sandcastle – Page 154 – The Sandcastle

Going out

We didn’t have to use the storm shelter at the funny money park but it was nice having it so close by just in case. Here you see it through our living room window.

Thinking about storms made the think about our ability to drive away from them. I guess you could call our RV our “get-away” vehicle. It contains most of our valuables but we came by all of them honestly. Honestly.

Watching children swing made me think of abdominal exercise. See, it can be fun.

We finally found a WalMart that carries a wide selection of Diet Rite so Dave brought me two cartons of Red Raspberry. It’s been so long since I had that flavor I’d forgotten it is strong enough to make me feel like I should be picking seeds out of my teeth. I really like Red Raspberry. In the meantime it was nice to learn, though, that Tangerine makes a good substitute for me. Now if we could just get some Mocha Mix or Coffee Rich for my morning cereal I would truly be a happy camper.

In Biloxi, Mississippi, we stopped to see The Maritime & Seafood Industry Museum but it was gone with the wind. There was a small pile of rubble left and a trailer with a sign saying it was the museum’s office. We didn’t go in.

Some things are rebuilding, though. Check out this Hard Rock Casino.

We resisted the urge to go eat at the Hard Rock because we wanted to to eat nearby at The Shed in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. One of our RVing friends gave us the URL for the Food Network’s program “Guy’s Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives” and we’ve been vising random ones. In case, I haven’t given it to you yet, or in case you already lost it, here it is: http://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/guys-idiners-drive-ins-and-divesi/index.html

Check out this one.

Dave’s favorite sign on their wall was “I think, therefore I am overqualified.” I rate their barbeque 4 napkin good. We shared the jumbo sampler platter and brought back leftovers. We were there midafternoon of a weekday so it was fairly quiet but I can imagine this place jumping on weekends. You go to the bar to order your food and they take your name. When the food is ready they wrap it in insulated packaging and carry it around yelling your name until they find you. I wonder if they have to wait until between sets of music on Fiday nights in order for the customers to hear the servers?

We spent that night parked near a similar storm shelter except this one was in Gulf Islands National Seashore’s Davis Bayou campground where we met a volunteer named Dexter. I wish Dexter didn’t have to keep making his rounds. His stories were as good as IYQ’s stories. Did you know if you set an electrical outlet into a 4×4 and plant it in the ground, some camper will plug into it? Even when they know the park they are in doesn’t offer electricity? Even out in the desert by Quartzsite, Arizona?

We’ve spent hours watching the weather trying to decide what to do. Some joker told us the reason for living in an RV is that you can always move to better weather. I want to know where? Terry & Jeri got snowed on in Washington this week. Lee & MaryJane got 60 mph winds in the desert SW. Steve and Carol got snow in Oklahoma. Mike & Julie got rainstorms in Texas. And we are getting Tornado watches in Mississippi! The National Weather service called for the storm watchers to be out here tomorrow morning from 9 to 11 a.m.

So we decided we’d get up early and depart ahead of the storm. Right. It started raining about 4:30. The wind picked up about 5:00. I got up early but decided not to risk trying to stand on one foot in the shower in this wind. Then it all ended about 9:00. I should have slept in as usual. We waited until 11:00 to depart, though. No sense catching up to the storm that just left here traveling our direction. That should put us a couple hours ahead of the next one, too. So we might get some rain but we shouldn’t get storms, right?

Right. Dave got slightly damp getting an Alabama highway map from their welcome center. And we got slightly damp stopping for lunch. But, lunch was so good our spirits are still up.

Lunch was another “Guy’s Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives place”. This one called Big Daddy’s Grill near Fairhope, Alabama.

I included that last photo to remind me to tell you to read the front of the menu before you order. It says things like, “No alcohol may leave the premises except inside your stomach.” And “This is a family restaurant; please don’t teach the children any new words.” There was another one I laughed about but have already forgotten–I’m getting old, you know.

Now, we are tucked up for the night at Rainbow Plantation, the Escapee’s RV park in Summerdale, Alabama. And it’s supposed to rain tonight. Surprise, surprise. We asked for and got the first available site closest to the storm shelter. This one is an actual clubhouse, though so, if we have to take shelter tonight, at least no one has to sit on the toilet. I hope you are having good weather wherever you are. If you are, would you, please, let us know where it is?

TTYL,

Linda

Chalk and Funny Money

Like most full time RVers we know we write our plans in chalk so we can change them at the drop of a hat. I think the weatherman writes his plans in chalk, too. Is it going to rain today? If so, how much? The weatherman said severe storms all day today. Today’s real answers turned out to be, “yes,” and, “very hard for a short time”. The rest of the day has been mostly sunny and warm enough to need to open the windows and turn on the fan. We could have gone sightseeing just fine. I wonder how much of our plans revolving around the weather are just excuses to not go anywhere?

The park we are in accepts the National Parks passes which are supposed to be good for free admission and a 50% discount on camping. Camping here is normally $20. S0, you’d expect us to pay $10, right? Nope, our fee is $13. How can $13 be half of $20, you ask? By separating the charge for electricity at the campsite from the charge for the campsite itself. We only get half price on the site, not the electricity. Of course, we aren’t using nearly as much electricity as we are being charged for but that’s beside the point, right?

Cue the music here: “Oh, the games people play now. Every night and every day now. Never meaning what they say now. Never saying what they mean.” Followed by, “Rainy days and Mondays always get me down.” Tomorrow will be better. We “plan” to go out.

TTYL,

Linda

Water, Water Everywhere

While Night RV Park provided the required “any port in a storm” we did not want to fill our fresh water tank from their hookup so we were glad to be able to move on.

Our first stop was Walmart to replenish our supplies. We’re having trouble getting some of our basics so are shopping more often than we’d like. When we pulled into this one in Denham Springs, Louisiana, the very full parking lot reminded us it is Saturday. It is easy to loose track of the days when one looks much like another.

That afternoon we pulled into Fontainbleau State Park looking for a spot for the night. This park is on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, the lake just north of New Orleans. We were somewhat concerned that it might be full on the weekend. That turned out to be the wrong concern. What we should have been concerned about was all the rain they’ve had lately. They assigned us a spot with two alternates to choose from should the first one be too wet. It was very unlevel with a tree branch that kept us from getting to the most level spot in it. The one across the road looked better so we tried it then called the office to see if we could have it instead. Nope, the people who reserved it prepaid in full so they couldn’t release it to us in case the people came tonight even though they didn’t last night. So, we checked out a third spot, this being one of the alternates they gave us. It was level and the electrical post was not sitting in a puddle so we started unpacking. But the EMS didn’t like the electricity–102 volts is below it’s minimum. Since there was a 50 amp outlet as well as the 30 amp we needed, Dave plugged our adapter into that–104 volts–the minimum required to keep our EMS from cutting us off but not enough to run some of our gear. We discussed the implications of that: no A/C–not a problem; it’s too cold to need A/C. No microwave–OK I can skip bacon for breakfast or we can cook it in a skillet on the gas stove. Everything else we were like to use should be OK on low voltage or use the 12 volt battery system. So we decided to stay. Then a neighbor came over and told us low voltage had caused $300 worth of damage to his TV/VCR system. So, we unplugged and stayed anyway. We boondocked with paid hookups at our door. We did fill our water tank the next morning before departure, though. And we’d used a discount card to pay half-price for the camping. It was expensive water but we slept long and well and that counts for a lot.

Today we crossed the Pearl River which is the border into the state of Mississippi. We had left US 190 to take I-10 across so we could get a state highway map. They are harder to come by on the US highways than they are on the Interstates. That turned out to have a bonus. The turn to the Welcome Center was also the turn we needed to make to get back on our preferred route. So now, map in hand, we headed south to US 90 and took it into Bay St Louis where we turned again to go to the Alice Mosely Folk Art and Antique Museum. The street we turned onto was a major through street with a stop light on US 90 but it was just barely two lanes wide. In Minneapolis, it would be an alley not a street. We also had to dodge low hanging tree branches so we were all over that road. I sure am glad Sunday is a quiet traffic day. I was not so glad to learn the museum is no longer open on Sundays. If you want to be entertained by Alice Mosely’s art and the captions chosen for them, please, go here:

http://www.alicemoseley.com/page/page/1632926.htm

Then we took the bridge across the bay itself which looked to me a lot like crossing the Mississippi.

We stopped at KFC for lunch. Their buffet had corn bread as well as chicken & noodles which reminded me of my Grandma. She made really great corn bread and ever greater noodles. Down home food down south. Could life be any better?

The we continued east on US 90. When Dave checked this morning they said they were still clearing sand from the highway from the recent storm but it was only causing minor traffic slow downs. Those slow downs were done by the time we got there but there was plenty of sand in the gutters. It wasn’t surprising considering how close the road is to the beach. Here’s the view from my passenger side window as Dave drove through Pass Christian.

I wish I could have taken pictures out Dave’s side as well. The view there was mixed. Some old houses that survived the hurricanes. Some new ones just being built. Some that may have been new but built of materials to make them look old. Some empty foundations. Some empty lots for sale. One house where all the walls are there but the doors and windows were missing. One with an RV parked next to the owner’s swimming pool indicating where the house used to be. It was a sobering sight.

Then we turned north on US 49 in Gulfport, Mississippi, headed for the Desoto National Forest where we are now camped in their Big Biloxi campground. We plan to stay here long enough to order our mail to be ready for us further down the road in Summerdale, Alabama. There’s an Escapees’s park there called Rainbow Plantation we have been hearing good things about so we want to check it out. After seeing some sights between here and there, of course.

TTYL,

Linda

Rain, Rain

The second night’s ball play was not nearly as amusing. A group of guys had slow pitch softball batting practice on the diamond in front of us. They were good. They kept hitting the balls over the fence. Yup The fence right in front of us. Those ball just kept right on coming at us and the other three RVs parked along the fence. Fortunately, they never did hit one of us but we spent an anxious evening waiting and watching.

I often have a soundtrack running in my head relating to whatever we are seeing or doing. Today’s soundtrack is “Nowhere to run to, baby. Nowhere to hide.” It is storm season here and, apparently, everywhere. It rained REALLY hard last night and is going to continue to do so for the next couple of nights. Dave keeps checking the weather maps to see where the best place to be is but there’s nowhere good around us. Hey, it’s supposed to snow in Oklahoma!

We decided to hit the road anyway since we are pretty much in the open here except for the dead tree we are parked under. Maybe we can find a more sheltered place further down the road.

In Port Barre we checked out a city park called Birth Place Bayou Teche RV Park. It’s another not much other than water & electric for $10 a night park. Unless you like to fish or canoe. They had facilities for both of those. If you decide to camp here you call the police and they come collect the fee. But we needed to do laundry and have lunch so we decided to do that first.

Dave took one look at the machines in the Washateria and came back out. He said he wasn’t sure they’d make it all the way through a cycle.

Then he walked next door to Subway only to find they are closed. So we drove to where another one was supposed to be but it wasn’t.

So, once again, we headed on down the road.

We checked out the Corps of Engineers Atchafalaya Basin but they have no campground, only dispersed camping by the boat landings. We decided we didn’t want to be at water level through tonight’s storm so we moved on again.

Finally, the sun broke through, just as one lane of the highway closed. We aren’t doing so well, today.

In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, we got back on I-10–first time since West Texas. Then we crossed the Mississippi River–first time since St. Louis, back in October.

Then we worked on being in the right lane at the right time to end up on I-12 East as far as Exit 7 where we turned off to go to the Night RV Park.

They are full. But, they have an overflow spot. The manager’s driveway has water & electrical connections. So, we are tucked in between their garage and carport feeling safe from any winds that head this way. And the storm continues and our hazard radio keeps making very loud announcements. So I packed my bug out bag in case we needed to leave the RV during the night, turned off the radio, and went to bed.

Now it’s morning and we didn’t have to bug out. We aren’t leaving either. The storm is headed the same direction we are so we decided to let it get ahead of us. We have good internet here so we’ll just stay put and, hopefully, be safe.

TTYL,

Linda

Opelousas, Louisiana

Opelousas, Louisiana, is quite the place as you’ll see if your check out their website: http://www.cityofopelousas.com/

South City Park here “has the following amenities:

Swimming pool
Tennis courts
Playground
Handicapped accessible playground
Baseball fields
Bar-b-que areas
Large Pavilion
Teen Center
Neighborhood Center
Donald Gardner Stadium
RV Parking”

The handicapped playground includes, among other items, swings for people with various disabilities including one that can hold a wheelchair.

A sign there provides instructions for visitors.

Local residents can get their own key.

We camped here last night. Here’s a glimpse of our evening entertainment as viewed from the cab our our RV.

The game looked like junior high school girls’ fast pitch softball. The blue team obviously has a coach that’s been teaching both theory and technique. The team understood the need to steal bases to move into scoring position and how to cover one another’s fielding positions. The red team has a coach. I think. There was an adult with them. The blue team arrived early and warmed up looking very unskilled which is apparently a warm up thing because they improved dramatically as soon as the game started. Red team members continued to arrive after the game started but their play got better as the game went on. I think the red team was learning from watching the blue team. You can easily guess which team won. By a huge lead. But, most of them looked like they were having fun and that’s the most important thing.

Today we set out to visit museums here.

The Opelousas Museum and Interpretive Center is not large but what it has is well presented. It charges no fee but has a donation box so you can contribute based on your experience there.

The Louisiana Orphan Train Museum is not quite open yet but promises to be worth a stop when it is.

We only got to see the outside of the Creole Heritage Folklife Center because we couldn’t find a place to park our RV. Opelousas is an old town so most of the streets are very narrow and the trees hang low over them. This is one time it could have paid off for us to have a towed vehicle for sight seeing.

Now we are back in our RV spot in South City Park closing and opening our windows as the rain starts and stops. I wonder if there is a game scheduled tonight? If so, I wonder if it will get rained out or if we will have another evening’s free amusement. There’s no pizza left but we do have popcorn.

TTYL,

Linda