Into Louisiana to Hammomd

We left Houston this morning under cloud with sun coming through later. Their freeway system is excellent but with 10 intersecting ones, it's good to have a navigator to tell you which lane is best. Some exit left and twice, we've had to done the quirk shuffle through a couple of lanes. One good thing, is good signage, 3 signs in 3 miles and the highway printed right on the lane. Good driving day. We drove through Beaumont TX, settled in 1824 with their economy based on cattle, lumber and rice. On Jan 10, 1901, in the Spindletop Oil Fields, the first great Texas oil well blew. I remember those stories as a kid when Red Adair came in to put out the fires. This area forms one of the largest concentrations of petroleum refineries in the nation.

We drove into Louisiana, which is incredibly fascinating. It is a blend of American Indian, Spanish, French, English and African cultures. We crossed the mighty Mississippi River which has spread very rich soil from the heart of the continent into all the Deltas. There were 2 paddle wheelers in the river. This is America's WETLAND, an ecosystem like no other, which has defined and nourished their peoples throughout history but it is now vanishing at a rate of a football field every 30 minutes. We drove for 20 miles on an elevated concrete bridge with concrete 3' footings over a lake, bayou and swamp with cypress trees and their funny roots lifting them out of the water. Very different to see.

We passed Lafayette, named for the famous pirate of the Caribbean, who stored his plundered goods on this shore. When the French Arcadian farmers from Nova Scotia were expelled by the British, they settled here, called Cajuns and still speaking a French dialect.

We passed through Baton rouge, the capital, which has had the flags of 7 nations fly over it. Their name comes from 'red staff' the name referred to a tall cypress tree draped with a freshly killed animal, that marked the hunting grounds of 2 Indian tribes.
Louisiana has the most oil refineries in the States.
We're parked in Hidden Oaks County Campground' in Hammond, beside a bayou and it is that.There aren't a lot of campgrounds in the area and it's a long weekend for President's Day. This is very wooded area of leafless deciduous trees with many vines clinging to them and some huge Oak trees. The houses are built on stilts with a 6 foot area for shelter from sun and rain backing onto the bayou. Without green leaves at this time of year, it's just brown. It's a very wet state and gets about 4 - 6 inches of rain at a time.