Jacqueline’s Jaunts

Friday, May 9, 2025

04-18-25, Florida Key West Trip 3/27 – 6/30 2025, 96 Days, 7986 Miles, 44 Stops

18 April 2025, New Orleans Resort and Marina, Louisiana

Today was our swamp tour at Arthur’s Airboat Tours. The morning drive to Des Allemands was about an hour, but it was worth it. I had never been on an airboat before and was looking forward to it.

Our airboat held six people, so we had another couple with us. Our tour guide’s name was Chad. This swamp is Chad’s world and he knows it well. He is very knowledgeable, funny and entertaining. If you ever get the chance to book this, request Chad as your guide!

We met AJ and Brutus, local alligators who were farm-raised and used as “teaching tools.” AJ is about 6 or 7 feet long, and Brutus is 10 feet long. I have to admit, they are impressive when you get to see them up close. Unfortunately, as hard as Chad tried, we could not find a baby 'gator.

We learned about swamp flora and fauna, went over a ramp, went so fast we had to hold onto our hats and phones and saw eagles and eagle nests. It truly is a thrilling ride! Chad talks about the resurgence of eagles in this swamp area. Currently, there are 7 pairs! We saw the following birds: Limpkin, Common Gallinule, Roseate Spoonbill, Bald Eagles and young Bald Eagles.

This tour was an experience I will never forget. It was one of the best outdoor things I have ever done, and I would do it again, but I would like to do a sunset tour.

The street names are tiles embedded
in the brick sidewalks

From Arthur’s, we drove back to the RV park, had lunch, and hailed an Uber to Bourbon St. Again, I did not know what to expect, but the architecture was beautiful. We roamed the street and stopped at Bourbon Street Drinkery for drinks and to listen to a live band. A lot of the restaurants and bars have live music. As the afternoon wore on, the street became more crowded. We also visited a few voodoo shops and bought postcards.

We were considering Arnaud’s Restaurant for Barry’s Birthday, so we went to see if we could get reservations, even though it was the day before Easter. The hostess was able to book us for tomorrow. We could not believe how lucky we were.

We walked over to Royal Street to escape the crowds and ate at Rue Royal Antoine. We sat by an open-air window. While we waited for our drinks, a wedding parade came by, escorted by motorcycle police. So much fun to see.

What a fun day. I would do it all over again.

On top of a ramp

Riding through the swamp

This is AJ

AJ getting his snack

Brutus getting his snack

Brutus decided to be camera-shy

A Closer look at Brutus

I love all the black railing

Entrance to Arnaud's and
Ken & Jan checking
reservations for tomorrow

Antics on the street corner

Selfie at Bourbon Street Drinkery

We have no idea what was behind this door

Waiting for our food at Rue Royal Antoine

Voodoo Shop

Does anyone need a job?

Original Spot Of The Home Of Marie Laveau
New Orleans Voodoo Queen

Entrance to Louis Armstrong Park

Wedding Parade

Monday, May 5, 2025

04-17-2025, Florida Key West Trip 3/27 – 6/30 2025, 96 Days, 7986 Miles, 44 Stops

17 April 2025, New Orleans Resort and Marina, Louisiana

Jeeps – 3

We slept in this morning, then went outside to see if I could locate a vocal cardinal and he was in the trees in front of our site. I watched a mama duck take her babies across the pond and saw a Green Heron for the first time. This KOA, Lafayette KOA Holiday, is one of my favorite KOAs we have stayed at. Below is a photo from the KOA site and the arrow shows where we camped.

Beautiful KOA park, one of my favorites

Jan made us yummy biscuits. After breakfast, we started getting ready for our drive to New Orleans. We are excited about this stop. We are staying for four nights.

The four-hour drive was beautiful on I-10. We crossed long bridges over waterways. I tried to see if I could see any alligators, but no luck.

You can see the water between the lanes

We saw many crawfish farms. You could tell by the red balls floating on top across large bodies of water. Everything is so green and all the trees are lush-looking.

We passed a Cabela's with a small lake next to it and a launch ramp so you could test out a boat. What a clever thing to have.

Once we got into New Orleans, the freeway system was a little hairy, trying to ensure we were going the right way, but we did it. After hooking up the RVs, we decided to try the restaurant/bar above the office. It looked out over the water, and a few beautiful yachts were parked beside it. We ordered drinks and appetizers for dinner. Jan and I ordered hurricanes; this was our first time having one. It was yummy. The appetizers were yummy.

New Orleans RV Resort and Marina

After dinner, we walked the RV park, and Jan decided to do a little running. She ran side to side so she could stay with us. Have to give her credit. I had no desire to do any running, but it felt good to walk.

Good night, all.

Saturday, May 3, 2025

04-16-2025, Florida Key West Trip 3/27 – 6/30 2025, 96 Days, 7986 Miles, 44 Stops

16 April 2025, Lafayette KOA Holiday

Jeeps-2

Happy Morning!! Someone came home to the dog!!! I feel so much better. I sat out front for a while, bird-watching and recording birds. There were many birds until the lawnmower started. Oh well...it’s 9:00 AM, so at least they waited until then. I recorded the birds in my bird book and prepared for the day.

This morning, I was looking at the RV park map and discovered a cemetery at the back of the park. This park has 421 sites and the back is the newer section. Barry went to turn in the key card to the gate and found out the original homesteaders, Tompkins, are buried there. I decided to take a field trip and drive to see it. We walked past it last night but didn’t see it since it was dark.

The small circle on the left is our campsite.
The larger circle on the right is the cemetery.

On the drive today to Louisiana, I checked Find A Grave and found the information for this cemetery, starting with Memorial ID: 53815860. There are a total of eight memorials listed for Tompkins Family Cemetery. An RV park is the most unusual place I have visited a cemetery.

Highland is on the coast, and the primary industry is oil refineries. We could see how huge some of them are as we drove out of town.

We crossed into Louisiana at 12:45 PM and the roads improved dramatically.

We made it to our campground. What a beautiful KOA. A pond is in the middle, and our area is all new. The sites are all concrete and wide. We were right next to the pond. I did a lot of bird watching and saw birds I had never seen before. The cardinals were very vocal but too fast to get any photos.

Muscovy Duck (domestic)

Leftovers for dinner and just relaxed.

04-15-2025 Florida Key West Trip 3/27 – 6/30 2025 96 Days, 7986 Miles, 44 Stops

15 April 2025, Houston Leisure RV Resort, Highlands, Texas

Jeeps - 10

The birds woke me up at 6:45 AM. I lay there and recorded bird sounds on my Merlin app. There was a cardinal singing all by himself. I waited until it was a little lighter and decided to get dressed and see if I could find it. It took me a bit to locate him, but I did. I’ve only seen a cardinal one other time, many years ago in Tennessee. I decided to walk around the park and record other birds’ sounds. Hearing birds that I had not heard or seen before was very cool. When I returned from my walk, I recorded the birds my app picked up in my Bird Book.

Today is a travel day to Highlands, Texas. We left around 11 AM. Again, there was a lot of road work: freeway lanes were narrow on I-10, and I thought we would get hit a few times. The road was awful and nerve-racking. I was a wreck when we arrived at Houston Leisure RV Resort. To top that off, a travel trailer across from us was all closed up and a dog was barking at us inside. The place looked like it had been neglected for some time. It even had moss on the roof. Everyone has a story, but the poor pet should not suffer. One of the workers drove by to check if we could park OK, and I told her the dog was barking a lot, but she didn’t seem to care.

On our way in, we passed a BBQ place that was an old gas station, 4 Corners BBQ. It was down the road from the RV park. We asked about 4 Corners BBQ when checking in and were informed it is the best BBQ around. Once we got all set up, we decided to try the BBQ place. It is a great little place with red checkered tablecloths. They do not serve alcohol but let you bring in your own. Ken went across the street to a liquor store and bought beers. I decided to have a root beer, my favorite. All of our meals were excellent. The best BBQ I have had in a long time.

Once we returned, I kept an eye on the place with the dog until 1:30 AM, and no one showed up. I was so worried about the dog that I could not sleep. Why are some people so irresponsible with their pets? People who do not treat their animals kindly drive me up the wall! It makes me sick to my stomach.

As I said before, most of the trailers and RVs in this park were in good shape, but a few looked neglected. The grounds are green and well-maintained.

Tomorrow...Louisiana.

04-14-2025 Florida Key West Trip 3/27 – 6/30 2025 96 Days, 7986 Miles, 44 Stops

14 April 2025, San Antonio/Alamo KOA, San Antonio, Texas

The four of us spent the morning doing chores and errands. Jan and I found a place to get mani/pedis, US Nails. At first, we were not impressed with the outside, but the inside looked clean and new. I had the best pedi/mani I have ever had. They used hot stones during my leg massage and it felt wonderful.

Once we returned to the RV Park, we ate a quick bite, and the four of us went to the Alamo. There was a lot of construction work all around the Alamo. A new visitor center is being built, and many areas are being refurbished. Some archeological digging is also taking place. We watched a great movie about the events of the Alamo. It's such a sad story.

Next, we drove to a Mission National Park visitor site for the missions. We thought we were in the right spot, but we were not. Darn, we ran out of time because the next visitor center closed at 5:00, and it was a few minutes to five. We decided to eat instead.

We decided to try another restaurant on the Riverwalk, The Iron Cactus. Barry had Mexican meatloaf, I had chicken-stuffed avocados, and J and K shared fajitas. Barry and I loved our food, but J and K, not so much. The fajitas were warm and not even sizzling. Who serves fajitas that are not sizzling?! But our drinks were great. The birds entertained us. When someone left their table, the birds swooped down and started eating anything left on the plate. The bus people had to be quick.

We continued our walk around the loop to take in the sights one more time: so many colors and beautiful plants.

After being in the low nineties all day, we happily returned to our air-conditioned rigs. We were leaving the next morning, so we needed to prepare our rigs for the next day's journey.