4th March: Louisiana-Mississippi-Arkansas

Going to try to do some updates here, as opposed to Facebook.  I’m a bit limited by mobile options, but will see what I can do!  For now, all the photos for the post will appear in a gallery down at the bottom.  Working on the integration part, and any suggestions as to post layouts you prefer are welcomed!

Stayed at Poverty Point Reservoir State Park last night.  Quite peaceful, but I was definitely the odd one out!  Everyone there seemed to have extra-large 5th-wheels – I’m guessing that, because it was on a reservoir, the majority of the guests were there to enjoying the fishing opportunities.  First thing I noticed upon exiting the RV was that something had managed to gain entry into the heavy-lidded rubbish bins during the evening.  Those lids weighed a ton!  While walking the puppy, I noticed warnings about black bears in the area, so I’m guessing that’s what enjoyed picking through for a late supper!

I packed up, and we headed out for Poverty Point National National Monument.  This place is also a World Heritage Site, and run by the state of Louisiana as a State Historic Site.  Lots of titles!  It was waaaaay out there, and it was just me and another couple on the tour trolley.

Perfect weather for touring this type of site, and our interpretive ranger, Eric, had plenty of interesting information to share.  The couple had also spent the night at the Reservoir – unplanned, like me, and had, also like me, decided to visit this site on a bit of a whim.  So incredibly glad I decided to detour!  They are on their way to Big Bend, and let me know that the temperatures have been in the high 90s and available campsites are dwindling.  I’ll need to start doing some forward planning as soon as I get a better idea of where and when I’m going to be.

Took a slightly different route back to the Interstate, and came across a “rough road” sign.  I’d thought the road I’d been travelling on was rough, but I had no idea!!  Glad for the warning so I could slow down further, and glad that the “rough” patch was only a couple of miles long!  Filled up the tank, again – thankful for the low petrol prices right now – then headed back towards Mississippi.  I wanted to follow the Great River Road for a bit longer, and that’s on the east side of the river.

Heading north from Vicksburg, my first stop was at The Onward Store, birthplace of the Teddy Bear.  Apparently Theodore Roosevelt was hunting in the area and refused to shoot a bear cub.  Cartoonists of the time had a field day with the story, and the Teddy Bear was born.  The store itself was quite genuinely rustic, and the lunch crowd looked to be mostly locals (always a good sign).  Judging by the parking situation, I’d say a lot of truckers on this route stop in for a quick bite.  Hunters were also plentiful.  My lunch was a delicious Fried Green Tomato BLT (and a bottle of water to keep things a tad healthier).

Heading north again, I drove through Rolling Fork, the birthplace of Muddy Waters and a stop on the Blues Highway.  I kept trucking, though, as I wanted to get to Leland before the Jim Henson Boyhood Home museum closed.  Couldn’t pass up a chance to see the Birthplace of the Frog!  It’s a small-ish place, but filled to the brim with muppets memorabilia!  The curator was lovely to chat with, and even invited the puppy inside for a picture with Kermit.  He wasn’t into it at all, but we tried!  As a bonus, there was a National Parks Passport stamp inside – the site wasn’t listed in my big ol’ Explorer Edition of the Passport, so I’ll need to get onto the Stamp Club’s website (yup, there is such a thing, and yup, I’ve joined!) to see if I’m missing any other stamp stops.

Checking the map, I decided that I could make Arkansas for the evening.  There’s a state park just across the border that, when I called, said they had some sites left.  The drive was lovely, and I may venture along part of the levee road in the morning!

Apologies!!

So very sorry about the lack of updates here! I’ve been posting more on Facebook, but I know that site isn’t everyone’s cup of tea! I will be updating this site extensively as soon as I have decent access to power.

I am currently on the road, having left Florida on the 19th of February. I spent the weekend at my brother’s place in Alabama, then spent the night closer to Montgomery on Monday the 22nd. The storms that rolled through (and all the tornado predictions) had me hunkered down at my brother’s again on Tuesday night, and the high winds on Wednesday delayed my departure yet again. I made it up through Birmingham eventually, though, and spent the night outside Tupelo, Mississippi, at Tombigbee State Park. Thursday was spent touring Tupelo and driving down to Hattiesburg. Friday was spent perusing Pascagoula and the Gulf Coast, ending up at Buccaneer State Park for the night. I dilly-dallied a bit Saturday morning, introducing the puppy to the Gulf of Mexico, and will be in Louisiana for the next couple of days.

I was trying to make my way up to Hot Springs National Park for Monday (the 29th – Bonus Day!), which would have had me averaging one park per month for the year. That’s the reason for the lack of updates…drive, drive, drive! I gave up on that idea after hitting the Gulf Coast. It is way too friendly around here to race through town! Slowing down will give me a chance to catch up on all the updates. I knew things were going to be a bit tough to start with, since I had such a delayed departure date, but I will make it up along the route instead of all at the beginning.

Thanks for stopping by and let me know if you have any suggestions on where I should stop/eat/explore!!

RV is Back!!

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Super quick turnaround at Camping World!  The RV is back at the shop, and we will be wrapping it this weekend.  Here are the current layouts I’m playing with…

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All the maps will be “fill-in-as-I-go” style.  I love the glitch that is making Nevada look hot pink in the top proof, but it will not be that colour in the end!

The other weekend project is converting the bathroom sink alcove into a washer/dryer alcove.  It’s tough to get any good pictures due to tight constraints inside the RV, but I will do my best to document the process.  The potential for adding a washer/dryer was one of the main reasons I went with this particular model.

More updates coming soon :)