Ferry Ride

New Homes on Bolivar Peninsula

 We did not want to drive through Houston with the rig, because it is crazy busy traffic. White knuckle stuff!! So, since last year we took the northern long route above it, this year we are taking the southern route. 
Along the way on the Bolivar Peninsula we saw the remains of what Hurricane Ike didn't leave behind. It blew through here in Sept of 08 and from what I've read, wiped out up to 90% of this area. Wow, how sad!! From what we can tell from the road most everything is cleaned up and new homes have gone up. There is a few places that look like they are just waiting to be rebuilt, like on a holding pattern.  Some places have rv's sitting in empty lots, that use to have homes, or partial homes. I'm sure it's a slow process for some.


My Guess- Hurricane Ike destroyed this one



Our Ferry Ride! Getting on..

On the southern route, we need to get on a free ferry to get over to Galveston, TX. I was a little apprehensive about this at first, but after I researched it a little, I felt better.  I read a couple of other blogs and they said that it was a piece of cake. Also, it can handle 8 -18 wheelers, so why should I need to worry!

On the ferry!!

Actually it turned out to be kind of fun!  There were workers there to help me roll in to my lane and not hit anyone else. Once I got on, I thought I looked pretty small, compared to the ferry!

Not much room-I bet I upset a few people by blocking their view!

The ride is 2.7 miles and about 18 min. long. Vel got out and roamed around a little bit. When it was time to get off, they let the other side go first and then the row to my left. Then right after we got off, I was able to pull off to the side and let the people behind me go ahead.  I also turned my propane tank back on,(for the fridge) because before they would let us on, we had to turn it off.

Meeting another ferry

Time to get off

Then we drove through Galveston ( with Glen Campbell's song ringing in our ears) and on down the road to our new favorite camping spot! (more on that next time)-Later-M

Post Thanksgiving

Where we spent Thanksgiving

 We spent a quiet Thanksgiving in Kinder LA.,at a very nice casino. We stuffed ourselves at their Buffet, about noon. Then we vegged out the rest of the day.  But, we did manage to walk the dogs a couple of times! 

One way to transport your Smart Car

Downtown Beaumont TX

Next place we went was to Beaumont TX. They have a nice downtown area, but there was hardly anyone around!  We found out later that everyone was at the shopping mall area in another part of town, when we went on our quest for some good Texas ribs!  We got our take out ribs and got the heck out of the traffic!  We also ventured down to Port Arthur, TX, their downtown area was quit desolate, I think between the Hurricanes and the economy every business left. It was quit sad looking!

Full RV Park

Since we were in Texas, I asked the gal at the front desk where the closest H.E.B. was, she gave me a map and off I went! (H.E.B.'s are real nice grocery stores) I found it and it turned out to be a Plus store, which means it has about everything you would every need!  So, it took me about as twice as long to go through it! Doesn't take much to thrill me! Later-M

Change of plans

Mandeville LA Trailhead

Back in Louisiana our original plan was to go to New Orleans for a day. But, since we've been there and done that a couple of times (Before and After Katrina) we decided to check out the Northshore area of Lake Pontchartrain, instead.


We found out that Cafe de Monde has a shop in Mandeville, so we set out to find it in our touring.  Along with a few geocache's!

Mandeville Trailhead-Tammany Trace

Our first stop was at the Mandeville Trailhead, It has a Cultural Interpretive Center. It  is along side of the Tammany Parish's Trace, which is a 31 mile Rails to Trails conversion. You can run, walk,cycle,blade or even bring your horse! The Trailhead is also where the community has a Farmers market every Saturday.

Lake Pontchartrain

 We had a couple of geocaches to find along the Lake Pontchartrain north shoreline. They have a beautiful park along it and across the street are alot of nice homes.

Home over looking  the Lake

The Cafe de Monde coffee and beignets!

It was lunch time but we had to find our beignets first!  Cafe de Monde is the original French Market Coffee Stand in New Orleans and now they have a few outside the city in the surrounding towns! Hooray for us!!  Well as you can see we found it! We had to have their Chicory coffee to go along with our beignets! It was all wonderful!  The French Acadians (Cajuns) brought these two wonderful things to the area, if you want to read about it
http://www.cafedumonde.com/main.html ,here it is.

Covington LA-downtown

We drove over to Covington  and then over to Abita Springs. They are both neat little towns.

Abita Springs LA-Pavilion

Trail at Foutainebleau State Park

We headed back home, as we had a few of geocaches in the park to find. We headed out on our bikes and found the nature trail. Very heavy with folage, I love the spanish moss hanging!  The trail connected up to the Marsh boardwalk. We were there just in time to see a beautiful sunset!  We saw signs that warned against feeding the aligators, but we didn't see any, only a few birds.

Marshy area at Foutainebleau State Park

Sunset at the boardwalk

We are glad that we didn't go with our original plan- as we love to explore new places!  One thing we are finding out is, we may need better bikes. What we have are collapsable bikes, and they are basically for just tootling around. Since Vel's knees are brand new, we may be able to do more than just tootle, the nature trail was a little to rough for what we have, so we'll have to see what we can figure out.
We want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!! -Later-M

Yikes!!

We were getting ready to head down the road the other day, so I did my checking of the air pressure in the tires. Well, I went to check the first tire and I saw this snake tail sticking out of the one rims. Yikes! It looked to be a pretty small snake, so I wasn't as concerned as if it were much larger, but I still didn't want it there!

 So, of course I yelled at Vel to help me. She got our Hot Dog Campfire Stick to try to get it out of there.
It finally drop down to the ground and I took the stick and flung it out of there!  Vel then pick it up, with the stick, and placed it into the woodsy/marshy area on the other side of the road.

So, then we proceeded to check out the kayaks, which were leaning up against the tires, to make sure they were clear of any critters.  We do carry the kayaks inside the rig when we travel.  I'm not sure what I would do if I found one of them inside!  Yuck!!

Vel thought it was just a Gopher snake. She looked it up on the computer and sure enough that is what it is. Harmless, Thank Goodness!

Even though it was small, that was enough excitement for me for the day.-Later-M

Kayaking, Biking and Having Fun

Alligator  in the Bayou before campground

 We were back in Mississippi and on the way in to the campground, an alligator greeted us at the entrance area.  We were told that they really don't like to be around humans. They might look at you, but they like to keep their distance.
The area that we camped at has a nice bayou.
We checked at the Visitors Center for a kayak map of the area. The guy was very helpful and told us the best place to go, if it wasn't too windy.

 

Great day for kayaking

It was a nice day and the area that we got in at was protected and the water was calm. We saw a Kingbird, Blue Heron, a few Egrets and Pelicans. When we went towards more open water, it got a little wavy. We tried to go to the area the Ranger suggested, but we decided we would be too worn out by the time we got there. So, we just turned around an tootled around in the calm waters.  It must of been suppertime, because we saw several fish jumping out of the water catching bugs.

Egret



Flying Fish-supper time

Ocean Springs Marina

 The next day we decided to take a bike ride.  We stayed on the bike route, it took us in a residential area, then down to the beach road and then through the quaint little downtown area. I definitely need to get a softer seat. ( I felt it the next day)

New Pier at Park

We also found a geocache on the bike ride. 

We tried Mellow Mushroom Pizza while we were there and we recommend it, it was good!  We also had to stop at The Grand Casino, so Vel could try her hand. She came out 20 dollars ahead, sounds good to me! 
The next day I had to measure the height of the Pick-up. It's 6' 4" to the top of the Satellite antenna. While we were at the Grand Parking Garage the maximum height to go in was 6'6".  We went in, but I immediately turned around since I didn't know, at the time, how tall I was.  We went into a different garage and the height was 7' and I new I was o.k. -So we parked.  But I still drove through, ducking down the whole time, Vel just laughed, like that was going to do us any good!

Beautiful Home (not sure how the kid got in there)

The weather has been really nice, down here on the Gulf Coast. Hope it continues!-Later-M

Driving around

Downtown Fairhope, AL

 On our last day in Alabama, we decided to take a drive with the dogs to Fairhope, Alabama.  It has a nice downtown area, very nicely decorated with American Flags and flowers.

Someone Parasailing in Mobile Bay

We drove down to the water and found a nice park with a beach and pier. Saw someone parasailing, going back and forth along the shoreline. I think you would have to have good upper body strength to do that. It looks like fun!

Fairhope's Pier

Beautiful Homes along the coastline

Then we drove down the coast of Mobile bay. There are some very nice homes along the coastline. We also found a few geocaches along the way. We have broke the 200 finds mark!

Found geocache in this area

Tree lined street in Magnolia Springs, AL.

Magnolia Springs, Alabama is a neat little town. It doesn't have much as far as businesses. A few gas stations and popular restaurant with a little general store/deli attached to it. The Magnolia River goes through town and it is the only place in the continental U.S. that still has mail delivered via the river. The town was named for the natural spring they have and all of the Magnolia trees that bloom in the spring.  I bet that is a pretty site! Later-M

Visit to Florida

Duplex on the beach in Florida

 Our original plan, before we head to Texas for the winter, was to go all the way to Cedar Keys, Florida  But, we've decided just to go to Pensacola, which is on the western edge of Florida and then head back to Texas.  We thought it would be better for Vel's new knee, to give it more breaks. And we also thought once we got to Cedar Key, we wouldn't be able to spend as much time in that area as we would like, and then we would want to head down the coast and see more of Florida. So, we will just have to come back when we can spend a couple of months here.

Florida

We drove along Perdido Key, up to Pensacola and took the Pensacola Bay Bridge to Gulf Breeze and then the one dollar toll bridge into Pensacola Beach. It is a touristy town with lots of places to eat and Condos or houses to rent. And of course the beach! We drove around to find a place that had Fish and Chips. We ended up at Jimmy Buffett's Landshark Landing next to the Margaritaville Beach Hotel. No Fish and Chips on the menu, so we got an order of Fish Taco's and Fries and split it. I've been wanting to try fish taco's, Vel hasn't been to excited about it, but was willing. It was grilled Mahi Mahi, with cole slaw, tomato and a sauce inside a toasted flour tortilla.  I thought is was good, Vel not so. Oh well! at least she tried!

Pensacola Beach, Florida

Few People on the beach

 They have a nice new pier, but it cost to get on it. I guess they have to pay for it someway. We had the dogs with us, so we didn't even think about it.  The sad thing is that dogs aren't allowed on the beaches here. I'm not sure why they don't even have a small area for them. Oh well, such is life.

What is that?-get a picture!

While we were parked eating out fish taco's, we heard something overhead. It looks like a big gnat!  We decided it is a Paragliding pontoon. You just never know what you will see!

Jimmy Buffet's Landshark Landing Bar

The Beach

Alot of Rentals

I'm looking forward to when we will get back to Florida-Later-M

Tar Balls

Oil on a sea shell

Tar Ball



Tar Balls



Posted Oil signs.

They are still cleaning the beaches of the oil,  down here on the Alabama Gulf.  We have seen quite a few workers with bright yellow or orange jackets, with tools in their hands picking up tar balls. They also have marked off areas that they have been with red flags.  We also see parking areas that they have set up to have as a command station. They have their ATVs,  Ditch Witch, Porta-Potty, and other equipment in that area. I'm sure they aren't as abundant as it first was, but they still are evident.
When you look out into the Gulf, you can see many oil rigs.  It is so sad to see those.  By the BP commercials down here, things are looking up. But by the news reports, businesses are still suffering and are not getting paid by BP. It's a long process, I'm sure. 
This is a slow time of year down here, but we still see people on the beach having fun and fisherpeople fishing. So, we are down here, trying to help the economy by eating! Oh, yeah and Vel bought a t-shirt.-M

Workers on the beach