No, I didn't forget.....

....that  I have a blog to write. 
Here is our situation:  Paul and I made our way back to the Keystone factory to get our trailer looked at for the 4th time because of a frame flexing issue.  Paul has been upset because he can see things shifting and warping.
We showed the shop manager some of what we could see happening inside, and he had someone from the company that built the frame there to look at it when they pulled the frontcap off the trailer. The bottom line is, they agreed with Paul that there is a serious issue with the trailer. There are welds that are broken, the floor is bowed, the outriggers that hold up the floor are bent, and the walls are separating.  Although it can be fixed, they have offered to help us get a brand new 2012 5th wheel.  They don't make the same model we have, so we are actually getting a slightly bigger one.
So, although it's been an extremely stressful week, we are very happy that the company is willing to help us to the extent that they are.
We should have the new trailer by the end of next week, so I'll post more then.

Tornado Alley (4-7-11)

     The last few days we've been traveling through "Tornado Alley".  We started in Louisiana, drove through part of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and we are now in Missouri.  We stopped for an extra night in Oklahoma because the weather forecast called for potential thunderstorms and high winds, with the possibility of a tornado thrown in there.  We decided it wasn't worth getting on the road.  We were at a Core of Engineers campground at Lake Eufaula, which was a very peaceful place to stay for a night or two.  From there we drove through Kansas and we are now in Lake of the Ozarks State Park for a couple of days.  Our ultimate goal is to get to Indiana by next week, where we'll spend about a month hanging out with our daughter. Many of the campgrounds aren't even open yet, which reminded me that its still pretty early in the year, and we are definately heading north.
   We've been doing a lot of driving,  and we were ready for some down time, so we haven't done anything too exciting.  We did drive through Paris TX to check out the "great pie" they have there, but it turned out Paul remembered the name of the town wrong, so there was no great pie.  Oh well.
Tomorrow we are going on a 9 mile hike. I am really looking forward to getting  some exercise.

One final day in New Orleans (04-01-11)

        Our last day in New Orleans the weather finally played a role in our plans.  It was cool and drizzly but we knew in advance that it would be that way so we had saved the museum for last.  Last but not least, as they say.  It was a World War II museum that displayed a chronological timeline of the war in a way that was interesting and kept my attention. In fact, we ran out of time and didn't see all the exhibits.  We started by watching the movie to get an overview, and it was awesome.  More than a movie actually, it was a "4-D" experience that started with a spotlight on an old fashioned console radio (like the one we had when we were kids) and the broadcast of a football game.  Then, of course, came the interruption announcing that Pearl Harbor had been attacked. It was mesmerizing.
     I got a better understanding of the absolute enormity of this war and it's impact on everyone. I had heard stories from my parents, but they were both teenagers at the time, so they had a young persons perspective. 
I knew that Japan obviously played a key role in the war but I learned more details about how what they did as a country "pushed" the U.S. into reacting the way it did, both at the beginning of the war and at the end. In 1945 the Japanese people had made clear by their actions that they were all willing to fight to the death to protect their country and their emperor.  They had both sustained  and inflicted incredible losses to that point and American casualties were likely to be in the millions if we proceeded with the planned land invasion.  So, we dropped the atomic bomb instead.  Whether it was right or wrong, it did end the war that had already cost the lives of over 50 million people.
   We couldn't leave New Orleans without a trip down Frenchmen Street.  Unlike the Bourbon Street music venues that loudly compete for your attention, Frenchmen Street is full of smaller jazz clubs quietly inviting you in for a listen. We obliged and listened to Saxophonist Jerry Jumonville and the Jump City Band at La Maison before heading to dinner at the Praline Connection. There were also many street performers here, creating a casual, fun atmosphere.
    So, now we have left New Orleans and headed across Texas towards Oklahoma.  We have about 2 weeks to get to Muncie IN and we've decided to do it by way of OK and Kansas.