On to Baton Rouge!

9 Mar 2011--Before I start on our Louisiana trip, I wanted to address the Paul Lynde story again from my last blog. Just so you know, I probably saw that particular show 40-45 years ago, but have never forgotten it. Paul placed himself front and center of where the TV tube would be inside the TV and said that "I've been framed!" comment..to this day it cracks me up. So when I looked up and saw Cathy back there, I immediately laughed and insisted she wait till I could get the camera. Needless to say, she didn't think it was as funny as I did, but she did play along for me...even going so far as to get back behind the TV casing so I could take the picture. What a sport!!!

So, we drove about 480 miles between yesterday and today; 400 of them yesterday before we finally stopped for the night. We are staying in Port Allen, basically a suburb of Baton Rouge, and a town named after Henry Watkins Allen, a plantation owner and the last Confederate Governor of Louisiana during the Civil War.

Although the state license plate is boring, the state flag is sort of interesting. All I know so far is that it is based on the state seal, but I have no idea why it has a pelican with 3 babies on it, or why the words Union, Justice and Confidence are there. I can see the 1st 2 words, but Confidence???

Interstate 10 from Texas to Florida is a pretty boring drive, but for those of you who haven't ever driven it, there is a bridge called the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge that runs 18.2 miles over swampland that is pretty cool. It is the 10 largest bridge in the world, and the 6th largest over a body of water. And notice all these 18-wheelers on it! If you are wondering why your grocery bills are going thru the roof, these trucks carry everything from food to furniture, and they all run on diesel like my RV; diesel gas prices are going crazy!

These swamplands are all you can see on either side of the bridge...They make me think of the movie "Deliverance"! I just know someone is up to no good in there somewhere!

Very prominent on every corner in every town you go thru are the casinos. Even part of every gas station...I guess they figure you will play to try to pay some of the gas bill!

In this little town I saw this sign urging Catholics to return to the church...I thought it was really bizarre until I turned on the TV tonight and saw a segment showing that the Archdiocese in Boston is urging their Catholics to come home...must be a nationwide push!!! (I also heard on TV tonight that Newt Gingrich, even before he converted to Catholicism, got the church to annul his 2nd marriage so that he could get married for the 3rd time in the church--I am not sure I want to belong to any organization that would have him! haha)

This is the RV park we are staying at...still very wet from all the storms they have had over the past few days.

A few state fun facts that I saw at the Visitor's Center, like Louisiana became the 18th state in the union in 1812, but didn't have their official state flag until 1912. Makes me wonder why it took them 100 years to come up with that pelican theme? haha

We'll be going to the Capitol and maybe one or two plantations over the next 2 days, so stay tuned! And Julie, we might even go to the Angola State Prison Museum if we have time...that is one of the ones you always watch on "Lockup, Raw!" It is about an hour away, so we shall see.

San Antonio

8 Mar 2011--Well, after 4 months in San Antonio, we are back on the road again as of this morning. While in San Antonio, we mostly did routine medical appointments and visited with friends...but we did see a couple things almost unheard of here. The 1st was a wild pig right on the base, about 20 ft from the RV, and the 2nd was a dusting of snow on February 4th. They said it was a 1/2 inch, but I don't think so, although it did shut down all the major roads for the day. A friend of ours even had an EKG cancelled...can you imagine them cancelling a heart appt for a mere dusting of snow?

At Christmas time we went down to the River Walk, the tourist spot here that along with the Alamo is the most visited place in Texas! After all these years we finally went on the boats after having dinner. The lights were really nice, but don't show well with my camera.

Besides the table we built, Cathy and I also replaced both of the TVs in the RV. This one in the front weighed 85 pounds and was only a 24" screen so we replaced it with a 32" that weighs only 18 pounds...much, much better!!!

I saw Cathy crawl in the back and thought of Paul Lynde in the old Bewitched series where he said "I've been framed"!!! Cracked me up!

Notice that Cathy had an electric saw, but she gave me the hand saw to use...what is that about?

We put in a shelf for storage and an articulating arm so we could swing the TV out for better viewing...we love it!

In the back we replaced another TV and are also proud of the results!

Because we are so handy (haha), Hallie and Donna waited for us to return to San Antonio to do some work around their house. From cleaning the gutters to trimming the trees, we put in a full day's work over there...or I should say that at least Cathy did!

Look at Donna, supposedly helping Hallie with the ladder, that ultimately will be passed to Cathy so she can reach the top of the chimney on the roof.

Here Donna and Hallie are pretending to work because Cathy is on her way down from the roof.

But notice they have time to take a break while I take a family photo!

We also put up 2 ceiling fans and hung a TV in their game room, but I didn't have my camera to document it...I don't know what they do when we are on the road!? haha

Anyway, we are headed to Baton Rouge, LA for a few days before heading to Florida for a month. I will probably have a couple postings in that timeframe, then a bunch as we make our way to Boston over the course of 7 weeks. Can't wait to see all the states in-between!!!