Home is Wherever You Park...even if it is a Cracker Barrel

After some last minute packing, our bon voyage party and Mike's trip to the ER, we departed Sun N Fun at www.sunnfunfl.com on schedule, Sunday, August 3.

We decided not to tow the Jeep until we weighed the RV in Tampa at a Travel America that had a drive on scale for truckers.  We could not have more than 3,000 pounds of weight loaded on the RV and we were 600 pounds under! But the rear axle was over by about 1,500 pounds so we would have to redistribute that much weight toward the front of the RV at our next stop! We topped off the RV gas tank and off we went!

Mike drove us to our first stop, a Cracker Barrel in Lake City, FL.  We decided that 3-4 hours of driving is our limit. That way we can arrive early enough to set up before it gets dark.  This was our first “boon docking” experience. You can’t extend the slides and you can’t use your generator after 10 pm. And proper etiquette is to eat at Cracker Barrel for dinner and breakfast…we have plenty of gift cards!

After breakfast the next morning, we hitched up the Jeep to the RV…yes we have a checklist!  It has 14 steps to connect the Jeep for proper towing!  Mike took the wheel and we headed to our next destination, Topsail Hill Preserve State Park in Santa Rose Beach, FL at www.floridastateparks.org/topsailhill/.  After a couple of hours, it was my turn to drive, so Mike pulled over to a rest stop and I said it’s time I drove this rig.  It is not like driving a car, it does not come easily. You really have to pay attention to your side mirrors, the lines in the road on both sides of the RV and the rear view camera to be sure the Jeep is still following us! But after a few miles on I-10 I had it down.

But of course you have to expect the unexpected….traffic came to a complete stop shortly after we got on 1-10 and was being directed off to Highway 90!  So there I was, never having driven in city traffic before and staying between the lines is not easy as the space is much narrower than on the interstate!  So I followed the semi-trucks and our GPS kicked in with an alternate route.  But then I came to a stop light and would have to make my first turn around a median and hope that my tail end and Jeep made it through too, and it did! Whew!  Then about a half hour later it was time to turn again and I had to clear a semi-truck as I turned, and I made it again! Whew again!!  Then appeared I-10 and I can’t tell you how relieved I was to get back on the highway!

The drive in the Panhandle was beautiful. We stopped at another rest stop to unhitch the Jeep before we headed south to Santa Rosa Beach.  Not knowing what to expect when we got to our first RV park, we didn’t want to have to go through our checklist and make everyone else wait!  Good thing we unhitched as there was road construction all the way down.

Our site at the park was amazing, shaded by pine trees all around us and our own little “park” area next to us with a bird bath and statue. It pays to check out the site on google earth to see where you want to park.  We enjoyed three days at the park, biking and hiking and relaxing. 

The first night we found a restaurant on Hwy. 30A called Goatfeathers and had a delicious dinner with our favorite appetizer in that area….fried blue crab fingers dipped in melted butter! Of course my pecan crusted grouper and Mike’s Snow Crabs were also to die for!

We explored the park riding our bikes to the beach which was surrounded by white sand dunes and sea oats.  The water was a glistening turquoise color and calm.  

It was sweltering hot out and we were perspiring like crazy, but we decided to hop on our bikes and find another trail. We found a lake. Thought it was brackish, but then decided it had to be fresh water.  We hear the song of a bird and finally I spotted a red-headed woodpecker searching for his fill of bugs! Mike got some great photos and a video.

On the way back we stopped to take a few photos. Mike likes photos of mushrooms, moss and anything unusual…and we both find that dead trees are very interesting too.  There is art in nature all around us.
 

We are still getting used to the fact that this is a lifestyle and that we are not on vacation, so we have chores to do and bills to pay, and a lot more maintenance that you would expect and Wi-Fi challenges, etc.  So we just worked around the “house” on the second day and redistributed our weight in the RV.

On the third day, we decided to take another bike ride to the lake and try to hike around the lake to the other side where there were sand dunes and the beach.  I didn’t pick up a trail map until later, so we just walked along the shore until the shore ended and then we tried to find path by climbing through all the palmettos and brush, watching for bears, snakes and alligators!  Mike said there were no bears! 

We came to a little john boat and a sign that said beware of alligators! And we saw deer tracks along the shore.  We kept walking through the woods along a “driving path” and the path ended under water!  Mike was determined to find a way to the beach and was ready to walk through the water until I heard an alligator.  There was just swamp water and tall grasses and I wasn’t the adventurous person I thought I was at that moment anyway.  So the Lewis and Clark expedition came to an end! But it was nice to be together exploring this pristine place.

On our way back to the shoreline we heard a huge noise in the bushes. Mike quickly went after the noise and saw that we scared a deer back into the woods probably out for its morning drink.


That evening we wanted to catch the sunset so we rode our bikes back to the beach about a mile or so and just made it, but it wasn’t the sunset we anticipated.  

We did see a ghost crab that entertained us. And I saw the tail end of a deer in the brush but he was too far away to get a good photo.  Everyone started getting on their bikes to head back to the campground before it got too dark.  As we started our ride back I told Mike I thought I saw a snake in the middle of the road and sure enough, fearless Mike rode right up to it, and it was a 3-4 foot rattlesnake stretched out across the road.  I didn’t want to get close enough to take a photo or get off of my bike for that matter, so I passed while Mike went back to warn everyone else.  Here is a photo of a rattlesnake found elsewhere in the park! 

Of course I flashed back to earlier in the day when we were walking through high grasses and palmettos, where sleeping snakes lay…and there was a bear that came through the RV Park this past year…there was a cast of its paw at the park country store!  It was a nice ending to our first adventure! 

Time for our next destination…Sun Roamer’s RV Resort in Picayune, Mississippi.  It was off the beaten path, about 45 minutes from New Orleans and a half hour from Biloxi. 

Our friendly neighbor! And another neighbor came out to walk
their babboon-like pet, dressed in children's clothes!  Wierd!

Next day, it was catch up on bills and chores. I made a chipotle butter and chipotle seasoning for our steak tenderloins Mike would grill out for dinner, and I chopped all of my ingredients for my Quinoa salad.

 

Last day, rather than go into New Orleans where we had already visited on another vacation, we decided to take a morning drive an hour away to Old Town Bay St. Louis for an art walk on the Gulf Coast.  We arrived at the historic train depot originally built in 1876. Just a half a century after the original depot was built, the structure was destroyed during a catastrophic fire. It was rebuilt in 1929.  It is now home to the Depot Visitor Center and the Hancock County Tourism Development Bureau and features ornate Mardi Gras costumes and other memorabilia, including Blues artist, BB King who was born in Mississippi and one of Sharon’s favorites.  The building served as a set in the 1965 Tennessee Williams’ film starring Natalie Wood, This Property is Condemned.  Despite bettering winds and rising waters, the Depot stood strong in 2005 during Hurricane Katrina, the worst U.S. natural disaster, and became a vital part of the country’s recovery. 

As we darted in and out of the shops raindrops fell and thunder roared, and as we reached our lunch destination and walked through the door of the Blind Tiger Restaurant on the bay, a deluge soaked the area as we enjoyed fish tacos!

After lunch the sun shined and we continued our art walk through town and toured some of the historic buildings like the turn of the century building built in 1840 featuring a canted corner entrance and a red color housing tenant McDonald’s Red Hots, now a retail store. The Cedar Rest Cemetery was an interesting site with graves dating from the 1820’s. We found two of the earliest grave sites, one dated 1818 and another dated 1850. And as we shopped in a restored outfitter store, I heard the train come through town and snapped a photo as it crossed the tracks on the Bay.

Before Katrina

After Katrina

When we returned to Picayune, we drove through historical downtown southern Picayune which appeared to be experiencing an economic slump.   We enjoyed dinner that night in northern Picayune at a family owned place called Fatty’s Seafood Restaurant. After our favorite appetizer of blue crab fingers, Mike decided on an assortment of appetizers for dinner, Bayou Boudin Balls (spicy Cajun sausage containing rice and ground pork), Bacon Wrapped Shrimp with a hot pepper jelly, and a seafood gumbo with shrimp, crabmeat and okra. I enjoyed The Fat Cat, fried catfish, with Crawfish Etouffee (a thick and creamy Cajun stew of shellfish served over rice)!  Delicious!

Our last day was overcast, but a perfect day to tour The Crosby Arboretum, a 104-acre native plant conservatory featuring the native flora of the Pearl River drainage basin in Mississippi and Louisiana which included aquatic, savanna, and woodland exhibits, and a pitcher plant bog. There was a Mississippi Landmark called the Pinecote Pavilion which reminded us of a Frank Lloyd Wright design. As we turned back on our trail, we found the tracks of a fox; we must have just missed him!  A highlight of the hike was seeing a Red-spotted Purple Admiral butterfly with brilliant blue colors and red spots.

Next place on our route is Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, the crawfish (a freshwater crustacean or  mudbug) capital of the world! 

We found a family-owned RV part called Pioneer Acadian RV Park and Campground.  We were greeted by one of the owners with some still warm Boudin sausage, just in time for lunch!  Pariez-vous francais? Cliquez ici pour un sommaire en francais! Breaux Bridge is the heart of the French culture-rich Acadiana region of southern Louisiana and is host to a variety of Cajun and Creole eateries with a historic downtown filled with a variety of antique boutiques.  Known for its Zydeco music, we ate dinner at the local Pont Breaux’s where we listened to the band, Cajun Born and had our fill of fried crawfish, Etouffee, bread pudding and pecan pie.

A little history…

Acadiana is the official name given to the French Louisiana region that is home to a large French-speaking population.  Of the 64 parishes that make up Louisiana, 22 named parishes and other parishes of similar cultural environment make up the intrastate region.

Cajuns are an ethnic group mainly living in Louisiana, consisting of the descendants of Acadian exiles.  Today, Cajuns make up a significant portion of south Louisiana’s population, and have exerted an enormous impact on the state’s culture. In colonial Louisiana the term Creole was used to indicate New World products derived from Old World stock, and could apply to people, architecture, or livestock.

Creole historically referred to those born in Louisiana during the French and Spanish periods, regardless of their ethnicity. Today, as in the past, Creole transcends racial boundaries.  It connects people to their colonial roots, be they descendants of European settlers, enslaved Africans, or those of mixed heritage, which may include African, French, Spanish, and American Indian influences.

Today is our last day in Breaux Bridge, LA.   We decided to spend the afternoon at Vermilionville Living History Museum and Folklife Park in Lafayette, LA just 20 minutes from Breaux Bridge. 

 

We walked through various exhibits, restored buildings and replicas with artisans demonstrating crafts performed by early Acadians and Creoles.  We walked through picturesque moss draped oak and cypress trees along the Bayou Vermilion.  Vermilionville contains a number of original fully restored structures dating in a period of time from 1765 through 1890 as well as creations of other buildings of this period.  The Artisans who work daily in the park provided a glimpse back to a time gone by where Acadians and Creoles provided for themselves and their families. Visit www.vermilionville.org.  

   

Among the buildings was the La Maison Broussard, once the home of Amand Broussard.  Amand arrived in Louisiana from Canada at the age of eleven.  His father was the famous Acadian resistance fighter, Joseph dit “Beausoleil” Broussard who died only months after bringing 250 Acadians to Louisiana after the time of the exile from their homeland.  This house, the oldest (1790) and largest of the houses at Vermilionville, was located on une vacherie (cattle ranch) along the Bayou Teche.  La Maison Broussard is a French Creole house that borrows from Anglo-American architecture.  It was a delightful walking tour.  In front of the La Chapelle reproduction, along the shore was the first alligator I have seen in the wild in Louisiana, up close and personal.

Following the tour of Vermilionville, we stopped at the Jean Lafitte Acadian Cultural Center and watched the heart wrenching film on the exportation of the Acadian people and features an exhibit of the Acadians who settled Louisiana, their history, customs, language and contemporary culture.

Finally we drove to the Cypress Island Preserve at Lake Martin and drove around the cypress-filled swamps and walked along a boardwalk to hear and see what you would expect in a swamp….big alligators! 

It is August 13 and we are headed for Texas! Time flies….still not used to being retired. Just seems like we are on vacation!  Stay tuned! Until then, we are “roughing it smoothly” and making home wherever we park!