Biggest Tupelo Tree? sure!

What a bust! We drove and drove and drove down these little roads and found nothing. Back tracked, looked again, nothing. I am trusting it's still there, oh well. Dave needed some pieces parts for those lights he was installing so we headed to Lake Charles and to Lowes. While he was there I was surfing the Garmin for sights to see and found 2 museums right in downtown. Off we went. Both closed. We drove the lakeshore drive where there are enormous mansions facing Lake Charles (it eventually empties into the Gulf of Mexico). Lake Charles is a major hub for petroleum and off shore drilling as well as fishing. Lots of traffic going up and down the river which connects the Lake to the Gulf. The boat houses that they erected on the lake side of the mansions were huge some looked like at least 2000 square feet of party house with their boat up on slings. And some boat houses were built with at least 30 foot tall pilons supporting it - when a hurricane comes through the water rises that much - the boat house can float up the pilons and not get washed away. Across the lake (it's about a mile wide) there are huge river boats that house casinos. Again, just like most places in the States, have to float out about one foot on the water every couple of hours.

The casino we are going to today is on Indian land, the Coushatti Indians own a big portion of land here. From what some of the other campers have said, this casino (there are 17 total around Lake Charles) is the best. We plan to spend the day there although I don't like to gamble - seeing our money go away so quickly. We will only go in with a certain amount and play till it's doubled (GREAT!) or bust. Then partake of their famous buffett for a late lunch/early dinner.

We have decided we are very done with Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Enough of bayous, humidity, very poor environment. Need to get to Texas which we will do this Wednesday. Hopefully will be there, around there, for at least 2 months. And it's much warmer.