In mid-March, I left North Texas and headed to Louisiana. My first night on the road was spent in a Walmart parking lot in Marshall, Texas and the next day I arrived at the KOA in Scott, Louisiana to spend a few days visiting another of my RVillage friends, Suzy. She is a nurse, living full-time in her RV at this campground while renting her house. She’s hoping to retire soon and have more freedom to travel.

My site at the KOA in Scott, Louisiana.

Suzy and I having lunch in downtown Lafayette, Louisiana.

After just one week of owning my new RV, I found that my bedroom air conditioner wasn’t working. When we had tested everything at the dealer, it was 40 degrees out so the AC blew cold air, giving the impression that it was working. Now that I was in southern Louisiana where it was warm and humid, it was obvious I had a problem. Suzy recommended a local RV technician who came out and checked it to find there was no Freon in the unit and it would need to be replaced. Since I had no plans of returning to Texas for warranty work, I found a company north of New Orleans that would do it. I made an appointment for them to take a look on the day I would be arriving in New Orleans the following week.

From Scott, I was moving farther south and needed to stop at a Walmart for supplies. I pulled into the first one I found on US-90 in Lafayette and quickly regretted it. Walmarts always have spacious parking lots that are easy to navigate with a big RV but not this one. It was the smallest lot I’d ever seen with narrow aisles and every spot was filled so cars were circling like sharks. My only choice was to move up an aisle towards the storefront and turn towards the exit. An endeavor that proved to be impossible for me. It took several attempts just to turn up the aisle because of cars that stuck out into the aisle. When I reached the top, I couldn’t make my turn to exit because a car was parked along the curb in front of the store, directly in my path. There was no driver in the car so I got out to go in the store to have it moved, leaving my rig completely blocking all traffic. A man approached me and offered to help. He had been a tractor-trailer driver and felt he could get me out of my predicament. With him behind the wheel and a couple other men spotting him from the rear, he got me out and safely to the exit. I gave my “knight in shining armor” a huge hug and thanked him profusely for saving this “damsel in distress” and got back on the road. I’ll be honest, this was the highest level of anxiety I’ve experienced in most of my adult life and I will never enter another parking lot without first checking it on a satellite map.

I drove to the southern tip of the Louisiana Bayou, a place called Grand Isle that pirates once called “home.” The campground at Grand Isle State Park is at the eastern end of the barrier island and just a stone’s throw from Isle Grande Terre, which was Jean Lafitte’s hideout and base of his pirate operations. Isle Grande Terre is only accessible by boat and the weather was lousy all weekend so I never got over there. As with my stay on the Texas coast, I had hoped to spend the weekend at the beach here but it rained all three days.

My site at Grand Isle State Park in Louisiana. Even though the weather kept me indoors, it was nice seeing palm trees out the windows.

Only the sand dunes separated my campsite from the beach access.

The beach at Grand Isle State Park.

I took advantage of my time stuck indoors to recover the chairs in my RV. I had saved the fabric I used to reupholster the old motorhome in the hopes I would find a use for it again. It feels good to bring something of the old decor to the new.

After my three-day weekend on the Gulf, I moved to New Orleans where I would spend two weeks. Before arriving at my new campground, I stopped at Dixie RV in Hammond, Louisiana, on the north side of Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans, to have them look at the air conditioner problem. In addition, I had begun experiencing intermittent water heater problems so I added that to the work order. These guys were top notch; a very professional organization. They quickly determined both problems would be submitted for warranty approval from Grand Design and I made an appointment to return on the day I was leaving New Orleans to get the work done.

My site at the New Orleans KOA.

I spent my first several days getting acquainted with this area west of the city, photographing Lake Pontchartrain lighthouses and eagerly anticipating Mark’s arrival to go on a Caribbean cruise. My campground was conveniently located just six minutes from the airport so picking him up was a breeze. The day he arrived, we went into the French Quarter for dinner and a Pirate Pub Crawl. This tour, run by Pirates of the Quarter, was a wonderfully fun time and I highly recommend it to anyone visiting the French Quarter.

Mark and I drinking our way through the French Quarter with our pirate guide on the Pirate Pub Crawl.

Everyone who visits the French Quarter has likely seen the shadow cast by the statue of Christ on the back wall of St. Louis Cathedral. On our pirate tour, our guide told us a story of a customer who looked at it and saw a giraffe head. Now I can’t un-see it!

Port Pontchartrain Lighthouse.

New Canal Lighthouse.

The following day we boarded the Norwegian Breakaway for a 7-day cruise to Mexico and Belize. Belize has been a bucket list item for me since I read Jimmy Buffet’s book, “A Salty Piece of Land,” which included a search for a Fresnel lens for a lighthouse in Belize. Mark and I had a wonderful time exploring Cozumel and Costa Maya in Mexico and climbing Mayan ruins in Belize.

Shipping commerce on the Mississippi River. It takes over six hours to reach the Gulf of Mexico from New Orleans.

Cozumel, Mexico:

Costa Maya, Mexico:

Belize City, Belize:

The Mayan ruins at Altun Ha.

Harvest Caye, Belize:

On Harvest Caye, the cruise line private island in Belize, I did my first zip line. It was exhilarating, to say the least! And best of all, the launchpad for the zip line was a lighthouse so how could I not do it? Mark wasn’t doing it so I handed him my iPhone to shoot video of my flight but, unfortunately (I’m going to throw Mark under the bus here), he had his finger over the lens for every shot he took. There is no evidence that I actually did it.

The lighthouse on Harvest Caye, Belize is the launchpad for the zip lines.

All the photos of me zipping have Mark’s finger in them.

This is the only photo of me on the zip line. I’m standing on the platform awaiting my flight.

We had a wonderfully relaxing time on the cruise and I was sad to take Mark back to the airport. Two days later, I was back at Dixie RV, where they took only 90 minutes to replace the AC unit and the circuit board on the water heater then I hit the road for Mississippi.

My RV awaiting service at Dixie RV in Hammond, Louisiana.

My route from Sherman, TX to Scott/Lafayette, LA to Grand Isle to New Orleans.

Next post:
MMM…Mississippi, Memphis and Mammoth Cave.

My name is Lindsay Reed and I’m a photographer and retired graphic artist with a passion for both lighthouses and road trips. I am living as a full-time solo RVer in my 33 foot Grand Design Reflection Fifth Wheel trailer ( I spent my first two years in a 31 foot Coachmen Mirada motohome) and plan to spend the next few years traveling the U.S. and Canada photographing not only lighthouses, but everything else there is to see in this wonderful land. I hope you enjoy my blog and will follow my adventures in the months and years ahead.