Well, here we are in Louisiana! We crossed the border near Lake Caddo and drove south past some Civil War sites near Mansfield, to Natchitoches (pronounced Nakitees). A fairly ordinary RV park after another very hot day. Temperature up to 105F and the nights stay hot and sticky. In the morning we drive into the historical part of Natchitoches which is the oldest town in the Louisiana Purchase. Brick paved streets, wraught iron balconies, huge magnolia trees, crepe mytle brilliant in bright pink, pale pink and white. The town is situated on the River Cane and on the Saturday we are here, along the river bank, there is a Barbecue cook-off between various community groups. They are busy cooking ribs, chicken and pork and all will be judged later in the day. As it is only 10am and exhuastingly hot, we decide not to stay.
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| Fans used when sitting outside the RV - and they need them! |
We take a minor road south, following the River Cane through farm country, growing soy beans. Alexandria is a light industrial city and there is no sign of an RV park so we press on till we see a huge Casino complex near Marksville. It has a large RV Park and a golf course. The RV Park has beautiful concrete roads and sites with trees, some even have fences and swing chairs. It is still soooooo hot and the air conditioned Casino looks inviting for dinner. There is a continuous shuttle bus to and from the Casino - we raise a little flag on our site for the bus to stop. Casino is huge, several restaurants, shops, a seven story hotel and of course large gaming floor. They haven't restricted indoor smoking over here yet and there are smokers everywhere. The air conditioning copes pretty well considering, but one can still smell the smoke. We have no luck with the internet, very poor signal (would have thought such a large complex would have fast broadband). Time for dinner - decided on the Cajun Restaurant. Jill and I had the seafood platters (catfish is very nice) and the guys had the half slabs of ribs - delicious! Later I couldn't resist a nice pair of shoes in one of the shops!
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| Note the cooling fan! |
From Marksville we decide we should take a short detour into Mississippi and we follow the Mississippi River north on the Louisiana side as far as Natchez. The road takes us many miles along the top of a large levee, part of the river control system. We see several locks in action which are still working on controlling the recent devasting floods. There are still areas that are quarantined and we have to make a couple of detours. The water is still quite high and only a few metres from the top of the levee. On the low side of the wall there are large farms with corn, soy been and rice growing. We stop along the levee for a cuppa at a spot where a small boat is working. Ross goes to investigate and comes back with a large bag of live crawfish (yabbies), all for $2. Put them in the freezer for later, can't wait!
At Natchez we see the sandbagging in place to save some large buildings along the river during the worst of the flood. This is still a restricted zone with security patrolling all the time. We walk to the top of the levee near the bridge and Visitor Centre (temporarily closed and off limits), and a guard on an all-terrain quickly appears to tell us to move on. He is very nice and explains that the levee is constantly monitored for breaches, and they also patrol for 'gators and snakes in flooded riverfront buildings. There is a large hotel on the river(Marriott or Best Western) with a sandbagged wall around it about eight feet high. The flood water came nearly to the top of this wall. The hotel is still deserted. (See sandbagged wall in picture below)
From Natchez we travel south again on the Mississippi side of the river, through very nice farming country, mostly corn and soy bean, but also pecan plantations with very large trees. Stopped at a Pecan shop for fresh pecans and also chocolate praline pecans - yum! Back into Louisiana we pass some antebelum mansions on our way to Baton Rouge. Can't find an RV park along the way so surprisingling find ourselves in Baton Rouge late in the day. Have booked in to a KOA Park for three days to allow a rest day before we sight see in the city. Ross cooked the crawfish for dinner and they are very tasty. They have a small tail and it seems a waste to throw away the large head.
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