Short stay in Baton Rouge

Baton Rouge is just across the Mississippi River. We had planned on staying there only 2 nights but I found out that 2 of the tires on the truck were on Load Range E and were C which is a lite SUV rated tire. To make a long story short I ended up with 4 new tires at no cost. Even though we were here only a few days had time to see some of the city. The picture of the bridge had a paddle wheel casino in the foreground. We walked around the area and went aboard the casino. Guess what, its just another casino. We went to the Bluebonnet Swamp which is in the middle of town. They have a nice visitor center there and give you a map of the swamp to you can walk several paths. It was enjoyable to wander along the trails and look for the wildlife. (There are no alligators in the swamp which but a damper on my plan to score on Jackie's life insurance. So I wasted money on buying that lucky ham for her to wear around neck. ) We stayed at a rv park that is a county park and had 60 spots and only 6-7 rigs there. We are now in next to Jackson Mississippi visiting Jackie's aunt. She has taken us on several tours of the area, so we have got to see a few of the small town around Jackson. We move on to New Orleans tomorrow and will be spending a week there. Weather has been cool during the day and cold at night. Yesterday was warmer and comfortable. Pepper is liking it here because she can walk around without a leash.

Houston Skyscraper

We went downtown Houston and found the JP Morgan Chase building. They have a observation area on the 60th floor. From there you can see for miles. The building is around 1000 ft tall and I think the 60th floor is around 700-800 above the city. Jackie is scared of heights and couldn't walk to the window and look down. From up here you can see a mix of the old and new buildings. Houston has a good downtown area with lots of shops and restaurants. As with areas like this it is expensive to eat and drink. But we did find a place with some free smells. So I took Jackie there for lunch. I had a burger and she had club sandwich. They both smelled good. We have moved to Baton Rouge and spent a couple days here. Today we move to Jackson Mississippi to visit Jackie's aunt. Going to stay there a few days then back down to New Orleans. For those of you who thought we would never get out of California, we now have been to Oregon, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana and now Mississippi. We were laughing that it took 2 1/2 months to get across Texas. Damn big state.

Houston!! we have a problem

You knew I was going to say that. We went to the Houston Space museum and it was worth the time and money. I was surprised that only the building where you enter is a museum and the rest of the site is still being used by NASA. We took a 90 minute tram tour. Stopped by the room where launch control was until the 90's. The flag in on of these pictures was taken to the moon on Apollo 14 but as a back up flag. One of the buildings had there mock ups for the space shuttle and space station. They use them as a training aid. Now that the space shuttle has ended the room will be changed over to Orion the next NASA space craft. There are around 10,000 people working here on new projects and ongoing space station projects. 4 miles from here they have the pool where they train for weightlessness. We have moved to Baton Rouge La. Will be here for a few days then on to Jackson Miss. Jackie has family up there.

Battlefield of San Jacinto site

About 5 miles from us is the San Jacinto battlefield. It is just outside of Houston.It was the last battle againt Santa Anna. After the Alamo Sam Houston army arrived and moved in on the Mexican Army hiding behind a tree line and high ground they caught the mexican army on guard. The battle lasted 18 minutes. 630 of the mexican army were killed and 730 captured. The shooting went on for an hour as the Sam Houston army shot the fleeing mexican army. Only 9 Texans were killed and 30 wounded. Very interesting battle. Google it quite a bit of history. There is a monument on the site that has a museum and a elevator up to the 498 foot observation area. The museum is small but has a real interesting collection of historic items. The knife in on of these pictures was Davey Crocketts and from the Alamo. Some of the other pictures show the amazing waterways in and around Houston. The picture with the straight stretch of road, just past the curve is where our rv park is located. Weather has gotten better. Cold in the am but tee shirt after it warms up. We will be here until Sunday the 8th then moving to Jackson Mississippi. Jackie has an aunt there she want to visit. After that dropping down to New Orleans. Found a cheap bead necklace place here. Bought a bunch for New Orleans just in case. If it goes as planned give out a necklace, have a girl flash and then Jackie slaps me upside the head. Repeat until lose consciousness.

Sitting on the dock of the bay

Finally got some good weather here in Houston. Our rv park sits across the street from part of the waterway from the ocean to Houston area. About 5 miles from us, we cross a part of the bay on a ferry to a state park that is on the main waterway to Houston. They have benches that are located on the levy and you can sit and watch the ships come and go. We were talking about how you know that this happens but sitting there makes you really realize how much goes on in this country. We sat there for a while and enjoyed the nice day then toured the San Jacinto battlefield. Will be posting on that in a couple days. Our next sightseeing will be the Houston Space Center. We are going to wait until after the 1st and hopefully there will not be as many people there. We have been getting a lot of rain the past week and been cooped up. Had to stop walking, to much standing water. Looks like we are going to have some nice weather for a while. Pepper had a couple bad nights because of the thunder. When had has a bad night so do I. The next thing she won't like is New Years Eve. They sell fireworks here and even on Christmas night folks were shooting off fireworks and I mean big fireworks. Things that you would see at a fairground show. Have a safe and fun New Years.

Merry Christmas from Houston

Merry Christmas, we will be having Christmas in Houston. The weather has been cloudy and rainy. Yesterday we upgraded our aircard for internet access. I hope posting the blog will now be better. Here are a few pictures that I liked but didn't ever post. Driving thru Texas the speed limit was 80 mph and still saw the police with people pulled over. Damn, how fast do you need to drive if 80 mph is to slow? The buildings were taken in San Antonio. The down town area where the Alamo is has many interesting buildings. And the our truck picture was taken near Port Aransas on Mustang Island. We had another blow out with one of the trailer tires on our way to Houston. It didn't do any damage other than pulling some wiring loose. Trailer tires are a pain. We haven't been doing much the past couple weeks. Jackie got sick (flu) for a few days, then I caught it also but it only got my joints and put me down for a few days. Also the weather has been comfortable but rainy, so we have not got out and explored much. Right now we are having a thunder storm with rain, lighting and thunder. Pepper doesn't go crazy but not to happy with the thunder. She keeps walking around looking for a place to lay without the noise. Good luck dog. Hope everyone has a great Christmas and a Happy New Year. Jackie and I are celebrating both in our rig.

Moved to Houston

We got to a small area 20 miles east of Houston called Highlands Tx. It is on the bay and the park is nice, big sites and a good dog run for Pepper. We are going to stay here thru the Holidays then on to New Orleans. Just before we left Corpus Christi a 1st cousin of mine Connie Dill (from my dad's side) came to Corpus Christi. She was there on business, she works for FEMA and they had a conference there. Her and Jackie have been in contact for several years working on the family tree. The interesting part is that we had never met. So when we met her at her hotel I said, "Long time no see". She cracked up and that made the visit a little easier to get going. I have 14 1st cousins on my dads side and when I was around 12-13 I met 2 of them. The rest I have never met. She lives north of Dallas, so when we get up to that area she will plan a get together so I can meet her brothers and sisters. After getting here near Houston we took a hour drive around the area of our rv park to get the lay of the land. We rode a ferry across part of the bay and found a battleship that you can tour and a monument for a battle field. It was to cold to tour them so we will visit them later. The weather has been cold in the am and cloudy with wind during the day. But the weather is suppose to get better. Going to go and look around Houston, it is a big city and was hard to pull the 5th wheel thru the other day. We enjoyed Aransas Pass and would go back there. Rv park rates are reasonable there, we paid $250 for the month and $70 for electricity. And we used the ac alot while we were there. At this park we now in it is $350 per month but a location and near a big city. Pepper is doing ok, she didn't like the other park because of the goat heads in the grass and dog run. Here the grass and dog run are dog friendly.