Florida Can Wait

Being on no imposed schedule, and free to make changes as needed/desired is a huge benefit to being retired.  It has also made the launching of our adventure a really lengthy process, and most likely makes our pre-supposed total length of the adventure suspect at this point.  All remains to be seen, and does, after all, make this truly an adventure.

Our launch on January 1 of this year, to Spring from Arlington, was off to a grand start, and we were on our way.  We arrived at an RV park near Lafayette, Louisiana on January 8, prepared to spend a week before moving on to Alabama and then Florida.  The park here in Henderson (or Breaux Bridge, depending on which address record you look at) is a really nice park.

It's huge and offers lots of family fun with a couple of pools for adults and a pirate-themed wading pool for kids.  There's a small lake in the middle of the park with resident ducks.  Cabins line the lake for those visitors without an RV.  There's a miniature golf course, a couple of cabana bars, and even a few slot machines for the adults.  The interior roads and RV pads are all concrete which makes it very nice for biking and walking--when it's not raining.  Which it does a lot in January/February.

At this time of year, the park is rather deserted, but that actually worked to our advantage as it turns out.  A serious family medical issue compelled us to hurry back to Arlington, TX on January 11 to help with hospital visits and subsequent care.  Three weeks later, we were delighted when health improved, and we returned to our RV which we had been able to leave parked in the Louisiana park given the huge availability of sites here right now.  We're now once again settled into our RV lifestyle.  Before leaving here, we do need to take in a bit of local sightseeing.  A couple of possibilites are Avery Island (home of Tabasco Sauce) and an old rice mill that's still in operation and offers tours.  Baton Rouge may be on the list, as well.  Swamp tours are offered, but the wet, cool weather lessens their appeal...and then there's that parting comment by some family members in Arlington saying that they would be watching for us on Swamp People.  :)  So maybe not.

All previously arranged reservations at RV parks along our route to Florida were cancelled when we saw that our stay in Arlington would be a matter of weeks rather than days.  We've now made new arrangements, and have decided that sightseeing in Florida can wait until another time as we prefer to spend our time making our way further north along the Atlantic coast as spring begins.  So our route now is to drive to the Mobile/Pensacola area when we leave here next week.  We'll spend a week exploring that area before heading to Brunswick, Georgia.  The drive between Pensacola and Brunswick is more than we're comfortable with making in one day, so we plan to spend one night in a Walmart parking lot near Tallahasseee--another first!