12-04-10 KINDER, LA

Well, we took a little trip to Cameron, La and toured the Creole Nature Trail..this trail was one of the first nationally recognized trails..it's a whole lotta swamp to us yankees at first glance..We found out why it's important..it's got birds, lots of birds..endless birds because it's one of the south's most important stopovers for several of the country's migratory routes.. We didn't even know the country had that many migratory routes..the walkways and driving trails take you thru a lot of habitat for not only birds but a lot of other critters important to ecological balance..We could have done the whole tour from our camp in 8 hrs but decided to stopover for the night in Cameron, La. at an RV Park on the ocean and we were able to watch lots of ships come & go and while we were there learned a little about the area from the locals...the town was devestated by hurricane Rita and really has never recovered...for example...we wanted to find a place to eat and there's only 1 restaurant open and it's an outside eatery because if they built a building it'd have to be 14ft in the air, on stilts!! as is anything new in town and it's cost prohibitive..the town lost 70%% of it's population and they don't expect it to ever be the same..We took the Tioga across the river via a ferry that only takes 5 minutes  for a $1 fee. because a bridge would be cost prohibitive..From Cameron we headed North to Lake Charles, ate some lunch and hit Walmart for our weekly supplies and got back at our CG about 4PM..did some laundry and NOW it's HAPPY HOUR ..Actually it's all happy hour when we're on the road :)  Gonna explore to the North tomorrow so stayed tuned til next blog and REMEMBER, LIVE YOUR DREAMS AS TIME GOES BY QUICKLY...Charlie&Heather