Westward Through the Deep South

Hi there, welcome back to our story. Our last chapter ended on Thursday, October 12^th, when we left the Jacksonville, Florida area and started west on Interstate 10, arriving in Marianna, Florida, about an hour west of Tallahassee. On Friday we had our first full, stay at home day in quite some time. Got a few little chores done, but mostly just relaxed for a change. With all the new places we have visited in the last few months we have been really busy with very few down days, it was nice to just have a quiet day at home.

Saturday, October 14^th, we left the coach about 11:30 and drove into Marianna, a small town of about 6,000 to explore and do some geocaching. Our first stop was lunch at Sonny's BBQ. Sonny's is a chain of BBQ restaurants, mostly in Florida, but they have a few stores in Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. We first discovered the chain in 2006, our first full year on the road, when we spent the winter in Florida. We ended up eating at various stores at least a dozen times during our stay. The food is very good and you get plenty of it. The food hadn't changed, it was still good. I had the pulled pork, my favorite, and Jackie had ribs. We had a great lunch. After lunch we did some exploring of Marianna, which has a number of very nice antebellum mansions along the main street, most of which have been at least partially restored and taken care of. We got ten new finds, and one DNF, for the afternoon. After caching we headed back to the coach and relaxed for the remainder of the evening.

Sunday, October 15^th, another travel day. We had the coach packed up and were on the road by 10:30, heading another 165 miles west on Interstate 40 to a little town called Robertsdale, Alabama, about halfway between Pensacola, Florida and Mobile, Alabama. We arrived at the Wilderness RV Resort right about 2:00 and quickly got settled into a nice, full hookup spot. Right after we got finished setting up it started to rain and we had some mild thunderstorms move through the area for a couple hours. We spent the rest of the day in the coach, doing some chores and relaxing.

Monday, October 16^th, we went out about 1:00 or so and drove south, doing some exploring and geocaching. We ended up in Gulf Shores, Alabama, right on the beach at the Gulf of Mexico. We went out on the pier and took some pictures, did a few caches, and then stopped at the Walmart in Gulf Shores to get some supplies. We ended up with five new finds and one DNF for the afternoon. After we were done at Walmart we started back towards the RV park, stopping at the Gulf Shores Elks Lodge along the way. Although we didn't recognize the building, we were in this lodge back in 2005 when we had stayed in Mobile, Alabama for a few days. We had a cocktail and got another lodge pin for our banner. When we got home we found that they hadn't changed their lodge pin in the 12 years since we were last there. We spent the rest of the evening in the coach.

Tuesday, October 17^th, we left the coach about 11:00 and headed to Mobile, about 20 miles west, to do some exploring and geocaching. Our first stop was a downtown restaurant called Panini Pete's, which was another Diners, Drive-ins and Dives place. It was a sandwich shop, but had really good ratings. I had a muffaleta panini, which was exceptional, and Jackie had a smoked turkey panini, which she said was good too. To top it off, we each had a beignet for dessert. These little southern donuts are great. After lunch we drove around Mobile for an hour or so, sight-seeing and caching. We ended up with eight new finds for the day, along with two DNFs. We also visited the military museum park, which features the Battleship USS Alabama, a WW-II sub named the USS Drum, and all kinds of aircraft, armor and artillery pieces on display. We went into the gift shop for a visit, but didn't tour any of the ships. We also drove around the shipyards and docks and saw the shipyard where several new amphibious assault ships are being built for the Navy. After our exploring we headed back to the coach, had dinner and watched TV until bedtime. Wednesday was another travel day. We were packed up and on the road about 10:30, heading 100 miles west to Gulfport, Mississippi. We arrived at the Campgrounds of the South RV park in Gulfport about 12:30 and got settled into our site. While I finished getting set up Jackie went to a nearby shopping area and got a pedi. We spent the rest of the day in the coach.

Thursday, October 19^th, we went out after lunch to do some exploring and geocaching. Our first stop was a Camping World where we bought a few maintenance items and shopped for a while before going out to do some caching. We had a bit of a rough afternoon caching, getting five new finds and three DNFs. I think at least some of the DNFs were due to recent severe weather, but we were still a little disappointed. We drove down to the gulf coast in Gulfport and then drove east along the sea shore. We got to Biloxi and stopped at the Biloxi Elks Lodge, which is located right on the beach highway. We had stopped by this lodge in December 2005 when we drove over to this area from Mobile to look at the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in August of that year. The Elks Lodge had been damaged and was closed, but it structurally survived. The building today looked very much the same as the photo we took back in 2005. Of course, all of the other damage was cleared away and most of the beachfront property remains vacant to this day. The lodge was very nice inside and the bartender was pretty friendly. We had a cocktail and got a lodge pin.

We then moved on to the Ocean Beach Elks Lodge in Ocean Beach, Mississippi, about ten miles east. This was our first visit to this lodge. It had been wiped out during Katrina, and they have rebuilt the lodge up on fifteen foot stilts. This was a very friendly lodge, with the ER coming over and introducing himself, and most of the people in the bar being very friendly to us. We had a drink and then the house gave us a drink. We also got a lodge pin which had a very cool, cute logo on it. I liked it so much I bought one of the lodge tee shirts that had the same logo. After our lodge visits we got on the freeway and headed back to the RV park. We stopped at a Five Guys right down the street from the RV park for dinner and had hamburgers. Good burgers, but way too expensive. Give me an In-N-Out any day.

Friday, October 20^th, I was up and out about 8:00, taking the Jeep to the dealer for an oil change. We were a couple hundred miles over and there was a dealer pretty close to the RV park here in Gulfport. While the Jeep was being serviced I took my walk and got a couple of geocaches. After the car was done I went back to the coach and had lunch. We then packed up our laundry and went to a laundromat. After the clothes were clean we headed back home, stopping at Walmart to get some supplies. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in the coach.

Saturday, October 21^st, another travel day. We were packed up and on the road by 10:30 for a fairly short, 70 mile trip west to New Orleans. We arrived at the Pontchartrain Landing RV Resort around noon and checked in. We had stayed in this park back in 2012 when we came through here while traveling with Ray and Suzie Babcock. This is an expensive park, but it is 15 minutes from the French Quarter, plus it is a Passport America Park. Even with PPA it was almost $50 a night with all the taxes and such added in. However, they did give us a free upgrade to a premium site which is a pull in site right on the waterway. Great views, so we feel like we are getting our money's worth. Right across the waterway from us is an old riverboat undergoing renovations. We got set up and then stayed in the rest of the day doing a few chores. We are going to be here in New Orleans for four nights.

Sunday, October 22^nd, my brother David's birthday, happy birthday bro! Overnight we had quite a bit of rain and it was still raining when we got up. I went out and got us the Sunday paper and we had a relaxing morning with the paper and coffee. There were a number of small thunderstorms moving through the area all morning and the weather radio was going off with thunderstorm warnings every half hour. We waited until almost 1:00 before we were finally comfortable that all of the bad weather had moved out and we left the coach and drove into New Orleans. We first went to a restaurant in the central business district, which is adjacent to the French Quarter, for brunch. The first place we picked had no parking close by, so we switched to another place called the Ruby Slipper. We found parking and went in and were seated in about 15 minutes. This is strictly a breakfast and lunch place and their specialty is various types of eggs Benedict, some with some unusual additions. All of the plates came with two portions and you could get a combo plate that combined one of each of two different choices. Jackie had that with one portion being a spicy shrimp and fried green tomato Benedict and the other being a pulled pork Benedict. I tried a bit of both of them and we both agreed that they were outstanding. They served their Benedict on buttermilk biscuits rather than English muffins, so they were softer. I went with a lunch entree, a sauteed Drum fish fillet served on top of two cheesy grit cakes, with a spinach, tomato and hollendaise sauce garnish. It was also outstanding. I am not a big fan of grits, but I could eat these fried cheesy grit cakes all day long, they were great.

After lunch we walked around the area for a half hour or so, looking in a few shops on Canal Street, the main drag through central New Orleans. We then got back in the car and did a couple hours of driving sight-seeing. We spent most of the time in the Garden District, which is where many of the old, and huge, 19^th century mansions are. Many of them have been restored and are beautiful. We saw a number of them in the paper this morning selling in the millions of dollars. We also did a little caching, getting three new finds, our first in New Orleans since 2012. About 4:30 we headed back to the RV park and sat outside for a while with our cocktails, watching the waterway outside our door. We spent the rest of the evening in the coach watching TV.

Monday, October 23^rd, we set out from the RV park about 11:00 and headed down to spend the day in and around the French Quarter of New Orleans. The French Quarter is the oldest neighborhood in New Orleans, with most of the buildings dating back to the late 1700's and early 1800's. Almost the entire half square mile of the district is under the protection of a Historic District designation. It is also the party center of the city with scores of restaurants, bars and clubs. We found a place to park in a city lot near Jackson Square and spent an hour or so shopping along Decatur Street, the southeastern edge of the Quarter. We then walked to Johnny's Po-Boy's, one of the many restaurants in the area, for lunch. Jackie had asked someone in the visitors center for a recommendation for somewhere to get po-boy sandwiches and she recommended Johnny's. The shrimp po-boy's were OK, nothing to shout about. Heavy on the bread and a little light on the shrimp in my estimation. I had a side of red beans and rice that was very good.

After lunch we walked around the quarter for an hour or so, walking down Royal and Bourbon streets, the two main party streets. We got a couple of hurricanes, fruit punch and rum drinks, and sucked on them while we walked. It is legal to have open alcoholic beverages on the street in New Orleans. Because it was early afternoon, and off season, the streets were kind of quiet, not a lot of partying going on. After an hour of walking around, and getting a couple of geocaches, we went to the French Market, kind of a permanent street market, and shopped for an hour or so. Once we had our fill of shopping we got back in the car and spent another hour or so driving around the quarter, looking around at the history. We then headed back to the RV park around cocktail hour and relaxed in the coach for the rest of the evening.

Tuesday, October 24^th, we left the coach after lunch, around 1:00 and went out to just drive around some areas of New Orleans that we hadn't seen yet. We drove down to the Lower Ninth Ward which is the area that saw some of the worst devastation and flooding from Katrina back in 2005. The water was at roof top level in this entire neighborhood, dozens died and the place was ruined. When we took a tour through the area in 2012 there were still dozens of boarded up and rotting houses and we wanted to see if they had made any progress. It was not quite as bad now, still a lot of abandoned homes, but a lot of empty lots indicating they are making some progress. We did a geocache right across the street from Fats Domino's home and office. He lived in New Orleans almost his entire life and had to be rescued from this house during Katrina.

After touring the Lower Ninth we drove through downtown, then crossed the Crescent City Bridge, which goes south across the Mississippi to the communities on the south bank. We did a geocache there too, one that was right on the levy overlooking the French Quarter and downtown areas across the river. We spent a couple of hours driving around, then stopped at Walmart for a few things before heading back to the coach. We cleaned up, changed clothes and left around 6:00 for a date night. We drove to Drago's Restaurant on the other side of Metarie, the town just north of New Orleans where the RV park is located. We had been to Drago's, which is a very nice seafood restaurant, when we were here with the Babcock's back in 2012. The food was wonderful and we wanted to go again to a nice place. We had a great meal, Jackie got some BBQed
oysters, which is one of their specialties, and I had calamari. I then had an entree with a whole, soft shell crab, deep fried and stuffed with a crab dressing. It was outstanding. Jackie had Redfish and it was good too, although a touch overdone. We had some cheesecake for dessert. It was an expensive, but very pleasurable and wonderful evening for the two of us. I also got the Drago's shirt, which I missed out on in 2012 because they didn't have my size. Ray got one then and has been holding it over me for five years. No more! I got the shirt! We then headed back to the coach for the remainder of the evening.

Wednesday, October 25^th, another travel day. We woke up to the news that Fats Domino had died yesterday, the same day we were caching in front of his house! What a coincidence that is! We were packed up and on the road by 10:30, heading another 170 miles west to Abbeville, Louisiana, a small town south of Lafayette. The drive was OK except for the ten miles after we left I-10 in Lafayette and headed south on the state highway towards Abbeville. The traffic was horrible. We arrived at Betty's RV Park south of Abbeville around 2:00 and were welcomed by Betty. We first heard about Betty's from out friend Lynette Bollier back in 2012 when we were going to Louisiana on our way to Indianapolis for the FMCA rally. Lynette told us we just had to go to Betty's because it was a small place that treated you like family. We were unable to go then because it seems that Betty's is booked solid way ahead of time. There are only 17 spaces and you have to book early. Earlier this year there was a big write-up in the Escapee's magazine about Betty's, reinforcing our desire to go there. This year I booked a reservation four months in advance and now we are here.

Betty is very nice, speaks with a mild Cajun accent, and got us settled in very quickly. The sites are all 50 amp, full hook up, with plenty of room. We got set up and then at 4:30 we went over to the gathering room outside the office for happy hour. It seems that happy hour is a daily occurrence and is almost considered mandatory for guests. The Escapee's article said that Betty will often ask where you where if you miss one. Most of the park was there and everyone introduced themselves and there were all kinds of snacks and nibbles that people brought. It was very much like an RV rally happy hour. At least half of the couples there are full timers, most not as long as us, with one couple in their first year. We stayed for about an hour and a half, then went back to the coach and did some pork chops on the BBQ for dinner. We watched TV until bedtime.

Thursday, October 26^th, we left the RV park after lunch to do some exploring. We went into Abbeville first to look around and do some caching. Abbeville is a town of about 12,000, but it appears to be smaller as the central part of town is kind of run down. We got a few caches, and a few DNFs in town. We then drove north to look around Lafayette. Lafayette is the fourth largest city in Louisiana, with over 125,000 population. It has the University of Louisiana main campus but had a very small downtown area. As with a lot of places in the state, the city looked a bit back on it's heels, dilapidated and abandoned buildings and the like. We got a geocache and another DNF, bringing our total to three finds and three DNFs for the day. We wandered around town and then took a back way home, getting back to the RV park about 4:00. We went over to the group happy hour around 5:00 and spent an hour snacking and talking to folks. After happy hour we went back to the coach, had dinner and watched TV until bedtime.

Friday, October 27^th, we left the RV park about 10:30 for another day of exploring. We drove northeast about 25 miles to the town of Breaux Bridge to have lunch at a place called Le Cafe. This is a little hole in the wall cafe just south of I-10 that we discovered back in 2012 when we came through this area traveling with Ray and Suzi Babcock. At that time we were staying at an RV park just north of Breaux Bridge and got a local recommendation for Le Cafe for their po-boy sandwiches. We all loved the place and we decided to go back today since we were fairly close. The place looked exactly like it did five years ago and the food was also just as fabulous. It put the po-boy's we had in New Orleans to shame. We ate way too much, but enjoyed every bite.

After lunch we drove around exploring some of the small towns in this region of Louisiana that they call “Acadiana” because it was originally colonized in the mid-1700's by French Canadian colonists from the Acadia region of Eastern Canada. After the British took over the Canadian colonies from the French they eventually expelled the French colonists to make room for more British. The French, over 11,000 of them, were scattered along the eastern seaboard and the Caribbean, with many eventually settling in what had been French Louisiana. Although the Louisiana territory was then under Spanish rule, the French were still welcomed because they were Catholic. Today the “Cajun's”, a shortening of “Acadian” are descendants of these 18^th century French colonists.

We did a couple of geocaches while exploring and one of them took us to Longfellow Evangiline State Park, which is dedicated to preserving the history of the Acadian people. It is a very nice park with a beautifully preserved 18^th century plantation home and grounds. We watched a film on the local history and looked at a lot of interesting displays. We also stopped in the town of New Iberia, which is about 25 miles east of Abbeville, and toured the Conrad Rice Mill, believed to be the oldest operating rice mill in the U.S. A friend of ours, Mike Neighbours had told us about a great product the company makes called Wild Pecan Rice so we stopped at the company store. They were just starting a tour of the place, so we joined in and got some more detailed history of the region and the Acadians. We left the mill and started west towards Abbeville just in time to meet the line of rain storms that had been predicted, and was indeed marching, across the area. Although the rain was heavy at times, they were not bad or long lasting storms. We did go to happy hour with the other guests of the park and chatted for an hour or so before heading back to the coach for the rest of the night.

Saturday, October 28^th, we had a stay at home day for the most part. We did go out about 1:30 or so to do a quick Walmart run and while we were there we picked up a nearby geocache. We both got a few chores done around the coach. About 5:15 we went over to Betty's gathering room for a potluck. It was most of the people staying in the park, as well as some friends and relatives of Betty's who live in the area. This included one guy who was born and raised in the area. He spent 22 years in the Army, retiring as a Green Beret First Sergeant, then went to work for the Sheriff''s Office and worked there for another 20 some years. He is 85 years old, looked to be about 70 and has a 35 year old girlfriend. Quite the guy. He also plays in a local band doing Cajun rock and country music. Some of the folks were in Halloween costume, although we weren't. Betty did a big pot of jambalaya, Jackie made garlic bread and we had other salads and sides from other people. It was quite the feast. After dinner one of the girls brought out a small karaoke outfit and we did a couple hours of karaoke. This was a party crowd. We finally left and went back to the coach just before 10:00, our latest night out in a while. When you stay at Betty's you are family, and this night's party reinforced that.

Sunday, October 29^th, another travel day. We hated that we had to leave Betty's, next time we are going to stay a week or two. We pulled out about 10:30, continuing west towards Port Arthur, Texas. Port Arthur is a coastal town just south of Beaumont, Texas in far East Texas. Port Arthur is right on the Louisiana State Line, just across the river. We arrived at the Port Arthur RV Resort about 3:00 after making a lunch stop and a fuel stop. This is a big RV park and it was nearly full, glad we had reservations. When Hurricane Harvey came through the area a few months back this whole area was badly flooded. I think a lot of the RVs in the park are people who are trying to fix their homes. Everywhere we drove coming in there were mounds of trash and ruined furniture piled up. We got settled into our site and relaxed for the rest of the day.

Our departure from Louisiana into Texas marks where our final push towards home in Pahrump begins. We are now less than three weeks from Pahrump and will be doing a lot of one and two night stays as we head for home. We are traveling through areas we have been a number of times in the past, so no need to stop for a lot of sight-seeing. The only exception will be a three night stay in San Antonio, just because that's a fun place no matter how many times you go there. With that, we will close out this episode and get it published. Until the next time, keep smiling and be happy. Bye.