happy birthday Mom D.!

Happy Birthday Mom. It's not often I write the post. This is the first time. Usually I view the post before Randy is finished or I see if after he has posted and protest somewhat. We've had a busy day 0f driving since yesterday. Texas from what we see is pretty barren so we spent some time on the interstate. We drove to Junction and intended on staying at a state park but it was full with reservations so we stayed at the KOA in town. The cost was $35, expensive for those of us campers on a budget, but nice washroom, site, etc. Junction is a nice flat town; good for running. Then we headed for the interstate again towards Sonora and spent 2 hours on a guided tour of the caverns of Sonora. Wow it was really cool. See the picture of me posted beside a column. Then we continued on the interstate toward Fort Stockton and camped for night in a local campground. It sure is quite the dessert here. The picture shows our campsite ($18 for the night, Randy the accountant wants me to mention the cost), pretty barren but better than a Walmart parking lot. I'm getting pretty homesick for a little girl we love so we intend on being home early December rather than mid month. From the picture you can probably see why Nana wants to get home earlier. Take care everyone. Hope all is well with you and your loved ones.

Aneeda (Monique)

yeehaw! Texas

Texas is really big but so far a lot of fun. On Wednesday did not drive too far and ended up in Village Creek State Park near Beaumont. Nice place, great beach on a creek (go figure) and quiet. Went for a hike in the morning and saw the snake sign. Thursday we drove further than expected and made it to Austin. Found a campground that was actually in the city and close to downtown so we caught a bus and went downtown. Great city (they bill themselves as Live Music Capital of America) with a few entertainment districts. We went to 6th Street, 4 blocks of bars, restaurants and shops. Saw a few bands, stayed longest at Nuno's and saw a decent blues act. Some wings and fries and then back to campground it was a nice night. Next day went back downtown and strolled around. Saw the SRV memorial statue (see pic). Lots of green space and lots of people out running/biking/hiking. Grabbed some lunch and then back on the road. Stopped at Cabelo's, which is, I think, the redneck capital of the world. It is a huge 2 story outdoors store - kind of like MEC but with a couple of thousand guns, bows and fishing rods thrown in. They even have their own mountain complete with stuffed animals. Then to outlet mall heaven (or hell depending on point of view). Ended up, after some getting lost and touring blindly, at a Walmart parking lot in the outskirts of San Antonio where we spent Friday night. Saturday was into downtown. San Antonio is a really interesting city with a "Riverwalk" all through downtown (see pic). It is 1 level below the streets and they have paths all along beside a small river with (you guessed it) more bars and restaurants. We could not pass up having lunch at Dick's Last Resort. There was a small street festival near the Alamo as well, with live music (country), food, market booths, beer and wine. it was a pleasant surprise. We had hoped to go hashing there but the "Kiss My Hash House" harriers website and phone hotline were both out of date. Oh well, guess you can't do everything...

we are now on our way across west Texas. I think it is 500 miles of nothingness so anything good will be a surprise.

hope everyone is doing well!!!

louisiana travels

So we arrived at Todd and James on Saturday a.m. They have a great house and yard and have done an incredible amount of work - their neighbourhood was under water after Katrina. About 1/2 of the people on their block are back but still empty houses all around them. Had a couple of very relaxing days - toured the city, ate some great food (both from restaurants and cooked by them), kept their 3 dogs company and slept in a real bed!

Driving around New Orleans is still pretty sad. Went to a couple of areas where the flood walls failed. Everything is still in a shambles and very few residents back and living in their houses (it was 2 years last August). Campgrounds we saw and stayed in still have lots of FEMA trailers, people who have been living in RV's all this time. I can't imagine what that would be like.
Monday morning Todd and James went back to work and we went to wander the French Quarter. Monsoon rains though (see Monique at Canal and Bourbon St's above) so after lunch we headed out. Ended up in Lafayette. On Tuesday we toured the Tabasco factory, kind of neat. Then we went for a swamp tour. The guy was great - a local but he had a Zoology degree so got a lot of info. Spent over 2 hours on the swamps and bayous and saw gators, turtles, old growth cyprus and all kinds of birds and plants. One of the best tours we have ever been on - see gator picture above.

it is now Wednesday a.m. and we have just entered Texas. I think Monique/Aneeda is getting tired of me and is ready to go home but still have places to go and people to see!

hope everyone is well!!

new orleans time warp

where to start??? from Mobile, AB headed back towards Mississippi. saw this really neat building (the Beer Barn above) beside the road that in a temporary brain freeze moment I decided we had to try. note the door height - I believe clearance is 9'6". The vent on the top of our van was 9'8". The crashing noise was not pleasant. Luckily it was just the vent and there was an RV dealer a few miles down the road. $20 and 10 minutes later the problem was fixed. Biloxi was an eye opener - I had no idea that Katrina had caused so much damage outside of New Orleans. we stopped at the Hard Rock Casino there (Monique lost $5 on penny slots) which has just reopened. Saw a couple of display cases of guitars/jackets/etc. that were on display before Katrina and then were fished out of the Gulf after. From Biloxi we drove along the coast to Bay St. Louis. I think was about 50 miles and it is still all a mess. Most buildings have just been torn down, very few back up. The picture of the foundation above is basically all you see along the entire coast where I assume before there were restaurants, hotels and tacky tourist shops. the beach, however, was gorgeous with white sand that went on for miles and miles. camped at Bay St. Louis where is stormed all night. and I don't think I mentioned how hot and humid it is here. Sleeping has been a challenge but sweating has been no problem at all. 85 - 90 degrees during the day and 70 degrees at night with 100% humidity.

then on to New Orleans - arrived early and relaxed by the pool and then caught a shuttle to the French Quarter to meet Todd (from our wedding party) who we had not seen for 15 + years. He hasn't changed a bit. Him and his partner James met us at the shuttle stop and then the time warp began. Stopped for a beer, a bite to eat and then another drink or two and suddenly it was 3 a.m. I think it was a really good time. Going to see their house today and tour, should be a blast.

head hurts now so have to stop typing - hope everyone is doing well!!

way down south

left tennessee and into the Mississippi delta. a couple of comments - it is very

flat and it is very poor. drove into a couple of larger centres (clarksdale and greensville) and a lot of the downtown buildings are closed, boarded up and covered in graffitti. a lot of shacks that people appear to live in and then you come across some big fancy houses and the normal suburbia along the highway. If we had to do over again, would have planned to be here on a weekend and/or during a festival.

Did not find much for club scenes or live music on a Monday night. Vicksburg was probably the nicest city we saw. Spent a couple of hours wandering around and had a great (and huge) southern cooking lunch (for $5) at a local place. Casinos appear to be the way they are trying to revive their economy and up until a little while ago they had to be on the water. we wandered through one of the steamwheeler casinos - neat idea but inside pretty much like any casino you have seen. we also crossed the Mississippi at one point just so we can say we were actually in Arkansas.
from the delta we went southeast across the state and through the capital, Jackson. Wandered a bit there but did not seem to be much to see. Spent the night at a small campground at D'Lo. The guy at the office (who was 400 lbs at least) had a girlfriend in Canada he visited every so often. His big complaint about Canada was that he could not get grits, cornbread or decent fried chicken so when he goes he takes his own.
left D'Lo and on to the gulf coast in Mobile, Alabama. wandered the waterfront, they have the typical entertainment district and what looked like a very busy, large port. Now on our way to Biloxi and then on to New orleans tomorrow.
the pics above, in no particular order, are:
riverboat casino on Mississippi River
Monique on carriage tour in Memphis (did i mention how much we liked Memphis!)
Randy doing a poor Elvis impersonation at Sun Studios
at Biscuits & Bluegrass
the grand Ole Opry

all for now - hope everyone is doing well!!!

we luv Tennessee!

sorry no pics as the laptop is causing me grief. Am sitting in the library in Clarksdale, Miss right now. But we are getting ahead of ourselves...

friday night we did get to the Grand Ole Opry. Kind of hokie but neat to be a part of. In case you did not know (as I did not) the Opry moved years ago to just outside Nashville. Big complex with hotels, convention centre, camping, etc. Saturday we went into downtown Nashville. Great downtown with the Titans field, Predators arena right there, lots of green space, restaurants and shopping. Had lunch at BB Kings - no entertainment on but pretty cool place. then to a "biscuits and bluegrass" festival for the afternoon just outside Nashville. Sat in the sun, listened to tunes and tried afew biscuits - Mmm Mmm! from there drove to Jackson and spent the night.

sunday may have been our favorite day of the whole trip. Went to downtown Jackson and toured - quiet, clean and nice. Then drove to Memphis. It was hot, there were cotton fields along the road and we were listening to soul/gospel on the radio. Got to Memphis and found Beale St. It has 3 blocks of no traffic and is all clubs, restaurants and shops and there is live blues everywhere. Wandered down to Sun Studios and did a great tour. The original recording studio is still there, same as it was in the 50's when Elvis, Johnny Cash, etc.. recorded. Then we caught a horse carriage tour of downtown and saw the Mississippi for the 1st time. Also found a cheap downtown hotel room for the night so we would not have to worry about parking, transit, etc.

and then back to Beale St. It is a music lover's heaven, live music in the park and in most of the clubs. All was blues, roots and soul. Beer was sold in "Big Ass Glasses" and could be carried in and out of the clubs and down the street. Dropped in at a bunch of places and saw/heard a lot of great music. We could spend a month there, I'm sure.

anyway, now its Monday and we are in the Mississippi Delta and I am sure will be able to find more great music and clubs. Hope everyine is doing well!

getting south

it was a driving week with a little play thrown in. Left Pennsylvania and hit Almost Heaven, West Viriginia (blue ridge mtns, shanendoah river, etc...). Nice state, lots of trees and 'mountains' and I got to sing John Denver endlessly. The mountains were a little shorter than those at home and had trees right to the top. Had to get off the secondary hwy and hit the interstate though as got tired of going back and forth, up and down and wearing out the brakes and tranny on our poor van. Interstate is better as I think they just carved a route thru the mountains. Spent 1 night in a State Park on a lake that looked like it usually had a lot of large boats on it but all the piers were pulled up, the boats were stored and the lake was way down (I think a dam reservoir). Dropped in at Charleston and wandered, nice old city but nothing special. That night (Wednesday) we got to West Virginia/Kentucky/Ohio borders. Did a quick loop over a bridge to Ohio just so we could say we were there and then stayed in Ashland, KY for the night. I don't know the words or music to "My Old Kentucky Home" so had to stop singing. Went to the YMCA next morning for gym/run/pool. I had never been to a "Y" b4. It is like any other gym except the average age was about 93. saw enough wrinkly white asses to last me a lifetime. Also interesting that they had a men's fitness area, a women's fitness area and a co-ed area. there were 2 hot tub/saunas, one in each of mens and womens areas and none in co-ed. I avoided the mens only sauna. Drove thru the Danial Boone Nat'l Forest (a song I did know!). I thought he was just a TV character but apparently he was a real guy. Also went past all the Lincoln sites (birthplace, school, etc., etc.). Apparently he was a real guy too.

we are now doing the "when in Rome, do as the Romans do" thing so on Thursday in KY we went to the track. Thought it would be neat to go to Churchill Downs but the thoroughbreds were only running in Keeneland in Lexington so we went there (see pic above). races started early afternoon and there were thousands of people there - I don't think anyone works for a living around here. Following this we went to the Wild Turkey bourbon distillery. Spent the night in Bowling Green and had to deal with a flat tire on the van the next morning. So far we have had a broken headlight, a dead battery and now a flat. Nothing serious though, so hope our luck holds out. 2nite in Nashville, Tennessee we are doing the Nashville thing - Grand Ole Opry here we come! Should be fun.

hashing in Pennsylvania

the highlight of the Poconos trolley tour was a view of the "Delaware Water Gap" and the natural profile of an Indian chief in the rock. It takes a really good imagination to see but it is right beside Monique's profile.

Left the Poconos on Sunday on route to State College, PA to hash with the Nittany Valley HHH. was having a nice casual drive until Monique discovered we were going the wrong way and ended up having to hit the interstate for a couple of hours to get there. Hash was in a pretty remote spot in a forest. about 40 people out, really nice and had a great time. The run was very long, a little shiggy but there were 3 beer checks which helped offset the fact that it was very hot and humid. After the run everyone stayed at the run site and the hares put on a BBQ with lots more beer, munchies and burgers. Monique and I ended up just staying there all night, it was a great spot to camp.

next day we went into State College - nice city (it is home to Penn State College) and then went to Penn's Cave just outside of town. they have a 1 hour boat tour of a large underground cave, really a neat place. not sure if the pic shows up but here it is.

did a little driving after that and stopped in a State Park to get wet, it is still very hot here. Now treating ourselves to a hotel room in Johnstown, PA. There is sooo much room! Watching Monday Night Football from Buffalo, NY where we were just 6 or 7 weeks ago.

hope everyone is doing well!!

US adventures

one last Canada pic - this is the "hole in the wall" which we hiked to on Grand Manon.

we decided to do a pretty quick drive to New York because it was getting too damn cold at night, so not a lot to update. drove further into Maine on Tuesday and then Wednesday drove through New Hampshire, Connecticut and Massach....

we avoided the interstate hwy, mostly travelled on Hwy 202, which must have been the old highway. It went through a lot of the cities and in many cases was actually Main St. Most of the cities have been there since late 1600's/early 1700's so some neat buildings/architecture, especially Lewiston and Augusta, Maine and Concord and Simsbury in Conn and Mass. License plate for New Hampshire is above - I have no idea where this saying comes from but it seems very American. Went to a gym after spending a night outside Augusta. we had found it on the internet and ended up being part of a ministry complex. after spending 1/2 hour on a treadmill looking at Luke 11.28, I think I am pure for the rest of the trip.

On Thursday it was close to 90 degrees and actually stopped for a swim in a lake/beach in Mass we happenend to pass by. In New York on Thursday Aneeda's directions somehow got us to an outlet mall?!? New York had by far the worst travel info (had trouble finding a place and when we got there info was very poor). With poor directions we spent a couple of hours looking for a campground but finally got some info from a security guy in the State Park. Signage was non-existent. Once we got there it was a really nice spot in a State Park with lots of big oak trees around a lake. They camp a little different there than we do here - rules included no pets, no booze, no more than 6 people on a site, no music/radio, no swimming as no lifeguards (beach was at least a mile of gorgeous clean sand with signs everywhere that swimming was prohibited), no balls or frisbees on the beach, etc...

On Friday we caught a bus to New York City. Did a lot of walking, saw a few sites and lots of people and traffic. It was a nice place to visit but would not want to live there. Friday night we tried to do the Walmart camping but got awakened at 11:30 by security guy who said town ordinance was that we could not be there. He was really good about it and gave us directions to a diner about 3 miles away that we could "camp" behind.

Saturday we crossed New Jersey into Pennsylvania and went on a trolley tour in the Poconos. It was so lame it was laughable, probably the worst $15 ever spent. Now at a nice campground though and planning on hashing with Nittany Valley tomorrow.

hope everyone is doing well.

last cdn pics

as promised - it is so easy to do this when there is a decent wifi connection. starting from top and going left to right:

hopewell rocks near Bay of Fundy Nat'l Park in NB. this is close to high tide. pic on the right is 3 hours earlier, we spent couple of hours wandering on ocean floor and then toured for a bit and came back to get prior pic. tide that day was 45 feet!

wharf at Parrsboro NS. we did not wait for high tide when these boats would actually be floating. This is where the whole harbour drains at low tide.

Me and the Bluenose II on a miserable day.
at Alexander Keith's...
Aneeda with a tugboat in Halifax (Theodore Too?)

the tidal bore near Truro. the wall of water moves very slowly as the tide is fighting the current, pretty cool.
Yesterday (Monday) we parked the motorhome and took a ferry to Grand Manon Island, NB. Saw a few whales and lots of porpoises on the 1 1/2 ferry ride, wandered the island for 4 hours and then rode back. It was a really neat place and great ride. then went to Calais, Maine. Beer and gas are cheap!!

hope everyone is doing well - will update with American adventures when able.