June 16 - Mandeville, Fontainbleu State Park

We got up this morning and headed out on the causeway across Lake Pontchatrain to Nawlins.

We headed directly for the French Quarter. There were several things we had to do. The first was to have coffee and beignets at Café du Monde. Bigniets are fried (What a surprise!) donuts liberally dusted with powdered sugar. Coffee is coffee.

We strolled about for a while and then went to K-Paul's (Prudhomme) Louisiana Kitchen for lunch. It was, naturally, the low-cal lunch. Probably only about 4,500 calories. Very good.

After lunch, we found we couldn't walk or talk so we found a RV park and took a nap before returning to the French Quarter for dinner.

Walking up and down Bourbon Street can be an experience in itself. Lots of sex shows, booths selling a great variety of frozen daiquiris and pina coladas out of slushy machines, bars, jazz clubs, and restaurants. The street is closed off to traffic, and the spooky thing is that is you go one block off the street, it quiets down completely. All the action is on Bourbon Street.

All of the visible action is on Bourbon Street.

We wandered about, finally settled on a dinner place, ate, and went home early for Nawlins but late for us.

I will say that Louisiana is an extremely progressive state. Louisiana has drive-thru daiquiri stands. I kid you not. You can drive up and get a daiquiri without leaving your car. I'll bet that's a joy for the local police…. "No, officer, this isn't an open container. It has this little plastic lid on it."

Louisiana Summary - Water, water, water, hot, humid, fishermen, alligators, mosquitoes.

I will say one very positive thing about Louisiana… Even being 20-30 pounds overweight, I felt absolutely svelte next to most of the residents.

June 17 New Orleans

Start Mileage - 42508

I realized this morning that I miss being able to take a shower without getting dressed first. Then when I get to the shower I want to be able to take all of my clothes off. Keeping the flip-flops on feels like I'm still partly clothed. Then when I get done with the shower and want to dry off, I want a big fluffy towel. Bob bought us these little camping efficiency towels that soak up a lot and dry out quickly, but they are not the same…

They're much better. They're about 1/3 the bulk and 1/4 the weight of a normal towel. Deb just can't handle changes. Like when I suggested hiring a live-in maid named Monique to help out around the van. She wouldn't even listen to my arguments. Just vetoed the idea out-of-hand.

So we packed it up and drove back into the city to find the Garden District. I had never before walked through that part of the city to view the old houses there. A dog named Mandy attached herself to us for the duration of the walk. A lot of maintenance and upkeep in these structures. Plus tourists walking by daily peeking over your fence. But they were all different. It felt like a neighborhood.

Here we go with the old houses again… Old houses and gardens. That's why I wanted to come here. Yup. Can't beat looking at a bunch of old houses for a real fun morning.

Then we veered south to the Barataria Reserve of Jean Lafitte Park. I had been on this trail last time I visited and wanted to show Bob. I wanted him to see just how many flies he could swat around his face in 5 minutes. Naw, it wasn't that bad. If you kept moving, you were OK, but don't stop. We were both sopped. For a girl who doesn't sweat I was looking kinda dewey. It is like being in a swamp. Why I guess that's where we were.

"Kinda dewy"???? She was sweating like an old sock after a heavy rainstorm.

Saw a big alligator swimming along. And another one chomping something right next to the trail where we had been. Squirrels, snakes, spiders and lots of very strange noises. Bob said they were frogs. Now really! They couldn't all have been frogs.

So now we are in Mississippi.

This evening I discovered it is even possible to be more wet after the shower. Don't take a towel with you.

Not only that, but today the Sewage Monitor (Deb) aimed the black water tube down a hole, thinking it was the septic tank, and pulled the valve handle. The hole was about a foot deep. We had about 50 feet of sewage. Now, most people would have said, "Oh shit" which, in this particular case would have been quite appropriate. Deb, however, didn't succumb to such gross comments. She just stared at the "stuff" gushing back up out of the hole with a look of shocked disbelief. And me with no camera. It was indeed a Kodak Moment.

It is not a picture that you want me to describe…

We didn't drive that many miles today, but the weather sure is drier. We had a very pleasant walk this evening thru the countryside to the casino. Did everyone but me know that there is so much gambling in this country? This is not an Indian reservation or a riverboat. It is just gambling out in the middle of nowhere.

We lost $20. Twice as much as Las Vegas. We have to learn to control our gambling mania.

June 18 -- Waveland outside of St. Louis Bay, Mississippi

Starting Mileage 42640

We began the day with a short bike ride down to the Gulf beaches. Very nice coastal towns. Quaint and tasteful restaurants and shops. Nicer, actually, than Texas. The beaches are clean and white. The water is still a bit murky though. The local police officer was a cute blonde. She waved and smiled.

What happened to Old Smokey of movie and story fame? The stogie in his mouth with the squared off hat.

I think if we explored some of the smaller towns in the deep interior of these states instead of the coastal towns, he'd be there. Along with his friend, the judge.

Here the beach is a strip of glaring, powdery white sand. No one on the beaches. They say it is too hot. Actually the water is still murky looking. But the houses all have wide swathes of lawn and oak trees stretching down to the beach road. Some with yard chairs perched in the shade or pools in the front yard. I looked for a realty listing book, since I was curious as to what the prices were here as compared to the Bay Area.

It was pretty uneventful until we crossed the Alabama border. Then it was still uneventful. I gotta say that the South is a cardiologists heaven. I went into a large grocery store this afternoon. They didn't have turkey breast, but they did have pig's lips. Jars full of pig's lips. Other pig parts, too. Hog jowels. Fried pig skins. Fried pig skins…. Now there's a low-cal, low-cholesterol treat. How do these people live past 40? Everyone smokes. They're all fat. No bicycles, nobody walks. They just eat fried foods and smoke. Exercise is fishing. Hardly an anaerobic workout. But I digress…

It took 4 stops to find a quart of low-fat or no-fat milk. It is all or nothing here and in gallons. The dairy states would be proud. No one needs a quart of milk, except us.

You can buy a quart of chocolate milk or buttermilk, but no non-fat. 1% and 2% just don't exist.

The southern states we have experienced, - Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama could give California a lesson in State Parks. The state parks in these states have been quite magnificent. Cheap, available, clean, and loaded with amenities… Free showers, stores, nature trails, bicycle trails, cabins, boat launching facilities, lakeside cabins, fish cleaning facilities, tennis courts, resort hotel, restaurants, showers on the beach, compete hookups, and more. This afternoon a truck came by spraying for bugs. I am quite impressed.

And for way less dollars than California. The ranger apologized for charging us more cause we had a van instead of a tent. It was $13. Plus the sites are way larger. In most campgrounds your neighbor is not 6 feet from your head.

June 19 Gulf Shore, Alabama

Bob's mother's birthday (82, but who asked)

Start Mileage 42772

We did not drive today. We set up the Florida Room last night because the bug of this park is the "Biting Yellow Fly". A large, pesky, painful insect. The FR is great. We can sit outside with the lights on, the wind funneling thru the screens and no bugs! Still hot…I need an outdoor fan now.

Deb forgot to mention the frog. Apparently the last time we used the awning a frog got caught in it as we were rolling it up. We squashed it flat. Interesting aroma, Eau de Frog Squished. It had been there a bit over a week… In the heat and the humidity. I couldn't convince her that the frog in any way correlated with microbiology so I got to scrape it off the awning.

Our bicycle ride today was flat again. Total elevation gain of 34 feet in 21 miles. Scenery is much the same. The head winds were a blessing because they kept us cool. When we switched directions and rode with the wind it got hot very fast.

The scenery is still OK. I don't find it boring. I like beachfront towns if they're funky. There was a shop called "Knives and Christmas". It was a Christmas ornament and decoration shop and also a knife shop. I'd love to meet the person who owns it. What do they do at Christmas?

Decorate a tree with knives and swords?

A friend from work said to visit Orange here on the coast. She would not recognize it as the same place from her childhood. There is one long row of high-rise condominiums lining the beach highway. Very little to no public access to the beach. They have covered the dunes.

So now a quiet afternoon reading and contemplating. And sweating.

I'm working on my stick. I love my stick. Ever since we started this trip and going on walks, I have wanted a hiking stick. I almost bought a high-tech hiking stick at the Grand Canyon for $60, but I waited. I almost bought one several times for lots of money. I mentioned to the nice lady at one of the campgrounds in Texas that I had wanted one, and she let me select a sotol shaft from a bucket full of them that she had. What's a sotol shaft? When the sotol cactus blooms, it sends up a long woody shaft. After it blooms, the cactus dies and the shaft remains. They are very tough and woody. Many people use them for hiking sticks. I have been sanding mine as we go on walks. It's finally nice and smooth, and now I'm rubbing it with linseed oil to bring out some of the grain and help preserve it. I'll then Varathane it when we get somewhere I can let it dry for a day or so. When I trim the ends off, cap them with something, and then add a leather strap, I should have a quite respectable hiking stick.

He is pretty excited about this stick.

June 20, 1999 Still in Gulf Shores, Alabama

Start Mileage - 42772

Well today was quite a banner day in these journals. Last night we decided to go on a half day fishing trip into the Gulf of Mexico. So we had a small breakfast and arrived at the dock at about 7:30. We remembered it was Father's Day when there were a bunch of dad-looking guys and a zillion kids running around. It was quite rough so the Captain's decision to go (5 foot swells) was not made until the last minute. It was $40/ea. plus $5 for the premium bait, and $2/ea. for the trophy fish pool. Out we go.

He could not get through the South without doing the fishing thing,

It was rough. Most of the kids and a lot of the adults were hurling over the side, into bait buckets, and into plastic bags. After about an hour's ride we arrived at the artificial reef. Most of the commercial Gulf bottom fishing is done at artificial reefs. This one was an old bridge dropped into 100 feet of water. We appeared to be 10-15 miles from shore.

Anyway, we get the word to start fishing, so we drop the bait over the side. Immediately, I catch a fish. It was the first fish caught and was a marginal red snapper although it looked mighty big to me. Deb and I both caught one other fish all day, both of which we threw back because they were too small. After about an hour I started getting really queasy… the heaving boat, the smell of the bait, etc. Nobody was catching anything much. There were a few fish larger than mine and a few smaller ones. All in all, it was not a good day fishing. And on top of that we tipped the mates $5 which is customary.

So finally after a loooong ride back during which I am getting queasier and queasier, we make it back to the dock. I was not feeling well at all. BUT… Remember the trophy fish pool? Guess who won? The 3-4 people who caught larger fish didn't join the pool. Snicker I did. My marginal red snapper was the only entry. So our red snapper after an additional $2 for filleting cost $97 less my pool winnings of $68 for a grand total of $29. We got about a pound of filets out of it so we're having a $29/pound dinner tonight. Deb's cooking it now.

Deb about died today. She asked for a beer with lunch. As the waitress listed the imported beers that were available, she noted with some pride that they had Sam Adams. Imported? From Boston? Deb had a lot of fun with that one.

I bring out dinner in the little fry pan. With a pained look on his face, he asked why I had not used the big pan to cook his fish. Duh, they fit in the small one.

We are finally at a crystal, white sand beach on the barrier island off Pensacola. Bob spent the afternoon flopping about attempting to bodysurf in little baby erratic waves. So clear you could see through them. And very comfortable temperature. The sand squeaks when you walk.

I have always loved warm, tropical water so I'm in seventh heaven. I know the waves are hardly world-class, but I love the water anyway.

This is great. The bug ratio is very low and we are outside with no protection. Whoppee!!

June 21, 1999 Gulf Shores National Park, Florida

Start Mileage - 42825

Vinnie is small. I had sent Bob to the shower so I could clean up and make a second cup of coffee alone for a couple of minutes. I turned and bumped my butt up against the full coffee filter and coffee cup splattering the works onto the passenger's seat an d all over the front. So much for quiet time. Actually I had planned on cleaning the car seats, so… Bob walks back a few minutes later "What's this?" Don’t step in it! I'm waiting for the grounds to dry so I can vacuum up rest of the mess.

Then we went for a hot and humid walk around the campground.

The campground had lots of trees but once we got into the marsh, there was no shade. Looked for and found the heron's nest, but we were too late in the morning to watch them feed. After walking your skin is a sheen of sweat. It wasn't that hot but the combination…

I'm getting raccoon eyes from sunglasses. The point of my nose is quite brown and the bridge still white.

Visited Fort Pickens, a fort that had been built just prior to the Civil War to protect the entrance into Pensacola Bay. It had been modified through the years to accommodate the various advances in technology and was active until just after WWII. Very interesting place.

We have started tagging along on the Ranger Walks. What I did not know about cannons! Anyway this ranger was a historian and spoke off-the-cuff and loved his fort. Actually he loved history and saw it as a means to learn from it and not to repeat mankind's mistakes. I thanked him for the wonderful talk because just walking about the ruins would not have explained it as he did.

We went to the Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola NAS. Amazing place! It's one of the largest air museums in the world and is very well done. Great exhibits and it's a hands-on, touchy-feely place. If you like airplanes, it's a must-see spot.

Once again I followed the ex-Navy pilot around who was explaining the history of each plane. He was an ad for the Navy caused he loved his subject and was full of tid-bits. He made what I consider a not-so-interesting place very interesting.

Bob wanted to come back for more tomorrow. I pleaded not to since it seems like we are doing an inappropriate amount of military sites and museums. BUT…I forget that this is the South. Home of manly history!!

Did laundry, got food at the local Winn-Dixie.

We took off to leave the area and are now at some campground somewhere. We don't know where. By the time we got here it was after 10:00, and we weren't quite lost, but we did do some unplanned exploring for a while. We're going to use the GPS to find out exactly where we are. Deb's crabby.

We arrived at our supposed home for the night to find the gates locked. We now realize that we must call if we know we will be late because all parks have locked gates. They issue a daily code number for campers if you happen to be out late. So at 10 at night we are wandering the highways looking for the "blue RV" insignia that indicates a trailer park. Bob was so irritable that I had to drive thru the night.

Why were we still driving at 10? We washed Vinnie, stopped for groceries, dined at a local restaurant. We should have found home first. Not only that.. RV parks in Florida are raising our nightly average. For this dump we found it was $22.

June 22, 1999 Outside Santa Rosa Beach, Florida

Starting Mileage - 43008

So we are on the move again today. There is a shuttle launch at Cape Canaveral on Thursday. This is Tuesday and we are over 400 miles from launch site.

First I insist that we stop at Eden Gardens, one of Florida's 4 state gardens. Not too impressive. Filoli is worth 20 of this park. It was nice. Probably more so in spring when azaleas are blooming, but they have little in the way of summer blooms going. Just some shaded impatiens.

We hit the road. Stayed once again on the Gulf Coast road. An oyster fest for lunch. We had grilled oysters for appetizer. And I had oyster stew (a few oysters in heavy cream with a butter floater) for my meal. Along with one of Bob's fried hushpuppies. Apalachicola supplies 90% of Florida's oysters. It only seemed fitting that I should indulge.

I think it also supplied 90% of our cholesterol intake for the month. The waitress was quick to inform us that the fried crab cakes were much better than the broiled. I had the broiled. I just can't take much more of this fried food. My cholesterol level is probably pushing 400 by now.

Unfortunately we have discovered that there is no shuttle launch this week. It's only a rocket plus the thunderstorms are predicted throughout the week. Bob is disappointed, but our headlong rush thru Florida has been canceled.

I had to console myself by bingeing at the local Dairy Queen. I'm getting so that I can spot the logo from several blocks away. Root beer milkshakes are truly a culinary joy unbounded.

So much for concern about his 400 cholesterol.

Also, we stopped at a Winn-Dixie grocery store tonight to get something for dinner. This is a large grocery chain, and this was a large store with an in-house bakery. I was looking forward to some nice, crusty Italian bread with dinner. This store, however, had no bread or roll with a hard crust. No kidding. Nothing, zip, nada. All soft crusts.

It's a cultural thing with the hard crust. Poor people have hard crust. Rich people used to cut the crusts off.

We are at Manatee Springs State Park on the Suwannee River. This spring gushes forth 81,000 gallons per minute. The river is crystal clear. You can see the fish swimming. A big owl was perched along the shore following the antics of the river otter hoping for a scrap of residual fish leftover. You can watch the otter gliding thru the crystalline waters. Only a few pesky mosquitoes and now there are ticks to watch for and chiggers, but none so far for us.

The water was so clear that we watched the otter catch a fish, carry it to the bank, and eat it.

We were so close that we could hear him munching. I hadn't seen river otters up-close and personal before so it was pretty exciting for me.

Nasty thunder outside. The AC has died on us. We have the door open with screens up, but not enough breeze. It will pour and hopefully cool soon.