High Island - Lake Charles

When given the choice I would rather ride in the mountain than near the coast but, I have found the coast has it charm.  On a recent trip my brother-in-law and I headed for the Texas/Louisiana coast since it was still early Spring and we were looking for warm temperatures.

Early on the second day of the trip Jeff mentioned that he liked the ocean and beaches.  We decided to alter our route and add a few miles so we could visit the Texas Coast town of High Island before heading to Lake Charles, LA and some great Cajun cookin'.

We rode south on the straight and flat TX 124 (there is one high causeway bridge just north of High Island which gives a great view of the area and tempted me to roll on the throttle) to TX 87 and the Gulf Coast.  We parked and walked around the beach for a short time.  Because of past hurricanes TX 87 no longer connects High Island and Sabine so we had to ride TX 125 back north to Winnie.

The Gulf Coast at High Island

At Winnie we turned east on TX 73 heading to Port Arthur, TX.  At Port Arthur we jumped on TX 82/Martin Luther King Dr. and rode east.  We had to stop on the road prior to the Lake Sabine Causeway bridge because of construction.  We were on a steep incline but we could see the area and we watch a tugboat maneuvering a barge.

 The Lake Sabine Causeway

Barge full of cargo

The road continued along side the causeway.  We could see boats, barges, and refineries.  We crossed over the southern end of Sabine Lake entering Louisiana.  On the left side was Johnson's Bayou and on the right was the Gulf of Mexico.  There were still signs of the effects hurricane Rita.

Johnson's Bayou 

We spotted an alligator in the bayou.  We turned around but the gator would not resurface and we did not stick around too long.  I did take time to take some pictures.  It was a pretty day and there was very little traffic.  It was a peaceful area.

FJR waits while we are looking for gators.

We continued east looking for a good place to stop and check out this stretch of the beach.  Jeff chose a paved road that took us to a small "development" of beach homes.  The only other people we saw was an elderly couple sitting in lawn chairs on the beach.  We dismounted and walked out to the water.  

Gulf Coast near Holly Beach, LA

The beach was nice and clean.  Seashells were plentiful.  I have walked several beaches in Florida but I had never seen so many pretty seashells.  We gathered a few to take home. 

The beach was lined with seashells

 I found this big shell with over half of it buried under the sand. I was surprised when I pulled it up.

After a relaxing stroll down the beach gathering seashells we washed them up and continued east to Holly Beach where we turned north on LA 27.  We passed Mud Lake on our right followed by West Cove, Long Point Lake, Calcasieu Lake, Moss Lake.  On the left we rode by Brown's Lake and Black Lake. 

Riding through the Sabine National Wildlife Refuge

After 35 miles on LA 27 we arrived at our motel in Sulphur, LA.  It was a great day of riding and the stretch along the coast was very enjoyable.  If you get down that way make time to ride along the coast and enjoy the sea breeze and coastal scenery.