Home Sweet Home

Arrived home on Thursday, November 3, 2011

Our route home was southeast through Houston, Louisiana then north through Baton Rouge to Mississippi.  We spent an afternoon in Bayou country to get some real Cajun food.  Stopped in Breaux Bridges, La. and hit a couple really nice antique stores and asked for the most authenic cajun restaurant in the area.  We were sent to Poche's about 5 miles away.  Authenic it was....located in the back of a small meat market we shared a plate of dirty rice, crawfish gumbo, etouffee, cracklin, boudin sausage.

Poche's Market & Restaurant

Heading north into Mississippi we made 2 strategic decisions:  the first was to stay in our first hotel in Jackson, MS and the second to take the Natchez Trace Parkway.  The motel decision was primarily to ensure we were able to see Game 8 of the World Series and order a Dominoes pizza!!!  Although a little disappointed with the outcome of the game (Donyce and Vic got us rooting for the Texans) we were thrilled staying in a nice warm and roomy hotel.

The Natchez Trace, managed by National Parks Department was recommended by a friend and is similar to the Skyline Drive in Va., but not as hilly and windy.  The entire length of the parkway is 444 miles but we got on about one-third up.  The 2 lane highway with a speed limit of 50 mph was perfect for a stress free 3 day drive.  We barely had anyone in front or behind us on the road.  Alot to see and just at the tail end of foliage color, it was an excellent decision.  We made numerous stops along the the way and camped at nice spots.  The first night we stayed at Davis Lake operated by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (got to use the Golden Pass for $13 fee & full hookups).  It was beautiful and as we pull into our spot and began to set up, the folks at the next site yelled over and invited us for a fish fry.  There were about 9 couples from around Miss. and Tenn. who meet several times a year at this campground.  Great people who made us feel so welcome.  They had delicious fried fish just caught from the lake, hush puppies, french fries, cold slaw, sweet potato casserole and pumpkin pie.  What a feast and we shared backgrounds over a blazing fire into the dark.  Janice made friends with a guy with an enormous telescope and moon-star gazed for about 45 minutes.  She came back in a mesmerized state and excited about the cosmic sights she viewed.

Great area for star gazing

New friends at Davis Lake

As we wrote before our quick stop in Nashville to visit the Petitts, then from here on our mission was home still about about 3 nights away.

We pulled into our driveway at about 4pm on Thursday.  After 71 days on the road and 10,816 miles we have alot to reflect on; what would we do differently, our most memorable experience, favorite attraction and part of the country, what we should left home, or where else in the country we may want to live part time.  One thing we both know is we were blessed by the Lord the whole time with safety, great weather and life changing experiences which we wouldn't trade for anything.

Thanks for following our journey.  Here's a few pics that didn't get posted.

Old Town Las Cruces New Mexico

Las Cruces Home to Billy the Kid

One Bad Hombre at the Continental Divide

San Antonio………….Remember The Alamo!!!

San Antonio………….Remember The Alamo

 October 19 - 21

 We landed in a wonderful RV Park in San Antonio and for the first time on the trip we just hung out at the pool and Jacuzzi.  Really relaxing not rushing to one attraction or another.

They had a convenient bus line right out front which took about 20 minutes to reach the center of town.  If you never heard of the River Walk it is something to see some day.   It is a series of canals that make a circle around the city and is actually fed and connects the San Antonio River.  A massive gate can be lowered to protect the city from flooding conditions up river.  We took one of the many canal boat tours which was really fun and informative.  Talk about restaurants!!!  We got our fill of TexMex food at lunch and picked a great restaurant for dinner………called Saltgrass.

We learned that San Antonio is really busy in the winter with numerous monthly events;  lighting of the canal, Christmas barge parades, Mardi Gras, Cinco De Mayo and something called the Mud Walk.  Every January they drain the canal and participants “muck around” in them to remove all the junk accumulated during the year.  Why would they do that…well they also get to keep anything they recover and some the finds have been quite valuable.

The Alamo is right in the center of San Antonio and to me a special “patriotic” highlight of the trip; up there with the Crazy Horse sculpture.  It signifies the true spirit and sacrifice of our early American settlers….the price of freedom.  The battle, in 1836, lasted only about 90 minutes as the 200 defenders were greatly outnumbered by General Santa Ana’s 2,000+ troops. The co-commanders William Barrett Travis and Jim Bowie knew from the start they would never survive, but chose to fight anyway!!  Santa Ana was defeated several months later and it took 9 more years for Texas, an independent republic, to be annexed to the United States.

Time to head further south to South Padre Island at Donyce and Vic Sprecher’s for some sun and beach.

Family and Friends

Family and Friends

October 14-16

 From Sedona we headed south to Scottsdale where Jeff’s sister Linda and husband Dief spend the winter from their other home outside of Denver. Their home is lovely, in a gated community on the golf course.  The home is filled with Dief’s beautiful bronze sculptures he has been creating over the years.  We both loved Scottsdale and neighboring Carefree, though in the high 90’s really didn’t mind the dry heat.  Could see spending winters there and now is a great time to buy.  Another place to add to our “possible places to live” list.

Sculptures on display

Dief and Linda

Linda & Janice

Back Yard

Linda, Jeff and Janice

 We headed toward Texas and took several night stops to reach San Antonio (which will be under a separate entry).  By the way Texas is a HUGE State and when alls said and done we must have driven about 1,300 miles just there.

October 21-25

After San Antonio we headed for another of Jeff’s sisters, Donyce & husband Vic on South Padre Island all the way down on the most southern part of the Gulf.   Talk about ideal weather---sunny every day.  This is their off season and the “snow birds” had not begun to arrive.  We had a great time and pushed our limits and stayed on 4 nights.

 Their annual Sand Sculpture Competition was taking place and had contestants from around the world.  There was a gal there who Janice realized competed in the last Vineyard Sand Sculpture Contest and knew Janice Donaroma who headed it up.



Wacky Duck

A 30 year sand sculpture veteran

Lucinda aka "Sandy Feet" competed in Vineyard Competition

Jeff and Vic spent one afternoon surf fishing with lots of hits but no real keepers.  Jeff did hold onto adecent size Pompano which we threw on the grill and each had a fork-full or 2 to try.  Actually very tastey!  Time to go and we headed back North to Austin.

The Pompano...doesn't look like much but grilled up tastey!

October 26-27

We headed to Ken & Cathy Campbell, ex-Vineyarders and Pastor of Faith Community Church who moved to Leander, Texas a bit northeast of Austin.  On our way we learned that SQuire Rushnell and Louise DuArt, more Vineyard buddies, had coincidentally been in town.  So we had a short, but fun reunion and enjoyed Cathy’s great barbeque sparerib dinner at their lovely home.

SQuire, Cathy, Louise and Ken

October 31

 Another stop was in Nashville to visit our Vineyard friends, Bev and Warren Petitt.  The Petitt’s moved to Brentwood area 14 months ago to set up the Contemporary Music Center which had been located in Lambert’s Cove, West Tisbury at the FOCUS property for nine years. Also along with them from the Vineyard (former Youth Coordinators at Faith MV) are Jenn and John Leininger who are  on CMC staff.  And their adorable little boy, Jackson who is already 14 months old.  

Bev, Warren, Janice, Jeff

John, Jenny, Jackson, Janice and Jeff

Nashville was a natural place to relocate CMC and has proven to be a phenomenal success.  We were blown away with the new “digs”.  It is a professional, first class facility which trains college students from around the country various facets of the music business.  Check out their website:   www.thecontemporarymusiccenter.com

Sedona

October 5 & 6

Wow, Sedona. Always heard it was something to see. Again God’s Majesty! After a nice lunch in town and some great shopping(clothes, jewelry, house, and bakery), we found a nice campground off in the canyon but could walk to Tlaquepaque, an artisan village on the south side. So as the sun was setting we wondered into the lovely village. Unfortunately most places were closed but we found a nice pub in a very elegant resort and once again walked home by the light of the moon. 

The next morning we checked out the elite resort, Enchantment Resort.  Beautiful spot nestled in the red rock monoliths. We stopped by some hiking trails to eat our lunch and noticed an Native Indian man just back from a hike, sit by his truck, and played his wooden flute. I believe he was saying Thank You for the Spiritual beauty that surrounded him.

 We loved Sedona.

Majesty

Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty

The whole earth is filled with His Glory