Leaving Texas. . .

I couldn't resist taking a picture of the sunrise when we left the camp in Edna, Texas. It was spectacular. We plan to use this campground again. . . nice, quiet, lake, deer. . . it seems to have it all!

We left around 9 a.m. and made our drive toward Houston. We choose the times to go through Houston carefully and we have never been disappointed in planning carefully. We did get in the wrong lane once and ended up getting off 59 and onto I-45, but that road also curved around and connected with I-10 which was our goal all along. It turned out to be a good way to go anyway, so no time was lost. Those of you who have traveled I-10 know that it can be a bad road, but we didn't have too much trouble with it. The bridges were the worst as those all seem to need resurfacing, but most of the roadway was fine. We continued over to 165 in Louisiana and headed up toward Kinder, Louisiana. We made camp at Coushatta Red Shoes casino on the Indian reservation. This is a favorite stop of ours going to/from Cousin Gary's because the campground is so nice and well appointed and the casino is normally friendly. The fee for camping here for FHU's 50 Amp is $17/night. Although it is not an adult only park, I have only seen adults there so it is very quiet and the people are always friendly.

We did trek to the casino a couple days and did poorly one day and good the next, so we actually came out a little ahead. And we were sufficiently entertained so we left happy.

Yesterday we left and drove 120 miles to Cousin Gary and Jo's in Zachary, Louisiana, for a couple days. On our drive over here, we saw many boats in the crawfish ponds harvesting the crawfish. It would be interesting to get a closer look at exactly what they were doing, but it is hard to see from the road. The boats are very low slung in the marsh and they are "sternwheelers" having a large wheel on the back that pushes the boat through the shallow muddy waters. Also while we were observing that, we saw crop dusters, but they weren't crop dusting. They appeared to be feeding the crawfish! The ponds are numerous and close together. I guess it is easier to drop the food onto the water from the air, so that is what they were doing. Crawfish ponds are used every year, but they alternate between raising crawfish one year and growing rice the next.

While traveling back and forth across the southern part of the U.S., Gary's is a great stopping off point for us. If we are headed to/from Indiana, it is right at the point where we would make a big turn, so we never pass up the opportunity to see them. We haven't been here in over a year, however, as we have modified our normal routine the last couple winters. It happens that Gary's son Chris is graduating from college today. He started college in 1988, I think, so this is a big event! They are having a crawfish boil after the ceremony which is in Baton Rouge. We are looking to kick back today and enjoy the weather (high 77* and sunny) till the party starts this evening.

Neal is a little nervous. We are sitting out back by Gary's barn. They have had so much rain here this winter that his huge yard is soft and wouldn't support Phaeton Place. Fortunately, there is an old road bed here on the farm that runs from the front drive through the side yard to the back pasture. It actually is covered in grass and you cannot see it, but Gary knows where it is and we drove the motorhome back on it and parked close to the barn. . . not in our regular spot. It is a perfect spot and not soft at all. Always before we could hear coyotes at night, but Gary says they don't seem to be as numerous or as noisy as usual. But the cows pass within a few feet of us on the way to the back pasture. They "moo" a lot and Neal seems confused by that. He's not sure what that sound is and seems a little uncomfortable with it being so close!

Till next time. . .

Dale