Hattiesburg, MS

We had a stormy night last night, but the rain was well passed by the time I headed over to the Freightliner facility. I arrived just before 1030 and the part was there as scheduled. The new part looked much different and was nearly three times the size of the original. Plugs looked compatible, though, so I headed back to the coach. It turned out to be an easy replacement. The hardest part was getting my long body between the driver seat and pedals to work under the dash. Actually, that is not quite true. Getting back out was the hardest part.

The moment of truth came when I turned on the ignition and tried the lights. Voila! They worked! Another problem solved!

By just after eleven we were back on the road. Soon we were in Mississippi and crossing the Mississippi River at Vicksburg. We have decided that Mississippi is a state worth returning to. We are particularly interested in the civil war history in the state. Natchez is high on our list of cities to visit, but that will be another trip.

We managed to catch up with the wet weather. While it is not raining, it is misty, and cool. There is lots of mud here in the campground, so we are not venturing out much. Sorry for so few pictures for the gallery on this stop, but Barbara did add a couple of shots of the ducks we were feeding on the pond.

Tomorrow we head to Niceville, FL and the home of Jim and Phyllis Kaiserski. We met Jim and Phyllis on our Bahamas cruise and enjoy their company. Hopefully we can talk them into visiting Orlando.

More Adventure!

We got off to a shaky start this morning, and it went down hill from there. Leaving the fuel stop we noticed that the on ramp to I-20 eastbound was closed. No detour signs, just a road closed sign. In trying to get a work around route we ended up on a road that had no outlet and it required disconnecting the Honda to get turned around. When we got that all sorted out we found the taillights and turn signals were inop. Two hours of troubleshooting and a call to the chassis manufacturer lead us to a defective headlight control module. Knowing it, and finding it, were two very different things. A little time on my head under the steering wheel and dash finally got us a visual. A subsequent call to the local Freightliner dealer got the part on order. If all goes well it will be here by 1030 in the morning and I can get it installed. Sure hope that will be the solution.

In the meantime we set out to see what Monroe, LA had to offer, and we actually had a very nice time. We found a museum at the home of the first Coca Cola bottler. Turns out the Biedenharn family started bottling what we know of as Coca Cola in 1894, while the pharmacy that became the Coca Cola Corp. was still selling it only over the counter at their soda fountain. You may already know that Coke started as a patent medicine for upset stomach and was sold as a bottled syrup. Biedenharn mixed it with carbonated water and sold it as a beverage. When the pharmacist saw how successful the Biedenharn’s were they got on the bandwagon and the rest was history. (http://www.biedenharncoca-colamuseum.com/)

Afterward we had a very nice catfish dinner over looking the Ouachita River. We have been happy to find that you can find something fun and interesting just about everywhere we have gone. Is this country great, or what?

West Monroe, LA

Not much to say about today since it was spent on the road. We said goodbye to Smilin’ Jack and Lisa around nine and dove into the Dallas traffic. Actually it was not the traffic so much as the construction and “Jersey Walls” making it a pretty narrow road in places. East of the city the road opened up and it was smooth sailing for the most part all the way to West Monroe, LA where we pulled in to the Pavillion RV Park.

We were satisfied to settle in and watch the president speak, but Felicity Flamingo was quite taken by the Chihuahuas across the way.

Tomorrow we are off to the home of Bret Favre. Hattiesburg, MS.

Happy Birthday, Jack!

Today was all about Jack. While his birthday is the 30^th (along with his uncle Archie) we celebrated this weekend because this is when we could get all the grandparents together. We had a great time. Chris baked pizzas and there was plenty of cake to go around. Three other families brought children, so there was plenty of assistance in helping the packages get unwrapped.

Behind the scene:

Tomorrow Lisa’s parents and Chris’ mom head home while we stay behind and do sprinkler maintenance. We will hit the road Monday morning as Chris and Lisa return to work.

It was our plan to surprise Chris and Lisa when we arived by being dressed as Florida tourists. You know, tacky. We dressed the part and had Lisa and Chris rolling on the lawn when we stepped out of the coach. As an added touch we brought a lighted flamingo. Originally a joke, we are actually getting used to him.

 

The weather has been grand, so in all respects it has been a terrific weekend.

Harper and Southlake, TX

The drive from Big Bend National Park to Harper, TX was uneventful which really is the way we like it. We arrived at the ranch of John and Jane Canfield in the late afternoon and got our coach set up in the guest spot next to their motorhome.

After setting up we were treated to a tour of the ranch. A small spread by Texas standards, but it contained more wild life than we had seen on the entire trip so far. John and Jane raise antelope and have a pet Axis deer. On top of that there were twin white tail deer fawns hanging around, as well as a large flock of Guinea Fowl. Of course there were dogs and cats, too. Barbara will post photos of the animals on our gallery.

We enjoyed great conversations of boating and RVing at dinner last night and again at breakfast this morning. Following breakfast we were on the road for Dallas. Our thanks to the Canfields for their hospitality.Real nice folks!

It was a long day on the road today. We traveled back roads for the most part, and traversed the Texas Hill Country. It is a beautiful part of the state. Fredericksburg, in particular, looks like a lovely place to return to for a visit at a later date. We stopped at a rest area just south of Ft Worth and changed in to our Florida Tourist outfits as a joke for Chris and Lisa. It was good for a quick laugh when we stepped out of the coach. Chris was taking videos, but I hope he losses the file before anyone sees it. We really looked the part. Perhaps too much so.

We are tucked snuggly into Chris’ backyard to await the arrival of the rest of the grandparents, and the celebration of Jack’s first birthday Saturday.

Presidio, TX

We chilled today. We started with a great breakfast at India's cafe and a drive through Big Bend Ranch State Park to Presidio, TX. Great scenery. More views of the river. High point of the day was finally seeing a Javalina. Actually a small herd of Javalina, but this is the one that stood still long enough to pose for Barbara. Despite their appearance, they are not related to the pig.

We got home in time to get a few departure chores done on the coach before fixing dinner. We hope to be on the road by around eight in the morning.

Big Bend National Park

We have been enjoying Big Bend National Park. Sorry for a lack of updates but the wifi here is not adequate for posting, particularly photos.

Our first foray into the park was Sunday. We went to Rio Grande Village, pretty much the most distant point across the park from where we are staying. There are two campgrounds there, but also trails into the mountains and along the river. We hiked into the mountains towards Hot Springs. By the time we reached the highest elevation on the trail we could see our destination in the distance and realized we were a little over our heads.

Not that we couldn’t make it to the Hot Springs in the heat and altitude. We could. Walking back, on the other hand, was not going to happen. So, we hiked back down to the river.

Mexico is on the other bank of the river, of course. From the Bouquillas Canyon trail you over look the Mexican village of Bouquilles del Carmen and can see herds of goats being tended. You can hear the bells on the goats and the laughter of the people watching over the herd. It felt strange to be on vacation in a park and looking across to people in a subsistence life style. The trails in this area are marked with instructions not to buy anything from the Mexican people, for it is illegal. In hopes of getting around this the Mexicans leave little souvenirs and decorated walking sticks with a note saying donations area accepted. A small jar is left for the money and no one is in attendance. Unfortunately, it is also illegal to posses these goods if you are caught, so sales are slow. We headed home at the end of the day tired and a bit sore.

Monday we headed for the high ground and visited the Chisos Mountain Basin. Remember the movie Lost Horizons? OK, it is an old one, so think hard. Shangri-La sound more familiar? Any way, driving up the mountain and into the basin surrounded by the mountains was like entering Shangri-La. The basin is at 5500’ elevation. We hiked two trails. One further up into the rim of the mountain, and the other down to the only natural exit, referred to as the Window. 

This was the outflow for rain waters and offers magnificent sunset views if you are staying in the basin. The trail signs caught our attention.

 There is a lodge and camping in the basin. When we get better internet connections Barbara will post some great photos to our gallery.

It was another long and physically active day, so we were happy to get back to home base and a shower. We have elected to stay another day and visit the State Park west of here.

We will leave Wednesday for Harper, TX. We will spend the night on the ranch of a couple I connected with through an RV forum online. They have a similar motorhome and I want to discuss a couple of modifications that he made to his. The next morning we will head for Dallas and a few days on Chris and Lisa’s driveway. The highpoint of that visit will be Jack’s first birthday!