A few weeks ago our friends Peggy and Gene invited us to go to Louisiana with them to visit our friends James and Yvette for Mardi Gras. The lure of warmer weather, good friends and good food made it an easy decision. We left home last Wednesday, the 11th and headed south. This was our first trip with the new truck towing the camper and we were anxious to see how it performed. The eco-boost engine gives us much better acceleration and more power for hills but gas mileage was only about 10% better for most of the trip. On interstate highways we got about 10 mpg driving 65mph most of the time. Once we got to Louisiana and flatter roads, mileage improved to about 11mpg at 65mph and 13mpg at 60mph.
The first day we drove about 10 hours and stopped at Lakeside RV park in Livingston, LA.
It is a Good Sam park and is very nice and quiet being a few miles from I-12.
Thursday we joined our friends in Abbeville, LA at the Abbeville RV Park. This is a very quiet, pretty park run by the city. It has full hookups and wifi but no public restrooms, store, or laundry.
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View along hiking trail in the RV park |
From there we went to James' and Yvette's house for lunch and James cooked some crawfish etouffee and corn maque choux that was delicious as usual. After lunch, we sorted beads to throw at the parade next Tuesday and assembled the float.
For dinner we tried a new dish, sausage bread, that was also delicious.
Friday we went on a food tour with
Cajun Food Tours where we got try lots of different local foods at several restaurants and a grocery. We had a great time and found some new favorite foods.
Saturday found us a Palmetto Island state park for the
Latanier Cookers Dutch Oven gathering. James and Yvette are members of this group which cooks everything in Dutch ovens. There were over 20 people cooking different things and it was all delicious.
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The head cooks making jambalaya |
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Peggy gets some tips |
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Gene and James watch the pot |
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Let's Eat!! |
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Crawfish ponds near the park |
Sunday we headed up to Church Point for the
Chicken Run. This was our second time to watch this event but it is great fun.
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Party goers at 8AM! |
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The parade begins |
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The band wagon |
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Lots of horses |
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The Captain gives his orders |
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The Chicken Chasers |
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The first stop on the parade route |
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First everyone dances |
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Then the chase begins |
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Who says chickens can't fly? |
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Look out James! Here comes the horde. |
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The chicken thinks he's safe on the roof... |
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But these guys are determined... |
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Starting young |
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Dancing on horseback |
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one of the local characters |
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Nancy and Peggy posing |
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One of the chasers with his prize |
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The parade moves on to the next house |
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selfie | |
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Gene scavenges for more beads to throw next Tuesday |
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Peggy and Nancy show off their beads |
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Another selfie |