Overall, the RV lifestyle is pretty safe, in spite of our encounter with the burglar in December. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t have to use common sense and exercise caution. Sometimes bad things do happen to good people. Unfortunately, I have another crime story to report, and frankly, this one scares the hell out of me!

I got a message from a couple whom we met a few years ago at the Western Horizons campground in Casa Grande, Arizona. They said that last week they were in Louisiana, and stopped at a campground near Lafayette for the night. About 3 a.m., the husband got up to go to the bathroom and discovered that someone had slid open the window next to their door, unlocked the deadbolt on their door, and entered the RV while they slept!

They said that all of the overhead cabinets were open, the medicine cabinet in the bathroom was open, and probably most terrifying, the burglar had actually come into the bedroom where they were sleeping, and taken the husband’s pants from the hook where they hung on his side of the bed! They said that a couple of satchels were found outside the RV, and one of their cats had gotten out when the door was left afar, but nothing had been stolen. And this happened in a regular RV park!

Any criminal so desperate that they would come into an occupied RV, and even into the bedroom where the owners were sleeping, scares me a lot more than the thug we caught ripping us off!

Crime isn’t the only thing we have to be aware of. Last weekend, a couple camping at an RV park in Texas were killed by carbon monoxide poisoning from their propane heater. Here is a link to a newspaper story about the tragedy. Folks, be sure your equipment is in good working order, and that your carbon monoxide and smoke detectors are working and have fresh batteries.

We have used a catalytic heater for years, and have never had a problem. But we always make sure were have a couple of windows cracked for ventilation, and we check all of our detectors regularly.

I have had several e-mails from folks who want to know if the Verizon USD 760 air card I upgraded to a couple of weeks ago works any better than the older USB 720 I replaced. Unfortunately, we are still experiencing frequent periods of very slow, and sometimes non-existent, service here in the Mesa/Apache Junction area of Arizona. I think there are just too many snowbirds here overloading the available cell towers. I fear that as more and more people are using cell phones and wireless communication devices, the problems will only get worse in some areas.

Now that we have the new issue of the Gypsy Journal in the printer’s hands, I need to put all of my efforts into the rally, which starts in just a little over three weeks. There are always a lot of last minute details that have to be dealt with, and many of them just can’t be taken care of too far in advance, such as the details for the pizza party, buying supplies, and printing name tags for the rally attendees.

Of course, Bad Nick never slows down. Check out his latest Bad Nick Blog post, We Need A Moat, and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – Every sixty seconds you spend angry, upset or mad, is a full minute of happiness you’ll never get back.

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Merry Christmas! I appreciate you taking time from your holiday to read my blog today. If I could, may I also ask you to take a moment or two to remember the men and women who are serving in uniform, both here in the United States and abroad, to guarantee our freedom to live and worship as we choose, and all of those who have served in the past?

The bad weather we had hoped to avoid as we drove across southern Louisiana on Wednesday caught up with us in the early morning hours yesterday here in Lake Charles. We got lightning, wind, rain, and even some hail. We were very grateful we were parked safely off the highway.

Mark Didelot is another one of those guys I admire so much, because he can do anything, from replacing the starter on a diesel motorhome to reformatting a computer’s hard drive.

Of course, just because I admire somebody doesn’t mean I won’t exploit him every chance I get. When I casually mentioned yesterday that I couldn’t figure out how to install the fancy digital converter box we got a while back so that the two TVs in our motorhome would pick up local channels from our Winegard batwing antenna, Mark said that was easy, and immediately began taking things apart in the cabinets above the dashboard. I love it when a plan comes together!

For the next two or three hours he, with Miss Terry’s help, took out the TV, wired in an extension AC outlet, hooked up the digital converter box, and got the batwing antenna connected properly, and then put the entire thing back together. I did what I do best to contribute to the project, by sitting down and staying out of the way. As this picture shows, it is a mess of wires up there, and while it all looked like so much spaghetti to me, it was child’s play to Mark. Thanks buddy, I appreciate your help!

Mark and Sue lived inLake Charles before they became fulltime RVers and have family here, but since they didn’t have any plans for Christmas Eve, the four of us went to the buffet at the L’Auberge du Lac Casino. It was beyond wonderful! They had about ten different kinds of shrimp, two or three kinds of crab, prime rib, turkey, and a half dozen more entrees, along with all kinds of sides, and a desert bar that I gained three pounds just walking past! 

Today we plan to drive about 225 miles to the Thousand Trails preserve in Columbus, Texas. We’ll stay there until the new issue of the Gypsy Journal is ready to pick up and we get it mailed out.

Wherever you are, I hope you are having a very, very Merry Christmas!

Thought For The Day – Don’t miss out on a blessing, just because it isn’t packaged the way you expected.

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We pulled out of the Camping World in Robertsdale just after 9 a.m. yesterday morning, took State Route 59 north through Loxley to Interstate 10, and turned west. A few minutes later we were crossing Mobile Bay on the causeway, past the impressive bulk of the battleship U.S.S. Alabama, her big guns looking mighty intimidating.

On the west side of the bay we entered the George C. Wallace tunnel, and came out the other end, with the downtown area behind us. Every time we drive through here, I think every American city should be laid out the same way. No traffic hassles, just drive under the darn town!

Traffic was light, and we scooted across the lower edge of Alabama and crossed into Mississippi with no delays. We stopped at the Flying J in Gulfport, and I wanted to get propane while we were there, but the way the RV island is laid out, we had to stop just inside the RV entrance to the parking lot at the propane station, and as I was waiting for the attendant to come out and fill our propane tank, a big motorhome towing a car tried to pull in and was left hanging halfway out into the road because we were blocking the way. An eighteen wheeler was right behind them, so I pulled forward to the fuel pumps so we didn’t have a huge traffic jam. We have enough in our tank to last a while, so we’ll wait until we’re somewhere more convenient to get propane.

Back on the highway, we rolled past miles of flooded countryside, with a long line of billboards sticking up out of the water, advertising one headliner after another who will be appearing at the local casinos. We entered Louisiana, and took the Interstate 12 route around the north side of Lake Pontchartrain, avoiding the traffic in the New Orleans area.

We ran into a traffic slowdown in Baton Rouge, and managed to thread our way through to come back out on Interstate 10, where we crossed the Horace Wilkinson cantilever bridge over the Mississippi River. This is the highest bridge on the Mississippi, and Miss Terry commented that I really seem to be handling bridges much better, because I didn’t snivel. I told her I was too busy trying not to run over four wheelers and hoping an eighteen wheeler wouldn’t run over us to have time to snivel!

We made good time all the way across Louisiana, and the promised stormy weather held off, although we did get some stiff wind around Lafayette, and just a sprinkle or two of raindrops. The Atchafalaya Swamp Freeway is an eighteen mile long elevated stretch of Interstate 10 that bridges the Atchafalaya River and its accompanying swamp, where trees stuck out of the water for as far as the eye could see. The roadway is narrow, and about as bumpy a stretch of pavement as you’ll find anywhere in North America. We shook, rattled, and bounced our way along, and I commented to Miss Terry that as nice as our Winnebago Ultimate Advantage is, our old MCI bus conversion handled this rough piece of highway a lot better. Interstate 10 across Louisiana has a reputation as a terrible roadway, and it is much deserved. More than one RVer we know has had things shake off their walls and out of cabinets as they bounced along.

Eventually the road smoothed out, and at Exit 36, on the east side of Lake Charles, we turned north for three miles on Pujol Road, a good two lane that passed a couple of RV parks. The road ends at a T intersection, and we turned right and went another mile to White Oak Park, a nice little Calcasieu Parish park on the bank of the Calcasieu River. The park has eight pull- through concrete RV sites with good 50 amp electric, water, and a dump station. At $12/night, or half price if you have a National Parks senior or handicapped pass, the park is a heck of a deal.

There was one fifth wheel trailer, which is unoccupied, and the beautiful Tiffin Phaeton motorhome of our friends Mark and Sue Didelot. We unhooked the van and pulled into the site next to theirs. Mark greeted us, and a few minutes later Sue returned from town and came over, and then she excused herself to go back to their coach, where she prepared us a wonderful dinner of salmon from their summer trip to Alaska, along with shrimp, and all the trimmings. Yummy! Thanks for the great welcome and the delicious dinner, Mark and Sue!

We had originally planned to push on to the Thousand Trails in Columbus, Texas today, but we can’t pick up the new issue of the Gypsy Journal until Monday. So we decided to stay here two nights, and drive through Houston on Christmas morning, when hopefully, there won’t be as much traffic.

We have three bars of EVDO on our Verizon cell phones, no problem getting a signal on our TV dish, and it’s not cold. Life is good.

Thought For The Day – A friend is someone you can see through and still enjoy the show.

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We visited Louisiana yesterday! No, we didn’t take a quick trip to the land of Cajuns and crawfish, we drove to the picturesque Mississippi River town of Louisiana, Missouri.

We love small towns, and historic Louisiana, settled in 1817, has much to offer any visitor. One claim to fame for Louisiana is that the Delicious apple was developed here, and the Stark nurseries, which brought them to the world, are a major employer and famous around the globe.

Louisiana was an important stop for pioneers headed west, and a major river port in the glory days of riverboat transportation. Many riverboat captains and steamboat owners made their homes in Louisiana.

Louisiana’s prosperous past is reflected in the beautiful old houses lining its residential streets, including the beautiful gingerbread Victorian built in 1891 that was home to Missouri Governor Lloyd C. Stark.

There are also many handsome commercial buildings in the small downtown business district, including this one, home to the popular Eagle’s Nest Restaurant, and the neat stone building housing the Carnegie Library, built in 1905.

Folks in Louisiana are friendly, and justifiably proud of their town. Many said hello as they passed us on the sidewalks, or waved as we drove past. Louisiana is also known for its murals. More than 20 murals decorate buildings in town, depicting community and regional history. 

Many years ago we crossed the Mississippi River at Louisiana on the high, narrow Champ Clark Bridge, a five span truss bridge that carries U.S. Highway 54 across the river to Illinois. The bridge was built in 1928, and one trip across was enough for me! I scraped the exhaust pipe of our first motorhome trying to get over far enough for an oncoming eighteen wheeler to pass, which he did with inches to spare between our mirrors. In subsequent visits to the region, I have made it a point to travel the 30 or so miles north to Hannibal to cross the river on the wider four lane U.S. Highway 36 bridge.

State Route 79 goes from Louisiana to Hannibal, and if you’re in a big rig, it will test your nerves in a few places as it winds its way uphill and downhill as it follows the course of the river. Several pullouts lead to great views of the Mighty Mississippi, but they are not suitable for large RVs. But in our van yesterday it was a piece of cake.

We stopped at Mark Twain Cave and Campground to meet Ed and Marilyn Dray, longtime blog readers who spend their summers at the RV park, where Ed leads tours and Marilyn keeps the local hummingbird population busy at her feeders. It’s always nice to put faces with the names of the people we hear from, and Ed and Marilyn made us feel welcome as we sat under their awning and got acquainted. Be sure to check out their blog, The Happy Wanderers. It was a great day for playing tourist, and we had a wonderful time sightseeing in time in small town America.

Thought For The Day – A smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks.

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