Louisiana

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One More Thing To Hate About Damp Weather

Damp weather sucks in an RV. Everything condensates and the only way I can have hot water is by heating it on the stove.

Yup, my water heater isn’t working again. It’s doing exactly what it’s always done when it doesn’t work: it lights for a second and then shuts off. I thought I had fixed it when I replaced the circuit board, but nope, because there probably wasn’t really anything wrong with it. I only have this issue when it is really, really, really soggy outside.

It really bites to be in a location where I could be taking a nice long shower every night (a real treat after a week on the road) but can’t because cold showers in cold weather suck.

The maintenance on my water heater is up to date and I’ve been living in this rig long enough to recognize patterns. The water heater only behaves like this when it’s damp out, so there’s no sense trying to troubleshoot anything. I just need to keep trying and once I get it to light, I cannot turn it off!

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Tasty Leftovers

I’ve had my slow cooker for a while, but I haven’t really made anything of note in it yet. I really wanted to get going with it now that my electrical issues have been resolved since I want to try the ‘run the slow cooker on the inverter while you’re driving so you have a nice meal at your destination’ RVing trick.

My culinary discovery of 2012 was probably BBQ pulled pork. That’s what got me past the hump to start eating pork again. So I decided that that was what I wanted to make as my first proper slow cooker meal.

While getting a few groceries yesterday, I looked at the pork roasts that would be suitable for pulled pork, but they were much too big for my needs. I eventually found a small Hormel-brand roast that was already rubbed with spices and labeled ‘slow cooker ready’, just drop it in the slow cooker and you’re done.

I read the ingredients and nutritional info carefully and found nothing untoward, so I decided to take a chance on it. There was a $1 off coupon attached to it, bringing the price per pound to about the same as the unspiced roasts, and I wound up paying just under $5 for what I knew would end up making at least four meals.

This morning, I dropped it in the slow cooker and the olfactory torture began in earnest! The rig began to smell divine and will probably smell like pork for a week!

The instructions suggested that you take the roast out of the slow cooker about an hour before it’s done, drain the juices, shred the meat with two forks, and then mix in your favourite BBQ sauce.

So I did that and returned the roast to the slow cooker while I whipped up a batch of Marie Callender cheddar biscuits. I used to make my own biscuits, but since discovering these, making my own is too much work for less reward! I also made a salad with my homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

And voilà! I should get at least three, if not four, full leftover meals out of this! I’ll let the meat cool overnight in the fridge and then transfer it to freezer bags. I may or may not freeze the biscuits as I have some red sauce to finish up that they would be good with. 🙂

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Enjoying My Stay At Bayou Segnette State Park

Bayou Segnette State Park really is a jewel of a place to park your RV in the greater New Orleans area. I mean, you get to stay out in the boondocks for $18 a night (off season) and are just 10 minutes from all the services and 40 minutes (including a ferry ride) to touristy New Orleans! And if you don’t have a washing machine, the FREE laundry facilities really offset the cost of the nightly stay!

The state park entrance is located off of a busy express way. You then have a couple of miles to go to get to the RV park area. The area is swampy, so I imagine it gets quite buggy in the summertime!

There isn’t much to the RV park itself, a couple of loops to walk around, plus bathrooms, FREE laundry facilities, and a dump station. All sites are back in and have 20A/30A/50A connections and water. Some sites are ‘doubles’ whereby two rigs have to share a slightly wider pad.

The park is verdant and lovely.

There's a boardwalk leading from the bathrooms/laundry through the swamp to the other side of the loop.

There’s a boardwalk leading from the bathrooms/laundry through the swamp to the other side of the loop.

It was a humid and pleasant stroll!

It was a humid and pleasant stroll!

There is lots and lots and lots of stagnant water in the park.

There is lots and lots and lots of stagnant water in the park.

The boardwalk ends on the other side of the loop.

The boardwalk ends on the other side of the loop.

Coming back, Neelix was watching for me in the rear window.

Coming back, Neelix was watching for me in the rear window.

I am parked in a double. If my site is reserved for one rig, I can't figure out why the other folks can't park beside me.

I am parked in a double. If my site is reserved for one rig, I can’t figure out why the other folks can’t park beside me.

The park is very lush and verdant.

The park is very lush and verdant.

I would not walk off the roads and boardwalk here!

I would not walk off the roads and boardwalk here!

Two things have marred my stay. My first two mornings here, I was awoken before 8AM by lawn care services. Staff was utterly unapologetic, saying that lawn care has to be done and since it might have rained later in the day, it had to be done early. I really don’t see what makes leaf blowing so urgent that you need to wake your guests at oh-dark-thirty.

The second is that when I came in, I asked for five nights with the possibility to renew for more nights. I was told the park was full and that I would have to take a double site with no neighbour at the time. But the site was only renewable for one more night beyond the five and they could not promise there would be space for me for a sixth night.

Well, the park has been mostly empty. I checked online and there is tons of availability in the next few weeks. In fact, I don’t see any reason that I couldn’t have been given a site with open ended availability.

This is a good example of why people who don’t RV shouldn’t manage RV parks and set policies. The girl at the counter can’t understand why I am put upon to move a few sites down on Thursday. Packing and moving an RV represents a couple of hours of work! If I had other options in the area, I would move elsewhere. But since I don’t, I will move should my package not be here on Thursday and I need to stay on.

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A Smoother Ride

WOAH! I thought the truck was running smidgen roughly on my trip to the Gulf Coast, but I attributed that to my not having driven the truck in a few days and needing to get reaccustomed to it as the drive did get a little smoother as the day progressed and everything was fine on the highways.

What was happening is that when I was doing a manoeuvre at low speed, I was getting the sound the transmission makes when you’re trying to move at low speed in too high a gear, a sound I’m very accustomed to from nearly 10 years of driving manual transmission vehicles. I wasn’t worried and kept reminding myself that the truck needs to be run in lower gear that what I was used to in my Accent.

Now that the throttle cable has been replaced and the assembly cleaned, I didn’t get that sound once on the drive back home from the Ford dealership. I seriously doubt my driving skills have improved that much in a few days. 🙂

The total bill with tax was $341 and change. This included a ‘complimentary’ 27-point inspection that made the ‘dealership premium’ worthwhile since it included a thorough exam of my brakes! They do need work, but it’s not urgent and I can save up, so this was not bad news in the least. In fact, I was planning to have the brakes examined and possibly serviced in Texas, and it’s nice to know for sure that the work will need to be done.

The car return happened without incident. I went in ready to argue that I had the car for four days, not five the way the guy I spoke to yesterday calculated. But the guy at the counter came to the same number I did, so I didn’t have to raise a fuss. And someone was available immediately to drive me to the Ford dealership.

I stopped at the post office on the way home, but my package has not arrived yet. I’ll try again early-ish on Thursday so I’ll know whether I have to move to a new spot or if I can roll out of town.

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Another Down Day

Today is going to be another down day, what with having to run around to return the rental car and pick up the truck at some point, plus the weather is still crappy. Tomorrow isn’t looking much better, but there’s less of a chance of rain.

One thing I have done this morning that will be of particular interest to some readers is that I booked a swamp tour for tomorrow!

Swamp tours are a very popular NOLA-area attraction. I did my research about them to make sure I was getting the best bang for my buck. Instead of selecting the tour a mere 10 minutes or so from the State Park, I chose the one an hour away. I will talk more about the selection process tomorrow, when I report in.

New Orleans continues to be surprisingly affordable. If you drive yourself to the swamp tour headquarters, the tour is just $23, and the tour + hotel pickup is $45. I doubt it will cost me $22 in fuel and tolls to get to the location, plus I’d have to pay for parking wherever I drop the truck, so it made more sense to drive myself. It’ll also give me a chance to take the truck out and make sure everything is good with it.