April 22 to April 27

On Thursday morning we left Magic River and drove down to the bay and along US 80 and the white sandy beach toward Bay St. Louis. We had been near Pass Christian, MS, 28 miles from the Louisiana state line. There were many vacant lots for sale and beat up live oaks opposite the bay on US 80. Probably from Katrina, since there were sidewalks and steps on the vacant lots. We drove through Louisiana on high roads across the bayou. The bayou looked like a flooded forest, very pretty. We stayed in Texas at the Gulf Coast RV Resort. I swam in the pool there and we met a masseuse. We established we were both from Florida and then I said Titusville, and she looked at me funny and I said near KSC, and she said she had heard of it, she is from Melbourne! Ha! Friday morning we met her husband, also a masseuse, at the free breakfast. They were nice people. Before we got there we tried another park, and this is what Charlie wrote about it in an e-mail to David. He may have exaggerated a little........”We are in Beaumont TX at the Gulf Coast RV Resort, a really nice place. it has almost everything and a free breakfast. and it's half price at $17.50. Got gas at $1.869 and saw it a few cents cheaper. Still getting 7 plus or minus a few tenths gallons per mile. I just drove all day not counting shopping at Wal-mart. Tomorrow we will be at Leigh's cousin's ranch near Karnes City. I don't know how long we will stay but we may go on from there to the gulf around Corpus Christi. We did try an RV park off the beaten track that was almost 100 miles east of here and it was really bad so I moved on. It was also a Passport America member and was going to cost $13.50. It had nothing extra to offer other than loose rabid dogs and hells angels gangsters. It was worth the push through the traffic to get here and closer to Karnes City.”....... On Friday afternoon we arrived in Karnes City. But even with the GPS we could not find the road to Jeanne's ranch so she came and got us. She looks great and surely does fit in with the lifestyle she has chosen. Jeanne has 16 acres and has been working with her good friend John, who also has a place on her ranch, to clear it of brush. About 2.5 acres are cleared and green and we parked our RV under a huge live oak known as the hangin tree. A lot of wildlife passes through including turkeys, coyotes, a cougar, and javelinas. Javelinas look like boars but are related to the hippo. A whole clan came through two of the evenings we were there. Jeanne feeds everything on her property with corn and sweet feed. She says the squirrels are so fat they can barely climb the trees. Jeanne might exaggerate a little too. We had a good visit and talked about everything under the sun. We went to a local restaurant called Jerry B's and I had chicken-fried steak. I have always wanted to try it and this seemed like the place to do it. It was excellent, and they served a lot of food. Charlie had a chicken-fried chicken salad, and he enjoyed that too. Although John and Jeanne offered us the use of a bedroom at his place, we stuck with the RV like we did at the Morgan's. We plugged in but did not need to run the A/C the first two nights we were there. The weather was mild, and sometimes windy which made for good sleeping. Jeanne and John each have a Chihuahua. Jeanne's Simon was not happy to see us, in fact he is kind of a maniac where company is concerned, and Toby just sent him over the edge. So whenever company is at Jeanne's place Simon stays with John and his little dog Sandy. Sandy didn't like us either but she tolerated my petting her. It seemed she was just backing up Simon. On Friday we went to an old time grocery store named Looney's, a family name. We picked up steaks and ice cream for a bar-b-que. Looney's was the kind of place I had been to in the hills of West Virginia years ago. Charlie was reminded of the little stores in the Caribbean, but this was a big store that had everything. It had a rough floor and lots of personality. We went to the bar-b-que Friday evening at Jeanne's only neighbors on her road. Toby stayed in Jeanne's place whenever we left him rather than in the RV. Glenda is a schoolteacher and Tom is an electrician who was a big help getting Jeanne setup when she moved up there from Corpus Christi. They, the Bakers, are on top of a hill and they have a great view. They are hard workers and are still in the process of getting their place finished. They are temporarily living in a 5th wheel camper and are remodeling their home. They almost have the kitchen, front room, and one bedroom and bath done, and hope to move in this summer. They are very nice 'salt of the earth' folks who made us feel very welcome. They have 5 dogs, three horses, and a bunch of goats, including a new baby goat that Jeanne delivered a few days ago. Jeanne did the job since she has the smallest hands. We really enjoyed being outside amongst the animals watching their antics and eating great food. They fixed chicken for Charlie and the rest of us had steaks and threw the steak bones to the dogs. Five steak bones to five dogs....it worked out perfect. I especially liked a dog named Beans who would lie down with all four feet in the air in front of anyone anytime anywhere hoping for a pet. Beans got my steak bone. John made potato salad and fixed corn on the cob and Jeanne brought salad and other stuff, we contributed a few dollars to the meal. We sat and visited until 10 o'clock. Charlie and I were given a real feel for what living here is all about. Neighbors working together, helping and depending on each other, and being outdoors most of the time. Jeanne has had chickens and goats in the past year or so, but she doesn't have any livestock right now. She has plans to get laying hens one day soon. She also has plans to build two blinds in the brush for photography. Jeanne is a retired Navy Corpsman, her expertise is in the medical field, and she works with an organization that gives medical care in Guatemala every year. She is going there in June to survey the villages. She is also a professional photographer, though she is not in business now. She did sports photography and worked for PBS. We hung out together with Jeanne and John all day Saturday and had a late lunch at a Mexican restaurant. We visited an old court house/school house, post office, and barn in Helena; all are historical landmarks from the 1800's. Finally we visited a beautiful old Catholic Church that was open even though no one was around. We saw a lot of cows, including longhorns, and a huge bull just stared back at us when we stopped to look at him. It seemed like the cattle were always looking at us as we drove by. Beautiful cactus with yellow blooms were along the edge of most of the pastures. We left Jeanne's on Sunday afternoon and headed for Rockport which is south and near Corpus Christi. It was a very windy ride and a bare landscape most of the way. Charlie drove quite a bit below the 70 mph speed limit because of the wind. We weren't, but it seemed like we were on the shoulder of the road the whole way so traffic could get around us. Jeanne told us that is how they drive on two lane roads in Texas. The shoulder is as smooth as the rest of the road, so it is okay to move over, you just have to be careful you don't run completely off the road. We stopped at Wal-Mart (as usual) in Beesville and got gas there. We arrived at the Ancient Oaks RV Resort about 15 minutes after the office closed so we didn't get the code to get on the Wifi and the combo for the bathroom till this morning. We are still using the porta potty because the black water tank still leaks. Oh well, we will probably not get the tank pipe fixed till after we get home. It is not all that bad. We did use the heated pool last night so we got a little exercise. We have cable too. It was windy all night so we had all the windows open and it was good sleeping. Today is Monday and we plan to go to the Maritime Museum, the aquarium, and tour a ship. More later. PS HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOYCE!