And here we are! All set up and settled in, safe and sound, at Shady Lake RV Park in Leesville, LA.

Our travels didn't go without some little 'drama' this time tough!

It already started to go 'south' before we even went on the road ...
Breaking up went very smoothly and we were hooked up and ready to leave right on time at 8.45am. 
We'd had some vague concerns about the grass being wet and the soil still  rather soft (muddy) from the rains we'd had but we thought it actually had dried out pretty much over the last week.
Nothing to worry about ... well ... wrong! 



We'd pulled only a couple of feet forward when the back wheels started spinning, and after trying to rock back and forth a little without any result, it became clear that we were stuck!

It took some calling and waiting around but in the end Robot, the guy who previously had moved us to another site, was able to pull us out with the park's tractor! 
For some reason, I didn't make a single picture of this, but obviously ... he got us out! Phew!

OK. On the road, we went!
But ... we didn't make it off the campground yet, before I heard James say under his breath, ".. oh .. oh .. not good ...". Somehow I never like it when he says that ...
It turned out that the breaks of the RV weren't 'engaging' ... "eeks, WHAT?! ... we have no breaks?!"  Well, no panic (yeah, yeah, I've heard that before), the truck's brakes are fine and Louisiana is as flat as a pancake so we're going to be OK!
Man, oh, man ... nice start of the day, eh?

This was our itinerary for the day,  242 miles, which, for us, is about 4 hours. If you include a coffee, lunch or fuel break, probably closer to 5.

We left (after our little hold-up) at 9.30, only 30 minutes behind schedule, and expected to be there around 1 or 2 pm.

That was, if nothing else would happen ...

And so, since all things happen in threes, something else did ..

Going 60 miles/hr on the freeway, just before Baton Rouge, we had a tire blow out!

Fortunately, it was the truck's, and fortunately it was a back tire and, triple fortunately, the inside one of the dually's!

How's that for a hole!

According to James he barely felt it (although the bang was LOUD), and he was able to quickly stir us off the highway and onto the (ample) shoulder.
It took him an hour to change it out while I holed up in the RV to keep Merlin company. 
(Man, it's so scary to have traffic whizzing past you at about a few inches distance! The whole RV was shuddering, especially when a truck would pass.)
Again, I forgot to make pictures! I guess I was too stressed, I never even thought of it ...

I so admire James for what he is able to do in these scary situations. He's always keeping his calm and always seems to be able to solve the problem and get us out of many a 'pickle'.

Kudos to you Honey! You're amazing!

The lake between the road and the campground

We took a break by the side of the road and had some coffee, and I'd made some sandwiches while waiting, so we than managed to cruise non-stop to our destination, fortunately without any more nasty surprises!

We were welcomed by Pat and Phil, the owners, and after check-in we set up camp in a pretty spot under the pines that has a nice view of the lake.

           

Phew! Quite the adventure, don't you think? But, like they say, ... all's well that ends well! 
We're OK, which is the most important of course, new tires have been ordered and the brakes will be repaired before we go on the road again.

On Sunday we explored town, found the place where James will be working (very conveniently next to Walmart and Lowes) and, most important, checked out the Municipal Golf Course, right next door of the campground!

They had some heavy rains lately and the course is very (did I say VERY) wet, but we got a round in, and hopefully it will start to dry out a little in the coming week.

I also found a nice area to take some walks, right behind the campground.

There are some beautiful big houses along the road and in the beautiful gardens lots of Azaleas and Dogwood trees are flowering 

Also a lot of Wisteria! 

And, if you look high up in the trees, Yellow Jessamine and orange Cross Vine ...

   

Dogwood

Also, lots of birds here! When the sun comes out for a little bit, they are singing like there's no tomorrow! 
It definitely looks like spring here also, although I think they're a little later than Hammond, maybe because we're more north here?

                        

This Mockingbird just kept on singing. I read somewhere they can have a repertoire of over 200 different songs! Amazing! 

OK, that's it for now. More pics next time when it's hopefully a little bit more sunny and we've done some more exploring ...