Travels with Kenny

Monday July12, 2010

We've begun our great american road trip, and I am finally, getting to do some posting to our blog. Working back, we left Boca on Saturday the 10th comfortable that Auntie Vera is recovering beautifully, like the true Zino she is!

After a long, boring ride on I-10 on the Florida panhandle, punctuated by a couple of terrible thunderstorms, we arrived at US 98, which follows the coast According to Michael (and our NatGeo atlas), 98 is supposed to be a scenic route. I guess it is compared to I-10, but not much else. We had a nice seafood dinner at Floyd's Shrimp House on Ft. Walton Beach and finally arrived in Pensacola. Finding a motel was somewhat difficult because the Blue Angels Navy flying team was there for a show, but we finally got a place around 9PM.

On Sunday we drove into downtown Pensacola and walked around the historic district. Everything was closed, of course, and except for people going to church (what's up wit dat!?), we were the only ones on the streets. The area is pretty neat--lots of cool restaurants and art places, and architecture reminiscent of New Orleans, what with all wrought-iron balconies.

After that we drove to Pensacola beach to check on the oil spill cleanup efforts. Saw a bunch of guys scooping up tar balls. It's awfully hot work, but the guys told us they were happy to have the work. We gave the admiral in charge the benefit of our vast experience in these matters and left Pensacola for Mobile, Alabama.

We planned to take a free trolley around Mobile but, being Sunday, it wasn't operating. So we walked the route in the 98 degree sunshine. The historic district where we walked is just beautiful. Grand old homes and enormous live oaks. We had lunch in an oyster house-type restaurant. When the waitress found out we were yankees who didn't know what cheesy grits are, she gave Serry a complimentary dish of them. Very nice folks down there...but they talk funny.

After that we got back in the car and drove to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It was quite late, so about all we saw of the city was the state capitol building. At the request/demand of Gov. Huey Long, it's the tallest capitol building in the US. A little strange, but also rather impressive.

Today, Monday, we intended to drive straight to San Antonio. But not too far out of baton Rouge, we were driving on I-10 on a huge bridge across the Atchafalaya Basin, and we stopped at an elaborate visitor's center for the Basin and talked ourselves into taking a boat tour of the Atchafalaya Swamp, the largest freshwater swamp in the US (or maybe the world; I've already forgotten). The swamp was really something--lots of birds, alligators, etc. And the guide was a real character, a guy in his mid-60's who has lived near the swamp his whole life. Lots of fun!

After the tour we stopped at a crawfish restaurant the guide told us about and finally got on the road about 2PM. We arrived in San Antonio a little after 9. We're downtown in a really old house (1906?) that's been turned into a B&B. Tomorrow we'll start our tour of San Antonio.

Ken