Picking up the pace as we head north

When we left the little town of Marksville, Louisiana, we decided to alter our wandering just a little. We have been moving northward very slowly, staying in tiny towns along tiny roads. But in Louisiana, we are finding that these tiny roads are some of the worst in the whole country. We're sharing these tiny roads with some big loads. We are obviously in logging country now, where long loads of timber are common.

We're ready for some bigger roads when moving the motor home further north. So instead of our next planned rural campground, we're going to make a couple stops in more sizable towns that are hopefully connected by better roads. Our first stop is in Monroe, Louisiana, where we found the best free camping spot! Using his all-stays camping app, Mark found that a local museum allows RVers to overnight in their parking lot. We headed to the Chennault Aviation and Military Museum at the edge of town.

Once we got inside the museum, we certainly wished that we had arrived earlier in the day. It was filled with one interesting display after another. We could have spent several hours here, but we didn't arrive until thirty minutes before they were closing. So we had to take a quick spin through the museum, guided by a very friendly docent. Here an animatron of General Chennault was introducing himself, and talking about his military career in the United States and China.

Another section of the museum gave a timeline of how a crop-dusting company in Monroe, Louisiana, would become Delta Airlines. Who knew that this huge airline started here and got its name from the Louisiana deltas in this area? We also learned from one museum display that the requirements for the first Delta Airline flight attendants were that they were unmarried women, ages 21-26, that could weigh no more than 120 pounds, and must be a registered nurse.

The people that work at the museum were very welcoming to RVers, and even showed us where to hook up to the 30-amp power, and how to get fresh water. We assumed that we would have no power or water tonight, so we felt very welcomed.

It was raining most of the day, but it quit long enough to get a little exercise in the evening. We drove to the University of Louisiana-Monroe campus, and took a campus hike. This is another college that has closed down classes because of the COVID-19 outbreak, so it was like walking in a ghost town. Desiard Bayou flows through campus, so we crossed the bridge and got a good look at yet another Louisiana waterway.

Things must be going well for this campus, as we saw a couple new buildings. They are just finishing the landscaping around the new classroom building for osteopathic medicine. Too bad there are no students to move into it!

In older sections of the campus, the mature trees are lovely. We found evidence that this part of Louisiana gets plenty of moisture, as the ferns growing on the horizontal branches are very healthy.

We love living in our 35-foot rolling home, but ever once in a great while we see a house that makes us consider turning in our wheels. We found this mansion on the corner of the university, and we were impressed enough to take a picture through the bars of the iron fence that surrounded the four-square-block property. You can't see the in-ground pool and the solarium, but this must be Monroe's most impressive residence.

The picture below shows just a fraction of the manicured lawn with acres of new bushes and flowers in pots ready to be planted. As much as Denisa enjoys looking at pretty flowers, she recognizes how much work this is. After we think about all the time it would take to clean that huge house, and do all that yard work, we are once again very happy with our little rolling home with its yard that never has to be mowed.

When we left our free camping spot at the museum the next morning, Denisa had to take a picture of the red, white, and blue flower beds out front. It's a tribute to Rosie the Riveter, and a reminder of all the men and women that have worked and fought to make this country great.

So even though our travels have changed in crazy ways this spring, we are blessed to still be able to wander many wonders in this country made safe by the soldiers memorialized in this museum.

Social Distancing During the Pandemic

In the wake of corona virus news, we are trying to practice good "social distancing." In our attempt to find exercise and entertainment during a pandemic, we are glad to be in the little town of Marksville, Louisiana. At first glance we didn't find much to do here. The only museum in town is closed because of the corona virus, and any events are canceled. So we are glad that we are in the middle of public land that is still available to us. One morning we headed out to Grand Cote National Wildlife Refuge, a few miles outside of town.

We were the only car in the parking lot as we unloaded our bikes. We can tell that the wildlife here aren't used to much traffic, as they are very timid around visitors. As we approached this curve, we heard two large splashes as the two alligators dove into the water.

Likewise, this large flock of white ibis took off as soon as we got close enough to see them.

It felt like we had wandered into another of God's wonders as hundreds of ibis filled the air above us.

It was only with a zoom lens that we could see the characteristic long curved beaks of the white ibis as they settled back into the trees far behind us now.

We biked over ten miles on ATV trails throughout the wildlife refuge. We saw plenty of wildlife (from a distance) until we hit this section of water with its red floating moss. It looks like wildlife doesn't like red water.

Our next stop was the Grand Cote administrative office, where we were once again the only car in the parking lot. We found that the doors to the office and the bathrooms were locked. It's easy to practice good "social distancing" as we took off on a very lonely trail.

As the trail got muddier, we were elevated to a board walk that took us to the water.

After seeing countless lizards that scampered away from us too quickly to photograph, we found this fellow lounging on a log beside the trail. He kept a tired eye on us, but didn't offer to move.

We also found this large red-eared slider that seemed too big to want to slide into the water.

As we went further on the wooden boardwalk, we couldn't help but notice that we were meeting up with large bees that seemed to hover in front of us like they were protecting their territory.

It's tough to get a focus on a hovering bee, but we kept trying. They were bigger than bumblebees, with round plump bodies. They were a little scary, as we felt like we were in a stand-off with them as we continued our hike on the board walk.

Since then, we have done some reading to find that these are carpenter bees. They ARE protecting their territory, which is the wood in the boardwalk we are invading. These large bees bore holes in wood where they live.

They can do serious damage to wooden structures, like the log cabins at the edge of our RV park. We saw that each cabin has a carpenter bee trap hanging on its front porch.

The trap includes a bee-sized one-way hole to enter into a tasty piece of wood. The attached jar holds the trapped carpenter bees that won't be able to harm the wooden cabins now.

As we biked some of the grassy trails through Grand Cote Wildlife Refuge, Denisa also found a snake. She screeched as her tire ran just an inch away along-side a black snake that was hidden in the grass. Some wildlife is not as much fun to find!

But we are discovering that even during a pandemic, we can find things to do, places to explore, and things to learn. We are cooking our own meals in the motor home, and only visiting with our camping neighbors from a distance. Even with all the viral craziness around us, we are finding that we can still wander God's wonders.

You know you're wandering in Louisiana . . .

You know you are wandering in Louisiana when the first thing you see at the entry of the local Walmart is a display of large bags of seasoning for a Crawfish, Shrimp, and Crab boil. It must be our lucky day, because it's even on sale.

You know you are wandering in Louisiana when the next display at Walmart is Tony Chachere's creole seasoning and Savoie's old fashioned roux. That's two more items that Walmart doesn't usually carry--much less spotlight at the front of the store.

We're here at Walmart to do some shopping for things that we need, which happens to include paper goods. This is our idea of hoarding since we live in an RV--one four-pack of toilet paper, and two rolls of paper towels. Most people are going to be sad when they get home and see that the precious toilet paper they finally found is one-ply paper. But living in a motor home, that's what we always buy. We couldn't help but notice that almost all the carts in the store were brimming with more.

You know you're wandering in Louisiana when the roads are narrow and the asphalt patches are patched again. We've been driving many miles on the back road highways of Louisiana, and we have to say that it seems to be one of the worst state road systems we've ever experienced. This picture highlights some of the patching jobs we've seen over and over. This highway, however, is unusually wide by Louisiana's standards. Most roads aren't wide enough to paint that outside white line. We've seen much worse roads, but Denisa didn't think to take pictures of this not-very-picturesque topic.

We've been driving these roads while we explore southern Louisiana, as we move from one remote campground to the next. Today we are on the way to our next remote stop in Marksville, Louisiana--where the parish court house is so historic it has three historic landmark signs out front.

We have moved from Cajun country in the south to an Indian reservation in Northern Louisiana. We found a very nice RV park behind the Tunica-Biloxi tribe's Paragon Casino. At half-price Passport America rates, it was quite a good value for a first-rate new RV park. We walked the board walk that connects the campground to the tribe's museum. The board walk is close to one mile in length, taking us over the watery marsh through the trees.

Once we got to the museum, we found that it was closed because of the Covid-19 virus. So we returned to the boardwalk for the mile walk back to the motor home. This impressive system has another mile of boardwalk that you can barely see through the trees in the picture below.

We were entertained by the fast lizards darting across the boards in front of us. These two guys were easier to photograph, because they were focused on each other instead of a couple of walkers with a camera. We watched as they continued to circle each other . . . staring each other down . . . getting closer with each rotation . . . until one grabbed the other and flung him off the rail. It was a national geographic moment right here in Marksville, Louisiana!

It is the only sporting event we'll be watching, as college basketball's March Madness and the NBA season have been cancelled. That's been followed by the Master's golf tournament, Nascar, hockey, baseball . . . Sitting here in small-town America, we watch as the news reports more changes that are being made around us. Two months ago, who would have ever guessed that Disneyworld would be closed, or that colleges and public schools would be suspending classes all over the country? It's a crazy time we're living in as we wander here in rural Louisiana watching as history is made around us.

But we think our life style is one of the best ways to avoid contact with Covid-19 virus. While Marksville doesn't seem to have any big tourist attractions, it is surrounded by miles of wildlife areas. We spent one afternoon at Spring Bayou State Wildlife Management Area, 17 miles west of town.

We didn't find any trails to hike, and only one other vehicle in the parking lot. That water sure looks nice, so we are glad that we always have our inflatable kayak with us. Even though its late in the day and cloudy, we aired up the boat and got it on the water.

You know you're wandering in Louisiana when the best kayaking is in the bayou. We love the tall cypress trees that thrive with their roots in the water. We found calm coves that perfectly reflect those straight cypress trunks in the water.

One of the interesting things about these trees are the knobs that grow around them. We read that scientists don't know the purpose of these cypress knees, but they are everywhere at this wildlife refuge.

The only thing that seems to be missing in this beautiful wildlife refuge are wildlife! Even though we paddled several miles in different directions, we saw only a couple animals. You know you're living in Louisiana when you hear a big splash, and automatically know it was an alligator. We saw only one alligator, but we heard several more alligator-size-splashes. We also got an alligator-sized nudge on the bottom of the boat as we paddled, even though we never saw the culprit. 

We had to note that the forest surrounding the water seemed to be free from birds. We normally wouldn't include a picture of an osprey so far away, but this was our only bird sighting in our afternoon at the wildlife area. It's almost as if the animals are self-quarantining from this Covid-19 virus as well!

It was a nice afternoon on the water, and a lovely way to spend a day when the world is in pandemic mode. As the sun was getting low in the sky, it was time to head back to the car and the comfort of our traveling home here in Louisiana.

That evening we watched the news. You know you are wandering in Louisiana when you notice that the local news channel has a crawfish report. They compare the price of five pounds of crawfish at twenty different markets in the area. We know that we are happy to be wandering in Louisiana!

Some of our adventures don't turn out like we had planned . . .

After three days at Palmetto Island State Park, we were on the road again. At this point we are heading straight north through the state of Louisiana to our next stop near Breaux Bridge. We're still in the heart of Cajun country, as we're staying at Poche's Fish-n-Camp RV Park. We took this picture across one of the fishing lakes towards the line of RVs where we are parked.

This is actually another of the lakes on the other side of our RV. We are surrounded by water! We decided to take advantage of our lovely spot and the lovely weather to build a fire and cook out by the water.

The chili cheese dogs were good, but the toasted marshmallow smores were the highlight of the cookout.

The after-dinner entertainment was also great. We noticed many people around us with their fishing lines dipped in the lake. But it was more fun watching the ospreys that come to Poche's Fish-n-Camp to fish. They would make circles high over head as they watched for their prey. Sorry for the blurry picture, but these birds are very high up in the sky.

Then they would bend their wings and "kite" in one place high above the water. At just the right moment, they would tuck those wings and dive from that high altitude straight down into the water. We are easily entertained by animal behavior, and this was great fun to watch when they flew away with their fish.

The next day we left our little lakes at our RV park and headed to a bigger lake. We are at Lake Martin, about 15 miles away.

It's a cloudy morning, with no wind. So the water in this protected cove surrounded by moss-draped cypress trees is as still as glass.

Our original plan was to kayak on the lake. But we found that this public boat ramp has barriers across it, with "private property" signs posted. Recently there has been a dispute, and we talked to a local boater who wasn't happy with this change.

We found another parking area, and we could carry our kayak 100 yards to a muddy area that stepped down into the water. But if you look closely at the bottom center of the shot below . . .

we see a young alligator resting on a log very close to that spot.

Next, we found some tiny alligator heads floating among the water plants. With such little babies, we know now that there must be a mother gator close by.

We're not sure how we feel about trying to launch our kayak in the middle of an alligator nursery.

Besides, we found a trail that stayed close to the lake. We could hike, with views of the spanish-moss draped cypress trees that was almost as good as being on the lake.

Again, if you look at the bottom center of the picture above, you can see the small gator in the picture below. We feel better about hiking today.

With our kayak, we wouldn't be able to get through all the water plants and fallen logs to see so many alligators at the edge of the lake. We're happy, once again counting the number of gators we can spot.

We're on the levee trail, that gives us views into the lake, as well as views down in the marsh on the other side. Denisa has been trying to get a picture of the beautiful blue herons. Much smaller than the great white heron, the little blues sometimes hang out with their larger and paler cousins.

Seeing the very edge of the lake also gives us some not-so-pleasant views. For instance, we see this bloated and discolored dead alligator that has washed to the shore. These giant reptiles have few predators, and live long lives. But we were told that they sometimes get caught in a fisherman's net and drown.

Being on a trail also means that we may find a slithery snake crossing our path.

The good news is that round eye and narrow head indicate a non-venomous snake. Mark looked it up later, and we think this is a common water snake taking a walk today.

Our path took us further from the water 's edge into this lovely tree lane.

With black water views of the marsh from the levee road, we commented on how beautiful this morning is for a hike. The temperature was a perfect 70 degrees, and we had no wind. We were three miles around the lake now--the furthest point from our car. We had decided to hike the entire lake loop.

That's when we started feeling the sprinkles. We had just gotten to the far side of the lake when it started raining in earnest. We had hoped for a bit of protection from the rain here, but found no structures to hide under. We picked up a decaying board, and got some relief from the downpour under it.

But when the wood was saturated and started leaking, we decided it was time to just make a run for it. It was easier to walk in the grass since the trail was now more like a river. We were drenched quickly in this down pour!

No more gazing around for alligators, we put our heads down and marched as fast as we could. Denisa sang the end of the children's song, "The ants go marching two-by-two, the little one stopped to tie his shoe . . . to get out of the rain, boom, boom, boom . . ." We hiked a good mile before the rain subsided. We were drenched with not a dry spot anywhere.

After another 2 miles of squishy walking, we were glad to get back to our starting point. We were also glad for the towel in the car, and it felt good to get out of our soggy hiking boots. Instead of eating at a local Cajun restaurant, we stopped for some pork jambalaya at a Cajun take-out place on the way home. Even with the wet ending, we still got to see 41 alligators in a beautiful setting. Some of our adventures don't turn out like we planned, but we'll still count this as a good (albeit soggy) day of wandering God's wonders.