We Are Out of Texas At Last!

Maggie in the clover.  She was such a good dog today
and very happy to be out of the truck!

We have finally seen Texas in our rear view mirrors!  897 miles across on I-10.  It is a forever drive!  We hope we won't be crossing it again any time soon.

Southwestern Louisiana is at least green, but that really is all it's got going for it along the I-10 corridor.  Lake Charles is an industrial city - looks like oil refineries.  We saw lots of rice paddies - miles and miles.  Millions of acres are under water - deliberately - for growing rice between Lake Charles and Lafayette.  The road through Lake Charles was in real disrepair and was bumpy and noisy and had us rocking back and forth and bumping up and down. The only damage inside the RV was CD/DVD/radio player was on the floor with some wires pulled out.  Rog just stuffed it back in its hole and we will let Andy reassemble it! It was enough of a crazy ride that I had to dive into my purse for a dramamine!  Once we got out of the city proper, the highway seemed OK.  Those few miles sure did me in, though.  I was looking a bit green around the gills.  

We did see some flooding - when we crossed rivers we could see that they were over their banks and the nearby forests were pretty deep in water.  I did see a couple of guys standing on the edge of a side road just staring at the water.  I could also see that there were homes and a school bus on the other side of the water at the end of the road.  They didn't look underwater but it looked as though there was no access to them. 

We stopped for lunch in Iowa, Louisiana.  I asked Rog if I could put the Iowa sticker on the map and we wouldn't have to go there.  He said no, it didn't count.  Bummer.  We ended up in another truck stop for lunch, but off by ourselves in the back with some grass for Maggie. We put out our chairs and a table and enjoyed being outside.  There was a Burger King next to the truck stop, so we opted for veggie burgers and fries instead of PB&J today.  Wasn't bad.  Wasn't real good - just different.  

The park we are in tonight is about 30 miles west of Lafayette, LA.  It's called Frog City RV Park.  When I called for reservations a few days ago the lady told me she was glad I didn't need a spot that day because half the place was under water about mid-calf deep.  It's high and dry today but you can see where the water was when you walk around.  I expected the place - by the name and the flooding - to be back in the woods somewhere and very rustic and perhaps even a bit scary.  It's not.  It is just off the interstate and is a pretty nice place.  It's directly behind a Motel 8 (no connection, though) and the sites are regular size with gravel pads that are level and there is grass with small trees at the end of each site.  The place was pretty empty when we pulled in early afternoon.  Maybe a dozen or so trailers look to be pretty permanent or at least long term. A half dozen or so RVs have pulled in since we did.  

Relaxing before we got neighbors

Our immediate neighbor pulled in an hour or so ago while we were sitting outside - it's cooler out there than in the RV and we didn't want to turn on the A/C.  First of all, they have maybe an 18-foot trailer being pulled by a big red Dodge truck with an eagle and flag screen in the back window and a Trump sticker still on the bumper.  He had to circle around and come into the pull through twice before he got it situated.  Once he finally got it where he wanted, he climbed out of the truck - she stayed inside.  He's probably in his 60's, obese, toothless, wearing a camo baseball hat, jeans that barely covered his butt, a white t-shirt, and red suspenders.  Mississippi license plates.  Rog notices right away that the handle for the sewer line is in the open position.  Then the guy tries to hook up his power cord and can't get it into the receptacle on his trailer.  Rog goes over and helps him get connected. He mumbled a "thank you."  He then gets his water and TV hooked up, puts his levelers down while whining the whole time about a bad back and how he "can't hardly do nothing no more." He goes to connect his sewer hose - bare handed - and opens the cap to the black tank to connect the hose and all sorts of crap (literally) comes out onto the ground. That chased us inside and we put the a/c on.  The stench and the thought of it all over his hands was just too much. We had to go in.  In the meantime, she sat in the cab of the truck waiting for him to set up and carry everything, including a large bird cage with a parrot inside.  Once he was finally done, she walked from the truck directly into the trailer and we've not seen either since - thank goodness.  We are still shaking our heads.   Takes all kinds, I guess.

We had intermittent clouds and sun today with a high of about 84 but the humidity is picking up as we head east and towards water.  My weather app says it's about 56% humidity which isn't too awful even for us westerners used to about 10%. Roger did comment, though, "It certainly feels like the Louisiana I remember."  

Tomorrow we will stop in Slidell - old stomping grounds for us. We lived there for three years when Roger was stationed in New Orleans.  We'll get in early and probably go drive around and check things out.