Lone Star Allegro Rally -- Day Three (Last Day)

On Saturday, we got up early (7:30am) and drove to downtown Lake Charles to visit the local Charleston Farmer’s Market.  Most of the other folks slept in, but Charlie and Jo Stanger went with us.  Patsy and I got a dozed fresh farm eggs, a veal roast, and a pint of dill pickles.

Back at the campground, I walked around and took a few more pictures.  The RV park pictures in the last post did not fully give justice to this campground.

A group BBQ/picnic area and playground…..

The second pool and social area.  This one is for families while the pool area with the hot tub shown yesterday, is for 18 years old and older.

A gazebo picnic and BBQ area on the lake…..

The lake where you can catch and keep some fish………..

I also snapped several pictures of the rally room (inside and out)…

Here’s a view of a couple of coaches with our “Lone Star Allegro” club flags in front of the coaches and a close up of the flags that we fly in front of the Bus…….

Only a couple of members outside while I was walking around.  Steve Mesz trying to buff out some tree limb scratches off his paint job…..

Patsy visiting with Leona Pleasant.  Leona was really rough on me, but she put together some really good snacks for our happy hour on Saturday. 

On Saturday night, we went out for some Cajun Cuisine at the local LeBlue’ Landing Restaurant.  Here are some group pictures……..

Some individual ‘stars’, Richard and Nancy (and it looks like Nancy was judging me!!)

……. and Terry and Susan.  Susan started celebrating this rally the day that they left home, and wasn’t planning to sober up until next Wednesday!!!

Terry did do one good thing.  He got up early enough (or never went to bed) on Sunday morning to get the following “sunrise picture”…….

I knew the sun came up every day at some time in the morning, but it is always up when I wake up!!  Thanks, Terry.

Patsy and I closed up the Bus and headed toward New Orleans about 10:30am.   I will cover that trip in the next post!

Lone Star Allegro Rally–Day Two

Today was a quiet day.  Patsy and I spent the morning with me updating our blog, and her using the pool and exercise facility at the park.

About Noon, we decided to drive to one of the casinos in Lake Charles and try my luck.  She does not gamble………. and I think that’s a good thing!!

We chose Lauberge casino.  We walked around a bit, and found out that they did not have a smoke-free area which disappointed us.  I found a $1 slot machine that “looked right”, and put $20 in it.  Spun it twice with only a $1 dollar bet, and then hit the spin a third time with a max bet ($5).  That’s a method that I normally do and then repeat.  Hit a $150 payout right away! 

Started repeating my method but not hitting much, so I cashed out at $151, and walked out a $131 winner.  Ok for today…….. we will be in Louisiana for 10 more days!

Here are some pictures…..

Me and my winnings……..

The last time that we were in Lake Charles, Lauberge was building an RV park next to the casino.  We looked for it today, and it is close to the casino, but it looked closed down!!   However…………

…………. it was operating and available, but you had to check in to access it, and then an attendant would come by and removed the yellow pipe barricade!!  The price is #35/nite Sun—Thurs and $50/nite Fri—Sat. With the amount of money flowing through a casino, why do they watch this so closely???

Patsy and I drove back to the RV park, and gave the pool and hot tub a try.

On the walk to the pool, we found this ‘different’ sign and I liked it….

Speaking of this RV park, here is a tour.  Our spot…..

and some of the other early arrivals……

One of the buildings with a pool, hot tub, shower, laundry and an exercise facility…..

The second pool, laundry and shower facility……

Here is the meeting and gathering room for rallies.  It is large and very nicely done on the inside (notice the BBQ pit on the side)…….

As I walked around the park, there were several of our members visiting and washing ‘love bugs’ off the front of the coaches….

Two more coaches showed up today, and now we have a total of 8 at this rally.  We went out for dinner both Thursday and Friday nights, but since food was involved, I got distracted and did not take any pictures.  I’ll try to do better on Saturday night!!!

Lone Star Allegro Rally -- Day One

lWhen we arrived at the A+ RV Park, the Helstrom’s were already here, but before we saw them we headed out on a planned scenic byway trip, the Creole Nature Trail, which began in Sulphur.

We left the campground about 11:00AM, and got back about 4:30PM. The trip was about 150miles.  It was a pleasant drive through the coastal area of Louisiana.  We saw a lot of swamps, empty foundations from past storm damage, and newer homes and mobile homes built up on piers or high mounds of earth!!  We also enjoyed a great fish sandwich and a shrimp salad at a small grill along the way in Cameron, LA.

The road that we traveled had an engineered ditch following it on the west side.  It was clear that the swamp was dredged to make the roadbed, and resulted in the ditch!

Early on the trip, we crossed the Intracoastal waterway over a tall bridge, and there was an RV park just to the side of it.

Growing up in South Texas, I had always ‘thought’ that I knew something about the Intracoastal Waterway, locally called the Intracoastal canal, and thought it was a coastal Texas thing.   As I grew up and started traveling around the USA, I noticed a lot of crossings of an Intracoastal waterway when we were on the east coast…… so I figured, well, they got one too!

When I had my last job with ALCOA, and was more involved with shipping ore by barge and ship, I finally get a lesson in the Intracoastal Waterway.  I thought it was interesting, so here is a reference for others.

Along the way, we stopped at a Wetlands Walkway, and did a little walking and spotted a couple of local birds…

We arrived at the gulf coast area and drove around it for a little while.  It is a fairly isolated area, with quiet beaches and colorful beach houses…..

One of the signs in the middle picture states to stay out of the water due to bacteria………… so Patsy was not interested in walking on the beach or collecting any of the nice shells in the bottom picture!!  She did find some of the trees interesting……… a ‘flip-flop’ tree at someone’s beach house, and some dead trees that had been shaped by the constant gulf breeze……..

We did get a free ferry ride at one point on the way to Cameron, LA. 

On the way back to Lake Charles and Sulphur, we crossed the Intracoastal Waterway again.  Here is a picture of the bridge and some shots of the canal below it……

Back at the campground, I took a few photos.  It is a very nice park, with nice landscaping and great amenities.  I will put pictures in the next post.