December 1997

<<< Saturday, 28 November - Monday, 1 December 1997

Our activities moved into a slower phase after K&J's return to the UK.  Friday was spent reorganising and cleaning and then during the following three days, we caught up with the post, did a lot of reading and generally made the most of the campground's large heated pool and spa.

Tuesday, 2 December - Friday, 5 December 1997

Keith and Priscilla Pippin, whom we originally met in Boston, MA live nearby at Sun Lakes.  As they had invited us to visit them if we were ever in their neighbourhood we decided to phone them and in no time had arranged to stay with them for a few days. This turned out to be a real treat as we were able to put the RV into storage and stay in their delightful house for four days. The open-plan house is in a newish well laid-out community development with some of the houses located around numerous artificial lakes.  Being in the desert the gardens are mainly planted with a wide variety of cacti some of which grow over fifteen feet tall.  Extensive use is made of stones and rock chippings for ground cover, which comes in a wide variety of colours, with volcanic rock appearing to be popular.  The community has several club houses all with swimming pools, spas, and restaurants as well as rooms for craft and pastime activities.

Keith and George had amongst others a common interest in computing so with access to a phone line both spent many hours connected to the Internet downloading programmes and information.  As George had recently obtained a new hard drive it also provided an opportunity to get the modem and dial-up connection fully operational which unfortunately proved to be more than difficult.

On Friday evening we took Priscilla to Phoenix airport as she was flying to Nassau with two girlfriends for a week of beaching and maybe a flutter in the casino.  We arranged to meet up with them and some of their friends in Wickenburg in about ten days to travel on together to Laughlin, NV which is a mini Las Vegas.

Saturday, 6 - Wednesday, 10 December 1997

After brunch with Keith, we retrieved the RV from storage and travelled south towards Tucson intending to explore the area further.  On the way, however, Valerie got talking to a fellow RVer in a rest area near Casa Grande which resulted in us deciding to take his recommendation to stay at a local membership campground. We knew enough about membership campgrounds to know that we would be expected to attend a sale presentation however the thought of staying at a five-star resort for five nights for less than 30 dollars was too attractive.  There are many forms of campground membership clubs most of which are expensive with many being located in remote areas.  The Desert Shadows Resort turned out to be a very good campground with plenty of facilities, a large swimming pool and recreation rooms.  More importantly most evenings there was a potluck dinner which means plenty of good food at an excellent price.

George looked forward to attending the sales presentation which lasted about an hour but had some difficulty in containing his laughter when the saleslady said that membership would only cost 6,215 dollars plus an annual fee of 325 dollars.

Thursday, 11 - Sunday, 14 December 1997

As we wanted to be located near larger shops we moved to the Sunflower Resort near Surprise which is to the northeast of Phoenix, where this time we had to pay the full price at what is an excellent campground for snowbirds.  The resort is a large campground with over 700 sites many with semi-permanent homes. We were amazed when we walked around after dark to find that virtually every home had been decorated in a blaze of coloured lights, it was almost as good as the Blackpool illumination of years gone by.   It was time for us to get out last years Xmas decorations but in comparison, they looked inadequate so it meant another trip to Walmart.

The question of where to spend Christmas began to loom, no doubt as it does for a lot of folk at this time of year.  Most of the private campgrounds organise a lunch on Xmas day but we felt that it might be nicer to stay at the SKP park near Wickenburg, but it was not to be.

Monday, 15 - Wednesday, 17 December 1997

Back to Wickenburg in time to meet up with Keith and Priscilla with whom we had previously planned to travel on to Laughlin, however, on checking our voicemail service there was yet another message from Vergie with a graphic description of the delights of a Cajun Christmas and inviting us yet again to join them.  It was too much and even though they lived near New Orleans some 1,600 miles to the east we decided that we could not miss the opportunity and would forgo the nightlife of Laughlin and make an early start Thursday on the long trip to Louisiana.  Before our departure, we met Judy and Barry Curtis who have been SKPs for about 18 years which turned out to be fortunate as they had a plot at the SKP park in Livingston which they insisted we should use free of charge on our way to our Cajun Christmas.

It is said that RV's are big enough to hold six for cocktails, four for a meal and two for sleeping however Judy did an excellent job one evening feeding the 6 of us, during which it transpired that Barry enjoyed road four-wheel driving so the following day three vehicles set off for the ghost town of Stanton which lies some miles into the desert at the base of a range of hills which even today contain good reserves of gold.

We were somewhat surprised to find that the so-called ghost town was full of RVs whose occupants were there for the gold.  It is still possible to find enough gold to get by on but rarely enough to get rich, it is even possible to rent a gold mine for a holiday activity.  Further, into the emptiness of the desert we came across broken wood planks strewn over a large area, perhaps wrongly we concluded that it was the result of a dwelling that had been dynamited by the owner in a fit of temper had been unable to make a living out of gold mining.  Later that evening at a local diner we were not surprised to see several odd characters with huge beards dressed in the classic miner style.

Thursday, 18 - Sunday, 21 December 1997

It was an early start for our easterly journey to New Orleans, the first day we travelled 410 miles to Deming, NM where we stayed at the Dream Catcher RV Park.  Much of the journey was through the countryside containing little other than scrub and cactus.  Of mild interest were the large clumps of tumbleweed being blown by the wind across the countryside just like the classic scene in an old western.  

Soon after leaving on the second day, we passed through Las Cruces which had numerous cattle feeding stations where thousands of cattle were confined within bare brown earth enclosures.  Many of the cattle were motionless so we assumed that with a plentiful supply of ready-cut hay they did not have to waste energy or time searching for food.  Baby calves were tethered in long rows each having a small metal roof for shelter.  Not surprising considering the tens of thousands of cattle in such as small area a strong smell pervaded everything. Maybe we have not been in the right place to see traditional cow ranches, but it does seem that the days of cattle roaming the prairie managed by cowboys has long passed.  At least the price of fuel was improving as we travelled east.

It was then across the border into Texas, through the sprawl of El Paso which had not impressed us when we passed through a year ago, on this occasion it seemed even worse.  A heavy yellow smog hung over the city partly due to the numerous heavy industrial refineries.  Many of the buildings we could see from the interstate highway were reminiscent of the poorer parts of Mexico.

After the empty roads across New Mexico, the traffic through El Paso was horrendous so we were glad to get back into the scrub.  Miles from anywhere the two-lane highway suddenly funnelled into a single-lane road block managed by the INS (Immigration and Nationalisation Service) who were looking for illegal immigrants from Mexico, but as they do not get many British visitors driving vehicles with Texas plates we were asked to pull over for a closer inspection.  All was well and we were soon on our way ending the second day after 310 miles at Pecos which appears to be a small town on hard times with many of its businesses closed.

On day three we awoke to the sound of heavy rain which followed us most of 295 miles to Kerrville, lasting into the night.  It was the first time in two years of touring that we had experienced such heavy and prolonged rain.  The TV is giving out warnings of flash floods and possible tornadoes, so Valerie is keeping vigil!! 

Thankfully the next day dawned sunny and we started the next 350 miles to Livingston, Texas where we picked up our mail and enjoyed opening and reading the many Christmas cards and messages we had received both from home and our new American friends.  We stayed two nights at the Escapee park so that we could do some last-minute shopping, that is except for alcohol as Livingston county is a 'dry area', which makes it a strange place to locate a SKP park as most SKPs like an occasional drink.

Tuesday, 23 December 1997

This last day of our journey started badly with another storm and torrential rain which continued most of the day until we finished the last stretch of the I10's 880 miles across Texas, crossing several swollen creeks one of which was called Woman Hollering Creek. (?) We eventually arrived at Vergie and Stirling's very pretty southern-style house which is on a large plot in the countryside where we parked the motor home at the far end of the driveway, connecting to electricity and water outlets.  Later Stirling who seems to do most of the cooking (Cajun style) fixed us fried speckled trout, shrimp, smothered potatoes and creamed sweetcorn.  As it turned out it was the first of many delicious meals to come.

Wednesday, 24 December 1997, Christmas Eve

Stirling's and Vergie's delightful house lies on two acres of ground which they had built to their design four years ago. The garage is as large as many homes as it houses their large motor home, two cars and has a very large workshop at the rear. Stirling's daughter lives about half a mile away and we went with about 15 others for a gumbo lunch which was the best we have tasted.

Thursday, 25 December 1997, Christmas Day

The day which dawned bright and clear was started with coffee and beignets freshly cooked by Stirling. 

Lunchtime was off to Vergie's son's house for turkey and lots of side dishes served buffet style for about 20 people.  As we have experienced so often in the past, the task of cooking a large meal for a lot of people was made easier as many of the guests brought a prepared dish along with them, which meant we had a large selection of tasty dishes to try.

So far all the houses we have visited have been beautifully decorated for Christmas with large trees virtually hidden by the huge quantity of ornaments and ribbons.  The lady of this house was into quilting and several walls were hung with festive quilts she had made.

Later that afternoon Stirling drove us into New Orleans stopping to see a couple of the old Plantation houses on the way.  0f course being Christmas Day it was a lot quieter than usual but after we had a coffee in the French Quarter listening to a jazz band we went to see the Christmas lights in City Park.

The millions of lights were viewed from the car as they stretched for at least 2 miles - each set of lights depicting different scenes was sponsored by local merchants.  On the way home, we crossed over Lake Pontchartrain via a 27-mile-long causeway which must make it one of the longest bridges in the world.

Friday, 26 December 1997

Unlike England, today is not a national holiday so activities were almost back to normal, other than the stores which like the local Wal-Mart had a line of people the length of the store waiting to return presents.  Despite the very heavy rain during the evening we decided to eat out, this time at Catfish Charlie's where the shrimp and catfish were served Cajun style - spiced and covered in a light batter.

Saturday, 27 December 1997

Stirling loves to cook and nothing pleases him more than people enjoying his excellent cooking, with about 18 due for lunch he prepared a range of dishes including two turkeys one roasted and the other smoked over cherry wood for 12 hours as well as a large brisket of beef, side dishes included yams and cranberry salad followed by cinnamon flavoured carrot cake and a huge trifle.

Sunday, 28 December 1997

By 04.00 am Stirling and George were on the road heading south for a day's fishing, arriving at the boat launching ramp just before dawn.  Considering the time and the cold it was surprising how many boats were being launched, most of which were about 15 to 20 feet long with powerful outboard motors.

In no time we were travelling at 35 knots through a maze of bayous until we arrived in a huge saltwater lake just as the sun rose above the tree-lined horizon.

Within minutes we were into the first fish of the day and by the time we stopped at about 11.00 we had caught about 30 speckled trout, 4 drums and our limit of 24 reds, each of which weighed about 3 to 4 pounds, the biggest of the day, which put up an excellent fight was caught by George - well that just might be another one of those fishing stories!

Monday, 29 December 1997

In many states hunting, shooting and fishing are a way of life and Louisiana is no exception, with most men and quite a few women actively participating in one or all forms.  For some, it is the excitement of pitting one skill against nature but for most, it's also the reward of catching food for the larder.  Numerous shops provide a service to prepare deer but many prefer to do it themselves.  Stirling told us a lot about the lifestyle including how ducks are shot by hunters lying in wait in the swamp or from hides on lakes at the crack of dawn.  There is a limit to the number of deer that each hunter can take which is typically 6 per season.

Cajun country is particularly noted for its excellent unique food which tends to be on the spicy side, which is not surprising since it is the home of Tabasco sauce. A particular favourite of the area is crawfish which is caught in the local bayous and served in numerous ways including in batter, sauces and pies.  We were not sure if it was due to the influence of the early French settlers but in Cajun country, most men do the cooking and do it in style, normally in such large quantities that it lasts several days.  Every house has a huge very heavy cooking pot in which dishes such as jambalaya or gumbo are cooked.

Louisiana still has vast areas of swamp which are crossed by long roads supported on concrete piles over canals, which in turn provide fishermen with a means of getting to the numerous fishing areas.  Most of the major oil companies have vast refineries close to the coast which together with sugar cane provides much of the local employment.

Stirling was keen to show us some of the local countryside which turned out to be a 280-mile round trip!  The first stop was the Tabasco factory at Avery Island where the world-famous pepper sauce has been made for over 100 years.  Today they make about 400,000 bottles a day on four highly automated production lines. The sauce is made from a specially selected pepper plant, the peppers are picked by hand when a deep red, placed in barrels filled with vinegar, sealed with a salt layer and then stored for about three years.  We then dropped in on Leroy and Amy who went with us to Mexico and invited us to join them for lunch, which typical of southern hospitality was quickly served in large helpings.

Wednesday, 31 December 1997, New Years Eve

We celebrated the arrival of the new year in the Shell sports club dancing to a Cajun band and enjoying a jambalaya made unusually with spaghetti instead of rice which was cooked in a cannibal size pot located in the dance hall. >>>