possible move to LA (Baton Rouge, Lake Charles: home, live, military)

[rbayle]

My DH has been looking all over the country for work (contrator.) I said I would go anywhere but the gulf coast and guess what he has been offered...Lousiana! been there-done that. stationed in Pt. Arthur, Tx in the military and worked on an oil rig in Houma, and there is just no place worse. What is the Ft. Polk area like? Someone pleaaassseee tell me it is beautiful. I just imagine swamps, alligators, yuck, dirt, floods, rains, snakes, more dirt, more yuck... I am devastated!!!!

[BRMan]

Originally Posted by rbayle

My DH has been looking all over the country for work (contrator.) I said I would go anywhere but the gulf coast and guess what he has been offered...Lousiana! been there-done that. stationed in Pt. Arthur, Tx in the military and worked on an oil rig in Houma, and there is just no place worse. What is the Ft. Polk area like? Someone pleaaassseee tell me it is beautiful. I just imagine swamps, alligators, yuck, dirt, floods, rains, snakes, more dirt, more yuck... I am devastated!!!!

Fort Polk is about 50 miles north of swamps/alligators. It's in a kind of isolated area, but Alexandria and/or Lake Charles are within an hour. But I recall the area has some hills nearby, and there's also the Toledo Bend reservoir.

[Louisiana]

i mean i know you don't like louisiana and everything ... but this is our home .. i mean you don't have to talk that much bad about it .. i'm proud to call it home ... there's much more to this state than all of that ... you can't beat louisiana culture ... or the cuisine ..as a matter of fact i think the food can single handidly keep people from moving away ... just thought i'd throw that in there

[BRMan]

Originally Posted by Louisiana

i mean i know you don't like louisiana and everything ... but this is our home .. i mean you don't have to talk that much bad about it .. i'm proud to call it home ... there's much more to this state than all of that ... you can't beat louisiana culture ... or the cuisine ..as a matter of fact i think the food can single handidly keep people from moving away ... just thought i'd throw that in there

Let me add that we're not stuck in the mud in Looziana. While we have suffered for years under inept political leadership, the media also goes out of its way to broadcast negative things about our state.

[rbayle]

It's me again-the original poster of this thread. I am so sorry I sounded so negative. Remember uninformed people are usually the ones that down things-in other words I am wanting someone to tell me I am wrong! We lived in Pt. Arthur, Tx. and I hated it. There was nothing to do, water (beaches) were so nasty, even the air smelled bad. When DH was in Houma for a few years I stayed here and saw him every four weeks (he was on the boat that long at a time.) I am a southerner, so I am not some northerner coming south and dreading it. I am hoping for some great people and that my impressions are wrong-I am just so afraid that he is going to stick us in the middle of nowhere and we will drown in the swamp.

[BRMan]

Originally Posted by rbayle

It's me again-the original poster of this thread. I am so sorry I sounded so negative. Remember uninformed people are usually the ones that down things-in other words I am wanting someone to tell me I am wrong! We lived in Pt. Arthur, Tx. and I hated it. There was nothing to do, water (beaches) were so nasty, even the air smelled bad. When DH was in Houma for a few years I stayed here and saw him every four weeks (he was on the boat that long at a time.) I am a southerner, so I am not some northerner coming south and dreading it. I am hoping for some great people and that my impressions are wrong-I am just so afraid that he is going to stick us in the middle of nowhere and we will drown in the swamp.

I think Port Arthur is a special situation because you have (1) swampy terrain, (2) very humid weather, and (3) a massive petrochemical presence. In Looziana, you'd experience those three only in Lake Charles and (to some extent) Baton Rouge. In Leesville, you're on higher (for Looziana) ground. The weather is hot but is a little less nasty than along the coast. And the Leesville "area" (where Fort Polk is) has Fort Polk as its industry.

[GirlYoda]

Seriously, no one has really answered your question. Hate to break it to you but Ft. Polk is in the middle of nowhere. The town is small and like a previous poster said, Alexandria, ie a mall, is an hour or so away. The interstate is far. There is some natural, outdoorsy stuff to do but if that's not your thing, NetFlix may become your best friend.