Feb 2007

I get up early to walk around the campground and buy a local paper at the casino. Beautiful day here. After breakfast, we get in the truck to drive around the area to see how the re-building after Katrina is coming. We drive through Pass Christian and Gulfport areas. A lot of trailers! Many parked at houses that have been repaired or are being repaired. Many new buildings and many places along the ocean where houses/buildings have been removed. There are several places where businesses have built new buildings next to their damaged buidings, rather than repair.

We're about 40 miles east of New Orleans, so we take I-10 into New Orleans for sightseeing around the French Quarter area and then plan to watch the evening parades. After we cross Lake Pontchatrain, the devestation from the broken levees in New Orleans is everywhere. This area still looks like a war zone. We're assuming this in the infamous 9th Ward, and it seems to go on for a couple miles. Even the industrial park and the Wal-Mart are vacant/crumbling. Hundreds of vacant houses can be seen from the highway. This area is by far the worst area that we've seen. Later in the day at the parade, Jere overhears one of the residents say that one of the problems is that the govt and insurance companies cannot agree on building standards to rebuild the area , so they can't decide whether to rebuild or move til that is decided. Over the next few days, the TV and newspapers are filled with stories of families dealing with govt problems in trying to repair/rebuild. It's been 18 months since Katrina and over the 100,000+ families that have applied for Road Home Grants, less than 1000 have received $ to repair/rebuild. The volunteers who come down to help re-build are a blessing here.

Once we get to the French Quarter, there is no sign of Katrina Damage! We visit the French Market for some souvenir t-shirts, enjoy the Zulu Lundi Gras festivities/music along the waterfront and then go to the Cafe du Monde in Riverwalk for the wonderful New Orleans beneits (sp?) and cafe au lait.

We walk to St Charles Avenue to watch the two evening Lundi Gras parades. We're told they start at 5:15 and should be at Canal St by 6:30, so we figure they'll be where we're at by 6:15. Well, they finally get to us at 7:15! And there are occasional large gaps in the parades, BUT we had a great time! We had a great front row spot, with fun people around us. The floats look great and every float throws beads out and some throw other 'trinkets'.

Another cold morning!!! We decide to bundle up and walk down to the office for our free continental breakfast. We grab a bunch of donuts, coffee and hot chocolate and head back to the warm, cozy rv.

We hook up the the rv and head over to the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, advertised as the most visited museum in FL. It is large and has lots of exhibits on aircraft used by the Navy. We took the 90-minute narrated tour, lead by a volunteer, and he explained the history of Naval aviation as he took us through all the exhibits. At first, Joe wasn't as interested as I thought he'd be, and then I realized there were lots of Boy Scouts around his age there....not sure if he was missing his friends or felt peer pressure of being with his parents instead of the guys. But after the scouts went to a different area, he was very interested in everything.

We also opted to see a IMAX movie, Hurricane on the Bayou. Excellent movie....I highly recommend. The music is what makes it great. Apparently, the movie was started 3 months before Katrina, to help people realize the need to keep wetlands in Louisiana. It focuses on a 14-year-old child prodigy fiddle player and her mentor, who lives in the Bayou (so lots of good music). They show the bayou and the area where the mentor lives before Katrina and then after Katrina. The mentor's house and the girl's house were both destroyed by Katrina. The girl's grandparents were rescued from their flooded house 3 days after the storm and the girl was worried because they couldn't get ahold of her grandparents before they evacuated. Anyway, good story, good music and educational.

Then the long drive to New Orleans. We're wondering if we're going to find a campground, with Mardi Gras this week. We stop at the Mississippi Visitor Center and they wonder the same thing, but recommend an RV Park at the Hollywood Casino at Bay St Louis, about 40 miles east of NO. We give them a call and they have one --- yea! So we reserve it for 3 nights and head to Bay St Louis. When we arrive, the lady says it was good we called, they just had a rush of RVs pull in.

One interesting sidenote today: We pull in to get gas and the guy next to us says "nice rig. i tell my wife when i retire, i want a motorhome or 5th wheel and travel". He goes on to say that he hasn't been able to talk her into yet. I smile and leave for the ladies room. It occurs to me that several people have told us this when they find out what we're doing -- ALL MEN! I have yet to have a woman admire the rig and say she'd like to do this :-)

It got down below 30 degrees last night along the coast! Jere talked to two guys this morning who had their pipes freeze last night in the RVs. No frozen pipes for us....so glad about that.

I woke up early this morning and decided I wanted to go out into the cold to watch the sun rise over the Gulf. I could see part of the gulf from our window, but I wasn't sure where exactly the sun would rise. So I bundled up, including hat and gloves, and walked out to watch the sun rise over the gulf. It was gorgeous!!! I took some pictures but I can't seem to get my compact flash card reader to work with this computer the last day or two, so I can't upload any pics for the moment. I'll add a pic or 2 of the sunrise when I solve my technical issues.

This campground also had coffee and donuts this morning, but we forgot about them today.

We walk out on the dock and enjoy the view again, before taking off. There was a gentleman from Ontario setting on the dock (in short sleeves...brrrr), who was very talkative, so our quick trip to the end of the dock was longer than planned. We've met several Canadiens on the trip. This guy had the classic "ay" after every other sentence....he was very nice and VERY talkative, which we find most campers are. As soon as people find that we're traveling across the country, they have lots of questions and comments.

We are driving along the gulf coast today on route 98. It really is a picturesque drive. Our only stop today is at St. Joseph State Park, twice voted as the top family beach in the U.S. It is a gorgeous beach. We walk on the bay and beach sides of the park and have lunch (in the trailer....it's still cool and breezy, especially by the ocean). It's off-season and cool out (but sunny luckily) so we have the beach almost to ourselves. Very relaxing. I wish I could get my flash card reader to work so I could upload some pics--I need to figure that out tonight.

Another of Jere's roadsideamerica.com stops today: The smallest police station in the U.S. We take a few pics and move on.

It's been a long day of driving. We stop at a KOA near Pensacola, FL and call it a day. The 4th straight night with a pull-through campsite! The 3rd straight night of cable TV and free wifi! AND this place has a clean, warm, inexpensive laundromat!!! AND free continental breakfast tomorrow morning. Life is very good.

Another cold day today! I didn't even go outside to walk to the office for free coffee and donuts :-)

We get ready fairly quickly and pull out (another pull-through campsite!). We drive a mile down the road to see the state Forestry Museum and Cracker Homestead. Interesting stop. We're the only ones there. The ranger suggests that we stop at the St Marks lighthouse, so that is our next stop.

We're taking a smaller road along the Gulf of Mexico rather than the interstate to take in some local scenery. We drive into the St Marks National Wildlife Refuge, stop at the visitor center and drive to the gulf to see the lighthouse. We're the only ones there and walk around. Beautiful scenery, but it is cold and blustery. We eat lunch inside the trailer rather than at the inviting picnic tables. No gators around the refuge today -- they're all keeping warm at the bottom of the water.

We really enjoyed our off-the-beaten-path stops today, so we decide to make another one at Wakulla Springs State Park. They have a large spring there with a boatride. We just miss the one boatride and decide it's too cold to wait for the next one, so we just walk around the spring. A lot of birds are roosting around the springs for the night already, including at least 30 turkey vultures. We see fish jumping and the highlight is watching an oprey dive into the water trying to catch a fish....very cool.

We continue with our rural ride along the coast and stop at the Ho Hum RV Park in Carabelle Beach for the night. It's a small campground and Jere gets nervous as we make a very sharp turn--our sliding hitch does not slide and we get within 2 inches of the 5th wheel hitting the cab of the truck. BUT we do not hit and we get out of a tight spot fairly quickly -- I think Jere is getting better at this RV thing.

We're parked in the 2nd row from the beach....pull-through site, cable, wifi, plus a great view! Of course the view is obstructed by several large motorhomes, but we know the gulf is out there :-)

I always wondered who bought all those big expensive motorhomes I see at the Hershey RV show.....now I know -- they're all in Florida!

Another beautiful day today. I wake up early and take a short morning walk around the park -- I wish I'd have more opportunities to take morning walks in quiet surroundings -- I feel much better after some quiet time to start my days.

Well, Jere is very excited about stopping at Weeki Wachi Springs, the "City of Mermaids". He saw it on the roadsideamerica.com website and insisted that we stop. It was bizarre! Classic 1960s Americana! I actually enjoyed it since it was so bizarre/classic. The park's heyday was in the 1960s and it has been having serious financial problems recently. The mermaid show takes place in a large underground-level spring...the audience watches the mermaid show through windows at the one side of the spring -- I'm probably not explaining this very well. Anyway, they have women who dress like mermaids and swim underwater to music -- I couldn't help smiling through the whole show...too too funny. Also, apparently some of the retired "mermaids" are trying to help save the park from closing with a "Save Our Tails" campaign. Of course, Joe thought the whole thing was boring :-)

They also had a 30-minute boat cruise, but very few birds around today. It got COLD today -- I think the birds were hiding somewhere to stay warm.

We drive another 100 miles or so and stop at Perry KOA....pull-through campsite, cable and free wifi :-) Life is good.