Happy Halloween, again



There are no real people in this picture



 A lot of RV parks have Halloween every weekend in October, and this one is no exception.  Apparently Paul is getting jealous of all the decorations.  I could actually see him trying to stop himself from picking up decorations in the store. Especially the 6 foot inflatable spider that moves it's head.  Three times he went to look at that thing.  Eventually he said he would wait until after Halloween and get it on sale.  We do have about 10 bins of Halloween decorations in storage, but who knew we would want them so badly while on the road?  He did buy some LED lights, as a compromise with himself.

This RV Park has a lot going for it, especially for families.  There seem to be a lot of activites for all


an absolutely adorable "Dorothy"

 ages.  We haven't done all that much, but we did walk the entire park to check out the decorations. It sure is a good thing they close the roads for the trick or treating, since there were hundreds of kids, and their parents, walking the streets on Saturday night.
  We got here on Thursday and will hopefully leave by next Thursday. I haven't been very active, but today I wanted to push it a little, so we went to Sterling State Park, which is on Lake Erie, and walked for about an hour. Afterwards we came back, put our feet up, and watched the Patriots beat the Chargers. All in all, a good day.

hoards of trick or treaters

Lake Erie

What a Welcome to Wisconsin!



the hoards begin to arrive



    On our way to Wisconsin Dells, we broke up the long drive by stopping at a campground in a small town along the way.  What a great idea that was!  When we arrived, we could see that the campground was bustling with activity.  As it turns out, they were having their annual Halloween celebration, which included costume judging and campsite decoration judging.  Many of the 240 campsites were all decked out although, we were caught unaware, and had nothing to decorate with. That was disappointing, since Paul was usually right on top of that stuff when we had a house.  We always had one of the best decorated houses in the neighborhood.

   Once we set up, we set out some chairs to watch the "show".  At 3:00,  it was time for trick or treating, and the people across the way from us were ready for kids of all ages.  There was candy for the kids, and Shots for the parents- shots of "eye of newt" (tequila), and Poison #94 (vodka) among others.  The adults picked a paper from a bowl and took a shot of whatever was on the paper.  Many of the parents were dressed up along with the kids.





the search for jello shots...

  Our busy neighbors were staying at the campground with several friends, some of whom have seasonal sites here, so they know a lot of people.  After chatting across the road with them for a bit, they invited us over to join the festivities and we spent the afternoon with them.  Once the trick or treating was done, we women took off in a golf cart to see if there were any left over jello shots anywhere (there were) and eventually came back so we could  head to someone elses site for a casual dinner and a campfire.  Later there was dancing and Karaoke in the pavilion, and we wandered back and forth between the campfire and the music.  All in all we had a great time and met some really nice people!
    Today we are in Baraboo, at Devils Lake State Park.  Once again we have no cell service, and I can get the internet only once in a while.

New Orleans/Hammond, LA

There were thousands of people walking the streets of the French Quarter on Halloween. I am sure there were parties galore as well, but it seemed like the main idea was to walk up and down the streets, to see and to be seen. Most people were in costume, although we weren't, much to Paul's disappointment. Anyone who knows him knows he LOVES to dress up for halloween. We saw two parades, one of which just kept winding around the streets. There was another one later, nearer to midnight, that was a wedding celebration. At the very last minute we accomplished one of my goals in New Orleans. We found Cafe Du Monde, THE place to get beignets, which are a doughnut, unique to New Orleans. They were very good, similar to Navajo fry bread or fried dough. We also ate dinner at Bubba Gumps, because it sounded like fun. The food was great, which kind of surprised us. The people of New Orleans definately discuss things in terms of "pre Katrina" and "Post Katrina". We didn't see that much of the city outside the French Quarter, which essentially sustained very little damage from the hurricane because its on high ground. The most damaged part, the ninth ward, is where some of the poorest live, which is the part that is below sea level. We drove by parts of it, and it still looks like about every 3rd or 4 th house is abandoned or destroyed and has not been fixed. We have heard that people would love to come back, but can't afford to get back here. The last two days have been pretty stressful. Last week we noticed several problems with the trailer, and we made an appointment for Monday, at a dealership in Hammond, LA, to get them fixed. A couple of the problems were minor and easily taken care of, but two were more serious. We had an issue with water coming in, onto the carpet, when we drove in the rain. Luckily no major damage, and they were able to find the cause and fix it. The other problem is the one that has kept us here . The outside fibreglass, where the front panel meets the side panel, has shifted, breaking the caulking seal that keeps the water out. They thought they had it fixed yesterday by pulling off the outer skin and putting more screws in, to hold everything in place. We didn't make it out of the parking lot before the seal gave way again. There shouldn't be any flexing, especially enough to keep breaking the caulking. There is a possibility that the interior frame is broken, causing everything to shift. Tomorrow they will open it up again and put longer screws in. If it doesn't work, we will have to head to Goshen Indiana to the factory and have them look at it. We would rather do that now, while we are reasonably close, rather than later, when we are in Texas or California. Hopefully the new screws will do the trick- Paul thinks they might. Meantime, the RV dealer has a great setup- sort of a mini campground, with 4 spots that including electric, for new customer orientations. They have let us spend the last two nights here, so they have access to the Everest first thing in the morning, and we don't have to drive anywhere. On the plus side, it saves us a little money on campgrounds! One way or another we should be back on the road to somewhere tomorrow.

New Orleans, LA

The Natchez Trace Pkwy was an easy ride, and probably would have been fun for us to explore, if it hadn’t rained all day the day we were driving it. We did stop at one museum along the way, but that was about it. We also took one wrong turn which was a big mistake. Most of the museums, trails, and scenic views require you to turn into a parking area that isn’t totally visible from the main road. No problem, except, after we made this particular turn into the road to the parking lot there was a sign that said “No RV Turn around”. It would have been more effective if the sign had been visible before the turn off. 30 minutes and many frayed nerves later, Paul finished his 20 point turn and we got out of there. That pretty much soured us on taking any more turns off the main road. We did spend the night at the free campground on the Pkwy and it worked out awesome for us. It was our first FREE night, with no fee! Once we arrived at New Orleans, we were immediately happy with our decision to pay more to stay within walking distance of the French Quarter. The RV Park is the nicest one we’ve been in, with great sites for parking, a great hot tub and pool, and we were greeted by a guy wearing a SUIT! Hahaha. More upscale than we needed but it served our purpose well. Our first night we decided to walk to the French Quarter, just to check it out. Many hours later we staggered back home. We tried a “Hurricane” which is one of the strongest drinks around. Bourbon Street is one of my new favorite places. Similar in spirit to Duval Street in Key West. So much music coming from so many venues! People everywhere, walking down the street with drinks in their hands, wandering from one club to the next. Its so Alive! The weather was perfect for it- in the high 70s. The next day, during the daylight hours we walked to the river front- almost took the ferry over to Algiers, but decided at the last minute to not do it. We walked Canal street, ate lunch at a restaurant in the French Quarter, and headed home to rest up for night time. This time our plan was to walk down to Frenchman Street where most of the Jazz music is played. I don’t know, maybe we were just in the wrong mood, but it was so quiet there, we lost interest after a while, and headed back to Bourbon Street, for another lively evening. Halloween in New Orleans is similar to Mardi Gras, but on a smaller scale. The buildings are decorated, the bars are decorated, there are parades, music, you name it. Eminem performed last night and tonight KISS is performing live downtown. Yesterday we moved to our new park, just outside the city- we’ll take their shuttle into town, then have to take a cab back. We washed the Everest yesterday- took us a loooong time. I have no idea how it got so dirty! Most RV parks won’t let you wash the RV, so we took advantage of the fact that this one does. Today is Halloween so we are headed into town for an early dinner, hopefully we’ll be in time to see the parade…..