Chapter 2 - Day 20 - No Gators... I'm sad

 We had quite the cold front come through overnight. Which means no alligators for YOU. It was 52 in the camper. Now, three weeks ago I would have grabbed a blanket and been fine. I've been in the south and warm weather long enough to acclimate. I turned on the heat and still bundled up. 

The morning was grey and threatened rain all day but we really only saw a few sprinkles on our way to the next location. BUT, before we headed off to Bundick Lake Retreat Center & RV Park for the next couple of days we went to Alexandria to see a few things. Okay, to get donuts and see a thing. 

Shipley's Do-Nuts and Salted Carmel ColdBrew- iced

Giant crawfish at Crawfish Daddy's

Then off toward DeRidder and the RV park. Now, if you've been following along you've probably asked yourself, why isn't she staying at more HarvestHost locations? Well, in Louisiana there aren't really that many in certain areas of the state. I'd love to see that change but it is what it is. So, I'm supplementing with the Federal land stops, by far my favorite places so far, and RV parks. 

The RV parks are nice because you get all the hook ups and I'm finding electricity during work days is tough unless it's SUNNY out. Even a hint of cloud and my system can't keep up with the demand. Probably something I'm currently working on fixing, just saying. 

I'm parked here until Saturday morning when I head toward Lake Charles area. BUT, there will be some haunted location visiting before I'm completely out of the area. Stay tuned for that. I'm excited.

Chapter 2 - Day 19 - Valentine Lake and the windsday

Woke up to a Windsday. If you aren't a fan of Winnie the Pooh or Disney World you might not get the reference. Here's a link to the ride through of Pooh's ride.

Front coming in with cool weather and the wind

Left the Pecan Orchard and headed 45 mins south to Valentine Lake. This is federal land that you can fish, boat, camp, etc on. I'm on the north side of the lake, right on the water. Today's agenda is yet again another veg night. On my way tomorrow I'll be doing some site seeing but I'm enjoying just... enjoying.

This location is gorgeous. There aren't hookups so I'm dry camping. But with everything prepped before I left the Orchard it's all good. I have the solar panels out charging both the GoalZero powerpack and the Zamp panels for the camper. 

I'm hoping for a gator sighting but the weather has turned a little cooler, so unsure that'll happen. The crows are talking and seeing it's just me and the host... it's really quiet.

Chapter 2 -Day 17 and 18 - Pecan Orchard RV Park

 I spent two very quiet days at Natchitoches (Nak-eh-dish) Pecan Orchard RV Park. It's a unattended park, which means you pay online or over the phone, park anywhere, and enjoy. First of these I've stayed in. From an antisocial view I like it. From a business POV I'm not so sure this is a good model. But not my issue.

Other than working, wandering the grounds and vegging I haven't done anything in two days. And it's wonderful. :D

Oh, bluebird who'd been sitting and staring at me:

There are long-horn steer behind the park. I tried to make kissy noises to get them to come over but they wouldn't.

Chapter 2 - Day 16 - Civil war site and internet issues

 Leaving the farm this morning to a wonderfully sunny and breezy day. We're headed to Natchez, LA just south of Natchitoches (pronounced nak-eh-dish). Two days in an RV park with all the hookups. 

I needed to get propane and stopped at a Love's outside Mansfield. So glad I did. Exiting the highway I saw a sign for Mansfield Civil War Historical Site. I hadn't run across that in all my searches for things to do, but I'm a bit of a history buff... Detour Activated. 

I'm so glad I did. This is the first Civil War location I've visited in the Confederacy. I told the guide that I'd grown up learning about the Civil War from a Union perspective. He found that entertaining and said my tour would be educational. It was. If you'd like to see the whole set of photos let me know and I'll invite you to a Google folder.

Mansfield was one of the last battles in the Red River campaign during toward the end of the war. I'm doing some research into the battles to beef up my knowledge and will try to hit a few more sites on my travels.

We drove through Natchitoches to our new spot, Natchitoches Pecan Orchard RV Park. Not a HarvestHosts location. This is a full service RV park. Two nights here to fill up batteries, water, dump waste, etc. Then off to Valentine Lake for a couple of days. I'm starting my southern push into the state now.

Chapter 2 - Day 15 - Shreveport, Bass Pro and other goodies

 Another gorgeous morning. We had to leave by 10am from the park but we were up early. So, took a great shower in the bathhouse. For a park shower room it was amazing. No spiders, dirt, nothing.

Then, chores. I needed groceries and to do laundry. Both absolutely had to be done today. I stopped at the Brook's Brothers... Brookshire... one of those. Did my grocery shopping, grabbed cash and headed right around the corner to a laundromat. We'd attempted laundry first but I didn't have cash to get quarters with. Doh.

From laundry we headed to Bossier City to see a few things. First, the 14 story mural:

Then the Dalmatian (I only saw it during the day but I snagged a pic of it from the internet so you can see what it looked like at night)

Borrowed from Roadside America - Jennifer Nugent

Some other cool stuff to take pics of:

Bass Pro allows dogs in, so Leelu had the time of her life visiting with every single human. Because, you know they all love her and were there to see her.

Then to the Shreveport Waterworks Museum. A very cool historical site of the last remaining steam driven water pump. It closed its doors in 1986!!

Headed to the HarvestHosts farm we were staying the night at. They currently raise white tail deer. Very cool. And they invited us to hang out at their bonfire. I entertained a 3rd grader and her little pre-k-4 brother. Great way to end the night.