I'm not sure if Texas doesn't like Verizon or Verizon doesn't like Texas but we are having great difficulty with coverage so will be off grid for the next several days. No cell service or Wi-Fi in Caprock Canyon.

We're finally in Texas! Sunny, breezy and low 60s. Not bad for hiking!  We are camped at Caddo Lake State Park whose claim to fame is that it is the only natural lake in Texas. Feels more like a Louisiana Bayou to us Michigan folks! And, even in these temperatures, we have encountered a few mosquitoes. Wouldn't want to camp here in the summer!

Lighted fishing pier and cypress trees

Texas has the worst signage for trails of any state parks that we have been in! When we went for a hike and got lost, we found a giant copper spider (geocache) just hanging around!  We're off today for another park further west. Just a short 1-2 day stop on our way to the park where we really want to be.

                             

We landed in Chicot State Park in northwestern Louisiana. Lovely park, bathrooms need to be updated but otherwise beautiful. Lots of swampy areas here, so I am thinking that this is the time of the year to be here. I bet summer camping is consumed with mosquito swatting!
As you can see, Louisianans are all home tending to their pipes that burst in the recent freeze!

Seeing that we were all alone, the vultures started roosting in the trees around us!

 

We fooled them and kept moving.😛

 

There is an arboretum and many lovely hiking trails. We got a good start on our geocaching with 7 finds to date!

Nothing like a walk in the woods in shirtsleeves! Moving on to Texas this morning where we intended to be a week ago!

Last night was the last night of freezing temperatures! Time to move on and resume our intended itinerary! Yesterday was clear, sunny and 45 degrees. So, we were able to get out and walk. It was so nice to be out and about that we walked 7 miles. My knees are complaining about not getting slowly used to walking again, but otherwise it felt so good! Kismet never moved off the dashboard the whole time we were gone. She loves sleeping in the sun!🌞

The deer occupied the adjacent site. I wonder if they paid?

The storm fooled us and headed a bit deeper south. We landed at Fontainebleau State Park right outside of New Orleans and set up after dark. The next morning was windy and 30s, so we bundled up and checked out the area. The park is on the north coast of Lake Pontchartrain, and the breeze off the lake sent the wind chill tumbling. Even us hardy northerners were cold!
Nevertheless, we managed a few miles and a few pictures before retreating to the warmth of the motor home.

Beautiful, large old Live Oak. Note that I am standing at the base for perspective. Zoom in...I'm there in my hoodie!

Dead Live Oak, oxymoron?

Live Oak trailing on the ground

After experiencing the wind on the pier, we retreated to an inland trail to escape the gusts.

You can just see the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway if you zoom in. At 23 miles in length, it is the longest continuous bridge over water in the world.

Inland hiking trail

No snow or ice the first day, but on the second morning we woke up to this:




 Of course, the news was about nothing but the weather since this is nearly unheard of. The roads are covered in ice, so we plan to stay a couple more days until we can drive safely.













The second full day included even less walking and a trip to PetsMart to find something our failing kitty will eat. Success! Denny stayed in the RV with Kismet while I shopped. And Kismet took a nap in her bed in the sun on the dashboard. I think she rather likes RVing and not having to share our attention!

So much for leaving the cold behind! Day 2 (Memphis) found us in a hotel...again. We have always felt it was warm enough to de-winterize and camp by our second day on the road. The polar vortex has dipped to the deep south. Plans were to leave Memphis and head west...until we checked the weather and saw the huge storm we would be driving into. So, we headed straight south and have landed in New Orleans where it is predicted to be cold but not the ice and snow that was predicted for Texas. We will stay here for a couple of days until the storm has headed north and reasonable temps return.
Kismet has proven to be a great traveler. She wasn't eating though, but that has improved after a round of "kitty dialysis " which I did yesterday. She's eating and drinking today, yay!

Kismet happily asleep on the hotel bed.

2018
Another year, time for another winter adventure! This year will probably be much different because we brought a cat with us! Kismet is almost 17 (our dilute calico for those of you who have met the cats) and was recently diagnosed to be in kidney failure. So, we didn't want to leave her home since she needs to be feed multiple times daily and given meds. Hopefully, she will be able to start putting on some weight since she doesn't have to compete with the two young boys. They, by the way, are home with our very competent house and cat sitter!
Our day started with her in a cat carrier, strapped in with a seat belt. That worked (with many meows) for a couple of hours. When we stopped and let her out she didn't want to go back in. So, for the rest of the day she traveled quite happily sleeping on the bed with unlimited access to her food, water and bathroom. 
So, night one we find ourselves in a pet friendly hotel since our RV is still winterized and it's freezing out and Kismet is happily asleep on my bed. We usually only spend the first night in a hotel, but looking at the weather forecast for the next few days, I'm not sure we can get to anyplace warm! Stay tuned.

Leaving Saturday 1/13 at 8 am