A Perfect Blue Sky, A Perfect Day - Chicot State Park 51.6 miles.

Left at 7.30am, there was a clear blue sky, a perfect day. Temperatures were pleasant with a light headwind. The route was lovely, passing through a mixture of small homesteads and forests of tall fir trees. In Louisiana, the houses are pretty and the land quite formal in complete contrast to the wildness of Texas. We passed Crawfish fields where the fields are flooded and the fish allowed to grow in the silt. When ready, small boats with back wheels, churn up the fish, the fish are then attracted to meat containers suspended from floats. They can get in but can't get out, so are then harvested. Surprisingly, rice is also grown, alternating fields, every year with crawfish. This is very wet land, if you dig down a foot you hit water. Apparently houses have small stilts and are built on a concrete base, graves are all above ground in slab/tombs.    We are camping in Chicot State Park which feels very remote. The toilets are a quarter of mile away, that should be interesting in the middle of the night.                 I have been warned about poison ivy which can cause severe skin reaction and also snakes - the tent is completely zipped up at the moment, I can assure you. Nearby is a beautiful lake and swamp but we are not allowed to swim because of, guess what, alligators. Aaahhh. I went down and had a look but didn't see any.   Hope they don't come visiting in the middle of the night.  A really pleasant, interesting day and I only got chased 3 times by dogs. Todd very gallantly kept me between him and this pitbull as we tried to outrun it. He did shout at it which seemed to work - such chivalry. It is 4.40pm, sitting in the shade because of the sun. Dan and Robert M are cooking cheeseburgers etc. .... still loving it...who wouldn't.

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