Should Have Brought My Camera

I rode up to Mooringsport this morning. Even for a bike ride, it was an out of the way route: Through town to South Lakeshore, out to 169, over to State Line Road, and then up something called Old Mooringsport Latex Road to Mooringsport and finally back down La 538/Old Mooringsport Road to Shreveport. Sixty eight miles total.

Nice ride. All of it was either low traffic or great roads, and most was both. My favorite section was riding on State Line Road. Was I in Texas? Or Louisiana? I have no idea. Mooringsport was a perfect rest stop, too. Quiet little town with a great mom and pop store to get some food and more Gatorade and then a nice park by the lake to rest for a minute.

The scenery – though nice enough – was nothing to write home blog about, with the big exceptions of the ride along Cross Lake here and the rest stop at Caddo Lake in Mooringsport. Both were gorgeous this sunny morning. Would have been great pictures.

Another great picture would have been the drawbridge in Mooringsport. It had a plaque describing its history, the most fascinating part of which was, I thought, this:

In the summer of 1941, just prior to World War II, the United States Army held maneuvers in and around Mooringsport as a means of preparing the soldiers for war. During the maneuvers, Generals Dwight D. Eisenhower and George S. Patton came to Mooringsport and led the Red and Blue armies in the “capture” of the bridge. They also bombed the bridge with sacks of flour.

You see a lot of oddities while riding your bike out into the country, but being on a bridge that survived bombing by flour, well, that’s the best I’ve experienced.

And that wasn’t even the best part. I usually see lots of cool birds on my rides. Just like today, anywhere around here you are almost guaranteed to see herons, egrets, hawks, and waterfowl. Today, though, for the first time in my life I saw a bald eagle. It was on the west end of South Lakeshore. Cruising along, I happened to look up and thought at first it was a really big buzzard, but then saw the white head. Even if I had my camera, I don’t think I could have gotten him, though, as he quickly flew over some trees and out of sight.

Anyway, nice ride, and maybe next time I do it, I’ll remember the camera.

Advertisement