We left Tallahassee this morning and stayed ahead of the large weather system that had caused some pretty severe weather north of us. We were going to go through Atlanta and over to Norfolk on I20, but decided against that. We drove up into Georgia and cut across several state highways so we wouldn't have to drive all the way to Jacksonsville, FL. That drive was fun as we got to drive through several "small" Georgia towns like, Hoboken and Homerville. I found a neat Georgia State Park, Skidaway Island, near Savannah, GA. We arrived here around 2:30 and had just enough time to set up camp, start a fire and run over to the playground for 15 minutes of exercise before the rain started. So much for barbecue chicken tonight. It rained pretty steady for 2 hours then quit. I've been watching the NOAA weather online and it looks like most of the rain has passed for now. Lindsay wanted to see a Tornado so I told her we should watch "Twister" instead. We hope to hike around the park tomorrow!

Extreme Makeover Home Edition

Our family sometimes watches the Extreme Makeover show and we found out chatting with the manager of the RV park, that a new home was being built for a family right here in Tallahassee! We drove 5 minutes from the park, grabbed a tour bus that was shuttling folks to this house and just like that we were there. Our goal was just to see the house being built, but after we arrived the house had already been completed and the family was 30 minutes from arriving. Well, we had to stay at least to see the limo and to chant, "MOVE THAT BUS, MOVE THAT BUS". We heard that folks had shown up at 8am this morning to get a good spot. Hey, our spot was great and we waited only 30 minutes. Timing is everything! April 26th the show will air.

We are leaving here today and heading to Skidaway Island State Park near Savannah, Ga. With the Spokane weather that is pushing south, we decided to stay more on the coast as we head north to Norfolk.

Turning to Tallahassee

With the change of weather, we decided to head across I10 instead of heading north as originally planned. Options, that's what fun with what we are doing. We drove today for 4 1/2 hours, gained an hour and arrived in a very nice RV park in Tallahassee around 4:30 pm. We plan on doing school in the morning and a field trip to a local museum or state park. Photos will be posted soon!

New Orleans and the French Quarter

We decided to visit New Orleans on a safe day, "Ash Wednesday". The street sweepers were out in force and all the drunks were fast asleep in their beds. Our first stop was Cafe Du Monde for some great coffee and a pile of Beignets "French Doughnuts". Beignets is pronounced, "apple fritter with no apple and lot's of powder sugar piled on". We shopped and some of the outdoor markets, visited the 8th Police Precinct where I worked with the Navy during several Mardi Gras and saw many street vendors. Some of the buildings were still being repaired from Katrina and I could tell many of the buildings had fresh paint and new windows.

We stopped in and had a Cajun lunch. Kelly even had her first "Hurricane", well then she had her second one. Please don't tell her dad or I will be in trouble! I even sneaked some fresh Catfish to Lindsay under the disguise of "chicken". Heck, it all tastes like chicken but she figured things were amiss when I put a fried oyster on her plate. Her mistake was she didn't eat the whole thing. Lindsay said, Dad, what is this green stuff? I told her it was the stuffing in the chicken. That really didn't go over too well and her gaging soon quit. We took a walk along the river walk and saw the "Natches" paddle boat. We were going to see the aquarium, but the cost was just too high and it was time to head back home anyway. All in all, this was a trip to remember for sure!

We leave here tomorrow for Montgomery, Alabama. Ya'll come back now...

Hattiesburg Zoo

I didn't realize there was a small zoo in the City of Hattiesburg! We stopped in for a couple of hours then headed to the large adjacent playground. One thing we enjoyed about this zoo was just how close you could get to some of these large animals! The best thing about this whole day was....NO HUMIDITY!!! The nice gal in the gift shop directed us to a local restaurant, Crescent City Grill for some real "Southern Cooking", Yahoo!!

That Place in Mississippi

Okay, I just had to take the girls to Camp S....y and show them where I had all the fun during the summer of 2007! I was at this training facility for a couple of months with 65 other Navy buddies as we did our initial combat training before being deployed overseas. I still can't come to the point where I actually same that "name". Nothing really has changed there either from what we could see. Contractors were doing some excavating near our living area (digging holes in the Mississippi Mud) and I guess they are still having problems routing the mud away from entering the barracks and bathroom facilities. I wanted to take them to the Armed Forces Museum on post, but it was closed on Mondays. That was one of the highlights of staying at Camp S....y! I was so worked up after driving onto the base, I had to find a Starbucks for a triple White Chocolate Mocha!

D'lberville Mardi Gras Parade

The girl's experienced their first Mardi Gras parade! They were worried that they were not going to get any beads. We had more "stuff" in hand by the time the parade was finished than last Christmas! We parked nearby and walked several blocks near the starting point of the parade. For 1 hour, different floats went by showering everyone with "gifts" from above. Both girls said their necks felt heavy from the beads on the way back to the truck. The weather was tolerable, in the high 50's with a wind at times that kept Kelly's ears quite cold! Having been in New Orleans several times during Mardi Gras, I'm glad the girls got their beads without having to do silly things...

Biloxi, MS

On the way to see our first Mardi Gras parade we drove along the gulf coast. Kelly took a photo of a mansion that she would like me to build for her one of these days. There were still areas of damage from hurricane Katrina but that still hasn't stopped folks from rebuilding. Of course, we saw two other casinos being built so there must be some $$ around. We headed on to a small town for a 1:30 Mardi Gras parade...photos soon!

Boppen to Biolxi

Yahoo, we are in Mississippi! The girls have already bought their party masks and we will heading to New Orleans next Wednesday. We tried to get some RV parking at the two bases here, but both were full. We found a very nice RV park in Biolxi and plan on staying here for 5 days. We wanted to take in the sights here, as well as New Orleans. We will see a Mardi Gras parade here, take a tour near Gulfport and a swamp tour in New Orleans. Hey, anyone want some red beans and rice or a "Hurricane"? See ya'll later...

Denham Springs, LA

We left Texas this morning around 11 am and headed to Louisiana. I'm glad we are pulling our house and not set to any schedule as the traffic on I10 was very slow and as we neared the New Orleans exit, the partying began (no one moving on the freeway). We managed to pull off the freeway to grab some fuel while the girls spied some turtles in a pond adjacent to the gas station.

Oh, and the anti-lock brakes on the truck work great! Some PINHEAD in a green Honda pulled onto the freeway in front of me then slammed on the brakes. I managed to get the truck/trailer stopped, but not after shaking things up in the trailer. I wanted to pull the driver out of the "wind-wing" but Kelly wouldn't let me out of the truck :)

The traffic was still very slow, so we decided to head off to a Walmart to park overnight. After a nice drive in the Mississippi Countryside we located the Walmart. This was our first time using Walmart and all went well. We were the only RV parked behind the store, along with the employees. We plan on leaving early tomorrow and will head to Biolxi, Mississippi.

The Buckhorn Saloon & San Antonio Children's Museum

While heading to the children's museum, we had to stop and have lunch at a very famous saloon. The interior of the saloon was decked out with just about every kind of animal you could imagine. All of these heads, fur and antlers kept the girls entertained while they were eating their lunch! We then traveled down the street to the San Antonio Children's Museum. We spent several hours there and the girls had some fun! Lindsay enjoyed milking the non-fat cow and both enjoyed the "kid powered" elevator. It took some time for them to get up to the 2nd floor and were very happy that coming down didn't take as much work as going up!

Tomorrow we head out and plan on driving to Beaumont, Texas.

Oh, HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRISTIN!!! She is 26 years young today. Where has the time gone?