Saturday, 10/1: 166 miles, parked at New Orleans KOA, New Orleans, LA
 |
| US Route 61 to Baton Rogue, then I-10 to New Orleans |
 |
| New Orleans KOA, site 53 |
 |
| New Orleans KOA, site 53 |
The drive was a short 3 hours today, right in the middle of our comfort zone. We have been to this park once before back in 2018. The NOLA KOA is a very comfortable park to stay in. It is located in an urban area, so not much green space, yet plenty of room to walk the dogs, and there is city traffic noice. The sites are all back in, but the concrete pads are wide and easy to back onto.
It was in the low 80's and sunny when we arrived. Last time we visited here, 4 years ago, we explored the French Quarter and Garden District of New Orleans. We also visited the Oak Alley Plantation in 2018. This time we want to explore some other areas, outside of the city.
 |
| Jupiter is an amazing sight in the night sky now. The KOA office is across the street, and a $500,000 motor home next to us. 😀 |
Sunday, 10/2:
We went to visit Laura Plantation, about 40 miles away, today. The plantation was established in 1804 by a Frenchman, Guillaume Duparc. At one time over the 4 generations of Duparcs, the plantation exceeded 12,000 acres. However, the use of slave labor contributed most of the labor force of the plantation. We learned a lot about the Creole culture and the sugar cane industry. I encourage you to read more at the Laura Plantation website at lauraplantation.com. The "Mansion" at Laura is what the family called their working mansion. It was built so large so as to be a multigenerational home. The family maintained a more "elegant" mansion in town for parties and guests.
In a "it's a small world" coincidence, we got to chatting with the other couple on the tour. Asked where we were from, I mentioned Northern New York, near Fort Drum. He shuttered. He had been stationed for 2 winters there, and never wanted to see another snowflake in his life. He and his wife live in Florida now. 😀
 |
| Banana trees |
 |
| Slave housing |
When you think of Louisiana, you think of Cajuns, Creoles, New Orleans, food and music. Just what is the difference between Cajun and Creole? The term Cajun is short for Acadians, who were the French settlers of the Nova Scotia area, and came to Louisiana when they were expelled by the British from Canada in the late 1700's. They ended up settling in Southern Louisiana. Many of us read in High School about the Acadians from the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem Evangeline. You can learn more about the poem at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangeline. Creole is slightly different. Creole culture, like the Acadians, is French based also, but is older and includes Spanish and Caribbean influences. That's the very simple distinction. But it is much more complicated and intertwined than my simple explanation. Please feel free to read more about it at these two sites:
It's been really interesting on our trip to see the changing agriculture. In Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota it was primarily corn and soybeans as far as you could see. Then Arkansas and Mississippi cotton and soybeans were everywhere, with almost no corn to be seen. Now, in southern Louisiana, it is sugar cane everywhere. Fields and fields of it. The harvesters were out and we saw tractor trailer after tractor trailer hauling the cane to processing facilities. Sugar cane contributes over 4 billion dollars to the Louisiana economy.
 |
| Mississippi River levee on the left side of the road, sugar cane on the right side |
Back at the camper we were able to sit outside and read and enjoy the warm and sunny weather. It turned out to be a beautiful 80 degree evening, so we cooked outside. Dinner was BBQ chicken, and grilled zucchini. As I was finishing dinner, I looked up caught a photo of the planet Jupiter, which is at one of its closest approaches to earth in years. According to an article in Scientific American, Jupiter is the closest to earth since 1963. No wonder it's so bright!
 |
| Jupiter at its brightest since 1963. |
Monday, 10/3:
This morning I jumped out of bed, well you can't really jump. There is not really not enough room to jump. You kind of slide out of bed instead. Yikes!! I landed in dog vomit. Apparently one of the Zoeys had an upset stomach. Just another side of "glamping". Traveling is not all glamour.
Ever since wading across the Mississippi 4 years ago at Lake Itasca, I've wanted to see the end of the river. I don't know why? Just because, I guess. So today's project is to drive to Venice, Louisiana and see the end of Mississippi. As you can see on the map, Venice, while not the true end of the river, is the furtherest you can drive by road along the river. You would need to charter a boat to see where the river meets the ocean. We had lunch at the Venice Marina restaurant, Crawgators Bar and Grill. We had outside deck seating and the food was served marina style, that is plastic utensils. But the meal was excellent and we got to watch the charter boats come in with their catches. I had seafood stuffed baked potato and Judy had fish tacos.
 |
| The shipping channel goes for miles after the last road. |
 |
| Last view of the Mississippi at the end of the road, Venice, Louisiana |
The drive down along the river to Venice is not what I expected, although I should have known. The river is lined with refineries and shipping ports with loading and unloading cranes. The Army Corp of Engineers has turned the Mississippi River into an Interstate Highway on water. I suppose that was a necessary evil considering how much freight is shipped on the river. Without trucks, trains, planes and boats, commerce would come to a halt. While most of us like the benefits of global commerce, we often don't think of nor acknowledge the effects.
This National Parks Website is full of interesting statistics on the Mississippi. https://www.nps.gov/miss/riverfacts.htm Here's just a sample:
- 500 million tons of cargo are shipped through the Port of New Orleans each year
- 60% of all grain exported is shipped on the Mississippi
- It takes 90 days for a drop of water to travel the length of the river
And so ends our Mississippi River journey, although a bit anti climatic.
Tomorrow we move west toward Houston, Texas.
No comments:
Post a Comment
We enjoy and appreciate feedback. Please feel free to add your name to make it more personal. Thank you for checking in.