Total Transformation

We slept later until Stacy called to tell us that she had to take Peter to a psychologist appointment. We ate and then took the garlic and gifts to their house. Tom was working from home and let us in. We talked with both of them when Peter and Stacy came home and then watched the first DVD of the “Total Transformation” program we had bought for them. It was encouraging to learn that they were trying to use it. We walked over by Martin Lake for exercise until after noon. Stacy had a job at 1:30, so we went to Wendy’s for a fast food lunch. Evelyn and Stacy went off to work and shop while Tom and I came back. Tom went back to work while Peter helped me create some business cards for us. I can’t print them until we get to Waynesville, but I am happy that we got them done. We just hung out until 5:30 when Stacy had to leave for another job. Tom took Evelyn to pick up Olivia after drama practice and went shopping. Peter had some assignment to do so I just played Free Cell until he finished. Then he played on the computer for an hour. I tried to get him to play a game with me but he wouldn’t. He worked on his tanks and watched some of a movie, Wall-e, but I didn’t care for it. The girls all came home at once after Evelyn went shopping with Olivia to buy her something to go with her skirt we had brought from Mexico. We left and went to the motel because Evelyn was very tired. So was I but hadn’t done anything. We will leave after the ladies’ Bible study tomorrow morning.

Last stop before home

We wakened earlier than expected and were eating breakfast at 7:45. We were packed and on the road before 9. We had only 300 miles to drive, so we took a little more time than usual. We stopped for lunch around 12:30 CT, 1:30 ET. We were looking for a picnic table and found 1 behind a business of some kind in Tuscaloosa, AL. Our gracious Lord led us to the area because we couldn’t find anything else. We took a different route to Roswell. We programmed the GPS for the shortest route. We were on secondary roads but thought we were not moving any more slowly than being stuck on the Interstate during rush hour. We arrived at the LaQuinta at 5:30 and were eating at the Red Lobster in the motel parking lot by 6. We drove to Stacy’s, visited and watched a movie, “The Three Amigos”. We left there at 10 and returned to the motel. We had planned to put our frozen crawfish, etc. in the freezer near the breakfast area at the motel. Unfortunately, the freezer was full. We will have to take things to Stacy’s tomorrow morning to refreeze it. We went to sleep around 11:30.

One day from Roswell

We were up an eating by 7:45. We finished carrying our items (including the frozen crawfish and boudin in the motel freezer) to the car and on the road by 8:30. We drove around Lafayette to Highway 90 and headed south. The road was 4 lane and we missed most of the small towns, making the trip miss the purpose: seeing the swamps and small towns in the south part of Louisiana. We did have a pleasant drive and went to the welcome center in Houma but never actually made it to the town itself. We stopped for fuel outside New Orleans and ate lunch there. We are still eating half sandwiches that Evelyn made in Weslaco. It has prevented our overeating as much as before. We then whizzed through N. O. without much trouble. We did slow down once. We made it over Lake Ponchatrain after driving through some of the areas devastated by hurricane Katrina years ago. Many of the properties are still in bad disrepair. We had never seen the area before. We were on I-59 and in Hattiesburg by 3, so I went to the motel and asked if we could go on to Meridian. They said yes and called reservations in for us. We were in our room by 4:30 about 70 miles closer to Roswell. We took a walk around the motel area but disagreed on the safety of the route. This caused us to separate. I continued while Evelyn went to an exercise room. I went to a convenience store and bought her a Marie Calendar dinner and an ice cream bar. I went to the room and ate the leftover casserole we had brought and some of the okra we had brought. I put the frozen food into the freezer in the motel (LaQuinta again) across the hall. We stayed in for the night because there was no place for us to walk to. Evelyn talked with Stacy about our location, and I talked with Doris in Cypress Meadows about having our water reconnected.

Doubling up on Cajun friends

We slept until 8 when I went to get breakfast. Evelyn stayed in bed, asking for orange juice. So I brought her some—and some cereal and yogurt. I ate mine in the serving area. I returned to continue uploading pictures to the blog until time for us to leave for Simon’s. We weren’t able to go to the restaurant as planned so we went to the Piccadilly Cafeteria where we had crawfish etouffee. Simon said it was the best in Lafayette and we agree. We planned to share a dinner but decided to get one for each. I wouldn’t have done it had I known it came with 2 sides and bread. We had far too much to eat. We were taken to an old, elaborate hardware store and looked around for more than half an hour. We left Guidry’s and took Roland home. On the way to the motel for a nap, we stopped and had the nose pieces on Evelyn’s glasses repaired. It was done with no charge. We also stopped at WalMart and bought a sponge that cleans the inside of an automobile windshield. A friend in the Valley swore that they were well worth the money. At the motel, I continued uploading pictures while Evelyn napped. We left and met Betty and Jimmy Trahan for dinner at Fezzso’s. We shared catfish stuffed with etouffee. It was delicious. On the way home we stopped and bought boudin and crawfish tails to take with us. We had to put them into the freezer in the office. Evelyn helped me connect the trailer to the car, making us ahead for tomorrow morning. I continued uploading and finished what I wanted to accomplish. We have a wakeup call at 7.

Half way there

We had the trailer full of eveything we owned--or so it seemed. We towed it to Beaumont where we spent the first night and then to Lafayette, LA where we went to the end of a week long festival. We had a good time during the short time until the booths shut down.

Alpine

The depot at Alpine, TX--the gateway to Big Bend National Park--is a quaint station worth filming. Evelyn is talking to our sleeper car attendant as we are reboarding for our trip back to San Antonio.

Looking out the train window

Our roomette offered an upper bunk, a bottom bed that served as a seat during the day, and a large window for viewing the sometimes quite artistic grafitti and majestic California mountains covered with snow in April. This was after our stop in Pamona.

LaQuinta and Union Station

Evelyn awaits our shuttle driver, Ramon, to pick us up to transport us to Union Station where I sat using my air card to play games while waiting for our Sunset Limited train back to San Antonio. We had to take our suitcase down to track 12, a long way down the corridor.

Last day on the ship

We are having our final dinner in the elegant restaurant on board. Note the detailed brass work in the Veresailles restaurant. I also had a woman on board volunteer to show me how to work some things on my computer. We both look very happy.

Dancing in Louisiana

We went to breakfast in the motel at 9 and left for church after a frantic search for our car keys. They had been tangled in the bedspread as we were packing the other things in the car. We were 15 minutes late for church but were uplifted by the message of the Good Shepherd. We were also blessed by Holy Communion. We drove the 10 miles to the Louisiana welcome center where we had our lunch on a picnic table. We got some brochures about the deep south Louisiana area around Morgan City, Houma, etc. and came to our motel, the Sleep Inn in Scott. We were early but checked in anyway. We rested a while and watched some of the Cubs game. We then drove to Simon's house to see if he had died. After consulting the neighbors, we got him up from a nap and talked for about an hour. We planned to pick him up for lunch tomorrow at 11:30. We went downtown Lafayette to go to the festival but arrived just before things shut down. We heard a little music and had something to eat before going to our dance place, Randol's. It was Zydeco night and was packed with young people who were great dancers. There was also a tour bus of geezers from Florida there. Some of them also danced. I saw a very short woman from Austin that I had met years ago at Fred's Lounge in Maumu. She had been shaken by the loss of a friend, and I had counseled and comforted her then. Strangely, she remembered me after I had mentioned she was from Austin. She tried to talk to both Evelyn and me but was drowned out by the loud music. We were able to dance some despite Evelyn's sore leg. It didn't seem to bother her at all. I had more fun tonight than I had had many times in the past. It was a wild crowd. The Austin woman showed us how to do a dance manuver called "the window". We had tried to learn it many times before. This time it may have stuck with us. We will see later. We returned to the motel and made arrangements to meet the Trahans for dinner at a restaurant near here tomorrow evening, making full rounds of our friends in Lafayette.

Day 1 of travel to NC

We were up at 6 and on the road by 7:20. We stopped to have breakfast in Raymondville and was directed to a place that had onions on our way north. They were small and expensive but we bought them anyway since it was the last chance. I fought sleep many times and stopped for gas, etc. often. We arrived at Al-Ts much earlier than I had anticipated—4:30. Since we had eaten our sandwiches at a
Subway outdoor table around 1, we weren’t hungry. I slept in the car while Evelyn read. We went in and shared one of their enormous specials at 5:30. We then drove on the Beaumont where I had booked a room at LaQuinta downtown. I must have asked for a handicapped room (I always ask for downstairs) because that is what we had. I had trouble getting the Wifi to work and had to go to a different room where the router was. Evelyn took a shower and went to bed around 8. She hadn’t slept well last night but had slept during the drive. We pray she sleeps through the night.
Evelyn had talked with Stacy during the drive and made plans to accompany her family to a Myrtle Beach time share on May 30. We will enjoy the beach.

End of the winter stay

I wakened at 4:30 and couldn't get back to sleep. I was thinking of things I didn't want to forget. I finally got up and couldn't remember many of them. I did some final planning and then I drove to the recycling center to dump our cardboard and paper. I stopped and filled the car and the mower gasoline can before I returned home and went on packing with Evelyn. She was up and mopped the kitchen. We decided to put 2 of the 3 suitcases into the trailer. This will help stop much of the shifting of the cargo. We went to have lunch with the Winstons at noon and stayed until 1:30. I worked some more but had to eventually take a nap. We then dressed to go out with Don and Janice for dinner. They took us out and paid for the fish dinner we had at the Palm Aire. We returned home and tried to help them with their planned trip to the West by train. I think we helped them. We went to bed around 10 because we hope to be on the road by 7:30 tomorrow morning.

Wednesday and Thursday

Wednesday was a day we went to Mexico. We had our teeth cleaned and bought some tequila and Negra Modelo. We came home for lunch. We are trying to eat down the items from the refrigerator. . I tried to get our trailer plates renewed early, but the state won’t allow it. I also learned that there are no onions because the fields are too wet to allow a harvest. I also went through the mail that had accumulated while we were gone. I also dropped off a prescription at the local pharmacy. We spent more time packing and rested until Joe and Bonny came to get us for supper. Bonny and I killed a bottle of white wine. We went to the Blue Onion and had a nice visit. We came home and had ice cream we have to eat before we leave.
Thursday Evelyn went to Knapp for a mammogram and X-ray. The results will be sent to the oncologist Tuesday. I decided to cut the grass one last time while she was gone. We devoted much time to packing our suitcases. I also decided we had no place to put the metal file cabinet in NC so I took it out and put it in the shed. We waited until 1 to eat because we wanted to take Vonnie, the woman who volunteers to put up the mail, to lunch. She works hard and has received no pay until this year. We appreciate her efforts. We took her to I-Hop because we had a buy 2 get 1 free coupon. She was the logical choice, being a widow. We came back and continued packing. I called George to schedule an appointment to change my oil. He will be gone tomorrow, so I may have to wait until NC. We have brought many things indoor from the porch and have only a little more to do tomorrow. We ate leftovers and took a walk before eating ice cream.

Returning to our winter home

We were in no hurry to get up but wakened at 8 anyway. We had showered last night, so skipped this morning. We ate the meager breakfast and left San Antonio around 9. We got gasoline and then drove through to Falfurrias where we stopped at a local restaurant for lunch. We split a 2 breaded pork chop meal and French fries. I had a side order of beans that had little flavor. I thought the pork was good and the fries were acceptable. Evelyn didn’t. She had wanted to stop at Whataburger and was miffed at that. While we were stopped, Janice called and asked us to go out with them Friday night. We will meet here and go out somewhere so we can talk about their trip to Alaska. We drove on to McAllen and went to Dillard’s looking for a girdle that would support her back but found nothing there or in Penny’s. We went to a coupon spot and had a smoothie on the way to Weslaco. We rested a bit and unloaded the suitcases so we could begin laundry. It happened that the Cubs were playing on TV so we enjoyed our supper of popcorn and peanuts while watching part of the game. I sprayed some of the weeds that don’t seem to respond to the herbicide. I also loaded the empty Negra Modelo bottles into our suitcase so I can roll the weight rather than carry it across the bridge across the Rio Grande. We need 2 cases and some tequila for Pieder. Evelyn worked on the laundry and packing some spices into boxes with dividers. We are on the home stretch of packing.

High diving

Hooked by a pirate

Boo Boo!

I have these videos in poor order. See if you can line them up correctly!

A great finish

We slept much better on the train. We put the mattress that goes on the bottom bunk on the top, making it soft enough for Evelyn. The cushions on the actual seats that form the bottom bunk were soft enough for me. The train continued moving through the night unlike last time when we hit the grocery cart. We were wakened at 7 by the breakfast announcement in El Paso. We ate with a couple from Marquette, Michigan who travel by train exclusively. They had been maneuvering around the West for about 3 weeks. They boarded in Maricopa just before I went to bed last night. We have noticed that the dining car crew are not nearly as efficient as the one on the trip west. They can’t remember the orders and forget special orders entirely. We finished our meal and returned to look for some items Evelyn had removed last night and my eyeglasses. We found the glasses, Evelyn’s necklace but could not find the earrings she had removed during the night. She read and I played on the computer for a while before I took a nap. We ate a light lunch with 2 ladies who were widowed sisters in law. They were lively. We returned to our roomette for a while but went to play the sorriest trivia game imaginable. One of car attendants who made up the questions was difficult to understand. One of the questions pitted one side of the observation car to the other. She asked for 1 volunteer from each side to sing a song she selected. The other people on the selected side of the car could help the singer. The other side volunteer sang his song and hit a third of the correct notes. Then the original volunteer (a young man who kept bouncing his head in time to whatever he was hearing on his i-pod) backed out. After begging for another volunteer, the attendant chose an older, handsome gentleman as a replacement. That distinguished, handsome man with a good voice and knowledge of tunes was none other than MOI! I had 2 relatively easy songs: God Bless America and I say a little prayer for you. I didn’t need help with the lyrics of the first one but solicited help to involve the group. I did need help on the second but involved them by asking them to snap their fingers in a Latin style beat. After the competition, I won a complimentary bottle of wine that I shared with a young man who sat with us and was fine company. We returned to Evelyn’s reading room. I watched the desolate west Texas landscape roll by. There are many areas that appear to be uninhabitable. It causes me to wonder what purpose God intended to bless us with through their creation. We stopped at a quaint little depot in Alpine which looked better. We continued toward San Antonio and ate our final meal on the train. I collected my bottle of wine and went to the coach section to share it with the young man who helped me win it. I had a small amount and gave him the rest. The train arrived just a bit early and we waited for our luggage to be unloaded. While waiting we got a taxi that we shared with another couple. We were loading our cruise suitcases into the car. We came to the room, knelt and prayed thanks to God for the fun and safety of our trip. We both showered and went to bed happy and grateful.

Amtrak toward home

I neglected to mention an event in yesterday’s blog. As we waited for our room to be ready, there was a group of tourists from France in the lobby looking for lodging. They could not fly to France due to the eruption of the volcano in Iceland. The air in Europe is filled with smoke and large ice chunks that will cause jet planes to lose engine power. It is unsafe for travelers from 95% of the airports and will be for several more days. Naturally, the hotels near LAX are quite full just from the normal travel within the United States. We readied ourselves and went to breakfast. The La Quinta Inns have good breakfast offerings but rarely the same. For example, in Roswell there are waffles and hard cooked eggs but here there were scrambled eggs. Sometimes there is oatmeal but not here. The dry cereal selection vary also. We prefer raisin bran but it is not always offered as it was this morning. I promised the housekeeping chief that we would be out of the room no later than 11, so we packed everything and went to the lobby. I kept trying to upload more videos to the blog but didn’t have time. Ramon called and Evelyn wanted him to pick us up early. I retrieved the luggage from storage and we were in his limo by 12:30. The freeway was slow, so Ramon turned onto Broadway and took us through downtown. It was faster than it had been on the freeway. We were at Union Station, checked in to the baggage center, and seated in the large waiting area by 1:15. It was much less comfortable and noisier than at the hotel, but Evelyn was happier and less worried. Not calm but less worried. We hung out a while and then walked to track 12, boarded the train, found our compartment and began to play some cards. We then went to the observation car and looked at the mountains and more energy producing windmills. The area seems to be very dry but that is probably normal. We called the Winstons and Doris and talked for a while. Weslaco has had much rain while we were gone and Waynesville is expecting frost tonight. We went to dinner and sat with some ladies who had been competing in a Sweet Adeline competition held in Pasadena. They sang a song after dinner. It was quite poor but they had no tenor and a weak lead. They also sang a song they hadn’t done for some time. We had steak and peanut butter pie. They were both delicious. We walked the length of the train for exercise and returned to the roomette. We prepared for the dreaded night of sleep. I scouted the train and found some compartments unoccupied yet sold. The patrons will not be boarding until tomorrow afternoon. We did learn that Evelyn was comfortable on the top bunk if we used both matresses up there. This was fine because the coushions on the bottom were soft enough without the mattress. I asked the attendant for a blanket and an extra pillow. I will see if that works out as I expect. Lights out at 10.

Fliers

We saw these Fliers in Mazatlan at their special show. They should be viewed in the reverse order from what they were published. The first is down lower. There was also a rope twirling Charro performer that I will publish next.

Pampatla Fliers 3

Pampatla Fliers 1

Back to reality

I wakened earlier than usual—6:45. I prepared for the day and then wakened Evelyn. I went to get coffee and wait for her on deck 12. I talked with Jim and Lois briefly before Evelyn arrived. I remained on the diet by eating quasi omelets and scrambled eggs and bacon. Evelyn wanted a bran muffin, and I got her one from an officer of the kitchen. We returned to our cabin, collected our remaining belongings and went to the 7th deck from which we were to depart. We did depart at 9:15 as instructed. We were on shore and through customs by 10, but our driver was not there. I called several times and someone finally came by 11. We were not too happy about the wait although it was rather pleasant outdoors. We were at the La Quinta by 11:30 and into our room shortly after noon. Actually that is earlier than most rooms are ready for new occupancy. I spent the entire afternoon uploading pictures onto the blog because I had Wifi. Evelyn called Stacy and talked for quite a while. The Total Transformation might be having so desired effects. We decided to go for a walk around 5. The route we chose took nearly an hour because we had to retrace our steps because we couldn’t get back t our hotel any other way. On the way back, we called Emily and talked with her for 30 minutes before going to Taco Bell for supper as we did a week ago. We then bought some snacks before returning to the hotel. I continued my upload while Evelyn read a book set in Cajun country. We also listened to and watched the History channel that was showing the theories of both Nostradamus and the Mayans. The world will end or change dramatically in 2012! This may happen but not because of those sources, but because the Creator of the Universe has so willed it. I don’t understand why everyone seems so concerned about that. The world ends for all of us at death.

Bob blowing glass

Would you buy this piece of art?

Tequilla factory

The neighborhoods in Mexico are a confused conglomeration of buildings. No concern for location, location, location. We proceeded to a tequila factory and saw the fruit of the blue agave plant and vats used to cook them. After the "tour", we were treated to a tasting of 6 grades and types of tequila. They kept emphasizing their intent to make everyone happy.

Puerta Vallarta

Our tour guide tells us about the area but I was interested in the street behind him. Does it go anywhere? He took us to a cathederal with a huge crown on top. It is the third one because the first 2 have fallen. Evelyn posed near both the Vallarta plaza and the distinctive arches used as symbols of this city.

Mazatlan pier

Here is the outside of the Norweigen Star and the shuttles we had to take to the plaza area pictured above.

Puerto Mazatlan

There was a neat little plaza just on the pier where a DJ played salsa music and an authentic Mexican singer posed after his routine. We were able to dance in a raised cupulo. Just outside the ship itself was the large statue of 3 musicians. We banged the drum slowly.

Mazatlan beach

We visited a beautiful beach, brightened by my beautiful wife and tempered by me on the beach. We also saw a lone diver who was very careful in timing his dive by counting the wave surges.

Mazatlan

Pictures of Evelyn buying sunglasses and pointing to the highest lighthouse in the world. We visited a beautiful cathedral, photographing both the impressive interior and exterior.

Cabo San Lucas

These are views of Cabo. One is from a restaurant above the Sea of Cortez. Another of the inside of the city hall of Santa Rosa. Evelyn examining an unusual cactus flower. She is also being challenged by a painted pirate.

The Cruise Ship

We are leaving on our 50th anniversary cruise from San Pedro, CA. The lobby on the ship was very elaborate. The swimming pool and party deck was in the center of the ship was a hot bed of sunbathers and drinkers listening to the music of Xcite. Evelyn looked out of the porthole of our cabin.

Palm Springs

Here are the planet saving windmills at the Palm Springs depot. These are some of the things liberals love but, like Ted Kennedy, not in their backyard. Aren't they lovely!

El Paso

On the Amtrak trip to Los Angeles we stopped at the depot in El Paso. We liked the mural inside and the Sunset Limited sign. That is the train route we took