Author: daveleu

 

 

After resting a couple of days from our New Orleans French Quarter eating fest with Larry and Ruth, we returned to the city to explore the National World War II Museum and to grab a couple of more muffulettas. We love exploring museums wherever we go as they expose us to the historical perspectives that they offer. We had driven by this museum each time we entered New Orleans and were anxious to visit it.

The museum is affiliated with the Smithsonian Museum of Washington DC and Congress has designated it as America’s official National World War II Museum. It is contained in four large buildings with a fifth building being constructed which is schedule to open in 2020. It is a very high-tech museum with lots of interactive video displays that lets you personalize what you can watch and listen to. It also gives you a “dog tag” which you press against selected displays that logs into a computer system and keeps track of what you have seen. This then allows you to “return” to the museum in the comfort of your home and further explore the details of where you went while at the museum. It is a nifty way to maximize one’s ability to learn the most possible from the museum.

As you might expect, the museum is massive and one could easily spend days inside, taking it all in. It has just about every engine of war on display including many WWII airplanes hanging from the ceilings, landing craft, various vehicles, cannons, tanks, displays of various hand weapons and arms, and huge sections of the buildings dedicated to the history of each major theater of WWII. You can even book a ride on a WWII PT boat. If you are a WWII buff, this is certainly the place to go to and spend as much time as you can afford.

It is all very enlightening and is one of the best museums we have ever been to. However, we ended our visit on a really depressing note. When you buy your entrance ticket, you can opt for taking in the 45-minute movie called “Beyond All Boundaries”. It is narrated by Tom Hanks and is a visual, 4-D experience of the battles of World War II featuring stories, archival footage and advanced special effects. Even the very comfortable seats you are seated in vibrate and jiggle when bombs explode and tanks pass over you. However, we found it very depressing as it contains lots of actually footage that shows the most gruesome results of war and how it impacts civilians. During the presentation we learned that over 65 million people were killed during WWII. I had no idea so many people were killed. We both had previously known about the number of soldiers that were killed on all sides of the war (about 20 to 25 million) but did not realize so many civilians had died due to military activity and crimes against humanity. In fact, this number greatly increases further when you add the number of civilian deaths directly attributed to wartime famine and disease (approximately 25 million more). The graphic scenes and the impact of watching this movie was so depressing to both Mary Margaret and I that after it was over, we decided we had seen enough and decided to cut our visit short and left. We both also think that the lingering impact of the recent Parkland, Florida school massacre and the continuing lack of response by politicians to the mass murders that repeat itself in the US also laid a heavy hand on us during our visit to this museum.

On our way back to our state park and LeuC, we did stop at the Central Grocery and picked up a couple of the huge muffuletta sandwiches. Between the two of us, we split one for lunch and dinner today while freezing the second one, saving it for some future day.

 

This morning we returned to Larry and Ruth’s hotel, parked the little Fiat and went up to their beautiful suite.  After spending a little time talking, we walked over to the French Quarter where Brennen’s is located.  We were immediately seated and as it turned out, we were sitting at the exact table that Larry, his sister, Terry, Mary Margaret and her sister, were seated at 48 years ago.  Furthermore, Larry pointed out that Mary Margaret was sitting in the exact chair that she sat at the last time she was here.  Wow!  How amazing is that?

The wait staff were all formally dressed and the service was over the top.  Their service was only matched by the quality of the food and the drinks we enjoyed.  We all ordered a milk punch and they went down sooo easy!  In fact, Larry and I ordered two.  Yum!

 

At Brennen’s, their unique style of eggs Benedict were fantastic as was the turtle soup that I enjoyed.  By the time we were done, I was stuffed and it was only 11 AM…

 

Larry and Ruth next guided us down the French Quarter and Bourbon Street.  The street was closed to vehicular traffic and at each intersection we were greeted by a jazz ensemble playing their style of Dixieland jazz.  It was so much fun just to stand there and take it all in.

 

As we strolled down the street, Ruth told us a story of how her mother and father, who were married before WWII, would get together at the hotel we had stopped in front of whenever her dad could get a weekend pass from the Navy.  He was stationed here before being sent into the South Pacific during WWII.  She even pointed out the room they would always book.  Ruth also told a funny story of how her mother went over to the A & P grocery store across the street to buy some food to bring back to the room in the middle of the night.  She was initially refused service and when told why, she was told that they did not serve her kind.  Leaving in confusion, a fellow shopper approached her and said that she must not be from around here.  When she agreed, the stranger said that there two types of ladies in New Orleans: respectable ones who always had they hats and white gloves, and those ladies who did not and were for hire.  Since she had not brought her hat and white gloves, the proprietor had made the assumption that she was of the latter group.  Ruth’s mother immediately ran back to her room to retrieve her hat and gloves and then returned to the store to go shopping.  Boy, have times changed!

 

We meandered throughout the French Quarter, stopping to visit some shops, including a little antique book store that was tucked into a back alley.  We loved it, even though we looked and acted like all of the other tourists that surrounded us.

 

We finally reached an Italian grocery store called the Central Grocery.  The heart of this store is a deli, which is famous for making the best muffalettas in New Orleans. Muffuletta is a sesame-crusted wheel of bread stuffed with layers of Italian meats, provolone cheese and chopped olive salad.  It is so large, it easily feeds four and, if requested they will cut it into quarters, which we had done.

 

Armed with this great treat, we retreated back to Larry and Ruth’s suite where we thoroughly enjoyed them.  It was one of the most remarkable and tasty sandwiches that we have every had and Mary Margaret and I made a pack that we will return to the Central Grocery soon to rearm ourselves with the wonderful New Orleans delicacy.

 

By now we were truly stuffed and the need for a nap had crept up on us.  Once refreshed, we enjoyed more time talking and Larry showed us his remarkable photos that he took when a forest fire had burned all around the mountain cabin they have up in the Montana Rockies.  Their cabin was the headquarters for the firefighters since it sits high on a bluff and the fire fighters could visually monitor the movement of the fire.

 

Around 7 PM we once again walked back to the French Quarter and went to Irene’s.  It is a 5-star Italian restaurant that again, was over the top.  After drinks and dinner, that was wonderful, we dragged ourselves back to Larry and Ruth’s suite, all tired and ready for bed.

 

Mary Margaret and I said our sad goodbyes, since Larry and Ruth will be leaving tomorrow morning, to return to their home in Mariana, Florida that is about 60 miles west of Tallahassee.  We hope to visit them there if we get a chance after our stay in Red Bay, Alabama, where Tiffin, the maker of LeuC  is located.

 

This afternoon we took our little Fiat and drove the few miles into New Orleans.  Our former brother-in-law, Larry, and his wife Ruth, are staying at The Belle Mason for the next couple of days.  The Belle Maison is a very nice Wyndham hotel located in the Warehouse District which is just a hop, skip and a jump from the French Quarter.  They had made arraignments for us to park our car with the valet.

 

The last time we had seen Larry and Ruth was back in 2010 when they flew over to Tahiti to spend two weeks with us on board Leu Cat.  It was great to see them again.  After hugs and kisses, we spent some time catching up in their beautiful suite, sipping gin and tonics that Larry made with Hendricks, his favorite gin.  Ooooh, they were so good!

 

We then walked a short distance over to Felix’s Oyster Bar for dinner.  Larry and Ruth come to New Orleans a couple of times each year so they know all of the best places to eat.  They warned us that the famous oyster bar that is across the street from Felix’s, which is called the Acme Oyster Bar, will have a very long line of people waiting to get in, but the Felix’s is where all the locals go because the food is so good.  The reason Acme gets the long lines is because it advertises in the New York city newspapers, so many of the east coast visitors go there.  Felix’s does not advertise, so just the locals know about it.

 

Of course, Larry and Ruth knew what they were talking about because the oysters, seafood gumbo and fried softshell crabs that I had were all delicious.  I snatched one of Mary Margaret’s grilled oysters and smacked my lips over the smoky wood favor the firewood grill had imparted.  Paired with a Pino Gregio, everything went down sooo easy.  Yum!

 

We returned to Larry and Ruth’s hotel and spent the rest of the evening planning out what places to visit during our two weeks stay here in the New Orleans area.  This included a long list of great eateries that they insist we have to go to.  I am already letting out my belt just in anticipation of the wonderful food that we will be trying.

Tomorrow, we will be returning for breakfast at Brennan’s, where Mary Margaret, Terry (Larry’s younger sister), Larry and his then wife, Gaby (Mary Margaret’s sister), slurped down the famous milk punches way back in 1970, before Mary Margaret and I started dating during her sophomore year in college.  For decades I have heard from Mary Margaret just how special this drink was and am really looking forward to trying it.

 

After breakfast we will walk around and explore the French Quarter and along the way snag a muffuletta for lunch.  A muffuletta is a special Sicilian sandwich invented by the Italians who came to New Orleans back in the late 1800s and early 1900s.  Ruth tells us one muffuletta will feed the four of us.  Since I love Italian subs, I am really looking forward to tasting it.

 

After lunch we will rest and talk the late afternoon away until 7:30, when we have reservations at Irene’s.  It is a newer restaurant that Ruth and Larry have been anxious to try since it has received rave reviews from all of their friends who have gone there.  We can hardly wait.

 

I think you can understand why I may leave my belt back at LeuC tomorrow simply because I do not think that I will need it to hold my pants up with all of this eating in front of us…

 

For years I have listened to Mary Margaret wax about the most remarkable pastry and delicious coffee she has ever had. The pastry is called a beignet which is a French type of donut swimming in powdered sugar. The coffee is chicory coffee which is a blend of roasted chicory root and coffee beans. The use of chicory became popular in France during Napoleon’s ‘Continental Blockade’ Of 1808, which resulted in a major coffee shortage. Chicory which is native to France, was added to coffee beans as an extender.

Mary Margaret was last in New Orleans way back in the early 1980’s when she went to a Nursing Conference with a few other nurses from the hospital they worked at. Since then, she has shared with me how she would love to revisit the Café du Monde in New Orleans to share with me this wonderful combination.

Well, today was the day. Shortly after we woke up, we hopped in our little Fiat and drove across the Mississippi River and into New Orleans. Soon we were in the French Market part of New Orleans and ordering our beignets and chicory coffee at Café de Monde. The café is open 24 hours a day and even at this early hour was filled with revelers of this delight. I was amazed to learn that the café just served beignets, chicory coffee and hot chocolate. That’s it! Wow, to have such a restricted menu and to have been in business since 1862

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As you can see, the beignets are swimming in powder sugar and there is no way to eat these treats without being covered in white. They were so good we ordered a second order of beignets (you get three beignets with each order) and they went down as easy as the first three. Yum!

Since our former brother-in-law, Larry, and his wife, Ruth, will be driving into New Orleans from Florida tomorrow, to be our guides to New Orleans, we decided to wait until tomorrow before we really start exploring New Orleans. Thus, we returned to our campground and explored the bayou instead.

As we did, we spotted a couple of fan boats coming down the river that is besides our park. They looked so fun we have decided that while here, we too will take a tour of the bayou in one of these neat boats.

We also ogled over the floating cabins that one can rent at part of our state park. Wow!

Yesterday we bundled up LeuC and headed down the road.  We had a 3.5 hour drive to arrive at the Hollywood Casino in Baton Rouge.  We had read that they had a huge parking lot with 24-hour security watching over the lot.  They welcome R/V’s such as us and they also had a great buffet.  It sounded great so we decided to spend the night to allow the Mardi Gras revelers to clear out before we arrived. In New Orleans.

The drive was a bit of a challenging due to lots of freeway construction with miles and miles of concrete K-rails yielding very narrow lanes and lots of crazy traffic.  To add insult to injury, right as we turned onto the entrance lane to the casino, a train had just stopped on the tracks in front of the casino and the guard bars were just coming down.  We were the only vehicle stopped by this long, long train.  We thought our wait would be just a few minutes, but, the train stopped and, after an hour of waiting, we were having second thoughts.  After what seemed an eternity, a security SUV drove up to us to tell us this train would most likely be there until 10 o’clock tonight and possibly even until the next morning.  Ugh!

However, we discovered that all was not lost because the security officer shared with us a second entrance into the casino that would take us under the railroad tracks.  Soon, we had disconnected our little Fiat, backed LeuC up across the two-lane main road and then turned to find this second entrance.  In no time we were under the tracks and up and into the huge parking lot.

After setting up LeuC, we grabbed our lucky $100 bill and headed over to the casino.  We arrived just before the lunch buffet closed so we filled up plate after plate of goodies and sat down to stuff our faces.  The mains and sides were pretty good but Mary Margaret oh’d and ah’d over the pecan pie and triple chocolate brownie.

 

With bellies bursting, I retired to LeuC for a nap while Mary Margaret went into the casino, armed with her lucky $100 bill.  The magic worked as when she came back to LeuC an hour later, she now had $131.50.  Whoo Hoo!

 

This morning we bundled up LeuC and head off to New Orleans.  It was just 2 hours away.  The scenery was very different as we drove over long causeways that crossed over swamps, bayous, rivers and lakes.

We were very impressed by Lake Pontchartrain because we could not see its far shore.  All we could see were miles and miles of open water.  Amazing!   Lake Pontchartrain and New Orleans is situated on the lower end of the massive Mississippi River Delta and its elevation is between 6 feet below sea level to just a few feet above.  The city is protected from flooding by massive levees.  It was the failure of these levees that caused the massive flooding during hurricane Katrina.

 

We crossed the might Mississippi River and dropped down into our campground at Bayou Segnette State Park.  It is located just south of the Mississippi River from New Orleans in the middle of Bayou Sengette and abuts the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve.  It is a beautiful state park and, with its location so close to downtown New Orleans, we think it will be ideal for us.  We are planning to stay here for the next two weeks, so we should have plenty of time to explore New Orleans and its environs.

 

 

Yesterday, it was cold and overcast all day. It never got out of the 40s and it seemed like it was actually in the 30s since you could see your breath. Brrrrr. Thus, it was a great day to go to the movies in Beaumont. We went and saw the third sequel to 50 Shades of Grey. It was a great show and we both enjoyed it. Plus, the theater had reclining lounge chairs. Very comfortable!

 
Today, while the temperature slowly rose, the warmer air mass also brought lots and lot of rain. It was a heavy rain that lasted all day. It was so heavy that we lost our satellite TV reception. However, we still had pretty good Internet reception so we just watched our shows using our Tablet and had its screen projected onto our large TV in the living room. Technology is great when you can get it to work!

 
We stayed cooped up in LeuC all day since it never stopped raining. Ugh!

 
The temperatures are supposed to continue to raise through the night with tomorrow’s temperatures being in the 70s. However, a few of the weather maps that we look at are still showing this area having scattered rain for a number of days. Double ugh.
When I am trapped inside, I slowly go stir crazy and this forced coop-up is no exception. It is especially hard since I know that our visit to New Orleans is just around the corner. Yea!

Yesterday we bundled up LeuC and, once again, headed down the road. This time was a bit different as we weathered a foggy morning that slowly turned to drizzle and, at times, heavy rain. Things got so messy that we talked about a backup plan which included pulling over somewhere and just hunkering down for the day. Our goal was to reach the far eastern part of Texas today, where Village Creek State Park is located. We were facing a drive of over 350 miles and looking at a driving day of about 6 hours with stops for fuel and driver changes. Ugh! With the added adversity of bad weather, driving through two major metropolitan areas (San Antonio and Houston), all compounded with road construction around and throughout in each city, the thought of missing our camping reservation looked attractive.

 
The problem with stopping and hunkering down was there really was not a decent place to do it in. The only real options were the rest areas along the I-10 freeway that we were traveling down, since most of the state and local parks are closed due to last year’s hurricane Harvey damage. While, in a pinch, we certainly could spend a night at a rest stop, I am a bit nervous about that option since to be comfortable and spacious in LeuC, we like to “unbundle” her by putting out her four sliding walls. By doing this, we just about double the inside space but, by doing so, it expands her outside footprint by over 6 feet. This creates a problem when you are parked in a parking area such as those available at a rest stop. I have fears of a big rig pulling into a space next to us in the middle of the night and clipping one of LeuC’s expanded wings since the parking spaces are not designed for RV buses with slide-outs.

 
Another option, and one that we really distain, is spending the night in a commercial RV park. While there do exist some RV parks that are pretty nice. The vast majority of them that we have driven past gives us the shutters when we think about how they cram RVs in, one right next to the other. Nope, we just won’t go there…

 
Thus, we decided to continue down the road in the nasty weather, albeit a bit slower. At times, we kept our speed down to 40 to 45 MPH as we eased our way in the foggy rain through a number of construction areas that had concrete k-rails planted right on the white stripe that marks the edge of our lane. This only gave us less than a foot of clearance as cars whizzed past us in the speed lane.

 
To add to the fun, at times we heard a warning buzzer trying to tell us that something was not right. It periodically squawked for a brief second and then would stop for a while, only to briefly squawk again later. Each time it did, we rechecked all of our gauges, tire and brake air pressure monitors and looked for any dashboard warning lights. However, everything checked out fine. Hmmm? We even pulled over onto a side road and stopped to walk around LeuC, peering beneath her and inspecting each wheel-well to see if we could see anything that was array.

 
Back on the road again, and after the 8th or 9th times that the buzzer had briefly set off, we finally realized that it was our Brake-Buddy that was making the brief squawks. In towing our little Fiat, we have added a progressive air braking system to our tow package. This allows the braking system of the Fiat to be used whenever we brake LeuC. It is a sophisticated system which interlinks LeuC’s air brakes to the Fiat’s hydraulic brakes such that both vehicles brake with the same amount of force. This keeps the Fiat from pushing the rear of the bus forward when we brake LeuC.

 
The control box is housed under and to the left of LeuC’s steering wheel and is located in a place this is a bit out of the way. The brief squawks were coming from the control box and whenever it squawked, what looked like a very small “68” would flash. After pulling off the freeway, onto a side road, and inspecting the controller closely, I saw that the “68” was actually a “BA”, which tells you that the “brake away” function was intermittently coming on. When this happens, the supplemental braking system is deactivated so that our little Fiat would not brake when we would apply LeuC’s brakes. Since it had been just intermittently squawking, this simply meant that the electrical plug on the front of our little Fiat, which activates the braking system in the Fiat, was loose. With the wetness of the rain, we were losing its connecting circuit. Whew: an easy fix! I just needed to force the plug in more firmly and the problem was solved. Yea!!

 
With that mystery and problem solved, we continued down the road and by 2PM had arrived at our state park. Village Creek State Park is located near Lumberton, Texas, which is just 10 miles north of Beaumont and just shy of the Louisiana border. Only that portion of the park that is located on a slight rise is open. The rest of the park, which includes that section which is along Village Creek is closed due to the massive flooding that hit eastern Texas last August when hurricane Harvey swamped the region with a record rainfall. Over 62 inches of rain was reported in Baytown, just to the east of Houston. Village Creek flooded over its banks as a result, drowning much of the state park with up to 8 feet of water. Only that portion of the park which is on a top of a little hill is open. Fortunately, that is where a camping loop is located, so here we sit.

LEUC Tucked In Amongst The Tall Pine Trees.

We will be staying here for 5 days as we wait for New Orleans’ Mardi Gras to be over and the massive crowds of drunken partiers to clear out. While we love a good party, we have had our fill over the years and wish to sit this one out. Plus, the thought of having New Orleans to ourselves to explore is just too inviting! Actually, we will not be there by ourselves as we will be joined by our former brother-in-law, Larry and his wife, Ruth. They are a fun couple and loooove New Orleans. In fact, back in the late 60’s when Mary Margaret was just a teenager, Larry and Mary Margaret’s sister, Gaby (Larry’s then wife), presented New Orleans to Mary Margaret. She still talks about the great time they had and all of the wonderful food they enjoyed and milk punch they guzzled. Oooooh, we are so looking forward to it!

Yesterday we hopped in our little Fiat and drove an hour south to San Antonio.  We wanted to visit the Alamo and explore the famous River Walk area.

The Alamo was very interesting and we recommend it to anyone who goes to San Antonio.  The Alamo was the former Spanish mission which was the site of the Battle of the Alamo.  This was a 13-day siege that was fought between February 23, 1836 – March 6, 1836 by Mexican forces of about 4000, under President General Santa Anna, against 180 American rebels fighting for Texan independence from Mexico. There were only a few of people who survived the bloody siege. Civilian non-combatants such as women, children and servants were spared including Susannah Dickinson, the wife of Captain Almaron Dickinson and her baby daughter Angelina. A handful of Texans were also spared. General Santa Anna sent these men to Sam Houston’s camp at San Jacinto as a warning that a similar fate awaited the rest of the Texans if they continued their rebellion against Mexico.  While the battle was won by the Mexicans it gave General Sam Houston time to build and develop his Texan Army at San Jacinto where he eventually defeated and captured Santa Ana.  As a result, the Republic of Texas came into being on April 21, 1836.

While visiting the historic site, we learned a number of interesting facts which I present below:

1. 1718: The Alamo was originally built as a Roman Catholic Franciscan mission and later, after being abandoned, was used as a garrison for the Mexican army;
2. The Texas Revolution began in October 1835 with the Battle of Gonzales;
3. November 1835: Sam Houston was selected as Commander-in-Chief of the Texas Army;
4. December 21, 1835, Sam Houston requested that James Neill, now a lieutenant colonel of an artillery company, take command of the Texian and Tejano garrison stationed at the Alamo Mission;
5. January 17, 1836: Jim Bowie arrives at the garrison to evaluate the situation – Sam Houston had suggested he remove the artillery and blow up the Alamo. The decision is made to defend the garrison;
6. February 3, 1836: Colonel William B. Travis arrives at the garrison;
7. February 8, 1836: Davy Crocket arrives at the garrison with a group of Tennessee volunteers;
8. February 11, 1836: Neill, after becoming ill, transfers command to William B. Travis, the highest-ranking regular army officer and leaves the garrison;
9. February 12, 1836: William Travis and Jim Bowie argue over who has command of the garrison and finally agree on a joint command;
10. February 22, 1836: Santa Anna reaches San Antonio with generals Sesma, Amador and Castrillón. He demands surrender and states that no one will be spared if this is not done.  The Texans refuse to surrender;
11. February 23, 1836: Santa Ana begins what is to become a 13-day siege as the fort comes under artillery fire from Mexican troops;
12. February 24, 1836: Jim Bowie becomes ill and William B. Travis assumes full command;
13. February 24, 1836: William B. Travis writes his Victory or Death Letter and sends it to the closest town of Gonzales. He vows “I shall never surrender or retreat.” Other letters requesting help are sent to Gonzales, Goliad, San Felipe, Nacogdoches and Washington-on-the-Brazos
14. 24, 1836: James Fannin attempts his relief march to the fort but is forced to turn back; however, 32 men of the Gonzales Ranging Company arrive at the fort on March 1 in response to the Victory or Death letter;
15. March 2, 1836: The Texas Declaration of Independence is signed and the Republic of Texas is declared although the men fighting the Battle of the Alamo are unaware of these momentous events;
16. March 3, 1836: James B. Bonham arrives at the garrison and tells Travis that James Fannin and his troops were not coming; William Travis tells all the troops that they are free to leave – the brave men choose to stay and fight at the Battle of the Alamo and the Mexican battalions Aldama, Toluca and Zapadores arrive in San Antonio;
17. March 5, 1836: The Mexican artillery stop shelling the fort, the defenses have been weakened to such an extent that plans are made to assault the garrison;
18. March 6, 1836: The final attack begins in the dark with hand-to-hand combat. The battle only lasts about 90 minutes.  All but a few defenders are either killed during the battle or are quickly put to death once the battle is over.  The bodies end up being in priers in three separate locations;
19. Only a few survive the bloody siege of the Battle of the Alamo. These are civilian non-combatants such as women, children and servants. Over 600 Mexicans were killed during the Battle of the Alamo and countless injured.  A handful of Texans were also spared who were sent Sam Houston’s camp at San Jacinto as a warning that a similar fate awaited the rest of the Texans if they continued their rebellion against Mexico.

After a brief late lunch, we walked over to the River Walk only to discover that we would have to wait over 2.5 hours to be able to take a boat ride down the river.  Thus, we decided to just walk along the beautiful walks that lines the river.  The area is remarkable with such a beautiful setting that is hard to described.  Thus, here are the photos that tried to capture what we saw.

This coming Saturday we leave Kerrville and drive all day to get to the extreme eastern side of Texas, just north of Beaumont.  There, we will be staying at the Village River State Park for 5 days.

 

During this last week we were able to relax a bit, play a game of golf and then visit friends and explore Austin, Texas.  Whoo Hoo!

We really enjoy the city park we are in: the Kerrville – Schneider City Park.  It is quiet, scenic, has full services right at out campsite, a covered picnic table and fire ring.  It is wonderful.  It is also just a short drive to the city’s municipal golf course, a fun par 72 hilly course.  I shot a respectable 95 but was really happy with the 44 I shot on the back nine.

This past weekend we drove two hours to Austin and spent thee days with our daughter’s close friend, Sharon, her 21-month-old son, William, and her partner, Lorna.  They live in a lovely 5-bedroom two story house with plenty of room.  We had not seen Sharon in over 15 years so it was so good to get together again and catch up.

While in Austin, we also had a chance to enjoy Austin and spend Saturday and Sunday exploring the LBJ Presidential Library and the Texas State Museum.  The Presidential Library was very inspirational as we learned about his life and all of the significant legislation he was responsible for.  Given the disgusting political era we are currently going through in the US, it was an awe-inspiring to learn what President Johnson accomplished during the 5 short years that he was President.  The major life changing laws he pushed for and signed into law included:  the Clean Air Act, the Civil Rights Act, the War on Poverty, Food Stamps, Medicare/Medicaid, the Department of Housing and Urban Development Housing Act, Social Security Increase, the Anti-Poverty Program, created the Arts and Humanities Foundation, Aid to Appalachia, Aid to Small Businesses, Truth in Packaging, the Teachers Corps, the Clean Rivers Act, the Scenic Rivers Act, and the Scenic Trails Act just to mention a few.  He also signed into law bills that created 18 national parks, recreational areas, seashores, and preserves.  To see the full list of over 180 pieces of landmark legislation he signed into law, go to: http://www.lbjlibrary.org/lyndon-baines-johnson/lbj-biography/landmark

The Library had a recreation of the Oval Office.

Of course, what he is also known for is his decision to expand the US’s involvement in the Vietnam War.  This ended up being a tragic mistake that marred his term as President.  The library did not down play this mistake but did present the issues leading up to the decision in a most interesting way.  It had a series of interactive boards that presented the historic “facts” that led to his decision and once it presented each “fact” and the background behind each “fact”, it asked you what you would do.  It then showed what President Johnson decided.  By doing this, it showed how the war escalated.  For example, it presented the “fact” the US intelligence sources reported to Washington that a US Destroyer was attacked and damaged by North Vietnamese patrol boats while in international waters.  Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara reported this to President Johnson, who ended up making the decision to strike back and ended up getting Congress to draft and approve the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which gave him authority to expand US involvement.  As it turns out, due to what is called the “fog of war”, the intelligence on the attack was incorrect and the US expansion in this conflict was based on bad information.  How tragic!

On Sunday, we returned to the downtown area of Austin and spent the day at the Texas State Museum.  Here we learned about the history of the Texas and, in the process, spent a lot of time with 4 different docents who were very informative and entertaining.   One of the docents was an actual Apollo 13 mission engineer who was in the control room during that mission.  We also learned about the conflict between the Texans and General Santa Ana in what ended up creating the Republic of Texas and eventually, the State of Texas.

We also saw the remains of 17^th century ship, La Bella.  In 1684, French King Louis XIV sent explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, across the ocean with four ships and 400 people to North America. The explorer was to land at the mouth of the Mississippi River, establish a colony and trade routes, and locate Spanish silver mines. That plan was never realized. Instead, in a series of remarkable circumstances, La Salle lost ships to pirates and disaster, sailed past his destination, and was murdered by the few survivors as he led them in a desperate trek to Canada and help. In 1686, La Belle, the one remaining expedition ship, wrecked in a storm and sank to the muddy bottom of Matagorda Bay where it rested undisturbed for over 300 years.  In the late 1990’s it was discovered, removed and after 12 years of restoration and preservation was placed in this museum.

We ended our wonderful time in Austin by taking Sharon and Lorna out to fancy dinner at the Roaring Fork.  The food was great and complimented the companionship we shared.

Tomorrow, with clearing weather, we hope to drive down to San Antonio to spend a day at the Alamo and to explore its famous River Walk area.

Yesterday, we received a comment from a friend who welcomed us for arriving “deep in the heart of Texas”.  Mary and her husband, Greg, sailed with us across the South Atlantic, the most stressful ocean crossing Mary Margaret and I experienced in our circumnavigation due to the numerous equipment failures that occurred.  Despite that stressful crossing, Mary and Greg are still determined to follow their dream of buying a sailboat and living the cruiser’s life.  Her comment inspired the title of today’s blog.

Today, we continued our journey east by driving just a couple of hours before arriving in Kerrville, Texas.  It is located in the Hill Country of Texas and is where the Kerrville-Schreiner City Park is located.  We will be staying here for the next 12 days.  It will be our base to explore Austin (about 2 hours to the east) and San Antonio (about an hour to the south).  It will also allow us time to explore the local sights.

Our park is situated right along the Guadalupe River and it provides us with 50-amp electrical service, water hookup and… even a sewer hookup!  Whoo Hoo!  It is only the second site we have been to that provides site specific sewer disposal.  This is a big deal when one is spending some time at a park since every RV has limited black and grey water holding capacity.  We have 80 gallon holding tanks for both types of water.  We usually have to marshal our use of our washing machine and dish washer along with our black water generation, to prevented overflowing these holding tanks.  Thus, we can just sit tight on our site and do not have to go through the hassle of bundling up LeuC, moving her to the nearest sump dump location, discharging our dirty waters, returning to our site and resetting up LeuC.  This is a real luxury.

In addition to the services our site provides to us, the park itself is situated in a beautiful setting.  The river is right next door and is wonderful to behold.  The photos posted below show you what I mean.