Galveston Island State Park – Galveston, TX – October 2-7, 2016

Sunday was a travel day for us, from Abbeville, Louisiana to Galveston Island State Park, Texas. We were on the road by 9:45. Louisiana roads are not the best, but we attempted to avoid the rough spots as much as possible, hitting just a bit of rain along the way. Traffic was relatively light, except through Lake Charles and Beaumont, Texas areas. Sure feels good to be back in in Texas! We arrived to our destination at Galveston Island State Park at 2:30, ready to relax after setting up.

Before we share our week with you, we thought you'd be interested in a few statistics about our travels this past summer, since we left Bay View last May 4. We traveled 4,183 miles with our camper and put 8,299 miles on the truck pulling the trailer and exploring interesting areas in the southeastern USA. We used 685 gallons of diesel fuel and stayed in 25 RV parks (including Kamper's Supply in Carterville, IL--thanks, Marvin and Shirley!). We had 2 trailer tire blow-outs and bought 4 new trailer tires! We usually include so many photos in our blogs because Dick takes so many. On this trip he took 13,400 photos, so you see we have to share some with you!

After being so busy the previous week Monday was a chill day for us. We did walk the beach, though, which was beautiful, albeit breezy. Loved seeing the sun glistening off the water, and hearing the waves against the shore. Ah…

Being right on the beach, Galveston Island State Park has no trees. There are dunes between us and the Gulf. Above is our first sunrise in the park, and our first sunset.  Beautiful!

Galveston Island State Park covers about 2,000 acres, bordered by developed land on the east and west. The park itself is an oasis of undeveloped barrier island habitats, that are important for conservation and attracts a wide variety of birds, especially during the spring and fall migrations. It’s also home to venomous snakes—which we did not encounter.

We drove into Galveston on Tuesday to tour the historical Bishop’s Palace, perhaps the grandest and most well-known building in all Galveston. Also known as the Gresham Palace, it’s an example of eclectic late Victorian architecture.

Built between 1887 and 1893 for Walter and Josephine Gresham, it was home to them and their 9 children.

Walter Gresham was born in Virginia in, into a family of planters and lawyers. During the Civil War he served as a private in the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. After graduating from the University of Virginia in 1863 he studied law and was admitted to the bar. After the war most family fortunes were devastated, so he moved to Galveston in December 1866 and, with just $5 in his pocket, opened his law office. Two years later he married Josephine. Four years later, in 1872 he was elected District Attorney for Galveston and Brazoria county and in 1875 became involved in the railroad business. Walter’s affluence rose as his participation in civic life increased and, in 1887 he was elected to the Texas Legislature, and subsequently became Representative to the 53^rd Congress. It was during this time he commissioned the building of his grand mansion. The Gresham’s formally opened their home on January 1, 1893.

The home’s construction (steel and stone) was sturdy enough to withstand the great hurricane of 1900 that killed over 6,000 people in Galveston, alone. In addition, over 35,000 buildings were destroyed in that city. The Gresham’s graciously opened their home to the hundreds of survivors of that hurricane, as did others in mansions that had withstood this destructive force.

The building is an impressive and ornate 19,082 square foot structure of variegated and irregular cut stone, round Romanesque and depressed Tudor arches with heavily articulated carvings of vegetation, animals, people, and imaginary creatures. Constructed of steel and stone, the palace soars 3 stories over a raised basement level, with steep roofs, and long sculptured chimney. The home is estimated to have cost $250,000 when it was built, equivalent to over $5.5 million today.

The variety of stone shapes and colors are evident in these photos. The last photo is the entrance to the raised basement, now the gift shop.

The raised basement, which once housed the kitchen and servant’s areas, now serves as a gift shop. We were able to tour only the basement, first and second floors.

The spacious and grand interior spaces feature exotic materials such as a pair of Sienna marble columns flanking the entrance hall. The home also boasts intricately carved ornaments, rare woods, stained glass windows, bronze dragons and other sculptures, luxurious materials and furnishings throughout. 

The 1^st floor rooms all have coved and coffered 14’ ceilings. An octagonal skylight lights the 45’ mahogany rotunda staircase, which is surrounded by beautiful stained glass, all but one is original to the house. Santo Domingo mahogany is featured in the massive fireplace in the front parlor. The 1st floor also features the grand entryway with inlaid parquet flooring, parlor, music room (covered in real silver-embossed wall covering), library/office, impressive dining room, conservatory (which at one time contained Mrs. Gresham’s vast display of ferns, one of the finest in the south), the butler’s pantry, and warming kitchen. The first floor also has the servant’s “vestibule” which contains the dumbwaiter and back (or servants’) staircase, and a coat closet which contains a Pullman sink from the famed Pullman railcars and Gresham’s railroad days.

The front entryway features exotic woods, marble columns, intricately patterned parquet floors, and a light fixture that Mrs. Gresham selected for its art deco design.

We were probably most impressed with the intricately carved mahogany staircase that reaches 45' to the 3rd floor. Stained glass surrounds the staircase, and above is the rotunda skylight. Absolutely beautiful!

The library was also used as an office by Mr. Gresham. Here again you can see the parquet flooring. The 400 year old vase stands on the mantle.

The music room was a study of beauty, from the intricate fireplace and coffered ceiling, to the real silver embossed wall covering. This is where much of their entertaining took place.

Then, there's the dining room--most impressive! The sideboard alone is enough to make your eyes pop!

The butler's pantry and warming kitchen are adjacent to the dining room. The faucets to the sink in the butlers pantry are of silver for cold, and gold for hot. The real kitchen was in the raised basement. There are 2 set of china on display: one is original to the Gresham's, as is the china used by Bishop.

The coat room features a Pullman sink from Mr. Gresham's railroad days. Even the back staircase features carved woodwork and stained glass windows. The dumbwaiter is encased in mahogany paneling.

 We should point out that all the murals in the home were painted by Mrs. Gresham. Here's an example, which is on the dining room ceiling.

The 2^nd floor holds the living room, Mr. and Mrs. Gresham’s bedrooms, the bedroom of one of the daughters (later chosen by the Bishop for his own), another bedroom which was probably a guest room or bedroom for the governess, the main bath and, what is now a chapel, converted from another daughter’s bedroom. It now has stained glass windows and a fresco painted on the ceiling portraying Saints Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The room is also furnished with an altar and 6 prayer kneelers. The bathtub in the main bath is interesting; it has 3 spigots: one for hot, one cold, and one for rainwater.

Mr. Gresham's bedroom is to the left; Mrs. Gresham's to the right.

The main bath on the 2nd floor features a painted bathtub with 3 spigots, for hot, cold and rainwater. Notice the painted sink basin inset in marble.

The chapel was beautiful, featuring the frescoes on the ceiling of the 4 Saints: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

The 3^rd floor, which we didn’t have access to, houses the boys’ rooms, Mrs. Gresham’s art studio, and additional storage. Currently renovations are underway in the 3^rd floor and exterior.

In 1923 the Roman Catholic Diocese of Galveston purchased the Gresham home for $40,500, which served as the residence for the Bishop of the Sacred Heart Church, which was just across the street, until his death. Today the house is owned by the Galveston Historical Foundation which offers self-guided audio tours. A percentage of the admission price supports the preservation and restoration of the property.

After touring the home we strolled down Broadway which at one time was considered “millionaire’s row.” There are so many beautiful and stately mansions along this stretch of road and nearby neighborhoods; many are hidden behind towering rock walls, fences and heavy vegetation so it was difficult to capture a photo. This was also “Victorian heaven,” as there are dozens and dozens of beautifully kept Victorian homes here, too. We could’ve spent all day just walking and photographing them. There are too many to count! And, some have withstood many, many storms and hurricanes.

 

From there we drove to the marina area to tour Elissa, a 3-masted, iron-hulled sailing ship built in 1877 in Aberdeen Scotland, at a time when steam ships were overtaking sailing ships. Her name comes from an epic Roman poem, The Aeneid, in which a Phoenician princess named Elissa fled from Tyre to Africa and founded Carthage.  She carries 19 sails covering over ¼ of an acre in surface area! We learned that tall ships are classified by the configuration of their sailing rigging. In Elissa’s case, she is a “barque” because she carries square and fore-and-aft sails on her fore and mainmasts, but only fore-and-aft sails on her mizzenmast (the mast just behind or aft of the main mast).  Elissa measures 205 feet in length, from her stern to the tip of her jibboom. And, she is 99’ 9” high at the main mast; she displaces about 620 tons at her current ballast. Oh, the terminology…

Unlike some tall ships Elissa is a survivor—not a replica. Built to fill a niche in maritime commerce, she carried a variety of cargoes to ports around the globe, for a succession of owners, and under a succession of names. She sailed under Norwegian and Swedish flags, known as Fjeld of Tønsberg in Norway and Gustav of Gothenburg in Sweden.  In 1918 she was converted into a 2-masted brigantine and an engine was installed. Then she was sold to Finland in 1930 and reconverted to a schooner. In 1959 she was sold to Greece and sailed under the name Christophoros, in 1967 as Achaeos, and in 1969 as Pioneer. In 1970 she was purchased for the San Francisco Maritime Museum, however she didn’t make it past a salvage yard in Greece. 

Her sailing and working life as a freighter had come to end, where in 1975 she was rescued from a scrap yard by ship preservationists for $40,000, just days before her final demise. After a year in Greece having repairs done to her hull, Elissa was first towed to Gibraltar where she was prepared for an ocean tow in 1979. Her discovery and restoration is a story of miracles and beauty, and we found it fascinating as we toured both the Elissa and the Texas Seaport Museum in Galveston. 

Elissa still has an iron hull, but she also has a pin rail and bright work of teak; her masts are from Douglas fir from Oregon, and her sails were made in Maine. As I said earlier, she’s really a survivor in spite of numerous modifications and disrepair. In 2011 the U.S. Coast Guard declared her to be “not seaworthy” due to a severely corroded hull—the worst since the tall ship was rebuilt in 1982. Officials at the Texas Seaport Museum successfully raised the $3 million necessary to pay for hull replacement and other long-overdue maintenance projects. It all was finished in 2013. In addition, the moneys raised went to replacing the 22,000 board feet of Douglas fir decking and new quarter deck furniture was also built out of high quality teak. She has since returned to sailing.

Today Elissa is a fully-functional 135-year old vessel that continues to participate in annual sea trials in the Gulf of Mexico. Hundreds of volunteers keep her seaworthy and train each year to sail her. Elisa is sailed and maintained by qualified volunteers from around the United States.

From there we figured we needed to find somewhere to eat so we drove to Tortuga Mexican Cantina across the road from the Gulf of Mexico for “linner.” We noshed on still-warm tortilla chips and warm salsa (wonderful!), chicken quesadillas, and beef and chicken fajita tacos. Along with all that were black beans, rice, guacamole and…the margaritas were fabulous!!!

We then called it a day.

Wednesday morning after breakfast we headed back into Galveston to find the historical tree sculptures that grace so many of the homes in Galveston. From historical photos we saw, there were once lush canopies of live oak trees shading Galveston’s numerous Victorian homes. However, that all changed when the saltwater storm surge from Hurricane Ike hit in September 2008. Over 35,000 trees were destroyed--many planted after the devastating hurricane of 1900 I mentioned earlier.

The Galveston folks are a resilient bunch; they led a grass-roots effort to preserve the memory of those trees by carving more than 35 sculptures from the remaining tree stumps, which stand among of replanted trees. The tree sculptures, carved from stumps still rooted in the ground by at least 3 sculptors, have become a whimsical yet reverent way to remember the past in the face of this loss. Since 2009 they’ve been busy with chainsaws and chisels to transform the stumps into quite an array of creatures: dolphins, angels, pelicans, frogs, squirrels, mermaids—you name it. Inspired by the tree art in Biloxi following Hurricane Katrina, the idea quickly caught the eye of Galveston’s City Council—especially once they saw how visually appealing it could be. The first to be carved were a Dalmatian and a fire hydrant which were completed on the 1^st anniversary of Hurricane Ike. Something dead had been given new life, according to a retired newspaper photographer who had been documenting the loss of the trees for the Galveston Island Tree Conservancy. Although some of the sculptures are on city property, most are on private property, tucked into yards amongst heavy vegetation. The statue of Toto and the Tin Man made sense once we found out that one of the directors of The Wizard of Oz was born in the house at which the statue stands. Another, the angel cradling a bunny, was sculpted at the request of the October 1978 Playboy Playmate of the Month, who runs a bed-and-breakfast and a rescue-bunny sanctuary.

Today, with the help of the Galveston Island Tree Conservancy, more than 8,000 trees have been replaced, using historical photos as a guide.

Thursday was another chill day for us. We did a few things around the camper to get ready to roll on Friday, when we would drive to Rockport, Texas, our home for the winter. 

Friday morning we got away by 10:35, heading west for about 175 miles. We arrived in Rockport at 2:15 that afternoon, to a light breeze, partly cloudy skies and low humidity. Perfect.

As we arrived at the office to check in, friend Laura arrived who invited us to happy hour at her site. We figured we could make the 4:00 time after setting up and getting settled. Was good to see old friends again: Laura and Butch, Mike, Prescott and Pat, Steve and Marty, and Lynda. More friends will continue to arrive throughout the next month. 

Later, for dinner, we headed downtown to appease our yearning for a burger at Whataburger. We hadn’t had any since we left in May, since Texas is about the only place Whataburger exists. Yum!

Well, I’m cutting this blog short for this week, but will pick up next week as we begin our winter stay here at Bay View. 

Until then, be safe. 

Love ‘n’ hugs,

RJ and Gail

Betty’s RV Park – Abbeville, LA – September 25-October 2, 2016

Sunday was a travel day for us, leaving Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park in Robert, Louisiana, and driving to Abbeville, Louisiana where we were to join friends at Betty’s RV Park. We were invited as guests to spend a week with friends Marvin and Shirley and Randy and Jeri at their Sport Chassis Owners Rally—even though we don’t have a Sport Chassis, just a lowly Chevy dually, which is big enough for us! The drive was relatively easy, just 3 hours, but I-10 was rough is this stretch. We arrived at 1:30 p.m., 128 miles later. Temps were in the mid-90s, but there was a lovely breeze and low humidity.

We got settled and spent the rest of the day getting to know the other 4 couples attending the rally, and then sat down to a meal provided by Betty, the RV park owner. She made sausage and chicken gumbo and potato salad, and Shirley provided pumpkin squares with whipped cream for dessert. YUM-YUM! 

The couples at the rally were: Marvin and Shirley (Illinois), Randy and Jeri (Illinois), Bill and (another) Betty (Illinois), Lee and Sue (Alabama), Patrick and Agnes (Winnipeg, Canada area), Lionel and Carmelle (Winnipeg), and Dick and me. Such a fun group! We thoroughly enjoyed them, and the time we spent together. In the photo above you can see 4 of the 6 sport chassis rigs.

This week proved to be chock full of activities, starting Monday morning as we drove to nearby Breaux Bridge, Louisiana to go on Champagne’s Cajun Swamp Tour. The tour took place on Lake Martin, (actually a large swamp) which is known for its amazing wildlife—at least 205 species of birds, Nutria (a large rodent), and alligators. The tour took us through groves of 500-year old moss-covered cypress and tupelo trees, open areas with water lilies galore, past duck blinds with dozens of duck decoys floating around them, and what are called cypress knees that are actually cypress roots.

On our tour we were fortunate to see egrets, grey herons, cormorants, ducks, turtles and, yes, alligators!

On our way back to the RV park we stopped at Villager’s Café in Maurice, Louisiana, for lunch. What a funky place! They’ve been around for over 20 years, serving the best poor-boys in Louisiana, so it’s said. Wooden electrical spools make up the tables, and the walls are covered with anything old (hmm, wonder what they consider as old…) Dick had an Italian Villager sandwich (ham and salami with provolone and mozzarella and olive salad), and I had a shrimp poor-boy (overstuffed!).  Each was just $6.95. We shared a ½ order of their very special French fries—so much we couldn’t eat them all! This meal gets another YUM-YUM!!

Tuesday morning was another group event as we went to nearby Lafayette, Louisiana to the Acadian Cultural Center and adjacent Vermilionville Living History Museum and Folk-life park. The cultural center has historical exhibits that focus on the Acadian, Native American and Creole cultures of the area. (The Acadians are descendants of French Canadians who settled in Louisiana after being expelled from what we know as the Canadian Maritime Provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec for refusing to be ruled by the British. 

The Vermilionville Living History Museum showcases physical representations of an Acadian settlement. Most of the structures date from 1765 to 1890, fully restored and on a 23-acre site. Local artisans are onsite demonstrating how life was back then: yarn spinners, quilters, seamstresses, weavers, and wood carving. Our docent was John Sitting Bear, from the Avogel Tribe of Louisiana, who was very knowledgeable about Vermilionville, the homes, and settlement. Dressed in period costume from his tribe, he did all his own beadwork and hand sewing. 

 

We sat in on a mini-concert by Jules Guidry, a Cajun who taught himself to play the Cajun accordion and, who played in the old schoolhouse; we chatted with a seamstress who was demonstrating the hand sewing techniques used in the early days; and, we talked with a yarn spinner, who was spinning wool which would be made into yarn. 

 

Click here to see a video of Jules Guidry for your enjoyment.

That afternoon some of our group went to Lafayette to tour the 87’ US Coast Guard Cutter, Pelican. This 20-year old boat is soon to be decommissioned. This boat is a rescue vessel, used for any and all sea rescues. (If there’s fraud involved, perpetrators will be charged and fined.) During the recent August floods, the boat stayed moored, but was the water raised the boat 8’ above normal.

 Avery Island was our first destination on Wednesday and, is best known as the source of the McIlhenny family Tabasco sauce. Although the island is named for the Avery family who settled there in the 1830s, it was settled long before by Native Americans who had discovered that portions of the island were really massive salt domes. Being industrious, the Indians boiled the briny spring water, found on the island, to extract salt, which they then traded to other tribes as far away as central Texas, Arkansas and Ohio.  

During the Civil War, a mine of pure rock salt was founded on Avery Island which produced more than 22 million pounds of salt for the Confederacy. The mine remained well protected against the Union until Union forces began their invasion up Bayou Teche, at which time they burned 18 buildings, smashed steam engines and mining equipment, and scattered 600 barrels of salt awaiting shipping. They also took a ton of gunpowder left behind by Confederate forces.

Before the Civil War a gentleman named Edmund McIlhenny married into the Avery family, and in 1868 he founded the McIlhenny Company and began producing Tabasco brand pepper sauce. In 1870 he received a patent for his sauce processing formula; that same process is still used today.

Hurricane Rita hit Avery Island hard in September 2005 disrupting Tabasco sauce production. The McIhenny family spent $5 million to construct a 17’ high levee, pumps, and back-up generators to ensure that such a disruption would not happen again.

Avery Island is surrounded on all sides by salt marshes, bayous and swampland. It’s actually a huge dome of rock salt 3 miles long and 2½ miles wide, and is 1 of 5 salt dome islands that rise above the Louisiana coast. Salt plays an integral part in the production of Tabasco sauce, so it’s a good thing it’s so close at hand. 

Our tour took us from the museum to the green house, the barrel packing area, then on to the actual factory where Tabasco is created by mixing the pepper mash with vinegar and salt, bottled, labeled, crated and shipped.

The 3 peppers used in Tabasco sauce.

Lunch that day was at Bon Creole Seafoods in New Iberia. For over 20 years, Bon Creole has served some of the best gumbo in the area. And, they serve some of the best “overstuffed” shrimp or oyster poor-boys in the area. The building is certainly unassuming, and unless you know where it was, you’d pass it right by.

 

Then, it was on to the Walet family’s Caroline Sugarcane plantation in Loreauville, Louisiana. The Walet family has been growing sugarcane for 5 generations. We learned so much about sugarcane farming!

Sugar cane requires a moist climate with intervals of hot and dry weather, with little danger of frost. Canes are planted in rows, about 2’ apart, in February, and are harvested from October to January. After the 1^st cutting, subsequent growth, called “ratoons,” is smaller in size and the joints are closer together. Supposedly they produce a sweeter juice and finer sugar that the 1st growth. Each planting can last years, but 3 years is best. Cane plantings are rotated so 1/3 of the crop is planted new every 3^rd year. Cutting is done close to the ground, after which the cane is taken to the mill, then on to processing and refining.

Betty is taking "sugar shots" directly from the cane! The other photos are of equipment used in the production and harvesting of sugarcane.

Click here for a video of the harvesting machine--it's quite a sight!

Today, Louisiana sugarcane yields a crop from 30-50 tons per acre, with 180-240 tons of sugar produced from each ton of cane.

Dinner that night was at Black’s Oyster Bar, in Abbeville. Established in 1967, it’s been a popular eatery for locals and tourists alike. Their claim to fame is their seafood, especially oysters, but their shrimp, catfish and Cajun cuisine are just as popular. We noshed on catfish, shrimp, oysters, seafood platters—the list goes on. Good food!

Thursday morning it was back on the road again, this time to Morgan City, Louisiana, to tour the “Mr. Charlie” oil drilling rig. We made a pit stop at McDonald's on the way, and had breakfast sandwiches…we needed nourishment in order to climb all over the rig!

Our tour guide was Virgil, who holds degrees in both civil and chemical engineering. He’s a wealth of information! 

From 1954 to 1986 Mr. Charlie drilled hundreds of offshore wells in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Louisiana. Mr. Charlie was the first transportable, submersible drilling rig and a springboard into offshore rig technology. Built in 1952 and finished in 1953, Mr. Charlie was first working for Shell Oil Company, drilling near the mouth of the Mississippi River. Skeptics were quieted when Mr. Charlie performance exceeded expectations and went on to drill wells for every other major oil company operating in the Gulf. Reports say Mr. Charlie drilled a cumulative depth of 2.3 million feet.

This 200’ long and 85’ wide barge could accommodate a crew of 58, and was totally self-sufficient with room to spare with drinking water, food, and supplies for the crew. It generated its own electricity, disposed of its own waste, provided its own communication system, and contained enough fuel to accomplish all these tasks. It also maintained supplies and equipment to perform drilling operations, was prepared for any emergency with complete fire-fighting system, blow out preventors, and medical supplies and equipment. The first floor of the platform is 60’ above the barge, and is supported by legs that connect the barge to the platform. The legs serve as conduits for electric, water and air lines, elevator access and other services needed to operate an independent facility.

Mr. Charlie was retired in 1986 when drilling activity headed into water deeper than it could reach. It now continues in the role of teaching others about an industry that changed the offshore oil industry. Our tour began by climbing the 60 feet to the main platform. Whew! 

Afterward, we stopped at McDonald's again for lunch. We needed it after spending almost 2 hours climbing all over that structure!

Then, it was on to Adam’s Cypress Swamp Art and Museum. It’s quite a site! The driftwood creations are all the work of Adam Morales and are made of pieces of cypress wood that he’s scavenged from nearby swamps. Adam seems to have a gift for finding the natural contours and signs of life in the wood he finds, simply attaching eyes to create the members of his menagerie, or screwing pieces together to create his unique pieces, such as the Statue of Liberty, the Iwo Jima Monument to veterans and troops, and the “swamp family” which pays tribute to the local family that has brought the TV show Swamp Family to us on the History Channel. He even covers some of his work in Spanish moss and, I’m told he’s made a fortune selling it.

From there we stopped at Duffy’s to check on alligators. That’s the location of the Swamp People show on the History Channel. Troy Landry, so-called “King of the Swamp,” is an alligator hunter, and stores his gators in a refrigerated building behind Duffy’s Shell Station in Pierre Part, Louisiana. Unfortunately, there were no alligators; by the end of September alligators are holed up in their dens, apparently. Darn. Good thing we saw so many on our swamp tour.

Friday brought more things to see: a tour of the Crystal Rice Plantation. The plantation is in Crowley, Louisiana, and has been around since 1890. Using natural selection and cross-pollination, and with the help of bees, founder Sol Wright’s hard work finally paid off in 1912 when grains of “crystal rice” were achieved. He went on to develop new varieties of long, medium and short grain rice, and by 1940 over 70% of the rice planted in the U.S. were from grains developed by Sol Wright.

Following his death in February 1929 his son Salmon Lusk Wright, Jr., took over, starting Wright Laboratory in 1956 based on a rinse resistant vitamin enrichment rice coating process he helped pioneer. When he died at 84 years of age, he left the family business to his only heir Salmon Lusk Wright, III who expanded world-wide markets for enriched crystal rice.

In 1995, crawfish was added to the rice crop rotation to produce a unique crop rotation like none other in the world. Although rice has been a mainstay in Louisiana since the 18^th century, it’s also the ideal environment for raising crawfish. About 90% of the total crawfish harvested in the U.S. comes from the rice fields of Louisiana. Who knew?

Typically, April, May and June are high times in the crawfish business, but like any crop its success depends on the weather. When surface temperatures are too warm, especially after rice has been harvested and the fields are left to dry, crawfish burrow deep into ground (sometimes up to 15’) to get to moisture. But, in the rainy season they make their way back to the surface to deposit their eggs and offspring in open water. Baby crawfish feed on the rice stalks and grow through the winter, and begin to reach harvest size by early spring. 

While some of our folks went on to a specialty hardware store in Rayne, Louisiana, 4 of us wanted to stop in to hear Cajun and Zydeco music at the Rayne fairgrounds. Unfortunately, they didn’t start playing until 6:00 p.m., so we were a bit early. Our quick lunch that day was at the local DQ.

We returned to the RV park in time to watch Betty’s friends Calvin and his wife, and 2 other friends, prepare black-eyed peas, jambalaya, and cracklin’s. It was really a fund raiser for Calvin and his wife after they were flooded out of their home during the August floods. Although Dick and I aren’t fans of cracklin's, the black-eyed peas, although a bit spicy, and jambalaya were really good! 

That evening we played "7s from Hell" with Marvin and Shirley, and new friends Lee and Sue—women against men. The men won, so I won’t elaborate on the game…

Saturday was a free day, so Dick hopped on his motorcycle and rode 50 miles round trip to New Iberia, where one of our favorite authors, James Lee Burke, is from. 

He also stopped in at the “Shadows on the Teche” estate where an arts and craft show was taking place. He also toured the home, “Shadows on the Teche,” but no interior photos were allowed. 

He returned back to the park just as the rest of us were ready to leave for Erath and the Erath Museum Café to hear the Jammers play their specialty: French Cajun music. Such fun! Click here to hear their music.

That evening, after happy hour, we went to Amoré Pizzaroma for dinner. What a crew!

By the time we got home we all were ready for bed. Four of us couples were leaving Sunday, with the rest departing Monday. We all needed a good night’s rest.

Sunday arrived quickly, and by 8:30 we were all ready to dive into the breakfast provided by the rally folks and Betty from the park: scrambled eggs and sausage, bacon, biscuits and jam, caramel rolls, orange juice and coffee. YUM-YUM!! No one went away hungry!

By 9:30 three of the couples were ready to hit the road; we got away at about 9:45. Bill and Betty from Illinois were going to drive straight through to home; Lionel and Carmelle, as well as Patrick and Agnes would take a bit of time and planned to arrive home in Canada on Thursday.

Dick and I headed to Galveston Island State Park. We arrived at 2:30 and got checked in and set up by about 3:30. We’re right on the beach, and it’s beautiful! Temps are in the mid-80s, with the ever-present breeze off the water. Feels so good to be back in Texas!

More on our week in Galveston next week; we leave Friday for Rockport!

Hugs,

RJ and Gail