Arizona

I'm very late in posting some pictures of our drive through Arizona. I will be brief with explanation, as I'm currently in the LA area visiting with friends. Arizona was beautiful, the drastic change in scenery from the flat (and very hot--102) desert, to the going up in the mountain areas to head toward the Grand Canyon was absolutely incredible.

Aliens and sand

New Mexico is beautiful! I really love the desert, and the mountains that loom in the backround are breathtaking. We had a beautiful drive yesterday from Roswell, NM to Deming, NM.

Roswell was fun, we stopped in town to visit the International UFO Museum and Research Center. The museum was founded by people that actually "witnessed" the incident, it was definitely interesting learning more about what happened in Roswell in 1947. The whole alien thing is apparent in every aspect in the town, from real estate advertising to street light posts! After that we had some Mexican food and we were on the road again to White Sands National Monument. This was absolutely incredible. White Sands is a gypsum dune field that spreads over 275 acres in the Tularosa Basin. We got out to climb the dunes and take some pictures, it was amazing! This is a must visit if anyone is ever in southern New Mexico.

They like it fast in Texas

Quick post--today was a driving day, we made it 500 miles, wahoooo! We have to book it across Texas to make up some time to make sure we get to Los Angeles on April 24th whilst allowing time to see some stuff along the way.

We stopped for a late lunch in Driftwood Texas at the infamous Salt Lick. Zach has been waiting to go back to this place for 10 years! It lived up to the hype, it was tasty and packed with people that traveled from all over to eat their BBQ.

Gators Like Marshmallows

Yep, they do...

I really, really wanted to do a Bayou tour while in Louisiana, and we did the perfect one today! On the way from New Orleans to Lafayette, I spyed a swamp tour sign, and we headed that way. Boy, did it look remote...cue the banjo music...

It was AWESOME! Zam's Swamp tour is a must if you're every neat Thibodaux, LA. We rolled up without a reservation, but for 10 bucks extra, they gave us a private tour. Our tour guide "wild" Bill was extremely knowledgeable as he grew up on Bayou Bouef, he even showed us his old fishing hole he used to swim at when he was a youngin'. The colorful owners were very nice and the store/outpost had some the weird random stuff you'd expect to see in the middle of nowhere Bayou country. Zach and I saw tons of gators, turtles and other wildlife while Bill told us the history of that bayou. After the boat tour, a random kinda scary dude took us to the owners yard where they have a menagerie of baby gators (we got to hold one!), rabbits, chickens, and GIANT gators (in a fenced in swamp thank god). It was truely kinda strange...and that dude was definitely cajun...wow.

As an aside, the owners were actually on that reality show "Trading Spouses", and ironically that episode is about 1 of 3 that I've actually seen, and I recognized the whole family. Here's a summary of the episode...yessss:

An animal-rights activist from San Diego trades places with a Cajun swamp tour owner from Louisiana. Diana Tregle operates a swamp tour in Thibodeaux, Louisiana. She lives with her husband, Lloyd "Diego" Loupe, and her eight-year-old son, Zamariah "ZZ" Loupe. The family lives with a menagerie of snakes and alligators. Diana worries about the mother she's swapping families with, because she knows Zamariah can be a handful. Meanwhile, in San Diego, California, Barbara Gates, a mother, homemaker, and animal-rights activist, keeps a vegan household. She and her family try to abstain from hurting any animals. She lives with her husband Jim, and their children: ten-year-old son, Jack; and daughter Lucy, age eight.

Now these are some colorful folks, enjoy the pictures and the video of "wild" Bill throwing marshmallows at an alligator.

After that Zach and I continued onto Lafayette to indulge in some Cajun food. After a feast of crawfish, alligator, frog legs and gumbo we decided to pack it in for the night.

Devastation in the Gulf

We began the day today in Gulfport, Mississippi. We drove down west the 90, a state highway that goes along the coast of Mississippi. It was a beautiful drive, regardless of the overcast skies. The one thing though was that the sheer devastation of Katrina is still very apparent here. Most people think of New Orleans in relation to Katrina, but the towns of Gulfport, Biloxi, and other coastal points along the coast of Mississippi got completely obliterated. When we looked left out our windows--it was all concrete pads and rubble where homes and businesses used to thrive.

They can't give away waterfron property here right now, and it's abuntantly clear that no one is buying. Can you believe that waterfront property is selling for merely $170,000 for around 3 acres?! In Wilmington, NC it would be $1-$2 million.

I've included some pictures above...the first 2 are a couple from the Bellingrath Gardens in Mobile, Alabama to cheer y'all up a bit.

The Redneck Riviera

From Valdosta Georgia, we headed down into Florida and went south west of Tallahassee. The drive from Valdosta to the main interstate was beautiful (see pictures taken from RV above) -- there was giant Spanish moss draped oaks the whole way. We went west along the coast state highway, which was pretty. The gulf coast of Florida's panhandle is pretty remote, thus the "redneck riviera" nickname it has been given.

We stopped on St. George Island as there's a state park. It was a perfect day for a bike ride along the beach! After many phonecalls to RV campsites up the road in Santa Rosa and Ft. Walton (many were booked and many were $60-$80 as they were on the beach-yikes!) we decided to head north to find a cheaper campsite. We stayed in Freeport, FL--which is in the middle of nowhere. It was a little mom-and-pop campsite run by a couple in there 60's that live on the site in a camper--needless to say, our satellite internet did not work--we were in too remote of an area. They were as sweet as pie as they say down here...

Well, were currently stopped somewhere in Alabama to work a bit--until nextime!

Interesting first day

Getting started this morning was interesting...

The windshield washer fluid was not working so we spent the first 2 hours that we were supposed to be on the road--at an RV service station in Wilmington. Luckily after that, and a small scare that the fridge wasn't working, we were off!

Zach and I are spending our first night right outside of Charleston, SC. When we arrive, the hot water tank didn't seem to be working, fun times. After an hour on the phone with support, we got it working and all is well hopefully.
So a kinda rocky start to our first day, oh well. The adventure is just beginning!

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!

We leave today!! So excited, but no time to blog, I'll post something later tonight.

okay...1st video. Yeah...a little rough, I'll get used to it. But we pick up the RV tomorrow, hooray! We have to drive all the way to Raleigh to get it from Cruise America.

Watch the video, I say ummm ....a lot. So for a fun drinking game, drink every time I say um or look around and not at the camera.

4 Days to Go!!

Okay...we're leaving in 4 days! On Tuesday we'll leave our home town of Wilmington, NC and head south along the coast stopping 1st right outside of Charleston, SC. It's thrilling now that the trip is upon us, we've been gathering all the necessities.

So far we have a loose plan as where we're headed, I'll post a map of our route later this weekend...or perhaps I'll just post a video telling y'all the plan! There has been a slight adjustment, we originally planned on bringing our pets--Roman the Pug and Chloe the cat. We thought that out and figured it would be best to board Roman, and have Zach's sister, Dana, take the cat.

Nevertheless, I shall do a video tomorrow night and introduce you all to the plan and the animals that will not be going with us :( . My good friend who lives in the LA area was sadly disappointed that Roman will not be making an appearance in LA, so I must make them part of the first video post.

so until tomorrow then!