Belle the bloodhound and Chelsea the Irish Wolfhound mix

Belle doesn't bark--she has this mournful howl

Beautiful live oaks on the Fairview plantation house grounds, which is in the park

A very large, older yacht going by the park on the Tchefuncta

Fairview-Riverside SP, Mandeville, LA: This morning dawned clear, warm, and sunny. Sat outside in the sun for a while and the clouds started rolling in—ugly looking clouds. We’re supposed to get severe weather again. Headed out to pick up some wonderful Ponchetoula strawberries, drive to Ponchetoula to get some beignets at a little café there in the old, historic part of town, and then have some lunch at Morton’s Seafood House in Madisonville. On the way we ran right into a storm with lots of rain—which they don’t need right now. The rivers are very high—some over their banks. Our campsite is only about 100 yards from the Tchefuncta River, and we’ve been keeping our eye on that for sure. Madisonville is a neat little town which is very historic—established in 1811. Our park is only a couple of miles from this cute, historic town which is also on the Tchefuncta. Had a wonderful lunch. Mike had oysters on the half shell and I had red beans and rice with smoked sausage and corn bread. Very good. Back to our site and cut up all the strawberries and mixed with sugar and water. There’s strawberry shortcake in our future for sure. It hit 80 this morning before the storm. After the storm it went down to the 60s. We leave tomorrow and head to St. Louis. Taking three days though which will make for easy drives.