Today Judy looked at the map and highlighted something called the Creole Trail National Scenic Byway. Now doesn’t that have a romantic ring to it? This byway takes you directly south to the shore of the Gulf of Mexico. The clincher was it takes you to Holly Beach, LA. Now in December of 2005 we met a refugee from the Hurricane Rita in South Toledo Bend State Park. His tale of woe was that his house in Holly Beach was swept away by the high winds and tidal surge of Rita. All he had left was his RV. He had been fighting with his insurance company about whether the winds destroyed his home or the storm surge washed it away. Of course the insurance company was taking the stand that was favorable to them because his insurance didn’t cover both of these possibilities. (I think it only covered wind damage.) He showed photos of his house perched on 12 foot pilings and a second photo of just six of the pilings left on a sandy lot.

On our tour today we stopped in Holly Beach. A dozen new houses perched on their 12 foot pilings were scattered around a development that would have originally had a hundred or more houses. Some lots held battered debris where a house once stood, most of the lots were simply bulldozed flat. The streets were partially engulfed with drifted sand. Judy and I could see nothing that would attract people to want to rebuild here. We drove on down the coastline toward Port Arthur Texas. We could see drilling platforms out in the Gulf. Much of the road had been rebuilt, but where it hadn’t there were stretches where the pavement ended abruptly at the white line and jagged gullies gaped at you alongside. I nervously took my half of the road astraddle the center stripe.

There are businesses in this area. Mostly outfits that deal with the drilling platforms or the oil pipelines. Many places alongside the road there were newly created RV parks filled with trailers and fifth wheelers. The houses were mostly wrecked; I suspect the workers live in these parks. We did see some houses that survived the storms. They were newer construction and even then there were patches of siding missing. When we drove through Port Arthur we saw that many of the houses are patched with the famous “FEMA blue tarps.”

This is beautiful country with its swamps and marshes and the picturesque bayou’s meandering through. I can understand how the people can continue to rebuild over and over again. This is home and they have to come back and pick up the pieces after each storm. Even the RV’s make sense, they can pack up and leave until the storm has passed.

I will include a couple photos on the web site at www.disnmore-enterprises,com/20090128.html Also you can review the December 9, 2005 blog called “Random Thoughts” at this link, (under construction, Link to come later)

I will close with a famous quote from Dorothy. “There’s no place like home…there’s no place like home…there’s no place like home.”

Gary and Judy

Rebuilt Houses in Holly Beach LA

Example of Damaged Home on Gulf Coast of Louisiana

Louisiana Swamp in January, with Water Tupelo and Bald Cypress

We stopped in a small town, Thibodaux, LA specifically to visit the Wetlands Acadian Cultural Center. We have run into this cultural group twice before in our travels. Once in Nova Scotia, where the Acadian people were expelled by the British at the end of the seven years’ war with France in 1763; (We call it the French and Indian War on this side of the pond.) and again in Maine when we toured Acadia National Park near Bar harbor.

When we toured the Cultural Center we met an enthusiastic lady ranger who took us step by step through the expulsion of the Acadians and their disbursement around the world. Some of them made it back to Nova Scotia, others into Maine and still others became the Cajun people of Louisiana. While we were trying to follow all the details of this lecture a little old gentleman came into the museum. Our ranger greeted him by name and he stood quietly by until the end of the talk. At that point she introduced Hamlin Landry, an 84 year old Cajun. Once introduced Hamlin became a fountain of information. He had to learn English to go to school as a boy. We learned of his World War II experiences and his Real-Estate career. He joined us as we toured the museum and explained all of the Cajun artifacts from first hand experience. We got to visit the pirogue Hamlin had built and was now on permanent exhibit in the museum. I will include a photo of Judy and Hamlin below.

Last evening we went for a short ride into Westwego, LA just to see if it were practical to ride over to New Orleans from our campground, Bayou Segnette State Park. When we returned we made a circuit of the campground to see how many sites were full. A car pulled out as we passed and followed us all the way around to our site. They stopped by our site and visited with us for half an hour. They are from Wisconsin and they also ride a recumbent tandem. They thought about riding with us today, but when they found out it was about ten miles they decided the car was a better choice. We did exchange cards and may ride later.

Today we did ride the ten miles through the suburbs of New Orleans, take the ferry across the Mississippi river and rode right through the heart of the Garden District to the French Quarter of New Orleans. A local bicyclist adopted us at the first ferry landing and showed us how to load onto the ferry. He then gave us detailed instructions on getting to the French Quarter and made sure we took the right turns as we disembarked.

This happened again in the afternoon when we got to the return ferry. A young lady showed us the proper lane to get in so the deck hands wouldn’t reprimand us when embarking on the ferry. Once on the ferry she showed us the way to the warm cabin deck.

On practically every street corner we had people admire our bicycle, give us the thumbs up, or call out to us as we rode by. We certainly felt welcome in New Orleans. Yes there are lots of buildings still in the stages of being repaired, but the city is alive and thriving. At least the areas we toured. Tourists are still a little scarce, and remember we are leading up to Mardi Gras. We even have seen a couple floats being built.

Many of the people use the bicycle to commute in this area. The streets in the
French Quarter, however, are narrow and not well adapted to the bicycle. Drivers and riders seem to share the streets reasonable well.

If our weary legs will stand it we will be off for another adventure tomorrow, (today was 26 miles.) Meanwhile Judy and I send our love to all from Cajun country.

Hamlin Shows Judy His Pirogue

I am calling this Random Access Memory because I have lots of disconnected thoughts to talk about.

Katrina and Rita:

The local television station programming is full of Katrina recovery storys. The federal aid that is paying for motel and hotel bills may run out just about Christmas time, so there is a lot of pressure for Congress to extend the aid. Batton Rouge recently passed an ordinance that allows their citizens to host a displaced family by placing one FEMA RV trailer on each of their lots. Yet another story talked about jobs that cannot be filled in the same community. One thought was that the unemployment and Federal aid are just too lucrative.

We have been observing damage from Katrina even up around Interstate 20, half way up Mississippi. We drove along a wonderful stretch of the Natches Trace. This is a beautiful parkway reminiscent of Shanandoah National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia. There are still blown down trees everywhere along the route. Some are just chainsawed in two and rotated out of the way. We are camped tonight in South Toledo Bend State Park on the Lousiana-Texas border. The local park staff was describing the damage from Rita to this park. Over 300 trees blown down. All they are allowed to do is push them back in the forest to rot. They had 90 mph winds for a full day here. The eye passed just west of here around Beaumont Texas. We are a hundred miles from the coast here. We were seeing Katrina damage 200 miles from the coast. Evidently Mississippi is allowing the loggers to harvest the downed trees in that state.

Campgrounds:

Occasionally we notice a slight difference in the quality of the campgrounds we stay in. For example, last night we needed a spot to stay around Alexandria Lousiana. We looked in our trusty campground guide, and picked out a campground. We called ahead because we are finding many FEMA RV’s parked in campgrounds close to urban centers. The host assured us he would have plenty of room. We arrived in the twilight at 4:45 pm and couldn’t find the host anywhere. I called his phone and left a message, walked to his door and knocked, then walked all over his park. The stalls were lined up alongside the fence of the sewage plant, but also this was the back side of a Coleseum/fair grounds complex. I found a hot pole out in the middle of the back parking lot and plugged in. The host tapped on the door a couple hours later and apologized for forgetting about us, and said we were O.K. where we were. The next morning while I was doing the pre-flight on the coach I noticed a young gentleman in a shiny new black pickup with very dark glass sitting off to the side of the parking lot. I then observed a car approace, pull alongside, driver door to driver door, and some transaction took place over the next 30 seconds and the car drove away. I buttoned everything up and we were out-of-there. Contrast that with the campground we are in now. This is a new Lousiana State Park. It is carefully carved out of a beautiful pine forest alongside the man-made Toledo Bend Reservoir, The roads are paved, the sites are level and easily accessed even with big rigs. They have a wonderful visitor center with lots of natural history displays. Computers showing local birds that sing when you touch the screen. Boxes to place your hands inside and feel things like antlers and tortoise shells. Quizzes to take like which animal uses its tail as a parachute. (hint it chatters like a squirl) I guess the secret is arrive early so you can divert to a Wal-Mart or something else if you don’t like your first choice.

Slaves and Free:

We keep getting these incredible history lessons. I always thought there was slavery, then the Civil War happened and then there were freed but repressed slaves and finally the civil rights movement. In Nachez we found a museum in the home of William Johnson. William and his family were “free blacks” in the quarter century before the Civil War. William was a barber, a land owner and even a slave owner. One of about 200 similar people in this community. William’s contribution to history was 16 years worth of details about anti-bellum society in the South through his diarys. Make no mistake over two thirds of the population of Mississippi were slaves and it was the slave labor that made the South so bountiful before the industrial revolution reduced the need for meanial labor. It is just a facet of life in the south that I had never glimpsed.

I guess that is random enough. Time to send this along. We hope everyone is enjoying a festive holiday season. Here is a link that my son, Glen, contributed to the cause. It shows a satilite photo and indicates exactly where we are camped. Click on it, or copy it and paste it into your browser and see where we are. Google Maps.

Gary and Judy Dinsmore

The Sunset from South Toledo Bend State Park Looking Over Texas