Leaving NO, arrive in Texas!

Trying to get out of town. Traffic was horrendous, left at 9am.
This is what you do NOT want to see when you go to hook up! the sewage right smack next to the water. this was the next door neighbor at that Park in NO.
Since i was sitting in traffic and we were right by the Metreie Cemetery, took a pic in the fog...

This is the spot in Port Arthur. Not bad and right next the bathroom/shower. Like that, don't have to do the walk of shame in my bathrobe through the whole park to the shower in the morning, it is just right behind me :)
It is a new park, so there are no trees or grass to speak of, they have had rain, so there is water sitting and mud here and there. BUT all in all it is a better place than that place in NO. The people there were nice. but for some reason i was just not happy with it. Maybe it was the whole not being able to meet up as planned, being there alone, a big city, rain..I know, whine, whine, whine.
The weather here is overcast, but it is warm, maybe 60's. Have the windows open and the awning out to dry out. Tomorrow will see what the town looks like.
Take Care All!!!

Venice

Got a Po Boy and fries at a gas station. As i was driving by noticed some guys sitting outside at a picnic table, eating, so figured they had food in there. Turned around. They had a window in the back and one lady in there, cooking her little heart out, It is just as good as it looks too, shrimp, yummy. Could not even eat half of it, so it is sitting in the RV waiting for dinner. am sure it will still be good. I had to leave and come to the office and sit outside to get internet service!! Irritating, this is the 1st time have had probs with it tho, where i just could not get on it at all, and this is working, even tho Luci is rather concerned with all the 'traffic' going by to the rest room and the laundry :)
Sort of what the delta looks like, but much bigger and grander. Fairly teeming with birds!!! One would think i could get a decent picture, huh?
Ships on the river
Don't they look funny just sticking out above the land?

Drove down to Venice today, yessiree, i did. The manager said, well, it is just country, nothing exciting. But that is what i like, where 'normal' people live! There were cows and orange groves, sadly there were levees, so a person could not see the Mississippi River. But i did drive up on one of the levees, don't know if we are to be up there or not, but nothing said NOT to. Was a little hairy getting back down, but made it ok. Lots of birds. Let me had it to Judy and those people who take bird pics, i can't!!! i would stop and off they would fly, even tried sneaking up on them, same thing, did get some pics, but nothing to write home about.. HA!! This picture would be good if i could have gotten the whole body, i think right after this it swooped off!
So that was my day, and a good one it was too. Saw LOTS of fishing boats, and parked pickup, this must be a fishing capital of the world, and oil refineries and holding tanks, piles of coal. But not too many amenities really. Lots of blown out houses and tons of mobile homes, guess those are alot easier to replace.
Sunny, a little clouds, warm, probably in the 70's and down in Venice some of the trees were even budding out!!!
Take Care All!!!!

Lil' Luci

She is fit as a fiddle, fine as frog's hair!!!

More Cemeteries

The anguish and sorrow
The purity & Beauty
See all the people in one tomb!!
They just wind around and go on forever

Well, found 2 more cemeteries in Metairie, or rather found how to get to them after circling around for awhile. Also found a nice, nice neighborhood. Have to admit that was on the way to Venice, LA and could not find the turn off and after got turned back to where i knew where i was just decided to go to the cemeteries :)
I just find them fascinating. Such artistry and some are really BIG, 2-3 stories high. They just have anything on them, stained glass windows, crosses of course, saints, angels. Some were just memorilizing relatives too. One was all his relatives in Europe from the 1800's. Then i get fixated on the angels, such despair and yearning.
Take Care All and God Bless

Cemetery

You have to have perpetual care too, or your monument ends up looking like the two on the right.
The statues on top of the monuments were beautiful
This is where thousands of yellow fever victums were buried in the early 1800's
Very Narrow between rows
The agony and despair are palpable in this statue!!!

Many iron works were around the sites. All denominations were buried here. And there were many that had 10-20 people in them. Even some with more, like the Sisters of a local convent. So how do they do that you say? WELL....They bury a person in a casket for one year and one day, then remove the body from the casket, which by this time is all decomposed, wrap in a shroud and stuff it back in the monument and shove the bones with a stick to the back of the space where there is a hole, like 20+ feet deep, the bones fall down there and the space is ready for another. the casket is burned, it can't be re-used, against the law. the casket people would go out of business. If someone in the family passes b4 your one year and a day is up, you have to find another monument, that will let you set there until there is space in yours, I kid you not. I don't want the removal job, just sayin'. And these spaces cost alot also, i mean the guide said like $20,000. There is space or a road in between rows, but they are starting to sell that off too. AND the cemeteries are haunted too. They have night time tours of them, hmmmmm, don't know if that would be a fun time or not.....

The Swamp!

Always have to have an "art" picture, this is of the sludge...

box turtle above................ Blue Heron---------->

Nutria, the guide called it a big rat and apparently they aren't good for anything except eating and procreating. An experiment gone horribly wrong. You can get $6 for each tail you take in!






Spanish moss...which has bugs and chiggers in it, so did not touch it!!

trees and shadow on the water, it was pretty nice out, blue sky, little chill in the air but too cold for the alligators to be out, so, of course we never saw one. Saw some beautiful egrets, but could not get a picture of them in flight, then they hid behind the trees :( there were some big hawk-like birds, the guide called them black eagles, but think he was making it up, he said if he did not know something he would make it up :)










This is Indian Village, people live along the river, Pearl river it was, and the only transportation they have is by water, no roads run into there. The water surge of Katrina flooded most of these houses past the roofs. There were houseboats along the river, but they broke loose, then broke apart.You could see the debris all about, People were supposed to come back and clear it all away along with the docks that were mostly destroyed, but many have not done so. The county decided to NOT let houseboats on the river any longer due to the problem they caused in the last storm, to alleviate it happening again.

I think this would be a great place to visit in the spring, when things are green and they have wild iris that blooms and then the gators are awake!!!!
But it was great saw and learned alot and we had fun!

New Orleans

Went on the Super City Tour today. Saw lots of the French Quarter, the Lower Ninth Ward, St Charles Street which is the most expensive property in the city and where Tulane & Loyola colleges are.
Many, many streets and balconies. STORES!!!
This is a memorial to the Lower Ninth Ward. The blue poles show water depth, the chairs are for all the households lost, the red beams symbolize the walls of houses lost.
This is one of the houses with the National Guard markings, indicating when it was checked for people and if any bodies were inside.





The beauty of the balconies and iron work were wonderful and abundant. There were enclosed courtyards that were Creole in nature, to keep the women inside in courtyards. Overhanging balconies were Spanish in nature. Buildings right up to the street were French.











Here is my Mardi Gras ducky :) cute, huh?
It was a good day, but lots of walking involved, we also went to one of the cemeteries, but will show those tomorrow or in following days. Tomorrow going on a swamp boat ride..Did not get the speedy boat with the big propeller as it cost 3x as much and will wait to do that with someone, sometime in the future, as i can see myself coming back here. But it is a BIG city and way out of my comfort zone to be by myself walking about with camera and money on me. The tour guide told us to be careful walking alone, especially after dark and in the cemeteries as they are enclosed and no one can hear you holler in there, so may save the larger ones for a later time also. the one we went to was quite famous and many films were made there, so think i got some good shots in that one alone.
The manager of the park here takes you down to the Quarter and then call her when you want to come back and she comes to get you- all for $10. Whcih i thought was a convenient service actually.
Take Care all!!

Plantations

Oak Ally, 28 perfectly spaced live oak trees
St Joseph Plantation. They raise sugar cane. Dredge sand from the Mississippi, used for construction, they don't own the river, but own rights alongside the shore. Also lease space to barges, resting, waiting to unload further down stream in New Orleans. They own land about 1/2 mile along the river, but it goes back or south 7 1/2 miles. She said the land was suited to cane and they can plant it year after year, with no crop rotation! It is still a family owned operation, there are now 122 members.

This is a REALLY big bridge across the Mississippi. The Veterans Memorial Bridge. Couldn't get another pic as was driving and had to pay attention.
This was quite a distance from N.O. and of course i started late and wanted to get back b4 rush hour and dark. It also cost $15 to tour the St Joseph Plantation, so could not see each and every one of them, but wanted to see them and the grandeur of their settings. there two others, but you had to go back to the bridge, it appeared to be the only one in the area and then back along the other side twice as far, so i was satisfied with the two i saw.
Also went to the Laura Plantation store, which was pretty cool, they had some neat things and found a mardi gras 'ducky', if you remember the ducks we got at the Outer Banks, there are apparently ones themed to different areas, who knew???
Doesn't take much to keep me happy :)
Take Care and God Bless

When i was in Mississippi went to 'the shed' to eat as everyone said that was the place to go!! It does not look like much on the outside, for sure, the food was good, BUT just want to say that East River Smokehouse in Navarre still is at the top of the BBQ heap!!! Theirs was SO darn good. I had brisket at 'the shed' and it was good. think that is the thing to order from now on, don't really care for the pork and the bones/ribs, altho REALLY good are soo very messy, the brisket is the best of both worlds. It was melt in your mouth tender and i have enough for tonight too!

















This is what the bay looked like. The park was very nice, if not a little winter worn, lots of limbs/sticks and leaves on the ground.
This guy who started 'the shed' and i think if i read it right the one here in Ocean Springs was the first one, just got things together from different junk piles and hammered together a building. One would wonder at building codes, maybe they are more lax?? You just go up to a bar inside and order, find your own seat and they run it out to you, there was stuff hanging all over the place, old-old stuff, and big tables and bars to sit at. I went Sunday nite so it was not quite as crowded as it was fri/sat. There were cars parked all over the place those two nights. It was interesting and worth going to eat and see for sure!
Take Care all
I am reading brochures of things to do in NOLA. am staying here for a week as it was only $13 for the extra two nights over the 5 had originally planned. And am sure i can find things to do!!!
Welcome to follower, Teri!

Urinals...

When i checked in at Journeys End, the person showing me where things were said "see that lady up there with the cleaning cart, she is right in front of the restroom" soooo, i took that to mean MY restroom. Got up the next morning and toddled off in my nightie and long bathrobe/shower paraphernalia and went in where the lady had been :) Saw the urinal and thought, how odd... when i got done with my shower noticed that the place was decorated in fishing motif, went to bathroom and as i was sitting there contemplating life in general, it occurred to me, oh my heavens i do believe i am in the MEN'S room. Sure enough i was!!! did not even look at the sign on the way in! Went over to the ladies and sure enough, no urinal and it was decorated like the bottom of the ocean, guess that is more ladylike. Someone must have seen me go in, i had no 'visitors' when in there, Ha-ha, such a way to start the day.
Hope you all get to where you intend on going.....

Ocean Springs

For my friend Carol, she has a penchant for pics of towns water towers, so i have a whole folder of them!!! Goodness, look how old that town is, Oregon wasn't even Oregon yet!
My souvenir of Florida and the south, they have pelican motifs everywhere...



And flying pigs, Got one for my hairdresser in Redmond. The story is she told her (ex) husband she was getting a tattoo, he said when pigs flew, so she got one of a cute little pig with wings on her ankle! Good-by husband, hello ex!!! So now she collects flying pigs, Cute, huh??? The armadillo, just cuz. and thought brother Jerry would think it the cats meow :)
Well, today was a bust, saw lots of country, BUT could never find the Sandhill Crane NWR and the beach here has barrier islands, then a bay and i am not a Bay type person, like the beach. suppose had i more time, could find a way to get out to those barrier islands, but on the way on tomorrow....

On the Road

Well another new state! Did not take long to get out of Florida and past Alabama. Was a little worried about Mobile, but it was nothing, except they had a tunnel, that is always a bit different, but no prob at all. that is a good thing. and got gas at a Love's for $3.07 in Alabama, then here it is $2.85!!! going to get some for the truck, don't suppose i could get into those stations in any case, but may be another down the road, large enough for the RV, then the 1st time at the pump i was too far away, SO, had to pull out and go around for another try!!! But got into it ok then whew!!!!


LOOK at the Rest Stops in Mississippi!!!! Opulent and luxurious with a sitting room yet, and they were so polite and offered coffee to everyone, and all the maps or information you could ever want, really nice service!! My friend in Iowa, Carol, her Niece, Jennifer went on a trip last year cross country and made a little blog thing on all the rest stops they stopped at, they were traveling fast and had a set time i think to get where they were going, wonder if she came across Mississippi one's, they would rate a 10 for sure!!!


We walked around, then had lunch in the RV before heading on down the road. Did not really take very long, only a couple hours. Just wanted to get used to driving again. Bright sunny day, hardly any wind, so it was the perfect day for a move.








This is our space. We got all set up then took a short drive to Ocean Springs to see what it was like, Lots of live oaks in the town and very narrow streets. But some funky little shops, will have to go back and see what i can see there. Did stop by a garden place as i was driving by saw some metal sculptures that had sen in a couple yards and got a pelican and an armadillo!!! :) AND they were half price. So spur of the moment, now wondering what they will look like in the yard :( if nothing else they will be a conversation piece. Got the armadillo for my brother, seemed like something he would think was cool!!! and really funky..... HA!
Take Care All

Welcome to Rick & Paulette RV travels for joining me....

Road kill Report: is spotty at best...hee-hee... couple of unidentified and a squirrel and raccoon.