Swamps, Snakes, Duck Dynasty and Coca Cola

So once Jerry and Janice showed up in Shreveport  it started raining.  The weather wasn’t something we would really have ordered if we had a choice.  It rained and it rained and then we had a little clearing before it rained again.  It’s kind of hard to do a lot  outside when it’s raining hard.

Monday rolled around and we were on our way to visit the Duck Commander in Monroe, Louisiana.  Jerry was in charge of finding the perfect little RV park to stay at and he did.  Lake Cheniere Park is a county park and the rate is $10 a night plus tax.  They have 8 sites with water and electric plus a dump on site.  It didn’t take long for either of us to back into our site and enjoy the beautiful lake right behind us.

Once we were set up Janice and I took a walk down the hill and walked along the grassy water front.   I discovered what poison ivy looked like but thankfully knew to stay away.  There were a couple things I learned about that walk but only after we returned.  One was that there are copperheads, rattlesnakes and copper mouth snakes that hang around the waterfront.  Those are just the little annoyances.  A bigger annoyance might be a not so friendly alligator.  I’m glad I leaned about those things from our neighbor once I was back at our site.   If I had known before, I would have looked at the scenery from a distance.  Later that day another camping neighbor walked down to the lake and saw a water moccasin sitting on a piece of debris at the shoreline.   No more walking to that lake for me unless I’m on the road.

It  was pretty to look at.

Lake Cheniere is beautiful and with all the cypress trees it’s even a little eerie.  I’d always wanted to visit an area that looked like this.  Again, we were warned not to go kayaking and that wasn’t so much for the gators but for all the branches and stumps in the lake that would tear up the kayaks.  Getting back to the dock might have been a problem too if the kayak had sunk.  If so, then, we might have worried about an alligator, snake or both.

One of the things we had on our must do list was check out the Duck Commander stuff around here.  At least that’s what the other three were telling me.  I never watched the show but they did.  Our first stop was at Willie’s restaurant.  There were many unique to the south items on their menu.  Jerry and I stuck with chicken, Janice a salad and Terry stuck with beef.  We bypassed the gator bits and frog legs.  At least we can now say been there, done that.  We weren’t through.  Next stop was the Duck Dynasty Warehouse.  Now we’ve conquered that even though we didn’t buy a thing.

Tuesday we had a few more things to see.  After a leisure morning looking at the lake, talking to new neighbors and watching the park ranger down a tree, we made another trip to town.  This time it was to visit the Biedenharn’s House and Museum.  The Biedenharns were the first to bottle Coca Cola.  Before they figured out how to fill and seal bottles, the only way you could get Coca Cola was to buy it in a drug store.  We toured the museum and the house.  They still sell Coca Cola from the Coca Cola machine at 5 cents each – the price it was sold for in 1894.

  

The gardens were beautiful and the house and museum fun to take a look at.  In addition to this, a building next to the house was a collection of Old Bibles.

Across the road from the Coca Cola House a levee had been built.  In the past there had been several floods.  We walked to the top of the levee.  The river was definitely flooded.  I’ll bet if this levee hadn’t been there when we were, those houses would have been flooded again.  The rivers around Monroe are all high.  They’ve had a lot of rain.

Look at the trees under water, the barriers and even the roads.

Next stop was Sam’s Club.  The stop after that was back at the lake.  It was naptime.

Jerry and Janice relaxing …. the third seat was Terry’s.  He’ll be back.  Time for a Pepsi.

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Today, Wednesday, is a travel day.  We are Vicksburg, Mississippi bound.

‘Tis life on the road.