Showing posts with label LA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label LA. Show all posts

Heartbroken....

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Our heart goes out to all affected by Hurricane Harvey....




Ciao for now!

LA, AR, MS, AL TN, and GA, almost home! - Trip Home

Friday, October 25, 2013

No pictures, just a quick check-in. We stayed in Greenwood, MS and Russellville, AL before stopping last night just outside Chattanooga, TN (we are actually in GA). The weather has gotten quite cold for us, nights are dropping into the upper 20's and lows 30's. Today the high in Jamestown is forecast for 48...nope, not going there. LOL! We extended a night and will make the last leg on our trip home tomorrow when it's due to be in the upper 50's. Much better for us, even with electric gear.

Our conversations are filled with thoughts of our cruise and move to Ecuador. Much to do before then but will try to drop a post here once in a while. Oh, for those that wonder - Miss Sadie is loving her new home and her kids to watch over. In return, they love her and take her camping with them whenever they go. They also gave her a Halloween costume. LOL!





Thanks to everyone who has bought and read "Barely a Spark". I hope to have the print copy available in a couple more weeks as well as making it available on Smashwords. The reviews have all been positive and I appreciate each and every one! If you have read and enjoyed it, please consider leaving a review on Amazon and PLEASE tell your friends. The best marketing is word of mouth!

NM, TX, LA: rolling through - Trip Home

Monday, October 21, 2013

The weather has been decent if a bit on the cool side in the mornings. We left Las Cruces NM and headed to our next stop in Kerrville, TX. Beautiful country, decent hotel and a good night's sleep and it was on to Carthage, TX. On our way, after surviving a trip through Austin traffic, we had a nice lunch at the Cafe 290 in Manor, TX where Stu got to chat with some firefighters from McAllen TX. Nice guys...we arrived and left at the same time.



Here is a pic of my windshield - the tiny bugs looked like little hairs growing out when viewing from the side. Needless to say, the photo doesn't really show that. LOL!



Why Carthage? Still avoiding the worst weather - rain and coldest temps. Things held for us and we had another decent hotel and a good night's sleep before moving onward to Monroe, LA. That's when things fell apart a little bit... We were about 70 miles out of Monroe when we stopped for a break. I went to get something out of my left saddlebag....





The back bolt holding it on was completely sheared off. Stu attempted a roadside fix but we finally opted to remove it and strap it on top of the trailer until we got to the hotel. Oh, did I mention the fact that the roads in Louisiana ARE THE WORST EVER? No? Well, they are...and not just judging from this trip. LOL!







By the time we got to the hotel we agreed that if the room was nice, we were staying an extra day. It was and we did. We headed out to Logan's Roadhouse for a late lunch/early dinner.



Then we took in a movie, "Carrie". Not as good as the original but good enough to bring the story of bullying (albeit a fictional story) to a new generation. Tomorrow we head out again, taking back roads and avoiding the interstate. Weather is cooling but looks to stay dry. We can layer up but we both HATE riding in the rain. We should be home by Friday!

PS, Stu got the saddle bags bolted back on with Stage 8 bolts. That ought to hold them.

Nature and New Orleans

Thursday, July 26, 2012

One of the wonderful side benefits of the RVing lifestyle is visiting spots where we can view nature in all it's glory. We've been to Yellowstone National Park several times, Glacier National Park, Zion National Park, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, Joshua Tree National Park, Grand Tetons National Park and the Grand Canyon to name just a few spots.

We've seen black bear, grizzly bear, osprey, eagles, deer, antelope, elk, mountain goats, big horn sheep, whales, sea lions, dolphins, gophers, prairie dogs, ground squirrel and yes, even the elusive moose. I'll let you search through the links above to see what you can spot. ;-)

BONUS: New Orleans & National D Day Museum

What a gorgeous summer!

Friday, July 15, 2011

As you know, we've been busy enjoying the summer. Here is a recap of where we've been, what we've done and some impressions of the places we've visited. The links will take you to our SmugMug photo albums for each grouping.

5 day motorcycle trip to the Smokies and Dollywood2011 Smoky Mtns, Dollywood, Deals Gap
  • Started out and discovered Stu forget his wallet...quick u-turn!
  • Visited Dollywood twice as well as Dixie Stampede
  • Hot, hot, HOT weather
  • Rode the Tail of the Dragon several times on the way into town (stayed in Fontana Dam area of NC)
  • Saw a red wolf, had a turkey on the side of the road "gobble" at Stu as he passed and almost hit a black bear as he came down a hill, crossed the road in front of us and skittered on down the other side of the road.
  • Had a great time, gorgeous area to ride, too far from Dollywood though. Will do two visits next fall, one more at Fontana Dam (and will ride that side of the mountain) and one in Pigeon Forge.
8 day motorcycle trip to a riding event outside New Orleans2011 Hawgfest in Covington LA
  • Took all back roads from TN to Covington, LA to see a group of motorcycle friends
  • Had a blast!
  • Stu got his growler and pint glass from Abita Springs Brewing
  • Hot, hot, HOT weather
  • Took all back roads home...the last day was the best with temps finally dropping into the 80's
  • Amazing time visiting old friends and new
3 day camping trip with friends in New Holland, PA2011 Camping Club, Spring Gulch CG, New Holland PA
  • Long weekend camping with Stu's camping club buddies...what a great time we had! Beautiful area, too. We never unloaded the bikes, ended up riding around with friends. Definitely want to go back...
  • Almost no cell and little internet access
8 day camping trip in Coudersport, PA2011 Visiting Coudersport PA & Surrounding Areas
  • Great eight days with a lot of local riding, gorgeous area
  • Enjoyed too many meals at Fezz's Diner just outside Coudersport...great food, try it if in the area.
  • Got a haircut...in the back of a party supply shop. Yup! Hair salon in the back...
  • Loved the campground, lots of bicycle riding with Sadie
  • Holiday weekend, too many campers and way too many campfires...LOL!
7 day camping trip in Cold Brook, NY (Adirondacks)2011 Visiting Cold Brook NY
  • Pretty area, nice campground with a wide open drive-through site
  • Scenery in the Adirondacks was gorgeous, the roads....not so much!
  • I got sick for a couple of days so we didn't get in as much riding as we would have liked, guess we have to visit again!
  • Need to visit from the west side next time, or further north. We were on the south perimeter this time.
  • No cell or internet at the campground...felt isolated but good!

7 day camping trip in Randolph Center, VT
2011 Visiting Randolph Center VT & surrounding area
  • We arrived on Tuesday and spent the first day vegging & doing chores
  • Thursday we rode to the Harley dealer in Essex Junction, Magic Hat Brewing (nothing really floated out taste buds but we did buy a growler, pint glass and soft cooler that holds two growlers), and Ben & Jerry's (YUM!)
  • Stu managed to have an allergic reaction to the meatball subs we had for lunch (and he ate leftover for dinner)...hives! Not fun....
  • Hoping to ride the next few days before heading to southeastern Maine
  • GORGEOUS scenery, roads....fair to middling
  • Everything smells so good, sleeping with the windows open and haven't needed the A/C since we arrived!
  • Winter road grooves seem to run the length of the roads rather than across them...and on the less traveled roads, grass grows in them!
  • Fantastic site...facing the woods. Taking a LOT of photos in the woods behind us...
So that's pretty much it so far....I'm trying to get back into blogging...be patient!!

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna and Stu

Still moving westerly.....

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

We knew we had a short day today, a little over 200 miles, so we took our time getting up and heading out. The weather was still cold but the wind had died and the sun stayed out making it feel MUCH warmer than yesterday.

We knew we needed to make a grocery stop so I found a spot in Lake Charles, LA that had both a Sam's Club and a Wal-Mart. On the way there we passed a sign for the Lake Charles Harley-Davidson, in the same location since 1932.

Our Sam's/Wal-Mart stop was only a few more exits. We loaded up on berries, flat bread (we are hooked on that stuff), beer (yup, bought me some more Red Stripe beer), milk, yogurt, butter, apples as well as a couple of discount DVD's and, glory be, a new stack of Lynx Levelers (thank you Wally World). We'd been trying to find them, but Camping World had changed brands and they weren't compatible. We have broken several and needed to refresh our stack. Nice bonus!!

Our afternoon was disappearing quickly but we made it to our campground in Beaumont TX, Hidden Lake RV Resort, before dark. Nice little park with very welcoming and helpful workampers. Bonus is the price, it's a Passport America park so for under $18 we got a nice long pull-through, level with 50 amp. Life is good!

Tomorrow we see how much our travel schedule changes. We need to get trailer tires....UGH! We plan to stop outside Houston to get a price as well as get our heat pump repaired. It stopped working a couple of days ago and hasn't come back. Might be a recurrence of the A/C resister problem that we had last summer.

That brings me to Lyn & Gerri's question about why we won't asphalt park (or boondock) when it's this cold. We tried it last winter, and for some reason our propane tanks froze up....or at least the regulator did. That meant our generator stopped (we have a propane generator) as well as our gas heat. Not good when it's down under 30 degrees. The other side of that is if we have to run the generator all night, we might as well stay in a park, especially a 50% off one like we get with Passport America.

Hope that helps....

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna & Stu

Where did the warm weather go?

We left the Rainbow Plantation in Summerdale a little later than we had hoped but at least the sun was shining. For whatever reason the day ended up being long...might have been the late lunch stop at a truck stop mixed with the constant rest areas "I gotta go" stops and topped off with the longest one at Cabela's in Baton Rouge. LOL!

We had hoped that the Cabela's there might have overnight spots with hookups but they didn't, we didn't want to backtrack to the KOA on I-12 (we had already done that bypassing New Orleans on I-12 and backtracking on I-10 to Cabela's) so we passed over the Mississippi and stopped at the Cajun Country Campground. It was dark, the office was closed and the park looked full (lots of workers, but looked okay). We finally found a spot, a long level pull-through. Plugged in the power and snuggled in for the night.

The weather has been going below freezing for the last three nights and that means no asphalt parking for us. Worse, the forecast calls for the same up to and possibly through the weekend...even as we continue west. We planned to spend several nights in Marathon and visit Big Bend National Park. Think we will be passing on that, only staying long enough for our mail to arrive. Looking forward to getting to southern AZ and hoping the temps there will finally warm up!

We're cutting our days shorter, only trying to do 200 or so miles and going to try to get parked well before dark.

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna & Stu

In Texas...FINALLY!

Monday, January 12, 2009

Yup, we made it to TX yesterday....I missed a night blogging mainly because we were cold, tired, in a crappy park with poor power that kept going off. On Saturday we left Alabama, crossed Mississippi and landed in Monre, LA for the night. We made it to the Harley dealer there by 4:00...but they closed at 3:00. Figures....LOL!

There was a Sam's Club but with lows forecast in the upper 20's we thought we'd grab a campground and there was a Coast to Coast park, Shiloh RV & Travel Resort on the same street as Harley & Sam's. So we grabbed a spot for the night....$10. Well, we should have read the reviews at rvparkreviews.com first. Sigh....

The roads were terrible, lots of mud (too close a reminder to our night at South of the Border), a power pedestal sitting in a pool of water with no breaker and covered by a little piece of carpet. We shoulda known....off & on all night the power flickered. Since we use a power surge protector, that meant 5 or so minutes before everything came back up...each time. We were on antenna so that helped (we barely fit in the spot with a foot or two overhang on either end so trying the move forward/back to get the dish to find a signal wasn't an option). Stu sent a note to Coast to Coast and entered a poor review at rvparkreviews.com. One more park OFF our list...

Note - the water cartridge was already there.

We had to use Linx levelers to keep the connection out of the water - it was 6" deep!

Don't you just love the nicely graveled road? That's what their website showed...

We headed out early, finished getting through LA and crossed into TX. An uneventful day of driving, we arrived at the Rainbows End Escapees Park in Livingston, TX around 4:00. This was allowed plenty of time to get setup and attend the 6:30 ice cream social! By the time we walked back the temperature was 35...we were really glad to be in a park with good, clean power. When we woke up this morning it was 27. Good thing Stu unhooked the water last night.

Oh, at the ice cream social we met up with Hank & Patti Landry. I had met them a couple of times before but have to admit to being REALLY bad at remembering people...so everyone who has met me is FOREWARNED! LOL! Great folks, we chatted about traveling and hope to see them again in the Mission area.

We will be picking up a month's worth of mail this afternoon, not sure when we will be leaving but could be on Wednesday. We have an issue with our gas heat (either the regulator or the thermostat...again) and looks like the KZ dealer that can work on the rig is kind of on our way.

As we've said before...we'll hit Mission eventually!

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna & Stu

Today was free beer day.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Today was free beer day. Yes I said free beer! Back in 2000 Lin (my late wife) and I were in New Orleans. We asked one of the locals for good place to get crawdads and were directed to a little restaurant in a store front on the main drag outside of Kenner LA (adjacent to the city). I asked for a good local beer. The waitress told me about Abita Amber made by the Abita Brewing Company. Well it might as well have been an illegal drug…I was hooked.  Abita Brewing company will never need surety bonds, LOL! Ever since then I have been on the prowl for it wherever I could find it. When Donna told me we were going to stay in Abita Springs, I knew we were going to stock up and tour the brewery as well.

Today was that day. We had a terrific lunch at the Abita Brew Pub and enjoyed an excellent wheat beer. Oh yeah and some good eats as well. We discovered that this was the original brewery that had been outgrown. The new place was a mile down the road from the pub. After some leisurely chatting we headed off to the brewery.





We arrived just prior to the 2:00 PM tour. Tours are given on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday as well as weekends. Entering the tasting room was like going into a really nice pub. A long bar with a scattering of tables. Just outside was a pleasant patio with more tables. Seemed like a really nice place to hang out and drink beer.





Well, that’s just what it was. One of the staff handed out cups, pointed to the drafts behind the bar and said help yourself. There were no limits or restrictions, just enjoy yourself and make sure you open the tap all the way or else you get a cup of foam. Oh yeah, did I tell you it was free?





After tasting all the different kinds, each of us settled into a beer of choice and sat at the bar as the staff told us about the history of beer and how Abita makes their particular beers. Very informative and we had more free beer. We then made our way to the actual brewery and saw all the vats and cookers and such. That done we returned to the tasting room for more...yeah, you guessed it …free beer.





We bought a few items and headed out to visit the local Harley dealers and enjoy the good weather. OK the drizzle was much more tolerable after the visit to the brewery.

All in all, a very good day.
Stu

National WWII Museum, New Orleans LA

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

As I've aged, my interest in history has expanded but I will probably never be a history buff. When my New Orleans friend, Lee, mentioned the D Day Museum (The National WWII Museum) as a place to visit, I knew it would be something Stu would really enjoy. I never thought I would enjoy it as much as I did....

Lee had told me it would take a full day and somehow I couldn't imagine that...we got there around noon and stayed until closing at 5:00....and we were only half way done. That said, at times the experience was so overwhelming emotionally, that doing it all in one day would be tough. We do plan to revisit the area and seeing the rest of the museum. We can't wait too long though, the future expansion plans call for a 6 acre complex!



We started out with the traveling exhibit: Lives Remembered: Photographs of a Small Town in Poland 1897-1939 [Photographs of a Small Town in Poland 1897-1939 illustrates Jewish life in Europe before the Holocaust.]



Then we started the tour chronicling the escalation of WWII and our entry into it. There are short videos, booths where you can 2 minute personal stories, displays of every type and size imaginable. All the photos are on SmugMug, here are a few.



New Orleans was selected in part due to the heavy involvement of Andrew Higgins and his boat company. The LCVP (Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel) played a major part in D-Day and the landings on Normandy Beach.



The displays were never ending and always interesting. We walked around corners, into alcoves, up stairs, down hallways....history surrounded us.



We had just started the displays for the Pacific when the announcer started the closing countdown. We managed a couple of exhibits before finally realizing we were going to have to leave and return another day.

We headed to downtown for some dinner and stopped in an outdoor cafe with some great blues music.



A walk followed and the evening was topped off at Cafe du monde with beignets & coffee.

Here are some further links of interest:
Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna & Stu