RV travels with Rich and Judy: Our Trip West

Tickfaw, our first stopover in Louisiana, is a ways off the beaten path, and the scenery outside the park had us a little worried.

This recycle center, which was in some poor soul's front yard, greeted us on our way in to Tickfaw.

Once we got inside the park, the campground, restrooms, and nature center are beautiful, the weather was perfect and the park quiet. We didn’t see much in the way of wildlife or even birds, but violets were popping up around our campsite – always a welcome addition.

This 6-8 inch nest? was in the back of our campsite. Any idea what it is?

This little river flowed through the park

We arrived at Tickfaw Monday afternoon and after we got set up, drove to Ponchatoula to grab some groceries and ice, then went back to camp to get dinner. Tuesday, Alex and Deepa came out and spent the day with us – it was great to see them again and was as though it was last week rather than six years ago that we saw them last.

Deepa, Dickens, and Alex

Deepa brought Chicken Biryani, some wonderfully spicy beans, and Shira, a dessert made from semolina, nuts, sugar, milk, clarified butter, and cardamom powder. They were all awesome!

River in Pierre Part, LA

On Wednesday, we drove down to Pierre Part, home of Troy Landry, one of the alligator hunters on “Swamp People”.

We had a great time! I got a pic of Rich in front of the Pierre Part post office; we went to the Pierre Part Store and wandered around there for a while.

They have all sorts of stuff – more different fish cookers, propane grills, huge (up to 160 quarts) boiling pots, hardware, lots of comfy outdoor chairs and swings, a florist shop, home décor, and a grocery store where we picked up some crayfish boudin (boo dahn', with a really soft "n") from the deli, which is a traditional Cajun sausage made of pork and rice and whatever else might be in the fridge. It was so good we went back and got some uncooked that we’ve put in the freezer. We’ll cook some of it one morning like we do chorizo – take it out of the casing, fry it, scramble some eggs, mix them together and put it all on a tortilla. The chorizo is great that way and I’ll bet the boudin will be as well.

We stopped at Landry’s Seafood Restaurant and split several appetizers for lunch. We’re still trying to decide which was best: shrimp po’ boy, gumbo, frog legs, gator tail, fried okra, crayfish kickers (kind of like hushpuppies on steroids). We’ll have to return sometime and try again.

We spent Thursday in camp, doing laundry, wandering around the nature center,