French Quarter - 12/30/12

Sunday – December 30, 2012

It was a beautiful sunny day with the temperature in the low 50’s. We decided this would be the perfect day to visit the French Quarter in New Orleans.

A short ride of a few miles from our campground, on LA-39, brought us to the Belle Chasse Ferry in the early afternoon. This ferry took us in our van from the east side to the west side of the Mississippi River. There is no charge for vehicles riding the ferry east to west and a $1.00 charge per vehicle when traveling west to east. We then drove a few miles to the Algiers Ferry and parked our van in a nearby private parking lot for $10.00 for the day. This ferry took us across the winding Mississippi River once again and docked at the ferry port in New Orleans. There is no charge for pedestrians or vehicles traveling east to west and $1.00 per vehicle traveling west to east. Pedestrians always ride free in either direction.

Upon our departure from the Algiers Ferry, it is a short walk of about 4 blocks to the French Quarter. It is contained within an area 7 blocks wide by 14 blocks long.

Bourbon Street and Royal Street are two of the most popular streets; portions of both streets are blocked off to vehicular traffic. People fill the streets and street performers take up positions providing entertainment in hopes of securing a few dollars for their services. The street mannequins are most impressive. They have painted their bodies and dressed in garments that make them appear like an actual mannequin. Most remarkable is their mind control; they will assume a position and not move for hours. No movement what so ever, not even the blinking of an eye.

A vast variety of restaurants abound throughout the French Quarter. The most popular are easily detected by the long waiting lines on the sidewalk outside the restaurant. We selected one that was crowded inside, but no waiting line outside. We were seated immediately at a table for two by the window facing the sidewalk. We had a delightful meal of seafood gumbo, blackened chicken poboy, rice & beans and crawfish etouffee followed by a marvelous bread pudding dessert. It was a pricey meal but that is expected in this part of New Orleans.

On Royal Street we came upon a street entertainment ensemble of four musicians, (three men and one woman). The woman sang and also played the clarinet. One man played the trombone another played the tuba and another played the guitar. They were playing the music to the "House Of The Rising Sun" They were so good that a large crowd had assembled to hear them. The woman’s low raspy singing voice was absolutely perfect for this song. She then amazed the audience with her wonderful upbeat solo on the clarinet. Boy could she play that instrument. The trombone player and the tuba player each amazed the audience with their solos as well. In short order people were dropping paper money in their tip boxes.

We returned to our campsite at the St. Bernard State Park campground very satisfied with our visit to the French Quarter.

Tomorrow another adventure begins.

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St. Bernard State Park - 12/29/12

Saturday – December 29, 2912

We had to relocate to another State Park today. The Reserve American online reservation website showed all of the campsites at Bayou Segnette State Park had been reserved through January 1, 2013. However, at least one-half of the campsites remained empty this morning at 10:00 a.m. It’s hard to figure how accurate their reservation site really is.

We relocated to the St. Bernard State Park in Braithwaite, Louisiana. It is located 18 miles from New Orleans. This campground has 51 campsites with electric and water hookups at each site. There is one facility with flush toilets, hot showers and laundry. The laundry is $1.00 each for the washer and dryer. There is a dump station on site.

There are only five other campers here so we had a lot of campsites to choose from. This is a scenic campground that provides plenty of space between campers.

The sun has appeared out from under an overcast sky most of the morning. The temperature is in the low 50’s. We are all set up in our new location. Time to enjoy the warmth of the sun.

Camping Fee: $18.00 per night.
Campsite: 44

Total miles traveled today: 35

Tomorrow another adventure begins.

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Katie's Restaurant - 12/28/12

Friday – December 28, 2012

We had lunch at Katie's Restaurant in New Orleans. This restaurant was featured on Diners, Drive-in’s & Dives in 2011. We had put it on our Bucket List for our next visit to New Orleans. This is a small restaurant, about 20 tables plus a bar, and is located on the corner of Iberville and Telemachus streets in a residential neighborhood. It is quite far from the French Quarter and not within walking distance from there.

Parking is free, but finding an open parking space is difficult. The streets are very narrow and will challenge your parallel parking skills, especially if you have a large SUV or full size Van. Since we have a full size van we found adequate parking to accommodate large vehicles on Bienville Ave. This parking spot put us within two blocks of the restaurant.

Katie’s provides the diner with wonderful tasting food and a friendly and attentive wait staff. We had the Boudreaux Pizza, which was featured on Diners, Drive-ins & Dives. This is a very crispy thin crust pizza with toppings of smoked pork, spinach, whole garlic cloves and several different cheeses.

Do save room for dessert. They have some excellent desserts to choose from. We had a decadent white chocolate covered white and raspberry colored multi-layered piece of cake. It was fantastic!

Conversation can be difficult. Since this is a small restaurant, the noise level from other diners is quite high, but we just considered it part of the charm of this unique restaurant.

We returned to our campsite at the Bayou Segnette State Park in Westwego, Louisiana very content and delighted with our visit to Katie’s Restaurant.

Tomorrow another adventure begins.

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New Orleans, LA - 12/27/12

Thursday – December 27, 2012

We departed the Walmart in Lake Charles, Louisiana at 7:45 a.m., continuing our travel eastbound on I-10. It was another very cold night with the temperature in the high 20’s. It was a sunny day and it quickly warmed up into the mid 50’s.

At 9:30 a.m. at milepost 177, near Gonzales, Louisiana, the eastbound traffic came to halt. Eastbound I-10 had just been shut down at milepost 179, due to an overturned tanker truck. Reports on our CB radio said the tanker might have been carrying a hazardous chemical, which would require a time-consuming cleanup by a Hazmat crew before the Interstate could be reopened. All traffic had to exit at milepost 179 and travel on alternate routes for several miles to regain access to eastbound I-10. A report on the Internet later in the day stated the tanker was not carrying any hazardous materials and eastbound I-10 was reopened at 1:00 p.m.

We arrived at the Bayou Segnette State Park campground in Westwego, Louisiana at 12:30 p.m. This park is located on the west bank of the Mississippi River, across from the city of New Orleans. This campground has 100 campsites with electric and water hookups at each site. There are two facilities with flush toilets, hot showers and laundry. The laundry is free for the washer and dryer, courtesy of the Bayou Segnette State Park. There is a dump station on site.

The majority of the campsites had already been reserved online, but we were fortunate to obtain a campsite for two nights. We would like to stay at this campground through January 1, 2012, but if a campsite does not become available, we will go to another state park campground near New Orleans.

Camping Fee: $21.00 per night.
Campsite: 93

Total miles traveled today: 210

Tomorrow another adventure begins.

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Lake Charles, LA - 12/26/12

Wednesday – December 26, 2012

We departed the Potters Creek Park Campground in Canyon Lake, Texas at 10:00 a.m. It was quite cold with the temperature in the low 30’s, but the sun was out and thankfully, the wind had subsided.

Our destination today is a 24-hour Walmart in Lake Charles, Louisiana in route to New Orleans. We were glad to hear on our weather radio that the severe weather had cleared out of the New Orleans area. This bit of good news meant we would not have to alter our planned route while waiting for the weather to clear.

Our travel east through Texas on I-10 was not without incident. Heavy holiday traffic traveling at and probably exceeding the posted speed limit of 75 mph proved to be a recipe for disaster. The first multi-vehicle collision occurred on the westbound side causing a several mile backup on the westbound side and a slow down of the traffic on the eastbound side. Then several miles down the road, our eastbound travel came to a halt due to a multi-vehicle collision on the eastbound side. It took about 45 minutes to get through that backup.

We finally arrived at the Walmart in Lake Charles, Louisiana at 6:15 p.m. After purchasing a few items at Walmart, we settled in for a good night’s rest.

Total miles traveled today: 365

Tomorrow another adventure begins.

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Canyon Lake Dam - 12/25/12

Tuesday – December 25, 2012

This is our last day at the Potters Creek Park Campground in Canyon Lake, Texas. It is a sunny day with the temperature in the high 50’s, but quite windy with wind gusts up to 45 mph. We decided we would enjoy the sunny day, despite the wind, and visit the Canyon Lake Dam. Much to our surprise, several other people decided to also visit the dam. It was quite interesting to see so many people visiting this dam on Christmas day. Of further interest to us, our vehicle was the only one there with out-of-state license plates.

Canyon Lake is a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reservoir formed on the Guadalupe River by a 0.8 mile long earth-filled dam. The height of the dam is approximately 200 feet. It is located about sixteen miles northwest of New Braunfels, Texas.

In the early part of the 19th century, the lower Guadalupe River Basin below the current location of Canyon Lake had been especially subject to serious flooding. Due to the need to lower the flooding issues, Congress authorized the construction of Canyon Lake Dam. The dam and lake was to serve two purposes: flood control and water conservation.

Construction of Canyon Dam began in 1958 on mile 303 of the Guadalupe River. The dam was finished in 1964 and water impoundment began. The lake was dedicated in 1966. The lake filled to conservation pool level by 1968. To date, it has been estimated that millions of dollars in flood damage has been averted from several major flood events in the area.

The Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority (BBRA) is the local agency with rights to the water in the conservation pool of the lake. The Authority contributed to the construction costs and currently pays the U.S. Government annually for the portion of operation and maintenance costs attributed to the conservation pool water. The water is used to operate several small hydroelectric plants downstream from New Braunfels. It is also used by the GBRA for municipal water supply, irrigation, and industrial uses. GBRA began construction of a hydroelectric facility at Canyon Dam in August 1987; it was first put into service in February 1989.

We returned to our campsite in the late afternoon with the temperature continually dropping, due the cold front that was approaching out of the north. During the night the wind continued to howl with the temperature dropping into the high 20’s. We spent a cozy night inside our trailer, which was gently rocking from the force of the blowing wind.

Tomorrow another adventure begins.

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San Antonio, TX - 12/23/12

Sunday – December 23, 2012

The sky was overcast today, but the temperature was in the mid 70s. We decided it would be a good day to visit San Antonio, Texas. Our visit included a tour of The Alamo, a barge ride on the San Antonio River through the River Walk, lunch at Mi Tierra Cafe in the Market Square and a visit to Lackland Air Force Base.

A visit to The Alamo is to relive a piece of American history. Prior to our tour, we viewed a short film on the history of the Alamo that was originally aired on the History Channel. The film provides a detailed account of the struggle of Texas to gain its independence from Mexico.

The River Walk is a required visit to San Antonio. A luscious green vegetation landscape, restaurants, boutique shops and hotels abound on both sides of the river. Several of the restaurants offer outdoor dining along the river. We walked the entire River Walk first, then we took the river barge ride. The river barge is a unique way to traverse the river and the pilot of the barge provides a narration of the history of the River Walk.

Prior to our departing the Chicago area, my research on the Casita Travel Trailer Forum for restaurants in San Antonio provided recommendations from several members for Mi Tierra Cafe. They were right on with their reviews. This is a combination bakery / restaurant / bar. Their website states: "They Never Close." The restaurant is quite large, the wait staff very friendly and attentive and the food preparation is excellent. This was a very pleasurable dining experience.

Before departing the San Antonio area, we visited Lackland Air Force Base. When I enlisted in the Air Force in February 1958, this is where I went through basic training. Non-military are not allowed on the base, except for authorized civilian contractors and retired veterns, so we had to view it from the frontage road that provides entry to the main gate. I spent four years in the Strategic Air Command, two years stationed in Topeka, Kansas and two years stationed in Puerto Rico. At that time the Strategic Air Command was home to the B-47 and B-52 bombers and the U-2 spy plane. This was the first time in 54 years, following my basic training there, I had returned to Lackland. It was quite a nostalgic visit.

San Antonio traces its roots to 1691 and a rudimentary settlement around springs in what is now San Pedro Springs Park, just north of downtown. Both Spanish missionaries and military men soon determined that a move south to the banks of the San Antonio river was a good idea. There, in 1718 they officially founded a mission that would become the Alamo and a garrisoned post that would give name to the Plaza de Armas, today Military Plaza.

The Alamo, Military Plaza, the San Antonio River and Main Plaza – previously called Plaza de las Islas in honor of the Canary Islanders who were brought to help tame this wild frontier – are the heart of current-day San Antonio. Today, a brief walk ties together the history and the form of the city, with its focus on plazas alive with activities, and its river banks teaming with visitors and locals alike.

San Antonio’s historic Main Plaza, which dates back to the early 1700s was restored in 2008. Huge trees, bubbling fountains, seating areas, soft landscaping and entertainment mark this public square.

The story of the Alamo: thirteen fateful days in 1836. In the early 1800s, the Spanish military stationed a cavalry unit at the Alamo (the Spanish word for cottonwood) in honor of their hometown Alamo de Parras, Coahuila. The Alamo was home to both Revolutionaries and Royalists during Mexico’s ten-year struggle for Independence. The military – Spanish, Rebel, and then Mexican – continued to occupy the Alamo until the Texas Revolution.

San Antonio and the Alamo played a critical role in the Texas Revolution. In December 1835, Ben Milam led Texian and Tejano volunteers against Mexican troops quartered in the city. After five days of house-to-house fighting, they forced General Martin Perfecto de Cos and his solders to surrender. The victorious volunteers then occupied the Alamo. On February 23, 1836, the arrival of General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna’s army (a force of approximately 1500 Mexican solders) outside San Antonio nearly caught them by surprise. Undaunted, the Texians and Tejanos prepared to defend the Alamo together. The defenders held out for 13 days against Santa Anna’s army.

William B. Travis, the commander of the Alamo, sent forth couriers carrying pleas for help to communities in Texas. On the eighth day of the siege, a band of 32 volunteers from Gonzales arrived, bringing the number of defenders to nearly 200. Legend holds that with the possibility of additional help fading, Colonel Travis drew a line on the ground with his sword and asked any man willing to stay and fight to step over – all except one did. As the defenders saw it, the Alamo was the key to the defense of Texas, and they were ready to give their lives rather than surrender their position to General Santa Anna. Among the Alamo’s garrison were Jim Bowie, renowed knife fighter, and David Crockett, famed frontiersman and former congressman from Tennessee.

The final assault came before daybreak on the morning of March 6, 1836, as columns of Mexican soldiers emerged from the predawn darkness and headed for the Alamo’s walls. Cannon and small arms fire from inside the Alamo beat back several attacks. Regrouping, the Mexican soldiers scaled the walls and rushed into the compound. The desperate continued until the defenders were overwhelmed. By sunrise the battle had ended and Santa Anna entered the Alamo compound to survey the scene of his victory.

While the facts surrounding the siege of the Alamo continue to be debated, there is no doubt about what the battle has come to symbolize. People worldwide continue to remember the Alamo as a heroic struggle against overwhelming odds – a place where men made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom. For this reason the Alamo remains hallowed ground and the Shrine of Texas Liberty.

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