This Louisiana trip, again, was not so much for the adventure as it was for a family visit. As before, I was going to do my best to make it as much of an adventure as I could... Another road trip! This time, however, I would be accompanied by my family as they too were not keen on paying to fly this time. Much to my dismay, this change in travel company also brought a change in vehicles. We would be taking a Chevrolet Silverado instead. It wasn't all bad though as this would provide me an opportunity to gather stats to compare to my own truck from the 2018 trip.
Sunday March 24th, 2019
The first day took us to the halfway point on our trip where we would get our first taste of adventure for the week. Hugh White State Park in Grenada, MS. Having never been here before, this would be a bit of an adventure! Dealing with a lot of rain all spring, we found getting to the campsite a bit of a challenge. Unfortunately Google Maps wasn't aware the lake had claimed some new ground... Once we found the campground, we couldn't find the campsite. As it turned out, there were split campgrounds for the park. The one we finally got to... was not the one. With a little more searching through maps, we finally located where we needed to be and headed there directly!
On the last trip to Louisiana, I stayed at the Homochitto National Forest which was much further south of Grenada. Between Hugh White and Homochitto, I would likely take Homochitto again. Staying in the pine forest was incredible! Nothing against Hugh White State Park as it was very beautiful. My preference is more towards the pine forests!
Monday March 25th, 2019
The second day saw us finish our trek to Lake Charles. Due to heavy rain and thunderstorms overnight, our morning was spent drying out before packing up and hitting the road. While waiting on gear to dry, we decided to explore the area around camp. While exploring, we learned the camp ground was under 15 feet of water just weeks before our arrival! Looking around, there was very little evidence of that at all which was quite surprising! Once on the road again, it was time to revisit my favorite sights along the way! The first was the I-10 Mississippi River bridge, very tall and provides quite a view followed by the "20 mile" Atchafalaya Basin Bridge which is very scenic and just incredibly fun no matter how you take it!
Tuesday March 26th, 2019
On our third day of the trip, the first full day in Lake Charles, we spent time around town visiting our known favorite places while waiting for free time to spend with our Louisiana family.
Wednesday March 27th, 2019
Day four brought us back to Holly Beach for another taste of the Gulf of Mexico! The last time I was here, September of last year, I had also just visited the Arctic Ocean in July of the same year. Not much had changed since the last visit though the place seemed much more lively on this visit. This time we spent a bit more time exploring more of the beach and watching the birds including brown pelicans air diving for fish out in the Gulf! It wasn't long before we had a change in plans however as we were contacted by our Louisiana family for another visit!
Thursday March 28th, 2019
On day five, we were able to get out and do more exploring! Now we got to experience more of an adventure! The day brought us down the east side of Calcasieu Lake toward Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge. On the last Louisiana visit, we had only seen 1 alligator at the USS Orleck Naval Museum and Destroyer. On this day, mostly because of this refuge stop, we spotted 38 alligators, 3 muskrats, and an astonishing 3 roseate spoonbills. Spotting alligators as well as the roseate spoonbill were goals going into this trip, goals we were thankfully able to accomplish with ease on this day! After a day of exploration and adventure, we headed back up the west side of Lake Calcasieu where we would, again, visit with our Louisiana family one last time!
Friday March 29th, 2019
After a week of fun, it was time to start our journey back home. On our return trip, we would make a stop at the Vicksburg National Military Park in Vicksburg Mississippi. Vicksburg was home to a major Confederate Army stronghold that, after a 47 day siege, was taken by the Union forces opening a gateway into the heart of the south. Due to time constraints we were unable to stay and explore for too long but it will be worth a return trip someday! The end the day, we traveled back to Grenada, MS and spent the night in a hotel rather than take another night of camping.
Saturday March 30th, 2019
After a good night sleep, we were back on the road heading home! With a stop at Lambert's, home of the throwed rolls, for lunch we made great time in getting home. Upon arriving, we found it was still very cold and even sleeting! At least we had a week of Gulf of Mexico warmth!
Span of 7 days; Approximately 42 hours and 46 minutes of cumulative driving; Approximately 2065.6 miles; Approximately 137.28 gallons of gas used; Approximate average MPG 15.04; Approximately $346.95 spent on gas; Average fuel consumption rate 3.210 gallons per hour.
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