For me, one of the most enjoyable things in life is a good-old-fashioned road trip that takes the side roads, hits the small stops, and offers the possibility of discovery, with textures outside of the mostly manufactured experiences found along the main travel arteries, saturated with common denominator brands and tourist traps. There’s something truly special about the untailored travel experience, with its rough, fuzzy edges and unknown factors. That type of travel pushes me to keep my eyes and ears open, cultivating the type of mindful attention that can be diminished by bloated itineraries and over-hyped hot spots.

The open, wild road is like listening to the radio instead of a curated playlist—along the winding miles comes a little static and overlapping signals, as well as that joyful feeling when your favorite song comes through. These trails open us up to the priceless mystery of random, unplanned occurrences. I’m one of the lucky ones because I live along Highway 27 South in Southwest Louisiana, where we have a road trip into the wild green heart of Louisiana’s Outback—the Creole Nature Trail All-American Road—right here in our own backyard.

In this episode of Find the Good News, I visited with my friend Anne Klenke, Vice President of Destination Development with Visit Lake Charles. Anne works with heart and passion to share our growing, green Gulf Coast gateway with visitors from across the country and around the world.

Whether it’s the painted scattered skies, the kaleidoscopic presentation of seasonal birds, our unique catalogue of wetland creatures, or the expansive Gulf Coast views, Anne has seen firsthand the memorable discoveries that writers and visitors make as they explore the far-and-away spaces along the Creole Nature Trail, starting at the trailhead, Adventure Point in Sulphur, Louisiana.

Over the past 15 years, Anne and I have worked together on countless projects that promote travel to the area and inform travelers as they make their way through. As rewarding as those projects have been, this conversation revealed just how deeply Anne’s heart is entwined with this space and place, giving me a new appreciation of the Outback right here at home.

So, I invite you to consider packing for a day trip to Southwest Louisiana—and when you get here, head south on Highway 27 and watch the manufactured world peel away as you wind along into the Louisiana wild.

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