take a stand somewhere out 90 when I felt I needed to stop
to catch the Sunset Special. She thought I was headed back
into Sugarcane Alley. If I hadn't showed up, the state police
would be down in Baldwin looking for me. It was 2 pm when
I cleared the driveway. I headed straight for the yard to see
if there was a chaser I could play with on the way west. Nope.
I did see Mr. Trahan and Mz Allegheny at the 90 switch waiting.
I think the tracks had been closed down for the Sunset's passage.
Oh, these pictures are larger than usual when clicked.
That's funny, I watched a little of the Greenbay Game.
I wish their quarterback would decide to go to join a monastery
or something, maybe a baseball team if he has to play sports.
Mr. T and Mz A would have to wait it out for a while.
There was another train waiting. I'd see him briefly later.
Yes sir, another Santa Fe throwback. They are so cool.
At Scott, I ducked in to see how the renovations were coming
to the 30's or 40's era building. Maybe 50's, I'm guessing it
was a Frank Loyd Wright spin off. "Critters' Spa and Daycare".
I'd check myself in before my dern dog.
At Crowley the Tiger waited next to the grain dryer.
A car was down the line.
At the entrance to the north yard, a car or the tracks were
getting worked on. Maybe the hitch or hook or something
was broken? I drive some people crazy with my misnomer isms.
I enjoy that. Who says ignorance can't be fun?
These big buildings are grand. When you can mix them
with a boxcar and semi trailer's butt end, you've
accomplished something.
This is the mill for which Mill Road was named. I don't
think what's left is really a mill, just some dryer stacks.
At Estherwood, you take the water tower's picture a couple of times.
At Midland you visit the shrine of the Southern Pacific's
crossing of the Louisiana Western RR, the east - west route.
The SP connected New Iberia to Mamou and Eunice. This
is looking south on the west Y connector.
This is looking northwest on the west Y connector. You
getting this?
There's the rest of the Y fork reaching and joining the mainline.
This is looking east at the same spot. There is where a pretty
good sized sidetrack starts that goes west. I'd be at the other
end, later.
Down there is where I'd eventually settle on making a stand.
Below are remnants of the old railroad. They were unearthed
when this area was cleaned up. When it gets real cold, like after
a freeze I may look for date nails in there, but not yet. It was
83 degrees this November day. I was wearing my stylish gray
Wamart T-shirt and my Academy 14 buck jeans, the perfect
ensemble for an Indian Summer day on the plains.
I don't know why I had to share that with you. I guess I was
having a fashionable moment when all I really wanted to do was
emphasize that it was warm and snakes love wood. For a while
I wondered why we had so many snakes around the house.
I forgave the fact that we live in LA and across from a bayou.
The real reason was that I had half of the Port Barre to Cade
Southern Pacific ties bordering my wife's flower beds. Don't
use those things. They are snake condos.
These old buildings on Sparrow St. sat across the street from
the west arm of the Southern Pacific's Y.
Next, I decided, after going to Mermentau, that the Old
Spanish Trail was where I wanted to be. You can forget
the 21st and the 20th Century there. The railroad erases
hardtop US 90. The OST is gravel, it's furthest improvement.
Coronado walked this gravel, maybe DeSoto, so did Isabella
and Ferdinando Lopez.
This is the mill at Mermentau, serviced by the railroad.
Nearby, La.92 now crosses US 90. The picture above was
taken where the OST crosses and goes into the mill. It wasn't
always like that.
This is 92 South. Morse is the next town. It was a stop on the
SP headed south to Gueydan where the rails turned
east and headed through Kaplan and on to Abbeville and New
Iberia.
At Mermentau, I rode over the river and shot back across
the rr bridge to the east. I did it from here. The door was locked.
There is nothing special about this shot, only that it's the only
one I have and that makes it special to me and I'll never toss it.
After rereading this thing, I decided to look into the above
picture and to see if there was any possibility of making
it better. Below is the picture that was in the picture.
Now there is a rare shot of the Mermentau Bridge from
Taylor Street.
Then I went back to La.92, on the east side of Mermentau.
For the MP people, La.92 is MP 179.0 There are no working
bathrooms here. I think that .0 was a little silly and a waste of paint.
At 92, I started working my way east on the OST. I'd check
each little crossing for a good spot to dig in.
I looked back west every once in a while. You have to.
I liked that alley of trees. I'd see what I could do with that.
Then I came to a familiar place.
I knew where I wanted to be.
No, not here.
Not down there.
Not here, either. It will be on the next page. I switched
cameras. The newer one is better but slower. But, if you
have time to play around. It takes some good shots. I'd
have a lot of time.
All the shots, when clicked, are larger than usual.
This is the spot I found, well, on the other side of the road.
Here. Now is that picturesque enough or what?
I did cut out the satchel I saw which I suspected had a round
dead thing in it. I kicked it and every kind of critter flew out and
it stunk pretty bad. Hey you ride along with me, I'm not
holding back on anything. From the trestle I only got a
whiff every once in a while.
I wonder how old this irrigation canal for the rice fields is?
The wheels on the valves look ancient.
I'd have a good warning distance, but going up and down
the limestone was risky.
But, the embankment afforded a good shot.
This is zoomed way down toward Midland. That's the end
of the sidetrack that started in Midland.
This thing is unreal.
Reeling it back in.
This is looking into the sun (west of course).
Uh oh.
I thought a freight was coming. It was flying.
Below is the picture above. I had no intermediate shot so
I had to improvise. The camera was too slow to catch a 60
mph plus bullet coming at me.
This is the side of the first engine. That's how fast. The
engineer sailed a paper airplane at me. You missed.
Gone.
Well, old bike, it was good for me, how about you?
I've looked at this "Signorelli's" sign. It's for some kind of
shop, but, I've seen this sign before. One like it marked the
great swamp pop venue in St. Martinville. I also saw Ted
Nugent there. TK Hulin started the show. He sang a blow
you away version of Stairway to Heaven you wouldn't believe.
Yes, Signorelli's was a landmark. I bet these guys are related
or the sign was for sale.
A dry prepared rice or crawfish pond west of Rayne.
Old Tiger was still sitting.
So am I. Goodnight