Texas to Alabama

We finally headed east on Texas 105 towards Beaumont. From there we took US 90 east for a planned lay over in Lake Charles. Previously we had always stayed at the Coushatta Casino RV Park in Kinder but it's a bit out of the way, so we decided to try the Isle of Capri RV Park and Casino. US 90 joins I-10 just west of the casino which sits on the shores of Lake Charles. Unfortunately, this park only has parking for 10 RVs with a max length of about 30'. They do have 50 amp service which is confusing as RVs that short only need 30amp service. They said we could park diagonally across two sites and they would only charge us for one, but at $20/night for only electric, we decided to simply use their back parking lot which put us right on the shores of Lake Charles. We had a beautiful view of the lake from our coach but lots of traffic noise as we were immediately under the I-10 bridge that crosses the Lake. Once we left Lake Charles, we stayed on I-10 into Mississippi and Alabama.

When one thinks of Texas, one also thinks of the Armadillo. These interesting animals are abundant in Texas, but have been found as far north as Illinois and east as far as Florida. 

The Armadillo feed mostly on insects, grubs, ants and termites. 

Contrary to popular belief, only the 3 banded armadillo, found mainly in South America, roll themselves into a ball when threatened. In the States, we find the 9 banded armadillo as the most prominent species. This species will flee, usually into thick underbrush and spiney thickets to escape. Their armor shell protects them from predators. They will also jump as high as four feet when startled. Unfortunately for them, that's about the same height as a cars bumper.

We spotted this big guy cruising the campground looking for bugs. If you get a chance to feel the armor of these guys, it's more of a soft armor rather than hard.

Here's our site at the Thousand Trails campground in Columbus, Texas.

We had spent four weeks in and around New Orleans last year, so this year we stayed on the North shore of Lake Ponchartrain, at the Fontainebleu State Park.

This area was originally a sugar plantation from 1829 until 1852. The park houses ruins of one of the sugar mills. The plantation was owned by Bernard de Marigny de Mandeville for which the nearby town is named. 

Mandeville named his plantation Fontainebleu after the beautiful  forest near Paris, France, an area frequented by French Royalty.

The park consists of the entire 2800 acres of his plantation on the north shore of the lake. While most of the sites are fairly small, we discovered this one was just big enough for our 45' coach. We really enjoyed this area as there are many hiking trails and a nice sandy beach nearby.

Leaving Fontainebleu, we headed east again on US 190, a nice two lane highway with little traffic.

Being from California, it's hard to imagine traveling through three States in one day. We had started in Louisana and entered Mississippi by late morning.

By early afternoon, we passed through Biloxi, Mississippi. There are several casinos in Biloxi, (pronounced Buluxi) but we decided they could wait until another day.

Mississippi and Louisiana seem to have more swampland than Arizona has desert. Like the desert, it appears barren, but is teeming with wildlife.

By mid afternoon, we entered our third State, Alabama.

Looking northeast toward downtown Mobile, Alabama.

Interstate 10 passes just south of Mobile and enters a tunnel that passes under the Tensaw River just before Mobile Bay and the home of the USS Alabama, a World War II battleship, now in drydock and a tourist attraction.

We finally arrived at our 'home' for the next three months, Bella Terra RV Resort !

Houston Texas

Well, I'm finally trying to get caught up on my blog. On our way to the Gulf Coast, we stopped off in Houston for some minor repairs to the coach. The check engine light had come on and I traced it to a bad turbo gasket. Since most of the top end of the engine has to be removed to even get to the bolts, I decided it was a job best left to a professional. We pulled into Cummins in Houston and they said they would have us out in one day. They also had a full hookup area so that made the work day even better. While they worked on the coach, we spent the day cruising Houston.

Minute Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros MLB team. Originally Houston's Union Station, it's filled with mementos from those long ago years. However, there is still a steam engine and coal car filled with oranges that transverse the left field wall whenever an Astro hits a home run or the Astros win. The engine cruises the entire length of the left field fence and returns.

We thought we'd cruise over to the Igloo factory and see where these neat little coolers are made. Upon arrival, we found this interesting guard shack. They had a store on site with lots of cool stuff at huge discounts. We bought a couple extra coolers for when friends stop by.

In the middle of a shopping center, next to a tire store, sits the Hillendale Family Cemetery. Arnold Hillendale had farmed this area for many years. His first wife died in 1854 and this area was set aside as a burial plot. It is the resting place of 19 members of the Hillendale family. Even though subdivisions and commercial development has taken place, this small family cemetery is tended to weekly by members of the Hillendale family.

This was the home of one John Milkovisch, an upholsterer for the Southern Pacific railroad. In 1968 he tired of mowing his lawn and painting his home so he decided to recycle cans from his favorite beverage, beer. Over the next 20 plus years, Mr. Milkovisch adorned his home, his yard and anything else with empty beer cans. Each of the cans was flattened or carved to suit his fancy. It is estimated there are over 50,000 beer cans placed on the home and adjacent fencing.

The house and landscape are adorned with many different types of beer that John, himself, drank (though his neighbors and his wife, Mary, were always glad to lend a hand!) Now there was a guy who enjoyed having a brew or two, or three.

The home is now owned by the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art. It has been featured on Ripley's Believe It or Not.

Adjacent to the Interstate, we spotted what Houston calls it's Mount Rush Hour. Dedicated to American Statesmen, the huge heads seen here are changed on a rotating basis. Intrigued by that bit of information led to our discovery of a nearby storage facility packed with huge busts of all the presidents, as well as other famous people.

These huge busts were lined up alongside one of the industrial buildings. They are the brainstorm of a local artist, David Adickes. We weren't able to find any information about the use planned for these sculptures other than the one posted above.

One thing we did find interesting was this tribute to the Beatles. These statures were in excess of 30' tall! You'll also notice several more president's busts below the Beatles' statues.

Houston's Downtown Area

No trip to Texas would be complete without seeing an armadillo. This one had sprouted horns as well and was located in front of a country western bar b que. At night, his eyes glow red and he snorts smoke from it's nostrils.

Beautiful Buddhist Gardens near Downtown Houston

Arizona to New Mexico

Here it is April already. Debi and I are trying something new this year. As most of you know, this is our fifth year of full time traveling. We've enjoyed our travels, having been through and visited 42 States so far. We still have the New England States to visit. That said, last year we spent several weeks at the Bella Terra RV Resort in the Gulf Shores area of Alabama. While there we were asked if we would be interested in doing some work kamping. That is, working around the resort in exchange for our space rent and utilities. We had never done that before but it sounded easy and interesting. The fact we also loved the area helped a lot, so we decided to try it this year. We left Mesa mid March and headed east to Alabama. Since there's not much to see along this route, my intention is to gloss over some of the area as we didn't spend much time there as we visited the same places several times in the past couple years. Given our 3 hour travel window limits us as to which campgrounds we'd like to visit. We did try several new ones so they will be somewhat featured here. Enjoy.....Dennis








Welcome to New Mexico, goodbye Arizona.

About half way between Lordsburg New Mexico and Deming, we passed the Continental Divide. From this point in New Mexico, all waters falling to the west flow into the Pacific Ocean and all waters east of it flow to the Atlantic Ocean. The Great Divide starts in Seward Peninsula in Alaska and extends to the tip of South America.

We turned off Interstate 10 and headed north east into Las Cruces, New Mexico. As we crested the hill, we could see the City below nestled in a basin below the towering mountains.











We finally stopped for the night at the Hacienda RV Resort. Wide spacious sites awaited us. I was pretty tired even though it was only a three hour drive. The dreaded "Check Engine" light on the dash decided to illuminate causing me some distress. Fortunately, there is a Cummins dealer in San Antonio. I'll have it checked there.

After spending a couple days at the Hacienda RV Resort we headed east once again. We hoped to arrive in Junction before the sunset. Our destination is the North LLano RV park, formerly a KOA.













El Paso, like so many border towns, appears to be a contradiction. On the west side of Interstate 10 lies the Mexican town of Juarez. On the east of the Interstate are upscale shops and stores.














The sign says it's the Gateway to Juarez but one has to simply look down from the Interstate to see the poverty below. They ask that you do not bring your firearms into their country.










We've visited Juarez in the past and found it typical to most of the border towns along the California, Arizona Texas border. Street vendors hawk their wares everyday along their sidewalks. We stayed the course this day and continued our journey.











Here you can see more poverty along the Mexican side of the freeway. Ciudad Juarez is a city of 1.5 million people and is considered Mexico's fastest growing city, despite being known as the most violent zone in the world outside war zones! Even though it appears pretty bleak from this vantage point, there are affluent areas within the City.










Leaving El Paso and heading east once more, we pass an abandoned RV left for Mother Nature to reclaim. It appeared to have been a home for someone but was now left to the coyotes and rattlesnakes.

Another abandoned RV. This Winnebago was way beyond being able to be saved. To think of when this was built and the dreams it provided for families as they traveled as we now do. It's sad in a way.

We left the valley floor and climbed up and over the small mountain range and arrived at a small campground along Interstate 10. In the past we have simply gone on to our next destination. However, this trip we decided to try a new campground. It turned out to be a real gem.

In the past we've stayed at Balmorhea State Park but this is the Saddleback Mountain RV Park which is right off I-10. For $10/night you get full hookups, a nature trail full of birds and butterflies, a service station, small store and a restaurant.

Laughlin, Nevada

Well here it is, a brand new year. After seeing our newest grandson on the West Coast, we decided to start off the new year with a stop at Laughlin, Nevada, which is located at the southern tip of Nevada. It's known for its' gambling, water sports and entertainment. It shares the Colorado River with Bullhead City, Arizona. We stayed at Don Laughlin's Riverside RV Park which we always do. The park was built in five phases and we enjoy the latest phase which sits above the city and has a nice view of the river and casinos. The rates aren't too bad either, especially if you gamble....

Some people hate the desert, some love it! I fall in the latter group, especially right after a rain when you can smell the sweet odor of the creosote bushes. Contrary to many beliefs, the desert isn't all hot and dusty. This is the high desert area which gets cool at night and at times is blanketed in snow!

Since we were coming from California, we took the River Rd. north from Needles. This road is not in the best condition and has many dips which may not be passable during times of heavy rain. We weren't too concerned with rain but I don't like abusing the coach.

Jasmine wants to know if we are there yet...she too, hates this road....

We finally arrive at Laughlin, arriving from the West. Across the river in the background is Bullhead City Arizona. There are several RV parks in the area, some have full hookups while others are dry camping only. The Riverside has a single parking lot for overnight guests but slides cannot be deployed. The RV park is right across the street.

This area of Nevada was largely ignored and visited by mostly miners that worked the nearby hills.

In 1964, while flying over the area, Don Laughlin, who owned a casino in Las Vegas, saw potential for tourism. He ended up purchasing a large portion of land along the Colorado River. Here he built a small casino with 12 slot machines, 2 live gaming tables and an 8 room "motel", although 4 of the rooms were occupied by Laughlin's family.

One of the area's favorites at the time was the casino's offering of all-you-can-eat chicken dinners for 98 cents. Don Laughlin wanted to call the new city, Riverside but the US Post Office liked the name Laughlin better, so that name stuck.

While the City of Laughlin has a population of only about 8,000, it's proximity to Bullhead City, Arizona, Fort Mojave, Arizona, Needles, California and Mojave Valley brings this area's population above 100,000.

Laughlin bills itself as a family oriented destination. Being along the Colorado River it offers much in water sports activities. A Riverwalk connects many of the casinos that line the river while riverboats take patrons up and down the river to the casinos. Shopping is abundant along the main thoroughfare including an outlet mall. A Sam's Club and Home Depot are just across the river, as is a major airport.

This picture, and the one's above were taken from our campsite at the Riverside RV Park.  While the RV Park is across the street from the Hotel/Resort shuttles run to take you down to the hotel and the "strip". There are several campgrounds within a short distance to the river and gambling but at $15/night with full hookups, we will always choose this park.

Leaving Laughlin heading east on Hwy 68 through Arizona, there is a large climb, 11 miles @ 6% grade. Near the summit this outcropping is aptly named "Finger Rock". If you travel this road, use caution after the summit. The road drops rapidly and the speed limit drops to 55MPH right when you enter the City of Golden Valley. It's a well documented area of zero tolerance enforcement, affectionately called a "speed trap". 

The climb up Hwy 68 is well worth the view from the summit.