Nolan Barras – St. Martinsville, Louisiana

The motorhome is currently parked at VFW Post #9822 in Duson, Louisiana. It’s been such a pleasant and quiet place to stay along with conveniently located to things we’ve wanted to see. We now are planning to depart here tomorrow.

Lisa Coldwell from Vivian Alexander Gallery and Museum told us of Nolan Barras. Yesterday we drove the Bronco about 25 miles to St. Martinsville to visit this 86-year-old craftsman. He lives alone in a house in which he keeps all of the curtains closed which made the inside of the house quite dark…and his work clutter is everywhere. Since I do not like flash photography…both conditions made the photography difficult for me. He told me he once was a machinist. He has been doing this wood crafting for the last 36 years. In addition he is an accomplished painter.

Here are some photos that I took…

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

The day started with an unusual sky caused by airplane contrails…

Here’s Mary getting down a painting that she bought…

He lost his wife six years ago. He said she would be appalled that he has moved to working in the kitchen area where it is warmer than his workshop…

He also told us he has no children interested in continuing his work. Kind of sad his skills will not be carried on into the future.

Enjoying meeting master craftsmen is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

Since Mary will fly back to her home in California this coming Tuesday…in the afternoon we went to the local UPS store so she could have some of the things she has bought along the way sent to her home rather than trying to carry them on the airplane.

The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of Louisiana. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…
http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2013
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

THE CREOLE NATURE TRAIL

The Creole Nature Trail is 187 miles long and is filled with millions of birds.  Alligators outnumber the population of the parrish and butterfly’s flock here in the spring.  The most logical launch place is Sulphur. We drove to the first stop, called Blue Goose Trail, a little over a mile and a half long.

It was bitterly cold and windy. We never did see any water, just some muddy runnels. One bird was feeding  close to the entrance than nothing but tall grass and sedges.

We abandoned the trail before we reached the halfway point and moved on to the Nature Trail with board walks, about 10 miles farther up the road.

We walked the mile and a half trail. An observation platform gives a good view of the area with  plenty of ponds and low sedge grasses.

I spotted an alligator well hidden in the grass. Jim couldn’t see it at all. The light made it difficult in the camera. I missed the end of his tail.

To estimate the size of a gator, you estimate the space between his eyes and the end of his snout. If it is 6 inches, this guy is six feet long.

We saw crows and sparrows. The weather warmed a bit. We sat for awhile watching the tall grass plumes dance in the wind. The stems are segmented and resemble  bamboo. I tried several sites on the internet and could not get a name for this beautiful  tall grass.

We moved on to Holly Beach for the night. This town was completely destroyed by a hurricane and has not completely rebuilt. It was once known as the Cajun  Riviera where everyone gathered with families for vacations and fun.

I took a walk on the beach, but Jim wouldn’t come out of the motor home with swarms of mosquitoes on the windows. He gets bitten badly while they ignore me.

A couple of guys were setting up to do some night fishing in the surf.

Both are stationed at a nearby army base. This guy was from Pensacola, Florida.

His buddy is from Pennsylvania. Both are MP’s and don’t know much about Louisiana and borrowed poles and decided to go fishing for the first time since landing here. The ocean here forms a ridge and when the tide comes in, some of the water is captured.

The setting sun turned everything pink and pretty.

And,this morning, the sun came up…

…but by the time I ran down to the beach, it was already above the horizon. We see the sun set and rise every day at this time of year.

 

FREEPORT TEXAS

Yesterday, when I got up, the moon was shining through  a bank of clouds. The mist off the river gave the park lighting a misty yellow glow.

The whole campgrounds looked surreal and beautiful.

Then, the sun struggled  through the mist in pink and purple hues.

The WINs were already finished with their hugs and mugs gathering  by the time I was finished with my therapy exercises I do each morning.

Paul, Garth and the two pats decided to visit Bay City.

Arlene handed out some persimmons she found. They are very small and of an oriental type I’d never seen before. Pat, on the left,  will be parting from the group after Mardi Gras New Orleans, but will rejoin them again before they head west. We all hugged goodbye and bid them a fond farewell.

We arrived in Freeport and  got permission to stay for a night at the VFW. I liked Harvey’s hat and took a picture. This is a very active club and we learned that clubs that only serve beer are open to the public. If they serve booze, they are considered private. That is a Texas State rule.This club has computer gambling, as well, and is very active.

Freeport is a very industrial city and doesn’t have much to see, but we always head for the local museum. The city was organized around its sulfur deposits by Dow Chemical. Dow bought acreage and sold housing lots cheap and got a workforce. It grew from there.

A maritime  industry developed.

And, from museum to museum, it is a given that you will see hurricane damage and a town rebuilding. Freeport also straddles the Brazos river and has weathered floods over the years.

As usual, I find something interesting I’d not heard  before. An all woman Supreme Court?

If you travel with kids, this is a great museum for kids. Fun and educational.

It has a mini planetarium and we enjoyed it just as much as any kid. You lie back on bean bags and the sky story is narrated above you. (There wasn’t a kid, or another person in the museum.)

The museum had a huge room devoted to U.S. Presidents and elections. A replica of the oval office,  a table sized map of the United States explaining how the electoral college works.

Pictures of presidents and their most famous quotes while their most famous speeches are broadcast on a video. 

I had never heard this one from Nixon. I guess this wasn’t his most famous quote. I’m not sure how the quotes were picked. But, they do tell a story of the times.

We still deal with our liberties today. Have we learned anything from the past?

The museum was a bit short on artifacts, but I loved this gorgeous old organ. What beauty and craftsmanship to admire.

And, as a curiosity, this is the hand washing station in the men’s room. I guess you could call it a big sink. Today, we move to Galveston Island.

Harlingen, Texas – Day 13

Mary is at home in California enjoying the holidays with her family. She has made her airline reservations to join me here at Harlingen, Texas on January 3, 2013.

The motorhome is parked at Tropic Winds RV Resort and is scheduled to be here until January 10th. While I await Mary’s arrival on the 3rd, I’ll be seeing some local attractions, performing repairs and preventative maintenance on both the motorhome and Bronco, plus thoroughly cleaning both vehicles.

Since I’m an early riser and usually publish the day’s Blog entry before sunrise, I’ll have to show you the last sunrise as seen out of the windshield of the motorhome for 2012, here in Harlingen, Texas…

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

This Rio Grande Valley is also a renown birding area. I had one stop-by yesterday that said…

HAPPY NEW YEAR, Y’ALL!!!

Enjoying beautiful sunrises and birds is another joy of the full-time RVing lifestyle!

The red dot on the below map shows my approximate location in the State of Texas. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…
http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2013
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

Littlefield, Texas – Day 4

 Mary remains at home in California tending to medical issues.

The motorhome is still parked at the Waylon Jennings RV Park. I expect to leave here later this morning.

Other than Waylon Jennings being born and raised here, Littlefield, Texas has a couple of other uniquenesses…

You can read all about Waylon Jennings by clicking this link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waylon_Jennings

You can read all about Littlefield, Texas by clicking this link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Littlefield,_Texas

First is a unique street grid layout. Here’s the history of how it happened from a local website…

As an additional incentive to get the railroad to build a depot in his proposed ‘namesake’ town, George Littlefield agreed to the stipulation set by Santa Fe that all main streets in the town would be headed toward the depot itself. This was agreed to, even though the railroad was to run northwest from Lubbock. So, the three main streets of the town go to the northeast, while all other streets were laid out as streets normally run in other towns, which is east to west and to the north and south, resulting in the weird angles and intersections in the main area of town, that causes ‘out-of-towners’ to lose their sense of direction.

That’s a true statement. For a small town, Littlefield is a confusing place to drive around. All of the streets run north-south and east-west, with the exception on three streets that run northeast – southwest as shown by this Google Earth image. RRD indicates the railroad depot…

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

Littlefield also boasts of having a replica of the World’s Tallest Windmill, which you can read about by clicking this link…
http://www.texasescapes.com/MikeCoxTexasTales/Wind-and-Water.htm

Here’s what the replica looks like today…

Finally, Littlefield has a cotton processing plant that claims to process enough denim to make 24,000,000 jeans a year. You can read all about this plant by clicking this link…
http://littlefieldtexas.net/index.php/doing-business/american-cotton-growers

In closing my visit to Littlefield, Texas, I offer these two final photos taken out of the kitchen window of the motorhome. Frist is of a full moon near a radio transmission tower. Waylon Jennings began performing on the local radio station when he was 12 years old. I wonder if his music at that tender age was transmitted by this tower???

Finally, a West Texas pre-sunrise as seen through a configuration of a power transformer station, power lines and tall poles holding lights for a number of ball-fields below…

I’ve enjoyed my visit to Littlefield, Texas, but now it’s time to move on down the road to Lubbock.

Enjoying the interesting places is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…
http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

Clovis, New Mexico – Day 1

Mary remains at home in California tending to medical issues.

Yesterday I drove the motorhome the about 75 miles from Sumner Lake State Park, southeast to Clovis, New Mexico. I’m parked at the Fraternal Order of Eagles Airee #3245. I expect to be here 2-3 days.

My day started with a beautiful pastel sunrise…

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

As I was leaving the state park, I had to drive over the dam, so I took this photo of the lake…

Along the way, I stopped at the Bosque Redondo Memorial. if you do not know about the Navajo Indian Long Walk, this link will help you understand the significance of the place…
http://southernnewmexico.com/Articles/Southeast/De_Baca/FortSumner/BosqueRedondo-destination.html

The museum is still under construction. While there I watched a very informative 30 minute video about the long walk. Here are some photos I took while there…

In 1881, Billy The Kid was shot and killed very nearby here. It all sounded a bit “touristy” for me so I passed, especially since the exact location of his grave remains unknown. You can read about it by clicking this link…
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2169

From Bosque Redondo it was on to Clovis. I’m parked behind the Eagles Club where they have four RV spaces with 30 amp electrical hookups…

As always I like to show the view from the dinette window. While not particularly exciting, I’ve had worse…

I enjoyed nice two happy hours meeting and chatting with the locals in the Eagles Club.

Enjoying the interesting historic places is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…
http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

Sumner Lake State Park, New Mexico – Day 3

Mary remains at home in California tending to medical issues.

The motorhome is still parked at Sumner Lake State Park. I expect to depart later this morning.

Six days ago I showed some photos of a crystal-clear pre-sunrise. Here’s yesterday morning’s pre-sunrise with some clouds…

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

Here’s a Google Earth image of Sumner lake. The pin indicates my camping location…

Yesterday morning I looked out of the dinette window about 10:00 AM to see a couple of four-point bucks walking by about 50 feet from the motorhome…

In the afternoon I walked about 1/4 of a mile to take a few photos of the lake…

A 180 degree panorama…

And finally walking back into my campground where I’m in space #1 on the left…

Enjoying the solitude peacefulness of a lake is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…
http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

Santa Rosa Lake State Park, New Mexico – Day 3

Mary remains at home in California tending to medical issues.

The motorhome is currently parked at Santa Rosa Lake State Park, about 125 miles east of Albuquerque.

Yesterday morning started with a crystal clear pre-sunrise…as seen through the somewhat dirty windshield of the motorhome…

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

The auto-focus feature of my camera changed the colors when I angled own to catch the reflection on the roof of the Bronco…

Also yesterday, I started working on my route which I’ll take to south Texas to hide from the cold weather in the coming weeks. I’m an ex-engineer and just cannot help myself…plan and do. I do this because I would hate to drive nearby a place I would have enjoyed only to have missed it because I failed to do a little homework. My destination lies approximately 775 miles southeast of my current location as shown by this Google Earth image…

Researching potential routes involves the use of maps, books and the Internet…

The results of identifying the one of several potential routes which might be taken is then transferred to the map…

It’s a somewhat time-consuming process…but all I have is time. The results shown in the above photo took about two hours of research. I’ll decode it for you…

I’ll be crossing into Texas just east of Clovis, New Mexico. The circled numbers indicate the page number of the Texas Visitors Guidebook on which detailed information about that location can be found. The circled C indicates some form of camping is available there. The circled A means an American Legion and the circled E means an Eagles Club. Other code letters in the future will be V for a VFW Post, M for a Moose Club, etc… Pretty simple yet it works, And all this time you thought I just stumbled upon all the nice places and things I get to visit. Well, now you know my secret.

In addition to that, the other element I need to pay close attention too is the elevation of potential places I plan to visit.

Going too fast too soon means excessive elevation drop means hotter temperatures. Santa Rosa Lake elevation is 4,800 feet and yesterday’s temperature was 86 degrees…getting kind of warm again! My planned stop in Lubbock, Texas which is only 200 miles ahead was 92 yesterday. That’s why a traveler needs to pay attention to elevation.

So I need to slow my forward pace a bit. I was planning to leave here on Monday but will most likely now leave on Wednesday. As I tell folks…It’s a lousy job, but someones got to do it! 

Enjoying beautiful lakes is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…
http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

Heron Lake State Park, New Mexico – Day 75

The motorhome is still parked at Heron Lake State Park about 20 miles south of Chama, New Mexico.

I’ve been here for several weeks now and have photographed everything worth seeing within a 30 mile radius. I’m still not feeling that well that I care to drive lots of miles in search of photographs. The doctors told rest should be my #1 function.

Lake Heron has an amazing number of widely varied sunrises, sunsets and cloud formations. I’ve got some really neat photos to share. I’ve already taken them and will portion them out over the next several days.

 While they are similar because of the momentary setting…they are all very different and unique. I hope you will open each one and enjoy their uniqueness. I particularly like to enjoy the colors and the shapes. Just like staring at a fire from moment to moment…you never see quite the same thing…

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

Enjoying beautiful partly foggy mornings is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

I am recovering from my May 27th accident. To read about my recovery status, click this link… http://otrwjam.wordpress.com/recovery-status-page/

While I’m recovering, Mary remains at her home in California tending to doctor’s appointments, her rentals and other miscellaneous business.

If you have not checked out my new Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…
http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

Heron Lake State Park, New Mexico – Day 71

The motorhome is still parked at Heron Lake State Park about 20 miles south of Chama, New Mexico.

I’ve been here for several weeks now and have photographed everything worth seeing within a 30 mile radius. I’m still not feeling that well that I care to drive lots of miles in search of photographs. The doctors told rest should be my #1 function.

Lake Heron has an amazing number of widely varied sunrises, sunsets and cloud formations. I’ve got some really neat photos to share. I’ve already taken them and will portion them out over the next several days.

 While they are similar because of the momentary setting…they are all very different and unique. I hope you will open each one and enjoy their uniqueness. I particularly like to enjoy the colors and the shapes. Just like staring at a fire from moment to moment…you never see quite the same thing…

These photos were taken about 20  minutes before the sun peeked over the horizon…

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

Enjoying beautiful pre-sunrises is another joy of the full-time RVing lifestyle!

I am recovering from my May 27th accident. To read about my recovery status, click this link… http://otrwjam.wordpress.com/recovery-status-page/

While I’m recovering, Mary remains at her home in California tending to doctor’s appointments, her rentals and other miscellaneous business.

If you have not checked out my new Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…
http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust