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February 27 through March 4, 2004
Friday February 27:
It is cool this morning (41 at 8 AM) and the furnace ran a lot overnight. I found it easy to sleep in this remote campground in Apalachicola National Forest, and did not want to further drain the battery with the computer anyway. Claire got up first (rare occurrence) and found the center overhead vent has been open all night; no wonder the furnace had run overtime! We decided to shower again before taking on water from the campsite faucet which tested clear and tasted well chlorinated after running for a few minutes. Purry went out while Claire filled water, and stayed scratching at the water fill post for many minutes; finally he came in on his own. We moved out towards St Josephs State Park, which we had decided was worth whatever they decided to charge, being on an outlying sandy peninsula in the Gulf. When we arrived 66 miles later, they would not allow us in with pets. Purry was sitting right on my lap, so there was no opportunity to hide him either. :-( I had heard Florida had removed their prohibition against pets in their state parks, but not in this one. Well, Purry saved us $20, but cost a missed opportunity at what appeared to be a nice park. We had enjoyed the drive here along this new part of the Gulf coast.
There were many inlets and rivers. Many communities were almost completely built on stilts, against flooding which seems almost certain to come to this low exposed land.
We turned around and retraced our route back to US 98. The views were spectacular, but now we had to wonder if we could stay at Panama City Sam's tonight....??
Fortunately the Sam's was in a nice area, and the manager was most accommodating. We bought stuff we knew we needed, and moved to the side of the store where the manager suggested the light would be best and police patrols closest. Sam's has all night staff working, but not the night time security that a Super Walmart has. This place looks fine to us though... ;-) Dinner is left over jambalaya from last night, with a salad from makings bought fresh at Sam's. Claire had asked the meat manager at Sam's whether they added anything to their meat, like Walmart did. He said Sam's meat was cut on the premises, and had no additives; that statement, of course, does not necessarily apply to the branded pre-packaged meat also sold there. After news and dishes, I spent time preparing the website for upload in the morning. We have a 5 bar digital signal here, so we might as well use it.
Saturday February 28:
This morning was spent getting the webpage updated and uploaded. The Internet activity kept me occupied, but Claire preferred to park at a mall where she could find something more interesting to do, so we moved several miles east and found the mall recommended by the Sam's clerk. Claire shopped while I did the computer stuff. At 3:00 PM we drove west into the setting sun, heading for Ft Walton Beach. Development along this beautiful coast may be less than elsewhere in coastal Florida, but it is COMING...and inevitable.
We found the Walmart in Destin first, but it was crowded and sported "no overnight parking" signs. The area looked crowded, highly "artificially" developed, with high rise apartments on the beach. It was unwelcoming; we did not even want to ask to stay overnight. We switched drivers and moved on. Ft Walton looked much nicer, though older. The Sam's club had an RV in the lot, and enough empty parking space that it looked comfortable for us; gas was 6 cents cheaper than in Destin too. :-) We put our money on the gift card in Sam's, and renewed our annual membership too, as this Sam's allowed us to keep the secondary membership we had for Matt. The one in Panama City had said they were no longer allowing secondary memberships. The manager gave us permission to stay overnight, as long as we were gone by 10AM store opening in the morning. No problem!! We returned to the RV, fueled, and parked where we had been asked along the edge of the lot. Now it is relax time! Chat on the phone, a bit more Internet, then BED. I am tired, having been up 17 hours. Sleep comes very easy even if the loud Saturday night mufflers are going full blast seeking "attention"; they do not get mine. :-)
Sunday February 29:
I awoke at 4:45, the temperature is 49 degrees. The furnace did not come on much, if at all last night, until I had to ventilate the bathroom when Purry did a stinky… :-) I chatted on the Internet, and when leap day came up for discussion, I noticed my watch said March 1....gotta get THAT set right fast! I could go for years not noticing I was ahead a day on the date. :-) We moved out of Sam's shortly before 10 AM, heading toward Foley AL, maybe 60 miles away. We have run off the computer plots, and do not feel another is necessary as Foley is on US98 on the other side of Pensacola; all we need do is follow the US98 signs.....and we have been in Foley last fall. We stop in a pretty park along the bay in Navarre FL, before reaching Pensacola, for lunch. It is a bit tight parking, but we manage to squeeze into one parking space by overhanging the grass with the rear overhang of the motorhome. There are clouds of frenzied seagulls flying around a man carrying a large bag of food.
He throws it sporadically. There are unusual waterfowl in the pond.
This duck with a fine head top tuft of feathers must be a fancy breed. These multi-colored ducks are pretty.
Some appear to be crossbred mallard like ducks, but they are not talking about their family trees. We walk on the boardwalks, recently reconstructed with some gray textured material that is not unattractive, but seems to already be warping in places where it is used as fence rails. It appears an old reinforced concrete boardwalk was torn up and replaced with this, as the concrete pieces were added to the rocks lining the bay for erosion control.
The boardwalk continues under the causeway bridge, and we are tempted to continue, except the RV is no longer in sight, and the east wind is no longer blocked by the bridge abutment. It feels decidedly cool, so we turn back. I continue to work online, while Claire goes for a walk up on the bridge, with the camera. The development on the barrier island of Santa Rosa is real...and high rise.
There is even a helicopter in the upper left of the picture...traffic reports? This area will undoubtedly continue to grow; there is still room for more high rises. :-) The fine modern high bridge over the intracoastal waterway even avoids the frequent delays of a drawbridge.
We use the phone a lot when Claire returns, but cannot walk Purry; this park has a no pets rule. By 3PM when we are ready to move on, we find the sky hazing over. The drive on US 98 from here is not fast, but is not hard either. We stop in a Winn Dixie to buy meat (they claim to be "the meat people" here). Claire is happy to report they claim all their meat is 100% natural with no additives. She bought ground pork for tonight's spaghetti sauce. We find the Foley Walmart easily, and are very ready to stop. Claire does a fast job on the spaghetti, and it is delicious. After dishes and another quick check of e-mail, I am ready to turn in. Claire remains wakeful, and finally asks me to set the computer up for her use online, as there is no good TV show...hey, OK!
Monday March 1:
I slept 11 hours last night, awakening after 8 AM (other than Purry's plaintive single mew in my ear in the middle of the night that turned out to mean "I need water"). I seem to be Purry's water person, Claire is the food person. :-) The temperature is much warmer today, 65 under the RV, and the furnace has not come on all night. There is a good breeze that occasionally moves the RV slightly and rattles the bike ties, but inside we are cozy. The weather seems to be forecast cloudy with a chance of showers for the whole week...that may be a seasonal norm here at this time of year when cold fronts stall over the area and do not move through. We need to shop Walmart before leaving, will consider doing laundry here rather than in larger towns if we can find a good place, and must change oil in the next 100 miles too. I think Gulfport will be our destination today, about 100 miles away. We might find a place to change oil there too... I am noticing an allergy reaction that started overnight. There must be something blooming here....trees most likely, by appearances; some have the red blooms I associate with my worst allergy reactions at home. I have a severe sinus headache; vitamin C is in order, and moving on is an option too.... After shopping, we head for the laundromat recommended by the Walmart clerk; it is amazing how most are tucked off the main roads, to be found only by asking. This one is no exception, being way back in a retail development isolated from view of the main highway. We squeeze the RV into 5 parking spots and check it out; it is a good one, large and clean, and appears new. The lot next door is only a parking lot, with building appearing to be ready to start. After the laundry gets started, I check the tire pressures (all OK), fix a loose catch on the sliding pantry, and walk Purry who cannot resist the chicken bone laying on the ground, or drinking from the muddy puddle on the lot next door. I do wonder how the feline population would survive without human restraint. :-))) The laundry is finished in good time, and we drive toward Gulfport. The drive is an easy one. We found the places we had in mind to change oil are both unsatisfactory. We find Mississippi has RV dumps in the first two rest stops westbound from the Alabama border, WITH 24 hour security. They sure must have had crime or big damage problems to spend the money providing a watchman with a golf cart to roam the rest stops.
Tuesday March 2:
It was warm all night and I slept late, only putting the light quilt on and closing the overhead vent at 3AM. Temperature at 8AM is 66 under the RV. As one weatherman expressed last night, SPRING has come early to the upper gulf coast, and cloudy humid conditions with showers will be with us this week. Today we plan to buy shrimp here in Gulfport before moving on to New Orleans 70 miles away via the scenic route. We will "detour" onto I-10 to visit the Louisiana welcome station...anything for a free cup or three of coffee... :-) Perhaps we can find a place to change oil too.... This Flying J has paid WiFi high speed Internet services, and the connection is strong and fast. The price of Flying J service is not yet low enough to attract us when compared to the unlimited weekend cellular access included in the $35/mo base price of our Verizon plan. We might use it if we were trapped at a Flying J by weather midweek and were spending the whole day here; $5 for a days use under those circumstances would be worth it. $25 a month or $200 a year would NOT be worth it to us, as we do not use Flying J often enough. Now if Walmart started offering it.... :-)) Unfortunately our Kensington WiFi finder does not find this node either.....we are still looking for our first detection on this device. What a great idea it is...if it worked! The size of a credit card and 1/4 inch thick, it is most convenient, flashing a green light when it detects an available WiFi connection. The problem is we have yet to see it work..... We dumped and filled water, then filled propane. We are headed to a campground in New Orleans for the next few days, and who knows what the weather brings. The Flying J is very busy, but we are fortunate that the spots we want to use open up just as we need them, with no wait; sometimes life is just....GOOD! :-) We drive to Gulfport's fishing boat docks, hoping for fresh shrimp. One store is closed Tuesdays, the other has headed frozen shrimp thawing to be ready in an hour; we hoped for fresh, so decided not to wait. We drove along scenic US 90, and stopped in my all around favorite Walmart for lunch; the one in Pass Christian MS painted in tasteful decorator colors whose parking lot looks out over the beautiful white Gulf beaches.... but we pictured this on the Fall trip, so will save repetition. :-) This is an upscale looking beach front retirement community, but the Walmart still appears to allow overnight RV parking; we'll avoid it in hurricanes though.... :-)) We proceed along the coast through developing towns and a few in apparent decay, but mostly open marshland and waterways. The rivers here look quite high, the water muddy brown.
We had seen reports on TV of the predicted times (in the future) when many of Mississippi's rivers would return within their banks. Here is hard evidence they are not yet there ! We are about to get on I-10 to visit the Louisiana welcome station, when we notice a rest area; this one is really nice, with individual parking pads separated from the main travel road by shrubs. There are a number of RVs stopped, and we quickly decide to stop here a few hours for necessary maintenance; Purry got a walk, and Claire got to practice her TaeKwonDo too! I got to practice some yoga like reaches and stretches under the RV.... :-) We moved on to the Louisiana welcome station, where we found LOTS of people, many in semi-trucks, parked, and had to go around back for space. The coffee was good, the advice interesting (rent a car to get around New Orleans instead of trying to use public transport) and we moved on toward our chosen campground, Bayou Segnette on the west bank of the Mississippi River, 7 or 8 miles from the Algiers Ferry. The drive on US 90 is interesting. We traverse swamp and bayou, on about the only land the map shows as dry enough for a road on the surface. The bridges are long, and often NARROW.
Nobody takes his half out of the middle here, and Claire does a beautiful job of driving!! :-) Many homes here look like they may be recreational camps for city dwellers, on stilts for the obvious reason, but it is impossible to be sure.
They could belong to commercial fishermen too, but almost all have boat docks or ramps. Here we cross Chef Menteur pass, approaching New Orleans.
Part of US 90 is named Chef Menteur Highway in New Orleans, and our Mardi Gras campground two years ago was on that road; now we see the connection. :-) The speed limits are low for good reason, and we carefully observe; collision with any part of that drawbridge would ruin our day... The drive through downtown New Orleans is always interesting.
We get aerial views of the downtown big ship waterways on I-10 without ever leaving the road. The return to business US 90 to cross the Mississippi river moves below speed limits in heavy traffic.
This close to rush hour, we are just happy it moves. This bridge is toll, but collected only in the opposite direction. We are happy to report that on this second passage across, we have never paid it, never having returned this way. :-) Bayou Segnette appears about where expected, and we enter. We can get a site for three nights only; they are booked full through the weekend. The good news is that it costs only $6/night with our Golden Age card, which all Louisiana state parks honor for half price, and we can check back for cancellations if we wish.... The young lady on the desk says she thinks there would be parking at the Algiers Ferry lot for the RV; it might cost more than the $5/day car rate, but there should be room; hey, this looks like our way to go!! It's less expensive and less troublesome than renting a car, and Purry will be only a free ferry ride away from us, too! :-) We move to the campsite over a mile from the park entrance, and back into the hard surface pad. I can see a chassis grease job in my immediate future...this is ideal! We hook up electricity, and relax. There are tent campers on both sides of us. The humidity is higher than we are used to, but we can open the door and windows and run the fan to eject the engine and cooking heat. :-) Dinner is Pennsylvania Dutch pot pie; a chicken and wide noodle dish Claire picked up from my grandmother...YUMMMY. There is plenty of TV, but by 9:00 I am ready for bed. Few covers are required here tonight in the unseasonably warm mid 70's weather.
Wednesday March 3:
It is 70 degrees under the RV this morning. This campground is unbelievably quiet considering the urban area nearby. What a DELIGHTFUL place, water and electricity and a level hard surfaced pad. There might be a few bugs (mosquitoes and no-see-ums), but we were not plagued by them; however I did not go outside much after dark either. We could have run the air conditioner but chose not to, leaving a few vents open after the RV cooled with the main door open. I noticed some other RVs were running their A/C. I did use the microwave to warm my coffee this morning (amazing what you can do when you do not need to run a generator...). I tried the Kensington WiFi detector while doing so....miracle of miracles, it showed a green light! :-) I set up the computer but found no WiFi node available. This campground did not seem a likely place to find one anyway. I rechecked the Kensington again, nothing. Then a dim thought penetrated my early morning brain fog; I wanted a second cup of coffee anyway, so heated it in the microwave. Presto, two green lights on the Kensington...geeze, it detects microwave oven leakage, which is in the same 2.4 GHz radio band as WiFi. Oh well.......at least I understand now. :-) By 7AM it is light, and I decide to grease the RV before we depart around 9AM for the Algiers Ferry. After greasing, a shower was necessary, and Purry demanded a walk, so it was about 9:30 by the time we were ready to go. The drive toward the Algiers ferry became very slow at the entrance to the Business US90 elevated highway, which was blocked by police. We continued to creep toward our destination until they let us on the highway several miles down. From the CB radio we hear truckers report that a that a chemical spill from a truck accident was being cleaned up. The instructions from the campground work well from there; the turn at the cemetery is interesting, as all the graves are the New Orleans normal above surface mausoleums, but the camera is packed for carrying to New Orleans, and inaccessible. We finally get to the ferry parking area, pay the attendant his requested $10, and park near the tree where lines of cars can still get out from each side. We ask if the attendant will still be on duty after dark...he says he does not know, but the fee is good for the whole day. He says the last ferry arrives at midnight, and suggests we not stay longer than that. His strong accent is quite hard to understand.... We are a bit concerned about the security of the vehicle, but have little choice if we are to see New Orleans..... We find our guide book is wrong about the ferry times; they actually leave the west bank at the quarter hour and the French Quarter on the half hour. Still, we can watch the busy river ship traffic.
We get on the ferry. At least we can have a LAST PICTURE of the RV as we have left it in the lot :-))
We found ourselves hungry on the ride across, and saw the Acme Oyster House on our list of favorite restaurants in the Fodor's guidebook. Eight blocks walk later we were seated at a table, and quickly received our order of oysters on the half shell, followed by oyster and mixed shrimp and oyster po-boys (sandwiches on a large sub roll). This certainly did remove hunger from our concerns.... We had tried to get into this place two years ago during Mardi Gras, and the line was half a block long. There are advantages to a normal time visit here... :-) We wandered down Bourbon Street, in and out of shops; there were no crowds. There are reminders of the Mardi Gras just past.
The streets are impressively clean, however. :-) One shop owner said Mardi Gras had not been as crowded this year as some in the past; perhaps rain kept folks indoors? He was not disappointed though, as Mardi Gras is not a good selling time; folks come to party, not buy. The voodoo shop was interesting, but no photos are allowed... :-( A few groups of tourists roam, but most folks on the streets here now appear to have tasks at hand.
We walk past Cafe du Monde, but have no desire for beignets after our lunch; we have coffee to go. We carry it into a nearby park, and enjoy the lush serenity surrounding the cathedral and Andrew Jackson's statue.
Jackson's victory against overwhelming British attackers at New Orleans in the battle at the end of the war of 1812 set him up for the presidency. We wander, and find a National Park Jazz Museum; they are showing a movie on the traditional New Orleans jazz funerals in a short time. We welcome the opportunity to sit for an hour, and the film is interesting. After the film, beignets are more appealing and we return to Cafe du Monde.... These fried dough delicacies covered with mounds of powdered sugar really are a treat...
We will not be here long enough for them to do our waistlines damage..will we? :-) I notice the camera is filling up, and recall I do not have a spare "film" card with me...another senior moment, as I intended to put it in my vest, and had gotten distracted. Oh well, we must be more careful to take only a few good pictures for the rest of the day... :-) I have enough stuff that my fishing vest is uncomfortably HEAVY, yet forgot that essential. ...DUHHHH! Still, I cannot pass up this carriage drawn by a mulish looking horse that stubbornly decides on it's own to pull out in traffic...sans driver, causing brake squeals from the approaching driver.
When all is said and done, the carriage throws a tire, and wraps the tie rope of a nearby carriage in it's rear axle...
What a hoot for all but those involved, I'm sure....fortunately nobody was injured, as this street is busy with two way car traffic. I do notice we draw furtive stares from many passers by as we walk in our shorts, white wide brimmed sun hats, Claire's back pack and my well filled fishing vest, and high hiking boots....but we also received a complement for our "most comfortable feet in the city" from a construction workman we passed too.... We are dressed for the task, not for style... and some folks understand! :-)) I gotta admit to some furtive stares at persons passing by too....this is certainly a city of many styles of dress. :-)) It was after 3 PM when we decided we had enough walking, and "home" was the place to be. There were working folks going home who looked as tired as we felt waiting for the ferry. The Creole Queen paddled close by as we crossed on the ferry.
We enjoyed watching her paddle wheel work. As we approached the dock, we could see that "home" was still there, and another RV was parked beside it. The attendants booth was closed; I guess he did not know how long he would stay open...or maybe he did! We followed another couple from the ferry toward the RVs, and it turned out they were also in Bayou Segnette state park, having taken the third last available space for the night. We will doubtlessly not get more days here, as the weekend weather is not looking as bad as earlier predicted. A few scattered showers should not keep folks with reservations away. We are not convinced we need more time either. We can spend Friday in New Orleans if we wish, and drive to the Walmart in Boutte, LA after we leave the city. It is less than 10 miles further west on US 90; we stayed there two years ago and it was a nice one. When we finished setting up in our campground space, dinner was intended to be leftovers; actually, it was a few hand fulls of nuts, fresh squeezed orange juice, and marshmallows. The lunch and beignets dulled any appetite we should have had. Claire decided she would use the campground shower to color her hair, and I tried to catch up on the RV log. I fear this week's web page will not be ready in time to upload on the weekend, as there are other activities to occupy my time. :-)) It is after 9 when Claire returns and I finally go to bed.
Thursday March 4:
It's again 70 under the RV at 5:20 AM. It has been near 80 and humid in the afternoons the past few days. By the weekend it is expected to cool a bit, and get seasonably cooler by next week (hi 40's nights, hi 60's days). It showered lightly a few times in the middle of the night, so Claire closed the overhead vents. It is quite comfortable in the morning with shorts and T shirt...this is definitely summer weather! :-) Today we will follow the same path as yesterday, taking the RV to the Algiers ferry parking lot and ferry across to the French quarter, then go on to the St Charles Street trolley, which crosses many of New Orleans' neighborhoods on it's way to Audubon park and the universities. We collected our quarters for the trolley (a large bag full, $8 worth). We got an earlier start than yesterday, and the business 80 elevated bridge was open and running smoothly. I took some pictures of the cemetery we turned at.
We then continued to the parking lot. The houses in Algiers are of a traditional New Orleans style, and vary greatly in appearance; many are nicely restored.
We parked in the same place, and hurried to set the thermal controlled fan up for Purry's comfort and catch the 10:15 ferry. The ride across the river is always different and interesting; this is a BUSY river, and ships from around the world are passing by continuously for our viewing pleasure. This floating drydock is maintaining the "Oregon II".
The dock is submerged to float the vessel on and off, and is pumped dry to raise her for bottom work as shown above. Today two cruise ships are in port, docked just upriver from the ferry terminal.
I bet there is more tourist activity TODAY! :-) We decided to walk down to the Louisiana Tourist Information office for more state park info, then on to Cafe du Monde and, of course...BEIGNETS. On the way we passed professional folks waiting for tourists still to come.....
We found many of the tourists still enjoying Cafe du Monde, but only after a beignet fix did we move toward the St. Charles Street trolley. Many of the streets I recognized from our Mardi Gras experience, but I'm glad Claire is leading the way. There are many more street entertainers and tourists today.
This group is among many plying for tourist greenbacks in the streets. We have one simple plan if we get separated; turn on our family radios, which we each carry. These could have been SOOO useful at Mardi Gras! There are helpful uniformed greeters at the trolley stop, friendly young men, and we learn the trolley will take $1.00 bills, but insists on the exact $1.25 fare. They also sell all day passes for $5, like San Francisco, or multi-day passes. A quick calculation shows that three individual fares that we plan to pay is the least expensive way for us, and we get on the car when it arrives.
These cars are true old time street cars, with the overhead electric wire powering them through the "trolley" wheel on a hinged spring loaded pole extending from the top of the car. The trolley wheel follows the car along the wire, giving the cars their common name. I can still recall trolleys coming off the wire just outside the house when I visited my aunt in Philadelphia as a very young boy, and the excitement surrounding the operator getting out and pulling on the rope connected to the trolley to try and reseat it on the wire so he could continue, the wheel sparking as it touched the wire, amidst impatient drivers stuck in traffic blowing their horns. Such memories were not to be repeated here; the only traffic incidents were those times when someone allowed their vehicle to block the tracks unnecessarily, resulting in an insistent dinging of the car's bell. The tracks run in their own space between the opposing lanes of traffic, and thus the only interaction with traffic is at cross streets. It was interesting to see the garlands of Mardi Gras beads hanging from the trees and trolley wires along the route (see above picture); without having seen Mardi Gras, those beads would be HARD to explain... :-) Of course any beads within reach of the car's open window have already been grabbed, so we get no belated souvenirs.....that's OK, we have bags full of beads... somewhere! :-)) We depart the car at the garden district, and walk to the historic Lafayette cemetery.
We can wander at will, and are happy that the voices we hear always turn out to have fellow tourists attached around another tomb... Some tombs are breaking down, with the markers falling out of place, and one even has a hole open to the dark interior.
Who knows what the camera saw when I took a flash picture through the hole...I'm not sure I want to know, but if you do, click here!! ( Right click on that image and look at image properties on your browser for my idea of what you see.) If you're real squeamish...just go on and let it be. :-) The houses are unique and grand, with beautiful plantings and flowers that give the district it's name.
This is the area of the city where US citizens tended to settle after the Louisiana purchase, when they were not fully accepted by local society, and had to prove their worth ... :-). The person who first had the idea to mix the bitter chicory root in with coffee was a coffee importer living in the Garden District during the civil war, when Union blockades made Brazilian coffee scarce... I believe WWII coffee was also cut with chicory for the same reason, as supplies were limited by German submarines sinking ships. New Orleans has stayed with this mix over the years and it is now traditional New Orleans coffee. We usually buy a bag or two to take along, but find we tire of it after while and switch back to all coffee blends. We found a small mall with a bookstore and up scale kitchen shop, and made minor purchases. We wandered around some more, then chose a route back toward the trolley via the mall, with it's public bathroom. There is a man already waiting at the stop, and we are told the trolleys run every 15 minutes. We wait only one or two before the distinctive single headlight appears far down the track, and we continue toward our final destination today; Audubon Park, across St. Charles Street from Tulane and Loyola universities. Audubon Place is a gated community near the park with modern day mansions.
The camera has a really hard time fitting this one in.... :-)) The park is very nice.
It seems like we are happiest for the bench to sit on, however. We have done a LOT of walking the last two days, and it is starting to wear upon us. We look at the guidebook, trying to find a convenient restaurant that does not require reservations or a jacket. We finally decide to return to the Acme Oyster house for late lunch, then head home. Before that we stroll the park. Ornamental kale is popular in gardens here, for good reason; it withstands short below freezing chilly spells.....
The delicately frilled purple, white and greenish tinted leaves are BEAUTIFUL too. We cross St Charles street to get a quick flavor of Tulane University.
Neighboring Jesuit Loyola University is just down the street.
Both of these institutions have very pleasant grounds and surroundings for urban universities. We return to the trolley and ride back to the French Quarter. The cruise boat tourists are definitely in town, and the open air bars are busy.
We find fast seating again at the Acme Oyster House. I have the oyster po-boy this time, and enjoy it.
Claire still thinks the breading is too salty. Oh well, she has a full dozen on the half shell to make up for that! :-) We return to the RV, finding a different motorhome parked next to us today. This time we leave first, with no sign of the owners. The RV is comfortable, Purry comes out from under the couch when we enter, and things are back to normal. My drive back to the campground is without incident, we hook up, and relax with TV. Claire takes Purry for his walk. Dinner is again unnecessary. Bed sure is...... :-)
PLANS: Today (Saturday) we are still in Bayou Segnette State Park, now in the overflow area without electricity. The park's "Worlds largest Wave Pool" is closed for the winter, and overflow campers can use the parking lot for $5 a day...it beats Walmart, as we can use the awning on this first sunny day in Louisiana, Purry has a lot more lush green grass than he can eat right at the foot of the steps, and we have strong digital cellphone service. :-) We will stay here until tomorrow afternoon. We are finished in New Orleans, having abandoned yesterday's planned final trip downtown after we discovered signs of attempted (and unsuccessful) forced entry through the passenger seat front side window. It probably happened in the Algiers parking lot, though we cannot be sure, but we decided another day in town was not worth the risk of giving the perp another chance with better tools. The only thing we wanted to do in town that we had not done was brunch at a Jazz cafe; there will be another time or another place for that. We intend to explore the Atchafalaya river area in Louisiana next, leaving here Sunday. The Atchafalaya could be an alternate exit for the main flow of the Mississippi River across the low delta from a point midway between Natchez and Baton Rouge to the Gulf, if the controlled channel in the traditional riverbed through Baton Rouge and New Orleans was not maintained. As it is now, this river bounded by levees carries excess flood waters away from New Orleans and Baton Rouge through flood control gates operated by the US Army Corps of Engineers. The area is heavily rural with strong Cajun heritage, isolated, swampy, and full of wildlife. We should love Fausse Point state park if we make it through the 4 miles of unpaved levee road leading to it. We intend to meander through the Mississippi delta, then on to Texas as the spirit and the more seasonal weather moves us. Seasonal weather is hard to recall after the last week of 70 degree nights, near 80 days, and trees leafing out as Spring comes beautifully to coastal Louisiana....but nights in the 40's are coming again....unless we move further south. :-)
Until next time...ENJOY! We are. :-)
