6/10/2016
Shortly after I made the last post, a man knocks on our door and advises us that there is a mandatory evacuation being implemented immediately. So, being the ever pessimist that I am, I went looking for confirmation. Sure enough, at 730 at night, they are kicking us out of the campground, even though TS Colin is a 1000 miles away or more. So, we pack up & disconnect, hook up the car and head out. We stopped at the front office and are issued a refund for the night and we are off. There is very little traffic but as the sun sets, we are ever vigilant of wildlife and drive north, away from the coast. About 10 pm, we find a rest area on I-10 that has a place for us and stop for the night. I have been giving this a lot of thought. TS Colin turned out to be a nothing storm. Florida Governor Rick Scott, in his crazy thinking, decided to declare a "State of Emergency" for a storm that had sustained wind of 25 mph...are you kidding me? So, the people at the State Park we are at had no choice but boot us out, at 8 at night, and place us in an ugly position for nothing because some bureaucrat decided to look at this thing like a practice for the real thing...remember the story about the boy who called wolf too often? A very poor decision was made that put us in a position we should not have been placed. Telling us to be prepared to evacuate first thing in the morning would have made way more sense. We woke up in the am to a steady rain that stopped an hour later, no wind, no lightning, no storm. We ate some breakfast and continued west. We called our next stop and confirmed they were open...yep, it had rained a bit but there was no issues...another reason to love our Goofy Gov.
We arrived in Pensacola and drove the 20 miles or so to the extreme SW corner of town, Big Lagoon State Park is located only a couple miles from Alabama. Because we drove the first 110 miles last night, the drive is pretty short and we arrive before check out/in time. We found a place to park the motor home, disconnect the car and go exploring. We get the lay of the land and go park the MH. We got all organized and went for another ride, checking out the other State Parks in the area and the beaches too. The surfers are having fun with the whipped up Gulf, as the surf is pretty unusually high. Then we stopped at a recommended restaurant for dinner...we have been warned about yellow biting flies at dusk, so we decide to forego cooking dinner outside. We headed back & spent the evening in the camper soaking up the A/C and watching some TV. It was a relaxing evening.
The next morning, we head out, going to check out the Pensacola Naval Base and the Naval Aircraft Museum not far away. We spent the rest of the day there, nice tour. Our guide spent 25 years flying Naval aircraft and had a lot of fun stories to share. Having spent time on the USS Kitty Hawk in 1993, a lot of the displays had special meaning. And being there just a few days after the Blue Angels had a pilot fatality, their first since 2007, things were pretty solemn too. But we thoroughly enjoyed the day and decided we will return again...it is a cool place. We tried a different place for dinner...nicer view of the sunset. It always amazes us how places like Pensacola has such few places to sit by the water. But finding a place that has a view of the sunset is even rarer it seems.
The next morning, we packed up, and headed west again. We were going to take a more scenic route via a ferry through Fort Morgan, AL & Dauphin Island. We called ahead and learned that they were not accepting RVs, likely because of high surf. So we changed our plans and went through Mobile, AL on I-10. So we were in 4 states in about 4 hours. Our next home will be a State Park SW of New Orleans, south across the Mississippi from town. We stayed at Bayou Segnette State Park in 2001 and have decided to return. There are big changes here in the last 15 years, and the changes are all good...nice roomy sites, 50 amps of power, free Wi-Fi and 25 minutes from the French Quarter. We got here about 3 pm & spent the afternoon at the camper, pulled the grill out and had a nice steak dinner. After dinner, we spent a few hours planning the next few days & watching TV. Yesterday, we went into New Orleans, went on a 2 hour cruise on the Mississippi and the steamship Natchez and then spent a few hours on Bourbon St. It is a lot like Key West, only not as clean. It is an interesting city. A lot of our memories from Feb 2012 came back...been here quite a few times earlier too. The recovery from Katrina is complete. But it is still New Orleans...that never changes.
Today, we drove back to the same parking lot we parked in yesterday...$18 for 5 hrs yesterday, $22 for 3 hours today, same lot, same car...different day...weird. We walked across the street to the Jean Lafitte National Park Visitor's Center. From 1230 to 130, 6 cool folks (3 of them Park Rangers) played some Blues & Jazz in the courtyard of the Visitor's Center...nice way to spend an hour. Then we walked through the displays at the visitor's center. The Jean Lafitte National is actually 6 different places all around New Orleans & surrounding area. So, we drove out of town a ways to one of them, the location of the final battle of the War of 1812, located at Chalmette Sugar Plantation, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_New_Orleans, fought in Jan 1815. It was the most lopsided loss for the British and essentially ended the war. There is also a National Cemetery there with 15,000 graves, Then we drove across town to the Barataria Preserve, which is very close to the campground we are in. Because of Friday afternoon traffic, we didn't get to see much of the Preserve, but we did find it and figured out where it is for the next visit to the area, whenever that is.
Tomorrow morning we are moving west again, to Lake Charles, LA for 2 nights...then Texas for 27 nights, stand by, lots coming up.
Steve & Barb Larson
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| The rough surf in Perdido Beach from TS Colin |
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| Tranquil setting just 5 miles away |
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| Near Pensacola Naval Base |
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| Pensacola Naval Aviation Museum |
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| Our tour guide who flew Navy Planes for 25 years |
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| Home of the Blue Angles |
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| Fat Albert transporting the body home of the Blue Angles pilot |
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| Sunset at the Sunset Grill |
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| The tunnel under Mobile Bay |
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| The ride through New Orleans |
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| Steamship Natchez |
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| New Orleans from the river |
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| Entertainment on Bourbon Street |
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| The Memorial at the Battlefield |
