Over The River And Through The Woods

Everything went off without a hitch.  We got out the “door” right as planned; that is, we departed Rainbow’s End at 0830.  Things were rolling along just hunky dory until Judy spotted “the sign”.  The sign said, “Vehicles greater than 12’3” HT take route 190 detour”.  There was more writing in smaller print on the sign, but traveling at 60 MPH you couldn’t read it all, however, Judy said she saw the word Deridder somewhere among all those words.  That would prove to be crucial.

So we kept right on 190 while Maggie scolded us – “Off route, recalculating.”  She had it in her mind that we had to get back on Texas route 63 and was relentless.  However, we pulled over and got out the maps.  Mike and Peggy’s atlas showed route 63 going northeast while Route 190 went southeast.  We saw a railroad track on the atlas so figured that a railroad bridge was probably the 12’3” restriction. We plotted a new route by going a little further on route 190 and then heading north on Texas route 87.

All went as planned until we joined back up with route 63 and traveled a few miles east.  Then we saw another sign for the 12’3” height restriction; we hadn’t gone far enough east to get around it.  So now what to do?  We came to county route “umpty scrumpt” heading south so decided to take that.  Well, let me tell ya, that was a back, back, back road winding through the Texas countryside.

We did manage to get back to Texas route 87, then onto Newton, Texas where we picked up route 190 once again.  So it was onto Deridder, Louisiana (remember that little crucial bit of information?) and then north to Leesville which brought us back to our original route.

That little “do loop” costs us about an hour and a half in travel time, but took us through some beautiful Texas country side.  It’s just that we don’t generally take Winne and CC on joy rides.  Bottom line, RVers – stay off of Texas route 63 between Jasper, Texas and Leesville, Louisiana, unless you are looking for a convertible RV.  Most motorhomes are around 12’6” tall and our fifthwheel is 13’2”.

We are staying at Riverview RV Park in Vidalia, Louisiana which is just across the river from Natchez, Mississippi.  It is a nice park, however, a little pricey.  With a Passport discount for one night and Escapees discount for the second, it still costs $72 for two nights.  Oh well, there is a nice concrete walking trail along the riverside that runs from the campground to Riverside Park (a little over a mile long) and it is the closest RV park to Natchez.

Once we got set up and finished martini time, the four of us headed out to Nikki’s for some good old down home cooking.  Holy cow, when the waitress brought our order I thought she should have had a wheel barrel – and then she went back for a second trip.  Oh my, we couldn’t eat it all and needed dawgie boxes.  I haven’t seen that much food since Lambert’s in Foley.  Judy had pop corn shrimp with sweet potato tots and I had pop corn shrimp with onion rings and crawfish etouffee.  Oh yes, there was a salad bar included as well.

 

Needless to say, we couldn’t just sit after a meal like that so we hit the trail and waddled along side the Mighty Mississippi up to the Visitor’s Center at Riverside park and back again just to get some exercise and walk off some of that food.  That was about a two mile trek which left us feeling a little better. 

 

By the time we returned from our walk, we heard our jammie’s calling real loud (screaming actually).  Having donned them, we melted into our recliners where we stayed perched until beddie bye time.

Today we’ll visit Natchez, Mississippi and have lupper at Pig Out Inn (if last night’s meal has worn off by then).  Be sure to catch up with us in the morning for a photo tour of Natchez.

May God Bless  - - - - - - - - -