Day 21 MY 21 Sunday

We arrived home about 2:15 with 3047 miles under our belts. I'm beginning to think that my premonition/negative feelings about Texas became self-fulfilling but I really can't think of anyplace I want to go back to and the miles and miles to get anywhere was just too much. Oh well. We will wait for my ankle to get better and then regroup regarding trip to northern California - by air and rental car.

Day 20 May 1 Saturday

We are just east of Tallahassee FL. All I can say is I am so glad to be on FL roads that are smooth, straight, and flat. I think I am just too old for long stretches of bumpy, hilly interstates, etc. I told Jack that I don't think it is too much to ask to be able to keep my butt in my seat.
The oil spill is all the buzz as we rode along the gulf coast. Papers are filled with a great deal of concern. They are saying that Katrina was the worst natural disaster and this will be the worst man-made disaster. I cannot believe it is hitting the same people again. We expect to be home tomorrow - about another 4 hours of driving to go.

Day 19 April 30 Friday

Quiet day at the ole rv site. Jack very busy and I am just reading away. We had dinner at the casino’s buffet last night. It was an experience. Alaskan crab legs are the draw and the diners were crazy. They stacked their plates with 4 overflowing servings that they had to hold against their bellies and keep in place with their hand on top of them to getthe plates back to their tables. I just didn’t get it. There was plenty and they kept bringing more out. Too lazy to go back for seconds?? Also, there were at least 6 people who weighed at least 400 pounds. I never saw so much extreme obesity in one place, and all young people too. Very sad. So we didn’t enjoy it so much. This is a huge resort casino with big hotel, golf course, etc. Seems to be very popular. We had no luck with the few bucks we bet on computer poker and the slots.
Dreary and drizzling all day so unable to enjoy sitting out. Local paper focused on the negative impact of the oil spill. Not looking good for people who are barely recovered from Katrina.

Day 18 April 29 Thursday

Made it as far as the new Hollywood Casino in Bay St. Louis MS. Beautiful, huge rv park. We haven't been to the casino yet. The major restaurant hasn't opened yet so it must be really new. We took a road around on the south side of the Mississippi from New Orleans to go to a museum for the people who settled here from the Canary Islands. I read about them in a great book on New Orleans. However, the place looked empty and deserted. There was construction of new buildings behind it so maybe they are renovating after Katrina or something. Took a lot of time to get there so too bad. Anyway, ended up taking a ferry across the Mississippi. The school bus crosses by ferry every day. We had to wait for the coal barge to pass before we could cross.

Day 17 April 28 Wednesday

Lazy day for me with Jack hard at it with his law work. We ate at RikRak last night. It's the Japanese restaurant at Shorty's Casino. We ended up having a series of appetizers that include a special plate with little ribs, edame, crab egg rolls. Followed by oysters on the half shell, and then lobster/shitake mushroom spring rolls. With a little sake and wine we were almost full but had room for dessert. Pineapple flan. I don't know how they got the delicate pineapple flavor in the flan but it was sinfully delicious. Topped with a crispy, think slice of pineapple, huge raspberries and strawberries dipped in chocolate. It was served on this huge square plate with a very shallow center square. The flan was very thinly spread out over the center. So-o-o-o good,

Day 16 April 27 Tuesday

We made it make to one of our favorite places – Cypress Bayou/Shorty’s Casino near Baldwin, LA. We took the scenic byway route which was scenic – rice fields, crop dusters, and quite a bit of other rural action. However, the road was so bumpy and rough we were driving less than 50 mph about 50% of the time. We’re in no hurry, so no big deal except it sounded like everything in every cupboard and closet of this rv was rearranged. We are going to stay two nights so Jack can get some law work done and I can “house clean” a little. I love reading books on my Nook. We've decided to drive a day and rest a day the rest of the way home.

Day 15 April 26 Monday

As usual, started out with a good breakfast in Victoria and ended up in Orange TX which is right at the TX/LA border in a so-so rv park. A sign in the restaurant was, “My reality check bounced”. Too cute. It was a very interesting range of customers and servers. Think somebody could write a book and never leave the restaurant. It was across the street from a huge medical center. One table with 6-8 good old boys who I am sure have breakfast there every day. By the way, in Texas, the Florida snowbirds are called “winter Texans”. We can easily find rv sites because they have gone north.
The drive to Galveston was pretty boring. Did have some stretches where we could see the gulf, but primarily corn fields and bayous that don’t look like Louisiana bayous—more like creeks. There are huge plants, one for olefins and polymers (products of oil I assume) and another that we assumed was nuclear because you were not allowed to stop along the road for 4 miles. There were also several shrimp boat marinas and crawfish farms. Otherwise, it was a pretty boring ride, some huge cornfields and a Nature/Wildlife Preserve. We didn’t even see a bird.
We kind of zipped through Galveston, my foot was very sore today. Jack said I overdid the mission yesterday. We took the ferry from Galveston to the Bolivar Peninsula. That was fun and free. See the pictures. The hurricane damage is very evident. Some new buildings and it looks like either new or repaired homes that are empty. Several make-shift rv camps which we assumed were former residents rebuilding. We agreed that it is the part of the US we don’t really care if we come back to. I can probably say the same for TX in general. People are very nice but just miles and miles and miles to get from one place to another. I said to Jack, if we every consider doing CA again, we are taking the northern route, whatever that turns out to be.