Traveling Natchez Trace Parkway

Thursday, April 10^th

(From Vidalia, LA to Riverview RV Park, Vicksburg, MS)

We left Vidalia, LA this morning and crossed the Mississippi River to Natchez, MS and started north from the southern terminus of the Natchez Trace Parkway. 

The Parkway is strictly for residential vehicles and vehicles towing recreational vehicles.  No commercial vehicles whatsoever are allowed on the Parkway.  The maximum speed limit is 50 mph and with the smooth two-lane road it is a very easy, relaxing drive on the historical trace. There are turn-outs fairly often at historical locations which allow nice and easy traffic flow.

We stopped a couple of times at historical sites.  One of those times was to eat a little lunch.  On travel days we like to have easy things like chicken or tuna salad and crackers.  Today was chicken salad.

The drive was very easy going and we traveled about 85 miles of the Parkway today and really enjoyed it.  Originally we had planned to stay a couple of nights near Jackson, MS at a campground very close to the Trace.  But we were looking at the map and realized that Vicksburg was closer than we originally thought. 

I had wanted to sometime stay in Vicksburg and visit some Civil War historical sites.  So we changed our plan and decided to stay at River Town Campground for a couple of nights.  That’s one of the beautiful things about this lifestyle.  We can change plans at any time to do whatever strikes our fancy.

Tomorrow we’re planning to visit the Vicksburg National Military Park.

Well, that’s about it for tonight.

Swamp Tour, Basketball, Traveling and Touring

Wednesday, April 9^th

(Riverview RV Park, Vidalia, LA) Hi 71° F Low 46° F

Today we drove across the Mississippi River and went to the Mississippi Visitor’s Center to get some information on the Natchez Trace. We walked around the center and viewed their historical exhibits. It was interesting learning about the history of Natchez.

We then drove down to the historic section of Natchez, parked in a lot on the river, and did a walking tour of historic Natchez, MS. It was beautiful, sunny, mild weather today. We had a map that guided us around the area. We viewed many historic homes and read several of the historical markers associated with them.











View of the Mississippi River and a couple of steam boats.

 

We stopped for lunch at Fat Mama’s for lunch, home of the "knock-you-naked" Margarita. I tried a local craft beer called Juke Joint. It was an IPA (India Pale Ale) and it was good. Lisa ordered a salad and I had a ham and cheese Po’ Boy sandwich and they were both good as well.

After lunch we walked some more and stopped again for something to drink at the Pig Out Inn. They didn’t have any craft beer so we had a Miller Light. The place smelled great but unfortunately we weren’t hungry.

After we left the historical section we went to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things before we leave tomorrow. We’ll start the Natchez Trace Parkway tomorrow. We’re not sure where we’ll stop each night or for how long. We hope to have internet access so we can keep everyone updated but we’ll have to see.

Well, that’s about it for today.

Thanks for following along.

Tuesday, April 8^th

(Riverview RV Park, Vidalia, LA) Hi 66° F Low 43° F

Today was a travel day for us. We wanted to try to leave by 10 am because the weather forecast called for rain to start between 10 and 11 in the morning. Kathy from California who travels by herself, and Louie and Sherrie from Iowa, also left this morning.

Many of the campers came by to wish us safe travels and say their goodbyes. We’d come to know several of them fairly well during the time we’ve been here at Betty’s.

It sprinkled on us as we were getting ready to leave but by the time we started on the road, the sun had come out and it was getting warm. We pulled out at around 10:30 am and headed toward Vidalia, LA , which is across the Mississippi River from Natchez, MS.

 

View of the Mississippi River from our campsite

It was an easy 3 ½ hour drive and we arrived at the Riverview RV Park at 2 pm. It was threatening rain when we arrived and just after we got parked and set up, a torrential downpour started. We had wind, hail, and lots of rain.

After it stopped raining we drove across the bridge to Natchez, MS and ate dinner at Ruby Tuesday. 

While we were eating it started raining again and the temperature was very cool.

Well, that’s about it for today.

Monday, April 7^th

(Betty’s RV Park, Abbeville, LA)

Today we went to Champagne’s Cajun Swamp Tours in Breaux Bridge, LA to take their
 swamp tour.  It was only us and another couple on the tour.  The other couple was from France and spoke only a little English.

 

It cost $20 per person and lasted two hours.  We boarded an aluminum flat-bottomed boat and left just after 11 am.  It was misting and the temperature was cool when we started out.  The guide said that he thought the sun would be coming out soon after we started. 


Cypress Trees with Spanish Moss

When the sun is out the alligators are more likely to be lying in the open to absorb the heat. If it’s cool they bury themselves in the mud.

He showed us many birds, turtles, and alligators.  Sure enough, the sun came out and so did the alligators.  He would glide very close to them so we could take pictures and watch them. Often they would slip back into the water if we got too close for their comfort. 

 

 



Turtles on a log

The largest alligator we saw was about 12 feet long.

Alligator staring contest

 



One of hundreds of birds we saw

He also took us to a duck blind.  It was built into a U-shape and he pulled the boat right up into it.  The hunters can step out onto narrow platforms and hunt from there.  Sorry I didn’t get a picture of the blind.  I guess I was too busy checking it out.

 

After we returned from the tour we went on down the road to the bird sanctuary.  There were hundreds of different birds nesting there.  We didn’t stay very long but we did take a few pictures.

 

On the way back to Betty’s RV Park we stopped at the grocery store and picked up a few things.  We went ahead and bought more sausage to put into the freezer.

Back at the campground we put things away and prepared for Happy Hour.  It would be our last one here and we wanted to grill some sausages to try them.  We made some red beans and rice and sautéed some onions, green peppers, and mushrooms to go along with the sausage.

Other campers brought Cajun seasoned chicken wings, sausages, and boudin.  Boudin is a combination of cooked rice, pork, onions, green peppers, and seasonings.  I liked all of the food we grilled.  Lisa thought the wings were too spicy and the boudin was ‘OK”.

Afterwards we went over to our RV and watched the NCAA finals on the outside TV. One of the couples, Ron and Beth from San Diego, brought their lawn chairs and settled in with us for the Kentucky/Connecticut game. Ron and I drank some cognac that they had brought.  I thought it was pretty good and would drink it again.

In the first half Connecticut went ahead by 15 points at one time but Kentucky came back to cut their lead to four points at halftime.  In the second half the game stayed much closer but Connecticut hit a couple of timely 3-pointers and all their free throws to eventually win by six points.

That’s all I have to say about that.

 

A Lot of Basketball, Some Seafood and a Bad Time for Power Loss

(Betty’s RV Park, Abbeville, LA) Hi 72° F Low 59° F

Saturday, April 5^th

Well, Saturday was all about NCAA basketball and the Kentucky Wildcats.  While we did manage to get a couple of small projects and some cleaning completed, we had the TV on to keep up with the Final Four coverage.

One of the projects involved replacing a retaining strap that prevented the expandable dinette table from opening during travel.  The plastic strap was attached on one side of the seam and spanned to the other side with a snap.  We couldn’t find a suitable direct replacement so we bought a small, metal hook and latch and replaced the plastic strap system.  We’ll find out how well it works when we get out on the road again this week.

The other project was to replace one of the screws in the shower enclosure.  I had noticed that a few of the screws were starting to rust a little.  Recently one of the screws came loose from one of the two enclosure sections.  I removed it and found that the black self-tapping sheet metal screw wasn’t long enough to properly contact the second enclosure piece.  We bought some stainless steel sheet metal screws and replaced the one I removed. I think it will work well.

Early in the afternoon we settled in to prepare for basketball.  We flipped back and forth between several channels to catch the coverage.  Florida played Connecticut in the first game and Florida lost by ten points.

The second game featured Kentucky against Wisconsin.  The score was very close the entire game but Kentucky hit a three-point shot with 5.7 seconds left to take a one point lead and held on for the win.

Woohoo!! Go Cats!

They’re in the NCAA Championship game to be held Monday evening.  Big Blue Nation is ecstatic.  We received several texts during the game and afterwards – all relating to the UK game.

We had some local drama with 16 seconds left in the game and the score tied.  The power in the campground went off then came back on within a couple of minutes. 

Huh? What happened!?

We were freaking out trying to figure out how to watch or get updates on the game.  When power to the satellite system goes off it takes about 10-12 minutes to reset, perform self-checks, etc, before we can watch TV again.  It was agonizing!

I have the ESPN app on my iPhone and we quickly accessed the live coverage but it was text-type of play-by-play with no video.  So we spent the last 16 seconds of the game hovered around the phone waiting for it to update every few seconds.  The last few seconds dragged on for several real-time minutes and just as the game ended the satellite signal came back on.  They were replaying the last few seconds of the game so we actually were able to experience the rest of the game.

We then watched several segments of different TV shows relating to the NCAA Final Four and Championship game.

Then we went to bed and read for a little while.

That was our Saturday.  I apologize if our activities are concentrated mostly around college basketball, but such is our life around this time of year – especially when the Kentucky Wildcats are still playing.  We love it!

Sunday, April 6^th

(Betty’s RV Park, Abbeville, LA) Hi 77° F Low 62° F

We woke up this morning and had pork chops, eggs and toast for breakfast.  Really good!

We didn’t do a whole lot today either.  We discussed plans for our next destination.  I think we’re going to head from Abbeville, LA to Vidalia, LA on Tuesday.  Vidalia is across the Mississippi River from Natchez, MS.  We’ll probably stay a couple of nights in Vidalia at River View RV Park and then start on the Natchez Trace Parkway.

It was cloudy and looked like it could rain at any minute all day long.

We went to Happy Hour at around 4:30 pm.  Several of us ordered take-out seafood from a place in Erath, LA.  We could order shrimp, crawdads, or a combination of both, along with vegetables.  We didn’t catch the name of the restaurant.  One of the guys staying here at Betty’s went to pick everything up.

Lisa and I shared a shrimp, corn, and potatoes dish.  They were some of the largest shrimp we’ve seen and they were really good.

We talked about college basketball several times throughout the evening with other campers.  One of the new couples live in San Diego but support Michigan State and are very interested in college basketball as well. 

Several of us decided that if the weather cooperates tomorrow night, we’re going to watch the NCAA Finals on our outside TV and grill sausages, chicken and whatever else anyone wants.  Lisa and I will leave Happy Hour a little early to get physically and mentally prepared for it.

Tomorrow we’re planning on taking a swamp tour at Champagne’s Cajun Swamp Tours.  It’s highly recommended by several people here at the campground and Betty herself.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate.  It’s supposed to move out of the area tonight so we’ll see and probably decide in the morning.

That’s about all for tonight.

Thanks for following along.

Rainin’, Readin', & Jammin’

(Betty’s RV Park, Abbeville, LA) Hi 78° F Low 57° F

We woke up this morning to rain and thunder.  We like it when it’s raining in the morning and during the night also.  Every once in a while we don’t mind if it rains all day, as long as it doesn’t rain too hard or the wind is very strong.

We had already planned to make vegetable soup today because the forecast was calling for rain.  We used stew beef and Manda sausage with the vegetables. First we sautéed the stew beef and the sausage, then added the vegetables and seasonings.  We brought it all to a boil then lowered the heat and let it simmer for a few hours.

It thundered and rained all morning, sometimes fairly hard.  It finally stopped around noon or shortly afterwards.  The sun came out and started drying things out a bit. 

At around three pm or so, I went out to the covered deck to read a book out in the fresh air since it unexpectedly turned out to be a really nice afternoon.  We had been expecting rain off and on all day. 

I finished Enigma and started on No Easy Day by Mark Owen.  Lisa is still reading Stillwatch by Mary Higgins Clark.

 

 

Our site is right next to the covered and open decks, which are attached to the office.  Lisa joined me a little later and Happy Hour started a little while after that. 

A few new campers arrived today so Betty had everyone introduce themselves and talk a little about our backgrounds.  Anytime new folks arrive we go through this routine.  It’s fascinating hearing the different stories about who they are, where they came from, and how they got to this point in their lives.

Every once in a while either Lisa or I would come back into the RV to check on and stir the soup, and freshen or refill our drinks.  Boy, the inside of the Land Yacht really smelled good, and the soup tasted better each time we sampled it.

One of the couples staying here play musical instruments and one of the new campers does as well.  During the week that we have been here, there have been several musicians staying at Betty’s RV Park.  There have been a few impromptu jam sessions and they’ve been great.  Tonight was another opportunity for music and they were once again great and very entertaining.

In this picture from left to right are Betty (RV park owner); a lady who sang harmony (from California); one of the new arrivals (from Canada) on guitar; and the couple on the right on the harmonica and guitar, respectively, are a married couple (from Iowa).  The guy on the guitar also plays the Mountain (or Appalachian) Dulcimer.  He was practicing with it earlier and I really liked the way it sounded. Even though, as he explained, he is just learning.



Mountain or Appalachian dulcimer

According to Wikipedia “the Appalachian dulcimer (or mountain dulcimer) is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings. Its origins are in the Appalachian region of the United States. The body extends the length of the fingerboard, and its fretting is generally diatonic.”  Although I read several articles on the instrument don’t ask me to explain anything about it except that I like the sound of it.

 

 

Happy hour was winding down so we retired to the RV.  I caught the last 4 innings of the Cincinnati Reds vs. the New York Mets baseball game. The Reds lost 4-3.  I’m getting warmed up for baseball season so I don’t have very serious withdrawal symptoms from the college basketball season ending on Monday night.

Tomorrow will be all about the NCAA semifinals. Florida plays Connecticut at 5:09 pm, Central time.  Kentucky plays Wisconsin at 7:49 pm.

Go Cats!

True to my word, I’ve been wearing a UK t-shirt and hat every day.  Gotta’ support the team.

Well, that’s about it for tonight.

Thanks for following along.

A Movie and Just Chillin'

(Betty’s RV Park, Abbeville, LA) Hi 84° F, Low 64° F

Wednesday, April 2^nd

We didn’t do a whole lot today.  We mainly hung out at the RV just chillin’.

We went to Happy Hour for a little while before we left to go see a movie.  “Noah” was playing at the Lafitte Cinema here in Abbeville, LA.  We thought it was a good movie although we’ve heard others say they didn’t like it because it didn’t follow the literal version of the Bible.  I don’t expect anything that comes out of Hollywood to follow any story literally.

We read some more in each of the books we are currently reading.  Again, we are able to do much more reading for pleasure than before we retired which is a good thing. Right now I’m reading Enigma by Robert Harris and Lisa is reading Stillwatch by Mary Higgins Clark.

Thursday, April 3^rd

Another day of us not doing much.  I did finish my book this morning.  It was very good and I plan to read more of Robert Harris’ novels.

We have tentative plans for when we leave here next Tuesday.  We’re looking at traveling along the 444 mile-long Natchez Trace from Natchez, MS to Nashville, TN.  It’s an “All-American Road & National Scenic Byway”.  From the Natchez Trace brochure it features “Native American burial mounds to antebellum mansions, placid lakes to Civil War battle sites, nature trails to urban cityscapes”.

We did go to the store and picked up a couple of different brands of sausage as well as other items.  Manda’s and Robies brands of sausage were highly recommended by the locals so we wanted to try them.  If we like either or both we’ll pick up some more and freeze them for later when we’re on the road again.

Each day I watch SportsCenter on ESPN to get caught up with any new developments and news on the NCAA Final Four that’s coming up this Saturday.  The Semifinals are on Saturday and the finals on Monday.

Go Cats!

Several campers left today and a couple more pulled in.  We met the newcomers during Happy Hour.  We introduced ourselves to each other and had a good time.  Many people bring finger foods and appetizers and they are always good.  We’re going to get a recipe from one of the couples that brought a seasoned mix of several kinds of crackers and pretzels. Another couple from Canada is leaving tomorrow and wanted our recipe for bacon-wrapped stuffed chicken.  Later this evening I printed it out and took it to them.

It’s supposed to start raining late tonight and there’s a chance of rain each day through Sunday.

I’ll write again soon.

Thanks for following.

It's Happy Hour!

(Betty’s RV Park, Abbeville, LA) Hi 78° F, Low 64° F

Alright...I had to call DirecTV because the local TV channels were not working.  So I called DirecTV and I was transferred to several different personnel for about a hour.  I don’t want to tell you about all of the problems on the phone call.  Anyway, I finally got the problems solved so we have the local channels now.

Then we went to Walmart because yesterday they charged one of our items twice. So while there we picked up a few other things.




The open side of the patio

We also went the happy hour and talked and socialized with several folks for about three hours.  Most of  the other campers are full-timing also.  Several of the folks have been to many places like Mexico, Alaska, Colorado, and many other states and areas.  It was great talking with them about their experiences.

The covered portion of the patio

One of the guys was sipping whiskey and we shared some Buffalo Trace bourbon whiskey that is produce in Franklin County, KY. It was the first time he's tried it and he really enjoyed it.  He and his wife are planning to stay at Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY later this month and he wants to purchase a bottle or two when they are in the Lexington area.




So, this was another good day.