Columbus, Texas

The past two days we have been in Columbus, Texas.  Columbus is the largest city in Colorado County, Texas.  It is sixty-five miles west of Huston, on a small rise south and west of a lazy horseshoe bend in the Colorado River.  In 2003, it had an estimated population of 3,905.  It is also know as the City of Live Oaks.

 

One doesn't have to look to far to see many beautiful old oak trees.  Their shapes are absolutely intriguing.  I could hardly stop taking pictures of them.   I won't bore you with them all, but can't resist showing you two of them.

 

This small town is proud of their past with many historic buildings well care for.  They have what they call 'talking houses'.  You know the old saying, 'If this house could talk', well they found a way to make them talk.  How did they do that, you ask?  They have selected nine houses and equipped them with radio transmitters operating on specified AM frequencies.  The  transmitter broadcasts a pre-recorded message about that house.  In front of these nine houses, these is a sign outside which tells you what station to turn  your radio to.  Did I forget to you that this is a driving tour in your own car?

 

We enjoyed this charming little town with a treasure-trove of Victorian and turn of the century homes.

Livingston, Texas

 

We are still in Livingston Texas.  We had planned on leaving last Wednesday, but it was  raining so hard, we'll stay a little longer.   The October Fest is over and we had a great time.  The motto this year was "Harvesting Knowledge From A Gathering of Friends."  It was a fun week with tons of things to do.  Lunches, dinners,  seminars, crafts, tours, nightly entertainment, games, vendors  and of course Bingo. 

 

While we were here we met a bloggers from the Isle of Man, England.  They are an adventurous couple touring the US in their small motorcoach that  was shipped over from England.  I  think  they were here for 9 months total.  They have a daughter working in Canada, so they skipped up there too.  If you would like to check out their blog, here it is, but there is no where to leave a comment.

 

 

 

 http://www.manxsnails.co.uk/rsbloggSept.html      or

 

RSBlogg  

 

If the weather is good, we will be leaving here this coming Monday for the San Antonio, TX. area.  I have been lucky having WiFi all the time that we have been here.  You never know When we will get it again.  Gosh, I hope we have it Nov. 2nd to vote.

Happy Haloween

Thanks to Missie at: http://journals.aol.com/chat2missie/missies-magical-creations/ for the lovely Halloween Graphic.

 

I have selected two Haloween cards for you.

Which one do you like best?

 

http://www.banjobunny.com/pages/view.php?CardID=2480

 or

 

http://www.banjobunny.com/pages/view.php?CardID=2499

 

Have a happyday.

Thank You All

 

Yesterday I received  THE notice that my journal, the very one that you are reading, has been nominated for the 2006 VIVI Award for Travel.  I am doing the happy dance. You guys are just awesome and I appreciate your votes. And the best part of this, we're making it easy for you, no need to register, just go to  2006 VIVI AWARD JOURNAL .   Voting begins Nov. 2nd.

 

I wish all the nominees good luck.   Such a fun time.      Dawn

Pontchartrain Causeway

 

A quick and heartful thanks to all that nominated my journal

 

Pontchartrain Causeway

 

  We are now in Livingston, Texas, our home park of the Escapee RV Club.   Fulltimers, like all others should have a legal domicile, and this is just one of the benefits  the Escapee club offers.  When we decided to go on this adventure, we needed to associate ourselves with a new state.  As much as we love Massachusetts, the taxes are high.  A couple of years before we retired, we started researching all our future possibilities regarding this new lifestyle.  That's when we found the Escapee's, with their arms wide open, welcoming new folks to Texas.  Texas has no income tax, which appealed to us.  Next  we found that they have developed a booklet just for folks like us, called "How To Become a Real Texan,"  what more could we hope for?     Anyway, I have strayed off the subject. 

 

I wanted to tell you about the Pontchartrain Causeway.  This is a bridge like no other crossing over Lake Pontchartrain, which I'm sure you remember as the lake that flooded over the land with Katrina.   This causeway or bridge  consists of two parallels , 24 mile-long spans making it the world's longest overwater highway bridge. The twin bridges are supported by more than 9,500 hollow-cylinder pilings approximately 55 inches in diameter; the largest piles ever driven at the time of the first span's construction in 1955.  This is one busy bridge, servicing more than 3,500 vehicles durning a peak hour.   It's a toll road that is so long that  for 8 miles, you can't see land!

 

This was posted the day before we left as it was windy and rainy:

 

Advisory Posted: Monday, October 16, 2006 at 08:14 AM

CAUTION: There are high crosswinds on the Causeway. Be especially careful in the vicinity of the crossovers. High wind conditions may cause your vehicle to drift down wind. If necessary, reduce speed to maintain proper control of your vehicle. Due to severe weather, motorcycles, recreational vehicles and glass trucks will not be permitted on the Causeway until conditions improve. CAUTION: There is light to moderate rain on the Causeway. The roadway is wet and may be slippery in some areas. For your safety, turn on your headlights and reduce speed.

 

The pictures above are not mine, but thought you might like to see them.

Slidell, LA.

 

After, over a year, most people don't realize that the effects of Katrina are still being felt everyday  by the majority of the people living in  Slidell, Louisiana, where the eye of the storm struck directly.  Only 40% of homes have been repaired or rebuilt.  One reason is that most people didn't have flood insurance, so the homeowners policy only covered what ever damage came from above the roof.  And as we know all were flooded.  

 

We drove down several streets and most are still living in FEMA trailers in their front yards of what is left of their homes.   There is some rebuilding going on, and  others have just abandoned their homes and moved elsewhere.  As we drove along we saw cars buried under houses, boats along the road , having been thrown from heavens know where.  The garage doors on many homes still bear the markings of when the authorities search for bodies and people needing help.  What they did was mark the front of the house or garage door with a big X.  On the top of the x, they would write their search team number, such as, say 19, and below they would write the number of bodies found.  Some of this is still visible,  a daily reminder of Katrina's devastation.

 

Another thing we could not help but notice was the flying of American flags on these storm wreck homes, same having no walls, but a pole stuck in the ground, with the flag waving proudly.  A resilient group of people  full of hope and courage.  I salute them and am humbled by their strong attitudes.

Alabama

 

Yesterday we went to the beach at the Gulf Coast.   While we were there they had large equipment on the beach moving large amounts of pure white sand around.  We also saw signs announcing a National Shrimp Festival there in just two days.  We must stay here for that we thought.  So here we are.    We are staying until Friday before leaving for Louisiana.

 

A few days ago we took a ride to Pensacola, Florida for the day.   We enjoyed the beach, 52 miles of it,  but could not help but notice all the rebuilding in the beach area of homes, hotels, and rental units mostly high off the ground on stilts.  The colors selected for the new buildings are wonderful, soft yellow, pale green, salmon, beige, and pinks.   I am sorry I didn't take any pictures of the houses.

 

Pensacola is home to the Navel Air Station and home to the famous Blue Angels.

 

Blue Angels : Official Website

 

Today we went back to the Gulf Shore for the National Shrimp Festival.  Crowds, music, crafts,  and all kinds of food to tempt the pallet.   Neither Bob or I need a lot of tempting to succumb to temptation.   The offerings were Crawfish Pie, Gumbo, Polish sausage, shrimp, chicken, red beans and rice, and pork.  Can't remember it all.   We selected fried crawfish tails, and a seafood plate and then a fennel cake just because we like them! 

 

We leave tomorrow for Louisiana.  Hope I can find Wi-Fi

 

Gas $2.14

Diesel $2.69

Home of the Throwed Rolls

 

Home of the Throwed Rolls

 

A couple of days ago we went to Lambert's  Cafe's, known for it's

"throwed dinner rolls"  It seems that back in 1976, a customer was impatient for his bread roll and hollered out, "Throw the damn thing!" and they are still doing it.  The food here is homestyle cooking and pleanty of it.  Drinks come in oversized 32 oz glasses.  They also have pass arounds to each table all durning the meal.  Examples were fried poatoes & onions, macaroni & tomatoes, black-eyed eas, apple butter. and last but not least sorghum molasses.

I had a salad the likes that I had never seen before.  It was served in a giant bread bowl with a very large rim on it.  It over- shadowed the dinner plate that it was sitting on.  Very yummy.

 

Would you like a beer?

You can hold your beer without your hands and you do not even have to go back to the fridge (lets hope it’s not hot or you will be drinking warm beer…not nice).
The beer belt is fully adjustable and if you prefer bottled beer  then you will be happy to know that it supports both bottles and cans.
Not sure how you will look with this on…would you wear one?
Via     Gadgets.dk

Georgia and Alabama

 

Yesterday we left Georgia and  are now in Alabama heading for  the Gulf Shores.  We are currently in Opelik, AL. and are enjoying WiFi again.  Yea  Internet!   Yea journals!  Yea emails from family and friends.  We will leave here Wednesday morning.  

 

As I look back on Georgia, one would think we were researching a book entitled " Eat Your Way Across the USA"  Endless eating out enjoying the company of good friends.  We found the best service is in North Carolina and Georgia. 

 

The COE park where we stay in Georgia is still a lovely setting, but the lake water has been drained to a very low level.   It seems as though Florida needed some water and the gages were faulty and to much water wash released.   It didn't effect the swimming, you only had to walk further out to get to it, but many of the home owners around the lake had problems with their boating.

 

Anohter thing I should mention here is the friendlyness of the southern people.  People speak to you as they pass by,  "How you doing today?" , "You'll have a nice day."   That doesn't happen in Boston .  And anoter thing, we were in Cracker Barrell the other day and the music was Western type and then "How Great Thou Are" came on.  Never happen in New England.

Have a nice day.   We are off to the Mobile area, somewhere!!!