Day 177. January 30, 2014. Back in Austin

We packed up and left the campground in the Texas Hill Country.  Here is the camper when everything has been put away.

  Alexis wanted breakfast tacos.  We found this cool place in the outskirts of Austin.  It is a gas station with a Mexican restaurant inside.  It also has a beer garden in the back.  We had delicious tacos....all different. 

We parked the Airstream at a hotel near the airport, so we can take Alexis there Friday AM.  We drove downtown and walked along Sixth Street which is famous for its music and weirdness.  We walked to a section of town where they are refurbishing modest old houses into restaurants and bars.  We found a really nice one called Bangars, as they specialize in sausages.  Alexis  had boiled peanuts which she had been wishing for.  

The weather turned nice and we walked around Lady Bird Lake.  Austin is famous for its music.  We went to the Lucky Lounge Bar to listen to a group.  They were quite good.  Then we took Alexis out for dinner for her birthday.  We found a great Indian restaurant and had a delicious dinner.  George and I had lamb; Alexis had veggie platter.

We enjoyed the hotel's hot tub for awhile. 

As we were getting ready for bed, she got a call from American Airlines canceling her flight!  They re-booked her for Saturday!  Can't believe it.  No explanation.  She called and was able to get on another Friday flight to MSP via Dallas.  She has had bad luck with flights this trip

Day 176. January 29, 2014. San Antonio day trip

Another day without water due to the cold.  People are saying that this weather is just unheard of, this time of year in Texas.  Our bad luck.  We quickly headed out toward San Antonio.  We stopped in Johnson City and drove around the LBJ Ranch.  It is still a working ranch with deer, antelope, sheep, horses, and lots of cows

San Antonio is about 60 miles south of here.  We drove by lots of huge ranches.  A lot of barren land.  When we arrived, we found a really nice restaurant that had been recommended when we were here before.  Miraculously, we found it and had a very nice lunch

 

They let us park in their lot while we walked around town.  We walked around the Riverwalk and saw the Alamo.  

On our way back, we stopped at a brewpub in Johnson City. Super deals.

Yeah!  Water is back on, so I took a wonderful shower.  Alexis and I washed the big pile of dirty dishes.

For dinner, we had some Indian Chana Masala that I had bought at a farmers' market, with rice and sautéed veg.

Day 175. January 28, 2014. Beating the cold

It rained and sleeted all night, so we woke up with ice covering everything.  The water has been turned off, but we have jugs of water.  After scraping off the windshield, we drove into Austin.  The roads were slippery, and several highways in town were closed.  Alexis wanted to go to Waffle House, since there are none in the North.  She happily had  some grits.  It was a nice warm place to sit while it warmed up a bit and the ice melted a bit on the roads.

Then we went to a strange place for lunch called Whip In.  It started as a convenience store. Then, they added a bar.  Now it is a bar with great craft beers and wines plus a wine/beer shop, plus a small grocery, plus a small restaurant with super good Indian food.  We had a wrap with goat meat and feta with some  Indian and Mexican spices, all wrapped in naan. 

After lunch we drove around, showing Alexis some of the funky spots in Austin.  Then, we walked around the Warehouse District, and stopped at the Ginger Man for some Texas beers.  They have 150 beers on tap.  

We drove back to the campground.  It finally warmed to about 38 degrees.  We had a nice campfire and watched the deer who were watching us.  

For dinner, I fixed leftover spinach lasagne, and doctored it up with sautéed pepper and onion strips.  We had an avocado/tomato salad on the side.  We have plenty of heat...propane heater plus a small electric space heater.  It us supposed to be cold again tonight.  Kind of disappointing for Alexis's visit. 

Day 174. January 27, 2014. Hill Country, Texas

We hiked around the state park where we are staying, west of Austin.   Then we drove a bit farther west toward Fredericksburg, a cute German town with lots of wineries and vineyards nearby.  We visited a few wineries. Their wines are actually quite good.

  We had lunch in town; shared a Mexican appetizer.  We stopped briefly at the LBJ ranch.  When we returned to the campground, it was too cold to start a campfire, so we hunkered down inside.  We had leftover tortilla soup and avocado toast. 

It is supposed to freeze and sleet tonight.  The campground host came around and told us they were turning off the water so the pipes won't  freeze.  We hope it warms up for the rest of Alexis's visit.  

Day 173. January 26, 2014. Fun with Alexis

We enjoyed staying in a nice hotel.  Slept in a bit.  We went back to Heather's house to pick up the Airstream.  She took us back to the Austin Beer Garden Brewery where we had a great pizza lunch.... with portabellos, roasted garlic, asiago cheese and pesto. 

 Then we headed west to our campground...Pedernales  State Park where we will stay for 4 nights with Alexis.  We are in the "hill country", about an hour from Austin. Our plan is to make day trips until we return to Austin on Thursday.  

We made a nice campfire and sautéed garlic and onions.  I also baked sweet potatoes right  in the coals, wrapped in aluminum foil.  Then, I finished cooking inside on the Airstream's stove...added some kale to the onions/garlic, then added pumpkin-stuffed raviolis, and topped it with a splash of wine.  The sweet potatoes went nicely as a side dish. 

The dinette turns into a bed, so that is where Alexis will sleep.  Quite cozy!

Day 172. January 25, 2014. Daughter Alexis arrives

We stayed again with our friend Heather in Austin.  We went to the farmers' market.  Lots of interesting    booths.  We bought some greens and a vegan Indian dish for Alexis. 

We went to a microbrewery/BBQ for lunch, then toured the city some.  

George and I went to an airport hotel  where we are staying one night to be close to airport when Alexis arrives. For dinner, we found a fun country-western restaurant called Patsy's Cowgirl Cafe.  They had a Texan band and people danced around the tables.  We had an appetizer called Texan bottle caps....fried jalapeño slices in little circles, and chicken as main course.

Alexis was scheduled to arrive at 8:00, but she missed her connection in Chicago.  So, she had to catch a later flight via Dallas.  She ended up arriving at round 12:30 AM.  Just glad she made it.  

Day 171. January 24, 2014. Keep Austin weird!

We are staying with our friend Heather from St. Paul.  She is staying in South Austin, which is considered the "cool" area of town.  Austin had sleet and bitter cold last night, so the streets were a mess.  It is very hilly here, making the slippery roads very treacherous.  We went back to the same next-door Mexican restaurant for  breakfast.  George and I split a dish with beans, eggs, avocado and a meat sauce.  Muy bueno!  Heather had some breakfast tacos.  They serve Oaxacan coffee which is saboroso.   

We went to Howdy Honda to get our car lights  fixed.  What a name!  While they were working on the car, we went to Austin Beer Garden Brewery.  It was fun, and had good beers.  We shared a New Orleans-style muffaletta.  

Later, we walked to a nearby grocery to buy ingredients for dinner.  I made a spinach lasagne which turned out well. 

Day 170. January 23, 2014. To Austin

We left the campground in the AM, and headed toward Austin.  It was quite windy, so driving was difficult (cold front coming in).  We stopped for a picnic...so convenient to be able to just go into Airstream and make something.  We stopped in a cute Texas country town.  We learned that a lot of movies are filmed here.  We visited a distillery there.  The distillery chemist is from Norway.  We bought a bottle of moonshine.  

We are visiting our friend Heather, from St. Paul who is spending the winter in Austin.  We walked to a nearby Mexican restaurant for a margarita.  We had their specialty variety, made with avocado.  It was really good and smooth.  Then we walked next door to a Lebanese place for dinner.  Also very good.  

 

Day 169. January 22, 2014. Beautiful day in Texas

We biked to the Stephen Austin historical site at this state park.  He was the "father"of Texas.  Then, We drove back to Katy to a restaurant that we were told is a MUST.  What an experience!  It is called Captain Dan's.  The outside looks like a boat.

Inside, the counter circles the boat in a big U.  It looks a bit like a diner.  The staff (all Mexican) are inside the U taking orders and shucking oysters.  Each seat is already set up for customers to eat oysters...with crackers, horseradish, lemons, and catsup.  

All locals, mostly Spanish speaking.  Nothing fancy, but really good (all seafood) and cheap.  I ordered a glass of wine.  It came in a chilled beer mug with a mini bottle of wine turned upside down!  George got a michelada, a Mexican drink made with beer, a spicy Bloody Mary mix, and lime juice, with salt on the rim.  It is their specialty.  We had a dozen oysters (can't get enough!) and a side order of sautéed crawfish tails.  

 We returned to the campground and hiked some trails.  There are a lot of beautiful cardinals wintering here.  

For an appetizer, we had avocado and tomato slices drizzled with lime juice and hot sauce.  

For dinner, I made tortilla soup, and used up leftover green pepper and red onions.  I also cooked some kale.  I had found some beautiful Tuscan kale the other day and had used it with the fajitas, since it is so hard to keep lettuce.  Tonight, I sautéed the rest of the kale in garlic, over the campfire. Then, I cooked it briefly in the microwave with cheese (I used leftover Mexican queso blanco, but any cheese would do).  It is a bit challenging to eat enough vegetables while traveling. 

Day 168. January 21, 2014. Suckin' heads and eating tails!

This is our second day at Stephen Austin State Park, about 45 miles west of Houston.  We relaxed in the AM, and George took apart the kitchen sink, then had problems putting it back together.  When that was resolved, we drove into Katy, a Houston western suburb.  We had hoped to visit their micro-brewery, but it wasn't open for visitors.  They recommended a restaurant that sells their beers, so we went there.  

We struck gold!  They were featuring oysters on the half-shell for $6.95/dozen, so we had a dozen.  Cheapest we have had so far.  Plus, they had just gotten in their first crawfish of the season.  Apparently the crawfish  are late this year, as it has been cooler than normal.  We shared a pound.  They call it sucking heads and eating tails, as that is how to eat them.  It takes forever, but so delicious!  They had boiled them in a very tasty boil spice.  George talked to a gal at the bar who showed him a faster way to eat them.  He and I shared a pound; she ate 2 pounds by herself!

We also had their local beers.

We went grocery shopping, then back to the campground.  We made a nice fire and I made fajitas, mostly on the grill.  The days are getting longer, but it is still dark at dinner time, so we have been eating inside, at our nice dinette!  :-) 

Day 167. January 20, 2014. On the road to Texas

We spent our last night in Palmetto State Park, Louisiana.  It has been one of our top campgrounds on this trip.  

We (I should say George) drove 6 hours, mostly on busy Interstate 10 to Stephen Austin State Park, west of Houston.  We had a picnic lunch at the the Texas Welcome Center.  It is nice to be able to go into the Airstream while traveling.  We had a quick sandwich.  We had to drive through Beamont and Houston.  Very nerve-wracking.  We wanted to get far enough west so that we just have a short trip into Austin on Thursday.  We will be here 3nights.  

Here is George after the trip!

 There is no grocery store nearby, so we dug into our back-up food supply for dinner.  We had some freeze-dried chili (the kind that mountain climbers take with them).  It actually turned out well.  We have 58 channels on our TV, although most are Mexican telenovelas (soap operas)!

This campground is not as nice as Palmetto Island, but the sites are huge, with a lot of privacy.

Day 166. January 19, 2014. Beautiful Louisiana day!

Another cozy night in the Airstream at Palmetto Island State Park.  Since it is Sunday, George fixed breakfast.  He made grits in the rice cooker, and did some eggs with bits of last  night's fried rice.  

We hiked the park's nature trail.  Then we biked 4 miles with our Ontario friends to a little gas station/bait shop/grill for lunch.

We had a boudin (rice-stuffed sausage) and what they call a link sandwich.  It is like a wiener/sausage, with jalapeños and other toppings.  

The bike ride was perfect...nice to chat as we biked and absolutely flat :)

I did laundry and studied routes for Texas.  The laundry is beautiful.... heated and free!

We had drinks with the Ontario friends, then watched some 60 Minutes and Downton Abbey on TV.  I fixed cheese-stuffed ravioli in a tomato mushroom sauce for dinner.   Perfect with a glass of carmenere!  

Day 165. January 18, 2014. Lively campground

We are at Palmetto Island State Park for a total of 4 nights.  Although we were able to extend our stay, we had to move to a different site as someone had reserved ours.  Kind of a pain to move.  We thought our TV antenna was broken so borrowed a ladder from a neighbor.  Nothing seemed wrong.  Then, this neighbor looked at our TV, and found that we had not programmed it correctly.  So, that was a relief. 

We went into town (Abbeville) to another "world famous" Louisiana restaurant.  It was packed.  Someone told us it is a tradition to eat out on Saturdays.  We had smoked duck and andouille sausage gumbo.  Really tasty and huge bowl.  We ran some errands

The road into town has crawfish ponds that look a lot like cranberry bogs.  The season is coming up.

They also have  rice and sugar cane fields.  There is also a small airport with helicopters used to shuttle workers out to the offshore oil rigs.  Oil is big business here.

More and more campers keep coming in.  Absolutely everyone has a big pickup.  Lots of kids.  People ride around in golf carts pimped up with sound systems blaring Cajun music.  It is really like a festival atmosphere.  

We invited our neighbors (the TV helper) and his wife over for a glass of wine.  They are from Ontario.  I served an appetizer dish I had learned in Chile several years ago:  Smash one ripe avacado.  To that, add 2 tsp  each of soy sauce and Worchestire sauce.  Salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon.  Mix and serve on French bread.  They liked it.

For dinner, I made stir-fried rice with leftover rice, remaining veg, egg, and diced summer sausage.  Quite good.

We listened to Prairie Home Companion until we lost signal.  

Day 164. January 17, 2014. Laissez les Bon temps rouler!

Let the good times roll, as they say in Cajun French!  

We were able to extend our stay at this campground through Monday.  We decided to do this once we realized that this is a holiday weekend.  Glad we did.....this campground had had about 10 campers on Thursday, and now there about 100 campers.  All are local.  Music is playing, campfires blazing, and fat fryers cooking.  Here we are with our Mardi Gras beads on our campsite marker

We took a long bike ride and saw more wildlife...wild pigs, possum, and armadillos.  

We went into town to eat at a "world famous" seafood restaurant.  We sat at the bar with hunters and folks starting the weekend.  We had a delicious seafood salad, with grilled crawfish, crab, shrimp.  We did grocery shopping and filled up the propane tank.  We have had to run the heat at night quite a bit.

We went on a ranger-led night hike.  We were the only people.  We walked around the forest for about an hour.  We saw armadillos.  The ranger showed us the huge bite marks from bears on the dumpsters.  

We boiled some blue crabs over the campfire.  Since I didn't want to smell up the camper, we sat around the fire and ate the crabs.  For dinner, we had the last of the crawfish boudin in a tomato/veg sauce over rice.  I also made a kale au gratin side dish. 

Day 163. January 16, 2014. Last leg in Louisiana

We packed up at the Lake Fausse campground.  There are a lot more steps with the Airstream.  We finally left around noon, and stopped in our first town for lunch.  We had seafood gumbo.  Very good!

We are now at Palmetto Island State Park near Abbeville, only about one hour west from yesterday.  It is a beautiful campground with brand new bathrooms and free laundry.  We had planned to stay just 2 nights, but since it is so nice, we are going to try to extend.  We had forgotten that Monday is a holiday and campgrounds can fill up.  We'll see if they have sites available.  

We had a nice campfire and enjoyed the weather.  Highs in low 60s; lows around 40....perfect for camping.  Boring dinner...leftover chicken potato soup to which I added broccoli.  There are no nearby stores so we will be eating from our back-up food box for awhile.

We have electricity, water, wifi and good cell service....all for $9 per night!  We are getting spoiled.

Day 162. January 15, 2014. Catfish and catfish!

Another day at Lake Fausse State Park in SW Louisiana.  The campground is really out in the middle of nowhere.  Lots of wildlife.  I had carefully put our garbage out in a can made to deter the raccoons.  The lids weigh about 30 pounds.  Some how, they have learned how to get into them, and my garbage was strewn around.  We also have wild cats and a huge hawk.  The hawk has been known to swoop down and steal the fishermen's catch...the whole string!  Also frogs and owls making their noises at night.  Our neighbors fish and duck hunt all day.  They caught this 25 -pound catfish early this AM.  

We had a satsuma for breakfast.  They are like tangerines and grow here wild.

We went to Beaux Bridge (crawfish capital of the world) for lunch.  It is not quite crawfish season.  We went to a famous place for lunch.  We had their special....grilled catfish with shrimp étouffée on top with a side of jambalaya.  Surprisingly good, as I thought I didn't like catfish.

We went to another town to a nano-brewery.  

For dinner, we had crawfish boudin on the grill.  I served it with a tomato sauce full of veggies.  

Day 161. January 14, 2014. Tobasco!

We visited the Tabasco factory that is nearby.  They bottle 700,000 bottles per day!  The labels are in 22 languages.  Their country store was fun....we tasted lots of flavors  not found in regular stores.  They even had Tabasco pop and chipotle ice cream.  

 

We had lunch in the town, New Iberia.  We ate a shrimp po'boy with their special Tabasco salt.  Then we visited some gardens with a beautiful historic house.  Dinner back at the campsite...chicken potato soup made with leftover grilled chicken thighs.  Nice cool evening for soup.

Day 160. January 13, 2014. Swampy swamp

Another day at Fausse Lake State Park, in SW Louisiana.  It rained all night.  The campground had already had lots of standing water; now even more 

It rained most of the day so we decided to just stay here.  We did some work on the camper.  I made some chicken soup, did laundry, and  read.....very slow-paced day.  

George figured out how to put up the awning between downpours

Finally it stopped raining in PM.  It is supposed to clear off tomorrow so we can visit places around here as planned.  

Day 159. January 12, 2014. Crawfish, Boudin, and Cajun Dancing

We are at Lake Fausse Point State Park about 150 miles SW of New Orleans.  Most of the other campers here are hunters and fishermen.  They all wear their camo clothes.  All super friendly.  Our neighbors caught a big catfish in the river right in front of our Airstream this AM, and gave us some, breaded and deep-fat fried.  We are not that fond of catfish, but of course, acted happy to get it.

They also recommended a lunch place.  We are pretty remote, so it took a while to get there, driving along the levee.  It was actually a grocery store/food bar.  They sell boudin (pronounced boo-dan) which is super popular.  It is a kind of sausage, with several varieties.  We bought some  crawfish boudin which we will grill one night.  For lunch, we split a crawfish étouffée.  The counterman was concerned that it wouldn't be enough for 2 people.  Ha!  It was a ton of food, served on styrofoam plates and sporks.....not fancy at all, but good and cheap!

Then we drove to Breaux Bridge, the crawfish capital of the world.  It is a cute town.  Each store front is decorated for Mardi Gras, coming up in February.  There are also Mardi Gras stores to buy costumes, decorations.

Then, the most wonderful thing happened.  We were glancing through their free newspaper and read that there was a Cajun dance in the PM.  So, we went to this dance hall called La Pouisserie, which is "Dusty" in French.  The dance hall has been around for about 60 years.  When it first opened, the hardwood floors sat atop dirt, so when the dancers started dancing, it got really dusty.  The band was called Ivy Dugas and the Cajun Cousins.  There were about 100 folks there, mostly middle-aged, dancing every dance.  Most of the dances were a type of 2-step in which the couples circle around the dance floor.  The band included an accordion, fiddle, drums, electric piano, and guitar.  Some of the songs were in English; most  in Cajun.  It was a neat experience.  

We came back to the campground and made a fire, watching our armadillo friend

We warmed up the catfish (and fried cheese balls) our neighbors had given us.  They were quite good!

Day 158. January 11, 2014. To Cajun Country!

It poured during the night.....the thunder and rain sound so nice when one is safely escounced in a tight Airstream!  

As we were getting ready to leave this campground outside of New Orleans, a couple from Belgium that we had met in a campground in Georgia in November pulled in.  Such a small world.  They are using the campground as base and are making day trips into New Orleans.

We drove southwest, and stopped at a restaurant called Zydeco for lunch.  Most people were eating their seafood buffet, which was loaded with crawfish, lobsters, clams, shrimp, soft shell crabs, and gumbo.  Instead, we had BBQ shrimp.  It was so good.  I would like to learn to make it.  It seemed like boiled shrimp in a hot sauce/butter/ worchestire/garlic  sauce.  You sop up the extra sauce with bread.  We ordered 2 draft beers (Abita from Louisiana) and these huge glasses arrived.  We were shocked when we got the bill....$2.50!

We were heading for a state park I had found that is centrally located in Cajun country so we can stay in one place for several days and make day trips.  We stopped for gas in a small town (tank was below empty) and asked directions.  A guy with tattoos on every imaginable spot on his body and a full  set of gold-plated teeth told us about a short cut.  I was filled with dread.  He was vague about the condition of the road....thought part of it might be gravel.  It was not an official road, but a one-laned route on the levee with potholes and mud on either side.  After driving for an alarming amount of time (the tattoo guy said it wasn't far), we flagged down a truck going the other way.  I think the driver was straight from the cast of Duck Dynasty.  He said we were going in the right direction.  Finally we arrived.  Nice state park.  We are the only car from out-of-state.  We chose a "premium" (more expensive) site on the river for $10/night.  It is really swampy.  

For dinner, I made chicken cacciatore, trying to use the spaghetti sauce I had made a few days ago.  I added the leftover sauce from lunch to kick it up.  George grilled the chicken thighs on the campfire as we watched armadillos root around nearby.  

We are looking forward to exploring this area.

Day 157. January 10, 2014. On to Louisiana!

George worked on the Airstream some more.  Other guys drop around to "help".  By the time we left the campground, it was lunchtime.  We stopped at "Mike's on the Bayou" as they were advertising $7/dozen oysters.  They were delicious, and we actually were served 16 instead of 12!  We also split a half muffaletta, that great New Orleans famous sandwich.  Even a half was too much food! 

We stopped at the Louisiana Visitors' Center for information.  Since we have already visited New Orleans, we want to skip that and get into Cajun country.  We had to drive through New Orleans.  A lot of buildings are still in disrepair.  Since it was getting late, we found a state park right outside of town.  

We had grilled sandwiches made with leftover andouille.  Good!  This campground has free laundry so I took advantage and did some.  Lots of Cajuns here....I can't understand them., but it is fun to listen to them.  They seem to have a lot of fun.  Nice and warm here

Day 156. January 9, 2014. Gulf Shores Nat'l Seashore

We took a long hike in the national seashore park.  We stopped at the nice visitor center and watched a film about the barrier islands.

We spent the PM working on the Airstream and setting up license tags, insurance, etc.  We drove into nearby Pascagoula to the post office.  Afterwards, we went to one of the restaurants that daughter Meredith had researched for us.  It is called Jacks on the Tracks.  It is a funky neighborhood bistro that  calls itself a "Southern juke joint/sushi bar/tapas restaurant, and neighborhood pub".  Everyone knew each other and were super friendly.  They had Green Flash IPA (San Diego) on tap which many consider to be the best in the country.  How amazing!  We had a sushi roll with crawfish called Awesome Crawsome.  It was indeed  awesome!  I think more people should visit here to eliminate perceptions that Mississippi is backward.

For dinner, we grilled Andouille sausage and ate it with red beans and rice.  A raccoon tried to steal the sausages from the campfire!  

Day 155. January 8, 2014. Settling in

We stayed overnight in the RV store parking lot.  It is next to a Hardee's so we were awakened early by voices from their drive-through.  

After a lot of work, they were able to mount the bikes on the Airstream.    Quite a big

deal!

We finished transferring our stuff and went to a campground in the Gulf Coast National Seashore.  Quite nice, and only $11.  

I fixed spaghetti and meatballs in my new kitchen while watching Julia Child on TV.  I was so happy!

Day 154. January 7, 2014. Moving day!

Today is our 5 -month anniversary on the road.  Hard to believe!  

It was very cold overnight.  My dishpan with last night's dirty dishes was frozen solid.

We packed up quickly and took the Aliner camper into the RV store.  We hung out in their store while they did some  work on our car.  When the car was ready, we went to a nearby Japanese restaurant and had udon for lunch.  Great on a cold day.  

Then, when the Airstream was ready, we moved things from Aliner into it.  We have to figure out best place for everything.  Even though it has lots of storage, we have to be careful not to weigh it down much so Honda is ok.  We have TV!  (Although we have promised ourselves that we won't watch much)  

We are camping overnight in the RV lot.  They want us to test everything to make sure all is ok before hitting the road.  Very good customer service!  

Day 153. January 6, 2014. Mississippi BBQ

Another record-breaking cold morning for southern Mississippi.  We took a little hike and huddled in the camper until it warmed up a bit.  We drove along the coast to Biloxi.  For Christmas, our daughter Meredith gave us a list of restaurants she found online along our route.  We went to one in Biloxi. We had their dry-rubbed smoked chicken sandwich with their homemade BBQ sauce and fried jalapeño peppers.  We certainly filled up at the Fillin' Station.  Haha

We went to the visitors' center and saw photos of pre-and post Katrina.  We watched a movie about Biloxi.  They featured 3 restaurants, including this one.  Meredith knows how to pick them!  We drove by all their casinos.  See Hard Rock picture below.   They were all rebuilt after Katrina, and seem to be the primary business here,

Then we returned to a Muddy Waters BBQ and Blues in Gulfport where we had eaten the smoked chicken wings before.  We got BBQd ribs and pulled pork to go, to eat later in the camper.  For our sides, we did the Southern thing and had collared greens and fried okra.

George also bought some jumbo shrimp which we had as an appetizer.  They call them a Royal  Reds here.  We had a great campfire to warm us up.

This southern food day was fabulous!

Day 152. January 5, 2014. Gulf Coast chillin'

We are spending 4 nights in the national forest near Gulfport, MS.  With George's senior pass, it is only $13 per night.  It is much more "woodsy" than state and commercial parks where we have been recently. We have to kill a few days in this area while the RV shop gets  our Airstream ready. 

I know we can't complain about the cold weather, as compared to the frigid Midwest, but MS is having some record low temperatures, too.  So, we are making several day trips.  We drove west along the Gulf to Bay St. Louis, MS.  Again, we saw hundreds of empty lots where houses had been before Katrina.  We heard that the reason that people haven't rebuilt is that the insurance rates have gone up astronomically.    We had Mahi Mahi sandwiches in a beach shack that had just been rebuilt. 

Back in Gulfport, we found a nano-brewery called Mississippi Brewing Co.   The guy is just starting out.  With heaters, it was nice enough to be outside.

It is also a gumbo shop, so we bought gumbo to eat later in the camper.  Hunkered down in the camper after walking around the campground, chatting with Ontario folks who had fires going.

Day 151. January 4, 2014. Gulfport, MS

We went to the RV store to do title paperwork, etc and to take another look at the Airstream.

I can't wait to move in!  

We went to a "BBQ and Blues" place downtown for lunch.  It smelled heavenly.  They smoke their meats in pecan wood.  We had some smoked wings with a garlic/Parmesan sauce.  Out of this world! We want to go back and try their smoked pork or beef.  

Then we took a ride along the beach road through Biloxi.  There are hundreds of empty beachfront lots for sale, as most houses were destroyed by Katrina.  We went back to cute Ocean Springs.  They have a small brewery that was open for  tours and tastings.  We especially liked their coffee stout.  We went next door to an upscale grocery....kind of like a small Lunds.  Incredibly, it has a growler refill station.  We filled 2 of our growlers, one with the Ocean Springs porter, and the other with "Fire Ant Rye" from a Louisiana brewery.  Who would have thought that MIssissippi would be so hip?  

For dinner, I made corned beef hash.  Tony from Nova Scotia.....if you are reading this, I want you to know that I copied your recipe that you cooked one evening in Newfoundland in the campground shelter.   Turned out great!  We added a little horseradish for a kick.