Look at that, Internet!

So much has happened since our last post and I wish it could all be shared with you daily. Here is where we stand.
We are in Seabrook, Texas.
We are in Uncle Bob's backyard.
No Internet connection.
No cell phone reception so that I could use my modem card.
I was sick most of last week and am finally feeling better to get out and do stuff today. Spent most of my time sleeping and coughing.
Today, I am sitting here in NTB getting some new brakes on the Pick Up and I was able to get on the internet for a brief time.
We are planning on leaving this weekend to South Padre Island on the southern most tip of Texas to explore. We should be down for about a week and return back here to Uncle Bob's RV Park.
Will try to find more internet and update blog.

Family Ties

Sorry for not posting any updates but I don't want to bore you with family. We are enjoying being with family and hanging out for a few days before we start exploring again. Today we are supposed to move RH to Uncle Bob's backyard. We scoped it out and after taking a few tree limbs with us we should be able to make it into his yard with no problem. Reta will be driving because she can get into tighter spaces. We have spent the last couple of days visiting with the family but I promise to post some pictures tomorrow.

Here are some pictures of the Kemah Boardwalk that is right down the street.

Lone Star State

It's done, we are West of the Mississippi!

After 348 miles we arrived in Kemah, Texas. You might be wondering "Where the hell is Kemah?". Good question because it isn't a big city. We are east of Houston and northwest of Galveston. It sits right on Galveston Bay and is centrally located to hit many other cities nearby. Another reason that we are here is because Reta's Mom and relatives live here. After a couple of days in this campground to recharge the batteries, fill the water tanks and empty the black and gray tanks, we are looking at boon docking in her uncle's back yard. We need to scope it out first and see if we will fit and most importantly, not get stuck trying to get out.

The drive down was 6 hours but it went by pretty quick. It's nice to switch off drivers every 2 hours. Nothing like taking a nap on that comfortable lazy boy with a great view. I keep myself entertained with the chatter on the CB. The truckers are really a bread of their own. The toughest part is trying to understand some of these guys. Heavy accents and add a lip full of chewing tobacco and good luck understanding them.

On our drive in Louisiana we passed a city called Elton. The strangest part was that only a few miles away there is another city called Eunice. That's my mothers name. Were my parents down here before I was born? Too weird.

Bridge crossing over Galveston Bay

Well, time to get ready. Family Reunion!

Wheels are Rolling, Again.

After spending some quality time in the "Big Easy" we are packing up today and hitting the road. New Orleans has been a great experience.
Yesterday we took a tour group with the National Park Service. This native born Ranger really did a great job explaining the history and culture of the "Crescent City". We strolled along the Mississippi River and heard more stories about the area and levees. The tour ended in Jackson Square. We found this little known secret that the Park service gives these tours and the best part, IT'S FREE!
Well, we have to start the routine of packing everything up and get ready to hit the road. We'll let you know where we land. Enjoy a little slice of the Big Easy.

Garden District Tour

Our field trip into the Garden District, this morning, was started by boarding the St. Charles Street Car and traveling for about 4 miles upriver. (By the way, whenever you talk to a local about directions it's never East, West, North and South. It is Upriver, Downriver, Lakeside and Riverside.) Here is an explanation right from Frommers book explaining way the Garden District was created. We found it very interesting because after reading this explanation and seeing the homes it made it much interesting.

The French Quarter was initially established by Creoles during the French and Spanish colonial periods, and the Garden District was created by Americans after the 1803 Louisiana Purchase. Antebellum New Orleans's lucrative combination of Mississippi River commerce, regional abundance of cash crops, slave trade, and national banks fueled the local economy, resulting in a remarkable building boom that extended for several square miles through Uptown.
Although very few people from the United States lived in New Orleans during its colonial era, after the Louisiana Purchase, thousands of Americans flooded the city and clashed with the Creoles. Friction arose between the two groups due to mutual snobbery, a language barrier, religious division, and, most significantly, competition over burgeoning commerce. Americans were arriving at the brink of a boom time to make fortunes. With inferior business experience, education, and organizational skills, the Creoles worried that les Americains would work them out of business. Americans were, therefore, kept out of the already overcrowded French Quarter. Feeling snubbed, the Americans moved upriver to create a residential district of astounding opulence. The Garden District is, therefore, a study of a cultural clash reflected through architecture, with Americans creating an identity by boldly introducing styles and forms familiar to them and previously unknown in colonial Louisiana.

Now armed with this knowledge lets jump in and see some of the pictures.

It was interesting to see the size of these homes and how they must have thumbed their noses at the people living in the French Quarter. We didn't realize that so many famous people live in this District. Nicolas Cage, John Goodman, Anne Rice just to name a few.

While waiting for the street car we stumbled into a little dive market wanting to just get some water. We ended up having lunch and what a great lunch it was. Gumbo soup and a Pressed Chicken sandwich. Oh, the flavor was incredible! Who would have known that this dive had such good food.

We walked along the river until we hit Cafe Du Mode and had to eat their prized food. Quite a sugar rush!

So far our stay in the French Quarters has been better than we expected. We walk everywhere and never have to drive our car. Bourbon Street is only 4 blocks away and everyone has been very friendly. Now, don't get me wrong, if you're not "street smart" there are plenty of areas to get into trouble.

If you ever get the opportunity to visit New Orleans, don't pass it up. Well worth it!

City Tour

We spent the day walking around the French Quarter. It was a nice cool day so we downloaded a walking tour off the Internet and set off for what turned into a 5 mile trek. There was close to 200 pictures that we took so I tried to upload the best ones. So lets start the tour off right. This is New Orleans after all!
There is so much history walking around. The buildings are all built in the early 1800's. There are stories of Pirates hiding their booty in the city. The stories of rich, wealthy people moving to the city and building these beautiful buildings and holding elaborate parties. Stories of people being killed in certain buildings that today, so they claim, are haunted houses.
This whole area of the French Quarter was never underwater when the Katrina came calling. This area is higher than other parts. We spoke to the guy who runs the campground and he was telling us that he lives close to Ward 9, the hardest hit area. His home had 14 feet of water in it. He is still remodeling his home and hopes to paint the outside this weekend.
Standing on the levee and looking at the mighty Mississippi River it's amazing to see so much water rushing by. To think of the distance that it has run through the country to get here.
New Orleans is magical place, in the sense that you are walking around history. The saying "If these walls could talk" holds very true to the French Quarter.

A little taste of night life on Bourbon Street. Your senses are overwhelmed with the sights and sounds all around you. Each bar is competing to get your attention with music and lights outside. The smell of Gumbo sometimes catches you as you walk past a restaurant. The characters on the street vie for your attention.

Three States

Road Hazard has done it! We are finally out of Florida. We went through three States and drove 289 miles to get here but we are finally here in, New Orleans, Louisiana.

Enjoy the pictures that we took along the way. It's like you are sitting in the front seat looking out the window.

It was great to see how the landscape changed from Florida to Louisiana. Driving through these "big" cities was interesting because they really aren't very big. They have an area with tall sky scrapers then that's it. Their downtown is a small cluster of buildings. We did enjoy driving through Pensacola and seeing the Blue Angels on the side of the road. The other highlight was driving into the tunnel in Mobile. That was our first tunnel with Road Hazard. You're so tall and it seems like the roof is going to hit you. Then, when we drove over the bridge to connect you to New Orleans and you have to drive over Lake Pontchatrain, that was amazing. You can't help but to think back to Hurricane Katrina and just imagine how much water must have gushed out of this lake. This lake is huge and how much water is in this? On the short trip that we drove to get to the campground, once you enter New Orleans proper, you can still see trailer communities set up from FEMA. There are still signs of Katrina where you look. It's hard to believe that a city of this size can fully recover or ever will.

I have to tell you that on our journey we found and adopted a pet. Someone had left him as "Road Kill" on the side of the road. We decided to keep him and name him Are-Kay, short for Road Kill.

We felt that we had to do this because in every campground that we stay we are the only ones that don't have a pet. Well, here he is. We already had a few people comment on him. He really enjoys looking out the front window.The campground here in New Orleans is right in the French Quarters. For those of you not familiar with New Orleans, the French Quarter is the old district and also the place where Mardi Gras is held on Bourbon Street. Party central.

Because we are right in the middle of town the campground doesn't have any trees but they have planted these other things that serve as an information board as well.Look for the red circle. There we are. We get a nice afternoon shade from this "metal tree".
The campground is very nice. We were even inspired to workout in the gym this evening.

After a hard workout there is nothing better than jumping into the Hot Tub to relax those muscle's. To our surprise we were able to watch the sunset. OK, so it's lacking a little more nature than we would like but the idea is there.

You have to admit that our view out the window at night is pretty nice.

(We have added a list of cities that Road Hazard has slept in, in order, since we started. Reta and I are also composing another list that includes all side trips and places that we have been. It's interesting to see all the cities that we have been through already. You can find this list on the right hand column.)

Louisiana

We made it! We are all set up and ready to start Happy Hour New Orleans style.

Keep on Rolling

Our wheels have just crossed over into Mississippi!

Out of Florida

A few minutes ago we officially left Florida. Our wheels are rolling on blacktop in Sweet Home Alabama!

On the Move.

Today is moving day for Road Hazard. We have a six hour drive ahead of us that will take us through 3 States on Interstate 10. First we will drive through Mobile, Alabama. Our next major cities will be Biloxi and Gulfport Mississippi. We will finally make it to our destination of New Orleans, Louisiana. Now I know that some of you have expressed your concern for our safety if we were to go to NO. We have done our research and found this campground that is 5 blocks from the French Quarter. There is 24/7 security at this place and they have a shuttle that will take us to Bourbon Street. I know that there will be nothing to worry about. I think that we are both "street smart" to know where we should and shouldn't be. Besides, how could we take a trip around the United States and NOT stop at this city. We are excited that we will be leaving the great state of Florida and venturing out to see other States.

I leave you today with our pictures that we finally got developed. These are the pictures that we took when we were scuba diving and snorkeling in Crystal River, Florida. I think the pictures came out great considering that it was one of those disposable cameras that we used. Enjoy the pictures and wish us well on our drive today.

Weekend Recap

With temperatures dipping into the low 70's and rain spitting off and on most of the day Saturday, we had to time our activities around the weather.
We started the day off with washing the front of Road Hazard. On our drive over from Crystal River to Destin I think we hit every bug. The front of RH was multi-colored with the splats of bugs. You had to rub pretty hard to lodge these souvenirs loose but after some effort RH's face looks clean. I think on our future trips the RH Bra will be put in place to cut down on clean up.
By the time we finished the weather had warmed up enough for us to venture out onto the white sandy beach to chill'axe. Because of the high wind the Life Guards had posted a RED flag which means that you shouldn't swim.

No problem, I can spend the day just sitting on the beach.
There was a guy Kite Surfing and he would come in pretty close to shore. You can see how lazy I am because you can see my toes at the bottom of the video. You think I'm going to stand up?

The Life Guards were also out playing in the surf.
Here are the Life Guards out on their Long Boards "training" in the big surf. It's hard to believe that this is the Gulf of Mexico. The waves were huge!

After a day on the beach we decided to check out some local bars. We found this place called AJ's which is right on the water. It had a nice view on the deck where the band was playing. We were the only ones watching hockey and cheering as we watched the Caps win their first playoff game. After the band finished their set we turned around to watch the next show.

Fireworks! Apparently they shoot off fireworks from this location every Friday night.

After a night of much entertainment we decided to head back home but we had to stop at Krispy Kreme first. The light was on announcing that they had Fresh, Hot Donuts ready. You just have to stop when you see that!

Ok, so I was caught by surprise with this picture but these donuts are soooooo good. And you get a free hat!

Sunday was a little worse, in turns of weather. Much colder and more drizzle. Perfect day to try out this restaurant called Fud Puckers. They are also home to over 50 alligators in their front pond.

We ended the day yesterday chasing down a good location to watch the sun set. There really isn't any good place to watch the sun go down in the water. I think we have left those days behind us.

We'll have to keep looking.

Bay Town Wharf

The day was spent exploring an area called "Bay Town Wharf". It's a gated community but you can get in by telling the guard that you are going to the "shops". The streets winds you around beautiful landscaped gardens and golf course's until you arrive at the shops.

There are over 100 shops and restaurants that are broken up by bridges over ponds and the bay.

The anchor hotel is, of course, the Hilton. After walking around and looking at the prices in the shops and restaurants we decided to hit another place that was more within our price range. The Outlet's. Just like in Rehoboth, they have all the major outlets. I have to admit that we spent some money on some much needed stuff.

The whole day was very windy with a cold chill in the air. We decided to take an afternoon stroll on the beach to see the huge waves. No surprise there were very few people hanging out. If you enjoy being in a sand storm it was perfect for you. Even the life guards were hunkered down, trying to hide from the elements. It was interesting to note that there are no shells on the beach. Quite a contrast from the other beaches we visited on the west coast of Florida. I did almost step on a Portuguese Man O War that had washed up on shore. If you look at the picture carefully you can see how far it's tentacle extends. I was about 10 feet long!

With our wind breakers on we were able to enjoy yet another sun set on the beach.

We have been on the Internet closely monitoring the weather reports. A severe storm is heading this way. It should arrive late Friday night and into Saturday morning. We also saw that Memphis is flooded from previous storms and that this coming storm won't help the situation. Looks like our decision has been made for us. We are heading west from here.

Enjoy a few more shots from our day...

Snow Everywhere Outside

Our first day in Destin had us running around with several errands. It always takes longer because you don't know where everything is located. So, you have to ask someone or drive around and hunt for what ever it is you need. After completeing the necessary tasks we drove around to explore the area. We ended up driving west until we hit Okaloosa, another beach town along the coast. These restaurants and shops caught our attention so we stopped to investigate. The "Swamp" is a huge restaurant that turns into a concert hall at night. With a huge stage and speakers everywhere and a nice size bar to accomadate all their thirsty patrons.
The block of restaurants overlooks the white sandy beach's. I can only imagine how crazy this place gets when there is a band playing.

While we were driving around Reta made a comment that really describes the sand in this area well. The white sand everywhere almost looks like snow because it is so white. When you see the dunes of sand it just looks like a huge pile of snow. I have to admit that of all the beach's we have had the opportunity to visit I have never seen sand this white.
This picture shows the city of Destin when we were returning from Okaloosa.

One thing that we have noticed about the people in this area is that their accent is much more southern with slow, drawn out words. People aren't in a hurry to get things done but would rather sit and tell you some experience that they had regarding their dog or pickup truck. Wait, that's usally country music. Now I know where all their insperation for country music must come from. Just sit back and listen to everyone. To top off the drive back we saw this truck on the road. This wasn't the first one we saw but the first one that I manged to get a picture of. I was going to take a picture of the front as well but I stopped when I saw the confederate flag on the front bumper. Is there such a thing as redneck cajun?

We found out some great news yesterday while talking to the camp host. We can wash our vechicles here in the campground! Today we are taking the day to wash Road Hazard and the Pickup. Who cares that they are calling for rain this weekend. They both need it bad.

Back an Hour

We finally hit the road and turned Road Hazard due north until we hit Interstate 10. This interstate will become our friend because it will eventually take us across the country. It felt good to be driving west once we hit 10. It finally feels like we are heading in a new direction. A direction that Reta and I have never been except for a few cities.
The distance from Crystal River to Destin is 368 miles and we stopped twice so that we could switch off the duties of controlling RH. It took us a little over 6 hours. We decided to stop and top of the tank since we hit another station that is RV friendly. You don't find to many of them along the way so when you do, you better stop.

Doesn't this look comfortable? It's like sitting in a lazy boy chair watching the world go by through a huge window in front of you. We both enjoy driving RH but I have to admit that we each also took a nap on the co-pilots chair. The drive up was interesting to see how the landscape changes. It went from very flat to hilly by the time we hit the pan handle. I always enjoy driving over these two lane bridges. You're sitting up so high and all you can see is water. Can those walls really stop a rig this big?
We found our campground with no problem but to getting into it was a problem. This campground only has about 28 spots. It's mostly privately owned but the owners rent out their spots when they're not around. To make the turn into this place was tight. We had to disconnect the pickup so that I could back up about 5 feet to make the turn. Here we are, in our spot finally, all unpacked and ready to walk down to the beach and check it out. Oh, wait! Before we head out the door we had to set all our clocks back an hour. We are now in the Central Time Zone. You know what that means? We're finally moving west!

Short walk to the beach got us there close to sunset. Our first impressions of Destin Beach's are very good. The sand is white and very fine. When you take your flip flops off the sand is cool between your toes. I think it will work just fine...

The next decision we have to make is where we want to go from here. Tennessee is not too far from here and we could visit Nashville and Memphis. Or, we could continue west and try and hit Tennessee some other time. We'll have to check out the weather channel and Internet to see which way to go. The tough decisions we have to make...

Everyting's Wet!

Last night while we sat watching the weather forecast and listening to the rain pound on the roof of RH, we decided that Monday morning we would stay put.

Yesterday I went out to put away the kayak's and organize everything down below and the rain started to come down. First it was slow and gradually it started to pick up speed until it was a huge downpour. This kept up for most of the day and into the late hours of the evening. Needless to say, I never got to put anything away. It's all still outside. There would be too much for us to try and put away this morning and after that we have a 6 - 7 hour drive ahead of us. We'll let everything dry out today and head off first thing in the morning. As my friend Charlie would always tell me while on the sailboat, "There is no need to push it. Sometimes nature has the last say in your schedule."

Hey, you all remember my friend Hossein? Well, I have to share a picture that he sent me recently while working on the farm. We sent him this shirt for his birthday last week and he wanted to show us how he's putting it to work. He looks good for 42.

Hey, do you remember my other friend, Jim Brown? Well, he sent me this picture of himself and his friend Dave at a St. Patrick's Day party. Nice hat JB He's the good looking one on the left.

OK, so it's a slow adventure day for us and I'm trying to keep you entertained. As for us and Road Hazard it's going to be a day of drying out and packing up.

Rainbow River

Getting up was a chore because after a full day spent on the water kayaking and scuba diving our bodies felt like a piece of meat that had been tenderized with a hammer. Still, we managed to get all our gear together and set off for Rainbow River. On the 45 minute drive northeast to the river we were flirting with big ugly gray clouds that seemed like they were following us. If it does rain we are going to be in the water so what's the difference? It's not like it matters if we get wet! Arriving at the river we were pleasantly surprised to find very few people. After paying our entrance fee into the park and being handed a list of rules we prepared the kayaks for the trip up river. Because the river is so clear they make every effort to ensure that the river maintain its clarity. They do not allow any type of container that is considered disposable. So, no cans, plastic bottles, zip lock bags or paper are allowed on boats or your person. The fines are pretty big if you dare break them. The head spring is about a mile upriver from where we are putting in. Once we get there we would jump in the water and snorkel back down river letting the currents push us along. I have never seen water so clear. I thought the water in the Bahamas was clear but there is something about fresh water being so crystal clear. You can see every detail on the river bottom. We paddled our way up river and stopped occasionally to look at the turtles swimming by and even an alligator swimming along the edge of the river. The river had many turns until we finally arrived at the spring head. The area is one big spring. The rock bottom has numerous cracks where water is gushing out. This spring pumps out over 400 million gallons of fresh water a day!I have to admit that I took a little taste of the water and it tasted so good. Clean and cold. I made sure I wasn't around all the people swimming when I did it!

We jumped into the river after we attached a leash to the kayaks and tied them together for our journey downstream. Wearing our wetsuits, because the water is a constant 72 degrees all year, we floated with the currents over top of white sandy bottom, grass and fish that were curious to see what we were doing. Certain parts of the river were only 4 feet deep with the grass rubbing our stomachs as we floated by. Other area's were about 20 - 25 feet deep. At the bottom of some of these deep area's you could see the sand boiling. There are springs all along the river and at these points the water is coming out of the ground and causing the sand to boil. At other locations there would just be a hole the size of a basketball and when you would swim down and put your hand in it you could feel the pressure of water being pumped out. The cold water would fill my wetsuit as I would try and stick my head in some of these holes for closer inspection. About half way down Rainbow river the clouds that had been flirting with us earlier couldn't hold back anymore. The skies opened up. First with loud thunder followed by buckets of water. What an experience to be swimming in crystalline water and having this hard rain come down. One boater passed us as the storm was at its most intense downpour, smiled at us and said "Looks like you're going to get a little wet!" The best part was to free dive down about 10 feet and just look back up at the surface and watch this intense storm hit the surface of the water. It almost looked like popcorn. The sound of the rain was another thing that I will never forget. I'm sure you've all heard rain hitting the surface of water but the sound from the other side, from underwater, is something that I can't describe. I told Reta that our experience yesterday is what this trip is all about for me. Not the swimming or snorkeling or even the rain storm But the combination of being in a place that isn't a tourist trap and somewhere that I have never heard of before. Experiencing all these elements of nature in one moment is what Road Hazard's journey is all about. Experiencing something that can't be bought or planned. Living the moment.

We took pictures underwater with our newly purchased underwater disposable camera but have to get the pictures developed. Hopefully within the next week we can stop by one of those one hour places and get it done.

Amazingly, with some energy remaining when we got back we decided to explore our campground while on wheels. We haven't been rollerblading for several years now but it's like riding a bike. What a workout it is to push yourself along on eight wheels. We will have to do this again.



Today we woke up and I prepared a good breakfast, if I may say so myself, of pancakes and fruit. Afterwards, as every American has or will do before April 15th we will prepare our taxes. Hopefully Uncle Sam will send us a check. Then we will hang out around RH and start putting things away for our journey that will continue tomorrow morning. Our destination is Destin, FL. Tomorrow afternoon we will officially be in the Central Time Zone. Yes, we're getting closer to leaving the Great State of Florida.

Water logged.

The morning was filled with a lot of activity with getting everything ready to go for our adventure on the water. The kayaks had to be assembled and filled with air. The scuba equipment had to get a once over to make sure it was all there and get snacks and water together. Load up the truck and secure everything so we don't have any stories of kayaks flying off on the highway.We finally made it to Crystal River and rented the scuba equipment that we don't have. Then the fun part. Loading up the kayaks with all this stuff. My fear was that the kayaks were just going to sink as soon as we put them in. They didn't! These kayaks are really sturdy and we felt safe with all the extra weight we were carrying. We headed of to two springs that normally have manatees this time of year. All we found there was a lot more tourists, boats and some fish. We decided to paddle over to the biggest spring called King Spring. It is 75 feet across and at its deepest point 35 feet. There were so many big fish down at the mouth of this spring. It was neat to be swimming along and all of a sudden you feel the water change from cold to warm instantly. The cracks in the rocks were gushing with water. We spent the whole day swimming around and going to different springs but never spotting any manatee. After finally running out of air and starting to get very hungry we decided to call it a day. And what a day it was.

The worst part of any good day out on the water is when you get back you have to take everything apart, clean and dry it. This is all done when you are tired and hungry.

Close to the end of our cleaning I spotted this little fellow trying to climb into the belly of Road Hazard. What the hell is this thing?

It's going to feel good taking a shower and sitting down for dinner. We did a lot today and I know that I will feel it in the morning.