Apr 26, 2013 - On the bayou

New Iberia, LA. This was our day for a swamp tour with Cajun Country Swamp Tours. Our guide, Shawn, took us out in a small boat into shallow water muck and thick vegetation. There were alligators, egrets, herons, bayous, ancient cypress trees covered with Spanish moss and more of what you envision a Louisiana swamp to be. Shawn was a wealth of information and had a quirky sense of humor. We saw big alligators as well as baby alligators. We were really up close and personal with the gators but the birds were great, too. A barred owl flew to...

Apr 25, 2013 - Raspberry Chipotle Ice Cream - really!

New Iberia, LA. Avery Island is actually a huge dome of rock salt, 3 miles long and 2 1/2 miles wide, and is best known as the source of Tabasco Sauce. During the American Civil War, a mine of pure rock salt on Avery Island produced more than 22 million pounds of salt for the Confederacy. After the war, in 1868, McIlhenny founded McIlhenny Company and began manufacturing Tabasco brand pepper sauce using that same salt. The same basic process is still used today. Tabasco produces 700,000 bottles of Tabasco per day, which is almost 3 million...

Apr 24, 2013 - Gator Chateau

New Iberia, LA. The rain really poured last night and this morning, cooling off the temperatures. Undeterred, we set off for Chateau des Cocodries (House of Alligators). Alligators give birth to 32 to 48 hatchlings. Since that is too many to care for, they nurture only the strongest and leave the others to die. The Chateau takes the cast offs and raises them to eventually be returned to the swamps. Thus they have baby alligators visitors are encouraged to hold. Talk about up close and personal! Jim was thrilled. Their skin feels very dry....

Mar 22, 2013 - Petit embêtement

Aujourd'hui c'était supposé être une journée de repos, mais je me suis aperçu que le boyau qui entre dans la roulotte avait coulé au goute à goute toute la nuit alors le cargo et le ventre de la roulotte avait accumulé de l'eau j'ai épongé et vidé le ventre de la roulotte mais vu que l'on part demain je verrai cela une fois à destination. Agnès fait le lavage pendant ce temps. Le problème était le caoutchouc (washer) à l'entrée de l'eau il était vieux et il n'était pas étanche. Donc un conseil changez vos rondelles souvent.

Mar 21, 2013 - Avery Island, resto et "musical"

Gros jeudi pour Agnès et moi, après notre petit déjeuner nous sommes partis avec notre lunch pour Avery Island où se trouve l'usine de la sauce piquante Tabasco, la mine de sel de la famille McIlhenny et le fabuleux "Jungle Garden" toujours de la même famille.  L'île se trouve à moins de 10 milles du camping, alors en moins de deux nous étions devant l'usine prêts à en faire la visite, nous avons pris 30 minutes pour faire la visite qui est intéressante du point de vue historique et du point de vue gastronomique. Ensuite nous sommes passer...

Mar 20, 2013 - New Iberia centre ville

Ce matin j'ai téléphoné à un réparateur de VR pour faire réparer les pattes avant de la roulotte, malheureusement il n'était pas disponible avant 10 jours,  j'ai donc décidé d'entreprendre la réparation moi même.  Les pattes étaient bloquées à la position la plus basse impossible de monter le devant de la roulotte afin de la coupler à la selette sur le camion. J'ai essayé avec un cric hydraulique mais ça ne fonctionnait pas, j'ai demandé à la proprio si un des employés pourrait se servir du tracteur du camping pour lever la roulotte, elle...

Mar 19, 2013 - New Iberia, camping de merde.

Nous sommes partis vers 9h00 ce matin, nous avons fait deux arrêts avant d'arriver ici au camping KOC à New Iberia, le premier arrêt on l'a fait au "welcome center" en entrant en Louisiane où l'on a pris plein d'info sur l'endroit où nous allons. Le deuxième pour diner et faire le plein et appeler le camping pour réserver. La route pour se rendre ici est la I10 et ensuite la LA 90, la 90 est faite en ciment et je n'ai jamais vu une route aussi mauvaise, ni en Pennsylvanie, ni au Québec. Le camping KOC de New Iberia est un camping de merde,...

Mar 6, 2013 - Easy Does It

Today was an interesting and somewhat leisurely day. It began with a tour of the Conrad Rice Company Plant. Conrad is the oldest rice plant in the USA and is on the historic register. We learned a lot about rice production and even it's connection with crawfish growth. Found lots of rice products to try, so the purse was opened today and soon the Skippy Test Kitchen will begin rice testing. Then we went to The Longfellow - Evangeline State Historic site and saw a recreated plantation, Creole and Arcadian homes. It was clear to see that the...

Mar 6, 2013 - at New Iberia LA; 17/265

130306-Wed-72753 miles-Today we drove 38 miles. We saw the Tobasco plant and Jungle Gardens, then had lunch at Duffy’s diner. OK, but not great. Then we toured the Konriko Rice plant, the oldest operating rice plant in the US. It was fun. Then we toured an old plantation house. We had a great day, but I am tired. A lot of walking. We are at the same CG as last night. Tomorrow we start home.

Mar 5, 2013 - to New Iberia LA; 17/264

130305-Tue-72715 miles-Today we drove 251 miles and are in camp now at the ROC Kampground. We went thru Baton Rouge on I10 and the roads west of BR are terrible. Thump every 50 feet. The TV was shaking so much I thought it might come down, but it didn’t. We went over a bridge that must have been 10 miles long. It went over a very large swamp. My old GPS bit the dust and Jamie brought down my Garmin from home. It’s smaller, but I have used it a lot. Thanks Jamie. Our camp is nice, but very few trees. We plan on going to the Tobasco plant...

May 10, 2012 - Sightseeing

Yesterday we went to Avery Island where Tabasco sauce is manufactured and took a tour of the plant. Mostly what we were able to see was the bottling process but if you think those little bottles of Tabasco last a long time, they are producing 700,000 bottles per day. Yesterday everything they were producing was going to Germany. The family that started the Tabasco sauce also preserved a part of the island and called it the Jungle Gardens. It is a driving self guided tour where you see bayous, in one of the pictures you will see a small...

May 9, 2012 - New Iberia, LA

We arrived at the ROC Campground in New Iberia, LA last evening about 4:30. What was suppose to be an easy 4 1/2 hr drive turned into a trip from hell. We were cruising down interstate 10 just across the Louisiana line when traffic came to a halt. We assumed it was an accident and we would slowly get by it; wrong, I turned on the CB and heard it was a hazmat truck on top of two cars. Guess what, I-10 will be closed for hours while they clean up that mess. Well, we exit and are going to take a two lane road east and get around the accident....