Lost in the Stacks

Hoorah! Honey Bee, the Boyz, and I make it to New Orleans! At the very nice Louisiana state rest stop I was loaded up with maps and such and everyone welcomed me as a future Louisiana resident. After an amazing trip on a huge bridge over Lake Pontchartrain I finally got into New Orleans proper. I’m staying at the Jude Travel Park on the outskirts of town. There’s not much in walking distance from here, mostly car repair related businesses and a lot of empty buildings, it’s really quite post-apocalyptic.

Baby carrot relaxing at a KOA campground in Mississippi.

No matter where you go, there you are. This statement first voiced by a fictional rock-n-roll rocket scientist is so very true. Here I am traveling through the Deep South and everything looks so familiar. Sure, I expected there to be Wal-Marts everywhere but there are Ruby Tuesdays, Big Lots, Dollar General, etc. as well. I drove down one street looking for a place to buy some cat food and it was just like 25th street in Wilson: neck to neck stores, all of them so familiar. But I wasn’t in Pennsylvania, I was in Alabama. I was hoping things would be a little different.

The road kill is certainly different. At first it was mostly skunks then somewhere in Tennessee I saw something that looked like a shaggy dog with long light brown hair and dark brown hairless legs. I couldn’t see its head because it didn’t have one but it was strange looking. Later I saw another creature with a stripe down its back. It was large and long… I suspect it was some kind of badger.

The trees are also different and I will have a great time trying to identify them. In Alabama and Mississippi there are these tall thin pine trees that look somewhat like white pines.

After many delays I am finally on my way to New Orleans! It took a while but I completed loading my stuff on Tuesday Feb. 19th and started on my way. It was a sunny but windy day and I got as far as Carlisle, PA. The very first RV Park I ever stayed in was the Western Village RV Park. During the summer this must be a spectacular place. They have mini-golf, a pool, hiking trails, playgrounds, and tons of other stuff. But now in the final throws of winter, the park is a bit bleak. I got there after 4:30 pm and was set up with electricity before the sun set. On either side of me were two huge RVs towing cars that were larger than the little Honda I used to own. They got there around when I did but were gone before 7 am. They must have had places to go and people to meet.

It was bitterly cold on my first night and since Honey never got her propane tanks checked out I had to make do with my little space heater. By 6:30 am it was 45 degrees inside. That may sound appalling to some but it was 25 degrees outside! The boyz and I made it through out first night okay but the second day was difficult for all of us. After a late-ish start (around 9am) the sun promptly disappeared. It was bitterly cold and windy all day long as I made my way out of Pennsylvania, through Maryland (about 20 minutes), through West Virginia, and into Virginia. (For those of you who like maps, I was on Route 81 South.)

Snow was swirling around the road, too cold to stick to anything. Lunch was a shivery affair in the parking lot of a Sheetz. I put my flannel pajama bottoms on over my jeans just to keep from shivering myself to pieces. Exhausted I pulled in for the evening to an overnight only park. It’s pretty much self service with no other amenities except laundry and a soda machine. Even though it seemed to be threatening snow it was all clear in the morning. I got out by 8:30 am and drove and drove and drove. I’m so disappointed that I am not stopping to see anything but I have to get to New Orleans as soon as possible. With all my dawdling and delays that might not be until Saturday.

Tonight I’m at a nice KOA in Cleveland, Tennessee which (obviously) has wi-fi Internet. It is a blistering 65 degrees in my Honey Bee so the boyz and I will be cozy.