Louisiana to Mississippi

We only stayed two nights in Louisiana. We are planning on getting back to South Carolina for a meeting, so we didn't take the time. Maybe next time we'll see more, but we did drive through New Orleans. We drove over Lake Pontchartrain, HUGE! We've never seen cemeteries with all the tombs above the ground, but they are here!!

Mississippi

Awesome state park campground! We love the big trees here! The children love the huge playground. The state park has just reopened from being destroyed in hurricane Katrina.




There was a water park connected with the park, but was also destroyed. We've been amazed to see the empty lots where homes were destroyed, but the lot was left empty. Some have chosen to rebuild a home and some have chosen to put an RV on the lot, temporarily or permanently.

Do you see this slide ends rather abruptly?

It has become a joke with us now that wherever we decide to camp there is going to be a working railroad close by. Usually we don't think about it ahead of time, but then we ALL laugh when we are setting up, or just settling in and we hear the horn of the train!! At this campground the tracks were right next to our camper, we set up at night and didn't see it, but it didn't blow the horn here so it was fine.

In this photo the large building is a newly built casino. Unfortunately it is built right in a poor area, as if they were targeting them.

It was pretty awesome that the road was right next to the ocean! We've never driven on a road next to, or on, the beach like this. Pretty amazing. It was beautiful driving on this road as we drove east to stay at the air force base in Biloxi.

One day we drove to the Stennis Space Center, NASA. It was another free tour and museum!

Fort Worth, Texas

In Fort Worth we were able to tour a T.V. studio! It was awesome and the children thoroughly enjoyed it! We toured the media room, audio room and tv studio. The man who was so generous in giving us this tour, he gave us hours of his time. It was very educational and exciting!





We also were able to go to the Bureau of Engraving & Printing in Fort Worth. This tour was also free and very educational! There are only two locations where money is made in the U.S. and the other one is located in Washington, D.C. When we arrived we parked our car, walked into the security building where our items were checked, then we walked outside to ride the shuttle to the large, engraving building. This main building has a gift store, museum, informative movie and the area upstairs where visitors walk the tour viewing the money that is being made. Visitors are not allowed to bring cameras or cell phones, so we do not have any photos of this place.

We only stayed in Fort Worth about 4 nights. Then we left for Mississippi.

New Mexico to Texas

We left wonderful Colorado Springs, drove through New Mexico to arrive in Texas for a few days. We traveled every day Monday through Thursday to get to Fort Worth. For five nights in a row we camped somewhere different every night. By Friday we were exhausted!

Monday we stayed the night in a small town called Springer in New Mexico. What a tiny town! Here are photos of the two churches.

No red lights, no wal-mart, not a large grocery, but plenty of flat, dry land!

In Amarillo, Texas, we were only there for Tuesday night, but we saw "The Big Texan" home of the free 72 oz steak. If you can eat the steak, salad and potato in a matter of minutes, it's free! No, we didn't succumb to challenge, or should I say misery?


Then it was off to Wichita Falls, TX, that the Wichita Native Americans called Wee-chi-tah.

Wichita Falls has a proud history dating back to the early 1700’s when the Wichita Indians migrated to the Red River area. The name Wichita is derived from the Choctaw word, “wia chitoh,” which means “big arbor,” a description of the grass-thatched arbors in the Wichita’s village. During the late 1700’s, Comanches and Apaches also lived in the area. All three tribes remained in the area until the 1830’s. The city gained its name from a Wichita Indian encampment near a small waterfall along the Wichita River.


Here we camped overnight at a city park. Yes, some city parks have camping and this one was very nice! We walked across this suspension bridge. The city park had a nice, large pool, playground, plenty of sidewalks meandering through large shade trees and Frisbee golf.
When we were there it was a beautiful, sunny day. This photo was taken at another time.

Rocky Mtn National Park, Colorado

More photos of our trip to the mountains!! You can see the glaciers on the bottom photo.
This week's weather: highs 60s, lows 30s. Fall has arrived in Colorado!

Colorado, US Air Force Academy

Our campground is on the Air Force Academy grounds. We've been amazed at the academic and athletic prestige of the academy. We have really loved being in Colorado Springs. Again the weather has just been wonderful with sunny days everyday. We hope you enjoy these photos and that you'll be encouraged to live every day to the fullest.

This is the visitor's center and the chapel.