6 April to 15 April, 2004. It was nice to finally get across Texas into Louisiana. Every site here has electricity and clean water. There are also very hot showers here. Louisiana State Parks accept the National Parks Golden Access Pass so we're paying half price, $6 / night. You can collect dead and fallen wood here for bonfires. It was cold and rainy for the first week but the storms have passed and it's getting warmer. There are flocks of geese here that never shut up and will chase you and nip at you if you get too close. The geese even got one little boy on his...(well, you get the idea). There are also very bold squirrels here that have actually jumped in our van while we were in it. They, and the geese, are used to getting handouts here. The campground is surrounded by a pond / swamp and apparently, there are quite a few alligators lurking beneath it. We haven't seen any but other campers had. We keep expecting to hear a goose get pulled underwater by a hungry gator but from what we've learned, the gators are well fed on fish and don't bother with the very fat, very well fed geese or humans here. Most of the campers we've met here want to hunt and eat the squirrels (even more than eating the geese). There were many large crawfish boils going on during Easter weekend and everyone got their turn bringing us samples of their generations-old recipes. There are some true down home good old southern boys here.
We've met many cool people here, including Davie and Sandra who are in their 50's and members of a BDSM Club. They're actually some of the most normal people you'll ever meet. Davie's a wine drinker and Sandra doesn't drink alcohol at all. We hung out with them for the first few days and then moved to a tent site because all the developed sites were reserved for the Easter weekend. We were still camped near their RV and spent some more time with them. They just pulled out today but we may meet back up with them at Niblett's State Park a few miles west of here.
We also met James (Ol' Gator) and his girlfriend, Marie. They've got a rebel flag flying above their tiny tent but for them, it is merely a symbol of freedom and family history, nothing more. One of the geese got a good nip at James' four month old puppy. James was involved with Special Ops in the Army and did many undercover missions in Laos and Cambodia. He also did 7 years in prison for assaulting a Peace Officer but we won't go into that. We've spent several days with them and we're getting together for tacos and hamburgers later this afternoon. James is one of the most politically informed people I've met in the past year. He has many theories about the current state of our country, some of which we agree with. We also met Ian (Homer) and Lydia from Canada.
They've been on the road since August, 2001 in their Dodge Ram that they totally customized. We're going to meet them at Fountainebleau State Park on the other side of Louisiana and share a site with them. They're low on cash and we like to help whenever we can. We also had an old friend visit our site one evening and had a great time. We're having a lot of fun here.
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