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| U.S. 84 in Louisiana was terrific. They had wide shoulders and new
blacktop; it was 10 times better than I-10. Where Mississippi had been
heavily forested, the eastern part of Louisiana was rolling farmland which
had been freshly plowed.
The town of Jena looked very nice. In fact we felt that it was the first
decent looking town we had driven through on US 84. Even though the town
had a Wal-Mart, the shops downtown looked like they were healthy and in
fact thriving. We parked on the main street while Ron took a little
Getting through Winnfield was a little tricky with lots of tight turns. The west side looked a lot nicer than the east side. After Clarence we turned south on LA route 6 because we wanted to check out the town of Natchitoches (NAK-a-tish). I had read that it was the oldest permanent settlement in the Louisiana Purchase. From 1714 until about 1825 when the Red River channel retreated 5 miles east, Natchitoches was an important trading center. Sadly we had used up all of our free time staying at the Natchez state park so we could only stay one evening. Since our day there was a Sunday not much was open. We did walk along the river and admired the lovely iron work on all of the shops; it looked a lot like New Orleans. We learned from the brochures that there are many plantation homes all along the Cane River which can be viewed via a nice drive.
 We left Natchitoches on I-49 and went north to catch US 84 again. Mansfield,
Louisiana, boasted a civil war site which we did not stop to explore. This
area was especially beautiful in all of its spring glory. The trees were
all in bloom. The colors ranged from snow white to glorious gold and blazing
fuchsia accented with bright green leaves as fresh as spring itself. It
was amazing to me that nature had so beautifully decorated itself for Mardi
Gras and in the Mardi Gras colors too.
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