Californy is the place to be........

The temps dropped from the low hundreds to about 78 degrees as we stopped for our first fill up in California.
The views just kept getting grander and grander. I believe we were in the Big Valley for about an hour or two.

Leo and Seville , totally referberized, slept throughout the whole day. It was so beautiful I kept trying to get a rise out those two. Earlier in the morning Leo had found a hole in the linning of the box springs. Pretty crafty, Leo. But after much coaxing and some prodding (with the cane of shame) Leo ran into Kathy's open arms.

One last leg to go. Up highway 5 to Alameda.

Arizona

After three days of free roaming at Kathy's Mom and Dad's Leo and Seville must have thought that "they had arrived"!

With the run of the house Leo was starting to assert himself once again and Seville took the opportunity of an open western style roofline to stalk us from above.

All things good or otherwise come to an end. The next leg involved a bit of referberization.

The views across southern Arizona are breathtaking.With Cacti and geological formations that boggle the mind we needed to stop and take in the views as much as possible. Again the heat built up to about 106 degrees. The spring had provided much needed rain so everything is in bloom.

We had a great time with friends in Cave Creek, north of the Phoenix city limits. Nick, Sabrina, and Zoe took us to a great local hangout for some of the best Tex-Mex in Arizona. It was wonderful to see them and family in the place Nick has been describing to us for the last 30 years.

Leo and Seville are back to an understanding of being on the road and I keep up the mantra we are almost there.

El Paso for three days

From San Antonio to El Paso is over 500 miles and lots of flat mesas, dry arroyos, and flocks of buzzards overhead,hence the lack of road kill.

We drove smack into a record breaking heat spell of 109 degrees!

Oh please,Prius,don’t fail us now. The AC keeps putting out cold air and we keep humming along. (Prius’s kind of hum) We stopped at a roadside rest and had lunch when it was still only about 104 degrees. With buzzards flying overhead and a loan gecko waiting for scraps. I have to say it was fun. It’s a dry heat.

The views are as panoramic as it gets. The sky goes from horizon to horizon and everything in between, reminds me of the movie “The Searchers” with John Wayne and Jeffery Hunter.(1956) I hope no one has to come searching for us.

Oh yes the cats, we keep the car running with the AC on for Leo and Seville at all times and take turns for rest breaks at the gas ups.

Don’t mess with Texas

We hit severe weather leaving New Orleans,lines of thunder storms and gusts of wind in excess of 45mph. I pull the sunglasses up and ask Kathy if she could drive a little quieter.

The storms last about 20 miles or so then we punch through to a Boudin’s sausage stand, still great food, in the middle of a bayou.

We hit Texas hill country and roll into San Antonio about mid afternoon. We switched to the Crown Plaza on the River Walk from the Extended Stay on the freeway.

Good Call Kathy!

The River Walk is shopping and restaurant fantastic as well as archetecually, beautiful.

We wind up at a Spanish restaurant (there are so many I couldn’t remember the name) where Kathy had the shellfish bouillabaisse, and I had a Traditional Paella.

Oh yes the guys are fine with the room and don’t seem to mind the view from the 17th floor.

NOLA,NOLA,NOLA

Seville and Leo are really getting used to this. They have started to adapt to the concept of being on the move.Neither one likes the carrier in the morning but so far no injuries on placing them inside. Kathy has done this from the start and it’s working, although she gets a sideways look from Leo instead of his rubbing up for his needy scratch and purr.

Scattered rain and threatening clouds for the afternoon but it clears up for our romp through the Quarter.

We start with a fantastic meal at a restaurant called the Bon Ton. Crawfish Ettufee’ and Bread Pudding to die for.

Into Harras casino and then up and down and up and down Bourbon street! Great music in the bars and on the sidewalks.

After that we wake up in the hotel room with beads on the dresser wondering, where are we..........?

Birmingham Skyline With Josh

Only a few hours to Birmingham. A very easy day for the cats. Leo and Seville are even getting used to being put in their very special carriers (Italian).

Not to pick on the Alabamans but we couldn't help but notice a couple of things.

At the Alabama welcome center,in the restrooms, there were hand written instructions on the hand dryers as to use. ( mens and women's). The instructions written with permanent marker on the units left me with two thoughts. One, was someone was injured by improper use. Two, were people going to the main desk with issues as to how to operate a hand dryer?

The hostess at the desk was very welcoming and sweet. She greeted everyone, not missing a person, and made sure they got an invitation to a hot cup of free coffee and made sure the they had signed in at the guest book.

One more observation, the country songs are getting much more entertaining. The one we like the most is called "I like Rain". The lyrics go something like this," Rain makes the corn grow, corn makes whisky, and whisky makes my girlfriend frisky. I like Rain".

We had a great night with my son Josh eating at a restaurant he worked in and managed while in college, Luna del Sol, with great Tappas style foods and great custom made margaritas. Then on to his digs where I took the picture from his rooftop. From there we went to a fantastic pub with the most eclectic display of antiques and patio furniture called the Garage. I highly recommend this place if you ever have the opportunity to be in Birmingham. Totally unreproduceable!

We miss all our friends back home and dream of home in Forest Park.

Fried Okra

Nashville, Music City USA!

Leo and Seville almost liked this part of the trip. Leo has seemed to lose his voice and Seville found hers.

While the cats rested at the hotel we went to Caney Fork restaurant for some authentic southern cooking. Located across from the Opryland complex Caney's, as it turns out is basically a fishing lodge with a themed menu with dependable good food. My fried okra with a steak hit the spot and Kathy's Shrimp over grits with a cream sauce was amazingly very good.

Driving this way we started to see that we were no longer north nor east as we were passed by an F150 truck with designer plates "BOOTER". Kathy commented that this fellow might be perpetuating the stereotype of the country boy putting his truck and dog over his wife or girlfriend. I commented that "BOOTER" might just be his better half's name or term of endearment.

But I digress, Leo and Seville traveled well and were very social with us at the hotel. Leo is his old self crawling all over us looking for scratches under his chin and Seville prancing to and fro looking for the source of the strange smell of the cleaning products used to sanitize (we hope) our room.