Dave and I just returned to the park following a 120 mile ride on the Hiway 27 loop south of Lake Charles - part of the Creole Nature Trail. The loop took us down on the bayous, through the Cameron Prairie and Sabine National Wildlife Refuges. Dave promised me that we would see alligators, but he lied - not even road kill. I did see Louisiana Heron, Little Blue Heron and what I thought were egrets but may well have been immature Little Blues. Sandpipers, brown pelicans and dark headed gulls (Bonapartes or Franklins?). Paige said she saw a spoonbill once. There were ducks that I couldn't identify at 55 mph and three turtles at one one rest area.
The remains from Rita are still evident. As we rode along the gulf in Cameron and Holly Beach there were too many empty cement pads. Most homes are pad built down here (no foundation), so each pad represents where a home and family once were. There were cars still half buried in the marshes and the bayous were littered with rusting appliances. Abandoned businesses and gutted churches. Most of the cemeteries have new headstones. But life continues. There are some new homes and people are working. The physical wounds are healing.
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