Awol...

I am horrible at keeping up this blog.  Every time I think to write I decide that I don't have enough time to make a good post so I don't post at all...then when I finally decide to post it sucks anyway..such is life.

So I'm back in Jersey unexpectedly for Kyle's grandfather's wake and funeral.  He died on Monday after suffering for a long time and recently getting diagnosed with cancer.  I really never want to reach the point where people are waiting on me hand and foot.  I know no one wants that, but so many people end up doing that. It's hard enough for me now as I struggle to walk around to have people help me.  I rather do it on my own.  I'm tough--I tell you--tough!

So I haven't written in over 3 months...what to say...Well, for the last month, we took a trip through Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas and all the states in between.  We've been to Tennessee a bunch so nothing too eventful there.  Louisiana was cool.. We went to New Orleans and explored the voodoo culture and a couple other lesser known places that were neat. 

During our time in Alabama, we accidentally stopped in a town called Monroeville cuz Kyle got tired while driving.  This is the town where to Kill a Mockingbird was born and the town is still very proud of this.  We watched the skit about the book which was pretty cool.  We met Bill Harper who was related to Harper Lee.  The people in the town said that Harper Lee keeps to herself and lives in the town.  I'm realizing now that Harper Lee died in 2006 so I'm very confused... hmm... Harper Lee's ghost?  Anyway, it was a really cool experience.  Bill Harper ended up insisting that he put us up in a small hotel in town and we went to church with him the next day.  We met his wife and the entire church.  I'm never seen such a welcoming church.  So it was a pretty nice accident to run into this loving town.  The rest of Alabama is pretty much backwards trash...even Tuscaloosa where we found a dead dog skeleton in a garbage bag the last time we drove through the town.

Texas was somewhat uneventful.  The towns are ridiculously big..especially Houston which was filled with  Mexicans, cops and beggars.  The town is like the size of Jersey.  Nothing notable except for the Space Center which we mystery shopped.  Mystery shopping teaches you that everything is life should be free.. oh...ya I almost forgot...in Houston we found out second stray dog.  She is a mangy mutt and we called her piggy cuz she snorts and she's fat.  We proceeded to bring her--an unnamed unknown dog at the time--and Mongrel to Joel Osteen's mega church less than an hour after finding her.  You see...that's one benefit of having a disability.  I can train my own dogs and bam... now they are service dogs...  The picture to the right is Piggy!!

Joel Osteen's Palace of many people...16000...

Austin was a pretty cool town in itself, but the people there were like a bunch of homeschoolers.. extremely anti-social...except when they are drunk on the weekends.  While we were there.  We went to a dog park, the bridge were thousands of bats come out every night, a natural pool, and a beautiful mountain top.


Mongrel doing what she does best...hunting for squirrels...

 

1)  Streetcars in New Orleans

2) Cartoon me

3)Mongrel killing and eating a blue crab in the Bayous

4)St Johns cathedral in Lafayette, LA

5)Gator skins in the Bayous

6) Sleepy sisters

7)The Golden Ball for the World's Fair in Knoxville  

So I wish that was a more interesting blog post, but I guess I need to develop my writing style if I don't want to just write a chronological list of my travels... but I'll compensate by adding pictures (=

News flash:  Harper Lee is not dead... She is alive and still lives in Monroeville... I'm not sure what google was talking about saying she died in 2006...