Wallisville Texas with Elvin Hayes, Basketball Hall of Famer

Lee and Karen Duquette,
The Two RV Gypsies: Full-Time RVers

in Wallisville, Texas
April 6 - 8, 2009

The tow car known as MOB that belongs to Lee and Karen Duquette decided not to start-up while in Louisiana. Since it was a Sunday and repair places were not open, so Lee Duquette had MOB towed to their campground. He suspected the problem was the alternator. The next morning MOB was hooked up to AWO (their RV) and the two RV Gypsies drove AWO/MOB to their next stop-over at Turtle Bayou RV Park in Wallisville, Texas.

Within a walking distance of arriving at Turtle Bayou RV Park there happened to be a Ford Dealership. So Lee Duquette unhooked MOB from AWO and left MOB there for repair. The next morning, Lee Duquette walked to the dealership only to learn that they could NOT even diagnose MOB but the battery was charged enough for Lee to drive 20 miles to a Chevy dealership, where they did properly diagnose the problem and order the parts (alternator).

When MOB got repaired, Lee and Karen Duquette continued their journey to Alaska.


Photos Above and Below: Texas sign and Texas images seen at the Welcome Center.

Below: Turtle Bayou RV Park Sign - and the temporary home of the two RV Gypsies


Photos Above and Below: Turtle Bayou: view alongside the campsite of the two RV Gypsies

Below: The view as photographed from inside the motorhome of the two RV Gypsies

Below: Lee Duquette got back to the campground late afternoon with a rental car, so the two RV Gypsies decided to try to find out how to get on the other side of this bayou.
A bayou is a small, slow-moving stream, creek, lake or pool that lies in an abandoned channel of a stream. Bayous are usually located in relatively flat, low-lying areas, for example, in the Mississippi River delta region of the southern United States. A bayou is frequently a slack water branch or minor braid of a braided channel, that is moving with less velocity than the mainstream. Many bayous are the home of crawfish, certain species of shrimp, other shellfish, and catfish. The word was first used by the English in Louisiana and is thought to originate from the Choctaw word bayuk, which means "small stream." Another theory on the origin of bayou is from the French words "bas lieu" (pronounced phonetically as ba-li-you) meaning "low land". The first settlements of Acadians in southern Louisiana were near Bayou Lafourche and Bayou des Ecores, which led to a close association of the bayou with Cajun culture. Bayou Country is most closely associated with Cajun and Creole cultural groups native to the Gulf Coast region generally stretching from Houston, Texas, to Mobile, Alabama, with its center in New Orleans, Louisiana.
	Anahuac, Texas
April 7, 2009
Anahuac is a city in Chambers County, Texas. It is the county seat of Chambers County and is situated in East Texas. The name Anahuac comes from Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs. The name has various meanings, including "center", "world", and "city", but it also means "capital". Anahuac is the Pre-Columbian name of the Valley of Mexico and its former lake basins around Mexico City, often including the Lerma and Pánuco river systems. Despite the name, neither the city of Anahuac, Texas nor the immediate region were ever part of the Aztec Empire. The city has a total area of 2.1 square miles, all of it land.

Below: The two RV Gypsies pointing to AWO (their RV) from across Turtle Bayou.

Below: When their tow car was repaired, Lee Duquette drove the RV to the car dealership. While Lee was paying for the car repairs, Karen Duquette waited in the RV, which was parked in front of the dealership office. Suddenly there was a knock on the RV door. Karen Duquette looked and saw a giant of a man. But given where the RV was parked, she felt safe enough to open the door, and she said, "May I help you?" The man said, "Do you know who I am?" Karen answered, "No". He said "I am Elvin Hayes". Karen said, "So". Then Elvin said, "I am in the Basketball Hall of Fame". Karen said "Oh". (What idiotic responses Karen had) Elvin then stated that he was the owner of the car dealership, and has never been inside of a big RV and he wondered if Karen would let him see the inside of the RV. So Karen did, and Elvin was so surprised that he could stand up inside the RV, given his height of 6' 9". Then Elvin went inside the office and came out with his secretary, who took a photo of him and Karen. He also gave Karen an autographed photo of him in his basketball fame days.
	April 8, 2009 - Karen Duquette met Elvin Hayes (The Big E)
Drafted by the Houston Rockets in the 1st round (1st pick, 1st overall) of the 1968 NBA draft. Inducted into Hall of Fame as Player in 1990 Height: 6'-9"
Karen Duquette and Elvin Hayes in front of Karen's motorhome - Elvin asked for a tour of the motorhome, and was so thrilled that he could stand up straight inside of AWO.