US Border Patrol

The United States Border Patrol operates 71 traffic checkpoints, including 32 permanent traffic checkpoints, near the southern border of the United States.  The primary purpose of these inspection stations is to deter illegal immigration and smuggling activities. After 9/11 they took on the additional role of terrorism deterrence. These checkpoints are located between 25 and 75 miles of the  Mexico - United States border along major U.S.  highways. Their situation at interior locations allows them to deter illegal activities that may have bypassed official border crossings along the border frontier. The checkpoints are described as "the third layer in the Border Patrol's three-layer strategy", following "line watch" and "roving patrol" operations on or nearer the border.   Of the 32 permanent checkpoints, Texas has 15 of them.  Last year we passed through three checkpoints; one each in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.  This year we will likely pass through many more as our ventures  bring us that much closer to the border area and for a longer stretch

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An example of the 32 permanent Border Checkpoints, where up to 5 lanes of traffic can be checked simultaneously.

The checkpoint to the right is a temporary one.   You can never tell where one of these might "open up" overnight ostensibly to keep the drug and illegal smugglers "off their game".

An example of what is confiscated by the checkpoints.   Drugs inside bags of "white lime" in this case.   Wonder how many such shipments DO get through?!!

This one is off the charts....what "brain trust" thought this one would make it through a checkpoint!!?!!

Desperate?   Certainly sad.

Signs like this are put up to "remind" would be smugglers of the risks they are taking.

This checkpoint is in Falfurrias, TX on US 281.  We will be passing through this checkpoint tomorrow en route from South Padre Island to Kerrville and the Texas Hill Country.

RVs Come in ALL Shapes & Sizes.....

Here's our "baby".....all 45 feet and 500 horses of her....and she is all shined up here on South Padre Island (and no, I didn't do the shining up).

Folks we met last Fall while at Spartan Chassis Company in Michigan had told us about this Mexican family in the Padre Island area who will come to the KOA campground and wash and wax your RV for less than half the "going rate".   So when we knew we were on our way here we gave the Maldonado family a call, and they showed up today and over nearly 6 hours they washed and waxed the motorhome.   You can see how it gleams in this photo Pam took.

When you are on the road in a camper you are always "tuned in" to "camper oddities" as they present themselves.   Here are a few below:

Here is a 1990's something pink bus.  Someone had this painted to their "tastes"......hmmm!

And check this one out:

This bus was parked outside the KOA when we came back from our ride to the beach.....is it really the Clampetts?

Sometimes you see a coach that strikes you as "comfortable"....this one did for its colors....

We thought the silver and seafoam color scheme went together really nicely.

And last, but most certainly not least....here is the Earth Roamer...

Take a look at the "pickup camper on steroids".   The Earth Roamer is actually a very high tech workhorse that sits on a Ford 550 chassis (and they make  one on a Ford 650 too!!).  It has high end solar panels and high end inverters; it has HUGE off road tires to make sure it can go anywhere; it has a built in winch system just in case it does happen to get stuck somewhere; and it is loaded up with many more high techy things than I can mention here.  If you want to learn more about the Earth Roamers, here is the website....
   http://earthroamer.com/
Suffice it to say this expeditionary vehicle goes for a cool half million and up.....depending on the model.   A lot to pay for a 'pickup camper'.   Wow!

ARANSAS PASS AND PORT ARANSAS....

Aransas Pass is a small, coastal community in Texas just north of Corpus Christi.  It, along with its "sister community" of Port Aransas, is something of a haven for northerners who come to Texas (often called "Winter Texans") to escape the snow and cold up north.   We spent just a couple of nights in Aransas Pass and while there we took the mini (and Ali) and headed to Port Aransas, across Redfish Bay.   Little did we know there is no bridge between the two, but rather a ferry system...and it is FREE.  How about  that!

Here is one of the seven ferries that constantly move people, cars, trucks with produce and RVs the 1 mile distance between Aransas Pass on the mainland and Port Aransas on the island.

Here's the mini on the ferry heading toward Port Aransas.  Pam is smiling away and Ali is with a bit more trepidation as she tries to understand the sense of moving without the car itself moving!   

We arrive on Port Aransas and after driving through the main tourist thoroughfare, we accidentally find an access road to the beach only to find, among other things, there are RVs sitting on the beach!   For a small fee to the local community, you can take your camper right out on the beach (the water is there but is obscured this day by the blanket of fog) and spend up to a week.

To quote Pam...."what a hoot" this is.   So, if we find ourselves back in the Aransas area in the future we will be sure our seat belts are fully extended, get the MH on the ferry and camp on the beach for several days.  Hopefully, it will not be foggy then!!   Great Stuff.

This "sentinel" gull was poised right next to us when we got on the return ferry to Aransas Pass.   Driving and camping on Texas beaches.....how about them apples!

Galveston.....Oh Galveston

Our first stop in the 2nd largest state was in Galveston....an island some 40 miles south and east of Houston.   Good friends Lainie and Larry used to live in Galveston, so we toured the beach and the Strand area of the city with them in mind.

Galveston seems to have come back fully from the devastation left in the wake of Hurricane Ike (2008), which hit the island with the full force of its Category 4 status.  Ike was the third costliest hurricane to hit the US mainland and the most costly to ever hit the State of Texas.  

 Here is Hurricane Ike at its peak with winds over 140 mph!

Galveston has miles and miles of unspoiled beaches.   Here is Ali getting her feet wet at one of them....

The downtown of Galveston is known as the Strand....and it has much in the way of 19th century Texas history and offers up one after another of gorgeous architecture from the period.  Here are a few examples.....

These are just a few of the mid 1800's Victorian buildings on the Strand, much of which used native stone such as Texas Red Sandstone.   The Strand is just a gorgeous place to stroll and a nice place to stop and enjoy an ice cream on the sidewalk.

We didn't have a lot of time in Galveston....but we did get a real flavor for the place renowned by the Glenn Campbell song in the blog title.   It must be noted that the drive from Houston to Galveston is pretty much on the "ugly side" with one very large oil refinery after another after another.   But once you get there it is like another country....worth a visit.

TEXAS......We're Baaack.....

Yes indeed, after a very interesting month and a very good time (weather notwithstanding) in Louisiana, we are BACK in Texas. 
(see the map below)  This time for just under two months.....As I write this we are enjoying Texas' Gulf Coast communities (Aransas Pass & South Padre Island,) (click on the map symbols to change the size the map).   Mid next week we move on to the Rio Grande Valley and the communities of Mission, Harlingen, Brownsville and McAllen.....most of which are located in Cameron....yep, you read it right.....Cameron County!
After some days along the Rio Grande we move up to Fredericksburg, where for the month of March we will explore and enjoy much of what Texas Hill Country has to offer.



Throughout our Texas adventures we will continue to "blog" about many of the things we are seeing and doing.  Location G on the map is the little West Texas town of Marathon, one of the gateways to Big Bend National Park, where we will spend a week exploring one of the largest and most remote National Parks in the country.  

Here is a look at our planned route for the 2nd part of our Texas adventure (before moving on to Arizona and then California)......



As you can see, a good deal of our time is right along the border with Mexico.....and we plan on taking advantage of that with a few border crossings along the way.   This time Marathon  is the starting point...and we move on to the little towns of Lajitas and Presidio, just outside Big Bend; and then on to the high plains towns of Alpine, Fort Davis and Marfa; after which we point the bus to Van Horn and to El Paso, and onwards to Ajo and Yuma, AZ.

We thought adding the maps would give a good perspective to everyone following the blog about where our Texas travels are taking us. (and I must admit....I only recently learned about embedding maps into the blog...so bear with me until I perfect the process).  Stay tuned.....Texas offers many things for us to share.

NEW ORLEANS DECORATIVE IRONWORK

One of the many elaborate wrought iron balconies in the French Quarter.

Here are a few other examples....

Most buildings in the French Quarter are no more than three stories high and date to the early 1800's.

The iron work balconies are a work of art....and there are many of them.    Here are closeup views of a few...

All are extremely ornate....some have a subtle quality while others make a bolder statement.

And this time of year the Mardi Gras decorations provide a colorful dress to the architecture.

New Orleans is a city that has much to offer and is steeped in history....not to mention the impact the hurricanes have had on this below sea level city. The New Orleans area has been hit by over 50 of the more than 275 hurricanes that have made landfall in the US since records began in 1851.   We did learn that the city has more than 100,000 fewer residents following Katrina....those folks moved away and did not come back.

Despite such adversity, New Orleans is the perfect place for Mardi Gras celebrations....as they like to say here...."laissez le bon temps rouler"!

Note:   We move on from our stay in Louisiana in a couple of days.   A stop in Houston for a day or so and then a quick "tour" of South Padre Island and the Rio Grande Valley before settling in to Fredericksburg, in the Texas Hill Country for the month of March.  Somewhere soon along the way I hope to get up a last blog about Louisiana's River Plantations.....fingers crossed as we will be on the road from the 19th to the 28th.

THE CRESCENT CITY.....THE BIG EASY

Pam had not been to New Orleans before so I was looking forward to our visit and "showing her the town".....I knew she would love it....well, most of it anyway!   We parked near the French Quarter Visitor Center for the day and began walking the city.   One of the first places you come to from this part of the city is Saint Louis Cathedral.....it is a gorgeous place just behind Jackson Square....the park where street artists ply their artwork and where horse and buggy tours of the French Quarter all start.

St Louis Cathedral

This time of year offered up a bonus as many parts of New Orleans were getting "decked out" for Mardi Gras.   The gorgeous balconies were being decorated as were many of the older buildings and doors and windows of homes as well.   Here are a few examples of what we saw around the city.....

A very attractive Mardi Gras wreath with the festivals colors of purple, gold and green....with a very decorative mask.   And as you can see, the windows were wrapped with Mardi Gras garland.

                                 This store offered all manner of Mardi Gras masks.

Cafe Beignet is one of the two most famous beignet restaurants in the city.   The other is the Cafe du Monde.    Rather than stand in the very long line at du Monde, we headed over to Royal Street and enjoyed a cajun breakfast, followed by beignets in an outdoor courtyard.  Good Stuff!

Many street musicians were out and about on this gorgeous Sunday afternoon.   These guys ....the Smoking Time Jazz Club...offered up some foot stomping zydeco & jazz stuff....we liked it well enough to purchase one of their CD's.

These two ladies....Tanya on the fiddle and Dorise on the guitar played all kinds of music....from new age to Cajun to classical to their own interpretive stuff....they were excellent and we bought one of their CD's as well.

This is the kind of thing you see all over the French Quarter in New Orleans...especially on Royal Street...one block over from the more famous (or infamous) Bourbon Street.   Speaking of Bourbon Street.....it might be more aptly named The Big "Sleazy" (as opposed to Easy) as the street has really been taken over by  "jiggle joints" and other less than desirable spots....mostly for the Spring Break crowds of young people...

Here is one "gent" in a tu-tu"
attempting to drum up business for one of the joints.

 

These signs speak for themselves.

I'm sure this Bourbon Street couple are working their way through college!     'nuff said on this subject except that fortunately virtually all this type of activity has not spread beyond Bourbon Street.....

Here's Pam at the corner of Bourbon and St Ann streets.  After a quick look at Bourbon she (me too) was anxious to head back over to Royal Street, where the more traditional offerings of The Big Easy were still evident.

Part II of New Orleans will show some of the beautiful ironwork in the city.......

CITIES OF THE DEAD.....

The above-ground tombs in New Orleans cemeteries are often referred to as "cities of the dead." Enter the cemetery gates, and you will be greeted by rusty decorative ironwork and blinded by sun-bleached tombs. Crosses and statues jutting from tomb surfaces cast contrasting shadows, adding to the sense of mystery. Votive candles line tombs on holidays, reminding you that the dead have living relatives who still care.

New Orleans has always respected its dead, but this isn't the reason that the departed loved ones are interred above ground. Early settlers in the area struggled with different methods to bury the dead. Burial plots are shallow in New Orleans because the water table is very high. Dig a few feet down, and the grave becomes soggy, filling with water. The casket will literally float. (You just can't keep a good person down!) The early settlers tried placing stones in and on top of coffins to weigh them down and keep them under ground. Unfortunately, after a rainstorm, the rising water table would literally pop the airtight coffins out of the ground. To this day, unpredictable flooding still lifts the occasional coffin out of the ground in areas above the water table, generally considered safe from flooding.

Another method was to bore holes in the coffins. This method also proved to be unsuitable. Eventually, New Orleans' graves were kept above ground, following the Spanish custom of using vaults. The walls of some cemeteries here are made of economical vaults stacked on top of one another, while wealthier families could afford the larger, ornate tombs with crypts. Many family tombs look like miniature houses, complete with iron fences. The rows of tombs resemble streets--and this is why New Orleans burial plots quickly became known as cities of the dead.

According to a local ordinance, as long as a previously deceased family member has been dead for at least two years, the remains of that person can be moved to a specially made burial bag and placed at the side or back of the vault. The coffin is then destroyed, and the vault is now ready for a newly deceased family member. What happens if a family member dies within that two-year period? Generally, local cemeteries are equipped with temporary holding vaults, and the newly deceased family member is moved into his or her final resting place when two years have elapsed.   This provides for quite an "efficient" use of limited space in graveyards....not to mention 'keeping the family together'.

Here is a very ornate Celtic Cross we found in the Metairie, just outside New Orleans.  This was erected to pay homage to the Brewster and Stillwell families buried there.

This tomb with the crying angel is one of the few very ornate monuments in the Butterfly Garden section of the cemetery.

This very elaborate tomb for the Walmsley family 

has polished granite steps and columns and a very 

decorative gable end with a large urn sitting on the

top.   A second polished urn sits centered on the top

step with fresh, white flowers.   And a loved one has

left a piece of artwork at the bottom of the very 

decorative ironwork doors.

If you find yourself in New Orleans, don't miss an opportunity to visit one or more of these famed

cemeteries.   They are fascinating.

TABASCO

Did you know that for the last 150 years Tabasco Sauce has been grown and processed on little Avery Island....not far from Lafayette, LA?   Did you know that Tabasco Sauce is shipped to 175 countries?   Did you know that "tabasco" was a spice exported in the early 1800's from the Tabasco region of Mexico, and that it was from the berry of a myrtle tree found only in that region?  Well,  neither did we.....that is until we visited the Tabasco factory on Avery Island....just 40 miles or so up the road from here in Morgan City.

We took a tour of the factory and visited the Gift Shop where everything says "Tabasco".....and we discovered there are many variations to the original Hot Pepper Sauce.   We tasted raspberry tabasco sauce, a chipotle sauce, a green sauce and wing and buffalo and pepper jelly sauces....to name a few.  The habanero was about the hottest we tried.....whew!   And I must say, the jalapeno ice cream...that's right, jalapeno ice cream....was good enough that I would have it again (Pam shied away from the ice cream so she has to take my word for it!).   

Unfortunately, the day we visited the factory was not in operation.  Having spent many years in factories in my working career I was able to look at the operations sitting idle and "see" how the process worked and how it all came together.  It seems once the capsicum peppers reach just the right ripeness, they are picked by hand and brought to the factory where they are mashed.  Once mashed they are interlaced with salt and placed in oak barrels that are, of all things, obtained from the bourbon processors in Kentucky (the barrels can only be used once for bourbon storage but once cleaned can be used over and over again in the making of Hot Pepper Sauce).  The mash remains in the barrels for three years....and then is blended with a special vinegar and is mixed for another 28 days.  It is at this time the Hot Pepper Sauce has earned the status of the Tabasco label and is bottled in a 2 ounce variety of the famous bottle on the right. 

This "plaque" is in the lobby of the Tabasco factory and shows examples of the oak barrels the mash is stored in for three years.













The Coat of Arms to the right is testament to the fact that Tabasco is a Royal Supplier of its Hot Pepper Sauce to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth.   How about them apples!

This is a very interesting place and we highly recommend a visit if you find yourself in the southern environs of Louisiana.

Our bottle of Tabasco sits right next to Roger Bourgeois' bottle of hot sauce.....Roger is, after all, the Hot Sauce Man of Houma.