Only in Texas, a bridge for each direction !

Too many BUGS, I have to stay inside !

We gave him lunch at a Rest stop and he wanted to come with us, but we were tough.

 

Welcome Centre entering Texas.

Flooding can be a problem in Texas, most houses are on stilts.

Oil tanker entering Cameron, Louisiana.

We left Lake Charles ,Louisiana for the coast, through Cameron, Holly Beach, and Constance Beach, all on the Gulf of Mexico, thought we might see an alligator, but instead seen sharks, at least half dozen sharks in Cameron frolicking near the shore!  The birds are unbelievable, pelicans, ducks, hawks, roseate spoonbills(pink like flamingos), egrets, black and white, cranes of every description, other shore birds, laughing gulls.  Then through Johnson Bayou to  ferry, then into Texas in a place called Port Arthur, dozens of oil refineries, more than dozens, very, very large oil ships.  Then we camped for the night in Sea Rim State Park, beautiful beach, woke up to the Sun after four days of rain!  Then we headed North again, up to Jasper ,Texas. Not too far from Leesville, we want to stay close to return to the Mamou Mardi Gras on Tuesday!  

The Bayou from our camper.

Our Camper from the Bayou.

Heading out tomorrow for a place called Holly Beach and Cameron , very south on the Gulf Coast, probably boondock (camp without electricity) for a night or two, then head over to Texas , travel up the border towns so that we are not far from Mamou Mardi Gras. Look up Mamou Mardi Gras on the internet, not just New Orleans has Mardi Gras, many other towns, cities ,even in other states, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas celebrate! At home the most we do is celebrate pancake Tuesday, here they do it up , much more than just pancakes!

Miss Ryleigh enjoying the Sun on her Grandma & Paw Paw's Patio !

Andy with the Tancook Lobster Trap !

We often say we can park in a tent site or with the Big Boys.  Here we are with the Big Boys !

Their last Ice Storm was twenty years ago !

This hardwood was ice filled, blocking the Natchez Park exit !

Branches that fell through the nite, luckily on next site !

In Natchez State Park, trees were all full of ice around our site !

Settled in Sam Houston Jones State Park for a few days, watching a large family of deer dining on the edge of the swamp, Trish keeps watch for an alligator, planning to shout if she sees them before the deer do! We are parked right beside a bayou, very interesting!  Haven't seen the Sun for two days , but the temps are still up to 69 during the day.  Had a great week at the Laverty's, great food, great fun and great conversations, front porch and back!  They consider this winter and the temps were up to 74 degrees for five days in a row, great winter is what we say! Of course, when summer does come they suffer through it, staying in the air/conditioning or dipping in the pool and making sure the beer is extra cold! we had wonderful week, always a satisfying stop during our winter travels. Will stay in Louisiana for about a week, until after Mardi Gras, then off to Texas for the month of March.

Now we are "Somewhere and  80 degrees", it's 78 outside but 80 in the house, so Andy had to turn the A/C on!  We did our replenishment run to Wally-world, can't beleive the prices, that's why I keep repeating them, 40 pounder  $18.00, compared to 58. at home, 24 beer, $18.00, you know what a 24 costs in Nova Scotia, wine is the most unbelievable , at home 4 liters cost $40.00, here 5 liters for $10.00 bucks. Cigarettes are around 50 bucks a carton, then they have cheaper cigs at $28.00 a carton!  Wal-Mart sells every type of liquor you could ever want! Well,time for another cold Bud!

It's not a beach, but it is "Somewhere and Seventy-five" as the song says!  Lounging at the Laverty's, enjoying the Sunshine, a little threat of rain tonight, but generally very nice.  So far the menu has included  Gumbo, Etoufee', Beaudin, Key Lemon pie, King Cake, Back-yard smoked Pork loin, no end to the  tasty delights! We don't just eat, we drink, smoke, and  great conversations.  Andy and Lucy go to work here and there and we lay back with the pit bulls, Trish feeds them cookies and I scratch their backs, while we watch the many colourful cardinals attempt to steal the dog's food.    

Sunday, Andy and I hit the Wal-Mart to replenish the liquor stock, we had to wait until 12 PM for them to sell liquor in 24 hour Wal*Mart, then our clerk at the cashier was too young to ring it in, so he had to get a manager!  Then Crystal and Lucy's son Adam arrived with another grandchild, Ryleigh, she is nearly three, and entertained us all day with her quiet antics, she is the center of all attention in Pawpaw and Grandma's house, Andy assembled her new bicycle, we tried to trade her for her monkey(read blankie),for a Canadian beaver we brought from home for her, no way she was giving up that monkey!  We had a great relaxing day and supper was Etoufee, I know I am not spelling that right, but no matter, it was delicious, then for dessert we had Louisiana King Cake. Deliciousssss!

Saturday saw us in in Lafayette at a birthday party, in a Sunny park, for a Laverty grandchild, Cameron by name, he was two years old, when we were here two years ago we attended his baptism! A mickey mouse birthday cake, mickey mouse tattoos, smartie cookies  ,Trish and I had a great time and I am not joking, we enjoyed seeing many young Louisiana families with children up to ten and three that were only months old, including a new grandchild for Lucy and Andy, a brother for Cameron named Chase!  We must have all had a great time, we were back in Leesville and all in bed by 9 pm on a Saturday night.

We're laid back at the Laverty's in Leesville , Louisiana, lounging on the front porch and then the back porch, the LSU porch!  Little too early for the pool, but we did bring the Sun and 75 degree weather from Florida! Seventy-five for the next six days according to the weather man, we are sucking up the heat and the hospitality, some people can wind you up, but Lucy and Andy know how to wind you down, the first night here, we polished off a  bottle of Southern Comfort, dined on chicken and sausage gumbo , then had a delicious sleep after about a month on the road through, Florida, Alabama, ippississiM , three quarters of Louisiana, many days of rain, an ice storm, no power campgrounds, at least two Wal-Mart parking lots and many backroads!

Two years ago when we camped on the Mira and it rained for days, Trish swore she was getting rubber boots,  she got nice polka dot ones, never wore them the next year on the Mira, no rain, never wore them during our month in Newfoundland, never wore them on our many trips within Nova Scotia. but yesterday, here in Marksville, Louisiana, she had to wear them in case she stepped off the concrete pads, rained here for days before we arrived, what a phenomena this morning when all the ice on the trees melted within 30 minutes. Pouring rain in the surrounding woods, but Sunny in the park!

Also today we did our laundry, played pool and watched all the crazy snowstorms on TV. Coming out of the laundry we spied a Nova Scotia licence plate, they are from Inverness and we knew people in common, small world!  Tomorrow we arrive in Leesville, our (northern) destination. We understand it's chicken and sausage gumbo for Supper, we brought moose meat for them along with donair meat, hope they like it? Last time we were here two years ago we brought lobsters and a lobster trap from Tancook, yes a wooden one with Nova Scotia rocks in it!

We have said it before, you never know where life is going to take you!  Because of the ice storm and no power in other campgrounds we ended up in Marksville, Louisiana, a huge native Casino with RV Park, we had stayed here for one night 4 years ago.  Camping is only 20 bucks, for elec, water ,sewer and a bus comes to your site to drive you to the Casino.  We went for supper, put a few dollar bills in machines and they spit them back out, that was the extent of our gambling, but the buffet was out of this world!  Live alligators in the hotel lobby, along with fish and turtles, four gators about 5 feet long and seven more about two feet long.  Seven restaurants in the Casino!  The Sun was shining today and the temperature was 22 degrees higher that yesterday, still only 53 degrees though! We sat behind the camper out of the wind and it was delightful!

Shades of Vietnam & John Wayne !

Checked into Natchez State Park for a two day stay,  in the office they had a largemouth bass mounted that died trying to swallow a catfish, guess this phenomenon is common! During the night we lost power due to a ice storm, we were warm with propane, but trees kept falling around us all night, difficult to sleep, left in the morning, got our money back, now searching for a campground with power, had to settle for a MacDonalds breakfast, this was to be Trish's pancake day, maybe tomorrow morning in Louisiana.

Crossed into Alabama at a place called Florella, then camped near a place called Oops, Oops, I mean Opp!  We camped near Oops, that is where Paul found the Pickeral that died swallowing a perch, OOPS!    Logging is a big business here, we seen dozens and dozens and dozens of logging trucks, sometimes three and four travelling together.

Relaxing on the Beach, the Real Florida !

One of the many amazing Sunsets we have enjoyed !

Sandhill Cranes in Orange City, Florida. 

Destination of Waterfall is this bottomless Sink Hole !

Paul took this video walking down the steps to view the waterfall at Falling Waters State Park

This plant seems to be reaching for the water in the rain gutter !

This Pickerel died swallowing a Perch Paul found this while fishing in Alabama.

Yesterday, we had the experience of a lifetime, we pulled into a little picnic park at a place called Pitt Spring in the Florida Panhandle, we got into the parking lot and every space was filled, we did not have room to turn around, while in the process of backing up very carefully, a lady came up to the truck, she apologized because the parking was full, we asked her what her group was! She stated today was her sister's birthday and the whole family was celebrating with a picnic. She then invited us to join them for lunch, we did! Wow, what food, home made fried chicken, two different potato salads, other salads, pop, sweet tea, water, and the desserts, pound cake, lemon cake, it went on and on.  She introduced us to her mother,(92 years old), and explained she was almost blind! We had a wonderful pit stop, while we ate, Miss Lovey regaled us with stories from the time she was a little girl on the farm, when she worked is a drugstore soda fountain during the war, how she waited for her fiancée to return from the Pacific for three years, then how she raised her five children, the gathering involved al her family and great grand-children. One of her son-in-laws was at our table, we loved his stories also, he was retired from a nuclear plant in Alabama.  His best story:  He told a friend at work that he had a dog that ate turnip, the friend said he tried feeding his dog turnip and the dog would have nothing to do with it, Gary explained that his dog wouldn't eat them either for the first six or seven days! We think the family's name was MacDougal, and Miss Lovey,s name we thin was Luckett. They were from Blounstown, Florida and they certainly showed us what Southern Hospitality means!    

We stayed at another state park on Lake Manatee,just beautiful, left there for the mini-re-union at Madiera Beach Legion on the Gulf Coast, this legion has 9000 members, food is served from 8 am to 8 pm, beautiful deck facing the Sunset and watched porpoises jumping while the jugs of beer flowed!  Eight guys from Paul's Shearwater days attended, some he had'n't seen for forty years.  Sat inside the legion with an 80 something man who was in the Israeli army and the American  army. Initially I ad asked him what he did in the army. His answer," I was a killer!" After I got over that remark we had a great chat, he worked with the Australian Underground as an Israeli soldier, turned out he was a medic, same as me, in the American Army!  Heading out tomorrow from Perry, Florida to a park that has the highest waterfall n Florida and a butterfly garden, we are betting it doesn't compare with the Butterfly pavilion in Deer Lake ,Newfoundland last summer. but we will see! Temps are lowering as we drive north in Florida, tempted to turn back south, but we have friends to see in Louisiana, I guess we can give up the eighties for a little while!  

No racing on beach today, very high tide !

300 year old oaks times two !

Mirror image on Tomoka River, Florida

This a visitor to our site at Ormond Beach, Florida

One of the rules in State parks in the South  is that you are not allowed to walk your dog on boardwalks because of alligators.  I think dogs should have more rights, if they are allowed into parks to constantly yap and bark, they should also be allowed to walk near the water,or even swim if they choose!

Sunday, were in Sebring and settling into another State Park for a few days! Seen a great sign on a redneck trailer,  "It is illegal to bait deer in this county, this bait is for squirrels, quail, etc. Any deer seen eating this bait WILL be shot!"  Visited the VFW (Veterans of Foriegn Wars), similiar to Legion, nearby a couple times, Trish is in her glory, you can drink,smoke and wear a baseball cap. They have shuffleboard, washer toss and the Cornhole championships are Sunday!