It's NOT the destination, it's the JOURNEY

Grand Canyon West

2010-03-10T18:22:00.000-08:00

Jen is hugging a rock on the hill overlooking the Canyon

Chris meditating nearby.

They did not know I was checking up on them.

The view from their vantage point.

Hangin' out with Mom

Oatman and Route 66

2010-03-06T18:02:00.000-08:00

Jen jumps for Joy in Arizona. Behind her you can see California and Nevada.

Love those furry baby burros.

Chris and Jen doing what they do best on the main street of the "living" ghost town of Oatman.

A hidden canyon we found in the mountains across the Colorado River.

Visiting the famous desert bar...

2010-01-13T06:45:00.000-08:00

The Desert Bar is a unique, sprawling set of patios that is five miles from anywhere....
the story is that in the 70s a fell bought an old mining claim. He built a shed and called it a bar...it just grew and grew and now attracts hundreds of dry throats every weekend. It is only open on weekend afternoons.

Old vehicles have found a resting place as strategicly placed monuments.

This fake church is available for weddings, which are regular events.
The bridge crosses an arroyo which is also filled with a stage and chairs.

The bar attracts a lot of off road riders who have hundreds of miles of desert to get lost in.
The road is easy for a truck, but driving in is very slow.

Mona and Will hoisting a few....

Our house, is a very fine house

2010-01-10T12:15:00.000-08:00

We are doing a lot of hking, this is halfway thru a 6 mile hike.

Our living room.

Spare bedroom...when are you coming to visit?

Looking towards dining room, kitchen is behind wall to right.

Main bedroom.

Pictures from Lake Havasu 1

2010-01-10T10:44:00.000-08:00

looking down the crack in the wall trail

On old route 66, this is a fake gas station. It is a gift shop/museum. Many neat things inside!

This the original London Bridge, moved to Lake Havasu City 40 years ago.

Mona on the "Lookout" trail with our hiking group. We hiked to the TOP of that mountain right behind her.

I am on top of that mountain you saw behind Mona's head. Lake Havasu is behind me.

This is a herd of wild Burros we saw across the river. There were about 15.

This is a roadrunner on our patio.

This is the boat in the garage. It is worth over $200,000. Twin v8s, 32 feet long.

How things have changed for us!

2009-11-18T20:01:00.000-08:00

THIS is now this......

THIS is now this......

THIS is now THIS

...

2009-07-06T06:51:00.001-07:00

2009-03-16T14:46:00.000-07:00

This is the Whipple observatory road. Whipple is part of the Smithsonian institution.
The road is 13 kilometers of single track mountain gravel road rising over 2 kilometers in height.
You can see the ovservatory from our lot in the high desert...it is probably about 10 miles as the crow flies but was a 40 km scooter ride to get there.

We had a blast on this road...Mona even opened her eyes a couple of times!

Welcome to Kailey!

2009-03-15T09:12:00.000-07:00

Straight from Sudbury here are BIRTHday pictures from Kerry, Gary, Hannah and:

KAILEY ELIZABETH REED

"Had the baby Saturday at 9:457 lbs 12 oz20.5 inches long..Afro...black...and curly...fingers 10...like little sausages...10 toes...little like mom's."

We are so proud and happy! Good job everyone!

We will be back in Sudbury for Easter. On our way home we will be visiting Colin and Michelle's new house in Calgary and checking out preparations for our upcoming grandson's birth in late July!

Back at Rio Rico

2009-03-10T11:33:00.000-07:00

Here is our trailer on our lot in Arizona. We are enjoying our time here...until March 29.

This was a cattle drive we had to stop for on the Ruby road scenic drive.

The locked gate to the ghost town of Ruby Az. Once it had over 2,000 residents. Now it is really the middle of nowhere, but the dirt road to it has amazing views.

Ground zero for illegals from Mexico looking for nirvana in the US.

Some of the amazing scenery.

Old route 66

2009-01-23T12:31:00.000-08:00

This is probably the BADDEST stretch of road we have every biked on.

From our base in Moabi park, it is only 35 miles to the end of this ride. 25 miles is just a ball, then the next 8 are hairpin turns and dropoffs!

These 2 guys on harleys stopped and chatted at the lookout then took off!

This very cool tourist trap is at the end of the twisties...then it was time to turn around and go home!

Oatman AZ on Route 66

2009-01-10T12:44:00.000-08:00

These pictures are from our field trip to Oatman Arizona.
Neat motorcycle road...it is on old Route 66. Great desert views and mountain twists.

The burros are wild...sort of. They depend on the tourists for food. Carrots are a buck a bag.

The old main street is now a tourist haven with cheap t-shirts and expensive food.

Thanksgiving in Luckenbach

2008-11-29T09:14:00.000-08:00

We had a great meal, sort of an organized potluck dinner to benefit a great cause. About 100 people there, like a big family.
We were taken right in, as is always the case in small town Texas.
We posed for pictures on "Shotgun" for a donation.

This is Shotgun's owner posing for pictures...he was an absolute card who made us laugh from the moment we met him.

there was lots of professional performers, but at the end of the evening it just became a little jam circle.
the lady on the right sang a son for Mona.

We sat with Charlie Bishop and family.
Charlie has a friend in Canada by the name of Ian Tyson...he asked us if we knew him.
By the end of the night he gave us a signed CD and invited us to move our trailer to his ranch for a party...we plan to do that on our way home in March.
His music site is charliebishopmusic.com

Road trips in the Hill Country

2008-11-26T09:33:00.000-08:00

This rooster came up and nibbled at my fingers.....
Below is a picture of Mona looking at another rooster who is checking out a hen of a different colour....the guitars giveaway the location, Luckenbach Texas, home of Waylon and Willie and the boys (if that means nothing to you, you missed out on the seventies and outlaw country music)

Riverwalk San Antonio

2008-11-26T09:09:00.000-08:00

The Riverwalk is a fantastic place...2 miles long with wonderful gardens, buildings and patios.

This lady is only 14 years old and getting pictures done for her debut....a Mexican tradition.

Her actual party will be in March, she is just getting the portrait done today.

Willie loves a patio by the water....and we all love a good deal.
We got 2 margaritas and some loaded nachos for $8.00 at this patio....so good that we came back after our walk for 2 more!

Why we like Blanco....

2008-11-18T11:11:00.000-08:00

I posted a bunch of pics last year about this place so you can see more by paging down. But here are a couple more....

Great motorcycling, no matter WHICH way you go from our park. Roads are paved and frost heaves are UNKNOWN.

A new feature in Google Earth...you can select a place and email it to others (or yourself) as a picture or link.
this is the park we are in...small and quiet.

The river contains a neat little swimming pool. It may be hot enough to go in this afternoon....

Friday Night Lights

2008-11-17T18:22:00.000-08:00

Football is big in Texas and I took up the chance to see the "Friday Night Lights" for myself. The "Blanco Panthers" are a very successful team with a huge following. The fans must have numbered about 500, which is amazing for a town of 500.
Here are some of my observations.....

this picture is of a blow-up panther that the team runs through to begin the game. Quite a labour and expense for a small town....for about 30 seconds of utility!

Here is the game at its most interesting....Blanco won.

These ladies were sitting behind me...they were not the only ones wearing their kids name on their sweater. Just an indication of how proud the parents are that their kid made the team...and how much pressure is on the kids.

It was a magical night...about 70 farenheit and a full moon shining down on the field...in mid-November!

Doug Frederick, 1932-2008

2008-11-17T16:05:00.000-08:00

My father-in-law, Mona's Dad, passed away on Oct. 23 2008.

Doug is missed already. He was a unique person who cared deeply for us and the feelings were reciprocated.
Doug was a dairy farmer who's live was built around the family and the farm. I think he felt the family fed the farm, and the farm fed the family.

He was lucky to live near all of his kids and all of his grandchildren. We all had the opportunity to spend lots of time with him, and I happy that all of my family took advantage of that opportunity.

Mona regularly cut her Dad's hair. Sometimes barber bibs were hard to find....

The last kiss from his only Great-grandchild, Hannah Brooke Reed.

September and the last fishing trip...with his oldest grandchild, Chris Presley.

We are glad that we got lots of time with Doug before he passed on. He had 75 good years and he earned the respect of all who knew him.

Rest easy Doug....now the roads and the price of gas are someone else's worry!

Halloween with Hannah

2008-11-17T15:55:00.000-08:00

Pumpkin carving is a team effort.

The purple dino getting ready to take on the neighbourhood.

Last treat is from Grampa Will

Halloween is only once a year so a girl has to dress up twice...this is Cinderella in the trailer doorway.

Our new home on Wolfe Lake, Nipissing

2008-10-16T17:12:00.000-07:00

Front view from the lake...it is a little messy right now (under construction)

The view from the road in. Every room has a walk-out.

The view from the kitchen looking up to the 2nd floor loft.

Looking down from the stairs.

this was one of our first family dinners (unfortunatley Colin was missing and Will is taking the picture)

A sunrise from the deck.

The same view from the master bedroom.

Guess who's feet????

Hint: feet owner is below at sunset on the deck

Pictures from Rio Rico AZ

2008-03-19T10:58:00.000-07:00

These are all shots from our lot. We have been here since Feb. 14 and plan to stay until April 8 or so.

We just LOVE this place.

Chris's visit...Chris came for a few days, all too short!

Mona is on the phone with Bev, just look at the sky and moon!

Snow day! We have had snow on Feb. 15 and March 15. Two days later the temp is 80 f, so we can't complain!

this is how we shortcut to the interstate, we drive ACROSS the Santa Cruz river.

There is a plan to build a bridge...

the good life in Kino!

2008-02-11T14:14:00.001-08:00

Attention Golfers! You could play this lovely course in Kino Bay for only $5 per day, unlimited rounds.
The story is that a few gringos threw in a few bucks 5 years ago and built this lovely course for an incredible $8,000 for 9 holes!

If you don't like golfing, how about clamming for free? Here Mona is hard at work....and Will and our friend Gisippe (sp?) toast the morning with some Tequila provide by G at 9:30 in the a.m. Tough life.

After the clamming comes the work....here Mona and Larry and Melissa (our new friends from Oregon) shuck the clams....we had buckets and they were small clams! And yes, we both ate our first clams.

Vendors come thru the park daily. Here is the Veggie man, great produce and a really nice chap.

Tony is nicknamed "smiles". He sells intricate boxes made by Indians 500 miles south of here. Mona is picking out next year's Christmas presents.

Last but not least, another great Kino sunset after another sunny day at the beach.

Bahia de Kino Mexico

2008-02-05T12:46:00.000-08:00

I will update you on the first half of our trip, but right now I am just going to get something up to tell you how we are doing...

This is our second stop in Mexico and we are here until Feb. 14. That will make 15 days total.

This is an interesting place, made up of 2 communities. New Kino, where we are, is basically the "rich" resort area.

This picture is of New Kino, but no, I did not take it.

Old Kino is only 1 KM away and is a genuine Mexican fishing village. I think it depends more on tourism now, as it is filled with restaurants (some that are just the front porch of a home....and often this is where the food is best).

Food and booze and anything that is labour intensive is very cheap.

Lots of folks are here to fish. And they are happy to take those of us who do not have boats. This is part of our catch from last Saturday. They call them "rockfish" and I wonder if anyone knows what they really are?

We kept 20 and threw back as many smaller ones. It was the easiest fishing, and most prolific that I have every had. The fish tasted great....they are a lot like pickerel in how they fight, fillet and taste. The fillets were small but no bones when you don't get greedy.

Here is a pic of Mona and Penny so the family knows I have not done them in.

Look for more updates soon.

Halfway thru snowbird season

2008-01-22T19:46:00.000-08:00

It seems crazy but we have just past the halfway mark in our southern swing.

We left home on Nov. 2, the day that our house was transferred to the new owners.

We stayed the first weekend with Chris and Jen in K-W.

Our first stop in the US was with our friends in Arkansas. We had a wonderful week there and then moved on to Texas. You can find a previous post from last year about our favourite state park, Blanco State park. We stayed a whole month there and then pushed on towards Arizona.

On the way to Arizona we toured a fantastic cavern in Sonora Texas. The tour was 2 hours long and because it was the slow season we were alone with the guide.

The next big stop was near Benson Arizona where we were generously offerred a place to park behind Lonnie and Leanne Rose's house. This was very private and had great facilities.

During our stay, we had a number of visitors. My Mom and her partner Bob came for Christmas. Lonnie's nephew and his girlfriend spent almost two weeks in the house and Colin and Michele came for a week.

From Benson it was just a few hours to our own lot near Tubac Arizona. We loved camping on our lot as it was not only a very special place but the neighbourhood has a few houses and the folks welcomed us very warmly. The area is developing with estate homes and has fantastic views all around.

Merry Christmas from Benson

2007-12-27T14:39:00.001-08:00

We were very pleased to have Mom and Bob join us for a few days. We exchanged a few gifts and had some great meals. On the 27th they were on there way back to Holtville CA

A new Presley baby!

2007-03-20T15:10:00.000-07:00

Will finally got his wish and brought home a (fairly) new 400cc scooter.

While we can only ride it while it is in the truck for now, we can't wait to get 2-wheelin"

Wonderful state park in Blanco Texas

2007-03-14T08:59:00.000-07:00

We are loving this park.

We have made great friends.

There are a dozen towns, plus San Antonio and Austin, that are easy day trips.

Every road is beautiful to drive.

Alot of history, nature and museums.

We are going to come back here often!

We leave on March 21 to make our way home.

Luckenbach Texas, did not find Willy Nelson

2007-03-13T10:16:00.000-07:00

We have made 3 trips to Lukenbach which is only about a 30 minute drive from us. The road, as is EVERY road out of Blanco is an amazing twisty paved road that begs for a motorcycle to challenge its curves and hills.
Hopefully we will oblige next spring!

One afternoon about 100 trailriders came thru. One cowboy could not wait for his beer so he road up to the bar. No problem getting served here!

kayaking the Frio river

2007-03-13T10:07:00.000-07:00

Ran the rapids in my inflatable Kayak...actually the rapids were super tame.
This river is a major tubing destination. It is in Garner state park which is the most popular park in Texas. Over 3,000 people here some weekends.
Probably not more than 50 when we stayed for 3 nights end of Feb.

Boating up the Rio Grande

2007-03-13T09:52:00.000-07:00

Here is Will in his shiny new folding boat zooming for the camera. We are about 8 miles from the launch on the Pecos river, but just across Seminole canyon from the point we walked to in our blog post "walking to the rio grande".
You can see the picnic shelter just above the bow of the boat on the hill.

This is the famous pictograph that gives Panther cave its name.

There are maybe 100 other pictures on the wall as well

Here is the guide map with a clear picture.

Walking to the Rio Grande

2007-02-14T18:18:00.000-08:00

Just below our campsite is a 2 mile hike to the Rio Grande/Seminole canyon

junction. We walked this on Valentine’s day.
The area is a true desert. The walk was a treat and the overlook was amazing.

This is Will with the Rio Grande behind. Mexico is the left bank.

Across the river is another ancient pictograph site which is only accessible by boat.

You can see the dock in the middle of this pic. The site is 40 feet above.

We hope to visit it next week

The sign on the fence says "state park boundary"...the view behind is typical desert in this area.

Seminole Canyon

2007-02-14T18:02:00.000-08:00

We moved to this state park on the edge of the Chihuahuan desert on Feb. 11.
It is very remote (the nearest town is Del Rio TX) and near the juncture of the Rio Grande and Pecos river. Of course it is very close to Mexico and heavily traveled by illegal immigrants and the US Border Patrol.

The park has amazing canyons which are especially important for their ancient pictographs and fossils.
We have taken one tour to see some paintings and the canyon bottom and have 3 more to do.

We also intend to put our little boat into the Pecos river (just below this bridge which is 273 feet above the water) and travel 8 miles up the Pecos River and 2 miles the other way to the Rio Grande.
The fishing in this area is excellent (a couple at the boat launch had caught 20 big white bass that day).

Mona at the bottom of Seminole canyon.

The park mascot...a shaman sculpture. Very intricate.

Illegal immigrant checking out the high rise housing on the canyon wall.

Connecting with the dolphins

2007-02-08T09:18:00.000-08:00

As we get ready to leave this park on February 11, we are tying up loose ends. One thing that we wanted to do was to visit with the dolphins. There is a remarkable, small family operation called “dolphin connection” www.dolphin-connection.org
While this business caters to tourists, it really is about dolphin study. The owner-operator is a former University professor who studies dolphins by using the fees collected for his work and to educate the public.

We luckily found ourselves alone on the tour. Penny was allowed to come along as we were told “Dolphins like dogs”.

Here is Penny playing lookout...she growled when dolphins were near the boat....of course long before we saw them!

The tour was a treat as the captain intimately knows each dolphin in his bay (over 200!) by sight and was happy to share his immense knowledge of dolphins.
Did we actually touch dolphins??? They allowed us to come within inches but stayed just that far away.
We would go again in a minute!

Weather gets us into trouble….

2007-02-08T09:02:00.000-08:00

January was the wettest and coldest January in Corpus Christi in about 25 years. Rain was about 21/2 times normal. Lake Corpus Christi rose about 2 feet….still about 8 feet below capacity due to a 3 year drought (seemingly broken when the Presley’s arrived).

This picture is of the NON-floating pier and shows how far down the lake is.

Will apparently got bored. He decided we should move on to Mexico and warmer weather. Mona said she was not up to moving. Of course, Will was outvoted so we stayed in LCC.
But, Will got his revenge. On January 22 (with Mona’s consent, of course) we booked a flight to Toronto for January 25, returning on January 30. It was kept as a total surprise to our family.
Of course THIS is why we traveled….

It is not that we got homesick, it is just that Hannah’s first birthday and Colin’s twice yearly visit to Powassan and crappy weather in south Texas came together.

We went home. We got the 24 hour flu. We had fun. We were ecstatic to spend time with all of our family. We were very glad to get back

Footnote….in the 10 days we are back the weather has broken and become normal..highs in the 20s Celsius most days.

Our second month in Texas

2007-01-19T08:53:00.000-08:00

Our first month at Lake Corpus Christi is over and we have renewed our site for another month. We will be here until Feb. 9 and then spend 4 weeks traveling in central Texas.
I thought I might summarize some of our Texas lessons….

What we really like….
The price of gas. Today (January 17) we paid the equivalent of 58 Canadian cents per litre.
The low price of booze….this is hard to get used to…so we have decided to avoid buying booze during the week. I have picked up beer for $15 for 30 cans, premium Tequila for $15 per bottle and decent wine for $6. To make it worse, in our neighborhood bar/marina you can buy a bottle of beer for $1! In a very quaint throwback to ancient times, you are allowed to BRING IN your bottle of wine or liquor and they will serve it to you. This is because the county is “dry” and you can not buy anything harder than beer in the stores OR bars.
The service. Whether a restaurant, bar or store, the people are extremely friendly and helpful.
The weather. Although it is a cold snap right now (and the threat of 0 Celsius has prompted a “hazardous winter weather advisory”) the average temperature is 66 F, which I guess is about 18C.
The longer days. Right now the sun is rising abut 7:15 and setting at 6. We are getting almost an hour more of sun per day.
Texas state parks. There are over 120 state parks and they are wonderful places. Many full of history, others full of fish, still others with amazing natural attractions like waterfalls, caves or mountains (not rocky mountains, but darn big hills).
The cemeteries. In the Mexican tradition almost ever grave has flowers or keepsakes placed all over the plot. It is obvious that family means a lot to these folks.

Seafood. Wow. We have bought live jumbo shrimp off the back of a boat for $5 per pound. We are almost shrimped out....but not yet.

Things we don’t like…

The speed limits. Interstates are pegged at 70mph (110KM for the Young Canadian Readers) but almost every road is set 10mph (16kph for YCR) higher than we would see at home. What blows are mind are the two lane backroads without shoulders, and with lots of driveways and curves that have speed limits of 65 mph (103KPH). These would be a maximum of 50mph/80kph at home.

Sandburs/spurs or whatever you may call/curse them.
These tiny spheres are horribly sharp and are found throughout any grassy area. Don’t even THINK about going barefoot in the grass. The poor dogs are driven mad by these burrs as they attach themselves to the paws or belly in an instant. I have no idea how native dogs cope. Penny is kept on the pavement but still manages to come up with lame.
Here she is being given a saltwater soak for her sore paws. Its so bad she quietly stands for her soaking.
The smoking rules, or lack of them. Yes, you can smoke in restaurants etc. The bar we celebrated New Years Eve at was at least 90% smokers. Too 1980’s for me.
Lack of some common foods….we can’t find fresh pasta or pitas in the grocery stores. Mind you, tortillas are cheap and very fine.
Radio stations….they are the shits! You can see my rant on the Texas Mix radio station (below) which was the exception to the rule (and is not within our range here). The patter and lack of good public radio was mind-numbing. We now subscribe to satellite radio, mainly so we can listen to good ol’CBC. No wonder Canadians are generally better informed than their American cousins….there is no equivalent to the CBC here (don’t even think that their “National Public Radio” is even close).
Decent newspapers. The Toronto Star blows away any Texas newspaper. And that is not even our best read in Canada….

Lastly, and not in any way "leastly", we do not like the wind. It can blow for days, and apparently, even weeks. Turn it off, please!

We find our place in the sun

2006-12-13T17:38:00.000-08:00

We are happily parked in Lake Corpus Christi State park near Mathis Texas. We are staying here for at least a month, probably two. Tentative plans will be to leave here in mid-February for a few other Texas parks and head home about a month later.

This was NOT our destination. However, some things came together to guide is into this spot. We were surprised to find that Mona's skin did not react well to the salt air we encountered along the gulf. We were also surprised at how tiresome and difficult the constant moving of our large travel trailer became. A 33 foot trailer is a great unit to park in. It is not so great to hitch up and do business along the highway. We encountered, and overcome, many challenges along the road in the first month, but are ready to put our feet up.
The challenges made us reconsider tackling a foreign country. We knew from traveling Mexico in the past that the language, roads and culture would only be more tiring.
The other piece of the puzzle was the cooler than normal weather we encountered in our first month. We came south for SUN and SHORTS but these were not common...until now, that is.

Our spot

We chose Lake Corpus Christi because it offered easy access to services in the nearby town of Mathis, while offering lots of opportunity for being tourists in Corpus Christi, Padre Island, Alice and Kingsville.
The lake is very interesting, and larger than we need, and certainly offers everything we could want.
The best part of the park is how busy it is....not. There are over 100 campsites and if full this would be a good camping park. However, the park is virtually empty. There are about 6 RVs in the park and we saw one tent camper. Much of the park is devoted to day use and there is very little of this type of activity at this time of the year.
So we are left with several miles of paved looping roads that roam around the lake.
Wildlife is everywhere. So far we have seen javelinas, white tailed dear, "mexican eagles", egrets, pelicans, cardinal, herons, cormorants, ducks. We are told there are bobcats and reports of a mountain lion in the area.
This park also has a stone tower building that sits on a bluff overlooking the lake.

So we are not on a mexican beach, but for $378 we have a waterfront home for a month with all utilities and taxes paid. Plus free fishing from a lighted pier...and our neighbour has wireless internet that she allows us to use....

More details to follow. Here are some more of our pictures from the first few days....

Mona checking out our neighbors on her snazzy new bike.

The regular vagrants next door.

The State Park lookout over the lake.

Looking at the overlook and observation tower from the lake.

A large egret hanging out at the fishing pier...or more exact, close to the fish cleaning station.

Cap'n Freewilley on Lake Corpus Christi.

Radio Free Texas

2006-12-07T08:31:00.000-08:00

The radio waves are buzzing with the best radio station I have ever heard. TexMix radio is 100,000 watts strong and pours out of Victoria Texas.
Those unfortunate readers who are not in Texas this winter (tune to 98.7) can stream the tunes at http://texasmix.com/
Why am I so pumped on this station? It will take a list to make sure I don’t miss any points:
1.The music is billed as “the Texas Mix” and to be sure, I hear a lot of the Vaughan Brothers, Stevie and Jimmie and other native Texans (some verging on country, but luckily not crossing that sacred line). I also catch artists who have dubious (or no?) connections such as Springsteen, Rolling Stones, Muddy Waters, Clapton and….wait for it….Neil Young. The critical point is that the mix is great! And this is only point #1….

There is very little chatter on this station. In fact, at all but the busiest times you have no idea who the artists are. There is no DJ breaking into the music. While I wrote this, about 7pm on a weeknight, I heard about a dozen tunes without any break in the music. And this is not a special hour…it is typical!

There are very few commercials. This is probably a reflection of the tiny market this station serves…Victoria, Texas is about the same size as my hometown of North Bay, Ontario….60,000 warm bodies.

Much of the music is new to my ears. I guesstimate that I have heard about 50% of the artists they play, but only about 25% of the music played. And there is not a single song that I would not listen to again. Contrast that to what you hear on your regular station…how often do you hear new music or artists…and how often is that music of the quality you approve of???

In a world where “format radio” stations like: the Mix; the Wolf/Bear/Fox/Donkey; Rock 95/101/666 or Q-who, this station shows that you can play good music with out fitting into the pattern.

The music is often hilarious! If you know artists like Delbert McClinton or Willie Nelson you know that they are not afraid to laugh at themselves or make you laugh at yourself. There are A LOT of these artists in Texas and this station has found them

Sorry for the rant, but having traveled most of North America, I know that it is rare to hear a station that is worth telling the world about….but this is one great music station. I’ll listening the rest of my time in Texas and it is one more reason to come back to south Texas in the future (more reasons later….)

Dropping in to Goliad

2006-12-05T18:00:00.000-08:00

Due to the crazy weather, we cut our 3-4 day visit short in Galveston. I picked out a full service state park (most of Texas parks do not have sewer hook-ups…there are only 3 in South Texas with full hookups: Goliad, Lake Corpus Christi and Falcon). Goliad was closest but the full hookup area was full. We can go about 4 days before we have to dump our tanks so we decided to stay for up to 4 days.
It turned out to be a lucky stop. Goliad is a very historic town and this was a very big weekend for the town and park.
There are 3 main parts to the Goliad experience. The town is very small with less than 2000 residents. But it was a very important south Texas town and has a huge ornate courthouse which is surrounded by town square that looks much like it did 100 years ago. Secondly, just south of town on the San Antonio River is the Mission Espiritu Santu. This restored Mission was one of the first founded in Texas, and one of the last abandoned by the Mexicans. Finally, the Presidio Bahia is a very important fort and historic landmark. Many significant events occurred here, including the first signing of Texas’ Declaration of Independence and the massacre of Col. Fallin’s revolutionary army by Mexicans in the war for independence.
Friday night we enjoyed a lighted Christmas parade that traveled around the very historic and well preserved town square.

The square was filled with vendors and stands (we returned Saturday for another go at the stands in daylight).

Mona getting Santa's attention

On Saturday evening we squeezed in two events. The first was a posada at the Presidio Bahia. This is a traditional Mexican march with child actors playing the Christmas story. The tradition includes a live donkey.
This particular posada and carol singing was rather weak. The organizers were reduced to pulling actors and choir members from the crowd so the resulting show was certainly not what we would see in the Mexican homeland, I am sure.

It was worthwhile but we cut out early as there was a concert being held in the Mission at 8pm.

This was quite a contrast. The mission was bursting with the crowd (about 100). The performers did not include many Tejanos (Texas born Mexicans)…possibly 2 out of 30. The performance was very professional and fairly traditional Christmas fare.

Given the cool weather and the many things to experience, including nature trails and a wonderful bike path that runs from town, through the mission/state park and ends at the Presidio we decided Goliad State Park was an excellent place to hang out. We booked in for another week and moved to the best full service site in the park…very large and private.

This is what the journey is all about…finding a very interesting place that was previously unknown to us, and enjoying very friendly and gracious hospitality from the townsfolk and parks workers.

Texas, finally

2006-12-05T17:48:00.000-08:00

Nov. 28
At the welcome centre on the state line we took a break and I went in for some into info…it was lucky I did. The hostess called the RV resort I was headed to and there was no room at the Inn. The owner said they were building a couple of refineries in the Port Arthur area and working families had filled the parks. We made new plans and ended up staying nearby.
That night we caught up on things and enjoyed some very hot and humid weather. Things were about to change, tho. When we broke camp the next morning it was 28 Celsius and humid. The following morning we left Galveston State Park and it was 2 Celsius. It was actually much worse than these numbers…a cold front had moved in (from Canada, the radio told us) and the wind was fearsome. We were oceanfront overnight and the wind seemed to be close to blowing the trailer into the Gulf

Getting on the free ferry that moves from Port Bolivar to Galveston.

A trailer is not the best place to be in a windstorm. Mona hardly slept and said the wind was so bad it almost drowned out my snoring.

The sun rising over Galveston State Park and FreeWilleyMona's Holiday Rambler Travel Trailer.

more Cajun anecdotes

2006-12-05T17:37:00.000-08:00

No stamps for you!
We were enjoying ourselves at McGee’s landing and decided to stay another night in this free campground. The levee ran from the restaurant into the tiny village of Henderson, about 2 miles. A rough dirt road ran on top of the levee. I rode my bicycle into town for exercise and to get some stamps. Finding the post office was easy, but finding stamps was not. The Post office was basically a shed in someone’s front yard. It looked like it had not changed since the 40s. They were out of the 63 cent stamps we need for Canadian mail. They had been out for a week and did not know when they would get more.
So much for privatized public services….

CajunCarl buys the beer
McGee’s had wireless internet so I sat out on the deck and got this Blog started and organized my email. I guess I was a long time as Mona walked over to retrieve me. I took the chance to take some last pictures and we notice a few people in the bar (as mentioned, the restaurant was supposedly closed). When we asked if we could buy a beer the older lady behind the bar said she was just about to close but would sell us a beer. The other customers were two thirtyish fellas dressed liked Crocodile Hunter and a young lady. The one fellow said that the beer was on us (in French) and I said Merci…he then checked to see if I could speak French. We got into quite a discussion with him as he was thrilled that we were Canadian and he reviewed his Cajun history and his trips to Nova Scotia. He turned out to be a local businessman (cane properties and grocery store, he said) who also had a TV show and website http://www.cajunkarl.com/karlbio.html
This was an interesting encounter but the party had to get on their way. The bartendress, who had been in a hurry to close, cracked herself a beer and proceeded to chat us up. She was the owner’s aunt and worked at all types of work at this marina/restaurant/tour company. Mona and she had quite a discussion about all types of Cajun dishes and spices.
We walked away shaking our heads and muttering about what a lucky stop this was….

We park in Cajun country

2006-12-05T12:38:00.000-08:00

(these events occurred a week ago)
As we drove toward Louisiana we kicked around going into New Orleans. We chose not to on the basis that we had seen the French Quarter before and because we know that there is a high crime rate.
Mona mentioned that she really wanted to do a swamp tour. We picked up info at the LA state welcome center and I found a tour just off our route.
When we got to Baton Rouge I called ahead and the woman who answered the phone for the tour company seemed to be a real firecracker…she told us that not only could the lot accommodate our trailer, we could park there overnight if we wanted.
The next morning we were up at 5am and moved through the Baton Rouge metro area before sunrise. This was a lot bigger and more complicated city than I had thought. We were at the tour landing before it opened at 8am.

We parked in the most little used end of the lot and hoped for the best. We were just set up when a truck and trailer backed in beside us. I hailed the driver and asked if we were in his way…he replied no problem he was pulling logs out with his father-in-law. More later.

I went into the business (which billed itself as a tour company and restaurant) to line up the tour, get approval for parking and tell them we would eat some meals there in exchange for parking. No sooner had I introduced myself to the voice on the phone (who turned out to be the partner in the business, Peggy Allemand) when a woman started yelling and a gent grabbed a paddle and started whacking a mouse in the middle of the restaurant. This chap turned out to be David, Peggy’s husband. He grabbed the deceased mouse by the tail and assured me this was a rare occurrence.
Peggy said that the trailer was fine where it was. When I asked about lunch she said they were not open. So we will be in for supper, I told her. Nope, not open she said. I commented that I thought this was a restaurant and she said this was the off season and they were open only on weekends.
David returned from the mouse’s funeral and told me that he would be happy to whip up some crawfish etouffe for us for lunch. While I wondered if this would appeal to Mona, I lined up an “airboat tour” for us for 10am. David assured me that this was a great experience.
I returned to the trailer and told Mona what had just happened and that she had to come over the restaurant and meet these folks and confirm lunch. She was unnerved by my story of the mouse and restaurant that did not serve meals.
Well, it all went fantastic. We had an astounding airboat tour captained by David’s 22 year old nephew, we met David’s dad who founded the business and everyone took a shine to Mona (see left). The swamp tour is on a huge swamp called the Atchafalaya basin.
The business was a genuine Cajun family operation. David is a rep for a Cajun spice company as well as a professional musician and entrepreneur. The restaurant is filled with stuffed wildlife, cooking spices/kits and Cajun books.
The crawfish was one of the best meals we have ever had. Great side dishes and oyster gumbo (oysters were only mentioned when we were on the last ¼ of the gumbo…which we only ate ¾ of..).
We spent the afternoon hanging out at our campsite which was the low side of the levee. At sundown the place emptied and we were left to ourselves with the exception of our neighbor who was living in a dry-docked houseboat. His name was Billy Jo Bob which he proudly had painted on the back of his boat. He spent a few hours grinding away at the bottom of his boat and muttered something about never taking the boat to salt water again. The repairs did not seem to be a high priority, but it sure was a noisy and messy job whenever he decided to spend an hour at it….which was not often.

Red Cypress from the deep.

I saw the son and father in law dragging these large old logs from the bayou and loading them on the trailer. I grabbed the camera and started snapping. The senior partner turned out to be thrilled with my interest. He explained his operation to us, and later gave us samples of his wood.
Over the past few years he had to give up his commercial fishing as stocks dwindled. He had spent his life on the bayou and had found many places where there were sunken logs. These logs had been cut down in the 1800s by lumbermen but had not made it to the mill. They were Red Cypress, which is rare today. They remain well preserved in the water, but a worm does get into them and make interesting burrows. Today this wood sells for over $15 per square foot and is used for trim and fine work.

He brought us some samples and told us to use them as we saw fit.

More airboat pics

On the airboat, the engine is as loud as a plane engine but you are sitting outside....

The boat gets deep into the swamp and bayous.

Our pilot, Tray, and his grampa Curtis, who founded the businees now owned by his son, David.

This is a hunting blind. The hunters pull their boat inside and pop up out of holes that are in the roof.

Checking out the Gulf

2006-11-28T17:31:00.000-08:00

We found a real gem of a park at Gulf Shores. Gulf State park was less than half full. It is on 2 inland lakes just behind the gulf beach. There are 2 miles of clean white sugary sand at the Gulf edge.

We had a corner lot which gave us tons of room...maybe 60x

60 feet on our awning side. Across the road was a chap from Michigan who was batching it. His licence was "notowar" and he was a retired autoworker from Flint. We got along great and the second day we was over asking to walk Penny as he missed his own dog. He walked her every day as we encouraged him, of course.

He helped put the folding boat together, which worked great. I did not take a pic of the boat, I now realize, but both Penny and Mona got rides (separately) and gave their approval.

I have imported a pic of the bote from the website http://portabote.com/ to give the unbelievers a taste...

The boat handles differently than an aluminum cartopper. Fairly tub like until you get it on a plane. Once on a plane, the lightness comes out and it moves well but is fairly skippy as it is on top of the water.

We enjoyed the park very much. All of our neighbors were there for the winter. The couple on our left side were retired dairy farmers from Iowa and they were really sweet.

The weather was cool, but we walked every morning. We recuperated in the afternoon with sun and a couple of cold brews. The sunsets were gorgeous.

We ended up staying 8 days rather than the 5 we planned on. We had some great seafood and did some biking on the paved trails. While there we got Mona her first bike (ever) and picked up an LCD TV for the trailer. We still do not have TV tho...have not set up the satellite dish we are carrying and the antenna cable has a bad spot so we do not get local TV. We do not miss it a bit.

No camping in Blackwater

2006-11-28T14:25:00.000-08:00

We left Birmingham Alabama on Nov. 17 and headed to Blackwater State Park just north of Pensacola.

We did not plan enough travel time and arrived after dark, dreading backing in the 35 foot trailer in the heavy woods. The ranger was leaving as we got there and told us to go ahead and park in #27.

We never found that site...and had a tough time getting through the tight corners. After 30 minutes we found ourselves at the locked entrance gate and had the choice of staying the night there on the road or backing up about 200 feet in the dark.

See the above picture, taken the next morning. Our choice was easy....

Mona did not like Blackwater park as she wanted SUN not trees. It is a famous canoeing river, but we stayed only long enough in the morning to walk by the river and to cancel the rest of our stay.

We set off for Gulf Shores Alabama, about an hour away.