Happy Thanksgiving, hope your day was filled with….
Love
Happiness
Wellness
Peace
~Happy Thanksgiving, 2015
Category Archives: On The Road
Traveling in our Coach
Our journey continues bringing us to a favorite place…
Our second night at Fairview Riverside State Park….
The rains came in the night. All of a sudden the silence of the night interrupted with squalls of rain hitting the roof of the RV. Silence, pounding rain, silence, pounding rain, all night long. Common, these seasonal rains in the south, some violent with their arrival.
We woke to flooded roads, the river overflowing its bank. We have been at Fairview before and experienced the same seasonal rains and flooding roads.
Not long after the rain stopped, the water receded leaving debris behind, rain drops dripped from tree leaves, and the grass remained marsh like, which deterred us from walking on it.
We were at Fairview for three nights and the sun never fully showed itself, always hiding behind gray clouds.
We still enjoyed our stay, visited with friends, ate seafood, had coffee and beignets, and shopped at our favorite grocery store for Louisiana foods to take with us.
Our journey continues bringing us to a favorite place…
A place that brings smiles, makes my heart sing with happiness, and one where loved ones are waiting to embrace us in hugs. A peaceful place with lots of birds, beautiful trees and scrubs, acres of green fields, ponds, and sounds of pounding hoofs racing to relieve their curiosity over whom has come to visit.
There is also sadness with this visit, two hearts no longer with us. Remember Annie, the border collie and Socks the barn cat, sadly not here. I know they are here in spirit walking with us, side by side through these green fields, just as they always did.
Our visit is short, but memories are being created that will last forever. We will return in March with plans to stay longer.
My brother thinks this barn is over 100 years old. Coming to visit grandparents when I was little, from home in New Orleans, I remember seeing this barn. A left turn at the intersection where the old barn sits leads to Granddaddy’s farm. The roof has recently been repaired.
Knowing there are fun times ahead, we still leave our favorite spot with heavy hearts. With one last embrace that has to last until we return, our journey continues. On Tuesday we head east.
~Our Ride Today, 11/17/2015
To my RV friends…
If you are ever traveling down Highway 49 near Alexandria, Louisiana, consider stopping at River Cities RV Park in Boyce, LA. It is new, it is nice and clean, it is convenient. Notice the security gate in and out.
After leaving Boyce, Louisiana we traveled Highway 49 to I10 heading toward Madisonville, Louisiana (all interstate travel today) .
We crossed the Atchafalaya Basin, traveling on the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge. A little information about this unique area taken from the web.
The Atchafalaya Basin, or Atchafalaya Swamp, is the largest wetland and swamp in the United States. Located in south central Louisiana, it is a combination of wetlands and river delta area where the Atchafalaya River and the Gulf of Mexico converge. The river stretches from near Simmesport in the north through parts of eight parishes to the Morgan City area in the south. The Atchafalaya is unique among Louisiana basins because it has a growing delta system with nearly stable wetlands. The basin contains about 70% forest habitat and about 30% marsh and open water. It contains the largest contiguous block of forested wetlands remaining in the lower Mississippi River valley and the largest block of floodplain forest in the United States. Best known for its iconic cypress-tupelo swamps, at 260,000 acres, this block of forest represents the largest remaining contiguous tract of coastal cypress in the US.
The Atchafalaya Basin Bridge, also known as the Louisiana Airborne Memorial Bridge, is a pair of parallel bridges in the U.S. state of Louisiana between Baton Rouge and Lafayette which carries Interstate 10 over the Atchafalaya Basin. With a total length of 96,095 feet or 18.2 miles, it is the second-longest bridge in the US and fourteenth-longest in the world by total length.
A few photos, I took, out the window of the RV….
After exiting the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge we crossed the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
We arrived this afternoon, under cloudy skies, at Fairview Riverside State Park in Madisonville, LA. We have enjoyed visiting this state park many times. Here is our site for the next three nights.
Howard and I enjoyed a late lunch today at a New Orleans style restaurant here in Madisonville. Howard had a Shrimp Po-Boy and I enjoyed what is called a Southern Thing, which includes green-fried tomatoes, shrimp and coleslaw with special sauce, all on french bread (a Po-Boy). Yummy!
What’s for lunch tomorrow?
~I am going crazy, four days of cloudy, rainy weather
Sunday, Traveling the back roads of Texas…
Leaving Copper Breaks State Park we traveled on state highways under cloudy skies to Cooper Lake State Park. It was a nice ride. We drove through small towns and in between, as far as the eye could see, hilly, pastoral, acres filled with cattle and horses.
White rail fences and cleverly designed entryways surrounded huge ranch houses proudly displaying their ranch name, something like the Lazy R Ranch, dotted the landscape. Some of these ranches had even larger Show Horse Barns. Gorgeous!
Unfortunately, we were at Cooper Lake State Park for only one night. Under cloudy skies we walked around some of the park and what we saw we liked. We felt we were the only campers in the park, which is filled with lots of trees and scrubs. This park is also designated as a Dark Skies park and believe me it was dark. Just after our walk it began raining and it poured all night.
Monday, We traveled in the rain……
Again choosing to travel down the back roads we made our way to Boyce, Louisiana. We drove through eye pleasing towns with American flags proudly flying, beautiful murals covering the sides of buildings, and well taken care of landscaped city parks on corners.
Every once in a while a truck would pass us with deer legs sticking out of truck beds. Not cute. Hunting season is in full force.
We are stopped tonight in a town near Alexandria, Louisiana, called Boyce at River Cities RV Park.
They are very efficient, I called them on the phone this morning to make a reservation, they sent me a text with the security gate code and our site number, we pulled in, entered the gate code, drove to our site and settled in for the evening. Perfect! But, still raining.
We are heading to Madisonville, Louisiana to visit with friends for two days, then to visit family in Purvis, Mississippi. While in Madisonville we plan to indulge in greatly missed, delicious, cajun food! Grilled Oysters on a half-shell with butter and parmesan cheese just to mention one. C’est Si Bon!
Still raining, missing my sunshine, going crazy…
El Nino is going to be a bummer.
~Horns as in Long and Beep, Beeps as in Fast
November, 14, 2015
Copper Breaks State Park
Quanah, TX
2 nights, Site 22
View this Texas State Park here: Copper Breaks
Cloudy skies all day.
You just have to go with what you are given and that is what we did, several walks around Copper Breaks State Park with the doggies for a total of 4.5 miles.
During our walks we saw some interesting sights….
It was early evening when we saw this fellow hunting bugs in the grass.
A Texas Longhorn from the herd at Copper Breaks.
Perhaps it is the vintage look of these Windmills that I like so much.
Well past its blooming season, but still lovely with a splash of color.
It is always interesting to walk along a river bank. The Pease River, a tributary of the Red River which runs through West Texas, meanders its way through Copper Breaks State Park.
Tall reeds, protection for wildlife.
One of the small ponds in the park.
Now for the fun part ` seeing the Texas Longhorns at Copper Breaks.
If you are interested you may read about these handsome fellows by clicking on this link Longhorns
Wolf Song Blog 