LR_ride

Chapter Two

    If I have one talent, I think it is being able to identify good sources of information. Barry, Georgetown, LA expatriot, has been a great one. He has contributed information which has led to two or three rides to that area of Louisiana whch sits north of Alexandria, east of the Red River.
      Marion's contributions to explorations cannot be left out. He has added clarification where there was definitely a haze or corrected down right mistakes in my simplistic explanations. I welcome any repairs which this new one might need.
       Back to Barry. Barry has not let me forget the fact that I did not finish my ride into what can only be described as "Big Foot" country, the Little River WMA. Barry had described an "incident" he and some friends had had on a camping trip on the river. That "incident" was either "planted" to create an atmosphere for me or was indeed a serious account. My questioning his sincerity led me to google "Big Foot in Grant Parish". Yes, there are other reports. Personally, I think the guise of bigfootphobia is used to keep alien interlopers, such as myself, away from their moonshine stills.
     Nevertheless, I took off to complete the Little River WMA exploration. As in all rides, what I found interesting along the way will be included. Below is some of that.

From Washington, La, a great place to start an adventure, I headed up La. 103, one of my favorite roads because it gets me "up north" in such a pleasurable way. There is always something along its path I have not fully investigated. The road above pulled me away from the main road.

RCC seemed a simple country church, but, with a difference. From the annoucement below, I think it uses suspence as a ploy to get the parishioners to show up. Along with those other mysteries of life, Rev. Mike's appearance or lack of will be answered.

These roads are becoming more and more uncommon. This view should go into the Smithsonian Gallery. This is a Louisiana Back Road in its finest form. It is not protected.

Further up it turned to this, blacktop with a gravel coat. Nice for drivers, now, but it has now lost its identity and has become something else. I shake my head. It wll become a mess, worse than its graveled form. Holes will develope and they will be replaced by bumps. Parish road crews in La. have never gone to road repair school or they just don't know what a roller is. Large shovels of black tar are ploopped into the hole and Joe Public is invited to "smooth" it over. Problem is, Joe might not be there for a while and the ploop just hardens into a bump. Wheel Bending Hole to Ploop Bump until election time and then the machine that leaves the squigly gouges in the road, which make motorcycle riders cringe, appears and gives the community hope. After the election, nothing more happens but the road is flatter now, but it still has deep grooves which eventually become holes where more ploop is added. I'll go back in a year and see how the new surface is holding up. Remind me.

103 gave way to 29 which took me into Bunkie. There a train was coming through and I waited with the crowd at the crossing. Exiting 29 east of town, I turned north on 115 until I got to 114 at Hessmer. There I stopped at Steve's Tavern. The owner, a patron of my little writes, has named.......

......his establishment in my honor.
Now you don't need to name your establishment, camp, boat or children after me, though it would be nice. A little feedback will suffice.
Stephanie is fine, my track coach use to call me that. May he rot in hell.

Fittingly, after my above curse, a church appears on the page. Hum?
I'd found in one of the previous writes, a sign directing me to Lecompte, Heaven or Poland. I chose Poland but failed to find it. This time I found it. The church is the centerpiece of the town.
Poland is on 457 which is off of La.1 going toward Alexandria. I have jumped ahead. Back Stoke.

Back on 114 after leaving Steve's, ah that was nice, I crossed this bayou which my stinking software does not name. I'll fix this later. Yes, another trestle crossing yet another bayou. More to come.

114 is the Marksville Bypass. In other words, traveling on La.1, you can avoid the traffic in Marksville by taking 114 to and from La.1. Just look at the map.

The jobs we'll take in retirement. Dashing hook and ladder to flower delivery. A jobs a job.

Then I went to Poland. Past Poland on 457 I came to another dam, one I had visited on the other side of the Red River a while back.

Here we'll cross over the Red River into the state of North Louisiana. Yes, I do cross on rail bridges when I get bored.