Florida Spring Training Trip 2016 - Day 65

We left Edwards AFB about 8:00 am after getting coffee and a pastry at the nearby Starbucks on base.  The weather was partly cloudy and no wind.  The clouds lowered over Tejon pass and we had a few sprinkles coming into the valley.  After heading north on I-5, the skies cleared with only a few scattered clouds.

The traffic increased considerably as went over Altamont pass and into the east bay traffic.We made it through O.K. and crossed the Richmond San Rafael Bridge and south on 101 a little to the Marin RV Park.

We will be staying here three nights, resting tomorrow and going into SF on Wednesday for Judy's appointments, then back home on Thursday.

I think we are going to wrap-up the blog at this point as there won't be any more vacation events to report from here on.  It has been a great trip; we did a lot and saw many interesting things, but there is still no place like home and we are glad to be back.

Pat & Judy

Florida Spring Training Trip 2016 - Day 64

We had a long drive today.  We left the Phoenix area around 8:00 am under overcast skies. 

The forecast was for some rain as we headed west. Sure enough, as we headed north from Quartzsite towards I-40 at Needles we experienced rain off-and-on almost all the way to Barstow after turning west.  

The skies cleared after Barstow and the wind came up, but it wasn't too bad.  We arrived at Edwards AFB around 4:00 pm and are staying at their FAMCAMP RV Park.  After getting gas and a few things from the BX and Commissary, we had dinner in the RV and watched a movie from our DVD stash.

We drive to Marin tomorrow.

Florida Spring Training trip 2016 - Day 63

It was a long drive today to our destination for tonight, Leaf Verde RV Park, just west of Phoenix in Buckeye, AZ.  We have stayed here before.  The park is nice and will certainly do for an overnight stop.

The weather remained good with lots of sun and little wind.  We also gained another hour as we entered Arizona, since they are not on Daylight Saving Time.  So, we are now back on CA time.  

We have another long ride tomorrow as we continue towards home.  We will stay at Edwards AFB tomorrow night, then to Marin on Monday for Judy's appointments in SF.

Florida Spring Training Trip 2016 - Day 62

Before leaving the RV Park in Fort Stockton this morning, we had breakfast at the Roadrunner Cafe in the park. We then stopped for gas and got on the road about 10:00 am.

It was a fairly easy ride to Las Cruces, NM today.  We had overcast skies for about the first 100 miles then sun, and there was no wind and open roads, mostly straight with a few hills here-and-there.  We made good time, slowing down going through El Paso and picking up a little wind as we entered New Mexico.  We gained an hour and are now in the Mountain Time Zone. 

After arriving at the Hacienda RV Resort in Las Cruces around 2:30 pm local, we rested for awhile and then went out to dinner at the local Cracker Barrel restaurant and then stopped for a few groceries.

We will drive to Phoenix, AZ tomorrow as we continue to head west and home.

Florida Spring Training Trip 2016 - Day 61

Today was an "R and R" day in Fort Stockton, TX.  We decided to take a break from the long travel drives back to CA, do laundry, relax awhile, and do a little sightseeing in Fort Stockton.

After the laundry was done, we drove into downtown Fort Stockton, about 4 miles west of the RV park.  We had lunch at a local Mexican restaurant (it was excellent authentic Mexican food). 

We then visited the local tourist information center.  It is located in the old train depot near the center of town and has been recently upgraded to a very nice facility for starting a visit and getting an introduction to the town and surrounding area. There are various displays around the depot depicting the history of the Fort Stockton area.  A special feature of the area is a number of life-sized black metal silhouettes, depicting people and scenes from Fort Stockton's history. There are also two groups of silhouettes on each side of town, one depicting a Calvary troop, the other a group of Comanche Indians.  Each one is about one mile east and west of town and also has an adjoining sign saying Fort Stockton, also in silhouette.

Fort Stockton has an interesting history and played an important role in the development of the west.  The area was originally the site of Comanche Springs, a natural water source that was an oasis for Native American tribes, notably Comanche and Apache, on their migratory travels through the area.  As European settlers arrived it also became an important stop on the migrants trail west.  Before the Civil War a fort was established to protect the settlers from the Indians who weren't too excited about the new neighbors.  During the Civil War, Fort Stockton, along with other forts in the area were abandoned by Union forces.  The Confederates didn't have the people and resources to maintain the forts and the Comanche and Apaches reclaimed the area.  After the war, the U.S. reclaimed the forts to protect the settlers (again).  The troops used were Black soldiers, most who fought in the Civil War for the Union and had few other options after the war.  They had White officers and gained fame here and further west later on as he "Buffalo Soldiers in the 9th and 10th Calvary Regiments.  The area was considered pacified by 1890 and the area forts were closed and the troopers moved west.  Fort Stockton subsequently deteriorated and was only partially restored beginning in the 1980's.

We're back on the road tomorrow to Las Cruces, NM, then to Phoenix, AZ on Saturday.

Day 61 Pictures

Florida Spring Training Trip 2016 - Day 60

We left the Shulenburg RV Park this morning about 9:30 am after getting ice at the nearby quick stop.  The weather was overcast as a mostly dry cold front was moving through.  On the way to San Antonio we had a few sprinkles and it remained cloudy.  After San Antonio, the skies cleared as the front moved passed. Alas, the winds also came up and we experienced a pretty good crosswind from the north for the next few hundred miles.  It was definitely a "two-hands-on-the wheel' driving day for almost 400 miles.

We are staying at the Fort Stockton RV Park.  We have stayed here several times on previous trips and it is a great stop while travelling through West Texas.  They also have an excellent cafe at the park that specializes in home-cooked country ribs and biscuits and gravy for breakfast.  We will be here for two nights, primarily to break-up the long daily drives on our return return trip.  We will also use the time to visit a couple of historical attractions in Fort Stockton and do a few things around the RV.

Florida Spring Training Trip 2016 - Day 59

Well, today didn't start out particularly well.  As we were getting ready to depart the RV park the RV slider wouldn't come in.  It appeared one side was stuck and wouldn't move.  After fiddling with it for awhile, we gave up and got out the cranks to bring it in manually.  That worked, and we got on the road about and hour and a half later than we planned.  We're not sure what the problem is so we are going to leave it in for the rest of the trip.

The weather was good and not too  windy but we had a lot on urban Interstate driving through Lafayette, Lake Charles, Beaumont and Houston.  Houston was the worst.  Heavy traffic that seemed to go on forever along with people speeding and cutting in front of the RV without signaling or leaving much room while doing so.  There were also a few construction delays, mainly lane compressions causing slow going and back-ups.

We're staying tonight at a nice little RV park in Schulenburg, TX.  The town is about halfway between Houston and San Antonio on I-10 and was founded before the Civil War.  It has a strong German/Czech heritage and it appears there is a lot going on in the area, actually a lot more than we imagined.  It looks like it might be worth stopping for a longer time on another trip.

We had dinner at a nearby BBQ place and afterwards stopped at the RV park clubhouse where the residents and a few locals were having a jam session.  There were about six older musicians with a fiddle, guitars, and a mandolin.  They played a number of country style songs and a few gospel hymns.  It was a real slice of Americana and we are glad we stayed to listen for awhile.

We have another long drive tomorrow to Fort Stockton between San Antonio and El Paso. The weather looks good, but windy.

Phillies Spring Training Trip 2016 - Day 58

We got an early start this morning, leaving for Avery Island around 9:00 am.  The island is 7 miles from where we are staying and is home to the Tabasco brand pepper sauce.  The business is still family owned  and operated by descendants of the McIlhenny Family that started the business in 1868.  The family property sits on a salt dome that is Avery Island in southern Louisiana.  They grow peppers on the island and use salt from the salt mines nearby.  Due to the large volume of business, peppers and salt are also imported to meet the demand.

We have been here before but just recently they have expanded the factory tour and museum exhibits, opened a restaurant on-site, and expanded their gift shop which now has just about any kind of Tabasco trinket you can think of.

The factory tour and the museum were great and we an excellent lunch at the restaurant after touring the co-located Jungle Gardens and Bird City.  The garden is essentially a drive-through tour with occasional stops to get out take pictures and look around.  Visitors are encouraged to not feed or approach the alligators living in the water throughout the preserve.  We saw several gators and stayed away from them.  A gator can run 30 miles per hour if it wants to or if it is chasing down prey.  They just looked at us however and actually they were not that big and apparently not hungry.

We then went back into town and visited America's oldest rice mill, the Conrad Mill, processing and selling rice under the Konriko brand.  The mill was founded in 1912 and is still operating, processing the rice the way they always have and are even still using some of the original equipment.  The mill has 15 employees and has a world wide market with distribution throughout the U.S., mostly to specialty grocery stores.  It was a nice, low-key tour with a knowledgeable guide.  We even had a French family with four children on the tour.

After the tour we went back to the RV and rested for awhile, then went out and got a few groceries for he trip home.  We are mostly done with the fun portion of the trip and now will be just cranking out the miles as we head west.  The stop tomorrow will be an RV park halfway between Houston and San Antonio.

Day 58 Pictures

Florida Spring Training Trip 2016 - Day 57

It was an easy drive today to New Iberia, LA, about 130 miles west of New Orleans.  The weather was sunny and not windy as we worked our way through the bayous and sugar cane fields over mostly elevated roadways and bridges.  We saw an interesting twist on an ambulance-chasing lawyer's billboard ad.  It had the usual big picture of a smiling lawyer, with the message: "Injured? Call....".  The interesting part was the background picture of a burning off-shore oil platform.  I guess there is a different target victim audience in this area. 

We passed through a few towns (Homa, Morgan City, Jenerette, etc.) and a lot of rural areas that looked like places where old single-wide trailers came to die.We also noticed several billboards in one town with the picture of a smiling woman offering free rides to a “gentleman’s club”.  The ad didn’t seem to say anything about a return trip however.

The only glitches involved the GPS.  I had the wrong destination in when we left the RV park, but luckily we were going in the right direction when I noticed the error.  When we arrived in New Iberia, the GPS couldn't find the RV park despite having the right address loaded.  It was one of those RV Park issues where the park entry location is different from the physical address.  It also didn't help that the road into the park is from a frontage road that our GPS sometimes has problems dealing with. After an attempted loop by the GPS we stopped and called the park to get directions the old fashioned way.

The park is O.K. and the people are nice.  We arrived around 12:00 pm and rested through the afternoon.  We are going out to dinner tonight at a Cajun/Creole place where the locals go.  The park lady recommended it and suggested that we not bother to dress up.  It sounds like the kind of place where you don't get a glass with your beer (even the ladies) unless you ask for one.

We have a lot planned for tomorrow:  a visit to Avery Island nearby to tour the Tabasco Factory, drive through the co-located Jungle Gardens and Bird City and visit and tour the 100-year-old Konriko Rice Mill in New Iberia. If we have any energy left, we may also visit the Bayou Teche Museum, also in New Iberia.

Florida Spring Training Trip 2016 - Day 56

We started the day off with breakfast at Cafe Du Monde in the French Quarter.  The only things on the menu are beignets and coffee with chicory and the line is always down the street waiting for a table.  The line moves quickly however, and we got a table and had our coffee and beignets, satisfying one of our New Orleans fixes.

We then walked down the street and stopped at the New Orleans Jazz National Historic Park Visitors Center.  It is a small venue that hosts musical and other related cultural events, there and at a second venue at the Old U.S. Mint building further down Decauter Street in the French Quarter.

The Central Grocery is across the street from the Visitor's Center; we went there to get a mufaletta (lunch meat, cheese and an olive spread on a special round roll) to eat later.  They are famous for their sandwiches and the line is usually very long around lunch time.  Since we were early, we got in and out with our sandwich (large, cut in quarters).  Judy also got a stuffed artichoke.

After walking around the French Quarter and Jackson Square for a little while, we drove to the National WWII Historical Museum, about a mile and a half away.  This was the 4th time we have visited the museum .  It started out as the WWII D-Day Museum under the guidance of Stephen Ambrose, the noted history author, who wanted to recognize the contributions of the local Higgins Boat Company.  This once local business was primarily responsible for the design and manufacture of most of the landing craft (Higgins Boats) used in WWII amphibious landings.

Since our first visit, the museum has expanded and is now the official National WWII museum.  More expansion is also planned. You have to see it to appreciate the scope of the effort and the impressive collection of artifacts, displays and AV presentations encompassing all aspects of the War.  A special feature is a collection of oral histories by participants in the various battles and experiences of the time.  If you are ever in the New Orleans area, it is a must-see attraction.  Trip Advisor rates it as the Number 1  attraction in New Orleans and the third best museum in the country.  Here is the link to their website that explains what they do:

National WWII Museum

We stayed until closing at 5:00 pm and still didn't see all of the new exhibits.  I guess we will have to come back again some other time.  There were a few WWII veterans  there today (they get in free).  They were mostly in wheel chairs and not looking too spry.  The museum is a fitting tribute to them and others from that time, now mostly gone, who gave so much to their country,  Hopefully, younger generations will visit the museum and perhaps gain some understanding of that terrible conflict and the sacrifices that so many made to ensure that our country remained free.

After returning to the RV  and resting awhile, we went to the Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro for a jazz concert.  We saw a Latin/Cuban jazz fusion septet that was very good.  The setting was intimate in that maybe 25 people sat around tables in front of the stage with cocktail service provided.  The group was lively and heavy on percussion.  The band and the audience were all having fun and it was a great way to finish our short, but enjoyable New Orleans visit.

We have a short drive tomorrow to New Iberia, LA through Cajun country SW of New Orleans.  We will have two nights there to catch up on our Cajun experiences.  After that, no more fun and just long drives the rest of the way home.

Day 56 Pictures  

Florida Spring Training Trip 2016 - Day 55

We got on the road under cloudy skies with the threat of rain.  On the way to Pensacola (about 100 miles west),  we experienced on-and-off showers and low overcast skies. Beyond Pensacola it started raining really hard with occasional thunder and lightning. Thankfully, there wasn't much wind, just a lot of hard rain and reduced visibility.  Of course this didn't slow down the semis and fast moving cars, many who din't even have their lights on or use their turn signals. We had a little break in the weather just east of New Orleans and arrived at the French Quarter RV Resort just as the skies opened up again, so we hooked up in the rain.  Here is a picture of what we drove through today:

We were planning to go out to dinner tonight but it is still raining pretty hard so we decided to have a pizza delivered instead. Tomorrow is the WWII Museum plus a few other things TBD.