You Wouldn't Believe Everything We Saw in One Day

Abbeville, Louisiana
Betty's RV Park

George was behind the steering wheel today as all six of us piled into the truck at 8:30.  Lynn and Richard were leading the way in their truck.

Our first stop was the International Petroleum Museum and Exposition in Morgan City, Louisiana.  The Rig Museum is a must stop if you are in the area.  




The rig is known as "Mr. Charlie" and is the first submersible drilling rig used for offshore oil production.  The rig was donated to be used as a museum and also to be used for training oilfield workers.  In June of 1954, Mr. Charlie, drilled its first well offshore for Shell Oil.

Our guide was excellent.  He was a diver and worked on the offshore platforms for over 30 years.  He was a wealth of knowledge.  

This is a smaller drill bit.

Here's the sleeping quarters of one room.  They work 12 hour shifts, so two people would be in one of these 4 beds room.  The bathrooms were down the hall but the newer rigs have cruise ship type cabins now with bathrooms.

Here's the room they would have relaxed in when they weren't working.  Of course, now everyone has internet and cell phones so they don't spend a lot of time out of their sleeping rooms.  

Here's the galley where they could eat at any hour except when they were cleaning the kitchen.  The rig has been used in many movies and television programs.  Some of the movie props like the wall covering in the gallery have remained.

Here's the ROV which has replaced divers.  The ROV acts like a robot.

We climbed up and down stairs and ramps.  

When you've worked your 28 days on the rig and were ready to have your 28 days off, you could leave the ship in this swinging thing, if a helicopter wasn't available.






In the museum we learned a lot about diving.  

This was impossible to lift.  The suit weighs 250 pounds.  They can dive to 1,000 feet but have to decompress.

Our guide told us some stories about diving.  He dived in Canada at 28 degrees.  This tour was at least 90 minutes and the charge was $7.00



There was so much more we learned at the Rig Museum but I still have to tell you about the Wedell-Williams Aviation and Cypress Sawmill Museum, and Le Jeune Bakery and of course, where we ate lunch.  All this and we arrived back at Betty's in time for happy hour.

Betty told us to stop for lunch at Rita Mae's but our guide told us there wouldn't be enough seats for the eight of us.  He suggested Sam's Southern Eatery.

Our waitress said #31 was the most popular meal.  It was 4 pieces of catfish with five shrimp and two sides.  You could have it fried or grilled.  We had ours grilled with okra and red beans and rice.


On the way back Betty suggested we stop at Wedell-Williams Aviation and Cypress Sawmill Museum.  Oh yes, this was a free museum.  We entered the Cypress Sawmill Exhibit first.  

Do you think we're having a great day?

Most cypress trees grow to a maximum age of 1,000 to 2,000 years old but this tree dates to 3,960 years old.

These replica race planes were beautiful.  The exhibits told the story of air racing.

I thought this was a great quote about flying.  To our pilot friends and family--is this quote true?





We've been on the go all day and now we have full bellies but Betty told us about one other place.

Here's the Le Jeune bakery that has been in business since 1884.  There's a red light that is lit up to the left of the sign when the bread is hot and ready.

We have two loaves of bread that haven't been touched since we arrived here so I bought some of their gingerbread.  

We arrived back just in time to attend happy hour.  We were blessed to see Lucette, Betty's granddaughter.  





I don't mind telling you we are two tired people, but we enjoyed every minute of the day.  I remember telling Bill as we raced across Texas that when we got to Betty's he'd have time to relax and rest since we were staying a week.  Maybe when we leave here?

Turtle Safely..........