Mississippi has a long Gulf coast with nothing but white sandy beach for miles.  After leaving Biloxi, we took the scenic road and passed stunning old plantation houses on the land side and empty beaches punctuated by an occasional marina on the water side. The weather was beautiful but we may have had enough Gulf sand for a while so after entering Louisiana and stopping at the visitors’ center to collect enough pamphlets to keep us busy reading and planning for days, we headed inland.  Our first stop was completely unplanned.  With enough time to wander aimlessly, we decided to pull off at the Big Branch Wildlife Refuge for a look.  There was a half-mile boardwalk built and maintained by boy scouts which we took.  Because it was mid-day there was a remarkable absence of any wildlife, though.  A couple of Mallards, an egret or two, a grebe and a few red-wing blackbirds were about all.  The refuge has a population of red cockaded woodpeckers and the scouts marked their nest trees with white bands.  This endangered bird nests in colonies, leaving as a group in the morning to feed and returning together at dusk.  We ate in the parking lot facing a few marked trees and debated whether to stay to see the returning birds but decided to move on, a decision we still regret. Lost opportunity.

We got to Tickfaw SP, once again just after the office closed, and found a site knowing we could pay on our way out the next day.  As we made camp, a barred owl called nearby.  Not easy to see but easy to hear.  We headed out the next morning excited to visit Opelousas, described in the brochures as the home of zydeco music and real Cajun food.  Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to its hype. The park we had planned to stay in was run down and intimidating, the Creole Museum closed an hour early, the streets were deserted and most storefronts were boarded up and looked like they had been for a while.  No one we asked knew anything about live music but the librarian gave us the number of the tourist center, which we called and were told the only live music was at the casino just outside of town. Nope.  They stopped having bands a while ago but planned to have them again in the café in April. And this casino did not have poker machines due to an arcane Louisiana law that only allowed them in waterfront casinos, not those on dry land. We tried a few slot machines but they are boring, boring, boring. Daunted but not defeated, we had a nice supper in the Spotted Horse, their upscale restaurant,  and spent another night in a casino parking lot.

We headed towards Lafayette in the morning and spent a little time at an outdoor flea market where we purchased a few DVDs (25 cents each, five for a dollar) to watch on rainy days and after dark.  We took our chances and found  another city park, Acadiana, and were pleasantly surprised. The attendant in charge gave us a couple of recommendations for lunch and we drove to a nearby deli for boudin, definitely a local thing. So far we’ve tried plenty of gumbo, a couple of po’boys, blackened catfish, great shrimp and now the boudin. Only need some etouffe,  chicory coffee and beignets to complete the Louisiana menu.

Here’s how crawfish live! Who knew. Mostly farmed now but these individual mounds are all over Louisiana.

We met this fella outside the bathrooms in Palmetto Island SP.  We were cautious, not knowing armadillo habits, but he barely noticed us.

We didn’t get far after leaving Mobile. In fact, we made it just over the Mississippi border to the visitors center where we collected information and got suggestions for points of interest, especially birding sites. Turns out the two things we wanted to visit weren’t open on Mondays so we checked into the Davis Bayou campground, part of the Gulf National Seashore (last site again – they got a cancellation just minutes before we got there) and did some camper upkeep. We defrosted the refrigerator, organized the pantry and sewed rings on a new privacy curtain before defrosting and eating the ziti dinner we had brought from home.

Tuesday was cloudy and windy but still pretty warm.  We headed to the Audubon center and walked the boardwalks there. Nothing much except a great horned owl who had taken over an osprey nest and hatched a single owlet and a bald eagle that continually soared overhead.  Leaving there we drove north to the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge.  This crane is a non migratory subspecies unique to the gulf coast and on the endangered species list.  The last 134 existing individuals that live here are dependent on the savannah environment maintained at the refuge for food and breeding habitat. A film we saw at the visitors center described the efforts being made to support and grow this population, including incubating, fostering and reintroducing crane “colts” to the flock. We put our names on a wait-list for a bus tour to see cranes on Wednesday morning but most of the registrees showed up, leaving only one space.  We decided to stick together and returned to the campgrounds to pack up and check out.

Remembering that wifi is available in most libraries, we headed to downtown Ocean Springs and the public library to add to the blog, check email and have a nice lunch.  They couldn’t have been nicer and the library was spacious and comfortable so two hours passed before we knew it.  After some research we found that a casino hotel would be even cheaper than a chain motel and we really wanted showers and wifi, so we booked a room at Harrahs in Biloxi which turned out to be only 2.5 miles from where we ate.  No problem.  We’ve been doing so much driving that a 10 mile day was truly welcome.

Got to Harrahs, checked in, showered and hit the buffet and casino.  Played a little while on the poker machines and pretty much broke even. Tired and happy, we returned to the room for some Olympic watching and planning the next leg of the journey.

Harrahs in Biloxi

Not exactly roughing it

Restored savannah grassland with long leaf pines

Hung out with Mary and kitties for a while, chatted with Claudia as she made her way to the bus from Providence and video chatted with Haley.  We were really happy to be where we are when she showed us last night’s snow from her bedroom window. When Mary returned from church, she extended an invitation from Kathy and Jeff to join them later on for a boat ride and dinner.

First we hit another museum, the Historical Museum of Mobile, featuring a traveling exhibit on all things Titanic.  It was a good glimpse into the back story of the actual events leading up to the tragic sinking. There were models of a room in steerage, the first class dining room, even the boiler room of the ship. But to me the highlight of the museum was the collection of miniature houses, all made by one man for his granddaughters and his wife.  They were accurate down to the tiniest detail, including portraits on the walls of members of the families that lived in the originals.  There were needlepoint rugs, crocheted bedspreads – he thought of everything. In his video accompanying the exhibit he said it took a year to complete each one.  Impressive. Obsessive, too.

We left museum in time to join Kathy, Jeff and Jane on a sunset cruise in their pontoon boat.  Their home is right on a canal leading to the Dog River, so boarding was easy. Kathy piloted the boat, showing us her favorite spots to take photos of the sunset.  Afterwards, she built a roaring fire in the fire pit and we sat around and chatted while Jeff’s pot pies baked in the oven.  Supper was delicious and it was great getting to know them better.  We all thought it would be wonderful if they could join us in OBX next summer.  We’ll have to start planning….

Kathy and Jeff on their boat.

We never learn.  Thought we could just pull into another state park and find a spot but this one too was all booked up.  The kind ranger at the gate gave us directions to Sopchoppy city park, a small campgrounds with free-for-all camping where we spent the night. Left pretty early and headed west again, this time I made a reservation at Pine Log State Forest, a pretty primitive place, and landed at site 18. But it didn’t have a grill and we wanted to cook so we just moved across the way.  We met a very nice couple from Mississippi and their two dogs and picked up some more camping tips.

The next day started out bright and sunny so we decided to head for the beach.  Our fellow campers thought we would like Ft. Pickins, a beachfront campgrounds in the Gulf Shores National Seashore near Pensacola but as per usual there were no sites left.  Forgot it was a holiday weekend!  Another disappointment narrowly averted thanks to another very kind ranger – federal this time.  He said if we drove onto the part of the national seashore that was on the barrier island just past Pensacola Beach, we would find three parking lots where people sometimes spent the night. So we did. It was beautiful.  We cooked up some barbecue with a leftover pork chop, chili seasoning and some beans , then slept with the windows open to hear the sound of the waves and feel the ocean breeze.

We woke to a foggy dawn and greeted the early fisherman who had pulled in nearby, there to catch pompano and redfish. It seemed like a good idea to get some laundry done before heading to Mobile to visit Mary, so we opened our rolls of quarters and headed to town, did three loads of wash and had a really good breakfast next door. I just don’t know what makes one breakfast spot more popular than another.  Three doors down there were crowds waiting outside a restaurant while the café we ate in had empty tables.

Left Florida (at last) at 10:30 am and got to Mobile about an hour and a half later. We parked opposite a pretty – if a bit run down – park with statuary, a fountain and mosaic benches given to Mobile by a group of Spanish cities in honor of its Spanish past. Just across the park was the Carnival Museum, dedicated to all things having to do with the month-long celebration that precedes Lent.  There were fantastic costumes, floats, and exhibits.  Mobile takes carnival seriously, with over 39 “krewes” participating in parades and related festivities.   Every year the two carnival societies, one white and one black, appoint a king and queen, generally from the oldest families in the city and often descended from former kings and queens. They are expected to entertain lavishly in the months before carnival begins with luncheons and dinners rivaling the most expensive weddings.  The royals have their crowns and finery designed and custom made, with trains often reaching 21+ feet in length and costing tens of thousands of dollars. Totally overwhelmed with all the sequins and crystal, we headed to Mary’s for a day or two of relaxation.

We found her new home without too much of a problem, met her cats Jeannie and Georgie and took her out for a steak dinner at the Texas Roadhouse.  Returned home to watch a few Olympic events and went to bed early.

The only ones on the beach

Sleeping at the beach – magic.

On Sunday morning we had a “Ron and Tom” breakfast of bacon and eggs and decided to visit the celery fields, a wetlands restored by Florida Audubon. They have really made a difference in protecting the birds and animals of this state.  Our target bird was the Limpkin and we saw a couple from the boardwalk, opening what looked like fresh water clams with their beaks and eating the contents.  Also added a purple gallinule to the state list.  Not to be overlooked, a red shouldered hawk fly by at low altitude. Tom and Anne were impressed.

After a casual lunch, we said goodbye and headed to Oscar Scherer SP where we actually had a reservation.  Not easy to come by in the winter season. We met people who routinely book this camp eleven months in advance, stay for 14 days (the max) leave for a day and return for another two weeks.  At dusk we joined a small audience to listen to the campground musicians, a couple of professional folk singer/guitarists who stay at this campgrounds every year and provide mini-concerts twice a week. As they were finishing their last set, they were joined by fellow guitarist/singer/songwriter Greg who tours with the New Chrystie Minstrels.  He was great but tired from having just come from a performance of his own and gave us two songs before packing it in.

The next morning we left Oscar Scherer and drove pretty much non-stop back to Blue Springs thinking we were going to get the radio in Daytona on Tuesday.  This didn’t end well.  Seems like the radio that was supposed to be coming from California was never actually found in inventory and so couldn’t possibly be sent.  Ram will make a new search for a radio but we give up.  We had a heated conversation with Colonial RV until David (the general manager) offered to intercede and take responsibility for shipping the radio whenever it shows up to another dealer wherever we happen to be at the time.  I think I’m just going to go to Best Buy and get a portable XM receiver to plop on the dashboard and have them deal with it when the van gets back to New York. At least we have Jeff’s GPS to get us where we are going. Meanwhile, we were hoping to get some good pictures of the manatees in the morning now that the camera is up and running.  No luck.  Only a week ago they counted 134 in the spring, but there were none left.  Apparently the water in the river has warmed enough for them to move on.

Tuesday was pretty much a wash.  We had a nice lunch in DeLand then drove into Daytona to get my eyes checked at Lencrafters and headed to Ocala for another night in the forest. On the way we stopped in Publix for some stuff and met a couple from Toronto living in their 1990 VW camper – a Westphalia with a pop up roof just like the one we rented in Switzerland 40 plus years ago. They had been on the road pretty much full time for the past four years, just them and their shitzu.  And we thought we were tight!

As planned, we got to the Sanctuary before 7:00 am and made coffee in the parking lot.  When the trail opened we were the first ones out and didn’t finish until close to four hours later.  There were many good birds – many red shouldered hawks, including a mating pair, pileated woodpeckers, black and yellow-crowned night herons, fly over wood storks and painted buntings at the feeders.

We left about 1 pm and headed north, stopping for a bagel breakfast and a quick nap at Myakka State Forest. Ron thought we should try for a site at the State Park but when we got there no luck. The ranger suggested we take the park drive anyway and stop for dinner at the cafe, so we did. But service was s-l-o-o-o-w and we wanted to get to Jane’s before dark so after waiting and reminding the waitress many times we finally (after close to two hours) asked for one of the dinners wrapped to go and rushed out.  Bad move.  The next day I realized my pocketbook was missing and probably left behind at the crowded cafe. Tried calling but there was no answer so there was nothing to do but hop back in the van and retrieve the bag.

Spent the evening watching Olympics with Jane, Tom and Anne.  we have campground reservations for the next two nights so should be more relaxed as we head back to Daytona to finally resolve the saga of the van.  Fingers crossed!

Campgrounds in Florida are packed this time of year, with some people reserving sites in the state parks a year ahead of time.  We were convinced that there would always be room for just one more so we drove (and drove and drove) until we reached Manatee Lake SP just before dark.  The ranger at the gate was pleasant and kind as he told us there was no room and handed us a list of nearby campgrounds we might try.  And try we did, with no success.  We called park after park and either got (pleasantly and kindly) turned down or a busy signal, indicating to me that many people were trying the same thing.  After about 20 minutes or so, the ranger must have taken pity on us and tapped on the van window to tell us he had just gotten a cancellation a could spend one, and only one, night there.

Wednesday morning we left early as promised and continued heading south.  Ron wanted to show me all the great birding sites he had visited on the previous trip with Al Martens so we needed to cover some ground. After many side trips, some even intentional, we reached the first one,  Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, about an hour before closing. We decided to pay the $14 entrance fee with the assurance that it would allow us to visit again the next day. We started the “short walk” on the boardwalk trail and were soon joined by two volunteers who were assigned to make sure all visitors were off the trail by closing. But there were just too many great birds and all the stragglers (including us) didn’t make it to the end until well after 5:30.

The volunteers had an interesting story. They come from northeastern Pennsylvania and had camped all over their state but were looking for a post-retirement adventure (sound familiar?) when they read about volunteering for Audubon centers.  This one appealed to them so they chose it sight unseen and signed up for a six month stint. They figured it was worth it to get away from the northeastern winter and have already committed to returning next year.  When we mentioned that we hadn’t found a place to stay yet they gave us a good tip, one that we had heard from a couple at the birding festival: RVers are generally welcome at casinos and we were less than ten miles from one owned by the Seminole tribe.  I was totally ready to try but Ron had some concerns.  Since I was driving, off we went to the casino and sure enough, there were a few RVs (much larger than ours) parked at the end of the lot.  There were even electric hookups! Our “neighbor” happened to be loading his bikes and he filled us in. We went into the casino, got comped for $20 each play money, spent it on dinner and the poker machines and walked out with $17.75 and a free place to stay.  You can bet we’ll be doing that again when we have the opportunity!

Woke up Monday to beautiful weather – headed to the mid-60s and sunny – and called Daytona Dodge only to find out there were no deliveries on Mondays and so the earliest the new radio could arrive would be Tuesday.  Checked in for an additional day at Tomoka SP to wait it out and mentioned to the ranger at the desk that we had never seen a manatee. He said they were easily seen at Blue Spring SP on the St. Johns River, only about 25 miles away so off we went. And see them we did. There was a boardwalk along a quiet part of the river and many, many manatees within several feet of the shore.  Young and old, they swam lazily along with schools of fish, munching sea grass and coming up periodically for a breath of air. They are an interesting aquatic mammal, a distant cousin of the elephant. They only eat sea grass and live mainly in warm shallow, brackish rivers and estuaries where that plant is abundant.  Weighing in at about 40-50 pounds at birth they generally reach 10 feet in length and about 800-1200 pounds in adulthood. It was a pleasant afternoon and we stayed a while, warming up leftover carnitas and vegie burritos in the van before heading back to Tomoka SP.

Tuesday morning we felt lazy and were still in bed when Stephen (our service rep) called at 8 to say the radio was arriving via UPS at about noon. We couldn’t wait to get there and arrived just at noon. After waiting a couple of hours for UPS to show up, Stephen and Doug (the service manager) told us regretfully that the wrong radio had been delivered. They were ever so nice and explained the convoluted Chrysler order and delivery process to us but the upshot is they could only find one to fit our van in California, so no radio for a few more days.  We put our heads together and decided the best course of action was to head out and do the southern portion of our Florida tour and circle back to Daytona once the radio arrives.

We had seen a billboard for an Escher exhibit at the Museum of Arts – DeLand on our way to Blue Spring SP and decided that a good museum visit would ease the pain.  It was to be, however, just another disappointing moment.  Our faithful Garmin (courtesy of Jeff) got us to the museum on the Stetson College campus 40 minutes before closing only to find that this special exhibit was at the downtown location, about another 15 minutes along the road.  Deciding it wasn’t worth hurrying to pay the $20 admission for a quick peek, we settled for looking for a good lunch.

We found a good parking spot in downtown DeLand and began the search. After checking the menus in a couple of places, we chose the Brickhouse Grill for turkey burger and chili.  When we sat down to order we noticed the TV above the bar counting down the minutes to the SpaceX Falcon 9-Heavy launch.  As she served our Cokes, our waitress shared her excitement about the imminent event with us.  Turns out she is studying aerospace robotics at Emory-Riddle and couldn’t go to the launch with her classmates because she had to work but thought she would at least be able to see the rocket from where she was a few seconds after it left the pad.  We said we could certainly wait to order our food and we all left the restaurant to see what we could see.  It was indeed clearly visible above the buildings and trees as it rose straight up, thirty seconds after blast off. We watched it go up, then appear to level as it flew above the high clouds.  She pointed out the moment it broke the sound barrier and although we couldn’t hear it, we could see the “wake” trailing behind.  Truly an exciting moment.

Satisfied and happy, disappointments forgotten, we headed northwest a bit to the Ocala National Forest, Juniper Springs campgrounds, for the night. Tomorrow we head south.

We had a great week with Janice, Charlie, Tom and Anne.  Delicious meals, both eaten out and eaten in, a couple of fun road trips including a St. Augustine trolley tour, an Ormond Beach art festival (complete with food trucks) and a wonderful afternoon spent in the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Daytona.

The museum had an extensive collection of Cuban art and artifacts donated by (deposed) Cuban president Battista and a mind boggling collection of Coca Cola items given by the Root family whose factories supplied the bottles Coke came in.  In addition to bottles of all shapes, sizes and colors there were Coke signs, vending machines through the ages, delivery trucks starting with a modified Ford Model T – everything and anything related the the soft drink. Various family members donated other things as well – a collection of over 1,000 teddy bears, a Lincoln town car and two railroad cars used to ride between summer and winter homes. We spent most of the afternoon at the museum and could probably have spent longer if the staff hadn’t been ready to close up promptly at 5.

Turns out the van actually needs the new radio and it will take a day or two to get. We picked it up from the dealer today since are leaving the condo tomorrow (Sunday) and will need to sleep somewhere.  We’ll check into Tomoka State Park in the early afternoon and use that as our “headquarters” until this is finally resolved and we can head west.

We spent pretty much the entire first day trying to get the satellite radio/GPS fixed.  While it was working when we left Staten Island (back story: it didn’t work when we picked it up and had been back to the dealer at least three times over the past six months) it quit suddenly when we left Virginia. The first Ram dealer we called said to come in and they would fix it.  Unfortunately, after driving 30 miles in intermittent rain with Tom and Anne following, he took one look at the van and said he was sorry but they didn’t service that model. He was really nice and called another dealer, much closer to where we are staying and spoke to the receptionist who conferred with the service manager and we were once again told they could fix it if we came right down.  So we did. But they, too, took one look at the van and said they could not service that model.  Apparently Ram Promaster has only so many authorized service centers and the real deal in north eastern Florida is in Daytona, another 20 miles away.  We tried to reach them by phone but could not get through so returned to the condo, tired, hungry and very frustrated.

The next morning we called Daytona and explained our plight once again, very specifically describing the vehicle and the problem, multiple times to multiple people. They assured us they could fix it and gave us an appointment for later in the day. At 12:30 we drove down apprehensively with lowered expectations and a Plan B, which was to forget the whole thing until we got back home in May.  As we drove into the lot we were excited to see a line of Ram Promaster 3500s; they obviously sold the van and would have to service it. Maybe this was going to work after all!

Stephen, our assigned service rep, told us that if we needed a new radio unit it might take as much as a week to get it there. No problem. We would figure out how to make it work.  We waited for a few hours, watching the van in the service bay, not seeing any signs of activity.  Finally, Stephan showed up and told us they had located the part failure and ordered a replacement for installation the next day.  Cautiously optimistic we called Tom and Anne for a ride and left the camper there overnight. Que sera, sera.