Texas & Arizona 2000/01
Ontario to Texas
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The Trip:
We decided to start this winter trip earlier than previous to avoid
the snow and bad road conditions and planned to leave around mid-Nov but
this slipped back to Dec 6th. It seemed to take forever to pack and it
was 6 pm before we actually got underway. Well, we got as far as Burlington
(Ontario) when the snow started and it was the next day before it stopped
!!! Stayed overnight in a truck stop in Munroe, Michigan and the
outside temperature never got above -7C but our furnace kept us at a toasty
+5C !!
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Drove a long way south before the snow stopped, but eventually we got
to Nashville and it was a balmy 10C there. Opreyland Hotel is just
spectacular at Christmas (check
out last years visit) and we took our usual trip around the lights
and the incredible hotel interior.
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Next stop was New Orleans but our route took us through Birmingham,
AL, so I took the opportunity to visit the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum.
This museum has one of the best collections of race bikes anywhere - it
was a very nostalgic trip as there were mint examples of all the bikes
our family knew and owned years back - several AJS 7R's, Matchless G45
and G50's, Triumph T100/Thunderbird, etc, etc. Many original
works bikes were there also - Halewood's Ducati from his last TT win, several
MV's / Hondas / Yamahas from the Agostini/Redman/Read era.
There were many Dunstall, Surtees and Tom Arter specials also. It
was a 50-60's enthusiasts dream - and only $5 entrance charge - but they
wouldn't allow cameras inside. At the end of my visit - after much
pleading, they let me take this one picture:
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Arrived in New Orleans late at night and didn't have much choice of
RV parks - just as well it was dark when we parked there as we'd have gone
elsewhere if we'd seen it in daylight. This part of New Orleans looks a
bit like Memphis - mainly black and rundown - think I'd want to stay further
out of town if we were here for a while. There are some very nice
parts and we visited the Gardens District the next day - this is a ritzy
part of town where the historic homes have been preserved. Luckily
there was a Christmas House Tour that day so we got tickets and had a really
nice tour around eight of the homes. The main tourist attraction
here is probably the French Quarter, where Bourbon Street is. It's a pretty
lively place at night - the streets are crowded with revellers - beer is
on sale on the sidewalk and you can walk and drink! The bars have
upstairs balconies and one had a bunch of teenagers who were responding
to the crowds below by mooning and then baring their boobs!!
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New Orleans is at the Mississippi delta and much of the surrounding
countryside is swamp and bayou. We went to the Jean Lafitte Nature
Preserve for a walk around the swamps - wanted to go on a swamp tour on
an 'airboat', but they were charging $45US+ so didn't think it was worth
$130CDN for the two of us. Glad we did this when we talked to the
Ranger at the Preserve as we found that the alligators don't bask much
at this time of the year so we probably wouldn't have seen any on the boat
trip.
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An overnight truck stop outside Houston, TX and then on to Rockport where we'll stay until about Jan 4, 2001 at the Lagoons RV Resort, 600 Enterprise Blvd, Rockport, TX 78382. It was 80F and humid when we pulled in but overnight it dropped to the low 30's. The Weather Channel says all the USA in in a huge cold spell - it's even snowing in Dallas today - but it will only last a couple of days in the south. Roll on Friday!
This page last updated on Dec 13, 2000