Leaving Texas, Heading for Georgia

We left Texas and headed for Georgia.  The first day the ramp on the trailer fell down.  We had someone past us and blinked his lights.  Ed said I wonder what that is about.  Then the second car went around us and a woman stuck her arm out the window and motioned for us to pull over.  About that time I heard something rumbling in the back.  Ed pulled over right away.  When we got to the back we saw one on the ramps had fell down.  We had tried some new locks.  They seemed to work real well because they went in real easy.  They had a cable  and the cable had pulled out.  So Ed goes over to look at the other ramp and while he is looking at it, the cable comes out and the ramp falls down.  The really bad part about that was I am standing under it.  I yell, and raise my arm but I also step back and it just misses falling on me.  Enough with the excitement for one day.  These locks were evidently not meant for heavy duty stuff.  The good news was Ed had thrown the old ones in the back of the Jeep so we were able to put them back on.

I half caught it with my arm, better than my head

 The next day we are driving and we  hear a loud pop and Ed pulls over and we had blown a tire on the trailer.  Two days in a row, now this is really too much excitement.  So Ed gets out and decides he can change it himself.  We carry insurance, so I tried to talk him into letting me call them and have them do it.  But he figures it will take too long to get them out there.  But because of where it was, he couldn't get the trailer jacked up high enough to get the tire off.  He jacked it up 4 times before he finally was able to get it off.  We had it done in about 1 1/2 hours.  So it probably was quicker.

The wheel well was bent in, Ed had already straighten it out

See the board under the jack, Ed had to do this 4 different times to
get the tire up high enough

We spent the night in Louisiana about an hour north of New Orleans.  So we decided to visit New Orleans the next day.  We went over a 24 mile  bridge to get there.  That was something.

miles and miles of water

We took a tour bus around the French Quarter.  It seemed like a good idea because we didn't know where to go.  It turned out to be the right decision.

Streets of New Orleans

This is the bus we were on, it was nice riding on top

Very different

beautiful

Stately

See the beads in the tree

Look on the roof and you will see the beads they throw,
the roof needs some repair

 

Never know what you are going to see

Outside the building where they make the floats

In here is where they make the floats for Mardi Gras

For $5 they would give you a lesson

These looked so real

Jazz cats

Ed found a friend

crawdads, Ed asked if we could have a sample

Ed made me taste them, we didn't eat there

 We have been in Georgia for 2 weeks.  We are now in Northern Georgia.  We came here to Gold dig but found the places to dig are too far from here so we went to a gold mine instead.  This mine was opened in the 1900's.  There were a lot of quartz veins running through it.  They would mine out the quartz and then take it and crush it up and get the gold out.  They used mercury mixed in with it because the gold would stick to it.  Then they would burn the mercury off to separate it from the gold.  The mercury would make the miners lose their minds and their teeth.  So he said most of the miners were crazy and toothless.  Then later they added machines that drilled and they were loud, so within 3 months the miners were deaf.  For all this the miners were paid $1.00 a day and the ones running the drills were paid $1.50 a day. 

going down into the mine, it was our option to wear the
blue hats

This is iron from the water running down

They hammered spikes into the wall for the dynamite,  because of the iron
in the rock the spikes would sometimes break off, if the spikes broke,
the miner had 90 cents deducted out of his $1 a day wage

They left this little island so the walls wouldn't cave in

They went in these little holes when they set off the dynamite



They used to haul the rock out



A vein of quartz

This was the new machine to drill holes in the walls, the miners
that used this were paid $1.50 per day.  This was the machine that
made them deaf.

The lights in the mine is making moss

The lights are also causing grass to grow.

Today we got to do something we have been wanting to do for a long time.  We did the Zip Lines.  What a thrill.  Scary but fun.

I am glad we finally did it, the last line was 1/2 mile

All dressed up

Ed looks a little happier then me

I was hanging on tight

Hanging on was an option, we both decided we
would hang on

When you hit that metal piece it slows you down,
I wasn't sure I was going to slow down, this
was the first line we went on, I did relax a little
more later on

This one we landed on the ground, the
others we landed on the platforms

When clearing the land for the lines they found
2 stills,  Ed was able to take this from the air, I couldn't
even find it.

 They had water in here

one of the lines, going off the platform
was the hardest part

 

This was the 1/2 mile line
I am that little speck coming in, way
off in the distance

There I am

 At the end of the lines we had to repel off the platform.  This was 50 feet down, I can't believe they didn't tell us before hand.  You climb down a ladder and the guy pushes you out.  Ed admitted this one scared him.

Our final dissent, we climbed downed the
ladder and pushed off,  Ed said this was the hardest
part for him

then you slowly descend,

That was the platform we repelled off of

After all this excitement I don't know what we can do to top all this.



Happy Trails   Love Ed and Lyn

Remember the saying "when pigs fly"?  Well this is Ed's verse and picture that goes with it. 

,

Mark 9:23 Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes."

Where Does the Time Go?

We left gate guarding on February 15 and have been staying at Port Isabel, Texas. This is a small town on the east southern tip of Texas.  We have been there for 6 weeks and had a wonderful tie.  The town leads over to South Padre Island which is some what of a tourist attraction, but the town itself is pretty small.  My sister and brother-in-law, stay there every winter, so we decide to join them. 

We  really enjoyed our stay there but boy was it windy.  But then what do you expect when you are surrounded by water.  Port Isabel is a small town and then you have a 2 mile bridge that takes you over to South Padre Island.

Port Isabel, Tx
This light house is downtown
notice the wind

 

2 mile bridge going over to South Padre Island

My brother-in-law, Ron goes fishing almost every day.  No matter what the weather or how windy.  Ed declined quite a few of the days.  He's not the fisherman I thought he was.  I think he is getting "wimpy".  He doesn't read my blog so he won't  know I said that.

This is the dock they fish off of at Port Isabel

They also fish off the jedi.  This is off of South Padre Island

The first day they went out some guy fell off
Ed said at first all you could see was his feet sticking up
They were able to throw him a fishing stringer and pull him up
He was a little beat up from hitting against the rocks

Ron's fish?  But he did catch bigger ones at other times.

Bird taking a casual walk I think he is waiting for a fish.

Ed fell and of course he had to reenact the event.  Ron took the picture.

He said he slipped on something

 

 

This was the sting ray that took off with his pole
Later he snagged the pole with his other pole and brought
them both in.  There was also a shell attached but it fell off and
back into the water. 

We took the dolphin tour on Stella's birthday and the dolphin's didn't cooperate but we still had a nice time.  The weather was beautiful that day.  They pull a box behind the boat and show everybody what they caught.  It was interesting.

We did see a few dolphins but they weren't very close

This is what they drug up, mainly star fish

Ed insisted Stella hold one for the picture

A puffer fish was also caught
afterwards they throw them all back

There are shrimp boats everywhere.  But they always seem to be there so not sure when they go out.

There are also anchors everywhere, these are just a few of them.

They were huge and everywhere

Not an anchor but I thought it was interesting

We spent some time walking the beach but it was covered in seaweed and jelly fish.

Seaweed and jelly fish covered the beach
Stella said before spring break they would clean it up

In the back ground are the hotels

The jelly fish are pretty but they are also poisonous

We took our metal detectors out to the beach after the kids from spring break had left thinking maybe we would find something they had lost.  But Ed said they must have held on to their stuff  because this is what we found.

The metal detectors are not paying for their selves at this rate

 

It was a cold windy day.

South Padre Island is one of the main places the kids on spring break go.                               

 

Some of the Spring breakers

Sort of reminds you of the "60's"

Walmart getting ready for the Spring breakers coming in.
It's a big thing on the Island

 

This is where we were parked.  It was pretty tight but we had a little grass and trees and birds and most of the time a nice breeze coming in the windows. 

We were snug

This was 2 blocks down from us

There is so much more I could share but I have to stop for now.  I will try and not wait so long for the next time.

Happy Trails    Love  Ed and Lyn

During these times we need to remember Jesus said:
John 14:27  Peace, I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.