Heading for the Mississippi River

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We left Pensacola at 9:30am and started heading further west towards to Mississippi River. In the interest of time we decided today that we would take the interstate highway I-10. We were very quickly leaving Florida behind. The gulf coast portion of Alabama, and Mississippi are very narrow and so we were through those two states in a matter of a few hours. We saw the Mobile River and Bay, the downtown Mobile skyline and the battleship Alabama which was anchored in the harbour.
Mississippi was next and for a while we were on a very long causeway over some lovely wetlands. The grasses were multi coloured, with gorgeous lighting hitting them as they swayed in the breezes. The waterways snaked around through the grasses and there were many wading birds out there searching for lunch. Again another lovely photo opportunity which was not to be. The people who built the causeway were just not thinking about photo opportunities. The speed limit was somewhere around 65 to 70 miles and hour and there was nowhere to pull over. The darned causeway concrete railing was in the way so shooting from the car was not an option either. We stopped at a rest area at the end of the causeway hoping that there would be a viewing spot from there but it was not to be.
I'll just have to remember it in my minds eye or else find a published photo from somewhere and save it. There was also a Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Sanctuary just off I-10 and we pulled in briefly. It was open but there was nobody around and no cranes in site. It was really the wrong time of day and the wrong lighting for good photos anyway. We had seen many Sandhill cranes on the golf courses around where Frank lives in central Florida so I was not too disappointed. They are such tall leggy elegant looking birds and it would have been nice to see them in their natural habitat. We will have to do that another time because as I said, at this point we were just trying to get to the Great River Road along the Mississippi River.
Next came Mississippi. We saw nothing here but the interstate. The views and the terrain were unremarkable really. Just pine trees and shrub. I'm sure it's a lovely state but trying to see any state from the highway is a lost cause. We did pull off the highway a few times to do the usual bathroom breaks and to stretch our legs but the rest areas are not exactly representative of sights to see in the state.
Louisiana is next along the gulf coast. Each state has a welcome center as you cross the state line and our objective was to try and get some detailed information about The Great River Road along the Mississippi. Frank had read about it in one of the Americas most scenic byways publications but it was not a lot of detailed information and seeing as we wanted to travel it "in detail", it would have been nice to have some info about interesting little things to see. The lady at the welcome center which has a ton of information about "all things Louisiana didn't have much more than what we already knew. We'll have to find it all out for ourselves I guess. While at the info center, I met a lady from home who used to sing with me in our local Sweet Adelines chorus. It was a surprise for us both. She was with friends heading for a quick visit to New Orleans.
We left the info center and started out through Louisiana on I-12 to cross Lake Pontchartrain. It's a massive lake just outside New Orleans and had been mentioned many many times during the terrible Hurricane Katrina that devastated New Orleans several years ago. It's a 24 mile bridge with several cross overs along the way in case you decide you wanted to turn around for some reason. The skyline of New Orleans was visible in the distance although the sky's were not clear over the city and the buildings were almost lost in the haze. I suspect that it was air pollution. How sad!! We didn't stop in New Orleans as we had both been there before and wanted to push on. From I-12 we turned onto LA 18 and started north to follow the river. Our first site of the river came as we crossed over on a bridge. I shot a couple of quick photos from the bridge. Again, it was not a place that you could stop and play tourist with a camera. Once on the other side, the road dropped down behind a huge embankment, a levee actually which is intended to protect the homes and areas along the river from flood. LA -18 is a winding road with a curious combination of agriculture and oil refineries and chemical plants. Sorghum and sugar cane were the two crops that we saw. This is a strange area really. There is a lot of poverty and a lot of wealth. We would see absolutely massive gorgeous plantations with beautiful homes, large oaks dripping with spanish moss and all surrounded by acres of lovely fencing of one sort or another. Then right next door would be several very sad looking broken down wooden shacks for lack of a better word. Many of these little wooden homes were in a bad state of repair. I know that they were inhabited because there were people sitting in chairs on the porch. It is truly representative of the human condition for those who have and those who have not. I'd heard that there was a lot of poverty in the the gulf states but didn't realize the inequity of the whole thing.
Baton Rouge is our stop for today. Microtel is the hotel of choice because not only did we have a discount coupon from the Room saver magazine but Microtels are know to us as being decent hotels. The Room saver magazines are something that can be picked up at various locations along the highways and have ads and discount coupons if you come and stay. It's saved us man a penny during our trips.
We had dinner at the Outback Steakhouse and called it a day. Each evening when we get to the hotel, I download the photos for the day and try to edit a little by deleting the unwanted ones. That's just about all I have time to do with the photos. I'd intended to include photos with the log but so far I've not done so. I'll make an effort to do that soon.

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Comments

[anonymous]

Sounds like a great trip. I have also used RoomSaver and have had great results! I'm glad everything worked out for you!