Wednesday December 13, 2006

Grandpa had a doc's appointment to have his blood drawn, so we were up and showering earlier than normal. We are expecting another beautiful day here in Livingston Texas.

By the time grandpa was done at the doc's it was lunch time. We headed off to find the dentist's office. Paul had made an appointment with a local dentist...he broke a molar chewing on ice last night. Foolish man. The number two tooth breaker is chewing ice...the number one for breaking teeth is eating popcorn...yep, that buttery delicious treat eaten in the darkness of the movie theater is responsible for the most broken teeth according to the ADA. It's those unseen maryjanes that get ya. There you are enjoying that fake butter covered delight and you crunch down on an unpopped kernal. So....there's at least $900 for for the fix, usually a crown to fix the tooth and maybe even a root canal thrown in for spite. I keep telling Paulie to wait until we get to the Rio Grande Valley, he can go down to Mexico and have it done really cheap. I wonder why he just ignores me sometimes....think he's afraid to see a Mexican dentist?

We stopped for lunch at Whataburger...everyone on the Grads list I belong to (the gastric bypass grads list) rave about this place. Well...I for one remain in the dark as to the appeal. Ick. I'd rather eat cottage cheese and saltines. We did have a chance to talk to some other SKiPs who happened to be eating lunch there, and even our neighbors (Gibby and his wife) showed up. They have been getting stuff done to become Texans and had to have both their 5th wheel and truck inspected before getting plates and such. I can't wait until it's our turn to do this! I am still having issues with becoming a resident of Texas...I just get sick and tired of Texans acting like the world revolves around this state. Hmmm, better change my attitude or I'll get my butt kicked by some old Texas mamasita who has an attitude about beautiful blondes....heh, heh, heh.

After lunch Paulie takes grandpa and me back to the rig and off he goes to the dentist and to take back the Radio Shack thingy we purchased to fine tune the satellite signal. No need for that now. It is warm and not a cloud in the sky this afternoon. The breeze is still cool, but wow, it's beautiful for December.

I fall asleep in the chair and wake up with a crick in my neck. Grandpa is off walking the dog so I go lay down in the rig. The crick turns into a headache so before I laid down I took some tylenol.

Paul gets back from the SKiPs announcements and we start making dinner. We will be getting rid of what's left in the fridge tomorrow as the rig will be in storage for a whole week without eletricity. One of the ladies I met this afternoon, Roma, offered some freezer space as they have a home here in Rainbow's End. I would have hate to throw out the two pounds of butter we had salvaged from the freezer at home. I hate wasting good food stuff. We cleaned out the garage fridge and the freezer and turned them both off. When Zack gets home after Christmas he can dump the rest of the fridge in our kitchen and turn it off also. No use trying to salvage anything since we don't have a clue how long the electric was off. If we don't get home until March most of the stuff we did manage to keep will be out of date anyways.

Tomorrow, Paulie and I will do laundry, and clean the rig really well. We need to find a room for Zack...gee, even in this little town it will run $67 a night. Well, we just have to bite the bullet...he doesn't fit in our rig's shower and he will need to bathe.

Well, the tv reception still sucks where we are so TV tonight will be terrible. Not much but reruns on now anyways so we won't miss too much. I finally pulled out my knitting...I have two pairs of socks and a baby hat on the needles, not to mention the purple sweater I had started over the summer for Red Hats. I don't know why but its been quite a while since I got involved in anything harder than a dishcloth.

Later

dee

Tuesday continued...

Grandpa and I went to have lunch around noon. Paulie was serving up the Spanish rice. There seemed to be a nice crowd for the meal. The casserole was ok, the salad was good, the rice so-s0 and the dessert was ick. After lunch we went back to the rig, pulled out some chairs and sat in the sunshine. It was warm and beautiful. Finally folks were emerging from their homes on wheels to greet the sun and catch up on chores. It has been raining for a few days and quite nasty so this is a great relief. About ten til one we headed back to see if Paul was done with his serving chores, but he was still working so grandpa and I went to see the grammer school kids at the activity center without him. The kids would be singing for us and showing us their parade "floats". I didn't hear if these were special ed kids when they were announced, but they were anxious to get started. They sang about 10 Christmas carols and then each child talked about the parade "float" they had made and then walked it in front of the audience. Here are a few
pictures....








































The kids were really sweet...there was a red-neck float...a singing Mr. & Mrs. Claus, some singing teddy bears and one kid did the baby Jesus in the manger. Very nice kids and great ideas for third graders I thought.

We went back to the rig, and Paulie was on the phone with Dish...more aggravation it seems.
I sat outside with the guys for a while, but a headache was coming on so I went and laid down. I hated to do that as it was such a great day. Paul and grandpa were off to play poker, and I stayed with the furkids and watched White Christmas with Bing and Danny Kaye. Gotta get in the Christmas spirit somehow!

later.

dee

Tuesday December 12, 2006

Paul is heading over to the clubhouse to help serve lunch. Enchillada casserole. Then the kids from the grammer school will be over to show us their Christmas Parade floats. Should be fun. I forgot to take the stupid camera last night, so I will take it with me today and get some pix of Rainbow's end and the kids.

I will catch up with y'all later...see what being in Texas does to ya?

later

dee

Monday continued... December 11, 2006

Paul and I ventured out into the monsoons to get a bag of flour. I am going to make Scottish shortbread cookies...flour, sugar and butter. I have three pounds of butter that we took from the house...it will just go to waste when we have to store the RV during the cruise. I will use one pound for the cookies and then I will most likely give the other two to out neighbors before we leave for Houston on Friday. We stopped at CVS and I found a nice small Christmas tree for the rig. You should have heard Paul the Scrooge bitch about how much it cost...$10. Jeesh. We also stopped at the post office to check to see the the part for the scooter is there. It arrived at Tom's house the day we left New Orleans. Yep, Tom being a good guy sent it priority mail and it was there. Back at the rig, I made the cookies and Paulie fixed the scooter. Yeah, I will have my scooter so I won't miss out on any shore trips that require a lot of walking. I am very happy. We willl just have left over pasta for supper. We need to get the fridge empty before Friday.

Then after dinner we were off to dessert and coffee, to be followed by a Christmas concert at the activity center. A very nice crowd showed up and there were plenty of goodies to go with coffee. I didn't have anything...I was still stuffed from dinner and I don't need the extra calories. Plus, I don't need to have a dumping episode. At seven, the Livingston Community Orchestra began a wonderfully entertaining concert. They played for almost an hour and did a variety of Christmas arrangements. They were certainly a lot better than we had anticipated as Livingston is quite a small town. Looking at the program and seeing all the names listed, we could see that a lot of folks were from the surrounding areas and there were several who drove over an hour from Houston. They were quite good. The SKiPs collected $400 in contributions to thank them which they can use for music and instruments.

After the concert, we took grandpa back to the rig and then headed to the club house to go watch the Bears. Since we learned that our satellite is a no-go, we had to find a place to watch the game. They have cable and two tv's. By the time we got there, the Rams had scored a TD but blew the extra point. The Bears defense looked pretty lame. There were three other gentlement watching...none of us have a dish. Two guys left fairly early and it was just me, Paulie and another very interesting gentleman who was also born in St. Louis and then moved to Chicago. Poor guy...should have kept up his Cardinal fan status...like me he is a lost Cubbie soul, destined to have his heart broken very stinking year. *Sigh*.

Well, the real Rex Grossman showed up and the Bears had quite an offense going. The defense didn't have a stellar effort but were good enough to win the game. Devon Hester(strange name for a football player, no? ) is such fun to watch. He is absolutely amazing...so fast. Two kickoff returns and 14 points...it doesn't get better than that!

later...

dee

Monday December 11, 2006

Well, today I have had an epiphany…Saturday afternoon, we went to the Downtown Hometown Christmas in Livingston. This appears to be a very, very poor kinda town. The band was playing Christmas carols and someone was singing way off key. The craft booths were pitiful…at least compared to the stuff we saw at the Muskegon Celebration. There seemed to be only one crafter with any talent at all….she made wreaths and they were quite attractive. I wouldn’t pay $40 bucks for one, but then again I am pretty cheap. After visiting the booths, we were off to find a restaurant and have an early dinner/late lunch. I was thinking a hot bowl of soup would be good. While out, we decided to find the Vet place where the furkids will be boarded and look for a place to eat. We found the Vet but there didn’t seem to be anywhere to eat out there that appealed to grandpa. Don’t get me started. So I suggested the Texas Pepper, advertised as a “family” restaurant…figured we could get soup, salad and maybe a blt or something simple. Well, it turns out it has highly priced Tex-Mex dishes…a few steaks and of course the ever present chicken fried steak. Paul and I split a burger and fries, grandpa ordered a burger and onion rings. The hamburger was just so-so and the fries and onion rings were cooked along with the burritos, charos and taco chips…ick. They tasted like greasy tortilla chips. Like I said, …ICK.

Today, we are kept in by torrential rains. This weather has sucked since we got here last week. At least it is gonna be warm today. I volunteered to make cookies for the Livingston Municipal Band concert here tonight. Paul and I will drop off the plate then go over to the clubhouse and watch the Bears on the big screen. Today we stopped at a local dish network place and it has been determined we will NEVER get in the satellite service…the box and the dish itself are incompatible. Crap. I get so irritated with this stuff. Everyone in the park has a dish and we are the only ones who can’t get it to work. Grrr…

Well, grandpa is still sleeping….he did go out with Paul for a ride this afternoon, but he has only been awake for perhaps 4 hours at the most in the last three days. He does have a doctor appointment to have his psa checked on Thursday so maybe the doctor can tell us if there is something wrong with him or he’s turned into Rumplestilsken.

Let’s hope the real Rex Grossman shows up for the Bears game tonight. All over the Houston paper was the story of Vince somebody who was a local kid a star at Texas, the Texans football team passed him over in the draft and he went to New Orleans and is now according to these people, the second coming of Christ….I am NOT making this up. Apparently he will lead NO to the next 10 superbowls he is so wonderful. Yeah. Right.

Whatever…

Later

Dee

Sunday December 10, 2006

We all slept late and then just sat in our jammies while we read the paper.

We went to the show and saw Deck the Halls with Danny DeVito and Matthew Broderick. It was really bad. Thank goodness we paid matinee prices. Grandpa slept through the whole movie. Then back at the rig, he fell asleep on the couch. Paul made pork steaks on the grill, some Mexican corn casserole and bbq beans. Very good dinner, Paul. After dinner, grandpa lay down again and slept. All evening. On the couch. Finally at 10:30 we woke him up, and made up the bed so he could GO to bed. Our TV reception is still sucky. We can't get more than one station and that is a religious one. Argh. Such a pain in the butt.

later

Dee

Saturday December 9, 2006

I am having a fibrofog moment...I don't remember what we did Saturday during the day, LOL!
Saturday night Paul and grandpa went to play poker. Since we are still having such a terrible time getting the satellite dish to work at all, I stopped by the clubhouse here at Rainbow's End and picked up a video from the library. I watched the good version of Scrooge...the Alistar Sim version and a movie I had always wanted to rent, Beloved with Oprah Winfrey. Well, Beloved ran 172 minutes and was still on when they boys got home from poker. It was the strangest movie I have ever seen. The boys made a stink about having to watch the end. That's just tough. They can sit and watch the end...I am going to see this to the end. Boy, it really is a strange one. I looked it up on the internet just so I could understand what I had just seen. Thank goodness for the internet and study guides on line, lol!

We think we may go to the movies tomorrow.

later

dee

Friday December 8, 2006

Today was not a good day for the Ziaja marriage. I had purchased a large tin Texas star for my secret pal and we were trying hard to get it packed and mailed. We needed a box about 30" X30"...not too difficult a task. Wrong. We dumpster dived, checked every store we could think of to buy one and wound up at the UPS store. They wanted 11 bucks for a box and packing. Right. Then it would have been THIRTY bucks to ship. I don't think so. Paul and I had words about the stupid thing and he wound up taking it back to where we bought it. I was really pissed. We got a small star from one of the local stores that also had the word Texas on it...and I bought a skein of sock yarn for her. Big deal. I didn't even wrap it as I was so mad at Paul I wouldn't stop anywhere to get paper and tape. Back at the rig, grandpa was asleep in the lounge chair. I laid on the sofa and we watched TV until dinner time. We had left overs. Just like being at home, LOL! At four, Paul and I went to the announcements. Not a lot going on...it's been cold and dreary here.

Perhaps we will have a more exciting day tomorrow?

hugs

dee

Thursday December 7, 2006

Well...I was up for once at 7 a.m. Wanted to go shopping after sampling the infamous $3.00 breakfast at RanDee's which is only available until 9 a.m. Took a shower, woke up Paul so he could take a shower, and go in to rouse grandpa. He is famous for getting up five minutes before us and then asking us if we were going to sleep "all day". So I say...."Grandpa, are you gonna sleep all day?" to which he replies...."I need to go to the doctor, I think my stomach hurts." So I go tell Paulie and we hustle out the door. The Care Center nurse gave us the name of a local doctor and called us in ahead of time. After filling out all the paperwork, they finally call him and its been an hour since we arrived. They had a full waiting room, and I guess they could just about get him in. I sit for another hour. Finally Paulie comes out and says its gonna be another half hour. They had given him an IV for fluids and to shoot him up with antibiotics. He also needs to get an X-ray. Finally, I go sit in the car so I don't catch something from all these germy sick people in the waiting room. After all this time, they finally get out...its 11:15 and we have not eaten anything yet. I did have a protein shake, but I am on the verge of a hypoglycemic problem. I do have peanut butter crackers in the glove box, but just as I reach for them, Paulie and grandpa get in the car. We are off to see if we can find a place to eat other than crappy fast food. We find a neat little cafe called the Whistle Stop Cafe. The boys got soup and chicken salad sandwiches and I had a Ruben. Pretty good for a Texan Ruben.

We head over to WalMart, to drop off the prescriptions and pick up a few things. I purchased a secret pal gift for my poor knitting guild secret pal. I am trying to find a box to ship it in. I have to listen to naggy PIA Paulie telling me its gonna cost a fortune to ship. Cripes, I missed the girl's birthday, the least I can do is get her a NICE Christmas gift. Jeesh. Men. Why don't they understand these things. I lose Paul at WalMart. He calls me FOUR times to check where I am. Good Lord....I'm running away with the checkout kid for chrissakes. I find a pair of jeans. I am down a pair that fit great when I had to go to the ER in Peoria...they cut the pants off. Plus, I am wearing old short miss's 14's and they are too big. I also buy a Santa hat for myself and some shower gel. As my legs are killing me, I call Paul and tell him I am checking out and would meet him at the door. I find grandpa and we wait for the big guy to finish shopping. From Walmart we go to the hospital for the X-ray. An hour of sitting in the car for me. Jeesh. From the hospital we go back to Walmart to pick up the prescriptions. While in line, the scooter store guy calls and we give him directions to our campsite. Back to Rainbow's end to unload and wait for the scooter fixer guy. We pull up to the rig and he is right there. Of course, we KNOW he doesn't have the part...he confirms...he will have to order and get back with us. Crap. This is getting old. A wasted trip as far as I am concerned. Oh well. Just after the scooter fixer guy leaves, a truck pulls up and a guy asks us if we still want to move into another spot. OK. Yep...so we hurry up and unhook, pack in the slides and off we go. We are now in the main in and out area...we were at the Care facility lot and it was pretty empty and quiet. We finally get settled again...we will stay here until we pull out to go on the cruise next week. I like being around people. Plus, now I can access the internet legally. Yesterday I guess I was hacking into someone else's wifi system and I have a guilty conscience. Tangonet is the wifi service used here so I signed up just for one week, then we'll be off to Mexico. Well, so much for today. Paulie and grandpa are going to play poker tonight so I get the whole place to myself. I can watch what I want which is quite a treat for me.

I promise to take some pictures of the campground and facilities tomorrow.

later....dee

Wednesday, December 6th

Jeesh, a lost day. The front is coming in hard and fast and I was in bed the entire day. I just hate that.

I have added some photos...not many good ones, from New Orleans and from the Tabasco plant. We must be picture impared...we don't take any or the ones we do take suck. Gotta practice this a bit. oh, here is the addy....


http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/rocketmom1985/album?.dir=/5c23re2&.src=ph&.tok=phrej7FBBOgrGa.o


later...

dee

OK, I finally have wifi again....we are at the Isle Of Capri having brunch. What a waste for me....six bucks and I had 1/2 pancake, two spoons of grits and some fruit. Next time I pass.
Remember to scroll down to where you left off and read UP! I know, its goofy, but that's the pia having no direct net access for days. *sigh*.

I will be updated sooner, hopefully when we get to Livingston. They have wifi I think.

hugs

dee

Monday December 4, 2006

We left the city of New Orleans around 9 a.m. We had a great time visiting with Tom and Sue, and I loved the French Quarter and of course Uptown. I would love to live there for 6 months or so…not summertime of course. The weather is again very odd for this time of year…it was freezing overnight and that rarely happens here.

We headed west on I10 then swing south to go to Avery Island, home of the Tabasco sauce plant. We stopped for lunch in a grocery store parking lot in New Iberia. Grandpa ate the leftover shrimp poboy, I ate the remaining chunk of the mufuletta sandwich and I made Paulie my special roast beef on white. It is very slow going on state road 90. This is the future I49 corridor, which should make the trip a lot easier. I thought Chicagoans drove nuts, these Cajun peoples are far, far worse! I think they drive like their music…fast and choppy and gets on one’s nerves. When we arrive at Avery, we paid our $1 entrance fee at the guards post across the bridge onto the island. We park and go in for the two cent tour. We actually got to see them bottling Japanese label Tabasco. It was interesting, but Paul and I wondered later if it was really worth the extra two hours of driving. We now know a whole bunch of useless facts about Tabasco sauce. We bought a jar of Tabasco Chili mix, a bottle of Tabasco A1 Steak Sauce for Zack and I finally broke down and bought myself a t-shirt. We took state route 14 heading west again to get to Lake Charles. This was a terrible road, very bumpy and congested for quite a few miles. Then it was turns and more turns. I made a few phone calls, first to set up an appointment with the fools at the Scooter store and then to the cruise line. I have called several times to see if my bringing the scooter would pose a problem. NCL told me that they couldn’t help, since we had booked with Vacations to Go, so I had to call them. Thank goodness it is all taken care of. Details. It’s always the details that kill ya. We decided to pass on the state park as it was 12 miles out of town so we called the Isle of Capri casino and got a spot in their RV parking area for ten bucks. Just electric but that’s all we really need. By the time we roll in it’s after five. There was an accident on this huge bridge over Lake Charles…a load of lumber was blocking the east bound lanes. What a mess. We finally pull into our reserved spot and let me tell ya…there is NO room for anything in these spaces. We are jammed in between a half million dollar Country Coach to the left and a nice 5th wheel rig to the right.

Both grandpa and I are hungry so we tell Paulie to step it up and we head over to the casino for some dinner. Of course, they have the all you can stuff yourself with buffet which is total waste of money for us, a sports type bar of place that has 15 buck hamburgers and then the top of the line steak house. Hmmmm…we finally find the sandwich market and Paulie and I split a cheeseburger. Grandpa settles for the most dried out looking piece of pizza I have ever seen. Both Paul and I try to talk him out of it to no avail. Stubborn old coot. By the way, he is not able to chew the crust…

I head back to the rig while the boys go throw some money away. I find very little to watch on TV…reruns and junk….Thank goodness for PBS….IL Divo in concert, am I lucky or what!!!!! Oooo, Ooooo that Spanish guy is sure a hunk.

I am really tired tonight. We should be in Livingston tomorrow. So far a very enjoyable trip overall.

Later…dee

Sunday December 3, 2006

We were up having coffee and reading the paper by ten. At least I got up and was semi-awake at ten. We decided to go back to the Garden District and the Uptown area just to tour around in the car and view the architecture. Again, the map we have sucks so Paul got another one out of the newspaper. Unfortunately he didn’t look at it closely and it has no street names, but accompanied an article in the paper about the levee system reconstruction. Gee, what a helpful guy he is.

We were quite impressed with the uptown area. Beautiful mansions. Truly unbelievable palaces to be honest. The uptown area is where all the universities are….Tulane, Loyola and St. Xaiver. The garden district is historically signigicant as if I recall it was the former high society area of old New Orleans money was centered. I was quite surprised as the homes there were not opulent or over adorned. Lots of lush, but overgrown landscapes. Most of these old homes have been converted to condos and apartments. Not a parking spot to be found…anywhere. We circled around a bit and then headed back towards the river. We wanted to check out the steam boats, perhaps taking a tour. We parked just outside the JAX building, the former Jackson brewery. It is now shops and restaurants but I thought they still operated a small micro-brewery. Nope. No beer. We walked across the street and came upon what the sign said was the only operating micro-brewery in New Orleans. We went inside to check it out. I ordered the sampler which was four approximately 3 ounces glasses of the house drafts. A dark German type; a Pilsner; a reddish brew called the Stallion and then the special which due to the holiday tasted like it had nutmeg in it somehow. I relished them all. Grandpa ordered the Black Forest dark brew and Paulie shared my samples even though I wasn’t in the sharing mood. Who shares beer for heaven’s sake? Certainly not moi.

After this we go back in the car, paid the outrageous parking fee ($8 for not quite two hours…a real rip off but what choice does one have?) We were just outside the French Quarter so we decided to find a place to eat. First we had to find a parking spot. Lo and behold we find a handicapped FREE spot just off Royal Street. We stroll down Royal which is the art gallery and antique shoppe street in the FQ. We saw some street musicians and all of a sudden the streets began filling up with people in Saints jerseys. The football game has ended and the FQ invasion of the drunkards had begun. No restaurants to be found on Royal. We get to Bourbon and make a hasty exit. It smells like vomit and beer. Jeez. How disgusting. We make our way up to Toulouse and find a bar & café that looks inviting. I must say inviting because we were hungry, tired and the sun had set and it was getting quite chilly. Grandpa had the house sampler (gumbo, red beans with rice, and either jambalaya or the et-to-fey (Sp…My dictionary doesn’t do Cajun and Creole). Paul and I split a hot beef poboy that had the most delicious gravy. I ate about three bits of beef but chowed down the fresh French bread covered in that marvelous gravy. Talk about being stuffed. Bread grows in my stomach, and I know this…so what do I stuff my face with? Yep, bread. Paul finished up, paid the bill and went off to get the car. By this time the streets were filling up very quickly with the tourists and more of the football folks. We headed back to the rig, all tired from our unexpected walk through the French Quarter. We will be heading into west Louisiana towards Cajun country tomorrow. We plan on touring the Tabasco plant on Avery Island and then head to the Sam Houston Jones state park to stay the night. We will then head towards Livingston, Texas on Tuesday.

Later…dee

Saturday December 2, 2006

We slept in this morning. Paulie was up first and took a walk to an interesting little Chinese grocery store several doors away from the RV Park. He picked up the newspaper and a breakfast sandwich. I didn’t get my bum outta bed until almost 11. Tom and Sue called and said they would pick us up around three, and take us to the lake house for a pontoon boat ride. We stopped for crawfish and shrimp at a local place near the lake house and by the time we got to the house, the sun was sinking into the lake quite quickly. So…we just looked around at the lake house property and then dove into the food. I am very picky about my food, if it looks nasty, I don’t eat it. Well, I had to quickly decide if I was gonna be squeamish or starve. The shrimp still had the heads on. So Gross. So Disgusting. So Vile. Sue showed me how to rip their buggy eyed heads off and peel ‘em. They tasted wonderful. Unbelieveably fresh, just caught today. The crawfish are another story. They really ARE bugs. Mudbugs. They remind me of the monster in the Alien movies. I grabbed one and again Sue guided me thru the process of ripping off the bug eyed head, pull some of the shell off and just crack the tail and pull out the meat. There would be NO sucking of the stuff in the heads to pass these virgin lips like Tommy. There is approximately one one-hundredth of an ounce of meat in a mudbug. I am not making this up. The little sliver I managed to get out of the shell was as big as my ring finger fingernail. It was ok…one was enough. I now can say I ate a bug. Of course, dear readers… you know that alcohol was involved in this…NO WAY would I eat this stuff sober yanno. I am not nuts, honest.

Tom and Sue’s lake house is quite beautiful. Just what you’d imagine a getaway cabin to look like. It is bigger than the house we live in…furnished in that rustic look that is so popular now. After dinner we just sat around and talked…it was almost ten by the time we were back on the road and on the way home. Another great day in NO.

Later…dee

Friday December 1, 2006

I think I have my dates goofed up on my previous postings. Now ask me if I care. We awoke to a very frigid New Orleans. Crap. Normal temps are in the mid 70’s with lows in like the 50’s. Today the HIGH will be fifty. With a very cold and biting wind. Better than being at home I say. I don’t like ice and snow anymore. Oh well, we are up and out the door, heading to Café Du Monde in the French Quarter. Of course, we take the Canal Street exit off I10 and I TELL the driver to stay on Canal. An arrow points straight ahead and says in ENGLISH, Canal Street ahead. The driver makes a right. Me, playing navigator, tries to read the map upside down since the map is one of the guide book things and I am desperately trying to figure out where the heck we need to go. After several U-turns, the driver runs right through a frickn’ red light. We make it through alive. We finally ask some guy and he says to go right and stay on this street. We go through what seems to be the financial district before we stumble onto Bourbon Street. What a sh*t-hole. Strip clubs line Bourbon street. I thought this was a place to hear music and have a drink. Ugh, the place is so gross. We continue on and get to another cross street which I recognize so we turn in, and finally we are in the real French Quarter. We find out later that after Hurricane Katrina, that disgusting Larry Flint came in and bought up Bourbon street for pennies on the dollar to destitute property owners. What a shame. Bourbon Street is now Hustler filth alley.

We find a parking spot just off Decatur Street, and see the Café across the way. The wind off the river is really nippy. We get into the Café and it is not unlike my expectations, very quaint. There are only either Chinese or Vietnamese waitresses who can barely speak English. We each order beignets and I got the café aulait, the boys ordering hot cocoa. The coffee is a dark roast that is very rich. Half coffee and half hot milk is perfect. Best café auliat I have ever had. Obviously I am biased by my surroundings. We have NINE beingnets in front of us. Gee I hope they reheat well. They are hot and loaded in huge mountains of powdered sugar. I immediately fell in love with Café Du Monde. I will be back. Just now, I can checkmark this place on my list of “wanna go to’s” and “wanna go back to’s.” Paul and grandpa seemed to enjoy them also, at least they didn’t complain. After we finished, we went up to view the Mississippi. We are below the levee and I would assume under sea level? We walk up the rampart, and all of a sudden my head is just spinning and my ears are screaming in pain. The air pressure is not normal here and I am frantic to get away. We walked a bit down Decatur. Lots of really neat shops and café’s, including the French Quarter Grocery, home of the original Muffaletta sandwich. The smell from the grocery was incredible. We continued walking for a couple of blocks to the visitors center and check out tours. Grandpa and I just cannot walk to do tours or sightseeing. My head was pounding from the air pressure and grandpa’s legs were giving out. We found the French Market but just were outta gas to do any kind of shopping. Paul walked back to the car and grandpa and I sat freezing in a quaint little park off the market waiting. Paul had gotten a call from his friend Tom, and we headed to Gretna to see them. I wanted to stop at the rig first to get cleaned up…I had nasty bed head this morning and just stuck a baseball cap on my head. They have a beautiful home. Right now son Tommy and his wife and two kids are living with them until February when they transfer to Houston. We talked all afternoon, and then Sue made a wonderful dinner of Italian type chicken with breadcrumbs and diced tomatoes, sautéed broccoli and noodles. We talked around the table until about 9:30 pm. I felt really kinda stupid keeping my baseball hat on the entire day, but by then my bed head had turned into a couple of greasy tufts of thin stragles so no way would I take the hat off. Let Tom and Sue think I am a weirdo, I wouldn’t let anyone see my hair like this. Poor Pepe was prolly doing the “I gotta go potty” dance back at the rig so we said our goodnights and went home. We pretty much just went to bed when we got back. A good day…very disappointing for both me and grandpa. It is soooooo frustrating not to be able to walk more than a block. Both he and I are in the dumper…we had looked forward to doing some sightseeing here. He’s almost 90, so he’s got reason…me, who knows?

Later,

dee

Thursday November 30, 2006

The rig was packed and ready to hit the road about 9:30 a.m. It is starting to drizzle again. The cold front is pushing south and we are running just ahead of it. Paul had run over to a small donut shop and brought us a couple of deep fried grease nuggets. Why does deep fried grease taste so good?

We got back on I55 once again heading straight south. We stopped at the Louisiana Welcome Center and picked up a bunch of tourist brochures. I would love to go on the Vampire and Cemetery Tour, but it is a walking tour and its after dark, too deadly for moi. Walking is still difficult and forget walking in the freakin’ dark…since I have no balance I have to use my EYES so darkness renders me totally unbalanced…no rude comments please.

I55 into NO is very interesting. About 20 or so miles out of the city, there are bayous along the highway, shrimp boats and houses on stilts. Very interesting. We plan on doing a swamp and bayou tour. I better remember the bug spray or I won’t come out alive, sucked dry no doubt.

We arrived in New Orleans just ahead of the super thunderstorms that are making up the cold front down here. The wind was blowing pretty hard and the traffic on the NO freeways just whizzed by us. I think Paulie was stressed. I cannot describe just how terrible it still is down here as we passed on I10. All the residential areas we passed still had half the houses in repair or disrepair. Roofs missing, windows boarded up. FEMA trailers still stand in a lot of front yards. We passed a strip mall that was still just a pile of rubble. Some homes look like they have been rebuilt already…their insurance must have been good. There are still piles of rubble everywhere, on street corners and even on roofs. Very sad. This was probably not a very attractive area, most likely a poorer area and it just looks like jumbled up shambles.

We finally find Chef Menteur Hwy and get off to find the park. Hmmm, it’s a parking lot with hookups. There is a pool, and a hot tub. I truly doubt if I’d set foot in either one, even if I was dying of the heat and humidity. There are mostly work campers here. It looks like a lot of electric company trucks are here. I suppose if the work is here, staying in a campground is not such a bad deal. At least you go to bed in YOUR bed every night, and can cook a meal. About six blocks from here is the quarry and the main barge landing on the Mississippi. Not the most picturesque place we’ve ever stayed by a long shot, but NOT as bad as my favorite place in Southern Illinois. We are about 5 miles from the French Quarter. First thing tomorrow morning I am shagging male asses outta bed and we are going to the Café du Monde for beignets and café au lait. It IS open 24 hours so I may just steal out in the middle of the night and treat myself.

The rain finally caught up with us at around 5:30 p.m. It was really heavy and came down in torrents blown to and fro by a strong wind. Paul stupidly made himself and grandpa fish sticks for dinner and stunk up the entire rig. No windows can be opened due to the torrential rain, and he makes fish sticks…in the toaster oven. Jeez. Now it smells like Arthur Treachers in here for heaven’s sake. I am lighting candles all over the place. Putz.

Well, that’s about all that’s going on here. It is supposed to rain tomorrow so I am not sure what is on the agenda except for the beignets .

More later

Dee

Wednesday November 29, 2006

After a nice sleep-in, we decided to go to Vicksburg to once again visit the Battleground Museum and Cemetery there. Grandpa had changed his mind and decided he now wanted to go, so we thought we could see things we missed on our first visit over two years ago. We again purchased the CD tour which is very interesting and puts the battle into perspective as you drive through the huge battlegrounds. The Siege of Vicksburg is told from both sides, Confederate and Federal. The townspeople fled to caves they had carved into the hillsides along the Mississippi. The most beautiful monument in the park is that of Illinois. It is a domed structure of marble and inside its circular interior are the names of each Illinois soldier to serve in this historical campaign. I have put up a new album of a few photos at http://www.yahoopictures.com. We didn’t get out of the car so the pictures are just basic…but the day was beautiful and 77 degrees.

We stopped at Cracker Barrel for a late lunch, early dinner thing. Of all the regional foods we could have sampled, the men choose CB. Jeez. Whoosies, both of ‘em…all that BBQ just waiting to be sampled and we eat at a place we can eat at any damm time.

We will head for New Orleans tomorrow. It is about 245 miles from here so it will be a nice easy day. We found a place to park the RV in the French Quarter…it only costs $80 per day. I think not. Instead, we will be staying at a place called Judes Camp for a mere $30.00. I sure hope it’s in a good part of town, or is there such a thing anymore in New Orleans?

Later

Dee

Hey, since this is the first time I've had access to the net, I've done several updated entry/uploads all at once...scroll down until you get to the point where its new to ya....

dee

Tuesday November 28, 2006

Forget Tunica…we decided to just do a short 220 jaunt south to Jackson Mississippi. The weather has been great, but we awoke to cloudy skies and light drizzle. After packing up the rig and saying goodbye to Tom Sawyer’s place we were off and out of Memphis heading south on 55 by 9:30 a.m. We stopped for breakfast at Waffle house, one of our favorites. I of course had to have a waffle AND a bowl of grits. I KNOW I cannot eat even half a waffle so what’s up with me getting the grits too? They are so good with butter. If I lived south of the Mason Dixon line or where ever the invisible line exists where hash browns suddenly turn into grits at the eateries, I’d weigh 600 pounds. Grits, butter and fat Dennise. No question. I ate ¼ of the waffle and about 5 spoons of grits. The poor waitress thought something was wrong…I just had to assure her that my eyes are a whole lot bigger than my stomach. If she only knew.

After an uneventful yet pretty drive, we pulled into Swinging Bridge RV resort. I think they are using the term “resort” quite loosely down here. We unhooked the car and made a quick trip to the market. I was able to access wifi at the local McDonald’s but it took me forever to get the software uploaded. I had SBC freedom link but now its gotta be AT&T. Like I need more aggravation. Oh well, we are updated, I was able to access my email and send a message to the neighbor to send mail to us in New Orleans Wednesday.

Tomorrow is either Vicksburg, which grandpa has never visited , or Gulfport and find a campground with an ocean view. Paul and I went to Vicksburg so I’d prefer to keep going south.

Will update more when it happens.



oh, here is a picture I snapped of Pepe...he was trying so hard NOT to fall asleep....

Monday, November 27, 2006

A beautiful day again in West Memphis, AR. The river runs quietly by, the occasional barge passing by with sounds similar to a passing train or motorboat. The river currently flows approximately 7 miles per hour. Funny, I’ve passed over the Mississippi a million times heading into St. Louis, but it never seemed to flow as swiftly as it does here. Perhaps it is because passing over a distant bridge, the current is unnoticeable. I just sat and watched this morning in the bright sunlight sipping my morning coffee. The swift current continued to wind its way always southward, itinerant tree limbs, origin unknown, keeping pace, making their inevitable journey to the sea. (Gee, I shoulda been a writer).

It was a quiet catch-up kinda day. Since I walked what seemed like miles yesterday, I was not only sore all over, but I was simply exhausted. How funny this disease fibromyalgia is. A good day or two and then the bastard reels you back in for more misery. Good thing Paul and grandpa understand. Grandpa had spoken earlier to one of the campground hosts. His wife also suffers from this unseen disease. He said that for a period of about 6 months, she could barely get out of bed. He says she has improved since they have been here at this RV park. Perhaps it is the mild climate or maybe it’s just the ability to sit and watch the river each day that creates a sense of relaxation and quiet peace.

We will be pulling out tomorrow morning, heading (I think) towards Tunica. Grandpa said he had no interest in seeing it, however we have a lot of time before we meet up in Gretna, LA with Paul’s friend, so we need to slow down the pace and that seems like a good place to do it.