A walk in the rain

It was a day of cloudy skies with off and on sprinkles throughout the day.  In early afternoon, I decided to take Emma out for a good walk.  As I tried to take a picture of the Visitor’s Center, my battery went dead, so it was back to the rig to change it out.  Of course, it then decided to rain a bit, but we headed out anyway.

I have moved from the marshes of Texas to the Pine Savannahs of Mississippi.  It’s a big change in habitat.  The pines are long leaf pines.  The size of the cones from these trees is just immense.  I’ve always wondered where people got those huge pine cones, and now I know.

As we headed down the nature trail outside the Visitor’s Center, I noticed some of last summer’s pitcher plants.  There are a number of carnivorous plants on the refuge, so it should be an interesting spring to observe the savannah understory.

It seems odd to find fall’s brilliant colors at the end of January.  The trail is 3/4 mi. in length, and wanders through the savannah.

Scattered about under the pines are stands of saw palmettos.  The leaves are very stiff and sharp edged.  It’s easy to believe they were used as brooms by early settlers.  :)

This is my artsy/fartsy version of the end of a long-leafed pine branch.  With the overcast skies today, there was no need to change it to a black and white view.

Emma’s nose got such a good workout on our hike today that it had white foam bubbles around it by the time we came to the end.  :)  She, of course, was ready for six more laps around the trail, but I need to ease back into this.  I was ready to return to the rig.

 

My mother always said that if you aren’t feeling up to snuff, whatever ails you will be worse once the clock reaches 4 pm.  Why is it that mothers are almost always right??

 

Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later,  Judy

Settling in at the refuge

It was 38* when I got up this morning, but it warmed up quickly so I could finish the rest of my set up in relative comfort.  I haven’t had a site surrounded by trees in quite some time.  Denny and I worked to find a hole in the canopy so the DISH would work, and eventually succeeded.  Then I put out my outside carpet, attached the extend-a-stay propane tank, and set up my rocker.  With a picnic table to attach Emma’s lead to, we are ready to enjoy our time here.  :)

As I sat down in the rocker to enjoy the labors of my work, Fonda gave me a call from the Visitor’s Center to tell me that some folks had arrived, and were asking if I was on the refuge yet.  It turned out that RANDY AND PAM Warner dropped by for a visit.  They are fellow bloggers that are volunteering for NOMADS in the area.  As others have said, it’s great to put some actual live bodies with folks we have only known in blogland.  They’re leaving the area soon, and I was happy that they took the time to stop by on the chance we could meet.

After lunch, I packed Emma into the car and we took off to familiarize ourselves with the surrounding community where we will be shopping for the next three months.

I had a few items on my list of things I needed, and was successful in finding them all.  It seems that anything I might need is available within a few miles of the refuge.  With National Wildlife Refuges that’s not always the case.  :)

As it drew towards sunset, Jay, another volunteer, invited everyone over to his site for fresh oysters, crawfish, and smoked mullet. He is from this area, and taught us all about shucking the oysters, and the proper way to eat those and boiled crawfish.  Some of us were able to partake, but since I’ve just graduated this noon to chicken broth with some vegetables and actual chicken in it, I had to decline.   After battling this Louisiana crud all week, I didn’t feel my stomach could handle these new taste sensations!  :)  Maybe next time, Jay.

 

Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later,  Judy

Mississippi, here I come!

I was on the road by 9:15 this morning, and no sooner did I get on I-10 than an eighteen wheeler roared past me and kicked up a stone that put a nickel sized chip smack dab in the middle of my windshield!  Ugh!  I have to admit that ugh was not exactly what I said as it hit!  I wonder how many of these you can survive before you have to have the windshield replaced?  That’s two for me in six months, and I haven’t even driven this rig to Alaska.

 

About fifty miles past Baton Rouge, I decided I had better get some gas as the gauge was below 1/2.  I exited the interstate and went around in circles in the first gas station only to find all the pumps I could access had out of order signs on them.  :(  I then drove across the street and ended up in a situation that I wasn’t sure I could get out of.  I was a wreck!  Just at the last moment, traffic in the station disappeared, and I cautiously wove my way around towards an exit.  I couldn’t believe the startled look on one of the workers there as he quickly grabbed a garbage can and ran with it backwards as he thought I was going to actually run him over.  Turning this rig with the toad around takes a bit of space, and I guess he just didn’t think I could do it without causing him bodily harm.  :)  I didn’t think I was going to hit him, but I guess discretion is the better part of valor.  Anyway, once I got out of there and back on the road, I most surely hit my Easy button!  (That was easy!!)

By the time I crossed the border into Mississippi, I was more than ready for a rest area.  Thankfully, the Mississippi Welcome Area was open, and I pulled right in.  The Visitor’s Center kind of gives you the impression of a plantation building. 

It was quite the place, and after I told the woman behind the desk that I would be in lower Mississippi for three months, she fairly loaded me up with magazines and pamphlets on things to see and do while I’m here.  That’s just what I wanted.

There were quite a few rooms in this Welcome Center, and they were all decorated for the upcoming Mardi Gras.  Such extravagant beaded costumes were on display!  I just can’t imagine wearing them.

 

After calling my friends, who are volunteering at the refuge already, I got back on the road with only about 60 miles to go.  My journey today was about 217 miles long, and I was thrilled that Denny Youngquist was waiting for me at the entrance to the RV pads to guide me in.  Denny, and his wife Fonda, volunteered with me at Anahuac.  It’s just one of those coincidences that we all chose this refuge to volunteer at now.  They’ve been here a month already, and made sure there was a site big enough for my rig.  Denny is a pro at backing up rigs, so I was happy when he put mine just where it needed to be on the first try.  :)  Oh yes, it’s nice to have friends.  Since the site isn’t exactly level, he also made me some blocks to put under two of the hydraulic levelers, so everything is very level tonight.  Tomorrow I’ll tackle the DISH and some other set up things outside to make this my home for the next three months.

 

Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later,  Judy  

Billy Thibodaux's Premiere RV

With an early knock on the door this morning, I was informed that they were going to move the rig out from under the huge canopy to a full hookup site.  All that remained for work on the rig was a test drive to make sure everything was up to snuff.  I scrambled to get everything put away, and pull in the slides.  It only took me about 15 minutes, and I was ready. 

 

After the move, and about an hour later, Billy came by and asked me to join him for the test drive.  It’s the first time I’ve been a passenger and not the driver!  For the test drive, he made his way to a propane filling station so I could get the rig’s propane tank filled up.  How cool is that?  I’ve been running off of the main tank since I’ve been here, and knew I’d have to stop somewhere along the way to Mississippi to have the tank topped off.  Now, that’s taken care of.

The test drive went well, and when we returned I did a load of laundry to be sure everything with the new washer/dryer was in order.  It worked like a charm and didn’t shake the rig to bits like the last one did.  Just before lunch, I went in to settle up the bill.  I’m glad I was sitting down at the time!  :)  Actually, with everything I had done, it turned out to be right about what I expected, and it turned out that if I wrote a check, about $200 was deducted from the bill as opposed to using a charge card or debit card.  Of course, I wrote a check.

Here’s the happy crew of Billy Thibodeaux’s Premiere RV.  Some of the guys were already gone by the time I took these pics, but you can see my main man, Corey, in the center.  He did most of the work on my rig.  Donna and Helen, the office crew, are in the top left.  Billy and his wife, Helen are in the bottom left, and, Lady, the official welcome committee is on the right.

 

In the afternoon, I snuck out to do some much needed grocery shopping.  First, I stopped at Don’s Specialty Meats in Scott, LA, to pick up some local favorite meats that I put in the freezer.  My stomach can’t handle them yet, but I sure wanted to try some Boudin and a few other things.  I had to pass on the Cracklins, but I’ll try them the next time I come through here.  I was gone about two hours, and that was about my limit for today.

 

After closing hour, I had an appointment to meet with Corey’s cousin, Colby.  He helped Corey with the installation of the fridge.

Colby is a freshman at the University of Louisiana with a major in Industrial Technology, and had asked me on Tuesday if he could interview me.  For his English class, he has to write a compare and contrast essay on his home life and someone with a totally different home life.  I guess I fit the bill for that.  :)  We spent an enjoyable hour together, and I think he’s kind of excited about the fact that no one else in his class will be interviewing an RV fulltimer!

 

My plans for tomorrow are to hit the road shortly after nine, and drive about 160 miles to Mississippi Sandhill Crane NWR.  I’ll have to forego my trip to New Orleans for now, but I’m just not up to much sight seeing at the moment.  I hope to spend a few days recuperating at the refuge before my next volunteer assignment begins next Tuesday.

 

Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later,  Judy

How did I know?

At the end of my post, yesterday, I mentioned that a second year female (in my opinion) Cooper’s hawk was trapped inside the National Library in Washington DC.  Well, tonight, on the NBC National Evening News a follow up story reported that the juvenile female Cooper’s hawk had been trapped and moved to a rehabilitation facility.  So, how did I know the age and sex of this bird from watching the news?  Stay tuned, and I’ll let you know.  :)

The bird flying around the library was similar to these two pics that I took outside the VIS at Anahuac.  While not my best bird shots, they will suffice to explain my identification.  First, I determined the sex by the size of the bird.  Cooper’s hawks are accipiters with short rounded wings, and a relatively long tail.  The females of this species are decidedly larger than the males.  Now for the age part.  The bird in the newscast and this bird were born last year; hence they are in their second calendar year.  I know that because of the striping of the feathers on the breast.  A first or second year bird will have brown vertical stripes on breast feathers.  Older birds, after a late summer molt will have reddish orange horizontal stripes on the breast and gray wings and back.  Another feature not seen in my pics or on the news video is the color of the eye.  Young birds have a yellow eye, and adult birds have a red eye.  I have read that up to 80% of young birds don’t live through their first year.  Many make mistakes, like flying inside of a library where usually there aren’t any small birds to eat.  :)  (bird brains, maybe:))

 

I was actually feeling a bit better this morning, and as the day progressed, I didn’t seem to regress.  Thank goodness!  The electrical problem with the toad lights was solved, and the new washer/dryer was installed amazingly quickly.  There are just a few wrap up things to take care of tomorrow, including the bill.  I’m feeling better, but the thought of hooking up and driving down the road tomorrow was something I wasn’t sure I was ready for.  As I began to bring this up with the owners, they assured me that I could stay as long as I needed to before I pulled out.  What a relief.  I need at least another day of recuperation before tackling the rigors of the road.  I’ll let you know tomorrow if it looks like I’ll have to sell pencils on the side of the road, or rob a bank.  :)

 

Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later,  Judy

Still down and out in Louisiana :(

After spending most of yesterday on the couch, and getting a pretty good night’s sleep, I felt a little better when I got up.  As the morning wore on, however, the lower abdominal pains returned.  I had asked the crew here at Premier RV not to work on my rig yesterday, and they honored my wishes.  After checking this morning to see if I was still alive,  :), they continued the last few things to finish up the fridge installation.

After securing the fridge so it won’t pop out of it’s hole while I’m driving down the road, Cory, installed this little lock in the top of the freezer.  When traveling, I will push this lock down all the way.  At rest, the post comes out.

I will place this strip of Velcro around the door handles for the  same effect.  Then he began to work on the electrical problem.  I can’t seem to get the lights (brake, turn, etc.) to work on the toad.  I think he’s getting a little heartburn over this challenge.

 

 

Cory also worked on getting the drawer below the fridge to work properly.  He is so meticulous!  The inside flooring for the fridge had to be lowered to fit the new one in.  The drawer still worked, but was slightly off kilter, and there was no longer any latch.  He lowered the face of the drawer, leveled the drawer slides, and cut out a notch in the back of the drawer so that the latch could be reinstalled.  The fridge and drawer are good to go.  It is my feeling that Universal RV in Minnesota would not have taken the time to bother with this detail since the drawer did slide in and out!

 

Tomorrow, I think he’ll continue on solving the electrical problem and probably install the new washer/dryer replacement.  I know I’m going to have a whopper of a bill, but being able to watch most of the work being done, I feel I’m being well taken care of.  They also found a way to dump my tanks for me today since they knew I was struggling to walk around.

 

Listening to the news this evening, two things caught my attention.  First, there is a Cooper’s hawk that is flying around inside the National Library in Washington, DC.  They can’t get it out, so they have called in experts from the National Fish and Wildlife Service.  That’s who I mainly volunteer for.  By the video I saw, my guess is it is a second year female.  :)

 

Secondly, the local weather man said we had about 2” of rain yesterday and today, and that the crawfish fields are being replenished.  In my travels around the country, that’s the first time I’ve heard a report on crawfish fields!  :)  I think I’d better get back to the couch…

 

Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later,  Judy

Ugh!

There have only been two days in the 4 1/2 years that I’ve been on the road that I physically felt like crap.  Today was day number two!  I spent a good share of the day lying down on the couch covered with blankets.  I just couldn’t get warm, and my belly was giving me fits.  You know how it is when even the hairs on your arms ache?  Well, that was me today.

I’m sure Emma has no idea what’s going on.  I was able to take her out several times for short airings today, but that’s it.  You know something is wrong when I watch football all afternoon.  Of course, the Bears lost.  I’ll probably even suffer through the Steelers’ game tonight since my oldest son is a big fan of the Steelers.

I was hoping RICK could tell me why I suddenly can’t get my header picture to fill the screen as I’ve always done before?  Is this a Blogger glitch at the moment?

I hope I feel better tomorrow so I can go grocery shopping and maybe visit the Tabasco factory.  That’s it for tonight.  I’m going to try to get a little soup down.  :(

Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later,  Judy

Louisiana road trip

Since it’s the weekend, and no work will be done on the rig, I decided a road trip was in order for Emma and me.  Once the sun melted the frost on the windshield (I no long own a scraper:)), we headed out for Atchafalaya National Wildlife Refuge that is located between Lafayette and Baton Rouge, LA.  I stopped at two different Visitor’s Centers along the way, and I must say that Louisiana visitor’s centers are exceptional.  They have movies, displays, and many knowledgeable folks manning the desks to answer questions.  I was really impressed.  At my second VC, I got the directions to find the refuge. 

 

Perhaps many of you have driven I-10 between Lafayette and Baton Rouge, but this was my first experience of the, I think, 18 mile long bridge through the swamps.  Wow!  I wish I could have stopped to admire the views, but there aren’t any pull offs.  Anyway, I then took LA 975 for 17 miles down a gravel road.  On my left was a levy, and on my right was woods.  I never saw a sign for the refuge, and being winter there really wasn’t anything worth photographing.  I guess this is one of those refuges that few people other than hunters visit.  Bummer.

As we headed back towards the rig, I made a detour through Breaux Bridge and decided to visit Lake Martin.  One of the folks at the second visitor’s center said you could drive completely around the lake and see some swamp area close up.  Turns out you can’t drive all the way around Lake Martin, but I did come upon a Nature Conservancy preserve.

There was an inviting boardwalk through the cypress swamp, so off we went.

The sun was behind us, so it provided some nice reflections in the bright, sunny, but chilly afternoon.

In the spring and summer, Cypress Island Preserve has many alligators that can be observed from this boardwalk. 

We didn’t see any, but Emma was certainly trying to find something interesting.  I’m going to have to look at the weather forecast because I’m thinking I’d like to take a swamp tour, maybe on Monday.  I’m fascinated by these cypress swamps.  I imagine they will just be teaming with life in a couple of months.

 

Tomorrow, I suppose I should do the Tabasco factory tour since I’m in the area.  I also plan to do some grocery shopping to plump up the empty shelves in the new fridge.  :)  Emma will have to stay home and hold down the fort!

 

Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later,  Judy

Reefer update…part two

Bright and early this morning, Cory, was back to do the prep work for the installation of the new fridge.  The first thing he did was notice how I had covered up the vent with plastic wrap and the thick towel.  I think he was impressed, as he didn’t think it was going to get so cold last night.  He also began to refer to me as MacGyver.  That made me think of Dennis and Donna at CAVE DWELLINGS, and Donna’s comment about being vertically challenged.  It’s funny, but I have always thought of Donna as being rather tall and statuesque!  Just from reading her blog and seeing some pictures, I figured she was about 5’9”.  I don’t consider that short.  I’m probably around 5’2” these days (you do shrink with age:)), so this surprised me.  Anyway, I digress…

After doing all sorts of measuring, Cory built this flooring platform for the new fridge, and found a way to run an electrical line to my inverter in the subfloor.  I’m not very good with technical jargon, so I hope you’ll give me some leeway with my descriptions tonight as I try to answer several of the questions that readers asked in last night’s comments.  That took almost all day to accomplish.  Cory is obviously one of those people that has an eye for detail as he even painted the front of the fridge flooring black to be more aesthetically pleasing once the fridge was moved in. 

Just before 4:00, the move began.  It took three men to hoist it up into position.  That’s the owner, Billy Thibodeaux, in the back with his son, Cory, in the middle, and cousin Colby in front.  I told you this business was a family affair.  :)

Cory hopped outside to do the plug in and make some final adjustments as it was pushed into place.  There were a few slight glitches, but in the end Cory’s knowledge and perfectionism ruled…

and this was the result.  The fridge is installed, and I still have my pots and pans drawer underneath!  Yes, it is frost free (hooray!!).  It is connected to my inverter, so I can run it off of battery power.  It also weighs far less than the Norcold reefer, and I’ve been told has better insulation.  The temperature remains at a constant 38* in the frig portion and –2* in the freezer.  If I was a big fan of ice cream, I’m thinking it would be rock hard!  It has 17.8 cubic feet of space, and, most importantly for me, won’t ignite and burn the rig down.  That’s the plus things about it.

 

Now, after having it in place for a whole three hours, here are minus things for me so far.  Considering my height, or lack there of, I probably should have eliminated the pots and pans drawer and had it dropped lower.  The top of the freezer comes to about 4” above my waist, so the top shelves of the fridge will remain a challenge.  Since it is just me, I always keep my bread in the fridge to prolong it’s life.  Bread will now occupy the top shelf along with seldom used items!

In my almost five years on the road, I can count on one hand the number of times that I’ve had the former reefer on gas, so that was not a big loss for me.  Having the fridge, an electric space heater, and the TV turned on last night at the same time did not trip the breaker for the inverter, so Cory assures me that this shouldn’t be a problem if I don’t have electric hookups.  I just don’t know how long the batteries would last.  I’m sure not long were I to use all these items.  My alternatives would be to run the generator or eliminate the TV and heater.  I’m used to that.  My last rig didn’t even have an inverter, so since I don’t boondock very much, I think this will not be a problem for me.   Also, in all my travels before I went fulltime and since, I have never traveled with the fridge on while I’m moving down the road.  It’s just not something I do.  The doors remain closed, and the unit remains cold.  I think this has covered about all of the inquiries except one…

e…Donna asked if I had a designated wine chilling drawer.  Well, no, Donna, but if you look closely you will see a bottle of Bailey’s Irish Cream lying on it’s side.  Does that count?  I suppose I could use one of those empty vegetable bins for that purpose.  :)

 

When Billy, the owner, came in to help with the final push into place, he said that he was working on an estimate for someone that had read my blog and wanted a frig installed.  Can you believe that?  Well, I immediately said that since I had written the post I should receive a  10% advertising discount!  Cory then piped in and said, “Hmm… I think it’s going to take me 10% longer to finish this job!”  Ha Ha!  I think I like this business!

 

Well, if you’ve made it all the way through this post you have a lot of patience…sorry it’s so long.  The guys filled my fresh water tank today because it’s supposed to get down into the 20’s tonight, so I guess I’d better go out and disconnect the water hose.

 

Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later,  Judy

Upgrade update

I stayed at home today so I could supervise (:)) the young guys working on my rig.  The new fridge was delivered late this morning, so Cory, the tech I’ve been working with and son of the owner, started getting things ready for the switch. 

 

If you are at all familiar with how motorhomes are constructed, you might wonder how that switch was going to be accomplished.  Neither the old or the new fridge was going to fit through the door.  Cory felt they would have to take out a set of windows in order to get things done.  I can tell you that I was not crazy about that idea.

The first step was to take the doors off of the new fridge.  Then, after measuring my large window above the dinette booth…

They just pushed it in through the open window!

They were happy with how slick it went, and so was I!  :)

Then Cory put the doors back on, plugged it in, and it started cooling down in the middle of my living area.  While we waited for it to cool some, Cory began the process of getting the old fridge ready to be removed.  It only took about an hour before we could transfer the food from the old to the new.  :)  Notice that this model has the bottom freezer.  Wahoo!

This big hole is what was left after the old fridge was removed.  They had a bit more difficulty getting that heavy thing out, but all went well.

By this time, it was nearing closing time, so they put the outside vent back on and headed out the door.  This also happened to be the time that a strong cold front with rain and whistling northerly winds moved through.  That wind was howling through the outside vent into the rig, so I taped some plastic wrap over the vent and then covered that with a heavy towel.  Duck tape to the rescue once again!  It’s supposed to get down to 30* tonight, so I didn’t want that kind of breeze chilling me out.

 

Tomorrow, the new fridge will go into place.  I’m already loving this new appliance even if it is hording my living room space for a night.  :)  And I’ll sleep better knowing my rig won’t catch on fire.

 

Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later,  Judy

Please let me sit and play…

Before you make me Etouffee!   Crawfish Etouffee is very popular in this neck of the woods.  I’m not crazy about it, but JB had left me a comment about Suire’s Grocery Store and Restaurant, so I decided to head there today for lunch.

What an interesting place this is!  Half of the building is a small grocery store, and the other half houses the eating place.  The menu items for this Cajun cooking restaurant can be found painted on the outside of the building along with caricatures of alligators and turtles.  The grocery side sells popular local items like Cajun pickled quail eggs.  Each of the tables on the eatery side has a checkers board on it.  I ordered my first shrimp Poboy, and sat at a table to wait for my name to be called.  For a place out in the middle of nowhere, you wouldn’t believe how busy it was.  Many working men, clad in rubber boots and covered with mud, either ate inside or just stopped by to pick up their lunch to go.  Today’s special was shrimp etouffee.  It must be good because it was selling like hot cakes!

 

It may have been unusual for a solo “northern” female to stop in for lunch because the lady taking the orders immediately wanted to know about me.  I told her that my friends, John and Brenda, had recommended this place to me as they had been here while they were traveling.  Her response to me was, “Are you one of those RV people?  I just recently heard about people living in their RVs and traveling around the country.  Do you do this alone?”  I told her I traveled with my dog.  :)  She was a little surprised.  The Poboy was excellent, and I enjoyed my lunch stop.

Before I got to Suire’s for lunch, I stopped in the town of Rayne, the Frog Capitol of the World!  I didn’t see any frogs; must be the wrong season, but I did see all the murals with a frog theme painted on the buildings.  The one pictured here is on the police station.  I also stopped to see St. Joseph’s Catholic Church and Cemetery.  As you may know, people are buried above ground in this area of Louisiana.  You can click to enlarge to read the plaque about the skinless frog.

After lunch, I continued down the scenic byway I was driving down.  I can’t say that this scenic byway can compare with the byways of Idaho, but I have to remember that there aren’t any mountains in Louisiana.  :)  I did find a couple of roseate spoonbills and black-necked stilts feeding along the bayous.

This bird used to be called the Louisiana heron; how appropriate!  However, the powers that be in the bird world have decided that it should now be called the tri-colored heron.  Since I’m finally in Louisiana, I’m going to defy convention and call it a Louisiana heron while I’m in this state.  Just call me a wild and crazy gal!  :)

In my travels today, I drove past many flooded fields.  I had a real debate with myself whether these were rice fields or crawfish ponds.  When I got back to the repair place, I asked Helen Thibodaux about them.  She told me they are both.  During the growing season, they are planted with rice.  Then in the winter, they are used to raise crawfish.  Aha!  It made me feel good to have figured out both uses.  I just didn’t know the same fields were used both ways.

                                                                    THE END!!   

 

Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later,  Judy