Monday February 12th 2018

After 354 days my RV Home has returned to the east side of the Mississippi River. At 1:30PM today I crossed the Mississippi River eastbound at Baton Rouge Louisiana. Last February 23rd I crossed the same bridge in the opposite direction. I’m officially back in the east.

Unlike yesterday my day went pretty much according to plan. I started my short seventy five mile travel day a little before 11AM this morning. It was another cloudy, raw and windy day. The temperature never got above fifty degrees all day. My only deviation from plan occurred early on in the travel day. I couldn’t get close enough to the gas pump at my chosen station to fill the gas tank. Across the street at a more expensive station I was able to angle into the last pump in line. Given that it was the last pump it didn’t matter that I was blocking the entire parking lot aisle. The fuel fill is on the back of the RV. The rig extends 35 forward from that point and the towed car with the bicycle on the back extends close to twenty feet in the other direction.

Sculpture garden at the Atchafalaya National Wildlife Refuge Welcome Center.

This section of Interstate 10 is not in the best condition. The bumps between concrete sections can really get you bouncing. When you add in the holes and patches it’s a real problem. Much of the road today was a bridge over the Atchafalaya drainage basin. Drainage basin seems to be polite speak for “swamp”. I stopped at the rest area and Welcome center for the Atchafalaya National Wildlife Refuge to kill some time and checkout the exhibits.

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The exhibits explain the basin and its evolution. As flood control levees were constructed life in the basin changed. Interstate 10 has crossed the area on a 20 foot high bridge over and along the canals between the levees since the early 1970s. Other exhibits and sculptures describe and pay tribute the animals that live in the basin.

Site 46 at the Baton Rouge KOA.

I arrived at my home for the next four nights on the east side of Baton Rouge just before two. I’ll spend the days touring the area, catching up on laundry and getting restocked. On Friday I’ll move on to Milton Florida for the holiday weekend.