I spent last night in a regular bed again. Felt so good to be completely flat! The camper bed is a little high up for me.

Today will be church and then brunch at Delanie and Kyle’s.

Brunch was awesome- best biscuits and gravy I’ve ever had!

Except Marty. Marty kinda looks like he’s already seen a lotta cows in his day.

It threatened big rain, so we had to turn around before the cows, but still had a lovely ride!

So when we got home we sat out back till sundown,

then watched “Cheap Irish Houses” with Maggie Malloy and Kieran McCarthy. I give it 2 thumbs up. There’s a lotta cheap moldy houses in Ireland and people LOVE them!

They call it “the damp”. And they never seem very worried about it even if it’s growing with green algae on the kitchen walls!

My plan today is to hit another spring on the way to Marty’s house. At the moment though I am freaked out because I look really sunburned

I have looked on the web and it says Madison Blue is closed due to high water. I’m going to check it out anyways:

Well Madison Blue is flooded. I’ll have to visit another time. How about Famouth Springs?

Springs are a bust today- and it’s ok! That’s part of REAL Florida too. There was an all- night rainstorm last week up here, and the Withlacoochee and Suwaneee Rivers have overflowed their banks.

Tannic water is actually fine to swim in, if it’s not cloudy. Like swimming in iced tea!

On to Lake City to stay with Marty and Paula for a couple days. Marty, I promise I will not hit your air conditioner this time. Or your fence. I’m looking forward to meeting my Great Niece (grand- niece?) June.

I just learned a neat tool from Marty. To check river water levels, type “srwmd river levels” into google and select the top hit.

I didn’t sleep great last night- I am ready to get home, I think. I am also feeling out of shape from all the driving. Let’s go for a bike ride!

The mental process around trying new things is intense for me. Going for a bike ride in a new place feels dangerous. Guess I’d better wear my helmet. I am also trying new things with Google Maps. In New Orleans I used the walking map. Here, I will use the biking map.

I wanted to get exercise and scope out the park to see if my camper was allowed. My primary motivation was, however the fact that I hauled the doggone bike all the way to Texas and back, so part of the motivation was just me being stubborn to justify packing the thing. Ok now enough chitchat! Choosing safety, I pulled way off into the grass if I heard a truck or car behind me. Note to self: rear view mirrors for the bike! The trip was easy, and pretty safe. WELLLLL- Kinda safe. Ok – I found myself wishing there was at least a sidewalk. Having trucks come up from behind is just creepy. Note to self: I need rear view mirrors for the bike.

I was really quite resistant in my mind to doing this. Fear is something I bump into all the time- and just on the other side of it is almost always fun! I DO need a little extra time, sometimes, to figure out my “how”, and I am always kind to myself when I make a mistake.

Another note to self: phone holder for bike 🤓

Final bike note to self: if Google Maps tells you 6 minutes, be ready for 30. Next stop : Ponce de Leon Springs State Park! The bike ride was pretty warm- I’ve earned a swim.

This place is magical. I highly recommend you visit! You can easily spend a whole day here. Just bring a picnic!

14 MILLION gallons of water per day come out of this spring. There are 2 underground flow sources from the Aquifer that join in a cave below, and the the water jets out of the limestone cave into the basin. The Florida Aquifer is a wonder.

Not terrified enough to miss this selfie.

I stay a little too long, but don’t regret it. I brew a cup of half caf to help with the drive. Such a little old lady I am! Onward to spend the night at the Jennings KOA.

Well, I slept in this morning. it was glorious.

Then, an even more glorious shower. I’m really enjoying the new camper! there are lots of housekeeping items like emptying the dirty waters and filling up the clean, put away dishes etc and get ready to hop on the road! As I’m leaving the campsite, I see a young guy stopped in the middle of the road to remove a dead cat. This makes me really sad. About 2 minutes into the drive, I hear a soft “snick”.

I had made sure it was secure- all I can think is that the deadbolt is required. At least I had the bungees tied well! I pulled over easily and got it fixed up. Since I’m in Mobile, AL I decide upon a Jimmy Buffett playlist for the drive. Yay!!!! That’ll help!

Pretty soon Kitty and I are going again, singing along with Jimmy at the top of our voices. the playlist plops in an unexpected delight:

I am now giggling uncontrollably. I highly recommend this song. This is pretty weird after dead cat and sad guy. And the stupid door. But it does make me feel better. This is some sort of paradox in my personality, but at the moment I really don’t care to figure it out. Best not to get too morbid over reminders that life is cheap.

I am shouting out the songs now, singing every single word to “Cheeseburger in Paradise”.

Knowing his music, I’m pretty sure he recovered from alcohol at some point. I sing along almost every word from every song, for the next 2 hours. You’d be REALLY tired of camping with me if you were here today.

I sang so hard I even missed a turn after Mobile. “Volcano”. “Fins”. “Mañana”. “Tin Cup Chalice”. “Pencil Thin Mustache”, and more! My most fun and formative years of high school and young adulthood were lived with Jimmy playing in the background, all the time. I even went to Green Turtle Cay in the Bahamas with my friend, Betsy Lowe when I was 17! I was already wearing an engagement ring when I went. (Seemed like a good idea at that time🤨😉😊)we spent a lot of time here:

Those were glory days. Miss Emily and the MacKenzie brothers were wonderful. I had my first Goombay Smash there.

My glory today upon arriving was checking this:

Rule # 2- ALWAYS check the oil on your camper. My big project upon getting home will be to get all this clean:

When we started the trip I mentioned to Susan that this thing was going to get dirty. She replied: “Just take it to a truck wash!” I am flabbergasted. I didn’t know there was such a thing! I ask her how much it costs, and she tells me $90. Now I’m flabbergasted again. Too much money!!

Now it seems like a bargain.

Return trips are always a little bittersweet because I see many, many more fun things to do than I have time for.

At that moment she was asking: “Where’s my breakfast?”

Don’t care! And, why are they called t- shirts? What does the T stand for?

The drive through Mississippi is uneventful except for this:

Turns out marsh fires are pretty common here. This wildfire smoke map shows several burning just east of Slidell:

I’m back on Dauphin Island with Simon and Leanne. It’s my first return to any rv park, and they greet me, smiling and friendly, from their golf cart.

The air smells good and sweet here.

When I arrived yesterday, people in the office were shouting on the radio about the water. City of New Orleans apparently had a big water main break, which led to a lot of unhappy campers. I am fine with it- I filled up at Lake Arthur. Rule # 1 of camping: keep the water and gas tanks full and the pooper empty. Speaking of water…

The campsite is great, RIGHT on the water!

I have made dinner reservations at the August French restaurant. Tried for the Commander’s Palace, but they were all booked up.

https://www.restaurantaugust.com/

I decided to treat myself to their tasting menu. Very French!

I have also planned to walk, after, to the St Louis Cathedral, Preservation Hall, and possibly any museum that’s open late.

I have ordered more drinking water, (thank you, Instacart!) and just gave kitty her bath.

I really like my Lyft Driver. Her name is Faiza, and she will pick me up again when I’m done in the city! Lyft has a feature called “Lyft Pink” where you can set a preference for a woman driver, if available. Faiza and I talk and talk on the way in. She is an instant new friend. She came here from New York after Katrina to be close to her parents. She has 3 boys. She is in an arranged marriage, and is deeply contented. I think this is pretty cool. When Rita hit, they had $35k in damage, but insurance only paid $15k. She tells me there is a ball game tonight, and I should get out by 9. I tell her I wish she could pick me up, so she gave me her cell #, and said to just text her 20 minutes ahead.

I have ordered the chef’s tasting menu. Seriously, haven’t been this excited about dinner in years!

I will spare you photos of everything I ate, but this meal was one to remember.

This was served in a dry-ice swirl of smoke. Truly spectacular.

When dessert came out, I was being silly and asked the waitress which Bayou the driftwood came from. Suddenly the tiny Beignet rolled off and fell on the table. We giggled pretty hard about that. Then she said it was the Voodoo. 😂😂😂 ok, so I did do a few foodie pics.

Dinner was 2 hours of pure food entertainment. Now a walk.

Except he keeps stopping to talk to people. He talks more than he plays.

You may have noticed that the trip has sounded pretty idyllic so far. I’m afraid it’s time to set the record straight. 1) The door.

We are flying down the road and it flies open!! AAAHH! AAAHH! Susan is driving, kids are buckled in safely, and I’m buckled in with dog in my lap, and immediate instinct is to jump up and close it. This is terrifying. There is road noise and open road going past our open door. Of course as soon as I put Kitty down I realize THAT is a big mistake. Luckily Susan had already slowed down and she grabbed Kitty by the fur. I pull the door shut and lock it again, and about an hour later it happens again. We are now seasoned open door veterans. I had already tied Kitty to the chair in case it happened again. Each time it happened, we learned a little more mechanically, about why it was happening.

Actually it’s a fail no matter what. We learn that the lock doesn’t line up, and just exactly how to pull on it to get it shut. And also how to test that after shutting and locking. It happened one more time after I dropped the kids at Dallas, and on the phone with Susan we came up with this idea:

Needless to say I have started a Claim with the manufacturer.

2) these mysterious hanging wire things:

What are they for? Why are they dragging, what will fail if they’re wrecked? Inquiring minds want to know. I love duct tape too.

Wow. I’m gonna need a second cup of half- caf to get through sharing all this.

3) the day we fed Bernie too many blueberries.

Car seats are a pretty tight fit. So are diapers. When we finally reach our destination I see Bernie putting something in his mouth. The gigantic blueberry poop blowout had extruded out the diaper, unbeknownst to us, while driving. It’s a blueberry extravaganza. Almost as horrifying as the door.

4) The drunken Yeti man at Waxahatchie. this is not an actual photo of him but pretty close on the facial hair. He did not have happy eyes, and he was older and drunker.

Susan was trying to nap and I was outside having a nice time with the kids. He came up and started yelling at me about parking wrong, and I started yelling back. Susan came out during the noise and spoke reason with me. She took over with the man, who was still yelling, and I went to the office and arranged a different camping spot. I just told the office we did not feel safe.

I did kinda hope, for a little bit, that he’d forget his little glasses during the eclipse. He should not feel safe around me.

I returned , and apologized to him for yelling. It almost kills me whenever I have to do this because HE- YELLED- FIRST! Apologizing made me feel better again, and we went to the new spot. Thank goodness I know how to remove myself from situations that I don’t like.

6) Odette and her Hello Kitty stuffie

The second night, it fell off the bunk about 2am and she cried inconsolably till retrieved it for her. In the dark.

So, a couple days later, my go- go- gadget mind has invented a way for her to not lose the stuffie at night. We will tie it to a string, and tie the end to the bed rail. Like this:

Brilliant, right?

Again at about 2 am she wakes me, screaming: “I’m STUUUCK! I’m STUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!!” I pop my head up there and find her clutching hello kitty to her chest. But Odette is wrapped up tight like a little mummy in the string. Apparently kids roll around a lot when they sleep. It takes a good couple minutes to untangle her, and untie Hello Kitty.

I wish I had a photo of the moment, but it was really dark. I think my re- creation is pretty darn good.

Finally, 7) the piece de resistance. Remember the baby sleeping in the shower stall? The story I said I’d get back to?

The first or second night I notice our kitchen sink is draining pretty slow. I mentioned it to Susan even. Next morning, while Susan is out for her morning run, Bernie cries out (about 6:30) so I get him, and he is SOAKING WET! I have immediate and severe Grandmother guilt. The shower thing was, after all, my idea. WHAT did we do wrong?

Turns out we were parked on a bit of a hill, so the gray water backed up in the shower. Lesson learned- keep the tanks empty.

Then it happened again- We were all very tired, 2 nights later, and Susan is in the little loo putting Bernie down for the night. Stupidly I turned the pump back on – just for a moment- to rinse my fingers. I hear an adult Primal Scream. Then I hear a baby Primal Scream. Turns out Susan was bending into the stall gently putting Bernie down.

The baby is crying, Susan is crying, I am crying, and Odette is asking: “Why is everybody crying?”

Sigh.

Sorry, Susan. ❤️

Interestingly, when we originally told my son Jon the sleep plan for the baby, all he said to us was:

“Sounds like you’re gonna have a wet baby.”

Jon, you were right.

I love Meyers Landing.

Last night about 10, my phone crashed. Hard. I could not access GPS, couldn’t open any app, couldn’t make phone calls, and couldn’t even reboot.

Finally, after deciding to go to sleep and yet continuing to fiddle with the phone in the dark, I say: “Hey Siri! Restart my phone. She asks: Are you sure?” I am actually NOT sure but 45 minutes of doodling haven’t fixed the phone so I hope she won’t make it worse. I say yes, and the problem is solved. Siri is now my higher power.

Here’s the other reason I didn’t fall right to sleep:

I’ve decided I will sell these as a set of 2 art prints on Etsy.

I had a lot of comfort in knowing that if the phone WAS frapped, the proprietress of the store would have helped me figure it out. Her name is Geralyn Broussard Meyers.

And yes, she and her husband are the Meyerses of Meyers Landing. She had these books on the shop counter, which resulted in me buying one, and asking her, her favorite recipes. Which then resulted in a 45- minute chit chat where, in addition to talking about cooking, I learned she and her husband have owned the Landing for 41 years! Her favorite is the Blue Bayou dessert.

I also had to buy this after reviewing her cook book:

I’m in a happy mood for the drive, since I’m not having to use a paper map and my actual wits, so I pop on more Zydeco. I listen to lots of happy tunes by a group called Beausoleil.

And this guy

In Texas, it was Stevie Ray Vaughan, Guy Clark, John Prine, and Willie. In LA, Zydeco by anyone. My favorite Zydeco tunes:

Two Step Mamou

Johnnie Can’t Dance

Bitch Betta Pay

And after that lineup I laughed uncontrollably when this came on:

Clearly these are the real people. we pass the Green House on the way out of camp:

Read more about it here- it’s one of the oldest French creole houses left in the south. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebert_House_(Lake_Arthur,_Louisiana)

There’s also a post on Facebook by the southwest Louisiana archaeological society (Hebert House) but I cannot figure how to link it. Need to learn more first.

As I drive east on I-10, it’s MILES of swamp!

And SWAMP!

And lots of words here end in “X”.

Like the Breaux bridge.

And Roux.

And adieux.

And Lascaux. But that last one is a cool cave in France .

Good morning! Last night I emptied both the used water tanks, filled the fresh, and took a really nice long, hot shower.

I was a little worried at how wet the shower curtain got, but it was perfectly dry this morning!

See that toothbrush on the edge of the counter? It ended up here last night:

I got a nice phone call from Jon last night. I’ve started to teach Allie to sew, and Jon likes to learn too! He wanted to know how to turn a corner because they were making tiny pillows for Allie’s school Diorama project:

It was a sweet phone call, I taught him how to turn a corner, and I mentioned that the reverse control on their machine was broken. Next time we spoke, he had fixed it! Jon really is quite bright for a wizard of his age.

On now to some really complicated and overdue tasks:

The NY State Parks chipmunk is from last years trip to Niagara Falls. As I do little things I am listening to Cajun Zydeco. I love to hear the music of a region when I am visiting. Charlie Musselwhite is a new old favorite!

I am starting early today. (10:30 lol) While the people were perfectly nice, the place is disheveled and not good for relaxing. Great for sleep though! I appreciate the quiet. Goodbye Albert and Hidden Oaks!

Meyers landing is a Marina/campground on the lake.

It’s not often I’ll say this, but this view was better than looking at their faces😂 Lake Arthur is lovely. And it’s a true fish camp!

I’m going to ask about that tomorrow .

The only vegetables I have left are carrots and purple cabbage- same colors as the flowers in Texas!