The coffee started grinding this morning at 6; I felt like throwing it across the trailer. I didn’t get right out off bed though, I managed to have another half-hour in bed before dragging myself to the shower. At 7.45 we were sat in Waffle House having breakfast before getting on the road south. We drove across Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, which is apparently the longest bridge over water in the world at 24 miles. It was quite an experience as at certain points all you can see is water; Lake Pontchartrain sure is huge and uninviting looking.




Our first stop of the day was at Vacherie where a craft fair was taking place at Oak Alley Plantation. It was already really busy when we got there and we had to park a little ways from the entrance, but no worries, we got a hay ride on the back of a tractor to the gate. I was expecting cool crafts but here in the south they have ‘different’ crafts, things like butt buckets (for ciggies), and hair bows and such. We wandered around but didn’t see anything at all that we fancied. There were what I think of as typical southern clothing (I might be wrong, but…) high collared stripy shirts with lots of embroidered motifs all over them – people seemed to be snapping them up.



The grounds of the plantation that the craft fair were taking place on were lovely, with lots of old oak trees everywhere, hence the name. We didn’t go inside the house but the gardens were beautiful.




After leaving the fair we headed north west first to Gonzales so Mike could visit the Croc store. He loves his crocs but is so hard on them that he needed a new pair. He got a nice lined pair and I finally got a pair of slippers that I have been looking for since we got back.
From there we went a little further north and checked out Baton Rouge. On the way we got our first look at the Mississippi as we crossed over the Veterans Memorial Bridge; it is a big old body of water for sure with lots of activity along its shoreline. Going over the numerous bridges here gives the best view of the river as when we were driving alongside it we couldn’t see it for the levees that are everywhere.




Well it sure is quiet in the capitol on a Sunday, we didn’t have any trouble getting around as we were about the only car on the road. We visited the capitol building which is apparently the tallest capitol building in the States – I believe it.



On our way back to Abita Springs this afternoon we didn’t come along the freeway but instead took the lesser roads. It sure is interesting seeing how people live. There were some really beautiful houses that we passed along the roads today, then there were the ones that looked like maybe people shouldn’t really be living in them. It blows my mind that people seem ok with living in a junk yard, with broken down cars and old mattresses and just garbage all around them. We even passed a place that had a hole in the side of the building – but it had a satellite dish on the side of it so I guess they were happy!

Mike: I wouldn't like if I had a nice house and there were a bunch of wrecks in
the neighborhood!

I am so proud of myself this morning, last night our little frog decided to pay us another visit and Mike was already sleeping. He hopped along the floor and onto the front of the kitchen cupboard, and I caught him and put him outside all by myself – am I brave or what? Then I killed a mosquito that had obviously been feeding on Mike as he was really bloody when I mushed him.
We didn’t have too far of a drive today to the next campsite but we still got up early as Mike stopped by a tyre repair shop yesterday and they could fit us in this morning around 9. When we stopped by yesterday the place was crazy busy and I was wondering how the heck we were going to get the trailer in the parking lot this morning, but when we go there just after 9 it was quiet and we pulled straight in. I waited inside the store while Mike took care of business. They jacked up the trailer and then removed the tyre without any problem, although it did take the guy two attempts to get it jacked up enough (all the while I got to look at his builder’s bum through the window). Fifteen minutes later the tyre was back on the trailer and Mike was paying his $15.00 bill. Turns out we had picked up a nail somewhere along the road and the tyre had a slow leak; it’s all fixed now, no more having to put air in it every morning, yeah.
We got on the road just before 10 and headed west. Since we had only about an hour drive we didn’t rush as we weren’t sure what time we could check in at the place in Louisiana. To waste a bit more time we stopped at Walmart along the way and managed to get 6 big bottles of wine; Mike is all set for the next week or so now!
When we finally got to the campsite it turns out we could have checked in at 9 o’clock this morning, oh well. They gave us a nice spot against the trees and we got set up in no time flat. This is a really nice park, very clean and quiet with a huge lake at the far end with it’s own resident alligator. After we had lunch we took a walk around and checked the place out, although we didn’t walk too far as it’s really hot still today. There are a lot of southern folk here and they are fairly friendly. They are definitely all football fans and we in the clubhouse watching LSU this afternoon – I still don’t get the attraction myself, but they sure do like it here in Louisiana.

Mike: Becc, it sounds like you are trying to persuade everyone your a big game hunter! Come on, a little frog the size of your thumb, really, and a mosquito!

After talking to my gorgeous (scruffy) girl this morning we went for a drive to Biloxi. We drove across the Back Bay of Biloxi and into the city proper. We drove straight down to the beach and took the 90 along the waterfront towards Gulfport. It is a beautiful drive, with the Gulf of Mexico and lovely white sandy beaches on one side, and lots of grass and trees amongst the houses and hotels on the other side. The water today looked very inviting, blue and calm; it’s hard to believe the damage that it has done in past years looking at it today.
We drove into Gulfport but didn’t get out and walk around as it was mostly businesses and industry there. Instead we came back along the 90 and stopped and walked on the beach. It was really nice, the sand was fine and dry, and the water was quite warm. I thought it was a little weird that there were almost no people on the beach, but we sure enjoyed having it all to ourselves – other than the birds that is.

Mike: Nice beach! I love all the houses on stilts, however when a big storm hits
it doesn't help much.






Mike: I'm ready for muscle beach when I get back to SoCal!

The alarm and the coffee grinder went off at six this morning – it was so early it was still dark outside. I managed to stay in bed for a whole extra 15 minutes while Mike took care of his morning ablutions, and then I got up before he started yelling at me. I guess he finally managed to get to sleep last night but at midnight he was sat outside trying to cool off; the rain sure did that for him and he came back in side in a hurry. I’m not sure when he finally got to bed - silly boy, he has a lot of driving to do today.
I didn’t even wash my face this morning, just got right into the rest of the packing so we could get moving. We got out of the park a few minutes before 7 and started out on our 6-hour drive to Biloxi. We drove through Jasper, which was a little busy, but once we got out of town and onto the highway there was hardly any traffic about. In fact, most of the roads we used today had hardly any traffic on them, some lorries, but not many cars, which made the drive quite pleasant. We boogied along at a nice pace for most of the way and got into Biloxi around 2 this afternoon; this 6 hour drive was actually a lot better than some of the 2 hour drives we’ve done. The only black spot on the drive today was when I discovered that I'm married to a killer. We stopped at a services along the way and mashed into the front grill off the truck was a wee little birdie. It was well and truly mangled and Mike had to get a stick to pop him out off there. I guess one death in almost 18 months is pretty good going - we don't count the bugs!
The park we are staying at for the next two nights is ok, although I’m glad we are not staying too long. It looks like this park has a lot of people who live here full time and some off the trailers have seen much better days. We are pretty close to our neighbour as the sites are very skinny, but it’s ok as our neighbour appears to be a ferret; we can see her playing in her cage when we look out our window, she’s very cute.





We took a drive this afternoon, first in D’Iberville, and then a little south to Ocean Springs. There wasn’t a lot going on in either place, they are just smallish towns with lots of shopping, but we did have dinner while we were out. After eating we headed back home as Mike is knackered; being on the road for 7 hours sure does take it out of you – like I’d know!

Mike: You can drive if you want Becc!

Drove back into Jasper today so we could go to a McDonalds to get online. I can’t even get online on my phone at the campsite, and the library where Mike went yesterday is closed today. Oh well McDonalds works and I got to get this blog up to date, finally.
While we’ve been driving around these last few days we’ve noticed a kind of vine that is everywhere. It’s called Kudzu, and is an asian vine that is growing rampant across Alabama; it’s known as ‘the vine that ate the south. It’s pretty amazing and can grow up to a foot a day, and it grows over everything; we’ve seen it all over houses, telephone poles, and even growing into the bed of trucks that are parked close to it. It’s all over the other vegetation too – I wonder if it kills the other plants it grows over?




This afternoon we spend a while getting ready to leave in the morning. We packed up everything we possibly could, cleaned the loo and put the sewer hoses away and are now all ready to go. We have a long ride tomorrow all the way to Biloxi in the south of Mississippi and so we want to get as early a start as we possibly can. So off to bed we go!

Mike: Be a good girl or the Kudzu will get you!

We’ve just spent two very quiet days here, quiet but very relaxing. Yesterday we took a drive to Jasper just for the heck of it. It’s a good size town with lots of stores but it wasn’t anywhere too exciting. We drove through Arley to get there, and that little town is basically a Post Office, a Town hall, a library, a grocery store, and of course a Mexican restaurant. Mike has been to the library a couple of times already as that’s the only place around to get on the internet.
While Mike was gone today I did laundry and ironing and generally got caught up on the stuff that needed doing around here like writing Christmas cards. I think we might take a ride someplace tomorrow as I’m tired of doing chores.

Mike: Becc, poor thing, you have soo! soo! much to do.

Nice short drive today, only about 3 hours to get to Arley, and it was a nice drive, first on The Natchez Trace and then on the county roads of Tennessee and Alabama. We got here early afternoon and got checked in. I’m not sure we are going to be doing too much for the next few days as we are miles away from anywhere. That’s not entirely true as Birmingham is about an hour away but Mike’s not too excited about visiting there. We are so far away from civilization that we have no internet, and even cell service doesn’t reach all the way out here.
The park is really pretty, right on Lewis Smith Lake and since we are so far off the main road it’s really quiet. In fact, this might be the quietest place we’ve stayed at since there are not very many people here and there’s no traffic noise. Occasionally we hear engine noise from a boat on the lake, but otherwise the loudest sound is the birds singing, the squirrels dropping nuts all over the floor, and the leaves falling off the trees – it’s that quiet. I think we’ll be enjoying a nice relaxing few days.

Mike: The quiet is deafening!