Launch of the Adventure's Final Year

So we are off again, beginning our 3rd and final year of this adventure.  Our travel plan follows the eastern coastline beginning in Louisiana along the Gulf of Mexico, around the perimeter of Florida, and continuing up the Atlantic seaboard to Maine.  At that point, we plan to head west through New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio before turning south toward Texas again.  Our friends B&B are accompanying us in their motorhome until we reach Charleston.  From there, they will return back to Texas and we'll continue solo.

Target departure date:  January 15.
Last minute errands on January 14:  Stop by grocery store; pick up new glasses for second time (Pearle can't seem to get the prescription right); pick up FedEx shipping supplies as an alternative to Priority Mail and mail-order prescriptions (reference 2013 sign-off posting); cursory recheck of tire pressure on Roamin after having filled them all yesterday (one of the tires had lost 35 pounds of pressure since filling them a month ago); farewell dinner with special family in Austin.  This would be a busy day, but we had it under control.  We started with the quickest and easiest--rechecking Roamin's tire pressure.  Aaack!  The suspect tire had lost another 12 pounds overnight.  Obviously a leak.  Now what?  Luckily, we found a mobile service that could get to us that day, so HeM stayed home while SheM ran around town.  As is usually the case, the tire repair repair didn't go as smoothly as hoped, but the nail hole was ultimately fixed and we didn't have to delay our departure. (The upper spot on the tire is a screw.)

We left Austin on January 15, stopping in Beaumont for the night.  We've been wanting to spend at least one night in a WalMart parking lot, mainly just to say that we've done it, and this was the night.  The area was secure and comfortable--and handy to simply walk over to the store to pick up a few things.

The next day we drove to Mandeville, Louisiana on the north shore of Lake Ponchartrain, and stayed at the Fontainebleau State Park, a former plantation.  Arriving right after the area had experienced some substantial rains, the site that had been reserved for us was too soft for us to feel confident about parking 20-ton Roamin for 3 days and being able to successfully pull out again, especially if it rained anymore.  Working with the park office, we found another site where we were very comfortable.  We had no sewer connection at the re-assigned site, but with some frugal water usage we made it.  In fact, we were so comfortable we may consider more short stays in parks that don't have full hook-ups.

We found the park to be very pleasant.  There were lots of paved roads for morning walks, and even though there were many campers there, it was very quiet at night.  The park is right on Lake Ponchartrain, and is very scenic.

B&B have friends that live in Mandeville, and they treated us to some good home-cooked etouffee and rice one evening.  Another evening they took us to an excellent local restaurant where we all ate much much more than we needed.  Folks in this area know good food, and do enjoy eating.  We'll watch our diets AFTER we leave here.  After all, when in Rome.....

Our next stop is near Pensacola, Florida.  We're heading to Florida in search of warmer weather.  Looking at weather forecasts for the area with highs in the 40's and lows in the 20's for a day or two, we're not there yet.  But we're sure that things will be better when we get further south.