Life's Journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, totally worn out, shouting "Wow...What a Ride!"

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Galveston to Abbeville

We've been back on the road for a week or so now. Our take off from Gulf Waters was anything but stellar. We of course had help and distractions as we were getting hitched up and set to go, this threw us off of our routine which resulted in dropping the RV on the truck bed rails. Thank goodness there doesn't appear to be any real damage, another scuff or two but after a year there are already a few.

 Our first stop was Galveston Island State Park, we had grand plans of visiting downtown Galveston but that never happened. Think we were in decompress mode, our days we were spent on the beach and biking around the state park. First bike ride in quite awhile, by the time we took some of the trails think we put on about 5 miles or so, not bad after so many months of biking absence. Our site was on the bayside of the park, if the mosquitoes hadn't been so prevalent we would have spent more time outside.







 Dave got the last of his salt water fishing in, can't find too much salt water in AZ so it'll be awhile le before he's fishing anything but lakes and streams.





Last Thursday we left Galveston moving eastward, it took almost 2 hours to go 30 miles...long wait for the Bolivar Ferry. While on the ferry, we were approached by a gentleman wanting to get our input on plans he had for building an ownership RV park on Bolivar Island. He was modeling it after one he had seen on Mustang Island in Port Aransas TX, while he couldn't remember the name we were happy to supply him with Gulf Waters name and our experience as owners. He then asked if we could take a few minutes and share what we had told him with the folks he hoped to partner with in his adventure. Well we did and now have an offer of 10% off of a lot if we want one. So two hours after leaving Galveston State Park we were finally really moving down the road.

After a bumpy and long ride we arrived at Betty's RV Park in Abbeville LA, a headache after a long drive day and no lunch led to our chose to skip happy hour that evening. For those who haven't had the pleasure of driving I-10 in LA be prepared for a very bumpy ride, make sure everything is secure in your rig before the drive otherwise you'll find things in new places.

While in Abbeville we headed to a nearby town to meet the local shrimp boat, at $4 a pound how could we not. We ended up going back a second time (took the ice cube trays out of the freezer) so by the end of our stay we our freezer was bursting but 18 pds of shrimp were on board.



 Rice and crawfish are rotated crops in Louisiana,  one year rice the next crawfish. We decided to visit Kelly's Landing in Crowley, Kelly used to be a rice and crawfish farmer, with the onset of macular degeneration he had to get out of farming. He now invites folks to visit his farm where he explains about both and serves up a delicious homemade meal. On the menu that day was crawfish etouffee, rice of course, salad and coconut cake. Kelly also is now a collector of John Deere toys and loves all things John Deere. We had a fantastic time listening to him, he was a great story teller and if we didn't have shrimp in a cooler we would have stayed longer than 2.5 hours. If you are ever in the area and looking for some local flavor check out Kelly's Landing in Crowley.








Dave got his fill of crawfish while in Abbeville, a local boil shack one night then Richards another. We tried Shucks for local seafood and bread pudding. Good meals at all.










Easter was celebrated at Betty's with a pot luck dinner. Betty's RV Park, what to say...you for sure don't go there for the park itself but for meeting Betty. During our stay there the park was full of folks who had been there many times, many of them Canadians, we were the only first timers there. We enjoyed meeting Betty and the folks there but doubt we'll be back.


As we got ready to leave Betty's on Monday water came gushing out of the under belly of the rv, we are trying to trouble shoot it and also have an appointment at the factory on 4/22. So ready for this rough patch of rv trouble to be over. 

We are now in Natchez State Park but more about that another day.

Until next time...




6 comments:

  1. Lv the picture of Dave holding his big bag of shrimp...smile is priceless. Wonder if I10 jilted open a connection somewhere...either way, glad GD visit soon. We know they'll surely fix you up...see you soon!

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  2. Lv the picture of Dave holding his big bag of shrimp...smile is priceless. Wonder if I10 jilted open a connection somewhere...either way, glad GD visit soon. We know they'll surely fix you up...see you soon!

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  3. Glad there wasn't much damage from the drop. It is hard to keep on with your routine when folks keep coming by to say good-bye. We usually go around and hit everyone the night before and say we'll be so busy in the morning we won't have time. Sounds like a lovely time in the state park and some fantastic food there in Abbeville. I've wondered about Betty's for me. Everyone seems to love it mostly for the cocktail hours it seems. I don't really like the taste of alcohol so I'm not a cocktailer but I thought perhaps I would like it for the food and the music. You are the second person who has said once was enough for you. Thanks for the heads up about that section of I-10. Wonder if there is anyway to avoid it. Hope your RV problems are fixed by now and you are enjoying Natchez State Park another place that was on my list for this spring but got scraped for medical issues. Looking forward to hearing what I'm missing.

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  4. RV troubles seem to all come at the same time. Hopefully you've seen the last of yours! Going back to the factory for the water issue is wise.
    Thanks for the comment on Betty's. We hear about it all the time but have never had any desire to go there. She sure is famous though! :)
    Hope the rest of your trip goes smoothly.

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  5. RV troubles seem to all come at the same time. Hopefully you've seen the last of yours! Going back to the factory for the water issue is wise.
    Thanks for the comment on Betty's. We hear about it all the time but have never had any desire to go there. She sure is famous though! :)
    Hope the rest of your trip goes smoothly.

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  6. Glad to hear all went well after the little hiccup leaving GW. And oh yes ... we remember I-10 very well :-(

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