Fairview Riverside State Park - Madisonville, Louisiana
We knew when we left Fayetteville, Ar. that a tropical depression was in the gulf. Having been Louisiana residents in the past we know to keep a weather eye for developments in the gulf.
Our first stop on the coast was to Madisonville, La. where we visited our favorite park, Fairview Riverside State Park. On our third day there the Tchefuncte River started backing up from southern winds on Lake Ponchartrain. Normally this is a docile and beautiful area to be in.
Mother Nature of course had other plans in the form of Hurricane Michael. When we woke the third day we noticed that the park's surrounding swamps were rising.
During that day it continued rising.
Since we had camped here many times before we weren't too concerned as the camping loop nearest the river had flooded before with us in it. We thought that the main camping loop hadn't flooded before. So, we simply went to bed not thinking about further encroachment from the river.
The next morning, we were having coffee and a ranger knocked on our door and stated that Louisiana's Lt. Governor had ordered a mandatory evacuation of all coastal State Parks. We had to be out by 11 am. Martha and I decided to move north away from the coast. We knew if we were impacted by Michael we would be on the wind side of the storm so our logical move would be to move due north. To that end Martha, checked availability at Bogue Chitto State Park near Franklinton, Louisiana and booked a site for us.
Bogue Chitto State Park was a nice choice for a getaway. The park's Upland Loop has all full hookup sites! That's rare at a state park. If we hadn't had a cardinal playing on our mirrors, we would have been all alone there the first two nights. Night 3 the loop started filling up for the weekend. The park has a disc golf course on site. It's long and challenging, but gave us a good walk one day. We also went into Franklinton and had some pretty good Chinese food for dinner one night and an adequate Pho at a Vietnamese restaurant for lunch one day. The Chinese dinner was less than $20 for both of us!
We had reservations at Davis Bayou Campground near Ocean Springs, Mississippi for the 10th (the day Michael was to come ashore), and chose to let those go until the 12th, just in case the hurricane took a sharp left at the last minute. We showed up here last night, and it looks like it wasn't touched by any winds or rain. It's very pretty and well maintained from what we've seen. We'll be heading out to see the town once our coffee has done its work.
We were supposed to arrive at Fort Pickens in Pensacola today (the 13th) At this writing the Gulf Islands National Seashore and Fort Pickens Campground in Pensacola are still closed. We've taken another night here at Davis Bayou and two nights at the military base campground in Pensacola, and we're hoping Fort Pickens will reopen before the wedding next weekend. This month, so far, has been a series of changing plans.
