Thursday, November 28, 2019 Move to Deming, NM

Today Joani had me repeat yesterday's longer drive, this time 337.5 miles (97,148.5 total) to Deming, New Mexico. At least we finally exited Texas - that is one long drive through the Lone Star State. The rain had stopped and the day looked promising but we soon drove right into the clouds. I estimated our visibility was as little as 100 yards at times.

A few miles further down the road it was like another day; sunshine, mountains in the distance, blue sky and fluffy clouds.

It changed again before long as the clouds thickened and it began to rain for the remainder of our drive.

The Walmart in Deming worked out so well for us. We parked along a curb that allowed us to extend the bedroom slide - that always makes it more comfortable. We unhooked the car and found a Chinese buffet a few miles away that was open. We were expecting Chinese food but were surprised to find traditional fare instead including turkey and dressing, potatoes, ham, green beans and carrots and, of course, pumpkin pie. We ate more than we should have but less than we could have so we were pretty comfortable for the evening.

It rained most of the night and we found a good size puddle outside our door in the morning. The coach became a mess with Sam's trips in and out - he doesn't think he needs to dry his paws when he comes in.

Our plan the following morning was to try to get into Rockhound State Park about 13 miles away. Reserved sites were all taken but they had a number of sites that were first come, first served so we headed out to see if anything was available. The road had several washes with a bit of standing water but we were finally stopped by one that must have been at least a couple of feet deep. There was no way our Honda Fit was going to make it across so we headed back to town to rethink our plans.

There were several RV parks on the main street in Deming and while Joani researched the area she found an Escapee Rainbow Park just a few miles away. She called, they had a site and we checked into the Dream Catcher Escapee Park in Deming just 2.2 miles away (97,150.7 total).

After we settled in, we heard the pitter-patter of raindrops on our roof again but with full hook-ups including 50 amp service after 6 days of boondocking we were happy to sit back and enjoy it.

Wednesday, November 27, 2019, Move to Pyote, TX

Thank you Steve and Angie for your hospitality! We hope to see you again whenever we pass through the area.

Another beautiful sunrise greeted us at the ranch as we contemplated the drive ahead of us today. We really had nothing planned until we reached New Mexico. Unfortunately, New Mexico was a long way away.

We broke the drive into smaller steps which meant I only had to drive 337.8 miles today (96,811.0 total) to another rest stop along I-20 near Pyote, TX. There was really not much to see the entire day except oil wells and businesses catering to the oil wells.

The rest stop was huge and the pavement was very level. I don't think we could have asked for anything better for a quick overnight. In the nice, new building Joani noticed a sign indicating access to the tornado shelters. Good to know but I hope we never need to see how well they weather a tornado!

We were nearly the only people parked when we closed our shades but we heard a lot of activity throughout the night with trucks coming and going.

On satellite view Joani counted 27 parking slots. When I walked Sam in the morning I saw trucks double and triple parked along the curbs and lining the exit and entrance ramps. A lot of folks made an early start but I would guess more than 100 trucks spent some time in the rest stop overnight.

Tuesday, November 26, 2019, Pie Day with Steve and Angie, Weatherford, TX

Another beautiful sunrise at the ranch. It was easy to see why Steve and Angie wanted to build on this property. Colorful sunrises and sunsets are the norm here unless it is completely overcast.

That color did not last this morning as the clouds moved in quickly. My hair was getting unruly so I improvised for the barber. I used our 150 watt inverter on my telescope 12 volt battery and the outdoor salon was ready for business.

Steve said there will never be any furniture moving concerns with this great doorway. The door opened normally but then the adjacent glass panels slid over and pivoted opening up the great room to the outdoors.

A wide open kitchen with custom cabinets and shelves and some of the most gorgeous granite we have ever seen was perfect for entertaining a mob of friends and relatives.

Steve did all of the tile work himself and his years of experience showed - it looked great! Yes we tried out the shower with the endless hot water to get ready for Pie Day.

I think Steve was really happy with his workshop. It measured 60 feet by 40 feet with about a 10 foot ceiling. We were envious - Joani and I have said for a long time how much we would like to have such a space.

Angie spoils her clients and invites them all to "Pie Day" every Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Everyone mingles and has something to eat before leaving with a beautiful pie of their choice (pumpkin, apple or pecan). Joani and I helped set things up and had a great time talking with her clients.

There was plenty of food left over that will be feeding Steve and Angie for the next week. After a quick clean up we headed back to the ranch for adult libations and lively conversation. Not too late though - tomorrow was a moving day.

Sunday, November 24, 2019, Move to Steve and Angie's, Weatherford, TX

We continued west on I-20 passing just south of Dallas and Fort Worth. The traffic, as you might expect, continued to build until we had four or five lanes filled with drivers. Fortunately, we never encountered any slowdowns so the 237.4 miles (96,473.2 total) went by quickly.

Steve, my cousin, was on his way back from Iowa but he gave me the combination to the gate at his ranch and we were able to find a great level spot along his driveway.

Steve's wife, Angie, joined us after work just before Steve arrived. We had a quick tour of their new house and we were both very impressed! I'll have pictures later - tonight we simply marveled at the splendor of the sunset which we learned is a very common occurrence at the ranch.

Saturday, November 23, 2019, Move to Waskom, TX

Heading west on I-10 we saw more of the Atchafalaya swamp before heading north on I-49 to Shreveport, LA. 

From there it was just a short hop west on I-20 and into Texas where we spent the night at the Texas Welcome Center/Rest Stop. Our drive was 241.7 miles (96,235.8 total) so I was ready to relax for the evening. Texas is one of the few states that welcomes overnight stays. They provided nighttime security and had an extremely large parking area. It didn't fill up until after dark so we did not get to see just how crowded it really was but it was a popular stop.

Friday, November 22, 2019, Louisiana State Capitol Building, Baton Rouge, LA

Today we drove into Baton Rouge to visit the Louisiana state capitol. We had to retrace our trip along I-10 that included the longest bridge I have ever traveled. We found out the 20+ mile stretch crosses the Atchafalaya (pronounced uh-CHA-fuh-lie-uh) river/swamp. Construction of the roadway involved first building a canal so they could bring in construction materials. It has to be one of the most expensive sections of the Interstate Highway system and I can't even imagine the headaches if they ever try to widen it to six lanes.

Louisiana has one of only four high rise capitol buildings in the country and it certainly did stand out. As we crossed the Mississippi there was nothing to hamper our view of the capitol building.

There was a definite Art Deco flavor to the architecture. There were a lot of Pelicans in the stonework so I thought I would ask about them. The problem was I actually asked why there were so many penguins. That got some very funny looks before we realized my mistake. The Pelican is the State Bird of Louisiana. 

At 34 floors and standing 450 feet high it was the tallest state capitol in the U.S. when built in 1932

Governor Huey Long had this Capitol built in the middle of the Great Depression. Completed in 14 months (March of 1932) at a cost of 5 million.

The senate chambers had one rather distinctive sight we were supposed to make sure we did not miss.

Stuck in the ceiling was a splinter of wood from a desk that was blown up by a bomb detonated many years ago. They even had a light on so you didn't miss it.

The splinter remains from a bomb blast that occurred on a Sunday in 1970 (no one was injured.)

At least they know how to decorate for Christmas. The trees, wreaths and flowers were very festive.

The choice of marble and granite in the halls was very intriguing. So many interesting colors and varieties. With very little effort we spotted lots of fossils embedded in the walls.

The walls are covered in the most colorful stone/granite, but its origin remains a mystery.

Below you see where a bullet ricocheted taking a divot out of the pillar when Huey P. Long was assassinated. It all seemed a bit too much. I think most people would have covered it up and tried to forget about the whole gruesome incident. Between the bomb in the senate and this, I decided Louisiana politics is not for the faint of heart.

Huey Long was assassinated in 1935, just three years after completion of the building.

An elevator took us to the 24th floor where we were able to catch another elevator to the 27th-floor observation deck. Outside we had an unobstructed view in every direction. Capitol Lake was to the north and had a lot of open space and trails around it. I suspect it gets a lot of visitors on a warm, sunny day but today there were no other takers.

This is still the tallest capitol in the U.S. today.

Looking to the south we saw just a few tall buildings and the bridge crossing the Mississippi. The first picture of the capitol above was taken as we crossed that bridge on our way in.

Between the trees and the paint, Joani liked this splash of color in an otherwise monochromatic panorama below us.

The observation deck and its panoramic views were certainly the highlight of this capitol building. It was not our favorite but better than some others and definitely worth visiting.

Thursday, November 21, 2019, Tabasco Factory Tour & Museum, Avery Island, LA

I always wanted to visit Avery Island, the home of Tabasco, but the only time we ever visited Louisiana we were in New Orleans. I never even tried to locate it on a map since it was never a possibility. Then Joani asked how far would I drive to visit - turned out we were only an hour away - that was close enough. She signed us up for the plant tour and the Jungle Gardens as well.

We could not have asked for a better day to visit. It was warm with a little breeze. The tour started at the museum and ended at the store but I headed into the store first. They had samples! I tried them all. A very enthusiastic young sales girl tried to sell me on a six-pack of my choosing that would net me a 25 percent discount. Joani gave me a special dispensation to exceed our hot sauce limit in the coach this one time and I took it. More about that later.

Who knew there was so much to learn about pepper sauce? We saw some of the earliest advertisements through to today's campaigns that made the sauce world famous. There are only three ingredients in Tabasco sauce - peppers, salt and vinegar. Every drop of the fiery condiment was made from peppers grown on Avery Island, Louisiana. The name Tabasco was to honor the town of Tabasco, Mexico where these peppers originated.

I had no idea there were so many counterfeit Tabascos. This was just a sampling.

This made me think of David!

Avery Island was not what most would consider an island. It was actually the top of a huge salt dome that raised the area as much as 160 feet above the surrounding area. The salt dome may extend more than 6 miles below the surface. Salt was mined on the island for the sauce and is now also commercially mined and shipped out by Cargill. The dome stands out from the surrounding marshland creating a circular 2,200-acre estate where the McIlhenny family has been growing peppers for more than 150 years. 

An aerial picture of Avery Island.
In 1868, Edmund McIlhenny planted his first crop of peppers on Avery Island, Louisiana; 140 years and five generations later, his own descendants are mashing those peppers’ descendants.

The tour took us by the nursery where pepper plants were grown from seeds. The seedlings were then planted in fields on the island. Mature peppers were picked by hand when they reach the perfect shade of red-orange and green peppers had to wait. 

The instant we walked into the greenhouse my camera fogged.

Peppers, mixed with some salt are mashed into a puree and aged in barrels. The tops of the barrels are sealed with oak and a layer of salt. The peppers are aged for as long as three years before being processed further. I learned later that each barrel, mixed with some vinegar, will yield 50,000 ounces of Tabasco sauce! At $3.00 per 5 ounce bottle each one of those barrels represented a nice chunk of change! 

Each barrel yields $30,000 worth of sauce and the warehouse holds about 68,000 to 73,000 barrels.


They process 20,000 to 22,000 barrels in a given year.

Next up was the processing factory. Here the pepper mash was mixed with vinegar and more salt and stirred. When the flavor was "just right" the mixture was filtered to remove the seeds and husks.

I suspect most people would have a difficult time breathing on the other side of the viewing area window. You could push a button that allowed you to get a "whiff" and it was pretty strong.

Finally, the pepper sauce was ready for bottling. We watched as one machine filled empty bottles and another installed the shaker top. Another screwed on the cap before labels were applied to the bottle neck and body. The last machine applied a tamper-proof seal to the cap. They proudly displayed how many bottles were produced for the day.

Time for the bottles to be boxed and packaged for shipment around the world. Tabasco sauce is shipped to 180 countries with labels in 22 different languages so don't be surprised to see it almost anywhere you might travel.

The last stop in the building was a room filled with historical pictures and memorabilia and a place to sit in quiet contemplation of the miracle of the Tabasco pepper sauce.

Enough about hot sauce and time to enjoy some of the island's natural beauty. The Jungle Gardens was a self-guided tour around a 3-mile loop. We chose to drive rather than walk because we needed the time for picture taking and I'm not sure how well we would have managed a 3-mile hike. The Live Oaks draped in Spanish Moss were simply spectacular!

Live Oaks are the dominant trees in the gardens.

A tree knot that caught my fancy.

Signs warned there were alligators in the area and they were not wrong. They were on the small side, at most 4 feet long, but we gave them a wide berth. Apparently, the turtles had no fear of the gators.

We watched this egret (a white heron) for a while.

 Its body language would give a clue as to when it was about to pounce.

I never saw him miss...

...he caught a fish with every try.

A huge pond and only one water hyacinth had a bloom.

Camellias were in bloom, or ready to bloom, throughout the island.

The Buddha was a gift to E.A. McIlhenny in 1936.

Bird City on Avery Island is a birding paradise in the warmer months, but in November only an egret or two can be seen. I believe the green covering on the water is duckweed.

I'm not sure if the round green 1/4 inch leaf and the teeny, tiny green pellet is part of the same plant, but one of them is duckweed.

I found contrasting perspectives on duckweed - a pest to be destroyed or a superfood that may save the planet.

Phyllostachys viridis, Golden Bamboo

Golden Bamboo attains a maximum height of around 45 feet, with a diameter of 3 to 4 inches.

Cryptothecia rubrocincta, the Christmas lichen

Such a pretty lichen.

Back at home, I had to get a shot of my new acquisitions. Many of the varieties I had never seen before. The Rocoto pepper sauce had just been introduced the day before we visited. It was also my priciest purchase. Scorpion sauce was their hottest option so, of course, I had to have some of it. I'm sure I will enjoy all of them even more so because they will remind me of our visit. Joani was responsible for the pickles and chili starter.  I'm sure I will help her with the chili but the pickles are all hers.