One stop away from New Orleans

It’s cold but sunny and we walk, walk, walk. Several times a day. 

We see dozens of blue heron perched in bushes and on the beach of "alligator pond." We see large white egrets complacently standing in empty campsites not 15 feet away. We see a family of five deer in the morning eating berries; they look up at us as we pass (with Marley) and resume eating. We see signs depicting bears and bear cubs crossing the road. Notices about bobcats and rattle snakes. Marley is on a leash all day, but she has accepted this. We see a large pod
 of dolphin fishing in the bay. 

And in the campsite, under the pine trees and between the young palms, there is world of campers (RVs) that resemble insects on steroids 100 years in the future. A slightly dystopian future. They come in all shapes and sizes, with gadgets and peripheral equipment and ancillary vehicles. Some are indeed modest in size, but most are monsters with puffy white leather (pleather?) driver’s seats that swivel around 180 degrees to extend the interior “living room.” 

In one of those monster RV’s, our neighbor’s have five potted kitchen herbs on their dashboard, soaking up the plentiful road sun. I like that. I like many of the people with whom we have conversed on the trails. They hail from all over the US and Canada. 

I’m enjoying the random conversations. I’m hoping to get invited into one of the larger RV’s to see more of what we can only glimpse from outside. It’s a strange and fascinating world. Occasionally it’s scary. As in the bumper sticker "I carry a gun because cops are too heavy.” Luckily, there aren’t actually many of those kinds of sentiments on the camping circuit.

More practical answers to burning questions:

Yes, we can now take showers in our RV as the temps are above freezing, but soon we will be checking the night temps to see if it's time to "winterize" the RV again and fill the system with antifreeze once we head north after Louisiana. We have decided to not go into Texas in order to have a more leisurely trip. Moving every two days is tiring. Also, people in the South have been very friendly so far. Here is an example of our neighbors:

[The photos are grainy as they were taken at dusk]