Sweet potatoes have "t-o-e-s" .
but only in pairs or more.
One potato has no "t-o-e". Only a "t-o".
    A former VP should have remembered that. I had to look it up simply because of that blirp in VP history and I do not want to replicate that mistake. If you don't have an idea of what I'm talking about or why I'm talking about it, don't worry, I've been awake since 2:22 and it is now 5:56. My mind is unteathered and it roams  at will.
     Moving right along.
     An explanation is in order. This part of Louisiana is famous for sweet potato/yam farming. Seeing this harvest and going to  the culminating "Yambollee" festival rates a "Planet". I'd give it at least a "Mars" because of the potato's red color.  The Yambollee celebration was recently featured on "Sunday Morning" on CBS, previously hosted by Charles Kuralt, my hero and a hero to anyone who seeks to find what is "down the road, around the bend". Go Charles.
     Let me back up. Leaving US 190, I hadn't realized I was entering  sweet potato country. Entering and exiting Church Point, I saw huge open semi-trailers carrying sweet pototoes. Fumbling with my camera, I did get a shot of one on the south side of town.
      Later, fast forwarding to the south of Rayne, I passed a tractor pulling a makeshift trailer of sweet potatoes and soil. Why the soil, too? I'll speculate that they were for seed. I stopped on the shoulder and waited for him to approach. I held up the camera for his approval which he waved permission and I got the shot. It was not the one I'd hoped for. A second before he had given a big smile which probably reflected his amusement at me.
Noted. He was right. I was now headed for Kaplan.

    The Sammy Kershaw Monument, well it's a sign,  is in Kaplan. It is glorified in the La.14 article, so I didn't stop at the shrine this time. It can be an emotional moment and I just didn't have time for it. I did get gas in Kaplan though, as I was getting ready to enter the war zone which Rita had left in her wake. South of Kaplan sights such as a side of a trailer house hanging in a tree were common. Every road was lined with white household appliances. I asked myself "why". Couldn't they be dried out and work? I think the insulation used in them was saturated with water and mud and.... and you just wouldn't want that in your house.
   The storm will linger for a long time down here. The grass was brown, a sign of being submerged and probably a sign of being submerged in salt water.
    La.35 slid right into La.82 at Forked Island. The road was covered in dried mud in places and I proceeded carefully as I'd dumped the bike down here three days after the storm. That was a moment I'll not forget but deserved. Now, I wanted to see what was left of Pecan Island, the home of one of my bosses in a previous life. Pecan Island is featured in the La.82 article, "Along the Coast" and was a pretty little place. Now the road to it was blocked by a trooper  obviously explaining the situation to drivers.  I felt that I'd come as far as I wanted on this one and turned around. There were other things to see and it was probably still too soon to venture down there.
This area should be avoided for a long time.    Before the storm I'd  rate the ride from Abbeville to the Texas border as a Super Nova. Now it's a Black Hole. It was one that should have  been done by all. It is a part of disappearing Louisiana. It will be sunken soon and what the strom didn't take, the wrath of Nature's daily barrage will. The withdrawal of the Louisiana coastline has been accelerated by man on several fronts which I will not go into right now. Take a look at the pictures and then we'll move a state away for more pleasant "organizing".
   I shouldn't have cleaned up what I wrote below, but it was senseless. I'll leave some of it so you can realize what drives my perceived need to organize.
Older Houses seemed to have done better in the storm.
This was once one of Vermillion Parish's really nice fishing piers. There is water between it and the raod now. It is covered with mud and dead grass. It is near where I turned around. The place was too weird.
  Note the date on the picture. This was the scene over Tiger Bayou south of Delcambre about 2 months earlier, three days after the storm.  Right across the street people were sitting in their front yards obviously wondering what was next. Their home was below the bridge.
   The water put the residue on the bridge. The following pictures are from three days after Rita.
  Water was where it hadn't been in a long time or ever? This is salt water and the field use to yield hay for the cattle industry. The farmers are having a tough winter.
   Yes, I did keep going and made the turn to the left after the floating house. The road did rise again above sea level. I though I had it made but hit some mud which had a nice cooked over layer but was pure slime underneath. I slid for a mile. I was covered in stinking black mud that must have been manure. I picked up the bike and took inventory. There was a lot broken but it would make it home.  Every pickup stopped and asked if they could help me. They had lost their homes, their business and still wanted to help some idiot on a bike who had no place being in their hell. The state police even came by and only offered help and medicine. Insisting that I apply it then.  It burned to the  boiling point.
  This picture was being passed around the internet. Ray F. sent it to me and said it was taken from around Henry. I saw simular scenes. There was a lot of livestock killed.
  The Delcambre sign says it all. It's been knocked down but will be righted just like it always has been. Same with the folks.
Discoveries
    A Planet and a Black Hole
                (what is left when a star is distroyed)
Red dot is where I left US 190. Yellow dot is Butch's Museum. Green dot is Delcambre. Look closely and you'll see Henry, Right where the "y" is in Henry is where I bit the dirt, or something wetter.
    Below is a note from a reader. That's his house/camp to the right.  
    "I enjoy your website about motorcycle riding in La. On the ride you took through Rayne, Kaplan, Forked Island, and Hwy 82, you took a picture of my camp. It is the
one that has the rusty roof, white siding, with the wrap around porch. The picture read that the older homes did better. We had 18" of water inside of the camp, and it's 4 ft. off the ground. My cousin who lives south of that house
lost her home when it floated approximately 1 mile into a rice field. We are working to get the old place back in shape. Right now we have no water, the well was submerged and is currently being repaired.We use the old place for parties, get togethers etc.
     When you ride by there again, pull in and rest under the trees. (what are left after Lily and Rita caused 5 of the pecan trees to fall.)
     I lived there for a number of years, but moved to Perry (Abbeville) about 20yrs. ago. Feel free to pull in any time.
Keep up the good work, and I may see you on the road one day."

     I really appreciate it when people from the areas I visit write in. Their notes add so much to this rag.
    Thanks Barnaldo.