7/14/2010
It was an uneventful trip from North Toledo Bend to Chicot. We're getting the knack of hitching up the tow dolly and Cathy driving the Caravan onto it, then strapping down the tires; all the while blocking the road. The camper "loops" are all one way and narrow.
There's some narrow roads, with no shoulder at all, leading here. We went quite a ways with the right dolly tire on the right line and the left dolly tire almost touching the center line. The dolly is as wide as Valkyrie to be able to handle a full size pickup. Valkyrie has a bit of an overhang, though, so the side can hang over the "edge" with the tires still on the road.
Chicot has some very steep "hills" in the camper loops, complete with warning signs. Felt like we were going to fall of the edge of the world! Kind of confusing, too. It's all like a big figure "8", with a line though one of the loops.
The sites are not shady like the other two parks. There's dense forest behind the sites, but just a tree or two in the "yards". Nice though,
We settled in and left early the next morning for a van trip to New Iberia. Cathy's driver's license expires in Dec. and she wanted to renew before we were way the heck into Texas. Because she had to change the address they said she had to come to her "home" office. Also had a few other things to do so it all worked out. We had planned to spend the night with Bill and Jan, but we got all our stuff done and had a bunch of Jan's great Etouffe'. We hated to eat and run, but we did!
The next day Cathy's sister Judy, husband Jack and Taco (da dog) pulled in next door.
We spent a rather fun-filled few days, although Jack seemed to be a bit antsy. I don't think he's fully into "retired" just yet!
We did have some rain, but managed to have one grilled meal in our "screen porch". Judy brought gobs of food and said she didn't want to bring any of it back, so she plied us with all kinds of good stuff.
We jumped in the van and did a bit of exploring, walking out on the fishing pier. One could get a bunch of stoppers and lures by jumping into the water and cutting them off the cypress trees and such. Unfortunately there was a sign saying "NO SWIMMING". If the water had been a bit clear, I would have grabbed mask, fins and snorkle and jumped in anyway!
I figured we'd be there a while since Jack and Judy had a couple rods and some "bottled crickets", but they didn't catch anything in a few minutes and quickly gave up. Heck, I thought the whole idea of fishing was to drown bait. I never catch anything.
Shots of Chicot Lake by Cathy
And a very tiny 'gator by Judy.
Then we decided to drive to the North Landing. Chicot has two areas. We were at the South Landing. It has the office and is much bigger. It's about 4-1/2 miles to the North Landing. At 25 MPH.
Kind of betwixt and between is the Arboretum (are-ba-ree-tum) with some trails.
We cautiously tried the trails because of Cathy's knee, but she had no problems at all. Even though there are some very steep parts. So hopefully we'll be able to really explore at our next stop - Sam Houston Jones State Park near Lake Charles.