After we left Austin, we headed for a one night stay in Beaumont, Texas. One of the nicest campsites we have visited so far. Even had a free breakfast there in the morning! The dogs enjoyed their boiled eggs and bananas.
Our next stop was Biloxi, Mississippi, where we stayed at Keesler AB Family Camp for four nights. At every base, the National Anthem is played twice a day, morning and night. I had forgotten how cool this is. Everyone on base, no matter what they are doing, stops, removes their hats, places a hand over their hearts and stands at attention for the entire song. I had forgotten how beautiful it is to see. We headed for the beach immediately after arriving in Biloxi and let the dogs out to run on the beach. They were so happy, they ran around chasing each other in and out of the edge of the water. They both went only to the edge of the water because they don't care for the waves so much, so we didn't have to worry about them getting too wet.

Annie making sure Guy is going the right way to the beach!

After the beach, we went to Shaggy's, a restaurant that allows dogs on the patio. As usual, Annie and Arlo took this opportunity to take a nap under the table while we were eating.

This is such a big chair Mom!

Lazy boy!

The next day we went on a shrimping tour boat with the dogs. Sooo much fun. We went out into the bay and the captain dropped a net that they use to trawl for shrimp. He reeled it in and then talked about all of the different things that he had caught. He sure knew a lot about fish and shrimp. There was only one shrimp in the net though! The dogs were really good on the boat and both sat on the upper deck and got lots of attention from fellow travelers.

Arlo resting on the top of the boat's locker so he can get a better view.

There was a pod of dolphins following the boat begging for scraps of fish. An added bonus to our shrimping tour!

After we were done with the tour, we went to Mary Malone's, which is one of the oldest and best known restaurants in the area. It is an old French quarters house with beautiful gardens and an outdoor patio. We were the only ones out there at first and the dogs got a lot of attention from the staff. There was an old oak tree there that was over 2,000 years old.

It rained during the night. This was the first not so nice weather that we had experienced. It rained on and off all morning but, after that, it was back to sunshine and beautiful weather. Since we were stuck in the trailer all morning, I took the opportunity to learn more about how to post pictures and use a lap top vs. a "real computer" which has been slow going for me as you can probably tell by the lack of posts. The dogs took the opportunity to take a nap! Of course they did!

The next day, we decided to take the dogs to Sitting Bull Hidden Springs. Quite the surprise to see waterfalls in the desert. It was many miles to the falls and we had passed the entrance sign some 23 miles back when we realized we were on the wrong road.. We also realized that we were running out of gas, so we left the area, went and got gas and then turned down the correct road to the waterfall. The dogs loved it. They jumped in immediately and started swimming. It was so cool and extremely windy, the wind seems to be following us everywhere.
The following day we drove to Abilene, Texas, where we spent the night and then drove to Austin, Texas to visit the four little grands and Tammy. The dogs and kids were so happy to see each other. We met at a doggy friendly restaurant that night to catch up with everyone. On Saturday, we watched D play soccer. He is very good at this and always scores the most goals.

The kids came back to our camp site at McKinney State Falls for a bbq and s'mores. It was too windy for a fire but the gas grill worked well for the kids. The dogs decided they liked marshmallows too.

The next day, we headed to Zilker Botanical Gardens. Everyone enjoyed themselves very much. The plants and trees there were gorgeous and the weather was perfect.
On Monday and Tuesday, the kids and Tammy headed back to school. The dogs helped me weed Tammy's garden and Guy did some honey does in the house. The dogs were very happy when the kids came home from school because there was someone to chase and play ball with them. The kids loved that Suzie cooked dinner for them the first night but M was not so happy with the second night. Apparently, she does not like cumin and taco pizza had cumin in it. On Tuesday, we decided to take the dogs and go visit Ben and Elva's gravesites. On the way, we got a flat tire and pulled into a little neighborhood. Pups and I visited a little pocket park while Guy changed the tire. Temple was as dreary as always and it was very sad to visit Ben and Elva's graves. The pups and I left a penny on each grave to let other people know there had been visitors. The dogs seemed to sense our sadness.

Day 1 of their trip found Annie and Arlo in Las Vegas, New Mexico. This was only an overnight stop and it was very cold and windy, so Annie and Arlo decided to rest up on their warm bed while they made plans for the next day.

Day 2. Annie and Arlo visited the UFO Museum in Roswell, and met several pretty scary, to them, aliens. A very interesting and thought provoking visit. There were lots of first hand accounts of involvements with spaceship wreckage and the materials it left behind. Some people talked about different times they had been taken up (somewhere?) by aliens and had things implanted into various parts of their bodies. The dogs liked that the temperature was cool as did I.
Day 3. Our next stop was in Carlsbad, New Mexico where we had hoped to go down into the Carlsbad Caverns. However, the elevator down was broken, and while we thought we could each go down separately, this made a 1.5 hour trip each into a 3-4 hour trip each. We did not want to put Annie and Arlo in the kennels there for that long, so that trip was out. However, we did each tour the museum and saw a great replica of the caverns among other things. We took a really nice nature tour both on foot and by car which the dogs enjoyed greatly.

Next was a quick stop for a bite to eat at the Yellow Brix Restaurant! They loved Annie and Arlo because they were such good pups. And, they were good pups because they knew Mom had a treat for them once they left the restaurant. 

We are all getting very excited about our trip. Annie and Arlo know that something is going on just because of all the activity in and out of the Airstream. Here are just a few of the states they will be visiting: New Mexico, Texas, Mississippi, the Carolinas, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and New York. They will be traveling East after that and will fill you in on those states later.

Arlo knows there is some packing going on in the other room. He stays by the door a lot listening to make sure that his stuff is getting packed too!