I signed into the blog just now, and it said I had NO posts!!!! Yikes! Obviously they came back, but you shouldn’t scare a girl that way!

I love Colorado, but I’m having so much fun, I’ve hardly had time to miss it! Here’s some stats so far (I should have you bet on the over and under):

Miles traveled = 7395

Gallons of gas consumed = 420

Money spent on gas = $1384.27

National and State Parks visited = 6

Campgrounds stayed in = 10

Number of states in which I worked out at Planet Fitness = 6

Back to where I left off (this was a couple of weeks ago), in Louisiana. We met up with another SOBer in Lafayette, LA and ‘camped’ in her front yard – no pic, sorry. I now have a new friend – Janet – and she is awesome!

She did everything she could to show us good old Southern Hospitality and make sure we ate a bunch of the local food. I had to check out the Croc’s teeth.

This is me trying Boudin Links (after having Boudin balls the night before)

It looks like a sausage, but you don’t eat it like one. Yes, you have to suck the meat out of the casing. Why? I have no idea, or Janet was playing a joke on us. It was delicious and just spicy enough for me to handle. We polished off 3 bottles of wine that night (I am SO glad we turned down the 4th!), listened to old rock and roll, and had plenty of girl talk. It was a great night. While there we also had oysters and gumbo – acting like the locals! Janet – feel free to give a shout out for your favorite restaurants!

We really did plan to leave the next day – really. We did! We even loaded up and went to the gym ‘on our way out of town” ……….. and we met a dude named Kevin who told us that Lafayette is the best kept secret music scene and we just HAD to go to this singer/songwriter contest he was judging that night. Sooooo we went back to Janet’s. She thought we were nuts and that we would have been at our next campsite by then! Oh well, this trip is all about taking advantage of opportunities and enjoying new experiences.

We even took a moment to clean up a little bit.

It was a fun night with lots of great talent, and we promised to leave first thing in the morning. Melanie and I disagreed on what that meant, but we did hit the road by 9ish the next day. Our plan was to hit the Crater of Diamonds and make it to our campsite before dark – HA!!! Not even close! Arkansas has a very nice Welcome Center and the lady there was extremely helpful. She must have given us 10 different tour books and maps – I bet you didn’t know there was THAT much to do in Arkansas, did you?

Arkansas – Crystal Springs on Lake Ouachita – that’s where this picture came in and I know you’ve already seen it. It was a beautiful area and I really felt like we were camping. Honestly though, I think Cliff is getting bored and starting to play games with me. You may have guessed that we did NOT get there before dark, and Cliff took us over the river, through the woods, and around every twisty corner to get there. I almost gave up, then boom, there was a campground. The way out was much easier, so what was the wild goose chase all about?!

Mel rocks the camera. This timer shot makes us look like mighty woodswomen!

Oh, another shout out to Starlink. We were surrounded by trees and I found one little opening in the canopy, and we found a satellite! Our internet was better than our phone service while we were there! It was a little chilly, but we managed, and even got a couple hikes in each afternoon. We just had to stop at the local watering hole

Which prompted us to do a whiskey tasting around the fire that night

We hit the Hot Springs (Baths) on the way out. Cute town. A couple of our friends told us that they thought the baths were ‘creepy’, but we thought they were nice and clean – not creepy at all. There are a bunch of them along bath house row, and they limit the number of people at each time. We only waited about 20 minutes before a spot opened up. Not too bad and the hot water felt great!!!

Now I’ve caught you up to where I said bye to Melanie. I liked Arkansas. It was very pretty, it was a wonderful time of the year, they have funky liquor stores with a wide selection of whiskeys, and they have Hot Springs!

From there, I made my way to Daphne, Alabama, which I already mentioned. I saw lots of big houses on multiple acres of land. I thought this is something I might want, but I think I’m changing my mind. I kind of liked living in a townhome, and Jim’s subdivision was appealing too, so who knows where I’ll end up. I spent the night in Dumas, AR at Pendleton Bluffs campsite. Very hard to get to on a dark night – I hit a pot hole I thought would break my car! It was a bit creepy and so dark – I made sure to carry my pepper spray and lock my doors. In the light of day it was much better.

Huge sites with lots of room between them.

Near a big river. So many rivers and lakes in this part of the country!!

My rig is hiding in there somewhere. Definitely a locals place, especially for fishing. They were pulling out some HUGE catfish! I saw my first Piggly Wiggly and shortly after a Winn Dixie! I am truly in the South.

I think I’m done jumping around on this blog for now. I’m in Florida at the moment and will be here a while, so it may be a bit before I write again. You never know!

Tip of the day: Whoever your ‘Cliff’ is, double check the route they choose!!! Geez