March 22, 2012........New Orleans or should I say Las Vegas......

 March22......What a beautiful day that we woke up to! If I hadn't heard the rain pouring all night, I would not have known it had rained. Today we will be visiting the plantation on the grounds of the Louisiana State's University and Houmas House, an 1800's plantation . We also have reservations to ride a swamp boat at the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve. Madison is hoping to see alligators......the rest of us would like that, too. I, however, feel a little nervous to be so close to them. The kids learned how to help unplug and unhook....they are all doing a great job helping us get out of the campgrounds each day.

The signage in Louisiana is not very good and we detoured a little trying to get onto the freeway. No loss for us, the neighborhood that we drove through was lovely. The plants are very lush here, especially after a fresh rain. We found the LSU Rural Museum, drove through beautiful gardens and parked. We were all excited to tour the many buildings and exhibits at this museum. The displays were amazing.







....learning about cotton......

We learned about the cotton industry, held cotton and explored the many relics from civil war times that are housed in the large building. There were some nice buggies and even an 1800's hearse, the kids found it to be creepy..... We browsed through antique machinery, dolls, guns, baskets, chairs, quilts, animal taxidermy, hunting and fishing gear. As we left the main hall, we entered the part of the property that is a recreation of a plantation, complete with an overseers house, a store, a chapel, a blacksmith shop, a mill, slave quarters, sugar refining building, and post office. The only plantation building missing here was the Big House, as the main residence was called. These were all actual buildings and you could feel history in the air as we walked along the path and looked into the individual buildings. We navigated through puddles and we had to avoid some muddy spots. We enjoyed a cool breeze and sunshine and the air felt fresh! We walked over a little bridge to see the mill area. There was one mill that was powered by horse power and one that was powered by water. From there, we ventured over to see the animals and chatted with the long horned cows.



Madison sees her first alligator down south......this one isn't biting anymore!!

........creepy or interesting????

Christian started to preach in the chapel



slave cabin



at the school.......

Time to move on......lots to see today. We drove on our way to tour the Houmas House

It is located outside Baton Rouge directly across from the Mississippi River which was convenient for shipping products to market. We could see the levee from the gardens of the Houmas House. We enjoyed walking through the lovely gardens as we strolled up to the home. Beautiful lush plants, restful fountains and bright colored flowers.....just what you imagine when you think of a plantation......




Here's some history from the Houmas House website:

.........Houmas House Plantation and Gardens has reclaimed its position as Crown Jewel of Louisiana's River Road.

Through the vision and determination of Kevin Kelly, who fulfilled a lifelong dream by acquiring the property in the Spring of 2003, the mansion today reflects the best parts of each period in its rich history alongside the big bend in the Mississippi River.

The first owners of the plantation were the indigenous Houmas Indians, who were given a land grant to occupy the fertile plain between the Mississippi and Lake Maurepas to the north.

The Houmas sold the land to Maurice Conway and Alexander Latil in the mid 1700's
The original French Provincial house that Latil erected on the property is situated directly behind the Mansion, adjoined by a carriageway to the grand home described during its antebellum heyday as "The Sugar Palace." The original home was later used as living quarters for the staff that served the great house.

By the time of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the plantation was established and producing sugar.

In 1810, Revolutionary War hero Gen. Wade Hampton of Virginia purchased the property and shortly thereafter began construction on the Mansion. However, it was not until 1825 when Hampton's daughter, Caroline, and her husband, Col. John Preston, took over the property that the grand house truly began to take shape.

Construction on the Mansion was completed in 1828. At the same time, Houmas House began to build its sugar production and continued to increase its land holdings, which ultimately grew to 300,000 acres.

Irishman John Burnside bought the plantation in 1857 for $1 million. A businessman and a character, Burnside increased production of sugar until Houmas House was the largest producer in the country, actively working the crop on 98,000 acres. During the Civil War, Burnside saved the Mansion from destruction at the hands of advancing Union forces by declaring immunity as a subject of the British Crown. In addition to building a railway to carry his products to market —"The Sugar Cane Train (1862)" — Burnside, a bachelor, is also said to have offered payment to any parents in the parish who would name their sons "John."

An avid sportsman who wagered heavily in horse races, Burnside once secretly purchased a champion thoroughbred back East with the intent of defeating the steeds of fellow local businessmen in a big race. He quietly slipped the racehorse into the billiard room of the Mansion where it was "stabled" until Burnside's surprise was unveiled at the starting line and hailed in the winner's circle.

Houmas House flourished under Burnside's ownership, but it was under a successor, Col. William Porcher Miles that the plantation grew to its apex in the late 1800's when it was producing a monumental 20 million pounds of sugar each year.

In 1927, the Mississippi came out of its banks in the epic "great flood." While Houmas House was spared, the surrounding areas were inundated. The ensuing economic havoc was but a prelude to the devastation of the Great Depression just two years later.

Houmas House Plantation withered away. The Mansion closed and fell into disrepair, a condition in which it remained until 1940 when Dr. George B. Crozat purchased it.

Crozat bought Houmas House to be a summer home away from his native New Orleans. He renovated the property with the intent to give it a more "Federal" look than the stately Greek Revival style in which it was conceived. The structure was painted white inside and out. Crown moldings and ceiling medallions were removed and both interior and exterior forms and finishes were simplified.

Eventually, the Crozat heirs opened the property to tourists. In 1963, the defining Bette Davis film "Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte" was shot in the property. The room in which Ms. Davis stayed while filming is preserved as part of today's Houmas House tour.

In addition to the Mansion and Gardens, history is also reflected in the many antique furnishings and works of art that grace the Houmas House tour. Distinguished by its two Garconierre, the Mansion exudes the warmth of a home (it's the owner's active residence), while proudly portraying its role as a landmark in American history.......

the girls tried on mardi gras masks in the git shop.....

We had a great tour guide, dressed in period costume. He told us the history of the house and fun tales of the people who lived here. The current owner lives at the house, but wants to keep the property open for visitors. There is also has a full service restaurant, and events are held here regularly. Also, on site is a nice gift shop that we shopped in.

Houmas House original china.....

We climbed the swirling staircase......

taking a break in the parlor.....

Most men in the 1800's were about Christian's height...

...this storm is looking like it is going to be BIG.....

We reluctantly left the Houmas House to make our way out to the Jean Laffitte National Park, as we drove the swamp boat company called to cancel due to the impending storm. I was very disappointed and so were Pam and the kids. . . . maybe tomorrow? So what now? Well you roll with the punches . . . so we just changed our plans and drove down to the New Orleans French Quarter. We followed the signs to the visitor center. God was watching out for us for sure today. Have you ever tried to drive in and find parking in New Orleans in an RV? There is absolutely no parking for large vehicles anywhere near the French Quarter. We saw a fenced in campground adjacent to the visitors center and I ran in to ask if we could park in their lot....sure for $25 per day! Wow!! I begged for a deal as it was already late in the day. The clerk agreed to let us park for the 2 days....Pam and I were so happy.

We decided to ask for recommendations of what to see at the visitor center. The woman there gave us instructions to ride a Garden District trolley. We walked over to the St. Louis Cemetery Number One to see the above grounds cemetery . In New Orleans, people are buried above ground because the water table is particularly high. Traditional burial practices include digging a six-foot-deep hole into which to put a casket ("six feet under"), but in New Orleans the dirt at that level would be quite soggy, filling the hole with water and causing the caskets to float in their holes.

According to information, early settlers attempted to combat these rising caskets by putting in a few heavy stones, and this worked well enough -- until the next storm. The rising water level beneath the ground caused the coffins to literally force their way out of the soil. Yikes! Thus, began the tradition of folks being buried above ground to avoid floating coffins coming out of the ground each time the city would flood.

St. Louis Cemetery #1 is the oldest and most famous cemetery in New Orleans . It was opened in 1789, walking distance from the French Quarter and the Downtownarea. It is located on historic Basin Street. The kids were a little creeped out to take a picture here at the cemetery.

From there we walked a few blocks down to the French Quarter passing the police department along the way. As we walked down to the Quarter towards Bourbon Street, we saw many old, ugly buildings and alleys. We passed many revelers walking to and fro on Bourbon Street. It was definitely a party atmosphere and we hurried past all of this activity. It felt a little Vegas to me........Pam and I both were on the lookout for the beautiful flowers and balconies which would allude us today.

Not to pretty.....

We shopped in a tea and spice shop (buying gifts for my sister and aunt), a chocolate shop (yes, we tasted), and a funky souvenir shop where we tried on masquerade masks and became acquaintances with a friendly alligator! Seriously, we found a great t-shirt for Tim that said, "I put ketchup on my ketchup".......perfect!!!

....size large, please!!

....we met the founder of New Orleans

We met a gator while shopping......he was pretty friendly!!!




I think I've seen this guy at Disneyland....

The woman in the visitor center had recommended us to make our way toward Canal Street to catch the streetcar to the Garden District. We walked and walked and finally found the correct stop. We waited for quite a while in the dusk. The woman had led us to believe that we would see beautiful garden district homes as we rode the trolley .






...a pretty old church on the trolley run...see the mardi gras beads...

We did see a few large homes and mardi gras beads hanging from the elertrical wires overhead. It was, however, not what we were looking for. The trolley turned out be a commuter train for people to get to areas of the city. Well, call us gullible tourists now. Considering it was beginning to get dark, we couldn’t see many of the details on the beautiful houses, our feet hurt and our tummies were growling! Beginning to hear the familiar cries of "I'm hungry" we began to look for a restaurant.


When we spied the "New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood Co." sign we decided to make a stop for dinner. The kids were happy to get off the trolley to eat. I had a terrible headache and just chalked it up to being hungry. We all ordered our dinner.....of course, the kids only wanted hamburgers! We bought a bowl of Gumbo and some hush puppies for all the kids to try. Both dishes were enjoyed by all. Christian was happy to try them and ate the most of us all.





...eating Gumbo for dinner as well as burgers.....

I had a yummyrific shrimp dish. But my headache and quesy feeling stomach persisted.

Outside, the weather had turned on us. The black sky opened up and dumped down with massive sheets of rain coming down. There were huge strikes of lightning! Our waiters and waitress greatly cautioned us not to walk back to the RV in the darkening night. We had light jackets but few umbrellas so I began to call taxis to come get us. Of course, this was no easy feat when we had one more people than any taxis could transport. I was able to get one company to dispatch a driver out to our location and when the driver arrived we begged him to take us. He looked at us like we were crazy! We looked like a bunch of drowned rats in the rain, for sure. He agreed to take us and regaled our group with stories of Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath. Before Hurricane Katrina, he owned 3 tourist shops in the French Quarter and has since had to become a taxi driver to support his family. He has been unable to reopen his shops or rebuild his home due to government restrictions. He was caught during the hurricane and had to climb up on the roof to be rescued. It was sad to hear his tale. He was very nice and we enjoyed hearing a first hand account of the storm. By the time that we made it back to the RV and shortly thereafter the campground, I knew that something was really wrong with me. Little did I know what the night would hold for me. Shortly after we arrived "home". we got the kids to bed and the REAL lightning and torrential downpour began. So did the issues that I would suffer from food poisoning!! I knew that I should not have eaten the deviled egg that I ate for breakfast.......no more mayo based products for the rest of the trip in the refrigerator!!!!! The rainstorm would pound on us all night, Gracie did not like the lightning!!!

,



March 21, 2012 On The Road Again......Just can't To Get On The Road Again......

Bye Y'all.......this morning it was time to say goodbye to our friends, the Dahlinger family....at breakfast, Gracie asked me if we would be back to San Antonio to visit them again....oh she got a sad lip when I said probably not.  She really had fun getting to play with Timothy and Paul, the boys asked the kids when we could come and play again....and, of course, we had such gracious hosts that you couldn't not want to come back!!  The best meal the kids ever had was pizza for breakfast this morning!!!  Mrs. Dahlinger rocks!!!  God has blessed her with such a servant's heart for her family and others. She is so sweet and we have enjoyed visiting with her and John.  They have decided to homeschool the boys so it was fun to share some of the things that we have done over our many years of doing the same. 

I have been a weather watching crazy for the whole trip but especially since the lightning storm that we survived the other night on our way to San Antonio.  So this morning, I go on and am checking the forecast for our route....well it didn't look so good.....light rain in parts of Texas but severe weather (flash flood warnings included) in most of our path into Louisiana for the next two days......be calm, God will work it out.....


One billboard passed and it said:

"Jesus is the Savior of All:  Are you married to him or just dating him on the weekend??"  That would be awesome to see such things in good ol California.......Texas is BIG on lots of things, houses, jewelry, hair, bumperstickers (I saw one that was, no joke, 6' h x 18" l), trucks, malls, churches but the thing that is the coolest big item is....GOD!  I can see why it is called the bible belt.....I love that!!

So, once we got back on the road, it was gas up, and drive for hours again.......the Texas countryside that we drove through today was beautiful, if not a little flat. But hey, here they had trees! Unlike the area near New Mexico, the area from San Antonio to the border of Louisiana appeared to be ranch country and we saw many horses, cows, a chicken ranch and meadows of lupines and other wildflowers. I wish I knew all of the names of the flowers. Tim's Grandma Whitehead would have known all there is know about each one of these flowers. She was so knowledgable about nature and wildflowers. It was nice to remember her and think how she would have loved to see this area, if for no other reason but the flowers......Gracie and Brookie laid up in the top bunk and drew pictures of them in their Nature Journals. We were blessed to be able to see the pretty wildflowers that Texas is famous for.....
 Wow, there are a lot of churches in Texas and they are big buildings, even the ones in the country look large, and they are mostly Baptist....





We stopped for gas in Flatonia, TX ($3.79 a gallon) and, oh yes, we remembered that Dave had said something about checking the oil every once in awhile.  So, I know how to do that from watching Tim do it enough times right??  Weeeeellll,maybe not.  Pam released the hood latch and we all jumped out to "teach" the kids how to check and add oil if need be. 

Challenge #1 (picture it if you can)......the hood released about 1 inch and we couldn't see or feel where to unlatch the rest of the way.....Pam and I looked like we were doing acrobatic moves all discontorted trying to see through the small opening.  Christian, being the reliable boyscout that he is, felt confident that he could do it but the latch proved illusive to even our young man (poor buddy, he was trying so hard to show us that he was strong and could be a great helper).....pulling into the parking lot came our rescuer in the form of a true Texas Gentleman......As this 40 something modern day cowboy got out of his truck, he said "you ladies need a little help there?".......of course, we are not ashamed to ask for assistance so we answered "sure!!!".....He got the hood released and we were so relieved (we were doing it right to begin with, the latch was just really tight).....that at least made us feel better........we assured him we could do the rest.  I have checked the oil in my old van in the past and Christian knows how to do it also.  So we check the oil (Christian pulled the stick out and wiped it down.....I was proud of him for really stepping up), ascertain it is a little low and get all prepared to fill it up......

1. oil-check
2. funnel-check
3. oil tank-hmmmm....where is that?

Challenge #2.....ok, I know what it looks like....can't look that different than in my van....ok there's the radiator, window washer fluid, brake fluid......so now we look like real blondes.....Now, out of the store comes our Texas Gentleman and he has a friend with him.  He must have told his friend about the damsels in distress out at the gas tanks because they came prepared to help.  They told us that the friend used to be a Ford mechanic....he walked right over and said "here it is" and unscrewed a piece that really didn't look like where the oil would go.  Darn, how come we didn't see that?  Oh well, learn something new everyday, I say.....quite hysterical......our new friends were nice, helpful and wished us well on our trip.  Thank God for nice, neighborly folks in Texas!!





I took the wheel for the second shift. On through the rest of Texas and into the lush state of Louisiana.....about an hour from the border it starts to look a little different, more water, taller trees, larger stands of trees some standing in water in bayous and they stretch out as far as you can see.  The billboards start to advertise gators and gumbo....., more churches and more churches....everyone must go to church here, that is Awesome! 

We stopped quickly at the border to take our state sign pic and upon opening the back door, two adult and a baby wild pig jumped out of the bushes and ran off.....we must have startled them but I was a little startled to see them, too......the kids and Pam jumped out to quickly take the pic and weren't gone long when they all ran screaming back to the RV.....they had been attacked by a rogue swarm of mosquitos!!!!!  They were all itching and when they opened the door to come in a few mosquitos flew in with them.  Gracie ran around the RV smashing her hand on them trying to kill them all....guess what we will be buying.....bug spray!!

As we continued towards Baton Rouge, there was the most spectacularly beautiful sunset that reminds me of the ones that I saw in Mauii when Tim and I were there on our honeymoon, 24 years ago.  this pic doesn't really do it justice but Gracie took it out the back....Colors were much brighter in real life, you just had to be there.  Made me think that God wanted me to remember how pretty Texas was.........

 Light rain the rest of the way, our campground called about an 1 1/2 hours before we arrived to tell us about the power outage that they were experiencing and to report that we had missed the big storm that had been ravaging them all day.....we can see God's hand each way of our travels and how he is protecting us from major weather conditions.....oooops missed our branch off right before the campground so we had to get off the freeway and back track a little but not too bad....having that Trip Tik on my iphone sure helps, invaluable!!  We pulled into our KOA campground a little after 8 p.m. and sent the kids off to the showers immediatley.....we survived our first campground hookups!  We got to cook in the RV for the first time on the trip and that was fun, sloppy joes...yum!

One more stop for gas... $3.69 now....we keep seeing it for $3.65 but always right after we fill up.....stopped for bug spray at the walgreens right near our campground and the girl there was asking us where we were from.  We told her about our "CROSS COUNTRY" trip and she asked if we were going to go to Africa.....looks like the public schools in Louisiana are no better off than ours in California.....

From Christian: 

 Hi I helped changed the oil.  Tomorrow we are going to go to a boat ride in a swamp.

 We are going to see alligators and we are going in a fan boat in the bayou it will be awesome!! 

                                                               

March 20, 2012 .......A Day in Texas

Today we went to the Alamo.  We saw the shrine to the heroes of the Alamo.  Many people died defending the Alamo and taking a stand for Texas independence.  One of the heroes was Davey Crockett.  Then we went on a boat tour of the River Walk.  Before the River Walk we went to a Subway and had lunch.  We saw alot of  REALLY tall hotels. Right now we're staying at our friends the Dahlingers.  They have two little 4 year old twins.  One is Timothy and the other is Paul.  So far I'm having a Blast!!!! by Gracie





What a day.....we woke up to sunshine and bright skies!!  The weather forecast was for thunder, lightning, and rain, rain and rain.....I just have to praise God for the things that he is doing for us.....

My verse for today is Psalm 147:5.....How great is our Lord!  His power is absolute! His understanding is beyond comprehension!

The Dahlinger family have been the most gracious hosts!!  Monique had breakfast all ready for us this morning and how wonderful it was to have a homecooked meal and a shower!  We all spent the day in San Antonio touring the Alamo,  exploring the surrounding area, walking along the Riverwalk and taking a boat tour of the Riverwalk.  It was a beautiful day, we all wore short sleeves.......we bought some souvenirs and actually got out of the Alamo with only one gun related item for Christian.....that is truly amazing........

The San Antonio Riverwalk

....a tree growing out of the side of a restaurant on the Riverwalk route....

Enjoying the boat ride.....

A quick pic stop on our hunt for the ice cream shop......

Everything is BIG in Texas, even the jewelry.....

Christian poses with his new friend.....

.....hey anyone seen Christian??

 Off to bed to enjoy the first real night of sleep that I have had in days......on to Baton Rouge tomorrow....

March 19........The Day That Just Wouldn’t End……. We drove through 3 states today!!

Good morning Phoenix (the little kids keep reminding me that Phoenix IS the capital of AZ…)where is the Starbucks???

Pam and I have chosen Matthew 6:33-34 and Phil 4:6-7 as our theme verses for the trip….little did we know the wisdom of these words for today………

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.  Math 6:33-34

  Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Phil:6-

  …..Awwwww after a refreshing night of 4 hours of sleep (Are you kidding me???) courtesy of the W. Indian School Rd. Super Walmart (yes, we actually found one that graciously let us sleep in the parking lot…Did you know that overnight sleeping has been outlawed at most Walmarts?), Pam and I quickly threw on our clothes and nixed the previously planned idea of running into Walmart to grab the couple of things that we forgot.  Upon trying to start the RV, we were greeted with the easily recognizable yet equally undesirable sound of click, click, click……….NOOOOO…..we were so careful to make sure that we turned everything off at each stop except when we, under the heavy veil of sheer exhaustion, parked for the night.  OK, so being the problem solvers that we are, we both whipped out our cards and decided to forgo AAA and call Good Sam to come jump the RV.  We were confident that this would be the quickest resolution since it being a Monday morning might find AAA a little busy.  After all, we had signed up for the Good Sam Roadside Assistance specifically for this very reason and they specialize in RV care, right??  Feeling a little smug that we were SO prepared, we were quite surprised to learn that we had signed up for the wrong plan and could not, in fact, get help from them at this time.  Back to the drawing board, AAA it was.  I called and scheduled a service call and we returned to the previous plan of shopping for our forgotten items.  While we were in the store, Dave called and reminded Pam of a way to start the RV in the event of the battery not working.  OOPS, in our tired condition, we had both forgotten about this.  So out to the RV we went and, happily, our trusty vehicle started right up….  Finally, after an hour and a half delay, we were off and DRIVING for what would seem like forever.    When we got to a straight stretch on 10, I know that sounds like an oxymoron, I took the wheel (literally) for my first trial run at driving the RV.  So, of course, a few minutes after I started driving it starts to SNOW…..in AZ!  Wait, isn’t this the desert??  OK, high desert but it isn’t supposed to snow is it??  Well, yes it does and for the next few hours I white knuckled it while Pam took a much deserved nap.  Madison was my co-pilot and navigator.  At one point, it had stopped snowing and I was talking to the kids about things that we saw as we were driving and out of nowhere a huge shlop of snow hit the front windshield and scared the hooha out of me!!!  I guess it had frozen to the overhang of the cab and when it started to defrost, it fell down to the surface below.  Well, I was awake for sure after that!!!  We stopped for gas at the lone gas station on that particular stretch and met a couple from San Francisco…..small world.  It was a trading post and I took some pics of the kids with the Indian sign outside in the freezing cold wind and snow.  Who would have known we would need snow parkas in AZ in March…..

Arizona desert.....pretty, huh.......maybe a little boring

 

.......entering New Mexico while it begins to snow......brrrrrrrr

braving the wind and SNOW for a picture.....

............gassing up at the trading post in New Mexico

Soon, we crossed into New Mexico and then the Texas border.  YEAH!!  Almost there, NOT.  We still had maaaany hours to drive.  Texas is HUGE!  But, it was still fun to know that we were in the state where the real fun would finally begin.  Believe it or not, we would actually be stopping for more than gas and a potty break.  As we were driving along, I saw what looked like a rundown ghetto on the right side of the scenery and a huge city on the left.   It dawned on me that this was Mexico, actually Juarez, Mexico.  Since I had never been there before, I did not realize that you could actually see houses and a town in Mexico from the freeway on the US side.  The kids were fascinated to see the extreme opposite of the left and right sides of the scenery out the windows.  It is very easy to understand why so many brave the Rio Grande illegally to escape such poverty and conditions.  It saddened me to think of the affluence of America and the less than desirable living situation of the Mexican people.  I appreciate where we live and the blessings that God has provided for my family.  There but for the grace of God go I…….seeing these conditions definitely gave us all pause for thought……The kids worked on their American History Timeline books that they are making while we drove the interminable distances today, this is why I homeschool…..How awesome to learn a language lesson on plurals because we are driving by huge unending landscape of CACTI (not cactuses) and to see rock formations (in AZ) and notice the different colored dirt in AZ (red) and NM (tan)…..We talked about the reason that we were in the middle of a snow storm in NM (high desert elevation), the way that the Interstates are numbered (2 digit even numbers run east to west and the odd numbers run north to south) and time zones across the USA…….About 9:00 pm, I relinquished the wheel to Pam and took a much needed nap, wow that felt good but I did not want to wake up.  The kids all went to bed and we were back to just the mommies and our late night foray into the darkest and most desolate parts of road …..God decided to light up the sky for us as we drove the last 240 miles to San Antonio with the largest strikes of lightning I’ve ever seen!!  WOW….His artwork is AWE INSIRING and His hand so POWERFUL….It is BRIGHT when it strikes across the whole sky, looks like day time…..As we got closer to San Antonio, the lightning kept getting closer and closer and we could see the huge strikes and not just light……scary but so COOL….I’m not, however, going to become a storm chaser!!  We felt a little more than concerned that we might be a target for this mighty electrical force that was striking fear and awe into our hearts and minds……..looked awfully close and right overhead!!!!  A quick phone call home to Tim, who PTL was awake at 1:30 his time, gave us some reassurance of safety.  But that was followed by his instructions of what to do if it started to hail foreshadowing the onslaught of a tornado.  Wait, I wanted him to make it all better.  Of course, being California girls we are definitely not familiar with this kind of extreme weather phenomena!!!  On the BRIGHT side (literally), we are choosing to see this as God’s way of keeping us ALERT!!!  It felt like a whisper of “follow the yellow brick road” with the lightning being the “yellow brick road” to San Antonio……we passed a sign along the way that said “Scenic View”, got that right!!   Wish the kids could have seen the spectacle but being that it was 3:30 am we felt it would be cruel and unusual treatment to wake them up.  Checked the weather for this area for the next two days and it looked like we would be still experiencing rain and possibly more lightning so maybe the kids will get to see it still……we’ll have to see what tomorrow holds…….

 

Arrived at the Dahlingers in San Antonio at      ……what wonderful hosts.  They left the light on and an extension cord out for us to plug in……see you in the am……..

March 17-18, 2012........T minus 2......Houston We are ready for liftoff.....

March 17th.........in the final leg of preparations........to many things to do!!!  Gassed up for $100, WOW….gas prices are threatening to  thwart us but we are resilient!!  Really late night but I think we got it all in......slept the sleep of the dead.....tomorrow is coming way to early I'm afraid!!!  Nervous and soooooexcited!!

March 18th.......9:45 am…..Well, the day that I thought would never come is here and we are on our way.  We woke up to a beautiful, sunny dayl Praise the Lord!  Of course, our TARGET time to leave was 5:00 a.m. so that we would get to Phoenix early but as is so common when Pam and I travel together we didn’t leave until 9:45….se la veigh, it is what it is………We went to bed way too late!!! But hey, we ARE leaving for 10 weeks!  The last minute details always seem to deter us, hahahahaha!! And, no trip would be complete without a couple of hitches….ours was the discovery that it may be snowing on the Grapevine, which is the route that we planned to take and the maps that we have printed out.  So we were up researching our alternate route and consulting with my brother, Bill (who is always awake when I need him…..even though he lives in FL and is 3 hours ahead!)…..The good news is that I only forgot a few items and we resolved those before leaving…PHEW! Upon waking up this morning, we were all in a state of shock, exhaustion, euphoria, and EXCITEMENT!!!  Tim came by around 2:00 am to kiss us all goodbye and this morning Dave and Brandon prayed with us and sent us on our way……ON THE ROAD AGAIN…..

11:50:  On Hwy 5….my favorite place to drive, NOT!  Is it too early to feel the need for CHOCOLATE??  Pam and I brought about 10 pounds…do you think that is enough??  There is never enough dark chocolate!! Yummy, a personal recommendation is to try the Sea Salt & Turbinado Sugar Dark Chocolate Almonds from Trader Joes…… As we passed through Livermore, we looked up to the left and there on the hill was a “ginormous”s cross carved out of the hill and written in it was “Jesus Saves”….What an awesome thing to see in the middle of the bay area.  Thank you Lord, for the reminder!  Reminds me of the song that we hear on KLOVE by the same name…..it is a nice song to have stuck in my head…..the kids are buried in the big bed watching movies…the life of a kid!! 

1:00.....First stop for gas at Santa Nella and ........STARBUCKS.......

Check out the snow on the Grapevine.....

2:30  am….This drive has been a killer but we did it on purpose so that we could get to the fun part, seeing all of the sites.  We have seen some nifty things along our way but overall, we have found this part a little boring as scenery goes…..there will be more exciting things in the days to come…..and the price of gas!!! OUCH!!  Oh well, it is what is and we are not going to let that deter us, no way!!  So, we anticipated extra time because of the need to refuel and take potty breaks but it felt like it took forever to get to Phoenix…and it did ….we pulled in around 2:30 am and passed out…….good night Phoenix…see you on the flip side…..