Fishies are Better than Astronauts Anyhow!
February 24, 2023
In the morning we said goodbye to our new skoolie friends Mike and Shayna and hit the road right after them, well, almost, we’re still pretty slow heading out but we’re getting better. They gave us all sorts of tips for traveling.
We immediately had a problem, the Garmin GPS had been telling us that our on ramp was closed, and even once offer to re-route, but when we headed out, it was no longer closed. Except it was. So Susan had to drive over a big scary bridge twice, just to get back on track.
We came across a sign for the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area, it sounds like a really cool place to spend some time in, especially for birding.
Susan drove for a bit and then we hit this bridge in Baton Rouge. (She wouldn’t let me play Jackson again, she’s a big meanie pants.)
Why is this bridge so special. We are above the Mississippi River, we are In. The. West!
We purposefully had the GPS route us off or Route 10 for a bit, we wanted to see some of Louisiana, not just trucks on Route 10. Our new plan was to eat lunch at a local place and cook dinner in the trailer. That way we get to both taste local cuisine and be frugal (and healthier). While she was driving I was looking at places online and found what I hoped would be great one, The Crawfish Hole.
It was indeed a hole, but I suspect it was carefully created to look like a hole. All the seating was outdoors on wooden tables, some with corrugated metal bases.
It was the best meal either of has had in the last 2,000 miles. Hands down, the best.
At the top are Boudin Balls, except there were out of balls but they have a spring roll type of shape. Fried, of course — everything is fried, they’d even fry water if they could — cheesy in the middle, and you dipped them in a pepper jelly that was wonderful. On the left is Corn Maque Choux, which is a traditional LA dish. Next, is local catfish with a crawfish étouffée. Wow, it was good.
Susan had pulled pork, hush puppies and mac and cheese (Susan says the pork and pasta were awesome, the hushpuppies not so much).
We stayed on the side road for bit, saw lots of flooded fields, some of which are rice farms, some are crawfish farms!
Soon we were in Texas!
We pulled into our campground late at night, setting up partially in the dark, then we out and bought some groceries and gas. Check out that price.
Lulled to sleep by the foghorns, that was nice.
Daily: 349 miles
Total: 2,238
Miles/Day: 248.7
February 25, 2023
I woke a lot during the night worried about the house. I have internet thermometers and they were sending me alarms. I watched them carefully every time I woke up and it seemed to stabilize, which was good. I didn’t want to call Howard and say, “HELP!” at 3am. Or 4. Or some ungodly hour.
Why I was concerned? It was -4F at home — But it was a toasty “something something” here in Houston, don’t know we had the AC on. Notice the blips on the right, that’s the oil furnace turning on. It did hit -4 in Keene, so that’s understandable.
Now let’s talk about maps. I like maps. If you’ve explored the rest of my blog you see a lot of mapping stuff, the Covered Bridge 54 Project. And the other day Google Maps let me down. This was unacceptable. So I got out my old files and had to read computer code. Huh? I’m retired. But I eventually beat the google maps API into submission.
I’ve circled places we’re stayed at. (The other ones are just waypoints to direct us away from a place, like New York, or towards some place, like the Crawfish Hole.) The numeral 2 says we spent two night there’s. Now back to more funner stuff.
The view this morning from the campsite was awful looking out on Trinity Bay. If you squint (imagine) the Gulf is out there. Somewhere.
We ate and showered. Yay, showers! Susan made something similar to Shakshuka but with had beans and Chipotle seasoning in it. It was yummy. During last night’s adventure getting provisions I found this soda. Big Red. Back in NC I had read about a red soda, I thought it was called Cherry Wine. I never found it. So I bought a Big Red.
It is a local delicacy. Actually, it is the 6th best soda in the USA. I had a sip the night before, but only a sip since it has caffeine in it. It was pretty disgusting, super sweet. I guess it is a combination of cherry soda and cream soda, but maybe that was because I had Susan’s leftover Po Boy sandwich for supper and it really clashed.
With the egg breakfast it wasn’t horrible, I drank it all, ok, most of it. Susan said it tastes like liquid bubble gum.
We had planned to go to the Johnson Space Center. Before breakfast I found out how to buy tickets online, but they were timed tickets, and I didn’t know how long morning would be, we might even have done laundry! So when we decided to head into the Space Center they were sold out! Time to find something else to do in Houston. What would two people who are interested in aquatics do in Houston!?
Why, go to the aquarium! Hence the title, fishes are better than astronauts. We headed off to the Houston Downtown Aquarium.
But first, these drivers. They are insane. I’m used to Boston insane. Boston drivers are mean insane. Down in the south turn signals are respected, oh, I’ll let you in. But here, it is about speed. I was doing 70mph is a 60 zone, getting passed a lot on the left, but I’m not in the right hand lane, because those are often exit only, and this truck comes by at probably 100mph. No, I don’t think I’m exaggerating, the closing speed was tremendous. Next, we had 2 lanes closed for construction. Cars and pickups were driving over the grass to exit to a side road. One minivan got stuck, they went through a big ditch, one tire was 3 to 4 FEET off the ground. The police were “helping” them (tickets anyone?). Clearly it backs up at that spot because there are well worn paths off the interstate onto the other road. Why that van chose that not worn spot to escape is beyond us.
But the fishes were great!
It was a lovely aquarium, small, not like Boston, but we both love fishes. They do have a tiger, 4 actually, I’m not sure why.
We had late lunch in town, headed back to the campsite, did some serious grocery shopping, and settled into the camper.
We did a lot of work to book the tomorrow’s site. We both wanted 400 miles but there is nothing to be had, just RV parks for permanent residents with really bad reviews. So we’re only doing 350 miles.
Daily: 0
Total: 2,238
Miles/Day: 223.8
Retrospective
Let’s talk about the Rule of Twos. Many long time RVers, especially full-timers, talk about the Rule of 2s. The rule says: Don’t drive more than 200 miles. Arrive by 2pm. Stay at least 2 nights. We’re clearly violating that a lot, hence the burn-out, and the missing out. We missed the gator swamp boat ride, missed the French Quarter, missed the Angel Oak, missed Johnson Space Center.
We’re planning on correcting that on the return trip. We now know what we can’t do and how much we can do. We’re almost to Phoenix, it is in sight. The return trip will be slower. And, more fun.