We are now back in
the US – that means I have more time to do the things that I fervently wish I
could have been doing, right? But just what are those things? Traveling,
touring, planning tours, sewing, needlework, quilting, reading, playing Sudoku,
Mahjong … all of the above but in a manner that allows me to do it all. Yeah
right! A glutton? Yes, but it sure would give me a lot of pleasure. Of course,
in between all of these things, I should do my equal share of driving – except
in the RV. Hmmmm, do I need to re-allign my priorities or what …
Anyways, after we got the RV roadworthy, we took it out for a test(a 4 hour drive, up and down and country roads) by going to a close-by RV rally in a place called Rayne, Louisiana – the Frog Capital of the World or so they claim.
There is much to
see and do in this area, as verified through our very limited touring during
our 6 days in the area.
- The city of Rayne itself and its many murals and statues, all
of frogs – an economy that once was based on the harvesting of frogs for
export, now replaced by rice. The spraying of the rice fields have all but
eliminated the frogs.
...murals are all over the city with all
different themes but still of frogs.
(even
the post office got into the act)
We had a Scavanger Hunt with a list of various
murals to find and I, surprisingly, won a price – t-shirt from Rayne and a
ball cap!
- The city of Crowley, a mere 7 miles from
Rayne, where we learned all about rice and how it is produced. Got a great
Cajun rice cookbook there.
- The city of Eunice where we learned all
about the area at the NPS interpretive center and the local Cajun/Xylico music
at it’s own museum. Here we were also
part of the audience of a live radio show that featured Cajun music. Now that
is different.
- At Avery Island we learned everything and
more that you ever wanted to know about Tobasco Sauce. We also discovered that
it really wasn’t an island in the true sense, but rather a huge salt dome that
appeared as an island from afar. Tobasco flavoured ice cream and coca cola
anyone? They also brought out miniature samples of Tabasco as a gift for each
person and of course, ended the tour in their uniquely Tobasco gift shop where
we actually bought some planting seeds for the special peppers. I understand
that the plant is very ornamental as well, especially if it blooms around
Christmas. 
- It is a wonderful bike riding area – the
roads are wide with shoulders and few potholes and so very little traffic, and
ost importantly, lots of close stores, restaurants and towns, even on the
country roads.
- Oh yes, our reason for being in the area, we attended a RV rally where people
came from all over the USA and Canada for 4 days of fun and making contacts.
We sat in on various lectures/seminars and learned how to volunteer in our rig
(we had already decided to become a Red Cross Disaster volunteer) as well as
how to go to work if the need should ever arrive.
Being back on the
road, but not in the Motorhome, we drove from Texas to Yuma, AZ to spend some quality
time with friends there. Took 2 ½ days of driving with a stopover to visit a
couple of Painted Churches that are found in Fayette County, in the southern
tier of Texas. They are beautiful and rival anything that we have seen during
our many travels. Because of the wealth or lack thereof in the community, wood
is painted to look like marble and sculptured decorations. You had to look
closely to see that it was painted, not carved. They were painted by itinerant
painters, many of whom were from San Antonio, according to printed material
that we read.
The two that we
visited were found on the outer limits of Schulenberg and in Praha. The one in
Schulenberg was more German while the one in Praha, a mere 7 miles away, was
more Czeck in their nomenclature. Design and culture. The stained glass windows
in the each church were sponsored by members of the congregation and had their
names worked into the window pane itself. The names testify to the diversity
and origins of the population.
Praha:
From the outside it looks
like any other lovely country church, but on the inside … 
This area is an
area worth exploring, in fact it would be fun on a bike as all the little towns
are close by and the roads with little traffic and in good condition. So we
will no doubt, put together a small
daily bike tour and see all the churches in this genre at a later date.
This
then takes us into all different areas and secondary roads, rather the
interstate and major highways. Today we are heading to see if we can do some
cemetery slinking in the Hill Country, looking for some of Danny’s ancestors.
Alas, we couldn’t find the cemetery and ran out of the allotted time for this
activity but we did find fields and fields of blue bonnets, Indian paint and
some black eyed suzies 
as well as some we couldn’t identify. How often do you actually find the desert in bloom? Not often but when it is, WOW!
Coming back to Phoenix, and the heat and sunshine, we headed across back towards Texas. In typical Danny and Shirley manner, we are bumping down the road and decided to camp over at a Hot Springs in New Mexico. We had a little food, nothing for a regular breakfast, no sleeping bags just sacs and a fleece blanket for each of us. Heck, that is enough. The hot springs first thing in the morning made up for the desert COLD that we encountered overnight. Did you know that a bath towel works really well as a small blanket?
Pulling out the
map, we looked for the “road [least] traveled” that would get us across to
Texas via the most picturesque route. But wait a minute, how about heading
south and visiting Seminole Canyon State Park? We can be there by 10pm if we
get on the road immediately. Phoning the park we find that we can get on the
archeological tour in the morning. So off we go!
A nice interlude
and then a fast trip back to Nacogdoches and the RV. Is it finished??? ... hmmmmm
And so ends the first of
many new adventures as we find our way back into life in the US. We continue to
ponder the possibilities offered by another PC experience but have postponed
making any decisions until the fall.
