To Atchafalaya Welcome Center, Little Rock Tornado

The Atchafalaya Welcome Center is between Baton Rouge and Lafayette on Interstate 10...actually, below Interstate 10.  Located in the heart of the Atchafalaya Basin, the nation's largest river swamp, the Atchafalaya Welcome Center showcases a variety of exhibits showcasing the unique flora, fauna, and cultures found throughout the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area. (https://www.louisianatravel.com/welcome-center/atchafalaya-welcome-center)

Aerial shot via their website.

The trucks are on the north side of I-10, the autos and RVs on the south side.  We have stopped here just about every time we take I-10 since 2013.  Back in 2013, the south side was not completed yet.  

Our trip today was again uneventful.  Traffic was thick at times, not very much traffic at other times.  Two areas of construction, but nothing that took us under 40 mph.

If you can, start your morning by going by a Buc-ee's.  As I reported previously, this place is HUGE.  And look at these gas prices!  Sorry, did not get the diesel price.  What I did get is a full tank of 48.5 gallons at $160.  Of course, two years ago it was only $125, but beggars can't be choosers!  And the two large (very large) coffees for $3.50 (that is not each...that is for both) was wonderful.  It was only 60 miles down the road from Cracker Barrel, and a Diet Pepsi held me over for that hour...we left at 7:00 am or so.

My sweet daughter texted me at 4:18 central time with a message of "Did you see the tornado that went through Little Rock?"  For the next 2 1/2 hours I was looking things up, watching Little Rock news stations online, and texting back and forth with Stephanie.  Having lived in Arkansas for 22+ years, and being very familiar with the area that was hit the hardest, it captivated my attention.  Thank goodness my children's mother is fine...a bad storm was heading right for White Hall, it broke up just a few miles before reaching it, then became even stronger after it crossed over the Arkansas River.

Look at the size of that sucker!  You can find video of this through google, but my connection is not good enough to download and upload to the blog...it was difficult to get good streaming of the tv station.  Glad we decided NOT to go through Pine Bluff, because today would have been the day we would have come through Memphis, into Little Rock and down to Pine Bluff.  

Tomorrow we have reservations at a RV park in Texas about 200 miles down the road in Baytown.  It will be nice to have a short day, and to have full hookups.  It also gives us the chance to zoom through Houston Sunday morning before the "Final Four" crowds are up and about. 

Atchafalaya - What a Mouth full

 

880 miles later, we are OUT OF TEXAS!!!!  Now just so you know, I don't hate Texas.  It is a VERY Independent state, and I appreciate that.  "IF" I was to live in Texas, it would be in Canyon Texas, just below Amarillo. It is a very conservative, isolate, freedom loving area and it is only 80 miles from New Mexico, it is only 115 miles from Kansas, and only 125 miles from Oklahoma.  Even better than that, it is only 150 miles from Colorado...but many more miles to the "good part" of "Colorado"...the mountains of Colorado.  But still...they are not that far in perspective of life.  In other words, not a whole lot matches up to the Colorado Mountains down in the lower 48.

 

Twenty miles later we are climbing the bridge leading to Lake Charles.

After a few hours of travel, we enter the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area.  The rest area we are staying at is at the Atchafalaya Welcome Center.  The cars are on one side of the overhead highway, the cars and RVs are on the other...so it is fairly quiet.  We have stayed here at least three or four times already.

As of 9 pm, we have only one neighbor, Our WiFi is fairly good, and we are streaming movies from Amazon on our new Kindle.  We have abour 250 miles to go tomorrow, so we won't have to get up too awful early. 

FYI: Atchafalaya means Long River.  It is pronounced...well...I will let you look that up if you are interested.
 

Atchafalaya Welcome Center & New Battery

At Atchafalaya Welcome Center, Louisiana

We left Perry Florida Wal-Mart at 6:45, got to Flying J nearly Quicy to fuel up, then feed Skruffy, and westward we went.  At the Alabama Welcome Center at the Florida Alabama border I realized that our batteries...both house and engine, were not charging the way they should. After a 45 minute nap to think about it (ok, we were both tired), I checked the engine battery and found the naughty "c" word...corrosion! I cleaned it the best I could, and we drove on.  Looked up the closest to the Interstate Walmart I could find because I was sure I put one in a few years ago...and it was a Walmart battery.

A good Walmart to stop at was just the other side of Mobile.  Looked online and they had the battery I needed.  When I got there I went in and verified that they had it, went out and took my old one out (5 minutes) and back in.  Guess what, the battery I took out was from June 2013...5 years ago, before we even owned this one!  I must have put a battery in the JAYCO that burned up in 2014.  I got this same battery, put it in after cleaning up the terminals even more, and off we went.  The initial cleaning did help charge the house batteries, but the engine was still struggling, so glade we spent the $100 now.  New battery is doing great.

Had traffic along I-12, and more in Baton Rouge...but we made it to Atchafalaya Welcome Center, were we stayed less than 3 months ago!  Tomorrow looks like another long day, trying to get to Boerne Texas Walmart...455 miles away without a time change.

Both of us slept MUCH better than the first night.  In bed by 9, sleep came fast, up at 6.  About a dozen motorhomes parked here where the trucks have to stay on other side of the raised Interstate.  Coffee is perking, we should be on the road soon.

So Just How Far Did We Get Today???

We are 121 miles into Louisiana…and it is STILL “FRICKING” COLD!!!!

Note…  “fricking”:  A Southern and Midwestern slang word used to express excitement or distainment without using profanity.

Written from the Louisiana Welcome Center, I-10, Exit 121, known as the Atchafalaya Welcome Center