Doin' "The Looparound"!

What's a Looperaround , you might ask? Well that's when Marty and Mary Ann leave their "home" for the past summer in Asheville and head to Florida for the winter...by way of Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and (whew!) Alabama, and Florida. That is a LOOPAROUND! So it's mid September, and we're spending three weeks at Camp Winnebago in Northern Iowa, getting our final new coach punch list done (which included a longer than expected stay to work out a very pesky slide-out problem). We then headed down to Dallas, with a few fun stops in Kansas City and Wichita, to visit friends and family. Ten days or so back home in Big D gave us time to do some personal and business business, and a chance to catch up with Mary Ann's cousin Dee Dee and Aunt Willie Mae and good friends like Chuck and Jan, Gary and Marilia, and Bunny and Ivan. One evening while M A was at a business meeting, Ivan, who loves to keep me up on the ever changing burger scene in Dallas, drove me to Good Friend Beer Garden and Burger House http://goodfrienddallas.com/. This is one of the newer HOT tickets on the plate at the moment. The place was packed for a weeknight, we sat down, ordered beers and burgers, and as usual, Ivan waited for my comment. "Whoa...this is an awesome hamburger," I garbled between bites. The Wagyu beef was off the chart delicious, and the micro beer was good too. So good I brought M A back a few days later for her to try. Her score was unusually high too! Ivan had introduced us to a real winner, and for that a big Thnkuvrymch! Other than a few other bites with friends, we didn't eat out much there. Not because there aren't a hundred new places since we last visited, but just due to the hectic schedule.
 This brings us time wise to around the end of October, when we rolled into Tyler for around a ten day stay, which included a visit to the wonderful Rose Garden and a drive over to Canton, Tx. for First Monday. This one would have to be experienced first hand to be fully understood. It, basically, is an entire town turned into a monthly market where you can find anything from clothes to tools, electronics, decorative items, pets, food, etc etc etc! Here's more if you're curious http://www.cantontxfirstmonday.com/?clid=CIPptfWA7boCFU1gMgod1xQAUw Tyler, as much as we love the town, can't be seriously considered for the dining scene. We did hit a couple of favorites though, the first being Andys Custard http://eatandys.com/. This is not ordinary stuff! If you're ever in the area (they're from Springfield, Mo., and there are others in Illinois, Arkansas, and Missouri ), don't miss it. The other is Stanley's Famous BBQ (the Famous is part of their name..for good reason). Simply outstanding Texas Brisket! http://stanleysfamous.com/. Since we were close to the pretty town of Mineola, M A took the time to connect with Junior High friend, Julie and her husband, Gregg. Next, on to Shreveport, where we were hosted by the Diamond Jack Casino parking lot for a couple of days. The only problem was we had left Texas and were now entering LOUISIANA...home of all kinds of FATTENING FOOD and non stop PARTYING. Give up the healthy eating for awhile.,..maybe so! Next, down to the thriving metropolis of Marksville, Louisiana, home of The Paragon Casino RV Resort http://paragonresortcasino.com. 

Slip 127 at Paragon Casino Resort

Ahh...finally! An RV park that calls itself a resort...and it really IS one!! They have about 200 slips, all with full hookups, cable, and very fast internet. The price per night ranges from about $17 all the way up to $22 on weekends. We've finally discovered what other full time motor homers know, that many of the casinos around the country have good facilities for travelers like us, and many of them are very happy to have us stay with them. They range from just a safe place to park the rig for a night or two to places like this, that have beautiful clubhouses, pools, health clubs, and other high end amenities. In fact, on the way down to Dallas, we also stopped at the Winstar Casino http://winstarworldcasino.com/casino on the Texas/Oklahoma border. This place bills itself as the Second Largest Casino in the World, and even if it's only the third largest...it's huge! They have it all there, and the RV park attached to the property is first class all the way. Not a bad way to roll! A side trip from Marksville takes us back on Sunday afternoon to Lafayette. Why drive 83 miles each way for lunch?! Three words...Poor Boys Riverside! We are so close (by full time RV'er miles are our life miles anyway) that we can't pass up the chance to savor the fine cuisine of this area at a place that, for us, typifies it. We sit down, order fresh grilled Redfish with a baked sweet potato, Seafood Gumbo, Italian Salads, mini loaves of yeasty bread and butter, and Sweet Potato Beignets for dessert. This stuff needs no additional sauces or flavorings. Everything is so fresh and well prepared, it's like Foodie Heaven! Well worth the miles.
 So to continue catching up, it's now mid November, and with over stuffed bellies, we start to head due East from Louisiana to another favorite, Fairhope, Alabama. This time, we only stop for two weeks to soak up the Southern charm of this amazing part of the state. Besides visits to old favorites like Lulu's in Gulf Shores (Jimmy Buffett's sister's sprawling and fun eatery) and Pinzone's (some of the best hand made Italian food anywhere!), we only tried one new place, Locals. It's a little start up in downtown that serves locally sourced and pretty organic food for breakfast and lunch. It's very casual, and reasonably priced for the quality. We just stopped in for a quick breakfast where everything's ala carte so you can get one or more eggs, for example, and just toast with nothing else...and they don't overcharge you as if you'd ordered everything else (a bit unusual!). From Fairhope we headed farther East along I-10 into Florida for short stops in Tallahassee and Ocala, where we did manage a revisit to The Villages area (no Foodie finds there still...well, with the single exception of a German bakery we discovered, called Yahala http://www.yalahabakery.com/. Now that doesn't ring very German to my ears, but no matter, the place has great breads and pastries...very authentic and delicious). We also revisited Artisanal Dish in Ocala, which caters to the horse crowd there (and there is a large horse crowd!). They're in the process of a name change to Blue Wagyu http://www.bluewagyu.com/comingsoon/ to take advantage of the Wagyu beef craze which is starting to take hold. If you see a place serving this for a burger for instance, order it! It's like American Kobe beef...healthier and delicious too. Anyway, this place is the one we'll go out of our way for in the area. It's real casual too, but all of the things we've tried there are over the top good! From Ocala down I-75 through St. Petersburg, to our current residence on the way to Miami, Fort Desoto Park (see picture below..we're just to the left with our feet in the sand....(grounding!). Ranked as the Number Four Best Beach in the U.S., this is a great place to spend a few days off the road. Since we've been here we have not left our secluded slip where H2 and Smarty are stationed. All of the cool places in St. Pete and Tampa beckon, but, so far, we're not biting.