Tue - 14 Apr/`15

Leaving Texas this morning.

First stop at the H.E.B. for gas. A few firsts - they offer free plastic gloves to keep you hands clean as you pump.

The also offer additives at the pump that are mixed with the fuel.

Today, after leaving the interstate, we spent most of the time passing through typical small Texas towns. My apologies for my complaint last week when I was astounded that the 4 lane highway - posted at 75 mph -  was not limited access and had traffic lights, school bus stops and folks driveways entering directly to the road. Today the two lane roads were posted at 75 mph, did not have limited access, had traffic lights, school bus stops and folks driveways entering directly to the road. If that wasn't bad enough they were narrow and were without any shoulders. Most of the time there was 10 feet between the center and edge line which leaves 9" clearance on either side of the RV which is 8'6" in width. Makes things interesting, especially when you meet an oversized load.

Made it to Louisiana where we.were on LA-6 which follows the original route of the El Camino Real. Located in western central Louisiana, it runs a little more than 54 miles in an east–west direction from the Texas state line. The route connects Many and Natchitoches. Steeped in history, LA-6 roughly follows the original El Camino Real de los Tejas route and passes through Natchitoches, the oldest permanent settlement in the  Louisiana Purchase. In Louisiana the 2 lane roads, with 4 foot wide paved shoulders, were limited to a more reasonable 55 mph making driving a little more relaxed.

The streets in the historic section of Natchitoches were very narrow and many either had limited or no street parking. We were lucky to find an area (down below) near the river where we could park.

We then had to hike up the stairs to the main street.

I thought, for a moment, we were on Bourbon Street in New Orleans as the building was similar to the Inn on Bourbon Street where we had stayed in the past.

We walked a block down and turned right, intent on eating meat pie at Lasyones.(Pronounces Lass-E-Owns - not Lazy Ones).

Despite the door being open and the lit sign saying "OPEN" - they were closed. They close at 3 p.m. SHARP.  We arrive slightly after. Perhaps "Lazy Ones" is the correct pronunciation (grin) as they wouldn't serve us even when we asked if we could purchase a meat pie "to go".

We walked back to the main street we found most of the stores closed there as well. We did get to eat at Mama's Oyster House.

We enjoyed their chicken salad sandwich with shrimp gumbo and crab cakes. While we ate I noticed several tourist (with their cameras) looking quite disappointed as they past our window view (of the sidewalk). I asked if they always closed the stores here at 3 p.m.The answer was that it was probably because it was raining earlier and the just closed up and went home. I thought they only did that in NOLA (New Orleans, LA)

We then crossed the road to the really pretty riverside park. Then it was down the stairs to where we had parked our "Wagon Train". (Between Charlotte and the flowers).

On the way I-49 I stopped to fill up. Jarrell, who was filling up his nice Mustang Convertible at the other pump came over to talk about our "Bounder". This really nice young man has a dream - to won a motorhome and travel. It was fun meeting him and I hope he never gives up on his dream. We just love RVing. Part of what makes the experience so much fun is the great people (like Jarrel) that we meet.

We, that was the end of the fun. Then everything went South! Actually, it went West! As we approached our stop for the night, the River View RV Park in Vidalia, LA, located just across the Mississippi from Natchez, MS our GPS indicated we were to turn right. WRONG!

We should have been at the park in 10 minutes. Instead the GPS led us the wrong way and into an unbelievable adventure. We ended up on top of a levee ( an earth embankment built to prevent the overflow of a river). It was 12 miles of mud and water filled ruts in the dark and fog. I have been on lumber roads in Quebec that were smooth by comparison. I had to keep the motorhome moving. When I slowed below 20 mph I could feel it start to sink in the mud and the tires began spinning. The mud coated the windshield and I could barely see out. The mud, heated by the halogen bulbs, dried on the headlights. As if the dark and fog weren't bad enough! Somehow (I think Charlotte was praying) we made it back to a paved road. We arrived back to the same intersection nearly 3 hours later. This time we turned left. RIGHT! (grin).  We made it to the park 10 minutes later.

We picked up the "Late Arrival" instruction sheet at the office and found our site. Thankfully this is a great park with full concrete RV pads that made levelling and putting the slides out easy. Exhausted I just did a quick hook-up (no water or sewer lines) and we collapsed in bed for the night.