Run to the Border 2

I wandered down to 370 from 358 and went west to the AKDN tracks that link Eunice with Crowley. More later on that. It's a feeling I have, and I may be wrong, but, I consider the Cajun Prairie as being from Lafayette/ Opelousas/ Ville Platte west to Bayou Nezpique. West of it, I consider the landscape to be "coastal plain" similar to that in Texas. Maybe it is because of the German influence or the subtle change in topography or nothing at all. Anyway, I can't think of a better way to show you the Cajun Prairie than a look down a railroad track. They are straight. Not all the roads our here are.





Looking north toward Eunice. That's the big natural gas
powered electrical generating plant.

The next shot is the same as the first but more centered with
the rails. I think I prefer it. Nevertheless, everyone has an opinion.



Add a little center line and it's like magic.

Zooming out, there's the Mowata rice dryer.
What does a rice dryer do? That dissertation you could read quickly.



Below is 370 taking off toward a rendezvous with another
set of tracks, the old Southern Pacific which ran from Abbeville
to Eunice. I went south and rode on top of them for a while. Getting
south is what I needed to do. I like riding beside or on old rail lines.
Call it a sixth sense. Somewhere in the noise of the engine, the road
and the wind, there's something else.



New above.
Old below.



I rode into Jennings on a back road as close to the Nezpique
swamp as I could get. There I filled up the tank for the rest
of the ride.



Approaching Jennings I stopped at an old bar-honkytonk.
It was open the last time I was by. It now isn't. Things
change too quickly.







After filling up I returned to the north side of I-10 and ran the
roads that closely paralleled it going west toward the Texas border.
Down dirt and gravel at speeds below 45 mph, the trip seemed to fly by.
On I-10, it takes a lifetime to go from Lafayette to Lake Charles. Go figure.

While you are figuring I'll do another page.
Click Here