Louisiana - Day 8 - southeast via Great River Road

Bayou Segnette State Park, Westwego
Saturday, 8 February 2020

today's route

Along the road
Near town I passed Kleinpeter Dairy, which I noticed because that's the brand of milk I've been buying in this area.  I really don't like buying the store brands of milk, since so often it's being shipped in from Illinois or somewhere.  But this dairy is even more local than I thought, with an address on Airline Hwy. in Baton Rouge.  It's family owned and operated, and the family has an interesting story to tell that I found on their website.    http://www.kleinpeterdairy.com/our-history

I was back on good old US Hwy. 61, aka Airline Highway, for about half today's distance.  The road out of Baton Rouge seemed non-stop franchises and small towns: Hope Villa, Prairieville (though not a prairie in sight), Duplessis, Gonzales, Brittany, Sorrento.

Aside from the bright yellow wildflowers in the medians, Weekend Edition with Scott Simon was more congenial than the scenery.  He had an interview by Susan Stamberg with the man who was dialog coach for the 4 non-American women who played in Little Women.  They're all from various parts of the British Empire and he managed to teach them all to talk like young women in early New England, USA.  Susan Stamberg asked him if he could do the reverse and teach her how to speak with an Irish accent.  He instructed her as follows:
   (1) say the word "whale"
   (2) then say the word "oil"
   (3) then say the word "beef"
   (4) say the word "hooked"
   (5) then run them all together in that order.

Speaking of the radio, I've been hearing a commercial from a company in the Baton Rouge/New Orleans area that keeps telling listeners they offer a "curated collection of flooring and window treatments."  Curated?  Really?  Floors and curtains aren't art.

I crossed the Mississippi River at least twice on today's drive southeast of Baton Rouge.  Still very wide river, and getting nearer the mouth.  So I guess it's not surprising to find swamp on both sides of the road in places and several bayou-looking bodies of water.

I saw a lot of egrets, both small and large, sometimes alone but also a sizeable flock at one point.  Once I saw one sitting in a tree, which I haven't seen since I've visited rookeries in Florida and Cozumel.

I passed a house with a porch roof that was being held up by the trunks of dead trees.  They used the cut-off branches to hang things on.

an Anhinga

I saw a couple of Anhingas with their wings spread out to dry.  Unlike most birds that swim, the Anhinga's feathers aren't waterproof and soak up the water they swim in.  They can't fly or even float very long when their feathers get waterlogged, so they stand on a tree or post and spread their wings to dry.  Seems an odd oversight of evolution, since these birds catch prey by swimming underwater.

Whitney Plantation
I stopped here on the off-chance there'd be space available in the next tour, which there was but it wouldn't start for another hour.  The tour lasts 1½ hours, and if I waited an hour for it to start, that'd mean a later arrival at the campground than I wanted.  So I decided to come back in a couple of days and buy a ticket online, as they told me in the Visitor Center there.

I walked the dogs around the large parking lot and we got back on the road.

Along the Great River Road
The next 18 miles or so were right along the west side of the Mississippi.  I had high levee on my left side the whole way.  In fact, that plantation faces the levee, as do several small towns.  I just can't imagine living that way, with the constant risk of drowning (since 100-year floods are happening more often these days).

I noticed out in a field a nice avenue of huge live oaks, dripping with Spanish moss.  My guess is that there was once a plantation there, and the oaks were planted along the drive up to the house.  Those oaks have lived through some major events of nature and are still standing.

For a ways, there was a bayou along the west side of the road, and all along the road I found men sitting next to their pickup trucks on upturned plastic buckets fishing in the bayou.  Lots of them.

I passed a couple of heavily patronized boat launches, one of which looked informal, rather than official.  But lots of folks must have had boats in the water.

I passed a sign pointing down a road, and it said Chemical Plants.  I'm beginning to think Louisiana is bipolar.

Errands
Since I'd missed the plantation tour, I had extra time and was glad I'd located a grocery store, where I stopped, and a Chase Bank branch, where I also stopped.  Nice to be back in a state where Chase is willing to operate - it's been months.

As I drove to the campground, I found a lot of traffic that hadn't been there an hour before.  Then I saw police out directing traffic and was so focused on navigating the mess I didn't realize what was going on.  My first clue was when the cop directed me off my side street across the main road and into the state park, and I noticed I was passing huge parade floats.  A Mardi Gras parade, and it looked like a big one.  I was so surprised it didn't occur to me to try to find what the parade route would be so I could watch.  I'm sorry I missed it.

I saw something in the state park I don't remember seeing before.  They had signs warning drivers of "speed tables."  They'd widened and flattened the top of a speed bump, so it'll still slow you down but won't take out your axle or unbalance the RVs going across them.

The campground was nearly full - it's a Saturday, after all.  But the campsites are quite far apart and paved, so it's very pleasant.

Louisiana - Day 7 - Baton Rouge

Cajun Country RV Park
Friday, 7 February 2020

I'd planned a very busy day today that was half sightseeing and half errands.  I'd planned to do things in that order but, when I realized I'd be getting on the highway at about rush hour traffic time, I decided to switch the order.

today's route

Supplies and a Fax
When I got to the far eastern side of town to a section of big box stores, it was too early for Office Depot to be open so I went to a Target while I waited.  All I got there was Prilosec, the over-the-counter substitute for the prescription meds I can't get any more.  Very necessary purchase, though.

Then the Office Depot to use their fax.  I realized a couple of days ago that there's an election coming up and Collin County would be expecting me to vote in person.  So I found the online form to request a Vote-By-Mail ballot, which can be faxed to them but must be followed by the original with original signature, to be received by them within 4 days of the fax.  With the Texas primary on March 3rd, I need to get them the application, after which they'll send a ballot to David's and Anna's house, when D&A will (very generously) forward it to me, and I'll mark my ballot and then somehow get it back in by the deadline.  Time being short, I faxed the application.

While I was in the store I found some plastic envelopes I can put in the notebooks I've made for each state.  I've found these envelopes are really helpful to save tourist brochures and things I want to keep for each state, and I used my last one in Mississippi.  They didn't have what I had before, but I think the substitutes will work okay.

Laundry
Just a few blocks away was a laundromat I'd found online that turned out to be fine.  Clean, reasonable prices, helpful staff, efficient machines.  And clean clothes.  No place to walk the dogs, but I'd walked them before we left the Office Depot parking lot, which had a big side area with grass.

Post Office
I'd managed to arrive at lunch time, so there was only one person at the front counter and a long line.  But she was helpful and efficient and friendly, which I was impressed with.  When I told her I needed that letter to arrive within 4 days, she suggested 2-day delivery instead of regular mail.  More expensive but I really don't want to miss a chance to vote.

Recycling
The post office was about a mile from that recycling place I'd gone to on my first day in the state.  I knew I'd be leaving the area tomorrow and had no idea when I'd be near another recycling center, so I stopped off.  I'd accumulated a bag of recycle stuff in the last week - not all that much but no point in carting it around for who knows how long.

Louisiana Old and current State Capitol Buildings

State Capitol

Old State Capitol

Every time I've seen these buildings I wonder why anyone in their right mind would exchange the character of the old building's design for the obvious phallic symbol of the newer one.  At 34 stories and 450' tall, the new one is the tallest state capitol in the country.

It was the brainchild of Gov. Huey Long.  Elected as a "populist," he said the new building would symbolize the end of "the political domination of Louisiana's traditional social and economic elite."  Maybe so, but it was built in 1930-31, early in the Depression when money was getting scarce.  And sure the old one, built 1849 and renovated in 1882, was getting old and tight on space, but they could have spent a lot less money on fixing those problems than building this new thing.

Though to be fair, while the old one has been called the "best example of Gothic Revival architecture in the South," Mark Twain is among those who were far from impressed.  The old one was built overlooking the Mississippi River, and Twain called it "pathetic" and likely the result of someone reading too much of what he called Sir Walter Scott's "medieval romances."  I like Twain, but I still like this old capitol.

As a side note, Long wanted the building to be finished while he was still governor, but he got elected to the US Senate at about the time construction started in 1930.  He delayed taking his oath of office until 1932, just so he could get the credit instead of his hated rival who was succeeding him.

These photos are off the internet because I couldn't get to a position where I could take photos.  Oddly, I saw the current capitol from exactly that position when Momma and I came through town some years ago.  But when I tried to get there again today, I couldn't do it.  The street I once drove on is now blocked off for reserved parking, with a guard at the entry.

I also tried to go to the nearby Capitol Park Museum, which seems to be a branch of the LA State Museum and looked like somewhere I could get a good overview of the state.  But I have no clue at all where they expect people to park.  There're a few metered on-street parking places, and I assume there's a parking garage hidden somewhere though I never found it.  But their website doesn't mention parking at all and I finally just gave up the idea.  I'd have made more of an effort if I'd had more time here in town, though, because it looked interesting.

Although there's nothing obviously odd about the way downtown is laid out, other than the number of one-way streets, I found I had trouble navigating it and ended up driving a long way north when I wanted to go south, and nowhere at all to turn around.  Frustrating.

Baton Rouge is built right on the Mississippi River.  They've created a park on the levee - you know, why not use the thing since it's there - which turns it from an eyesore into something attractive.  Azaleas are starting to bloom, adding to the tulip magnolias - very pretty.

Aside from the astounding lack of parking space downtown, this seems to be a very liveable city.

LSU
Geaux Tigers - Beat Clemson was on signs all over the area (which they'd just done last month - final score: LSU 42 - Clemson 25).  Apparently folks in the area are still savoring being National Champions, which they deserve to do.

LSU is a large, attractive campus.  Enrollment 30,000.

LSU Law Center

I was stunned to find myself driving alongside this building that says Law Center on the front, stunned because it's so huge.  Looks like a courthouse, not a law school.  In this internet photo, you can't see the street, but that paved area ends at it, so my view of this huge building was up close and personal.  Very impressive.

Actually, I didn't find this building until after I'd gotten very lost.  I drove down the west side of campus and then tried to cut through, only to find another closed street with a guard at the entrance.  What's with all these guardhouses in this town?  Then I couldn't figure out how to cut through anywhere else either.  I'm sure there's ways that people who live here know, but I didn't and once again went a long way out of the way from where I'd intended.  So long, in fact, that I'd been passing through several miles of residential neighborhoods without finding any streets with familiar names.  I was completely out of the area I'd intended to be in.

In desperation I pulled down a side street and into something that may once have been someone's driveway but now didn't seem to lead anywhere.  This neighborhood didn't have any curbs, let alone sidewalks, and the roads were barely 2 cars wide so I was afraid to stop someplace to go fire up my hotspot and my laptop to find out where I was and how to get back.  That's why the map of today's route has those two lines trailing out of the bottom of the map - I went a lot farther than it shows.

When I got turned back around and went back to the campus, I got caught in a tremendous traffic jam.  I don't know why the traffic jam was there, though maybe 1:30 is going-home time on a Friday afternoon at LSU.  I passed by a restaurant called The Chimes, which seems to be a local landmark.  Largest beer selection in town, they claim.  Figures, being right next to a major university.

And from there I managed to get back to our campground again and not to get lost any more.

Louisiana - Day 6 - across northern southern LA

Cajun Country RV Park, Port Allen
Thursday, 6 February 2020

So we finally saw the deer, 2 of them, just at sunset.  With my usual timing, we were just leaving the RV for our last walk of the day when they showed themselves, so I had a hard time getting Dexter to walk a different direction.  Luckily, some other campers came in just then and set up camp right where the deer had just been.  That plus me and 2 dogs appearing was apparently enough to convince the deer to go somewhere else because we didn't see them again.

Then this morning I'm sure they were around, but we didn't see any and I can't tell you how relieved I was to get out of that campground without a disaster.

I spoke too soon about the weather because overnight we got several bursts of heavy rain, lots of wind, and some really loud thunder.  I got up for a bathroom run and had trouble getting in because both dogs were huddled at the door.  Gracie apparently wanted to get in to hide in the shower (a nuisance for Lily because her box gets blocked), and I had the door fixed so only Lily could get in.  And Dexter apparently wanted to go where Gracie was.  So both of them were cowering at the end of my bed, shaking, the poor things.  So I patted them for a while and told them we were safe and tried to be soothing.  They finally moved to the bed under the table when the thunder seemed to move away.

I had the fan on all night because it had been hot when we went to bed, but when I got up in the morning it was much colder and I had to turn the heater on.  The temp plummeted during the night from the 60s at bedtime to the low 40s around sunrise.  It's the tail end of that system that's spreading snow and ice all over the northern states.  And I heard today that both Mississippi and Alabama had bad storms and flooding and someone in AL actually died from high winds.  So we were lucky.

today's route

I'd aimed to leave the campground fairly early this morning, but I'm not giving the dogs their first walk until almost 7:00 here - waiting for sunrise so I can see any deer as fast as Dexter is sensing them.  That late beginning shoves our whole routine way back into the morning and it was nearly 9:30 before we got out.

The drive west
I saw a house - just an ordinary house - that had 10 windows on one side, about an inch apart from each other.  They looked like ordinary single-hung windows and they took up the entire side of the house.  I have to assume there were lots of windows on the other side too and that they were there for air flow.  More windows even than those old 1900s houses built before AC was invented, because these were all jammed right up next to each other.  It really looked odd.

A sign told me Route 10 that I was on is Zachary Taylor Parkway.  Well, first off, it's not a parkway, it's only a 2-lane-no-shoulder country road,  And for seconders I hadn't connected any presidents to Louisiana - except Andrew Jackson of course because of the Battle of New Orleans.  But I looked it up and learned that Zachary Taylor is the only Louisiana native to become president (he was #12).  They honored both that and his effective military service by naming an important road (it crosses the width of the state) for him.

Before I saw that sign, I saw several signs telling me this is a Louisiana Scenic Byway, but I can't figure out why.  I mean, it's nice enough country and I'm sure will be quite pretty in the summer, but there's nothing particularly scenic about it that I can see.  But when I tried to look it up, all I could find were sites telling me this route is the Zachary Taylor State Byway.  So there it is.

I spent all morning on this road and passed almost nothing but small towns, houses and cows.  Lots of cows.  In fields I saw anything from just a few to a herd of 50 or more.  There weren't many crop fields that I could see, just the fields of grazing cows.  And an occasional sign for a family dairy farm.

I passed an interesting-looking house.  A small 2-story house with a porch around all 4 sides upstairs and down.  Except on one side of the house the downstairs porch area was taken up by a carport that was covered by the porch on the 2nd story.  And these porches were so wide (more than the width of a car), the porch area may have been bigger than that of the small house itself.  I'm guessing these are folks who spend a lot of time outside, though I'd have thought some of that porch area would be screened in.  I keep finding a lot of bugs around and it's still just early February.  But it looked like a very comfortable place to live.

I went through the town of Clinton, established 1824.  And since these small towns are strung along this little state highway, soon after Clinton I came to Jackson (not to be confused with Jackson, MS).  I can tell you that Junius "Pappy" Robillard is making a vigorous run for mayor of Jackson.  His name sounds quintessentially Louisianan to me, much more so than his opponent Jimmy Norsworthy, who seems to be running a halfhearted campaign.  Sorry, I can't tell you anything about either of these folks, though, because there's nothing obvious online about them.

For much of today's drive, the road has been lined with trees and occasional houses and more fields of cows.  This area must be Louisiana's dairy region.  The road has also been moving up and down over low hills, though I'd've expected flatter land since we're coming up on the Mississippi River: Hwy. 61 that runs south from St. Francisville to Baton Rouge roughly parallels the river, and  you can see it in today's route map.

St. Francisville
My original idea when I was planning today's drive was to stay the night here and do some sightseeing.  But when I looked more closely at what's in the area, I changed my mind.  Mostly the sights to see are plantations which, in my view, charge a whole lot of money to show folks around 150-year-old splendor that was possible only through slave labor which the tours don't seem to want to mention.  Although I'd like to see some of these houses, I don't want to feel like I'm helping perpetuate this myth that white folks did all this alone - which apparently a lot of people believe.  I heard of a plantation farther south that has their tour focused on the slavery, rather than on the masters, and that's what I'm willing to pay money for.  Even the Audubon State Historic Site here is actually a plantation where he stayed for a few months and they charge $10 admission.  Anyway, I decided not to stop long in St. Francisville.

But I needed some groceries and we all needed to stretch our legs and take a bathroom break and have some lunch.  I'd found online a new grocery store called Audubon Market (though it has nothing whatever to do with him) and I'd planned to stop there.  But the parking lot was small, crowded, and the entrance had a raised lip that made me not want to try it.  I've seen those often in this state - the entrance to a driveway is raised even as much as an inch - whole neighborhoods are built with driveways like this.  Even driving a regular car I've found those lips to be a nuisance, but in my RV they can cause serious balance problems.  If I don't go over them very slowly, the whole vehicle rocks violently, including all the vehicle's contents.  Exiting over the lip is bad enough, but entering is more than a nuisance.  But while driving to this market, I'd passed an IGA grocery and I like that chain, so I decided to go back there.  Turned out to be a good decision because they had almost everything I wanted.  And we had our little rest stop besides.

To New Roads
I took a side road from St. Francisville for 2 reasons: I wanted to get over to a road closer to the Mississippi River, and I wanted to see the town of New Roads.  There's nothing special about the town that I know of, but it's the center of population for Louisiana.  I found an interesting article about centers of population if you're interested.   https://www.howderfamily.com/blog/state-centers-population

More interesting than the town, though, was getting there.  I had to cross the Mississippi River, which is always an event, it being a river of some size.  At this location, the crossing is on the John James Audubon Bridge (remember I said when I first got to this state that all kinds of utterly unrelated things are named after this famous man?).

John James Audubon Bridge

The bridge really is yellow, like it's shown in this photo.  According to Wikipedia, this is the 2nd longest cable-stayed span in the Western Hemisphere.  "Span" is defined as the distance between the towers and, in this case, is 1,583'.  The bridge covers a distance of 12,883', which is more than 2 miles, and it's a good thing I didn't know this before I got here or I might have chickened out, feeling as I do about bridges.  But you can see it's not one of those that goes up into the air like a carnival ride, and I stayed away from the edge and it worked out okay.  Very wide river.

New Roads is just an ordinary small town - pop. 4,800 - that's oriented around a different river - the False River.  The town got its name from a new road that was built in the late 1700s to connect the Mississippi River with the False River.  The river got its name from it not being a river at all, though it was until the early 1700s, when it was a main channel of the Mississippi River.  But over time the river moved farther east and this section got cut off into an oxbow lake.

Main Street in New Roads was clearly almost the only street a long time ago, because just past the small area of shops and things are some very nice houses, followed by some small modest houses, all nicely kept.  Seems to be a very pleasant little place.

On the drive south
I'm beginning to see cemeteries with above-ground graves, which to me means the water table in this area is shallow, though I may be wrong about both the water table and the reason for the above-ground graves.

I've been seeing egrets here and there.  I got a good view of a Red-tailed Hawk and passed a Kestrel hunting.

This whole drive is along the Great River Road and for much of its distance is running right next to a levee.  Actually, in Louisiana there are 2 Great River Roads, one on either side of the river.  In all the other states I've been in, the river's been a state boundary line; here, it runs right through the state on its way to the Gulf of Mexico.  Hwy. 61 that I was on before I turned to cross the river, is the eastern route of the Great River Road for part of its distance, and I'm driving on State Route 415, the western route.  I'm just amazed to see people living their lives with their houses within yards of this river.  Maybe it overflows less frequently than it seems like it does, but why would you want to rebuild in the exact place that got flooded last time?

I passed cows grazing on the levees in small fenced fields (though the cows don't have any choice about where they live).

And I went back to this campground where I'd stayed a week ago.  It's not cheap, but it's a comfortable place for the dogs and it's close to Baton Rouge where I wanted to visit.

Louisiana - Days 4 & 5

Bogue Chitto State Park
Tuesday, 4 and Wednesday, 5 February 2020

I found out when I checked in that they were giving seniors a 50% discount on the camping fee making it $13/night, and when I went to my site I found it was level, all the roads were paved, and I got a wifi signal on my hotspot.  So I went back and added a couple more nights to my stay.

The drawback was that this place looks like prime deer territory, and one of the campground hosts assured me they were all over the place here.  Dexter, the Mighty Hunter, spends most of our walks searching for game, which terrifies me.

The campground road goes up and down mild hills, which is nice for exercise except Gracie just drags when we go up hills.  I keep telling her she's younger than I am and why should I be having to spend my energy pulling her up these hills when she's perfectly capable of walking up them herself.  Not that that makes any difference.

So our walks are with Dexter straining ahead to find prey, Gracie trying to see how slowly she can get away with walking, and me terrified a deer will show itself and Dexter will lunge after it and Gracie will wrap the leash around the back of my legs and lunge after it from behind.  I take them on 4 or 5 walks a day and I won't believe it if we can make it out of here without trouble.

This is a new campground, just opened 10 years ago.  Many campgrounds I've been in have posts at the entrance to each site with some kind of binder clip on them; each camper is expected to attach to the binder clip a card you get at registration with the date you're leaving, making it easier for staff to enforce overstays.  At most campgrounds the binder clips are in varying stages of decay and rust.  At this campground they're still so new the silver finish shines, and it's so unexpected I notice them all the way around the campground.

A flock of Robins here, and a flock of Mourning Doves, a pair of cardinals and a flock of chickadees.  Nice batch of birds.

I've spent these 2 days catching up on the blog posts, going through the tourist info I picked up days ago, and making plans and reservations for the next few days in LA.

When I booked us in for several nights here, I intended to do these things, but my main concern was the weather forecast.  We were supposed to get rain on Tuesday, and heavy rain plus lightning and thunder on Tuesday night and Wednesday.  I didn't want to drive in weather like that so decided to wait it out here.

We have had a little rain, but nothing like the 1"-2" that was predicted.  We've had some thunder today, but most of it's been at enough of a distance that it's not scaring Gracie much.  It's been muggy and warm, though, and I've had either the fan or the AC on since yesterday afternoon.  Crazy at this time of year but too hot without it.

Aside from the deer, though, it's a comfortable place to stay.

Louisiana - Day 3 - Bogalusa

Bogue Chitto State Park, Franklinton
Monday, 3 February 2020

We saw that lone deer again this morning on our early walk, and the dogs started bouncing around again like idiots (though not barking this time).  But this time, the deer just stood at the edge of the road and stared at the dogs like he'd never seen anything like them and didn't run away and didn't run away.  I was thinking how wonderful the traction was on my shoes and begging the deer (silently) to go away and telling the dogs (quietly because of sleeping nearby campers) to settle down (fat chance).  And after at least a full minute or more of that, the deer finally walked across the road and into the woods.

I was starting to feel comfortable in this campground, and part of me wanted to stay an extra night since I knew I could get a wifi signal here.  But David said my mail was due to arrive at the Bogalusa Post Office today, so I decided to go on up there.

today's route

On the road again
I passed a sign saying Mandeville was established in 1840.  Louisiana has many towns that are much older than those I've been seeing since almost a year ago.  With the importance of the mouth of the Mississippi River to traders and explorers and settlers and soldiers, and the fairly mild climate, a whole lot of people came here early and many of them stayed.

Counting only activities of Europeans (because Native Americans were in this area since 1800 BC), Natchitoches was established 1714, and New Orleans and Baton Rouge both in 1718.  Like I said, older than places in Wisconsin and Kentucky, for example.

My impression of Louisiana drivers, after admittedly only 3 days worth of exposure, is that they actively look for chances to pull out in front of other cars.  Okay, maybe not that bad, but they have no fear at all about leaping out into moving traffic when what's coming at them is a big, hard-to-stop RV.

Part of my drive this morning took me through St. Tammany Parish.  I always think of Tammany Hall, the icon of corruption, when I hear that word, so I've been curious how sainthood figured in.  This link to a Wikipedia article explains where the "saint" came from pretty clearly.   https://en.wikipedia.org/Tamanend  And this link to an Encyclopedia Britannica entry helps explain how the corrupt Tammany Hall arose from sainthood.   https://www.britannica.com/Tammany-Hall

I've started seeing several paved, well-marked bike trails in the state.  I'll be interested to see how pervasive they are.

Next town down the road was Abita Springs, apparently known best for its mineral springs and a local brewery.  But another attraction, the UCM Museum, aka Abita Mystery House, looks like it appeals only to people with quirky senses of humor, and I'm not sure mine's quirky enough.  These Yelp comments do a good job of explaining it and give a range of opinions about it.   https://www.yelp.com/ucm-museum-abita-mystery-house  Anyway, I didn't want to take the time for it; but maybe next time.

I saw a sign by the road that said only "Magnum Justice Randolph."  I started wondering if this was another campaign sign or had something to do with Louisiana's unusual judicial system, so I looked it up.  And all I could find for those 3 words in that order was a very brief 2018 obituary for a 17-year-old with that name.  I'm sorry someone so young is dead, but I can't imagine what that sign was about.

For about an hour, I passed one small town after another, but they were all small rural types of towns, not part of suburban sprawl.  It was nice.

This internet photo shows Waldheim United Methodist Church.  They say its address is in Covington, but when I saw it I'd just passed a sign for Waldheim.

Anyway, this church looks even more traditional in person than in this photo, partly because this photo doesn't show how it's nestled right up next to a cemetery in the old fashioned way.  It really was very sweet.

I saw a handmade sign for Brahman Bulls for sale except I swear it was spelled Barman Bulls.

I came into Washington Parish, which covers the whole northeastern corner of this leg of the state (as opposed to the northeastern corner in the northern part of the state).  I saw several signs posted saying they're celebrating the 200th anniversary of the parish.  We have states that haven't been around that long.

I passed a field completely covered with yellow wildflowers.  It was such a beautiful burst of sunshine.

I drove past an isolated burned-out Airstream RV, and right next to it was a gorgeous tulip magnolia in full bloom.

I'm passing lots of pines and oaks

Bogalusa
Just a guess, I think the town's named for Bogue Lusa, a creek that I found running through town.  Bogue, pronounced "BOH-guh," seems to be a French word, and whatever it means in France, here it refers to a creek or stream.  Bogues are all over the state.

Coming into town, I took a main street that was nevertheless not one I expect the city powers want tourists to see.  For instance, I passed a large building labeled Genco's Amusement Co., which looks thoroughly out of business.  I looked it up out of curiosity and found a reference to one in Hammond as well, but that may also no longer be a going concern.  It used to make coin-operated toys and amusement devices and arcades.  While there seem to be a lot of those still around, I haven't heard that any of them are new.  Shame, really.

I stopped at what's called Main Street Grocery, a little local place, and I'm glad I did.  According to the internet, the competition is Walmart, and I'm sure that's pulled a lot of their business.  But there were still plenty of customers when I was there so I got to listen to some of the local gossip.  And I was very surprised to find they had almost everything I wanted - unusual in such a small store.  Nice little place.

Bogalusa's most obvious industry is the International Paper Plant.  It was going at full steam, literally, and the smell was pretty bad.  And air being what it is, the smell covered a good-sized area.  I saw several filled logging trucks turning in at the plant's gates.

I stopped at the main post office and, with no trouble at all, got my General Delivery mail that my wonderful brother had sent me.

The dogs and I had lunch and a walk at a park a block from the post office.  Nice little park with a paved pedestrian trail.  And along the trail they had markers with yoga positions and children's activities.  Nice for a relatively small town (12,000).

I passed a veterinary office with the sign: "Your pets will love us - we shih tzu not."

The local high school team is the Bogalusa Lumberjacks.

Back on the road
I turned nearly due west from Bogalusa and found I was driving beside a pine tree farm that went for miles on both sides of the road.  Ten filled logging trucks passed me (hence, "Lumberjacks" I assume).  I couldn't help but think what busy little beavers they were to fill all those trucks.

I was surprised to find a lot of bugs hitting my windshield.  I would have thought early February would still be winter and bugs would still be absent from my life.  There were a lot of them.

I passed what looked like an actual castle that was named Louisiana Castle.  There's no uncopyrighted photo online, but their website says it's a replica of an English Norman Keep Castle, and it's available for weddings and stuff.

In Franklinton I passed the Hillcrest Baptist Church and noted a full parking lot.  Since it's about 2:00 on a Monday afternoon, I figured it was a funeral, except I didn't see a hearse.  Maybe it was a memorial service.  Odd though.

When I got into the campground, I cleaned the RV's windows.  I remember how my uncle in Florida used to be urgent about us getting the car washed when we'd drive there during love bug season because they can ruin the paint job.  I didn't think that's what these were, but they were still covering the windshield.

I found when I spent a little time out there that gnats were being a real nuisance.  That's not what I had on my windshield, but it is what was flying around my head while I cleaned it off.  If there are this many bugs in Louisiana in February, I'm glad I'm not here in the summer.

Louisiana - Day 2

Fontainebleau State Park
Sunday, 2 February 2020

It was a beautiful warm day and I spent it in the campground.  As often happens, more than half the campers left today - they'd only come for the weekend - so the population level was easier for us to take.

This campground feels like it's half underwater, and many of its sites are unusable because of so much standing water.  Rain is predicted for later this week so it'll just get worse, I guess.

But the roads and campsites are paved, so the dogs and I aren't having to slog through mud when we go for walks.

Deer
The deer are, though.  About 4:30 yesterday afternoon, Dexter and I saw 4 deer picking their delicate way through the enormous puddle - practically a swamp - in the trees next to the RV.  We saw them a couple of other times picking their way through other puddles in other campsites.  These deer didn't look like I expected them to with odd markings on their sides, and I wondered if they were something other than white-tailed deer.  Later I saw a 5th deer that seemed to be following the other 4, though I never saw them together.

Saw them again this morning.  In fact, that 5th one decided to cross the road not too many yards in front of where we were walking.  So both dogs started bouncing around and Dexter was so excited he actually barked, which made the deer pick up his pace.  When he started running, his tail flipped up and - sure enough - there was the white patch I was looking for.

We saw them walking in the same areas several times during the day today, so I'm guessing that's a regular route for them, though I have no idea where they're coming from or going to.

Other critters
Here and there I saw little mounds of dirt that just didn't look like ant hills, and finally in some dim distant recess of my memory I came up with "mole."  We didn't see them in Austin and I assumed they were northern critters.  But these little mounds, plus the holes I was finding occasionally, made me think I was wrong about the "northern" part.

It was so beautifully sunny and warm today that the dogs and I had several long walks.  One of them took us to the park's Visitor Center, open luckily, so I could ask the rangers my nature questions.  Yes, they have moles here.  Yes, these are white-tailed deer.  Yes, that is a Pileated Woodpecker I've been hearing.  I didn't bother to ask about the Red-headed Woodpeckers I've seen a couple of times.  Or the beautiful pair of Eastern Bluebirds and the equally beautiful pair of Cardinals I saw together on the road to the Visitor Center.  The bright blue and bright red were a nice combination on a sunny day like this.

I forgot to ask about the owl I heard in the middle of the morning, which seemed like an odd time for an owl to be awake.  According to the bird book, my best bet is on a Barred Owl which lives here year-round and is "much more likely than most other owls to be heard in daytime."  There are only a few mainly diurnal owls, none of which live in LA.

I also forgot to ask what kind of frogs I've been hearing here.  They must be loving all this water and are singing like crazy all around the campground.  Their song sounds a lot like a very creaky gate being opened very slowly - a kind of ratcheting sound - very loud.

History
The campground has some beautiful ancient oaks in it.  At left is one.  Tree age is deceptive for me and all I know for sure is that a huge trunk doesn't necessarily indicate old age.  But I'm still betting the trees this size in the campground have been around for 100 years or more.

Not far from the Visitor Center we came across the remains of an old sugar mill.  The state has left them for public education, I guess.


There are parts of 2 chimneys left, along with some of the broken walls of the buildings.

These signs explain what the mill was about.

Within a short walking distance of the sugar mill I found a huge field with oak trees and this historical marker.

This marker seems to stop in the middle of the story, which I'm sorry about, but what they've got is interesting.  The field, only part of which is shown in my photo above, is beautiful, and I'm glad the parks people left it as it is and didn't put campsites around it.

Miscellaneous
I'm still dealing with the injuries I got from 2 incidents in Alabama. 

When that SUV hit me in Birmingham, I must have hit my right knee directly on the street, because it's been sore ever since.  But not just sore like a bruise, which I also had there.  There's a spot where it feels like my kneecap was chipped.  I looked it up online and concluded that's not what happened, but something happened that feels like that and it's still hurting after coming up on 2 months.

Then there was that very bad scrape to my right elbow I got when the stray dogs in that campground near Satsuma agitated my dogs into pulling me along the ground.  It was deep and I now realize I probably should have gotten professional medical help for it.  But I didn't and it took weeks to finally create a scab over the entire area, and even more weeks for that to do its job.  Most of it's gone now and I think there'll be a scar, but that area is about as sensitive to touch as it was when it happened.  Me being right-handed means that spot often touches things.  I just wish it would finish healing and leave me alone.

I bought a whole chicken at the grocery store yesterday, intending to cook it in the slow cooker today.  But it turned out to be seriously frozen so all I can do is keep it wrapped up in the frig till it thaws.  Just as well I didn't buy the greens I was tempted to fix to go with it.

That was an odd experience, actually.  The only lettuce choices in this Winn-Dixie were iceberg and prepacked Romaine.  But they had a whole section of bags of greens - mustard greens and turnip greens and collard greens and kale and beet greens - it was amazing, especially next to the limited lettuce selection.  I don't remember ever seeing such a variety of greens in a grocery store.

For some reason, the dogs were beautifully behaved in this campground the whole time we were here.  I wish they were always like that.

Louisiana - Day 1 - Baton Rouge to Mandeville

Fontainebleau State Park, Mandeville
Saturday, 1 February 2020

Last night's campground seems to be catering primarily to working folks, because even on a Saturday there was a veritable parade of pickups leaving the campground very early.  No ambiance at all but it was a good campground for me because so many people leave during the day, there's a lot of roadway for the dogs and me to walk on, and it looked like wild animals were likely minimal.  Actually, I was a little sorry I wasn't going to stay longer because an older couple was in the pavilion cooking in large containers, and I'm guessing they were fixing something like red beans and rice or maybe BBQ for the campground.  But I'd already paid for our reservation at the state park.

today's route

On the road
This state built most of its economy around the oil & gas industry; then plummeting oil prices in the 1980s brought a statewide economic crisis.  Public schools were among the worst in the country; political corruption was rampant; crime soared; social services couldn't meet the needs.  In 1992, desperate for revenue, LA legalized gambling.  Casinos now seem to be everywhere: a few miles from the campground I saw several truck stops that had casinos attached.

I passed a plant labeled "UOP - A Honeywell Company."  Curious, I looked it up and learned that Honeywell has been very busy in the last 20 years.  I'm used to them being an electronics company, but UOP stands for Universal Oil Products and that seems to be Honeywell's main focus now.  The history of mergers and acquisitions is interesting.    https://www.uop.com/uop-history 

Heading east I passed a sign saying "Baton Rouge Corp. Limit" which reminded me I've long been curious about this corporate thing regarding cities.  Several states in the Northeast do this, too.  From a little research I've concluded it's referring to the fact that Baton Rouge is an incorporated town, unlike the unincorporated towns around the state.  And that seems to be it - I can't tell that there's any other significance to it.

Through Baton Rouge and on through Denham Springs, US Hwy. 190 took me past a long series of strip malls, car dealerships, subdivisions from the '50s and '60s and '70s, several tortillerias, car washes, a Veterans Home - you get the picture.  After Denham Springs the road was more peaceful; not less heavily traveled, just less consumer oriented.  In some towns it seemed to function as one of the town's main roads, based on the stores and buildings I saw.

For an hour of today's drive I listened to some nice old music on a radio program called Rhythm Review.  Today's program consisted nonstop of songs that reached only #2 on the pop charts, some just barely beaten for #1.  But it was good music including Bob Dylan, the Everly Brothers, Roy Orbison, Blood Sweat & Tears, 5th Dimension - a real mix, and a real pleasure.

A lot of the length of Hwy 190 braids with a railroad track, and at one point I saw a side road crossing the track that stopped abruptly about 20 yards from the track, right at the front door of a small old house.  Maybe the house was originally built as a RR station, but it looked like it's always been a house,  So incredibly close to the track!

I drove through the town of Albany, where Boyd Wild is running for Chief of Police.  I know because I saw at least a dozen signs posted in this very small town urging people to vote for him.

Albany has 1,100 residents, and it looked like about half of them were at Carter's Supermarket when I drove by - the parking lot was completely full and I was glad I hadn't planned to stop for groceries there.

I passed a sign that said just "Hungarian Settlement."  There didn't seem to be anything in particular around it, so I looked it up.  It's a part of the town of Albany that was settled by Hungarian immigrants beginning with 11 families about 1900.  By 1920 there were around 200 families, many of them living on farms.  Their culture began to die out, but a resurgence of interest at the Bicentennial led to renewal of traditions.  There's an interesting article about the settlement and its strawberry farming at this link.   https://countryroadsmagazine.com/strawberry-fields-forever

Pumpkin Center
I've been curious about this place for years.  When Momma and I used to drive to and from Florida, I'd see the I-12 exit for Pumpkin Center and wonder why on earth folks would give that name to their town.  I assumed it was a farming community that grew a lot of pumpkins.  So today was my chance to go take a look.

It's neither a farming community nor does it grow pumpkins, unless somebody's got them in their home garden.  The story's well told in this Wikipedia entry, so I'll let it do the telling.   https://en.wikipedia.org/Pumpkin-Center

I found a map online that's used by local realtors, that gave me an idea of the main streets of this community, and that's where I drove.  It seems to be entirely residences, most of them spaced widely apart, some modest and others quite nice.  I think there's some money in this town, because I saw an old Corvette in beautiful condition and several new luxury cars.

It reminded me of some rural towns I visited in the Northeast, with residential areas serviced by very narrow roads closely bounded by people's wooden fences and utility poles (meaning I was almost forced to drive in the middle of the road so my side mirror wouldn't knock into anything).  The roads could just barely accommodate 2 vehicles across, if they were both cars and not RVs.  And it was a Saturday so residents were out and about, doing errands and so forth, and there was a lot of traffic.  But they were all very nice to me even though I clearly didn't belong there.

So now I've seen Pumpkin Center.  I wish Momma and I had taken the exit so she could have seen it too.

Ponchatoula
We drove through the nice little old town of Ponchatoula (pop. 6,600), Home of the Strawberry Festival, they say.  Actually, they host this festival every April and it's now the 2nd largest festival in the state (Mardi Gras is 1st, of course).   I saw lots of strawberry vendors by the side of the road, though not in a place where my RV could stop.

I later learned that Ponchatoula calls itself America's Antique City.  (Since the town was founded in 1820 and incorporated in 1861, it's antique in more ways than one.)  Apparently believing folks needed a party between Mardi Gras (February) and the Strawberry Festival (April), Ponchatoula hosts Antique Trade Days during the first weekend in March.  They expect lots of crafts, antiques and collectibles.  Probably a lot of fun.

Back on the road
After Hammond, I was driving on State Route 22 the rest of the way to the campground.  For a change of scenery, I saw a small herd of cows in a small field near Bedico.  At another point, I saw Dexter alert to a yard full of goats.  I don't know how he knows these are animals to pay attention to since he's never gotten anywhere close to one.

I passed by lots of subdivisions with tract houses - but these houses were really fancy and must have cost money to buy.  It's just they looked like they were all built at the same time by the same builder using the same 4 floor plans.  Being fancy instead of ordinary doesn't change that.

Route 22 has been designated a Louisiana Scenic Route.  As far as I'm concerned, there was nothing wrong with the scenery along Hwy 190.  The only difference I noticed is that this road is narrower.

I crossed the Tchefuncte River, designated a National Scenic River.  I'm including this link   https://en.wikipedia.org/Tchefuncte-River because it has not only the pronunciation of that name but also a photo of what I saw crossing the bridge.  Lots of fancy houses and businesses crowded along the river, including a company called Nunmaker Yachts, which provides triple-decker storage of people's shrink-wrapped yachts.

When I got to Mandeville, I saw campaign signs practically wall-to-wall.  Turns out there's an election in April with 5 candidates for mayor alone, as well as candidates for most of the city council slots.  According to newspaper articles I found, the mayor and council members have been at each others' throats for some time now.  Most are blaming the current mayor for the fighting, and he's term-limited out of the mayor's post.  But he's running for an at-large seat on the city council, so the election in April will show whether Mandeville's voters are truly tired of the infighting.  I love local politics - it's so entertaining - as long as I don't live there.

I passed a place called Northlake Nature Center and was surprised to find the parking area filled up.  Apparently there are a number of trails through forests and swampland, and it is a pleasant Saturday, but I'm still surprised so many folks wanted to go here.

And so to the nearly filled state campground for a couple of nights.