Aug 24 - pics from Morro Bay, CA

Aug 24 - driving up the CA Coast

After settling Bryan in at school, we decided to get back to our roots, and bring the RV home along the beautiful CA coast!

We have seen it all; desert, chaparral, swamp, mountains and now the ocean! We have experienced the hot and dry heat of Arizona, the almost unbearable humidity of Louisiana, the torrential rains in Texas, the winds and dust storms in New Mexico and the cool refreshing breeze of the Pacific Ocean. We encountered scorpions, bats, Texas Longhorns, aliens (didn’t actually see them, but I know they were there), alligators, seagulls, egrets and the list goes on and on! I hope that we are able to take many, many more journeys like this. Some of the best things we have seen and done were not always planned; we just took a leap of faith and exited the highway once in a while J

I hope you all have enjoyed reading this blog as much as I have enjoyed sharing our adventures with all of you!

Aug 22 - drive to Azusa, move in day

So, Bryan forgot to pack his car keys when we left home, so we had LeeAnne mail them ahead to the school. We left Mesa, trying to get to Azusa in time before the post office closed so he could pick up the keys. Well, it was further than we thought! About halfway through the journey, we knew we were not going to make it, so we stopped for lunch at Rubies near Palm Springs. Turns out that he had his PO box key with his car keys, so getting there early was a moot point.

We arrived at the school and met up with two of his roommates. They were already cleaning and organizing! They really have a great set up this year; 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a living room, laundry and kitchen - lots of space! Of course, it is game central again. There are so many TVs, monitors, computors, and game platforms that I couldn't begin to count them all! April met us to help carry stuff to the apartment, then we went to dinner at Max's (their favorite Mexican restaurant). The food was great, and we had a verry nice visit. Now the hard part - saying goodby :(

Aug, 21 - pics from Friday

Aug 21 - Heading to El Paso

When we arrived in Van Horn last night, the mosquitoes were awful! After hooking up, we kept all windows and doors closed until we unhooked in the morning. It took a few hours to kill all the ones that came in with Rich and Bryan.

We headed out this morning for El Paso, Texas. The Wyler aerial tramway is here. It is a 4 minute gondola ride to the top of Ranger Peak in the Franklin Mountains. It travels one mile up the mountain. It was built in 1960 to build an NBC radio transmitter and service platform. I have to say that I was pretty nervous about dangling so high in the gondola from the cable, but the view was incredible!! We could see all of El Paso, part of New Mexico and Juarez Mexico!

El Paso is a really interesting place. The Mexican boarder is literally right on the other side of the highway, and as you drive around you can always see the border fence and the houses on the other side. There is a huge Mexican flag flying right on the border that you can see from just about everywhere in El Paso. It was lunchtime, and Bryan remembered seeing a place that was featured on the Food Network’s “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” show. He was pretty sure that the restaurant, “Chico’s Tacos” was in El Paso, so we hunted it down. Yay – found it! No kidding, they were the best! It was a little hole in the wall place, but the line extended out the door and never let up the whole time we were there. Good call Bryan!

We still had a long drive ahead so we set out for the Tucson area. This was a really crazy leg of our journey - we were in 3 different time zones in the same day! We left Texas, went through New Mexico and headed to Arizona! We decided to drive for a few hours and see if we should stay in Tucson, or try to make it to Mesa. We hit Tucson around dinner time, so we decided to eat there, then we would be refreshed enough to go on to Mesa. We checked the restaurant listings for the area, and found that there was a "Famous Dave's" Bar-b-q. We really had a great time at that restaurant in Colorado Springs, so we thought Bryan would enjoy it. He was not disappointed!

We then headed on to Mesa. Well....good bye interstate 10 and hello to the darkest, out in the middle of no where road. Even our headlights didn't help much. Then came the CRAZY lightning! The good thing was it helped to light the way, but I was hoping that the rain would not be next. Only 2 more hours, I think we can do it. Some showers here and there, but nothing too bad. Finally we began to see signs of life in the distance - yes, it was Apache Junction, our KOA for the night. As I walked up to the night registry, a huge scorpion ran right in front of me, then stopped with his tail held high and froze! There I stood, just a few inches away from him in my flip flops!!!!!!!! I called Bryan to come see, and I ran back for my camera :) You better believe I had the flashlight pointed to the ground while we hooked up :/

Aug 20 - pics from Ozona, TX

Aug 20 - on the way to Van Horn, TX

We left San Antonio for a pretty long drive to Van Horn Texas. Once we left San Antonio, we were back in the flat scrub territory again! So, to keep awake, we played the "First One To Spot A....." game. The competition was intense!!!! lol. After about 4 hours, we saw a sign for the Davey Crocket Museum. That sounded pretty cool, and we needed to stretch out a bit, so we ventured off the highway to see what it was all about.

Well, not much here, but a very tiny town with a hole lot of pride in it's history! This little patch of town is in Crocket county. Seems as though Davey spent a lot of his life here doing things like fighting for the rights of Texas against the Mexicans, and holding political offices. He even made a run for the Presidency of the United States - who knew?! For such a small place, the museum was pretty nice. I don't think they get visitors here much because the ladies who run the museum were on us like white on rice! They were really cute! They did have "one" restaurant here (jk), Dairy Queen, so we had to take a bit more of a break for some soft serve!!!!! Like I have been saying, it is really hot here!

Aug. 19 - Erin leaves for home

We are chillin' in the RV while Erin gets packed up. Today we are dropping her off at the Houston Airport :( She needs to get organized for her classroom, the kids start school next week. The weather has turned kind of gloomy here in Lafayette, but still hotter than I don't know what! We drove over an elevated highway for quite some time, it is several feet above the swamps. Almost as soon as we entered Texas, the ground began to dry out, but the rain started. When the rain came down it was like it was being shot from a high pressure hose- glad it was sporadic and not very long lived! It was interesting to see all of the hurricane diversion routes, and hot line numbers posted everywhere. We weren't too far from where Ike hit with a vengeance.

After about 3 1/2 hours, we were in Houston. The airport was not at all access able for our RV, so we drove Erin by the rental cars and had her take one of their shuttles in. That worked out great, as soon as she left the RV, a shuttle pulled up! We are now back on the road for another 3 1/2 hours to San Antonio TX.

Aug 19 - pics from Avery Island

Aug. 19 - Avery Island

The Tabasco factory wasn’t the only thing to see on Avery Island. The island is actually the top of a huge mountain made of solid rock salt! They mine this pure salt which is bottled for culinary purposes, as well as using it for sealing the tops of the barrels of the fermenting Tabasco.

The McIlhennys were horticulturists and they planted trees and gardens all over the plantation. They have 64 varieties of bamboo (one for each parish in LA). One of these varieties grows 16 inches in 24 hours! When they sprout, you can actually hear them crackle as they grow!! There are Oak trees everywhere with beautiful moss hanging from every branch. As you walk around the grounds you can see alligators in almost every lagoon. Some come right out of the water and walk up on the grass! These gators are not brought in here, they come in on their own. The property managers periodically remove any alligator that has become too large and is a threat to the safety of the visitors. There is also a lake where docks have been constructed from tree branches and twigs to make perfect roosting habitat for Snowy Egrets. The lake is full of thousands of birds during the summer months until they migrate south. They return to Avery Island every year!

Aug 18 - pics from the Tobasco Factory

Aug 18 - The Tobasco Factory

After our boat ride, we drove to the Tabasco factory on Avery Island. Edmund McIlhenny planted his first seeds on this property 140 years ago. Each year, the very best Capsicum pepper plants in the field are chosen, and the seeds from those pods are dried for the next years planting. All other plants in the field are destroyed. The seeds are stored on the island, and in a bank vault to ensure that the best line of plants are preserved in case of fire or other disaster. In 1967, the demand was so high for the Tabasco product that they began sending some of the seeds to Latin America to be planted on two farms there. When the peppers are ready to harvest, they pick only the peppers that are the exact shade of red as determined by a painted stick to which they compare the color. All of the harvested peppers, even the ones in Latin America, are then sent to the factory and processed right in this facility. The ground mash is put into oak wine barrels and aged for 3 years. The resulting Tabasco is bottled, labeled in 22 languages, and shipped to over 160 countries and territories around the world.

After the tour we went to the Tabasco gift shop. Who knew there were so many Tabasco products and souvenirs! We sampled Jalapeno ice cream, sweet and sour ice cream, Tabasco soda, Bar-b-q sauces, mayonnaise, soy sauce, worchestershire sauce, and all the traditional Tabasco flavors (including their newest flavor - chipolte)! Yummy!!!!! Bryan and Erin hit the soda machine big time after their encounter with the Habanero Tabasco. Interesting note, the Capsicum peppers used for the Tabasco, are, in their raw form, three times as hot as a Habanero!

Aug 18 - pics from the Swamp