At 10:57 we headed to the dump. And at 11:12 we were leaving the dump station behind and heading out.
Bye, North Toledo Bend!
LA-6 turned out to be an okay road, but very rough. It's called the "El Camino Real" original route. But it needs repairs! I assume the original riders on the road were on foot or horseback--it's sure not suitable for RVs.
The terrain was very hilly and piney up north, but as we went south it became flat with scrubby deciduous trees on either side.
q: What is the Cane River Creole National Historic Park?
Then it became piney again. We went through a 15-mile long (at least) river bottom. I can't even imagine the amount of highway construction money it cost to create an elevated, four lane divided highway through the middle of a flood plain. After we passed through Alexandria the land started getting very flat. As in pancake flat. We lost the pine trees and entered a hardwood forest (leafless, of course), floored with palmetto.
We had to go through Baton Rouge to get on I-12. I say "had to" because the google navigator suggested that if we took the I-110 route instead of the one I'd chosen, we'd save ten minutes. And I trusted it. I hope it was the right choice, because the route we ended up on had heavy and very slow traffic for miles.
We made a quick stop at the I-49 rest area so the dogs could get a walk. Then we made a nearly disastrous fill-up at a Pilot gas station--the station was a little cramped to get into and the 'car' pumps were full, but we easily pulled into a truck pump. But then when we tried to leave, the truck exit was routed around the back and out onto a little four-lane street, with backed up traffic in both directions and only a few cars getting through at each cycle of the stoplight. A very nice guy driving a red pickup truck let us out, otherwise we'd have been there until midnight. And it was only 4:00 or so at the time!
On the other hand, getting over to I-110/I-10/I-12 in the first place was not exactly a joy. We were on smallish roads, a Louisiana state highway and a few US highways. But they went through all the small towns. And the road surfaces were out of this world crummy! It reminded me of US-75 through Oklahoma, with periodic craters that would shake your teeth out. They did shake out the plug for our toad (tow vehicle)'s extra brake lights that we have mounted on the roof. Apparently the plug bounced along the road for a number of miles, because the pointy things that plug into the socket were worn down to nubs.
We arrived fairly early, 4:38 at the gate, and by 5:26 (or so) we were done with hookups. We'd gone 274.7 miles per the trip odometer.
I made this note:
So we had to leave our lovely campground with almost no people and a water view, to drive four hours across Louisiana to get to Tickfaw State Park. Which is in a swamp. And full--almost completely full--of people. Kids and bikes and dogs running loose; music played too loudly. People and cars everywhere! It's a little city out here!
Clearly, I was not pleased. I noted that later I would get on google maps see if there were some day trips we could take to get away from the place.
One good thing I had to say--it was dark when night fell! Really, really dark. I hoped that maybe on Sunday night some three-quarters of these other people would leave and we could enjoy some night life.
Molly got awfully excited by some invisible critter at the end of an empty site. Maybe we'll see if...if ever all the people leave.
Other than the lack of scenery, the campsite is awfully nice. Really long concrete pad and a little patio for the picnic table. Some of the sites have patios but others just have a freshly graveled spot. It's really very nice here, except for the lack of a view, privacy, and silence.
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