November 2013

Well friends, we made it home safe and sound. We certainly have a beautiful country and there is still so much to see. After we get caught up from this adventure, hopefully, we will start looking at the next one. I need a place to come home to, but, I think I could really do this travel thing for awhile.

100 days, 15,000+ miles, 19 states, 2 countries, 31 rv parks ---------------------------------------------- quite a trip and I loved every minute of it.

My favorite stops: Glacier National Park, definitely, Yellowstone and Grand Tetons. Everyone should get to go there at least once. Hopefully, we will be able to go back one day because there are a lot of hikes we missed. And that is another thing, whoever would have thought we would have enjoyed that hiking so much!

I think the friendliest and most proud state was Texas. That could be because everything is booming in Texas; the economy is good, but, then how could it not be with all that oil, cattle and cotton; home to 6 of the top 50 Fortune 500 companies. I know they have their border problems, but, fortunately, we didn't get that far south.

My least favorite state would be New Mexico, although, that doesn't mean it was bad, just not my favorite.

Of course the most beautiful was Montana followed by Wyoming, only because of my favorite stops! The most surprising state, Utah. We probably spent more then we ever would have imagined; just never gave that much thought to Utah but, there is a lot to see there.

The best campgrounds overall are probably the Corp of Engineer parks for several reasons. They are usually on the water, the "senior" rate was never over $12/nite and they are usually always paved sites and kept up very well! Campgrounds in the NW and W are definitely more expensive then the south! The most expensive gas was in Montana, $4.14 for regular which is 85 octane (not good for our truck) and $4.24 for the "real" regular, 87 octane. I think we bought the leasts expensive gas in either Texas or Louisiana, $2.92.

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog. Although I started it as kind of a journal, so we could look back at all the great things we saw and did because the old memory isn't what it used to be, it has been fun having you along for the ride.

God Bless America!!

It was a pretty long drive, pulling a trailer, from NOLA to Panama City Beach but we made it!

After all the beautiful scenery we have seen, I must say, it was a nice feeling to see the beach, smell the salt air and feel the WARM wind on our faces. Ok, the wind was a little strong, in fact, way too windy but that only lasted a couple of days. St. Andrews is one of our favorite Florida State Parks, one of the few you can get directly on the water, which we love! (The other being Gamble Rogers on the other coast).

We spent the next few days vegging on the beach which is absolutely gorgeous. Sure can't beat these Florida beaches in the panhandle.

And, we weren't done with our wildlife viewing yet.

So funny, we were walking up the path from the beach to the parking lot and we ran into these two friends

A lot of places are closed down here for the season, but, we did head over to Uncle Ernie's (our favorite place to eat in PC) for a nice dinner before we head back to the "burg".

Ok, heading home. I will do one more post on the "conclusion". Don't turn off your set just yet.

We left Beaumont early to try to beat the storms which the radar showed they were moving in fast. We didn't get much in the way of rain on our trip to NOLA, but, the wind was something else. About half way through the trip, I heard a strange noise. I had gotten paranoid about the trailer as we had heard a weird noise the day before but finally figured out it must have been the tires sliding on the wet roads. Well, Bob stopped at the next exit and pulled into the truck stop; got out, walked around the trailer......flat tire!!! Knock on wood, but, this is the first problem we have had. We were lucky, though. No damage to trailer and it wasn't raining when we had to change it. That done, on to NOLA, without further incident.

We had thought we would go down to Bourbon this night, to check out their Halloween festivities but it was suppose to rain, which it did, cats and dog,, so we decided to forgo that until Friday.

Day 1 - Friday, Nov. 1, 2013
Just hung out around the park today. Decided we would go down to Bourbon around sunset. We usually go to Algiers and take the ferry over to Canal Street because parking is so ridiculous in NOLA. Well, best laid plans and all that; we get to Algiers and can't believe there aren't any cars parked around the ferry terminal. We're thinking this is great...we can park right next to the terminal, then, Bob spots the sign saying the last ferry is at 7pm. What???!! It's suppose to run until 2am! Nothing to do but drive in, which we did. We ended up parking off Canal street and walked down to Bourbon.

Found a bar (imagine that!) with a good band, The Famous Door (the bar, not the band) and hung out there for awhile. We then walked down to the Sing Sing which was a really good blues/jazz dive the last time or two we were here, but, wasn't so hot this night, so, back to the Famous Door.

The one bar these Seminoles did NOT go into.............

Day 2 - Sat, Nov. 2, 2013
Happy Birthday to my dear husband....may you have many more! And for your birthday, the Seminoles will blow those Hurricanes away! Lots of football today; Florida/Georgia game and then the FSU/Miami game. Go Gators and Go Noles.
Turns out.........Not so good for Gators :-[ ..........................but.................................................

A good day!

Day 3 - Sun, Nov 3, 2013
Headed to Panama City Beach today.
Feels like home!

This was an overnight stop coming from Austin, headed to NOLA. We left Austin with rain in the forecast and only hit some drizzle on the way in to Beaumont. Since we wanted to get an early start the next day, we didn't even unhook the trailer. The park owner told us severe storms were expected the next day, so, we wanted to get out ahead of them.

Not much else to report.