Louisiana 2003
Taking a day to travel through Alabama and Mississippi on I-59, we arrived at Bayou Segnette State Park for an eight day stay. The park is located in Westwego, on the West Bank of the Mississippi River. The park is very nice; paved roads, paved large back-in sites, clean restrooms and laundry, 50Amp service and water. There is a large dump station. The campsite roads are a little narrow for backing in to the camp sites with a 5th Wheel Trailer. Eventually we did get backed in to our sight, but it was tight in front of the truck making the backing turn.
Much of this area is at or below sea level. This is evident when seeing the levees and cemeteries. Almost all grave sites are above ground. There is some room left.
What would Louisiana be with out shrimp boats and a "seafood flea market" with some unusual vendor names to purchase shrimp?
We drove ~ 70 miles to the end of the Mississippi Delta. Not much down there (it's not on the tourist map!) but we did see some birds, lots of swamp land, and several helicopter transportation centers. The workers on the Gulf Oil Drill Rigs park their cars/ truck at the facility and then take a helicopter out to the rig. There are also orange groves in the Delta which Patricia and I really enjoyed.
The generator basket was looking a little "shaky"- too much sagging, it was only about 7" off the ground. I found ABC Caster Company, in Harvey, LA (504) 366-6489 to make repairs and modifications to the basket- a camp sight service call at that! After describing the problem to David in the shop, he came out to the camp sight, made recommendations, and took the basket back to the shop. He removed the 14"Reese Extension bar and the support bar under the basket. These removals were replaced with a one piece steel 2" x 2" x 1/4" tube. He also added aluminum two supports under the basket and two dividers inside the basket. The basket is now 4" closer to the RV ladder and significantly sturdier; there is no sagging. I am very impressed with the service provided by David and ABC Casters; highly recommended if you ever need custom fabrication of steel ,aluminum, and stainless products while in the New Orleans area.
We visited the bayous of the Barataria Preserve, part of the Jean Lafitte National Historic Park. It was interesting seeing Dwarf Palmettos, Spanish Moss and Bayous. Nothing like this at home! For lunch, I had Crawfish Etouffee and Catfish at Bouttes in Jean Lafitte, while Patricia had a not so good crab salad sandwich. The only place to eat crabs is in Maryland!
This was Patricia's first visit to New Orleans. She enjoyed seeing the French Quarter's architecture and the colorful buildings. Naturally we saw Saint Louis Cathedral. Finishing off with the traditional New Orleans delights, we had Red Beans and Rice and Gumbo at Maspero Cafe in the French Quarter. Maybe some day we'll take a river trip down the Mississippi.
I didn't take into consideration the problem of dumping sewage when the campsite does not have full hook up. It's much easier to use a "Honey Bucket," so we purchased one at Bent's Rendez Vous in Metairie, LA (866) 617-2368.
Tomorrow we leave for Galveston Island, Texas.
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