I immediately ran into our new neighbors, Jeff and Rebecca and their rescue-Chihuahua, Tequila, in the 5th wheel that pulled in last night in the pouring rain. They were from Monroe, LA, and Clinton, MS, respectively. I felt bad when they relayed their story of leaving at 1:30 yesterday afternoon and loading up and hooking on their 5th wheel in the pouring rain. All they did when they got here was pull into the camp site. They plan to set up this morning. It was nice to chat with them and we promised to hook up again later.
And a gorgeous morning it is. We've been here since Sunday and this is the first time we've seen the sun in the morning and blue skies. But as I walked down by the lake and turned to head back to the trailer, a strong wind was blowing in my face. Little did I know we had already reached the high for the day of 62 degrees at 7:30 a.m. I saw the hunters down the road and asked if they heard the roaring water last night but they had no idea. The Park employee drove by and I asked him if it was normal for the water to flow over that bank. He said they had done a lot of work on that bank to reinforce it so the holding pond upstream would not let loose. But he hadn't heard of it coming over like a waterfall.
I asked him if he expected a full house this weekend because of the bike run but he said not the RV sites, maybe the primitive campsites would be full. He said they would go ahead with the run in spite of the muddy conditions. Of course a large portion of the trail is paved all the way around the lake so maybe they just use that.
Back home Bob was up and we read for a while and then had breakfast. Around 10:30 or so we headed east on I-20 for Monroe. We had thoughts of going to the Bass Pro Shop that we had been too in the spring on I-20, but when we got there we realized we were both having a senior moment. The Bass Pro Shop we went to on I-20 was in Shreveport. So we headed to Antique Alley on Trenton Street in West Monroe.
We had done most of these shops when we were here in the spring, but a few weren't open. First we went back to one of the shops we had been in, a sports card collector's shop, where I had found a bunch of my Corelle pattern. The place is also full of books and we found some bargains again. Then we crossed the street and hit three more shops. At Ouachita River Trading Company we found 1940's glass coasters with decals, including a golfer, which we collect. Four coasters for $6.00, what a bargain! And I found a golf collectible that I had never seen before; a traveling toothbrush and paste in a metal container with a golf bag on the top. I guess it is a toothbrush kit for your golf bag. Looked like it was from the '50's or '60's. I also found a few postcards.
The wind is blowing 20 mph and is very chilly by now so we get back in The Beast and head east on Desiard St. to find the Waterfront Grill on the Black Bayou that we enjoyed so much on our last visit here. Bob ordered the Catfish Desiard (parmesan breaded mushrooms, shrimp and green onions over grilled catfish) as featured in Southern Living Magazine that I enjoyed so much last time. And I tried Shrimp Rahkee (rocky) over angel hair pasta. It had the same parmesan breaded mushrooms, shrimp and green onion with a delicate white sauce, served over pasta. Salads came with the 'lunch portion' entrees; Bob stuck with the Parmesan Pepper that we both liked last time while I tried the Remaulade. I wanted to compare it with the Remaulade dressing I had tried for the first time at Bonabelle's in Ruston earlier this week. It had a similar taste but the Waterfront Grill version was the color of Thousand Island while Bonabelle's was the yellow color of deviled egg filling. And my favorite touch was the cup of cinnamon sugar served with the sweet potato. It turned my coffee into a heavenly dessert!
As we feared the holiday traffic would be mounting soon, we headed back towards Ruston around 3:30. But traffic wasn't too bad. We were home quickly and settled into read the Dallas Morning News we bought on the way to Monroe. By 5:00 p.m. the temperature had dropped to 48 degrees. And the sun disappeared about 9:30 this morning and never returned. In fact it sprinkled on us as we were coming home late in the afternoon.
It's 7:34 p.m. and 47.0 degrees.