To New Orleans and back again - March/April 2018

When we originally planned this trip, we figured that by the end of March, we would be able to de-winterize our camper and, while we might need to run the heat while we were in New England, we’d be just fine by the time we got to Virginia and points south.  Apparently, Mother Nature had other ideas!  We left home with about 20” of snow on the ground.  We needed keep the furnace on for much of the week we spent in Virginia as temperatures at night were dropping in to the low-to-mid 20’s.  During the rest of our trip, we saw a wide variety of weather -   87° in Alabama, 60’s and 70’s in New Orleans, 30’s and snowing in Kentucky.  Luckily we managed to miss the tornados and thunderstorms.

We spent the first part of the trip visiting family and friends in Connecticut, Virginia and North Carolina as we made our way south.  When we left Chapel Hill, NC, we started heading southwest toward New Orleans.  Unlike on most of our camper trips, we had made reservations ahead of time for our stay in New Orleans so we actually had a bit of a deadline for this portion of the trip.  We stopped two nights along the way, one at Lake Hartwell State Park in South Carolina and one boondocking in Tuskegee National Forest in Alabama.

Our boondocking spot in Tuskegee National Forest

We spent 4 nights at the French Quarter RV Resort in New Orleans.  It was probably the most expensive campsite we have ever had, but it was still much cheaper than staying in a hotel.  The location allowed us to explore New Orleans by foot, trolley and Uber without having to worry about moving the truck.

St. Louis Cathedral

St. Louis Cathedral Interior

Beignets are a must when visiting New Orleans 

New Orleans Cemetery

A visitor while hanging out next to the pool at the RV park

After New Orleans, we headed west to visit Cajun Country and then started our way north via Natchez Trace Parkway through Mississippi, a bit of Alabama and into Tennessee.  We continued on through TN to Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky.  We spent 3 days/nights at Mammoth Cave NP and then a couple of days in Kentucky Bourbon country visiting some of the distilleries.

Egret on the Cajun Country Swamp Tour 

Cajun Country Swamp Tour

Cajun Country Swamp Tour

Barrels full of peppers fermenting to make Tabasco

Entrance to the Natchez Trace Parkway

Homestead along the Natchez Trace

Wildlife along the Natchez Trace

Black Abbey Brewing in Nashville

Old fashioned graffiti - made with smoke from candles inside Mammoth Cave

Mammoth Cave 

Mammoth Cave

Mammoth Cave

Independent Stave Company - barrel makers

Makers Mark distillery

Barrel store at Makers Mark

Woodford Reserve Distillery

Camping spot at Kentucky Horse Park

We then headed north to Ohio where we spent a really fun day at the National Museum of the Air Force.  We continued towards home via the Watkins Glen region of New York where we visited the Corning Glass Museum and the Finger Lakes.    Visited the Norman Rockwell Museum in Massachusetts and then stopped in Connecticut to visit Celina's Mom.

National Museum of the Air Force

National Museum of the Air Force

National Museum of the Air Force

John Bryan State Park, Ohio

Taughannock Falls near Cayuga Lake, NY

Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge Massachusetts

From Connecticut we headed north towards home with an overnight stop in the LL Bean parking lot along the way.  

Our trip route.  

Click here to view the route in Google Maps.

If you want to see more pictures from our trip, click here