Not much to report when driving through Texas !!! No wonder they drill for Oil as i dont think they could grow anything....We didnt go to Dallas as it was too far north, we drove from Carlsbad to Kerrville which was supposedly a pretty little town..(obviously said by someone who lived there) anyway we had a great room which gave us all some extra space..We went to dinner at a texas BBQ place just close by and had a very ordinary meal..Jo had like a Corn and Tortilla soup ??? I was thinking what kind of soup can you make from a Tortilla ?? Anyway..what came was Brownish water with corn floating in it and a chopped tortilla on the top !! Not appetizing at all..See what happens when we try to go healthy ..its just not good for you..  Highlight of the night was meeting "Y'all Y'all" The guy who lived in town and he started talking to us.. very funny..He was explaining if he wanted to talk to a group of people he would say Y'all Y'all...... where we say Hey guys.....So now they saying of the week is Y'all..   Anyway he told us we should go visit the Second largest rock in America at Fredricksburg which was about 30 mins drive away, also the Ranch of Ex President Lyndon Bird Johnson...Seems we stayed at the wrong town as Fredrickburg was a really lovey small town.. W went and saw the big rock and he was right it was big...then we went to the Ranch.  It was fantastic, I just love looking through old houses and to think of all the famous people who have been there... He used to use the Ranch for a lot of his work while president.. He would bring dignitaries back there then ply them with alchohol then get them to sign papers... Our guide was a really nice bloke called  JD and he was a Director of intelligence in Bagram in Afghanastan from 2001 for quite a few years after and he worked with our Special Services soldiers..Anyway we had a great time on the Ranch and were very chuffed to have found it...Thanks "Y'all" ...
After that we went to the town of Johnson where I tried to send a fax to the bank ...P.Office didnt send International Faxes, sent me to a Printing place and they did but couldnt work the fax machine.. I had already tried the 2 hotels we had stayed at and neither of them did International faxes...By this stage I was getting rather cranky...Anyway we went forward and drove through Austin..a big city and I found a UPS store Woo Hoo and the girl there just sent the fax without a bother...I wanted to jump the counter and kiss her !!
Back in the car and next town was Houston !! Massive !!! I was driving and going along a freeway bypass of the city and we came to a sign that said "E Tag " only ...Faaarrkk!! we had no idea how to pay an e tag so we got off they Bypass road and spent the next 2 hours working our way around Houston without getting a Toll Road..Cheers to Peter for navigating us through it all.. finally we got to the other side and made our way to the city of Beaumont Texas..we were staying at a Best Western RIGHT on the HIGHWAY !! Sooooo noisy.. a lot of oil men staying there, the good point was it included Breakfast and they also had a happy hour which made us so happy because it was free .. so we toddled down the road with our plastic cups of Beer and wine to the Outback restaurant..We had to check its authenticity..and I think we decided it was about 20% Australian as there were things on there that I have never seen..
We also found out at the Hotel that we could have stayed on that Bypass freeway in Houston without paying !!! Darn it !!
Tuesday we kicked off early as I wanted to visit Lafayette...Big mistake, lack of signage and maps we just drove around, finally finding the downtown which was rather lack lustre, so we pulled out and moved onto Baton Rouge..Got some maps and info at the Information centre and then hit the Capitol Building...Beautiful old building and with a lookout over the whole town on the 27th floor. Its a lovely old town and right on the Mississippi.. This is the Capital of Louisianna.
After that we had directions to follow the river south and drive by the old Antebellum homes...Just stunning..Such a contrast to all that desert driving we did.. Cane fields and big green banks of the river .. We saw the Houmas House where we took photos, then we saw the Oak Alley Plantation which I had seen before and after that was St Joseph Plantation and finally the Laura Plantation.. we stopped at this one and did a tour of the house..This one was different from the others as it was a Creole Plantation...even though it wasnt as grand as the others it was a profitable plantation with really good slave quarters still intact...This plantation home was just repaired without being replaced which makes a difference...there were buildings around that were falling down due to lack of money to repair...This was also the oldest of the plantation homes. It was a very good tour and interesting finding out the story of the Plantations owners.
An hour onward we arrived in New Orleans...Girlfriend (GPS) navigated us through the Up Roads and roadworks into the hotel which was about 1 block from the hotel I stayed in last time, 1 block from Bourbon Street and Canal..great location..we got it for $69 per nite plus $20 a nite for parking...very cheap when you consider the location...and its a huge hotel.
Went for a stroll down Bourbon & Royal Streets last night and had a seafood dinner at" Desires" very nice, Jumbo , Crab and BBQ Shrimp Yummo...photos to follow..
Off to do a Airboat ride today...I knew I shouldnt have done my hair today...no doubt it will come back styled completely different.........