151 years ago financier Edmund Mcllhenny suffered the loss of his fortune and prospects having been a resident of Louisiana and a southern sympathizer during the Civil War. He had gifted his rare collection of the complete works of William Shakespeare to a Union officer rather than see the volumes lost to the looting Union troops. The collection was later returned to the Mcllhenny family and is now a treasure in their Tabasco Museum.

While eating lunch he asked for some pepper sauce to liven up the otherwise bland fare. The proprietor demurred saying that peppers were out of season, but that he would pay dearly to have some. McIlhenny was thus inspired!

Experimenting, he hit upon a process (not unlike making sauerkraut) of mashing select chili peppers, brining and aging the mash in white oak barrels (for up to 3 years), then extracting and bottling the pungent red elixir. Tabasco sauce was thus born.

It has been exclusively produced on Avery Island ever since. The company exports world wide and prints its labels in 22 different languages.

Control of the company has remained in the hands of the Mcllhenny/Avery family since its inception. Many of the executives have been known for their valor in the service of the United States Armed Forces, most notable being John Avery Mcllhenny who (literally) served next to Theodore Roosevelt as a Rough Rider in the Spanish American War battle of San Juan Hill.

Others were notable adventurers such as “Ned” Avery Mcllhenny who was an Arctic explorer and naturalist.

We toured the Tabasco factory today.

It is entirely contained on Avery Island, named after Mcllhenny’s father-in-law, Judge Daniel Avery. It is a small circular island about 2.5 miles in diameter that was formed upon an ancient salt dome.

The factory is remarkably small and understated when one considers the market strength of Tabasco products.

On this day alone over a quarter million bottles of Tabasco sauce were filled for shipment to Japan.

Many of the Tabasco employee families have multi-generational ties to the company, some living on the island in company furnished housing. One employee lived in the same company house for 89 of his 91 years!

Most of us are familiar with “Original” Tabasco Sauce, it’s label design essentially unchanged for at least 135 years. Today I was treated to samples of a dizzying array of other Tabasco “tastes”, including Tabasco Scorpion Sauce. Christine could tell it had heat by the sweat rolling down my brow. There was even Tabasco Ice Cream!

I have always been a fan of Tabasco, and those who remember me from my tie wearing lawyer days will recall that I had quite a collection of their neckwear.

The last 2 nights we have been camped in Louisiana’s Palmetto Island State Park. It is perhaps one of the finest State Parks that we have encountered in our camping tour of 49 states. Spacious campsites, full utility hook-ups, WiFi throughout the campground, spotless bath facilities, and a free laundry!

We are only 15 minutes from Abbeville, 40 minutes from Avery Island, and 120 miles from New Orleans, our destination for tomorrow.

Peace Everyone. Pete

PS. Local temps are predicted to plunge to near freezing tonight. People in these parts are a bit frazzled by the cold-snap, but we are feeling pretty fortunate since Kansas City will be below zero, and where my Mom lives near Chicago will hit over 20 below zero… with a -60 degree windchill! Stay warm everyone!

It has been a few days since I last “signed on”. We have enjoyed 4 wonderful days with long time friends, Hal and Jane Gilchrist on South Padre Island.

The days and evenings were full of island fun, which is a mix of good food, good drink, elegant entertainment and just plain hanging out. Our travels are typically low stress, and SPI just made it even more so.

On one excursion with Hal and Jane we drove to see the new SpaceX launch facility which is only a few miles by water from their condo, but about 45 minutes by car. The prior evening had seen the island and surrounding area buffeted by strong winds that gusted upward to 60mph. As we approached SpaceX I caught a news flash that the gale force winds had torn the top off of the “Hopper” Rocket.

We were among the first to see the rocket, half standing and half on the ground looking like a silver skinned beached whale. A perimeter guard approached our car as I was taking pictures. His presence politely “announced” that our presence was not welcome. I asked when the rocket would be repaired, to which he replied, “I’m not at liberty to discuss that Sir!” (Translation: “I don’t know because that’s information above my pay grade”)

The “Hopper” is a scale model of the rocket that SpaceX envisions someday transporting a large contingent of colonists to Mars.

It conjures up memories of the spaceships on the Flash Gordon programs that I watched zoom across my black and white television screen in the 1950’s.

I have to believe the similarity is intentional as Elon Musk is first and foremost a promotional genius.

The “Hopper” is designed to ascend to 16,000 feet and then vertically land at the SpaceX facility in California, demonstrating and perfecting the skills necessary for the Mars expeditions.

Our visit with the Gilchrists at an end, we traveled northeast along the Texas Gulf Coast. We enjoyed 2 nights on the shores of Texana Lake near Edna Texas. The park is in alligator country, but we didn’t see any on our 5 mile hike through the swampland located within the park.

Today brought us another 2 hours up the coast, nearing Galveston. Our leisurely drive was rewarded with the treat of camping on the hard-pack sands of the Brazoria County Free Beach. No electricity, no bathhouse, no showers, no drinking water… but priceless ambiance and the never ending sound of surf right outside the door of our camper. Did I say “priceless”?… yes, literally and figuratively since camping here is FREE!

Setting up camp was a breeze as all we had to do was park along the dune that parallels the surf. Christine and I set off on a long walk down the beach and were attracted to the site of large multi-colored kites flying in the distance.

Continuing on we found that they were aloft at the site of the town of Surfside’s annual chili cook-off competition. There was free music, free beer, and a lot of really good (free!) chili! Free seems to be the theme of the day.

Tomorrow we continue up the coast on old Texas Route 87, crossing the mouth of Galveston Bay by the Galveston-Port Bolivar Ferry. Of course, it’s free. We expect to make camp near Port Arthur, a stone’s throw from the Louisiana State line. Our destination for January 30th to February 2nd is “The Big Easy”, aka New Orleans.

Peace Everyone! Pete

We spent the last two nights camped in Seminole Canyon State Park, another excellent Texas facility.

The Park is situated along the rim of Seminole Canyon in the Seminole Canyon Archeological District.

The Canyon is known for its wealth of artifacts and cave art left by a very early indigenous people.

Little is known about them except that they were nomadic hunter gatherers who traveled in small bands.

They hunted using the atlatl and spear. They made creative use of the canyon cliffs by stampeding the now extinct species of bison over the edge and then harvesting the kill below.

The understory of the cliffs provided shelter and a place to prepare food in dugout pits. There were ritual burials, and magnificent cave paintings that have been carbon-dated to before 4,000 BCE.

Modern tribal Indians do not claim a connected heritage to these very early inhabitants.

At the entrance to the Visitors Center is The Maker of Peace, a 17-foot bronze statue created by Texas artist Bill Worrell in 1994.

Errata: we are on our way to South Padre Island (SPI) where we have reserved a campsite for 4 nights commencing Sunday. We will be hanging out with dear friends and former neighbors Hal and Jane Gilchrist. We will watch the Chief’s pursue their bid for the Super Bowl, dine, reminisce, and perhaps sip a wee dram or three of Eagle Rare Whiskey. The Gulf is offering us sunny skies and daytime temps in the 70’s.

From SPI we will make our way to New Orleans where we will camp 3 nights within walking distance of the French Quarter. Christine will then fly back to Kansas City while I solo on for another 10-14 days. Her 100 year old Father is doing reasonably well, but there are concerns sufficient for her to make an early exit from this journey.

It is likely that I won’t be posting during our stay on SPI. Where I go and what I do after New Orleans will be largely determined by whim and weather.

Peace Everyone. Pete

PS. While hiking in Davis Mountains State Park I encountered a delightful couple, Jim and Wilma. They are retirees who are traveling full time with their RV. On the trail we talked of travel and enjoying life as health allows, one day at a time.

I chanced to run into Jim and Wilma again on our first day at Seminole Canyon. They promised to stop by our campsite for a longer visit the following day. They never appeared, but I wasn’t concerned as plans do change…

Early this morning as I walked back to our trailer from my shower I saw Jim. He was breaking camp and there was an obvious sense of urgency in his actions. I greeted him and saw that there were tears in the eyes of the big retired trucker. He explained that Wilma suffered a sudden medical crisis the previous day and underwent emergency surgery. She is recovering in ICU and Jim expressed tenuous optimism for her.

Our thoughts are with Wilma and Jim. I am haunted by this reminder that life can take unexpected turns at any moment. Don’t put off until tomorrow the things you may find you are then no longer able to do…