Wednesday, April 20, 2022. New Orleans LA to Cottondale FL

Aside from some rail yard noise, camping at the Faubourg Brewery  was a pleasant experience.  We were able to upload our pictures using their wifi while sampling their beers in a very clean and spacious tap room and dining room, although the restaurant was only open on weekends.  When we went to sleep, there were 3 other RV’s scattered across the very large parking lot.  We weren’t the least disturbed by any of the other RV’ers.  The Brewery also closes its gates at 10pm.  They gave us the code to get out or back in, but we certainly didn’t have to worry about people pulling in at midnight again.  

We topped up the tank at a Chevron near the brewery, taking 10.53gal @$4.899/gal with 19401 miles on the odometer( 14.1mpg).  Then we headed off across the bayous.  The land is remarkably flat.  We soon found ourselves in Mississippi where we found a highway rest stop with free trailer dump.  While we didn’t really have much in the tank, we had taken some showers and could use the black tank flusher to effectively empty that tank.  There was a hose at the dump station, but it was marked non-potable water, and the end of the hose was cut off without any sort of threads on the end.  Fortunately, Ben carries 1/2” & 3/4” barb to hose thread adapters, so he was able to use the water to flush the black tank and hoses without using any of our fresh water.  Our fresh water was down to 1/3 or less, so we were on the look out for potable fresh water, but were disappointed this rest stop didn’t have it available.  

The scenery driving I-10 across Mississippi and Alabama was pretty much unchanged with bayous, swamps and scrub trees on both sides of the Freeway.  There was very little traffic.  We did start to get glimpses of the Gulf of Mexico as we crossed Mobile Bay.  It was a bit gusty with lots of white caps, but the water was unexpectedly brown and muddy in appearance.  

When we crossed over into the Florida Panhandle, we crossed Pensacola Bay, dropping down on I-110 to Gulf Breeze and on to our scheduled fuel stop at Navarre FL.  Diesel was $4.799/gal and we took on 17.276gal with 19619 miles on the odometer (12.6mpg).

The waters in the Pensacola Bay were more the blue green color we were expecting, and as we got to Navarre, the water between the peninsula and Santa Rosa Island were a lovely blue against white sand beaches.  

We rendezvoused with two former Whidbey Islanders, Tom and Mary-Alice, who are Janet’s friends in Navarre.  They sold their Coupeville home and moved into a beachfront condominium to be closer to their daughter who is close to finishing her PhD in Mechanical Engineering at Auburn University. We had a delicious lunch at Stewby’s Seafood Shanty in Fort Walton Beach, which is in the touristy part of the Fort Walton Beach area, and got to see some of the beaches and also Air Force facilities associated with nearby Elgin Air Force base.  We learned that the AC-130 Specter gunships and other special ops groups are based there.  We did see some tilt rotor Osprey fly overhead, looking like giant drones, and got buzzed by some F-35’s.  Tom had grown up in the area as a kid and marveled at how much the area had changed over the years.  

Tom and Mary Alice were kind enough to allow us to refill our fresh water tank at their condo before we continued on our eastward journey.

We made our last fuel stop for the day in Chipley FL, taking on 8.673gal @$4.959/gal with 19731 miles on the odometer (12.9mpg).  Most of today’s driving was cruising at 75mph.  We then made it to Moonpie Creamery and Farm, our Harvest Host site for the evening.  

We had made it in time to watch the goats get milked and tour the farm, which hosts quite a collection of animals.  We were greeted by a pack of farm dogs ranging from pups to senior citizens, and the place was buzzing with chickens, ducks, turkeys, geese and guinea fowl running all over the place, and in pens there were goats, pigs and calves.  There were barn cats in the barn and a trio of pit bull pups guarding the farm store.  

What was really cute was when she set up to start milking the first goat, the two pups set themselves up at the base of the milking stand anticipating a sample of the first milk which gets squirted onto the stand after the teats are sterilized.  They wasted no time at all mopping up the milk.  It was interesting to see how she used a combination of massage and mechanically assisted pumps to milk the goats.  

The store featured fresh feta cheese, and many other cheese products made from the goat milk.  There were also sausages from hogs that were raised on the farm, jams and pickled eggs.  We ended up with a grocery bag full of goodies from the farm which we are looking forward to consuming on our trip.  

There was one other class C RV parked on the farm when we arrived.  They have designated parking spots that are quite a distance apart so there is no issue with privacy, but the farm is situated just off the freeway, so there is freeway noise.  Fortunately, the temperatures had dropped into the 60’s by bed time so we could close the windows.