Going Home

We left New Orleans on 1/24/16, made an overnight stop half way to Austin, Texas, and landed in Austin on 1/25/16.  We spent two nights in Austin so we could visit with my step sister and her family.  We had a great Texas BBQ dinner with them and a great visit.  From this point on, we are on our way home, with no more touring.  So I thought this would be a good point in time to think about the Big Trip and sum up what we saw. 

This trip was my #1 Bucket List trip.  I spent most of my adult life working and raising two wonderful girls.  I planned on taking this trip after I sold the business, but family health needs kept me a home for another 4 years.  Now, that all are healthy, it was time for us to hit the road, and boy did we.  I always wanted to see this country, especially the East Coast, since both Tom and I have never been there to tour (we have been to New York City and Boston on business, but that didn’t count). 

What we saw were beautiful rolling hills, the huge Great Lakes, fall colors in the Northeast, forests as thick as you can imagine in Maine, sawgrass and lily pads of the Florida Everglades, and water---lots of water.  While we are suffering through a drought in California that is destroying our beautiful lakes and streams, the south suffers with floods, and the Finger Lake area of New York had water everywhere.

There were a few consistent sights in most of the East.  Lots of shoestores in the cites, always a dollar store of some kind, and Mini-golf everywhere – go figure?  And the people we met were wonderful.  We didn’t meet a person we didn’t like, whether it was in the campgrounds or in the cities.  They were always interested in our trip and shared information with us about the local area we were in.  They always wanted to help. 

Tom’s mom left home with us and traveled for 2 months.  Then we dropped her off at her youngest son’s home in New Jersey to visit with them and the rest of the family.  She stayed with them for about 7 weeks, and rejoined us in Virginia, where we had a Harris family reunion with Tom’s dad’s family.  I think it was a very special time for her.  All in all, she spent over 4 months on the road with us, and did very well. 

Our dogs, Penny and Lucky, just had a great time.  Penny isn’t too enthusiastic about the driving part, but they both really enjoyed all the new smells.  On several occasions, we were able to let them swim in both lakes and the ocean.  Lucky took to it like he was a water dog, when he really isn’t (he is at least half Chihuahua). 

This will be my last blog.  I have really enjoyed putting everything down in writing with pictures, so we can recall everything we experienced.  All in all, the trip was a huge success.  Today is 1/30/16 and we are on the Interstate 10 headed west.  We are in Texas as I write this, but will be home on 2/3/16. 

We love travelling, but as Dorothy said, “There’s no place like home.” 

With love to my family and friends,

Linda

New Orleans

Thursday, 1/21/16 – Travel day from Pensacola to New Orleans.  After driving through what looked like shipyards, we arrived at Ponchartrain Landing RV and Marina.  The campground was on a major canal running between Lake Ponchartrain and the Mississippi River.  We were told there was Bingo tonight and a great restaurant, so Tom and I planned to go.  The rain started, then the lightning and thunder, then much more rain.  We walked in the rain to the area where they held the Bingo.  It was in a restaurant on the second level of the building.  We had spinach and artichoke dip and chips and drinks.  It was delicious.  The Bingo was free.  The rain came down so hard on the tin roof, that we could not hear the caller.  Tom won a candy bar and I won nothing, but it was fun. 

Friday, 1/22/16 – Tom and I went into New Orleans.  First stop, Blaine Kern’s Mardi Gras World, next to the convention center.  It was a big complex of warehouses where they build floats and store props for the many Mardi Gras parades.  First we wandered through the gift shop and took some pictures of the props there.

Costumes for a prior Mardi Gras

Costumes

a prop

We watched a short video as part of our tour which explained Mardi Gras.  There are 56 Krewes (membership clubs) that build floats for the parade, usually with a general theme.  Therefore, there are 56 parades throughout Mardi Gras, which started on 1/6/16 and lasts through the big day on 2/9/16, which is ‘fat Tuesday’, the day before Ash Wednesday.  Actually Mardi Gras translated from French means Fat Tuesday.

We all dressed up in Mardi Gras costumes and got a picture.

Dressed for Mardi Gras

Then, the guide took us into the warehouse.  They were currently building floats for Krewe Orpheus, which is 1 of the 3 super krewes (largest).  Orpheus has a general theme of flowers.  The floats were done very well, but nothing like the Rose Parade, as the flowers were all made of cardboard, styrofoam, or fiberglass. 

a man working on top a float

flowers up close

We toured the fabrication area and saw how they start with an artistic drawing of the prop.  Then they cut out several layers of styrofoam and glue them together.  Then the artist sculpts the piece, and the next set of artists cover it with paper mache’ to smooth the edges.  Sometimes they spray lacquer paint for a shiny appearance, and sometimes they just paint.  The large props are amazing.  The floats are put on a trailer base and built up with plywood.  They are usually pulled by  horses and carry a generator for lights.  Here are some of my pictures of the floats.

Egyptian theme

turtle on front

Aladdin float

Nemo float

 

putting a prop on the front of a float

They keep all the props, and sometimes re-use them slightly from year to year and repaint to make into a new one.  Therefore, all the props are kept there in the warehouse.  Here a lot of props we saw in the warehouse. 

tree prop

King Kong prop

Lady Monkey prop

Book prop from last year

OZ prop from last year

Tom with a snake prop

The guide explained to us that this warehouse was only one of 18 warehouses they have, 17 here in New Orleans and 1 in Spain.  Blaine Kern also makes props for other companies, like the cow you see on ‘Chick a Fill’ billboards.  They even build for Disney on occasion.  It was a great tour.  We really enjoyed it.

Tom and I left for the French Quarter.  We parked and immediately headed for Café Du Monde on Decatur Street, a coffee and pastry shop well known for their beignets.

 A beignet (pronounced ben-yay) is a square puffed up pastry and deep fried (like a donut), then covered with powdered sugar.  What’s not to love?  The place was really crowded with people.  They are open 24/7 and are jammed all the time.  We both had an order of beignets (3) and hot cocoa (since it was so cold).  Speaking of the weather, we had a very big thunderstorm last night.  The wind was so strong, we were afraid that the slideout covers would tear, so we brought the slides in during the night.  That meant that there was no room for the dog beds, so they had to sleep with us.  Anyway, today the wind was still with us.  The temperature was about 41 degrees, but the wind chill made it feel like about 30 degrees or less.   We walked  around several blocks and into many shops.  Here are a couple of pictures of the décor for Mardi Gras in the French Quarter.

a corner wreath

railings decorated for Mardi Gras

more decor

 We bought a couple of small things, but got so cold, we had to leave.  Here is the mask store.

the Mask Shop

Back at the RV, we went to the campground restaurant and had fried shrimp and crab cakes for dinner – Yum – it was delicious!

Saturday, 1/23/16 – It is still cold, but the wind died down and the sun came out, so it is much better than yesterday.  Tom and I headed back into the French Quarter for a tour, dinner, and a parade.  We heard from more than one person that the parade tonight, which is Krewe du Vieux (pronounced crew do-voo), is the most fun.  It is definitely not family friendly and the theme title is “XXX”.  A lot of satirical political floats, and some just downright raunchy.  It is the first parade with floats to start Mardi Gras, and it is the only parade that comes down through the French Quarter.  All the big parades go down Canal Street or the wider streets uptown.  We didn’t want to miss it.  Of course, we had to start our day with beignets and cocoa at Café Du Monde (they were just as good as before).  Then we caught a pedicab to the Voodoo Lounge on Rampart Street for the start of our tour.  We signed up for the ‘Saints and Sinners, the Dirty Little French Quarter’ tour for some history of the seedy beginnings of New Orleans.  It was a walking tour of about 1 ¼ miles (about 1 ½ hours) around the French Quarter.  I made it the whole way with my canes.  We heard about how New Orleans was a dumping ground for criminals, outcasts, homeless, etc. in 1718.  The French Quarter was settled first. in 1718.  It is about one square mile in size.  The first actual establishment that went in was the Opera House.  Of course, Inns, restaurants, bars, and brothels, grew up around the Opera House.  Music however, was always a main staple of the city.  Over the years, the city changed, but kept it’s debauchery character, Bourbon Street in particular.  Prostitution, which was legal back then.  It became a problem in the Quarter, so the mayor (whose name is Story) decided to clean it up.  When he did, the prostitution business only moved north to the northern border of the city where prostitution flourished, and it was now called Storyville (which infuriated the Mayor).  There was a very famous madam named Jose Arlington who our tour guide said they made a movie about, but I have not found it yet.  We stopped at two historical sites, The Preservation (a museum of Jazz music), and Pat O’Briens (the pub that invented the ’hurricane’).  We didn’t go in, but here are pictures of each.

The Preservation

Pat O'Brien's pub

All in all, the tour was pretty good, but not as good as I thought it would be.

I almost forgot about the pirates.  Jean LaFitte and his brother, Pierre, came to New Orleans to make money by stealing and laundering money.  His business in ‘Pirates Alley’ got so big it blocked the alley next the to church, so the church let them deal behind the fence beside the church (on church property).  They would pass money and goods through the fence.  Our tour guide said that was where the term ‘fencing’ came from (I don’t know if I believe him). 

After the tour, we walked back toward Decatur Street.  We stopped in the Market Street Café, next to the golden statue of Joan of Arc, for something to eat.  It was about 3:00 p.m. I had popcorn crawfish, and Tom had a Louisiana sampler consisting of Jambalaya, Gumbo, Beans & Rice, and Mufaletta.  He said his was really good.  Mine was great.  We ate slow so we could spend the maximum time inside where it was warm, but it was still only about 4:15 p.m.  The Krewe du Vieux parade was scheduled to start at 6:00, and at our location it would pass us between 6:30 and 7:00 p.m.  Tom went back to the car and got my wheelchair so I could sit down to wait.  Then we walked down Decatur Street, toward the car, to find a spot for the parade.  We stopped next to a young couple who offered a space for us and offered us wine from their wagon.  The young husband even offered Tom his chair.  They were locals and had a lot of information about the parade for us.  They said this was the only parade they came back to repeatedly, which is what we heard from other locals.  It was 4:30 and we had at least 2 hours to wait in the cold.  We talked to them for a long time until two women in their 50’s asked if they could stand and wait with us.  We said “of course”, and began a conversation with them.  They, like us, were tourists, but from Florida.  I really enjoyed talking to them.  Before you know it, the parade started.  Mardi Gras had officially began! 

The floats and the signs made fun about most all of the presidential candidates – some were very funny.  Also, there was a lot of talk about the current mayor about taking down a memorial to Robert E. Lee in town.  I understood that he was not very well liked by the crowd.  There were also floats about illegal aliens.  All the paraders were dressed in alien costume.  The rest were mostly ‘XXX’ rated, but all done in fun.  I remember one float that was called ‘One Nightstand’, where all the paraders were dressed up like nightstands with lampshades on their heads. It was rather short, but we waited only about 10 minutes and a second parade came through.  I don’t remember their name, but the costumes were colorful.  No pictures from the parade as my camera does not do well in the dark.  We were happy to go back to the car and turn on the heater.

I think we ended this ‘Big Trip’ on a positive note, as this night was our last official tour.  We only have a stop in Texas to visit family, but for the most part, we are on our way home.  All three of us are a little tired and a little homesick.

Panama City and Pensacola

Saturday, 1/16/16 - Just learned that a tornado hit Fort Myers just one day after we left.  I guess our luck is with us.  While we were in Lake City campground, I took this picture of a beautiful tree next to our campsite. It is typical of the trees in the south.
       Today is a travel day from Lake City to Panama City (still in the Florida panhandle).  The reason we picked this city is because we have seen it over and over on HGTV, where people are buying up second homes.  I wanted to see what the big draw was.  When we got here we could see that it is a big tourist beach town.  It looks a lot like Myrtle Beach, SC, but much larger.  Right next to our campground is a park with a very big 'bouncy rig' (held up by 2 cranes), and a 'Twirl-Y-Whirl' bigger than most ferris wheels.  We noticed lots of the usual beach businesses--T-shirt stores, beach junk stores, lots of bars, and high rise hotels/condos.  The campground is called Campers Inn.  It is nice, but a little worn and ready for some updating.  We talked with our neighbors.  They were from Quebec-they were very nice.

Sunday, 1/17/16 - Tom, Mom, and I and the 2 dogs piled into the car and headed to the dog beach next to the pier.  On the way to the beach, we noticed a very large complex called  Laketown Wharf Resort. They were selling condos, so Tom and I planned to come back to see it.  When we got to the pier, there was shopping across the street called Pier Park, so we crossed the street to see what we could see.  Didn't have to walk very far, as it more of the same, just a little higher class.  We went back to the beach side and took the dogs and Mom down to the beach.  The sand was pure white and very fine, and a little cold from the rain last night.  It didn't bother the dogs.  Penny ran to the surf immediately and Lucky followed.  They ran and ran, in and out of the water.  Tom brought a ball, and Penney chased it into the water.  When Lucky got the ball, he wouldn't give it up, so we eventually had to take it away from him and throw it again.  Here are some pictures of the dogs in the water.

Tom and the dogs

Penny and Lucky in the ocean

best buddies

After the beach, we took the dogs and Mom back to the RV.  They were all tired.  Tom and I went back to the condo complex called Laketown  Wharf.  Wow--this place was really big.

Laketown Wharf
Gulf at the top; Lake at the bottom

  We looked at a 2B/2B unit, and a 3B/2B unit.  Both were  beautiful and quite reasonable, BUT not for us.  The weather down here in the summer months is so humid, I could not stand it.  We might consider renting a unit for a vacation sometime though!

We left and went grocery shopping on the way back to the RV.  Dinner and some TV tonight.  We are all tired.

Monday 1/18/16 - We traveled from Panama City to Pensacola, Florida.  We will be here 3 nights and have 2 tours in mind.  But for now, everyone except me is napping.  I just cannot nap during the day.  I am updating this blog and watching all of the photos that my kids sent from Disney World.  It looks like they are having a great time, and all are pooped out!  Than maybe I will play some games and wait for everybody to wake up.

Tuesday 1/19/16 - Tom and I are off to a Bird Park to see the Macaws, but while looking up directions, I found out that it was closed.  In fact, it is closed all 3 days that we are here, so it wasn't in the cards.  Instead, we decided to go the the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola.  I was a little surprised that it was 30 miles away.  Oh well, we have the whole day.  Here is the front entry of the museum.

National Naval Aviation Museum

In the entry we saw this bronze sculpture honoring 5 different aviators over 5 wars.

Aviators over 5 wars
WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, & Desert Storm

And above us was the first naval plane.  Remember that the first flight by the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk was in 1903.  The Navy didn't get interested in airplanes until 1908, and ordered their first plane in 1911 from the Glen Curtis Company.

1911 Curtis seaplane

Just 4 years later, the Navy ordered more planes from the Curtis company.  They were only interested in planes that could take off and land on water; could reach an altitude of 1500 feet,  carry two men, and stay aloft for at least 4 hours.  Here is the 1915 Curtis sea plane. Note the big pontoons on the wheels and on the wings.

1915 Curtis seaplane

Our docent told us a story of this plane.  It seems that in 1915, they had no way to navigate over the sea, so they positioned boats every 50 miles that put out smoke during the day and shot off rockets at night, which gave the pilots a point to point direction to fly.  What they didn't plan on was bad weather.  During a storm, a group of 3 planes went out, and immediately got lost.  One turned around and flew back to base successfully.  The second one went down in the storm. The third hit a 25' swell at the top of the wave and rode it down the backside of the wave and up over the next wave.  They lost the end of the right wing in the water, so they positioned 3 men out on the wing for balance. They managed to stay afloat for 75 hours and made it to the Azores where they were rescued.  The next years, 1916 and 1917, the Navy continued to order planes from the Curtis Company.  With each year the improvements were impressive!

Here is a picture of the first aircraft carrier.

The USS Langley
(those stacks on the side are the exhaust stacks)

It started out as the 'Jupiter', a coal cargo ship.  The Navy bought it and refitted it to become the first aircraft carrier.  It took 2 years and cost the Navy $1 million to convert it in 1922.  The Langley sank on February 27, 1942 during combat operations in the Java Sea, the victim of a Japanese air attack.  It could carry 35 planes.  In comparison, the USS Nimitz, which was the first nuclear driven aircraft carrier, was commissioned in 1972 at a cost of $1 billion.  Today, the Navy has a new aircraft carrier being built at Norfolk, VA which will cost $16.4 billion.  Wow -- that is real inflation!

Here is an unusual piece of information:  During WWII, the Navy would train aircraft carrier takeoffs and landings on two floating platforms on Lake Michigan.  The Navy felt that either coast (Norfolk and San Diego) was not safe for training due to enemy submarine operations.

We saw a lot of planes in the museum, but here are a few of the memorable ones.  Here is the last sea plane built for the Navy.

the last seaplane

Here is the R4D-5L  Skytrain, one of the most historic in any aircraft collection anywhere in the world.  It was the first airplane to ever land at the South Pole, accomplishing the feat on October 31, 1956.  It was nicknamed "Que Sera Sera", and was equipped with skis to land on ice.

Skytrain names "Que Sera Sera"

Another plane was the Lockheed P2-V "Truculent Turtle".

the "Turtle"

In September of 1946 it flew nonstop without refueling from Perth, Australia, to Columbus, Ohio, a distance of 11,235 miles, setting a long distance record.  The reasoning is interesting.  While Truman was in office, this plane was used as a notice to the world (primarily Russia) that the Navy had a plane that could fly half way around the world without refueling, and could drop bombs at any point. It slowed the race to arm countries with nuclear bombs.

Here is the helicopter flown for Presidents Nixon and Ford.

Nixon and Ford Helicopter

  Here is the plane flown by George W. Bush.

G.W. Bush plane

Lastly, it wouldn't be a proper tour without the Blue Angels.  Pensacola is the home of the Blue Angels.  They practice here 2 days every week and fly in shows all over the U.S.  Their precision is amazing.  The picture below is the one I took against a lit sky, which only allows silhouettes.  The second picture is out of a book of the same formation.  In these formations, the space between planes is about 3-4 feet apart; in the shows, they perform at 16-18 inches apart -Wow!

my picture of the Blue Angels

Blue Angels
(from a book)

Our docent was Bill Thomas, a retired Navy pilot.

Bill Thomas, our docent

F15
(similar to the type he flew,
and the same plane on 'Top Gun')

Actually, we learned at the end of the tour that he flew F15's in Vietnam, and shot down 2 MIGs.  He had lots of personal information on how they trained for dog fights, and several stories of his buddies. When he stopped flying, he became a flight school instructor.  I asked him, "What do you think of the movie, 'Top Gun'?"  He said, "Not much. On the scenes where they were dog fighting through a canyon, they flew pretty slow, just sped up the film to make it more exciting."  He noted that the wings were flat out, which is the position for take off and landings (very slow).  When they are flying very fast, the wings are tilted.  He also told us that most of the young pilots in that movie were his students in flight school.

Here is a car, doctored up by the flight crew.  They used it to go from the base to town to the bars; or back to the base.  They had a driver, and drew attention, for sure.

flight crew transport

Wednesday, 1/20/16 - Tom and I are off for a civil war tour of Pensacola.  We left from a historic old home which serves as a depot for the tour company, Go Retro.  I talked to the manager (who was also our driver and guide) about my difficulties with their TripAdvisor website.  I don't know if it helps, but after 4 phone calls and lots of exasperation with the web site, we finally got the information we needed to show up on time.  I hope they take my comments to heart, because the tourists will never find them the way it is.  Anyway, Tom and I were the only passengers on the bus (which probably held 24-30 people) and that is probably why.

We drove around Pensacola for about 2 hours.  Most of the time, we watched a long video about the civil war and how it impacted Pensacola.  Frankly, the video was terrible.  It reminded me of the boring classes on history I had in high school.  What was worse was the music.  They played songs of the time, but not just one verse----they played all 5 verses of every song, most with a banjo picking in the background.  The videos were at least 1/2 music - no history!

Here is the goods on Pensacola history:  In 1860 (just before the Civil War), Pensacola was the largest city in Florida and it had the only deep water port in the South, and lots of timber for building.  It was a very busy city and growing very quickly.  Pensacola Bay was protected by 3 forts.  After  the Civil War broke out in 1861, the Rebels took 2 of the forts from the Federals (the Union troops)  The Federals maintained control of Fort Pickens.  There was constant battles and the result of all of it, the city of Pensacola was completely destroyed and burnt out.  The residents fled to other states, and left Pensacola a shell.  It wasn't until 5 years after the war ended (around 1870), that people started to come back to the city, and the Federals rebuilt the Navy yard.  Pensacola also became a safe haven during the war for runaway slaves and homeless whites who supported the Federals.  Many of the slaves joined up with the Union troops to fight for their freedom.

Here are some of my tour pictures:  Here is the Lighthouse at the Naval Station.

Lighthouse at the Naval station

Sign in front of the Lighthouse

Flags (l to r) Coast Guard, U.S., Lighthouse

Tom and I are in front
(the bus driver took this)

Here is the only Civil War Memorial in Pensacola.

At the top is a typical rebel soldier

(at the bottom)
THE UNCROWNED HEROES
OF THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY

"Whose joy was to suffer and die for a cause they believed to be just.  Their unchallenged devotion and selfless heroism shall continue to be the wonder and the inspiration of the ages."

The South Face of the Memorial

"JEFFERSON DAVIS, President of the Confederate States of America.  Soldier, Statesman, Patriot, Christian.  The only man in our nation without a country, yet twenty million people mourn his death."

Back to the RV.  We closed escrow on the new house today, and our kids and grandkids are flying home from Orlando as well.  I am always a little nervous when all 8 of them are on the same plane, so they promised to text me when they land safely in L.A.  I will call my Dad today and see how he and Liz are too.  I must admit, I am a little homesick.  Six months on the road is just a little too long, although I would't trade it for all the knowledge, the sights, and the tastes along the way.  Tomorrow we leave Florida and drive through Alabama and Mississippi, then Louisiana.  New Orleans is our next destination. Stay tuned.