End of the River

We left New Orleans on Monday, retracing the same route that we took in. Shortly, we were at the point on Route 18 (part of the Great River Road) where we turned off to go into the city. The road runs right along the levee, so the river was just yards away but you couldn’t see it. This far down the river, the fields are occasionally interrupted by heavy industry.

Refinery

Grain elevator

After a while we approached a bridge across the river. In the confusion of roads converging on the bridge, we lost track of the GRR (LA-18). We picked up a business route south, and eventually got to LA-23, the last leg of the Road. This goes to Venice, the town closest to the mouth of the river. This road runs through a few small towns, but mostly sugar cane. Surprisingly, it is four-lanes divided. We saw very little traffic. Finally, approaching Venice, the road narrowed to two lanes and the pavement was a little rougher. Shortly, we came to the end.

This is as close as you can get to the mouth of the Mississippi without a boat. We finally did it, the whole length of the Mississippi River!

Beginning

End, or as close as you can get

We went to a nearby marina restaurant and celebrated with drinks and a meal (Jean had oysters).

What next? Here we are, in the heart of Cajun country, let’s see what we can find. We headed back up to US-90 and turned west. We found a campground and set up just yards from a busy railroad. What’s new?

 Next day, we got a lot of information in a visitor center, and headed south along Bayou Lafourche. Again, the road followed right alongside the bayou, but this time we could see it. Again, we went through small towns and big fields. But this time, instead of the heavy industry along the Mississippi, we began to see a variety of boats tied up to the bank. The farther south we went, the more there were and the bigger they got.

In the little town of Lockport we stopped to see a wooden boat museum. There we learned the history of the classic bayou boat, the pirogue. These were originally dugouts.

The type is still used, but now they were made out of plywood. Gene got into a long conversation with a pirogue builder that works at the museum — to the point that he forgot to take any pictures. While there were a lot of pirogues in the museum, there were some other boats as well. There were some traditional rowboats. The Cajuns generally rowed them standing up and facing forward, similar to New England fishermen.

Bigger boats were also used. There was a display of a larger sailing boat called a “lugger.” This is basically a traditional French design, though they were often sailed by Italians.

Sailing lugger in the museum

There was also an example of a more modern motor boat.

Leaving the museum, we got back on the road south. We followed the bayou ‘til we got to the end of the land. This was followed by a toll bridge. It didn’t take our EZ Pass. While Jean was digging out some money, the toll-taker waved us through, saying that the vehicle ahead of us had paid our toll. The bridge took us eight miles out into the Gulf, surrounded by marshy islands. Then we turned onto a ten-mile causeway through more marsh, which ended in a bridge onto Grand Isle. We drove most of the length of the six-mile island, filled with typical barrier island architecture and business, to get to a state park. It was just before the 5:00 o’clock closing, so we got a site and set up.

This is a very good campground, with ample space between sites and lots of green grass. The tent sites are on the beach, which is flat and firm.

There are offshore breakwaters, which helped minimize erosion since there was a strong onshore wind that day.

Next day we took a short walk on the beach. Jean found a few shells. There were a lot of crab burrows, from the size of a pencil to a couple of inches across.

Crab burrow

It was chilly in the wind, so we headed back over the dune to the campground. We asked the camp hosts where we could do some laundry and they informed us that the campground had a laundromat — and it was free! It took a little driving around to get to it, because even though it is for campers only, it is located in a bathhouse in the day-use area. It had fairly new washers and driers, and a used book exchange, so we got a new book out of the deal as well.

We stayed over another night, but next morning (Thursday) we pulled up stakes and headed out early in order to beat an approaching storm. We didn’t want to be crossing that high bridge if there was going to be a strong wind. We had thought to stop at the Folk Life museum back in Lockport, but pressed on in rain. We continued on to Thibodeau, where we hoped to get some leads on Cajun music and dancing.

We found a museum in a state park. There we saw good exhibits about Cajun life and history. We also saw two films, one on birds of the marshes and another had interviews with Cajun musicians. We had a long conversation with one of the rangers. Among other things that we learned were that the music was always yesterday or next week.

We had some dinner in a local Cajun-style place, did some shopping, and settled in for the night at Walmart. Tomorrow we head east to visit a friend and work our way to SE Florida for a family wedding.