Lake Village, Arkansas

We got in to Lake Chicot State Park in Lake Village on Tuesday, but no internet service. Lake Chicot is the largest natural oxbow lake in North America, and is 20 miles long. There are many cypress trees in the water that make such a pretty picture. We found a great Buffet with lots of southern dishes for lunch, so was able to implement our plan of a big lunch and snacks for dinner. Catfish is very big around this area..and it is good.
Who would have guessed...Lindbergh was here. Lake Village is about 3000 people, and lake shore drive along the river is such a nice drive with interesting homes.

You can barely see the bridge as we rode over to Greenville, Mississippi to explore. Today we drove about 3 hours to a campground near Hot Springs, the boyhood home of Bill Clinton. It is about 20 miles from Little Rock, and will be here over the weekend.

Vicksburg, Mississippi

We got the truck back around noon..with a new alternator & battery..and went touring. First stop was the riverfront murals, and then Biedenharn Museum of Coca-Cola. It was the location of the first bottling of Coke...an idea that he came up with in 1894.
Vicksburg National Military Park has a 16 mile driving tour that we took. This was the site of a long battle during the Civil War with Gen. Ulysses Grant and Gen. John Pemberton. Nearly 17,000 Union soldiers are buried at the National Cemetery. There were many monuments from states that were in the battle..I think Illinois has the most.

Lots of old homes that have been turned in to Bed & Breakfast, and this is the Baer House..

and catfish...that's what we had for supper tonight! Tomorrow we are going to Arkansas

Natchez, Ms

We left the park yesterday and are now in Vicksburg, Ms at the Ameristar Casino RV Park...even got coupons for free breakfast buffet. We're really glad about that as yesterday after setting up, we rode around the historic downtown, and on the way back, the truck stopped running. We called AAA, and they towed us to the Chevy dealer and brought us back to the trailer (sugar shack?), so we don't have transportation until it is fixed Monday. So buffet breakfast is a great benefit as we don't keep much in food supplies on hand.

Now to Natchez...we really enjoyed touring the area. In the 19th century, this area was an important river port and big in cotton, and the wealthy built big homes in downtown and plantations in the country. There are over 500 antebellum (meaning before the war we found out) houses, and we looked at some from a horse and carriage ride with a driver who told us some interesting details. We ended the day with tamales at Fat Mamma's..many tamale and donut shops around here..puzzling.
Norma Jean took us around...nice pose, huh?


Mississippi River from La. side

Big Mammy's...only does lunch and homemade deserts..they had just closed when we got there, but let us take desert to go.

D
Natchez's street called Under the Hill..and it is..only one street left as the river has taken the others..used to be an area for thieves and bandits.

Stanton Hall

in Lake Bruin State Park

We're near the Mississippi river between Natchez and Vicksburg, Ms. but Lake Bruin is in Louisiana. It is a lovely park on the lake (which used to be a part of the Mississippi but got cut off).
We don't have cell or Internet service there, so I'm in Vidalia, La. at the welcome center using their computer. We're going to Natchez today, and will let you know what we see and do. This is a place we could stay for a month and not see everything.

Leaving Breaux Bridge, La

On the water

We went to visit the Tabasco plant today on Avery Island near where we're staying.

Can't believe that they produce 700,000 bottles a day!

This is the Restaurant we ate at last night (Mulates) just down the road from Jake Delhomme's home.

We're leaving here in the morning to another Louisiana State Park.

In Breaux Bridge, Louisiana

We weren't sure where we were going in a long ride thru the country to Poche's Fish-n-Camp and RV Park, but we finally got here yesterday. We're in between two lakes..very nice. Turns out we're not far from I-10..now we know. We are definitely in Cajun Country..and ate at a restaurant last night very near Jake Delhomme's (quarterback for Carolina Panthers) home as this is his home town. In case you don't know, Cajuns are descendants of the French Acadians who fled here in the mid-1700's and settled in the Louisiana bayous. We lean close to hear the accent that is unique to a real native...and hard to understand. We're going touring today.

Leaving Bayou Segnette State Park

This park near New Orleans has been really nice, so we're liking Louisiana State Parks so far. Note the new trees planted as Hurricanes took the big ones.

For those of you who didn't know, Steve is letting his hair grow..Katie, this picture is for you! (She wants him to cut it..it's long enough for a pony tail)

On the trolley thru the Garden District on St. Charles.

Chicago has bulls, Pelicans in Pensacola, wolves in Raleigh, Street Cars in New Orleans

We went on the river cruise on the Natchez...my favorite place in New Orleans French Quarter is Jackson Square with the St. Louis Cathedral and the statue of Andrew Jackson.
We had more oysters last night at Felix's..they were so good.

Sunday, April 19

This is an awesome shadow from the statue behind St. Louis Cathedral in the French Quarter at Jackson Square.

We didn't research where to go to church today, so we stayed in and did our Bible Study. Before we left home, we were going on Monday night's at our church to "The Big Picture" and our leader, Doug Bergeson, has been sending the homework assignments and notes.
We went for a long bike ride in the afternoon, but the rest of the day was just that..rest.

Today is our last day here, so we'll explore new areas and also research where to go next.

In New Orleans area

The Superdome in New Orleans on the way in...

We are at Bayou Segnette State Park in Westwego, Louisiana. Yesterday late afternoon, we took a ferry over to New Orleans which is about 30 minutes away. We found out that they were having the New Orleans Festival with lots of live bands and entertainment. We heard on the news that this festival is one for the locals, although tourists are starting to come to it...expecting over 500,000..we didn't know...

Eating oysters at Felix's is something we did many years ago when we were in New Orleans in the early 90's..and have been talking about it ever since. That's Keith shucking the oysters for us..had 3 dozen! The stack is getting ready to go to tables, but we prefer the oyster bar.

We heard a band and saw a large crowd..it was a wedding march! The bride and groom are out front with a police escort, a band follows, then the attendees waiving white napkins, and a horse drawn carriage for the grandparents. Many of the locals got in on the march.

Leaving Biloxi

Last night we went to the Crawfish Festival...Steve had a bowl of Crawfish Gumbo, but didn't indulge..

This band was really good! The headliner band was Grand Funk Railroad (from the 70's fame)

For $10, they served up crawfish with corn and potatoes...they even posed for us!

We rode on Hwy 90 along the coast, and as we got closer to where the eye of Katrina came in, we saw more of what the hurricane did to this area. On the news last night, we found out that the re-construction of the Hwy had just been completed.

some one carved tree trunks that were left from Katrina, great art..note the white sand

steps left....

The Biloxi Lighthouse and many of the casinos are back..we didn't go, as Steve complains I'm no fun to be around in a casino..We're off to Louisiana

Memories from Katrina

Meet Mrs.Gladys Polk from Pascagoula, Ms.. Three years ago,almost to the day,the youth group(college trip),came to Mississippi to help in the relief of hurricane Katrina.I had the privilege of heading up the crew to work on this lady's home.We worked the entire week on her home, repairing floors,windows,sheetrock,etc.. It was such a blessing to return and see the fruits of our labor as well as others.She was so happy to see me come back and invited Carol and I to come inside and see the finished product.She was beaming at the thought of what everyone had done for her.Little did she know the blessing that we all got from helping her.She proudly told us that last Nov. she turned 96 yrs. old..
Now for the God thing:
Carol and I had tried to find the house but could not.When I finally gave up on finding her house and started heading out of the neighborhood,two turns later we found ourselves at the stop sign in front of her home.Weird huh? Just goes to show you:God works in mysterious ways.It was such a neat experience that brought such joy to my heart to be a part of this lady's life.Today brought it all home to me.You never know whose life you affect.As it turns out,she made my day today.

Biloxi, Mississippi

We are at the Majestic Oaks RV Resort in Biloxi. When we were at the St. Patrick's Day parade, the lady next to us had been at this park and raved about it. It's in a great location, and we plan to stay here a few days..laundry, clean, and then tour the area.

Thanks to cousin Darlene, we have more trailer names to consider:

Shimmie Shack, Sugar Shack, (like Love Shack, the name of our farm house) Parkers Paradise Palace, Mobile Mansion, Parkers Passion, Parkers Play Pen, Radical Sabbatical, Dream State, Tumbleweed Honey Hut - Beee Happy, Beee Good, Beee Free

left Panama City Beach..left Florida

The white sand and water...nice but cool yesterday, and we only had one night reserved, so we left..and left Florida on April 15th. We didn't attend a "Tea Party", but our thoughts were sure with the thought..taxed enough already! On to Biloxi, Mississippi.

The Park had some Deer that weren't afraid of people

Panama City Beach Pier Park

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