Louisiana 83

     Living in Louisiana during December is like living with Bipolar Mother Nature. One day she is cold as ice, barring you from any outside activity, hissing a breath of cold damp wind which cuts like a knife . The next few days she is loving, inviting you out into her warmth. You are lulled by her good mood. Then wham, it is taken away, her cold chill slams you back into the house with heaters roaring against a frozen fate.
    This ride was taken on the first warmish day after the new cold front came in. The sky was still a beautiful blue with little humidity.
    I hadn't taken my yearly visit to Sugarcane Alley during harvest season to enjoy the polluted smoke filled air and see the lumbering old carts pulled by diesel JD's or Massy's, driven by affixiated farm hands. So it was time.
    Have you ever seen a drunken machine? A cane cart with one tire going flat sways in that demeanor.
    Of course I love the whole scene or I wouldn't make the pilgrimage. The pictures on this page are what I went for. The next page is what I found when I looked a little closer.

Heading to the mill with a full load.
Picture taken just east of New Iberia.

Here's where she is headed, the big mill on the Teche, N.I.
The hot steam shows up so well in the cooler air. Late evening viewing is the best. The noise and belching is pretty dramatic up close.

Here is where she came from.

Which had recently looked like this, burning the leaves off the cut cane before picking it up and taking it to the mill.
Clouds or smoke?

The fields would soon look like this.

This is a planter's home. Not all sugarcane farmers live in beauties such as this. This one has "been in the family" for a while. It is magnificent. This is what I saw from the road. I went down what I thought was his driveway to get the next two pictures.
Yea, I'm going to get shot one day.

Can I say, "Magnificent" once more?

Magnificence does not come free. These guys work. The owners are not overseers, they are co-workers. The whole family plays a part.