January 1 to 5, 2009 In Texas

JAN. 1, 2009, Thursday, HAPPY NEW-YEAR!

WHAT A NIGHT!!!!! Andre and Claudette showed up at our place around 4 p.m. with steaks which I BBQ’ed then we left for New Orleans. On the way there, we had to stop for an accident and were stuck in traffic for about an hour. We finally arrived at the French Quarter, found a parking spot about 5 blocks away and walked in. The place was packed solid with people. Bourbon Street was the worst, shoulder to shoulder but what fun. Everyone was happy and in a good mood. There were people on balconies throwing bead necklaces and we had to reach up to catch one. The idea was to collect as many as one could. There were all kinds. Val and Claudette got quite a few. Some, the people would ask the girls to bare their chest and some actually did. Midnight finally arrived and there was a lot of yelling and kissing. They sure know how to celebrate in New Orleans. We went inside a pub and had a small bite to eat then headed back. We arrived back at our house around 4 a.m. We went straight to bed and got up at 10 a.m. We had breakfast and Andre and Claudette left for good to other adventures. We said our goodbyes and then we just relaxed for the rest of the day and caught up to our sleep.


JAN 2, Friday, leave for Texas

We were on the road by 10 a.m. We drove south on Hwy 90, west on 14 to Abbeville then south on 82 to the Gulf. We rode along and saw a lot of damage from Hurricane Gustave and Ike. People here are resilient and we saw a lot of construction going on. Along the way, we had to take a ferry to cross a river where we had lunch on the other side.
We crossed into Texas and drove on 73 through Port Arthur where we saw lots of oil rigs and big cranes. Then it was on I-10, through Houston, and south on 59 for our final leg. We spent the night in El Campo at a Wal-Mart.

N 29* 12’ 58”
W 96* 17’ 28”
Alt: 119 feet
Distance: 540 KM at an average of 50 MPH in almost 8 hours


JAN 3, Saturday, to Rockport

We got up at 8 a.m. and were on the road by 9:15 after a McDonald egg mcmuffin and a coffee. We headed south on 59, then 77 through Victoria. We stopped for some fuel at 2.399/gal. Unfortunately, I had seen some for sale at 1.999 earlier but didn’t stop. South of Victoria, we turned east on 188 then north on 35 and eventually arrived at Bayview Park, a Western Horizon Park, in Rockport. We are here for 5 nights, time to get things ready for Mexico. It is sunny and 80*F (25*C)

N 28* 06’ 14”
W 97* 01’ 58”
Alt: 20 feet
Distance: at an average speed of 50 MPH for 4.5 hours


JAN 4, Sunday, in Rockport

Foggy and humid again. After lunch, we took a drive to town to reminisce in the places we had seen before. I also wanted to find out a place to get an oil change and where Tucker could get a haircut. On the way in the throttle acted up again. It just quit while driving and came back on a few seconds later. This thing never quits.
We stopped at Wal-Mart for some groceries then came home. The wind has picked up and there are heavy black clouds, the temperature dropped from 78 to 56 to about an hour and kept dropping all evening. A cold front is coming down from the north.


JAN 5, Monday, Rockport

A cold day, temperature only got to 49*F (9*C). I got the oil changed on the truck today and put a new air filter then I went for a haircut and made an appointment for Tucker for tomorrow morning. Val did the laundry and vacuumed and cleaned inside "Q". It is too cold to do anything outside so we read and relaxed.