Side trip for us, off to Louisiana!!

Tuesday March 22, 2022

  I nice day today.  We spent most of the day getting ready to for the drive to visit Buddy and Thresa.  I packed up outside and locked the big stuff up.  The others host told us a few things have disappeared over the years so we took/locked everything, except the sewer hose nobody will touch that. Diane ran into town to get groceries and anything else we needed for the trip.  Just sausages for dinner and we called it a night.

Wednesday March 23, 2022

  Quite a bit breeze today as we packed and headed over to Walker LA to visit with Buddy and Teresa.  We picked out what we thought was a good route to take.  There is no main highway down to I-10 so we angled across Texas  to Baton Rouge.  While the first couple of hours went well things took a turn.  We found a spot to stop for lunch(a rodeo arena) had lunch a cup coffee and headed back out.  Not long after that the road narrowed just a bit then a bit more. Soon there was no berm. The last cup of coffee kicked in and I needed to pull over, can't!  By now we are in the middle of rice paddy farming country, absolutely no berm at all just irrigation ditches. Diane mapped us down to I-10 and found a truck stop and I got to go the bathroom. We get on I-10 rolling to the Baton Rouge KOA, arrival time 4pm not all that bad, enough time to have a drink with Buddy and Teresa.  About a hour out my luck kicks in and traffic starts to slow down and soon comes to crawl.  It was almost 6pm until we parked. much of that time we spent sitting on the bridge over the Mississippi River.  The bridge is really old so every time a truck passed, the Moho would shake and sway. couldn't wait to get off of it.  No visit tonight! We were frazzled we had a large glass of wine with burgers and called it a day.

Sitting on the bridge over the Mississippi River.

Thursday March 24, 2022 (Happy Birthday Shari)

   After a cooked breakfast we packed up Rudy and headed over to visit with Buddy and Teresa.  The sun was out and it was warm as I cooked breakfast, so just before we left I put on shorts wasn't long until the clouds rolled in and I was froze most of the day.  We haven't seen them since before covid and Teresa had and is just now over a very serious bout with breast cancer.  It took awhile to catch up on everything and before we knew it, it was 2pm and I needed something to eat.  Teresa made 2 boxes of toasted raviolis and the four of us ate them all.  We were planning on home made pizza for dinner and with eating that late we were not that hungry.  We played a game of Mexican train which took some time and by 7pm we were hungry, so Buddy made us our pizza.  One everything and one for Diane and I sausage, mushroom and onion. Buddy's learned to cook at his family's restaurant and he is good.  He chopped and cooked all the topping for the pizza while talking with the rest of us.  The pizza was great by time we were all done and ready to leave it was after 9pm and well after my bed time when we got back to the Moho. 

The pizza was delicious!!

Friday March 25, 2022

    Our second and final day to visit with Buddy and Teresa so we only had yogurt for breakfast. After yesterday's food fest we had to cut back.  We were planning a to go look at a RV they were interested in but decided to just hang out at their place again.  A much nicer day today but still windy,  I didn't take any chances I wore jeans and took a sweatshirt along just in case.  Diane braved it again with shorts and turn out she made the right choice.  We talked a lot, checked out the new floor in their motorhome, ordered wings for lunch.  After lunch we played another game of Mexican train. We finished (Buddy won again) in time for Buddy to cook us up a stuffed deer loin.  OMG was that good and a baked potato to go with it.  By the time we were done eating, drinking and saying goodbye it was after 9pm.  Even Rudy was worn out.  We had a good day.

Our dear friends, it was so good to see them!!

Saturday March 26, 2022

  Travel day back to Mill Creek Texas.  We were up moving by 7am but until we had breakfast at the campground, everything packed, the truck hooked up and the dog walked it was almost 10:30.  A nice day though sunny and 80+ degrees by afternoon and it is a Saturday so there was a lot less traffic.  We rolled out, picked up I-12 to I-10 traffic was good and we drove non-stop to Lake Charles (150 miles) before stopping for lunch.  After a nice lunch of salad or as nice as they get in a Wal-Mart parking lot we headed on home.  Diane was navigating us the back roads to Jasper. First road for 50 miles was a nice 4 lane road just enough red lights to keep you paying close attention. Now the second road had no route number marking when we turned onto it.  But I must say it was a decent two lane road for awhile little by little the curves got sharper and the berm faded away. We passed a little town having a craft festival and everyone was looking at us and you could imagine them saying "they must be lost".  But we came out the other end back on the main road and into Jasper.  We pulled into a truck stop filled up ($5.00 a gallon) unhooked the truck Diane headed to the store while Rudy and I headed home.  We were parked, set up and grilling dinner by the time Eric brought the camp host buggy over at 6:30.

Sunday March 27, 2022

   Another hot day today sunny and 85 degrees.  First day back on duty we have 35 campers leaving but only 12 arriving. We were busy Diane did all the rounds checking in and out the campers. I washed the windshield it was covered with bugs, washed the truck it was green with pollen and brown from road dirt.  A hour after washing it was covered with pollen again but at least you can see out of it. By afternoon it was so hot you had to work in the shade so I worked on making a sign holder for our on camp host sign.  we did have a fire but didn't sit by it just enjoyed from afar.  Chicken and grilled asparagus with a glass of wine for dinner.

Spring Break in Texas.

  First, we were on duty for four straight days, the 10th thru the 13th, with spring break in full swing the campground is busy.  We had at least 30 incoming and 10-15 checkout every day.  Things are starting to pick up quite a bit, the campground was absolutely full this week.  It was almost full last week as schools went on spring break and in the over lapping week we filled every site.  We even filled our three emergency sites.

Diane goes for a walk most
days and looks for the turtles!!

   Well, this is the first attempt using voice to text to post the blog, so here we go.  We have to add the punctuation later, so who knows what we might end up with.

   We did manage to squeeze in some fun trips, we drove over to Leesville, LA to Fort Polk to get Diane a new ID card and of course we had to hit a restaurant for lunch.  We ate Thai food and hit two or three antique stores and the exchange and commissary.  It was a nice day for a drive.  We half hated to waste the gas but we needed to get her a new ID card her, old one expired over a year ago.  We were surprised (pleasantly) with the price and selection at the commissary and filled our little cooler up with meat.

    Saturday the 19th we went into town to the azalea festival expecting to find a lot of azaleas and such for sale but only one vendor was actually selling azaleas.  It was more just an arts and craft show they just happen to have when the azaleas are starting to bloom.  The normal food trucks were there but nothing we wanted to consume, giant fried corn dogs and fried shrimp on a stick just to name a few. So after  listening to a local radio station and of course we believed everything they said "gotta be true if it is on the radio" well, I think they kind of over rated their advertisers.  We went to the Cedar Tree restaurant "best seafood" around, no it wasn't, everything was fried shrimp, catfish, clams and even their stuffed shrimp was breaded and fried.  And almost I forgot, it came with french-fries and fried hush puppy's. When we got back to the Moho I started to wash the outside and Diane cleaned inside, getting ready for a trip to Louisiana to visit with Buddy and Theresa.  

The Cedar Tree restaurant had 10 of these glass walls and they were full of Salt and Pepper shakers.  No, they wouldn't sell any to Diane.

  Sunday the 20th another beautiful day sunny 75 degrees.  We went right back to work cleaning and washing the Moho after breakfast and coffee so right around 10:30. I wore out by 3:30 and started putting my stuff away.  I must be getting older cause all the trips up and down the ladder had by knees aching.  I went in to take an Advil when I noticed 2 Shiner Bock beers sitting alone in the frig. By the time I finished the second one my knees started to feel a little better.  Diane cleaned most of the windows and screens before joining me with a glass of wine.  Grilled pork chops, a fire and the day was over.

Feet are up and we are enjoying our fire....we only have about 6 people in the campground, it has cleared out.

A Little Slow, but keeping busy!!

 Not much happening in the last ten days or so but here are the highlights anyway the best we can remember. Pay attention to the gas prices. 

Wednesday 23 February 2022

Today was a fun day.  We went to Lufkin ate lunch Tia Juanita's it was pretty good, hit a coin store, antique store, Walgreens, truck accessory store. Home Depot and lastly was gas at 3.15 gal 

Thursday 

Ranger Sophie dropped off four site marker posts and equipment to pound them in. I guess she didn't want to overwhelm us with supplies for 110 sites. She is in her mid 20's probably figures we are old or something.

Friday

Diane had P/T Cold and windy spent the day in the Moho.

Rudy won't let me
throw the old bed
quilt away!!

Saturday

  Cool with drizzle and wind.  We were hiding in the Moho most of the day but couldn't take any more. We finally went out and put in 24 site post just to get out of the Moho.

Brad can finally keep himself busy!

Sunday

    Cold rainy, drizzle, windy again stayed in the Moho most of the day. I went out long enough to clean the grill thoroughly took about an hour.

Monday

  Worked, started our three-day stint.  We cleaned off pads for section opening March 1st.  We found 3 sites with no electric, not even an electric box and all three have reservations next month.  This should be good trying to rearraigning people as they show up.

Tuesday 1 March 2022

Workday.  The weather is getting nice, so we worked outside all day.  I worked on signposts and Diane made all the rounds and did check ins. First day and she had to rearraigned two campers that had the sites with no electric boxes. She had to make an emergency run to local store for wine somehow, we ran out.  Very nice day, we had a fire and enjoyed the evening.

There is a boater in this pic,
out for a little evening
fishing!!

Wednesday

   The last workday this shift and another gorgeous day.  We worked on signposts just to stay busy, it makes us feel like we are contributing.  So far, we have put in 65 or so posts with about 45 left to go.  It's not hard and we get to talk to a lot of the campers.  Starting March 1st there is a paid contractor who cleans restrooms, firepits and mows around the campsite so we need something to work at.

 Thursday

    First was P/T for Diane. Grocery day, phone call day and just catching up kind of day.  I found a tree to cut up for firewood.   Another campfire and Burgers for dinner.

Friday

   

   The good weather is still holding up.  Diane went to get her hair done and I just puttered around the Moho.  The campground is starting to fill up, 17 checked in yesterday and 27 today and kids everywhere you look.  In the afternoon we went to put numbers and clamps on some posts just to see how it worked, not so well.  Of the first eight post we did we had four of the clamps on backwards and had to drill them out.  But by the time we hit 20 we had it down pat.  Wine by the campfire and Chicken on the grill.

Saturday 5 March 2022

   We were up and rolling out of here by 10am, not bad for us.  We were heading to San Augustine for some antiquing.  But first I wanted to stop by a flea market in Hemphill, but they were closed.  But since we were already off track we drove over to Louisiana for lunch.  What a find The Fishermen's Galley Diane had the catfish platter and I had...the chef's Cajun Grilled Catfish Special, catfish topped with crawfish etouffee over rice. Then we hit a flea market, three antique stores, coin shop and before heading home I filled up with gas.  $3.69 a gallon, go back to the start of this post I paid $3.15 a gal.  Thank you president O'Biden 50 cents increase in ten days.

I found this on Facebook,
had to re-post it!!