Catching Up...Part Two

Arrived in Duson, LA on our 15th wedding anniversary and settled into the Frog City RV Park! When we pulled in we met Rick & Joanne Stone for the first time. Rick & Joanne just retired and live in Oklahoma. We had only "met" them via the internet...and our Monaco coaches! We invited everyone over for a glass of champagne to help us celebrate our anniversary. After that, we all headed to Mulate's for some Cajun food. Now, I don't even like seafood, so my choices were limited! I know that whatever I had I liked, but writing this a week or so later...I can't even remember what I had! Must have been something good!

So the next day six of us (Anderson's/Bahnson's and Leith's) headed north to Mamou. The Bahnson's had told us about this "bar" that is quite popular. You can read about Fred's Lounge here - http://www.lsue.edu/acadgate/mamou.htm. This bar is ONLY open on Saturday from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM! That's right...and only one day a week! We got there about 9:30 and the place was already PACKED! You could kind of tell that we weren't "locals" and someone offered us their table in the back. We lucked out because we were seated behind this group of ten women. These women have made this an annual event while their husbands are out for their last weekend of hunting, these women rent a limousine and come to Mamou! They left their homes at 6:30 am and I would have to think that they probably also started drinking about then! They were drinking shots of something called "Hot Damn" and they offered Dottie and I a shot to try. These ladies were hilarious! They provided a lot of laughs! Forgot to tell you that a local radio station was broadcasting from Fred's! Lots of dancing, loud music and French! Don thought he might have had too many beers when he couldn't understand anything they were saying until I told him it was all in French! :-) We enjoyed listening to the music and the women told us about themselves and kept us entertained! We left after a few hours since we also wanted to go to Avery Island and take the Tabasco Tour!

We stopped by and picked up the Rea's and Stone's and headed towards Avery Island! We didn't travel by highway instead took local roads! It was interesting to see the various houses and the local area instead of only what you see from the highways! Avery Island is one of five salt dome islands. (Read about it here: http://www.tabasco.com/tabasco_history/avery_island.cfm). Since this was a Saturday, you only walked through the factory but nothing was going on. Of course, we also checked out the Country Store where they had all kinds of Tabasco flavored products...one of which was ICE CREAM! I had a sample...not sure I'd want to eat a whole bowl of the stuff!

Wasn't long after we got back before we headed to Thibadeoux's another local joint for Cajun food! Lew ordered 5 lbs. of crawfish...and ate it all to boot! Here I had fried pickles, a salad and boudin! Yum! Yum!

Nothing better than going to bed on FULL tummys! Another early morning and we were once again under way! From Duson we headed to Robertsdale, AL. We arrived at the Wilderness RV Park and got settled in. Had dinner on our own and the next day we ventured off to various locations. Don and I took in the USS Alabama that is docked in Mobile. After the Alabama it was over to see the submarine, USS Drum. The Alabama was christened in 1940 and was almost completed at the outbreak of hostilities in WWII. In 1942 she was placed in full commission. The USS Drum was interesting, but we had already seen the USS Razorback a year ago and didn't take too long to go through it. The outside had lots of rust and wouldn't even be considered seaworthy now!

From there, I wanted to be able to say that I had been in the Gulf Ocean so we drove quite a ways to get there! It was probably closer another way, but I was just guessing on how to get there! Along the way I spotted a sports tavern called the Loose Moose. You know I just had to stop there even if only to say we'd been! Anyhow, got to the beach in Orange Beach. The sand was whiter than I've ever seen and filled chock full of sea shells! I can remember going to the beach in So. California when I was young and seeing that many shells! The water was just a little nippy and there wasn't too many around...a few people strolling along the beach but no one swimming or surfing that I saw! We couldn't tell if the parking lot we were in was damaged from Hurrican Katrina or had once been a building of some sort that was taken down for some reason. It looked like there had been some damage, but we couldn't tell since we didn't know what had previously been there!

Since we had taken the drive to the beach, we met everyone at Lambert's, Home of the Throwed Rolls (www.throwedrolls.com) for dinner. Not only was this a fun place to eat (they really DO throw the rolls at you) but the food was great and PLENTIFUL! If you've never eaten at Lambert's you don't have a clue! They come around and offer you fried okra, tomatoes and macaroni, fried potatoes, black-eyed peas and collard greens this is in addition to your food AND the throwed rolls! Joanne Stone ordered a Chef Salad. It was huge and served in a real "roll" shaped bowl! We all waddled out of there!

Once again, an early morning arriving at Defuniak Springs, FL! Spent the night and headed into Lake City, FL. Another night and then we arrive in Titusville for the MCOA and Monacoers Rally!

Catching Up!

I am so far behind on "blogging" that I decided to do an "all in one"!

Don and I left Nuevo, CA on January 1st and began our trip east. Our first stop was in Huachuca, AZ to meet up with friends, Dottie & Lew Anderson. We are the beginning of the "West Coast Gang" a group of Monaco coaches that are heading to Florida for several rallies. Along the way we will pick up more of our "gang", see some sites and enjoy some of the local fare! When we arrived in Huachuca, Dottie served us a great spaghetti dinner. It was so nice not to have to make dinner after a long day driving! Did I mention that the spaghetti was super as well?

While we were in Huachuca, we made a trip to Tombstone and walked along the shops there. Lew was hoping to take Don to a local saloon where they make their own "brew" but they were closed. We also made a trip to Fort Huachuca to see the museum there. Fort Huachuca had it's beginnings in 1877 and became an offical Army post in 1882. It has played a central role in the national defense picture ever since. In the latter part of the 20th century the fort has been a proving ground for electronic weaponry and most recently the center for all military intelligence training.


On another day we went into the town of Bisbee. In it's heyday, Bisbee was a booming mining community. There are lots of old houses built into the hillsides. Dottie and I took the opportunity to look around a few of the shops while Don and Lew managed to find a quaint old bar, called the Stock Exchange Brewery and Bar. The building that housed the bar was awesome to say the least. It was in the original Bisbee Stock Exchange building with the original tote board from the early days. The building has a lot of history and has been refurbished into a bar. The bartender, Joe, was a wealth of information. We would go back, if just to hear more of Joe's stories!


In Bisbee Don and I also toured the Queen Mine which was one of the most productive copper mines of the 20th century! The mine was opened in 1915! We wore slickers, hard hats and lights and rode into the mine on one of the same types of rail cars as the miners did.


On another day we drove into Benson to meet up with two guys that Don and Lew "knew" from their online Monaco group. We met Phil & Nancy Carroll, and Hal & Stephanie Woods at this local restaurant that someone had recommended. Lew and I both had this wonderful baked apple that was wrapped in a light crust and was then topped off with some vanilla ice cream! Yum Yum!



We left the Huachuca area and now we were two. In Deming, NM we met up with a third member of our "gang", Jean and Rod Bahnson. Now we were three! We traveled through Las Cruces and ended up in Vado, NM for the night. An early morning start stopping in Fort Stockton for the night! Another early morning and we ended up in Canyon Lake, Texas where we picked up three more gang members, Marlene and Bob Rea, Linda and Andy Clarkson and Maribel and Bob Clerc.


Maribel and Bob live in Canyon Lake a few miles from the campground we stayed at. They had us all over to their house for happy hour before we went to the Gristmill, in historic Gruene (pronounced Green) for dinner. We all had great, authentic Texas barbeque for dinner! The next day several went off to do their own thing and Jean, Marlene and I went to San Marcos to the outlet center there. It has to be the BIGGEST outlet center that I've ever seen or even heard of! It would take DAYS to cover this thing! There are actually two different centers there! It was amazing! We all bought a few things and had a quick lunch at Johnny Rockets! It was in Canyon Lake that I learned how to play "Pegs and Jokers" with the Bahnson's and the Rea's.


The next morning everyone but the Clarkson's headed out for Montgomery, TX. It was a sight to see all of our motorhomes traveling down the highways through the small towns along the way. We opted to stay off major highways as we traveled around San Antonio and Houston. In Montgomery the women made a stop at Wal-Mart where we stocked up on groceries! After we all had dinner on our own we walked up to the club house and played another few rounds of "Pegs and Jokers"! I'll guarantee you that they don't give me too much leniency for being a new player! A quick fact about Montgomery...it's the birthplace of the Texas flag, designed in 1839!


We began to notice the humidity in Texas, but not nearly as much as we felt once we got into Louisiana! Our first stop in Louisiana was Duson! One of the things Don and I both noticed was all the water. It seems like there were pools of water just about everywhere! Something else Don and I noticed...a pickup truck traveling down the highway...with a deer tied to their "stuff" in the back! Not sure how good that meat would be after driving in the sun for a while! You could even see that rigor mortis had already set in! Yum!















To be continued....

The Rose Between Two Thorns...

Met up with Jean & Rod Bahnson in Deming, NM today. The Anderson's (Lew & Dottie) and Don and I had barely left The Cavern's in Huachauca, AZ when I received a call from the Bahnson's. They were in Lordsberg, NM. Pulled off in Deming where they got fuel and we all had sandwiches in our coaches. It was great to see them - it's hard to believe it's been a year since the last time we were all together, but after hugs all around...it didn't seem like it had been that long! It will be fun to reminisce about the past year and what everyone has been doing. Enjoyed dinner with everyone bringing something for all of us...turned out to be a great dinner...with not many leftovers! In the morning we're off to get fuel and then Ft. Stockton, TX!

Tombstone, AZ

Ft. Huachuca, AZ

Christmas Kitties!

These two kitties weren't very happy about having their pictures taken especially with their stocking hats on their heads, but aren't they cute? Maggie (my kitty) probably won't be here next Christmas because he has a very aggressive form of bone cancer. Nicole (my mom's kitty) has had her picture taken with the hat before. She wouldn't look up and would hardly open her eyes! She's not fond of the hat, that's for sure!

They Got Me!

My 50th birthday is December 12th. I had a feeling that "something" was up, but I never expected a surprise birthday party the day that it happened!

My mom had hand surgery on Friday and I was staying with her for a few days to help her out. On Saturday, Nathan, my son, came over and trimmed up the trees and hedge that is in her backyard. I was doing some things inside for her and supervising the work outside! In the afternoon, Don called and asked if we wanted to come over for barbequed steaks (we were staying in Kathy & Jon's backyard). My mom said that she felt up to it, so I said "o.k."

I didn't see any cars, didn't notice anything unusual but when I walked into the house lo and behold...there were lots of friends to surprise me! If I had of known, I would have made sure that I had make-up on at the least!!! Family, Kountry Kamper family/friends and even Dottie & Lew Anderson, some of our Monaco friends (who had driven up from San Diego) were there to help me celebrate my 50th birthday! It was a lot of fun with great friends and great food. A co-worker of Kathy's made my cake, which was great (except that my name was spelled wrong). I loved the sign on it "Relax I'm Only Here For The Cake".

I wasn't expecting all the gifts that people brought to me, but I had a lot of fun opening everything! It was almost like Christmas...just a few weeks early!

Hot Tamale!

My mom and I went to the 15th annual International Tamale Festival in Indio, CA. My mom had been wanting to go to it, and it happened that we were able to take the opportunity and go! We both had perceptions of what we would find there but it wasn't quite what we had anticipated! Years ago we had gone to a chili cook-off. Each of the booths had samples to hand out, at the Tamale Festival you bought the tamales you wanted to try. They had beef, chicken, and pork as usual, but they also had fruit and chocolate tamales as well! Ironically, one of the best tamales we had...came from Temecula which is in our very "own" backyard! I read in the paper that there were over 60 vendors and they were expecting to serve over 120,000 festival goers! I think most of them were there the same day we were! There were lots of people there, that's for sure! One of the last booths we saw, had a line waiting to buy tamales that was *l*o*n*g*. I wonder if they knew something we didn't? It was also a very warm weekend...temps were in the mid 80's...and this is December! Lots of entertainment all around but most of it wasn't under cover so we choose not to sit in the sun to see it! Many of the booths had characters "hawking" their tamales! The chili pepper in the picture with my mom is just one of those! In addition to the tamales, there were also booths selling crafts, leather, jewelry, etc. It was fun to experience, but I'm not sure we would go again!

Decorating for Christmas!

O.K. So I used to turn on the Christmas music...loud... and begin to remove everything that was used to decorate our home. Everything went into boxes and then I began replacing everything with Christmas decorations. I think at last count I had something like 17 or 18 boxes. BIG, BIG boxes! It would take me days. Every room in our house was decorated, bathrooms included! So last year began a new tradition...decorating the motorhome! I can't remember where Don and I were when I happened upon the neatest gift store! That's where I found my moose nativity set! Now, this year part of it is missing and I'm not sure where in our storage container it is. It could be because when Don and I went by there we both had had a lot of liquid before we got there! It could be that Don didn't want to miss Dr. Laura on the radio (I hate Dr. Laura!!)So this year my nativity only has the "main" characters...Joseph, Mary and of course, baby Jesus with the angels looking over them! I was able to find a few other decorations in the storage container, so with the things I was able to find throughout THIS year (like the moose "angel" choir I found in Wyoming while shopping with Glenda Roe) our motorhome is once again decorated for Christmas! I LOVE my three newest pieces...there's a moose in a Christmas tree that says "lighten up it's Christmas", a moose in a Santa suit with his bag of toys thrown over his shoulder. Does he know that there's a hole and the toys are falling out behind him? Then there's the tree with everyone helping to decorate it...it has lights that really light up! When we were at our "year-end" campout with the Kountry Kampers, Evie Ferreira showed us how to make Christmas baskets with poinsiettias, etc. and that gave me the idea to "redo" a container that I have in the corner of the kitchen! I had some white lights and with my new Christmas flowers, I have a container to use for Christmas! I'm really quite proud of how it turned out! Thanks Evie!

Of course, we also have a Christmas tree! It's only about 2' high, but it's a real tree complete with lights and ornaments - moose of course!

So with the Christmas CD's playing, the peppermint-y candles burning and the glow of the Christmas lights on the tree I can almost believe it's Christmas....with the sand blowing instead of snow!

**I almost forgot to mention that it's very windy, but only mid 50's tonight, high 70's during the day!**

So now..."Merry Christmas to All and to All A Good Night"!

The Price of Love...

For those that don't have a pet as part of their family, you might not have the same feelings as those of us that do. If you only have a dog, you may not understand what others see in cats. For some of us, our pet is part of our family...an extension perhaps, and one that cannot talk in english but yet relays their thoughts and feelings none the less.

Maggie is MY cat. Don tolerates him...yes, that's right, his name is Maggie but he's male! The short story on that is that I was told he was female, named him, and a few months (or maybe it was only weeks) later, found out that he was definetely a male! He already had a name that he responded to so Maggie stuck! It actually fits his personality! Or I blame his personality on being named Maggie! My kids, Kimberleigh and Nathan gave Maggie to me on Mother's Day in 1993...he was only 7 weeks old!

About a month ago I noticed Maggie limping. Because he's strictly an indoor kitty and due to his age, I figured it was probably a little arthritis. Once we got here to So. California and things settled down, I took him to the vet and received the shock of my life! The vet suspected bone cancer. We did blood tests and x-rays and confirmed the worst. Last week a biopsy showed that Maggie has highly invasive osteosarcoma. His prognosis is "highly guarded". In a younger cat they would amputate his leg and most likely he would have quite a few years left but in a cat Maggie's age, the vet isn't even recommending it. The vet has basically told me that Maggie has about 4 months before the pain in his leg and/or further complications from the cancer will necessitate making the decision to have him put to sleep.

I hate the thought of losing him. I thought I had so many more years left with him. I can still remember the day that I held Kobie, my 17 year old cat the entire day before I knew I had to take him to the vet and have him put to sleep.

Recently I had someone ask me "what I saw in cats". His comment was that dogs come when they are called and take an active part in your day to day activities. Guess they just don't know cats like those of us that are owned by one! Maggie comes when he's called! It might be on his terms and only when he wants to, but he knows his name! Everytime I go into the bathroom...he's right there! What he really wants is for me to turn the water on...he loves fresh, running water! :-) Every night he jumps on the bed, waits for me to get under the covers, get settled and then he jumps over me, sometimes bites my nose, sometimes licks the blanket (don't ask me why he started this) and then curls up and drops down right next to me! I'm not sure if he leaves for long since he's always in the same place in the morning! In the morning when I'm putting my make-up on, he's right there with me...sometimes eating his food, sometimes just visiting! During the day he'll often come out to visit! He's always seemed to know when "I" needed a little extra attention and been right there to rub against me, purr or "ask" for me to scratch him. When I've been gone for a few days he's been quite vocal when I've gotten home to let me know that he missed me and he doesn't want me to leave! He also likes to play, although he has slowed down a lot over the years! He loved chasing "fluffs" (pom poms to you and me), the plastic ring off the milk carton or that elusive string!

Our animals offer us so much in our lives and they really ask for very little. I keep asking myself...where did all the time with Maggie go? It seems hard to believe that he is 13 years old. It seems harder to think that I have so little time left with him. I will have another cat somewhere down the road but it will never replace Maggie. There will never be another cat like Maggie...Maggie is definetely one of a kind!