Author Archives: Jill and Bud

Our goal when we left Hot Springs was to get back to our original itinerary in time to meet my brother and sister-in-law as planned in New Orleans. We made it. We’re camped less than 10 miles from the city at Bayou Segnette State Park.

They are staying at the Hotel Chateau in the French Quarter. Like most buildings in that oldest part of the city, the hotel sits right on the street.

Behind it is the lovely courtyard it shares with its neighbors.

We started our tour today at Jackson Square. We boarded the Hop On Hop Off bus for a tour of the city. It was so cold that we opted to ride all around the city and got off back at Jackson Square.

I love the huge live oaks, like this one that sits between the square and the Mississippi.

We walked into the French Quarter to the Royal House Oyster Bar for lunch. None of us had oysters, but we did have a good meal.

After lunch we continued our walk to meet our tour of the Saint Louis Number One Cemetery. This Catholic cemetery was founded in 1789, after the great fire of 1788 had filled the existing one.

Our guide explained that the first graves were structures of brick, like this, designed to keep the caskets from floating up out of the swampy ground.

Those quickly evolved into more elaborate structures.

Even though the cemetery is only two acres, it is still in use today. Families own the tombs. The heat, which reaches 300 degrees inside the tombs, along with the high humidity reduces the remains to ashes in a year. After a year and a day the tomb can be opened, the ashes pushed back to a slot and a new body put in. The name is added to the marble slab fixed to the front. Slabs are replaced once they’re full.

The condition of the tomb depends on the family that owns and tends them. If no one is left who cares for them the tombs begin to erode, though there are untended tombs hundreds of years old.

Owning and tending a tomb is expensive, so some people got together in mutual societies to build and tend tombs. This is the largest, and is an Italian burial site.

Our guide showed us some of the famous tombs, including this one for Marie Laveau, the Voodoo queen.

People still come by to leave tokens and ask favors of her. They mark the tomb with three X’s, representing past, present and future.

This is the burial site of Homer Plessy, a black man who got on a whites only railroad car in 1892.

He was arrested and his case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which in 1896 in the case of Plessy vs. Ferguson, ruled against him and established the doctrine of separate but equal treatment of races. That was the law until overturned in 1954 in the case of Brown vs. Board of Education.

This city of the dead makes an interesting contrast to modern downtown, seen in the background.

The cemetery lies just away from the Mississippi on the far side of Basin Street. When it was built this was outside the city limits. In New Orleans everything is named in reference to the Mississippi, either towards or away, or upriver or downriver.

We never did hop back on the bus. From the cemetery we cut back across the French Quarter to Jim and Goody’s hotel.

We continued through this picturesque city to where our truck was parked, back near Jackson Square. It was a fun, if chilly, day but altogether too much walking for Bud.

We finally got our truck back, and with just one more stop at the dealer to tighten the bolts they missed (even though they kept it over the weekend, so they would not be rushed and miss anything) we were good to go. I had booked our site through Wednesday, and we left on Thanksgiving. We drove out of the lovely Ouachita Mountains around Hot Springs to the flatter land of northern Louisiana. We arrived at Jimmie Davis State Park to find nice concrete pads, good internet, a clear sky for the satellite TV antenna, walking paths and even a disc golf course. But alas, since this was a last minute booking I was able to get us only one night.

Friday we moved on to Lake Fausse Pointe State Park in southern Louisiana.

This was more typically what I have always thought of as Louisiana; jungly woods with saw palmettos and cabbage palms in the undergrowth,

and lots of water and cypress trees.

It had nice walking paths but too many trees for satellite TV and no cell service so no internet.

A fellow camper saw me walking around the campground with my phone trying to get a good enough signal to make a call, or at least send a text. “We can sometimes get a signal there between that post and the fire ring”, he said, “but if you can’t, walk out on the bridge at the entrance to the grey box.” So I did.

While I was wandering around the bridge taking photos and searching for a signal a teenage boy on a bike came by. “Trying to get a signal? I was trying this morning and the lady at the gate told me to go over onto the levee.”

So I walked out the entrance road…

and up on the levee where I got enough signal to call my mother and my brother.

I love being connected to friends and family and I appreciate it more when I have to work at it. I love being surrounded by nature, it feeds my soul. And I love the kindness of strangers which I encounter on a regular basis. I am privileged to have these, and I am grateful, very grateful.

We have now moved to Gulpha Gorge Campground, which is part of Hot Springs National Park. Notice our tow vehicle. Not quite big enough to pull this trailer. We took our truck to be serviced on Halloween. Bud had called the dealership months ago to let them know there was a small oil leak and to make an appointment for service. They wouldn’t make an appointment and told us to bring the truck in when we got here. It’s now November the 15th and all we know is that it is not an oil leak, it is transmission fluid. After that determination they pulled it back out of their garage until they had time to deal with it. They may have gotten to it Monday or yesterday as they said they would, they haven’t called. Meanwhile, we have a rental car, very expensive. We may get about half that cost reimbursed. Thank goodness our son-in-law has a Tundra set up for towing which he generously let us use.

Monday we used his truck to take the trailer to have new tires put on, have the wheel bearings checked (they were all right) and have the suspension greased. Then we towed it here, to Gulpha Gorge.

Meanwhile, I was fitted for a new crown on my eye tooth. I had gone all summer with the tooth built up with amalgam. Now I have a temporary crown. The new one is expected this week; here’s hoping. I do have a bit more time. Because of the delay in fixing the truck I cancelled two upcoming camping sites and instead booked us into the local commercial campground we stayed in last spring when Bud had his knee replaced. At least there we can extend our stay as needed. We were up against our 2 week limit at Lake Catherine State Park, and when I tried to extend our stay at Gulpha Gorge I found it was all booked up.

It’s not been all pain and waiting. We’ve been able to get back out on our “home” disc golf course. It’s a lovely place.

And Jamie had time to bring her dog, Bria, and hike with Matey and me.

A great bonus was that I was here to go with Jamie to Indianapolis to watch Adler’s band perform in the Bands of America Grand Nationals. We left Thursday afternoon for the nine and a half hour drive. An added pleasure for me was that I spent Friday afternoon with my cousin Doug and his wife Pat. They live in Indianapolis and kindly came downtown to pick me up at the Convention Center. So I had a great visit with them while Jamie helped the band set up in her role as Prop Parent. I was back at Lucas Oil Stadium for the preliminaries in plenty of time for Lake Hamilton’s performance at 6:30.

This is a recording from high in the bleachers of the start of their Saturday semifinal performance. The first few seconds are the end of their set up, you can tell when the actual performance starts. Not only did they make the semifinals for the first time ever, they ended up taking third place in Class 2A.

Jamie and I left before the kids did on Saturday, grabbed about four hours sleep in a motel near Memphis, and passed the buses with the band kids early Sunday morning about 10 miles outside of Hot Springs. It was quite a weekend.

Of course, I would have had time for the fun things had the truck been done within the two weeks we were at Lake Catherine and we could have moved on this Saturday as planned. Oh well, life on the road has some pitfalls.

We are back at Hot Springs, where our daughter lives and home base for us. We arrived at Lake Catherine State Park on Monday. It’s been clear and cold. This is mist from the cold air at dawn touching the water of the lake.

I plan our trips months in advance. As I was making reservations last spring I hoped that we could spend the month in Newfoundland that we wanted and still get back in time to see our grandson, Adler, march in the band. He couldn’t travel with us this past summer because he’s a Freshman in high school and in the band. They practice all summer long, four or five days a week, about 8 hours a day. When school starts they go in early for an hour’s practice every morning and then practice again for about three hours after school three days a week. Despite all the work I knew he was loving it. We were anxious to see the band perform.

On Monday, as we were traveling in, Jamie sent part of the program for the state marching band finals on Wednesday, November first. They were to be held at the War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, about an hour and a half away. Happily, Lake Hamilton, Adler’s school, was performing last, so even though Bud and I both had dental appointments in the morning we should be done in time to ride with Jamie.

There were 13 schools competing in Class 6A. We got there in time to see the last six, listed here.

I’d never been to a marching band competition, it was quite a spectacle. They are very strict about the timing. Each band brings their own equipment and props. They line up in the end zone and along the sidelines at that end of the field while the band before them is performing. A timer on the field makes sure the preceding band has all their stuff off the field within their allotted time. He counts down the last 5 seconds for the waiting band, then they all run out with their props, amplifiers, microphones, stands for the drum majors (students who conduct the band) and of course, their instruments.

And they do have a lot of stuff! Lake Hamilton travels with a semi and three commercial buses. There are 10 band directors and 157 performers. I’m not sure if the 157 includes the three drum majors or not.

They had a huge array of props, this is part of the parent, student crew that worked on props. Jamie is peeking out near the left side. She thought working on props would be one or two evenings for three weeks during the summer, but it turned into many, many hours.

As the bands came out and performed I was very impressed with the quality of the music and the performances. By the time Lake Hamilton came on I was very nervous. I wanted them to do well! I decided not to even try for pictures, it’s too hard to capture and I just wanted to enjoy the experience.

From the first note I knew they would do well. They had so much sound and movement and everything was spot on.

Then came the awards. First place visuals – Lake Hamilton.

First place sound – Lake Hamilton.

First place overall – Lake Hamilton!

Neither the band, nor we, could have timed it any better, though they worked a lot harder to achieve their timing!

We’re back in Arkansas at Bull Shoals – White River State Park. The park is along the river just below the dam that forms Bull Shoals Lake.

It was nice when we got here Friday afternoon and after we go things set up, Matey and I sat out and enjoyed the view of the river for a while.

Unfortunately it’s been raining most of the time since then. Matey and I have had to walk during the periods of drizzle, in between the times of rain.

We discovered this spring this morning. It’s right in the campground. Water is coming out from the bank of rocks you see here. The little stream started here, from the spring.

I’m sure there’s lots more to see but we’ve opted to stay where the temperature is 72.5 inside the camper rather than 47.1 outside.

We are not seeing much more than the view of the river past our dripping awning. At least it’s a pretty place to sit.

Here we are at site 16. You might notice that the front of the trailer is a lot closer to the ground than the back, the site has quite a slope. But we were able to get things level. You should also notice that the afternoon sun is shining directly on Bud’s satellite antenna, so he has TV.

That evening Matey and I walked down to the lake, so I got a nice view.

And there were some birds, a snowy egret close to shore and a flock of white pelicans in the distance.

Yesterday morning Matey and I took a walk and it turned out to be quite a beautiful trail, so I got that too.

The trail was surprisingly rugged…

and gave some nice peeks at the lake.

In the afternoon we all took a walk and came across these grazing deer.

They let us get quite close…

before they moved.

Even then they didn’t go far.

A small herd came to eat acorns around the camper,

so Matey had deer TV.

We were all happy.

We’re staying at Wakonda State Park, Missouri. It’s a well constructed and appointed park with level concrete slabs, and water, sewer and 50 amp electric at our site.

The park was made from abandoned stone and gravel pits and has six somewhat geometric lakes from the flooded quarries.

The landscape is flat with none of the exotic features we’ve seen in our travels.

But as Matey and I walked on the trail around Jasper Lake this morning I was continually struck by the beauty everywhere.

From broad vistas…

and brilliant colors,

to tiny flowers,

beauty surrounded us.

Even the weeds…

and grasses glowed in the morning sun.

The more I travel the more grateful I feel. And I feel compelled to share the beauty of this world, even the beauty of poison ivy!

In confirming that this was abandoned gravel pits I found that the name Wakonda comes from Osage and Missouri words meaning something consecrated, referring to the spiritual. They got that right.

I wasn’t expecting much from this campground. It’s an Iowa State Recreation Area and is really just a few rows of campsites next to a boat launch.

It sits between the Mississippi River, which is nice,

and the railroad line,

which is not so nice. It is small and there is nowhere to walk Matey.

But the day dawned clear and sunny, and there is a disc golf course just a few miles away.

That turned out to be very nice.

There were interesting things in the woods, including Osage oranges. I love these bumpy green fruits, but they are not edible.

We also spotted this dragon in the woods.

On closer inspection he was even more impressive, his fiery breath was painted on the splintery end of the broken log that formed him.

And in the end we had a pretty nice day.

We are now camped along the upper Mississippi River where Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota meet. Our friends Jim and Margaret and their dog, Bo, rented a camper van and joined us for three nights. Here they are with VanVan. The experience taught them a lot of things they didn’t want if they decide to get a camper of their own.

They had a spot right next to us at Blackhawk Park Campground.

I think of the Mississippi as in a broad valley, but here the river is lined with steep bluffs.

It’s quite beautiful.

Jim and Margaret are great sports and since the weather was nice they agreed to a game of disc golf.

The course was one of the nicest we’ve played. It was wooded but open enough for amateurs like us. There was grass in most of the fairways, so Matey was enjoying a roll.

Jim and Margaret had not played disc golf since we visited them at their home in Rochester, Minnesota. But they have their own discs now and were getting the hang of it.

There was a nice variety of shots, including this high basket.

Bud thought we needed a picture of me retrieving the discs to show how high the basket was. We had a lot of fun. Bo even got to be loose the last couple of holes and pretty much learned that these frisbees are not for fetching.

Wednesday we stayed at the park where we are camped and took a couple of walks along the river. At one end of the park you can walk along the main channel where there is the occasional barge.

They are back home, now, and I had to go do the wash. That turned out to be quite pleasant. I went to Mississippi Suds Laundromat just across the river in Lansing, Iowa.

It was a pretty little town…

and not what I think of when I picture Iowa. I was glad to enjoy the scenery, since it’s always hard to part from friends.

It’s been cold and raining for most of the last four days we spent at Harnischfeger Park, a county park near our friends Jane and Rob Speer. I met Jane in third grade, and Bud has known her since fifth grade. One of the nice things about retirement has been reconnecting with her and getting to know her husband, Rob. Not only was the weather bad, but Rob wasn’t feeling well, but they managed to show us a good time anyway. They had us for supper the day we arrived, which was a nice treat. The next day Jane drove out through the rain to see our trailer and visit for a bit. She even brought most of the fixings for lunch!

On Saturday it was probably a bit colder, but it wasn’t raining, so Jane took us to Madison. Rob still wasn’t feeling up for an outing so he graciously agreed to keep Matey. We met two of their children along with spouses, kids and dog and that was fun.

We also took a tour of the capitol building.

This building replaced one that burned down and was completed in 1917. It’s a very impressive building, it’s mostly stone and has 14 different kinds of marble in it.

The dome is the third largest, by volume, in the world. One of the tour group asked our guide about the largest ones. He thought one was in Turkey, but then said, tongue in cheek, “We don’t really care about those.” To give you some sense of the size, one of the rings below the windows is a railing and if you look closely you can see the tops of the doors that take you out to an observation walk. We did not do that, it was cold and by the time our tour was done we were hungry, so we opted for a restaurant instead.

There are four wings with four meeting rooms. No one was there since it was Saturday, but our guide unlocked them and took us through. This was a general meeting room.

Since this was an interior room the architect designed skylights to bring in natural light.

The next wing had the Supreme Court. The plastic chairs aren’t usually there, they were in place for a special function.

This is the skylight in that room.

We visited the senate chamber…

with its skylight.

The Assembly Room was a big enough space that it had exterior windows, but it still had a beautiful skylight.

On Sunday the sun finally peeked out. Rob was feeling some better so he and Jane both came out and we all took a walk on the trails at Harnischfeger Park. They had never been there, and were impressed with what a nice county park it is. There are several miles of trails.

The eastern boundary of the park is the Rock River.

It really was a nice camping spot once the sun came out. We went for one last meal at Jane and Rob’s and thanks to them had a fine time during what might have been some dreary days.

We’re moving on today and though it’s not raining it is cold and cloudy.