Days 160 & 161: Poverty Point State Park, LA

We left The Trace and headed through Vicksburg, MS to Louisiana.  We had thought that we had about a 65 mile day in front of us, so we opted to split the mileage.  But we were off by a bit, so it was a much easier day than we had planned for (partly because we had to drive on the I-20 bridge across the Mississippi River - bikes aren't allowed on the freeway on the Mississippi side of the bridge).  Alea rode the first 34 miles of the day, much of it with a brisk quartering tailwind.  Once it was my turn, I soon ran into a detour that put me on a long stretch of I-20 for a good chunk of my 24 miles.

Scenic I-20...

I don't think that the problem that we had with dry counties and cities in Mississippi will happen to us in Louisiana.  One of the first billboards that we saw after crossing into the state was for a convenience store that offers drive-thru daiquiris!

We are camped at Poverty Point Campground ($28, power, water, free wi-fi, air conditioned bathrooms with adjustable showers and air conditioned laundry [75 cent to wash, $1 to dry]).  We also paid a $6 reservation fee.  But that was for the entire 3 day stay, and all the other public parks that we had checked were booked for the big weekend, so we didn't want to risk not finding a campsite by showing up at the last minute.  While there were empty campsites around us when we turned in for the night, by morning they were all full, as several folks arrived well after dark.

We are camped right across from the spray park, which gives us an easy way to cool both ourselves and the dog.  The weather cooled down a bit on Saturday, with lows in the upper 60s and highs around 90, but with less humidity.  But it is already heating back up, so the spray park is a nice amenity - we walk through with Lana at the start of all of our afternoon walks.

The free wi-fi here has allowed us to do some detailed research about awnings.  Last November we ran into a guy at Tomoka State Park in Florida who had a very simple and effective awning made by ARB (an Australian firm).  We contemplated how to mount one on the roof of our van, but couldn't quite figure out how to do so without spending several hundred dollars on a fancy rack system (their recommended means of mounting).  But I burned a few extra gray cells yesterday and have found a simple, inexpensive solution.  I suspect it will cost us under $100 to create a means to securely mount the awning to the roof.  We figured this out just in time, as we'll likely be looking at a lot of rocks and sand (and very few trees) for a couple of months of traveling after we reach Austin, TX.  We only wish we had it now, as our current campsite doesn't have much shade.

We were puzzled by the huge mass of matted, dried grass in the campfire ring on our campsite, thinking it odd that the grass hadn't been burned off by previous tenants.  So we learned the hard way why you don't have campfires in Louisiana.  The light attracts hoards of gnats.  They don't bite, but they shift around in a huge cloud, and if the mass hovers close enough to you they suddenly start getting on you, crawling up your nose and in your ears.  So last night we doused our fire early and scrambled for cover.