Moving East (09-20-22)

 Once we were done Jeeping in Colorado, we headed east.

We had a specific destination in mind- New Orleans.  We have been there several times and didn’t necessarily need to go back, but I had a reason.  

I am a diehard New England Patriots football fan, but also a diehard Tom Brady fan, and (Tom) The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were playing the New Orleans Saints on a day we could get there, so we bought tickets and headed in that direction.

 

Our first stop was a repeat visit to our friends Tom and Dianne, on our way out of Colorado.  I was so excited about the fresh veggies from their garden that they were willing to share, that I didn’t get any pictures of Tom and Dianne.  Oh well…we will be back.

Leaving them, it was Labor Day weekend and we snagged a spot at Santa Rosa State Park in New Mexico. We were surprised there was availability at this park on Labor Day weekend, but when we got there and realized the nearby lake is at 7% capacity, we understood why. Instead of swimming, we headed to “The Blue Hole”. 

This is a very small lake- 80 ft in diameter at the surface, and 80 ft deep-its one of the most popular scuba diving destinations in the U.S.  It is a natural artesian well, fed by a spring, with the water cycling out every 6 hours.The water was stunningly beautiful but at 60 degrees I didn’t feel like plunging in,  so we observed for a while and then left to explore the rest of the town.

Our next stop on our way to Louisiana was at our friends’ house in Abilene TX.  Wil is a fraternity brother of Paul’s and we stop and see them whenever we are nearby.  After a terrific dinner our first night, we left them for the day so they could work, and headed to Frontier Texas, a local museum showcasing what the Texas frontier was like, back in the day.

I thought it was interesting that this area was a frontier more than once. Very early on, native Americans peacefully lived in this area, until the Comanche Indians, who had the advantage of access to horses, and the expert ability to ride them, invaded the area and took it over.

It wasn’t long before businessmen from the east discovered that Buffalo hides were valuable and hunted them almost to extinction.  From 40 million strong the buffalo numbers were decimated and they came close to extinction.

The museum had some interesting holographic images of people who told their personal story, that made the history lesson more interesting.

After leaving Wil and Gayle, we spent one night on the road before arriving at Betty’s RV Park in Abbeville LA, for a week.  We have been here once before and I have to say- Betty’s is a unique experience.  Unfortunately for us, this time around, Betty was on vacation, so not there, and in fact, we were the only guests in the RV Park.  Betty did call us twice to make sure we were having a good time. Her friend Brenda filled in for her,and we had a great time getting to know her, and her dog, Hitch.

After a month of being busy in Colorado, we were ready for some “down” time and found it difficult to get moving every morning. We did manage to do a few things in the week we were in Abbeville, but not many-

The most important thing we wanted to do is head to Buck and Johnny’s for a rip-roaring Zydeco breakfast.  The music was awesome, but the service was terrible –so slow that we never got a chance to dance before they closed.  Next time, we will be the first ones in the door.

Our other major outing was to Rip Van Winkle gardens.  This property was originally the home of Joseph Jefferson, who, it is said, played the role of Rip Van Winkle over 5000 times (in the early 1800s), so its no surprise that the gardens are named Rip Van Winkle Gardens.

The property was eventually sold to John Bayless, who soon sold the salt mine beneath the land and lake (to Diamond Crystal), and built a new, expensive home along the banks of the lake.  In 1980 a Texaco drilling rig, located on the lake, pierced the caverns of the salt mine, flooding the entire mine. The resulting vortex swallowed the entire lake, 65 acres of land, 5 barges, 2 drilling rigs, and Bayless’s brand new house.  All that remains of the house is the chimney. Remarkably, no one died.

Paul had heard the story of the vortex, so it was pretty neat to be here and see where it happened, first hand.  When I did a web search, pictures and videos showed up of the actual disaster, but there were no clear pictures worth sharing (google Lake Peigneur disaster). 

The gardens themselves were ok, and included the original house,  but it was clear that we were past peak growing season here.

Pretty much the only other thing we did all week was go out to dinner at a restaurant that had live music.  I had the most relaxing time that I have had in a long time at a restaurant. I told the waitress we were not in a rush and she paced the meal perfectly.

I laughed at the menu, because on one side of it, there was literally nothing I was willing to eat.

But after a beer or two, I did try alligator bites, and determined that they tasted “like chicken”.

There was a one man band, playing music I enjoyed, so the whole night was a “win”.

And then we arrived in New Orleans.

As soon as we bought our tickets to the “Saints” game, we booked an RV park.  It’s only one mile from the Superdome, and we have stayed there before, so we were happy to be walking distance from both the superdome, and Bourbon Street.

We have surprisingly discovered that we are over Bourbon Street, but we did walk to a restaurant on St. Peter’s street called The Gumbo Shop- we both had Jambalaya that was delicious. 

We met several people at the RV park who were also there for the game (mostly Saints fans) and we were happy to hear that they planned to walk to the game as well. Even still, we did a test walk the day before, just to make sure.  It took us 18 minutes to get to the stadium.

I knew this was probably (hopefully?  he needs to retire) the last time I would see Tom Brady play, so we paid to get decent seats.

To our surprise, a “hockey” style fight broke out during the game.  Although not physically involved, I could see from the sidelines, that TB12 was definitely part of the fracas.  

The team, and Brady, didn’t play their best, but they ended with a win, which is mostly what counts, so I was happy.

I promised the couple in this picture that I would share the photo on my blog…..Although they were the ONLY ones standing, and several people behind them had asked them to sit down, they refused, continuing to block everyone’s view.

As far as our trek eastward, the term “in for a penny, in for a pound” came to mind. Our good friends Mike and Julie are spending the summer in North Carolina, a “mere” 800 mile drive from New Orleans, so, yep, we decided to beeline there to spend a week with them before heading back west. 

Yo Yos (06/22/21)

 
These days it seems like Paul and I are yanked in one direction, then yanked back in another, before we have had time to take a breath. Such was the case with our trip to Massachusetts.

We limped into Massachusetts in early June, having broken a leaf spring on the trailer somewhere between Virginia and Mass. I am always grateful that Paul is so handy that he can diagnose and fix many issues with our vehicles.  He ordered the part we needed and had it shipped to the RV park.

Our with plans were to spend time with our son, and family and friends. However, soon after we got there, Paul’s mom in El Paso started having some issues we needed to deal with. Not being sure if we could do it from afar, we made plans to head back to Texas, just to be safe (she has since improved to the point that we don’t have to rush back). 

We gave ourselves a few days to cram in as many visits as we could, and we did pretty well.

We saw our photo-shy son a couple of times, my brother and his wife, my sister, aunt, and my childhood friends….whew. All in a few days.

After we started the trek back, his mom started doing better so we slowed the pace down a bit.

One of the RV Parks we found along the way was Dixie Caverns RV. We only spent one night there but we arrived early enough to take a tour of the cavern.

Although we have seen plenty of caverns in our travels, this one was pretty darn good.

We took a southern route, partly because RV spots would be easier to come by, but also to go through Florida, so that we could stop and say hi to our friends Mike and Julie. We never have a bad time with them and a bonus this time around is that we met their long time friends Deb and Rick.

All too soon we were on our way again, but our next stop was another happy one for me.  A few years ago we spent some time at Myrtle Beach and I fell in love with the idea of swimming in the ocean without going numb-having grown up in the northeast, I only knew about frigid water temperatures. Although Myrtle Beach wasn’t on our route, Gulf Shores, AL was.

The state park we stayed in also has bikes that you can borrow- so we did that early in the day before it got too hot.  We didn’t go very far, only about 5 miles, but it was fun, anyway.

Once we were done with our ride we headed for the beach, where I spent most of the afternoon in the water.

Continuing our slow trek westward, our next stop was New Orleans. We elected to stay at the French Quarter RV Resort- a very pricy resort but it comes with some perks.  Our site has a private outdoor bar, complete with TV, and we can walk to Bourbon Street from here.

Announcing to our family and friends that we were headed to NOLA produced a frenzy of emails, texts and phone calls. Did we know that there was a potential tropical storm headed that way? Yep, we did. That’s probably why the RV park had availability on short notice. We kept an eye on the weather, knowing we might have to hunker down. We did get a fair amount of rain, but very little wind, as the storm shifted east. It was just enough to make it fun sitting outside watching the weather channel.

Knowing the storm was coming, we spent our first night in NOLA on Bourbon Street, looking for live music and Hurricanes (the drink).

Pat O’Brien’s was our first stop (for a decent Hurricane) before heading to other venues for the live music. We found several bars with music we enjoyed, so we had a great evening flitting around from bar to bar. Apparently Bourbon Street just recently reopened, so some of the venues were short on entertainment.

The next day we figured we’d better walk off some of those drinks. so we headed to the waterfront, about a mile or so away. Along the way we stopped at Musical Legends Park for some food and live music. 

We had a lunch of typical New Orleans fare- a frozen Hurricane, Jambalaya, and beignets. I guess we didn’t really walk off the previous night’s drinks.

Next stop: Texas.

A State Fair and a Rodeo (11-6-11)

               The Rodeo was the main attraction of the state fair, as far as I am concerned.  I’ve never  been to one before -which literally shocked some of the people I have met here in Shreveport- until I told them I grew up in Boston.  We got to the fair several hours before the rodeo, so we’d have time to check out the exhibits and test out the food.






 Ordinarily I don’t eat much “carny” food, but this time I  found a website that listed the Top 20 food items at the fair.  Some of them were of no interest to me- crab boudin, Rocky Mountain Oysters (deep fried lamb testicle) and alligator, but others sounded different, and worth trying.   The first thing we tried was Cookie Dough on a Stick- chocolate covered, with pecans.  It was SO sweet, even Paul thought it was sweet.  After wandering the fair for a while longer  we  came across deep fried Jalapeño cheddar cheese sticks, which were delicious, and deep fried macaroni and cheese, which was good as well.  We were up for trying the Stuffed Jalapeños, but every time we walked by, they were out of them.  Just before going in to the rodeo, we forced ourselves to try the Red Velvet Funnel Cake.  We felt stuffed for 2 days!

The Rodeo started in a darkened arena with a single horse and rider carrying the American flag, as a prayer was said and the National Anthem was sung.

There were multiple roping events, which as it turns out, I didn’t enjoy at all.  I liked watching the cowboys trying to rope a calf, right up until they did.  Then I felt bad for the calf.  This picture is of team roping- they both have to get their lasso on the calf in order for it to count,

I did enjoy the bull riding, bronco riding and the bareback bronco riding.  The music that was played during each attempt was fast, loud, and upbeat, adding to the fun of watching.  There was also some great interaction between the announcer and the rodeo clown.

                                                                                                                                                               After bucking off the rider, not all of the animals calmed down quickly-some of them continued to leap around the arena until the cowboys could convince them to exit out the open gate.

The only competition that women can participate in is the barrel racing.  The contestants are timed as they race their horses around 3 barrels and back to the end of the arena.
We stuck around Shreveport this week because we have been too long without our mail and I wanted to get it shipped to us.  Everything arrived today, so we’ll take off on Saturday for our next destination, wherever that is.

Love/Hate (11-04-11)

There are things I love about this lifestyle, and things I hate about it.
What I love about it:  2 days ago, I had my phone in my hand,  and was punching in the numbers to call an RV park in Texarkana, TX to make a reservation. As I am doing this, Paul says “Hey, there is a commercial on TV for the Louisiana State Fair- do a quick google and check it out, will you?”   So I do a quick “google” and I discover that the State Fair is in progress, and it’s in Shreveport, LA, a mere 130 miles from our current location.  After finding an RV park that has room for us, the decision was made, so, here we are in Shreveport, LA. 
   I am pretty excited about being here.   There is a Rodeo on Saturday night, and since I’ve never been to one, it’s been high on my list of Wants.  We now have box seat tickets to tonight’s rodeo. Sweet!  The other bonus is that by being stationary in a commercial park, I was able to get something shipped to me here- which leads me to what I (used to) hate about this lifestyle:
What I hate about it: Lack of internet.  This is one of the biggest issues that full time RVers have to address in some way.  There are many options, some cheap and somewhat unreliable, and some pretty expensive (satellite Internet), with several options in between.  Up to this point, Paul and I have chosen to rely mostly on campground Wi-Fi systems, and when that is unavailable, we tether to my AT&T cell phone. Lately that’s been a problem because apparently I have dropped my phone too many times and the connections are too loose to use to connect it to the PC.  Add to that the fact that AT&T coverage is not what we would like it to be, and my frustration level increases dramatically. AND, the speed of campground Wi-Fi systems slows to a painful crawl as more people try to use it.
    As I mentioned in my last post, at Devil’s Den we had neither cell coverage,nor internet.  Not that I think Verizon is perfect, but I do believe it’s much better than AT&T.  Devil’s Den was last straw for me.  I got on the phone with my personal Verizon Wireless Sales Consultant (who I have been reviewing options with for several months) and told him to ship my new IPAD II!  
The Ipad solves several frustrations for me.  Within hours of receiving it, I had activated a data plan for it through Verizon.  So, last night when the campground Wi-fi slowed to 1mbps, I switched over to my personal Verizon plan and I was back in business!  The other perk is that I will have a better internet connection to do research, as we travel down the road.  No longer will I have to rely on the small screen on my  phone.
And so begins our migration over to Verizon and Apple.

One final day in New Orleans (04-01-11)

        Our last day in New Orleans the weather finally played a role in our plans.  It was cool and drizzly but we knew in advance that it would be that way so we had saved the museum for last.  Last but not least, as they say.  It was a World War II museum that displayed a chronological timeline of the war in a way that was interesting and kept my attention. In fact, we ran out of time and didn't see all the exhibits.  We started by watching the movie to get an overview, and it was awesome.  More than a movie actually, it was a "4-D" experience that started with a spotlight on an old fashioned console radio (like the one we had when we were kids) and the broadcast of a football game.  Then, of course, came the interruption announcing that Pearl Harbor had been attacked. It was mesmerizing.
     I got a better understanding of the absolute enormity of this war and it's impact on everyone. I had heard stories from my parents, but they were both teenagers at the time, so they had a young persons perspective. 
I knew that Japan obviously played a key role in the war but I learned more details about how what they did as a country "pushed" the U.S. into reacting the way it did, both at the beginning of the war and at the end. In 1945 the Japanese people had made clear by their actions that they were all willing to fight to the death to protect their country and their emperor.  They had both sustained  and inflicted incredible losses to that point and American casualties were likely to be in the millions if we proceeded with the planned land invasion.  So, we dropped the atomic bomb instead.  Whether it was right or wrong, it did end the war that had already cost the lives of over 50 million people.
   We couldn't leave New Orleans without a trip down Frenchmen Street.  Unlike the Bourbon Street music venues that loudly compete for your attention, Frenchmen Street is full of smaller jazz clubs quietly inviting you in for a listen. We obliged and listened to Saxophonist Jerry Jumonville and the Jump City Band at La Maison before heading to dinner at the Praline Connection. There were also many street performers here, creating a casual, fun atmosphere.
    So, now we have left New Orleans and headed across Texas towards Oklahoma.  We have about 2 weeks to get to Muncie IN and we've decided to do it by way of OK and Kansas.

NOLA! (3-27-11)



Alane enjoying the serenade at brunch



   NOLA is one of the local nicknames for New Orleans (LouisianA). It's our second time visiting this city, and I can already say I am sure we'll be back again.   This time around has been made more fun by the fact that our friends drove up from Florida to spend a few days here with us.  Neither of them have been here before, so we're having them do more of the "steering" and decision making on what to see.  We have actually managed to cram a lot in during the last few days, and tonight we finally started dragging a bit, so we broke off the sight seeing and we all spent this evening relaxing at our house, eating Paul's Jambalaya.

Steamboat Natchez

     A lot of what we've been doing is related to food, of course.  On their first day here we got reservations at Arnaud's Restaurant for their Jazz Brunch.  The food was great and we enjoyed a relaxing 4 course meal while listening to a "jazz" trio ( it sounded more like Ragtime).  Last night dinner was at Brennan's, one of the premiere restaurants in the city.  There are so many choices of places to eat here, its difficult to decide where to go. Part of the decision is a wallet one though.  Many of the restaurants are quite pricey, but the food  and the ambiance make it worth it.  

strolling through Audubon Park



At midnight last night we headed to Cafe Du Monde to get some beignets, which are French doughnuts.  None of us is used to staying up until 1 AM any more, so I'm pretty sure that's why we were all dragging today!   This afternoon we had Po Boy sandwiches  at Johnny's (like a sub/hero etc).  Paul and Les split a Muffaleta sandwich, one of the popular New Orleans concoctions that includes cold cuts, cheeses, and an olive based salad.  Quite unique. 

Between bouts of eating, we have managed to see a fair amount of the city as well. We took a two hour ride on the steamboat Natchez down the Mississippi River on a day that the weather was perfect for relaxing aboard ship while having the highlights of what we were seeing pointed out to us along the way. We took the trolley (after figuring out how it works) down Canal Street and along St. Charles Avenue, admiring the beautiful homes and gorgeous oak trees of the Garden District. We stopped at Audubon Park near Tulane and Loyola Universities and strolled through the park for a while.



Jackson Sq. street performers



      Of course we have spent some time wandering up and down Bourbon Street and Jackson Square. There are so many street musicians and performers that entertain passersby day and night, it would be difficult to get bored.

Today Alane finally ordered a "walking" drink- a Daiquiri in a plastic cup that she could drink while meandering down the street- just because she could.

    The last time Paul and I were here I debated whether I wanted to go on a "Katrina" tour or not. We decided then not to do the tour, and repeated that decision this time around, but we did go to a museum that houses a Katrina  exhibit as well as a terrific Mardi Gras display.  It was really very chilling to hear the first hand stories from people who lived through the storm, but also incredible to hear the tales of rescue and survival.  The boat on display is one that was used by locals to rescue over 400 people from their homes. At one point there were 39 people in this small boat.

  Right now I am not sure exactly how Paul is managing to sleep.  It's very stormy tonight- in fact there's been a tornado watch most of the evening.  Right now the rain is pelting down creating quite a racket, and the sky is continually lit up with (usually) distant lightning.  Me, I have my camera ready, looking out the back window, just in case I might be able to get a shot of a bolt coming down from the sky.

A little of this, a little of that- Cajun country, LA (3-23-11)









The other day I wrote a post talking about all the "stuff" we did while in Abbeville. It took me hours to write and I was completely dissatisfied with the result. Everytime I read it all I could think of was how disjointed it all sounded. Sometimes a post flows easily, sometimes it doesn't. I guess it proves that I'm certainly not a writer by occupation!! Anyway, after holding it back for two days to see if I like it any better, I am doing the electronic equivalent of shredding it. I pressed Delete.
       Our visit to Abbeville was a little disjointed. There was no Great Adventure, no Wow Outing, just several little side trips that were interesting and informative, but not awesome! So, here's what we did, and what my impressions were.

We took a swamp boat tour with a guy named Bryan Champagne. I love the way he pronounces it -shompowne. He has lived here all his life, and has been giving tours for 18 years, so he really knows the area. Technically it wasn't a swamp tour because by definition, a swamp is not flooded all the time. It dries out periodically, allowing for new trees to start growing. A dam was built here years ago, creating a Lake, so no new trees can pop up here. Also, a bayou is a stream, and is connected to a river, so it isn't a bayou either.

       In our travels, we went to Avery Island, in New Iberia, to the Tabasco Co. factory. The peppers for the sauce are grown both here and in South America, but all Tabasco pepper sauces are made on this island, in this factory. Once the peppers are ripe, they are picked and turned into mash the same day,  and are then stored in oak barrels for 3 years.  They actually get the barrels from Jack Daniels, who, by law, is only allowed to use them once. The insides are removed to remove any tainting from the alcohol. Interesting recycling. It was a very short tour, only about 20 minutes, but they had a store that offered quite a few samples of products, including jalapeno ice cream.  We tried just about everything they offered, but didn't buy anything to bring home.

I've been curious about Cajun (Acadian) history ever since I discovered that my aunt is Acadian.  I've always associated Cajun with lively, fun loving people who love food and music.  I have an aunt who is Acadian, and she is an amazing person.  She always says life should be fun, she treats everyone like a friend, and boy can she cook.  I'd hate to see her food bill because she and my uncle attract so many people to them that they can't remember the last time they didn't have someone show up for dinner.  Seriously, people just show up at their house at all hours of the day. Why? Because they know they'll be welcome, and they know they'll have fun 
       There are several Acadian museums in the Lafayette area so we spent some time checking them out.  The Acadian Cultural Center was really informative about the people, their exile, and their history.  Vermilionville, which is a "living Museum" didn't actually have much life to it and wasn't worth the price of admission, unfortunately. Acadians settled in Louisiana in the mid 1700s after they were forcibly exiled from their home, Acadia, located in present day Nova Scotia. Many were sent to Louisiana, but others were put on ships and sent to Europe, New England, and other parts of Canada.
      I always thought I like Cajun food,  but now I realize I really don't!  I associate Cajun food with spices.  Those I like, but I don't like what they put the spices on.  The menus for local restaurants included things like Shrimp  Etouffee, Crab Au Gratin, alligator (served many ways), Catfish, Crawfish, and oysters.  I tried several different dishes, although I had to finish my Margarita before I could try the Crawfish Etouffee.  There was nothing I would order again.

Betty's RV Park, Abbeville, LA (03-21-11)

    I heard about Betty's RV Park about 2 years ago when we came through Louisiana and didn't have time to stop here. Many people let me know what I missed out on that time, so this time around I made sure we had time to stop by.  Now that I've been here, here's my advice- if you think you want to spend 3 days here, looking around and sightseeing, you better book at least 10 days, because there's so much going on at Betty's that you won't want to miss, that the sightseeing will take a back seat.
     Before we even arrived,  Betty had called me twice.  The first time was a few days before we were due to arrive.  She called to ask me to arrive before 1 pm because everyone had been invited to a party, where there would be live music and free food.  She didn't want to miss out on it and we were invited as well.

The day we were due in, she called early in the day to say there had been a change of plans, and could we arrive by 11 am, because the party had been moved to noon.   We did make it in time to see the Judy Bailey "concert".  Judy was nominated in 1982 for the Country Music Award for New Artist.  She is putting together a new band right now, and wanted an audience for their rehearsing.  She has a phenomenal voice and is a very down to earth person.

   After our afternoon concert, we had a only a short break before the next party.  Judy's aunt had invited everyone at the RV Park (its small- only 17 spots or so) over to her riverside home for a "Big Moon" party.  The moon was closer to the earth than it has been in 35 years, and 17% brighter.  We had a great time at Irene's beautiful home, and it gave us a chance to spend time with the other  people staying at Betty's. Oh, and Judy Bailey was there, so I got to chat with her for a bit.
    Betty is very well connected in this area and there is something going on almost every day.  Yesterday Paul and I went on a swamp tour (more on that another time) and before we left, Betty told us the tour operator would be sending back some alligator meat with us to give to her.  She is cooking it for everyone on Friday at a pot luck dinner.   Sadly, we'll be gone by then.  Today everyone is at a free party at the local Casino- free drinks, lunch, music and dancing.  Paul and I opted out so that we could go exploring on our own.

Lake Charles, LA

Our next stop on our way to New Orleans is Lake Charles, near the Texas border in southern Louisiana. We're staying in the nearby town of Westlake for a few days while we explore the area.
 We would have like to have stayed in Sam Houston Jones State Park but this is the time of year when making reservations becomes more and more necessary, and they had nothing available. We did make a day trip there to hike several trails, for a total of 6 miles.The scenery was impressive- trees, with the spanish moss hanging from them and the tree trunks sitting in several feet of muddy swamp water. We didn't see any alligators that day, but we did see our first live armadillo. I was surprised that there weren't more bugs along the trails because it sure was warm enough, and the humidity here is about 60-70%, quite a difference from the 8% humidity in western Texas.


911 Memorial

 The next day we checked out downtown Lake Charles which has a nice, newly  rebuilt Promendade along the waterfront. There are several beautiful memorials, one of which is dedicated to the local residents lost in the Trade Center buildings on 9/11.


As we drive through the towns and countryside, what really hits us is all the property damage in the area. There are still boats and parts of buildings strewn across fields and bayous. A lot has been done to clean up, but there are many skeletal remains of buildings that may never be rebuilt. When we talk to the locals, they tell stories of the hurricane. But the one they talk about here is Rita. A month after Katrina, Rita ripped through Lake Charles causing over 11 Billion dollars in damage. Street after street we see the empty spots where houses used to stand, with only the concrete slab left behind.

remains of a business destroyed by Rita

Some houses have been replaced already, some are still in the process, and have RVs parked in the driveway as construction continues on the home. We saw one newly constructed home, with a 5th wheel parked in the driveway, sporting a For Sale sign on it. Apparently the house is done, and the RV is no longer needed.

There's a "scenic drive" named Creole Nature Trail that I wanted to check out. Usually when I hear nature trail, I think hiking, but this is a nature trail on steroids- its 180 mile long and passes through at least 3 national wildlife refuges. We packed up the truck with food and fuel, and headed out early in the morning. We didn't drive the whole 180 miles, but we did pass through several of the wildlife refuges, where we could get out and walk some trails. A lot of them were on boardwalks above the bayou, and looking into the water we could see fish, turtles and alligators. On one of our stops, we did a small 3 mile driving loop, which has a requirement that you stay in your vehicle. We started counting alligators and when we got to about 25 or so, we started to understand why we had to stay in the truck! Great photo opportunities though, and really neat to see them in their own "home".