Traveling through Louisiana

Sunday November 22, 2015

This morning we got an early start at 7am.  I’m not used to getting up early, but I have to admit that driving down the road when the sun has just come up is sorta exhilarating!

We crossed the Mississippi and are officially in the West!

However, after that, it turned out to be the most white-knuckle driving we’ve ever experienced.  The day started out just fine and we crossed a few swamps on narrow bridges, but then we were on an elevated road/bridge that just went on forever.  

We took I12 to avoid dipping down to New Orleans but picked up I10 later on at Baton Rouge and that is where the fun started.  Turns out I10 is also the Atchafalaya Swamp Freeway, an 18 mile bridge over the Atchafalaya River and swamp.

Long narrow roads with no barriers.

And Cedars growing out of the lake. A sight I've never seen. 

Once we got through the swamp road, we looked for a place to rest after the stress and found Diesis, so we parked and took a break. Turns out they have great burgers so we got a couple burgers and onion rings and decided to stay. Sorry I didn't get back to order the Boudin Balls, but the burgers were handmade and definitely unique and onion rings were great.

I went to the building next door and it was a full casino –  bar, lots of neon and smoke, and a cashier. We went 190 miles, so that was enough.  We ended up sleeping a couple hours that afternoon – I guess we needed it from the delayed stress.

End of the day.

Moving on

November 21, 2015 Saturday

Today we pulled out of Topsail Hill Preserve State Park after 10 days.

While here, we learned how to unhook and hook up the car to the hitch, add fresh water to our tank, empty the black and grey tanks, and deal with some of the foibles of living in a motorhome.  
It seems like the time just flew by! We were still getting set up and needed to buy some things, so we were out and about a lot.  We were planning to stay long enough to wait for a window to come in at Lazydays, but since it wasn’t in yet, we decided to move on to San Antonio for Thanksgiving.  Of course I’ve never been there or met most of Shelly’s relatives, so I agreed immediately!  It’s about 750 miles, so we decided to make the trip in 4 days, or about 200 miles a day.  I’m not helping with driving yet even though I’ve been to driving school, and we stop a lot to rest, eat and take the dogs out, so we decided not to push our travels.

So we pulled out around 10am this morning and the first order of business is to get fuel.  We found diesel not far away and managed to top off the tank.  The clerk at the register asked if we are on vacation or live in it, so I proudly said we’ve been living in it but admitted we’ve only been full time about a month.  She informed me that she and her husband want to do the same soon and have already sold their home.  I wish them luck!  

We headed on down Rt 98 until we found a road to take us to I10 which would take us the rest of the way. But first we had to cross the Choctawhatchee Bay in Destin FL.  




We went through Pensacola on the far western edge of the Florida panhandle, then off into Alabama for awhile.  But first we stopped at this rest stop.

Unfortunately we weren’t in Alabama long.....

and then we were in Mississippi.
I was amazed at the lowlands – taking bridges over land, not water. 

Well, some water.  Too soft to build a road I suspect.  Anyways, new landscape to me, so exciting to finally see places I’ve never seen before and this is just the beginning!  Stay tuned for Louisiana!

Destin Florida

Yesterday I drove over to the nearest Ford dealer to get the oil changed and a checkup.  It was 20 miles away, just past the town of Destin.  Well, trust me, Destin is a lovely and classy tourist destination.  I imagine a lot of people settle there! 

So I decided to take a leasurely ride back.  First stop was the tourist information for some pamphlets and menus.  Sooo many restaurants!  I’d love to try some of them! 

First stop after that was Beasley Park on the gulf. 

I decided to park and take a walk.  It was windy as all get out and I almost lost my phone.  But I loved the wind, the surf and the air.

Unfortunately we’re not sure when we’ll be leaving yet or where we’ll go.  The bedroom window isn’t in yet so we can’t make an appointment with Lazydays to have it put in.  We may stay here a few more days, move on or go back to Lazydays.  Right now, we don’t know.

Tonight we gorged on crab legs.  Kittie wanted some but we ate it all.

Nice we don’t have a schedule…even if we don’t know where we’ll be next week.

The Beach

Today I finally checked out Santa Rosa Beach, about ¾ mile from the campsite. Even though I had my left hip replaced last March (and also stopped smoking), I still have some arthritis and soreness in my knees sometimes, so I decided to take the tram.  So I spent an hour checking out the beach and trust me, I’ll be spending some time there this week.  I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

First view of the Gulf

Endless

The Gulf 

As far as the eye can see

Lots of bikes

Beauty...More to come, promise..

We're On The Move!

It’s hard to know even where to begin.  As you know from previous entries, we’ve been living in the coach since mid October.  There were all kinds of repairs, delays, appointments with Cummins and Freightliner, all in order to get the coach ready for us to drive away. We got our Exit Pass on Monday November 9 so we could drive the coach off the lot, finally.

       The next morning a tech came to show us how to hitch up the car

and we were on our way!  Our delivery specialist Marroe made it all happen by annotating and scheduling all the repairs, appointments with Cummins and Freightliner, coordinating all aspects of the coach to get it ready for us to take it off the lot.

We finally took off around 10:30 am on November 10, 2015 while the tech watched us go.

 I nearly cried as we drove off the lot and out into the world to meet our future. We waited more than a year for this moment to arrive.  So much preparation, so much work, selling, storing, giving away, all with this goal in mind.  

                            

On our way out of the park, we just handed our ExitPass to the gate.

                                 And we are out and on our way.  We're finally freebirds!

So long Lazydays.  You treated us well.

We can even watch our car.  If we don't see it, we're in BIG trouble!

                                                 Our first rest stop to water the dogs.

We decided to take 2 days to the campground at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park so we stopped at Loves Truck Stop in Lee FL. 

Since there are no hookups, we used our generator to keep the lights and air conditioners on.  Not a big deal, but taking the dogs out at night was a challenge, dodging 18 wheelers, going in between them hoping not to be crushed, and watching out for snakes and alligators in the field.  Can’t be too careful! Boondocking our first night out, priceless. Parking without putting out the slides, double priceless.  End of Day 1!

We finally arrived at Topsail Hill State Park around 2pm. We didn’t realize we crossed a time zone, so we arrived an hour early.  

Getting closer and closer...











The campground didn’t seem to mind we were an hour early, so check-in was a breeze.  We managed to unhook our car without looking like fools and proceeded to our campsite after I, driving the car, got us lost for a bit.  But we made it and while I was parking the car, Shelly didn’t even bother to wait for me and proceeded to back the rig into the site.  Piece of cake.

And once again, we didn’t look like idiots.  We auto leveled the coach, put out the slides, hooked up the electric and water.  When it’s time to dump the gray and black tanks, we’ll get out the new sewer hose and figure out how that works!  We were too tired too tired to cook by then so we ordered the worst pizza ever.  End of Day 2 accomplished.

Yesterday (Thursday) we pretty much got settled, opened the awnings, got out the chairs, went shopping for food and other necessities and hung around outside in the evening.  I bought a lantern and tablecloth for the picnic table, so it looks quite homey already! 

Santa Rosa Beach is about 7/10^th of a mile from here and I started to walk down, but it was almost 4pm so I stopped at a bench to send a text and lo and behold, a ranger went by and picked me up.  I met another couple who aren’t sure where they’ll go next.  They are full timers and we’re just starting out but I think we’re going to like this lifestyle...Til next time...