Abita Springs and Quiet!

We arrived at Abita Springs Thursday as planned. We had signed up for three free days of camping at the Louisiana RV Show we had attended when we were in Morgan City. We knew there would be a required 90 minute sales pitch but in addition to saving us $100 in camping fees we also received an Android Tablet, which is kind of cool. The park is a "members only" establishment but really nothing special. Pool too cold to swim in, gravel roads, grass lots...pretty much like any state or county park. But it is so QUIET! It is about 3 miles outside of Abita Springs (Recognize the name? They have a brewery here. Unfortunately, pretty bad beer!), and the surrounding area is all pine forest. Looks more like northern Minnesota than Louisiana! Several nice ponds and friendly ducks. Otherwise, not much in the area to speak of.

Our "pet" duck!

Bright and early Friday morning they had us scheduled for the sale "presentation". Obviously we knew that there was no chance in hell we would be paying them $11,000 for  a lifetime of camping here and their 7 other "luxury" campgrounds. All located in the prime areas of Northern Texas, Northern Georgia, Northern Alabama... Really. Our sales person was a hoot though and enlisted the help of two senior reps to try and sway us. It was futile and after pointedly looking at my watch several times and then a very firm "no way in hell" we were released. Just over 90 minutes but with Android Pad in hand!

Today we did find out there was an excellent hiking/biking trail that headed out from Abita Springs. The trail is an old railroad so we knew it would be a pleasant ride. But long. 20 miles round trip and...not to rub it in but...it was about 80 degrees, sunny and humid today. We took the trail to Mandeville and stopped for a nice lunch. Pretty town, right on the banks of Lake Ponchartrain.

Tammany-Trace Trail

The Rusty Pelican

Which brings us back to our ride here. From New Orleans the most direct route is over Lake Ponchartrain on the 23 mile causeway that miraculously crosses this giant lake. In the middle, you do not see land either direction so it was a bit freaky. Oddly enough, more for me than Jeff. He, who is not a fan of water or heights was fine. I kept thinking "if this bridge collapses, we are FUBARED!!! Flashbacks, I guess, to the 35W bridge collapse.Obviously made it fine but that was quite the experience.

Tomorrow we head out to Robertsdale, Alabama. Close to Mobile and Pensacola for 3 or 4 days.
I leave with a shot of one of the last things we saw leaving New Orleans, just for a chuckle...

Don Cornelius would be proud!