Rolling on the River

This past weekend my brother-in-law, Orlando and our nephew, Vincent, came to visit us.  They live in a suburb of Houston and we always enjoy their visits.  Orlando brought his boat, “The Hot Popper,” and we had a big adventure planned.  We planned to embark on a voyage leaving from Houssiere’s Park in Jennings and travel on Bayou Nezpique until it emptied into the Mermentau River.  Then we would continue on the Mermentau River until it emptied into Lake Arthur.  We would then dock at The Regatta Restaurant and enjoy live music, good food, and fellowship.

We had no idea how long the voyage would take.  As the map below shows, we departed from the dock designated by the red star and our destination is marked by the yellow starburst.  It only takes 15 minutes to travel from Jennings to Lake Arthur by car, but traveling by boat on a winding bayou and river is quite another matter.  The waterway is hardly a straight line.  It winds in and out countless times in its slow flow southward.  But we weren’t in a rush at all.  We were out to enjoy a great day!

Our 3 1/2 hour tour was mapped out

It’s probably best (maybe? – maybe not) to commemorate this voyage in a familiar song (Theme song to Gilligan's Island), with the words altered somewhat.  My apologies to Sherwood Schwartz and United Artists Television!

Just sit right back
And you'll hear a tale
A tale of a fateful trip,
That started out from Houssiere’s Park,
Aboard this tiny ship.

Embarking on "The Hot Popper" - Bon Voyage!!

Captain Orlando was a mighty sailin' man, 

Captain Orlando, Our Skipper

The Skipper brave and sure.

First Mate, Patricia

Five passengers set sail that day, 

For a lazy Saturday tour,
A lazy Saturday tour.

The Deckhands (Kyle, Vinny G, & Benjamin)

The weather started getting hot, 

As the tiny ship moved south.
Tricia packed sandwiches, root beer and hummus,
For the fearless crew to fill their mouths.
For the fearless crew to fill their mouths.

The ship pulled Benjamin on a tube

The tube dude

Down the gator infested bayou,

Dodging tug boats pushing barges

Barges on the way to Mermentau to be loaded with rice or soybeans

Was a skill our captain could do.

With Captain Orlando,
And Vincent too.
Yours truly and his wife,
And Benjamin,
The “Hot Popper”,
Enjoying quality of life.

(Ending verse)

So this is the tale of our adventure,
It really didn’t take a long, long time.
After 3 ½ hours in the boat we arrived at Regatta, 

The Regatta Restaurant - our destination

And enjoyed a sunset over the water that was sublime.

Captain Orlando and the “Hot Popper”,
Did his very best,
To pilot us through thick duck salad aquatic weed,

Duck Salad Water weed

Without getting stressed.

Cell phone service, boat snacks, and an umbrella,
But not a single fish was caught
If we wanted to eat fresh fish
Our meal would have to be bought.

So join us here each year my friends,
There will be no discontent,
We’ve already decided
This will be an annual event!

And the song ends, thank Goodness!  We really had a great time.  We left at 1 pm sharp and took our time for most of the trip, arriving at the dock at The Regatta at about 4:30 where we enjoyed some cold drinks and an appetizer and listened to some live music.  We burned about 5 gallons of fuel (out of 6 gallons we had on hand).  The captain had speakers on his boat and as we cruised down the river, we listened to music.  The captain even took requests!  Once we got on the Mermentau River and Lake Arthur, there were other people out in boats and we waved and chatted with friendly fellow sailors enjoying the day like we were.

Prior to setting sail in Jennings, we had positioned the truck and trailer at a public landing in Lake Arthur and it is a good thing we did that as we couldn’t have made a round trip back to Jennings due to the sun fading and our fuel supply almost out.  Captain Orlando had a fish finder that kept showing lots of fish, but they were either not hungry or not interested in what we were offering.  Although it was hot, there was a breeze blowing on the water and the umbrella kept most of us out of the baking sun.

The skipper also had a depth finder on the boat that showed water depths averaging about 38 feet in the channel all the way from Jennings to Lake Arthur, with a high depth of 47 feet and a low point of about 3 feet.  I’m a land-lubber for sure, but I really enjoyed the day as did all of the crew of the Hot Popper.  We’re already planning our next voyage and may print up t-shirts heralding the cruise and try to enlist others to participate in next year’s Regatta to The Regatta!

Big wheel keep on turnin’

Proud Mary keep on burnin’

Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ on the river…