Armadillos, alligators & a hole in the head.

Cloudcroft is a ski resort, so the night was really refreshing. The next morning, the view from the window was a dream because we saw trees. Yes, we were actually standing in a pine forest. It smelled soooo good. Our eyes enjoyed the greenery and our hearts danced. This absolute barrenness is not for us in the long run. We enjoyed a nice breakfast, started the day with play, painting, and reading. We wanted to go a little further today. For this reason, we took a round in the forest before departure and absorbed everything we could. We saw butterflies the size of a hand. We heard the woodpecker and the air was fresh. After half a year, we longed for such cool moments and often wished we were back in Sweden and Norway.

In the afternoon, we continued. Part of the route actually went through a large green area before the usual picture appeared - nothing. Dry and vast NOTHING. We passed through the ghost town of Hope, which was indeed hopeless. Our destination was Carlsbad. Here there is a national park that was on our route. More precisely, caves. We didn't know much beforehand. Just the climb up the mountain was really impressive. We arrived at sunset and could enjoy a mega view. There were still a few cars there, no idea what they were doing here. I went to take a look. They were all standing in a certain spot looking up. I didn't see anything, so good night.

Originally, we wanted to go into the "park" after noon, but we were very curious and started walking around 10:00 am. Our entry was at 10:30 am. We decided to descend into the caves through the natural entrance. We were a little worried that we might have to climb or crawl. So we asked the ranger again. But no, it's all easily accessible. We still didn't know what to expect. But we chuckled again at the advertisement "Do you have never seen this kind of cavens." Of course. There are only caves here, and of course, they are soooo spectacular, like nowhere else in the world. It started. We walked to a meeting point where a ranger explained to us that we would now walk 1 1/2 hours down. There were no toilets there, and food was forbidden throughout the cave. So we quickly went to the bathroom, put some food in the kids, and set off. We passed a small amphitheater and saw the cave entrance. The fear was actually not confirmed that we would have to squeeze ourselves in there. The entrance was gigantic, and now we knew why people were looking up at the sky yesterday evening. Over 100,000 bats live here, which come out for their feeding flight in the evening. Okay, we couldn't see any right now, but it smelled a bit strange. We walked into the cave, and it got darker. What we experienced was truly breathtaking and above all gigantic. We reluctantly confirm the advertisement, but yes, we had never seen anything like it before. It resembled an underground village. The difference in height to the "real" cave is comparable to the Empire State Building staircase. We walked 250 meters deep underground, not through small corridors, but with walls several meters high adorned with stalactites, stalagmites, columns, cave pearls, and more. We can hardly describe it. Our pictures don't even begin to capture what we saw. We walked around underground for over 3 hours, and we didn't get bored. From the first second, we were captivated and absolutely thrilled. When we were back in the camper at around 3 pm, we took a break to watch the spectacle with the bats in the evening.

A ranger told the audience, with about 30 people including us, a lot about bats, and then it started. We had to be absolutely silent. Electronic devices were not allowed to be on because they interfere with the "radio waves" of the bats and thus their orientation. At first, there were two or three, and then there were more and more. A natural spectacle that we will also never forget.

We spent another night here and processed what we had seen. For driving, which was our only reason for coming here, and not knowing what to expect, Carlsbad Caverns was a mega surprise and our highlight so far in the USA.

The next morning, we prepared to leave and get ready for a really stupid part of traveling, driving and making progress. We had over 600 km ahead of us, which felt like 1200 km in the end. We left New Mexico and returned to Texas. We gave the state a second chance. Near Austin, there are supposed to be huge wildflower meadows in May, and we wanted to see them. W. loves flowers and was very excited. We were a little worried that she might be disappointed in the end. But oh well.

While we were driving, W. listened to audiobooks and dreamed of cool Sweden. We made three or four stops, and the fourth stop was the nicest. We got off the I10 (highway) and stopped in a small town. And then we went crazy. There was a lawn, green lawn, and there were deciduous trees, green deciduous trees. We hopped barefoot on the lawn. Plucked it and smelled it. Oh God. What a smell. We hugged the trees. All the other people around us probably thought their part, but we were completely euphoric. The smell of grass had been a long time ago. Deciduous trees too. We were even surprised at how much we enjoyed it and almost inhaled it. W. immediately picked herbs and flowers for a soup. There was also a playground, which was also thoroughly enjoyed. Ah, that was nice.

We used a fast food restaurant for dinner and drove the last 3 hours into the night.

Already on the highway, we saw a lot of dead wildlife, but also a lot of living animals eating at the edge. Shortly before Fredericksburg, we were only on country roads, and we drove at 30 km/h because there were deer every 10 meters. Sitting, standing, eating, looking. We had never seen so much wildlife. "Everything is bigger in Texas." Oh yes! Even the amount of wildlife is enormous. There seems to be a big challenge with overpopulation. But we also experienced that these animals are being fed. Well.

Just before we drove into the city, an opossum crossed the road. We had never seen that before either. It looked really funny. Like a little very fat sausage on four short legs.

Even at night, the city made a good impression. We found a free place in a dead-end street and an unused road, not far from downtown.

This will be our place for three nights and four days.

Fredericksburg is an original German town, and German was actually spoken here in the past. Not anymore, and we were probably the only Germans here. Even the Old German Bakery was a flop. We were so looking forward to rye bread or grain bread or at least mixed bread. The bakery didn't have any of that. But we found something on a small market and finally ate sourdough bread with butter, sausage, and cheese.

We strolled through the streets every afternoon. Admired the beautiful houses and even visited a church. In fact, we also strolled through the small, very pretty shops a bit. The furniture stores were soooo great. Too bad that not so much fits in the camper. We asked again at the tourist office about the wildflowers. The employee showed us on the map which region we should go to because it hadn't rained since December. The lush fields did not exist this year. Still, we remained optimistic.

After four days in this little cute town, we headed to the "mountains" of Texas. We stopped at a wildflower farm. It looked a bit like Karls Erdbeerhof, but without strawberries and all the bells and whistles. It was nice. That was it, though. Today we wanted to reach the Austin County, so we continued. Mathias still had the desire to visit a whiskey distillery. The first legal distillery in Texas was on our way. Somewhere hidden in nowhere. It had a family feel, a bit like in the parents' garden. Mathias got his money's worth. But W. and I (Caro) did too. The region of Texas is also known for its peaches, and W. enjoyed a really delicious fresh peach iced tea, and I had a salad. Mathias tasted 6 whiskeys and decided to take one of them. He spent a small fortune.

Continuing towards the flowers. And they really came. Small and large fields were everywhere. It was beautiful. We wanted to go to a state park on a lake, which was already north of Houston. We were not allowed to stay here. We were not allowed to fill up water either. We were not allowed to do anything. We didn't understand why. Even when we asked again why we weren't even allowed to use the water faucet right next to our camper. And there it was again ... the stressful journey through the USA. somewhat desperate, we stopped at a small rest area nearby and had dinner on the grass there. About 30 km away, there was another state park, and we headed there. We arrived at around 10:00 pm, and naturally, there was no one there anymore. We quickly filled up with water on an empty spot and parked on the visitor parking lot.

The next morning, we asked if there were still spots available, and indeed, we were able to stay.

The Buescher State Park was really nice. Located right on a large lake, super green, and lots of animals. Our pitch reminded us a bit of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It was a mixture of the villages where we had spent a lot of time last year. We felt comfortable. We enjoyed the days at the lake with fishing, barbecuing, and observing animals. Besides really beautiful birds, we saw armadillos, vultures, fish, and huge caterpillars. One caterpillar looked more like a Persian cat. We also went swimming. But I (Caro) was not comfortable with the water. I saw snakes everywhere again. Also, there were dead fish everywhere. The fishermen just left them lying on the beach, and it didn't smell good. It didn't look nice either, and the vultures were always circling above us.

It was time for the ocean. Texas was nicer than on our first visit, but we also had to move on slowly. We still had several states ahead of us. We drove past Houston and headed to Louisiana.

The first stop somewhere on the border with Texas at a river and a playground. It was soooo hot again, and we could hardly sleep. The next morning, we wanted to play on the playground. But the playground didn't want to be played on. Its best days were long gone, and there was trash and various clothing pieces lying around besides broken equipment. So we continued.

Always towards the Gulf of Mexico. Somehow, we couldn't get any closer. There were places right by the sea, but no place for us. In a small village, there was a parking space for $100 a night. In the end, we found a free spot right at the beach. We spent 3 nights here. We could breathe a little because there was at least some breeze.

Unfortunately, swimming was not possible here because the current was too strong, and the sea was also extremely rough. But we could walk along the beach and build sandcastles. Behind us was a large swamp area with numerous alligators. It's strange to see alligators swimming next to you while driving. In Germany, there may be a crane or a deer. Here, there are alligators and turtles.

Originally, we were going to stay one more night, but then bad weather got in our way. We had great respect for it because we were now in an area with hurricanes and such. We could see traces of them everywhere. We were already in bed when a severe thunderstorm and strong winds started. For us, it was immediately clear that we had to leave this place and drive further inland. So we put the sleeping child in the seat and drove off. Thank goodness we found a small parking lot 30 km later. We felt safer there. W. hadn't noticed anything and was only wondering the next morning why we weren't at the beach anymore. From now on, we also had the weather in Louisiana and all the following states in mind. Because it's hurricane and tornado season. Something we don't know and didn't want to underestimate.

We drove from our little emergency parking lot to Lafayette and from there back south and then to New Orleans. We stopped at a tourist info center in Lafayette and met an older lady who reminded me (Caro) a lot of my grandma. She was very talkative, and we asked her for recommendations for the area. She advised us not to go south but to go a little further east to Baton Rouge. From there, we should simply drive south along the Mississippi. Here we would see old sugarcane plantations, experience the Mississippi, and also get to New Orleans. Said and done.

Our drive took us a little further on the highway. This road led straight through the swamp and was beautiful to look at. If a highway can be beautiful, it was this section. Shortly before the Mississippi Bridge, we got off and stayed along the Mississippi. Neither Mathias nor I ever thought that we would end up on the Mississippi. We chose a few plantations to visit and were able to stay overnight in front of one. So our camper was behind the Mississippi levee on a plantation with huge old Virginia oaks and a history that carries a lot of suffering. Beautiful and ugly at the same time. We enjoyed the sunset and took a walk on the levee. Honestly, it could have been the Rhine, Main, or any other river. Visually, it didn't look any different.

The next morning, we packed our backpack and set off to see the plantations from the levee. We walked around in over 30-degree heat. The old and huge mansions next to us. But also small, very rundown huts. Huge agricultural areas that are still being farmed today. Here, five plantations were lined up next to each other. If we remember correctly, three of them could be visited. We were still up on the levee, between the Mississippi, the swamp, and the plantations. We discovered two alligators in the swamp and turtles. On the way back, we walked along the road and took a closer look at the sugarcane fields. Walked through some of the plantations' grounds and tried to teach W. a bit about the history. Looked at the small, rundown huts. One of them was also set up to show what it was like during slavery. We visited a smaller plantation. This contrast between the small huts and this almost palatial building was enormous. We sat on a swing under a huge oak tree. This is where the plantation owners must have sat while the slaves worked for them. Day in, day out.

We didn't feel like walking along the road anymore and walked across the meadow to the next plantation. We probably entered through the back entrance. This one is the most famous in the area - Oak Alley Plantation. We strolled through the garden past the main house. We didn't want to see anything, just wanted to go eat something. Suddenly, an employee approached us and asked if we also wanted to take a house tour. We didn't want to. For some reason, she asked us for our tickets. We didn't have any either. Oh, now we were glad she didn't call the police right away. We didn't know that even just looking from the outside cost admission. We were asked to leave the property. Which we did. We had lunch in the neighboring restaurant, which had the same name, and then made our way back to the camper.

The way back didn't lead straight to the camper but back onto the levee. We had W.'s new bike with us. The path on the levee was suitable for W.'s first attempts at riding it. She did well. After lunch, W. wanted to ride a little more. But suddenly she didn't want to anymore and preferred to play tag. Mathias came up with the great idea of catching her on the bike. So he got on the kids' bike and rode off very quickly. And then it happened, what had to happen. He fell. Overturned and landed roughly on the asphalt. The bike couldn't handle his weight. Along with a broken bike, there was now a bleeding Mathias in front of us. His head was injured, shoulder, ribs, legs. Glasses, backpack, and more were scattered on the levee. Mathias' clothes were also torn. W. collected the things, and I took care of Mathias. Thank goodness it was only about 250 meters to the camper. Once there, we first took care of Mathias. Cleaned his wounds with hydrogen peroxide and looked for things to cool them. We were really afraid it could be a concussion. Mathias rested and cooled his head. I happily applied hydrogen peroxide (burns) to his wounds every 5 minutes. W. and I played with dolls and lamented the new bike, which had really only been purchased a day before.

Thank goodness, Mathias only had external injuries and no further damage. He had some pain for a few days and looked really bad for about 14 days. Luckily nothing serious happened.

In the evening, despite the bike accident, we decided to continue driving to New Orleans. After all, it was only an hour away now. Mathias cooled off, and W. listened to an audiobook. Bus driver mom was ready.

We spent the night in New Orleans between several police cars. We felt safe, but sleep was out of the question. It was 32 degrees at night. There was little breeze, and we were lying in our own sweat.

I (Caro) was so relieved when it was time to get up. We had breakfast and then went on a sightseeing tour. Our place was in the harbor of New Orleans (Nola). We walked through the Lower Garden District, Garden District, Business District, to the French Quarter. The latter is the typical tourist district. We really liked Nola. These little houses, this greenery, huge old oaks, well-groomed people, music, nice bars, and restaurants. This is how we imagined the USA.

The day was as hot as the night, and we walked over 15 km all over the city. We ate delicious food and didn't return to the camper until late in the evening. We didn't want another night in this heat. So W. slept in the seat bed, and bus driver Caro drove through the night. The wind was worth it. We watched the states of Mississippi and Alabama pass by and stopped at the Florida Travel Center. There was no other solution now. We needed water. We wanted to swim. We needed to cool off. Florida was our big hope.