Ride to Duty

Ride to: Duty/Enterprise

     I took off about 11am after doing all the stuff I needed to do here to unload the guilt which would have been bothersome, at least for a mile or so.
Ray had reminded me of a place I had read about in Louisiana Life Magazine"tm". John Ed Bartmess, the owner, was obviously enthralled with the legend of Jim Bowie. Nothing wrong with that. Being born a Texan, I consider his legend a worthy theme. He has built a family style restaurant and surrounded it with buildings and machinery representative of those days gone bye. He named it Jim Bowie's Relay Station. I don't think Jim B. actually was in the area, but as the magazine said, he would have been proud to have been associated with it. It is close to the very small town of Enterprise and Duty, Louisiana.
   And, there is a ferry within "shouting distance". Not a big ferry, in fact, the tug was smaller than the one at Melville.
The lure was just right for this old fish.

My riding buddy of many years, Carl, born and raised in Lafayette, just recently started riding with a gps, a fancy compass, due to where he's going, down a lot of gravel roads and getting lost. Wonder where he got that idea? Anyway, we were talking the other day and he made a profound statement. Carl is famous for being profound.
    He said, "Steve, you know there's a lot of water we have to go around to get anywhere".
   Carl, among other jobs, has been a crewboat captain. I would have thought that realization would have occurred years ago. But, no, water is everywhere. Not just around the Gulf and marsh areas where he worked.
    For one,the Atchafalaya Basin is huge. It only has three roads that cross it, full time, La.1, US 190 and US 90. Well, three and a half, if you count La.10 at Melville.
    East of Alexandria, the floodplain of the Mississippi is laced with bayous and lakes, many are the cut off portions of meandering rivers, called "oxbow lakes". Looking at Louisiana, imagine a backward L. Across the bottom of Louisiana is the marsh and praire, full of bayous, and up the west side of the Mississippi, to the Arkansas line, is the Mississippi Valley. Add to that the Red River/Atchafalaya river system, and man, like Carl says, that's a lot of water to get around.
This article's route begins at the intersection of La.15 and La.1, just east of Simmesport. Go north on La.15. 15 crosses some very interesting manmade stuctures which have been overly covered on these pages, so, due to public pressure, I won't cover them here, again. Here, Louisiana Highway 15 sits on a shelf of one of the most important levees in Louisiana. As you ride along, you twist and turn with the river about two thirds up the side of the levee. You are able to see the river at times and the endless fields and lakes below you.
   The builders of the famous Highway 1 and 101 in California, which ride the sides of the mountains on the Pacific coast, copied this technology from Louisiana with many of the same results.
     For entertainment. I had a crop duster flying below me at times. He buzzed me as I was obviously taking his picture.
    He, at times, was flying higher and faster, but, I was flying further.
   Let me be honest about 15. There are areas that remind me of US550 in Colorodo. Erosion is taking its toll. The edge is breaking off and the surface is patched in places and not level. I would not ride it for speed or sightseeing. If you want to see what I can't talk about, you know, the structures, see them from the Simmsport end.
   I rode 15 up to Deer Park and turned west on La.565 which is just flat bean fields except for the bayous. They are beautiful and offer cool shaded breaks from the blarring summer sun.
   It really wasn't that hot, I just like to be dramatic.

Atop the levee on La. 15.
I am welcomed to Concordia.

I decided to take the old girl out for this outing. She was doing just fine and due a picture for the scrapbook. I was at a camping area that is used during hunting season.
Nice and shaded.

La.15 Levee pictures below.

Cropduster, below the road.