Vicksburg, MS

The first thing you need to know about Vicksburg is that it is hilly… we’re talking San Francisco-type hilly! Next to know is that the city is nearly surrounded by the National Military Park, which commemorates the battlefield of the siege of Vicksburg. It is now a national park filled with statues and monuments. I wonder if its presence has an ongoing effect on the current citizens of Vicksburg. When we visited the park there were people jogging through the park and a group of re-enactors (sp?) getting ready to fight one of the battles yet again.

In addition to all the historical buildings and monuments there are 5 casinos on the riverfront. Despite the heat and humidity we managed to visit 4 of them,,, with the usual results (Gary won and Chris didn’t lose too much).

Louisiana and the start of the Great River Road Trip

More of this hazy, hot and humid… seems like we will never get out of this hot, sticky weather. We haven’t had the air conditioner turned off since we were in Big Bend! But I digress.

Now that we are on the move again we seem to be touring the casinos of Louisiana. First stop was Lake Charles. Actually we stayed in Sulphur (aptly named) for 2 nights while they visited a couple of casinos. Then we moved to Coushatta Casino's RV Park. Very nice place and a great deal… pay for 3 nights get next 2 nights free! Who could say no to that. Then when we checked out, they comped the whole stay!

Natchez was our next stop. We actually stayed across the river in Vidalia, LA at the Riverview RV Park. As the name implies we were right on the river across from Natchez and could watch all the boat and barge traffic floating by. Natchez has one small casino in a riverboat called the Isle of Capri. It also has a myriad of well-preserved antebellum homes which they toured one sweltering morning. Another day they took a drive in the car on the Natchez Trace Scenic Parkway. I’m glad they came back because if they had driven the whole 444 miles, I would never have seen them again.

They took some fun pictures in and around Natchez… enjoy

Houston

News flash!!!! Houston is hot, humid and has horrendous traffic. But on the plus side they have a wonderful Elks Club with full hookups and a swimming pool… all for $15/night. It was such a great deal that we stayed here almost a month. I personally liked all of the animals that were out and about. Two rigs down was a funny dog and a cat that came to call (I wasn’t very hospitable – I hissed!). Next door there were two graceful greyhounds who glided in and out of their motorhome several times a day.

While we were here Chris disappeared for about 10 days. I kept looking for her, but I couldn’t find her anywhere. Gary said she had gone to NJ to help her Mom celebrate her 90th birthday. So Gary and I hung out and got to know all the neighbors. He went swimming so much I thought he might bring me a fish or turn into one.

When Chris got back they went off sightseeing a couple of times. Once to see Galveston and once to tour the NASA space center. We stayed at the Elks through Memorial Day because they had a big party and because we didn’t want to be out traveling on the holiday weekend. I taught them that trick.

Check out our pictures from Houston…

 

Corpus Christi, TX

A whole week in one place! That’s my idea of traveling This place has lots of birds and people walking their dogs so I had plenty to keep me busy while the other two were off sightseeing.

With a whole week, they figured they would be able to sightsee every other day and relax on the down days. However…. we had a technological breakdown. Our four-year-old laptop (the one I’m sitting on in the picture) just wouldn’t start. We knew we were going to replace it this year, but just not at this moment. The Geek Squad was able to recover most of our data onto an external hard drive. So a large part of the week was spent learning the new Windows 7 environment and getting back to “normal”. Words to the wise… backup your stuff and write down accounts and passwords.

They did take breaks from the new computer to go off three times: to Padre Island National Seashore (yes, they do drive on the beach there); to tour the USS Lexington (aircraft carrier with lots of decks, stairs and ladders to climb that is permanently berthed in CC bay); and to drive around the bay stopping in Fulton for wonderful seafood lunch.

Rio Grande Valley

From Big Bend NP, we moseyed down to Del Rio where we stayed in a nice, new RV park called Broke Mill, just outside of town. Nearby there is a beautiful, big reservoir called Amistad. Gary and Chris had a great dinner at a place called the Sirloin Stockade. Gary had wanted a good steak and they were pleasantly surprised to find that it was a buffet and all the sides were as good as the state. I, as you might expect, had my usual in the go-mobile.

Somewhere between Del Rio and Laredo, the landscape changed from the Chihuahuan Desert to a more tropical look and feel. The only campground in Laredo is the Casa Blanca Lake State Park. The sites were big enough and very reasonably priced. We parked in a spot that was surrounded by trees that were full of birds. I had fun watching the birds while they explored the International shopping opportunities. They tell me a fun place to eat is Rudy’s BBQ where the food is served on butcher paper and the beer is self-served from an iced cooler.

Our third stop in the Rio Grande Valley was in Mission where we stayed at a place that sells RV lots called Retama Village. The development is beautiful with a lovely pool and club house. It is right next door to an international birding center Bentsen RGV State Park. BUT it was HOT… actually hotter and certainly more humid than Phoenix was at the same time. Hmmmm… what’s wrong with this picture?!? Most of the winter residents had cleverly departed by the time we arrived. We all figured it was a fun place to spend the winter.

Big Bend National Park

What a windy place! Gary and Chris went off one day with their friends and another day by themselves and both days I thought I was going to blow over in the motorhome. This place looks a lot like parts of Arizona or Nevada up by Laughlin and Bull Head City. But the Rio Grande is not the Colorado River.

The second night we were there the wind blew so hard it caused the “town” we were in to lose all electric power. At ten the next morning when the electricity still wasn’t back on, we three decided it was time to leave. We got to drive the go-mobile through the national park to the other entrance on the way to Marathon, TX. Our friends decided to stick it out for a few more days. We will miss them.

Click here to see some of our pictures from Big Bend.

Fort Davis, TX

There must be lots to see in this area because Chris and Gary were gone from the go-mobile most of yesterday and today. Yesterday they saw Davis Mountain State Park and had lunch at the Indian Lodge there that was built by the CCC during the 1930’s. They also had a tour of the McDonald Observatory whose web page has better pictures than they could take. so click here to see all about the observatory.

At night they even went back to the observatory for the Star Party. Bundled up in heavy winter parkas, hats, gloves and scarves they sat in the outdoor amphitheater where they were treated to a spectacular show of the constellations, planets and satellites passing overhead. It was like being in the largest imaginable planetarium. Then everyone got to look through 5 different telescopes at Saturn, the moon and several stars. It was magical.

Today they took off in the car again with their friends and did two scenic loops. The first circled the Davis Mountains; the second included the small towns of Alpine and Marfa, near where the movie Giant was filmed. I was glad when they finally got back.

Deming, NM

I got to spend the whole weekend watching the dogs being walked outside the go-mobile while the folks I live with took off with their friends to see the area. First they went to Silver City, which they said was larger than they expected and full of “artistic types”. Lunch in the tiny little town of Pinos Alta. They stopped to look into a huge copper mine and finished up at a state park called City of Rocks.

On Sunday they visited three other state parks including Rockhound and Pancho Villa which is in Columbus, NM right on the border with Mexico. At Rockhound, visitors are encouraged to actually take rocks from the park… up to 15 pounds! They only brought me back one tiny rock, but I like playing with it anyhow.

I know they took a bunch of pictures and posted some online. Here is slideshow of their pics...

Benson, AZ

We spent the day getting settled in and organized. Well, actually, Chris and Gary spent the day rearranging cabinet contents and adjusting some of the new gear. I spent the day watching them, sleeping and making sure that we weren’t going anywhere. And now I remember what I like about this go-mobile… I have lots of special places to curl up and I can keep my eye on them wherever they are.

At home they have special rooms for all of their activities: one for sewing, one for the office, one for eating and one for watching TV. Here in the go-mobile they do everything in one room. It’s so much easier to keep track of them here.

Off We Go

Imagine my surprise yesterday morning...

I was peacefully scouting out the putting green behind my house with my friend Gary, like we do every morning. Then we headed back towards the door and he scooped me up in his arms. OK, that was fun, but then before I knew it I was in my travel box and we were heading out front to the big, silver go-mobile. They call it their RV but I call it the go-mobile.

I usually spend most of my time in that box while the go-mobile is moving. Since I'm not the navigator (Chris does that), I just sleep until all the road noise and motion has stopped. I'm smart enough not to get out of my box when they stop for lunch... only when I know that we have arrived somewhere for the night.

Looking back over the last few days I guess I could tell something big was up. Gary and Chris made many, many trips with their red wagon loaded with clothes and crafts and food and crafts. I figure this must be the start of the RBT (really big trip) for the year. I wonder where we are going this time. Stay tuned and I'll keep you posted.