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22 MayOur journey continued with a short ride to Fairview River State Park in Louisiana. It is located on the Tchefuncte River and the campsite is quiet and charming. Once owned by the Otis Manufacturing Company it was the site of a lumber mill and bequeathed to the state at his death. Current read or reread, my favorite book of all time The Talisman.

We woke up to a most beautiful morning. Cool, low humidity, and a nice breeze. I wish I could capture a picture that could convey the atmosphere that helps make so many places more beautiful than they appear in just a two dimensional colorful rendering.

I took a short drive to town to pick up some propane. I stopped at a bait shop to get a fishing report. Not much going on because of the windy weather. People are picking up crickets and worms for bream in the river.

We took a few walks through the swamp trail looking for birds and wildlife. There are blue birds, cardinals, red headed woodpeckers, jays, ospreys, green snakes, banded water snakes and water moccasins. Eva really likes running with the bicycles. She took to so naturally, it's as if she was trained by Cesar Milan. She is adapting very well to traveling and being at new places. She knows to stay in her small yard which we show her each time we arrive at a new campsite. She likes to lay under the trailer or on one of the camp chairs and just watch for new things. If there are no kids at the playground we take her there and teach her to climb the stairs, and ramps, and she even enjoys going down the slide. She thinks she's such a big girl now.

25 MayWe are heading to Homochiti National Forest, Clear Springs, Mississippi. We'll be there for 5 days because of the Memorial Day Weekend. It is a small campground, and we're hoping it won't be too crowded for the holiday.

This campground is very remote. It is in a hilly heavily forested area with a small lake. The campsites are rather far apart and very large, most with multilevel terraced sites due to the steepness of the land. I went fishing and caught two small black bass from the shore. I think they were stocked fish because they were very similar in appearance and size. They both were caught on artificial worms, one blue and one black.

Eva is enjoying all the hills and the trails. She loves to run through the woods and always knows her way back to you. There seems to be a lot of bugs here. Unfortunately while fishing Bob was standing on an ants nest. He had so many red angry bites from his knees to his armpits! Then the nosee'ums took up shop in the camper and we all got bites. Lots of anti-itch and calamine lotion for everyone!

31 May

Today we are heading West back into Louisiana to Kisatchi National Forest, Kincade Lake. It's way off the beaten path and is a very large lake with a beach/day use area and boat ramp access. There are lots of trails and paths that Eva and I walked on every morning. Bob has tried some fishing with no luck.

Then the rain stared two days in to our stay. So much so that you couldn't go outside with all the thunder and lightning. Eva was not too happy about that and neither were we. And the bugs kept biting!03 June

We are on our way to South Toledo Bend State Park, Louisiana. We've been here once before and it's a really nice park. Unfortunately it's still raining. When we got a break from the rain we decided to burn some Buhach in the camper. It's a powder, ground seeds from the Pyrethrum flowers and is an insect powder that Bob knew about from his days living in Alaska. Bob made some powder bricks and burned them while we took Eva for a walk around the campground. It seemed to have worked as we are not getting any new bites. I did about five loads of laundry while we were here. We even were able to put up a bird feeder by the last day when the rain let up. Bob got a lot of nice pictures!

06 June We crossed into Texas today and we are staying at Mill Creek Park on the Sam Rayburn reservoir. This lake has received 30 inches of rain over the last two months. Many of the campsites are now sitting in the lake and are closed. With the water levels so high Bob is able to launch his kayak from one of the close by submerged campsites. I took a spin in it myself yesterday and Eva also went for a spin with Bob. The weather has been great with no rain and cool mornings.

This is a really nice COE park with nice roadways and campsites. I've been walking with Eva and taking her on bike rides 3-4 times a day and she loves it. She's met so many people that they wave to her and say "Hello Eva" as we ride by. She's also able to chase the squirrels around the campsite, one of her favorite things!

With the weather so nice Bob has been able to build a fire every night. One of his favorite things to do. 10 June

I've been able to catch a few small bass in between heavy rain showers, using plastic worms and lizards. I've been trying out a white twitching type bait that a camping neighbor gave me. It works for the small bass but I've been wanting to hook into something bigger. I went out just before dark with a spinning rig that my buddy Bob had given me. I hooked into a large bass, he came out of the water and spit out the hook, really. Even though I missed landing it, I enjoyed just having a big fish on the line, with the luck I've been having fishing.

15 JuneThe lack of internet and phone service has kept me from updating the page. I would have thought in the last couple of years that area coverage would be expanded, but it looks as if the telecoms have put their money into delivering data instead of access. I guess that is where the money is. There is no real money in building a network to only be used by a smaller population in rural areas, when there is so much money to be made charging for data service to large population areas.

We are camped at another Corp of Engineers Park on Steinhager Lake in Texas. This is a beautiful campground, and we happen to be the only campers in this section of the park. We are on a point that juts out into the lake with clumps of Cypress trees just offshore. I looks like wonderful fishing. But looks can be deceiving, it is very shallow for a long ways out, and the only deeper water is where a creek or small river and run through the area prior to the dam being built and the area flooded. Luckily I was able to access the internet and find a map that shows the water depth levels. I found a good area on the other side of the park where I can launch the kayak that looks promising and with deeper water.

I had good luck, and within 20 minutes had a huge bass on the line. Trouble was, it was in the thick weeds and as I got it up to the kayak it was able to get enough leverage to slip the hook and I lost it. Anyway, it was a great fight. I caught a few more smaller bass, along with some white bass. I think it is some kind of hybrid. It has the body shape as a largemouth bass, but it lacks the green color with dark marks. It is a solid silvery-green and they run a bit smaller than largemouth bass.

17 June

We moved to another Corp of Engineers Campground on the same lake, S.A. Steinhagen Lake in Texas. We are on the northwestern side. It is similar but more bayou, lagoon and swamps. As we pulled in we heard gators croaking to greet us. We'll have to keep and eye on Eva around here. The lake is a shallow one, as lakes go. There is a stream bed the meanders throughout bottom of the lake, other than those areas, it is shallow submerged woods that resulted when the made the dam. Many people come here for catfish only. This is typical of many lakes in Texas, the same people for generations come here each and every year, many having come here for 20, 30 years or longer. I caught a few white bass on artificial lures, but no largemouth bass. I haven't fished for cat fish, yet. It seems the preferred method is to set our trot lines or jugs. You bait a hook or multiple hooks with a large float attached, and go out and check it for fish about every four hours. That is not my style of fishing, and I can give or take the taste of catfish. With some people that is all they want. I did get a good tip from a local fisherman for catfish. Anything over about 10 lbs can start tasting gamey.

23 June

We've been here at Twin Lakes Recreation Area in Texas for a couple days. It is very remote, quiet and empty. It will start filling up for the weekend, but I don't expect too many people since it is so remote and not known for fishing. A few years ago during an extended drought most of the fish died off, and it has only been restocked with catfish since then. There are two ponds attached and one feeds into the other and mostly overgrown with weeds. The heat index has been quite high with hear warnings issued just about every day. Even the birds, bugs and frogs seem to go for shelter during the warmest part of the day. There are many bike trails here, and they are all in shaded parts of the woods, and generally cooler also. Eva is always willing to go for a hike or a bike ride, no matter the time of day. At times, late at night I'll go outside to watch the fire, and Eva will curl up on one of the camping chairs and just smells and listens for sounds of rabbits or whatever moves around in the woods at night.

25 JuneWe arrived at Huntsville State Park and Raven Lake today. We had been to this park in the past and liked it. This time I'm going to do some serious fishing with the kayak. It is getting along in the year where the bass are not as active, but if I don't catch any it won't be for the lack of trying. This lake is noted for its Crappie, catfish and Bream. It hasn't rained really hard for a few days, so that should improve the fishing. This is one of the most popular state parks in Texas. There is a huge amount of day usage from the local population, especially on the weekends. There looks like a place I can launch the kayak right across the way without too much of a problem. The carrier wheels I made for it have really helped transporting it to the water when we haven't been right on the lake.

28 June

We arrived at Cagle Lake Recreation Area Sam Houston National Forest. This is a really nice campground that is not too big at all. As with many of the National Forest campgrounds it is not as heavily use as others. I starting to think that as a fisherman I stink. I had on a large bass, but it was able to get free wrapping the line around sticks and brush. It had enough leverage to open the snap swivel on my tackle.

The lake was great to paddle around on with the kayak and I took a long trip to the upper end of the lake one afternoon. I was surprised to see that there were beaver there. I saw one on the bank cutting off a piece of saw palmetto and taking it into the water. I didn't see any beaver dams. I don't know if that is a requirement to have beavers live in an area.

1 July Taylor Lake, COE campground. Wow, what a change in terrain within such a short distance. What had been mostly pine forests, gave way to oak and mesquite savannah with rolling hills. This is a much more agricultural area with cotton, sorghum , corn and oats. The wind blows almost continually, often gusting and playing havoc with the awning. Before going to bed I roll it up or it will keep us awake all night clanging around. By now everyone knows there has been severe heat indexes the last few weeks, and here is no exception. It's starting to wear on us, but we have no complaints about the A/C in the camper. It is wearisome to have to wait all day for the sun to start going down before we can take a bike ride or walk around the park without getting heat exhaustion. We are seriously thinking of re-routing our trip again. Eva is not having fun with all the sand spurs in the grass. She does love to run with the bikes, looking for deer and rabbits along the way. 5 July

I can't believe that the 4th of July has come and gone already. We moved on to the next campground, at Belfort Lake. The lake is a reservoir and is quite deep compared the previous lakes we've been to. The depth is around 80-120 feet. Of course the fish are deep, trying to keep cool. It still remains hot, but there is shade here and always a nice breeze. This would be an excellent place to have a wind turbine. The wind is always blowing. We are located in an Oak Savannah, with rolling hills. The lake is so high from the recent flooding that the boat ramp is totally submerged. We are out of the sand spurs, so Eva has been able to run around. Last night we let her play in the playground. She enjoys climbing on the structures and going down the slides.

8 July

We've decided to start heading back east. The heat wave continues and up into the central US there are storms and heat also. We headed back to Cagel Lake since it was a nice place the first time, and it was east. I'm still having no luck with the fishing.

10 July

Sam Houston Jones State park. We visited this park a few trips ago. It is located on the west fork of the Calcaseiu River that feeds into Lake Charles. With the budget cuts they have let the park go down-hill. I did get a chance to put the kayak in the river and do a little fishing, but you know how my luck has been. Anyway, the kayah is always a pleasure to paddle and the river didn't disappoint.

12 July

We needed a place to stop between Sam Houston Jones and Tickfaw State Park, so we decided to try out Pochet's Fish-N-Camp in Breaux Bridge, LA. Now, if my luck doesn't change here for catching fish, then I know for sure I'm the world's worst fisherman. The park is laid out around 4 ten acre fish ponds, each stocked with Bass, Bream, Sacalait (Crappie) and Catfish.

14 July We arrived at Tickfaw State Park in Louisiana. As I mentioned earlier, we're head back east again. Weather has cool quite considerably, down into the high 80's. This is a well kept and maintained smaller park with very good bike and hiking trails. There is a small fishing pond (no fish) and a canoe trail that leads from the park through a long cut through the swamp onto the Tickfaw River. It is about a 3-4 mile trail that goes through some very nice forests. Tall trees line the sides of the river with lots of deadfall and back waters. I saw a gator but it was typically shy. It was extremely quiet and peaceful the entire way. The water flow slowly. It was about a 3 hour paddle. Kim would have loved it. Of course there seemed to be some great places to fish, but I didn't bring my pole. I did meet a couple guys on a bass boat that were fishing a tournament. It rained lightly yesterday and most of today, but it was a very light rain, although there was alot of thunder and lightning, but surprisingly not much wind. By Friday night this place was crawling with kids and families. Lots of signs to not feed the gators.

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