Miles to Go

With miles to go before we rest.   Well, okay, we did park for two night here in New Mexico, but now that the driver has rested, watched too many people with more money that I have fix up their dream houses (HGTV), caught up on laundry, resupplied the groceries and walked dogs, it is time to move on towards Arizona.

Last I posted I had left New Orleans and my private tour guide Claudia and headed over to check out another Louisiana State Park. This one near another of my WomanRV friends, Martha and Abbyville.    

Abbyville, Louisiana, is more a reflection of the real Louisiana.  Mostly small houses and businesses struggling to keep the doors open.

The best part of town is that it has two main squares that have been preserved.  The Courthouse Square is above.

The main street business district.

Connecting to the Church Square.   Driving past the church I noticed that double parking for church activities on Saturday morning is permitted here in Louisiana.  Martha and I couldn't decide if the even might be a wedding or a funeral.

After the driving tour of Abbyville Martha and I headed off towards Lafayette and lunch with a couple of other women who RV.   And yes there might have been a stop or two to take in a thrift store.   Lunch: me, Martha, Carolyn and Michelle, a friend of Carolyn and Martha's. 

The following day I headed out towards Houston by way of Route 82, which took me along to coast line of Louisiana and the back roads.  I got a clear sense to what the tidal surges of Katrina and then Rita did on housing.  Most of the buildings that I saw looked like they had been constructed since the storms and rose up high on their pillars above the next tidal surge to come.   I also got to take a ferry across one of the rivers for the charge of a dollar.  Cars were a dollar. Motor homes towing a car were a dollar.  Not bad pricing.

The drive also impressed upon me what the oil industry and refineries mean to the Louisiana shorelines.

Upon arriving at my campground just east of Houston I got hold of Chris (Otherwise know as Red) and Al who had offered to drive up and get together for a meal and a chance to catch up.  I hadn't seen Chris since meeting up with her in Wyoming on my way to Oregon several years ago.

Apparently if it is your birthday you get to sit on the saddle and hear everyone yell "Yee Haw" with you.

From Houston I drove on over to Potter Creek COE campground just north of San Antonio. Potter's Creek is known by many as a great camping place and I now know why.  The lake is beautiful and peaceful.   I thanked my friend Nikki for recommending taking sites up under the trees though.  I can only imagine hot hot some of those full sites are in the summertime.  The dogs enjoyed the wide open spaces and longer walks.

Sunset falls over the campsite.

The area is know for its friendly critters.

Nikki and little Maddie and sweet Olive met up several times a day for walks with Lark and Audrey and I.

We took a day trip over to Guene, Texas, and a walk around town complete with a peek inside the old dance hall.   The dance hall part is behind the front bar section.   Looks a little slow at the bar in the middle of the afternoon.

Tomorrow we give up our cable (luxury) and with clean laundry packed away, head farther west on I-10. I will look for the weather reports from Ohio and watch the winter storm that is predicted to drop inches of snow in the Midwest.   But really, who needs snow storms on weekends?   Definitely a waste of great snow for students and teachers alike. Once a teacher, always a teacher.