This Ain’t Mumbly Peg—Not for us nor for the people of Cameron, Louisiana

CAMERON, LOUISIANA – We have for several days now been exploring what has been called the Louisiana Backcountry.

After driving over a huge cypress swamp near Houma, Amelia and Morgan City, we came to lovely Abbeville again and turned south to head across the coastal prairie and marshland to the Gulf. We didn’t know exactly what to expect, but we did not expect to get lost. A bayou bridge was shut down, and to find another way, well, we must have missed some turns. We were frustrated and, at first, decided to cut out part of the trip and stick to the big roads.

At this point, we started mumbling about mumbly peg. Mumbly peg was a childhood game we both knew (and Gus played)—a tribute to utter boredom and wasting time and self-effacing (pardon!) humble pie. We both agreed “we are not here to play mumbly peg,” and so we tried again to find the adventurous road south, and this time we succeeded!

(Might you be interested in playing mumbly peg? It’s a two-person pastime. Player 1 finds a two-inch twig and has three hits with the handle of a pocketknife, held by the blade, to drive it into the dirt. If successful, the twig virtually disappears. Player 1 then has to attempt several tricks with the knife, all designed to flip the knife in odd ways but, after flying through the air, have the knife blade stick clearly into the ground. If player 1 succeeds, player 2 has to extract the twig with nothing but his mouth and teeth. Eating dirt. Mumbly indeed! What’s in this for player 2? If he succeeds, he becomes player 1! We are not sure mumbly peg made it into the 21^st century.)

The road south goes first through the coastal prairie and then enters a spectacular (and spectacularly large) wetland region of coastal marshes. The different grasses provide different shades of green broken by bays and other water bodies large and small. (It’s hard to photograph, we found.) Then the road rises a bit and turns westward to follow the coast along the Grand Chenier ridge, an area high enough to support an abundance of live oak sheltering charming horse and cattle farms.

Dense and endless wetlands.

The region is defined by Lake Calcasieu, with Lake Charles at its northern shore. We took the lovely road up the eastern side of the lake, up toward Lake Charles and its neighboring area Sulphur. Our advice is that you do not want to go to Lake Charles or the neighboring Sulphur unless you are looking for cheap digs with easy access to the Louisiana Backcountry and the Sabine National Wildlife Refuge. The area at the head of the lake is an industrial disaster land.

Now, three BTW points. A friend said to us, ”Be careful, Louisianans are rough, wild drivers.” Our friend nailed that one. Big pickups hurdle heedlessly down the road.

It is also impressive how much of Louisiana is waterborne—tons of fishing vessels, tugs and barges, tankers, etc. The Intracoastal Waterway here is commercial, not recreational. These folks are industrious.

Finally, it is startling to have near-pristine wildness repeatedly interrupted, assaulted by reoccurring, definitely ugly oil and gas operations. The fossil companies large and small seem to have the mineral rights everywhere, and are not shy about exercising them. The raw natural gas under this whole region must require some serious processing before it can be piped out, or so it seems to the ignorant observer.

Huge things beside the road. What are they???

The next day (Monday) we continued our trek along the Creole Nature Trail, heading south out of Sulphur, down the west side of the lake. We stopped in Hackberry, the crab capital of Louisiana, for Gus to pick up a breakfast of boudin and grits. (What happened to granola and fruit?!) It was the best boudin yet.

We continued south until we arrived at Sabine NWR. It is a strikingly beautiful region of brackish water and a wide variety of wetland vegetation. As now expected, the huge volume of migratory birds that frequent the Sabine as well as the Rockefeller NWR and others in the region are gone. So we didn’t have OMG moments, but we did see a great many of our favorites and one—the least bittern—that was new to us. A killdeer did an extended distraction display dance for us, and we were impressed. Among our favorites were ruddy turnstone, scarlet tanager, Baltimore oriole, lesser yellowlegs, reddish egret and one or two blue wing teal families with eight ducklings unafraid right beside the road.

We had some powerful winds. The good news is that neither of us was in the porta potty on the left when the big wind came.

Below Sabine down on the Gulf coast one comes first to Holly Beach, which may be about the only beach on the LA coast. Most of what was once there has been taken away by recent hurricanes. Also, we have to say, the quality of the beach sand and water here compares poorly with that in our previous states. Still, a beach is a beach!

Lots of lots for sale at Holly.

Cute rebuilding at Holly.

A beach is a beach!

Soon we came to a ferry that takes you across the mouth of the Calcasieu to the town of Cameron. For some reason we have a special interest in this town. J Unfortunately, poor little Cameron (pop. now 400), on the Gulf coast as it is, has been hit hard recently by powerful hurricanes. Cameron Parish was devastated by Hurricane Audrey when we were in high school in the late 50s. Over 300 people died as a result. More recently Hurricane Rita hit in 2005 and then three years later Hurricane Ike brought in a vicious 22-foot storm surge, twice that of Rita’s. Basically these events wiped the town out. In our innocence we had wanted to stay in Cameron, but we were told that Cameron is gone. Not quite true!

We saw scores and scores of cement pads that were once the under-the-house areas where boats and vehicles were parked, barbeques were held, and stuff was stored. It’s a sad scene. Rebuilding is slow—most of the older folks decided not to rebuild—but smart or not smart—Cameron is not giving up. Indeed, the parish probably has some reconstruction money (federal?) that seems to have led to some overbuilt what elephants in Cameron. Still, we were glad to see the nearby Cameron NWR.

Major projects in Cameron.

In Cameron, another stairs to nowhere...only the foundation remains.

A good po'boy in Cameron

One hopeful start is Anchors Up Grill, where we shared a delicious fried catfish po’boy and an order of fried okra (yea, veggies).

We have come to feel this is the extreme part of our road trip.

Boy dog Capers, of all people, seems to have found some unfortunate bacteria. It is not serious but is definitely gaseous and liquidous. We will take him to a vet in Rockport, Texas. Next stop.