Well here we are ... staying put in New Braunfels, TX for one more day and waiting for the thunderstorm front to establish itself tonight and then move east. We had hoped to be heading northeast a couple of days ago but we decided to let the ugly sounding weather move on before we did.
We had an uneventful trip from Lower Alabama, through Southern Mississippi and Louisiana to here in New Braunfels, TX - just north of San Antonio. It was "uneventful" but not exactly stress free. I-10 through Louisiana is still rough, construction zones seem to pop-up every few miles, and Houston is still a busy city to drive through. But through it all We and Winne The Two managed to make it through unscathed.
Speaking of WTT ... she is officially three years old now. We purchased her on April 11th 2016 in Tucson, Arizona, moved in over the next few days and took off towards Maine on April 14th. On this date in 2016 we found ourselves in West Texas - waiting for a line of thunderstorms to move further east - kinda deja vu all over again - don't ya think? Over the past 3 years we have driven WTT some 27,000 miles - From Sea to Shining Sea ... and back again.
We arrived here on Tuesday the 9th and immediately had a hankering for some Texas BBQ. Fortunately some of the best BBQ is just down the road from where we are staying and even more fortunately our BBQ eating buddies Rod and Debbie Kendall are also nearby - so we asked if they were available - they were - and so off to Cooper's Old Time Pit Barbeque we went. The food was great and the visit with Rod and Debbie was even better!
One of the main reasons we came to this area was to see our grand daughter Kyla graduate from her USN Hospitalman "A" school, join the Naval Hospital Corps, and then get on her way to her next duty assignment in Hawaii. Exciting times for a 20 year old ... or so I remember!
Our Daughter Stacy, SIL Kaj, Granddaughter Taylor, and Grandson Aiden arrived by plane into San Antonio on Wednesday the 10th - so we met up with them and made our way over to Joint Base Fort Sam Houston to see Kyla that evening. But not before making it over to the famous San Antonio River Walk and the Original Mexican Restaurant for some good Mexican food - and a margarita of course! We had a good visit with Kyla Wednesday evening.
Thursday was Kyla's graduation day and the school command put on a nice ceremony. HN Kyla Johansen even graduated on the Dean's List!
After we were able to spring Kyla from the base we found our way over to Rudy's for some more great BBQ, made our way back to San Antonio for an afternoon boat ride on the San Antonio River, and then more visiting.
Miss Kyla was off on her way to Hawaii early on Friday morning and the rest of us did the obligatory trip to the Alamo and then walked over a few blocks to the River Walk and another great lunch. This time we visited the Rainforest Cafe for some fun jungle entertainment!
Saturday morning the previous line of thunderstorms moved through followed by clear skies and a fairly nice day. In fact - it was so nice that the Johansen's visited us up here in New Braunfels, played at the playground, went swimming in the pool, and the adults celebrated Happy Hour at the Maineiacs in Motion Tiki Bar on Wheels. With Happy Hour complete ... it was time to eat again ... and since they had never been to Cooper's ... well we just had to go again!
On Sunday the Johansen's enjoyed the San Antonio Zoo in the morning and we joined them in the afternoon. It seems Fiesta week was starting in San Antonio so we walked a few blocks from their hotel to the Market Square were the Fiesta activities were in full swing! Lots of people, lots of vendors, lots of latin music, lots of Mexican food ... and lots of fun being had by all! And yes -- we did find a nice Mexican Restaurant, La Margarita, for some more Mexican Food and margaritas.
The rest of the Johansens flew home on Monday after a waay busy week for us all. As for Mom and Dad? we had a sorta normal quiet day and did some grocery shopping. We even had all our meals here at the RV! Peggy thawed out some of those yummy Alabama Gulf Shrimp and made Tequila Lime Shrimp Flambe`. Well ... the Flambe` part wasn't part of the recipe - but it added to the experience!
Yesterday was supposed to be our leave to start the trip home day. After looking at the weather forecast along our intended travel path we decided to hang out here for a couple more days, ride out the beginning of the nasty weather here and then follow behind the storm heading east and steering clear of any severe weather.
So that's the plan for now - subject to change as always! You just never know when an opportunity for some fabulous food might present itself along the way!
Well now ... I suppose since we have been gone now for two whole weeks I ought to at least provide an update as to what we are up to and where we are!
We left Maine as planned on March 21st and completed our 500 mile Day 1 trip to Jonestown, PA without incident ... but we did have to deal with a lot of rain those last few hours. After a decent night's sleep we hit the road again on Friday the 22nd. We planned on a relatively short driving day since it was supposed to be really windy as the day progressed but it didn't seem too bad so we drove all the way down I-81 to near Wytheville, VA - another long day at about 380 miles but that would mean we could make it to Crossville, TN in one more relatively short day where we could spend 3 nights resting up a bit.
We had some good visits with friends Darrell and Judy Patterson who live in Crossville and were even able to help celebrate Judy's Birthday before we were back on the road once again - this time heading west towards Nashville and then south to Birmingham, AL.
But before we were to land in Birmingham for the night we had a drop-off to make. About a week before we left Peggy volunteered us to deliver about 400 pounds of excess church literature to a ministry in Decatur, AL that collects the literature, sorts it, and then ships it to organizations worldwide for their use. So ... up to this point our car was doubling not only as a secondary mode of transportation but as a utility trailer! We found our drop-off point without a problem and it did not take long before our cargo was in their sorting area. We took a few moments for a short tour of the "Love Packages" facility and then hit the road again to finish our trip to Birmingham.
We have traveled around Birmingham many times in our past travels but this time we decided to take an extra day for a visit to The Barber Vintage Motorcycle Museum. The Barber Museum boasts that it is the largest collection of vintage motorcycles in the world - and I believe it! They not only have about 1900 vintage motorcycles in a fantastic facility but they also have a variety of specialty cars including probably the largest collection of vintage Lotus cars and racecars anywhere. And oh yeah ... they also have a very nice road racing course where they host several events every year - including a race for "Indy" cars that was to be run the weekend after our visit. As you would imagine - I was really looking forward to the visit!
The Museum is in a relatively new facility with 5 floors of exhibits. 1900 motorcycles of 200 different makes from 20 different countries. Peggy and I toured the place for about 3 hours -- and I could go back several more times without being bored! I was too busy ogling the displays to take many pictures - but I will include a few to give you an idea of what's there. You must remember that I tend to like the vintage Japanese bikes so that will explain why there are more of those type pics ... but don't be fooled ... there are lots more "other" types!
After spending our second night in Birmingham we hit the road again on Thursday March 28th and completed our southern swing down here to one of our favorite spots at the Rainbow Plantation RV Park in Summerdale, AL - not far from Mobile and not far from Gulf Shores, AL.
We tend to come here frequently because we like the park and because we have developed friendships with several of the RVers who tend to hang out here in the winter months (or year round in some cases). Most of the snowbirds are heading north right about now but we were fortunate to see some of our friends before they headed north. Oh yeah ... the other reason is they have some really good places to eat some fantastic gulf shrimp - fried, blackened, grilled -- in a Poboy, maybe in a gumbo, or just on a plate --- I'm not all that particular!
So we have been here now about a week and have really enjoyed the visits and the nice weather - until today when the rain has been falling pretty steady for several hours now and shows no sign of letting up in the near future. Oh well - you know what they say ... Rain makes corn ... and all the rest of that song!
We have a few more days to enjoy ourselves here in Lower Alabama before moving on further west into the great state of Texas where we are looking forward to visiting with some family and more friends, eating some Texas BBQ, and viewing the bluebonnets in bloom.
Yee Haw ... Ya'll!
