Last Day on the Interstates

Well it sounds good whether or not we stick to it. For those of you that followed the 2007 edition of this blog know of our dislike for interstates. However, this time I must grudgingly admit that they haven't been unbearable. Traffic has been lighter that expected, we guess due to the economy. We haven't seen many motorhomes, people haven't been driving too crazy, and the truck traffic has been OK.

After DeFuniak, our first diversion was Gulfport/Biloxi to check and make sure Barry was spending our tax dollars correctly.

The Armed Forces Retirement Home was rendered uninhabitable as a result of Hurricane Katrina. Some residents moved to DC to a similar facility. Others had to fend for themselves in other cities and towns.

This facility is supposed to be completed in October 2010 so those folks can begin to move back home.

Then, our second diversion was Bay St. Louis. The gambling bug had bitten EJ and the itch had to be scratched.

True to form we made our contribution to the Casino establishment and continued on our way.

Our next stop was a Louisiana campground/resort/golfcourse named Percy Quinn State Park. We apparently had brain fade forgetting it was Friday night and all those frustrated golfers were aching for another chance to avenge their bloated scores. That's a long winded way of saying that the campground was full. That's only the second time the last 7 or 8 years of camping that we've encountered a full campground.

Continuing our policy of being flexible, we went for plan "B". Walmart here we come. No, wait a minute, that's plan "C". Using our limited library of campground locations that we carry with us in Roadie we found another state park just over the Mississippi state line called Bogue Chitto Water Park. We weren't sure what we were in for but it was late and part of the purpose of this trip is to embrace adventure. So adventure here we come.

As it turns out after we passed all of the canoe/kayak/tubing businesses that lined the road to the park entrance it turned out to be a pleasant experience. Not to say we would ever venture there again, but we had a good time.

Meatloaf, scalloped potatoes, green bean casserole and a bottle of wine from the cellar.
Who said you had to rough it when camping?

At the site next to ours a couple rode in on a Honda GoldWing pulling an amazing trailer.

This little baby turned into...

THIS !!!

They had large rotating fan, two lawn chairs, an awning, stove, coffee pot and awning lights. And for friend Larry who is probably wondering how to hook up one of these babies up to his Miata here is the contact information.

There is even a phone number so you can order one today.

OK, OK, I couldn't stand it. One last Interstate rant. The Interstates in Louisiana are the pits and that's putting it politely. From New Orleans west, up I-55 to Mississippi the Interstates were so rough that it broke the laptop we use for our GPS system. The constant pounding stripped one of the screws that holds the front and back pieces together that contains the LCD screen. With the judicious application of duct tape we hope that it survives the rest of the adventure. It never fails to amaze us how Louisiana manages to pick contractors that can't build a smooth Interstate Highway.