SAN ANTONIO 6-28-11

We drove to the National Park office at Mission San Jose, one of five missions established here to convert the Indians to Catholicism.  The Alamo (Mission San Antonio de Valero) founded in 1718 is one of them.  We drove back toward town visiting Mission Concepcion (which is pictured above).  The missions represent Spain's most successful attempt to extend its domination of the new world.  The churches are still active parishes.  The park ranger we talked to at San Jose was married in that mission church.  We drove back to KOA and took the bus into town for lunch at Republic of Texas and pictures.

SAN ANTONIO 6-27-11

Wow, it's hot here.  Not that I am complaining, but we were up and downtown by 8:00 am.  We walked the River Walk and saw the site along that.  It is very beautiful.  Thank goodness they didn't pave over the river as was once considered.  We walked until 11:00 am and then spent an hour in Rivercenter, an air conditioned mall.  Lunch was at County Line Barbecue which was recommended by the folks at KOA.  Tom had the sampler plate - Pork, Beef, Baby Backs, Turkey and Country Ribs.  It's 101 degrees here.  The lesson learned today is we need to run the hot water heater on gas because 30 amps won't accommodate both.  We're also changing the menu to fruit and salads.  Too hot to cook outside,  too much extra heat created cooking inside and too hot to eat anything hot.  As I do the computer chores Tom is covering all the windows with Styrofoam.

SAN ANTONIO 6-26-11

Came through Houston without a hitch thanks to Ethel, our Garmin, and thank you Barb, Bill, Ali, Meg and Todd for the gift of Ethel.  At some points the highway going through Houston is 16 lanes - big city Houston.  It helped that we came through at 7:00 am Sunday morning.  Gas is $3.47 and we got 9.8 mpg. So...looks like the trip is going to be 10 mpg average.  Hope the gas prices go down!!  KOA San Antonio was easy to get to and after we set up we got the bus into town.  Being near 100 degrees we saw the IMAX film "The Price of Freedom",  evidently the most accurate of the Alamo films.  We then saw a documentary at the Alamo complex.  It all helps bring deeper meaning to this building which is sitting smack in the middle of the city.  We headed back to KOA looking forward to a dinner of waffles and fresh strawberries.  Another lesson learned.  It takes all our amps to run the air conditioning and lights.  We tried turning the air off just long enough to do the waffles, but the temp quickly shot up.  We won't be having waffles anytime soon.

TRAVEL DAY 6-25-11

Oh boy, 11.4 mpg and gas for $3.39.  It's a one route travel day - I-10.  We had planned for a Walmart stay tonight.  I don't think so with 90 + temperatures.  We arrived at the KOA in East Houston, had a swim in the 90 degree pool and got down to chores.  I did the New Orleans blogs before supper-a Rebecca meal of vegetable saute and wheat spaghetti.  Tom cleaned up after supper and I planned for our days in San Antonio

NEW ORLEANS 6/24/2011

We took the shuttle into town for our last day in NOLA.  After checking the time for the jazz pianist at the National Jazz Park we took a carriage ride through the French Quarter.  We had planned to have a muffuletta at Central Grocery, but our tour guide suggested Napolean Restaurant as having better muffulettas and also red beans and rice which would take care of the last two items on our must eat list.  The highlight of our day was the jazz pianist the the NPS.  He talked to us about music development  in New Orleans and playing and singing to demonstrate the progression of the different forms from gospel to blues to jazz.  We stopped by the piano bar at Pat O'briens and listened to the performers before returning to our trailer to prepare for the trip to Houston tomorrow.  Did I mention that we stopped for a beignet before taking the shuttle back?  That's four days in New Orleans and three trips to Cafe du Monde for beignets.

NEW ORLEANS 6/23/2011

We started our day with a bike ride on the levee leading into town.  At our campground it is 14 feet above sea level to town where some sections are well below sea level.  After our ride we drove to the free parking spot and got the trolley.  We got a day pass for the trolley for $3.00 and had the driver drop us at the Audobon Park where we walked one mile to the Audobon Zoo.  After touring the Zoo we hopped their free shuttle back to the trolley line and continued into town.  We were on Bourbon street which we didn't like very much.  We had dinner at Antoine's which we did like at lot.  The same family has operated this restaurant since 1840.  While we waited for dessert we took a tour of the restaurant and wine cellars. 

NEW ORLEANS 6/22/2011

The KOA had a daily shuttle into town so at 9:00 AM we headed into the French Quarter with plans for the National Park Service office and brunch at Brennen's - we'll see.  Yep, not only got to the NPS at Jean Lafitte Park, but they told us about the Jazz National Park site.  Two local stamps and two regional stamps for my National Park passbook.  We strolled around and looked in shops on our way to Brennen's for brunch.  Tom had baked apple with double cream followed by two yummy egg dishes followed by bananas foster.  I, as usual, made up my meal and had a cheddar omelet with crab.  In Denmark the waitress would probably have refused to wait on us.  Good thing we walked our legs off the rest of the day.  After lunch we went to the Audobon Aquarium of the Americas and strolled around the city park.  We tried and then purchased some pralines.  I'm not sure either one of us has ever had one.  At 5:45 PM our shuttle driver was back to pick us up and take us back to KOA.

NEW ORLEANS 6/21/2011

After unhooking and a consult with the gal in the office of the KOA, we headed to the French Quarter.  We drove eleven miles, parked free and took the trolley the rest of the way into town.  These trolleys are really old and really cool.  Older than the trolleys in Pittsburgh in my single digit years.  We planned for a stop at the National Park office followed by a muffuletta at Central Grocery (est 1906) followed by dessert at Cafe du Monde (est 1862) for deignets and cafe au lait (milk for Tom).  Alas, NPS closed, Central Grocery closed, Tom tried and grumpy.  So....we had beignets for dinner and emergency hamburg at the ???Parrot at the Holiday Inn.

TRAVEL DAY JUNE 20, 2011

Here we are parked with the big rigs on one stop on travel day.  The sweet park volunteer bid us goodbye this morning as we left Cades Cove.  She's 70 and she and her husband are avid campers.  Today's drive could have been PA - little higher mountains and more pine trees.  The big topic of the day, other than gas prices, is the big trucks sucking us in as they pass.  Megan will understand that well from her years of traveling to Tech in her little car.  KOA Kampgrounds are ok.  It was 98 degrees when we arrived so my dip in the 90 degree pool was to my liking.  How do I know it was 90.  It was warmer than Pompano and we all know that the girls there would have a fit if the pool feel below 86.

GREAT SMOKEY NATIONAL PARK 6/19/11

Another day another shower and then later in the day thunder storms with 40 mph winds, but that's for later in the report.  After the morning shower we walked to church which was conducted by a national park ministry.  Thomas Sanders of Carol Stream IL and Michael Henry of Lexington KY were our leaders.  They are university students who  volunteer for the summer at national parks all over the country.  We spent the day drying things off - or rather wiping things off as things don't really dry here.  We also needed to organize for the next leg of the journey.  At one point we're sitting outside having our lunch and our neighbor pulls in with a carload of kids who were going to the stables horseback riding.  Well, no horsey riding as storms with high winds were moving into the area.  We were sort of taking our time finishing off lunch when up comes the wind and in comes the rain.  A lesson well learned.

GREAT SMOKEY NATIONAL PARK 6/18/11

Up and out early to take advantage of autoless loop road until 10 AM and our agenda for the day which includes the eleven mile loop road, a five mile hike to Abrams Falls and historic stops along the way.  We saw deer grazing like cows in the fields, and up close and personal (six feet away and not caring we were there at all), and a mama bear and her two tiny cubs.  We took sandwiches and ate on some rocks in the middle of a steam.  And lucky dogs that we are it started storming as we got back to our trailer.

GREAT SMOKEY NATIONAL PARK 6/17/11

Love our bug tent!!  We started the day off at the stables.  While waiting to ride we saw a bear and some turkey.  Good thing because we didn't see anything on our ride.  Sky and Mako, our horses, were well behaved and knew the trail, so we could just enjoy the forest.  After a nap we took another hike and saw

a deer. And so you say, you can see that at home - true and true, so not seeing is not such a disappointment.  I'm not sure that we'll feel the same way when what we don't see is a buffalo in Yellowstone. 

GREAT SMOKEY NATIONAL PARK 6/16/11

Our first hike on the 1 1/2 mile Pine Oak Nature Trail which was located right across the street from our camper.  Ir provided a perfect introduction to the park.  We did have camper challenge.  This was our first experience with dry camping.  Dry camping - no electrical outlets - meaning no coffee - yikes!!  I can't tell you the number of french presses I've seen since Ali told me about them, but said, "Oh, that's something we don't need.  Well, we can now make coffee with a drip pot - no electric.  When you next see us we will have a french press.  We took an afternoon bike trip on four miles of the eleven mile Cades Cove Loop.  Saturday when auto traffic is not allowed until 10 AM we'll do the Cades Cove Loop.  We cooked steak and sweet potatoes over our campfire and finished off the day in our bug tent with our propane lantern burning

GREAT SMOKEY NATIONAL PARK 6/15

Our choice spot last night at the Walmart turned out not to be so choice.  There was the 24-hour Walmart customer traffic and then the motorcycles roaring by and then after all quieted down the parking lot cleaning machine.  But here we are entering Great Smokey National Park.  We are only getting 10 mpg today, but gas is $3.41.  When we started out this morning it was 59 and cloudy.  Just as we finished setting up camp it started to rain. It is quite cozy here-lush and quiet with rain beatin on the roof--and lasting most of the night. 

National Park Tour Day 1-June 14

Here we are at Panera for a little break.

And we parked at a rest stop with the "Big Rigs" - one of many new experiences for the day.  We left Lerch RV at 8:30 AM and arrived at Salem VA at 4:00 PM.  One of our many surprises is $3.35 cent gas - wow -this alone cuts $400.00 off the trip.  Another surprise was the luxury of the Turnpike Service Stations - Starbucks, Auntie Anns - and sparkling bathrooms.  That was a far cry from Howard Johnsons of my Pittsburgh years.  Tom is watching his RPMs like a hawk and today we got 12 miles to a gallon.  We are headed back now to our choice spot in the Walmart parking lot.  Tomorrow we will arrive in Cades Cove Campground in Great Smokey National Park.  More adventures to come.

TEST TRIP TWO - 5/13/11 to 5/16/11-Raystown

Although the weather wasn't much to speak of test trip two was a great success.  We just put on rainwear and off we went for biking and hiking.  Raystown Lake is a great place and we stayed at Point Camp which is on a peninsula surrounded by water.  Tommy, Lisa, Chelsea and Curtis joined us for a picnic on Sunday afternoon.  Luckily the rain stopped for us to cook hot dogs and beans on the campfire.  Lessons learned on TT2 were, (1) the benefit of coming and going from Lerch RV where we purchased the trailer - we could not lift the tongue of the camper because the battery on the trailer had worn down and GM did not feel it necessary to put that particular fuse in the car battery. Of course Shawn our mechanic knows all things RV and fixed it in a jiffy-actually, Leech RV is going to be our trailer's home between trips, and (2) do not let the weather interfere with our plans.  My next post will be from Great Smokey National Park.  We'll be there from June 15 to June 20.