Monthly Archives: April 2013

Meat sweats ahead

Hopefully Jalapeño will share with us

Stopped at the city market bbq joint in Lulling, TX on a recommendation from my uncle…smells awesome!

P.S. The ribs and beef were great! Couldn’t keep the cat from drooling and trying to eat all of Cindy’s.

We enjoyed a great weekend with relatives in Houston. 

Things started off great on Thursday evening with a delicious grilled fish dinner.  My uncle, Cindy and I proceeded to continue drinking while enjoying some hot tub warmth.  A very long evening of deep discussion and bottle of bourbon ended about 430 in the morning.. 

My Friday wasn’t very eventful as I nursed a severe hangover. 

Back in action on Saturday!  Started with a bike ride around the greenbelt trails of the Kingwood neighborhood.  Enjoyed another great BBQ with some neighbors, co-workers of my uncle and a cousin I had never met.

Canasta and Mojitos on a warm afternoon

Pet rabbit hanging outside

On Sunday we joined my aunt, uncle,  cousin and her boyfriend on a trip to Kemah.  Its a nice but touristy boardwalk on the gulf coast.

Interesting restaurant name

Lunch location

Started with a rollcoaster ride!

Cousins are growing up fast

Another great family visit

Prom 2013

Enjoyed a good night sleep.  Pulled off I10 at a welcome center in louisiana last night around 10.  A LONG day of driving on Wednesday, covering about 450 miles.  Try to limit those types of days the rest of this trip.  Showered up in the trailer for the first time, which worked quite well. 

Just barely fit!

Not a pretty location, but free!

First stop was the Blue Dog Cafe in Lafayette, LA.  Had read good reviews about this town and its Cajun cuisine.  It was great!  We each had a cup of soup and split the crawfish enchilada.

Yum!

Decided to check out Lake Martin after lunch.  A very peaceful nature preserve just east of town.  Saw some nice wildlife, but no gators.

Next stop was Avery Island for a scenic drive near the Tabasco factory.  Turned out to be a bust..  $8/person to drive into their jungle garden, not worth it.  Turned back around to make our way further west.  Cool to see the flooded crawfish farms along the back roads before returning to I10.

Next stop is my aunt and uncle’s place near Houston.

Cindy got to learn how to empty the waste tanks today.  Gotta entertain herself while she waits for it to empty.

Enjoyed a tasty breakfast of scrambled eggs with salsa, and a cup of instant cappuccino that I had found to be quite good while traveling in a campervan in New Zealand. After cleaning up, Chris headed out with the fishing pole to try his luck in the Gulf waters, and I headed out for a run through the park and beach. We met back at the campsite, but unfortunately no fish were to be caught. I showered up and we packed up and got ready to contine making our way west. But not without stopping first at the dump station for the rpod’s first dump;) It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s gotta do it! Then we were on our way. Since we didn’t catch any of our own fresh fish, we decided to search yelp for a seafood market nearby. We found one with good reviews in port st. Joe, but when we got there, the selection was quite limited. We found another one, called Buddy Gandy’s Seafood Market further down the road in Panama City which had more selection of fresh seafood. We picked up some triggerfish and shrimp which should make for some tasty meals later! Back on the road again. Our current destination is Houston, TX and we are hoping to make half of the 11 hour drive today. We’ll see how far we get!!

Said our goodbyes to Kendra, Dock, and Finnley and headed out of Gainesville Tuesday morning. We decided to drive the back roads and find a place to set up camp near Appalachicola, FL. Made a call to St. George Island state park, but was told that their campsite was full for the night. They referred us to St. Joe state park which was about a half hour further west. We were told that their remaining campsites are on a first come first serve basis, and fortunately when we arrived, they still had a campsite available for us. Taking the back roads is really an enjoyable way to travel- usually less traffic and more scenery/towns to see as you drive through. The drive along the panhandle coast of Florida is absolutely beautiful with gorgeous views of the Gulf of Mexico and its white sugar sand beaches. Arrived at St. Joe at about 3pm and set up camp. Really enjoying the travel trailer so far! After settling in, we took the bikes for a bike ride around the state park. Beautiful pristine beaches with big white sand dunes. Its nice to see beaches in their natural state without all of the condos and hotels lining the beach. We stopped and I took a dip in the gulf to cool off. After returning to our campsite, Chris began making dinner and I walked to the beach to watch the sunset. The clouds had started to come in, but the sun popped out just as the sun was setting. Enjoyed a tasty dinner of Mac and cheese doctored up with some sautéed fresh Florida onion from the Cape Coral farmer’s market and tuna, and hit the hay to get ready for a full day tomorrow!

Mountains of sugar white sand

Enjoyed a nice lunch with tony and rhonda in st pete before we departed north for gainesville.  Stopped along the way to stock up on supplies at walmart.

Wally world stock up

Jalapeno enjoys the road trips

Made it up to gainesville around 6pm to spend the night at kendra and dock’s.  Enjoyed a delicious drink with the family before heading over to dinner at the BlueGill.  Finley is entertaining as always and Cletus continues to be a bigger dog every time I see him.

2 years old going on 10

The Friendliest Beast

Slept pretty well in the rpod our first night. Weather stayed cool, so it wasn’t a problem without AC. Honda dealer at the air show was selling generators for a good price, so we picked up one. Will make it easier to charge our batteries, camp without electric hookups and allow us to run the AC. Packed up the trailer on Saturday morning and drove over to St Pete. Our friend’s annual crawfish boil started at 3pm.

Backed our trailer in their driveway and the party started shortly thereafter. A great time as always seeing college fraternity buddies and enjoying tasty critters.

Dinner is served!

Spent our first night in our travel trailer at the sun n fun airshow in Lakeland. We enjoyed a tasty dinner of grilled marinated shrimp, risotto, and veggies courtesy of the swains, then watched the night airshow and fireworks. The night airshows are really cool with the planes being all lit up. We got to see a glider do a routine this time which was really neat and so graceful. Slept ok in the trailer, we both woke up several times due to noise from the other campers, but our memory foam mattress was quite comfy. Jalapeño seems to enjoy the trailer, in fact she is still in bed! Planning to head to st. Pete later today for a crawfish boil with Tony and Rhonda!

Our travel cat really enjoys the new bed

Rise and Shine Balloon Launch

For those bass fisherman wanting to arrive on the lake via air travel