Lower 48

Awesome!!! Thank you!!

One note on visiting Louisiana about the food, there are 2 different types of food Louisiana is famous for,  Cajun Food and Creole Food.  They are NOT the same thing, though a number of them share the same names, for example Creole Gumbo and Cajun Gumbo taste completely different, for one thing Creole Gumbo contains tomatoes, and Cajun Gumbo does not.  It is also very hard to find real Cajun food in New Orleans, almost all food you find in restaurants in New Orleans will be Creole, or perhaps some sort of Creole mashup.  About the only authentic Cajun restaurant I can think of that is in New Orleans is Mulates https://mulates.com/ which open a location in New Orleans about 15 years ago.  (since then their original location in Breaux Bridge closed due to storm damage from one of the hurricanes about 10 or so years ago).

For a write up on the differences between cajun and creole see this link https://www.louisianatravel.com/articles/cajun-vs-creole-food-what-difference

See this link https://www.louisianatravel.com/articles/cajun-vs-creole-food-what-difference

Though the above is still an over-simplificaiton, as anyone versed in the two types of cuisine can generally tell with just one bite if it is cajun or creole, to put it simple, creole food flavor tends to have a much sharper bite to it, and uses a different blend of spices.  Much like one can often tell the difference between Italian food from Greek food with just one bite.

Just a little south of Issac's recommendations, in the town of New Iberia, there's the Bon Creole Seafood restaurant. 
The best shrimp po' boys ever. 
Another plus is that it's close to Avery Island, which is home to the Tabasco factory along with a botanical garden and bird sanctuary that was started by the Mcllhenny family.  Pretty sure the kids will like the tour of the factory, and it's possible to spot an occasional 'gator during the drive through of the botanical gardens, although we didn't see any either time we were there.
There's also a couple of good swamp tours in the area.

Old_Crow said:
"Another plus is that it's close to Avery Island, which is home to the Tabasco factory"

Really neat place. You will smell Tabasco in the air a half mile away from it.

Bon Creole Seafood restaurant looks awful but the food is REALLY GOOD.  The place is usually packed with locals.

Interesting, I know nothing about that so that was educational for me. My kids eat Tabasco like water, so we'll HAVE to go there!

If you opt for the Tabasco factory being a mid-day stop there is RV parking at the visitor center, however Jungle Gardens (next door) is drive through in car only though they do allow larger vehicles in, about half the driving loop is limited to smaller cars, even full size pickup trucks have difficulty.  The Tabasco factory tour is also better on week days when the production line is up and going.      Note on entering Avery Island there is a toll booth where you must stop and pay a dollar or so if memory serves, the money goes to supporting the private roads.  There is also a gift shop next to the Tabasco visitor center which has all sorts of Tabasco products you never knew existed, Tabasco cola, Tabasco ice cream, as well as dozens if not hundreds of types of Tabasco sauces, dips, etc (Hot Mustard, Raspberry, Smoked, etc.).  When we were last there a year ago I think we spent $50 on sauces and such in the gift shop.

p.s. chances of seeing alligators depends on the weather when you arrive, they are often not very active in January and February, though you do see the occasional one on warmer days.

https://www.conradrice.com/contact-us/tour/ 

There is a Rice Mill in New Iberria that gives tours. Kinda neat to see.

That's it!  If I get this house thing wrapped up in a timely fashion, so that we don't have to race back across country to get to our summer job, we're headed to LA first.  We'll probably stay at Lake Fausse Pointe state park.

Old_Crow, if you can't get in there consider Palmetto Island State Park, it is a nice little state park south of Abbeville.  Nice campground, with dense vegetation between the sites, though mosquitoes can be a issue in warmer weather, only bad thing I can say about the campground there is they are all back in sites.

Isaac-1 said:

Old_Crow, if you can't get in there consider Palmetto Island State Park, it is a nice little state park south of Abbeville.  Nice campground, with dense vegetation between the sites, though mosquitoes can be a issue in warmer weather, only bad thing I can say about the campground there is they are all back in sites.

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That might satisfy my wife's desire to "go somewhere different"    Pretty sure mosquitoes won't be a problem in Jan or Feb.  We have to be back in the Bishop, CA area around the end of March.

We actually had an invitation to host there about 4 years ago, but before we could finalize the deal we got the offer with RRM at the north rim of the Grand Canyon.  Having lived in Arizona a couple of times in our past life, we jumped at the chance to go back.

You should be good, though we have been experiencing a very warm December here with highs in the 70's much of the time, after some early season freezes in October and early November.  We have spent the first weekend of February at Palmetto Island State park the last 2 years, and both times we had highs of around 80F with night time lows in the 50's to 60's.  A couple of things about the park, first off on the first Saturday of the month most months the local dutch oven cooking club does a sampler lunch, (they ask for a small donation, and run a raffle), you can check the friends of the park facebook page of the calendar.  Second they have nice laundry / shower rooms, with free washing machines and dryers, they also have free wifi in the campground, but it is so slow as to be useless (think 5 minutes to load a simple page, except at 3 am when it is 1 minute).  Also be aware some of the secondary highways near there are is awful shape, so be aware of this if you try to take a shortcut to get there, the best road option to get there form the north is to take either US90 or US167 south out of Lafayette, to LA14 then across to LA82 in Abbeville then south to the road that leads into Palmetto Island State park.  West of Abbeville LA14 starts alternating between new pavement and nearly washboard conditions, the last 2 times I went down there it was so bad it shook screws loose from my motorhome some of which were holding my headlight bezels on.

Hwys 35, 13, and 26 south of I10 are all marginal to poor at least in significant stretches, US90 is a longer drive than US167, but is more open highway with far fewer traffic lights and city traffic.

I forget to update on here, we made it through New Mexico at the end of the year. Although we entered Texas at the Guadalupe Mountains and went to Big Bend, San Antonio, Houston, and Galveston, there's so so much of Texas we left unexplored so I think I need to spend a whole winter there in the future. Maybe on round 2 lol. We spent time in New Orleans, but I would like to return there on an adult trip at some point as well. We went through Mississippi, Alabama, and down the west coast of Florida. In a few days we'll start heading up the east coast of Florida.
As a whole, things are going well. We're all still getting along and loving the trip, although we had a very rough day back in November that rocked the boat. If we didn't strangle each other that day, I'm confident we never will lol
We've hit some minor bumps in the road, 3 flat tires on the car, 3 new tires on the 2 tire tow dolly, a broken slide motor and cable, a second broken slide motor, a broken water pump, clogged toiletS (this is an ongoing issue) and little cosmetic things inside.
My very close friend at home is very sick with cancer and Crohn's and I hate not being there for her. I miss my boyfriend and my dog. If it weren't for those things (and the fact that my kids would object) I could stay on the road forever. I really like this and would love to do year 2 in the future.
But we're on schedule and on budget and more than 6 months in now. Just under 4 months to go.

Good to hear your still on the move...What are your plans after FL?

Be careful with Texas in the winter. We lived in San Antonio for 6 years. One February it was 100 degrees while another February Texas had the worst ice storm ever. My wife?s father died and we almost didn?t make it of town due to ice and power outages. Power was out from Houston all the way across Louisiana. Flash floods can be bad too. Having said that, Texas has a lot to offer. There is a lot to explore.

After Florida we're heading north along the coast of Georgia then moving inland: Nashville, Memphis, ARKANSAS, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Kentucky, then heading back to follow the coast north. 

Amanda, you need to plan another trip to see all of the deep south you are missing on this one.

RVMommaTo6 said:

After Florida we're heading north along the coast of Georgia then moving inland: Nashville, Memphis, ARKANSAS, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Kentucky, then heading back to follow the coast north.

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Enjoy FL as long as you can...It'still cold up here...LOL

Gizmo100 said:

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Enjoy FL as long as you can...It'still cold up here...LOL

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Hey, yesterday was beautiful here at Old Post park in Dardanelle.  Too bad my wife and I both had a bunch of teeth pulled Thursday and we're both in so much misery we couldn't enjoy it.  Supposed to be cloudy again today, I guess.

There's a TON of stuff I'm missing! I definitely need to do something like this again in the future, 10 months isn't nearly long enough.

RVMommaTo6 said:

There's a TON of stuff I'm missing! I definitely need to do something like this again in the future, 10 months isn't nearly long enough.

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"Fearless Women Club" has a spot reserved for You, Momma6, for sure.

Congrats on your Bucket list / Adventures of a lifetime. 

Enjoy every day!