The Worst.

We think it's official. In nearly 4 years on the road, this is the absolutely worst weather we have endured. Since Interstate 10 is still closed, we had to pony up for another night at the Alamo Fiesta RV Resort. (That's I-10 above; if you look in the upper right-hand corner, you will see the arrow directing all traffic to the exit ramp, where last night and tonight you will find the world's larges truck stop. Every available spot at Wal Mart, Home Depot, the Park and Ride lot, and even a church with the bad luck to be too close to the exit, occupied by a big rig.) Surreal.

It rained all last night, leaving every exposed surface, (even vertical ones!) with a 1/2 inch layer of ice. Further on on our route, up in the hill country, the problem was snow. Lots of snow, which is why over 200 miles of the Interstate are closed. They're now saying tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. That's putting the Pack Hunt out of reach, unless it gets moved to Sunday. Good thing we'll be there for a month- so it's not like the "pack" is going to miss out on hunting... just the opportunity to try and win us some cold, hard cash doing it.

There is an upside. Ice storms sure are pretty.

Today's Picture...

Lemme just say if we wanted to live through crap like this, we would have stayed up north. Looks like "up north", doesn't it? But it's the Fiesta RV resort, in Boerne, TX- just a few miles northwest of San Antonio. We took refuge here when the freezing rain was replaced by heavy sleet... coming sideways. Hopefully, things will clear up by tomorrow, but it's not looking good right now. In fact it's raining hard and the temp is right around 30 degrees. I'll try to get some more pictures up.

Image of the Day.

Still life, by Katrina.

This was a piece of barn roof, still wrapped around a large tree 16 months after the fact. Hopefully, tomorrow's image won't be of a mass of twisted metal, including the Express caused by the ice/sleet/wintry mix/snow/North Wind that lies dead in our path to New Mexico.

Internet access will be spotty for the next 4-5 weeks, so keep checking.

Picture of the Day

Busking, outside Cafe Du Monde. French Quarter, New Orleans, LA.

Pizza Hut It Ain't!

We've made our first pilgrimage into New Orleans in two years. To say that things look a little different, would be understating the obvious.

For the most part, this trip was pretty business-like. We spent a couple of hours on about a quarter-mile section of N. Peters Street.. the French Market area. We needed to restock on our- Oops! I almost let it slip.. a secret ingredient for my famous Bloody Marys, (available only at the French Marketplace Seafood Co.).

Then it was time for lunch. Prior to our visit I'd asked for recommendations for cheap eats in the Quarter. The recommendation was for the Louisiana Pizza Kitchen, located in this building on the corner of Decatur and Barracks St., right at the end of the French Market.

Now, when I think of New Orleans, pizza (or Italian food in general) is not the thing that first jumps into my mind. After I thought about it a bit, though, I figured we'd get some local flavor even in a pizza joint. Was I right. The boys at PepsiCo just haven't got a clue when it comes to a "sausage-lover's pizza". Check out the Salciccia Marinara pizza on this menu. Now, that's a sausage lover's pizza! Margaret had the Crawfish Etouffe pizza.. actually, we shared. Washed down with a Turbo Dog. We will be back. And a HUGE Hat Tip to Matthew Mullenix for this recommendation!

We passed on the dessert at the Pizza Kitchen, and opted instead for a more "touristy" treat: Coffee and Beignets at Cafe du Monde. Picked up a couple of cool new T-Shirts at Jester's, some Mardi Gras masks to send to Margaret's grandkids, and we were ready to head back across Ponchartrain to Fountainbleu State Park.

Daily Optimism

We've added a little something to the blog. Once you find it you, too, will feel a little more optimistic with each passing second...

Pic of the Day

Or, why I stayed ashore for four years in the Navy.