Southern most part of the US of A

April 10; date of my parents wedding anniversary :(. Stayed at a beautiful state park called Myakka River State Park last night; what a nice park! went bike riding and came to a bridge where a bunch of people were staring at something; pulled up and found 2 alligators basking in the water, within 15' from us!! We've seen them in captivity, but not in the wild. There are many signs warning patrons to be wary of the crocs! We left Myakka State Park in Sarasota this morning, stopped by a Camping World where my HWT cover (which fell off somewhere in the Texas desert) was supposed to have been sent but didn't arrive. After having loaded up on Diesel Exhaust Fluid (Dodge will hear from me big time when we get back as I've already gone through 8 gallons; according to the manual I should be only topping at my first oil change in 6 months!!) we continued on.
We took Highway 41 rather than the interstate; a very lonely 2 lane road South of Naples over to the South of Miami; then down to the Keys. Lots of swamp boat operators. A very nice drive; 50-55MPH most of the way. Pulled into Grassy Key RV park in Marathon at about 3:30; checked out the park which is smaller than most but very nice (and more expensive than what we've been paying so far, but apparently all the parks in the Keys are pricey) and spent some time at the pool. Tomorrow? Key West :)

 campsite at Myakka State Park

 8-9' croc right in front of us from the bridge we were biking on. rather exciting!

 view to the Gulf from our spot in Marathon (the city) in the Keys

 view back from the beach to our unit

 

I've posted some more pictures from Caroline's new camera which we bought in New Orleans.

 the Gulf Coast!

 Beach by Navarre; sand is like fine powder :)

 great place to bike

the restaurant we ate at is on the right

 yummy :)

Florida Bound :)

Monday morning we headed off to Florida; our first stop was St Rosa Sound RC Resort in Navarre, we booked this park for 2 nights as it was right on the Gulf. A gorgeous place! paid a little more but well worth it. On Tuesday we took a drive down to the Intrawest Sandestin resort to check it out (in case we decided to come here with our points one day. It was very nice but in a very busy stretch of holiday resorts. From there we drove north and headed to Navarre beach strip; we took our bikes and rode along a very secluded area with lots of sand and beaches. The sand was unbelievable; it reminded us of the Caribbean white sand beaches. We went for dinner at a local rib place 1 minute from our resort; the view and ambience spectacular!! what a great way to end a full day on the Florida coast. The next day we drove down to Cedar Key; a diamond in the rough. After driving for 6.5 hours of flat, straight boring Florida, we came to our next (booked ahead :)) stop. Cedar Key is a very historic quaint fishing village which was inhabited by Native Indians for over 1000 years before the white man came. One of the first railroads was established from the east coast to this tiny village. Its home to many species of wildlife, in particular the elusive Roseate Spoonbill (brother Jack??) as well as home to (claimed) 95% of the farm raised clams harvested in the US. Cool! needless to say we HAD to try one of the local view spectacular restaurants in town. We had an "all you can eat" seafood platter complete with clam chowder to die for, shrimp, clam, crab, whitefish, and mullet (not the hairdo); plus a little bit of white whine to top it off. Spectacular!! we drove the "neighborhood, even found a little private airstrip with a 182 (Martin, Jim, Bob, Ed :)) beside some spectacular ocean front homes. we finished off the evening with a step over to a private dock in the park we are in to take pictures of the fabulous sunset; complete with mullets dancing in the water (and I mean dozens of fish jumping). next off to Sarasota.

 Navarre RV Park

 Cedar Key view from restaurant

 Navarre beach on our bike ride

 seafood platter (yum) (crab legs came on a separate plate!

 sunset in cedar Key

New Orleans April 4

Today we headed out and made our way to downtown NO. We first stopped at the WW2 museum, a large complex with 4 buildings. First building was the Boeing historic centre where displayed were various WW2 aircraft including a B17 restored to its original condition. we viewed a 30 minute movie narrated by Tom Hanks about the total history of the American involvement. Somewhat emotional as it showed how the world landscape had been changed by the victory over evil (Germany, Japan, Italy) and its ruthless dictators. I stopped to speak with a WW2 vet; let him know my father served in the Dutch underground to help Jews escape to Britain; he was very excited and thanked me for his involvement. He had fought for 6 months on Iwojima!! He was 91 years old and still proud and good shape he could relay his experiences in the war. We visited 2 other buildings showing artifacts of the war; very interesting. We then drove into the heart of the French Quarter. we had planned to park and possibly walk around but thought we would drive the "beast" through the local streets. Took our time, got lots of looks as people were thinking "who is this idiot from Canada trying to manouver this big truck through these miniscule streets (lots of finger pointing at our license plate, and then smiles! we saw enough of the decay and smut in our 10 minute drive through this area and decided to head out of town to the plantation district. We first stopped by the Laura Plantation; very busy, too many tour buses and turned around in the parking lot and went to the one next door called St Joseph; took a 30 minute personal guided tour and received the history of the sugar cane era and the slave history of the area; very informative. We took the one hour drive back home and planned our tenderloin dinner; hauled out my new portable SS BBQ; what a feast! Seems to always taste better in the great outdoors (especially in 25 degree sunshine/Louisiana weather). BTW the day started out with some light rain but cleared up by early afternoon. Seems the clouds come regularly off the Gulf in the morning but burn off in the afternoon. We have found a PCA in Baton Rouge for tomorrow; interesting to see how "Reformed" this Church will be. Wishing all our family and friends a blessed Sunday.

Crawfish Country

Pulled into Lakesiderv.com in Livinsgston Louisiana today, much nicer park than the last few. Picturesque spot with a view on a lake. Had dinner at a little out of the way place recommended; had some local crawfish gumbo; not bad but i'll pass the next time! Bugs do come out after the sun goes down. Looking forward to explore Baton Rouge and new Orleans next few days.

Arrived in Lake Charles, Louisiana

Today we followed Hwy 10 through Houston, and soon after crossed the state line into Louisiana.  We got our first glimpse of the Gulf of Mexico, and noticed the humidity rising (my hair is getting curlier☺️).  We pulled into our RV park around 4:30 and after settling in jumped back in the truck to do some touring.  We thought we could drive to the ocean, but it was still about 30 miles away so decided to tour Lake Charles instead.  Driving along the lakefront we were amazed at the mansions with their equally large boat docks out front.
We plan to spend Easter weekend in New Orleans, and after trying quite a few resorts in the city which were all booked, we found one about an hour northwest of New Orleans, just east of Baton Rouge, called Lakeside RV Park, in Livingstone (www.lakeside-rv park.com).

Driving through Houston (Texas :))

Tuesday we drove from El Paso to San Antonio, a long 8.5 hour drive. Thanks to new Blutec technology one must add DEF (Diesel Exhaust Fuel); well the gauge was dropping fast!! thanks to cel phones and roaming data we called a Valero station 15 miles ahead and we bought 8 gallons. Apparently one doesn't need to fill till 20K so I need to keep an eye on this. Wednesday we spent in downtown SA; the Riverwalk!! such a beautiful canal system with shops and restaurants; reminded us a lot of Europe but more modern. We did the hop on/off bus were disappointed. The only highlight was the "space needle". we experienced a 4D movie of Texas with all moving seat, blowing wind in the neck (when a rattler came up close), and a spitting (water) crocodile! ate at a little tex-mex restaurant across the street from our RV park. On our way to Louisiana.

 The Alamo