On the Beach

Here we are parked on Mustang Island near Corpus Christi. Overnight parking is allowed on the beach. Make sure you check the tides before hand. We had an occasional wave roll all the way under the coach at high tide. It made the sand soft enough that the levelers started sinking. That made me nervous, so we moved Sunday to a county park near the beach where we are parked on asphalt. Forecast is for sun and 70 the next few days. We'll force ourselves to enjoy it.

Tim

Don't tell me you can't find a job

We're in Portland, TX, across the bay from Corpus Christi at Sea Breeze RV resort for 2 nights with a lot of old (older) snowbirds. Not too exciting here, but I at least got to go kayaking yesterday while the sun shone and temperatures were in the 70s. Not so nice today with fog still hanging around at 2pm. We explored Port Aransas today, looking for a different RV park, but found out that you can camp on the beach for $12/year. So, we're going boondocking (without any hookups) tomorrow. Our fresh water tank should allow us 3 to 4 days and forecasts are for mostly sunny and 70ish.

While driving through Corpus Christi we ran across this older guy, going 60mph, with these bags of cans 4 0r 5 feet wide. If you really want to earn an income, there is a way. Love his specs.

Tim

On the move again!

Left New Orleans yesterday heading for the Gulf of Texas. Stayed at Cajun Palms RV Resort in Henderson, LA last night. Huge RV resort with a pool, 28 person hot tub, mini-golf etc. Everything was closed yet. Not warm enough for swimming and only about 4-5 other RVs here just passing thru too. Going to leave this morning and will cross over into Texas and hope to be as far as Houston before stopping. Our plan will be to get down to South Padre Island, TX and hope it's warm enough for hanging out on the beach. Tim's itchin to get his kayak out and play in the Gulf waters. Rae Jean

When the Saints come marching in

People here are real excited about the Saints. They play next weekend for the league championship. Who Dat. Whatever that means.

We went to the French Quarter today and enjoyed a Po Boy and a Pimm Cup for lunch. See pictures at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/TDetwiler3/NewOrleans#

Tim

New Orleans

Made it to New Orleans yesterday, Sunday. We took our time getting here, in part, because it was raining here Saturday. Spent Sat PM in Hazlehurst, MS at a beautiful Wal Mart. I finally figured out the generator "Auto Start" function, where the generator automatically starts when the batteries get low. A significant improvement over constantly monitoring the batteries, or not and letting them get so low that they won't start the generator (like Thursday AM). We're at the Mardi Gras RV Park, near a noisy expressway and industrial buildings. We're headed for the French Quarter today with advise from Joanne Blue Stainton on where to go, what to see and where to drink. We should have picturse and stories about it tomorrow.

Tim

Walkin' in Memphis

Hit this to set the mood: http://s0.ilike.com/play#Marc+Cohn:Walking+in+Memphis:34759:s2548005.8792725.5672.0.1.87%2Cstd_c0ca7c6409a424133f91bb756c1d33cc

Had a fun day in Memphis. Weather was sunny and 57. We toured Graceland and Beale Street. See our pics at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/TDetwiler3/MemphisTN#

On our Graceland Tour we weren't allowed to go thru the upstairs out of respect for Elvis. So, I have no photos to share of his bedroom or the bathroom where he died. It was interesting to see the decor from back in the late 60's early 70's. Graceland isn't as big as you might expect but the grounds and house is beautiful. Went to famous Beale Street in the evening for ribs and music. Ate at the PIG and watched an Elvis impersonator. Beale Street was blocked off for about 4 blocks. There were walk up bars, live blues bands playing on the street, and the hawkers out in front of the bars and restaurant trying to seduce you to come in. Went into Coyote Ugly for a beer. Not much happening there. We were too early for the crowds. Check out our photos. Until next time! Rae Jean

Driver Error

We got to the west side of Memphis Thur PM and filled up with fuel at a Flying J where there wasn't much room for turning around. I had to backup to get out of the place and "Stupid, stupid, stupid" jacknifed the trailer, scraping the paint on the right rear corner of the coach and the corresponding corner of the trailer. Not too much damage, just frustrating. After surveying the damage, we started to pull out of the gas station, when I noticed the trailer came unhooked from the coach and the nose was dragging on the ground as it hit us in the back. Fortunetly we were only going a few miles per hour. I stopped in the middle of the road to see what happened. Apparently when I jackknifed the trailer, the trailer hitch extension broke half off and the other half broke when I took off. So, the trailer is sitting in the middle of the road and I can't do anything with the coach to pull it off the road. I left it there and drove back into the Flying J. Several people saw what was going on and offered to help, thank goodness. One guy used his pickup to hook up to the trailer and pull it back off the road. Another guy gave me his extra hitch to put on the coach. So, now I am coupled closer to the trailer than I want, the safety chains are broken, the coach is scratched up and the fiberglass rear end of the coach is broken where the trailer ran into it and the front of the trailer is dented in. As Blago would say, Stupid, Stupid, Stupid.

POd, Tim

Night 1

Here we are on night 1 of our adventure. We spent the night in Festus, MO just south of St. Louis in a Walmart parking lot. My husband only takes me to the finest RV spots to park our rig for the night. Heading for Memphis today for some BBQ and to see Elvis Presley's Graceland. More on this next stop later

Rae Jean

The Night Before

My foot itches. The right one. The one you use to push the throttle. We're ready. We'll leave tomorrow.