Sonya's Blog - Day 224 - Driving to Louisiana

Sonya’s Blog - Day 224 - February 1st - Driving to Louisiana

We decided to leave today. They are unsure when the thunderstorms are going to blow in, some forecasts say early in the morning and others say in the afternoon. The fact of the matter is, our entire route to Louisiana goes through the middle of Mississippi which will be hard hit by the storm. We do not feel like taking any risks, so we will just leave today. Unfortunately, we cannot get a refund for our campsite tonight and will have to pay for an extra night in New Orleans. We do not think the risks of staying warrant staying the extra night.

Blake wanted to see Beale street, so we headed down there. The kids were not ready, they were moving really slowly. Blake and I just left to go check it out, it was already getting late in the morning and we didn’t have time to wait. Beale Street looked like a lot of other bar streets, but at least they keep it clean. All the work crews were out, hosing it down and sweeping up. Here are the pictures:

We had to fill up the truck and then headed back to hook up the RV. The kids had finished up they had to do, so we hooked up and got on the road. We have a 5 and 1/2 hour drive ahead of us and we won’t get in until suppertime. It will be a long day.

Mississippi is not very scenic. Lots of woods and farmlands, there really wasn’t much to see. Louisiana gets more scenic and we spent a lot of time on bridges - miles and miles of bridges with water all around. There were a lot of houses built in the watery areas, I guess that’s the Bayou. We tried to get some pictures, but it was dusk and they didn’t turn out great:

We found our campground without too many problems. It is Mardi Gras time in New Orleans, the campground is quite busy. We had to add one night to our reservation, but they could not get us in the same spot for the full go. We had one night (our extra night) in one campsite and then we will have to move 4 campsites over tomorrow. That’s the way it goes.

We got all set up and then started to read all the stuff to do around New Orleans. When we first planned on going to New Orleans at this time, we had no idea it would be Mardi Gras. We did not find out it was Mardi Gras until we booked the campsite. We also didn’t realize that Mardi Gras went on for so long and had so many parades. I really just thought it was the weekend before Shrove Tuesday, up until Shrove Tuesday. It is not. There is a lot going on and has been for the past few weeks. It just gets bigger and bigger the closer you get to Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday, also called Pancake Day). We had lots of reading and planning to do.

Sonya