Flooding and Detour

We had planned on driving east on I-10 out of Houston and heading toward New Orleans. But due to all the rain, I-10 was closed at the bridge over the Sabine River.  According to the Department of Transportation, the recommended detour involved going northeast to I-20 and Shreveport Louisiana, then back south. This would have been over 300 miles out of our way.

Craig did some homework the night before our departure and found a route that only took us out of our way by about 160 miles.  

The land was flooded as far as we could see. This was not even a major river crossing.

Knowing that our next park reservation was farther than we usually drive in one day, I left one night unplanned. I wasn't sure, with having to get through Houston traffic, how far we would get. For just an overnight, I like to check availability as we drive. I usually can find a Passport America park along our route.

Many of the trees are budding and showing lots of little leaves. Others, like these are still bare. 

It was a good thing we were open, because although we went over 350 miles on the first day, we did not get all the way back to our planned route. I found a small commercial park just outside of Baton Rouge.

We noticed this herd of cows standing in the middle of a flooded field and wondered why they didn't go to the higher grassy area that was within their fenced pasture. We saw several groups like this. As far as I could tell there was no feed station where they were. 

A friendly tree.

Even though our stop at Fountainbleau State Park was only for two days, we were glad to see the RV area was not flooded, and the big old trees gave us a sheltered feel.

I bet this tree would have some good stories if it could speak.

We stopped here two years ago on our way back to California from Florida. It is across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans.

Our reason for a visit to New Orleans, this time, was to eat at Cochon Butcher, another of the restaurants on Craig's Yelp Top 100 list. 




Although it gets rave reviews, I found the food to be too salty and too greasy for my taste. But it was one of those places we wanted to experience. Most are unique and wonderful. This one was not.

[From Craig] One of the neat things about full-timing is you can treat a place like New Orleans as a cornucopia of things to do and places to go, or you can stop for a single restaurant if you want to.

Monday dawned cool, crisp, and sunny. A beautiful day to drive. For us, the destinations are important, but the travel between is the adventure. 

We are so lucky.  Life is good.