Day 6: Boiled crawfish: Bayou Segnet State Park, LA to Lake Fausse Pointe State Park, LA

And the lights of LA parishes, shine like diamonds in the night. Not exactly what Lyle Lovett said. This LA does not have counties.

Garmin, why do you hate me just a little?

Today we swapped state parks. Before we get into how that went, let’s talk about what I failed to provide proof of yesterday. Meet Armando, the armadillo.

Today’s walk was much nicer than those city walks. I found a boardwalk, some low traffic roads, the channels in the bayou (walked along, not in) and it was a nice warm walk. I need to remember less clothes, more hat when it is warm outside. I saw a Nectura (sp?). This is what Miss Milddogs saw near the campsite yesterday. That’s a large size critter!

We departed around 1100. No point stopping to drain the tanks nor to add water as the next stop has full hookups.

Once we left our site we went in search of alligators. As we drove to the more common viewing area we saw a bunch in a channel as we drove over a bridge. We parked and went for a walk along the water’s edge. But alas, no more gators. I think Amy was happy with that as she may have felt like gator bait.

Onto the highway to start the ~3 hour drive. Oh boy did it rain for the early part! Good timing! Miss Milddogs was google happy and found a small takeout place to get boiled seafood. She picked up some crawfish that were cooked (spicy) and some fresh raw shrimp. We had lunch in the parking lot as she enjoyed the crawfish. I abstained because I am me. Amy was really interested in the feast.

Back on the road. Much of the drive was basically driving through the Bayou on raised roads. It was nice. We did not see any more gators but we did see a Crane rookery. That was cool. So many puffs of white sitting in the trees. Every tree.

Our GPS pre-announced that a road on our route was closed and we were being routed around it. I should have known something was up as Waze and Garmin had very different arrival times and directions.

We followed Garmin. Oops. It actually took us to the closed road which was a bridge under repair. Waze really wanted us back on the highway. So, we took an ad hoc detour to the next bridge. Waze said left, Garmin said right. So we went right. Well, it took us to a gravel road that went along and then over a levee. But the route was only 14 miles. Homey don’t play that game. So we back tracked while the GPSs battled it out. We followed Waze while Miss Milddogs fired up Apple maps to get a third opinion. Apple and Waze formed an alliance and took us through a more sane route approaching the campground from the north. Eventually Garmin gave up and joined the party. We made it, about an hour later than we thought. But unlike normal me, I wasn’t stressed. We travel with food and a bathroom so what’s the worst that can happen? No schedule = no disappointment.

But good news. The detour took us past a few plantation houses. They were large and well columned. Don’t hate. Many things in the past were bad, doesn’t mean we can’t have some of the good.

We arrived at our campground and our site was beside the park dude and amongst a bunch of people gathering for the weekend. Miss Milddogs went to the office and got us moved to a better spot. And then it rained.

For dinner, we hooked up the JetBoil to a small propane tank and boiled the salt water for the shrimp. Miss Milddogs cooked the first half of the shrimp. I had BBQ leftovers as I am not much of a shellfish lover. No raw fish either. I am olio-omnio-beefio-piggio-chickenio-veggieo-fruitio-grainio-fishio-vegetarian. I love the glutens too.

Shrimp – boiled via JetBoil running propane. Served on our awesome custom made table.

We have pretty close to no cell service at the current location. Using the Verizon Mifi / JetPack with the Netgear MIMO antenna brings in 1 bar when it isn’t raining. This post won’t go live until we depart here in a day or two.

This campground has laundry and showers. Since our site has full hookups Miss Milddogs showered in our van and I went to the communal showers. We used our new sewer hose. It worked. I was not covered in feces for the second time in a row! With the small tanks in a van, we basically can go 3-4 days of normal use without emptying the tanks. I shall get much practice. Oh, I meant WE will get much practice.

Tomorrow the plan is to stay here. The forecast is not great. Going to be cold and possibly near zero Saturday night. Our next target is Galveston, TX and it is only supposed to be 5 degrees C warmer. Maybe we just relax here. Walk the hiking trails and go over to the bayou and look for more gators.