San Antonio,Texas

Our next stop was in San Antonio, Texas. We parked in the same RV park as good friends, Bill and Teri Smith. Bill and Teri live in snow covered Creede, Colorado, but spend most of the winter in San Antonio to be close to their grand kids who live here.


Both kids are having a simultaneous, same-day birthday this weekend, Andrew turning one, and Hanna turning four. How much fun would that be?


We met Bill and Teri a long time ago when we all lived in Southern California, but then everybody went separate directions, and now we don’t get to see them very often. We did catch up with them very briefly in San Antonio last year and this year we got to spend a couple full days with them. We thoroughly enjoyed it!


They showed us some of San Antonio’s sights and the insides of a few very good local eating establishments.


One evening we went up to a small town near San Antonio, called, Boerney, and pronounced, “Burney.” This was a neat little town with lots of character and cute shops where Teri and I could have spent all day shopping. We didn’t get to do that, but boy! would that have been fun!

Last year when we stopped through here, I wanted to go to the River Walk that I have always heard so much about. Unfortunately, in addition to lots of rain, Don was having problems with his hips and really couldn’t walk. We grabbed umbrellas and saw a little of it anyway.

So this year we went with Bill and Teri, weather was cool, but beautiful. We had lunch along the river and a nice walk around the River Walk which is beautiful. River Walk is the Texas version of Venice…loosely speaking, of course. There is also some great architecture on the buildings along the river.

There are numerous gondola boats that take people on tours of the River.

It is interesting that you don’t see more people falling in the river as most of it has no barriers along the not-very-wide walkway. We did hear screaming periodically when teenagers threatened to throw their friends in, but no one actually got wet…at least not when we were there. It is definitely not someplace you would want to take little kids without hanging on to them very, very tightly.


There are lots of restaurants here and an assortment of shops. This one café had multicolored umbrellas along the river where you can sit outside in nice weather. It was so busy we could not get in here and we picked another one out of the many.




There was one group of elementary school kids taking a boat ride and singing as they went. They sounded great and it was fun hearing them as they floated the river.


One area is called La Villita that has small shops and galleries. We spent quite a bit of time here. There is some wonderful art work available in the galleries. We found a wedding gift for special friends who are getting married this spring. We won’t tell what it is here, but if they don’t want it, we are definitely keeping it.

One shop was a Copper Gallery with wonderful copperware. As we were leaving, we saw the coppersmith on the roof of the building polishing some of his pots. Apparently he does a lot of his copper work on the roof.


Then Don surprised me on Valentine’s day with an unusual copper bead bracelet that I had admired when we were the Copper Gallery. What a sweet surprise that was.




There is also an interesting small church in the La Villita area, called The Little Church of La Villita. built in 1879 and is currently still in use.

Plaque on the front of the church gives a brief history of the church.


We were sorry to leave Bill and Teri, but the road was calling and they have a very important birthday party to attend.


Driving through West Texas is a total un-experience. I swear we could put the RV on Cruise Control, go back to the bedroom, take a nap and not miss a thing. Of course we don’t do that, but in short, it IS a boring trip. Not even the cell phone works during a large part of this route, because NO ONE LIVES THERE!


Bill had told us of a loop route around El Paso, which we took. Beside missing a ton of El Paso traffic, there is one portion of this route that goes through the mountains, which provided some interest.




Overlooking El Paso, Texas.

Desert-like hills are in this area.



Then we arrived in Deming, New Mexico to spend the night in a truck stop.

This IS New Mexico, and as I look out the window, what do I see? Is it a flying saucer? It’s not moving. I take the picture and wonder.

After I zoom in on my camera, I decide it's a blimp. Oh, well. It’s Deming, not…Roswell, for goodness sake!


A little later I notice the sun is setting over the ol’ truck stop giving us a light show in the sky.




I am always amazed at the beauty of the sunset. I know it would be prettier if the truck stop signs and things weren’t in the way, but this is one of the great parts of RV-ing. Even if you are spending the night in a truck stop, you are where you can see sunsets more often than at home because at home we get too busy to look at the sky. In spite of the trucks in the picture, it is a beautiful sky.


“Thank you, Lord for the gift of beauty you give us.”


Next Blog: Benson, Arizona

Lafayette, Louisiana

While stopped in Lafayette, Louisiana, we visited the Longfellow-Evangeline State Historical Site in a small town south of Lafayette, St. Martinville. It is the third oldest city in Louisiana.

The grounds were beautiful with lots of Southern Live Oaks everywhere. There was a home here that had at one time been owned by a wealthy Acadian.There was also a reproduction of an Acadian farm.







Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a poem, Evangeline, in the 1800’s. Evangeline was an Acadian and the story is based on the plight of the Acadians.


The Acadians had originally been French until France ceded Acadia by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, making them British subjects. Acadia is the area that is now Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and part of what is now Maine.


When the French and Indian War began in 1754, the British government, doubting the loyalty of the newly British Acadians, demanded they take an oath of allegiance to the British monarch which required renouncing the Acadian's Roman Catholic faith. Most refused.


Over the next 45 years, the Acadians participated in various militia operations against the British and maintained vital supply lines to French fortresses. The British then sought to neutralize any military threat Acadians posed by deporting the Acadians from Acadia.


In what is know as the Grand De`rangement (The Great Upheaval) more than 12,000 Acadians were expelled from Nova Scotia between 1755 and 1764. Their homes were destroyed by the British and the Acadians were dispersed among the 13 colonies from Massachusetts to Georgia. No attempt was made to keep families together as family members and communities were sent to different colonies to impose assimilation.


British colonist treated them much like African slaves and some Acadians became indentured servants.


Acadians who resettled in Louisiana, became know as “Cajuns".”


This is a rather a long explanation of who “Cajuns” actually are, but it explains that they are not the black/Indian/French mixed bloods that many people think they are.


We took a tour of the Acadian home and farm. The original owner of the house and farm owned some slaves, but probably not many of them. It was not an opulent home, but likely quite upscale compared to what others had at that time.

The dining room table had this large square thing hanging above it with a rope threaded across the ceiling and down to a straight-backed chair on the wall. A young slave boy would have sat there pulling on the rope, causing the “fan” to swing back and forth. As well as providing a breeze, it chased flies off the table.

The bed in the Master Bedroom had a removable rolling pin on the headboard. It was used to roll the wrinkles out of the bedding.

The guest room’s bed has removable “pineapples” on the corners of the headboard. Pineapples signify, “Welcome.” However, if you found a pineapple laying on your bed, it meant that you had out-stayed your welcome and it was time to move on.


We actually have pineapples just like these on the antique headboard in our bedroom. So if you come to our house for an extended visit, just be on the lookout for a pineapple on your bed…just kidding! And of course, there was the handy little chamber pot at the foot of the bed…(We’ll let you use the bathroom when you visit our us!)



The farm house was much more modest.
This main room was used for everything except sleeping.

Right behind the farm house was the Bayou. Floating this river was the main method of transportation from one location to another.

This beautiful old Southern Live Oak was also on the farm. These trees have extremely long limbs that grow out horizontally and often grow down to, or very near, the ground.

This statue of Longfellow’s fictional Evangeline, who personifies the struggles of the Acadians, is in a park in downtown St. Martinville.


We found it interesting that Evangeline, who never actually existed, has been brought to life in this little town with statues, the state park and even the tree that she supposedly sat under, stands majestically in the city park. Well, I guess it's a matter of whatever works to put them on them on the map, and this did it for St. Martinville.


Next Blog: San Antonio, Texas

Mobile, Alabama

We took the long-way across the panhandle of Florida, from Panama City to Pensacola, instead of staying on I-10 because I wanted to see the beaches I had heard about there.


We did not take the time to stop, but from the RV I could see the sugar white sand along the water. It was really striking. If you did not know it was sand, you would think it was snow. It was absolutely pure white.

The ocean is in the distance and the sugar white sand dunes lay between the roadway and the water.

The only other place I have ever seen sand this white, was last year at White Sand National Monument in New Mexico.





The white sand makes shallow water an unusual shade of pale green. Out further it is more turquoise colored.


When we arrived in Mobile, Alabama, we stayed at a state park on Mobile Bay. We were able to park overlooking the water.

In the distance, the cars on Interstate 10 crossed the bay on an elevated roadway above the water.

At the park, there were also a couple of piers for walking out onto the bay.

I, of course wanted to go out and take some pictures. I could see the skyline of Mobile in the distance which made for a nice photo op. Then I noticed a sign and walked closer to see what it said…

WHOA!!! I quickly backed away and kept a close eye on the ground and grasses between me and the water. Do they really think I would do that??? Do they think I carry raw chickens in my pockets and a pokey stick behind my back?? Well, they needn't have worried.


Later Don and I took a short hike down a path that had tall grass on both sides. It led to one of the piers.


With one eye closely watching the ground, I told myself there is safety in numbers and that alligators can’t eat two people at the same time. Of course, at the first snarl from an alligator, there was no guarantee that Don would not have taken off and left me in the dust to deal with "Alli" on my own. 


I felt better when we got on the elevated wooden pier and I could look down at whatever might be in the weeds.

The pier rose above water and swampy ground and I felt safer walking there.

In other places the sea grass stood tall above our heads, but we were still well above the ground and whatever may have been lurking down there.

I enjoyed the contrast between the blue of the sky and water and the yellow of the sea grass.

We could see the RV park from the pier.


That night we stopped at a restaurant, Felix’s Fish Camp, that we had discovered last year. The last time we went there, it was in a driving rain and we practically had the place to ourselves. They told us there were great views across Mobile Bay, but that night we could barely see beyond the glass of the window so had to take their word for it.

In spite of the almost tumble-down appearance of the building, it is the intended exterior décor, and inside it a very nice restaurant with great food. When it’s not pouring rain, reservations are usually required. We highly recommend it if you are going through Mobile.


This year the weather was much better and we found they were right about the view. The setting sun put on an impressive show for us as it sunk into the sea.







The next day as we headed out of Mobile we crossed the Mississippi River over an unusually high bridge.




The river, as always, was busy with boats and barges as it is a working, albeit very wet, highway.


Next Blog: Lafayette, Louisiana

Titusville, FL, Nature Viewing Boat Ride

Don and I went over to the Canaveral Port, near Cape Canaveral, for lunch one day and watched the tug boats going up and down the waterway. There is something relaxing about watching this.




After lunch we drove around and I spotted a pink bird on a sand bar. This, of course, required jumping out of the car and running across the beach to get a closer view, and hopefully a picture.


I was sure it was a flamingo. He stood there on one red leg next to a sea gull and a little blue heron. Don honked the horn of the car trying to get him to raise his head so I could get a better view.


However, he totally ignored us, so we are just guessing he is a rather shy flamingo or he could be a roseate spoonbill, another pink bird. Personally, I was impressed with finding any pink bird, no matter what his name is.




Unfortunately, as I am standing in the sand in my sandals taking pictures, I began feeling some pain on the top of my foot. I ignored it, focusing on the pink bird.


Finally, due to the escalating level of pain I checked my foot and found a small ant…a fire ant lighting up my foot with some sort of heavy-duty flame-thrower. I didn’t see it, but will swear that he had to have had one to cause that level of burning to my foot.


I quickly dispatched the ant and was glad that he hadn’t brought friends. I can’t imagine stepping on a nest of these little monsters. It is now a week later and I still have sizeable red welts on my foot. I have always heard of fire ants, but this was my first run-in with them. Once is quite enough, thank you.


Then we took a Nature Viewing Boat Tour on the Banana River with the hope of seeing Manatees.


The Banana River is an intercostal waterway along the east coast of Florida. Unfortunately, Manatees are lovers of warm water and it is again rather chilly so for the moment, at least we are seeing White Pelicans.


White Pelicans are not native to Florida and are much larger than brown pelicans. They also herd the fish together and chase them into their mouths, rather than catching them one at a time like the brown ones do.

Brown Pelicans

White Pelicans, Brown Pelicans gulls, and Cormorants.

Graceful White Pelicans.

Riding around looking for wildlife, we found a small island covered with brush and the brush covered with birds, egrets, herons, pelicans and others.

A Bird in a bush...

Blue Heron

In the distance, across the bay, we could see a cruise ship waiting to go out to sea.




An Ibis displaying his long curved bill.


There were lots of birds which I enjoy, but we were really hoping to see manatees which we have never before seen. I would like to tell you I took the picture of this beautiful sea cow…(Isn’t she cute?) but actually, I clipped it from the web so you would know what I am going to show you next is supposed to look like.

We did see a few manatees, but the water was murky and they are very hard to photograph, so here they are…somewhere…at least according to the sign…




Yes, there is one there. That tan colored spot above the words…they are very hard to see. They do leave what is called “foot prints” when they are swimming. Manatee footprints look like this…

Their footprints are much easier to see than the actual animals are in the water.


We saw a few alligators when we were out there…




…this guy was huge!! Just check out the length of his tail!

There were also dolphins, in this case a mom and baby swimming together. Dolphins are also hard to photograph.

Egrets are always picture perfect and usually hold still when I am taking pictures.

This is an Anhinga. They like to spread their wings to dry them and are really pretty when they do that.


They are also known as “Snake Birds” because when they swim only their head and long neck are above water, making them look like a swimming snake. They look totally creepy in the water.


Next blog: Mobile, Alabama