Category: New Mexico

16 July 2021

Sara and I ditched Jo and Patrick for a trip to Santa Fe. We headed out on NM14 (Turquoise Trail). This was my second visit to Santa Fe. My first visit, I stayed at the Inn of the Turquoise Bear – still the best B&B in which I’ve stayed.

We found a parking space just off the plaza in downtown Santa Fe and we proceeded to window shop. The parking app I have for Fort Lauderdale works fine in Santa Fe!

I do admit to buying a couple of bars of soap but otherwise was able to keep my spending in check. However, it’s always fun to peek into stores and see what’s new.

I called an old friend Steve Kerr to see if he was available for lunch but I waited too late. Part of the reason I didn’t call earlier was I wasn’t sure when we would go to Santa Fe. In any case, I took Sara to the restaurant Steve took me to on my first visit, Cafe Pascal’s.

It’s off the plaza and out of the main tourist drag and is often frequented by locals. When I went we Steve, we had to wait in line. They updated their system and now text you when your table is available.

The food here is exceptional and their breakfast and lunch menus are extensive.

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I really like Sara! I think we had an instant rapport and we kept a running conversation all the way to Santa Fe, window shopping the plaza, and on our return trip. She and Patrick are going to marry, they just haven’t set a date. I told them today that I officially approve of their upcoming marriage – like they needed it.

After lunch we made an all important stop at a French bakery for chocolate eclairs. These were excellent and not so sweet as to give you a tooth ache.

From there, we headed to the Shidoni Gallery and sculpture garden on the outskirts of Santa Fe. It wasn’t too hot to walk the garden and then step into the gallery. There were some excellent works.

On the way back we got spectacular views of cloud bursts over the Ortiz range of mountains. We even got into a small downpour. The clouds were spectacular and you could see exactly where the cloud bursts were occurring over the vast landscape.

Oh yea, we also saw one or two adobe houses – one or two thousand, that is.

Sara hasn’t learned the secret to having guests. You shouldn’t treat them too well nor cook food that tastes too good. Guests aren’t likely to leave when you cook gourmet meals for them every night. She’ll learn.

Tonight we finally had Jo’s birthday cake. We stuffed ourselves so much on her birthday night no one had room for the birthday cake. Instead, we gorged tonight on pineapple upside down cake with vanilla ice cream. Life is good in Cedar Grove, New Mexico!

15 July 2021

OK, I admit it, I was wrong. I falsely accused my cousin Jo of losing my hotel room key cards. I was getting ready to take out some dirty clothes when two key cards fell into my hand. Please, please forgive me cousin Jo! I’ll do penance.

After some coffee and late planing, Patrick, Jo and I decided to climb the “Knock,” an area behind Patrick and Sara’s cabin in Edgewood. We only hiked approximately 1.2 miles in total but it was pretty much straight up and straight down. In some places it was hand-over-hand climbing with sheer drop offs several places along the trail that Patrick and his kids had carved out of the mountain.

The day was glorious. It had “rained” the night before which means about 30 minutes of sprinkle – it is the desert after all. The morning broke fair and the high temperature was 77°F. Humidity was maybe 5%.

Close to the top of the Knock is a place that Patrick and Sara found that forms a natural bench. We sat there and overlooked the valley and Patrick had hauled up a bottle of sparkling apple cider so we toasted to Jo’s birthday.

To be honest, this is one of the most vertical climbs I’ve made. We reached an elevation of 7,700 feet. The path was quite rocky and in several places we had to climb hand over hand.

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I haven’t been around Patrick at lot but he’s so easy to talk to and he falls into the insulting banter with me and Jo without missing a beat. Jo refused to carry a day pack up the mountain so she sponged off my water in my day pack. Smart woman, my cousin. However, I got back at her by tricking her to bite into a piece of turkey jerky. Dry is the operative word for that jerky.

This area is so beautiful. Everywhere you look is something special. The area is covered with Piñon pine and strangely, there are several Ponderosa pine in the area although it’s a little unusual with the elevation.

Some of the shapes and weathering of the pines is quite beautiful and we found several pieces that had been downed that had the appearance of driftwood.

At the top we found some scat. I suspect it is a puma. Patrick has a friend that owns the property next to him and he set up a night camera on his property and he got a photo of a puma. At least this time I remembered my bear spray.

Tonight Sara is cooking Jo a birthday dinner with a pineapple upside down cake for desert.

14 July 2021

Jo loses things.  Like room key cards.  She lost the key cards for her room at the Hampton Inn in Weatherford.  She learned her lesson.  So yesterday, she lost my key cards for the Garden Inn in Amarillo.  She denies it.  I know the truth.  We had returned from dinner where she left one key card in her room and gave me one to keep in case she lost hers.  

When we returned from dinner, I suggested we view the photos I took of Palo Duro Canyon in my room on my laptop instead of the phone.  I placed my envelope with 2 key cards by the TV with her’s on top.  

After viewing the photos, she gets up and says she is going to remember her key cards this time and grabs mine as she walks out the door.  I didn’t realize they were not hers until this morning when I was going down to get breakfast.  She denies it all.  Now you know the truth.

Both of us were feeling a little under the weather this morning.  We got a slow start.  However, I-40 into New Mexico was not crowded and we made good time – even better with the change from Central to Mountain time.  

We decided we wanted to stop for lunch before getting to Patrick and Sara’s so as not to inconvenience them.  She said on her trip before they ate at a great place in Edgewood called Mary Lou’s.  I asked Siri about it and no Mary Lou’s.  Never mind, she’d recognize it when she saw it.  Nada.  

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We turned around and I used my GPS/Siri to show restaurants in the area.  Katrinah’s popped up and we headed there.  When we arrived, she said “Yes, this is it!”  We pulled into “Katrinah’s except it was East Mountain Grill.  To be fair, it is called Katriniah’s by the locals but labeled as East Mountain Grill on the sign out front and on the menus.

Patrick and Sara welcomed us with open arms.  Patrick gave me the grand tour of the place.  This is a beautiful cabin.  It has three bedrooms, three baths, a great room and kitchen and it’s all set on the side of a mountain.  

Before we left Katrinah’s we asked if they needed anything and we brought them a couple of Rueben’s with jalapeño poppers.  We sat around talking while they ate. Jo blaming me and me blaming Jo. All great fun.

We’ll unload the jeep sometime today and we plan to hike to the top of the “Knock” tomorrow on Jo’s birthday. 

Awake at 5:30 am and apparently Jo wasn’t too far behind because she texted me around 7 am to see if I wanted to go down for breakfast. Strange that this hotel is probably more expensive than any I have stayed this trip and probably more expensive than we will stay on the rest of the trip but they had one of the weaker breakfasts. In any case, we were on the road to Palo Duro Canyon State Park or, translated, hard wood.

On my two cross country trips over the past few years, I had people tell me this is a must see. I learned from them about the size of the canyon and heard that you can drive through the canyon from the canyon bed. It is really true.

After a brief stop at the visitors center (worth the stop) we did begin a 10% down grade onto the canyon floor. We were low enough there were several areas with flash flood warnings posted along with depth gauges so you could see how high the water was over the road bed.

By the way, the news about crowded parks is tree. As we paid our fee for entrance ($8/person) we were greeted with a sign that said all camping facilities were already reserved or occupied.

Jo and I decided we would do a drive through of the canyon and then if we saw any trails we wanted to hike, we would do that on the return through the canyon. We also agreed we would pull off if we saw anything interesting.

Our first pull of was Goodnight Peak Scenic Loop, a 0.4 mile trail. It provided a good panoramic vista of the canyon.

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From there we drove the length of the canyon which then loops back to the jump off point to Lighthouse Trail and Capitol Peak Trail. The trailhead at Lighthouse had a sign that said “Danger!” “Heat Warning.” “Hikers need to carry a minimum of 1 gallon of water.” “Don’t attempt the trail if you have any health issues.” The trail is a 2.8 mile trail out and and back for a total of 5.6 miles. We didn’t have any health issues and we had the water but we decided to not try this during the heat of the day.

We opted for the Capitol Peak Trail which is a 3.5 mile loop, mostly used for biking. There is also a switch back for a shorter loop and that ran about 2.1 miles. That’s the trail we chose and it was around 11 am when we set off. That meant we would be on the trail from 11am until around 2 pm. The temperature was around 90°F. We had plenty of water and food and there was a delightful breeze. The trail is rated Easy/Difficult – a strange rating. It turned out to be an easy trail other than the heat.

We finished up around 3 pm and then headed to the trading post to relax a little in the air conditioned space. This is a beautiful trail and I suspect all of the trails are equally nice. Our mileage with the shorter loop was around 2.1 miles. Pretty good for two old people!

Regretfully, we never made it to the Pioneer Nature Trail, noted for the abundance of Texas Horn Frogs – really a lizard, not a frog or toad. I had to get that in the blog to continue my toad/frog/lizard theme.

Tomorrow we head to see Patrick and Sara at their cabin outside of Albuquerque. We have four nights there to drive Patrick and Sara nuts and to do a little hiking.

Stay tuned!

12 July 2021

OK, to start this story, I have to provide a little background. Jo and her ex Ken visited their son in New Mexico a month or so ago. On their way back to San Antonio, Ken found a horned toad by the side of the road at a museum they had stopped. Ken asked someone in the gift shop for a box and put the horned toad into it. Jo asked what was in the box and Ken said a horned toad – which by this time was jumping around in the box. Jo made Ken put the box in the very back reaches of the vehicle after she couldn’t convince him to release it. At last report, the horned toad is doing well in Lafayette, Louisiana with meals of crickets.

It became a running joke between Jo and me that I was going to stop in Lafayette on my way to San Antonio and pick up Ken’s horned toad for Jo to take back to the museum roadside.

Today on our way to Amarillo, we stopped for a bathroom break on I-20. It was a really nice rest stop. They had a plaque explaining about how dry west Texas has become and the importance of conserving water. They designed the rest stop buildings so that rain water would rain into a cistern which then deposited the water in an underground storage tank. That water is used to irrigate the vegetation around the rest stop.

They also had a very nice interpretive center inside the rest stop with a little natural history of the region and a little history history of the region. Included was this information.

If you can’t enlarge the photo enough to read, it basically tells the tale of the construction of the Eastland County Courthouse in 1897 and putting in the building a time capsule that contained a bible, some newspapers and a living horned toad. In 1928 the old courthouse was demolished and a new one constructed. They decided to open the time capsule. As they pulled out the horned toad it began to move. The damned thing had lived for 31 years in a sealed time capsule.

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The article goes on to explain how Old Rip (after Rip Van Winkle) became so famous that horned toads caught on as pets and Calvin Coolidge once kept a crowd of 300 supporters waiting while he viewed the horned toad. Sadly a year later the horned toad died of pneumonia.

Who says travel isn’t broadening? The photo above was sent to Ken. We await his response.

I think it was around Cisco we decided to get some lunch and we stopped at Taqueria Guadalajara where the parking lot was full. We figured all those pickup trucks couldn’t be wrong. I have to admit their taco salad was one of the better ones I’ve had. My only complaint was the stench in the back of the restaurant from the dumpsters and the number of flies inside the restaurant. I don’t think the place would pass the health inspection of Broward County but I should be safe because I’m usually known for my cast iron stomach. We’ll see.

Jo and I were in no hurry to get to Palo Duro Canyon and as it got later, we agreed to head on into Amarillo instead of the park. We were both tired and needed some down time from the jeep. We’ll get up tomorrow and do the canyon drive through and then decide if there are any trails we want to hike.

I took the time to do the laundry at the Hilton Garden Inn. The nicest Garden Inn I’ve stayed in was in California. This one is a little older and looks like it could do a redo. The receptionist was very interesting. She was the bar tender at Garden Inn but all that got closed down due to the pandemic. They still haven’t opened up the restaurant or the bar. So far, every hotel on this trip has required masks. Very few people are observing the requirement.

We didn’t even go out to dinner. The taco salad was filling and we snacked on trip food for most of the day. We are spending two nights in Amarillo so we are not in a hurry to do anything. Speaking of Amarillo, I recommend to you Jerry Jeff Walker’s version of “London Homesick Blues.” You’ll want to come to Amarillo too.

Stay tuned!

11 July 2021

I was wide awake by 4 am. Apparently Jo was also. Instead of a leisurely morning and later departure, we were away and out of the house by 7:15 am. Of course that was after Jo had remembered 32 things she needed to add to the jeep, not counting the six purses she brought. Who needs six purses – my cousin Jo.

After we got on the road, Jo reminded me of one of our past trips where my brother Archie and I drove out to San Antonio in my old 1985 red Chevrolet pickup and gathered Jo and her dog Cody to bring her back to Mississippi. I had forgotten that Jo was sitting next to me – I was the driver – and Cody was between her and Archie who was riding shotgun. Sometime during the trip, Archie put his cowboy hat on Cody and commented to Jo what people would think. He said people would say the driver had a pretty good looking woman next to him in the truck but the guy riding shotgun’s woman was a real dog. Several minutes of giggles ensued.

We took 186 north and when we got to Lampasas we were getting stiff. Jo noticed a Ferris wheel next to a river and as we got to looking, it was some type of festival going on. We agreed we needed to stretch our legs so I turned around, found a parking space and we walked into this really neat little park called Hancock Park and into the festival. They were just getting set up.

The first thing we ran into was Hancock Springs, oldest spring fed bathing pool in Texas. It was built in 1883 and rebuilt in 1911. At one time Lampasas advertised itself as the “Saratoga of the South.” Hancock Springs is a mineral springs and it flows into the Sulfur Creek.

There’s a neat suspension bridge that crosses the Creek. It was inspired by a bridge near the current location during the turn of the century and was constructed in 1976.

Additionally, there was a ferry across the creek manned by two young me.

By the time we made it back to the jeep and on the road again, we decided we were hungry. No matter that we had just passed up 20 food trucks at the fair.

As we pulled into Hico, I noticed a place called Koffee Kup that advertised family dining. I did a u-turn and we pulled into a very, very crowded parking lot. I always say, eat where there are a lot of locals eating. We must have hit the after-church crowd.

The place is noted for 17 different flavors of pies.

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This was a good call. Both Jo and I agreed it reminded us of the old Gulf Cafe in our home town of Morton. I had the chicken fried steak. It reminded me of the exact same meal in Morton. The chicken fried steak there had a bit of strong taste to it. I suspect it was the cheapest cut of meat available but also very flavorful. It came with the mandatory white gravy. I didn’t even feel guilty eating it. Jo had the turkey and dressing. Our meal was the Sunday lunch special so it came with homemade fruit cocktail, a drink, dinner rolls with honey, a choice of one vegetable with the entrée and Doctors Office pie, all for the outrageous price of $9.50. It was too much food.

From Hico, we were around an hour from Mineral Wells. I was a little worried Jo wouldn’t like this particular side trip. I loved the old buildings in town and they reminded me of my small home town of Morton. I was relieved when she really liked the town. To her, it reminded her of Morton and New Orleans.

The Baker Hotel is the famous hotel and it is currently being renovated into 156 units.

The popularity of this area was due to the mineral springs. People came from all over to “partake” of the healing waters. This was before the time of penicillin and doctors would actually recommend to their patients to come here.

There was some truth to the healing water spiel. The springs in the area are heavily laced with lithium, the major ingredient of valium. Once penicillin became readily available to the public after WWII, there was a steady decline in occupancy in the two major hotels in the area and the city pretty much dried up.

The last time I was in Mineral Wells was in 2o16. I was on my way through to Little Rock for the night and stoped at Coy’s Barbershop for a trim.

It was Coy who told me about the history of the town and recommended me to see a little of the place while I was there.

I’m glad to say the town has made a turn around. There were more active businesses this trip and the little town looked as though it was thriving. The estimated completion of the renovation of Baker Hotel is 2022. If that becomes successful, the town will continue to boom.

By the way, the original bottling company for the mineral waters is still in business and still selling liquid valium.

Tomorrow, we drive to Palo Duro Canyon State Park. Our intention is to do a drive through the canyon and scope out what we want to see the second day. Hopefully, we’ll beat the heat on the second day and do some short day hikes.

Stay tuned!

10 July 2021

I’m still on Eastern Daylight Time.  I awoke at 5:30 am (6:30 am Fort Lauderdale) so technically, I was awake at my normal time.  Not too long after I got up, Jo was ready for her morning walk.  Every time I visit, we get a good walk in and today was no exception.  I admit I’ve not been in very good shape lately with all the rain in Fort Lauderdale and I wondered how I would do in the hilly terrain around Alamo Heights. I was at least able to keep up.

The place she took me this time was close to Incarnate Word University where she taught.  It was the grounds of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Texas.  I’d never been before and the place is drop dead gorgeous and open to the public.  There are walking trails throughout the place and it is very well maintained.  

Jo did have somewhat of a surprise when one of the buildings (open to the public) had a back room and the door was open.  She stuck her head in there and there was a man.  What’s interesting is we had been standing in the building talking and he never said anything.  Wonder what he was doing in the back room with the lights out?  We beat a hasty retreat.

From there, she took me to Central Market in Alamo Heights.  This place is like Whole Foods on steroids.  I’ve never seen so much produce in one place.  I managed to make it out of there with only some grapes and Texas plums.  

We also had breakfast there and got away without spending a fortune on produce and breakfast.  I can only hope Fort Lauderdale gets one of these. I’m going to assume around a 2 1/2 mile walk this morning.  What was good for me was there were some nice hills.  It’ll get me in practice for the mountains around Patrick and Sara’s place in New Mexico.  

Jo is a fast walker.  I am a slow walker.  It worked out well enough because we both needed to stop a couple of times to catch our breath.

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After we got back to the house, we began to pack the jeep.  Jo wants to take some stuff to Patrick’s where she has a room.  She wants to have some of her things around her when she is there.  I know this is hard to believe but a literature professor wants to have her books around her.  Who knew?

The jeep will hold a lot on the interior and with the carrier on top, we were able to fit in everything she wanted to take.  I haven’t used the carrier a lot since I purchased it for one of my cross country trips so it’s nice to be able to put it to use again.  It seems to have minimal effect on my mileage.

Dinner tonight was at Cappy’s.  

It’s kind of.a tradition with me and Jo.  Jo always gets the crab cakes and I always get something different.  I think our waitress was a little new.  I ordered the green salad as an appetizer and the fried shrimp as an entrée.  Jo ordered the crab cake entrée.  She brought out a salad appetizer with three shrimp.  Jo got the crab cake appetizer.  It turned out for the best.  It was plenty of food and that allowed us to have a desert, another tradition.  

Tomorrow we head for Mineral Wells, Texas for our dose of valium from the mineral springs!

Stay tuned!

9 July 2021

It seems I-10 in Texas isn’t any better than in Louisiana.  I think the majority of it from the Louisiana state line to San Antonio was under construction.  The speed limit in Texas on that stretch of interstate is 75 mph.  I think I spent most of it at 55 or 60 due to construction.  That, and since it poured down rain constantly from the time I left Baton Rogue, on stretches that I could make 75 mph, I would go from 75 mph to dead stopped.  Let me tell you that will make your hair stand on in.  

Texas is such an independent state.  Personal freedom is highlighted in the populace.  So much so there is a large segment of the population that feels turning on headlights in a down pour is an infringement of their rights.  Several times I was getting ready to change lanes only to notice at the last second, someone was barreling down on me from the rear in a black car with no headlights.  

Everyone knows south Floridians don’t know how to drive in the rain.  Apparently Texans have no idea how to approach a hill or go from a road bed to a bridge.  There were a lot of backups and when you finally cleared the traffic, you realized there was no wreck, no highway patrol, no nothing but a hill that slowed the traffic to a crawl.  

The worst part was getting close to San Antonio, it was so bumper to bumper you couldn’t change lanes, therefore I couldn’t pull off for a pit stop.  By the time I pulled into Jo’s drive and she came out to meet me I said hugs later, bathroom first and ran past her.  I beat my 15 minute record from yesterday.

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It’s so strange but I haven’t seen Jo in over two years.  No matter, we picked up conversation like I had seen her yesterday.  We spent the next two hours catching up and then it was time to get some dinner.  We went to Guajillos (pronounced was HE yos) for Mexican-Mexican food, as opposed to Tex-Mex food.  There are several local places in San Antonio that you can get authentic Mexican.  We did and it was delicious.  

The first time Archie and I visited Jo in San Antonio, she took us to another Mex-Mex restaurant called Blanco Cafe. The food was equally good there. What I remember most about that trip was Archie walking out of the restaurant, walking across the street to a bank, lowering the state flag of Texas, folding it up and bringing it back. Yes, he stole the Lone Star flag. Trust me, it’s still in San Antonio.

After dinner, we picked up the conversation we left off.  Tomorrow we dine at Cappy’s, our favorite place in San Antonio.  Hopefully the weather will let us sit outside for dinner but I suspect another downpour.  I suspect I brought the remnants of Elsa with me to Texas.

We also need to figure out how to pack the jeep and carrier with stuff Jo needs to take to New Mexico. Since I am not camping (thank god! – the rain) there’s plenty of room in the jeep.

Stay tuned!

8 July 2021

After fine dining in my hotel room with KFC, I needed to get some kinks out of my body so I did some yoga stretches.  I find it helps, particularly on long trips (yesterdays turned out to be over 7 hours).  I’ve learned over the years to never trust hotel room floors.  One hotel several years ago, I walked barefoot a good bit and when I looked at the soles of my feet, they were black.  

To do the yoga stretches, I put down a towel on the floor.  That’s when I noticed something about the towel.  It didn’t seem fresh.

I was curious when I first walked into the room yesterday afternoon why the room temperature was set at 66°F.  I normally keep the thermostat at home on 78°F.  What I think is this room hasn’t been used in so long they cut off the a/c and only turned it on when I checked in digitally yesterday.  There must have been a build up in humidity and that’s why the towels (and sheets) were clammy feeling.  The thermostat setting was probably to try to compensate for the humidity in the room and they didn’t want to change out the linen.  

Some time during the night I thought I was going to have a repeat meal of the KFC.  I got this strange feeling in the upper reaches of my stomach.  Of course, my mind goes to worse case scenarios and I think food poisoning.  Luckily, it went away.  I even got a better than average first-night-on-the-road sleep.  

However, when I started to wake, my mind went back to the KFC meal.  Now that I think of it, all the local restaurants in Quincy had closed down and the only things open were McDonald’s, KFC, Hardees, and other fast food establishments.  I definitely chalk that up to the pandemic and wonder what the long term effects of that will be on (1) the economy of small towns and (2) the obesity rates in small towns.  I think the long term consequences of the pandemic will take years to work its way through the country and the world.  My news headline on my phone this morning reported 4 million deaths worldwide from the virus.   

Ah, Mississippi! I returned to my home state via I-10 at Pascagoula.  So much of my life is tied up in this state.  A lot of the Mississippi Gulf Coast is tied to my grandmother on my mother’s side – Ruby.  She would take me down to the coast almost every summer.  Her favorite place to stay was the old Buena Vista Hotel in Biloxi.  Sadly, it’s no longer there.  It barely survived Hurricane Camille in 1969.  I think it’s a parking lot today for one of the casinos.

It was here at the Buena Vista that she trusted me one time to go off on my own and get my own dinner – across US 90 at a restaurant. I remember feeling how important I felt when I walked into a rather dressy restaurant and ordered an open faced roast beef sandwich. I had never heard or seen one before but it fit the $10 she gave me for dinner. I have to admit a fondness for that sandwich to this day.

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By the way, the continental shelf is very far off shore at Gulfport and Biloxi. You can walk almost a mile out into the water from the beach and still be only waist deep. Don’t try that in Fort Lauderdale.

I drove by the exit to Van Cleave, Mississippi where as a graduate student Dr. Pullen would take his graduate botany students for plant collection at the University of Mississippi Forestry Research Station.  It’s ironic that Ole Miss didn’t have a forestry program (Mississippi State has a forestry school) but Ole Miss has the largest forestry research station in the state.  I remember there was a lot of plant collecting and a lot more drinking beer. I’m not sure the plant specimens we pressed looked too good. I remember that after that field trip Dr. P gave us a lecture on how to neatly press plants.

A lot of the names I associate with the state come from high school football.  I was an avid follower.  I knew of Moss Point, Gautier (pronounced GO ché) Biloxi, Gulfport, Ocean Springs and Bay Saint Louis (all along I-10) from their football teams.  Moss Point was a particular powerhouse.

I don’t know what it is about I-10 in Louisiana but it is always under construction.  I’ve never, ever traveled this road that there were not detours, road blockages, flooded roadbeds, or some such nonsense.  We are talking Louisiana here, original site of the bridge-to-nowhere built under the governorship of Jimmie Davis, the singing governor.  His biggest hit was “You Are My Sunshine” so the bridge was named the Sunshine Bridge.  It was an embarrassment because there was a bridge across the river but no roads leading up to it on either side of the river. Like a lot of construction, it wasn’t needed at the time but over time, the area has developed and the bridge has become more important. It only took fifty years.

Other than the expected slowdown of traffic in Louisiana, the trip to Baton Rouge went fine.  I’m at the Double Tree in Baton Rouge.  Nicer hotel.  However, the digital key did not work so I had to use the old fashioned key card this time.

Once I got into the room and peed for fifteen minutes, I went on a hunt for diesel fuel.  I prefer to fill up in the evening so I don’t have to fight the crowds in the morning.  I found a Shell station close by and on my return to the hotel, I found Vegan Friendly Foods!  I missed my vegetarianism so much I stopped in Pensacola for some baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, tangerines, and grapes to eat on the way.  

Vegan Friendly Foods is one of two Black owned vegan restaurants in Baton Rouge.  I had the portobello sandwich with spinach and grilled onions.  It was great.  I’m sure I can find some vegan place in San Antonio but if not, I still have plenty of veggies left.  

This is my second time to spend the night in Baton Rouge. The first happened so many years ago when my cousin Jo was in graduate school at LSU and she took me to a party. It got to be late so she had a male friend who had an apartment downstairs from the party. She made out the couch for me and went back to the party upstairs. Little did she know her friend was big into Playboy magazines and he kept them on the coffee table by the couch. It was an entertaining night.

Tomorrow is a 7 1/2 hour trip to San Antonio.

7 July 2021

What idiot purposely drives into a tropical storm with 65 miles per hour winds with a carrier on their vehicle? Oh wait, that’s me! At least I made it to Quincy without issue.

I managed to get everything taken care of at the house this morning and was ready to leave at 9:30 am. As I was walking out the door, the bulk trash pick up was loading my bulk trash into their truck. I had a lot.

I usually have my coconut palms trimmed once a year to prevent coconuts from becoming canon balls during hurricane season. I was a little late this year. The guy who normally trims them seems to have a conflict with my bulk trash pick up (first Wednesday of the month) and he never got back in touch with me. If he has to haul the trash away instead of using bulk trash pickup, it’s an extra $300. My next door neighbor came to the rescue.

He lives directly across the street from me and has a landscaping business, Reyes Landscaping. I asked him to give me an estimate for removing the dead coconut palm in the front, trim the queen palm in the front, trim the coconut palm, Washingtonia palm and sabal palm in the back, and remove an overgrown wild lime and oak. He quoted $550.

He showed up yesterday and his crew worked for around three hours and WOW did they do a great job! Not only did they do what was asked, they trimmed everything in the front and back and cleaned up every bit of debris. My yard has never looked so good. I’ll use them always from this point on. I wrote a check for $600 for all the extra they did. If you are in south Florida and need a service, I highly recommend him. Let me know and I’ll give you his telephone number.

On these trips of mine, I have a routine of stopping at one of the turnpike plazas for Dunkin’ Doughnuts (maple frosted and chocolate frosted) and a large coffee. Which plaza I stop at is dictated by my bladder. I made it as far as the Port St. Lucie/Fort Pierce plaza before pulling in.

After the bathroom stop, I stood in line for about 15 minutes before getting to order. For some reason, Dunkin’ D is always three times as busy as any other place in the plaza. During that 15 minutes, I counted three people in line (me included) wearing a mask. Only two Dunkin’ people were wearing the mask correctly. The other four people behind the counter wore it over their mouths but not their noses.

By the time I got to a rest area above Gainesville on I-75, no one but me was wearing a mask and everyone looked at me like I was from outer space. Obviously, there is no longer any danger from Covid – I just didn’t get the memo.

After I hit Wildwood, Florida on the turnpike, it started raining. Up to this point, it was sunshine all the way. For those of you who don’t know Wildwood, it’s the northern terminus of the Florida Turnpike (ahem, Ronald Reagan Turnpike). The turnpike meets I-75 just below Ocala at Wildwood. From I-75, I cut across to I-10 at Lake City. From Wildwood to Gainesville, the bottom fell out of the sky. There were several times I had to slow due to poor visibility but I never pulled off the road.

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Is it me or has everyone become much more aggressive as drivers since the pandemic? It seems like everyone was in way too big of a hurry and were weaving in and out of traffic. There were only a few highway patrol on the turnpike but on I-75 they were several pulled over trying to help cars in ditches.

I pulled into Quincy, Florida around 5:15 pm. Hilton has this system where you can get a digital key on your phone and you don’t have to check in with the desk. It didn’t work. I had to stop by the desk.

The Hampton Inn has seen better days. I was able to chose my own room and I opted for a 3rd floor room so I wouldn’t have to hear people above me. Next, I needed to find a place for diesel and some food. There’s a Gulf station next to the hotel that sold diesel. However, you couldn’t pay at the pump. You had to walk inside, give the pump number, swipe a card. The cashier asked if I thought it would be more than 40. I thought she meant gallons. I said no. She meant dollars. My tank holds over 20 gallons and I was down to a quarter of a tank. Forty bucks only got me 3/4 full. I’ve never seen this system before. She said if it was less than $40 that it would be reimbursed on the card.

When I was on the turnpike, the jeep was getting 30 miles per gallon, even with the car top carrier. After I started heading west on I-10, the mileage dropped to 26 miles per gallon. That was some head wind. I could tell that on I-10 I was getting a lot of wind pushing me across lanes ever so slightly. It was almost like the tires were shimming. The carrier on the roof wasn’t a big help.

I felt safe driving 70 mph even in a heavy downpour. There is good tread on my tires and the jeep has an anti-skid system for wet pavements. Have I said before I love my jeep?

Finding food in Quincy was tough. I have a feature on the jeep navigation that lets you get a route to local restaurants. Every restaurant that interested me was closed. As a matter of fact, many businesses in Quincy are closed. I don’t know if this is due to the pandemic or if Quincy was depressed before the pandemic, but it once was a cute , thriving little town that I drove through on my way to Mississippi when I visited my folks.

I did eventually find a KFC. Looks like my vegetarian diet is on pause during this trip. I chose the two-piece combo, crispy. I did get the Cole slaw along with the mashed potatoes so I got my unhealthy veggies in. I’ll gain all 20 pounds I’ve lost after this trip.

Tomorrow is a 6 1/2 hour drive to Baton Rouge, home of the hated LSU Tigers who pick on Ole Miss all the time. Hopefully, the rain is gone and I can see clearly now.