Yesterday Mel surfed the net in an attempt to find somewhere in the area where we would be able to get the spares we need. She found a place in New Orleans listed on TheSamba.com and sent an e-mail to check if they had the parts in stock as there was no phone number. This morning there was a reply from the guy, William, saying he was no longer in town since Katrina, but gave us a couple of internet-based places to try. This guy had had a workshop in NOLA and been working on old VW's for 35 years. Another sad story.
As one of his recommendations had the parts we needed and offered overnight delivery, we decided to check if the park office would accept a parcel on our behalf. If they would, and the company would ship to the park, we would stay at the site for another night.
As Mel came out of the shower block this morning she was greeted by one of the park employees, who went on to say that if we needed anything to make our stay more comfortable we should just let him know. What a refreshing change! He then asked if she would like to see some alligators as there were some here in the park. Mel obviously agreed and arranged to see them after we had been up to the town for groceries. The nice guy's name was Melvin, also Mel to his friends and so he was delighted when he knew they shared the same name.
The small town of Braithwaite was only a mile up the road but it was far too hot to walk, especially with groceries, so we drove the short distance. After paying for our groceries at the store/petrol station, we asked where the nearest public phone was, to be told that there wasn't one. Mel remembered seeing one next to the entrance to the park office and so we headed back to the site. Armed with the number, quarters, pen and paper, Mel jumped out and went over to the phone. No tone! So after checking with the office staff that they would accept a parcel, she asked where there was a phone. The lady replied that there weren't any anywhere close by as they hadn't been put back in after Katrina. We just had no idea about any of this. The people around here surely have enough on their plates paying to rebuild their destroyed homes and replace their possessions, without having the expense of mobile phones if they want to be able to contact people or just simply have the reassurance that they can get help in case of an emergency. They really do seem to have been abandoned.
The lady in the office kindly agreed to let Mel use the office phone as it was a toll-free number. The parts company were happy to ship to the park so Mel booked us into the site for another night. The reason that the park had wi-fi suddenly became clear. With no landlines coming into the area, they were obviously hooked into a wireless system for their phones.
We hadn't been back at our pitch long before Melvin arrived to take us to see the alligators. He insisted on taking Neil alone first to make sure that Mel would be OK with it. And so off they went on Melvin's little 4 x 4 electric buggy, nicely described by Neil as a golf cart on steroids, returning about ten minutes later. As there are only two seats Mel had to sit on Neil's lap and then hang on for dear life as we hurtled across the grass and through the trees. Melvin explained that he had to take us this way as he wasn't supposed to take park guests on his buggy and so had to avoid the park roads. After a couple of minutes travelling through the grounds of the park we went off the beaten track and deeper into the swamps. On the way to the alligators, Melvin pointed out huge holes freshly dug just last night by the wild boar that roamed the area and told us about the highly poisonous moccasin snakes that were also present.
When we arrived at the alligator spot, Melvin did a circuit around the pond to make sure the big male wasn't around to take us unawares while we looked at the female and the babies. Pretty sure that we were "safe", he returned to the spot where the mother and young were, positioning the buggy not only for a good view but also for a quick get-away if we needed it! We were only about 8 feet away from the allies and so got some good photos, despite Melvin being disappointed that the mother didn't come out of the water for us. He told us how he had discovered them by accident yesterday as he was clearing the levees and how the female had grabbed his bucket.
The ride back to the camping area was even madder than the ride out, now he knew that Mel was adept at hanging on. Before dropping us back at our pitch he took us to see the swimming pool. Honestly, this place is better than the KOA and half the price! And the staff are friendly and polite! Back at our pitch we chatted to Melvin about his family and Katrina. He said he had never left the city for a storm before, but when he had seen the size of Katrina on the weather forecast, he knew it was time to get outa town, and he had gone inland and rented a cabin and insisted that his grown up kids went up there as well. He said they might not have anything material, but that didn't matter, just so long as they stayed alive and had each other.
What a thoroughly nice guy. He just has such a good attitude to life. We could have chatted to him for hours but he said he needed to get back to work. Now if anyone reading this is involved in employing Melvin, don't give him a hard time over what he did with us today. He made our stay at St Bernard State Park the best we've had at any state park and he keeps the park in superb shape too. If only there were more people like him. After 29 years at the park, he's still so enthusiastic about his job.
After lunch it was too hot to even walk around to the pool. We don't know how anyone works outdoors in this heat. It's so humid too, you don't even have to do anything and you're wet through. When Mel logged onto the internet, Josh was online and as we both have web-cams and mikes, we were able to chat "live" with him. Incredible! We're in the middle of a Louisiana swamp!
We were warned earlier that the mosquitoes would be particularly bad tonight as a result of the rain last night and the park staff cutting the grass today, so we ate early, had our showers and got ourselves shut in for the evening. Oh and we didn't want to meet an alligator in the dark on the way back from the showers! Our pitch is right next to a swamp after all!
Miles travelled: 3
Total miles travelled: 8931
Days on road: 74
States visited: 15
National Parks visited: 11
6 votes 
