Thursday, February 26th

First off, I have to stand corrected - I made a major mistake when I referred to Brenham, TX as the home of Blue Bunny Ice Cream. Blue Bunny doesn’t even begin to measure up to the real leader in ice cream products, Blue Bell Ice Cream. Blue Bell has its creamery in Brenham, TX and is one of the top creameries in the country. Several folks (from Texas) corrected me on my “fo-paw” and enlightened me on the quality of ice cream. So there it is - a real correction to my Travelogue.

Meantime, “Laissez les bon temps roulet!“ from the Five Star Family Resort in Pass Christian, Mississippi! We started Wednesday morning very slowly since Jim & Peggy had some internet work to finish. Dottie and I slept in - until 7AM - and I put waxed the coach while Dottie did some house cleaning. Shortly after noon we headed down to Avery Island and the Tabasco factory. Since this was the middle of the week we were able to see the bottling plant and watch the process of packing the little bottles for distribution in South Africa. We walked over to the store and saw everything and anything you could possibly imagine with the Tabasco name on it. Dottie and I purchased some Tabasco barbeque sauce, Tabasco mayonaisse, and garlic Tabasco sauce. We drove back to the coach to dump our purchases and prepare for dinner.

Two years ago when we made this trip, we had a great dinner at Thibodeau’s, a Cajun food restaurant in Duson. The ladies at the desk of the RV park recommended we go to the town of Rayne, LA and visit the Crawfish Hut for dinner. It was an excellent recommendation as we found out that evening. We drove the five miles in to Rayne and found the Crawfish Hut, a restaurant specializing in Cajun seafood. I ordered the four-pound crawfish platter and several Abita Amber beers. The food was wonderful with just enough spice to make it tasty. Jim & Peggy ordered the crawfish e’toufee and had enough left over for two meals. Dottie’s seafood platter was as variety of Cajun sea foods that she devoured. We left there full and delighted with the opportunity to have a Cajun meal.

Thursday morning we were packed and ready to pull out of the campground by 10AM. We watched the other RVs slowly depart and head in various directions. We entered the ramp for eastbound I-10 and some of the roughest interstate roads in the country. The freeway from Lafayette to Baton Rouge is like a washboard with the cracks creating a bouncing motion in the motor home. There were times that we felt like the coach was going to vibrate to pieces. Fortunately it didn’t last too long. We pulled off the interstate at Abita Springs and found a State building with a large parking lot that could accommodate our two coaches. We used the lot for a lunch break before we parted company with Jim & Peggy.

We have traveled with them for over a week now and enjoyed every minute of the trip. We had traveling partners, but weren’t joined at the hip. We could do our own thing each night or join up for dinner and games. They are an enjoyable couple to be with and we already miss them. We hope to do this again some day and share the experiences of traveling with them another time.

We drove on for another 50 miles and stopped in Pass Christian at the Five Star Family Resorts. It’s a membership park that costs us $8/night for full hookups. There’s nothing fancy about this park, but it’s a good stopover point for one night. We’ll be here for one night and drive on to Robertsdale, AL. The driving along I-10 is much more enjoyable on this side of the country with the lush green shoulders and thick trees. We can see the damage that comes from hurricanes when the tops of the trees get snapped off and the roofs on the homes are blown away. A lot of the hurricane damage still hasn’t been repaired and it’s visible from the roadways. The interstate is raised about 4’ above the low-lying land. We’re seeing signs for diesel fuel ranging in price from $1.95/gallon to $2.05/gallon.

We went to bad pretty early after watching “Survivor”. It was warmer than most other nights up to now. We tossed and turned and finally gave up around 0630. Both of us got up, had a bite of breakfast, and prepared for a short move to Robertsdale, AL, our next stop. We pulled out of the park by 0900 and drove up to the interstate. Just south of the freeway were two gas stations with diesel pricing at $1.89/gallon. I didn’t stop; I don’t really trust that their volume is great enough to ensure water-free fuel. So we entered the freeway and headed east to Gulfport and a Sam’s Club that had diesel. It was a challenge getting in and out of the fueling island, but we made and drove about a mile down the road to a Super Wal-Mart to stock up on supplies. We were back on the road by 1000 and headed east. We got to Mobile and drove under the bay in a tunnel. I couldn’t remember if there was a bridge there or if I was remembering the high bridge in Beaumont.

The tunnel was about two miles long and passes under the Mobile Bay. We came out on the other side and traveled another 25 miles to the turn-off for the Styx River RV Resort. We arrived just after noon so we had plenty of time to get settled and do some organizing. Dottie even got in a short nap! Around 4:30 we grabbed Nancy and headed to Foley and Lambert’s Café, home of the throwed rolls. It is a family restaurant where your order is taken by one of the friendly staff. While you wait for your order to arrive, there are other staff members walking around with fried okra, fried potatoes, home-baked dinner rolls hot out of the oven, apple butter or molasses, deep-fried muskrat (a cute prank-like trick), and iced tea that appears to be spilling all over your lap. Dottie had a huge chicken-fried steak and I had fried frog legs. There was so much food that we both had to bring some home for another meal. It was absolutely delicious!!!!

We drove back to Styx River and are taking it easy for the rest of the evening. We both miss the company of Jim & Peggy, but we’ll see them again in Moultrie. Tomorrow is a short day of only 97 miles to Sunset King Lake Resort and another day where we can rest a bit and get the coach ready for the Rally. The weather has been threatening to rain with possibility of thunderstorms and hail. We’re hoping to avoid that!!