Day Two - June 02, 2014

 

This is another view of our campsite at the Denham Springs KOA....early morning stuff,

before we broke it down to start Day Two.

 

 

Starvin' Marvin's.  Beaumont, Texas.  Advertised as

"The Best Food in Texas".  It was good.  Reasonably priced, in a

casual atmosphere.

 

This is a photo of my traveling companion and friend Doug Shoun, enjoying

an end-of-the-day brew. Does he look happy or what?

 

Day Two.  All is well.  Still  headed west.

Our overnight for evening Number One was Denham Springs, Louisiana is Rouge, which is just off I-12.  Our first camping experience went well.  Although I did not sleep well.  For this trip I had purchased a self-inflating pad to go under my sleeping bag.  It turned out to be too thin for comfort and if it did any good at all I could not tell it.  Our first stop this morning was at the nearby Bass Pro Shop where I bought another dry bag for my sleeping bag, and an inflatable mattress.  The dry bag worked well today.  I will find out about the inflatable mattress later. 

Today was relatively short, in miles (199 total miles), but that got us to Beaumont, Texas, still following I-10. 

West of Baton Rouge we entered part of the Atchafalaya Basin.  This is the largest floodplain in the USA, with 1.4 million acres, filled with Bald Cyprus, swamp creatures (Use your imagination.), grasses, and lots of water.  25-30% of the Mississippi River is diverted (flood control) into the Atchafalaya River.  I-10 runs through the heart of the basin, with some 18 miles of continuous bridge (at 60 miles per hour posted speed limit) on I-10 to keep the highway above the swamp and not destroy the natural environment below.

We rode through rain three times today, but only once did we stop to adorn the rain gear.  Even then it was a small cell and we were though it in a few miles.

We had red beans and rice for lunch at the original Don's Steak and Seafood in Lafayette, Louisiana.  The original was more "refined" than other examples of this chain restaurants throughout Louisiana.  We dined on white table cloths and heavy plates and serving ware, and there were not many people there, which surprised us since we were there during the noon hour.

Tonight we are staying at a local motel in Beaumont.  Back to the camping later.

We are roughly 300 miles from San Antonio, which is our destination for tomorrow.

Another good day.