If you've shuffled through the stacks of rides and features on this website, you might have seen a ride to Fred's Lounge in Mamou. That article is gone due to some conflicts. I'll leave it at that. This left a void. A list of great riding places in Southwest Louisiana cannot go without the mention of the nice little putt from Opelousas towards Mamou on La.104, then dropping south though the country to La.95 for the return east.
I have the original large pictures from the several rides that made up the Fred's thing but I didn't have a story line to glue an article together. Yesterday I took care of that by taking yet another ride out 104 and looking harder which resulted in doubling the number of shots, adding pictures of places I had no idea existed. All without the gps's guidance. There are years of adventuring out there. Miles of back roads. There are many dead ends. That only means there are reasons for the dead ends that I need to know. Doesn't everyone?
On yesterday's outing I started becoming aware in Opelousas. I've never just ridden Opelousas because it is a large town with a lot of traffic. It is the St.Landry Parish Seat. It has been the capital of Louisiana. It has a lot of history and a lot of beautiful old architecture. I think it was harshly treated in the Civil War. Just a unsubstantuated side note. It sits at the crossroads of US.190, Interstate 49, La.182, 103, and a bunch of other numbers plus railroads. The one for today is La.104 which has its terminus at US190 just west of town. You can miss it easily as there is no light and the road just leaves US.190 in a very stealth manner. It begins as a very straigth line bordered by homes and neighborhood businesses. It then turns north on a ninety degree curve and you leave the suburbs behind.
(I'm attempting to build anticipation.)
Opelousas sits on the ledge of the former bank of the Mississippi's furthest trek westward. To the east are the backwater swamps left in its retreat to Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Opelousas was spared the floods of 1927 because of its altitude. To the west of Opelousas is the Prairie. The Prairie has risen out of the marsh and swamp near the Gulf and has steadily gained altitude approaching the Kisatchie Wold, our "mountains" south of Alexandria.
Your senses won't recognize the rise and there will be no ear popping so you can lay off the gum chewing. What you will sense is "flat", very flat.
Here is where La.104 and 95 surprise. You are probably thinking what a drag a ride across a flat landscape can be. Sometimes that can be right.
Not today. In places you'd swear that some giant kid had laid out a race track with banked curves, dips onto bridges passing through cool bayou overgrowth then always turning as you immerge upward into the world again. This goes on for about 30 miles of the route. You are in agrarian Louisiana. Horse ranches, cattle ranches, rice fields and crawfish ponds make up the majority of the road side scenery. There are two small settlements. There are few driveways. The plotted property divisons have a lot to do with the number of turns out here. There is a lot of standing water in the fields as you near Mamou. The effect is air conditioning. The Prairie winds blow over the water and cools things down. Good thing because there aren't many trees except for around the bayous. The forest starts just to the north about 20 miles where lumber is the industry
Enough set up. Let's ride. |
