Florida

We spent the whole day driving through the Everglades to our delivery near Miami. Along the way I saw several alligators. Pops never woke up to see them.

When we got to our delivery, which was "on the wrong side of the tracks", if you get my drift, there were shots fired and everyone ran inside the building. I was sitting in the truck with the AC running and didn't hear them. Pops came out and said, "let's go." Then he told me about the shots. He said it sounded like it was just around the corner.

We got to go back across route 75, which is nicknamed, "alligator Alley." Pops got to see some this time. We also saw a few snakes, a herd of wild pigs and a toucan.

The next morning we were still in Florida driving toward Atlanta and we ran into huge swarms of bugs. They were two black bugs with red heads stuck together. I looked them up on the Internet. They are Lovebugs. They swarm the end of April, beginning of May and again the end of August beginning of September. It was disgusting what our truck and windshield looked like.

We had a load before we reached Atlanta.

Saw several alligators at the rest stop

Crawlfish Pie

Ok, so Pops and I broke our diet tonight. But we ate something we never had before, Crawlfish Pie. It wasn't bad, actually I liked it, Pops not so much.

They were individual pies. 

Lucy would not eat it. I always wonder about food that a dog won't eat, but really, it wasn't bad.

Here is the recipe.

Crawfish Pie

1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) butter

1 cup chopped onions

1/2 cup chopped bell peppers

1/4 cup chopped celery

1-1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

1/2 cup chopped canned tomatoes

1 pound crawfish tails

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons chopped green onions

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

15 to 17 (3-inch) frozen pie shells (I used Dutch Ann brand 8-per-box from Calandro’s Supermarket.)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions, bell peppers and celery, and cook, stirring until the vegetables are soft and golden, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the salt, cayenne and tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Add the crawfish tails and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Dissolve the cornstarch in the water and add to the pan. Stir for about 2 to 3 minutes, or until the mixture thickens. Add the green onions and parsley and stir to mix. Remove from the heat and cool for about 30 minutes.

Put a big scoop of filling on half of crust and fold over. pinch edges to seal. Place the pies on a baking sheet and bake for about 30 minutes, or until the edges of the pie crusts  are golden. Cool for several minutes.

To Texas

		Davidson, NC
		15 hours 1 min

Pasadena, TX

1,045.6 mi

We got a load. We will be leaving the Charlotte area and heading to Texas.

The trip was longer than we expected. We sat for 2 hours near Spartanburg, SC. There was an accident. Here is what the news said about that accident.

I-85 Re-Opens After Dump Truck AccidenAll lanes of Interstate 85 have reopened after a collision between an 18-wheeler and dump truck shut down the interstate late Monday afternoon.The wreck happened at 2:15 p.m. at the 35 mile marker in Anderson County.Trooper Billy Elder of the South Carolina Highway Patrol said that the driver of the 18-wheeler, 59-year-old Joe Earle, of Belton, was entering the interstate from an off-ramp when he failed yo yield the right of way and was struck by a dump truck. The dump truck overturned and spilled asphalt and gravel across the north and southbound lanes.The interstate was shut down for a short period of time and traffic backed up for several miles as crews cleaned up the debris from the wreckage.According to Elder, the driver of the dump truck, 39-year-old Samuel Cantrell, of Travelers Rest, was wearing a seatbelt and transported to a nearby hospital for minor injuries. Earle was wearing a seatbelt and not injured. He was cited with failure to yield the right of way. 

After getting past there. We hit Atlanta during rush hour. So it took us another 1 1/2 hour to get through that area. Then I drove us to Montgomery, AL and then Pops took over. When I woke up, we were at the welcome center in Texas. We made our delivery and now are waiting again for another load.

Sons

Our sons are prison guards. Their softball team took third place this weekend in a tournament held at Ocean City.

Tom is in the back row, last on the right.

Drew is squatting, 2nd from the right.

Drew's girlfriend, Shelbie is 2nd from the left in the back .

Congratulations!

NYC

This is a picture that Drew and I had done on one of our NYC trips.

There was a man in Central Park that was drawing pictures and done this in about 10 minutes.

Goodnight