The Great Republic

I am referring to Texas of course. Texas is a huge state but I always remember when I was young and Alaska was becoming a state. Texans were warned to keep quiet about their big size or the Alaskans would split Alaska into two and make them the third largest state instead of just the second largest ( I don’t think it worked). We continue to push on down the road, getting closer and closer to home. I find myself on the one hand anxious to get home but on the other wishing that our travels could never end. Texas is a big place with lots to see but for us it was all about visiting our friends. Seeing old friend helped us hold off the urge to just push on home but to instead relax once more and enjoy.

McAllen – This is the home of many of Mellie’s college friends from the Philippines. So we arranged to spend a long weekend here. It was great to have someone else take charge of the planning and coordination of our visit. We were well taken cared of and kept busy Friday all the way through to Sunday evening. For me, to be driven around and catered to seemed to be heaven sent. Thanks guys!



Castles in The Sky – well on the beach anyway. Saturday afternoon we drove down to South Padre Island and were pleased to find it was the annual festival, Sandcastle Days. The weather was warm and the crowd of over 20,000 was enjoying the surf along with viewing all of the sand sculpture entries. Sandcastle Days is a not-for-profit annual event that showcases the unique art form of sand sculpture with the help of amateurs and professionals whose talents make the sand come to life. Sandcastle Days annually donates funds to efforts such as Sea Turtle Inc. and other organizations committed to the integrity of our coastal environment. We stayed until after sundown and enjoyed the weather, the sand art and great friendships. This was a day not to forget!

Fort Worth – Worth the visit! Our next visit was to the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth. Now it seems to me that where Dallas is a fine modern city, Fort Worth has the charm and history. This time it was my friends who took control and provided us with an enjoyable tour of their fine city. I could get use to this! As we made the drive up from McAllen to Fort Worth, with a stop in Austin, we saw a huge change in the weather. A cold front was right in our path and as we drove into it the winds became strong and the rain began to pour. Unfortunately, even though the winds and rain did not last, the 20- 30 degree drop in temperature stayed. I guess its ok. I was getting a bit tired of wearing shorts and flip flops anyway.




Riscky Barbeque - Thats Riscky not risky. It's not every barbecue restaurant that sticks around to celebrate it's 80th anniversary, but in October 2007 Riscky's Bar-B-Q in Fort Worth did just that. Joe Riscky immigrated to America from Poland in 1911. He worked at the Armour Packing Company in the Fort Worth Stockyards for $9 a week. In 1927, Joe and Mary opened Riscky's Grocery & Market in the Northside of Fort Worth. Their son Pete Riscky took over in 1952 and today Pete's son, Jim Riscky, runs the company which has evolved into eight restaurants. Riscky's barbecue is hand-rubbed with "Riscky Dust" and slow smoked for hours. Riscky's has become a legend in Texas barbecue and so it was the logical pick for our sampling of Texas Style barbeque. So the winner of our barbeque contest is .... now hang on for a minute, we have to contemplate this for a bit. First off, we have come to the conlusion that we can never find the "best" barbeque place in the country. There are so many so we will decide what "style" is our favorite. So the contest comes down to: Kansas City Style, Memphis Style, Carolina Style, Texas style and a little know style Santa Maria style. There are others but these are the best that we have found. Sorry to our international entry, Canada, but you don't have a barbeque style just great beef and that don't count. The winner will be announced soon so keep watching the blog entries.

Road Revelation #23 – Good times come and go but good friends are forever. Make sure that you protect and cherish your friendships. Few things are more important in life or are so fragile. So take the time to invest in your friendships, the rewards will come.

Run Forest Run!

I couldn’t help but think of Forest Gump as we traveled from Florida through Alabama, Mississippi and on into Louisiana. We did not spend much time in the Gulf area since our schedule was pushing us but we tried to absorb as much culture as possible along the way. So that’s why I felt like Forrest running across the country.

Tallahassee – Our last stop in Florida was two nights in Tallahassee. This visit was more “business” rather than “pleasure”. One of our trailer tires developed a small bump on the sidewall about the size of a golf ball. So I changed it with the spare before it had a chance to get worse. My plan was to get a warranty replacement at a service center in Tallahassee. This seemingly simple task ended up being basically impossible. Even after finding a service center that carried the proper size of tire, we were told that they really did not want to break up a set to sell me just one. Calls to the trailer manufacturer, Keystone, informed me that the tires are a new equipment only version and we would have to deal with the tire manufacturer directly for warranty support. So I called the tire manufacturer and they could only offer to ship one to me in “a few days”. I was assured it was safe to continue with the spare and use the defective one as an emergency backup in the event of another tire failure. So we will take care of this issue when we get home…I hope.

The Big Speakeasy – As we approached New Orleans I had mixed feeling about touring the area. I was not sure what we would find. I have read that recovery from hurricane Katrina is going well and downtown is functioning fine with most of the restaurants open. So we decided to select a RV park a few miles outside of the city then drive in for dinner. Several years ago I had visited New Orleans and fell in love with the Cajun and Creole styles of food. I think it is an indisputable fact that no place loves its food quite as sincerely – or as indulgently – as New Orleans. Some people eat to live, but New Orleanians live to eat. As a result, the city offers one of the most incredible – and incredibly diverse – concentrations of exceptional dining and unforgettable cuisine in the world. There are more than 1,500 restaurants open in the Greater New Orleans Metropolitan area. This includes most of the city's culinary treasures such as Emeril's, Arnaud's, Commander's Palace, Bayona, Herbsaint, Restaurant August, G.W. Fin's, Bacco, Peristyle, Palace Cafe, Lilette, Brigsten's, K-Paul's, Cuvee, NOLA, Bourbon House, Broussard's and Antoine's. I wanted Mellie to experience New Orleans style of cooking but with so many choices it was hard to pick. We selected K-Paul’s mainly because of his television exposure and a reputation for excellence. We were not disappointed!!!

Katrina Recovery – There were signs of total devastation everywhere. I could post horrific pictures of entire blocks of homes destroyed, piles of debris and business boarded up. But this would not do justice to the heroic efforts and wonderful progress New Orleanians have made. Make no mistake about it, New Orleans is back and will be even better as plans for full recover are completed.

Road Revelation #22 – Celebrate Success. Life is full of twists and turns, good times and bad. It is important to look to the successes and celebrate them rather than dwelling on the past or on things or conditions that you have no control over. And if all else fails, run Forrest run!

The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow...

You can bet your bottom dollar is how it goes I think. So here we are in “Sunny” Florida. It was raining when we crossed the state line and continued to be gloomy if it was not pouring rain for the first 3 days of the week we were there. But that’s ok, it gave us a good reason to relax and do nothing for awhile. The temperature though was hot and humid of course. I’m not sure why they have the slogan “the sunshine state”. I guess it just sounds better than “the hot and humid state”.

Fort Lauderdale – We decided to make Fort Lauderdale our Florida home base. Mainly because we have friends there but also because it has lots of interesting RV parks to pick from. I picked out what looked like a nice place, called them for a reservation and was quite disappointed. “We don’t guarantee pull-throughs” was the response I got. So I decided to rethink our selection. I prefer a pull-through because it is much easier to park than backing in and well my backup skills are still “improving”. Later in the day I asked Mellie to call them back. “Oh you need a pull-through? Sure we can save one for you, no problem.” Must be that female charm. So that is how we ended up in Paradise Island RV Resort.

Anyone Want Sticky Fingers? Oh, before I forget again, we visited a barbeque place in South Carolina called Sticky Fingers. The fact that I forgot to put it in the blog should not reflect on the quality and enjoyment we had sampling Carolina style barbeque. This place had it all, ribs, brisket, chicken and it could all be ordered “wet” or “dry”. They have six different types of sauce to boot. We had a hard time deciding what to order so ended up with a sampler platter for two. If that was not enough it came with free home made peach cobbler (topped with ice cream of course). Out of all of the combinations I think my favorite was dry rubbed ribs with the Carolina sauce. Carolina sauce is kind of like Memphis style but is made sweet. So Carolina style barbeque is officially in the running, no decisions yet though on the winner.

Going South, Way South - We wanted to savor a taste of tropical living, Florida style, so it was off to Key West for a couple of days. It would be the first time during our trip that we would stay somewhere other than our RV (I did not want to pull the trailer down to the Keys over miles and miles of bridges, with it still being hurricane season it seemed too risky). So we picked one of the most famous Key West resorts - Casa Marina Resort. Nestled on the island's southern edge - spanning more than 1,100 feet of private beach - our historic, Mediterranean-style accommodations provided a luxurious hideaway (not sure what we are hiding from but it was fun!). Listed in the National Register for Historic Places, this landmark resort has attracted business tycoons, artists, dignitaries and vacationer like us since the 1920s. Imagine this ··· basking on the private beach among soaring palms trees, blooming native flowers, and sweeping ocean views with a warm gentle breeze. Paradise found! Besides lounging on the beach, a morning dip in the warm ocean water and lots of tourist shopping, we had one of the most memorable dinners to date. Since we are in a five star hotel I felt we should take advantage of their services, so the concierge was invaluable in steering us away from the “tourist trap” restaurants to one of the best family owned establishments on the island, Camille’s Restaurant. The fresh fish was prepared to perfection and the service was great too. But a perfect dinner in Key West would not be complete without finishing it off with Key Lime Pie, yummy!

Road Revelation #21 – Splurge once in awhile. Sometimes you have to put the old budget concerns aside and just go for it. Life is too short to miss out on sampling some of the real pleasures life has to offer, be it a five star hotel, an excellent dinner or the free sundown celebration we attended on the west facing beach near old town Key West. Ah yes, life is good when you splurge.

The Low Country

This past week found us in the South Carolina Low Country. Low Country is a term used to describe the state's coastal counties, generally south of and including, Charleston and stretches to Savannah, Georgia. The region contains its share of culture and history. Notable is the Gullah influence (more on that in a bit) and the early European Settlements with their Southern Hospitality and charm.

Boone Hall, a southern Icon – While visiting Charleston we wanted to experience a famous southern plantation so we visited the Boone Hall Plantation and Gardens. It is an antebellum cotton plantation located in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina near Charleston. The plantation includes a large post-civil war farmhouse, a number of original slave cabins (which were occupied by sharecroppers well into the 20th century), several flowering gardens, and the historic "Avenue of Oaks": a mile drive up the house with live oaks on either side. The earliest know existence of the ground is 1681. It originated from a land grant given to Major John Boone. On the grounds today, besides the house, sit nine of the original slave cabins, a smoke house dating back to 1790, the Cotton Gin house (1853) and the grand Avenue of Oaks that was created in 1843 and runs 3/4 of a mile long from the entrance to the front house gates. While they would not allow photographing or filming of the house on the tours, the house and grounds have appeared in the mini-series North and South and the movies Queen, Scarlett, and most recently, The Notebook. The Avenue of Oaks was used in the filming of Gone with the Wind.

The Gullah - De buckruh dey dey duh wait fuh we. (translation: "The white men are there waiting for us."). One of the best performances provided at the plantation was a demonstration of slave life by a Gullah woman. She told stories, showed how rice was processed and sang beautiful Gullah songs. The Gullah are African Americans who live in the Low Country region of South Carolina and Georgia. Historically, the Gullah region once extended north to the Cape Fear area on the coast of North Carolina and south to the vicinity of Jacksonville on the coast of Florida; but today the Gullah area is confined to the South Carolina and Georgia Low Country. The Gullah are known for preserving more of their African linguistic and cultural heritage than any other African American community in the United States. They speak an English-based creole language containing many African loanwords and significant influences from African languages in grammar and sentence structure. The Gullah language is related to Jamaican Creole, Bahamian Dialect, and the Krio language of Sierra Leone in West Africa. Gullah storytelling, foodways, music, folk beliefs, crafts, farming and fishing traditions, etc. all exhibit strong influences from African cultures.

Bonaventure Cemetery - while in Savannah we visited the Bonaventure Cemetery which overlooks the Wilmington River and is filled with grand old trees covered in Spanish moss and beautiful statues and tombs dedicated to the memories of some of Savannah's most notable citizens. Kinda creepy but fun just same, fortunately it was a sunny day. It is located on the site of a plantation once owned by John Mullryne. The Plantation was converted to a cemetery in 1868. Later the cemetery was made famous after John Berendt's book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was published (1994). The book, and then the movie of the same title by Clint Eastwood (1997), propelled Savannah and the Bonaventure Cemetery into the spotlight and made the city a major tourist destination.

Road Revelation #20 – If you have to visit old cemeteries, do so on a sunny day. We did not read about the Bonaventure cemetery until after our visit but the rumors of murder, voodoo and haunting ghosts would have made the visit even creepier. To go there at night would be just short of heroic I think.

The Great Abyss

It was time to leave New England, time to seek new adventures. But this meant we had to make a difficult decision. Do we take a few days and make a wide swing around the East Coast Metropolitan areas or do we head straight down I95 directly through the Great Abyss? Who wouldn’t relish the challenge of pulling a 38 foot, 12 thousand pound trailer through 450 miles of multi-lane, bumper to bumper traffics? Me, but the thought of 7 to 8 hours and it would all be behind us was so tempting we had to do it (actually it took just under 12 hours due to some congested, stop and go traffic…like that would never happen).

The Cities Tour – As we have stated before, we do not “love New York” except for upstate and what we were traveling through was anything but that. I had this phobia about driving through New York City but what I did not take into consideration was I would have lots of cities to practice in before we got there. We had over 80 miles of cities to go through before reaching New York. Another aspect of this jaunt was I did not notice that after making it through New York I would still have Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington DC to tackle and it would be late afternoon for sure! We hit the rush hour traffic in Baltimore and it continued through DC. What an oxymoron, rush hour. You are doing little rushing that’s for sure.

Road Etiquette – Some might expect me to rag on the East Coast drivers as rude, horn blowing bullies but I found this not to be the case. What I did discover was they have no idea how to merge into traffic! As they approach the traffic via the on ramp they invariably slow down rather than speed up to meet the flow as we do out west. This would not be a problem but for the fact that I am usually in the first lane going 5 to 10 miles an hour slower than everyone else. I would see the oncoming vehicle and begin slowing down a bit to give them room. At the same time they began slowing down too. But we usually worked it out with a few waves and they would return the jester, pointing out that they thought I was ok and gave me the “you’re number one” wave. Through the grace of God we made it through all of this without incident. It had to be that because frankly I could not say it was due to my skill alone that’s for sure.

Rest, Relax and a Step Back in Time - After our long day through the great abyss, we settled in for a few days rest and relaxation in a nice RV park outside of Richmond Virginia. We picked this area for a couple of reasons, its right off of I95 and it is not too far to Jamestown. I wanted to visit Jamestown so that we could experience some colonial history. Founded in 1607, Jamestown is celebrating their 400th anniversary. The park includes a very large museum along with the reconstructed village. In the harbor are several period authentic ships which are open for exploring. Throughout the village were individuals in period costumes performing typical tasks of the colonial days. Raising vegetables, combing cotton, repairing sails and fishing nets were a few of the many activities being demonstrated. It was a very educational and entertaining day but we left with the realization that our life today is much better than what they had. We are again excited to continue our tour. Bring it on! I have survived the Great Abyss.

Road Revelation #19 – Try to follow local traffic etiquette rather than attempt to change it to your own style. If people want to slow down as they attempt to merge into the traffic flow, so be it. Trying to get them to do otherwise is fruitless. I found that the best way is to find a semi-truck and just get behind him in the second or third lane and follow what he does. It’s just like in life, accommodation rather than confrontation is always better.