Our trip to WDW and USA

[Luvchefmic]

Love your TR so far, but honestly can't wait for the USA tour When you first said you'd be coming over and your plans I couldn't wait to hear about the trip so for me now the REAL fun will begin

Ruthie

 

[Terkina]

Love your TR so far, but honestly can't wait for the USA tour When you first said you'd be coming over and your plans I couldn't wait to hear about the trip so for me now the REAL fun will begin

Ruthie

I was wondering if I should make a trip report of our road trip. I wasn't sure if anyone would care to hear about it. But now I will write a tripreport of the rest of our trip. I just have to go through the pictures and resize them and then get them on the internet to post them here

 

[Luvchefmic]

I was wondering if I should make a trip report of our road trip. I wasn't sure if anyone would care to hear about it. But now I will write a tripreport of the rest of our trip. I just have to go through the pictures and resize them and then get them on the internet to post them here

Of course you will have an audience for the "meat" of the trip most of us are fortunate to have been to WDW but not all of us have been where you went everywhere else I am easily entertained and counting on you

Ruthie

 

[jannel80]

Subscribing! Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip! I have to take my boys on a geocache! I think they would love it!!

 

[akayek31]

Here from Feb 2013 FB page. Going back to read it all in the morning

 

[Terkina]

Subscribing! Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip! I have to take my boys on a geocache! I think they would love it!!

Welcome

 

[Terkina]

Here from Feb 2013 FB page. Going back to read it all in the morning

Welcome

 

[Terkina]

Our first day of the road trip 16.February 2013


We started our day as normal. After breakfast we checked out and put most of our luggage at bell service. We took buses to Dolphine Hotel to pick up our car.

We upgraded our car from full size to Premium size and got this car

We had saved POFQ on to our car GPS before we left to pick up the car. Sp when we got the car we could quite easily navigate back to POFQ.

We decided to eat lunch at the food court at POFQ. But since we had packed our mugs we had to get our luggage from bell service so we could fill our mugs for lunch.

We got our luggage and started to pack it all into the car. We soon found out that it was a good thing we got a bigger car because now we got both our big suitcases and our backpacks in the trunk. The wheelchair went in the backseat.

We got our mugs and had lunch at POFQ. After lunch we started to drive towards Tallahassee. We had to find a geocache for the day so we stopped and logged this one


This is the geocache

This is the hidingplace where we found it.

and this is how the hiding place looks like

We stopped at a Super 8 motel for the night right before we got into Tallhassee. We got our room and just ate dinner near by and then we had to plan our next day before we went to bed.

 

[Terkina]

17.February



We started our day with breakfast at 08.30. Today we were going to drive to New Orleans.


We drove past Mobile but we didn't stop there.

We stopped at the boarder to Louisiana to stretch our legs and visit the tourist information. While there we found a geocache. Often you can get a hint to where the cache is hidden. The hint to this geocache was: Hidden in plain sight. And it sure was.

The cache it self

The cache in its hiding place

The hiding place from a little distance

The other side of the hiding place

We had read that it wasn't easy to get a hotel room in New Orleans so the night before we had booked a room at a hostel about 1 km (about 0,6 miles) from the French Quarter in New Orleans.

We talked to a nice lady at the tourist information and asked if it was possible to walk from the hostel to the French Quarter. But she thought it was too long of a walk.


When we got to the hostel in the evening we checked in and asked at the hostel if you could walk. Yes it was possible but it was a 30 minute and the man at the hostel wouldn't walk. A 30 minute walk we could easily handle with the wheelchair.


So we started walking. I had told my friend before we left home that most people don't walk in the USA but take their car when going somewhere. He didn't quite believe me. But after walking 10 minutes towards the French Quarter he started to understand why people don't walk. Because it wasn't a good pavement to walk on and there was no zebra crossing when you came to a junction. And not many streetlights either. It wasn't dark yet, so it wasn't that bad that it wasn't any streetlights on our way. We didn't see any other people walking.

When we came close to French Quarter we started to see people walking and the pavement were good and there were zebra crossings so we could get safely across the roads.

Sadly both our cameras was out of battery so we didn't get any pictures in New Orleans. It was lousy planning on our side.

There were a lot of drunk people out in the streets making a lot of noise. I didn't like it much there. So I just wanted to get back to our room and get to sleep so we could move on the next day.

We ate at a music cafe where some musicians played old jazz. My friend liked it very much and he wasn't bothered by all the drunk people.

On our way back to the hostel we found a better road to walk on. It was had a better pavement and there was streetlights which was a good thing now that it was dark outside.

When we got back to our room we started to plan the next day. By the time we were done planning the next day it was time to go to sleep.

 

[MINILvr]

How did I miss you were going to NOLA after WDW? Guess I was too busy planning my WDW trip in Feb.

Looking forward to the rest of your trip report.

Anne

 

[Terkina]

If anyone knows about a free software or a web site that can show a road route on a map please tell me. I would love to be able to show on a map where we went. Sadly Google Map doesn't allow me to make more than 26 way points and I will need MANY more way points than that

 

[KatMark]

I am so glad I found this...I remember when you were planning it. I'm off to catch my train home now, but I will be back tonight to read.

 

[Terkina]

I am so glad I found this...I remember when you were planning it. I'm off to catch my train home now, but I will be back tonight to read.

Welcome

 

[Terkina]

18.February


We got up around 08.00am and packed our stuff and continued on our road trip. We hadn't eaten breakfast so when we started to drive we also started to look for a place to have breakfast. We found a Wafflehouse. My friend was skeptical. Wouldn't they only serve waffles at Wafflehouse? But we stopped and we went in to see what they had. We soon found out that they had more than just waffles so we sat down and got breakfast.

We thought we got so much food so we had to take a picture of our breakfast

After breakfast we continued on our way to Opelousas.

We drove through a swamp area. They had built the road high above the ground. Probably because if the road was right on the swamp they would have to repair the road all the time.

We had to fill gas on the car once every day. We are not used to prepay for the gas before you are allowed to fill up. In addition we are used to say to the cashier how many gallons (or liters because that is the unit we use at home) we have filled and then the cashier checks that it's right and you pay.

So before we got out of the car to fill gas we tried to calculate how many gallons we thought we would need to get a full tank.

Each time we got to the cashier and said that we would like 8 gallons they looked at us like a question mark and asked how many dollars would that be? We answered that we hadn't a clue but we wanted full tank and we thought it would be so so many gallons. The cashier then had to find out what it would cost and often it was around $40. We used my credit card to fill gas so I got the same question each time. Is it ok that the amount will be that much? I just shrugged my shoulders and answered yes that's ok. (in my mind I was thinking HELLO! I needed a full tank no matter how much it would cost.)

At the gas station they often asked us where we were from. I guess they wondered since we said how many gallons we wanted instead of the amount we wanted to fill for.

After a few times at the gas station we saw that everyone else always went in to the gas station and said they would like gas for $20 or so. We answered that we were from Norway. Then the next question often was: How much does the gas cost where you're from. When we answered about $10 a gallon. They were shocked.

When we got to Opelousas we found a geocache and the Le Vieux Village that we never would have discovered if it wasn't for geocaching. We have discovered many places that we never would have gotten to if it hadn't been for geocaching.

When I was writing my Pre-Trip report I mentioned geocaching for D~
She liked to hear more about geocaching. So that's why I took pictures of a few of the geocaches we found during our trip so she could get an idea of how a geocache may look like and where it can be hidden


A old house in Opelousas

The geocache we found in Opelousas

this is quite big. Often we find smaller geocaches.

Inside the geocache

The hiding place up close

The hiding place from a distance

Not many people would think there was something hidden here


And here is the Le Vieux Village we found.

Here you can read about the village if you like

After a while in this village we drove on. We were now driving towards San Antonio, Texas. We didn't get all the way to San Antonio because we were surprised by heavy rain and thunder and lightning. So we stopped for the night at a Holiday Inn hotel in Sulphur, Louisiana.

 

[Terkina]

19.February

Today we didn't stop and do anything special. We just drove and drove. This was the first day I sat behind the wheel.

I have never driven automatic before. So this was new to me and it took some time to get used to NOT using my left leg when I had to use the brakes.

I can tell you that I had to get used to driving with a stick when I got back home again. The first time I drove my car after we came home I was going to stop at a intersection and the engine stopped because I forgot to step on the the clutch

Each day we drove about 311 miles.

We had lunch at Subway and got a small soda each. The small sodas are huge compared to what a small soda is like at home.

This night we stayed at motel 6 in Del Rio, Texas.

 

[DMGeurts]

If anyone knows about a free software or a web site that can show a road route on a map please tell me. I would love to be able to show on a map where we went. Sadly Google Map doesn't allow me to make more than 26 way points and I will need MANY more way points than that

I have no idea... I wish I could help you on this... What I would do, is maybe download a map of the US then just put little colored dots on it in some sort of paint program????

OK - I loved the little Geocache tutorial - that is just the coolest thing ever!

And I LOLed at the gas pump issues... because we had the EXACT same issues with the bathrooms in Europe... Seriously - you have to pay to use a toilet???? Yah - but you know what? I LOVED that there was a person in the bathroom that cleaned each stall in between people - I would gladly pay for that here if the service was provided!

I just think you took the most unique trip and I love hearing about it!

D~

 

[Terkina]

I have no idea... I wish I could help you on this... What I would do, is maybe download a map of the US then just put little colored dots on it in some sort of paint program????

That's a good idea

OK - I loved the little Geocache tutorial - that is just the coolest thing ever!

I'm glad you liked my tutorial

And I LOLed at the gas pump issues... because we had the EXACT same issues with the bathrooms in Europe... Seriously - you have to pay to use a toilet???? Yah - but you know what? I LOVED that there was a person in the bathroom that cleaned each stall in between people - I would gladly pay for that here if the service was provided!

LOL I haven't thought about that you often have to pay to go to the bathrooms in Europe. Now when I think about it we never had to pay for using the bathroom in the USA. I didn't think about that until just now.

I just think you took the most unique trip and I love hearing about it!

Thank you We had a great time and I hope I'm not boring you too much with the trip report. I feel like I'm repeating myself for each day. But then again we did repeat things everyday. We drove everyday and we had to rent a room for the night every day as well.

 

[KatMark]

I am all caught up. It sounds like your time at Disney was fun.

I'm with you on Star Tours...way too jerky for me.

I have lived here in the US all of my 55 years and have never been to even two of the places that you've travled thus far. I'm not sure why but I really have no desire to go to New Orleans French Quarter...probably because of the drunks.

Can't wait to read more.

 

[Terkina]

I am all caught up. It sounds like your time at Disney was fun.

I'm with you on Star Tours...way too jerky for me.

I have lived here in the US all of my 55 years and have never been to even two of the places that you've travled thus far. I'm not sure why but I really have no desire to go to New Orleans French Quarter...probably because of the drunks.

Can't wait to read more.

From what I saw of New Orleans I can understand why you haven't visited. But then again I read so much nice about New Orleans before we left for the USA.

When we told people we met on our road trip our travel route they were amazed. It seemed like not many people go on long road trips.

 

[Terkina]

20.February


Today we wanted to see the Rio Grande's estuary. We thought we had to go into Big Bend national park to see it. We started driving and stopped at a cafe where a couple from Canada told us we should see Rio Grande's estuary outside of the national park. They showed us on the map where we had to drive.

Off we went We got near the national park but instead of driving into the park we was supposed to take another road. Before we knew it we were at the national park. We had missed the road we were suppose to take.

We decided to go into the national park and take a look.

And here is the Rio Grande. We didn't thought it was that great

When we drove out of the national park we saw the road we should have taken.

We went to Van Horn where we stayed at a Super 8 for the night.