Day 8-Tuesday, 6 Jan-Lake Charles/Vinton, Louisianna to San Antonio, Tx

Photo: Everybody loves it when the rain stops and the sun comes out!

We headed out this morning and it was rain, and more rain again. We put the small heater on last night, not because it was cold, but it was damp. It rained heavily until we got to Houston and once through the city, the clouds lifted and within a short time the glorious sun came out and stayed. It’s about 68 degrees here in San Antonio and supposed to stay sunny for another couple of days until the rain heads here. By that time, we’ll be heading further South, around South Padre Island and/or Brownsville. There's certainly lots to see and do in those areas and we didn't get much time there last year.
It’s a good thing the rain stopped because I was getting ready to send a new definition of ‘van fever’ to Wikopedia. Carl...Wayne has been munching non-stop on his chocolate covered almonds. He calls them 'appetizers' before supper, snacks all the rest of the time.
We got the site beside my friend Dianne and as soon as we pulled in, she came out of her trailer and we were hugging and laughing and totally amazed that although the chances of us getting together in Canada are remote, we can be ‘living’ beside one another in San Antonio. After a glass of wine and lots of discussion about our trips here, we went back to the LuvMasheen for supper and will meet in the morning. Dianne has brought the bottle of champagne she received for her retirement and we’ll crack it tomorrow.
While we were at the welcome center in Louisianna yesterday we had a long chat with some of the women who work there about the aftermath of Katrina. I had remarked that we hear virtually nothing about it anymore and yet there’s clearly lots of damage yet. New Orleans got all the attention but there was damage all along the coastline of Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisianna. One of the girls said it will be many years before there is anything close to normality in those areas--and of course Hurrican Ike did it's own damage this year. Apparently, one of the reasons the older parts of New Orleans isn’t re-built yet is because there is a real problem figuring out who owns clear title to the property. Many of the original tenants in the lower 9th Ward moved there over a hundred years ago and when they died/left, family members or others just moved in…over and over. I guess a team of lawyers have been working none stop trying to figure out who really owns the property and hence can collect disaster payments. However, she did say that there are still lots of volunteers helping people to rebuilt, especially church group and every day a busload of Amish or Mennonites arrive at someone’s house and spend a few days working with the owners. In fact, many of the campsites are filled with out-of-state workers who have come here to work. When I asked why there are still acres of FEMA trailers here, the girl said she suspects this area is ‘hurricane central’ and the trailers can be dispersed more quickly from this area.
Saw a Candy Cane Pink Mustang convertible at one of the gas stations….I need one!
We’ll do some River Walking tomorrow and then I’d like to visit the 5 Missions in the area.
Until tomorrow, hugs and kisses to all. xx