Van made it to USA

Palacios,Texas 25 November
Just making progress today eastwards to Galveston on the Gulf . Checking put places as we went.Arriving at Indianola we came across a free camping beach.A first on our travels to see others wild camping.
Decided to stay for the afternoon and night but by 3pm it was blowing hard.Moved on a hour to a riverside public park in Palacios that will suffice for tonight.
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Thanks again for the updates. I stayed in Palacios on a day that it had the highest rainfall anywhere in the USA! Nice little place. At Galveston it's interesting to tour the oil rig and the restored station (restored again after flooding) is well worth a look.
 
Galveston,Texas 26 November
Arrived here to find it reminds us of Clacton or Southend, American style.Pleasant enough but obviously winter with many places closed.But still required to pay for parking along the 6 mile front and no RV parking overnight signs everywhere including Walmart ?IMG_20181127_102331.jpgIMG_20181127_102136.jpg
 
Due to the overnight restrictions we drove 15 miles to an IMG_20181127_140734.jpgIMG_20181127_140513.jpgIMG_20181127_141019.jpgIMG_20181127_141137.jpgIMG_20181127_140408.jpgIMG_20181127_140308.jpgaccommodating Sam's Club.
Back in today for a peak at the old town .Nice weather for it.Funny how they do everything from the car including banking.The police officer said they used to have Honda motorbikes.The Harley's look much cooler.
 
WOW so great!!!!!!!!!
Thank you so much ......... keep it coming.


A Londoner who arrived "illegal" in San Francisco in 1970 ......... still a few hippies around. Stayed for 35 years.
Wonderful people, wonderful place.
We have so much to thank them for!
God Bless America! .......... and I am a atheist.
 
Houston,Texas 28 November
Yesterday was a night of gluttony.We got permission from the manager to stay overnight on the sea front Golden Corral restaurant.
These fixed price and eat as much as you want restaurants are not good for healthy eating.
For approx £10 each there are silly amounts of buffet options on starters,mains and desserts.
You try to be sensible but you end up trying to get your monies worth.
Actually never ate anything all day in preparation for the feast!
Ridiculous how much we ate but nothing compared to the regulars achievement's.The steak was great.

Anyway,left there in morning for San Jacinto battlefield memorial.This is the tallest masonry building in the world commemorating the famous,to Americans,victorious battle for independence of Texas from Mexico.A somewhat incongruous setting amongst the vast sea of oil refineries that can be viewed from its 567ft observation tower reached by the internal elevator.
At the same site is the very interesting Texas battleship.The world's last remaining Dreadnought commissioned in 1914 and served in both world wars . Bristling with guns, what a sight and sound it must have made when in action.
Seems strange that they are struggling to find funds to maintain her,and she is in a poor condition,when it is a unique NATIONAL museum piece.IMG_20181128_200727.jpgIMG_20181128_201437.jpgIMG_20181128_201208.jpgIMG_20181128_201345.jpg
 
Houston , Texas 29 November
Why ho why do we persevere with visiting these cities.Because we will never return this way and those evocative names draw us in.Every city has its stressfull congestion and Houston has surpassed them all with its eight lane highways.
You never see another RV of our size visiting and mostly we have had to stay about ten miles out and scooter in.
With a rainy day we got right into the mix to visit the Galleria Mall near the centre.The one and only mall we will visit but determined to do an American mall.
At least I got to play with the Tesla showroom cars but gave the ice rink a miss.
Surprised how close we managed to park the RV not only to the mall but also to downtown in the afternoon.We walked fifteen minutes but had the usually disappointing city visit.The free lift to a skyscraper observation deck was closed.The visitor centre had moved across town and the famous bats under the city bridge had migrated.To cap it all we had a little ATM issue.Always use a bank during open hours but they put it in the office block lobby.The card would not enter the slot correctly and we did not enter a pin info .Just after we moved away a untidy dressed fella went to the machine did something quick and left the building sharply.I told the bank manager of this unusual behaviour and she casually said they have been having skimming events but no pin given no risk.I still moved funds out online later just incase.Cities !!
And got soaked for our efforts.
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On advice from the musician we are now parked outside Randal's restaurant in town.They have Zydeco music each night.So on a promise to drink their beer the manager is ok to stay overnight in his car park.
Got in to buying rounds with a fella called Brad ,a local all his life.Full of interesting stories,he is just retired,not least his hunting tales.Very keen to join him tomorrow to shoot his arsenal of guns but not my thing.Our time on the firing range with a 38 six shooter a few weeks ago satisfied my curiosity.
The band was great but playing to a small audience and dancers for a Tuesday.
 
Laplace, Louisiana 5 December
Made our way to the Laura Plantation on the Mississippi by 1 pm.Part of the journey on the i10 was along a 18 mile causeway over the Atchafalaya Basin (the swamp).
We chose the Laura Plantation over the many other options due to good write ups about the tour covering the lives of master and slave and not just the mansion.
The whole riverside was sectioned off into many plantations of various sizes looking like allotments on a map.Laura was one of the larger plots with up to 300 slaves.
Sadly their freedom after the civil war did not make their lives much better.Paid a wage in tokens to be spent on the plantations store meant they ended up on debt to the plantation and unable to leave.
The descendants still live in the area and some are employees of the sugar cane plantations and refineries now run as companies.
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Your write ups are fantastic,where are you getting time to do them .well done and we were talking about your journey at our meet at the green frog moffat last week
Well done you guys
Regards Gordon
 
New Orleans , Louisiana 6 December

Arrived as early as possible to the city campsite of French Quarter RV park.Cost 112 dollars per night so we had to make the most of our one night .
So we was at the Herman Grima House Museum for its noon tour by 11.30.Happened to be Xmas holidays day,which meant free food and punch.
Next the 2 pm tour at Gallier House .Both properties very interesting for their social aspects in relation to the slave servants and different architectural designs.
Had to skip the Old Ursuline Convent as they closed by 4 pm so we visited the Bohemian Frenchman Street just on edge of the French Quarter.More for the locals than tourists,good earthy vibe to it with the bars and jazz in full swing at late afternoon.
On to the French Market , purchased the tee shirt,as you do.Live music in the streets everywhere including the market where we witnessed the funny sight of nuns dancing to jazz.
Apparently Cafe Du Monde must not be missed so we had our Cafe au Lait with Beignets (doughnuts) amongst the throng of tourists .
By this time it was dark and we strolled the remaining undiscovered streets untill the Cathedral Gospel Choir at 6 pm.A full house to great singing.On to the Jazz museum for its free concert . Wow! We are in full flow now and need food so a three course meal for a fair price in a little back street restaurant was ok ,just mediocre .
Let's get going it's 9 pm already.Bourbon Street is small but on steroids.Music of all genres coming from the bars whilst the crowds mill up and down with their beers in hand.Beer in the street is a big thing with the Americans and must be done ! Not allowed elsewhere.
Another tourist trap called Pat O'Brian's turned out to be good for its music bar with two apposing piano players singing requests.
Finally settled in to a great dance floor bar with a eight piece band playing 70s music.Brilliant atmosphere.A very long memorable day finishing with a short taxi ride for safety reasons back to the RV park.
New Orleans ,you lived up to our expectations and beyond . Probably because we visited out of the weekend and avoiding huge crowds.
Two nights would give time to tick all the boxes but you will need stamina.

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On a rainy Saturday 8 December camping at the Golden Nugget Casino car park in Biloxi,Mississippi I have passed the time reviewing our road trip since collecting the Hymer motorhome from Baltimore on 24 July.Our touring is slowing down now as we are booked on three campsites in Florida for xmas and new year leaving twelve days to make our way north back to Baltimore docks.It may be of some interest to others.Go pass the rest of the time on the one arm bandits !

To date we have covered 14,412 miles (about 2,400 left to do) average = 96 miles per day

We will have visited 35 States over 175 days

Deisel has cost so far $2703 average $100 per 500 miles or $10 per 50 miles
26 nights campsites so far $755 (the rest boondocking ,wild camping) average $30 per night
Propane refill so far $291

1 Maryland 2
2 Pennysylvania 2
3 Virginia 8
4 Kentucky 1
5 Ohio 3
6 Indiana 1
7 Illinois 4
8 Iowa 1
9 Nebraska 7
10 South Dakota 5
11 Wyoming 2
12 Montana 10
13 Washington 5
14 Oregon 5
15 California 1
16 Idaho 4
17 Nevada 1
18 Utah 4
19 Colorado 6
20 Kansas 6
21 Missouri 4
22 Kentucky 1
23 Tennessee 5
24 Arkansas 4
25 Texas 28
26 Oklahoma 5
27 New Mexico 9
28 Louisiana 4
29 Mississippi 2
30 Alabama 1
31 Florida 25
32 Georgia 2
33 South Carolina 2
34 North Carolina 2
35 Washington DC 3
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