Preparedness for Lightening and Storms

We don’t usually plan our trips to include the joys of bad weather. If we knew we would be spending our vacations taking cover, most likely we would reschedule. But storms occur throughout the year and is something we have to accept. This should prompt us to prepare for how storms can affect us when we’re traveling in our RVs.

• Use cell phone or TV to monitor the storm track and progress.

1. Listen for warning sirens and take action. 

• Disconnect your electrical power cord. 
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• If you are staying at an RV park and a storm is approaching - ask about severe storm sheltering. 
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• Are you parked under large trees? Check for dead branches and move if branches can fall and damage your RV! 
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• Check your site for chairs, tables, toys, BBQs etc. and secure them.
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• Bring your animals inside during any bad weather.
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• Get your emergency preparedness/first aid kit out.
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• Make sure your outside storage doors are closed and locked.
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• Retract your awning and make sure it’s securely fastened.
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• Close and latch your windows.
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• If you are going to evacuate, leave early.
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• RVs can be blown over in high winds. They’re not the safest place to be. But if you have no alternative, try to stay in a hallway, or at least away from windows and cabinets that can fly open.  
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• If you pull or tow some experts say your vehicle is safer. Professor Schmidlin, at Kent State University, and his colleagues don't suggest cars are the safest places to be in a twister -- far from it. But they are better than a trailer. 
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• If you see lightning or hear thunder, stay inside.
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• Unplug electronics like TVs, DVDs, computers, coffee pots, and so forth. 
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• Use cell phones and battery-powered devices.
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• A battery-powered NOAA radio would be very useful. 
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• Watch for flooding. 

Hochatown, Oklahoma the next Branson, MO???

It has the feel of the Great Smokey Mountains and is  close to Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana. By next year, the booming spot in the road just north of Broken Bow, called Hochatown, a longtime mountain retreat for those in the know, will be an ever growing resort town now that the Choctaw Nation has broken ground on their next big casino and resort hotel.  

This Beavers Bend lodge is currently closed for renovations  

Located next to Beavers Bend State Park, the area already has high end vacation rental homes galore.  

The town is preparing for the boom. Temporary traffic lights are now being used.  A bowling alley has opened, a large saloon is already being expanded.  The Maze, zip lines, put put golf, 18 hole public golf course, a couple of micro breweries, a distillery, wineries, coffee shops and restaurants are scattered throughout Hochatown.

 

Boats and wet bikes can be rented for enjoying the lake.  A river for fly fishing, float trips. and horseback riding can be found in the state park.  They have more to offer but I am already sounding like the chamber of commerce and tourist bureau!

Beavers Bens State Park has cabins for rent and several campgrounds. However, the only one that I can recommend is the Buckeye Campground. New with level concrete pads and full hook ups. Large enough for big rigs and fifth wheels. There are several other private RV campgrounds in the area but to be honest none looked very good  

We had an enjoyable stop and we will definitely return. But as soon as people find out about this destination it will be hard to get spaces!  

Avery Island, Louisiana

Tabasco was created by Edmund McIlhenny in 1868 on Avery Island, Louisiana. 

Avery Island isn’t an island. It is a large salt dome or mound surrounded by wetlands. 

McIlhenny was from Maryland originally, but he moved to New Orleans, Louisiana to seek his fortune in banking and was doing well until the civil war. But the aftermath of the war destroyed his business. 

He had acquired some tabasco pepper seeds and he planted them in his garden. 

Sometime around 1867, McIlhenny began experimenting with a sauce made from the peppers. He crushed the red peppers from his plants, mixed them with the salt found naturally on Avery Island and aged the mixture for a month in crocks. 

Today,  peppers are crushed and stored in barrels and topped with salt for up to three years. 

 The pepper seeds and skins are strained and the juice remaining is mixed with white wine vinegar and then aged for three months in these barrels. 

After taste testing and bottling the Tabasco Sauce is born.

After touring we did some Tabasco tastings! 

The ice cream was really good!  

Jungle gardens 

In 1935, McIlhenny opened his 170 acre gardens to the public to enjoy his collection of camellias, azaleas and other imported plants. 

McIlhenny Home

A bird sanctuary where thousands of egrets arrive in the spring and a few hang around year round. 

Along with a few other critters. 

The Buddha statue acquired by the McIlhenny Family is believed to be 900 years old. 

If you notice, the statue is missing the bottom part of one of his ears. A few years back, the ear was broken off by a visitor to the park and taken as a souvenir. Hope that person got bad juju. The Buddha is now housed behind plexiglass. 

People leave offerings to Buddha

 Beautiful moss covered live oak trees! 

New Orleans, LA

I visited New Orleans about 30 years ago for work and Mark went several times with some friends but he has never carried a camera and we had never seen the city together. 

We might have been crazy, in a huge diesel truck, but we drove to the French Quarter and found free (and safe- smile) parking at the corner of Bourbon and Canal streets. 

First stop Jackson Square and the obligatory stop for beignets at Cafe Du Monde. Yep, as good as I remembered! 

We crashed mass at the St. Louis Cathedral. 

They don’t use horses for carriage rides. Mules only! 

Strolled the square to see the art, hear the music, step around homeless and avoid the guy shooting up in a store stoop with two other guys waiting for the needle. Really sad and will be a lasting memory, unfortunately…and the reason we decided that there was not a need to visit at night. 

We strolled Bourbon street and of course had to keep the day drinking, that started with bloody Mary’s at breakfast, going with White Russian daiquiri’s to go in the Quarter. 

Street cars are an efficient way to see the historic district. 

The sights and the sounds! 

We visited the garden district to see the stunning historic homes. 

Sandra Bullocks home

Loyola and Tulane Universities sit side by side and they might have the most beautiful campuses I have ever visited. 

St Charles Street is on the parade route and you can tell just by looking into the trees. 

To get to our RV campground in River Ridge, from the historic district, we passed through an area hard hit by Katrina, Rita and Ida.  You can tell the flooding damage from Katrina is still present 17 years after the hurricane. Houses still boarded up next to fully restored. Can’t imagine the impact of the boarded up house on the neighbors property value. 

I was fascinated by an area packed with shotgun houses. Seriously, some are not much wider than the front door.