Louisiana - Day 17 - north to Toledo Bend Reservoir

South Toledo Bend State Park, Anacoco
Monday, 17 February 2020

Before I left the park, I drove around a little looking for someplace dogless where I could walk mine.  Surprisingly difficult, other people having apparently had the same idea.  I found one spot but was intimidated by the sign that said "Alligators In Area - Use Caution."  Either I got lucky or it wasn't warm enough for them to be around right now, but we managed to make it out without any alligator sightings.

We were on one side of what looked like a dried-up lake or marsh, that I'd seen the other side of at the campground.  The bowl was full of cypress.

You can just make out a few of the campers across the way through the mist.

I'm starting to recognize cypress even without seeing their knees.  They always have that graceful division toward the ground that looks to me like a woman wearing a ballgown that flows around her ankles.  And though this photo doesn't show it, their branches don't start until about 4' or 5' high, and they always branch upward into a pretty upturned bell shape.

Sam Houston Jones State Park has 70 acres of longleaf pine, the oldest living southern pine species.  There were once 90 million acres of them stretching from Virginia to Texas.  Sadly, no longer.

pine is on the left

I can recognize pine bark now (though not which species) without having to look at anything but the bark: it reminds me of alligator skin.

a pine - maybe longleaf?

That photo of the pine shows a walkway that's usually in water, I'm guessing, based on its elevation.  Don't know what on earth happened to all that water when it's been so wet this year.

today's route

On the road again
I didn't go far on the road at first because I wanted to stop at a Rouses Market I'd seen yesterday afternoon.  I needed kitty litter, an absolutely necessary household item.  The cashier said she liked living in Moss Bluff but thought it was getting too big as Lake Charles got closer.

I passed the Heaven on Earth Garden Center, though I don't know what connection the garden center would have with a moving company.  And I passed the Brown Bag Cafe, with a sign saying American Owned.  Why does that matter?  Is there some reason I should care whether the person who's making my food is or isn't a US citizen?  Maybe the Brown Bag owner needs to travel in a foreign country for a while.

There was heavy fog on the road an hour past the time it was forecast to lift.  Hope it lightens up before I go much further down the road.

I passed the town of Gillis and the town of Topsy (isn't that a character in Uncle Tom's Cabin?)  And I entered Beauregard Parish, which is the most Southern name I know.

The fields I was passing today were full of some plant - scrub brush? yellow grass? - that was so tall I could only see the top parts of the cows grazing there.

More scattered houses, but US Route 171 is 4 lanes with a wide grassy median - not conducive to a sense of community, I'd think.

I passed the towns of Ragley, DeQuincy, Longville, and miles of pine tree farms on both sides.

DeRidder
The town of DeRidder is clearly indebted to a family named Shirley because several of the streets are named after them.  I later learned the town was originally homesteaded by Calvin Shirley, which explains a lot.

There are an estimated 14,000 folks in this town, and many of them must be Baptists because the First Baptist Church is enormous.

We stopped for a walk and some lunch at the Veterans Park/Pernici Park (it looked like 1 park but had contradictory signs at either end).  Nice park with a walking trail and 9-hole disc golf.  There was the usual monument to war veterans and an additional monument to the dozens (listed) from the parish that had been killed in Desert Storm.  The park was maintained by the DeRidder Gardenettes, according to a sign, though that name makes me feel like gagging.  I assume it's the local garden club (though why couldn't they just say "garden club") but couldn't find anything online for them.

Gothic jail

The main reason I was in town was the mention I'd seen of their Gothic "Hanging" Jail.  It's pretty amazing in person, and this website will show photos and tell where the name came from.  It's considered haunted now (of course).   https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/gothic-jail

parish courthouse

The Beauregard Parish Courthouse sits right next door to that jail and it's hard to imagine a greater architectural contrast, but there they sit.

Unsurprisingly, I'm now on the Myths & Legends Byway.


Back on the road
I watched an SUV having some trouble negotiating one of those elevated lips the Louisiana driveways so often have and was thankful to see it wasn't just me and my RV having trouble with them.

I'm now in Vernon Parish, "Home of Fort Polk," according to their sign.

I passed a Tabernacle of David, which I think I've seen before but can't remember so looked it up.  Their website says it's a "family-based Messianic community centered around Yesuah the Messiah."  The word "messianic" often seems attached to a cult of some kind, so it makes me nervous.  These folks seem to be fundamentalist Jews in a way, though they aren't calling themselves that at all.  They say they support the unity of Jews and Gentiles, although I'm guessing they mean "unity" along their ideas rather than finding a common ground.  Anyway, if you're interested, here's the link to their website.   https://tabernacleofdavidministries.com

I went through "historic Rosepine," though since they weren't established until 1902, it's hard to see just how historic they are.  They've got their own historical marker, though.   https://www.hmdb.org

In town I saw a large handmade sign that said "Beware of Speed Trap - sign paid for by Robert Kiel" or maybe the name was Peal.  Anyway, I'm guessing Robert ran into a bunch of trouble and this is his way of spiking their guns.

I passed Pickering and then one of the gates for Fort Polk.  Their sign said it's a US Army Joint Readiness Training Center.

I passed by New Llano and the Museum of the New Llano Colony.  The colony lasted more than 20 years and is considered the most successful socialist Utopia in the US, which still doesn't bode well for socialism in this country.

I went through Leesville, looking unsuccessfully for a laundromat I'd seen online.

I only slept about an hour last night, so by now I was getting pretty tired.

Across Anacoco Creek, a modest little body of water to suit its modest little creek status.

At Anancoco I turned left (missed the turn, actually, the first time past) onto State Route 111, which is apparently a logging road, though paved, based on the logging trucks I saw and the tree farms I passed.  That road became State Route 392, which was a washboard road and an absolutely miserable drive.  Despite the 55 mph speed limit, I couldn't go over 30 mph.

I crossed the Sabine River, which flows south from Toledo Bend Reservoir to make 2/3 of the Texas/Louisiana border.

Toledo Bend is supposed to be one of the best bass lakes in North America.  It sits on the border of Texas and Louisiana and was built in the '60s as a joint project between the two states for hydroelectric generation.  It's now the largest man-made lake not only in Louisiana but also in the South, and is the 5th largest in the US.  It's the only such project in the US that doesn't have federal help in its permanent funding.

Once I found I could get a wifi signal here, and that the campground wasn't overpopulated, I decided to stay here 2 nights.

I stopped at the Visitor Center to walk the dogs and instantly ran into a problem - they both alerted almost before they were out of the RV.  So I hustled them back in and went to find somewhere else to walk them.  But this told me to watch out for wildlilfe in the campground, which was good to know.