What would a visit to the Dallas area be without seeing the famous Stockyards. They opened for business in 1890 and worked well into the 1950’s.
They are the last stockyards in the United States and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976
There were some real Texas Longhorns which are used for the daily “cattle drive” down Main Street.
Of course a Texas Bar was also a must to see.
A bit too touristy for us, but we guess a “must see” as they are a one of a kind in the U.S.
Now this was more to our liking (at least Frank’s). AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas – home of the Dallas Cowboys.
It is interesting to be standing on the field where the professional football players play in front of 80,000 – 105,000 people every other week.
Of course, we had to check out the famous Dallas Star
See the cheerleader’s locker room
The player’s locker room, probably one of the last pictures taken of Tony Romo’s locker.
Stand and walk out where the player’s come out onto the field
An organization the Dallas Cowboys Triplets made famous
We were quite busy over the last few days and thought going to the RV Show would take our minds off of things a bit. Unfortunately it was a rather smallish show and it only took us 2 hours to see everything.
But we got to see parts of downtown Dallas, Texas, it’s famous traffic jams and constructions sites. A reminder why we moved to a smaller city.
And Kirsten found her new Tavel trailer
Getting closer to our appointment in Alvarado, Texas. Today’s drive will take us into Texas and to our first stop on our 7 week long Texas trip.
I-20 from Shreveport, Louisiana was a bit better than I-10 terrible pavement. I-20 in Texas was much better, it just poured like crazy.
The Welcome sign is on the other end of the Welcome Center and we had to go through grass to get there to take the picture. Our shoes were more than wet when we got back onto the pavement.
What would a visit to this area be without visiting one of the plantations in the area. Oakland Plantation is in Natchez, Louisiana.
Per the NPS website the land was granted to Jean Pierre Prudhomme in 1789 by the Spanish government and he made a fortune in rice, sugarcane, tobacco and cotton and held 104 slaves by the time of his death in 1845.
The plantation continued to be passed down from one generation to the next and the core was sold to the National Park Service in 1997 per NPS website.
Named after a Native American Indian tribe, this is the oldest permanent settlement in the region. So being from St. Augustine, the oldest city in the US, we had to stop here and see Louisiana’s oldest convenience store.
Spring was around the corner and the flowers were in bloom
Mardi Gras (Fasching) was also being celebrated as we had seen in the Welcome Center and the decorations were out on the street.
A quaint little downtown with not much going on, not much to be seen, but one of the oldest places in the U.S.
Away from the Louisiana coast and up into the hills of Louisiana.
Past rice paddies, we later found out were used to raise crawfish, the national food of Louisiana
On the Blue Star Memorial Highway to Natchitoches.
Today’s trip took us through the city of Mobile, Alabama
through the State of Mississippi with its beautiful Welcome Center
and crossing the Pearl River into the State of Louisiana on some of the worst parts of an Interstate system we had so far encountered. We did not think that all parts of the RV and Mini would make it to this nights stop.
north of New Orleans, Louisiana through Baton Rouge, Louisiana where we encountered stand still traffic miles long in the opposite direction. We were later told this was normal for the Baton Rouge, Louisiana area and vowed to find another way to go back.
Just passed the city, the Interstate runs through swamps called Henderson Lake and is elevated for several miles.
But we made it to our stop in Beaux Bridge, Louisiana.
The campground turned out to be closer to Interstate 10 then we would have liked, but was clean.
Having arrived and set up, we checked the area for an appropriate Vanetines Dinner.
We found the Bluegill Restaurant, known for their flaming Oysters.
If you ever have the chance to eat flaming oysters, try them.
Our second stop on the way to Texas. Shortly after we left Chattahoochee, Florida we entered the Central Time Zone and the State of Alabama.
This State Park came highly recommended as it is one of a few with full hook ups.
They have 4 pull through and the rest are back in sites. We had a reservation for a pull through, not knowing whether we would unhook the Mini.
Got here around 15:00h, set up and took the rest of the day easy, finishing up on work and enjoying the room we had on this campground.
