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| US 190 to Henderson (I-10) On the Levee Part One (gravel, dirt, mud and dung) |
| I've decided to write this thing in two or there parts. I've been finding so much information that organizing it all is getting a bit much. I should just write it like I do all of my tales, just hinting at the possibility of there being more information on the place and letting you decide if it's worth the dig. This is my third go at trying to show off this area and I guess I better try a little harder because there isn't going to be a fourth. I guess I'll find a bunch of links and lay them on you because I know you're real busy and probably have the monitor covered with a folder as the boss walks by. Don't blame you. We're going to start lite with the facts so as not to become too librarianistic. |
| Coming from Port Barre on US 190, if you pass this sign, it will be a ways before you can turn around and when you do it will be a ways before you can turn around again. So, go slow and don't miss it. At this point you may want to read the Port Barre article to get a feel for the area so what you see next won't shock you too much. Krotz Springs, mentioned in the Port Barre article is about 9 miles down that cement bridge. There is a sprawling community of camps between here and there. Louisianians don't like to stay in the house during the weekend. Often they build camps which resemble how they'd like their houses to be. That's my personal feeling. Me, I could live in a tent. Not, them either. Check out their "camps". |
| The proff that you turned on the right road, the Spillway Road, is evidenced by seeing the Levee Landing sign. Follow the arrow. Now, that's not every Friday. Just every Friday while in season, so don't go start something at the Landing or write me any hate mail. Fred. |
| Heading down the road to the Landing, camps are on both sides of the levee. These are on the "Basin" side. A picture of the Waterworks is way down the page. |
| Ok, we're at the Landing Bar. Bayou Courtableu lies at the bottom of the boat launch. It must be Friday and these guys have to be here for the crawfish. Actually it was 10:00 AM and I think they were having a pre-crawfish beer. I've done a study of categorizing beers.I find that there are morning, afternoon, and night varieties. You don't want to sit next to someone drinking a late night beer in the morning. Just a suggestion. |
| Louisiana is big on "Notary Publics". What a rip. You need one here to send mail. Obviously bars have them. If you lose your car in a pool game he/she can do all the paperwork for you on the spot. The custom is that the receiving party pays the notary fees. So you both lose. |
| There is of course a landing at the Landing, as I pointed out. All the rules and regulations are posted by the Corps of Engineers and each patron reads them religiously before departing. I may choke. I knew a fella whose family had a camp down the cut off Courtableu which is straight ahead. I'd put my BSA 500 motocrosser on his 17 foot flatbottom and take it out to the island and ride it until I ran into a banana spider. If you know you know. |
| There is a spectrum of building plans for "camps". These are on the Port Barre side of the Levee opposite the "Basin" side. Same road, you can't get lost. Where you gonna go? |
| Below is the other end of the spectrum. I bet he comes out here and mows twice a week. May have a reason to if it needs it or not? The boat is evenly aligned with the house. Obsessive types can be found everywhere. I have seen yards swept. LSU flags fly from all kinds of camps. It's a Louisiana thing. (Go Tigers) Touchet, if that's your camp, I'm just ribbing you, you know that. |
| More |
| Below: The house in the foreground is not the subject of this picture, the camps on the water behind the house are. The point is that they are everywhere. That's the Courtableu before it goes through the control structure and after it has passed over the spillway. That water can rock and roll sometimes. But notice, these camps are not on stilts. Water level is controlled pretty well and I don't think flooding is a problem. |
| Below: "Direct Tree Vee", I've been dying to say that. There are football games to watch and of couse, the 5:00 AM fishing shows. Plus Mama can watch her "stories" while Daddy fishes or eats crawfish at the Landing. (she makes him walk over there or take the 4-wheeler). |
| Here's another sign you turned off of 190 at the right road. You'll have to look on the ground to find it. |
| The camps behind the house are on the other side of the levee. The water that was by them is now here having gone through the stucture. Notice a fisherman a-fishing to the left. While here I saw some boaters getting busted by the LWF. Now that had to be embarrasing. I didn't take a shot because if one of them was working undercover, he'd have to take my camera or kill me to protect his identity. Now that would be embarrasing. Just kidding guys. Ya'll do a great job and my boat is red. |
| This water ends up as Lake Henderson about 23 miles south. I've looked at maps and I've talked to people that have boated the route, but they're vague. You can't launch at the Landing and get here, normally, some have tried. You have to launch here. I think it's a maze going south and I'm not putting my pirogue in that water. I get lost enough on land. Speaking of which, lets get lost down the levee headed to Henderson on Lake Henderson. Get ready to ride, the road deteriorates quickly Going Southbound. (Just had an Allman Bros. flashback) (Great riding song and I like "Jesica", also) |
| I woke up this morning and realized that I needed to elaborate a bit on Bayou Courtableau. Courtableau was very important in the western expansion of the country. Port Barre (another article) and Washington were important steamboat ports for disembarking settlers heading west and north. It connected these ports with the Atchafalaya which runs to the Gulf. Courtableau carries a lot of water being the combination of Bayou Boeuf, Bayou Cocodrie and Bayou Wauksha. The map shows how it has been dismembered. I'm going to try to find its natural confluence with the Atchafalaya. I see on the map that taking 105 south of Krotz Springs will take me there. That road is horrible riding after the paved portion ends. It is made up of mostly river sand, so beware. Directly below is the map of the waterworks of this camp area and the Courtableau's original route.. The Landing Bar Launch is bottom right. Dam is below it. |
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| Darbonne Bay (cont) |
| Darbonne Bay and $camps |
| Bayou Courtableau? |
| US 190 |
| Bayou Courtableau? |
| Original Steamboat Route of B.Courtableu |
| The Corps' Route to Lake Henderson |
| Wait a minute. |
| C a m p s |