I realize I never shared anything about Chico State Park other than that I needed to move on from there. And that’s a shame because it is a pretty little Park. Well this is also where I had a little furry trespasser . So let me tell you the story…

John and Dee interrupted their plans to make sure they could come over to see me before they were going on a little trip of their own. They are sweethearts!! So John brought the wood for a fire and I had chili made. So we are sitting outside enjoying the fire and had just finished the chili with crackers and cheese. John was the first to hear a noise and got his flashlight out. Lo and behold we discovered a little trespasser on our picnic table looking for goodies!

He was a young one ! 🤗 He was so cute and he was not to be discouraged by us. Shining a light on him didn’t bother him at all. We scooted him away and cleaned up the table . But back he came. He walked around on the table for about 10 minutes, totally ignoring us! We had a little bag with some garbage in it and at one point he actually grabbed the bag and tried to pull it away with him!!

His next step was to scoot away. If you look closely at this picture with the rv, he is visible halfway up the tree. Look to the right side of the tree by the RV window. He went up higher and It looked like he was going to make a jump onto my awning so I had to run and roll that in quick!

Well it didn’t quite end there, however it picked up quite a bit later. I heard my younger cat, Bandit, banging around in the living room by the big window overnight but I just ignored him and went back to sleep. In the morning when I was getting ready to pack up, I noticed my bike, which was parked under that window, had footprints all over it . And I mean all over it ! 😬 on the seat, on the crossbar, on the handlebars. There were also marks up the side of the RV up to the window . 😅 So I imagine Bandit and the raccoon were watching each other through the night!! 😂 I love nature….🐾

A little about the park , Chicot State Park . It is on a long, narrow reservoir. One of the things most of the state parks have here in Louisiana, are these nice long fishing piers out into the water. Each section of this pier was 200 ft long. It really is beautiful with the Cypress trees out in the water.

Didn’t see any alligators, but I looked. 🐊

Earlier in the day, Dee picked me up while I was in town by the library getting on wi-fi. For the next couple hours she drove me around town which is Ville Platte, Louisiana. Now this city is home to two widely respected and popular hot sauces!! One is called Slap Your Mama. This one you can even get in Wisconsin. And the other one is Kary’s Roux… which is one of, if not THE most important ingredient of your gumbo!

Dee is such a good talker, we actually intercepted the owner before she went on lunch break, got to see the actual production, purchased a number of their products directly and….drum roll…🥁🥁🥁 Purchased a jar of their Pig Stand Barbecue Sauce hot off the line!! 👍👏👏 😀 It was warm in my hand!!😀. We also stopped at Slap Your Mama but we only got into their gift shop. Owner’s weren’t there.

What is interesting, being a small town, John and Dee knew the two neighborhood boys who hung around by them and were the ones who ended up starting up, producing and owning Slap Your Mama. Cool. They also explained that “slap your mama” is an expression they use that means things are “awesome” or “wasn’t that great”!! 🤔 Really!! 😅

If that spider is giving you the heebie-jeebies, guess what it did to me! I found it when I was up on top of my rv, sweeping off my slide -outs. I saw this string of webbing come straight down onto the RV . So I look up to see where it came from and that’s what I saw about 6 in above my head! (Insert a scream here. But I didn’t.) 🤯 I did quietly move a few steps away!! Cuz remember, I’m 12 ft up on an RV roof!! Louisiana has some of the biggest spiders I have ever seen. It was actually quite beautiful but I could not get a good picture of it. I left it alone and it left me alone. 🤪

View out my window at Chicot State Park.

I think that’s going to become a standard picture from every place I camp at. It’ll be cool to keep track of that.

Well that’s it for now. I have a few more little experiences to share before I forget them and then Grand Isle!

” Where ever you are, Be All There! “