Our Winter Home

Some of you that regularly visit Ginny’s face book page already know that we have settled in Southern Louisiana for the winter. We found a nice park on the East side of Lake Charles. The park is far enough out of downtown and off the main roads that it is very quiet. Most of the residents are local workers and we hardly ever see them.
We have started to learn the main roads and Ginny can now find her way to the thrift stores, fabric stores and JC Penny. So she is feeling good about the area now. Lake Charles, the lake, is a shipping port to the Gulf of Mexico. Even though the Calcasieu River runs into it, it is brackish water (salt and fresh). It is amazing to me that the salt water and tides would affect a lake this far away from the Gulf. Our elevation is only about 5 feet so that probably has some influence.
Hurricane season is over for now and the weather has been very mild. Eventually it will get to near freezing but we had that in New Mexico and Texas last winter too. In fact it was colder there than it was in Oregon several times.
Well unless we win a state lottery or catch a state record fish there probably won’t be much going on, on the blog. Keep up with Ginny’s adventures in shopping on her face book page if you want and we’ll let you know when we are back on the road.
Until then,     stay warm and healthy.

Charlie

Louisiana

Five acres we stayed on in Louisiana

We pulled in to our friends house in Homer Louisiana  on Monday October 3rd. Our jacks for the fifth wheel beat us there . Charlie got started putting them on. We found the brackets were a little different so had to buy a small grinder to help with the installation. We finally got them on and working and boy did it feel good to get unhooked from the truck. We were able to go to the store and look around to see what we could see. Our friends Maryland and Gilbert we met last year in Deming New Mexico and they spent part of the winter in Alamo too. They had bought a home on 5 acres and were working on fixing it up. They had electric , sewer, and water hookup for us so it was nice. Gilbert had a critter working over his lawn thinking it was armadillo. He got a trap and the next day he found a opossum in it .He sprayed it with a little green paint  to see if it would come back .It didn’t come back but another one came to his trap. It was fun to see what was going to be there next.



There neighbor had some goats and they were so cute. They had collars on and bells on there collars .

Lake Claiborne

Lake Claiborne

We went to lake Claiborne it was about 8 miles down the road from them. The water was pretty low they were draining the lake to fix the walls. There are a lot of homes on the lake it is a pretty lake. Northern  Louisiana  is pretty dry. We were there for a week our internet roamed on another tower and was very slow. We had a nice visit and headed to find a park for the winter. We are now in Beaumont Texas looked at a few here. We think we found one in Lake Charles Louisiana headed there tomorrow. Our grandson and future daughter-in-law got their first deer and our boys got theirs too. So proud of them all.


More to come Ginny

On our way south

Lake Arkabutla

We went into Mississippi .Stayed at Hernando point . We were on Arkabutla Lake. While I was checking us in Charlie was unhooking the 5th wheel and one of our front jacks fell. Charlie got it back up on the truck . But we had already paid for 5 days so we stayed hooked up and relaxed. So we remained hooked up. Charlie took the jack off to find we had broken threads on the jack it would not go up high enough to take the truck out and hold. We called the Rv store 25 miles away and they were going to call us back but never did. We found some jacks online and ordered them. We had them sent to our friends  house in Louisiana.  About 300 miles away. That worked out for us as we were headed that way. We just had to keep hooked up. So the parking lot had to be good size for us to come in. Walmart or large grocery store shopping center. We needed a few things washed no sewer in this park. We couldn’t run our washer. They had a big sink at the bathrooms outside for people to wash there dishes in so I got water there and washed some things and hung them on my rack. I even got a blister from wringing the clothes out. Hope I don’t have to do that very often. But it worked in a pinch. I walked around  lake shore it is very pretty.

sunset on Lake Arkabutla

lake Arkabutla

  You can see where the water was when the flood came in earlier this year the ground is still soft in some places. You can see the prints of the deer , raccoons and other critters around the  water. I could see the turtles in the water .They were climbing on a log, sticking out of the water.

Turtles in the lake

     
This is a very popular campground and they have a lot of sights reserved. I talked to a couple fishermen they said they set lines out for catfish and do real good. 
When we left there we went to Greenville Mississippi. We drove to one casino on the river we couldn’t park in the parking lot was on a slant all the way to the Mississippi river .I wouldn’t have wanted to even park my car on that hill.

Casino on the Mississippi river

We stayed in the parking lot of a casino on the Mississippi river called Harlow. It was a small casino but a big parking lot worked good for us. We left there and went over a large bridge connecting Mississippi to Arkansas.  While traveling through Arkansas  into Louisiana  we saw a lot of cotton fields. They were harvesting the cotton and they had big bales of cotton all over the place. It was very interesting to watch them cutting it.

cotton bales

Harvesting cotton

We came across a truck hauling scrap medal that ran off the road blocking traffic for hours. We watched them set his truck up and haul it away. He went through the windshield they said he was just shook up. I was glad he wasn’t hurt worse than that .

wreck on the road

We got behind on our blog as these places didn’t have internet service very little phone too.

We went by some bayou's the water was green.

We made it to our friends house in Louisiana more to come . Ginny

Tennessee

When we left Kentucky we went down The Trace (Land between the Lakes). It was a very nice drive we might have seen a couple cars on the road all the way down. You go into Tennessee before you get to the end.  

 

 We went buy a large prairie full of Bison just laying around in the field. We are in western Tennessee area. We have friends here we met in Arizona, Don and Jan. They were our good neighbors for 4 months we enjoyed their friendship very much.

 
They took us out for lunch it was sure nice to see them again. They drove us around took us to some of their  lakes. Jan and I went into a store and we bought a few things. We have a lot of the same interest we sure enjoyed them. 
  

Tennessee has a lot of cotton fields here in this area. They have a lot of cotton on them right now. We would have liked to seen them harvest some to see how it is done.
 

Cotton field

 I am not sure when they harvest the cotton. 
 

old homestead in the of a soy bean field

  They have soy bean fields and some corn fields too. They also have a lot of vines growing called kudzu. It grows on the ground and up into the trees .
 

Kudzu vines

 It is kind of pretty to look at but I can see where it could get out of control if not monitored. It is still strange to us a lot of states have large grass lawns that seem to go on for ever but they don’t have to water them with all the humidity just mow them. They get enough rain and humidity  for their crops too .Not like us we have to water  in central Oregon. The tree are starting to turn the fall colors. You can tell we are starting the fall season in these areas. Farmers are putting pumpkins and mums out for sale by the road sides We put out our  humming bird feeder in our camp sight.  We have two humming birds fighting over the feeder. They seem to be smaller birds than some we have come across. They sure are beautiful.  We are in a nice  park called Natchez Trace State park. It is a very big campground it has 4 lakes in the park and has 4 campgrounds and a group lodge, and 2  other lodges. They have a store ,restaurant, stables, cabins, etc .
 

Pin Oak Lake

 Natchez Trace State Park is named for the famous “Natchez to Nashville”  highway , an important wilderness road during the early 18th century. Western spur of The Trace ran through a portion of what is now the park. This State park is not like any other state park we have been to with its size and  amenities . It has a lot of kudzu vines growing along the road a couple look like elephants.  This park is a first -come basis. The group lodge takes reservations and this park is open all year around. We are in the campground called Pin Oak. It is on the Pin Oak Lake. The lake is very pretty.

Pin Oak Lake

I have seen a couple people fishing but didn’t see them catch anything. We are headed to Mississippi. More to come .

Ginny

Kentucky

We are in Kentucky and enjoying the beautiful state. Charlie took me into Paducah so I could go to the National Quilt Museum. They wouldn’t let you take pictures in there I only wish you could. I don’t know if pictures would capture detail work that these beautiful quilts show.

A few of the quilts got them off their sight as we couldn't take pictures

  It was a fantastic quilt display. I saw things done I had no idea people would even do on a quilt.

Metropolis Illinois where we saw superman

  Then we went back over the border to Illinois as it was close and we went to Metropolis "Hometown of Superman," celebrating its local hero every possible way it can. The local bank is "home of super financial services." The town newspaper calls itself The Planet. A sign in the grocery store informs customers: "Just as Superman stands for truth, justice and the American Way, Food World stands for quality, convenience and friendly service." It was a lot of fun there. We were getting ready to take a picture of each other behind the superman and women cut outs when a women from the TV station offered to take the picture. It was a friendly town. Lots of fun .

Brookport Bridge over the Ohio river

 We went over the Brookport bridge on us 45. It goes over the Ohio river and it is painted beautiful blue color. Lots of locals will not use the bridge as it makes a noise and is very narrow. It has been hit many times by large boats going down the Ohio river. It was closed down for a while in May 2011 when the flood went through the area. We went to the trace (land between the lakes). Kentucky lake on one side and Lake Barkley on the other side. Land down the middle.

 

Some of the Elk we saw

  We went to the Elk and Bison prairie where we saw one bison and lots of elk. We saw a couple of bulls ,lots of cows. The drive is very pretty and it has all kinds of roads off the main road that takes you to campgrounds, bays, lake access etc. We drove into a lighthouse landing , marina and resort. It had hundreds of sail boats in the docks.Beautiful access to the Kentucky lake.  

Sail boats on the landing

Lighthouse on Kentucky Lake

one of the bays we drove in

We also went down to one of the roads to a bay were a couple men were getting ready to fish. It was really a nice bay for fishing. We are camped right on lake Barkley it is a very popular lake and books up fast as they reserve the sights.

 

Lake Barkley

 We have see a couple deer in the campground. I walked around the lake in the campground to where the canal connects both the lakes. It was a very pretty area

The canal between the lakes

Egret on the beach at Lake Barkley

 They catch all kinds of fish in this lake. When coming back from the laundry I was asked by a couple are you the lady from Oregon? They had seen us come in and it is a state they hadn’t seen in there park before. When we leave here we will be headed for Tennessee. We have some good friends that live there Don and Jan. More to come .Ginny

Lake Barkley

Illinois

  

Lake Shelbyville

We left Michigan and drove back into Indiana and went back to the campground we had already stayed in Indiana for a couple days. Then we headed for Illinois. We stayed at a corps. of Engineer park on lake Shelbyville.It was a nice campground with large spots and full hookups.  It was only  $12 a night with America the beautiful. The internet connection was very slow it was hard to even read your mail. We had some phone service .We went to Shelbyville where we saw the courthouse that Abraham Lincoln practiced law in.

This is the Lincoln public square.Where the eternal flame houses the soldiers &  sailors monument. We went to a goat tower that was quiet fascinating .It was made out of 5000 bricks and stood 31 feet tall and had 376 spiral stairs case all around it. The only one in the U.S. It was modeled out of a magazine from south Africa. We went to the Lake Shelbyville Dam and visitor center. It had a beautiful deck looking out over part of the lake. The patio was cement and  had deer and raccoon tracks in it .They had a very nice visitor center. We went to see the cemetery were  Thomas Abraham Lincoln and his wife were berried. (Abraham Lincolns dad and step mom)It was very interesting. Then we went to see the farm Thomas Abraham Lincoln owned down the road. It is a state Historic Site

Thomas Abraham Lincoln house

. They had a short film and then you could walk around the farm. They had people dressed as they lived and worked of the farm . It was a very interesting part of our history. We were not far from another Amish settlement here in Illinois. We saw many wagons headed for the fields .

Amish going to his field to work

Then we saw the buggies moving around the country side. They grow a lot of corn, soy beans and saw some fields full of pumpkins in this area. Charlie and I went into a Amish furniture store where they had some beautiful furniture. We enjoyed looking at how much hard work they put into it. The fall colors are starting to come out and the leaves are very pretty. We left there and headed for Kentucky. More to come.
Ginny

Old house we thought was neat

Michigan

                                                      

wooden shoes

We decided to make a trip into Michigan. We went to a Dutch Village in Holland Michigan. Where they make wooden shoes. They showed how they made them. A women was painting some while we were there. They had all kinds of them for sale some painted and some plain. I tried a pair on and they felt funny, really clumsy and made a lot of noise. They had all kinds of things you could buy. The village wasn’t open the day we were there .
 
They had a building with a clock on it that played every quarter hour with 25 bells it was great. We were going to go to  windmill Island . It is very beautiful when the tulips are blooming but they are not in bloom now. The hillside would be full of tulips and a big windmill and a bunch of shops.We did go to South Haven it has two long Piers going out into the water where people can fish.


 
  It has a lighthouse on one pier. The other pier had a beckon and had a light on top. The boats travel down the middle of the two piers out into Lake Michigan. The boats in South Haven harbor were plugged into electric. People were living in them. It had lots of free parking and was very easy to get to. We went to Waren Dunes State park where they have some real tall sand dunes and a beautiful sandy beach for swimming.  
It looks like a Ocean not a lake.  
Then we went to St Joseph where they have a beautiful park with a lot of memorials for the different wars honoring our soldiers . They also have a beautiful beach that is all sand too. You could see the lighthouses in the background.  
They  have two piers that go out in the water for boats to come  in the St Joseph harbor . There are two lighthouses on one pier there. They say there are over100 historic lighthouses on the shores of  Michigan. We saw a beautiful carousal in the harbor parking lot and watched the kids have fun riding on it.

We also saw some wild turkey when coming out of the dunes paring lot.
We drove along the lake and took some more pictures.  
We are headed back into Indiana and then into Illinois.  More to come
Ginny