Spring Travels

Before leaving Texas for the "winter" we attended the San Antonio Fiesta, a big party they have to celebrate spring, that last a week. We went to the River Walk night parade one evening and then Battle of Flowers Parade another day. There was a lot more to do but we got a feel of the big party, Texas Style.

Leaving Texas at the end of April we decided that we had never been in Louisiana or Mississippi, not even a drive through, so it was time.


Houma, LA is about sixty miles southwest of New Orleans. Since we've never been to the bayou, and this was way down in the bayou, we looked for a campground. We picked a couple and tried to get into to the one of choice. It was on a Native American property but after trying to park our big rig onto the nice large sites with skinny roads and too many trees to get around. (Even the "pull-thru's" had a 90 degree turn-in with trees so close together that we couldn't get in!) We left to find another. We finally got into one that was a mobile home park and RV park combined, still a tight squeeze, but we made it work.

The cemeteries are different down there! The caskets are sealed in cement boxes that are partly above ground due to the swampy ground. Some are quite old.

We found a little cafe' that had a Friday night Gumbo special and Entertainment . It was very delicious and entertaining. Lynn had the shrimp gumbo and Bruce had to order the sausage with red beans and rice because they were already out of the sausage gumbo, (he doesn't do seafood). The old guys in the Cajun Band were very entertaining. Hearing the the Cajun dialect was unique. It was a small family owned cafe' and as soon as one table emptied, it filled up. We couldn't just rudely sit there and listen after we had finished so we stayed, ordered desert and ate very slow.




A few days later we found a "dance hall' with a Cajun band and we were able to sit and listen for a while. Cajun music is a sort of mixture of country western, bluegrass and something else. We were made honorary Cajuns, (and have the certificate), and had a fun afternoon. We had the opportunity to have a few Cajun meals and then off to the Bayou! (This guy is Al A. Gator...really!... And that tie is a washboard for playing in the band.)


We found a guy who would take us around in his boat, the Atchafalaya Basin Backwater Adventure Tour. (The max was 4 people, but it was just the two of us...a personalized tour!) He took us through the Chacahoula Swamp, into three different bayou sections. Since he'd grown up around there he could navigate through the channels and byways, and after two hours, we were back safe and sound.


It was quite an adventure when we had to go under the roads and highways. The rain had the levels up so high, we had to practically lay down in the boat to clear the underpasses! You can see by the pictures how close we were.













Didn't see one alligator during that time but we saw lots of birds and plant life. He even had us get out of the boat and walk a little ways so he could show us a few unusual plants and trees, and the Cypress knees up close. Mosquitoes weren't too bad, but they definitely let us know they were hungry!
We picked this particular tour guide because all the others seemed to be more for the touristy stuff, like feeding the 'gators and singing to you. We just wanted to see the real bayou and we did! One day we took a ride along the channel out to the delta and Lynn spotted a couple of small 'gators sunning themselves on the boat docks. Bruce didn't see them because he was driving the motorcycle.



After leaving the Bayou, we headed up to Clinton Mississippi near Jackson.
From there we got on the motorcycle and toured the Natchez Trace Parkway from the campground back 100 miles to Natchez, MS where we toured Melrose Plantation and the town and then back to the campground stopping at the historic spots along the Trace.


Then we went north, about 130 miles to Live Creek .
There is a very interesting
place called French Camp at MP 180 a nice spot to stop there is a restored settlement and a very nice looking B&B all maintained by French Camp Academy a Christian School and campground.

We moved the whole rig up to Piney Grove Campground on Bay Springs Lake MP 293.5, a very nice Army Corp of Engineers Campground. The next day we went back to see what we had missed farther up the trace.


On Saturday we rode 160 miles to the end of the trace just south of Nashville, TN., a high lite of this section was the Merriweather Lewis grave site in TN; such a sad ending to a young and brilliant man.





That was a long day! It was beautiful. We saw many wild turkeys , lots of birds and small mammals, and deer in the evening. Here are a few pictures but they never capture the real beauty that you see with your own eyes!


















While in Mississippi we triked over to Vicksburg and visited the Civil War National Park and learned more about Grants siege of Vicksburg and poked around the town a bit.


One disadvantage of midweek travel in the early spring is that many of the local attractions are closed or being prepared for the summer tourist season.


We also made a side trip to Tupelo MS, the birthplace of Elvis, and yes, we did the Elvis tour, his birthplace was in deed very humble and it was fun to see what others had to say about his abilities in his boyhood.
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We had lunch at Johnie's Drive In and saw the hardware where his Mom talked Elvis into his first guitar (he wanted a 22 rifle).

Tupelo also has a Civil War Battle site. A small monument marked the area.
















We were so close to Shiloh National Military Park we took a trike ride for a day into TN. and enjoyed the beautiful back road country. There are a lot of these battle fields in the south to see and learn from Bruce had always thought himself some what of a Civil War buff but there is so much information to be gained at these sites he will just remain in awe of the intensity of the fighting and men who fought there. For all you real history buffs and historic re-enactor, (of which our son Donald is one), you would enjoy the depths of this great history.














The Natchez Trace is a vacation in itself 450 miles long, good places to camp, and lots to do and see. We rode just about all of it on the trike twice going back and forth on each outing, I think we missed a couple of miles south of Tupelo and north of Live Creek. But what was missed with the trike was covered as we drove the KW and HitchHiker north from Clinton MS to Piney Grove and then to the end at Nashville TN.

A very nice drive smooth two lane, 50 MPH, one stop light and no stop signs, and no commercial traffic.

Bruce figured it was the best mileage we could get for the whole trip.