Cross Country Road Trip - Days 28-29

Today we visited the Big Easy. What a place. Lots of people and by time we left around 3:00, the party was starting. Did a walking tour of the French quarter, the French Market, Bourbon and Royal streets, and took the vintage 1920 St. Charles streetcar (aka Streetcar Named Desire) for a ride through the city and garden district. We even went to Cafe Du Monde and enjoyed watching 100's of people waiting in line for a doughnut. hmmm... The causeway we drove from Mandeville to New Orleans across Lake Pontchartrain must have been 30 miles long.

Yesterday we went on a Honey island Swamp boat tour. We saw some really cool natural swamps, and saw several alligators. good fun.

Kyle really seems to enjoy our bike rides. The new trailer is working great, particularly with the help of the e-bike conversion!

Tomorrow we head off for St. Andrews State Park near Panama city, FL where we'll chill for 5 nights.

Cross Country Road Trip - Days 26-28

Fri April 29 - Yesterday we arrived at Fontainebleau State Park in Mandeville, LA which is across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans. We had a short 2-1/2 hr drive to the park - a nice relief from the 6-8 hour drives we've had. This is a magnificent state park deserving a rating of "10". Bike/hike trails everywhere, a beach, air conditioned bath/shower rooms, laundry, water play area, an old sugar mill, etc. We hooked up the bike trailer and the three of us took a long ride to the boardwalk over a marsh and saw an alligator and tortoise.

Today, we are going on a boat tour of Honey Island Swamp, and will come back to Mandeville for some

authentic Creole dinner.

Wednesday we drove into the Atchafalaya basin and saw some great swampland, visited New Iberia (setting of one of my favorite author's (James Lee Burke) detective Dave Robicheaux) We then drove to Avery Island and toured the Tabasco plant and drove through the a bayou/jungle. We also saw an egret nesting colony. Most people don't know that while egrets fly south for the winter, ingrets fly north :)

Next we drove up to Lafayette and visited Vermillionville, a working museum of an historic Acadian (Cajun) village. It was neato and the architecture and grounds were interesting. We learned that the Acadian French were exciled from Nova Scotia by the British because they sympathized with the Americans. They settled in Louisiana because it was Spanish and they didn't mind the French and let them worship as Catholics.

We had a great Cajun dinner in Breaux Bridge, and enjoyed some authentic music while we ate.

Weather Update... Today is again beautiful and clear and should get up to 83. We hit some heavy winds, hot/humidity, and light rain coming in from Texas, but not too bad. The forecast is pretty much clear and moderate going forward 10 days. The hurricanes are further north - we skirt right along the gulf.

April 26, 2011

Nights 25-26, – Breaux Bridge, LA

After a rather long and windy 8 hrs driving day we have arrived in Breaux Bridge, LA and are staying at a really nice campground called Poche’s Fish ‘n Camp. We’ll be here two nights. It is really beautiful. Breaux Bridge is 10 mi east of Lafayette, LA and about 60 miles west of New Orleans. Tonight we are going to a local place and specializes in crawfish etouffe’. Tomorrow we plan to visit Vermillionville, an historic working Cajun/Acadiana village/museum, and go to Avery Island to see the Tabasco plan and gardens.

Nights 23 and 24 – Austin, TX

The last two days we were in Austin, TX staying at McKinney Falls state park which was wonderful. Very secluded and lots of trees. Kind of hot and humid in Austin, but we have the AC, so no worries. We drove down to San Antonio and visited The Alamo and the San Antonio riverwalk. We were suprised to find that The Alamo is right in the middle of downtown San Antonio, and it is celebrating it’s 175^th anniversary of the battle. Why they had the battle in a big city and not out in the country is beyond me. J

Nights 21-22 – Fort Stockton, TX (Carlsbad Caverns)

We were unfortunate enough to pick the worse campground ever invented. Now, when we rate campgrounds, we’ll know what a “1” is. A filthy gravel lot with outlets on power poles. To be fair, they had free WIFI which sort of worked and decent showers, and we really weren’t there much anyway. We spent day 23 visiting Carlsbad Caverns, which were awesomely cool.

We found west Texas to be not so attractive. We should give it back to Mexico. East Texas was pretty nice.

Trip factoids: We’ve driven about 3500 miles so far, and spent double for repairs what we have for gas.

Repairs: We were able to find new bike tires in Austin and put them on my and Deb’s bikes, plus we bought another spare. The water pump is cycling too much which means the internal check valve is starting to leak. So we stopped at a camping world near Houston and bought a pump head. I’ll install it sometime later – no biggie.

Carlsbad Caverns

San Antonio Riverwalk

Cross Country Road Trip - Day 20 + more photos

The trip is going very well. This morning, we took off from a great stayover in Picachu, AZ called Arizona Hideaways. They had a nice pool and big shade trees. We were hoping that the fridge would get off it's keister and spontaneously start working, but it didn't. So we stopped at Camping world in Tucson and bought a new fridge, which was exactly the same size as the old one. We got the old one out and the new one in and finished in 2 hrs. So

once it cools down (takes a long time initially to get them cold), we should be good to put stuff away in it tonight.

Tonight we're staying in Deming, NM. Hmmmm.... somewhat developed city. A windy desert town. The campground is a "Loners on Wheels" campground .. so lots of older single people I suppose. We're just now talking with a nice lady in an adjacent site who used to live in Valley, WA of all places.

Next stop ... Balmorhea, TX which is near Carlsbad Caverns.

Cross Country Road Trip - Days 16-19

On the road again… la-de-da-de-da, we couldn’t wait to get on the road again…. So the tranny was finally finished on Tuesday at 5:30pm. They added an extra transmission cooler and a temp gauge. So we left at 5:30 and went as far as Indio, Ca that night, arriving around 9:30. The equipment ran great! This morning we set off from Indio and decided to get as close to Tucson, AZ as we could. We’re at a great spot in Picacho, AZ. We all went swimming and are now enjoying a daquiri outside.

So the thing is … we need to stop at Camping World in Tucson tomorrow and buy a new fridge/freezer unit (!!$$-ka-ching-$$!!). Yes one more disruption. But hey.. we have our health (knock knock) and the RV is running well now (knock knock). Once we install it, we hope to be done by noon and get on to our next destination, Carlsbad Caverns. By the time we hit the Austin/San Antonio area on the 24th, we’ll be back on schedule.

In order to accommodate the delay, we had to cut out the route through the Petrified Forest and Santa Fe, and one day near Austin saving 6 days in all. But we were lucky enough to visit the Reed Petrified Forest in Sky Forest, CA and get this nice shot of us next to a HUGE petrified tree thingy. Speaking of Sky Forest, our undying gratitude goes to my brother Dan and sister in law Diane for tolerating us for an entire 6 nights. We did some cool stuff, had some great food and really enjoyed the solitude of their place in the woods.

Cross Country Road Trip - Days 13-15

April 14-17, 2011


OK, so while we wait for word on the disposition of the RV transmission, we took a trip to Universal Studios Theme Park. It was good fun and a nice diversion from the woes of the broken RV. I guess you can say that the tickets to Universal Studios cost us over $2,000 .. when you include the cost of the transmission repairs.

Ironically, we were in the Haunted House when the shop called me with the estimate. As it turns out we were "lucky" and because we stopped driving fairly soon when we noticed the leak, the transmission had no real

internal damage as a result of the leaks ... so just bad seals, complete checkout, and added extra transmission cooler and temp gauge. It is supposed to be ready Monday. So we cut out Petrified Forest and Sante Fe NM from the route and will pickup on schedule at Carlsbad Caverns, TX.

Meanwhile, we're enjoying a great stay at Dan and Diane's beautiful log home in SkyForest, CA. We had a great dinner at the Mission Inn with niece Shelley and her kids, Zack and Katie, and nephew Dan. Rumor is brother Darryl worked once upon a time!

Today we took a drive to big Bear lake and had a great lunch, tour of the village, and went to the animal rescue zoo. We saw grizzlies, eagle, bobcats, mountain lions, and many other cool animals.

Cross Country Road Trip - Days 10-12

Yes, so, stuff happens, OK? We had a great stay at Deb's sister Carolyn and Gary's place in Morgan Hill. hit a bucket 'ol balls, took some hikes. Great food. Then drove to past Bakerfield overt Tehachapi Pass and en route to our campground the transmission decided to taker a barf onto the ground. So we had it towed to a shop in Lancaster, CA when they are going to drop the tranny and see what's up.

Meanwhile we drove the car up to my brother Dan and Diane's place in Skyforest and will stay here for a while. Estimates for the tranny work is up to a week, so we'll be "tweaking" the trip plan. As I say... stuff happens. More to come.

Cross Country Road Trip, Days 5-9

Day 5 – April 6, 2011 - Burney, CA

A day of rest and sightseeing. Spent the morning checking out the RV, inflating tires, etc. Found one bike tire with a large hole. In the afternoon, we trekked to Burney Falls to do some hiking and see the neato falls.

Factoid: The RV has been getting around 7.5 mpg, and we fill at about 1/3 tank. So we usually put in around 20-25 gal every ~ 150-200 miles. Gas in WA and OR has been in the $3.65-$3.80 range, and we try to stop at Safeway, Fred Meyer or Costco when we can.

Day 6, April 7 – Destination: Bodega Bay, Ca

Today we met good friends Nancy and Wayne at Bodega Bay, which is just N of San Francisco. Great beach campground. No hookups, so this was a good test for the solar panel. Very windy and cold today, so we ate indoors.

Days 7-8, April 8-9 - Bodega Bay

Great weather and nice beaches. Brought out the bikes and was able to test Kyle's new adaptive trailer with the electric bike conversion. Good fun. On Sat, the bike died going up a steep hill. Turned out to be a blown fuse - too much work for it I guess. We modified Deb’s bike with an electric front wheel hub motor, so getting up hill is way easier when trying to pull that additional 150 lbs (trailer+Kyle). I also got out the kite. Weather on the first day was perfect…warm and mildly breezy. The second day was breezier, but still pretty nice. The solar panel has done a great job recharging the batteries during the day. It seems to be more or less keeping up with the draws, mostly water pump, TV and heater motor. The lights at night draw almost nothing, because I installed LED bulbs. Factoid: GULP! Gas in Calif is a bit on the pricy side, but then, we expected that. The most we paid so far is $4.19 in Novato, CA. $100 to fill up.

Day 9, April 10 / Destination: Morgan Hill, CA

Drove the short distance to Morgan Hill, near San Jose to see Deb's sister Carolyn and husband Gary. Beautiful weather.

Cross Country Road Trip - Days 1-4

Day 1 - April 2, 2011 Destination: Monroe, WA We left the cabin more or less on time after Debbie took Kyle to the doctor to test his protime and to check his ear that he had just started complaining about. His left ear had become completely compacted with earwax. Unfortunately the PA on call didn’t do anything other than prescribe antibiotics.

Stevens Pass/Hwy 2 was closed due to mud and snow slides, so we had to route through Spokane and over I-90. The weather report forecasted snow. The trip started fine, although getting re-adjusted to towing a car took some time. It has a tendency to get blown around in winds, and when trucks pass us. We noticed this significantly as we crossed the Columbia at Vantage. The winds were strong and I got my exercise fighting the steering wheel. So then up toward the pass. Indeed there was snow. A blizzard. Toward the peak there was some snow on the road, but not bad… I just wasn’t sure what would happen if I had to stop quickly with all that extra weight behind us and icy roads. We didn’t unhook the car (probably should have), but everyone was going slow due to traffic and I didn’t mind that at all. Nonetheless, we made it over without incident and continues on toward our turnoff at North Bend. Somewhere enroute, we both heard a soft "clunk" but the RV was running fine and didn’t think much of it at the time. 7-1/2 hours later we arrived at Gary and Shelley Goodnight’s place in Monroe, quite road weary from a tough first drive. I stopped the RV but then when I tried to re-start it to move it, the battery seemed almost dead, but it started. I also notived the alternator gauge was straight up, neither charging not discharging, and the RV coach batteries were low (the get charged from the alternator while driving). Yes you guessed it, the clunk we heard was the alternator belt breaking. (Yes, Eric, good PREVENTIVE maintenance is always a better idea!) So, we decided to deal with it the next day, possibly including a several day delay while we took the RV to the Ford dealer. We enjoyed the evening with a couple margaritas and good friends.

Day 2 – April 3, 2011 Good friend (and master mechanic) Gary Goodnight convinced me that we could replace the belts ourselves. Unfortunately I had to cancel a breakfast engagement with good friends Eric Rosebrock and Shirley Henderson. I had the foresight to have a spare alternator belt, but we decided to replace the PS, AC belt at the same time, so I headed down to town to get that one. Gary had the cowling off and both belts removed by the time I got back. Donned in my white Tyvek coveralls, we installed the new belts and had the RV back running by 10 am. So the rest of the day was spend two-fold... Deb decided to take Kyle to an urgent care clinic as Kyle was complaining more about his ear. I picked up my brother Darryl and son Jason, and took off to Bellingham to get Jason's car. Poor Kyle had a rough time as after 3 hours of ear flushing, they couldn't get him cleared out .. but he got some pain drops and softener and we would see a doctor in a week.

That night we had a great dinner with our sons Jason (and g-friend Xin-Xin), Ben and my brother Darryl, wife Kathy and daughter Mandy. Good times. Happy early birthday, Jason!

Day 3 - April 4, 2011 / Destination: Eugene, OR...This road trip was wonderfully uneventful. Alot of rain, but everything ran great. The alternator belt was even still on when we arrived at our campground in Eugene, Armitage city Park. We met a great lady who is a "full timer" living and travelling permanently in her RV. That night we saw some good friends Katherine and Frank Paiva who recently moved to Eugene from Seattle. I worked for Frank at the Seattle Times.

Day 4 - April 5, 2011 / Destination: Burney, CA Another blissfully uneventful trip. The weather was beautiful the whole way and the scenery from Eugene to Burney in georgeous. (see pix of Mt. Shasta). We stay in Burney at Deb's sister Corrinne and husband Max.

Day 5 - April 6, 2011. Today we visited Burney falls and tinkered on the RV. Filled water, tires, fixed a bike tire flat. We lost the 3rd of 4 hub caps en route, so I just took off the 4th and painted the rims silver. Supposed to get snow on the pass over to Redding ... oh goodie! ;(