NEXT, I DRIVE SOUTH south into Louisiana heading to New Orleans and the Jazz National Historical Site. I used my GPS to take me directly to the location in the French Quarter. I do not enjoy the drive through the city because New Orleans, like most other North American cities has become crowded, run down, dirty and have roads that are deplorable.

In my youth, I always loved coming here but now, New Orleans is no different than any other large population center. One thing positive I did notice is that there has been a lot of progress on restoring the homes and other buildings because now so many look like they have fresh paint. Still, I do not plan to come back to visit this place again soon. After a very short stop in the French Quarter, I drive down Carrolton Street to the river and up St. Charles Avenue for a short way and stop to take photos of an electric trolley car.

Afterwards, I stop on Napoleon street to see the hospital where I was born. Then I cross the Huey P. Long bridge to the West Bank and drive to Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve which I correctly assumed was just a swamp with Spanish moss draped cypress trees, but one full of birds and alligators. Next, I visit a bayou and take a few pictures of a heron walking near the dock.

Also, I learned that this park is named for Lafitte because of his activities in the area. However, this national historical park is really mostly about the Mississippi delta and the Acadian people who settled in these bayous. Still, because Jean Lafitte had so much history here in Louisanna, his name was used for the park.

Finally, I drive west on US Highway 90 towards Texas and stop at a d-mart in Franklin. It is almost nine when I arrive and don′t spend to much time pounding on the keyboard, just enough to add a few highlights.

The rain pounds on the roof of the windjammer all night and is still coming down hard when I arise at four-thirty am. That it pounds on the roof is not bad in itself because it causes me to recall those days of long ago when I slept under tin roof shelters along the Appalachian Trail.

Nevertheless, this is the first time on this journey that the rain has been a downpour. Yes, it did rain when I was on the coast of California, but that was more of a drizzle. Yesterday afternoon, I talked with my sister in Houston who said it was raining there but the weather report informs me that the front is moving east and will soon be out of the Houston area.

I begin the drive west to get out from under this torrential wet and my first stop is in Lafayette at the national park unit but it does not open for another three hours. Rather than wait, I drive to a w-mart with WiFi to check my email and then continue west.

In the late morning, I stop in Eunice, Louisiana to visit the Jean Lafitte National Park unit here and find it open. Upon entering I am surprised at what I find. It turns out that this is the Acadian Culture Center and as I browse through the exhibit, I become familiar with the life journey of the Acadians. They hailed from the rural coastal areas in the Vendee region of western France and began in 1604 to settle the land that they call L′Acadie (Now Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edwards Island and northern Maine) where they prospered as fishermen and farmers.

About a hundred years later, in 1713, Great Britain began to gain control of the area through the French and Indian Wars and by 1763 had gained complete control of most of northeast section of the continent. Even so, the Acadians refused to become cooperative subjects to British rule choosing instead to remain neutral. So beginning in 1755, the British began deporting the Acadians to other places then under British control, some to the eastern seaboard, some to Haiti, some to the Falkland Islands, and some back to Europe.

During this forced deportation from their homelands, most Acadians died from the privation caused from the deportation. Eventually some of the Acadians began to find their way to southern Louisiana and to settle rural areas west of French controlled New Orleans. By 1800, some 4000 Acadians had arrived to settle the swamp lands and prairies of southern Louisiana. ⁶

I view a movie about these Acadians and as I continue to learn about the sad plight of the expulsion of this people from their homeland, I begin to feel great pity for what the British had done to them. One movie commentator called this the worst genocide in North America. Later, while browsing through the exhibit, I find a document that shows the manifest of all the families deported from L′Acadie and this is when I come to realize that I have been learning about my own heritage.

Previously, I knew that both of my parents were of French lineage but thought that both were from Parisian decent. What I learned here at this center is that my mother′s family name is on the manifest of those deported from L′Acadie in the late seventeen-hundreds. (Je suis Acadian. I am Acadian.)

Tears well up in my eyes as well as in my heart as I ponder deeply once again about man′s inhumanity toward man. Similar wickedness has continued through out man′s history and shows that we desperately need God′s Kingdom to come and correct all of these woes.

Upon leaving Eunice, I drive into east Texas and stop to visit my brother Barry who lives in Dayton. It is a short but sweet visit and then he has to go to work. Next, I head for the Lynchburg ferry to cross the San Jacinto River and arrive at the San Jacinto Battleground State Park.

This ferry, much like Double Lake campground visited on 1060 DBR, brings back so many childhood memories for me each time I come here. It is this very same ferry that I, as a young boy and Boy Scout, would walk to during the early 1960′s in order to earn my hiking merit badge. The monument, Battleship Texas and Lynchburg Ferry are just over ten miles from my childhood home and the round trip met the twenty mile hike requirements.

Subsequently, whenever I would return to (or leave from) this childhood home, I do so by way of this ferry which always affords me with a sense of safe-conduct into an otherwise dismal and overgrown megalopolis. ⁷

Today is absolutely no different to me as I enter through this self created safety corridor into the megalopolis which has grown from the small city that I knew in my youth. Once back home, the first stop is at the building where I spent much of my teenage years while I was in high school. These windows were some of the rooms where I studied English, math and history.

With the present high school having long since moved several miles south of here to a larger campus, this building now serves as an administration office and historical museum for the school district.

After a short shop to see the home where I was reared, (now owned by a different family) I head further south to Clear Lake arriving long after sunset and stay for the evening near the new Bay Area Kingdom hall. After working only a short while on my journal, I opt to hit the sack as I am exhausted from this long day.

At last the rain has finally stopped.

In October of 1983, when I first arrive back from a brief stay in Maine, I came to the Clear Creek Congregation, as it was called then. Our territory included the area from Ellington Air Force Base south to Dickinson and from Galveston Bay east to Friendswood; a very large territory with lots of rural areas.

I left in the early summer of 1986 to move to a location in Tennessee where the need was greater. Later, when I returned to visit in 1989, I found that there were two congregation, one north of Clear Creek called Clear Lake Congregation and one south of Clear Creek called League City Congregation.

Now, twenty years later, there are four congregations, two north and two south of Clear Creek now meeting at a new hall in Webster, TX. (29.545700, -95.123900)

Today, I will visit with three of the four congregations as they each have their meeting today, but the fourth meeting is on Saturday morning.

The first meeting at ten this morning, the next two at one and three this afternoon. It is a long day of attending meetings but well worth it to see so many of my friends who are dispersed throughout the four congregations. It is funny for me to see those who I pioneered with twenty-five years ago, who were then just young adults and now have children who are young adults. Time does fly!

I exchange business cards with many and ask them to send me an email so that I will have their address in my computer. Later, I go for supper with Karen and Pat at Karen′s home for some really tasty Cajun food.

Today, while driving around the Lake, I stop for a while to watch a man throwing a cast net for bait and to photograph some of the local birds.

I then drive east along Nasa Road 1 to Seabrook and stop at the small home where I rented in 1983, surprised that it still is standing.

Next, I drive across the bridge over Clear Creek to my sister Susan′s home to visit with her and her family for the rest of the day where I get to know my six year old niece, Lauren. Susan′s husband Chad makes a nice supper for all four of us. It is nine this evening when I leave for the mart store near the hall; another late night.

Today, I awake and first meet with the early service group after which I drive to the local coffee house and spend the day working on my journal and photos. At five pm, I get ready and then head back to the hall for the meeting tonight.

At seven the friends begin arriving and I go into the hall and do not get into the sack until after ten.

I sleep in this morning until after seven, go for coffee and then get dressed for the ministry. It is a nice morning working with Joshua and Eric. Eric and I stop for lunch at my van and then we continue into the afternoon with a different group.

After the ministry, I go to Clear Lake park to watch the sunset. Then Cathy calls and asks me to pick up Ed at the park and ride. We then return to there home for a supper prepared by Cathy and afterwards, we sit and talk until late. Later, I return to the mart store and retire just before eleven.

With such late nights, it is so hard for me to arise early but I still manage to meet with the ministry group at nine this morning. In the early afternoon, I go to Ed and Cathy′s home for a shower. It is really nice to get under hot water once again.

I know that cleaning each evening with rubbing alcohol on my bandana keeps me clean and smelling fresh but taking a hot shower has really become a treat. During a morning break at a fast food restaurant, when the subject comes up and while trying really hard to keep a straight face, I maintain that "I take a shower once a week, whether I need it or not." Then I wait to see how it is taken but everyone remains quite.

Finally, Dominique starts to laugh and I point at him and said "He got it!" and then everyone else also laughs. Actually, the last hot shower I did have was at Henry Horton State Park, one week ago today.

This evening I return to hall to wait for the meeting and after the sun sets, notice the waxing moon above to the south with Jupiter leading by four hands. I prepare for the meeting and then await for it to begin.

Another late night but at least I feel fresh and clean.

Lately, it is the light at sunrise just before seven that has been awakening me. I follow my regular routine of packing my sleeping bag, rolling up the pad, recording the temperature and then have coffee. Next, I drive to the hall for the morning ministry meeting and spend the morning and early afternoon disseminating the Good News. (Acts 20:24)

Then, I drive to the w-mart and spend the afternoon pounding on the keys while waiting for a phone call which never comes.

Later, I go to David′s home for the evening and have barbecue for supper. Then I take a hot shower, the second in as many days. Some weeks it is rubbing alcohol every night and other weeks, it is a real treat. It′s all good! In bed by nine.

The mornings have been superb this past week with the sunrise temperatures in the forties and fifties. My morning starts with the ministry meeting at nine and shortly after, at ten, the public meeting with the South Shore Congregation where I reacquaint with even more friends.

Tomorrow, I intend to spend the entire day in the meetings of the other three congregations. During the following week, I will only attend the meetings of the Bay Area Congregation while staying with my sister and helping her with our mother′s estate. She has told me that she has a lot of Mom′s things left, (which she calls Mom′s junk but says that she can not dispose of any of it) and that she wants me to look over.

I believe she just needs someone else to confirm what is junk and help her make the decision to discard it. These boxes of stuff are what remains after the rest of the family took all that they wanted and remains even after the estate sale. I suspect that the majority of it can be donated to a charity or just put in the trash.

After the meetings, I go to the w-mart and work online. Later, I call Ed and Cathy to see if they would like to go with me tonight out to eat. They tell me that they are across town but said they will be back in the Bay Area in an hour. In less than an hour, I get a phone call from Ed who says he is outside the Vietnamese restaurant right next to where I have been sitting in my car to access the Internet. I look up and see them walking into the restaurant and waving to me.

It is after nine before I return to the parking space for the evening.

The meetings are nice, especially the public talk by the substitute circuit overseer, which is both encouraging and motivating even though I have hear the same talk three times before. Each time I here this talk about the Resurrection, I gain an appreciation for something new.

Afterwards, I drive to Kemah and explore the boardwalk for a little while but find them overly commercial and then drivw back to my regular evening parking space. Tonight I am able to get prone by eight-thirty.

I sleep in this morning until my back begins to ache, which when it does, informs me that I have had enough time in the prone position. Then I go for coffee and WiFi to make a few VOIP calls to the friends back in Washington.

At about one this afternoon, I head for my sister′s home to continue helping her with Mom′s estate. She shows me all that she has done and I and impressed with how thorough she has been and suggest that she begin doing this professionally. She has done such a wonderful job of taking care of and closing out our Mom′s estate that I don′t believe I will have very much to add.

Prone at eleven.

Another night of rain and then awake at seven-thirty. I ride with my sister to take her daughter to school. We then return to begin working on the estate.

Susan had offered for me to stay in her extra room but I tell her, as I do everyone, I am very comfortable with my sleeping arrangement in my van.

Supper and a movie, asleep by ten in my van parked under the oak tree.

It rains all night again and then stops in the late morning but remains windy. This is a typical fall day in Texas. The sun comes out and I open my van to dry from a leaky window seal.

Today is sunny and warm so I keep my van open to finish drying. Also, I wash my bedding, vacuum out the floor and seal with silicon sealer the window that is leaking.

It snowed today in Southeast Texas and even though it did not stick where I am at, mark your calendar! This storm front blew in last night and it continues to rain through most the night, however the leak repair keeps the inside of my van dry.

It is cold, nearly freezing when I retire for the night which is perfect weather for sleeping in a down bag.

Awake and get up quickly to turn on the motor to warm up my van. In a few minutes I see Susan walk out to get me to come in and I tell here that I came in earlier to use the facilities. She pours me a cup of coffee and I go into their office to continue working. Later, she brings me something to eat.

At about four, I clean up my work space and go into the living room to visit with my family who are arriving. My sister Becky and her husband David arrive first followed by her daughter Amy with her husband Jason and their two kids, William and Cade. Finally, my nephew Jeremy, his wife Amber and her daughter Pheobe arrive. This is the very first time I have met Jason, William, Cade, Amber and Phoebe. We all share a meal and then enjoy conversation and photo viewing for several hours.

Later, Susan provides a great desert. After everyone leaves, I go out and buy seven ten-card packs of Pokemon cards hoping that one will have the particular card, Charizard. That is my niece Lauren′s favorite Pokemon character. When I arrive back at my sister′s home, I bring in one of the packs and Lauren open the pack and begins turning over the cards one by one. On about the sixth card she screams, "Charizard!" I yell out, "Yes!"

I had bought seven ten-packs and hoped that the Charizard card would be in one of the first ones open so I could take the remaining ones back. I never dreamed that it would be in the first pack. What a treat, both for Lauren and me!

When Susan takes Lauren to bed, I retire to my van and hope to make it to the first meeting in the morning. In the sack by eleven.

Up early and make the first meeting at ten. I was not sure about the next two but once I get started, I stay for all three. After the last meeting is over, I go out to eat at Zio′s Italian with Karen, Willy, LaQuar, and Fedy.

It [s a nice meal with good friends. I arrive back in League City at about nine and find everyone still up playing games and so I visit with them for a while.

It is very warm this morning and because of a late night last evening, I sleep until eight. I go inside to work at scanning photos. By evening time, I am very tire but continue scanning and at about eight o′clock Susan comes in to talk and because I am distracted on top of being weary, I accidentally delete over three hundred of the high resolution scanned images.

I work for the next half hour trying to retrieve them but the deleted images are totally gone. I tell Susan that when I resume scanning the photos, I will make a backup of everything I do. It seems that the entire past week has been a waste of time. Oh, well! I will return in the spring and try again.

Susan and I both agree to let it go. So, now I am off to bed but it is extremely hard not to keep thinking of the mishap.

I spend another day working on Mom′s estate and when I go out to my van to retire, it is so warm out, over 70 degree, that I drive around for an hour with the air conditioner on so as to cool down the van enough to be able to sleep. It works and I am asleep before midnight.

This afternoon, Susan and I go to the "Author′s Celebration" at her daughter Lauren′s school. Lauren and each of several of her classmates took turns reading their own story that each child wrote and illustrated. It is a nice presentation and afterwards everyone has some chocolate covered fruit.

The scriptures command Christians to love all people and the "all people" includes family members. (Matthew 22:36-40) Even though I do not like one of my siblings, referring to her as the wicked sister, I still love all of them and will do all I can to help them to come to know the supreme sovereign of the universe as I have learned about him from the Bible.

Still, I would never wish to dictate my Christian beliefs upon any of my siblings nor in fact anyone, and yet, I would love for my siblings to come to learn of the hope that I have from the Bible.

Thus, I have encouraged my sister Susan to visit the local Kingdom Hall and that she could go there with out divulging any personal information. To do it this way allows one to see the specifics about a religion without assuming any obligation. I pray that she does so.

After our goodbye′s, I depart from the bay area and head southwest along the inland highway towards Laredo. Although there are numerous beaches, Texas does not have a coastal roadway. Too, Texas is a large state and it take long hours to make this passage.

I drive southwest out of Houston on US 59 and have come to learn that route is being upgraded to an interstate highway which will be called IH 69, one which will have three separate routes, IH 69E, IH 69C and IH 69W.

Continuing southwest from Houston, the place where IH 69 divides is at Victoria, Texas where US 77 splits from US 59 and follows a coastal route to Brownsville, Texas. US 77 south form Victoria will be called IH 69E. I choose to stop in Victoria for the evening, find a d-mart, park and climb into the back.