The big sign leading out of town.
America's "Refinery Capital".
Our RV park. Nice little spot that looks like it was once a farm.
The Cajun couple who run the park. A couple of weeks later they were in Sedona on vacation. Small world.
During summer, just when you don't want to be here, the owners offer guests free produce from this garden. Perhaps it's an incentive to get RVers to stay during the worst weather.
In Houston with my friend Roz. Daisy's looking for bits of chow on the ground.
Augie, Roz's sweet dog. Why can't Daisy be sweet?
Roz dances into the Bosnian restaurant knowing that...
...there's plenty o' wine waiting for us. It's a BYOB place and Roz broke out one of her best bottles. I am there!
Cafe Pita, right next to Daisy's liquor store.Big Oil and a Little Bit of Bosnia
Following Poche Plantation, we continued the roll west, plunking down for a night at the Whispering Meadow RV park in Westlake, Louisiana, right across the border from east Texas. The park is run by an easy-going, friendly Cajun couple who every year plant a small vegetable garden and offer their guests free produce. A good spot. But what sets this place apart is that it's smack dab in the heart of America's refinery area. This is, after all, ground zero for the "Drill, baby, drill" crowd. If you can't see the refineries from where you are, you can certainly smell them.
We thought that since there's more gasoline here than almost any place on earth there'd be cheap gas in spades. No such luck. In fact, gas in Westlake was no bargain. Still, we filled up the 2004 Tundra with crew cab and matching Vista snug top and crossed over into Texas. Since we spent all of our money on gasoline we needed a free place to stay so returned to where we'd been last year, the Thousand Trails campground at Lake Conroe north of Houston. Found a spacious waterfront (actually, pond-front) site where Daisy could keep her eyes on the ducks.
The reason for camping so close to the big city was to visit my good friend Roz. Years ago we worked at KPIX, the CBS-affiliate TV station in San Francisco. Lovely Roz is smart, funny and a great hostess. She and her husband Michael (who was out of town) appreciate fine wine and food and this time steered us to (of all things) a local Bosnian restaurant. Food, in Bosnia? All I can recall from that night is that I stuffed myself with stuffed bell peppers. Mighty tasty. And the cafe was next to the "Daisy Liquor Store" which I thought was rather funny, having a dog named "Daisy" who likes to drink wine. It doesn't take much to amuse me these days.
We thought that since there's more gasoline here than almost any place on earth there'd be cheap gas in spades. No such luck. In fact, gas in Westlake was no bargain. Still, we filled up the 2004 Tundra with crew cab and matching Vista snug top and crossed over into Texas. Since we spent all of our money on gasoline we needed a free place to stay so returned to where we'd been last year, the Thousand Trails campground at Lake Conroe north of Houston. Found a spacious waterfront (actually, pond-front) site where Daisy could keep her eyes on the ducks.
The reason for camping so close to the big city was to visit my good friend Roz. Years ago we worked at KPIX, the CBS-affiliate TV station in San Francisco. Lovely Roz is smart, funny and a great hostess. She and her husband Michael (who was out of town) appreciate fine wine and food and this time steered us to (of all things) a local Bosnian restaurant. Food, in Bosnia? All I can recall from that night is that I stuffed myself with stuffed bell peppers. Mighty tasty. And the cafe was next to the "Daisy Liquor Store" which I thought was rather funny, having a dog named "Daisy" who likes to drink wine. It doesn't take much to amuse me these days.
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Keep it clean, please. And nice. And complimentary.