New Orleans week

20 April 10 – 26 April 10

It sure is nice to have a normal week again!

We arrived in Long Beach, MS without incident. The RV park is facing a lake, about ½ a mile from the beach. We are above the high water line I think. We went to the beach – white white sand and really fine.

For anybody who was at Keesler AFB years ago – this is not your Biloxi. Where there was distance between Biloxi, Gulfport, Long Beach and Pass Christian today without the help of street signs you do NOT know where one stops and the next begins. You can still see the effects of hurricane Katrina even after five years. A big percentage has been rebuilt, but there are still vacant lots with foundations on them along the beach with some of them for sale.

We went to New Orleans, LA(NOLA) on Thursday. We went back up the interstate and down across the causeway. It is a nice ride if you are not in a hurry. Three – four – or five lanes in each direction, but the traffic moved along nicely. We had lunch on the NOLA side of the causeway and then started our search for the 'French Quarter'. It wasn't hard to find – 'Sin City' would be an appropriate name. We even drove up Bourbon St. looking for a parking lot not to far. What a joke – we parked more than a mile away so we did our walking going and coming.

It is amazing to listen to all that Jazz coming from almost every place along the walk. I, Ray, enjoy the music so it was a real treat for me. To see how people make a living in the area is also a real treat, although we did not see any panhandlers. Musicians playing and actors – mimes – acting where ever you turned . Some of them were really excellent – we walked by a woman – silver from head to toe – that if you were just walking would think was a statue. She did NOT have a box or tin cup as most of them did.

We are fine – no damage around where we are from the winds. We went to Walmart on Saturday when the wind was blowing about 20 – 25 and could not drive along the beach. Anybody with a little rust problem would have been alright because it was doing a sand-blast number on everything.

I do have a prayer request. Please keep Hillcrest Baptist Church in your prayers – their church is just a pile of rubble today. This church is a sister church to the one we attended today and they are taking up collections of goods and materials as well as money. The Pastor said today they know what it is like for people of God to do for those in need. After Katrina – they had more than four feet of water in what was left of the building and today they have a beautiful new building with donations from across the country and volunteers coming from all over to help rebuild. They are putting together a two day work part to go up to Yazoo and do demolition and removal of debris.

Ann, see I can do a week withOUT any bird pictures. Unless you remember your youth well – remember yard-birds. Some of these would qualify.

We ate dinner in the restaurant.
That is a mule pulling the carriage.
Pictures:
All different facets of NOLA

Finally out of Texas

13 April 10 – 19 April 10

Ann sent me an e-mail saying the snake we found was a Western Cottonmouth and venomous. Not to worry anyone I was five to six feet from it when I took the picture. I do know triangular heads are not to play with.

We had the week everyone wishes happened to someone else. We took the RV into the shop on Monday about noon to find out what was wrong with the brakes that the ABS light was on. We went back Tuesday morning to see the outcome and it wasn't in the shop yet. One night in a motel when we have a perfectly good and comfortable bed with us. We did empty the refrigerator so they could do the recall package on it. It stuffed the little refer in the motel, but everything was still frozen when we put it back in Wednesday morning Called them Tuesday late afternoon to find out it still wasn't in the shop. Another night in a motel.

Was there Wednesday morning with refrigerator contents in the trunk and it was finally in the shop being torn apart. Stopped Wednesday afternoon to find out the outcome. It was NOT a pretty picture. The rear brakes needed rebuilt. We knew that pretty much going in. the cost wouldn't be to bad on our part as most of it would be covered by Workhorse on a recall. The front brakes were alright but one side had a seal leaking. Only $300 so I told them to fix it. While the wheels were leaning against the side of the RV one of the Service Advisors was looking at them when he noticed a big worn spot on the sidewall where the improperly mounted valve stem had been wearing for the last 7,000 miles.

After telling them to put on two new tires because I could not get anyone on the phone from the dealer where we purchased it they said it SHOULD be done by noon on Friday. We left the shop at 4:00 pm Friday afternoon to drive thru Houston commute traffic.

We arrived in Kinder, LA about 8:00 pm and put everything in place to spend a few relaxing days. We did do a little travel around the area, but their big thing is casinos, so we didn't do much. We went to the beach on Saturday and was caught in another cattle drive. Miriam also had a chance to walk on a beach with white sand. Not many shells and the beach was NOT like the ones we were used to in TX. Monday is another move day as we get closer to the end of May we will move on shorter stays – maybe.

Pictures:
Tractor used in the rice fields – check out those wheels Dylan
Rice fields – there are many in the area
Bladder-wort family flower – it has a scent that attracts insects and is carnivorous
Cattle drive
Attwater Prairie Chicken

6 April 10 – 12 April 10

Another week with a move on Friday causing some problems. We were on our start of what was supposed to be a short day – 3 hours at most. We were going from south of Houston to northwest of Houston – a total of about 110 miles as we were going to drive it. We didn't want to go down to the center of town on the Interstates so it was going to be going over roads we had been on in the car a number of times. The whole story is – we were not on the road for more than 10 minutes when I was cut off then the car stopped. I had to use the brakes hard to keep from an accident. The ABS warning light came on within a couple of minutes and all bets were off. We stopped and checked everything and nothing was visible.

We kept going but at a slower speed – 15 minutes later you could smell brakes getting hot. We stopped in a parking lot and started doing our checking of where we could find someone to check everything out. Call the GMC dealer closest – no we do not do that. He suggest another dealer 40 miles away – they could do it in a couple of weeks. Call Camping World, a national chain of repair shops - “Is it a class A ?” - yes - we are not certified to do the work. Call this repair shop – yes we can check it out this afternoon. Now the only problem is – we are 40 – 50 miles away, yet when we start calling we were less than 3 miles. When I called Camping World – voice mail answered and I started in the direction they were in and they did not call back for over an hour.

The fellow who could fix it – a Christian – asked when we arrived: “Is the chassis Ford or GM?” I knew the answer – GM or Workhorse and he was happy about that, but said “Can you find me the VIN?” I knew exactly where the title was and while I retrieved it he was on the Internet getting information. It seems our chassis has recalls on the brakes. He said he could not fix the problem but directed us to shop that could. Here is a fellow Christian who said he could have the job out tomorrow afternoon at a cost of about two grand($2000) saying go to this shop and get it checked under the recall.

There are still a few good people in business in our world! We went to that shop and they could not do anything until Monday. We used it over the weekend and arrived there Monday about noon. It looks like this will be a MOTEL week.

Our weekend did allow us to see Attwater Prairie Chickens in the wild. They are an Endangered Species with less than a hundred at this refuge and less than a couple hundred in all the refuges in TX. There are about 200 in captive breeding programs at a number of different places in the state. At the turn of the 19th century the population was estimated at over a million. O what man can do to habitat.

We also had a chance to see lots of wild flowers in bloom. This is the time of year to see Texas.

I would ask you to pray for a fellow we met at the church we attended in League City – this weekend they have a bike ride for MS. Just a short little jaunt – 150 miles. They expect to have more than 100,000 riders. His name is James. Thanks

Pictures:
A snake Miriam found on a walk.
Pied-billed Grebe – how do I get in the air, again?
White flower
Ruby-throated Hummer - Its mine – all mine
Yellow flower.

Happy Easter - Everyone

29 March 10 – 5 April 10

HE IS RISEN!!!

We had a story-teller for Easter, so spent the day feeling like we did NOT experience Easter. We did not even get a traditional Easter sermon, but Praise God – He Is Risen, Indeed!

Another Texas thing – I do NOT know if it will come to the rest of the country – but it takes some getting used to – all the traffic signals are on their side. Red is on the left and green on the right consequently you have to look to tell if it is green. My trivia for the week.

We took the ferry ride on Monday. What a ball. Pull up. Wait your turn and drive on. We had a semi second row over from us with another just ahead of us and the gulf on the other side. They probably had 45 – 50 total vehicles on board. Takes about 20 minutes and saved about an hour drive – maybe more because it would have been commute traffic when we returned.

We had a relaxing and enjoyable week. Watched birds, saw sites, and drove with a couple of notable days. You know how the farmer never leaves the boy – well I saw the first hay down on Wednesday. We drove by in the rain Friday afternoon and saw it getting washed.

Visited a fish hatchery on Saturday morning and were lucky. There was a couple and their three boys from TN and they talked the guide into doing a tour. We tagged along. Small world bit – she was from Mantua. They captivity breed and release salt water fish even being ten miles from the gulf. Dow has a waterway for barges to the gulf and they pump it the last 4-5 miles. Quite a process – they are growing 'red drum' and 'spotted sea bass'. The red drum eggs float so they capture them by taking off the top water. At hatching time they are the size of the period at the end of a sentence. We saw some a day and a half old and you could see eyes and they swam right along. At that size they eat algae. They are 30 inches by the age of four. Legal size to catch is 20 to 28 inches. The Osprey pictured in the recent past was eating a red drum – they have a red spot on the tail.

One of the pictures will show your tax dollars at work – wind turbine blades imported from China. Thanks Pres. they probably need the jobs.

Pictures:
Killdeer – challenged to find a safe place for the nest. On the road – of course.
Meadowlark – Eastern or Western? Only the song will tell When was the last time you saw one?
Turbine vanes – funny writing on them
Car on the beach
Car on the ferry