Voyage to the end of the River...

Everyone thinks of New Orleans as the end of the Mississippi River, but the truth is, the mighty river doesn't run into the Gulf of Mexico for another 110 miles, all of it part of a huge delta consisting of settled silt after from millenia of flow. We decided to drive 75 miles along the river past New Orleans to the very end of the road (LA-23) at Venice. This drive wasn't in our Plan A, mainly because we didn't know it was possible to get that far. We found that most Louisianans are not aware either, not even the people at the state visitors centre at Vidalia, where we got our maps. Even Venice falls short of the very end by a long way, and we figure that ongoing flow keeps extending the river further, slowly.

It's over 100miles down the Mississippi past New Orleans to where the river actually drains into the Gulf of Mexico. The red dot marks Venice, the end of the road.

At the end of the road!

We don't know how Venice got its name, but it's fair to assume that it is something to do with the abundance of water, in canals, bayous etc. which defines the entire delta area. Venice has suffered two recent catastrophes, devastation Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and oil washup from the BP Deepwater Horizon explosion in 2010. There has been a lot of remediation effort, but it must be a perpetual challenge to keep anywhere based on such shifting sands in good shape. The bottom half of the road has an untidy almost seedy feel about it, but that is typical of seaside towns everywhere where people "muck about in boats" - this one just happens to be very long!

Commercial fishing vessel "Wonder Woman" in one of the several marinas on the road to Venice.

Above ground burial is traditional in New Orleans, but the traditional reason, that being below sea-level, bodies will float out, is not borne out by fact. The tradition is probably an economic one. It's practical to add more family members to above gound tombs. This small cemetery is on the road to Venice.

Like almost everywhere else on the Mississippi, huge levees guard against flood. As usual, it can be hard to get a good view of the river. It's frustrating, from the road you can frequently see the upper decks of huge ships sailing up or down, but often you just can't get a better look at them! On a few occasions, when we saw a ship going by, we scrambled up on the levee to get a better view. This river is a major attraction for ocean going vessel-spotting, but you've got to have a good spot to do it.

This is how you build so you can see ships passing on the Mississippi River, seen at Venice LA.

The Mississippi River is one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. It must be frustrating to have to navigate 100miles up it to the ports of New Orleans, having arrived at the river's end.

Sea bird disturbed by our interest near Venice LA.

Beyond Venice, by boat is the only transport option to get to the end of the river. We didn't contemplate this, but the sheer number of vessels of every description stretching down the delta road, and the presence of maritime industry, big and small, shows that a lot of activity takes place at the end of the river. Sporting fishing is clearly a major attraction during the season - a lot of cheap accommodation and camping areas are in evidence, but it was pretty quiet during our visit. Summer?

Remnant of the drawbridge mechanism on Fort Jackson near Venice. The fort was the scene of Civil War action, and was later used at a Union prison.

Our Plan B was to stay near Venice overnight, then return to New Orleans. It was an interesting exercise finding accommodation options for Venice LA, because online searches kept wanting us to stay in Venice Los Angeles, or even in Italy. In the end, we found one luxurious guest house (Saltbush Lodge) that seemed worth the splurge. It claimed a spectacular view of the passing parade of boats whilst sipping mint juleps on their upper floor balcony, but they didn't respond to our email or 'phone call. No doubt closed for winter. The house, which we located, was spectacular! Plan C, which we eventually executed, became to stay in an busy New Orleans suburb.

Luxurious looking "Saltbush Lodge" would have been a nice base for ship-spotting, but could not be contacted.