, then went to Boca Roton, Marksville, GA (Casino RV park @ $8.50 with full hook-up!  Together, we came out $10 ahead with our big gambling splurge!) ,then to Shreveport, LA.  Stayed there at an Elks club 5 nights, having the place to ourselves.  Went to see "Moon over Buffalo",a comedy by Ken Ludwig, at the local live theatre, and it was a HOOT!  Had great seats and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Al was thinking TAPA could do this one!
At Shreveport, there was another tornado warning on our phone saying to take shelter.  We went into the Elks Club to see where they suggested to go, and they said, "Oh, sit and have a drink!  We never get tornados here".  We saw the alert  on their big screen TV, too, but they were all watching the game and carrying on like nothing was wrong.  We looked at each other, stood around and talked with them (even the Sherriff was there partying) and decided to just go back to the RV and at least be away from the cigarette smoke!  Alert was cancelled about an hour later, and all was well.  Guess you must get used to them like people in California get used to earthquakes and aftershocks!  From Shreveport we stopped one night at Longview, TX and parked at WalMart.  


This picture and one of Jackie as well, are
composed of 50K tiny portraits of their spouse!
Hard to imagine until we looked with a magni-
fying glass and could see them.

Next day pulled into Dallas Elks for 10 nights @ $15.  Only one other RV  (except one night there were 3 of us).      The other RVer at the Elks was a rep for Metal Detectors, and a good salesman,  so we now have one. Al is keeping found coins separate, and so far, has a little over $1 towards paying for itself, but at least it doesn't cost to use it! Same people also knew a good dentist there in Shreveport as I had an abcessed tooth.  Wasn't sure I might need it pulled, but so far the antibiotics took care of it.  Would love to take that dentist back to Tillamook!  She was wonderful!





From Oswald's perch onto the highway below

While in Dallas, we  walked the historic district downtown which was really interesting.    Also saw the JFK memorial which was very sobering as we remembered where we were that day, and watched all the TV broadcasts, photos, etc.  Stood at the place Lee Harvey Oswald fired the shot, and felt part of history.  Trouble with not writing more often, I forget what we have done!  Thanksgiving we spent at a nice catered dinner with some friends we had met the night before.  Really nice to have people to be with while not with our family.

Capital Bldg, Austin, TX

From Dallas, we stopped one night at Temple, TX. The WalMart didn't look safe, so we parked at Lowe's. Nice quiet night! 


Senate at Austin,, TX

Inside the Driskill Hotel, 1886 Austin, TX

Bar lamps in Driskill made from
Civil war pistols

Intricate hand carving inside Driskill Hotel

House of Representatives, Austin, TX

Then on to Austin to Oak Forrest RV park for 5 nights.  Pool wasn't heated, but hot tub was :-).  Started to have trouble with one of the leveling jacks not going up.  Al has had to sometimes manually push it up from under the RV while I hold the button down.  Austin, being the capital, had a lot to see and do.  We took a walking tour of town, (Was one of the coldest days , and we were all walking briskly) then also one of the capital building.  Magnificent building built in 1886 and very ornate and interesting.  They have tried to keep it exactly as it was when built!   Our tour guide explained about the different architecture of the buildings in town.  The front and sides of particular buildings are different trying to fit in with the type of style at the times.  The Governor's mansion would have been delightful to tour, but it was closed for renovationsl.             Walked through the Driskill Hotel, also built in 1886.  They were just starting to decorate for Christmas, and it was gorgeous.  So much beautiful hand-carved wood work, furniture, mirrors, window dressing, etc.


Driskill Hotel.  owner was a cattle baron




Door into bakery/cafe at Driskill Hotel

More Driskill woodwork

mama pig and some of her piglets

Across the street from the RV Park was an organic farm market.  We went and got a few fresh vegies, but the big attraction for us was their black pigs and all the piglets of varying ages.  We got there just at feeding time, and was a riot to watch them all crawling over each other.  The adult pigs were very friendly and fun to watch. 

Something I think I forgot to mention about when blogging our New Orleans visit was all the wonderful art galleries.  One was Craig Tracy Gallery focussed on Fine Art Bodypainting.  He would use the human body as a canvas and create beautiful art where you hardly noticed the body.  You may want to visit www.craigtracy.com .  We were very impressed!  Another gallery was in Austin, that of Andy Coolquitt.  He used countless objects to sculp, and his signature material (along with broomsticks, pipes, or whatever) was the old bic plastic lighters....hundreds of them glued together!  We didn't understand his work, but really was interesting.  The other artist in the same gallery was Nick Cave, and his display entitled, "Hiding in plain sight".  Displayed were articles of clothing made of different materials.  One just buttons and wire recreates costumes worn by villagers during African celebrations.  Another was made of dogwood twigs, wire, upholstery, basket and a manequin.    Also had a 15 minute video of these creations come to life that he MUST have had some mind-altering substance to create!!!  I could have watched for hours!  Very intriguing and creative!

From Austin, we moved to Lk Braunig RV Park about 7 miles outside San Antonio.  Went into town and visited their Market Square.  Mostly Mexican wares and clothes, pottery, etc.  Walked all over town, then along the Riverwalk remembering our time there in 2010.  Had seen the Alamo in 2010, but saw the cathedrals, enjoyed street musicians, etc.  We toured the missions of San Juan, Espada and Conception. Interesting and amazing to think how they were built so long ago and still remain, and HOW did they get those big rocks up high, etc., and all without power equipment, electricity, etc. Hadn't realized that the missions were actually secure walled communities where people lived and worked behind guarded walls. They had gardens, huge flocks of sheep, herds of cattle, etc. The San Juan Mission was actually built in 1731 in East Texas and was moved to San Antonio! Hard to imagine it being moved with our current methods let alone then by hand...mules, wagons???


One of the Missions at San Antonio

Having had enough of the big city traffic, etc., we decided to skip Houston and went to Galveston Island State Park. Quiet and peaceful, right on the beach except behind a berm. Had to walk through dunes to get to the beach. Camper next to us told us he had seen a big black snake on the path there, so we were very cautious!  This guy, named Mark drove a big beautiful RV with "Sobriety Bus" written all over it in big letters.  I went and introduced myself, and asked him if he knew Bill Wilson.  He said "he had heard of him, but preferred to take the elevator   instead of the steps, and that worked for him".   Beach pretty, but not much in way of shells, driftwood, etc. Pretty hard to beat Rockaway Beach, and other of Oregon's beaches!  In Galveston, we walked around The Strand District and enjoyed the shops. 



Moody Mansion

Not very inviting warning Galveston!

Then, we toured "Moody Mansion".  Another magnificent home, built by a railroad man with 9 children and their servants.  When he died, the wife could not afford it, so put it up for sale just before the hurricane of 1900.  Mr & Mrs Moody saw the ad, and Mrs. M wanted her husband to bid on it.  He really didn't want it, but to please her he bid $20,000.  It was worth $200K at the time!  The hurricane hit and all bids were withdrawn but his, so they ended up with the home for them and their 4 children and 4 servants.  The basement which was to be servant quarters had been flooded with 5-8feet of water, so the servants lived upstairs with the family.  The house renmained in the family and eventually only one of the adult children lived in the home until 1986 when it was turned into a museum and restored again after the Hurricane Ike in 2008.  Once again, no photographs were allowed inside!  It was truly splendiferous!


Texas sky

Onward towards The Gulf cost of Texas.  We stayed one night at a very nice park at Palacious with the Gulf on one side and bay on the other.  Then on to Aransas Pass area where we stayed at Rockport at Circle W for 4 nights.  It was older park, but nice people.  We wanted to check out the area and see if we wanted to stay; visited many RV Parks, went to a Christmas Celebration at Fulton Mansion.  Quite a let down after Moody mansion, but nice Christmas program.   We drove to Aransas Pass and Corpus Christi, and were not impressed.  RV Parks we saw were pretty run down and in industrial areas, so we moved.  We stayed at La Feria (suburb of Harlingen), for 3 nights and searched more RV parks.  Found that most of the things to do are in Harlingen, so we are now there. This park is huge and has 2 pools, 2 spas, shuffleboard, work-out room, tennis, craft rooms, library, and many other amenities.  Lots of French-speaking Canadadians here, and sometimes feel in the minority!  Texas has a lot of wind, and so far the weather varies from days in 90's to days in 60's then back to heat again. 

Light displays at Hidalgo, TX

Everyone kept saying we needed to go to Hidalgo, TX to see their Festival of Lights.  We figured it would be a typical 1 strip of lights or something, but decided it would be a fun evening.  Got combo $10 tickets for kids' fund-raising dinner, trolley ride through town and stage show by High School Jazz Band.  Dinner was kind like a Banquet TV dinner, but the lights and jazz band were definitely worth the trip!  The whole town  (which is close to the Mexican border) decorates.  City employees start in October to light everything in town using over 3 million lights and there were over 500 light displays of all kinds.  Really amazing! 

Hard to feel like Christmas being in the heat, and away from family, but with the weather at home, neither of us are missing Oregon right now.  Here's a few of the photos Al took of the lights at Hidalgo Festival.

We Truly want to wish you all a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!  Aren't we glad the Mayan's had another calendar when that one ended!  Al & Sylvia