After Texas

Well our time in Texas has ended, yeah!! We had all these plans for our trip home and it started off ok. When we got almost to Lafayette we realized there was a storm coming. Early the next morning we took off seemingly just ahead of the storm. As we traveling across I-10 the man from the swamp tour called and cancelled. So we continued on. We arrived in New Orleans early afternoon. We parked along the street at John's Step mom's house. Where he grew up. We were visiting when the lighting and thunder caught up to us. It was a gully washer. The street flooded. Water was up on on tires of the Jeep and trailer. About 2 hours later it was all pumped down. In New Orleans they have large pumps that suck out the water.

We then went over to Aunt Merle's. She insisted that we stay in her house instead of sleeping in the trailer in her driveway. We had a great visit and I learned alot about John's early life. It also gave Aunt Merle a chance to talk about her Mr. Paul.

We went on Sunday to the Mardi grau parade. I turned into a 10 year old and collected two bags of beads and stuffed animals, a football and socker ball, and plastic cups. It was great fun. We didn't get a chance to go downtown where all the real partying was going on. But that was alright.

We traveled on the next morning, the Jeep seemed to be experiencing a reduction in power but we pulled off and when we restarted it seemed fine. We stayed just east of Tallahassee at a KOA. The next morning it became clear only after a few miles that we were experiencing a problem with the power again. This time stopping and slowing didn't cure it. We made a couple calls and determined we should go up to Valdosta, Ga (30 miles) rather than backtrack to Tallahassee (45 miles). We got a campground located and dropped the trailer and John took the Jeep to the dealer. Late that day he came back and said they told him to limp on home and get it fixed at home because it would take several days. So we had to cancel our stop in Daytona to see my mom.

We took the slow way home and the next day we took the Jeep to the dealer. It did take a few days to get it serviced. Now all is well except the bank account. We started in on our yard and John got back to work. It really feels good to be home again.

Deep down in Texas

We decided to go to new Braunfels, Texas a couple weeks ago. It was only about two hours from Houston. We had heard there was a German settlement there. We weren't looking for the sauerkraut but wine and caverns. The Natural Bridge Caverns are located just south of town. It seems a landowner had a sink hole develop on her property in the early 60's and some college students investigated and found an underground room. With more investigating and some pilot holes they eventually found several rooms. It's not as large as Meramac Caverns in MO or Carlsbad in New Mexico but a great stop in Texas. This cave was not inhabited by Bats or been disturbed by the men of the West. The tour guide told us the formations grow at a rate of 1 cubic inch every hundred years: The stalagmites were (18-20'), straws (6-12'), curtains (6-10'),and stalactites (18-20'). We went on a double tour of two different areas. They had over the years put in lights and a path to include stairs. We took several pictures. We had to use the flash to even see them. At one point on the second tour they turned off the lights and we couldn't even see our hand in front of our face.

We then went to the town of Gruene pronounced green. There we tasted wine, and looked at antiques. We ate at a nice restaurant and I had a grilled cheese sandwich, they put spinach on it. This was a good day trip.

Our adventures will continue as we start back to SC. Our first stop will be Lafayette, LA to go on a Swamp tour, then on to New Orleans to see a Mardi Gras parade and then on to FL to visit with my mom in Daytona Beach, which by the way is during Biker Week....

This is Texas??

We have been so surprised, it's so cold here in Texas. We got back from the holidays and the weather turned frigid. Who knew that Houston would have this kind of weather. They say it's very unusual, probably because we're here. The first Day of the storm our water froze. However, I used the hairdryer and thawed the pipes. The next few days we left the water dripping and that seemed to be the answer. We had a good 4 days of warmer weather and the cold is starting again this week.

The wind here is really a surprise. When we first got here it was very hot. So I can imagine the summer is very hot. I'd hate to be here when there are hurricanes. All and all it's good to get to see other parts of the country.