One Foot in the Bayou

Saturday, March 18…

Quiet morning – Greg & I both finishing up books. I’m reading A Man Called Ove and highly recommend it. It may be a little confusing – and perhaps even off-putting – at first, but it’s so worth it. You’ll laugh often (farther in), and it’s very heartwarming. Also very well written. Greg’s reading it now; when he’s done we’ll catch the movie.

Anyway… in the afternoon we took a boat tour of the bayou. Newest explanation of bayou (from our guide): “It’s not a marsh like most people think; it’s an ecosystem governed by the interaction of grasses and brackish water.” (Not his exact words, but that was the idea.) Later in the tour, however, he used marsh several times to refer to the area. I believe there are lots of operative defs of bayou, but one of the key attributes is that the water must be moving. Here, it’s tidal. I walked back to the campground, taking a couple loops through the woods to get more views. I did manage one alligator shot, but it just looks like a log. We’re here a week –  lots more opportunities. 😊

BAYOU: moving water & grasses
(There are 5 barrier islands about
10 miles out from the bayou.
Similar to NC's Outer Banks or
Padre Island in southern Texas.)

Over 4000 acres in Davis Bayou

Lots of algae, but that's not an alligator
creeping up the bank.

So, that short "log" toward the
top is actually a gator.

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BlogThoughts... At one point during that walk back to camp, I was standing on the remains of the recreation hall used by the CCC developing the park during the Depression. Hoover Dam was built in part by CCC workers. I got curious about just how much we owe to those men. Here’s an overview:

·         Approximately 125,000 miles  of roads built

·         46,854 bridges constructed

·         More than 3,000 lookout fire towers built

·         318,076 check dams built for erosion control

·         More than 8 million hours of fighting fires

·         33,087 miles  of terracing implemented

·         Upwards of 3 billion trees planted

·         About 89,000 miles  of telephone wire strung

(Sometimes I can only sigh and accept the fact that I cannot force the page to look the way I want.)