Day 4 - Beaumont, Texas via the Louisiana coastline

 After saying goodbye to Betty, we topped off our fuel tank in Abbeville and drove South on Highway 82 at about 9am.  From what we heard, there are not many conveniences like grocery stores, gas stations, etc. along the route we planned to travel today.  The geography soon changed and we were driving through thousands of acres of rice paddies and where the homes are built on cement block risers, burms and/or stilts.

 The area is also cattle country and not too far into our drive, the road was closed due to an accident.  A pick up truck had broad sided a tractor that was crossing the road… we sat there for two hours which gave us time to visit with the colorful locals including an interesting lady that liked our dogs and told us her life story.  At this point in her life, she ran a transport service for oil industry workers… and among the others waiting were duck hunters, fisherman and truckers with supplies for the oil rigs.  We walked the dogs and had some snacks to pass the time.

 Once the road was clear, we proceeded deeper into the Louisiana Outback along the Creole Nature Trail and scenic byway.  One of the first little towns we passed through is called Grand Chenier and the area is full of Spanish moss draped oak trees.  The word “chenier” is actually French for “oak tree” and the area is plentiful with these magnificent trees which defend against coastal erosion and also provide a stop for thousands of migratory birds.  However, we began to notice the devastation from Hurricanes Rita, Ike & Wilma which pretty much leveled many homes and businesses leaving only a cement slab where buildings once stood and areas of dead oak trees stripped of every bit of green.  We continued driving along the coastline until we had access to Rutherford Beach which overlooks the Gulf of Mexico.  This was a very isolated place, there was no development on this beach as far as we could see except offshore in the distance we counted 27 oil rigs and/or wells.  To our surprise, we met one other couple from England that are traveling the country in an RV similar to ours.  Brigit and Riley really enjoyed running on the beach… no authorities and no leash laws here! 

Miles of beach...



Overexposed picture at Rutherford Beach

Besides the oil and natural gas industry, there is a lot of crabbing and shrimping.  The local waters provide great snapper, redfish, speckled trout and black drum fishing.  Our next town would be Cameron where we stopped for some famous Louisiana Shrimp Po Boy sandwiches, one fried and one grilled at CiCi’s… a place that was highly recommended and is basically nothing more than a metal shack.  We ate our sandwiches in the RV while we waited at the dock to catch the Calcasieu Ship Channel Ferry which connects the Intracoastal Waterway to the Gulf.  The ferry was about a 10 minute ride and we continued our drive to Holly Beach and Johnson’s Bayou. 

Ci Ci's in Cameron

Fried or Grilled Shrimp Po Boy

Waiting for the ferry.

On the ferry...

The damage was still evident… an area once known as the Louisiana Riviera was still in the process of re-building.  The coastline between these small settlements looked like perfect turtle habitat with little development or lights to interfere with nesting… mile after mile of open road along the beach.  Just to the North of this beach road is the Peveto Woods Bird and Butterfly Sanctuary which makes sense because we had seen thousands of butterflies to this point.

You really need to look at a map to see where we are… you can’t imagine how remote this area is!!!!

As we drove closer to the Texas border there were huge modern pumping stations for the pipelines that come ashore from the oil and natural gas rigs.  We drove past several large helicopter companies with fleets of beautiful new helicopters that fly personnel on and off shore.  Nature lovers would be happy to see that even with all this industry, the natural beauty remains.



This photo is for you Cory...



Miles of beach...

Oil rigs on the horizon...

As our drive was coming to an end, we drove over an extremely tall bridge into Port Arthur, Texas and found ourselves back in the hustle and bustle of a big city and just in time for rush hour traffic.  After a short drive North to Beaumont, we found the Hidden Lake RV Park to stay, catch up on laundry and relax.  Only 170 miles traveled today but packed with adventure and the most interesting sites. 

Bridge to Port Arthur, Texas and Natural Gas storage

Texas Big!



Hidden Lake RV Park - Beaumont, Texas