Hangin' Around at Poche's

Our cold front came in overnight. It was 12 degrees colder this morning when I went out but still a respectable 50F (10C). The wind however was coming straight from the good ole north right from Canada. I managed to get out of the RV, go for my exercise and get back in without a problem. Gordon again went out to Lake Martin and Henderson Lake this morning. Maybe I'll get there soon.

I've had a pain in the right side of my jaw and down my neck the last couple of days. Didn't know if it was from a tooth, I tapped each one with a metal object and got no cries of pain so I don't think that's it, from my ear or glandular. I thought maybe I've been gritting my teeth at night as I've been known to do that and it was TMJ related so I took 1/2 tranquilizer today and although I pretty much slept the day away, the pain seems to be mostly gone.

So that's what I did today, read a bit and slept on the couch.

Late this afternoon before sunset Gordon and I took a walk around the lake as I had not taken any photos today. There aren't a lot of birds around due to the wind. Here's what I've got:

You can just see our RV and truck on the left (where the burgundy truck is).

This is two lake areas at the end of our road. There were quite a few people here today fishing.

This is the road on the other side of the lake that's behind us.

This is the rec hall.

This is looking across the lake that's behind our RV. You can see the egret walking in the middle.


To see some of Gordon's pbase photos that he's processed, click here. The first few are ones that he's taken in the Breaux Bridge/Lake Martin/Henderson Lake area. The rest are of our trek west.

A Semi-Relaxing Day

The day didn't start out well. I got up at about 7 a.m. Gordon had already gone out to take photos at Lake Martin. So I got ready to go our for my exercise, locked the door and away I went. When I got back, I couldn't get the door unlocked! It's been giving me problems the last few times I've tried. I tried several times but no luck. So I called Gordon and he was already on his way back. I got out my lawn chair and sat under the nose of the fifth wheel as it looked like rain to wait for him to arrive. Of course when he got here, he unlocked it the first time he tried! It's either my key or old age! We had no sooner gotten inside than it started to rain but it didn't last long.

Here are some photos I took on my walk this morning. It's a nice walk around the loop around the lake.

Cottages at end of lake


Great egret in flight

Great blue heron on the point

Our 5er across the lake


We hung around the RV and read and napped this morning. I sat outside in my lawnchair for a while with my book and gazed at the water.

One of the views from my lawn chair


Our Verizon contract is up and we're on the new every 2 plan (to get new phones every 2 years on contract renewal). I had gotten a letter in the mail saying that we could get a $70 credit if we renewed by phone. We decided to go into a Verizon store in Lafayette. (Lots of traffic in Lafayette even at 1:30 p.m.) We're grandfathered on the North America Plan (they don't sell it anymore) so he explained the new plan to us that covers Canada. It's more expensive so we stayed with our old plan. We picked out our phones and a few accessories - $129 please. You'll get $50 back in the mail. Hmmm thought our phones were free. Must have been all those accessories! Anyway, we now have new phones. Here's mine getting all charged up. Oh and you don't get the $70 credit unless you renew by phone. We got a $50 credit.



We stopped at the local SuperWalMart on our way home and picked up a few groceries. Then I sat outside again. At 81F (27C) it was a day to enjoy!

We're really enjoying being here. It's somewhere totally different for us and the weather has been great. However, a cold front is moving in tomorrow. I don't expect to see these temperatures again while we're here.

Sunset (taken from my living room window)

The day seems to be ending well though!

Now at Breaux Bridge, LA

I was up at 6:30 a.m. and it was foggy! Gordon had gone out to Cypress Swamp to take some photos. I had my walk/run and was packing things up inside when he came back. We had breakfast and as the fog wasn’t too bad went outside to start packing up there.

Then I got a big surprise! A lady came walking toward me and introduced herself as Donna. It didn’t twig with me at first as I wasn’t expecting her but it was Donna from chat. She and Nolan had come in yesterday and she was just dropping by before they left to meet me. We chatted for a few minutes then she left. I had completely forgotten to take a photo so I went down to their site as they hadn’t left yet and got a photo. Thanks Donna for dropping by!


We left around 10:30 a.m. and arrived at Poche’s Fish N Camp at Breaux Bridge, LA around 3 p.m. We had some trouble getting into the sites as the road isn’t very wide and there’s a row of trees right there so it’s hard to get the truck in the right position to back the RV in. We moved to the other side of the pond however the sites here aren’t concrete but we’re in. We have pond in front of us and pond behind us. It’s a really nice spot. We also had several blue heron and egrets to welcome us.

Our arrival in Louisiana



Cute door handle on the Welcome Center for Louisiana - it's eating Gordon's hand

Crossing the Mississippi River at Baton Rouge


Henderson Swamp as taken from I-10




Our first sighting of palm trees when we arrived at the RV park



Our site

View from our rear window

In the front across the road - this blue heron was strutting his stuff!

Looking away from our rig


Gordon had lots of problems setting up the internet satellite even though we appeared to have a clear view of the south. He finally did get it working.

We didn’t have any rain and although it was mostly cloudy for our drive, we did have a few sunny breaks. When we left Canton, MS it was 59F (15C) and on arrival at our new site it was 70F (21C).

Today was a long day. We're looking forward to staying a week here.

A Rainy Day in Canton, MS

It was raining this morning so we decided to stay an extra day. We had checked the weather radar online and when I was in chat last night there were some heavy systems passing through Texas so we decided we were better off staying where we were and letting the systems pass.

Our tree through the raindrops on the window



I got up at 8 a.m. It had stopped raining so I got to go for my walk/run. In fact it only started raining around 10 a.m. and then only on and off. We went up to the office and paid for an extra day. Hopefully we'll be able to move on tomorrow.

It didn't rain much during the remainder of the day but we didn't go anywhere. Gordon rested, we had showers and I made a couple of necklaces.

Day 2, Canton, MS

Today is my brother-in-law's birthday. Happy Birthday, John!

It was cloudy and 58F (14C) when I got up at 7:30 a.m. I can handle this! I went out for my exercise and saw an egret flying overhead. That's my first egret sighting on this southern trip!

Downtown Canton, MS photos - these photos aren't pretty due to power lines, vehicles and the like and it would look better on a sunny day but it is what it is!





The forecast for this afternoon was rain so after breakfast and reading some we decided to go out and see what we could see. Gordon had already been out early this morning. We checked out other RV parks in the area. None of them are too great. Then we went to Barnett Reservoir. We saw two blue herons along the water but no photos as we were traveling and I wasn't fast enough. On our way back we did see some egrets. Here's a photo but they're quite far away.



Then back to the Cypress Swamp. The log below has all kinds of fungi growing on it.

Another photo of the bald cypress in the swamp.



On our way home we stopped at the Piggly Wiggly for some groceries. I took some photos of the court house and around town but it had started to rain then so home we went. We had only just gotten in and while I was unpacking groceries it really started to rain.

Court House decorated for Christmas


Beautiful old home on one of the back streets.

I have no idea what this is, it was near the house above and in a residential area.


It will depend on the weather tomorrow if we leave or stay. So, stay tuned!

Now in Canton, MS

We left Natchez Trace RV Park in Tupelo, MS this morning at 9:55 a.m. We had a couple of incidents of road paving but we weren't stopped long. We did stop a few times at pullouts on our way to take some photos but the most interesting spot we stopped at was Cyprus Swamp which is close to Canton, MS. We walked a ways on the trail there but we’ll go back probably tomorrow.

Construction


Part of the Old Trace


Cypress Swamp - you can see the boardwalk in the background

More of Cypress Swamp - you can see our RV in the background


Cypress knees


We did see some wildlife today but no photos, they're just too quick. We saw three white-tailed deer romping in the meadow and another one trying to cross the trace. Luckily the guy ahead was watching and slowed to let the deer cross. We also saw some wild turkeys and a little black daschund. Sure hope his owner found him before he got run over!

Right now we’re ensconced at the Movietown RV Park at Canton, MS and we’ve signed up for two days. There is no ‘it’ factor to this campground but the sites are reasonably level and wide. You have to be careful choosing a spot due to all the fire ants around. The lady in the office told me that they don’t try to get into your RV. Sure hope she’s right. I did put some comet around the tires just in case. The first and last time I was bitten by fire ants was in Vicksburg. I don't want to repeat the experience.

Our site

The RV park - the roads are wide and the sites are a good size



Canton, MS is apparently a site where a few movies have been made, thus the name of the RV park, among them, John Grisham's "A Time to Kill".

There are a few sights to see here other than the Cyprus Swamp so we’ll be looking those up as well. Instead of going to find a Walmart which is about 11 miles away we’ll stop at the Piggly Wiggly in town to pick up some fruit.

Gordon really needs to get some rest. He coughed most of the night last night. We think it’s probably due to the cold weather so it’s warmer here, hope it goes away!

Around the Tupelo Area

Back to colder temperatures this morning - 36F (2C) and it didn't get that warm during the day. It got to 53F (12C).

Here's a better photo of the cabin on the pond behind us.


We were lazy this morning so didn't go out till nearly 11 a.m. We drove back north on the Trace to the Visitor Center about 14 miles away. We missed it yesterday as we got off the Trace too soon thanks to Miss Pinky. While there we looked at the exhibits and watched a movie (12 min) about the Trace. While there I picked up some brochures of the Trace for our RV park as he was out of them.

We stopped at one of the waysides today where there are 13 graves of unknown confederate soldiers.

A Tarzan vine



On our way back to the RV park we drove in to Tupelo and stopped at Elvis Presley's birthplace and took some photos. Here's the house where he was born and lived till he was 13.

Here I am sitting on the porch swing.


We drove around the city a bit and I was quite surprised to see how clean the city is. In our experience cities in the east aren't all that clean while cities in the west are (for the most part). There isn't much here so we fueled up for tomorrow and headed back to the RV park for a nap!

Tonight I'll watch Desperate Housewives and have an early night. We're back on the road tomorrow!