Well, while I'm still in Florida, my westward wandering has officially begun. I'm back in Marianna, FL where I entered the state a couple of months ago. Cousin Bobbie told me about the Florida Caverns State Park where they have tours of the only dry caves in the state. This is a big park. It was about 3 1/2 miles from the entrance to the camp site. Three nice surprises at the site; it's got full hookups not just the electric & water I expected, the electric box is new and has a built in surge protector, and best of all I'm getting a satellite feed even parked among the trees. The forecast is for near or below freezing the next couple of days so I left the water and sewer connections in. The park has several hiking trails among two main ecosystems; the most southern hardwoods and, a typical cypress-bayou-like area. There are canoe & kayak launch areas to explore the river/bayou. The cave tour was interesting and one of the larger caverns I've seen. Although not as extensive as Carlsbad, Howe, or Luray, there are many rooms and lots of pretty sights.
Continuing west along the I-10 my next stop was Biloxi. I haven't been in this area for about 30 years. In some ways the area has changed and in others it's still the same. I remember pretty beach and bay areas, small towns, lots of fishing, and unfortunately lots of poverty. Now I see huge casinos lining the gulf waters. The small towns have lost much of their charm and in place have many Good Will, Salvation Army, and other second hand stores. The casinos were originally only to be along the gulf. They seem to have either changed the law or allowed lots of waivers 'cause now they also line the bay waters. Many of the beach areas are gone as are much of the fishing areas. I guess the casinos provide some employment, but at what cost? At every highway entrance ramp I see homeless people holding signs and begging. It seems the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. I guess this is progress but I liked it better 30 years ago. The cg has a trailer park feel yet is considered a local resort of sorts. They have a nice little lake with fishing, a sandy beach area, and paddle boats to rent. The beach is funny when coupled with the signs in the area reminding people to be watchful for poisonous snakes and gators. I think I'll pass on the swimming (lol)!
I stopped at the Louisiana welcome center along the I-10 and picked up a few brochures on "stuff" to see and do around the New Orleans area. The staff were very friendly and I got into a conversation about camp grounds in the area. The staff seemed very against my choice located on Chef Matuer Highway. They all said this was an area of the city that people really don't want to roam let alone camp. The cg reviews had been really bad also so I took the welcome center staff's suggestion and drove to the Pontchartrain Landing RV Resort. As I neared the cg it was far from impressive, driving down a rough road in an industrial area. Upon entering the cg all the roads are hard packed dirt with some gravel mixed in and there is lots of construction. I thought about leaving. The staff are friendly, they offered a Passport rate of $41 rather than the $60 noted on their web site and they also gave me a pull-though with a view of the harbor. It was nice to simply pull in, have all hook ups right where I need them, on a perfectly level open site, that is nicely landscaped. It had been raining for most of my ride to New Orleans. With a break in the rain, I strolled around the cg. They rent interesting house boats that are luxuriously appointed. They also have what they call the presidential RV site which is huge, comes with a thatched roof cabana, full outdoor cooking area with a large stainless steel grill and refrigerator, and even a private hot tub. The cg swimming pool is an affinity pool with a waterfall and Jacuzzi, and a bar & grill next to the pool. The cg even has a shuttle service back and forth to the French Quarter several times a day. The shuttle bus took about 10 minutes and dropped me near the riverfront in the middle of the French Quarter. I had a brochure about a WWII museum and went to check it out. This is an incredible place, it's huge! The movie they show, "Beyond all Boundaries", produced and narrated by Tom Hanks, was amazing. They call it a 4D movie because it; has the usual 3D pictures, adds three dimensional attributes like a real front part of a plane and multiple see-though screens, also snow & smoke which comes into the theater, and even has the chairs rigged to vibrate. It was a very powerful presentation. The museum also had an interactive exhibit recreating the final mission of the USS Tang, the most decorated submarine of WWII (hey, Dave Irons, pay attention to this). This museum was well worth the visit. One afternoon I cruised the Mississippi on the last authentic steam powered paddle wheeler. They had a chef on board, prepared a great shrimp creole buffet, bars on two of the three decks which served delicious Bloody Mary's, had a five piece live jazz band, and played their steam powered calliope between the band breaks. What a great afternoon! On the one cold, wet day I had in New Orleans I went to see an iMax about penguins and walk around the adjacent aquarium. The movie was soooo popular there were actually three of us in this huge theater (lol). Penguins are fun to see and on the giant 3D iMax they were definitely cute. I asked around for a good place to have a typical New Orleans brunch and had several people suggest The Court of the Two Sisters. This is absolutely the best restaurant I have ever eaten at, hands down! The waiter was perfect, the Bloody Mary couldn't have been better, the three piece jazz band were great. The restaurant offers about 80 items in their brunch buffet and will also prepare additional items at their omelet station at no added charge. If you're ever in the New Orleans area I heartily recommend trying this place. There are a lot of homeless people throughout the French Quarter. Most carry cardboard signs asking for handouts. A few just come up and ask for money. I was sitting by the riverfront enjoying the views and doing some people watching when a homeless guy points to my airborne bracelet and shows me his. He said he served with the 101st Airborne around the same time I was in Vietnam. We sat and chatted, telling stories to each other for over a half hour. He never asked for a hand out and we actually hugged when we parted. A second homeless guy was walking past me while I was waiting for the camp ground shuttle. He was obviously a little tipsy as he pointed to my hiking boots and says ".. I bet I can tell you the city and state where you got those shoes from ". We got to talking a little and he got me to shake hands agreeing to be honest when he guessed. He then said "You got those shoes on your feet in New Orleans, LA"! He got me laughing as I never saw that one coming. I had to give him a few bucks just for giving me a smile. The camp ground had a movie they showed one afternoon called "Hurricane on the Bayou". It gave a lot of information about the disappearing wetlands and how they effect the way storms hit and damage the New Orleans area. It was very informative and enjoyable to see while sitting in the bar enjoying yet another Bloody Mary. I stayed in town late one evening, walking up and down Bourbon Street. This place is a zoo and it wasn't even a Friday or Saturday night and definitely wasn't during Madri Gras. It seems that every store is either a bar or a craft/junk shop. The bars were in competition with each other for who could offer the most beer. Several bars offered two for one, a few offered three for one, and I saw one offering five for one. As expected, there were lots of people staggering along the street. I was reminded of when I lived in Greenwich Village in the mid-1960's. Back then you could find me half walking and half crawling most any Friday or Saturday night. Different times and a whole lot younger (lol).
My original plan was to drive about half way from New Orleans to Livingston and stop for a few days. However, the only cg I could find which was close to half way had horrible reviews so I opted to take my longest drive ever pulling my rig. The night before leaving I closed the rig down so I was ready to leave early. I was on the way at first light about 7 am. With several breaks every hour and a half or so I arrived seven hours later about 2 pm. The ride was longer than I'd normally like but, it wasn't that bad, that is until I arrived at the SKP park in Livingston. I had asked for an open site in order to get the sat. dish working since I was planning to stay for about a month. The first site I was sent to seemed to be the most heavily treed in the park. I left my rig in the site and walked over to ask for a different site. The park manager said they didn't have many open sites but reluctantly gave me a different one. When I got to this second site it was just as heavily treed. This went on for TWO more sites, four in total. After my seven hour drive I was now spending another hour making "U" turns and backing into four different sites while dealing with the park staff that were far from helpful. I considered leaving when they finally pointed to a clear site. I must admit I was extremely disappointed at the rudeness of the park managers. We are all members of the same RV travel club, The Escapees. This is one of the rudest treatments I'd ever experienced. The next day I walked to the other side of the campground where they have a clubhouse and activity center. I met lots of folks, all of whom were very friendly and helpful. Over the next few days I took a tour of the campground given in an old trolley and a tour of the Care Center. I got involved with a three time a week pinochle game, the genealogy club, and the twice a week movie. All the clubs and activities were on the opposite side of the campground where I was parked so I asked to move to one of the many open sites closer to the activities. The park managers said I couldn't since I had already paid for 20 days on this side. I later found out that they were in the process of learning a new computer system and didn't know how to switch the site in the system and didn't bother to ask anyone for help. The park tour included a tour of the mail center. This is an amazing facility. The town of Livingston has about 5,000 residents while the SKP mail center handles mail for close to 15,000 people! The Livingston post office couldn't handle the SKP volume so the post office assigned SKP its own zip code and delivers directly from a distribution point. The SKP facility recently acquired an optical reader that sorts the mail at an incredible speed. This isn't a little place with volunteers manual sorting our mail into little cubby holes. The tour of the care center kind of tugged at my heart. I not only gave a donation but agreed to volunteer when they asked. They seemed to have had some volunteers that changed their mind and needed some extra help for the month of February. It meant extending my stay for a little over two weeks. The care center gave me a site across the street from the center which is much nicer than the regular camp ground sites. The camp ground wouldn't refund any of my prepaid fees. I didn't expect any consideration from them. The day of my moving my rig to the care center area I did the SmartWeigh at the park. I have gotten in the habit of getting my rig weighed about once a year at CAT scales for $9. The SmartWeigh is $55 but very thorough. They weigh each wheel of each axil separately, the truck is weighed both hooked up and by itself, they check the tire ratings, RV load capacities and truck ratings. It was very informative and nice to know that I am under all weights. I wish I was personally under weight as well (lol). Over my time in the park I met lots of nice folks and enjoyed lots of activities. I managed to change my primary health care from the NJ VA to Texas and get my annual physical. The hours and work as a volunteer were fine and personally rewarding. However, the volunteers are treated like "dirt" by the head cook. I bit my tongue the first few times I heard her yell "...these dam volunteers", but eventually tried to remind her that we are volunteers. As soon as I said the word "volunteer" she literally flipped out. That's when I called it quits. I managed to stay for two weeks and really did enjoy helping the residents. However, I would never return to this SKP park as a camper or a volunteer. I've rated each and every camp ground I've ever stayed at on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being worst), hundreds of them, and this is the first one I have ever given a ZERO. It's a shame to have such great potential to help folks and have volunteers treated in such a shabby manner.
