Travel Notes

California–Heading home today!!

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Phoenix, Arizona

Not much to say about Phoenix except it’s hot even in May!! We did stay at a nice RV resort that had a big pool which was nice. And, Tom cooked Tri Tip.:)

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Ghost Town, Somewhere in Texas

On our way from Van Horn to Phoenix we stumbled though this abandoned town which had lots of cool photo ops.

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Van Horn, Texas

Just a quick stop before heading to Phoenix.

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Austin, Texas

Back through Texas, this time staying right in downtown Austin at a park called Pecan Grove. It was perfectly situated where we could walk to many different “joints” for food–mainly Texas BBQ. We planned the stop to coincide with the Karr’s stay there and we ended up having sites across from each other. We did a lot of exploring around the town as we actually had a rental car!! We visited the new ENORMOUS Tesla factory that is being built about 20 minutes outside of town. We have never seen anything so massive. We also visited some interesting sections of town–South Congress Street, Barton Springs, the music district and of course found several yummy places to eat. See more photos is the “snapsots” section.

Terry Black’s BBQ, Austin

We walked here from the RV park and it turned out to be amazing! It was cafeteria style….first stop, choose your fresh made sides–mac n cheese, baked beans, cole slaw, corn bread, Mexican rice, green beans, and pecan pie! Next stop, the meat counter where they where slicing off whatever meat you wanted. I got brisket and Tom got a beef rib. Yep, one rib was the size of a small ham. Oh and a fresh sliced smoked turkey sandwich for Fergie. LOL

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Pacos Tacos, Austin

Fun place with lots of character and amazing tacos–check out the menu–nothing ordinary here!! And the atmosphere was right up our alley.

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Breaux Bridge, Louisiana

We spent 2 nights at Poche’s RV park in Breaux Bridge which is just outside of La Fayette. It was the most peaceful place with lakes and trees and the nicest people on the planet! Our neighbors who were sitting on the edge of the lake behind their camper watched Tom back into the spot perfectly and commended him on it for the next 2 days. I couldn’t have been talking to them for 5 minutes when they offered us the use of their truck to go into town since we did not have a car!! (who does that? no one in California!) Then when Fergie got out of the RV she decided that these were really cool people and flopped down on their feet. The next night the four of us went out to a amazing Cajun dinner at Pat’s Fisherman’s Warf Restaurant. It was such a fun night.

After going to bed that night, at about 3AM, we experienced the biggest, loudest, craziest thunder & lighting storm of our lives. It seemed like the thunder was right above us and buckets of rain were hitting our rig for hours. Fergie was not having any of that so we let her join us in the bed. Needless to say, we got very little sleep that night.

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Hilton Head, South Carolina

This by far, is my favorite stop on our trip as of yet! It is such a beautiful park. It’s like camping in a forest of oaks, pines, palm trees and other cool trees and foliage. Our site was right on the lake. And, we were very close to the beach–Hilton Head is actually an island that is famous for its beaches and golf courses. (who knew? I never heard of it before). We rented bikes for 2 days and cruised all around the island with Fergie (the Dutchess of Newbury) in tow. It was so much fun because everything is so flat that it was easy riding–and beautiful trees everywhere. Of course we always found ourselves at a beach bar for food and drink–some sort of magnetic pull possibly? Checkout the “Snapshots” page for more photos and a video of Fergie’s travels in the “Sedan” on Tom’s blog.

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Key West

Definitely relaxing now– 5 nights in Key West. I’m embarrassed to say that our tourist stops have mainly been for eating and drinking. Wherever you go, you are not far from the beach and we have found many places to “view” the beach from a bar stool–LOL. I will give a brief recap of a couple of the amazing meals we have had. We stayed at Boyd’s Key West Campground. We love it and want to come back.

Hogfish Bar & Grill

We found this place by accident as we were lost even though it was about 1/2 mile from our campsite! It was a great find and we ended up eating here more than once. Lots of great seafood, fresh off the docks. It is on the water with a relaxed, tiki open air seating and live music. Just our “vibe”! We made a meal out of seafood ceviche, seared ahi nachos and coconut shrimp and the best key lime pie we’ve ever had!

Roostica Wood-fire Pizzeria

Another great place and only 1/4 mile from our campsite. Great pizza and a great atmosphere. Tom found a new beer to his liking “Monk in the Trunk”.

De Luna’s Cuban Food Truck

Great food truck on the campsite with Cuban cuisine. The best fried rice ever with lobster, shrimp, chicken and sausage served with fried plantains.

Panama City, Florida

Finally reached Florida! Beautiful white sand beaches and great weather. Now we’re talking relaxation.

Alabama Gulf Shores

We stayed at Alabama Gulf Shores State Park on the recommendation of our friends Jeff and Lisa Karr who were staying there at the time. It is a beautiful park with lots of trails and boardwalks to get around the 6,000+ acres which is also alligator habitat. We had a great time vising the Karrs and walking, biking and dining on the local fare. We would definitely stay here again.

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Did Someone say Alligator??

Here in The Alabama Gulf Shore, Alligators are the natives.

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Texas-Louisiana

Lots of traveling these past few days. Need to catch up on our travels…. In Texas we were at a bar & grill on Lake Travis. It just happened to be 4-20. Who knew there would be a crazy party in the middle of the day? We pretty much steered clear and kept Fergie out of harms way. Other than that we had a few relaxing days at the camp ground since a rental car was not in the cards.

The drive to New Orleans was loooooong! about 11 hours including gas and rest stops. We were so tired. The nice thing was they had a restaurant on site so we had a great southern meal of shrimp, catfish, crab cakes and hush puppies. The next day we had a driver take us and Fergie (of course) around New Orleans and into the French Quarter. Lots of interesting things to see, some music and food. It was a little strange because is was not very crowded–I guess because of Covid. But we managed to have a fun day with the help of a Category-5 Margarita and Abita Amber Lager. Fergie was very popular with all the tourists and locals and enjoyed the sights and local food!!

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While in Rome……

Obviously, we are not in Rome but we are in Texas!! So, we cooked up a Texas dinner (I told you we would use the camping grill eventually!) Baby Back ribs, Ranch Beans and potatoes on the grill. Oh, and forgot to mention, served with Negro Modelo and Cadillac Margaritas. 🙂

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From New Mexico to Texas

Yesterday was a looooong day. We drove 600 miles, about 11 hours including stops. Fergie was very anxious and sat on my lap for awhile. We ended up putting on a thunder shirt to calm her along with the Hemp chews I picked up earlier in the week. Lots of long straight highway and not much scenery. I will post a few shot of the sunrise in NM and the sunset in Texas. Today was chill out day. Hung out at the camp site all day. It is a beautiful RV park right outside of Austin. Tried to rent a car to cruise around the city but EVERYTHING was sold out for a 45 mile radius including at the airport!! Have you ever hear of that!??! The car rental gal said it was lots of “Revenge Travel” because of the pandemic. A new buzz word….. Is that what we are doing??

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D.H. Lescombes Winery & Bistro, Las Crusas, NM

We had an amazing dinner at Lescombes thanks to a recommendation from our Newbury Park “neighbor Kris”. Delicious food and wine and even local craft beer for Tom! For you foodies out there we started out with Jalapeño bacon wrapped shrimp with a spicy mandarin sauce (right up Tom’s alley) yummy! I had a flight of 3 of their Heritage wines and Tom had several Scotia Scotch Ale from Bosque Brewing. Neighbor Kris also raved about the The Heritage Cabernet (which was delicious) so we had to buy a case. 🙂 For our entrees, Tom had Filet Steak Bearnaise with Grilled Shrimp and I had Chilean Seabass. (We will use the camping grill soon, really!)

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