Morgan City, Louisiana

 

We have check into Victor Guarisco Lake End Park and Campground in Morgan City, LA. We have a spot right on the lake. We will be here for four nights.

New Iberia, Louisiana

 

We have check into KOC Kampground in New Iberia, LA. We will be here for four nights.

Biloxi, Mississippi

We left Abbeville, Louisiana a day early yesterday to take advantage of good travel weather. When we got here to Biloxi, Mississippi we had sunshine and 72°F. Today the weather here in Biloxi is forecast to get COLD down in the mid 40°s. We'll be staying at the Keesler Air Force Base FamCamp for 5 days..

Abbeville, LA

We left Mermentau River RV Park & Marina around 10:15 this morning and made it into Betty's RV Park in Abbeville, LA an hour later. My last time here was 5 years ago with Barb. Betty say's things have changed around here but it looks pretty much the same to me. We'll be here for 2 weeks before heading next to Biloxi, MS.

Mardi Gras 2015

HAPPY MARDI GRAS!

Mardi Gras occurs the day preceding Ash Wednesday and is french for " Fat Tuesday".

Today Nancy and I went to the Krewe Chic-A-la-Pie Mardi Gras parade in Kaplan, LA.

 

 

 

 

  

 

Lake Arthur, LA

Well we left Galveston around 8:30 this morning heading to Louisiana. We took the ferry across to avoid the Houston traffic. We have stopped for 3 nights at the Mermentau River RV Park & Marina in Lake Arthur, LA. Their mailing address is Gueydan, LA but they're closer to the small town of Lake Arthur. It hasn't changed much since the last time I was here some 4 years ago in April 2011. One thing has changed though, Verizon put up a tower and we have internet access here now. It's a weak signal so but it works most of the time. We have a spot right on the river with a covered deck over the water. We came in just as a rain storm hit the area. We'll hold us here until Thursday the 19th when we have reservations to get into Betty's RV Park in Abbeville. Mermentau River RV Park & Marina is on a fresh water river and lake with access to the Intracoastal Waterway and the Gulf of Mexico. I looked at this place once with the idea of it being the home for Shangri-La Cruises.

 

 

 

 

On the road to Oklahoma City

Well we were able to get on the road this morning leaving around 9:30 AM on our way us to Oklahoma City. We have stopped for the night in the Texas Welcome Center just outside Waskom, TX.

Blow Out

We were getting ready to leave Lake Arthur this morning when I found that my inside right rear dual tire was flat and wouldn't hold air. On the way here last Friday, I heard a noise and pulled over on the side of the highway but didn't see anything so I kept going.

Well I called our road service and they found someone about 40 miles from us who could bring us a new tire and put it on the motorhome. Total price for a new tire was $503.17.

Since it was already after noon by the time the repairs were completed, we opted to spend one more night and will leave out tomorrow morning on our trip to Oklahoma City.

Lake Arthur, LA

We left New Iberia around 10:15 AM this morning heading 55 miles away to the Mermentau River RV Park & Marina in Lake Arthur, LA.

Crawfish Pie (Des tartes d'écrevisse)

Crawfish pie for dinner tonight.

Recipe for Crawfish Pie
Des tartes d'écrevisse
from
The Top 100 Cajun Recipes of All Time

• 3/4 medium bellpepper, chopped

• 1 large onion, chopped

• 2 ribs of celery, chopped

• 3/4 cup of butter

• 6 tablespoons of crawfish fat (optional)

• 1-1/2 pounds of peeled crawfish tails

• 1/2 cup of chopped green onions

• 1/2 cup of minced parsley
  

• 1-1/2 teaspoons salt

• 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper

• 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper

• 1/2 teaspoon of garlic power

• cornstarch

• dough for a double-crust pie

1. Sauté bellpepper, onion and celery in butter until tender; add crawfish fat and simmer 10 minutes.

2. Add crawfish tails, green onions, parsley and seasonings. Thicken if necessary with a little cornstarch; let cook long enough to thicken gravy.

3. Place half of the pie crust dough in a nine-inch pie pan. Fill with the cooled filling. Place top crust on pie, moisten edges and seal edges. Cut two or three one-inch-long slits in the top crust.

4. Bake 10 minutes at 450 degrees; lower oven to 375 degrees and cook for 35 minutes longer or until crust is golden brown.

Note: Individual pies can be made using muffin pan with large cups. Bake as above.


Click on play button to play Crawfish Pie
Download Crawfish Pie from Amazon.com

Two Weeks

Well our friend Suzi left this morning after spending 2 weeks with us. She really needed that time to get away from stress-induced Oklahoma and relax. We'll be here in New Iberia for another 2 weeks then we too will leave on our 3 day trek to Oklahoma before heading to Wisconsin for the summer. We go through Oklahoma each year at this time to renew our vehicle tags and visit with family and friends there before going to God's real country.

Louisiana Swamp Tour

One of the things on Suzi's "list of things she wanted to do while in Louisiana" was to take a swamp tour. So, Barb, Suzi and I got out of the house today and went on a swamp tour on Martin Lake with Champagne's Swamp Tours of St. Martinville. The last swamp Barb and I went on was back in June 2005 on Bayou Black.

Don't trust an alligator with a shit eating grin!
"just a little closer now ..."

Cajun Jam Session

Last year while we were staying at Betty's RV Park in Abbyville, we found a small bar in an almost smaller town where they had Cajun music jam sessions every other weekend. Barb and I liked it so well we wanted to do it again. So earlier this afternoon, Barb and I took Suzi to that little bar in Erath, LA and listened to French-Cajun music at one of their jam sessions.

To keep everyone there come dinner time, the bar serves everyone a free Cajun meal. You never know what you're gonna get until they serve it to ya, then you might not want to ask. We enjoyed it. The Museum Cafe, as it's called, is attached to the Acadian Museum of Erath.

Once a month, the museum inducts a local member of the Cajun community as a Living Legend. We were fortunate enough that we were there when they inducted Dotsie LeBlanc into their Living Legends.


Buy Cajun Music from Amazon.com

Avery Island

Yesterday was a wet and windy day. Last night the winds came through and rattled the motorhome. It was like a swamp outside this morning. But after having lunch at Victors Restaurant in New Iberia, we took a trip out to Avery Island, home of Tabasco.


After we got back, we went to the crawfish hut drive thru and pickup 10 pounds of mud bugs for dinner.

Crawfish

One of the reasons we come to Louisiana is for the crawfish. Last night after getting here, we went to our favorite crawfish hut and got our real Louisiana crawfish of the year.

New Iberia, LA

We finely got on the road this morning and got out of town. We had breakfast at the Waffle House with our daughter Angel and granddaughter Emily at 7:30 this morning then pulled out of our RV space right around 8:30 heading to New Iberia, LA getting here at 2:00 this afternoon. We're staying at the KOC Kampground. We'll be here until the end of March. From here we'll head to Oklahoma City before heading back north to Oconto, Wisconsin.

"Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler"

(Let the Good Times Roll)

New Iberia, LA


KOC Kampground