I would like to go back to Halloween day 🧙and share what happened into the evening . It really illustrates the welcome I am receiving from the people I have met in Louisiana. 🤗

I met Joyce and her husband David. For lack of a better description, I would call them The Matriarch and Patriarch of the families behind me. They are a blended family, so there were sons and daughters and spouses and grandkids of all ages There is even a great grandchild on the way.💞

Joyce, David and Sadie Louise Brunson

Joyce and I hit it off and had some good conversations off and on during the day. And David’s son, also named David, was cooking the Gumbo all day. Since he was a cook, he received a Spotted Cow. 👍

After everyone came back from trick or treating, I was invited over. I brought my chair and joined the outer circle and just enjoyed visiting . Joyce was kind enough to sit next to me so I wasn’t left out and I met her daughter’s as well.

I had Gumbo, ( good tasting, yummy chicken and it had my mouth and lips tingling all the while ! 😂) then Joyce’s double chocolate brownie ( so good! 😋)
then a couple margaritas ( getting better! 🍸) and finally some chocolate cake for a 60th birthday celebration!! 🎂 ( Such a young’un!! 😅) What a feast and what a good time.
I didn’t completely freeload. I did bring over two cans of Spotted Cow. Joyce really liked it and said it reminded her of Pabst Blue ribbon. 👍 Son David already had his drink going so he would have the beer later.
I had an interesting conversation with David Sr. as well. They farm crops on around 10,000 acres. That’s right, 10,000. So obviously they have the big tractors and the big cultivators. We talked about plowing a straight row because I cannot track anything straight so how can they do that with those big plows??!!
He told me they make the first row and then when they turn around they can make any corrections by going back over the row in case it went jagged somewhere. (For me, I would have ended up plowing probably the whole darn field before I got any one row straight!! That’s sad!! 😱 )

Then they turn on the GPS. Not only does the GPS match the straightness of the row for all the upcoming rows, the setup completely takes over the tractor . You do not touch the steering wheel at all!! You just ride along . Anytime you touch it, you disengage it from the GPS and now you are running it. That’s what they do when they make their turnarounds for the next row.
How amazing!😮. He said it does get boring because you can only listen to just so much music or talk shows or Ted talks or anything. I can imagine. And it’s probably too bumpy to read a book!! 🙄 I had no idea that’s how the GPS with tractors worked. 🤔.
Joyce and I talked about our careers and family and life.. So it was an enjoyable and interesting evening!
They were pretty busy taking everything down and leaving on Sunday.

Later I rode my bike around the campground and made a note of all the camping sites that I would like if they were available for a week or so.
Well…Silly me! This is not a state park so first of all, there are some sites that the people can stay in for a month! Of course, all the ones I was interested in were also their most popular ones and were already booked up for the year! 🙄 But the long and short of it, I was able to find a nice site, with a nice view until Thursday!! Thank goodness!

For some reason I was so tired on Sunday that it was a real push to get my RV ready to move it. But get it ready and move it I did. I was happy with how I was able to back it into my site and then finally get everything set up. But after that, stick a fork in me! I was done for the day!!!

Later I got online and I was able to reserve a campsite at Lake Fossie Point State Park near Atchafalaya for a week.! 👍 So I will be going there next.
It continues to stay at a moderate temperature here. High 40s at night and low 60s in the day. We’re going to get to the low 70s in the next couple days. Sunny everyday!! That’s why I’m here!!

I have more to share about John and Dee’s hospitality on my last day at Chicot State Park and our friendly, furry trespasser!! Next time….

A thought that comes to mind is this phrase that really fits…

There are no strangers. Just friends we haven’t yet met. 👍