Mississippi River End of Road
December 3, 1997
According to the State Map of Louisiana, “Plaquemines Parish is the beginning and end of the Great River Road.” The same map shows the last Great River Road sign at the town of Tidewater, about 75 miles southeast of New Orleans.
We have made headquarters at the Saint Bernard State Park near Poydras, LA. For $12 a night we are rewarded with 30 amp electricity, water, a paved and level site, and a view of willows overhanging the algae-covered water of a bayou. The ranger in charge required convincing to allow me to use the park phone to send and receive email. “We have never had such a request,” she claimed. One morning, shortly after daybreak, a great egret stood very still in the shallows of the bayou waiting for a small fish or frog to expose itself to the egret’s long, yellow, pointed beak.
Guess we are enjoying fairly typical weather for southern Louisiana. One day the sun shines and the max temperature is about 78 F - not bad for early-December. The next day it is raining hard. When the reception on our satellite TV is disrupted, we know heavy weather is on the way. The staccato beat of large rain drops on the roof of Serendipity drowns out the sounds of the ships heading to and from New Orleans or Baton Rouge. Severe weather was forecast for all of Louisiana as a cold front pushed across Arkansas into Louisiana. The next morning temperatures north of Lake Pontchartrain were below freezing, but only a slight frost found its way to areas south of New Orleans. Not enough to be of concern to the citrus growers in the area.
The Louisiana Camping Guide claims that Saint Bernard Park is the only Louisiana state park located adjacent to the Mississippi River. However, as has been true of most riverside parks south of St. Louis, there can be no view of the river from the campgrounds. Large levees which border both sides of the river interfere with the view. Campgrounds are seldom located between the river and the levee where a view of the river would be possible. Frequent flooding of this area makes it a risky proposition to build and maintain an RV park there. One exception is a campground in West Memphis which flooded this spring, but was open again for business when we were there in November. There is often an excellent view of the river from the tops of the levees - usually crowned with a gravel road. However, driving on them is not usually discouraged and no one seems too concerned with anyone hiking or biking on them. Further north we often saw signs warning drivers not to drive on the sides of the levees because it might cause erosion.
Sometimes the levee is replaced with a strong cement wall to keep the flooding Mississippi from visiting a town. Large “doorways” in these walls allow autos to pass from the town to the river bank. Large metal doors are lifted by large cranes and slid into grooves in the wall of these doorways when news arrives that a flood is imminent. These walls also serve as a canvas for aspiring river valley artists. The river wall at Cape Girardeau, MO is notable for the greater-than-life sized depictions of important native sons such as Harry Truman, Mark Twain, Scott Joplin, Dale Carnegie, Tennessee Williams, T. S. Eliot, George Washington Carver, Burt Bacharach, Rush Limbaugh and others. (Made me wonder why the kids of Cape Girardeau have not been inspired to add their own artistic touch to this excellent, public art by painting swastikas or something over the art with a can of red spray paint. Where did their educational system go wrong?)
The river can be viewed from bridges over the river, but it is not advised because there is usually no place to stop and the traffic can be intense. Taking your eyes off the often narrow lanes of speeding traffic to view the river could be hazardous to your health. However, our experience is that the driver can sneak quick peaks at the river, leaving the passenger to watch the traffic. A better place for a view is from the decks of the river boat casinos that line the river in almost every city. The downside is that to reach the river side of the casino you are usually exposed to choking clouds of cigarette smoke and the smell of stale booze spilled into the carpet. However, most towns and cities along the river provide a park or overlook where the river can be viewed.
We have not seen many barges on the river below New Orleans. The grain barges have transferred their loads temporarily into grain elevators at various locations between Baton Rouge and New Orleans where the river is deep enough (about 35 feet deep) for ocean going ships. This lower part of the Mississippi is where the great transport ships of the world can be seen sailing up and down the river. From our campground we can sometimes hear their deep, melodious honking at other river traffic and the drone of their large diesel engines is an almost constant background sound as were the tow boats above Baton Rouge.
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