Year 3 Day 256 – “Living the Dream”. Saturday, 1/13/2024. Day 1 of 12-day winter 2024 vacation. Drove from Hattiesburg, Mississippi to Beaumont, Texas. I have to give the Hilton Garden Inn in Hattiesburg, Mississippi one star. Pretty much a dump. The hotel was very old and had a weird smell. It was clean though. The breakfast was okay. The eggs were good, but the breakfast potatoes were about 5 days’ worth of salt. It is very concerning If everyone eats salt like that in Mississippi. It must be the high blood pressure capital of the United States. OMG, I wrote that and then looked it up. It is true!!
We headed south on Interstate 59 this morning. We drove for miles and miles on a level straight road through beautiful forest. Not a building in site. It was a cold 30 degrees, but very sunny.
Mississippi is 96.9% land and 3.1% water This state has a very widely spread population with a density of just 63.2 people per square mile. I don’t think I have ever driven so long with no buildings in sight before like this on an interstate. Certainly not in New Jersey where I spent the majority of my life. New Jersey is the most densely populated state with approximately 1,300 people per square mile. To put it into perspective Pennsylvania has a population density of 283.9 people per square mile and Kentucky has 110 people per square mile. At 9am we are in Louisiana.
Interstate 59 turned from a nice smooth ride to a bumpy bumpy ride. Mississippi roads are much nicer. The population density in Louisiana is 107.6 people per square mile. We start to look for Alligators since Louisiana has the most alligators of all of the states. There are more than 2 million gators residing in this state! It is about 41 degrees so I am not sure how active the gators will be. In the colder weather they go through a process called brumation. They slow their metabolism down and stay under in furrows and dens. Louisiana does have Alligator hunting season and the state is divided into east and west alligator hunting zones. The east zone opens the last Wednesday of August; the west zone opens the first Wednesday in September. Each zone remains open for 60 days from the opening date. Hunting must be done between sunrise and sunset. There are no size limitations. Alligator hunters may use hook and line, bow and arrow, and firearms (except shotguns) to harvest Alligators. Another interesting fact about Louisiana is that it is the only state that divides the state into parishes instead of counties. This has been since the early 19th century when Louisiana was initially divided into parishes that were governed by the Catholic church. Also, there are four types of dangerously venomous snakes in the US, and all four (rattlesnakes, copperheads, water moccasins and coral snakes) can be found in Louisiana. We get on Interstate 10 in Louisiana and head west towards Texas. It is a super straight highway mostly through wetlands. The highway is kind of built up and the trees have changed to a different type of sparse leggy pine.
At 11am we crossed over the Mississippi River at the Port of Baton Rouge. After this we no longer see pine trees and the roadsides are more wetlands with palmettos. The gas stations and convenience stores all have casinos attached or in a separate building in the parking lot. That is so strange. And look here they have Shop Rite gas stations/convenience stores In Louisiana. There are about 17 of these in Louisiana. That is a new one for me. I grew up with ShopRite supermarkets not gas stations. ShopRite supermarkets are in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. ShopRite supermarkets first store was opened in 1946 in Newark, New Jersey
On Interstate 10 we crossed over the 18.2-mile-long Atchafalaya Basin Bridge. It is also known as the Louisiana Airborne Memorial Bridge. The bridge is a pair of parallel structures that carry traffic over the Atchafalaya Basin between Baton Rouge and Lafayette.
We crossed over The Henderson Swamp, which is approximately 7,000 acres in size, and is the most well-known portion of the Atchafalaya Swamp. The Henderson Swamp is viewed by hundreds of thousands of motorists each year from Interstate 10. The Atchafalaya River Basin encompasses almost a million acres and is North America’s largest floodplain swamp. I read they have guided tours through the swamp. I would love to come back and do a swamp guided tour.
Louisiana has a very diverse landscape. After the swamp we passed through farmland with horses and also rice fields. Louisiana is the nation’s third-largest producer of rice.
By 12:30pm, I am done with driving through Louisiana. The view is of nothing, nothing, and more of nothing. Then we are in Texas with a dog in the back of a truck. Not a good way to say welcome to Texas.
We stop in Beaumont, Texas for the night and there are flowers blooming. What an awesome adventure we are having.
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Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
To view the complete daily diary, click here – This starts at Year 1 Day 1: Living the Dream – Deestimes – Make every step of the journey count