March 13, 2011 - Louisiana

Today our travels took us thru eastern Texas – check out the exit number – WOW:

This is the last exit number on I-10 in Texas – 880 miles – another WOW!  

We made our way to southwestern Louisiana and water, water, everywhere.  Such a difference from a month ago.   

Here is our campsite:

You know, every so often you find nice little treasures to camp and this is one of them (thanks Pete and Carolyn for the recommendation). 

So this is where we spent our afternoon:

 

Watching the barges go up and down the Intercoastal Waterway:

Even Dusty joined us – although he was more interested in the birds and the jumping fish – LOL:

Oops, almost forgot to tell you – we are at the Intercoastal Park near Hackberry, Louisiana (South of Lake Charles).   It is part of the Calcasieu Parish Park System.   We get water and electric for $12.00/night – :-))).   PLUS free firewood so we enjoyed a great fire this afternoon/evening!

Miles Traveled: 141 miles

Route Traveled:

Texas: SR-146; US-90; I-10;

Louisiana: I-10; SR-27

March 8 – 12, 2011 Our Time in Livingston, Texas

We had a nice time here at the Rainbow’s End Park in Livingston.

Some of the highlights:

• CARE (Continuing Assistance for Retired Escapes) Facility tour.   What an amazing place and it is nice to know this is here for Andy or I if we ever need it.  Here is a link that explains it better than I can:

http://escapeescare.org/

 

• Escape Facility Tour – very interesting to hear some of the history of this great place and club.

This is the Club House – the original building built in 1985:

 

This is right across the street from the Club House – it is now the main administrative building:

And also houses the Mail Service:

The automated sorter is in the above picture.  

Then we had a trolley ride around the park – with our tour guides pointing out different areas:

 

We stopped by Kay and Joe Peterson’s (Founders of Escapees):

 

Where we toured Kay’s Garden:

 

 

 

 

And had the great pleasure of meeting Kay – what a great person.

 

 

• We also took a nice road trip to the Lake Livingston Dam:

• And Activities, oh my!

- I took a Dichroic Glass Class and made this – WOW!

 

 

I could get into making ALL KINDS of things like this.   Hmmmm, may need to get a job just to afford a kiln.

 

- We took part in the luncheon and the dinner – it was great not to cook – :-))), and of course the Social Hours.   We continue to meet some really great people..

And spring is here – lots of trees blooming.

 

 

We will be leaving here tomorrow and heading east to Louisiana so stay tuned.

 

March 6 - 7, 2011 – Livingston, Texas

Sunday, March 6

We woke this morning to a beautiful sunshiny day and made our way to Livingston, Texas.   Along the way we saw:

TREES:

 

Flowering Trees:

Green Grass (and cows too):

Lake Livingston:

Spring is here and it will be nice to follow spring all the way to Pennsylvania.

What a nice ride – very enjoyable being off the interstates.    And I really missed the greenery.   We are so blessed to be able to live this lifestyle and see so many different environments.

We arrived at the Rainbow’s End Escapee Park – this is the main headquarters for the club – and are in site 85.  

Stats:

Miles Traveled: 323 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Texas: CR-5216; CR-422; US-90; SR-1604; I-35; SR-21; US-290; SR-105; SR-90; SR-30; US-190; SR-146

Monday, March 7

This morning I went to a Dichroic Glass Jewelry Glass here in the park and created my first piece….well, sort of.  I will see the finished piece on Wednesday since it needs to go in the kiln first.   Hopefully I can get a good picture of it to post – :-)).    I have always been fascinated by fused glass jewelry and was so excited to see the class here.   (Nope, not another hobby – YET – LOL!)

Andy changed the oil on the motorhome – it’s first oil change by us.   Then this afternoon, we took the Tracker to Wal-Mart to get one of it’s tires fixed – it has a slow leak.   In Yuma, we had another tire repaired – Thank God for the warranty!

Not sure how long we are going to be here so stay tuned.