Tow Boats on Parade at the ICW

 Location: Intracoastal Park Campground; Hackberry, Louisiana (about 15 minutes south of I-10 at Sulphur)

Today is day seven of my self-exile to south Louisiana to avoid the massive winter storm that hit the area of my homebase campground and my house. The electricity at my house where my X-wife and my son, Brandon, lives was restored last night after having been off for five days. It was an experience they would rather not repeat and were glad to be able to sleep warmly in their beds instead of on couches near the fireplace. Thank goodness for the firewood and generator although the generator ran out of fuel on day four. The state highway that runs in front of my RV homebase had been closed since shortly after the storm hit but re-opened yesterday evening. I believe the electricity has been restore to the campground but I'm not 100% sure. I am positive that Liberty would have frozen solid and had many burst waterpipes/fittings. I would have been repairing her for weeks. 

I had planned to return on Tuesday, day 4, but realized too late that the weather conditions were still too bad to return. By the time I made up my mind to extend my stay down here, there weren't any vacancies at my original campground. I was able to find a campsite at a campground I've stayed at before and it is where I'm at now. I'll be here for three days before returning to Sam Houston Jones SP for two days. I'll then head back home.

This campground is located right on the Intracoastal Waterway. It is an old section of the waterway and was built a little more than 100 years ago. The original intent was to build a canal to connect the Calcasieu River in Louisiana to the Red River on the Texas/Louisiana border so that cargo could pass between those two navigable rivers without having to get into the Gulf of America. Later it was incorporated into the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) system which is a waterway system just inland from the coast and runs about 3,000 miles from Massachusetts to the Mexican/Texas border. Of all the places I've camped alongside rivers, lakes and canals, this one is the best at watching the tow boats/barges work. There are at least a dozen tow boats per hour that passes within a stone's throw of my campsite. They work 24 hours a day and you can hear them throughout the night. If you are a very light sleeper, this may not be the place for you. That's OK with me, because that means more vacancies when I return. Also, the daily rate is $12.00 per night for water/electric with a dump station on site. That is an excellent price with a great view.

This is my third or fourth time being here over the last 11 years and I've seen a couple new things this go around. I'll let the pictures with captions finish out the post.

This is just one example of the industry around this part of Louisiana. It is the Citgo refinery and is only one of many, many around here.

This at another refinery on the way here and something like this usually has the extreme environmentalists pulling their hair out. The flame is the fire from the "flair stack". It is used to burn off excess gases that is not needed in the refinery process. It is considered a safety feature.  

This is my site here at the Intracoastal RV Park. You can see how close to the ICW the campsites are located. 

This is the view out my back window and door. The tow boats pass by about every 5 minutes.

The attachment to the front of this set of barges is called a "bow-boat" or "switcher boats" or "bow thrusters". It has an independent engine with either thrusters or propellers that can rotate 360 degrees. They are used for maneuvering when connected to long runs of barges, in tight or narrow channels, for docking and/or to help control the barge combination in high winds. This is the first time I've seen them working before. 

This a zoomed in picture of a "bow-boat" on a different set of barges. They are usually unmanned and controlled wirelessly from the pilot house of the towboat. They can help steer the barges around sharp turns, etc.

I got lucky and caught a nice sunset on the second evening here.

Same sunset as in the above picture just with a towboat.

This is the Lorraine Hooks. She is a 300-foot suction dredge with a 27-inch cutter. This picture only shows about half of the "train". 

The lift bridge had to be raised to allow the Lorraine Hooks to pass under. It was the first time I've used the night shot function on my new phone. I like it.

Ya'll take care of each other. Maybe I'll Cya down the road.