West of the Mississippi!

8:16 am - Wednesday - January 16th - Marshall, TX - 48º F, 82% humidity, wind 1 mph out of the north by northeast.......cloudy today with a forecast high of 54º F.

As has been mostly the case for the past 5 days we awoke to steely gray skies and temps in the 30's in Vidalia, LA.  It was the first time I had awakened west of the Mississippi since April 29, 2018.  I had one big task to accomplish before the 11 am checkout time (besides stowing the city water hose, and electrical cord), and that was to check out our non-functioning city water pump.  This water pump is quite important while we are underway, and while we are dry camping/boondocking.  It quit working sometime Monday afternoon on our way into Vidalia.  Since our Jello plan called for us to be dry camping Tuesday evening near Tyler, TX I needed to either get this one working, or remove it and install the backup water pump we have been carrying around for 10 years for just such a situation.

The last time I had to deal with a non-functioning city water pump was almost 11 years ago, before we retired.  We were going away for a long weekend in the Newell and I discovered the water pump was not working.  We were going to dry camp along the Pacific Ocean north of Ventura, CA and needed it to be working.  I was still learning about our new to us 1982 Newell and just assumed the pump was broken and needed to be replaced, so I ran out and bought a brand new one at a local RV store.  Without checking the electrical connections to the current pump I just removed it and installed the new one.  It also did not work.....hmmm.  Must be the electrical connections, right?  I checked both the supply wire and the ground wire and found the ground wire was bad, so I replaced it and the new pump began working.  Since, apparently, the old pump was, indeed, working I decided to save it and keep it for an emergency.  Well, 10+ years later that emergency had reared its ugly head.

This time I checked the ground and the supply wires first, and found them to be fine, so I just removed the old 'new' pump and reinstalled the original pump.....

 The now non-functioning Shurflo water pump removed, and back in its original box from 10 years ago

The original Shurflo water pump reinstalled after a 10 year hiatus.......it still works!

.....in all it took me about hour to reinstall the original Shurflo pump, and we were good to go.  It was now after 10 am and time to get rolling!

We still had some 50+ miles left to travel on US-425 north to I-20, and then another 170+ to our destination for the day.....Marshall, TX.  The last time we were in Texas was back in late April when we passed through Amarillo, TX......

 The birthplace of my brother-in-law, Glenn Parker

......when we had covered about half the distance TLE received a call from her sister, Laureen, advising we would be passing through the birthplace of her husband, Glenn....Mangham, LA.....TLE made sure to snap a picture of the town welcoming sign for posterity's sake.

US-425 is a divided highway all the way to I-20.....very nice highway!

Just before 12 pm we merged on to I-20 westbound, and within 30 miles came to a very nice Rest Area where we decided to take an extended break, including a 1 mile walk around the Rest Area.  We needed to take on some propane as our 60 gallon propane tank was down to 1/4 full.  That's probably good for another few weeks, but I am all about taking advantage of opportunities when they present themselves, and there was a Flying 'J' truck stop about 20 miles before Marshall, TX that had a propane station, so we exited the Interstate around 3:15 pm to do just that.  We received good service and were quickly back on the road after taking on 33.2 gallons of propane......hmmm....we had way more left than I thought....those rascally analog gauges can be so inaccurate!  

By 4 pm we had exited the Interstate just east of Marshall, TX to avail ourselves of another Passport America park.  We had planned to dry camp at a Cracker Barrel, but the temps were going to be very cold Tuesday night, so we opted to 'plug in' for $20.  In all we covered just over 235 miles and had a very good driving day.....flat and straight!  We finally got sun late in the day, but by the time the sun set it was to a steely gray sky once again.  

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'Paying the rent'......

7:31 am - Tuesday - January 15th - Vidalia, LA - 39º F, 85% humidity, wind 4 mph out of the north by northeast.......mostly cloudy right now, but forecast calls for mostly sunny later today with a forecast high here in Vidalia of 51º F.

We awoke to bitter cold, slate gray skies at Lamar-Dixon Expo Center,  and nothing changed all day long.  We had first to disconnect from our full hookup site, then drive about 7 miles over to a fuel station to 'pay the rent'.  It had been almost 900 miles since we took on diesel just north of Crystal Springs, FL and we were down to just under a quarter tank.  Using Gas Buddy I found a station selling #2 diesel at $2.39/gallon.....that is a full .40 cents less per gallon than the last fill-up, so diesel is finally beginning to drop.  We took on 125 gallons and change for $300.  When we are moving every few days we 'pay the rent' more often.  Prior to taking on fuel in Crystal Springs we hadn't had to 'pay the rent' since we topped off our diesel tank in Lebanon, KY back on in late October.  We determined we had average 6.9 mpg on this last tank of diesel.....slightly higher than the 6.7 mpg we averaged on the previous tank.

By the time we finished 'paying the rent' it was after 10:30 am, and time to get moving!  We had a very modest goal for the day.....just 117 miles north to Vidalia, LA (just across the river from Natchez, MS).  Based on recommendations from our hosts Forest and Cindy we left I-10 in Baton Rouge to merge with I-110 which eventually took us to SR-61 north to Natchez, MS.....

SR-61 northbound....a nice divided highway all the way to Natchez

......the traffic was quite lite on SR-61, and the super cold weather clung to us like white on rice for the entire drive.  We had all our chassis heater blowers on high for the entire drive north.  

By the time we hit Natchez and turned left on US-425 to cross the Mississippi it was about 12:45 pm.  In another 15 minutes we were entering the gates of River View RV Park and Resort right on the Mississippi River in Vidalia, LA.

River View is a Passport America park enabling us to stay in a $50/night pull through site for just $25 and change for one night.  We have never camped on the banks of the Mississippi River so this was a perfect opportunity to cross that item off our proverbial bucket list.

Once I had connected us to the pedestal supplying water and power we took a walk along the River covering about 2 miles round trip......

Big barge headed north on the mighty Mississippi

We just came across that bridge a few minutes ago....Natchez is on the right, and we are on the Vidalia side.....walking into the wind and all bundled up

Backs to the wind now.....

........River View is a very, very nice park sporting a large pool, and Jacuzzi.  The interior roads are gravel, but there are many long concrete pads in the pull through sites, which are very level, thank you very much!

Tuesday we will finish our trek northward to I-20 which we will take westward to Dallas where we will begin to angle north and west eventually hitting I-40 in Amarillo, TX.  That will take us almost all the way home.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Sunday, Sunday.......

6:46 am - Monday - January 14th - Gonzales, LA - 41º F, 78% humidity, wind 6 mph out of the the north......partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 54º F.  We roll our wheels in 3 hours!

Sunday was to be our last full day in Gonzales, and it was bitter cold most of the day.  The original forecast called for partly cloudy skies, but that did not materialize until late afternoon when it finally did warm up a little.  

About noon time I went out to dump our black tank, and found it still quite cold.....had to wear pants, a watch cap and hooded jacket.  Even here in the deep south it is quite cold this winter....at least colder than I was expecting.  On the other hand, our time in Florida was quite warm and humid....again, not what I was expecting based on previous visits this time of year.

We spent a goodly portion of Sunday morning, and early afternoon watching English Premier Soccer, and staying inside due to the cold....at least the humidity has been in the 70's, so we've got that going for us!  With the soccer matches playing in the background I spend time researching our route, and overnight options for the Canadian portion of our journey to Alaska, and making notes.

Around 4 pm we drove over to Forest and Cindy's home to have some additional discussions about our upcoming Alaska adventure, and take a look at our proposed route on a large map which comes with the publication called Milepost (Forest has the 2017 edition, and we have pre-ordered the 2019 edition to be received sometime in March) on which we traced our proposed route with a pink highlighter.  Being able to see it all on one page gives a lot of perspective.  The distance we will travel from SoCal to Alaska and back is just slightly further than we will have covered when we arrive back home from our 9 month trip to Maine (plus all over New England, down to Florida and home).

About 5:30 we headed out for dinner at a regional chain called 'Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers'.....they have only one item on their menu......Chicken Fingers....that's it!  They may only serve one thing, but they do it very well.  TLE and I shared the 'Caniac Combo Box' which includes 6 large chicken fingers, fries, and coleslaw......just the perfect proportions for us.

By 6:30 we were finished with dinner, and this final, in person round of Alaska planning, so we said our 'until next times', and headed home.  I caught the last 2 minutes of the Saints vs. Eagles NFL game, won by the Saints 20-14.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Local cuisine......

7:28 am - Sunday - January 13th - Gonzales, LA - 43º F, 84% humidity, wind 6 mph out of the northwest......partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 54º F.

As I wrote yesterday morning the rain began shortly after I woke up, and continued until late afternoon.  Just because it's raining doesn't mean we can go out and do stuff, so around 9 am Forest and Cindy picked us up to go to breakfast at one of their favorite beignet (pronounced binyay) places which is simply called 'Coffee House' in nearby Sorrento, LA.  Beignets are typically come in servings of three and that is how they are served at the Coffee House.  You can order a regular breakfast here, but we were there specifically for beignets.....

 Left to right: Moi, TLE, Cindy and Forest

 They disappeared quickly

   

.....and were they ever yummy!  By the time I finished my three beignets there was powdered sugar everywhere!  The 'Coffee House' complex is composed of 7-8 buildings housing the restaurant, several gift shops, a barn full of antique farm equipment, and a fenced enclosure containing numerous alligators.....

 

  A very old and cool fire engine

 An old Allis-Chalmers tractor slowly melting into the soil

 A very old steam tractor

 Interesting steering gear composed of chains and worm gears

 

 There were just two alligators visible on this rainy day

.....in spite of the rainy day the restaurant was packed full of people, with a long line awaiting a table.  We got there just before the big rush.

We headed back to Forest and Cindy's home around 11 am and hung out there talking about Alaska until close to 1 pm when we headed out for lunch at a local seafood place Forest likes where they serve boiled shrimp by the pound.  You can buy them unpeeled with their heads still attached, or without heads, but still unpeeled, or headless, and already peeled.  I failed to take any pictures, however, I had their BLT with grilled shrimp added, TLE had shrimp and okra....forest ordered a pound of their boiled shrimp (headless and unpeeled).  I learned how to peel a boiled, headless shrimp, and actually loved them.  By the time we were finished with lunch we were quite full, and did not anticipate eating anymore food Saturday!

We were delivered back to our coach about 2:30 pm with full tummies, and big smiles on our faces having sampled a goodly portion of the local cuisine options.  We spent the rest of the afternoon watching recorded English Premier soccer matches and I watched most of the Rams vs. Cowboys NFC playoff game, which was won by the Rams 30-22.

We'll get together with Forest and Cindy again on Sunday to discuss our Alaska trip more, and do some route planning.....it's getting exciting!

Thanks for stopping by!

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The last 87.......

6:48 am - Saturday - January 12th - Gonzales, LA - 55º F, 90% humidity, wind 6 mph out of the east by southeast.....cloudy today with a forecast of rain today, and a high of 71º F.....as I write I am beginning to hear the gentle 'pitter pat' of the rain on our aluminum roof.

We only had 87 miles to cover to our destination for the next days, but we are both glad we saved that last 87 miles for Friday, because as you leave Slidell you are pretty much on elevated road surfaces over water 75% of the time until you get close to Baton Rouge.  I cannot imagine how much fun that section would have been at the end of a 220 mile day in the late afternoon!  In many cases you are below sea level.  These elevated road surfaces appear to be quite old and they are not smooth......think 'bebump, bebump, bebump, bebump' for about 100 minutes as you are simultaneously snaking your way through post 9 am NOLA traffic in lanes that are considerably narrower than the typical Interstate lanes.  Add all that together and you feel your blood pressure rising as the tension, predictably, rises.

But, alas, we finally exited Interstate 10 in Gonzales, LA and found our way to the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center where we will spend the next three days visiting with our friends Forest and Cindy talking about, and planning our trip to Alaska this summer.  The site we had been initially assigned (50-B) was full of water and mud so TLE and I walked over to the office to explain our problem and see if there were any alternate sites in which we could stay.  When I gave my last name so they could look up my reservation the nice lady said "Oh, you're Clarke Hockwald.....we have a package for you...".  I'm thinking how would someone know to mail me a package here?  Well, it turned out the address I had given our son to use to forward our mail was the Expo center, and not the address of our friends.....doh!  Thankfully they held on to the package for a few days!  At any rate, she also gave us 6 alternate sites to check, which we did.  We settled on a site a few down from 50-B which was a pull through site, and quickly moved into it.  

Since the utilities for our site are at the very rear of the site I had to deploy about 45' of sewer hose, my 50' water hose and a 25' extension for our 50 amp cord, and that is why we carry so much extra stuff for just this situation.  It comes up very infrequently, but are we ever happy we have the extra when we need it!  We only have 30 amp service in our site, but it's all good.  By the time we were set up it was about 12:30 pm and time for some showers now that we are connected to a sewer once again.  When we arrived our friends were up in Baton Rouge at an appointment, so by the time we finished with our showers Forest and Cindy had arrived to welcome us.  We talked for about an hour before they headed home. We made arrangements to drive over to their home for dinner at 4:30 pm.

We spent the afternoon relaxing and settling into our digs for the next three days, and were in the VW headed for Forest and Cindy's home by 4:30.  We had a lovely evening talking, and a lovely dinner before heading home around 8:30 pm.

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which helps defray our travel expenses to a small degree.