jan 16 2012

Monday, January 16, 2012

I awakened with a start, realizing Evangeline and Hiawatha were not mixed up together.  Longfellow wrote both of them and I confused my poems.  At least I got the poet correct, if nothing else.  I was not upset that I was wrong, (that often happens) I was upset that I had imparted my faulty knowledge.  Longfellow wrote lots of epic poems and  my professor, Mr. Jordan (he pronounced it JERdan) would not be happy I confused them.  Please do not tell him!

Our camp ground was in a lovely wooded area beside a very busy highway.  Dan said it kept him awake most of the night.  Sometimes it is so handy having a literal deaf ear.  We called Don Bell in Baton Rouge, La. To ask him and his wife, Eva, to meet us for lunch today.  Let’s see how I can explain my connection to Don.  Dan and I live in the Caleb Bell house.  Caleb had several sons.  There was Jacob, Joseph, William, Caleb Norris, and daughters.  I’m going to ignore the daughters so I won’t confuse you any more than is necessary.   Caleb Norris and Jacob (or Joseph) were the first two persons from Carteret County to become circuit riders.  Making a really round-about story shorter, Caleb Norris ended up in Kentucky where he married his second wife and built a Bell’s Chapel  just as the chapel of his grandfather's was named.     Don Bell is descended from Caleb Norris Bell.  Caleb’s brother, William, decided to stay in Beaufort and become a dry goods merchant.  I am descended from William.  In May of 2001, Don hosted a Bell family reunion at Bell’s Chapel in Kentucky, and we were invited because we live in the house where Caleb Norris was born.  Now, aren’t you delighted to have read all this?

Don and Eva opened a touring travel business after he retired at the age of 57, and he suggested we do ourselves a favor and leave early so we would go through the Atchafalaya Swamp before the sun was too high overhead.  We took his advice.  What a beautiful drive we had.   He told us to stop at the Welcome Center there.  It took me several  tries to figure out how to pronounce Atchafalaya, and asking many people, too.  It sounds closest to,  “Uh-chaff-fuh-LIE-yuh”.   The center is beautifully done.   There are exhibit stations of low-water living, high-water living with crab pots, rifles, washboards and tubs, and cooking tools for each section.  One fascinating display depicted this area of Louisiana from 10,000 years ago, to 7,000, to 3,000 to present.  It depicted the future places of Baton Rouge, where we were standing, New Orleans future place (all originally in the ocean), and the delta area of today.   There were animated exhibits of the fauna in the swamp area along with the plants.  The raccoon peeped up from a tree stump and the terrapin stuck out his head and opened his huge jaws.  I am really happy they did not include an animated alligator.  The beautiful bronze figurines of alligators and bears, egrets, cranes, pelicans and muskrats were place in inconspicuous places to startle you as you walked around the center.  The black bear was inside a glass case, and stuffed!  They had an informative and well done 5 minutes movie about the swamp as it is today.  The movie was introduced by a mechanical stork and he also told us when to leave and where we could go, but gently.  There are many books and poems done by local people.  The entire time you are there there’s a conversation being held between a couple and they are speaking with the Cajun accent and the colloquialisms.

As we left, we decided to explore a bit and drove south.  We shook, jiggled, jostled, quaked, chattered and tried to talk, with little results.  This was probably the worst road we have encounted on the trip.  The more we drove, not finding a place to turn around, the more I became convinced we should not turn around.  After having our inside massaged all over everywhere, we came to a Y in the road and I saw a name I had seen on the map of Louisiana.   We headed that way.  It took us over a really interesting bridge and led us back to the west end of the swamp, so we were able to go over the swamp again.  It was as compelling as it was the first time we crossed over the swamp on an elevated bridge road.  The elevated road ran about ten to twelve miles.

We spent three delightful hours with Don and Eva Bell.  They insisted we eat with them, so we would have more time to talk.  Eva had a boneless chicken stuffed with a savory cornbread dressing,  a green bean casserole, and for dessert there was a King cake.  Since 12^th night we are in Carnival, preparing for Mardi Gras and Lent.  No matter how much of the scrumptious King cake we ate, none of us found the Christ child!  I suppose Don and Eva will find it before too long.  We had a wonderful and tasty meal.  Their idea of staying in their beautiful home was a great idea.  Everyone was relaxed and we did not have to rush to leave a restaurant.

It was a busy and fulfilling day, so we stopped soon at Jellystone Park at Robert, La.  Tomorrow we will reach Mississippi and hope to visit Jefferson Davis’ home.  We’ll let you know if we’re successful or not!

Take care and blessings,

Trippin’ Trailer Travelers

jan 15, 2012

Sunday, January 15, 2012

A heavy, heavy mist rising from Trinity Bay greeted us this morning as we arose.   We had checked on church last night before retiring and Beaumont had a Methodist church that had services starting at 11.  We usually leave between 8:30 (groan) and 10 (much better).  It seemed to us that if we left at 9:30 we would have plenty of time to drive the 53 miles to the church, especially since the speed limit is 70.   We were up, dressed, stowed inside, and unhooked outside by 9, so we had plenty of time for a leisurely trip east.

We arrived shortly after 10 and were able to find a parking spot for the truck and trailer that would not deny anyone a parking place.  What a beautiful church.  First Methodist in Beaumont was built in 1968.  We had a chance to see some things before entering the sanctuary.  There were stained glass windows from the former church along with the pulpit and silver communion paten and chalice.  Depictions of the 12 disciples lined the walls of one corridor with a traditional history of each.  The comments from the artist about Judas were interesting and insightful.  He had decided not to include Judas in the portraits.  He didn’t want to ask anyone if they would mind being the model for Judas, then his daughter asked him that since he was going to leave Judas out, did he think he knew better than Jesus.  Perhaps asking the model to allow himself to be presented as Judas changed his life.  Who knows?

The stained glass windows were breath-taking.  The one behind the altar is a representation of the Apostle’s Creed.  It is huge and is done in tiny pieces of brightly colored glass.  The side windows represent different aspects of stories from the Old and New Testaments and the rear stained glass above the balcony again represented the disciples and the traditional deeds and deaths of each.

Would you believe they had a covered dish luncheon after the service to which we were invited!  As best we can figure it, they have these meetings once a month and then all the committees meet after the covered dish.     Somehow the church or a committee or SS class provides the meat, staffs the kitchen, sets the tables and cleans up, while the rest of the congregation brings side dishes and desserts.  Per usual, Methodist are fantastic cooks.   We were invited time and again to come back.

The sermon was about our responsibility to invite others to Christ by asking them, as Philip and Jesus did, to “come and see”.   It is not our responsibility, nor can we convince anyone.  Convincing is Jesus’

job.  She asked that we not tell anyone they were condemned by not accepting Christ.  We do not know and our responsibility is only to invite and  to plant seeds.  God is responsible for the rest.  But no one comes to Christ alone.  Everyone who has accepted has had a Philip.

Well, it is Sunday and that’s my repetition of today’s sermon, and meal.  Oh yes, I didn’t mention we also had communion.  BTW.  The meal is the second Sunday of each month unless something changes it to another Sunday.  They had a church wide retreat last week, so the meal was postponed until today.  I shall let you ponder that!

We crossed the Sabine River into Louisiana around 2 this afternoon. We didn’t see any of those super gorgeous Sabine women the Romans were always talking about.  We traveled 890 highway miles in Texas.  Chicago is closer to Beaumont than El Paso!  The welcome center gave us a big, beautiful, official map.

Sheep, cows, and mules are at home on the same range.  We’re in Cajun country.  There are places named for Evangeline and I’m quoting poetry about Hiawatha…”By the shores of Gitchy Goomy (sp?), by the great sea shining water stood the wigwam of Nokomis.” …or is it the teepee?  I forget.  (I cannot tell you how long ago I learned that and even if I could, I will not tell you how many years ago that was.) That’s all I remember about Evangeline and moving from Arcadia, Canada to the south and all the people with her and meeting the Spanish, the Native Americans, the Black, intermarrying and producing the Cajuns.  Enough of history lessons for today, too.

The clouds that announce a front coming through have traveled faster than we and we’re now under a complete cloud cover.  Wonder what tomorrow will bring.  The most outstanding feature on the countryside has been the rice patties that are home to crayfish (crawdads), too.  The paddies are planted and when the rice is harvested, the crayfish feed on the stubble that remains of the reaped rice.  Egrets like the fields, too.  I’ll bet the crayfish farmers are not happy to see them.   Many of these rice and crayfish paddy/ponds have signs saying they are research areas for LSU.

Now that I have given you more information than you ever wanted, I shall stop for the night.  It’s been a good day for the three of us.    Junnie is pleased we have ceased  traveling for the day.

Blessings,

Terminated Texas Travelers

sat Jan 14, 2012

Saturday, January 14, 2012…Kathryn’s birthday!

Even though the sky was a bright blue and the sun was shining brightly, 28 degrees is cold.  We dressed in sweatshirts to stay warm and prepared the trailer to leave DeLayne’s  driveway.  We still had time for a cup of coffee with DeLayne and thank him for taking such good care of us and for inviting Odette over last night.  It was almost like 1976 again except there were four short little people missing.   (You must do the punctuation.  I am not capable.)

As we went down the road, the only things breaking the far horizon were water towers and granaries.  Several hawks were lazily circling in the air over the gently rolling green pastures where cows and horses grazed.  Highway 290 is a nice divided 4 lane road with a wide median and speeds conducive for lower trailer traffic travel.  Sandy Creek even had water flowing.  There wasn’t much, but the river was not a dry bed this time.

We have discovered a new Murphy’s Law for travelers.   “Whatever you are looking for is only to be found on the opposite side of a divided highway and with no turn lane in sight.”  Cows, horses, and farm equipment seem to be the major sources of income along this stretch of road.  Non interstate driving is much more relaxing, if you can afford the time to go that way.

A day or so ago, we were reminded that we will not see where the deer and the antelope play until after we see the amber waves.  Fortunately  “of grain” was omitted.   Are bleached blonde tuffs of grass the same as amber waves?

The countrysides are beautiful green pasture lands with herds of cattle and horses free to roam and graze.  These scenes are much more “humane” than some of the “sardine” cowpens we’ve seen along the interstates.  There are watering ponds with actual water.  We rarely ever saw any suggestion of water on other free range pastures.   We passed a ranch that boasted of having angus and brangus cattle.  We’d never heard of brangus cows before.

We stopped in the town of Chappell Hill for lunch at a deli that sold colaches as well as hamburgers, bbq, sausages and pork plates.  The store was also a bakery and they made and sold sausages, canned jams and jellies.  I didn’t get the opportunity to ask what a mawberry was.  It dawned on me that I had on a UNC sweatshirt so Dan took my picture in front of the store.  We thought that was pretty neat.  This store was not the only one we saw that had meats and “made-on-site”  sausages.  Some of these meat markets were big enough to be small grocery stores.

We passed  Brahma Bulls in Brenham.  How’s that for alliteration?

There was only one garage/flea market to be found today.  It was huge with lots of cars and all kinds of tents and booths…on the other side of the divided highway with no turn lane in sight!  I began driving after lunch and I must say Dan does not like to take pictures as much as I do, but he did tell me he saw a sign in Houston that advertised Gentle Dental.  He also reported we had seen some unique wildlife with the dead skunk near a bayou.

We are camped at Sunset RV Resort on Trinity Bay just north of Galveston Bay.  One of our neighbors had his kettle grill warming and I asked what was for supper and he grinned.  We walked down to the Bay and enjoyed sitting near the picnic tables for a while and taking some pictures.  This is a very nice park, too.  We had tried one earlier and the showers that were advertised did not exist, so we went searching for another place to camp.

 As I was cooking our ground beef stroganoff, there was a knock at the door and it was our neighbor bringing us fajitas, homemade guacamole, homemade salsa, grilled skirt steak and short ribs.  I was floored.  When Dan took them a jar of Ann Street peanuts, they wanted to know if we’d like to have more.  People are fantastic, aren’t they?   These fellows are working for a seismograph company.  They work 21 days straight before they have a week off.  Dan asked if they discovered oil, did they get a bonus.  They replied that the boss might! ( can you believe Fran wanted me to ask them “what was shaking? Since there were four of them I did not ask – Dan)

Ta-ta!

Blessings

Texas Traffic Travelers

Friday Jan 13, 2012

Friday, January 13, 2012

We have spent a delightful day of relaxation and conversation with wonderful friends whom we have not seen in over 35 years.  Catching up is a good thing to do.  Hope your Friday the 13^th has been a good one, too.

Blessings,

We three

jan 12, 2012

Austin, Texas…January 12, 2012

GEE-MOW-NEE-CHRISTMAS!  It is cold.  The upper left quadrant of a witch’s upper torso couldn’t possibly be any colder and there are 40 MPH winds.  The sky is overcast, too, hoping the sun above will warm the clouds somewhat.

Junnie and I were rocked in the truck cab while Dan ran into Wal-Mart to see if they have any “Aromatherapy for cats”.  We do not want to travel without it and our supply becomes less each day.  All three of us will be even loonier if it gives out.  I was going to say that we’d be “loony”, and then my mind heard someone mutter---“they already are”, so I chose a different adverb (or is it an adjective?  I’m leaning toward adverb.  It’s been so long since elementary school!)  I HEARD THAT! We have stopped at Wal-Mart, a veterinarian and a tractor supply place (I’m sure everyone wants a calm farm cat!) looking for Junnie’s “happy smells”. 

We passed Peach orchards, horses, cows, sheep, goats, wineries, fields of dead Live Oaks with a scattering of live ones, vineyards and a meat market and taxidermy shop.  Thankfully our freezer is stocked with all the meat we need for a while.

When we arrived in Johnson, TX., we drove past LBJ’s home.  Johnson was his hometown.  His home is a lovely 1900’s farm house with a nice front porch from which he announced his candidacy for every race he ran.  The yard sports yaupon, crape myrtle, magnolia, cedar, chinaberry and sycamore trees.  There are live oaks in the back near the elevated water tank along with a lean-to work shed and there’s an outhouse in the back corner.  The back yard has a split rail fence, but the front yard is surrounded by a two level picket fence.  Each of the rooms were designed to have windows on three sides to take advantage of all available light.   Johnson, Texas even has grakles.  Talk about having a lot in common with Beaufort.  BTW did you hear that Beaufort is in the top three candidates in “The Best Small Towns in the US”?

The highway system over Austin afforded us with a wonderful panoramic vista of the city.  We arrived in the afternoon and went to the home of Dan’s first boss after he graduated from IU.  Dan, that is.  Dan and DeLayne worked together at the College of Pharmacy at The Ohio State University for  over five years.   It was good to see him again.  Unfortunately he and his wife have divorced, but she and their daughter and son-in-law who live in Austin will be coming over tomorrow evening.  We called Lin and Beverly Shivers to invite them out to dinner for tonight.  They are the parents of Michelle who was the youth director when Kryn and Kathryn were in MYF.  Last February they stopped by the house to take us to dinner and we were trying to do the same to them tonight, but Beverly had a PPR meeting.  Their minister is moving and it was imperative she go to it.  That’s what happens sometimes.  We were only able to give DeLayne a 2 hour notice as to when we’d be arriving this afternoon.  He did, though, have some inkling we were on our way.  Lin has had some severe health issues and we didn’t want them to make any plans for us so we just took our chances.  This time they didn’t work out, but it was good we  were both able to talk with both of them.

We finally found a Petsmart in Austin for Junnie’s favorite fragrance.  Our GPS told us the nearest one was over fifty miles away…note to self…Get an update for the GPS!  On this trip we’ve been to several places that are no more, too.  I may not change, but other things do.

Signing off for today.  Hope you’ve had a great day.  It is still cold and promises to get colder as the evening progresses.  I’m delighted we have so many blankets and heavy clothes, but I thought they’d be for more northerly climes.  Ah well, the weather here is as changeable as it is in Beaufort!

Blessings,

Trailer Traveling Tourists

jan 11, 2012

Jan. 11, 2012

Das ist Fredericksburg, Texas!   We arrived around two PM this afternoon in this charming German town in the middle of the hill country in mid Texas.  The day has been beautiful with warm temperatures and pleasant breezes to enjoy when we stopped along the way.  I have decided that Junnie does not need to go to check on the trailer, he has just trained us to stop about an hour into the day.  If we don’t stop soon enough for him, he starts mewing and keeps it up until we stop and then he’s fine for the rest of the ride.   It must be that he has trained us.  Nothing else makes any sense.  After all this time he knows we did not leave the trailer behind.

Unfortunately we did not have time to stop and see the town.  It is difficult to find a parking spot toting a trailer behind a truck.  They use “strassa” for street, and  “haus” for house in many areas, along with Bavarian Haus Restaurants,  German meat markets, and Amish vegetable grocers.  The architecture has a definite European and Victorian influence.  The RV park is nice and has a wonderful handicap shower and bathroom available.  Not all campgrounds are as well equipped for those who have challenges doing things.  Dan’s doing the laundry at the moment.  He takes such fantastic care of me.  How blessed I continue to be in my life.  No complaints!

Evidently the weather in this area must be a lot like the climate and weather in Beaufort.  There is an abundance of Live Oak, Cedar, Sycamore, Pecan, pear pads and Yucca growing in the sections we drove through today.  We also saw some Tamarack trees like the ones in Beth and Julian Arrington’s front yard.  Some people call them Tamarisk, so I’m not positive which they are, but grew up hearing they were the ‘rack ones.  Pittosporum abound, too, as well as Crape Myrtle.

We left I-10 at exit 477.  I’m not sure how many more miles we have in Texas.  It’s hard to believe we’ve been for over 477 miles.  We drove about 50 miles on 290 to get here and then a few miles south on 16.  I am so glad we have an RV book that gives good directions on how to get where we’re going.

As we drove down 290, we were surprised to see wildlife in the Live Oak forests munching on the grass.  Dan saw an antelope, but I missed it.  We both saw lots of goats and black faced shorn sheep.  The fences have changed from just horizontal wires to goat/sheep fences.  They are considerably taller than the cow fences and have a wire grid.   Several ranches were goat and sheep ranches, but we also saw an Emu who walked along the fence as we slowed so I could get a good shot of him.

There were a great number of dead Live Oaks because of the drought they have had.  We had seen large numbers of Cedar trees with deep burn orange foliage and asked what type they were.  We were told they we dead.    You know how grey dead Live Oaks look.  Now, translate that shade of grey to pasture lands of those who were not fortunate enough to be able to irrigate the land.  I do not think I’ve ever seen grey pasture lands before.  We passed several church bulletin board signs asking for people to pray for rain.

My sister is in a convalescent center and is receiving physical therapy.  Gene  says she is still very weak;, but has a good attitude and is eating much better.  Thanks for your prayers; please continue.

Blessings,

Touring Texas Travelers

jan 10, 2012

Caverns of Sonora, January 10, 2012

While supper cooks, I think I’ll get started.  After yesterday’s gloom, the sun was a welcomed sight this morning when we awakened.   Even with all the sunshine, the desert was frozen.  There was a plowed field we passed, and at first we had thought it was a lake.  The snow was reflecting the sunlight because of the thin layer of ice that formed overnight.  The glare hurt our eyes.   The terrain is so flat you can see things that are miles away before you come close to them.  It’s also a strange sight to see a herd of Black Angus crossing a snow covered field.  There’s no way to hide them.

We have discovered the range where the deer play.  I-10 is littered with the bodies of dead deer.  We counted 22 and possibly 23 coming here.  That’s the ones we saw.  We have no idea how many others we missed.   Once again we see working oil wells and huge, flat mesas; lots of windmill farms and singular old-fashioned windmills, all silently working.  The elevation is definitely dropping from yesterday’s mile high views to under 1100 feet, and the vegetation is increasing in numbers as well as height.

Both Dan and I saw 4 cute little black bristled piggies on the side of the road in a wash.  I have no idea what they’re called, but we know they’re wild.  When we got to the campground we found out they’re called Javelina (sp?).  It’s pronounced just like the oil, Haveline with an ah sound at the end and we have been told they are MEAN!  But they’re so little and cute!  The campground also has an Angora goat.  She slipped off the ranch that borders the campground and refuses to go back home.  I managed to get a picture of her eating a prickly pear cactus and then she ate some dead leaves off a live oak tree.

We were not only greeted by the goat when we arrived, there is a peacock and peahen on the premises along with a large flock of Guinea hens and one wild turkey who all grew up together and   think they’re one big family.  The ground is covered by rocks, rocks and more rocks…all white.  Dan said most of the area is covered in sandstone.  They have made it clear that my touring the caverns will be difficult especially with some 350 steps out at the end and Dan chose to stay with me instead of going.  Whitewashed gourds hang from cross arms and await the purple martins that will inhabit them in warmer weather and there is something that looks like an F-troop outdoor shower.  Many of you are way too young to remember that TV show.  I can barely remember it myself.  Want me to tell you another?

We were given a treat this afternoon at 5 by one of the managers.   He spread feed all over one of the roads and told us to go sit quietly near one set of picnic tables that are under a couple of live oak trees.  One, than another, and another, and then more does appeared along with two bucks.  The drought has been so severe they have had to begin feeding the deer.  What a wonderful way to spend time before preparing supper.

Tonight we had tortellini with stir-fry vegetables and roasted chicken breast strips in a mushroom sauce with a corn and bean salad.   Fresh basil really set off the main dish.  Are you drooling yet?

Ah yes, we just tried to make a phone call and there’s no service, so this won’t get posted until tomorrow.  Here I was thinking I’d get things done earlier today.  We’re going to watch a movie since there’s no TV signal either.  We both have lots to read anyway.

Blessings to each of you,

Three Texas Trespassers