Bayou Lands

Muddy Waters...alligator and turtle country

Salt-grass and marshy conditions make this terrain challenging to navigate

Experiencing Swamp Life

Winter in the Bayou

Lilly pads and Marshy Grasses

Every  tree is known by it's fruit.
                                Luke 6:44

Nowhere on earth have I experienced Bayou lands like southern Louisiana. Spanish moss hanging from tall cypress tress with fat root bottoms submerged in water is the prototypical landscape that I associate with these lands, and water ways. No shortage of natural beauty in this humid low lying region.

Much of Highway 90 is elevated a few feet above this swampy environment in southern Louisiana..

Cajun Country-Low & Slow

Graveyard Poetry

Healthy Livestock

Lowland wildrice field

God's Greatest Commandment

The Lord shall be your light forever.
                                        Isiah 60:49

I've had the opportunity to experience some new foods in Louisiana...seafood stew, boiled crawfish, boudain and e'toufle are some of them. These aren't popular franchised foods however: they've been developed locally and have a distinguished flavor. Nothing like a home cooked meal southern style. You can find some great small family owned eateries that serve good Cajun food in this Southern part of Louisiana known as Cajun Country.

The time that I've spent in Louisiana has been much better than my previous visits. I attribute this outstanding experience to my expectations. One of those is to not be in a rush to get places and accomplish tasks. It's nice to travel via bicycle and not be on a tight time schedule.

Graveyards have been outstanding places for me to photograph and visit. The winter low cloud ceiling and gray skies have given me a eerie yet soothing aura with the land. This rural part of Louisiana is rich farmland because of the easy access to bayou and river waters. The muddy rivers and standing water give mosquitoes good nesting areas too. Because the land is so flat, it indicates that this land is subject to major floods. I'm sure rivers, lakes and streams  here have changed the terrain in major ways within recent history thru flooding. I've seen plenty of turtles, and even some alligator roadkill.

Highway 90 has been the primary route for me, Layfayette, Broussard, New Iberia and Morgan City have been some of the places where I've explored on this leg.

LOUISIANA...at last

Louisiana Graveyard

Texas was waffly fun

My Road Machine

Yours Truly with Silver Silo

Chilling at the Sabine River

A

A  Lake Charles Wildlife Strut

Bridge to Lake Charles, LA

Ask and you will recieve. Seek, and you will find.
                                                     Mathew 7:7

After heading northeast from the Bolivar Peninsula, I traveled to Winnie, and Beaumont. I found a couple great museums on the east side of Beaumont including the 'Museum of Energy'. Although I'm not a geologist, scientist or engineer: the Energy Museum is dedicated and effective at educating it's patrons to the production, transportation and refining of crude oil into gasoline and or other petroleum based products. If you're looking for something to do in Beaumont, I think it would be time well spent at either the Energy Museum, or Museum of Contemporary Art.

I continued east on Highway 90 to Vidor and Orange where I invested in a hotel room to get out of the steady rain. I made it to Louisiana the next day after the roads dried up, then into Lake Charles. The IH-10 bridge to Lake Charles is not assessable by bicycle, so I looped around the north side of the city to get to the lake.

A 50+ mile cycling day is a productive one for me.  So far in Louisiana, I've already had a few. I'm in Lafayette now for Mardi Gras. This is the second biggest parade route of it's kind in the country behind New Orleans. I feel like I'm in the right place to party Cajun style!

Bolivar Penninsula

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord.
                                    Luke 1:46

I accessed the Bolivar Peninsula from the northeast side of Galveston via a free ferryboat. It was nice to get on the water and have a ocean breeze. Once on the Peninsula I enjoyed the dry roads with noticeably less traffic and not much development. Although cloudy and breezy, the views were expansive. I like being close to the ocean.

Never have I experienced  mosquitos on such a mission as when I stopped for some groceries. Clothing, repellent with a lot of deet and a not so swift hand were not enough to halt the pests. I felt like they got the best of me even though there was a strong wind. This is mosquito country...so beware.

Coastal birds checking me out...GREAT FLYERS!

Some Galveston coastline property

Roseate Spoonbill getting lunch

Coastal House on stilts...flood protection

After getting across the peninsula I headed back inland to Bayou country

Galveston O Galveston

GALVESTON CAUSEWAY

Walk while you have the light.
                              John 12:35

The Gulf Coast City of Galveston is one that I'm glad I took the opportunity to get to know better. The bird life is more than I imagined. Today I saw a Roseate Spoonbill, a White Heron and a Sandhill Crane (migrates here for the winter) . It's a great birding destination because its brackish bay bay waters provide ideal nesting and feeding grounds for crustacean eaters like the Roseate Spoonbill. I am intrigued by the wildlife around the ocean and Galveston has afforded me this fulfillment. It's been a long time since I've seen the ocean...what an honor to spend a travel day next to it!

The city has installed a variety of large cast cement blocks that are designed to prevent erosion of the scenic coastal road. I don't know how effective they are in the long term verses the forces of mother-nature but in the interim, they appear to function well. The residential homes throughout coastal Galveston Island are designed to withstand floods and hurricanes. The residential quarters of homes are on the second floor, while the garage and car ports are ground level. The coastal homes are actually built on big stilts. After looking around today, I've come to the conclusion that this place deals with a lot of flooding from hurricanes. My host last night Kenny Wegner displayed a water level that was reached after Hurricane Ike had it's way with this community in the not to distant past.