Fort Worth to Tucson

Saturday, December 29 - After two fun-filled weeks, we left Fort Worth this morning and headed west.  It was mostly a driving day and we covered about 350 miles.  That's a long way for us!!  We arrived at Monahans Sandhills State Park near Monahans, Texas just before dark.

Sunday, December 30 - This is our 2nd time to stay at Monahans Sandhills and it's one of my favorite parks.  The campground is right in the middle of the sandhills.

Out for my morning run

After my run, we continued on down the road and stopped at Las Cruses, New Mexico for the night.  Mom and Dad went out for Mexican food.

Monday, December 31 - Today we contined on to Willcox, Arizona and checked in to the Willcox Elks Lodge.  They have a nice campground with actual RV sites with electricity and water.  

We got in early.  Mom had a letter that needed to be mailed, so we walked to the Post Office.  It was clear across town, about 7 blocks.  

They've had snow here and it's pretty cold!

Mom and Dad spent some time in the Lodge with the locals and then we celebrated the New Year along with New York City and went to bed.

Tuesday, January 1, 2019 - Happy New Year!  We woke up to fresh snow.

Just a dusting in town, but snowing hard in the mountains to the south.

Did I mention that it's cold?  32 degrees this morning.

We stopped at the Texas Canyon rest area to take pictures 

of the snow on the rocks.  Pretty, isn't it?

Still a lot of snow to the south.  Fortunately, we are headed west!!

Well, maybe not headed west fast enough.  

That's wet, gloppy snow hitting the windshield.

We are staying at the Gilbert Ray Campground in the Tucson 

Mountain Park.  This is our 4th year to stay here.  It's one of Mom's 

favorite parks.  This is the view out our window. 

Pretty nice sunset to start the New Year.

Next time I'll tell you about our visit to Tucson.

Love,

Doolin

Fort Worth

Saturday, December 15 - We left Shreveport and soon we were in Texas.

We always enjoy the "Welcome to Texas" sign

December 15 - 29 - We spent two weeks in Fort Worth.  The time just flew by with visits to family and lots of fun.  It seems that the humans were constantly eating.  Meanwhile, I had my usual ration of kibble.  Well, maybe I was able to sneak a few bites from my cousin's bowls.  😈

Here are a few of my favorite photos...

Granddaddy waiting for the long horns at the Fort Worth Stockyards.

This cowboy had long horns in his beard

Playing with my cousin Scout 

Our Christmas photo shoot.

Aunt Susan and the Meyer Lemons she's growing on her front porch.

Granddaddy at Risky's BBQ

Christmas Eve at Aunt Susan's

Granddaddy with Dad and Dad's sisters - Aunt Susan and Aunt Mary

Waiting to open Christmas presents

More fun with Scout

Christmas at Aunt Mary's with the whole family 

On the far left - Cousin Scout (white poodle) with Uncle Don and Aunt Mary

 Me with Dad and Mom

Granddaddy seated in the middle

Aunt Susan and Cousin Gus (Yorkie) seated to the right of Granddaddy

Matt and Lena standing in the middle back

On the far right - Chris standing and holding Cousin Watson (Cocker Spaniel) 

and Amanda in front with Cousin Reggie (Cocker Spaniel) 

One of the beautiful sunsets

It was a great visit.  Next time I'll tell you about the next leg of our journey.

Love,

Doolin

Mobile, Alabama to Fort Worth, Texas

Wednesday, December 12 - This morning before we hit the road, we stopped to update our map for all the states we've visited.

We've spent at least one night in every state with a sticker.  There are 34 

stickers.  Only 16 more to go!  Dad has the Canada map on his Amazon wish list.  

We can already put on stickers for four Canadian Provinces.  I think this poodle 

has been to more of North America than many humans!  

Welcome to Louisiana!  Dad wore this shirt so he'd 

coordinate with the sign.  😝

Last week, Mom and Dad were watching TV and there was a show that featured a place that makes charbroiled oysters.  They thought the oysters looked really good.  The restaurant is called Drago's and it is in Metairie, Louisiana (suburban New Orleans).  The great thing about traveling without a schedule is that we were able to plan a stop.  Tonight we are at the Metairie Elks Lodge and Mom and Dad are getting their charbroiled oysters.  They were so excited to eat the oysters that they didn't take a picture, until they were done eating.  All that was left was the napkin.

Thursday, December 13 - Today we left Metairie/New Orleans and continued on to Shreveport, Louisiana and set up camp at the Shreveport Elks.   It was a rainy day and we didn't take a picture of anything.  Some days travel isn't so glamorous.

Friday, December 14 - Today Mom and Dad decided to explore Shreveport.  The first place that they went was the Shreveport Water Works Museum.  It's a National Historic Landmark AND a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.  It originally opened in 1887 as the city's first water plant and operated continuously until 1980 with the original steam engines.  They added filtration in 1890 (yes, over 125 years ago), an unusual technology at the time.  In 1911, they were one of the earliest facilities in the country to use chlorine in the water treatment process.   

Boilers at the Shreveport Water Works Museum.  These were installed 

when the plant was "modernized" in 1917 and they created steam to 

operate the pumps until the plant was closed in 1980.  

This is one of the steam operated water pumps.  It was installed in 1921.

This is the oldest pump and was installed in 1898.

Big pumps required big wrenches.  Look at that, compared to Dad's hand!

After their visit to the water works, Mom and Dad went to the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum.  The museum was completed in 1939 as part of the New Deal.  The building itself is very interesting, since it's round.   

It contains a variety of art and historical artifacts, but is best known for it's 23 Dioramas depicting life in the 1930's.  For example, this one shows harvesting cotton.  The detail was amazing.  It may look like a painting in this photo, but the only part that is a painting is the sky and clouds and the row of trees in the background.  

Of course, being based on 1930's Louisiana, there was a prevalent theme - one or two white men (usually in a suit and tie), supervising a large number of black people (men, women, and children) who are doing the actual work.

Mom and Dad only managed to see two museums, but have several on their list for "next time" in Shreveport.

Next time I'll tell you about our visit to Fort Worth.

Love,

Doolin

Fort Walton Beach, Florida to Mobile, Alabama

Sunday, December 9 - Today Mom and Dad went to the National Navy Aviation Museum in Pensacola.  They said they saw lots of cool airplanes.

This is the NC-4, one of the "NC flying boats".  In May, 1919, THIS PLANE 

made the first successful Transatlantic flight.  That's pretty cool to see 

the actual plane, not a replica, and it's nearly 100 years old.

After their visit to the museum, Mom and Dad went to the harbor 

in Destin to see the Lighted Ships Parade.

Monday, December 10 - Today we drove from Fort Walton Beach to Mobile, Alabama.  We are staying at Meaher State Park on Mobile Bay.  We arrived early, so we took a drive along the Bay and ended up at the beach in Gulf Shores.

When they got back to the car, Mom and Dad showed me this pretty 

picture of the beach.  I couldn't go because fur kids aren't 

allowed on the beach in Gulf Shores.  😡

Fortunately, Mom didn't get swallowed by the shark.

Tuesday, December 11 - Today we drove to Dauphin Island.  It's a pretty island connected to the mainland by a bridge.  Mom and Dad went to the Audubon Bird Sanctuary.  They didn't see many birds, but it was a pretty place to walk.

Trees reflecting in the marsh.

On the way back to the RV, Mom and Dad stopped in downtown Mobile and took a walk around. 

Beautiful fountain in one of the parks.

Cool heron sculpture made out of old industrial parts.

When they got back, we all went for a walk in the State Park.  In the 

middle of the picture, you may be able to see some white spots.  

Those are RV's in the campground and ours is one of them.

We had a beautiful sunset reflected in the side of our motor home.

We enjoyed our visit to the Gulf Coast.  Next time I'll tell you about our visit to Louisiana.

Love,

Doolin

Jacksonville, Florida to Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

Wednesday, December 5 - This morning we left Jacksonville and continued west along the Florida Panhandle.  We arrived in Tallahassee by early afternoon and set up at the Tallahassee Elks Lodge.

Mom and Dad went downtown to check things out and took a tour of the State Capital Building.

The Florida State Capital in Tallahassee.  

It was built in the 70's.  Can you tell?

The top floor is open to visitors and you can see for miles in every direction.  

Thursday, December 6 - You may remember that Mom and Dad ran into the Lowes of LowesTravels.com the other day.  They talked about things they have seen and places they planned to go.  That reminded Mom and Dad to look at their blog for their last trip to northern Florida.  From that, they learned about Wakulla Springs State Park.  

The park contains Wakulla Springs, which is one of the world's largest and deepest freshwater springs.  The spring produces an average of 400,000 gallons of water per minute!!  That's a LOT of water.  The park is also a wildlife sanctuary.

As tourists, the great thing about Wakulla Springs State Park is the Ranger Guided Boat Tour.  Mom and Dad got up early (for them) so they could be on the first boat of the day (at 9:30 am).  

Mom and Dad were rewarded for getting up early.  Their 

tour was just them, one other couple, and the ranger/guide.  They 

later found out that the 2nd tour of the day included 

37 fourth graders from a local school.

Here are pictures from their tour:

 A group of Anhinga resting on a log in the middle of the swamp

Hooded Merganser - Their hairdo is almost as cool as mine

White Ibis

Juvenile White Ibis

Another Anhinga

The Anhinga finally spread his wings so we could see why he's also 

known as the Piano Bird.  His alternating black and white 

feathers look like Piano keys.

We saw several Alligators

Several early Tarzan movies were filmed here.  Can't you just 

picture Tarzan swinging out of one of those trees!

At the end of the tour, we were joined by several Manatees.  

Fun Facts - the Manatee is Florida's State Marine Mammal 

and they weigh about 1500 pounds.

The ranger spent a lot of time with the Manatees.  I think she was 

dreading the 2nd sailing with the 4th graders!!  Mom said that they 

were SO full of excitement and would be SO scary to the wildlife.  

I'm glad Mom and Dad got a quiet boat tour.

That was a lot for one morning, but Mom and Dad decided they were ready for more wildlife viewing.  They drove to St. Mark's National Wildlife Refuge, which was nearby.

This guy was sunning himself next to the Visitor's Center (or perhaps looking for lunch?)

St Mark's Lighthouse

They took a walk and saw lots of cool birds.

Friday, December 7 - Today we took a drive along the gulf coast.   Mom and Dad visited the Crooked River Lighthouse, built in 1895.  It's in the picture below.  To me, it looks more like a water tower than a lighthouse, but Mom and Dad learned that lighthouses were built like this along the gulf coast for two reasons.  The first reason is that this style of lighthouse was more resistant to hurricane force winds.  The second reason was that it was faster to rebuild, if it was blown down.  Pieces could be brought in and quickly assembled.  It obviously is pretty wind resistant, since it's over 120 years old.

Inside the stairway of the Crooked River Lighthouse.

View from the top

After our visit to the lighthouse, we continued on to St George's Island.  I got to go for a run on the beach.  

One happy dog!

After our trip to the Beach, Mom and Dad went to Paddy's for lunch.  Not sure if you can read the sign, but it says "A Sunny place for Shady People".  I have no comment 😏

Florida Christmas Tree

Saturday, December 8 - Today we left Tallahassee and continued along the Florida panhandle.  Even though we are on Hwy 20, which is 20-30 miles inland, we saw a lot of destruction from Hurricane Michael.

The landscape looked like this for miles.  The truck ahead of us is just one of the MANY we saw that were hauling debris to dump sites.  While it's been nearly two months since the hurricane, there were still large piles of debris in many places.  

Our stop for tonight is the Fort Walton Beach Elks Lodge.  We crossed into the Central Time Zone today.  It's hard to believe, it's been four months, since we were in the Central Time Zone!!

Next time I'll tell you about our visit to Fort Walton Beach/Destin/Pensacola, Florida.

Love,

Doolin