Louisiana, Alabama and Home!

As we neared Louisiana, our plans were to pass through the state near Baton Rouge and on into Mississippi and Alabama.  As I've mentioned before, we were avoiding the big cities like New Orleans because it was difficult navigating them with the camper and because we normally would have to camp outside the city and then travel in to see the sights, leaving Poppy in the RV.  She is OK by herself in the camper for three or four hours but not longer.  I should say that New Orleans is a city that I have always wanted to visit but I just figured it would have to be on a future trip. However, I was communicating on Facebook with my friend, Linda McGregor, who lives in Texas and travels quite a bit with her RV, and she told me there was a nice campground in New Orleans just two blocks from the French Quarter.  I looked it up online and we talked about it and decided to go.  It was very expensive ($95/night) so we were only staying one night but we camped the night before in Abbeville, LA, only a couple of hours from New Orleans.  This way we would get there early and be able to spend the whole afternoon and evening walking around the French Quarter.  Abbeville was a neat town down in southern Louisiana and the ride from there to New Orleans took us through the bayou with sugar cane growing everywhere. 

We checked into the French Quarter RV resort before noon, got set up in record time (we left the truck attached to the camper), walked Poppy and then headed out on foot for town.  I had gotten a lot of information about New Orleans at the Louisiana Welcome Center and we had a good map of the town.  It was amazing how busy Bourbon Street was, even early on a Sunday afternoon.  The streets were very much like I pictured them. 

We stopped at Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop, built between 1722 and 1732 and reputed to be the oldest structure used as a bar in the United States.

We also spent some time shopping in the French Market area and got some great Mardi Gras masks for the grandkids.  We bought an all day pass on the streetcars but then found them to be too slow for traveling the city with our limited time so we went back to walking.  We both have some joint issues so walking for too long a time is somewhat painful but we popped some ibuprofen and kept walking J.

Late in the afternoon we headed back toward the campground to rest a little and walk Poppy.  Our plan was to go out to dinner that evening and then to go to Preservation Hall to listen to some New Orleans jazz.  Preservation Hall had been recommended to us by three different friends who had visited New Orleans before so we figured that was a “must-see”.  As we headed back to our RV, we saw a band playing on the streets and stopped to listen for a while.  They were great!

While we were back at the camper, I made us a dinner reservation at the Chartres House.  There were lots of choices and I had several recommendations from friends but this place was reasonably priced and not too far from Preservation Hall so we chose it.  It also had balcony seating and we were able to reserve a table up there overlooking the streets below.

The food was great.  Our appetizer was shrimp remoulade over fried green tomatoes which was out of this world.  I tried the traditional crawfish etouffee for dinner and Bob had cashew encrusted redfish.  All was really delicious.  After dinner, we strolled up to Preservation Hall.  From what we had read about this place, there are three shows each night – 8:15, 9:15 and 10:15—and each show is 45 minutes long.  The first 100 people on line are supposed to get seats and after that it was standing room only.  We got on the line at 7:15 and at that time the line was already pretty long.

We waited for 45 minutes and then the line started moving and we got in, only to find we had to stand at the back.  The place was really small and was packed with people.  Those that had seats were sitting on plain wooden benches and the rest of us were just crammed in the back.  This picture was taken before the show started as there were no cameras allowed during the show.  It’s not a good picture but you may be able to see how small and crowded it was.  Bob remarked that the fire marshall must be looking the other way because there was only one entrance and exit to the building and it was an old, run-down wooden structure.

In any case, the music was great – there were six musicians on piano, trombone, trumpet, clarinet, bass and drums.  We thoroughly enjoyed it but by the end, our legs were aching and we were ready to get home and put our feet up, which is what we did.  We walked the mile or so back to the campground.  We did have to walk for a short time through a rather seedy part of town and we were the only ones around so Bob was hurrying me along, but once we got to the RV Park, they had great security.

The next day, we headed for the Gulf beaches of Louisiana.  We decided to take the Dauphin Island Ferry across Mobile Bay instead of driving up through Mobile.  The ferry only ran every 1 ½ hours this time of year and we had to really push but we made the 12:30 ferry.  It was a beautiful ride across the Bay. We had to leave Poppy in the car but it was only about a 40 minute ride so she was fine.  As we crossed, we saw what we thought were oil rigs but turned out to be drilling for natural gas.

Once we reached the barrier island on the other side, we were very much reminded of our home in Carteret County – Emerald Isle, Salter Path, etc.  One big difference was that the beach was nowhere near as built up as ours is.  There were long stretches of just beach with free public access.  We stayed at Gulf State Campground in Gulf Shores, Alabama, which was very large and absolutely beautiful.  It was on the other side of the road from the Gulf of Mexico but there was a state beach that we could go to just a couple of miles from the campground.  We drove down there and walked down to wade in the beautiful green Gulf waters.  

The next morning, before we left, we went back to the beach so Bob could go for a swim in those waters.  It was too cool for me so I sat on the beach and watched him.

After we left Gulf Shores, we were really anxious to get home so we did some longer days with one night stops in Chattahoochee, FL and Hollywood, SC (just outside of Charleston) before arriving home on Thursday, October 17^th.  It was great to be home (Poppy did a happy dance) but we both were really glad we had done this trip and seen so much of the country. 

As I did this blog, I always wanted to post a map of our route but never could figure out how to do it.  My friend Rick Perlmutter finally told me how to do it using Google Maps and the “snipping tool”.  I couldn’t map the whole trip on one Google Map, so here are two that show you our approximate route, minus the trip home from and back to Nebraska in July and August.  We visited 33 states and covered about 15,000 miles, many of them up and down steep mountains.

Thanks to those of you who have read this blog and commented.  It was sometimes hard to find the time or the wifi signal to do it but I’m glad I have an illustrated chronicle of our journey to look back on.

Arizona

We left Boulder City on Saturday, 9/28 and headed for Arizona to visit with Bob’s brother Jim and his wife, Alice.  Bob’s cousin Dennis and his wife Elaine (who live near Vegas) drove down as well.  

We passed Lake Mead on the way:

Jim and Alice have been living in the western US since the 70’s and we have seen very little of them over the years.  They live “off the grid” about 30 miles east of Kingman, Arizona.  You get off of Interstate 40 and meet them in a field off the highway so that you can follow them in via 7 miles of rough, twisting, steep dirt roads.  

Jim and Alice live on a ranch where they have all kinds of animals, many rescued -- burros, peacocks, parrots, chickens, dogs, cats, and a desert tortoise to name a few.  They use solar panels and a generator for electricity and are pretty independent.  When it rains hard or snows, they may be confined on their ranch for a week or more but they are prepared for that and are fine.

We had decided to tow our camper up to the ranch, despite some trepidation about the rough ride and steep hills.  Jim led us through the “easy” route, which was longer but didn’t have hills that were quite so steep. There were cows, horses, etc, just roaming loose to add to the excitement.  It still was nerve-wracking getting up there but, by going very slowly (except for the uphills which we had to charge up) we managed to get the camper there with no major damage.  

Dennis and Elaine went the “hard” way and got stuck on one of the hills on their way – and they have 4 wheel drive!

In any case, we all made it to the house and the partying began.  We had a great time – enjoyed seeing the animals:

After lunch, we did some target shooting.  This was my first time shooting a gun – I hit the target on my first shot (beginners’ luck)!  Dennis cracked us up, with paper towels stuck in his ears, pretending to shoot over his shoulder and asking the guys to hit the target shooting between his legs:

The girls quickly tired of guns and went on to some serious wine drinking.  

Poppy enjoyed being here – she was interested in all the animals and liked being able to walk around without being on a leash.  Watch this video of her with one of the 9 cats living in the house:

That is patience!

Dinner preparation was a joint effort...

and we sat on the deck and ate, told stories and laughed.  We stayed out there until after dark. It got pretty cold (in the 30’s) and we snuggled up in blankets and Jim built a fire in their firepit to help us stay warm.

The dog on my lap is named Mighty Mouse.  He is a charmer.

We stayed two nights at Jim and Alice's and spent a lot of time looking at old pictures and reminiscing, but on Monday morning we had to leave.   Had a fantastic time there!

 We were pretty nervous about hauling the camper out over those roads.  We decided to go the “hard” but shorter way.  Jim led us in his 4 wheel drive truck.  In spite of trying to go slow, the roads really shook up the camper and twice our truck was unable to make it up a steep hill and Jim had to hitch his truck to ours and tow us up the rest of the way.

 We finally made it out to the parking area.  When I opened the door to the camper, there was stuff all over the floors.  Keep in mind that I lived on a sailboat for many years and knew how to stow to go to sea in rough weather – this was worse than that!  Luckily, nothing was broken and no harm was done.  I quickly picked up the stuff and got it put away, we said good-bye to Jim and Alice and headed east.

We were heading for the Canyon de Chelly (pronounced “Shay”) – a canyon in northeastern Arizona that someone had told Bob about but he can’t remember who (it’s hell getting old).  In any case we couldn't quite make it there in one day, so we stopped for the night in Tuba City, Arizona at an RV park owned by a Quality Inn.  The park was behind the hotel. We liked this town and campground so much that we ended up staying two nights so we could see the sights.  Tuba City is on Navajo land and almost all the people we met in stores, gas stations, museums and the campground were Navajo.  They were friendly and helpful and we really enjoyed our time here.  Our next door neighbor at the campground had reservations at the Grand Canyon for the next day but the government shut-down started that day and he was out of luck.  We were luckier – Canyon de Chelly is a national monument but it is owned by the Navajo’s and they do the tours and they were still operating.

Right next to the hotel was a Navajo museum 

and we visited that as well as the Code  Talkers museum.  The Code Talkers were Navajos that were recruited into the Marines during World War II to pass information on the radio in their native language.  The Japanese could never crack "the code".  There have been movies and documentaries made about them.  Both museums were really interesting.

I have to mention that we were totally time confused at this point.  When we went from Nevada to Arizona, we went from Pacific to Mountain time.  But Arizona doesn’t use Daylight Savings Time so the actual time stayed the same.  The Navajos, however, do use Daylight Savings time so when we went into Tuba City, we lost an hour.  We kept changing our watches trying to stay with the local time but Poppy had the worst of it.  She believes she has to eat every 12 hours on the dot and got pretty indignant when we didn’t want to get up at 5 AM to feed her.

On Wednesday, we left Tuba City and headed for Chinle, AZ which is the town where the Canyon de Chelly begins.   The Visitors Center for the Canyon was closed because of the government shutdown so we couldn’t get any flyers or maps about the Canyon but the overlooks were all open.  We had read about it online so pretty much knew what we were doing.  You can drive along both sides of the canyon and visit the overlooks – some are right beside the road and others involve a short hike.  To go down into the canyon, you must hire a Navajo guide.  There are many to choose from – we had read about many online and booked a tour for Thursday morning.

We had made reservations at Spider Rock campground on the south rim road and we went there first and set up.  We were kind of disappointed in the place – one of our few poor choices of the trip.  It was run down and poorly maintained.  We had no hookups (which we knew ahead of time) but the water fill, showers and wifi that had been advertised on their website didn't really pan out.  It didn't matter too much because we were there to see the canyon.

That afternoon, we set out to visit all the overlooks on the South Rim.  The canyon was just spectacularly beautiful.  With our binoculars and zoom on our camera, we could see some of the Anasazi ruins that we would be seeing up close tomorrow on our tour.  There were local Navajo artists at all the overlooks, selling their artwork and we bought a few souvenirs.  Here are some pictures from the overlooks:

Our last stop was Spider Rock Overlook – the two tall towers of rock in this picture are Spider Rock. 

We met a young man named Ben at Spider Rock who was there visiting the local high schools, recruiting for a college.  He stood on the wall to take a panoramic picture with a 900 foot drop in front of him. Scared me to death but I had to take his picture.

Ben sent me one of the panoramic picture he took of Spider Rock with his iPhone.

The next morning it was 37 degrees when we got up.  We dressed in layers and went to meet our Navajo guide in Chinle – knowing it would warm up as the day went on.    Our guide was Ben Teller, a wonderful man in his 70’s who had been born and raised in the Canyon and still lives there.  Many Navajos still live in the canyon and make their living either being guides for tourists or raising sheep or cattle.  We squeezed into the jeep with another couple and headed out for the canyon floor.   The canyon floor was rough but we went slowly – there weren't really roads -- everyone just drove where they wanted to go.  Ben was a great guide – he told us lots of stories about the history of the canyon and his childhood there.  He started giving tours in the 40’s with a horse and wagon.  He also told us the terrible stories about the atrocities perpetrated on the Navajos by the US Army, led by Kit Carson, during the 1860’s.

We saw many different Anasazi ruins.  The two pictures below are just one example -- from a distance and up close.  You can get an idea from the distant shot how high they are in the cliffs.

The name Anasazi, according to Ben, means “ancient ones”.  No one really knows who built these ruins but they know a lot about their culture from all the relics and bones that were left there.   It’s believed that the Anasazis lived in the canyon roughly from 900 to 1400 AD.  They were followed by the Pueblos and Hopis who then moved on to different areas and the Navajos moved in and stayed.  The Canyon was made a National Park in 1931 to prevent people from stealing the artifacts from the ruins.  Near the ruins there are often pictographs drawn on the walls.  Archaeologists don’t know exactly what they mean but they are obviously a form of communication.

These are some examples of pictographs we saw:

Toward the end of the tour, Ben took us to his home near the Antelope Ruins – the only ruins that are at ground level.  The last pictograph above is from these ruins and you can see why they are called the "Antelope Ruins".

Ben has a little concession going on there that is used by all the tour guides.  His children and grandchildren sell snacks and drinks as well as Navajo pottery and jewelry.  

Bob took this picture from Ben's place out into the canyon.  He was impressed by the American flag flying in spite of the difficult history of the Navajos with the US Government and Ben's personal knowledge of that history.  

We slowly headed back to Chinle, stopping to see a few more interesting sites on our way back through the canyon.  Ben never made us feel rushed.  We could take our time shooting as many pictures as we wanted everywhere we stopped.  Bob and I took 125 pictures on the tour – it was really hard picking a few to post in the blog!  We were so glad we had decided to do the tour of the Canyon.

During the last part of the tour it was getting really windy and when we got back to our campground, the wind was really howling.  It was too hot to close our windows and the red dust blew through the screens and coated everything in the camper, including us.  No showers at the campground and not enough water to take showers in the camper.  Luckily we were moving on the next morning.