From Galveston we drifted east bypassing Houston and stopping in Lafayette, LA at a KOA just off I 10. We set out to have dinner at PreJeans, famous for Cajun cooking and live music. It is considered one of the must restaurants in the area. The food was fine. The musicians looked as if they were some place else. They played fine, when they played, but they appeared to be totally bored with the whole show. Our Red Stick Ramblers CD is quite a bit better.

By now I had booked a flight back to Rochester to see my mother and we were drifting on a schedule so we headed for the Biloxi, MS area to see more of the destruction wrought by Katrina and Rita. We stayed at Magic River CG in Long Beach (MS not CA) and it was rustic. There were full hookups and everything worked, but the sense was that most of the people staying there were doing construction work in the vicinity and there was not a lot of “camping” being done. We drove all the way to Biloxi along the gulf and then tried to come back along the bay side, but military establishments kept getting in the way, so eventually we found our way back to Magic River CG and made dinner there as we had not seen any place we would consider stopping for dinner. Nothing was open except for seven of the twelve casinos and the other five had big construction crews working to get them reopened. Nothing else seemed to be progressing with any speed..

In the morning we set out for Gulf Shores, AL and the Gulf State Park campground. Our departure was marred by a series of fits from HAL, the GPS and my computer. They did not want to communicate. Carol was driving and I thought I had memorized the rather convoluted route to I 10 so we drove on while I did battle with the computer. Naturally the key turn was not where I expected and we wandered rather aimlessly as I rebooted this and screamed at that. Finally I got everything working together just as we both spotted the I 10 sign. That was only the second time in 6,000 miles and 2 months that we didn’t have the mapping software running when we needed it.

We found or way to Gulf State Park right on the Gulf in a twenty mile stretch of Alabama between Mobile Bay and the Florida line. We stayed in this park in 2004 before Hurricane Ivan devastated the area. We tried to return in 2005 but were told they were not open. There was a major change from the storm. Before it was not possibible to see how big the park was as the sightlines were blocked by masses of trees. Today there are almost no trees and many of the activities have not been resumed. We had two other reasons for going there. I had learned that I had a cousin living in Fair Hope, AL not more than 30 minutes from the park and we would be an hour from Pensacola which is a reasonable airport for me to get to Rochester for a couple of days. Besides, who can pass up a chance to eat at Lambert’s, the Home of Throw’d Rolls. I wrote about this place in’04.

We had Joy and Shaul Antar bring their children Simcha and Ariel out to the RV on Sunday, Purim. It was more exciting than we knew as Ariel is totally enamored with RV’s from the movie of the same name. I can now sign R V quite fluently. Carol went to Simcha’s school on Friday, while I was in Rochester, and enjoyed bing there when she was tapped for Junior Honor Society (she is almost 13). On Saturday we went to their home in Fair Hope and then out to dinner at the Marriott Grand where Shaul is emplyied.

My visit with my mother was reassuring. She seems to be content and rather more communicative than she was when we left. We continue to face challenges, but I guess that is just the way it will be for now. It turned out that my timing brought me into Rochester when the RPO would be playing, conducted by Pinchas Zuckerman. I thought to take my grandson Josh to the dinner and the concert and by the time we got it together there were 9 for dinner. After intermission Josh wanted to know if I had introduced him to everyone in the hall. We both enjoyed the concert. This is not the place for a full review. I especially enjoyed having the time with Josh. I know that the visit he had with his great grandmother had to be hard for him, but he said he wanted to visit more often with his mother.

My flights worked far better than I had hoped. My USAir connection in Charlotte, returning, was 30 minutes which leaves no leeway for anything. I was at the gate for the connection with time to spare and my luggage was in my hands!

On my return to Gulf Shores I learned that the Topfs had caught up with us and were on a nearby site. We have crossed paths with them three times this winter. Naturally we got together for activities during the day and had happy hour together. We were not in the mood to dine out so we dined on our own coaches and got together for dessert. They moved on to Montgomery, AL while we decided to stop in Seminole Lake SP in GA. You can find it on a GA map by looking at the south western corner where GA meets FL and AL.. We remembered stopping here two years ago and thought we could remember the campground. As we pulled in we agreed that it was the place we were thinking of. We are on a site on the water with room to spare and the inflatable kayak is inflated and sitting on the shore for the first time this winter. We were warmly welcomed by Anita and Larry, the campground hosts, who remembered us from two years ago. We have seen nesting Osprey and had a Blue Jay perch on our picnic table while we were sitting there.

We also have witnessed the stupidest piece of human behavior by campground management we can remember. Some complaint was registered against the hosts, apparently by another volunteer couple and Anita and Larry, who have been here several years, were fired on the spot leaving only a first time volunteer couple who are leaving for the FMCA rally tomorrow. There will be no hosts here for the weekend when the park will be full. Anita and Larry were so hurt that they pulled out within a couple of hours. I guess their biggest sin was working too hard to keep the place nice and make people welcome. Money cannot be an issue as they were volunteers, receiving nothing but their campsite and hookups in return for their effort.

We will continue to retrace our steps on Saturday when we move to Paradise Lake Campground in Tifton, GA. This is 80 miles from Perry where we will enter the fairgrounds on Sunday for five days of togetherness with more than 5,000 other coaches and Carol will present her Seminar on Wednesday at 1:30 and her workshop on Thursday. Then we are off to who knows where on route to Charlottesville, VA.