Mississippi River Levee Run

This past Thursday, the family and I drove to Plaquemine, Louisiana for my cousin Jessica's wedding. We had an amazing time -- it was great hanging out with my family for 3 days. The wedding itself was wonderful - truly a joyous occasion. It has to be one of the best weddings I have ever attended. Incredible wedding service, amazing reception - and it did not hurt that my two children where in the wedding and that Jessica and Andre are a terrific couple. Needless to say, I overdid it on the food and libations during the trip -- like I always do when I visit them. Folks in Louisiana just know how to throw a party!

However, I did work in one nice long run while in Louisiana. I started my run in downtown Plaquemine and went south on the Mississippi river levee towards New Orleans. The levee is really a great place to run. It is flat and has a dirt/gravel road on top of it. You don't have to worry about footing at all - you can just let your mind wander. My plan was for a two hours out and then turn around for two hours back. I had my hydration pack and two bottles of water - enough for basically one bottle of water every hour.

I started the run while it was still dark. I climbed on the levee and started jogging south. As the sun came up I was able to see the river which was only 10 feet from the top of the levee. We've had a wet winter across our country and the river is at an extremely high point. My uncle who has lived in Plaquemine his entire life has only seen the river higher one other time. If the levee did not exist, the entire town of Plaquemine and many other towns along the river would be under water right now. It was kind of strange to be running on ground much higher than the town itself. At my level, I was above the roofs of all of the homes that line the river road to the side of the levee.

The levee itself is really not that wide. It is built like a pyramid and is about 30 yards wide at its base. To my left was the river - to my right was a narrow field of pasture grass and then the river road. I was running about the same pace as the river - I made a little game of keeping up with various pieces of drift wood. If I only looked at the river, I felt a little like Huck Finn out there. I saw alligator gar, turtles, herons, and other assorted wildlife. Looking to my right, I saw sugarcane fields, farms and ranches, lots of industry, mixed in with nice homes (including one plantation home built before the Civil War) and ramsackle shacks. There was a wide variety of different things to view. I don't think I they have a lot of zoning laws in Louisiana.

The sun began to creep higher in the sky. It was a typical spring morning in South Louisiana. Humid, but not terrible. It rained on me a bit, but stopped quickly - the sun came out and then would go behind the clouds for awhile. Overall, not too bad. However, with the coming daylight I started to notice warning signs on the levee - no trespassing - levee road not for public use - violators will be prosecuted. That started to worry me a bit. I did not want to run on the river road down below me - a lot of the houses along the road had dogs in the front yard that made me nervous. Plus there were cars and giant trucks whizzing by pretty often down there. I decided to push on and take my chances on the levee.

Pretty soon I ran upon a bunch of cattle that were laying down in the middle of the levee road. As I got closer, they picked up and started trotting off ahead of me. I was cool with that and I started to have a little fun with them. I'd pick up the pace and the cows would run faster - staying about 20 yards ahead of me the entire time. I'd slow down and then they'd slow down -- always staying ahead of me. I then realized that they were not going to turn around - they were going to stay ahead of me as long as I kept running behind them. That made me a little concerned. I kept imagining the rancher watching me and seeing me move his cattle 5 miles down the levee and getting pissed. So I started to run faster thinking I may be able to overtake the cattle and then they'd stay behind me. No such luck -- cows can run way faster than I can! So I just kept running - all the while getting more nervous about the warning signs on the levee and the cows that I was moving far from where I found them. Finally the cows stopped and turned around. I looked a little ahead of them and saw a fence and cattle guard. What would the cows do now? They were trapped between me and the fence. Would they try and jump the fence to get away from me? Would they run into the Mississippi itself and be swept off to New Orleans? Would they charge me and I would have to jump into the Mississippi and be swept off to New Orleans? Those were my thoughts as I inched up closer to the cows. I was careful to divert my face and not make eye contact with them as I started to pass. Needless to say, nothing happened. The cows did not move at all and I made my merry way around them.

Back to those warning signs along the levee road. I had passed about 10 of them by now. My imagination was running wild. I kept thinking that the sheriff would be pulling up behind me any second. I looked over my shoulder constantly. I really did not want a ticket -- or worse -- be locked up for the weekend for trespassing. So I made the decision to run back to town on the river road. I'd take my chances with the dogs and the trucks. It turned out to be a good decision - right after I started running on the road I saw the rancher on the levee tending to his cows - I ran quickly by him. Then an refinery worker was on the levee doing some kind of pipeline work. I ended up passing three different trucks on my way back to Plaquemine that were up on the levee.

The river road was not too bad. Lots of roadkill - I counted 5 dead armadillos in a one mile stretch. The dogs were all chained up - so no issues there. The cars and trucks were not too fun - there was very little shoulder on the road to avoid them. I ran into a guy who was doing some yard work and he asked me how far I was going. When I told him 20 miles - he about fell down. I don't think they see a whole lot of recreational runners in Plaquemine, Louisiana.

Overall it was a great trip, wonderful wedding, and pretty interesting run. I love running in new places!