Melbourne, FL - Day 19

Miles 243

This is the third day on the road. Apparently, there was a miscalculation and we will not be to our campsite until tomorrow. John knows I don’t want more than 2 nights at a Wal-Mart, so tonight we are at Cracker Barrel! LOL Just kidding, but it is true I don’t like more than 2 nights without a real campsite to walk around and stretch out. It is good for the budget though. There are 6 other RVs parked at Cracker Barrel. Our travels continued on Hwy 10 today, it was a quick fix to get back on Hwy 10 after the detour yesterday. Near Jacksonville we took 295 to avoid the city and meet up with 95.

We didn’t get to watch the inauguration on TV but I was able to read the speech on Facebook. I liked it and hope he means every word he says. I pray things to improve in our country, I think this is the last real chance we have. Donald Trump was not my first pick for sure but I am backing him now and feeling hopeful. I am certainly sick of people whining about how the election turned out. If all the people who have threatened to leave the country just left, it might be a boost! There are a lot of immature, spoiled people in this country who need to grow up and realize we don’t always get our way. On the other hand, this continued bellyaching might just cause the end of the Democratic Party, so it might not be a bad thing. I used to be a Democrat, but that was back when they were FOR the middle class and didn’t give away anything and everything to people who choose not to work for a living then tax the middle class to death! I feel I can voice my opinion here because few people read it anyway and if I post anything on Facebook one gets attacked pretty quickly by some snowflake brigade. If I was having a glass of wine I would toast to the new President (I’m not but next time I do, I will). 

Tony Likes Having Neighbors

Live Oak, FL - Day 18

Miles 232

Today was just another travel day for us. It was foggy when we got up but seemed to clear off pretty well and there was no stress driving in it.  We were on Hwy 10 all day. We were going to go as far as Lake City but the highway was closed due to some big accident. We couldn't see what was going on very well but it looked like perhaps a burned out semi on an overpass with about 15 emergency vehicles still attending. Anyway, we were detoured off onto Hwy 90 either completely stopped or going 10-15 MPH for a long ways. Therefore, we stopped in Live Oak, FL to spend the night at Walmart again. Thankful for a good and safe day for us. We crossed into Eastern Standard Time zone today so now we are 3 hours ahead of home. 

Our Detour Was Nice

Made it to FLORIDA - Day 17

Miles - 253

Today was a travel day only. It was 77 degrees with 80% humidity when we left Bayou Segnette. I guess that was our sign to hit the road! Once again we didn't get an early start but that's okay, it is vacation! We drove over the Mississippi biding farewell to NOLA for now. I am eager to return here for a real "foodie" tour of the area. The tempting creole tastes will bring me back. We did go to Cracker Barrel for lunch.  We are at WM in Crestview, just east of Pensacola, tonight. You might think we made it across Mississippi and Alabama pretty quickly and you would be right. Double check where Hwy 10 goes and you can see it only passes through the most southern portions of the states so there are not that many miles to travel there right along the gulf. We had dense fog in a few places over water ways. A good portion of Hwy 10 is elevated over bayous, rivers, swamps, and bays.  After entering FL we stopped at a nice welcome center and collected maps and other information for our trip. We were concerned about toll roads but now we know what to do so we are all set in case we encounter any. 

Bayou Segnette State Park - Day 16

Miles -  135 (while staying at Bayou Segnette)

Since we will leave in the morning we needed to get things done today to prepare for that. We made a trip to Walmart for supplies, filled our empty LPG tank, cooked some food for the next few days on the road, did all our laundry, and generally got ourselves ready to go. We have had a nice time here and we would stay here again if we had the opportunity. I cooked  our first food on the new camping stove today. I'm not sure I mentioned I also bought a large griddle that goes on it. That will come  in handy I am sure. We saw turtles today on a log, but when we tried to get closer I swear they looked like they hopped off in the water! We never did get a picture of an armadillo - Tony's nemesis. They are quite camera shy and the pictures we did take didn't turn out. We plan to drive for a couple days now and stop at free places like Walmart, Cracker Barrel, or Pilot. We have a place booked in West Palm Beach so we will be there the entire week before the cruise. It is very difficult to find places to stay in FL unless you book far in advance and FL residents get priority. If we had a large RV we could not be accommodated at this place we secured. Kudos for our Casita! 

Turtles

New Camp Stove

Tidbits From Yesterday - Day 15

There are a few things I didn't mention yesterday that we gleaned from the City Tour. Mardi Gras is BIG - we all know that. There are a number of Mardi Gras flags, I liked the one below as it shows the green, gold, and purple equally. Green for FAITH, Gold for POWER, and purple for JUSTICE. Our driver told us that even if you see Bourbon Street as the spot for Mardi Gras the really best spot is on St. Charles Street. People bring their families, chairs, BBQs, and stay here for the festivities. This year Fat Tuesday falls on February 28, probably a good time to stay away from NOLA if you don't like crowds. St. Charles Street is part of the Garden District. There seven Municipal Districts in New Orleans, the three areas "Uptown" which are called the Garden District, Lafayette, and Carrollton.  The Garden District has the antebellum homes made from Cypress wood from the swam areas, why they have lasted so long. This Garden District used to be a sugar plantation owned by François Livaudais, eventually sold and subdivided and became what it is now. Carrollton Historic District is farthest from the French Quarter, borders the Mississippi River, and used to be a separate town until it was incorporated in 1833. Lafayette architecture is mostly mid-century Revival. There is a vibrant history surrounding the 7 Districts if you want to read about it here.  And lastly, I must mention Magazine Street – 6 miles of shopping! Not for me but can you believe 6 miles of boutiques and shops of all sorts?

If I think of more NOLA tidbits I will add them later!

New Orleans - Day 15

We had a tour of the city today with VIP City Tours. We dropped Tony off for daycare at Shampooch again and took the Algiers ferry over to New Orleans. We decided to walk back to the Cooking School of New Orleans because I really didn’t have a chance to look around their shopping area and get some things I might want. I looked up the Gumbo Filé online and it cost twice as much from Amazon so I wanted to go back for that for sure. I don’t like shopping much but LOVE kitchen stores, different cooking items, and looking at the Louisiana and Fleur de Lis themed items. Anyway, the mind wanders.  

We got a call on my cell phone to see if we were waiting at the Hilton yet for the tour pickup. We were and we were the first ones picked up so we got the front seat, which probably had the best view. We booked this particular tour because the woman who book it told us it went into the French Quarter (it didn’t, only skirted it) and the 9^th Ward (it did) because the bus is smaller and therefore better. We did have a guided walking tour through the St. Louis Cemetery #3, which was interesting. In the 9^th Ward we saw the places nicely rebuilt but also the devastation of the homes abandoned and still in dilapidated condition. We also saw the Musician Village, all rebuilt after Katrina. We drove through the Treme district, the birthplace of Jazz. We saw the 17^th Street Canal that failed, it is rebuilt and looks the same. We drove by brackish Lake Ponchartrain, which we also crossed over on our way here. We did not go on the 24-mile causeway though! The brochure says it is “one of the longest…” Our driver said it IS the longest causeway in the world. Who knows? There are nice areas along this side for family outings, etc. We passed through lovely and expensive homes/mansions in the Garden District – noted to be New Orleans first American neighborhood with many antebellum homes still remaining. I love the architecture with such beautiful restoration. In this area, even the businesses have to “look like a church or home” so they have a McDonalds that looks like a church (we didn’t see it, Anthony our driver told us this).  Our last stop was at the City Park, a lovely, rambling park, which is really lovely with the Live Oaks and Spanish Moss. I finally had my first Beignets at this stop in the park called Morning Call. The menu pictured shows what they serve. By the time I remembered to take a photo only one Beignets was left! So delicious! We had a short walk into the Sculpture Garden then it was time to get back on the bus and the tour was over. This is a lovely City Park with a Story Land, Amusement Park, canoes, paddle boats, and much much more for the people of New Orleans. We got back just in time for the ferry, which was slightly delayed as the Carnival Triumph was leaving port and heading out to sea. Nevertheless, we were able to pick Tony up before 5p. 

I think if we stop here on the way back home I would like to try the Hop On-Hop Off option to compare tours. HOHO would have had upper deck seating and perhaps a better view? Maybe we would have gotten more info on the typically recorded spiel they have on the bigger buses with earphone recordings? I definitely would have gotten better photographs not shooting though a window. After this “brief” visit to NOLA I can see that one would need more than a week if you move at a slower pace like we do. There are many things I would like to see and do here – and I haven’t even touched on the genealogy research I was interested in doing!

Abandoned House Check - 9th Ward

St. Louis Cemetery #3

Beignets

Menu

Bayou Segnette State Park - Day 14

Nothing much to write about today. We relaxed at the campground. John attempted to have one of our propane tanks filled but most things seem closed on Sunday, a nice touch! I organized photos and worked on the album for this trip. I hoped to be working on other albums but there really hasn’t been time yet. It was over cast part of the day but pleasant all day. We enjoyed our leftovers from yesterday! I couldn't pick just one photo of the beautiful sky tonight. 

To God Be The Glory