#1: [02-Jun-01]

15-Apr-2018 -- Imagine a gathering of over 8,500 geographers in New Orleans and not one of them visiting a confluence point. Determined not to let that happen, I, Joseph Kerski, set out to visit a few points in Louisiana and Mississippi. During the American Association of Geographers (AAG) conferences, as has been my custom for over 15 years, I have visited a local confluence point; including Point Reyes California, to a cornfield in Illinois, from a street in Massachusetts to an off ramp in Florida, and beyond. Each of those points had been visited in February, March, or April which is when the conference occurs. On this particular spring day, in April this year, I had already visited 32 North 91 West in Mississippi in the morning, and 32 North 92 West in Louisiana. I was now en route back to the New Orleans airport and running out of time. I was in such a hurry that I even did not stop to pay tribute to Jerry Lee Lewis, even though I passed through his hometown of Ferriday, Louisiana. Could I squeeze in a third confluence today?

After passing through Ferriday, I crossed from Louisiana into Mississippi on a magnificent bridge. I then traveled through part of Mississippi through Natchez, another town I would have liked to have stopped in, and then south on US 61 to Woodville, past Centerville, and then south on some wooded lanes. Here is where I really lost some time, because the lanes were rutty and occasionally a fallen massive tree branch lay across the roadway. I proceeded with caution. I drove southwest along a beautiful lonely shaded road to the Louisiana-Mississippi border, sun filtering through the trees and not a soul around. At the state line, I took photographs at what would be my closest approach. Any hiking here would mean that I would surely miss my airplane flight.

About 1300 meters is the closest approach on the road to the northwest, and 2000 meters is about my distance where I was standing when I took the photographs. The temperature stood at about 70 F under sunny skies. Nobody was around and I did not see any vehicles for 15 minutes before and after stopping at this confluence approach. After I got back in the vehicle, I also approached at 1800 meters on the road to the south. The approach from the west contains some No Tresspassing signs and some dense thickets. The approach from the south contains more open land, but the landowner permission letter is advised. Another thing I soon realized upon traveling to the south--this whole area could be radically transformed soon. Some massive forest logging is occurring near here, and while re-planting does occur, this area could look quite different and soon. I do not know if the confluence point is scheduled for cutting, but if not, the logging is now occurring just to the south of the point. It is almost guaranteed that if the approach is being logged, not only will you not be able to gain access, but even if you did gain access, it would be almost impossible to reach the point on foot--the huge logs and disarray would make any such hike very dangerous.

Hence, reluctantly, I left the area, but not before filming a video entitled: What deforestation looks like. I really had wanted to visit this point, especially since it had not been visited in many years. Alas. I drove on to the southeast to New Orleans, turned in the vehicle, and made my flight with about 1 hour to spare. Still, choosing to save this point for another day was a good decision. This is a beautiful and peaceful spot but is very close to noise and massive change. Get out there and explore!