Saturday, September 29th - Problems with Coach

We packed up and headed west on US-98, the coast highway. We have about 800 miles to our next destination, San Antonio, Texas. We are meeting cousin, Janet and husband Bob, in San Antonio on Wednesday.

Just about 4 miles after we left the campground, the coach odometer flipped over 40,000 miles. And, as if right on cue, we began to have problems with the coach idling at stoplights. The engine died twice, blocking one lane of traffic. After restarting the engine, I found a safe parking lot to stop and think this thing thru.

We are NEARLY due for our periodic oil change, lube, fuel filter changes, etc. I HAD planned to have it done around Baton Rouge, enroute to San Antonio. This low RPM engine stuttering seems like it could be either bad diesel fuel OR a dirty fuel filter.

I called Coach-Net, with whom we have a towing contract. They said that our contract covers towing to the nearest maintenance facility (east to Panama City, Florida in our case). HOWEVER, if the problem turns out to be MAINTENANCE related, such as a bad fuel filter, the towing cost is on us. Towing this 32,000# coach the 60 miles would cost hundreds of $'s. In fact, the problem COULD be the fuel filter.

I felt like that if I could keep up the RPM's, I could make it 100 miles to Spanish Fort, Alabama where I could get service first thing Monday morning.

So, I drained a little fuel out of the fuel/water separator, disconnected the Jeep, and MA & I drove VERY carefully thru seashore traffic to Navarre, Florida where I turned inland and to I-10. After a stop for lunch, we had minimal trouble (only at one stop sign) and are now camped near the Caterpillar service center in Spanish Fort. We will get up at 6:30 Monday morning to get the service performed.

Friday, September 28th

Ashley and Javi brought Cammie and Ceci over to the coach while they packed for the return trip home to Greenville, SC. We fed the girls lunch and then took them to the swimming pool at the campground. Around 2:15, they picked the girls up and headed home. They arrived safely around midnight, their time...praise God!

MA and I will head west toward San Antonio tomorrow before the 11am checkout time.

Thursday, September 27th - Destin,. Florida

We have been having a great time with grandkids, family and new friends here in the Florida panhandle. Gypsy has learned to do her business in white sand which is very easy to pick up. Camryn and Cecilia are both getting braver with the waves and water. There is a very large community swimming pool about one block from the beach house. We all went over to the large pool today. It was warmer than the pool at the beach house. Camryn is jumping from the side to either Javi or I.

Last night, Ashley, Javi, Camryn and Cecilia joined MA and I for a very nice dinner at Mitchell's Seafood Restaurant in Sandestin, FL, an adjacent town. I was wonderful! MA had snapper, Ashley had amberjack, Javi had the seafood penne pasta and I had grouper. Later, we strolled over to the fountain which is a centerpiece of the shopping complex.

Monday, September 24th - At the Beach

Today, we went over to the beach house and spent several hours at the beach across the street. The surf was pretty rough, the sun was bright and the sand is very white.

Later,at the coach, MA prepared spaghetti and we took it over to the group at the beach house...food for 12!

Saturday, September 22nd - into Destin, Florida

We left our camp of one night in Summerdale, Alabama and drove the 100 miles to Destin, Florida, our home for the next seven days. We stopped at Wal-Mart and parked until we could check in at the campground. Ashley, Javi, Camryn & Cecilia arrived at our "day camp" just after we set up. They, also, had to wait before they could check in to their rental home.

It rained off and on while we waited. Javi & I got wings from Hooters right next door and got drenched in the process.

As you can see from this short video, I had excellent co-pilots when we moved the coach from Wal-Mart to the campground!

We are now at Camping on the Gulf campground, about 100 yards from the Gulf of Mexico.

Ash & her family got checked in around 5pm. They are sharing the unit with friends, Kim & Bob, Bob's parents and Bob's sister's family.

MA & I ate cheeseburgers and drank margaritas at Cheeseburgers in Paradise, inspired by Jimmy Buffet's song.

Friday, September 21st - Heading to Destin, Florida!

We left our very nice Bayou Segnette State Park campsite around 10:30 and drove 200 miles to Summerdale, Alabama, about 100 miles from Destin, Florida, our destination tomorrow.

We stopped for lunch at Cracker Barrel in Slidell and for fuel in Gulfport, Mississippi. We had about 60 gallons on board but, with the tropical depression lurking off the northern Gulf Coast, I wanted to have PLENTY of fuel if we need to evacuate or run the generator for long periods.

Had an interesting, thankfully not harmful, experience as we crossed the Huey P. Long bridge just west of New Orleans. The very steep up ramp proved to be VERY narrow as well - 9 feet wide. Well, this coach is 8.5 feet wide as we roll down the road. Scarily, I hit the right hand curb with our passenger side tires, making a screeching noise. To correct, I had to fudge over into the passing lane. Fortunately, there was no damage to the tires.

Thursday, September 20th - Plantations & Venice

After a very quick McDonald's breakfast, MA & I returned to Laurel Valley Sugar Plantation, just south of Thibodaux, Louisiana to take pix. In 1875, a Spanish land grant to Eteinne Boudreaux was the beginnings of the largest surviving 19th century plantation manufacturing complex in the USA. Over 70 structures (all made of cypress wood, except the sugar mill) are still standing. These include cottages for workers' families, a church, schoolhouse and general store. The plantation was raided by the Union soldiers during the Civil War and that halted production until the early 1900's. At its peak, the plantation was supported by 250 mules, a 15 mile railway system and 60 worker families.

We then had a nice visit with our friend, Murray Dennis, over a cup of coffee and then packed up and drove 20+ miles to Laura Plantation, on the banks of the Mississippi River in Vacherie, Louisiana. We took a guided tour of this, mostly rebuilt, example of a Creole plantation. Creoles of Louisiana loosely defined themselves as being of European (mostly French & Spanish) descent, born in Louisiana and frequently inter-married with West African and Native American cultures. We learned that the "Anglo" plantations were painted white while Creole plantations were painted bright colors. This was also a sugar plantation, passed down thru generations and managed, almost TOTALLY, by strong women.

After a delightful lunch of personal pizzas at DJ's Grille in Vacherie, we drove 40+ miles to our camp for the night at Bayou Segnette State Park in Westwego, Louisiana, on the outskirts of New Orleans. We have always wanted to see the area of Louisiana, south of New Orleans, following the Mississippi River down to the Gulf of Mexico. We drove as far south on highway 23 as we could, to Venice, Louisiana. We saw MUCH devastation remaining from hurricane Katrina, 25 months ago. There was nothing particularly scenic about the drive, just industrial complexes, refineries, etc. along the river. We stopped at Fort Jackson, an key to defending New Orleans during the Civil War (didn't successfully defend - David Farragut broke thru and captured N.O.). Katrina mostly destroyed the fort which sat virtually submerged for weeks).

We returned to our camp a different way, crossing the Mississippi River from the West Bank to the East Bank, and back again, by two ferries.

Wednesday, September 19th - to Thibodaux, LA

This morning, we FINALLY got our beignets...two of them. They had already sold their daily production down to two and we bought those. The beignets were OK, definitely not cafe du Monde quality.

We drove back to the camp and packed up, as did Sylvia and Terry. We left at the same time, they were heading toward San Antonio, Texas and we drove across the Atchafalaya Basin to Thibodaux, Louisiana. We are parked at Wal-Mart.

We are in Thibodaux because friends (and BLOG readers) Murray and John Dennis invited us for a visit. We had a very enjoyable boiled shrimp dinner at the Half Shell Restaurant, one of their favorites. John had to go to a meeting so Murray showed us around the area. We plan to see Murray again tomorrow morning and get some pix of the historic Laurel Valley Sugar Plantation.

Tuesday, September 18th - Swamp Tour

For two days now, we have been looking for beignets for breakfast, just like at the Cafe du Monde in New Orleans. Monday we had to "settle" for Cracker Barrel. Yesterday afternoon, at the KonRiKo rice mill, the guide told us that the Cafe des Amis in Breaux Bridge has beignets. So, we started our day with a stop at Cafe des Amis. Trouble was, they didn't open until 11:00 so we had 45 minutes to kill. After getting some mocha lattes around the corner, we went back. Turns out, beignets are only served on week-ends. The hostess said to try the local donut shop. Well, they DO serve beignets BUT they had sold out for the day. We left, sad, brooding and melancholy when the donut lady came to the car and asked us to take some free donuts with us because she was closing up and would have to throw them away. Oh, and by the way, come back for beignets tomorrow, she would hold some aside for us.

We drove out to Lake Martin, south of Breaux Bridge to take a swamp tour. I called Brian Champagne, owner and operator of Champagne Swamp Tours and he said that he was on a trip now and to meet us around noon for a trip. We bought some water and returned to meet Brian.

The tour lasted about two hours. We saw four alligators, egrets, herons, turtles, spiders and much more. It was very enjoyable.

We stopped off at a fruit stand and purchased large shrimp that MA boiled for dinner for the four of us in our coach.

Monday, September 17th - Acadiana

We had a wonderful day with Terry & Sylvia Hix today!

We started with breakfast at our country store friend, Cracker Barrel, in Lafayette, Louisiana. Then we went to the Acadiana Visitors Center in Lafayette. Acadiana is the official name given to the traditional 22-parish Cajun homeland of South Louisiana.

We drove down to Avery Island and took a tour of the McIlhenny Company plant where they made Tabasco brand products. Of particular interest to me is that McIlhenny buys white oak barrels from the Jack Daniels Distillery (Lynchburg, Tennessee). These barrels are made by Jack Daniels and used ONCE to allow their Tennessee Sippin' Whiskey to age, typically 4-5 years. Then McIlhenny gets the barrels and ages THEIR pepper "mash" for three years. McIlhenny, however, will re-use the barrels for 21 years. At that point, they chip up the wood and sell the chips for smoking meats. The tour was very interesting.

Next, we drove to New Iberia and took a tour of Shadows on the Teche, an antebellum home on the banks of Bayou Teche. The home was built in the 1830's and has quite a lively history as a plantation "summer home". The setting with the Spanish Moss-draped live oak trees was beautiful!

Then we toured the KonRiKo rice mill in New Iberia. This is the oldest, continuously operated rice mill in the USA. And it shows it! The wooden timbers inside the mill are full of cobwebs of some sort. The machinery is VERY antiquated, but interesting. They employ only 27 workers and yet, produce 4-5 million pounds of rice each year!

We drove north to St. Martinsville where we stopped at the Evangeline Oak and the monument to the star-crossed lovers immortalized in Longfellow's poem "Evangeline".

Finally, we drove to Breaux bridge where we ate another Cajun dinner, red beans and rice and a shrimp po-boy. It was named the Crazy 'Bout Crawfish Cajun Cafe.

Sunday, September 16th - into Southern Louisiana

MA prepared her Belgian Waffle breakfast for Terry & Sylvia Hix, our friends from Van Alstyne, Texas. Everyone from the Bayou Kruisers rally packed up and left this morning. Terry & Sylvia asked if they could "shadow" us on our travel thru southern Louisiana. Of course, we would really enjoy their company. So, both coaches left around noon and we drove 80 miles to Breaux Bridge, Louisiana near Lafayette. We are camped at a park recommended by several of our Bayou Kruisers, Poche's Fish-N-Camp. We are next to Terry & Sylvia and on the side of a fishing lake.

Back in 1990, when traveling thru the southern USA, we stopped at a local institution, Mulate's for Cajun food and music. Tonight, the four of us ate dinner and listened to music at Mulate's. MA & I ate grilled catfish smothered with crawfish ettoufee.

Friday, September 14th - Marksville, Louisiana

The rain finally stopped and it was a very humid, but clear day - a day just right for GOLF! Charlie Graves and Troy and I played Tamahka Hills Golf Club, immediately adjacent to the Paragon Casino here in Marksville. I played better than last week in Monroe.

We all took the shuttle bus over to the Casino and enjoyed the Friday Seafood Buffet which included Snow Crab Legs. Then we played 8-man "Jokers" a very popular board game played a LOT by the RV'ers.

Thursday, September 13th - Humberto Reigns (sic)

Tropical storm, Humberto, then, Hurricane Humberto, came ashore earlier today and we are getting the side effects - drenching rain. Therefore, not a lot going on here at the Bayou Kruisers chapter rally. I followed Terry Hix over to Bunkie, Louisiana this afternoon so he could leave his Chevrolet Avalanche with the Chevy dealer. Terry's truck will not hold a charge in the battery. Later, about 20 of us went over to Home Run Pizza for dinner and played games in the clubhouse.

Wednesday - September 12th - Leaving Monroe

After a final trip to our 10'x20' storage unit here in Monroe to offload things that will not be used while on the road, we said our good-byes to our hosts at Hoyt Highfill & Associates. They were so kind to allow us to use their parking pad with FULL hook-ups for the past eight nights!

We drove 125 miles south to the town of Marksville, Louisiana, home of the Paragon Casino and RV Resort. We are here for four nights as part on the Bayou Kruisers "chapter" rally. This is a club of mostly south Louisianians who all own Newmar motorhomes or 5th wheels. Newmar Corporation sponsors the international "Newmar Kountry Klub" which all owners of Newmar products are invited to join. The overall Klub is divided into about 10 "regions" and the regions are divided into individual "states". The states then have one or more "chapters". We are members of the Bayou Kruisers (obviously, Louisiana) and the Palmetto Pals, South Carolina, where we plan to settle down later this year.

We were very surprised when our friends from Van Alstyne, Texas, Terry and Sylvia Hix, called me from Alexandria, Louisiana. I did not know that they were planning to come to this rally. When we last saw them in Lake City, Colorado in July, they were not planning to come to this rally. So, I was very surprised when I got Terry's call that they had a front tire blowout on the I-49 overpass in Alexandria, on their way to this rally. They were about 30 miles away from Marksville. Terry assured us that roadside assistance was on the way and that we could be of no help. Around dinner time (of course, Terry) they showed up. About 14 of us went to dinner at Rosie's, a 50's kind of eatery in the Paragon Casino.

We had intermittant rain enroute from Monroe and it has been raining here since we got here. Tropical Storm Humberto came ashore in southeast Texas and this rain is part of that system.

The Buzzalino Sister Act

Camryn & Cecilia gettin' ready for the Big Time!

Remember the Alamo!

Remember our BLOG posts from Mexico? Remember that we said "what happened in Mexico, STAYS in Mexico"?

We have broken our silence!

Saturday, September 8th - Golf at the Club

For the five years that we lived here in Monroe, Louisiana, I had the good fortune to be a member of Bayou DeSiard Country Club. I played in a regular golf game most Saturdays and occasional Sundays. It is a very flat course and, therefore, fairly easy to walk (except on the very hot, muggy days of July & August).

I was invited to join Steve Kelley and his group for a 10:30 tee time. I did not play well but had several good shots and a VERY enjoyable afternoon on the links. This pic is the par 5, 3rd hole. The green is on the far side of the lake...look between the two trees.

MA spent the afternoon with her friend, Alyce. Later, I join them and Alyce's husband, Sonny, at there home for a fried catfish and shrimp dinner. Wonderful!

A Minor Irritation

When we were leaving Louisville, Kentucky in mid-August, the "Check Engine" warning light came on. I immediately pulled to the side of the highway and the light went off and did not come back on for the rest of the trip. I utilize an engine monitoring system called VMSpc that I run on the laptop and connect to the engine diagnostic port under the dashboard by the steering column. The "diagnostics" feature said that I had a 164-2 error which meant "Injection Control Pressure - Invalid Data". Later, I I talked to Caterpillar Customer Service and they recommended that I have a Caterpillar service tech look at it.

When we got to West Memphis, Arkansas, I had Riggs Caterpillar Service take a look. The tech said that he thought it was a "Huie Pump" going bad. He said that they did not stock the part, could order it but, I could probably wait until my next service appointment which will be in October in Texas.

So, upon leaving Hot Springs, Arkansas last week, the same scenario happened with the "Check Engine" light. I pulled over and the warning light went off and did not come on again. When we arrived in Monroe, I went to Cooper Truck Center. They said they did not have the pump and could not get one anytime soon. So, I called Caterpillar Customer Service again and they said that I really needed to get an "official" diagnosis so that the part could be back-ordered on a priority basis. They were concerned that we could be stranded on a highway somewhere and need to be towed and then have to wait for the pump.

So, we set the alarm for 7:00am this morning, packed-up the coach and trucked on over to Cooper Truck Center so that they can do an in depth analysis. MA & I took Gypsy in the Jeep, got a haircut, ran some errands and visited with MA's sister, Francis Louisew. After several hours of running diagnostics, they came to the conclusion that the problem was the Injector SENSOR, not the pump. This was good news since the sensor will not cause a breakdown problem, only a "reporting" issue. The bad news was that they could not figure out how to get into the top of the engine from inside the coach bedroom to replace the sensor.

So, I am left with a sensor problem that has not been resolved. It has happened only two times BUT, it is something that bothers, no, IRRITATES me.

This is a downside to living in a motorhome full-time. You have to vacate your home whenever it needs mechanical work.

Tuesday, September 4th - to Monroe, Louisiana

We loaded up and drove the 109 miles south to our previous home, Monroe, Louisiana. We initially stopped in the parking lot of our friend Jerry Carter's office. It became immediately apparent that TV by satellite was not gonna happen because of heavy trees in the direction of the "bird". There are some serious football games coming up this week-end so we took up another friend, Hoyt Highfill, up of his earlier offer to park outside his place of business, Hoyt Highfill Associates, here in Monroe. We are parked in his side alley and have cable, 50 amp electric, water, sewer AND CABLE TV.

Sunday & Monday September 2nd & 3rd

Boy, there is just not a whole lot to say about this part of the world. I IS relaxing. Monday morning we left around 9:30 to see more of the Mississippi Delta area. Wanted to get an early start on this Labor Day. It did not take long. We drove over to Indianola, Mississippi and then stopped in Leland to see the "Home of Kermit the Frog", actually the birthplace and boyhood home of Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets.

This is a pic of our lakeside campsite at Chicot County RV Park.

Saturday, September 1st - to Lake Village, Arkansas

After packing up the coach, we drove the 160 miles to Lake Village, Arkansas, in the far southeast park of Arkansas. This is the home of The Paul Michael Company, a place that MA has wanted to visit.

We are camped for the next three nights at Chicot (pronounced Chico) County RV Park. This is a VERY spacious park right on the banks of Lake Chicot, an "oxbow" lake created when the Mississippi River changed its course. It is very pretty and relaxing.

I have marginal Internet access and probably won't be able to post a pic until we get to Monroe, Louisiana on Tuesday. We will see.