May 5 and 6 Travel to Pigeon Forge
We spent the first night at a Wal-Mart in Attala, AL. There were lots of big rigs that pulled in and out of here. Wal-Mart has signs up that say they could not park here but they must allow them to stop for a nap before going on down the road. None stayed over-night but there was always some there through the evening and the next morning before we left. In the morning we left about 8:30 and soon were we in Tennessee. As we get closer to Chattanooga we are reminded of our stay here in 2004. At that time we did a little site seeing and took an Incline Railway up to the top of Lookout Mountain. There is a beautiful view of the city from there. These pictures were taken from Lookout Mountain in 2004.

A little further up the highway we saw signs for the Ocoee River which brought back memories of our drive through the Ocoee River basin and the Whitewater Center where some of the 1996 Summer Olympics were held. It is a gorgeous area too.

April 13 thru May 4 New Orleans Area

We traveled just 200 miles today to the New Orleans area. We had hoped to stay at the State Park in Madisonville but it was full and we backtracked about 25 miles west to the Hidden Oaks RV Park in Parker, LA. We will stay here until next Monday when we have reservations at another State Park in Mandeville, LA. We have stayed there in Mandeville many times when in the New Orleans area. It is a very nice park with lots of places to walk, right on the Ponchetrain Lake, and has special rates for Golden Age Passport members, only $8 per night. We can only stay 2 weeks at a time but that is all we plan to stay this year. The park was hit pretty hard by Hurricane Katrina and has been restored quite nicely with new bath houses and a big beautiful fish pier and beach on the shore of the lake. The trees really took a hit and are just now coming back, looks sort of like a tornado went through.New Orleans is having their well known annual Jazz Fest while we are here and Gene’s brother and wife who live in Florida will also be here. On Friday, April 17, we went to NO to the French Quarter Jazz Fest which is not the same as the NO Jazz fest. Gene found out about it while talking with a lady here in the RV Park. She told him it was free and there would be several bands. It was just as she said, about 10 band stands across all of the French Quarter and River Walk in NO….and about a kabillion people. They changed bands about every 2 hours so there was lots of different kinds of music. We had a great time. Got there about noon and were still walking and enjoying the music at 5. We decided to ride the St. Charles Street Car just for fun which was to opposite direction of where our car was parked, about 10 blocks. We got to the pick-up stop and waited nearly a half hour but it did not show up so we walked all the way back to the car. Needless we say, we were tired after being on our feet 6 hours today. We walked about 17 blocks to get there and another 16 in a different direction to get back to our car. On Friday April 24 we went to the Destrehan Plantation just west of New Orleans. It was established in 1787 and is the oldest documented plantation home in the lower Mississippi Valley. Its original owner only lived in it for 2 years at which time he died. The noble Destrehan families purchased it in 1792. At the time of purchase the plantation was growing and refining indigo but very soon the Destrehan family changed to sugar cane and the family perfected the granulation of sugar. This plantation, like many, was like a small village comprising 6000 acres stretching for 2 miles along the Mississippi River and north to Lake Ponchetrain. Everyone worked including the family and the slaves who were treated quite well. The slaves were not over-worked and in their free time had a garden and sold their crops back to the owners, to other communities and to farmers markets. In 1864, while the family was living abroad, the Union Army seized the house and established the Rost Home Colony where newly freed slaves learned trades. After the war it was returned to the family. But in 1910 was sold and at that time the cash crop became refining of oil. In 1959 the oil refinery closed down and for twelve years the house decayed. Then it and four acres of land were deeded over to the River Road Historical Society. Renovation began in 1971. It now has been completely restored and filled with early to mid 19th century furnishings. The guided tour was very interesting and full of info about the lifestyles of the families and the slaves.

On April 24 we drove to New Orleans to go to a very boring small Civil War Museum. We expected much more or would not have gone there. After, we found a restaurant serving Mexican food on Magazine Street near the Garden District and then drove through the 9th Ward that was nearly wiped out by Katrina. It looks much different but still many houses are just standing there, empty and broken. It appears to us that about ½ or less of the homes have been restored and are being lived in. It seems like many of them had new roofs put on but then did nothing else. We assume insurance may have covered that but not the flood damage. Most have cleaned up around the homes but a few have done nothing and the weeds are about 5 to 6 feet high. It would be hard living next to some of the areas. Many shopping malls and some Wal-Mart’s are still standing vacant. But it looks so, very much better than when we last saw it.

Gene’s brother did not come for the NO Jazz fest so we will not be going there either since we saw the French Quarter Fest earlier. We left Fountainbleu State Park on May 5. This is one of our favorite campgrounds across the USA. First of all we get a very special price here, there is no extra fee for a park permit, and it is beautiful. Hurricane Katrina did lots of damage here but they have rebuilt the campground…even better than before. The beach along the north shore of Lake Ponchetrain is beautiful and they have added a very nice decorative fishing pier. We love walking and riding our bikes along the many roads through the area. Most of the big very old Live Oaks withstood the winds. Many of them lost upper branches but they are growing back. We will be back here again someday. Thanks, Louisiana, for making your state parks affordable for senior citizens.

March 24 thru April 12

The first week we were back from our caravan tour we spent regrouping, taking care of some business stuff and visiting with friends in The Valley. One of the things we did was to find a different RV park for next winter and made reservations at Trophy Gardens in Alamo. We had a great time this year at Mission Bell but they are having some internal problems that we did not want to deal with. We made friends with several new people who we hope to keep in contact with via e-mail and perhaps see again next year in The Valley. It is a great place to spend the winter. On March 31 we traveled to Sulphur, LA. Our plan is to leave the RV here as we make our way to S. Dakota to renew our driver’s licenses. We were delayed one day due to a predicted blizzard in S. Dakota. It did not happen and in fact they had only a very small amount of snow. We left on Sunday and got back on Wed evening, driving for about 10 hours a day. We drove through states with not much to see except for the hills, mountains if you want to call them that, in Arkansas and Missouri. It was a pretty drive on an almost new highway from Fayetteville to Ft. Smith in Arkansas. Other than that it was mostly flat land with bare fields and some cattle. The roads in Iowa were in bad shape most of the way or lanes closed where they were making repairs. After returning we spent one day going through the area that was so devastated by Hurricane Rita which went through in 2005. One small town, Holly Beach, was completely wiped off the map. Today it has about 15-25 homes that are sitting up on 8 ft high stilts, a few mobile homes and RVs. We did not see any businesses or government buildings. It will never be the same town that it was. We have decided we would not want to live in this area that is so vulnerable. On Saturday night we went to the local VFW dance and had a good time. We hope to be able to find places to dance wherever we are this summer. On Easter Sunday we went to a small Baptist Church that was having an Easter Special by their Choir. It was great music telling the Easter story.

We started 2009 in Mission Texas. Here we enjoy meeting new people who have become good friends. We have exchanged addresses and or email addresses with them and hope to keep up with their travels as well as they with ours. Sue goes to exercise Monday through Thursday each week and the other days sometimes she exercises at home and some not…probably mostly not. Gene walks each morning at the same time…only he is faithful to do it every day. Most days we find something outside the park we want to do We both walk about 2 miles at a very nice park near the RV Resort in the afternoon. . At least 2 evenings a week we go dancing at various RV parks in the area. We have special bands we enjoy dancing to and go wherever they are playing. One couple from the park joined us at several dances. Another couple (singles) we just met at a dance and they have become good friends and we sure hope to continue that friendship. We continued our dancing lessons this year to try to become better dancers. We are still working on that. As we did last year, we enjoyed the musical talents of musicians who come to the Rio Grand Valley to entertain and some local high school and college talent too. The weather here is great, with temperatures averaging mid 70’s with highs up to almost 90 some days. We wanted to share some pictures of Mission Bell RV Resort so that you can see our Texas Winter home. As you can see, the park is quite crowded with very narrow streets and the lot sizes are small. For that reason, when we come to the valley next winter, we will find an RV Park more to our liking. There are a couple hundred here to choose from so we should be able to find one. One of the reasons we like it here so much is the beautiful dance hall they have, touted to be the best here in the Rio Grande Valley. It is huge and has a beautiful wood floor. But we can come back here to dance any time we want.

We started 2008 here at the park and we ended it here. It seems like home a little bit. 2008 has been a full year and we praise God for all He has given us and especially for our good health and our safety. We stayed here for 2 months this year and on Jan. 22, 2009 we moved over to Texas Trails RV Park where a group of 21 RV’s are rendeveauing to prepare for a trip to Mexico. What a great time we will have. . This morning as I post this we are hitting the trail for Mexico. May God bless us and keep us safe