A Whole Month at "Home"

Hi there, glad to see you back. Our last episode concluded on Thursday, November 16^th, when we arrived back in Pahrump, Nevada. As most readers know Pahrump is our legal domicile, although we only have a mail service here. We almost always stay at the Wine Ridge RV Resort, which used to be one of our Western Horizon's membership parks before the company went out of business. The park is now a public resort, but it is still the nicest place in Pahrump to stay. No map for this blog since it starts and ends here in Pahrump.

Friday, November 17^th, we spent the morning doing chores around the coach. I did take the car down to the local body shop to get an estimate on the damage we got while towing in Texas. I was a bit shocked when the repair estimate came in at nearly $4,500! Just the replacement cost for the hood is over $1,200. The shop manager told me that she had seen damage like this before caused by a piece of steel re-bar that got kicked up off the road. That would explain the severity of the damage despite the fact that we didn't hear or feel any major bump in the road and there was no damage to the coach. The piece of steel would have been kicked up by the rock guard on the coach without ever hitting anything else on the coach.

We went out for a late lunch at the Chinese place in town, China Wok, and had a great lunch. We then stopped at a nail place so Jackie could get a pedi. After the pedi we went back to the coach. About 5:45 we walked down to the clubhouse for a social hour and then karaoke. It was a nice crowd for karaoke, but there were only about eight singers, so I got to do at least five songs for the night. Most of the singers were pretty good, so it was an entertaining night. Karaoke ended at 9:00, we went back to the coach for the rest of the evening and watched TV.

Saturday, November 18^th, we stayed at home and did chores for most of the day. About 10:30 one of the local car wash companies showed up to give the coach a much needed wash and wax. It hasn't been waxed since this time last year and hadn't been washed since we took off in April. The crew was around for most of the day. We did go out briefly in the afternoon when they were done to go the grocery store to get a couple of things we needed. The coach sure looks a lot nicer, and they washed the car too. After we got home Jackie made a chili relleno casserole for dinner and we watched TV until bedtime.

Sunday, November 19^th, I went out and got our Sunday paper so we could relax in the morning with the paper and coffee. After lunch I spent some time outside doing a little decorating. I put up a couple of strings of ground lights, some flags and signs. For the last six months we have been constantly on the move and never got to put out any decorations to make a spot “our own” so to speak. About 3:00 we left the coach and drove down to see Len and Debbie Forrest's new home. Len and Debbie were full timers for about ten years and we met them early on in their journey as we were both members of Western Horizon's campground membership group. We would cross paths with them several times a year, sometimes for a week or so, sometimes for a month. They both love karaoke and Len is a guitar player, so we have a lot in common. Last year they decided to build a house here in Pahrump, so they bought a lot in a subdivision a couple miles west of the RV park and had a house built. It is a nice, mid-size, three bedroom home on a big lot. We went down there with six other people from the campground, all of whom are regulars here and know Len and Debbie. We had some margaritas, some snacks and some of Jackie's key lime pie which she made for the occasion. We also supplied the tequila for the drinks thanks to our stock from our liquor basket raffle win two years ago. We sat around the campfire in the backyard until about 5:30 when it started getting too chilly. We then headed back to the coach and spent the rest of the evening watching TV.

Tuesday, November 20^th, we had another stay at home and do chores day. I did a few repairs around the coach. I spent a couple hours working on one of the slides that we are having issues with. This is the large, front passenger slide. The internal brake on the motor has broken, which means that unless I put a pair of lock grip pliers on the mechanism when we travel the slide creeps out, not a good thing when going down the road. Even though I worked on the thing for a couple hours I didn't make much progress. I will have to take another crack at it at a later time. After dinner we went down to the clubhouse for Texas Hold'em. We haven't played since last year at this time. We had a good time, I ended the night nine dollars up, Jackie only lost a couple dollars. After cards we went back to the coach, watched a little TV and went to bed.

Wednesday, November 21^st, we left the coach about 11:00 and headed over the hill to Las Vegas to take Jackie to the orthopedic doctor. She is still having a lot of problems and pain with the knee that she hurt over a year ago and had surgery on this past January. It was 45 miles from the RV park to the medical center in Vegas, but there are no orthopedists in Pahrump. Before we went to the doctor we stopped for lunch at a place called Amazing Thai 2, which was just down the street from the doctor's office. The food was wonderful, among the best Thai food we have had. The service was also good and the bill was less than $20 for a complete lunch, soup, salad, egg roll, rice and entree for each of us. I had the orange chicken and Jackie had chicken curry. After lunch we stopped and picked up a nearby geocache, then killed some more time in a TJ Max/Home Goods store right next to the medical center.

By 1:30 we were in the doctor's office. Jackie's doctor at this place was much more personable and seemed much more interested than did her surgeon in Palm Desert. They took some x-rays, did a history workup, and talked to us for quite a while. He finally concluded that there was evidence of some early arthritis, but that in general the knee was sound and she wouldn't be needing any replacement any time soon. He gave her another cortisone shot and an order for some physical therapy. After the doctor visit we stopped at a nearby Costco for a few things, then started back over the hill, arriving back at the RV park just before 5:00. We had dinner and then watched TV until bedtime.

Wednesday, November 22^nd, the anniversary of the assassination of John Kennedy in Dallas. I did not see or hear one mention in the news yesterday about the date. I guess today we are too concerned with what celebrity or politician has shown their wiener to what woman at any point in their life. We did some chores around the house and after lunch we went out and ran some errands. We picked up our mail, Jackie dropped a ring off for repairs at our local jeweler, and we did a Walmart run. We also stopped at four of our own geocaches to check them and be sure that they were in good shape. One had disappeared, so we replaced it. After our errands we went back to the coach and relaxed for a while. After dinner we went down to the clubhouse for another round of Texas Hold'em. Jackie lost seven dollars, but I ended up winning five. After cards we went back to the coach, watched a little TV and then went to bed.

Thursday, November 23^rd, Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We had a stay at home day. Spent the morning doing some office work and small chores while Jackie cooked sweet potatoes for tonight's pot luck dinner in the clubhouse. About 4:00 we went down to the clubhouse for the Thanksgiving feast. The park provided the turkey's and ice cream for dessert. All the side dishes were provided by the guests. There were about 50 people there, so there was plenty of food, good food. The park also provided wine, which is only fitting since the Charleston Peak Winery attached to the clubhouse and the park is called Wine Ridge. We had a great dinner, sitting with some people that we have spent time with in this park for the last four or five years. After dinner we went back to the coach and watched TV for the rest of the evening.

Friday, November 24^th, the always crazy Black Friday. Unless, of course, you don't go out shopping. Then it's just Friday. We went out after lunch to do our laundry. When we were finished with laundry we ran a few errands, going to some of the thrift shops in town looking for parts for our costumes for January. The FMCA rally in Indio always has a themed parade, put on by the various Western Area chapters, and the theme for this year is “Viva Las Vegas.” Our Chapter, the Overland Trailblazers are doing a Las Vegas Wedding theme. Jackie and I did the pregnant bride thing about six years ago at a Monaco rally and we are going to do that again. We needed some old, beat up suitcases and Jackie needed a big man's shirt so she could put a pillow under it. We got a couple of suitcases, and a shirt, all for about five dollars. We are well on our way to having our costumes. After we got done with our “shopping” we headed back to the coach for cocktails and dinner. We spent the rest of the night with the TV. Saturday was another stay at home day. I did some chores around the coach, the biggest of which was to take everything out from under the bed so I could check and do maintenance on the slide-out mechanism. I didn't find anything wrong with the mechanical s, lubed everything up and put stuff back. We did get rid of a bunch of stuff we were not using anymore that was just adding weight. About 5:00 we went down to the clubhouse for a Thanksgiving leftovers party. We had all the leftovers from Thursday for dinner. There were about 50 people there, and after dinner they started karaoke, which ran until 9:00. After karaoke we went back to the coach and relaxed the rest of the night.

Sunday, November 26^th, I left the coach about 8:30 to go out and meet with one of the local weapons trainers to get the qualification paperwork I needed to renew my Federal concealed handgun permit. This is a nice benefit for honorably retired law enforcement personnel that basically exempts us from the provision of any State or local concealed weapons law, even in very restrictive states like California and New York. The downside is that it has to be renewed every year. After my qualification I went back to the coach, read the paper and relaxed. After lunch we went out and did maintenance on the remaining six of our own geocache hides here in Pahrump. We also scouted a few locations for new hides. Once we were done we stopped at the Pahrump Nugget casino to game for a while. We spent about an hour there. I lost four dollars, and Jackie lost fifteen. But, we had fun. We then went back to the coach and sat outside with our friends Dick and Millie and Marge and Jerry, having cocktails and snacks. About 6:00 it got cold, so went back inside and watched TV until bedtime.

Monday, November 27^th, I went out around 11:00 and went to the Sheriff's Office to turn in my paperwork and get my renewed CCW permit. I then went to the Salvation Army to drop off a bunch of stuff we cleaned out the other day. I went back to the coach and spent the rest of the afternoon working on some chores in the coach, as did Jackie. We also did some cyber Monday online shopping. Jackie got a new food processor to replace the small, cheap one we had. I bought some LED decorative lights for the outside of the coach. About 6:30 we went down to the clubhouse to play cards. Unlike last week when I had two good nights, I couldn't win for nothing tonight, although I did come back a little and only ended up down two dollars. Jackie had a bad night too, down about six. After cards we went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the night. Tuesday we went out after lunch and hid three new geocaches. All three were hidden near places that we had previously put caches, but had to archive the caches, delete them, for different reasons. After hiding the caches we went to Jackie's physical therapy appointment. After Jackie's PT we went to Mom's Cafe, a great local restaurant, and one of our favorites, for dinner. I had liver and onions, which was wonderful and Jackie had an corn beef hash omelet which Jackie said was OK, but not fabulous. After dinner we went to the Elks Lodge for the lodge meeting. Since this is our “home” lodge we always try to go to at least one meeting whenever we are in Pahrump. We got there early enough to have a couple of drinks at the bar and play some nickle slots. The meeting was an initiation, so we were there until almost 9:30, after which we went home, watched a little TV and then went to bed.

Wednesday, November 29^th, I spent some time in the morning doing the work to create the new geocaches that we hid yesterday. You have to get on to the website and create the cache, then submit it for approval. In the afternoon we went out and ran some errands, picking up our mail, which included our new food processor. At 4:30 we went down to the clubhouse for the Wednesday night wine dinner. The RV park's clubhouse is physically attached to the Symphony Restaurant and Winery, which is owned by a member of the same family that used to own the RV park when it was a Western Horizon's membership park. When Western Horizon's sold off all their properties the RV park was sold to someone new, but the Winery is a separate entity, just on the same piece of property. The winery also has a very high end restaurant called Symphony and there is a cooperative agreement that the restaurant caters a nice dinner on Wednesday night for guests of the RV park. They are $15 a person and include three glasses of wine, salad, entree and dessert. Tonight's entree was orange chicken. We have had better dinners in the past, but it was still pretty good and certainly worth the cost. After dinner we played Texas Hold'em and my bad luck continued, ending up down about five dollars. Jackie did OK, up a few dollars. After cards we went back to the coach, watched a little TV and went to bed.

Thursday, November 30^th, we had a stay at home day for the most part. Jackie went out after lunch for her 1:00 PT appointment and I stayed home and did chores. I did a couple of small repairs, put up the new LED decorative lights outside and then did some Christmas decorating. We will not be here for Christmas, but we are here up until the week before, so we figured we would get into the spirit and put up the tree and a few outside decorations. After Jackie got home we ran a couple of errands, then stayed in for the rest of the evening.

Friday, December 1^st, happy last month of 2017. We went out about 12:30 and ran a few errands, then stopped for a late lunch at one of the newer restaurants in Pahrump, the China Gogo. It is in the same shopping complex as our mail box service and opened last year, but we didn't go then. They have a fairly typical Chinese menu, along with some Korean BBQ offerings. Jackie had Kung Pao combo with chicken, shrimp and beef, which she said was OK, but a little lacking in spice. I had a fried shrimp and fish combo which was also OK, but not outstanding. Oddly, it came with both rice and a mac salad, unusual for a Chinese place. All in all, for the same price you can get better, more tasty, food at the China Wok buffet and get as much as you want. After our errands we went back to the coach so that we would be there when the repair guy came out. We are having someone come out to replace our front slide motor so that the slide won't creep out when we drive. The motor works OK, but the brake is shot. The fix it guy got under the slide, checked everything out and left, saying that he would do some research to try and find the right motor. About 5:30 we went down to the clubhouse for happy hour and then karaoke. All the usual singers were there, including our friends Len and Debbie. I got to do about five songs and by 9:30 we were back home to watch a little TV and then go to bed.

Saturday, December 2^nd, we left the coach about 11:00 and headed over the hump to Las Vegas. We are going over there to do a little shopping and then have lunch with my brother Russ. Russ, who is the number three of the five boys, has lived in Las Vegas since the mid-eighties and is a pit supervisor in the craps area of the Golden Nugget Casino downtown. We first stopped at Costco to pick up a few things, then went out and got one geocache for the day. We then drove to Casa Don Juan Mexican Restaurant and met Russ for lunch. The food was pretty good, and fairly authentic, but a little pricey. We did have a great visit with Russ, having last seen him this time last year. We stayed and talked for a couple of hours. After our visit with Russ we stopped at Ross for a couple of things, then headed back over the hill to Pahrump. We got home just after dark, around 5:30, and stayed in for the rest of the night.

Sunday, December 3^rd, we had a relaxing Sunday morning with the newspaper and coffee. We ran a couple of errands after lunch, but spent most of the day around the coach. I unloaded stuff our of the Jeep that we might need sometime in the next couple weeks as we are taking it into the body shop tomorrow morning to get the road damage we incurred in Texas repaired. At 3:00 we went down a couple of sites to the Duffin's coach for one of Millie's “Dilly Muffin” club meetings. It is basically a happy hour, but Millie likes to make a big deal out of her weekly get togethers. Tonight we did a revolving gift exchange with stuff Millie got at the Dollar store. Everyone drew numbers, picked a bag, then the next number gets either a choice of an existing gift, or a new bag. It was fun and I ended up with a cute little stuffed snowman for under our tree. Jackie got a tiny wind up train. About 5:00 it was dark and cold, so everyone left and we went into the coach where we spent the rest of the night.

Monday, December 4^th, we were up early and at the Enterprise Rental agency in Pahrump by a little after 8:00. We were picking up a rental car because today is the day the Jeep goes in the body shop for repairs. We got a little bit of an upgrade and drove off in a 2017 Hyundai Elantra sedan. It is a nice little car, but so different from the Jeep. We feel like we are sitting on the ground. We did a few chores around the coach for the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon. Mid afternoon we went out for a little while, putting out another new geocache in town and then doing a Walmart run. About 6:30 we went down to the clubhouse for poker night. Tonight I was on fire, ending up $17 ahead from my initial stake, and also winning the high hand of the night with a straight flush. That netted me another $23, for a total of $40 up, not bad for nickle poker. We went back to the coach, watched a little TV and then went to bed.

Tuesday, December 5^th, Jackie went out after lunch for her PT appointment. I stayed home and did some chores. When Jackie got home we went out for a while, getting one new geocache find. We have gotten most of the urban caches in the Pahrump area, and the rental car we have is not suitable for going out on the trails after some of the caches we haven't found yet. We also hid another geocache down on the south end of town, right across the street from the Chicken Ranch, one of the brothels in the area. On the way back to the coach we stopped at the Lakeside Casino and gamed for an hour or so. I broke even and Jackie lost $20. We went back to the coach and stayed in for the rest of the night. Wednesday we stayed at home and did chores for most of the day. At 4:30 we went down to the clubhouse for another of the catered wine dinners offered by the Symphony Restaurant. Tonight's meal was sliced sirloin with potatoes and veggies. It was quite good, with a nice mushroom gravy. They gave us quite a pile of meat tonight, so we left very satisfied. After dinner we played Texas Hold'em again. I didn't have a great night, but only lost a dollar, but Jackie had a great night, winning the high hand pool as well as ending up $5 up in regular wagers, winning a total of $23. After cards we went back to the coach, watched a little TV and went to bed.

Thursday, December 7^th, the 76^th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack. When I was stationed at Kaneohe Bay Marine Corps Air Station in Hawaii in 1967 the huge concrete aircraft hanger I first worked in still had bullet holes in the exterior from the attack in 1941. At that time it was Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay and was a seaplane base. The attack at Kaneohe actually started nine minutes before they hit Pearl Harbor because K-Bay was on the way to Pearl from where the Japanese carriers were cruising. We left the coach about 12:30 and went to lunch with a group from the RV park on one of the weekly lunch tag-alongs. There were 16 people who went to the Red Sky BBQ. We have been here before and enjoyed the food. Both Jackie and I had the half rack of baby back ribs and they were excellent. We had a good time eating and visiting with friends. After lunch we did a couple of errands then Jackie went to her PT. After PT we went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Friday, December 8^th was a stay at home day. I spent several hours working on the Full Timers Newsletter for the first quarter of next year. Last summer I agreed to take over the editor duties and this will be my first edition. I have to learn Microsoft Publisher as I go along, but it seems to be coming along OK. About 5:00 we went down to the clubhouse for the Pizza Pajama Party and karaoke. Both of us dressed in pajama type wear and there were quite a number of people at the party who participated and dressed in jammies of one kind or another. The food was good and all of our Pahrump friends were there. About 6:00 the karaoke started and I got to do about five songs, including the show opener and a very fun closer that included all of the night's singers, as well as many of the non-singers in the audience. After the party we went back to the coach and watched a little TV, then went to bed.

Saturday, December 9^th, we left the coach about 11:30 and headed out to check out some of the local flea markets and sales. Our first stop was a place that had a big sign on the main road near the RV park that said “Big Ass Sale” and gave a location a mile or south. The sign had intrigued us and we decided to check it out. It turned out to be a private home on a big lot with a couple of garages and out buildings in the back. The whole back yard, and all of the buildings in back, were fulled with used stuff. The guy who was watching over the stuff said that the owners bid on auctioned storage units all over Southern Nevada and then brought the stuff up here to sell. We spent a half hour looking around and ended up buying a big blue and silver Christmas wreath for Millie, our neighbor at the RV park, because her coach decorations are all blue and silver. Cost a whole $2. We left that sale and went down to the VFW post a little further south and checked out their weekend sale. The next stop was the casino another mile south where they had a craft sale. I bought some rubber lizards to use as cache containers at that one.

After our shopping spree we stopped at a local Mexican Restaurant called Johnny's for lunch. Although neither of us had a clear recollection, we did figure out that we had been here once before a few years back. The food was good and inexpensive. Pretty basic, typical Sonoran cooking. After lunch we stopped at the nearby Gold Town Casino for some gaming. We played an hour or so, both of us finally losing our $20 stakes. On the way back to the RV park we stopped one last place, a new antique mall that was having it's soft opening today. It is located in a building on the corner of the main road, Highway 160, and Winery Road, the road that goes up to the RV park. The building is a large, white structure that looks a bit like a castle. Years back it had been the Kingdom Gentleman's Club, a strip bar, but it closed about three or four years ago and has been for sale or lease since. We had seen an article in the paper a few days back that said it had been bought and was going to be opened as an antique mall and museum. We thought that whoever bought it would clean the place out and turn it into a big open space with booths for sellers. To our surprise, we walked in and everything from it's days as a strip club were still there. The bar, bar stools, stages, even the stripper pole! They just had shelves along the walls where the sellers put their stuff. Very odd. After that we went back to the coach and spent the rest of the evening relaxing.

Sunday, December 10^th, we had a stay at home day. I did go out first thing and got a Sunday paper. We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon doing some chores. About 2:30 we went down to the clubhouse for a potluck party put on by Millie and her husband. There were about 18 people there and we played some games and all sat around and talked. The food was very good and everyone had a good time. The party broke up about 5:30 and we went back to the coach and watched TV the rest of the evening. Monday we went out after lunch and did some geocaching. We found two of the few remaining urban caches here in Pahrump, and then we drove around to different locations and hid three more new caches. We are now up to 18 active hides here in Pahrump. We also stopped at the Lakeside Casino and gamed for a bit, both of us losing a little, but we still had a good time. After driving around for a while headed back to the coach for dinner. About 6:30 we went down to the clubhouse for poker. I finished about two dollars up and Jackie was about four dollars down. After cards we went back to the coach, watched a little TV and went to bed.

Tuesday, December 12^th, we left the coach after lunch, about 11:30 or so, and went to the laundromat to wash clothes. We got the clothes in the washers and I took Jackie to her PT appointment. The PT place is only a couple blocks from the laundry. After Jackie was done she walked back to the laundry, we folded the clothes and were done by 2:30. After laundry we went to the Terrible's Roadhouse Casino and gamed for a bit. We both lost our $20 but it took about an hour. We then went back to the coach, put our clothes away, had dinner and watched TV until bedtime. Wednesday we left the coach about noon and went to Jack in the Box for lunch. We had gotten a buy one, get one, coupon for their new steak sandwich, so we thought we would try it. It was OK, but I will stick to the good old Jumbo Jack or Ultimate Cheeseburger in the future. After lunch we did a Walmart run and had a quick stop at Smith's for some stuff Wally World didn't have. We then went back to the coach until 4:30 when we went down to the clubhouse for this week's wine dinner. Tonight was chicken Tuscany, which was pretty good. After dinner we stayed for Texas Hold'em. Jackie was down a couple dollars, but I had a good night, ending up $12 to the good, not bad for nickles. We then went back to the coach, watched a little TV and went to bed.

Thursday, December 14^th, we left the coach about 10:30 and headed over the hill to Las Vegas and Jackie's orthopedic appointment. We stopped at a BJ's restaurant for lunch, then went to the doctor's office. The doctor did a quick exam and said that he thought Jackie was doing OK. He said that she could call and come back any time she started having problems, but that there was no need for a new appointment right now. After her appointment we started back towards Pahrump. Since the doctor's office for this appointment was on the far northwest part of Las Vegas, we decided to go home the back way, north on Highway 95, then south to Pahrump, rather than go back 25 miles through town. The distance was about 18 miles more, but it turned out to be faster by a couple of minutes, plus there was no traffic frustration, just nice, wide clear roads all the way. After we got home we had our friends Millie and Dick over for cocktails. We sat and talked until about 8:30, when they went home. We then watched some TV, and went to bed.

Friday, December 15^th, our last day here in Pahrump. I spent some time in the morning getting things taken down and put away in preparation for our departure tomorrow. We also went out and did some errands in the afternoon, picking up mail and doing a grocery run. About 3:30 we got a call from the body shop that we could pick up our car. We went down there and got it. It looks pretty good except that there are two chrome trim pieces on the passenger side doors that are missing. They had not gotten them in yet, although they were on order. Since that was the only thing they hadn't finished, and it was just cosmetic, we paid the bill and took the car with the promise that they would put the strips on when we came back up here in late January. We then turned in the rental car and went back to the coach where we relaxed the rest of the evening.

The end of this last full day in Pahrump, after a month, marks a good point to put this episode to bed and get it online. We are headed to the Coachella Valley for four weeks, then a week in Quartzsite, then back up here to Pahrump. Until next time, remember that a friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you just the way you are. See you soon.

The Final Push Towards Home

Hello, welcome back to our story. Our last chapter ended on Sunday, October 30^th, when we arrived in Port Arthur, Texas, just across the line from Louisiana. Port Arthur is a medium sized industrial city of about 55,000 which is in the bayou country of East Texas, on the Gulf of Mexico. It is primarily an oil city and is home to the largest oil refinery in the United States. Much of the oil pumped by off shore rigs from under the eastern part of the Gulf of Mexico is piped into Port Arthur. On Monday we went out to do some exploring and geocaching. This area was hit very hard back in September when Hurricane Harvey came through. On one day there was 26 inches of rain at the regional airport. That is more rain than our old home of Indio, California gets in five years. Everywhere we drove there were abandoned homes and businesses and huge piles of trash on the streets where people are trying to rehab flooded buildings. A local shop keeper we talked to said that in some parts of the city the water was over the roofs of homes. The damage was all from floods, very little wind or storm surge damage. We had some problems with geocaching as a lot of the caches had been lost to flooding. We were able to get six new finds, as well as two DNFs. After caching we drove north to Beaumont, Texas and the Elks Lodge there. It was a nice lodge with about 250 members. There were not a lot of people there, but the one's that were greeted us and were friendly. We had a drink and got a lodge pin then headed back to the coach for the rest of the evening.

Tuesday, October 31^st, Happy Halloween. Today was a travel day. We left Port Arthur about 10:00 and headed west 165 miles to Columbus, Texas. We arrived at the Thousand Trails Colorado River RV park about 2:00. It was a stressful trip as about 50 miles was through Houston, Texas and it's suburbs, with all the traffic that you get in a big city. We also ran into some on and off light rain. We found a nice spot in the RV park and got set up. We were last here in 2012 and wanted to come back. This is a rural park with a very large herd of white tail deer that roams the park and wanders around the RVs. We didn't go anywhere after we got set up, just relaxed in the light rain moving through the area. No kids around, so no trick or treat tonight.

Wednesday, November 1^st, we went out after lunch for a couple hours of exploring Columbus and geocaching. We were able to get five new finds and one DNF for the afternoon. Like much of Central Texas, Columbus was badly flooded in the late summer when Hurricane Harvey came ashore and just sat, dumping feet of rain. Much of the town was flooded, some areas with over four feet of water. Just outside of town was a large farm field filled with thousands of cars which were damaged by flood waters and totaled by insurance companies. Just about any degree of immersion will cause a car to be ruined. There are several of these large fields of cars around the Houston and outlying areas that were flooded. There were a lot of trucks loading up cars to take them away. I can only hope that they were going to salvage yards to be used for parts, not out of state to be fraudulently sold to unsuspecting buyers as frequently happens in these kinds of disasters. After our caching and exploring we stopped at a grocery store for a few supplies, then headed back to the RV park for the rest of the night.

Thursday, November 2^nd, another travel day. We left Columbus about 10:30, continuing west about 130 miles to San Antonio, Texas. About 20 miles into the trip the odometer on the coach hit 100,000 miles! Yea! Just getting broke in. Since the coach had just over 2,000 mile on it when we took delivery, we have to go about 2,100 miles before we ourselves have 100,000 miles of travel. We made a lunch stop and a fuel stop, arriving at the Braunig Lake RV Resort just south of San Antonio about 2:00. We had stayed in this park back in 2012 then we came through here. It is a nice park with full hookup sites for Passport America rates. We got settled into our site and set up, then relaxed for the rest of the day. Friday we left the coach about 11:30 and drove into San Antonio to spend the day. We parked in a parking garage downtown, inside of the perimeter of the River Walk. We went down to the river level and spent an hour or so walking along the river, checking out the views. The river walk is very beautiful and a great place to spend the day. About 1:00 we went up to the street level and walked a couple of blocks north of the primary tourist area to a restaurant called Lula's Mexican Cafe, which had very good yelp reviews. It is mostly a locals place but we were there after the lunch rush, so we got seated quickly and got our chips and salsa. Our waiter was very nice and friendly. I ordered the Texas plate, which had two cheese enchiladas, rice and beans, and a half serving of what they called Carne Guiesada, which is a South Texas version of what we in the Southwest call Chili Colorado. Chunks of beef, onion, and peppers in a spicy brown gravy (guiesada means gravy) that is less spicy, and less red than the red chili sauce in Chili Colorado. It was outstanding. I also got a “puffy taco” which is the specialty of the house. It is a corn tortilla deep fried so it bubbles up and gets puffy, then stuffed with taco fixings. It was OK, a little oily, but not that much better than a crunchy or soft taco. Jackie got the green chicken enchilada plate and she said they were very good too. It was, by far, the best Mexican food we have had in months, since we left New Mexico back in May.

After lunch we went back down to the river walk and finished walking around the entire loop. We went back up to street level near the Alamo, then walked over to the mall and spent an hour in there walking around. We have been to San Antonio numerous times, so we didn't need to spend a lot of time in any of the tourist attractions. We did some geocaching too, getting three finds for the day. After the mall we were tired of walking so we went back to the car, drove back to the RV park and spent the rest of the evening relaxing with the TV.

Saturday, November 4^th, we left the coach about 11:30 and drove to the northeast side of San Antonio for lunch at one of our favorites, In N Out Burger! This California favorite, going back to 1948 has slowly expanded from a handful of stores in the Los Angeles basin, to over 300 stores in California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Utah and most recently Oregon. Jackie and I both recently read the book that detailed the story of this family owned chain and found it very interesting. I thought we were going to have to wait until Tucson in a week or so, but when I looked at their website I found they had five stores in the San Antonio area. We have not had an In-N-Out since April in Santa Maria, California. It was wonderful, and I got the Texas version of their company shirt. I have about a dozen of the shirts because they have a new design every year and each state has it's own version.

After In-N-Out we drove into town to the Market Square shopping plaza, a large indoor and outdoor market with dozens of booths selling mostly Mexican goods, everything from blankets to pottery to jewelry. Inside it looks a lot like Algodones, Mexico, outside of Yuma, Arizona where we go every winter. We spent a couple hours walking around the market, not buying much, but enjoying the atmosphere. After we were done at the market we did a Costco run, our first Costco in a couple of months. We didn't have to buy any vodka, our four case supply we put on board when we started this trip in the spring still has two bottles left, enough to get us back to Nevada. After Costco we headed back to the RV park and relaxed the rest of the night.

Sunday, November 5^th, another travel day. We had the coach packed up and were on the road about 10:00, heading west to the little town of Junction, Texas, about 135 miles. We have 580 miles of Texas left to travel and there isn't much between San Antonio and El Paso. Junction is only an overnight stop. We arrived at the Junction North RV Park about 1:00 and got a pull through site so we didn't have to unhook the car for our one night stay. We did the minimal set up then just stayed in the rest of the day, doing a few chores and relaxing. Monday was another travel day with another one night stand. We left Junction about 9:30 heading west to Fort Stockton, Texas, 198 miles away. We arrived at the Roadrunner RV Park about 2:00 after a lunch stop and fuel stop. This is a Passport America park we have stayed in before. It is nothing fancy, in fact it is kind of dumpy, but they are full hookup, 50 amp, free wifi and all for $15. Kind of hard to pass that up. We again didn't unhook the car, just stayed in and relaxed for the night.

Some time after we got set up I walked back out to the car to get some bottled water for the coach. That was when I noticed that there was damage to the right front of the Jeep. The plastic headlight housing was all broken and there was a large, two inch by one inch gouge in the front edge of the hood just above the headlight. The metal was pushed back leaving a big, jagged notch. I also found a half inch deep and quarter inch around dent in the roof, just above the top edge of the front passenger door. It was almost punched through the sheet metal of the roof. There was also a big dent on a piece of chrome molding under the rear quarter panel window and the molding was bent up. Clearly something was kicked up by the coach on the drive between the rest area where we had lunch and the truck stop in town where we stopped for fuel. The car was OK when I walked around it at the rest area and after we got fuel we were driving slowly on city streets to the RV park. Whatever got kicked up was solid and heavy, came up and hit the headlight, bounced up and off the roof and then off the side near the back of the car, hitting the chrome piece. It missed the windshield and the glass sunroof, but sure put some dings in the car. I took a bunch of pictures and called the insurance company to start a claim. We won't get it fixed until we get to Pahrump in a week or so. The headlight still works, although I suspect it would not be good to drive it in the rain as the bulb is exposed to the elements and probably wouldn't last long.

Tuesday, November 7^th, another travel day. We left Fort Stockton about 10:00, heading west again 230 miles to El Paso, Texas. This is one of the longer legs of our travels, but there isn't much between El Paso and Fort Stockton. We arrived at the Mission RV park just south of El Paso off the Interstate about 1:30. We gained an hour back when we entered El Paso County as this little section of Texas sets below New Mexico and observes Mountain Time. We got our spot and got set up for a two night stay. We actually unhooked the car and went out to do a Walmart run. After we got back we relaxed, had dinner and watched TV until bedtime. Wednesday was a chores day, we left the coach after lunch and went out to do our laundry. After laundry we stopped so Jackie could get a haircut, then we did one geocache in the area. After the haircut we went back to the coach, put everything away and relaxed for the remainder of the afternoon and evening.

Thursday, November 9^th, another travel day. We left El Paso around 10:30 and continued west on Interstate 10 about 150 miles to Deming, New Mexico. Finally finished with the 880 miles of Texas, yea! We got settled into the Roadrunner RV Park in Deming, got set up for our one night stay, then unhooked the car and drove to Irma's Mexican Restaurant for a late lunch. Normally we don't unhook the car for a one night stay unless we have to go into a back in spot. However, we wanted to go to Irma's because we have been there at least three other times and it is great, authentic Mexican cooking. It is really the main reason we stop in Deming whenever we take the I-10 route across the country. We had a wonderful lunch, ate way too much but enjoyed it greatly. After lunch we drove to the Deming Elks Lodge for a cocktail. We have been to the Deming lodge before, but they have moved from their old downtown location, a building they shared with the DAV, into another building they owned south of the airport. They are still in the process of improving this new property. We had a cocktail and got a lodge pin, although it turns out we already had the same pin. After the lodge visit we did a Walmart run, then went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Friday, November 10^th, Happy 242^nd Birthday to the United States Marine Corps. I put on my Marine shirt today, which was another travel day. We left Deming about 10:00 and headed west, another 145 miles to Willcox, Arizona. We arrived at the Fort Willcox RV park around 1:00, got parked in our spot and set up for another one night stay. This time we left the car hooked up and just relaxed and did a few chores around the coach.

Saturday, November 11^th, Happy Veteran's Day. Today was a travel day. We left Willcox about 10:00 and continued west, going about 90 miles to South Tucson. We arrived at the Mission View RV Park a little before noon and got settled into a spot for our two night stay. We were at this part back in March with the Bullock's, so we knew it was a nice park. After we got set up we had a quick lunch and then drove over to my granddaughter Crystal's house, which is only a few miles from where we are parked. We were also here in March and my great granddaughter Zoey, who is three, didn't want anything to do with Jackie or I. She buried her head in the couch, refused to even acknowledge us. Today she was a little better. She didn't want to stop playing to come out and be with us, but at least she did acknowledge us and gave both Jackie and I hugs. Crystal's boyfriend Orlando and his son Noah were also there at the house. We were even able to get a couple of pictures of Zoey, yea! We spent a couple of hours talking to Crystal, catching up, and had an enjoyable visit. About 4:30 we left and headed back to the RV park, picking up a geocache along the way. We spent the rest of the night in the coach.

Sunday, November 12^th, I went out and got a paper in the morning and we had a quiet morning with coffee and the paper. After lunch we went out to Costco for a few things. One thing we bought, now that we are back in Arizona where the liquor laws are more liberal, is another case of Vodka. When we left in late April to go on this summer trip we were in California. There are only a handful of states where the liquor laws don't require State run liquor stores, and/or allow spirits, vodka, rum, bourbon, etc., to be sold in grocery stores. In our experience only California, Arizona and Nevada and New Mexico allow any liquor to be sold in grocery and drug stores without any restrictions. Because we knew that we were going to be traveling for six months through states with restricted liquor laws, meaning high prices, we bought three cases (six bottles each) of the Costco house brand American Vodka before we left Santa Maria, California. When we were in Albuquerque we decided to buy one more case, giving us 24 1.15 liter bottles of vodka for the trip. When we arrived back in New Mexico a few days ago we opened the last of those 24 bottles. Pretty good planning on our part. After the Costco run we went back to the coach and put everything away and relaxed for a while. About 6:00 we left and drove over to Crystal's place so we could say goodbye. She had to work today and didn't get off until about 5:30. We had another nice visit for about 90 minutes and while we were there Crystal's dad James came home from work, so we got to see him too. Crystal is living with James for the time being. After our visit we drove back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Monday, November 13, another travel day. We left Tucson about 10:00 and continued west and north to the town of Buckeye, Arizona, a trip of about 140 miles. Buckeye is about 20 miles west of Phoenix and is one of the many suburbs of the Phoenix metro area. We arrived at the Leaf Verde RV park about 1:30 and got settled into a spot for our one night stay. After we got set up we left and drove over to my brother Ken's house to meet him and his wife Susan. They live in Goodyear, another suburb which is the next town to the east of Buckeye. They had also just gotten home from a camping trip down to Casa Grande, Arizona. After we met Ken and Susan at their house we all drove over to a nearby storage lot so we could see their new travel trailer. They just upgraded from a 22 foot trailer to a 30 foot trailer and we wanted to see their new rig. The trip to Casa Grande this weekend was their shake down cruise with the new unit. It is a very nice unit with a big slide out, so it has way more room than their old trailer. After looking at the trailer we went to the Texas Roadhouse near their home and had dinner. Susan's mom Helene was also with them. Ken and Susan bought a new “multi-generational” home a couple years ago and Helene lives with them in the apartment portion of the house. We had a great dinner and had a chance to catch up since we last saw them this past winter. After dinner we said goodbye and went back to the coach for the rest of the night.

Tuesday, November 14^th, another travel day. We left Buckeye and went west 120 miles to Ehrenberg, Arizona, right on the Colorado River across from Blythe, California. We checked into the Arizona Oasis RV park, where we have stayed many times before, and got set up. We are only here one night, but we still unhooked the car so we could drive into Blythe to have a late lunch at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, Garcia's. It is a small place in downtown Blythe, but they have great food. They were out of my favorite, chili colorado, today, but I still had a great meal. We both had the combo plate with a taco, enchilada and chili relleno. Way too much food, but really good. After lunch we went back to the coach and relaxed for the remainder of the day. Wednesday, another travel day. We left Ehrenberg about 10:30 and drove into California, then north on Highway 95, heading for Las Vegas and then home in Pahrump. We stopped about 12:30 in a little town called Cal Nev Ari, Nevada, about 10 miles into Nevada on Highway 95. It is really just a wide spot in the road, but they have an RV park that is a Passport America park, so we can get a full hookup, pull through spot for $11, not a bad deal. This will be the last stop before we finally get to Pahrump and mark the end our summer travels. From here to Pahrump is about 120 miles, through Las Vegas and then up over the hill. After we got set up we walked out to a nearby geocache, then went across the highway to the local casino, which also has the only restaurant and bar in town, and also houses the post office and a motor vehicle office. The place had a few dozen slot machines, so old that most of them actually still used coins! When Jackie cashed out at the end of her playing we heard the sound of quarters falling into a metal bin. Haven't heard that in a long, long time. I lost twenty bucks, Jackie lost ten, but we had fun. We then went back to the coach and stayed in the rest of the evening.

Thursday, November 16^th, we were packed up and on the road by about 9:30, starting the last 120 miles of our summer travels. It was about 40 miles to Las Vegas, then 30 miles through the middle of town, and then the last 50 miles up over the 5,000 foot pass and into the Pahrump Valley and home, at least in the legal sense. Traffic through town was heavy and stressful, even though it was all freeway. The climb up the pass was also stressful as it is a steep climb. Even though the temperature was in the high 60's the coach got hot. It didn't overheat, but by the time we got to the top it was close. We arrived at the Wine Ridge RV Resort about noon and got checked in. This used to be a Western Horizons park and we stay here any time we come to Pahrump. We got parked in a spot just a few down from a good friend of ours, Millie Duffin. Millie is the host of a weekly Saterday night happy hour and is kind of the unofficial social organizer of Wine Ridge.

After we got set up we went down to the UPS Store that serves as our mailbox and picked up our mail in person for the first time in a year. I stopped at the Sheriff's Office and picked up the paperwork I needed to renew my concealed carry permit and then we went back to the coach. I did a little more work setting up, then we just relaxed for the rest of the night. Our arrival here in Pahrump marks the official end of our 2017 summer travels. I mark our start as being when we left Santa Maria, California on April 30^th after visiting with Jackie's family in the area. In our travels we drove the coach 8,621 miles, through 26 states, making 66 stops for total of 199 nights. It was a great trip, with only a few minor glitches along the way, but I am now looking forward to some month long stays during the winter.


This ending of our summer travels is also the perfect time to close this chapter and get it published. We will be here in Pahrump for a month, so look for the next chapter to be published then. Until next time I leave you with an slightly updated version of a well known Ralph Waldo Emerson quote. “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and put a post on Facebook showing where you were last seen alive” See ya soon.

Westward Through the Deep South

Hi there, welcome back to our story. Our last chapter ended on Thursday, October 12^th, when we left the Jacksonville, Florida area and started west on Interstate 10, arriving in Marianna, Florida, about an hour west of Tallahassee. On Friday we had our first full, stay at home day in quite some time. Got a few little chores done, but mostly just relaxed for a change. With all the new places we have visited in the last few months we have been really busy with very few down days, it was nice to just have a quiet day at home.

Saturday, October 14^th, we left the coach about 11:30 and drove into Marianna, a small town of about 6,000 to explore and do some geocaching. Our first stop was lunch at Sonny's BBQ. Sonny's is a chain of BBQ restaurants, mostly in Florida, but they have a few stores in Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. We first discovered the chain in 2006, our first full year on the road, when we spent the winter in Florida. We ended up eating at various stores at least a dozen times during our stay. The food is very good and you get plenty of it. The food hadn't changed, it was still good. I had the pulled pork, my favorite, and Jackie had ribs. We had a great lunch. After lunch we did some exploring of Marianna, which has a number of very nice antebellum mansions along the main street, most of which have been at least partially restored and taken care of. We got ten new finds, and one DNF, for the afternoon. After caching we headed back to the coach and relaxed for the remainder of the evening.

Sunday, October 15^th, another travel day. We had the coach packed up and were on the road by 10:30, heading another 165 miles west on Interstate 40 to a little town called Robertsdale, Alabama, about halfway between Pensacola, Florida and Mobile, Alabama. We arrived at the Wilderness RV Resort right about 2:00 and quickly got settled into a nice, full hookup spot. Right after we got finished setting up it started to rain and we had some mild thunderstorms move through the area for a couple hours. We spent the rest of the day in the coach, doing some chores and relaxing.

Monday, October 16^th, we went out about 1:00 or so and drove south, doing some exploring and geocaching. We ended up in Gulf Shores, Alabama, right on the beach at the Gulf of Mexico. We went out on the pier and took some pictures, did a few caches, and then stopped at the Walmart in Gulf Shores to get some supplies. We ended up with five new finds and one DNF for the afternoon. After we were done at Walmart we started back towards the RV park, stopping at the Gulf Shores Elks Lodge along the way. Although we didn't recognize the building, we were in this lodge back in 2005 when we had stayed in Mobile, Alabama for a few days. We had a cocktail and got another lodge pin for our banner. When we got home we found that they hadn't changed their lodge pin in the 12 years since we were last there. We spent the rest of the evening in the coach.

Tuesday, October 17^th, we left the coach about 11:00 and headed to Mobile, about 20 miles west, to do some exploring and geocaching. Our first stop was a downtown restaurant called Panini Pete's, which was another Diners, Drive-ins and Dives place. It was a sandwich shop, but had really good ratings. I had a muffaleta panini, which was exceptional, and Jackie had a smoked turkey panini, which she said was good too. To top it off, we each had a beignet for dessert. These little southern donuts are great. After lunch we drove around Mobile for an hour or so, sight-seeing and caching. We ended up with eight new finds for the day, along with two DNFs. We also visited the military museum park, which features the Battleship USS Alabama, a WW-II sub named the USS Drum, and all kinds of aircraft, armor and artillery pieces on display. We went into the gift shop for a visit, but didn't tour any of the ships. We also drove around the shipyards and docks and saw the shipyard where several new amphibious assault ships are being built for the Navy. After our exploring we headed back to the coach, had dinner and watched TV until bedtime. Wednesday was another travel day. We were packed up and on the road about 10:30, heading 100 miles west to Gulfport, Mississippi. We arrived at the Campgrounds of the South RV park in Gulfport about 12:30 and got settled into our site. While I finished getting set up Jackie went to a nearby shopping area and got a pedi. We spent the rest of the day in the coach.

Thursday, October 19^th, we went out after lunch to do some exploring and geocaching. Our first stop was a Camping World where we bought a few maintenance items and shopped for a while before going out to do some caching. We had a bit of a rough afternoon caching, getting five new finds and three DNFs. I think at least some of the DNFs were due to recent severe weather, but we were still a little disappointed. We drove down to the gulf coast in Gulfport and then drove east along the sea shore. We got to Biloxi and stopped at the Biloxi Elks Lodge, which is located right on the beach highway. We had stopped by this lodge in December 2005 when we drove over to this area from Mobile to look at the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in August of that year. The Elks Lodge had been damaged and was closed, but it structurally survived. The building today looked very much the same as the photo we took back in 2005. Of course, all of the other damage was cleared away and most of the beachfront property remains vacant to this day. The lodge was very nice inside and the bartender was pretty friendly. We had a cocktail and got a lodge pin.

We then moved on to the Ocean Beach Elks Lodge in Ocean Beach, Mississippi, about ten miles east. This was our first visit to this lodge. It had been wiped out during Katrina, and they have rebuilt the lodge up on fifteen foot stilts. This was a very friendly lodge, with the ER coming over and introducing himself, and most of the people in the bar being very friendly to us. We had a drink and then the house gave us a drink. We also got a lodge pin which had a very cool, cute logo on it. I liked it so much I bought one of the lodge tee shirts that had the same logo. After our lodge visits we got on the freeway and headed back to the RV park. We stopped at a Five Guys right down the street from the RV park for dinner and had hamburgers. Good burgers, but way too expensive. Give me an In-N-Out any day.

Friday, October 20^th, I was up and out about 8:00, taking the Jeep to the dealer for an oil change. We were a couple hundred miles over and there was a dealer pretty close to the RV park here in Gulfport. While the Jeep was being serviced I took my walk and got a couple of geocaches. After the car was done I went back to the coach and had lunch. We then packed up our laundry and went to a laundromat. After the clothes were clean we headed back home, stopping at Walmart to get some supplies. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in the coach.

Saturday, October 21^st, another travel day. We were packed up and on the road by 10:30 for a fairly short, 70 mile trip west to New Orleans. We arrived at the Pontchartrain Landing RV Resort around noon and checked in. We had stayed in this park back in 2012 when we came through here while traveling with Ray and Suzie Babcock. This is an expensive park, but it is 15 minutes from the French Quarter, plus it is a Passport America Park. Even with PPA it was almost $50 a night with all the taxes and such added in. However, they did give us a free upgrade to a premium site which is a pull in site right on the waterway. Great views, so we feel like we are getting our money's worth. Right across the waterway from us is an old riverboat undergoing renovations. We got set up and then stayed in the rest of the day doing a few chores. We are going to be here in New Orleans for four nights.

Sunday, October 22^nd, my brother David's birthday, happy birthday bro! Overnight we had quite a bit of rain and it was still raining when we got up. I went out and got us the Sunday paper and we had a relaxing morning with the paper and coffee. There were a number of small thunderstorms moving through the area all morning and the weather radio was going off with thunderstorm warnings every half hour. We waited until almost 1:00 before we were finally comfortable that all of the bad weather had moved out and we left the coach and drove into New Orleans. We first went to a restaurant in the central business district, which is adjacent to the French Quarter, for brunch. The first place we picked had no parking close by, so we switched to another place called the Ruby Slipper. We found parking and went in and were seated in about 15 minutes. This is strictly a breakfast and lunch place and their specialty is various types of eggs Benedict, some with some unusual additions. All of the plates came with two portions and you could get a combo plate that combined one of each of two different choices. Jackie had that with one portion being a spicy shrimp and fried green tomato Benedict and the other being a pulled pork Benedict. I tried a bit of both of them and we both agreed that they were outstanding. They served their Benedict on buttermilk biscuits rather than English muffins, so they were softer. I went with a lunch entree, a sauteed Drum fish fillet served on top of two cheesy grit cakes, with a spinach, tomato and hollendaise sauce garnish. It was also outstanding. I am not a big fan of grits, but I could eat these fried cheesy grit cakes all day long, they were great.

After lunch we walked around the area for a half hour or so, looking in a few shops on Canal Street, the main drag through central New Orleans. We then got back in the car and did a couple hours of driving sight-seeing. We spent most of the time in the Garden District, which is where many of the old, and huge, 19^th century mansions are. Many of them have been restored and are beautiful. We saw a number of them in the paper this morning selling in the millions of dollars. We also did a little caching, getting three new finds, our first in New Orleans since 2012. About 4:30 we headed back to the RV park and sat outside for a while with our cocktails, watching the waterway outside our door. We spent the rest of the evening in the coach watching TV.

Monday, October 23^rd, we set out from the RV park about 11:00 and headed down to spend the day in and around the French Quarter of New Orleans. The French Quarter is the oldest neighborhood in New Orleans, with most of the buildings dating back to the late 1700's and early 1800's. Almost the entire half square mile of the district is under the protection of a Historic District designation. It is also the party center of the city with scores of restaurants, bars and clubs. We found a place to park in a city lot near Jackson Square and spent an hour or so shopping along Decatur Street, the southeastern edge of the Quarter. We then walked to Johnny's Po-Boy's, one of the many restaurants in the area, for lunch. Jackie had asked someone in the visitors center for a recommendation for somewhere to get po-boy sandwiches and she recommended Johnny's. The shrimp po-boy's were OK, nothing to shout about. Heavy on the bread and a little light on the shrimp in my estimation. I had a side of red beans and rice that was very good.

After lunch we walked around the quarter for an hour or so, walking down Royal and Bourbon streets, the two main party streets. We got a couple of hurricanes, fruit punch and rum drinks, and sucked on them while we walked. It is legal to have open alcoholic beverages on the street in New Orleans. Because it was early afternoon, and off season, the streets were kind of quiet, not a lot of partying going on. After an hour of walking around, and getting a couple of geocaches, we went to the French Market, kind of a permanent street market, and shopped for an hour or so. Once we had our fill of shopping we got back in the car and spent another hour or so driving around the quarter, looking around at the history. We then headed back to the RV park around cocktail hour and relaxed in the coach for the rest of the evening.

Tuesday, October 24^th, we left the coach after lunch, around 1:00 and went out to just drive around some areas of New Orleans that we hadn't seen yet. We drove down to the Lower Ninth Ward which is the area that saw some of the worst devastation and flooding from Katrina back in 2005. The water was at roof top level in this entire neighborhood, dozens died and the place was ruined. When we took a tour through the area in 2012 there were still dozens of boarded up and rotting houses and we wanted to see if they had made any progress. It was not quite as bad now, still a lot of abandoned homes, but a lot of empty lots indicating they are making some progress. We did a geocache right across the street from Fats Domino's home and office. He lived in New Orleans almost his entire life and had to be rescued from this house during Katrina.

After touring the Lower Ninth we drove through downtown, then crossed the Crescent City Bridge, which goes south across the Mississippi to the communities on the south bank. We did a geocache there too, one that was right on the levy overlooking the French Quarter and downtown areas across the river. We spent a couple of hours driving around, then stopped at Walmart for a few things before heading back to the coach. We cleaned up, changed clothes and left around 6:00 for a date night. We drove to Drago's Restaurant on the other side of Metarie, the town just north of New Orleans where the RV park is located. We had been to Drago's, which is a very nice seafood restaurant, when we were here with the Babcock's back in 2012. The food was wonderful and we wanted to go again to a nice place. We had a great meal, Jackie got some BBQed
oysters, which is one of their specialties, and I had calamari. I then had an entree with a whole, soft shell crab, deep fried and stuffed with a crab dressing. It was outstanding. Jackie had Redfish and it was good too, although a touch overdone. We had some cheesecake for dessert. It was an expensive, but very pleasurable and wonderful evening for the two of us. I also got the Drago's shirt, which I missed out on in 2012 because they didn't have my size. Ray got one then and has been holding it over me for five years. No more! I got the shirt! We then headed back to the coach for the remainder of the evening.

Wednesday, October 25^th, another travel day. We woke up to the news that Fats Domino had died yesterday, the same day we were caching in front of his house! What a coincidence that is! We were packed up and on the road by 10:30, heading another 170 miles west to Abbeville, Louisiana, a small town south of Lafayette. The drive was OK except for the ten miles after we left I-10 in Lafayette and headed south on the state highway towards Abbeville. The traffic was horrible. We arrived at Betty's RV Park south of Abbeville around 2:00 and were welcomed by Betty. We first heard about Betty's from out friend Lynette Bollier back in 2012 when we were going to Louisiana on our way to Indianapolis for the FMCA rally. Lynette told us we just had to go to Betty's because it was a small place that treated you like family. We were unable to go then because it seems that Betty's is booked solid way ahead of time. There are only 17 spaces and you have to book early. Earlier this year there was a big write-up in the Escapee's magazine about Betty's, reinforcing our desire to go there. This year I booked a reservation four months in advance and now we are here.

Betty is very nice, speaks with a mild Cajun accent, and got us settled in very quickly. The sites are all 50 amp, full hook up, with plenty of room. We got set up and then at 4:30 we went over to the gathering room outside the office for happy hour. It seems that happy hour is a daily occurrence and is almost considered mandatory for guests. The Escapee's article said that Betty will often ask where you where if you miss one. Most of the park was there and everyone introduced themselves and there were all kinds of snacks and nibbles that people brought. It was very much like an RV rally happy hour. At least half of the couples there are full timers, most not as long as us, with one couple in their first year. We stayed for about an hour and a half, then went back to the coach and did some pork chops on the BBQ for dinner. We watched TV until bedtime.

Thursday, October 26^th, we left the RV park after lunch to do some exploring. We went into Abbeville first to look around and do some caching. Abbeville is a town of about 12,000, but it appears to be smaller as the central part of town is kind of run down. We got a few caches, and a few DNFs in town. We then drove north to look around Lafayette. Lafayette is the fourth largest city in Louisiana, with over 125,000 population. It has the University of Louisiana main campus but had a very small downtown area. As with a lot of places in the state, the city looked a bit back on it's heels, dilapidated and abandoned buildings and the like. We got a geocache and another DNF, bringing our total to three finds and three DNFs for the day. We wandered around town and then took a back way home, getting back to the RV park about 4:00. We went over to the group happy hour around 5:00 and spent an hour snacking and talking to folks. After happy hour we went back to the coach, had dinner and watched TV until bedtime.

Friday, October 27^th, we left the RV park about 10:30 for another day of exploring. We drove northeast about 25 miles to the town of Breaux Bridge to have lunch at a place called Le Cafe. This is a little hole in the wall cafe just south of I-10 that we discovered back in 2012 when we came through this area traveling with Ray and Suzi Babcock. At that time we were staying at an RV park just north of Breaux Bridge and got a local recommendation for Le Cafe for their po-boy sandwiches. We all loved the place and we decided to go back today since we were fairly close. The place looked exactly like it did five years ago and the food was also just as fabulous. It put the po-boy's we had in New Orleans to shame. We ate way too much, but enjoyed every bite.

After lunch we drove around exploring some of the small towns in this region of Louisiana that they call “Acadiana” because it was originally colonized in the mid-1700's by French Canadian colonists from the Acadia region of Eastern Canada. After the British took over the Canadian colonies from the French they eventually expelled the French colonists to make room for more British. The French, over 11,000 of them, were scattered along the eastern seaboard and the Caribbean, with many eventually settling in what had been French Louisiana. Although the Louisiana territory was then under Spanish rule, the French were still welcomed because they were Catholic. Today the “Cajun's”, a shortening of “Acadian” are descendants of these 18^th century French colonists.

We did a couple of geocaches while exploring and one of them took us to Longfellow Evangiline State Park, which is dedicated to preserving the history of the Acadian people. It is a very nice park with a beautifully preserved 18^th century plantation home and grounds. We watched a film on the local history and looked at a lot of interesting displays. We also stopped in the town of New Iberia, which is about 25 miles east of Abbeville, and toured the Conrad Rice Mill, believed to be the oldest operating rice mill in the U.S. A friend of ours, Mike Neighbours had told us about a great product the company makes called Wild Pecan Rice so we stopped at the company store. They were just starting a tour of the place, so we joined in and got some more detailed history of the region and the Acadians. We left the mill and started west towards Abbeville just in time to meet the line of rain storms that had been predicted, and was indeed marching, across the area. Although the rain was heavy at times, they were not bad or long lasting storms. We did go to happy hour with the other guests of the park and chatted for an hour or so before heading back to the coach for the rest of the night.

Saturday, October 28^th, we had a stay at home day for the most part. We did go out about 1:30 or so to do a quick Walmart run and while we were there we picked up a nearby geocache. We both got a few chores done around the coach. About 5:15 we went over to Betty's gathering room for a potluck. It was most of the people staying in the park, as well as some friends and relatives of Betty's who live in the area. This included one guy who was born and raised in the area. He spent 22 years in the Army, retiring as a Green Beret First Sergeant, then went to work for the Sheriff''s Office and worked there for another 20 some years. He is 85 years old, looked to be about 70 and has a 35 year old girlfriend. Quite the guy. He also plays in a local band doing Cajun rock and country music. Some of the folks were in Halloween costume, although we weren't. Betty did a big pot of jambalaya, Jackie made garlic bread and we had other salads and sides from other people. It was quite the feast. After dinner one of the girls brought out a small karaoke outfit and we did a couple hours of karaoke. This was a party crowd. We finally left and went back to the coach just before 10:00, our latest night out in a while. When you stay at Betty's you are family, and this night's party reinforced that.

Sunday, October 29^th, another travel day. We hated that we had to leave Betty's, next time we are going to stay a week or two. We pulled out about 10:30, continuing west towards Port Arthur, Texas. Port Arthur is a coastal town just south of Beaumont, Texas in far East Texas. Port Arthur is right on the Louisiana State Line, just across the river. We arrived at the Port Arthur RV Resort about 3:00 after making a lunch stop and a fuel stop. This is a big RV park and it was nearly full, glad we had reservations. When Hurricane Harvey came through the area a few months back this whole area was badly flooded. I think a lot of the RVs in the park are people who are trying to fix their homes. Everywhere we drove coming in there were mounds of trash and ruined furniture piled up. We got settled into our site and relaxed for the rest of the day.

Our departure from Louisiana into Texas marks where our final push towards home in Pahrump begins. We are now less than three weeks from Pahrump and will be doing a lot of one and two night stays as we head for home. We are traveling through areas we have been a number of times in the past, so no need to stop for a lot of sight-seeing. The only exception will be a three night stay in San Antonio, just because that's a fun place no matter how many times you go there. With that, we will close out this episode and get it published. Until the next time, keep smiling and be happy. Bye.