Goin' to Florida

Our departure from Paul B. Johnson State Park in Mississippi was interesting.  First we had to drive over the lake’s spillway.  Remember, we had come in the back way so we hadn’t enjoyed the fun of doing this when we arrived.  We did see it when we went looking for the office that first day and there was a lot more water spilling over than there was today.  I inquired at the office yesterday and was told that there is always water on the road there.  I guess you get used to it.  It is the main entrance.  Kirby went slow and it was a piece of cake!

 So, we hadn’t been this direction on our way in.  As we reached the gatehouse and we were faced with the question – right or left?  Our GPS was indicating a right turn so off we went as I pulled up Streets and Trips on the computer.  We were WRONG.  But, we were saved by a church and not for the first time.  Churches usually have nice big empty parking lots that are nice for big rigs to turn around in.  Kirby negotiated the turn around and we headed back the way we came and found the correct right turn that put us out on HWY 49.

And speaking of HWY 49 - that is the most fun stretch of highway I have ever seen.  If we had been in a car, we could have stopped at so many fun places – lots and lots of fruit stands (this time of year you have to wonder what kind of fruit they have), flea markets and antique stores. Just checking them out from the truck was fun.

Part of my entertainment on today’s drive was knowing I am in the south. 

“You know you are in the south when” –

Boiled Peanuts

Crawfish

Catfish

Humidity

We arrived in Pensacola before noon and found the Moose Lodge.  We had emailed with them and had a phone conversation yesterday to ascertain that they had hook-ups available.  Yesterday I was told that they had plenty but to arrive early.  We arrived early.  They have nothing but permanent trailer people living out there.  Some of them have homesteaded the next door sites as patios.  It was nasty and there were no hook-up available of any sort.  So disappointed.  We were looking forward to the adventure of meeting people at the Moose.  I quickly got on my computer and found us a place just past Pensacola.  It is a lovely RV park and just as nice as RV parks can be.  A campground it is not!  And the internet doesn’t work well.  Even our jetpack is not doing a very good job.  We must be out in the boonies! But that is not what we came here for.

We came for FAMILY!  I get to see my very most favorite aunt ever tonight and lots of first, second and whatever type of cousins.  Can't wait!

There were quite a few of these guys at the park and I was remiss in not getting a picture of them all.  Each was unique.

Mobile, Alabama.  I always love being here but have never stopped.

Always know - there IS light at the end of the tunnel!

Paul B. Johnson State Park, Mississippi

Beautiful!  This place is just beautiful!  Just look at the mist that covered the lake this morning.  Is this not gorgeous?  I could wake up to this for a long time and not get bored!

The natural beauty of Paul B. Johnson is awesome but the park is not that great.  As much as we are enjoying ourselves here, the park is run down and neglected and that is so sad.  I guess Mississippi is struggling like so many other states and doesn't have the money needed to properly staff this little piece of heaven.  It is also seems to be a very old park.  The roads are really skinny and they are TWO WAY!  Heaven forbid two big rigs going in opposite directions meet!  I don't want to think about it!  The sites are nicely situated but very narrow pads and quite short.  As evidenced by the above picture - the views are wonderful. (We are in site #74)  The bathrooms and showers are a bit neglected but are OK.  We were pleasantly surprised to find laundry facilities which are a great plus for me!  Be forewarned that the road coming in goes through standing water all the time.  The office told me it is not more than 2 - 3 inches.  We made a mistake and came in the back way so avoided the water - we will go back out the same way.  The mistake worked!

And here are some photos that I took today while waiting for the laundry.  (Check out my Laundromat Blog here)

Lots of Muscovy ducks that were a little too friendly for me!  They rather intimidated me!

A squirrel for Jake to chase!

Lots and lots of turtles.

And this was the view from the laundry facility.  Not too shabby!

Into Mississippi

Yesterday we departed Beaver Dam Campground at Caney Lakes in northern Louisiana.  We were there nine days and it wasn’t long enough!  We went back out the way we had come in, on the narrow road with two train tracks to cross and lots of wisteria growing on all the trees.  

There is Wisteria everywhere right now and it is so beautiful.

 It took about 15 or 20 minutes to get to Interstate 20 and head east.  It was a non-eventful trip except for crossing the Mississippi River.  (While listening to Paul Simon sing about the Mississippi Delta)  It is not like I had never done it before but I always get a thrill from it.  It is such a majestic river. We stopped just inside Mississippi at the visitor’ center and walked Jake and enjoyed the view of the river.  

Going over the Mississippi River.

The Muddy Mississippi

We left I-20 and headed south on HWY 49 to Hattiesburg.  We had been through Hattiesburg last year after leaving Meridian, MS.  As it turns out, our GPS did not like the address of Paul B. Johnson State Park so Kirby gave me on of a street near there that we could use.  Well, we took that road, scared me to death that it was wrong because it was very narrow with just some nice houses on it.  We came to an intersection and decided to turn left hoping it would work.  It did!!  It took us in the back gate to the park.  No one was minding the store so we just went on to our already booked site.  And what a beautiful site it is – and SMALL!  We barely fit but somehow Kirby got us in here in the first try.  He is an awesome driver!  We have a fantastic view of the lake and a large yard.  And – best of all – we have sewer!  It was a stretch to reach it because it is located way at the back of our site but Kirby got our stinky slinky to fit and I am going to go get a really long, hot shower now!

Here we are getting set up on this tiny site we have.  Our back end hangs out over the parking pad.

But the view makes it all worth it.

Jake is happy with some freshly mowed grass to lay on.

 

Sugar Cane Trail at Beaver Dam Campground

It was actually cold here yesterday and we were wondering if maybe we left Arizona too early! But I am sure this is just a short lived thing and we will somehow make it through.  At least it is not snow and ice.  And the trees and bushes didn’t seem to mind.  They continue to grow and are turning the most wonderful shade of spring green.  There is no other green like it.  It sort of matches the blue of a perfectly clear and sunny sky.

So we bundled up and headed out in the 55 degree cloudy weather to explore the Sugar Cane National Recreational Trail that runs right through our campground.  Not one other person was out and Jake was able to lead us the whole way.  He is so good at following a trail.  He only left the trail two times and one was to show us this very dead armadillo.  We never see anything alive on our walks - we have Jake out there and I talk too much!

Since I prefer photo journalism to writing, I am going to share my photos and you can see what we saw with some simple narration.  Enjoy our walk!

This was actually taken right in the campground.  I have no idea what it used to be but it must be pretty old.

I am still working on Jake's pose.  But he did pretty good.

All of the water we saw was dark, murky and full of mud.

I was taking pictures of various bark and though this one was no longer living and in a prone position, I liked it.

The Dogwood trees are so striking in the midst of all the green.

I collected little things growing.

Right from the beginning of the trail we had red diamond markers to follow.  When I saw the pink ribbon I got all excited with the marking and just knew that the ribbon was to lead me on very carefully.  But when I got up there I realized that was not the case at all.  It has to do with cutting trees for your stove.  On one side of the trail it was OK to cut trees but on the other side it was illegal.  Not being a forest person this was new to me.  To Kirby, not so new.

These are the trees that I collected.  All so different.  I love the one that the woodpecker decorated.  Two of them have been burned but survived.

A Day at the Campground

In this picture of the lake you can see the root of the tree that I saw fall yesterday.  Obviously something has happened in the most recent years to get too much water up around where this tree was growing because you can tell that the roots just rotted out and that caused the tree to fall.

What a great day this has been!  Of course it started out with a bang - literally.  Kirby and I had almost forgotten what a southern thunderstorm could be like but were reminded beginning at about 1:00AM this morning and it went on for a few hours.  Lots and lots of loud thunder.  Like a rolling loud noise.  And almost constant lightening to light up the sky.  There were a couple of big crashes that made us jump and sent Jake to our bedside.

But all that rain washed away the heavy covering of yellow pollen that was covering everything and left the morning looking like crystal.  We took Jake on his walk around the campground and then went off on our bike ride to check out the boat launch area.  When we were there we noticed a turtle that was about 6-8 inches in size floating down the stream.  We watched until the water got too deep and muddy and then we lost him.  But we did find a nice bridge over the stream that lead to a trail.  Tomorrow we will check out the trail!

It was not a really warm day but it was sunny and nice.  We spent time outside reading and also played some Mexican Train (dominoes).  The park host stopped by a couple of times to trade jokes with Kirby.  Our wonderful day just sort of slipped away.  Retirement IS everything it is supposed to be!

Following are some photos that I took on our morning walk.

The Dogwood trees are in full bloom and strike an amazing pose in the forest.

Early morning fishermen.

I don't know what this vine is.  Probably classified as a weed but I remember seeing them in South Carolina when we lived there.

The reason for all the yellow pollen.  Well, at least the majority of it.  Pine Pollen!

If a Tree Falls In the Forest.....

Well, I still don't know if it makes a noise if no one is there to hear it but I do know that if there IS someone there, it does make a noise.  I saw a big pine tree just decide to lay down today.  A first for me.  Jake and I were out for an afternoon walk and I just happened to be looking right where the tree was and saw it fall.  It was an amazing sight.

Since we don't have sewer here we decided to use the campground showers today to save our holding tank as we want to stay until the middle of next week.  (we love Beaver Dam Campground in Louisiana!) And we needed showers!  The whole thing was very iffy but I was successful in the end.  The water pressure was good and I didn't have to keep pushing a button like so many of them. (Can you count how many times the floor has been painted?)  Just as we were finishing up (Kirby in one shower and me in the other) the park host arrived to do his daily cleaning and didn't know we were in there and thank heavens there was a little bitty clasp on my door!  We are both much cleaner this evening.

Jake and I took a walk after dinner.  Here are some of the photos.

The dogwoods are in full bloom!

I am in love with these seeds.  They look like red M&M's!  But I have no clue what they are.  Can anyone help?

Even the little weeds are blooming with color.

This is Beaver Dam Lake with Jake in the foreground of course.