Day 4: Home town bound! Birmingham, AL to Slidell, LA
It rained a lot last night. No leaks in the van so it was just nice, soothing torrential rain noise. Our campground was quiet. In the morning I did my walk through some trails in the campground. Only got semi-lost once. Good opportunity to get the new trail runners a bit muddy.
Getting ready to depart was uneventful. I was not the one covered in feces! Although, I did decide that a better sewer hose might be in order. All prepped and ready to roll by 0945. But before we left, we did it! More showers! Thank you shower, I love you. I even claimed the soap holder someone had left. It was there the day before so I am assuming it was virus free by then. I ditched the soap and rinsed it well in the steaming hot FREE shower.
Our goal today was the Cracker Barrel in Slidell, LA. Not a super long day. We did a few side trips. One, we got off the highway to find a nice spot to pull over and have lunch. We did not find that nice spot and ended up lunching in a McDonald’s parking lot about 30 km later as we were getting back onto the highway.
We took another side trip through Laurel, Alabama. Apparently a TV show called “Home Town” is filmed there. So, we went to the Scotsman General Store. Proof!
Unlike the time we visited the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas, the stars of the show were not in the store today. In Vegas, 13 years ago we met Chumlee. Bought some shirts, got some autographs. I told him I like the character he plays on TV. He seemed dumfounded by my compliment. But Alas, Chip and Joanna were not there. I know, it’s not Chip and Joanna, I just can’t remember the names of the couple from Laurel.
We have not seen much wildlife. We have seen much wild formerly alive critters. Really hoping for an armadillo sighting soon. Awfully hard to see those in a Cracker Barrel Parking lot.
The cushion we picked up for Amy has been working out. She did not spend the entire day sitting on Mrs. Milddogs lap.
On the way to our overnight stay spot we stopped to pick up dinner at Papa’s Backyard BBQ. Unfortunately they only do Brisket on weekends so we had pulled pork and ribs. You will never guess what we are having for lunch tomorrow. Hint, it’s not Caesar salad.
After getting settled and setting up the table, we dug into dinner. Mmmm. Amy was envious.
Post dinner I grabbed my mask and voodoo doll and headed over to Walmart to get parts for the aforementioned sewer hose project as well as a few iPhone cables (oops, forgot I had removed some from the van) and a power adapter (50 Amp to 30 Amp) JIC.
I dropped off those supplies at the van and then popped over to Lowes to get a toolbox to use as a footrest for Mrs. Milddogs. The swivel seats are quite high and make it hard to sit flat footed. Bonus, the toolbox can also function as a tool box! That means other storage nooks that I have stuffed tools into can be used for other purposes. I may never find some of the things I have squirrelled away in here. Squirrel! We have seen squirrels. One at the campground last night was rather keen on getting into the van through the open sliding doors.
I ignored the Garmin 890 GPS again. I need to stop doing that.
Tomorrow is a brief jaunt into NOLA. We are camping at a State Park just south west of the city. It will be nice to get there in nice weather and just hang out. We are hoping Amy isn’t gator bait. Also hoping we don’t regret not ordering a Clam Traveller screen room. Perhaps I shall peruse the internets looking for one we can pick up somewhere. They are big but can strap to the ladder.
This is the busiest Cracker Barrel we have been at. An airstream, a van from Quebec, a skoolie, a I don’t know what the heck that guy built that runs like shit and some other class C campers. I hope they ate at Cracker Barrel.
NOLA will bring beignets, maybe a baguette, a voodoo spell or two. You know who I’m talking about! Amy did well walking the streets of Quebec City last year, this may be a bit different.
Life on the move.
