Trip to Chatawa Page 2

Sprurred on by all the information I had received I again rode into a cloudy drizzling morning. My enthusiasm out ran my preparation which is usually the way it goes. The gps, my crutch, was not programmed to read the small roads in Mississippi. It was still set on southern Louisiana and was only good for seeing the main highways. It still told me which way I was going, and, of course, it was laying down my tracks which you'll see on the next page.
I rode to Osyka and looked for Old US 51. Not finding it, due to the problem mentioned above, I headed out of town on "new US51" hoping that the old road was not the only access. Soon a small sign pointed the way to Chatawa. I turned east off of 51 anticipating the adventure which I hoped was coming.

I rounded the corner and saw cars parked ahead. It was Sunday morning and folks had come to the artesian well. I stopped and approached a gentleman who was filling his container and asked him what the well was called. He said that it was just called "the well". Trying to get him to open up and tell me "Tales of the Well", I asked him if the water was any good. He replied that it was. Then I realized my picture taking was interrupting his work. I apologized, bidding him a good day and moved on, about 100 feet.

There stood the Chatawa Post Office. I was on track.

Next was the limited access bridge. The road turned into the woods. I saw "Mississippi Natural Area" signs. It was beautiful.

The little bridge crossed the Tangipahoa River. The Tangipohoa makes its way to Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana.
The road went uphill out of the river valley, turning to the left.
My blind trip was working well. The pieces of the puzzle were falling into place.
The next piece was the family name "Bentz". Henry, from New Orleans had gotten this whole thing going by mentioning an old Bentz Store in Chatawa. How did he know mentioning an old store would be the only bait required for me to fire off onto the back roads on a frenzied treasure hunt?

I went up Bentz Road.