Leaving Baton Rouge...

It's 9:45 p.m. and still 75 degrees outside...sheesh !! Tonight as soon as Linda got home from work, we loaded up the boys and went to the dog park. Their last chance to run and play till we get back home. Linda counted 18 dogs there tonight and that was only counting dogs. I felt like I was at a junior high school dance with all the adult chaperones standing around the sides of the dog park, watching their "kid" to make sure no one misbehaved. It was kind of weird and Boomer and Schroeder didn't interact the same as they did when there were only two dogs. Too much butt sniffing to do for a couple of ADD dogs like ours.... it was too much. Boomer did pair up with one golden lab type of dog and do his sprint around the park. This is the only dog that I've seen that could keep up with him and actually beat him at the finish line. It was really cute to watch. Like the Kentucky Derby all over again....

I started getting things packed up for our leaving tomorrow night. Linda has to work 6-6 and will arrive home around 7. She saw a place on her route home where she can fill up with diesel for $1.99 tomorrow so we'll have a full tank to drive on. Tomorrow is her last day of scheduled work so we figured we might as well head out cause we sure would hate to sit here till Thursday and not have her agency call her for any more shifts. That would really make us mad so we figured we'll leave now. We'll drive till we feel like stopping...any distance between us and Baton Rouge will be fine. :) Our first stop is gonna be the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Alabama. This looks like a really fun place so we want to be sure to get there to have enough time to look at everything. Who knows what interesting things we might find ?

Well, that's it for tonight ? Gotta watch the rest of the race. 71 laps to go....

Our Anniversary...

Today is our 5th anniversary together and in usual fashion we re-created our first date. We went to Applebee's and had a great meal. Devin was our waiter and he surprised us at the end of the night by buying our round of drinks. What a nice guy ! In talking to him, he is from Orlando, FL and he isn't crazy about Baton Rouge either.He is planning on moving to Austin, Texas by the end of the year.

While we were having dinner, two sheriff's cars were searching a car they had pulled over in the parking lot next to Applebee's. Must have been a drug search as they were really going through that car. Didn't know we'd have entertainment with our meal. It will make for a memorable anniversary...when we're old and sitting in our rockers we can say, "Remember when we spent our 5th anniversary in Baton Rouge..." will make for a good laugh !

A Night For Lactose Lovers....

Tonight a dollar could buy a lot of pleasure...Linda and I went down to Baskin-Robbins for the scoop night promo. It was busy but not as busy as I thought it would be. They were only allowing 10 people in the store at a time and there were another 10 probably ahead of us in line so we only had to wait just a few minutes before we got inside the store. When I looked through the windows at the kids scooping inside, I only saw two of them and thought "Oh my, why didn't they schedule more people to work on a night like this". But when we got up to the counter another young lady appeared from out back (must have been on break) and waited on us. I got a waffle bowl in a cup with Raspberry chip, pralines and cream and some sort of coffee flavored ice cream with nuts in it for my three scoops. There were signs on the doors that you were limited to just 3 scoops per customer(like we could eat any more than that). Linda picked out 3 flavors of some sort and we paid $2.03 for the whole shooting match. Such a deal!

The fact that it only cost around .99 for each of us reminded me of something that happened to me many years ago when I was traveling in Canada. We had stopped at a motel to check their room rate and after looking at the room, we asked about the free breakfast they advertised. The clerk was an Asian man and proceeded to give us a lecture on "cheap breakfasts". He said, "You no fill em up on 99 cent breakfast....not like my breakfast. Not 99 cent where you no fill em up". Apparently a competitor was giving him a run for his money with a .99 breakfast and he didn't like that. He got a little worked up over it...
But for our 99 cent it sure did "fill em up"....I was stuffed. They weren't tiny scoops of ice cream like I had envisioned but good sized ones. We let the boys lick the bowls when we were done. They were grateful for the little bit that they got. Based on the turnout at this store I bet that a lot of money was raised for the firemen tonight. What a fun time ! Who will be next ? We've had the free breakfast at Denny's and the cheap ice cream at Baskin-Robbins....maybe free donuts at Krispy Kreme... :)

The Other Side of Town..

Linda had today off from work so we went for a ride and took the dogs with us. She wanted to show me a couple of places that she drives by when she works on the west side of town. We went to a farmer's market type of place and saw lots of fresh mustard greens, sweet potatoes and a variety of other veggies. We had to cross this bridge that has a railroad track running right through the middle of it. It's the oddest arrangement. From there we drove to the west side of Baton Rouge to a little restaurant where Linda always sees so many cars in the parking lot. For some reason they were closed...although the sign on the door said they should have been open at 12:30 on a Saturday. From there we drove back towards home and I suggested that we grab some lunch from a fast food place that originated in Baton Rouge. Now typically we are vegetarians but sometimes in the interest of "food research" I deviate and want to check out something that someone has suggested to us. This place touts fresh chicken fingers (never frozen) and served with alot of love....Hmmm...so I punch up the address on the GPS and as luck would have it we were just a short distance from one of the locations. We follow the directions and were pleasantly taken past Lakeshore Drive to an area near LSU...There was a tiny little parking lot outside of "Cane's" so Linda stayed with the truck while I ran in and got some food. I got the "Caniac combo"...6 fingers, 2 things of a unique dipping sauce,coleslaw, bread, krinkle cut fries and a drink. We drove back towards the water we had seen and found a cute park where we could have a picnic. It was wonderful ! A great breeze was blowing to break the humidity from the 85 degree day and there were kids and dogs playing on the little beach in front of the truck...the food was really tasty too. The chicken fingers were very moist and there was a great coating on them that made them crunchy. After lunch we decided to let Boomer go for a swim since it's been so long since he's had the opportunity. Oh my, he had so much fun ! We hooked him to a long lead and then I held on to him as he dove into the water...chased the ducks and just had a grand ole time. Doesn't he look so happy ? Was good to see him playing. Schroeder on the other hand always runs the opposite direction of water....when Boomer got all frisky and wanted to come out of the water and play with him, Schroeder would have none of that. It was so much fun to get out and enjoy the outdoors plus we got to see some gorgeous houses along the water. I was beginning to think that there weren't any in Baton Rouge...am so tired of looking at slums and run down areas but it seems that right around the university that there are some really nice areas. Not sure how big a perimeter that encompasses but at least we saw SOME nice ones before returning to the other side of town. We did see another RV park that was way worse than this one....I told Linda to remind me the next time I start bellyaching about how bad this one is to remind me of that one....might cheer me up.

Tea, Anyone ?

Remember this picture of the capitol steps that we posted the other day ? Well, today these steps were the site of Baton Rouge's tea party. Similar protests took place all over the country. Some say that the whole movement was started by the Republican party...sour grapes over having lost the election. Thousands of people gathered to protest the excessive spending that govt. has authorized recently for bailouts, etc. Others say that this wasn't a protest that centered around political affiliation at all but a concern that the debt that we are incurring is one that our grandchildren will have to deal with. There is a concern that even though we have "taxation WITH representation" that our needs fall on deaf ears. Pork barrel spending continues....and people are just fed up. This was a grassroots movement that I don't think we've seen or heard the last of. No matter what side of the debate you fall on, I think the important thing is that people are getting fired up and participating in THEIR government. Thinking about what is going on...how it will impact them or future generations...and getting passionate enough to GET INVOLVED. Isn't that what government should be ? Active participation by all to bring about change on a global scale. Let's keep it going !

Downtown Baton Rouge

Today we decided to explore downtown Baton Rouge before Linda had to leave for work. We drove straight down Florida Blvd.,which is right out our front door, and it took us all the way down to the edge of the Mississippi River. We saw the Capitol Building off on a side street so we decided to go check it out. What an impressive building !

It is the tallest capitol building in the country. The building was the dream of Huey P. Long who convinced the public and legislature that a new State Capitol would eventually save the state money because of its efficient modern structure. It also became the site of Huey Long's assassination in 1935 and he is buried out in the middle of the garden and a statue was erected to honor him.

The building is so ornate....a 50' entrance into the building with carvings all around it. The interior is no less impressive.Two large wall murals, huge chandeliers, lots of marble, bronze and exotic woods. The senate chambers are located on the west side of the hall and the house chamber is on the east side. The doors into these areas weigh one ton each but move effortlessly on their hinges.
After exploring the first floor we took the elevators (had to take two different ones)to the 27th floor, where the observation level is. There 350 feet above Baton Rouge we got a wonderful view of the nearby area. The mighty Mississippi on one side...

Chemical corridor on another side and downtown Baton Rouge on the other.

It was wonderful to get this bird's eye view of the area but we did find ourselves holding on to each other as our stomach's got a bit queasy when we got near the railing.

Here are the gardens, just outside the capitol building. If you look in the center of the circle, you'll see a statue. That is where Huey Long is buried and his statue faces towards the capitol.

We went back home, glad for our little adventure out and about in the city. You can tell that the city is still trying to recover from past hurricanes as some buildings are torn up, signs mangled and shingles missing. The downtown area isn't as pretty as some others we've seen but there are some historical landmarks that we want to check out before we leave the area.

"200"

I was surprised to realize that I had 199 posts up until now. Wow, where has the time gone ? In some ways it seems like we've been full-timing for much longer than we have been and then in other ways it seems like a relatively new experience for us.

We arrived here in Baton Rouge on Monday afternoon and was 78 degrees today. My mom, back in PA, whom I talked to on Monday afternoon said it was a whopping 32 degrees there and she is ready for some springtime temps. Linda and I certainly do not miss the cold or snowy weather. We do miss our friends and family but with cell phones and the internet, it closes the gap on the distance between us. Speaking of technology, my posting may be a little erratic for a while. Our computer is acting up again and at times you can't even see the font on the screen due to the distortion. Not sure what the problem is...tonight the "s" key wants to hang up and add way more letters than there should be.

The part of Baton Rouge that we are in is a little creepy. We are on the east side of the city and it appears that this side of town has seen better days. We did find that there is a Sonny's BBQ just 1.2 miles down the road from us...had lunch there today. Linda found out, while dining at Sonny's, that you can carry a firearm in Louisiana and not have to conceal it. Learned this from the guy with the pistol hanging from his belt having the "all you can eat chicken special". Made me eat my catfish lunch a little faster than normal....he says it's a deterrent to crime. Hmmm....I know I'm not gonna snatch any chicken off his table.

Linda started work tonight.....3-11 shift at nursing home about 40 minutes from us. She called at 11:30 and wasn't done yet...might be a short (sleeping)night for her. Doesn't sound like the other employees were very cooperative. The next two days she works at two other facilities. She likes variety....we'll see how it goes.

Well guess that is all for now...gonna catch up on other web stuff while the computer behaves.

Leaving soon....

Well, guess who had a tummy ache today and didn't feel well ? Yep, Schroeder. Something about my jelly filled confection that didn't set well with him as he was sick first thing this morning and has been sleeping and lounging around most of the day. Linda even gave him a pillow to lay on and covered him up with a blankie....(you know she feels sorry for him if she does that)

In the meantime, it's been raining off and on all day. Last night we were under a tornado watch and the same goes for tonight...is on till 1 a.m. Rained really hard overnight and the boys were wigged out. Looked like a swamp around here until the rain stopped and the ground could soak it all up. Linda is over at the activity center tonight playing bingo. Will be her last chance to play before we leave.

At this point we are planning on leaving here on Monday for Baton Rouge. Linda is scheduled for an orientation on April 1 at one facility and another facility the next day. We need to get things put away outside and it's supposed to rain till Saturday. Sunday is supposed to be nice so we'll use that day to get ready to hit the road. Is only about a 4 hour drive to Baton Rouge so that will be nice....leave here Monday morning, get there mid-day and have time to set up.

We've been keeping an eye on the news about the Red River flooding to get a sense of whether it might be declared a disaster, should there be widespread flooding. If it is declared, will be interesting to see if I get put on standby to be deployed. Am hoping that I will be. Just hope the timing is such that we've gotten settled in at Baton Rouge. I will keep you posted....