March 6, 2017 - Biloxi, MS to Baton Rouge, LA

It was sunny and very windy.  Not many RVs were still here this morning.  

After breakfast we left Golden Nuggets Casino/RV Park at 9:15 am. Our next destination: Baton Rouge, LA. We took I-110 out of Biloxi to get on I-10 West.  

Multi-tasking: Driving with one hand while holding
 coffee in other hand

The traffic on I-10W was moving very good.  There was construction, but it did not affect the traffic at all.

The sky started to darken some and then it drizzled, but it did not last long.  We were worried it might rain by the time we check into a campground in Baton Rouge.

Pearl River

We made it to Louisiana State line at 9:15 am.  We pulled into the Welcome Center, got off and went inside the center to get brochures and maps.  There is a coffee station and Erwin helped himself to a cup of coffee.

We stopped at Walmart gas station, east of Baton Rouge, to get diesel fill-up.  It was the cheapest we had seen so far: $2.19 per gallon. 

It was easy to find BREC Farr Park Equestrain and RV Park on River Road.  After picking out a site we unhooked the Jeep, drove to the office to pay.  The electrical box is padlocked, so you have to pay first before they come to unlock the box.

We picked site #C3 because the surface was pretty much level.  There is electricity and water, but no sewer.  There is a dump station inside the RV Park.  Left of us is a horse stall and a very large pasture.  We did not see horses. 

After settling down we prepared late lunch. We then went out for sightseeing for a couple hours.  It was around 2 pm when we got started.

First stop was to visit Louisiana School for the Deaf.  There is a security gate and you have to check in with the guard first.  She asked us questions (mind you, she did not know any sign language) and we wrote on a piece of paper that we would like to tour the campus.  We followed the guard to the visitor’s center where we were introduced to Katie Shepherd.  We rode with Katie in a golf cart, and she pointed and explained about buildings on the campus.  It was a short and quick tour.  

Not too far from Louisiana Deaf School is Louisiana State University (LSU).  There is a gate entrance and we asked if we could go inside to take a look at the stadium and the tiger habitat.  The gate attendant told us that Mike the tiger died last September and there is nothing in the habitat.  He let us in, and we found a parking spot in front of the tiger habitat.  At that time, it started to drizzle a bit, but we wanted to walk round to check out some places.   We were not able to go inside the stadium for all the gates were locked.

We drove through Greenville district just to see what is out there.  Found few interesting murals.  A building next to the mermaid mural is an abandoned building.  I walked up to get a close look inside it, and it looked like somebody is living inside it. While I was taking pictures a postmaster walked up to me to tell me that it was not safe for me to be here, so I left. He probably knew the past history, so I took his word for it.

We Visited historic Baton Rouge-Greenville Cemetery. The area was well maintained; however, there were several broken tombstones. There is one unusual burial site that has a little house on it. 

Erwin's heel was still bothering.  He decided to stay in the car to let me walk around the State Capitol grounds.  While I was walking around there was a photographer taking pictures of a lady sitting on the paved road in front of the Capitol.  I wanted to go inside the Capitol, but it was after 3:15 pm and I was afraid there may not be enough time to tour the interior and to take a ride up to the observation tower.  I decided to wait until a better day or when Erwin feels up to walking a bit to take a tour.

Huey Long, the 40th governor and senator of Louisiana
He was shot at a close range while he was attending a special
session in the State Capitol. He died two days later.
His last words were "God, don't let me die. I have so much to do."

Huey Long was buried on the grounds of the
State Capitol he built.  More than 200,000
mourners came to honor Huey.  At that time,
the number of mourners were 8x more than
the city's population!

It started to rain some, so we went back to the campground.  While I was preparing supper it started to rain and the lightning put on a show. 

Erwin finished his woodburning project of Hazel, our friends' dog.  We cannot wait to find out what our friends think of it.  While Erwin was finishing it up I edited some pictures, caught up on travel notes, and checked out places to visit for tomorrow's outing.

~Edith