Author: Easin' Along

Here’s another update on Lucy’s journey west. We’re kinda hopscotching across the south as we work our way to Arizona. Wi-Fi is spotty, so we will post updates as connections become available. We made it to Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, AL, and worked on getting Lucy organized. Today, we drove from Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, MS to LaFayette, LA for two nights at Acadiana State Park in the heart of Cajun country.

We had a delightful time in Biloxi although we were a bit apprehensive going in after reading reviews of the campground at Keesler Air Force Base. Our concerns were unwarranted. The campground facilities do have some age on them, but all of the utilities are in good working order, the showers (also aging) are clean and sporting a fresh coat of paint. Rick, the campground host is an outgoing, amiable fellow who was always working to keep the campground in good shape. His efforts have produced results, and I plan to write a good review of the campground soon.

On Saturday, we puttered around until the start of the Tennessee – Auburn basketball game at 11:00 CST. We should have puttered on…Auburn squeaked out an upset of our Number 5 ranked Vols. That afternoon, Helen (adorable wife) read up on the best places to eat in Biloxi and learned that Taranto’s Crawfish was rated number one on Trip Advisor. I was all in and hungry.

Taranto’s Crawfish is a place you would not find just driving around; it is way out in the country and down the road less traveled—way down. You could imagine our surprise when we drove up to find a full parking lot, and a line of equally hungry customers stretched out the door and onto the driveway. The wait was twenty minutes, and we were among the lucky ones. By our time to eat, the delay was twice that. The food was worth the wait.

After much discussion, we settled on splitting a Seafood Platter (fried, of course) with oysters, crawfish, shrimp, and the best catfish I’ve ever eaten. The fried crawfish were delicious, and the shrimp and oysters coated in a very light batter. Helen also ordered a cup of crawfish and shrimp bisque, and I couldn’t pass on a cup of gumbo. We devoured everything while watching diners all around feasting on large platters of boiled crawfish. Now, I love crawfish, but they do require some work to get a meal out of them. That fact didn’t seem to bother any of the crawfish lovers around us and the shells piled up. When we finished, we paid Stephanie, our very friendly server and walked out with a doggie box full of French Fries for the road. We waved to those still waiting. I shifted my toothpick to the left and gave everyone a satisfied smile.

The next item on the Saturday agenda was a drive to Bay St. Louis for the monthly event called Second Saturday Downtown. It is very similar to the event we have in Knoxville called First Friday. Most of the shops and pubs were open to visitors. The sidewalks were full. During the event, visitors had the opportunity to purchase a blue wrist band that entitled them to a small bowl of soup at every shop that participated. The blue band was $25, and the proceeds went to the local Food Pantry. All of the soups and gumbos looked incredibly enticing, and we had we not stuffed ourselves at Taranto’s, I would have one of the blue bands. We strolled the shops instead.

Bay St. Louis is charming. We drove back to Biloxi along the coastal highway, enjoying the Gulf waters, the shimmering white sand, and the stunning antebellum homes lining the road across from the beach. Helen decided we should go to the Casino that evening and hope for good luck. It wasn’t her day, but I came out $4.00 to the good. As I’ve said before, I’m only there for a good time.

On Sunday we did a 180-degree turn from the night before and streamed the 11:00 service from our church. Thankfully, Dr. Eason’s sermon was about the love and kindness of Good Samaritan and not about the evils of gambling. Dr. Eason is a very gifted speaker. In the afternoon, we visited a flea market close to the campground—an activity that we enjoy. Helen found a woven basket in one of the booths, but soon decided it didn’t match Lucy’s color scheme and put it down (whew).

Monday morning, we were both up early, loaded Butch (tow vehicle) and pulled out of Biloxi by 10:00 am, unusual for us because we rarely make it out of a campground before checkout. Please come back for an update on Lafayette. It won’t be hard to catch us…we’re Easin’ Along.

 

Certain that every Easin’ Along reader is breathlessly awaiting an update on Lucy’s progress, I am posting a short update at the end of Day One. 

We arrived at the FamCamp on Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama late on Wednesday night. A drive that should take no more than five hours stretched to seven due to heavy traffic and a nine mile, bumper to bumper backup, caused by an overturned lumber truck on the Interstate.

We arrived after dark and after the campground office closed for the day. Fortunately, we have camped here twice before and know how to find the campground on this very large installation. The campground manager, a very nice man named Rick, had left a note on the office window to let us know to camp in site #32. We pulled in, unhooked Lucy, de-winterize her, and connected the utilities. Within an hour, we were eating a late dinner of chicken salad and artisan bread in front of the television.  Bedtime came early after a long day on the road.

On Thursday, we spent the entire day getting Lucy organized for a three month trip. When we left Knoxville, we loaded boxes, bags, and cartons of food into Lucy and left it on the floor until we reached Montgomery.  Helen (adorable wife) had the task of moving all of it into Lucy’s pantry and cabinets after she cleaned them. She also spent the morning organizing the bathroom cabinets and the bedroom closets–something we did not do before we left. By the end of day one, we could find food in the kitchen and our underwear in the bedroom. Helen really is a master at finding a place for everything and putting everything in its place.

My job was to install a handle on the screen door, and activate Dish Satellite TV. The screen door handle was no problem, but the Dish TV thing took a while. There are three satellite connection points on Lucy and I tried all of them…three times.  Finally, I placed a call to Grand Design, Lucy’s manufacturer, and a customer service representative helped me find the connection I needed, located in a cabinet above the television. Once the connections were completed, I had to call the Dish people (in the Philippines) to activate the receiver. The whole process made me wish for the days when we had only three channels and rabbit ears on top of the tv set. Ultimately, I got it done in time to watch an old Perry Mason on MeTV. Life is good.

Once we completed our projects, Helen decided we needed some exercise, so we took a walk around a small lake near our campsite. The hike probably was a mile in length and felt good.  Temperatures are near seventy degrees here and the Azaleas are just coming out.  Helen found one with blooms and wanted to pick a few, but I finally managed to talk her out of it.  The bush with the new blossoms are pictured above. Pictured below is the lake.  The leaves are not yet out on the trees but it won’t be long and it feels like spring is on top of us here. Will it be hot in Arizona?

That’s about it from Montgomery.  Tomorrow (Friday) we drive to Biloxi, MS for a three day stay then on to LaFayette, LA. We’ll have another update soon.  Thanks for Easin’ Along with us.

 

If you want to accelerate the activity in your life, plan a three-month trip.  We’ve done a fair amount of extended travel, but never more than five weeks.  We started planning this trip about nine months ago, and I thought we would be ready, but the “to do” list keeps growing and the pace of life has picked up considerably.

Fortunately, we downsized a few years ago and now live in a home that we can leave and have little to worry about.  The grass will get cut and our great neighbors will alert us if anything looks out of sorts.  We signed up for a mail forwarding service and can check that off the list. Cable TV, landline phone, and internet service are cancelled, and we will see what we want to do about that when we return.  So far, I love Dish TV and will use it in Lucy during the trip. I will probably renew internet, but the landline phone is history. Our taxes were filed earlier than I can ever remember.

Helen (adorable wife and social animal) finally realized that she will have only me for conversation for three months and has spent the past week in front of every warm and breathing body she can find to talk to.  I expect that to continue right up to the moment of departure. She loves her friends and certain to miss them.  I predict she will be on the phone a lot.  I will miss our church and our gifted minister, but our Sunday services are online, and we can watch them while we travel.

As of today, we still have one more load of laundry to do, one more trip for a few groceries, and a jug or two of adult beverages to buy. This weekend we plan to hug some friends, and family, and entertain a few neighbors before Lucy is hooked up to Bert. Once all of that is complete, Lucy heads westward. To say we’re excited is an understatement.

With internet cancelled and Wi-Fi spotty at times, I don’t know exactly when we will have Easin’ Along up and online again.  Hopefully soon.  In the meantime, I’ll be taking notes and pictures and plan to publish something by the time we reach Biloxi, Mississippi, even if it is short.

Please come back, this should be a fun journey and we look forward to sharing the discoveries we make along the way. Until next time…we’re Easin’ Along.