Shreveport, LA 4/15-16/09

We’ve never been to Louisiana, so I was really looking forward to spending some time in Shreveport. The campground was a fairly nice size, and we weren’t put off at all by the gator statue in front of the office! What you may not be able to see is that the sign reads, "Welcome friends"!




Each site had their own metal patio set consisting of a table and four chairs. That was a nice change from a picnic table! Of course, sometimes we don’t even get that! Our first day in Shreveport was spent getting a feel for the area, doing some research on things to do, and planning our next day.

Our first stop of the day was the Holy Trinity Catholic Church. You can see just how pretty it is from the outside. We were dismayed to find the church locked. That is such a rarity. We tried all the doors, but no luck. Finally Jim knocked on the office door and the janitor said he’d open the church up for us. We were able to see the main altar that was made of Italian marble and the more than 60 stained glass windows.



The city of Shreveport offers many free things to do. Riverview Park was our first destination in downtown Shreveport. This park is located on the banks of the Red River. It has several water fountains, a 300-foot-long floating boat dock, and a waterfall that cascades down multi-tiered rock steps.









Right next to the park is the Barnwell Garden and Art Center, which is also free. The current exhibition is called, “Simply Terry”, consisting of water colored paintings done by a woman named Terry Hershey, who died last September at the age of 101! All but a handful of her paintings were for sale. I fell in love with a few that I would have purchased in an instant if a) I had the money and b) I had a house to hang them!

We ate lunch at Ralph & Kacoo’s, on the recommendation of the woman from the art museum. I wanted to taste the local flavors. First we dined on fried green tomatoes, a Southern delicacy. They were good, although I’ve got to admit, I’d put near eat anything that was deep fried! The tomatoes are deep fried, then a little bit of a cream sauce is dribbled over them, with chunks of crab meat on top. Delish!



The main course …. Why crawfish of course! Never had them before, so I ordered the crawfish special which consisted of deep fried crawfish with fries AND crawfish etouffee over rice. Etoufee is a stew with crawfish, vegetables, and seasonings. The crawfish tasted like shrimp to me. Thankfully they were removed from their hard little red bodies before being deep fried. The etoufee wasn’t bad, had a little bit of a bite to it.




The dessert was decadent – caramel cheesecake with Godiva chocolate – to die for! Mmmmm…..




With full bellies, we drove around Bossier City which is located across the river from Shreveport. We were in search of some murals in the heart of the city. The most spectacular one is called Live Oak Avenue, a beautiful rendition of an actual place, Oak Alley Plantation.



The mural was located right next to the Bossier City Metal Art Zoo. This tiny little area features animals made from scrap metal and odds and ends, then painted with bright colors. Very eclectic!



We found the statue of Elvis on Elvis Presley Avenue in front of the Municipal Auditorium, where the King performed on the “Louisiana Hayride” (radio broadcast) for the first time in October 1954.





Heading back to the campground, we sat outside on our nice patio set in the cool breeze enjoying a cold one!

Sanger, TX or should I say "Singer,"? 4/14/09

Our favorite saying is, "Wherever you go....there you are!" No, actually, no matter where you go, you find something interesting. At least we do.

We were just staying the night in Sanger, TX. The campground was off of a country road in the small town, population just under 6,000. The campground was quite nice, set far back from the road with large spots to park.


The owner told us about a famous restaurant in town called, "Babe's" that served great chicken and chicken fried steak. He added that people came from all over to eat there because the food was so good and the waitresses sang to you. Well, this sounded better and better by the moment.

He said that there was a casino about 20 miles down the road. My eyes really lit up! Jim has to keep a rein on me because I could easily be a member of Gamblers Anonymous! But sometimes Jim's leash is like one of those choke collars you see on vicious dogs! I swear! What's $20 on the penny or nickel machine every now and then? And how can my ship come in if I'm never in the water? But I digress.


We decided to go to Babe's for dinner. The campground owner acted like we should be there when it opened (4:30)because of the crowds. Are we turning into old people or what?! I guess a Tuesday night is really not swinging, as there was just a handful of people there at that time.

There were a couple of gift shops next door to the restaurant, but I didn't go inside of them. They looked interesting from the outside, though.










I was so excited to hear our waitress sing! I asked her what she was going to sing and she explained that she was not one of the waitresses to sing. As a matter of fact, none of the singing waitresses were there yet. It seems the waitresses sang more on the weekends. Too bad!



The way Babe's works is this: they don't have menus but offer five kinds of entrees: fried chicken, chicken fried steak, chicken strips, catfish, and some kind of beef. Then they serve you family style mashed potatoes, gravy, creamed corn, green beans, and biscuits. Jim had the chicken fried steak and I had the fried chicken. Both were excellent. They have four different kinds of dessert and we had the chocolate pie. Again a wise choice. Yumm!



We didn't make it to a casino :( I ended up putting my quarters into a washing machine instead of a slot machine. What's wrong with that?! Yep - we sat there doing laundry at the campground that night. While the clothes were in the dryer, I walked down to see the horse that was fenced in down the hill. He was dirty, but curious about me. He would eat the grass from my hand, but wouldn't let me pet him. When I leaned over to pull the tall grass, he nuzzled my hair.




Just another day in middle America.

Strange Sightings

I've seem some strange things on the road. I keep my eyes open for odd billboard signs (see condom sign), funny restaurant names (Cutie Pie's Ribeyes), weird cars (see yellow classic), etc.



We were driving through Texas - not on a main four lane highway mind you, but more the back country roads. We went through a town, wish I knew it's name, but alas, I didn't notice it. Which is apropos because two of the places that caught my eye were: a motel called, "It'll Do Motel" and a restaurant called, "Nothing Fancy Cafe". Does this town need a boost in their self esteem or what? Maybe their name was, "Eeyore" like the Disney character who's known for saying, "Thanks for noticing me!"

I usually ride with my digital camera on my lap, ready to snap any photo opportunity that may come my way. Unfortunately I was kind of dozing when my eyes focused through the windshield on some large animals. I thought, "oh, camels. CAMELS!" By the time it registered that camels are not USUALLY found in fields in Texas, my photo op was gone. Camels in Texas. Who knew?

Right after that I saw a billboard that said, "What is your leg worth?" and under that was a phone number to call. Again I was a little dumbfounded. I turned and watched the billboard fly by, saw the same billboard in the other direction and still didn't get a picture of it! Are Texans so desperate that they are now selling their limbs? What am I missing here?

I'm posting some photos of the beautiful countryside we've seen on the drive.

Tucumcari, NM 4/11-12/09

We've traveled the I-40 corridor that runs east-west several times, so many of the towns were familiar to us. Last night we had stayed in Albuquerque, one of my many favorite places. But unfortunately, we just pulled into the campground and stayed put for the night. Now we planned to stay in the little town of Tucumcari, NM.

Tucumcari is the largest city between Amarillo, TX and Albuquerque, NM. This little hole-in-the wall town was once a booming place when Route 66 was popular, since it runs right down the main street.




At night the streets light up like the Vegas strip with cheap motels and gift shops.





The town's slogan "TUCUMCARI TONITE!" is seen all over town and along I-40 for many miles to the east and west of the town inviting motorists to stay the night in one of Tucumcari's "1200" motel rooms.















On the pop culture front, this little town has been featured on TV and in movies:

"1) Many of the scenes in the television show Rawhide (1959-1966) starring Clint Eastwood were shot in the Tucumcari area.

2) One of the killers in Truman Capote's 1965 book In Cold Blood asks about the travelling distance to Tucumcari. This scene appears in the 1967 film version of the novel.

3) Tucumcari is the setting of one of the first scenes in Sergio Leone's 1965 film For a Few Dollars More, starring Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Gian Maria Volonte.

4) The city is mentioned in the 1988 film Rainman by the character played by Tom Cruise. However, the location in the scene is clearly not Tucumcari."

(Above info from Wikipedia)

There are several stories how Tucumcari got it's name, but the most romantic one is as follows.

Apache Chief Wautonomah was dieing and was troubled by who would succeed him as ruler of his tribe. He had two great braves, Tonopah and Tocom. They were not only rivals but both were vying for the hand of the Chief's daughter, Kari. Kari loved Tocom. Chief Wautonomah called the two braves to his death bed and said, "Soon I must die and one of you must succeed me as chief. Tonight you must take your long knives and meet in combat to settle the matter between you. He who survives shall be the Chief and have for his squaw, Kari, my daughter."

The braves fought while unbeknownst to them, Kari hid nearby. When Tonopah killed Tocom, Kari rushed out and plunged her knife into Tonopah, then killed herself. When Chief Wautonomah saw this tragedy, he grabbed his daughter's knife and buried it deep within his heart, crying "Tocom-Kari", today a slight variation of the town's name - Tucumcari.



The campground that we stayed at was nondescript; it too was a hole-in-the wall. As a matter of fact, the campground owner seemed surprised when I told him that we were staying for two days! But I didn't want to travel on Easter Sunday and it was nice to stay put for two nights.

Jim and I drove around the town and took pictures of the several murals that were painted on the buildings of local businesses.















There were a few landmarks leftover from the heydays of Route 66 like the Blue Swallow Hotel, the Tee Pee Curios and the La Cita.








I was a little sad Easter morning, thinking that I forgot to leave the trailer unlocked so that the Easter bunny could come in and leave me some chocolate. Jim opened the door and stepped outside. "Look!" He called out. "The Easter bunny came!" I peeked out the door and there, much to my surprise, was a plastic egg, opened up on our mat, spilling out three chocolate eggs wrapped in foil! I was so touched by this gesture. I have no idea who left this for us, I mean, yes, thank you Easter Bunny! You made my day!

Here we go again! 4/11/09

We are on the road again. We've spent four wonderful, sunny months in Mesa, AZ. (Well, actually 3 months since we spent a month or so up near our new grand baby, Lily, in central IL between Dec-Jan).

Departing Mesa on 4/7 with hopes of being in and out of the RV dealer for minor repairs, in actuality it wasn't till three days later, two trips to have the trailer fixed, one trip to have the truck fixed, before we were really on the road heading east. Our goal is to drive the Natchez Trace, beginning in Natchez, Mississippi and ending in Nashville, Tennessee. But more on that later.

We've experienced some rough weather so far; rain, wind, hail, sleet and snow showers. It's as if God wants us to see what we've been missing ALL IN A MATTER OF DAYS! As a matter of fact, when it started raining the other night, I had to really think about what that sound was - it had been so long since we've had rain in Arizona!

So stay tuned, hold on tight, and ride along with us as we head east through NM, TX, LA, and MS.

I am a closet bowl licker....

Not a TOILET bowl licker, but cake mix bowl licker. You know, when you're done scraping the bowl, pouring the batter into the cake pan? Any adult knows that you should put the dirty pan into the sink. Nope, nope, nope. Not me. I start salivating. I make sure I leave a fair amount of batter on the spatula so I can take long licks off of it. I try not to moan out loud with pleasure so my husband, Jim, can't hear me and wonder what the heck I'm up to all by myself in the kitchen. I wrap my tongue around those individual beaters (unplugged and unhooked, of course). I'm waiting for my tongue to get stuck inside one of them, and then have to sheepishly wag my tongue in front of Jim to untangle. What a nightmare THAT would be.

When I've finished licking off all of the attachments/spatulas, I leave the bowl for last. I run my index finger along the side of the bowl and scoop up sizable amounts of batter. Yum! I try, I mean I REALLY try, to scrape the majority of the batter into the pan, but sometimes I just can't get all of it out. So what else can a person do? That batter is just BEGGING to be eaten!

My biggest worry now is, when my grandchildren come over and want to bake with me, how can I turn over the bowl to them for licking? Can I really hand over those deliciously dipped beaters? Will I be adult enough to let go?

My only solution? I'll have to buy enough to make another cake, mix it up, then eat the batter when the grandchildren leave. Because I have a feeling I'll be a bowl licker till I'm old and gray.

Chihuly

A large group of my friends, Jim, and I visited the Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden to see the exhibit, "Chihuly - the Nature of Glass." It was the perfect day to go - the weather was in the 70's and it was partly cloudy.



Dale Chihuly is a world renown glass sculptor who was born and raised in Tacoma, Washington. His work is recognized for its vibrant colors and grand scale and are found in more than 200 museums worldwide. This is Chihuly's first exhibition in a desert garden environment.



We walked around the garden and viewed the various structures amid the different kinds of cacti, bushes, trees and plants. The vibrant colors of the glass sculptures really stood out amongst the green and beige colors of the desert.



When the sun set, we walked through most of the garden again to view the glass sculptures lit up. The best ones were those that were lit from within. The most amazing one was a huge yellow neon tower that turned the whole area aglow in yellow. It could be seen from quite a distance.



If you have a chance to visit this traveling exhibit, I would highly recommend it.

I don't know nothin 'bout birthin' no babies!

You want to know what's harder than going through labor? Watching your CHILD go through labor. Let me tell you, I was just beside myself, watching my baby in pain. Even though I know millions of women go through this every day, it's not MY BABY.

Jessica was six days overdue when she mentioned to me that her face felt "funny" and that one side was not cooperating with the other side, especially when she smiled. When she blinked her eyes looked like the gates at a railroad crossing - they blinked alternately. My heart jumped into my throat - I thought that she possibly had a stroke.

"Do you think I should call the doctor?" she asked me innocently.

I immediately began to cry (ever the strong one - that's me) and answered, "YES!"

The doctor decided to admit Jessica for "observation" on Monday, 1/12. She was diagnosed with a slight case of Bell's Palsy, which is not too uncommon in the third trimester.

She was only dilated to 1 centimeter and 50% effaced so they decided to induce labor through various means. TWO days later, Wednesday, 1/14, Jess was only at 5 centimeters. Her blood pressure was going up pretty high. I was a nervous wreck. The first epideral that had been placed in on Monday wasn't working, so they yanked that one out and put a new one in. Jess was in a lot of pain and I couldn't understand what the doctor and midwife were waiting for to decide to take the baby by c-section. My eyes were filled with tears.

The midwife asked me if I knew a "Dr. Farley". I replied no.

She said, "Oh, you're not from around here."

"That's right," I said.

"Well," the midwife continued, "The doctor was a firm believer that the mother of the pregnant woman should never be in the delivery room. I never agreed with him. Now I see why he said that!"

As my twin sister would say, "Well la-de-freakin'-da lady!" That's all I wanted them to do was make a decision and get this baby out NOW!

And that's exactly what happened. Jess was wheeled into surgery, and wha-lah! A baby was born!

Introducing

Lilith (Lily) Winter Gray
8 lbs 1 oz
19 1/2 inches
11:16 a.m.
1/14/09

Tick, Tock

We are currently in Princeton, IL awaiting the birth of our granddaughter. And waiting. And waiting.

Our daughter, Jessica is due TODAY, January 7Th. We arrived here 10 days ago for the blessed event, hoping the baby would be born early so we'd have more days to enjoy her before we have to fly back to Mesa. Time is slipping away, she is still inutero, and I'm trying to will her out.

Poor Jess is so swollen, like Violet Beauregarde in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.





She is SO ready for this baby to come out. The midwife has suggested that Jessica either a) drink some Castor oil in the morning (causing a shitload of diarrhea and then the onset of labor) OR b) have intercourse. I, personally would prefer (b), but apparently, neither option seems appealing to my daughter. I can't imagine why with her stomach out to HERE, and her cute, skinny little feet swollen beyond recognition. She just wants the baby out, "NOW!"

But we all know that the baby will come when she is good and ready. SHE doesn't care that Grandma is pacing the floor counting the days till she has to leave; SHE doesn't care that Mommy can't possibly get any bigger or she'll explode; SHE doesn't care that it would have been more convenient for her to have been born during the last two weeks while Daddy was home from teaching on Christmas break. No, none of these thoughts seem to bother her.

Although it's getting crowded where she is, it's warm and dark and she is comforted by the sound of Mommy's voice and heartbeat.

And so we wait. And wait. For Baby Girl Gray

The Eagle has landed, or Big Blue has dropped his load

Well, it was time to leave our nice little oasis outside of Bisbee. We had a great five days here in this valley, surrounded by mountains. We were on the road by 9:30 am, heading towards our winter home of Mesa, Arizona.

For the past several days, we've passed this sign while driving: "Animals on Road" Next 3 Miles, or Next 5 miles, or whatever. My point is, it is never clarified as to what KIND of animals might be on the road. We've seen signs with pictures of cows to signify open range, signs for elk and we've all sign signs for deer crossing. We even saw a sign once with a picture that kind of looked like a horse and kind of looked like a mule, and we deducted that they were wild mules. Sure enough, not too far away from that, we saw wild mules! But to have the sign just say "animals" and not be specific made me wonder, just what EXACTLY was roaming around out there in the desert? I know there are coyotes. Jim said that there were probably mountain lions. Greaaat. Javalinas, too. It's a wonder anyone ventures out after dark!

On our way from Bisbee to Mesa we passed a few interesting places. The first one was the Pinal Air Park, a "boneyard" for civilian commercial aircraft.




The thought is that the dry desert air will prevent any corrosion in case the planes are needed for duty in the future. Most of the aircraft end up being scrapped anyway. The majority of the planes are from Northwest Airlines, but other airlines are represented, too. Click here if you want to see an aerial photo of the boneyard.

The Davis-Monthan Air Force Base nearby is the boneyard for military aircraft.

The second interesting place was the Holy Trinity Monastery and RV Park. We were driving through the small town of St. David's and spotted a huge Celtic Cross behind some trees on the left side of the road. Then we saw the sign for the Monastery. The Monastery has a beautiful garden, bird sanctuary and an art gallery. It was created as a sanctuary for both monks and sisters of the church. Also people can live there temporarily in RV's and work on the grounds of the Monastery. This isn't a regular RV Park. According to website that I found, "Not all who come here just want to stretch their legs. Those wishing to make a retreat as a single or a group retreat can make arrangements to stay in the Monastery 's very simple accommodations where simple meals are included, or in the RV park. All guests of the Monastery, single or groups are expected to participate in the tradition of monastic retreats which exercises silence, solitude, simple living, community and personal prayer. The Benedictine Rule is followed at Holy Trinity Monastery." For more information on the Holy Trinity Monastery go to http://www.holytrinitymonastery.org

The third interesting place is Picacho Peak, which towers 1,500 feet over Interstate 10 and is located just 35 miles northwest of Tucson. Hiking, camping and picnicking are available at the state park.



I think with these three interesting places, we'll just have to plan a stay in the area to visit them.

We stopped for gas and I needed to use the restroom. In the bathroom stall butcher block paper (about 3 feet wide by 2 feet high) was taped on the wall. People (I assume women!) wrote all over it. I guess when it gets all filled up, they just replace the paper. It's like graffiti on a magic slate. Some of the messages written:

"The mountain at my back &
the ocean at my feet....
Back to California
but man it's sure
been sweet."
JCS
11/28/08

"Don't try to teach a pig to sing -
it annoys the pig."

Soooo, that was my enlightenment for the day.

We pulled into our home away from home, in Mesa, around 2:00 pm. It was about 77 degrees and sunny. Aaahhh

We will be parked here for four months.