Baton Rouge to Tallahassee

We crossed 4 states today, Louisanna, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida making it 7 states we have travelled thru since Sunday. It has been amazing so far and we are now 3/4 thru our trip. Wow!!!! The scenery has changed this week. now we are seeing a lot more greenery. We stopped in at Alabama Welcome center and they had a christmas tree decorated for Mardi Gras(see picture) and also a wreath(see picture). They told us the Mardi Gras originated in Alabama and not New Orleans. Big parade in Mobile and New Orleans is this weekend. As we were leaving Baton Rouge...highway into New Orleans was closed due to a float stuck in a overpass!!! Can you say, "Whoops!!"....When we drove thru Mobile, I took this picture of Battleship Park. The last picture is the causeway thru Pensacola. It has been a great trip and tomorrow we drive to my brother, Gerry in Bradenton Florida for a visit.

New Orleans

We headed into New Orleans and we drove on the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway which is approx 24 miles long. It is unbelievable how big the Lake is (see picture above)and the waterways that connect to it have houses on stilts(see picture above) and they need a boat to get to it as there are no roads.....As we were driving into New Orleans and saw the Dome, we remembered during Hurricane Katrina people were housed there. Wow!! We drove around the French Quarter and down Bourbon Street not all as part of it was blocked off. They are decorating for Mardi Gras and the decorations were awesome(see picture above). Had a hard time to find a place to park but did get some masks for Bryanna, Sophie and Ryan....With Mardi Gras just over a week away, it is very busy there. Very much enjoyed our day there...

Weimar Texas to Baton Rouge Louisana

We left at 7:30am and hit Houston at 9am. Whew!! Traffic instead of taking one of the ring roads around the city, we ended up taking 10 thru the center as traffic was heavier on those roads. It was a beautiful drive, saw an armadillo on the side of the road. Going thru La Fayette, Louisana I got a picture of steamboats. We went thru Henderson Swamp and the bridge thru it is 15 miles long. Unbelievable!! We arrived at Baton Rouge and low and behold, the mighty Mississippi River. We unhooked and headed out to Dinner to try their seafood. It was delicious and we got to try Crawfish Gumbo. Yummy!!!

Arizona to Texas

Well, Feb 20 we woke up to rain but started to get the trailer ready to leave and it started to hail. Thanks goodness it did not last long. Kevin and Gary finished up outside on the trailer and we ended up departing at 9:40am instead of the 8am we were hoping for.It was sad to leave our good friends that we made there. They have made our stay so enjoyable and they will not be forgotten. We had 2 hrs of steady to very heavy rain but we were out of it before Tucson. We decided to detour to Tombstone to see it and it was awesome but sadly we could not stop. Holiday weekend and it was so busy and nowhere to park. With our truck and fifth wheel we were kind of limited. Pretty Cool though...Part of it looks like a old western town from the old movies. We went by Bisbee which had a copper and gold mine in the center of town....It looks like a big hole in the ground...Wow!!! We were close to the mexican border in Douglas via 80 and crossed into New Mexico and stayed overnight at Lordsburg . Next day we continued on I10 and crossed into Texas at El Peso which is right on the Mexican border....if fact I got pictures of Mexico from the center of town....amazing. There was tons of stockade of cattle along I10 amazing the number of cattle. So decided to take a picture and opened the window and near died from the smell. Gag City!!!! I could not imagine working there if that was the odor I was getting. We had to go thru border control outside of El Peso....Checking to see if we had any illegal mexicans with us. We continued on to Fort Stockton Texas where we overnighted. Today we drove by San Antonio and when as far as Weimar Texas. We were amazed at how many dead skunks and deer that we saw on the side of the road. Vegetation become more colorful as compared with the desert gray we were used to. All in all it has been an amazing trip.

Leaving Arizona

It is hard to believe we have been here 4 months tomorrow. We were planning on leaving early in the morning but it is rain and windy so we might delay it by a day. We are sad to be leaving our friends that we have made here. They have made our stay so enjoyable and they will not be forgotten. This quote I found says it all:

"Sometimes people come into your life and you know right away they are meant to be there". We will be staying in touch.

They had a farewell dinner for us last night Sharry, Mandy, Danny, Denise and Dan did an awesome job, we had mexican food and it was delicious...Yummy! and dessert was to die for. I got the recipe!!

Sharry Kitzman is next door to us and it is like I have known her all my life.

Danny & Mandy Wessels are from Texas along with their kids Tyler (9) and Blake (7) are a great family and we have enjoyed our time with them. It is like having my family with me. We will miss our Crantini Time and I know they will miss Gary's cooking....He was always sending samples for them to try.

Virgil who works here at Leaf Verde is such a sweet man. Always, stopped in to see how we are doing. Now our journey continues across the United States on our way to Florida forour first break. It will take us a week or 10 days to get their and I will be posting in my blog along the way.

Las Vegas

We left for Vegas on Sunday morning and arrived at 10:30am. Got checked in but had to wait until 2pm as our room was not ready. We went over at the Imperial to get the half price tickets for Jersey Boys for the 7pm show....You know the expression "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" Well, Marilyn can say it and mean it as she lost her wallet in Vegas. Had to cancel all her cards. Thank Goodness her money was in another wallet. If you ever get a chance to see the Jersey Boys, do not miss it. Our daughter, Tracey, told us to go and I called to thank her as it was awesome. It is based on Frankie Valli and the 4 Seasons. Fantastic!!

The next night we bought tickets to the last of the Vegas Showgirls extravaganza, "Jubilee" The costumes were spectacular. It was a great show. We also went to the Premium Outlet Mall and decided to take Fred, Marilyn and Bill to Hoover Dam as they have never been. It was a great day and we left early on Feb 1 as they were predicting a storm across USA. We decided to go down 95 into part of California before heading to Lake Havasu City and home. We took Fred and Marilyn to a u-pick farm and they got to pick oranges. They departed this morning for home and we will miss them. It was a great 11 days.