Monroe, Louisiana

We are stealth camping in Monroe Louisiana, at the mostly defunct Pecanland Plaza (map), across the street from the bustling Pecanland Mall.

I say "stealth" because there is no going concern here (at least, one open on weekends) from whom to ask permission. We are taking the absence of "No Overnight Parking" signs as a good indicator -- the mall across the street has posted one at every entrance.

We parked here because I got a craving for Olive Garden, and there is one on the periphery of the mall. Monroe is one of the few "cities" on our route to Du Quoin, our route plan called for us to stop somewhere near here anyway, and I surmised that there might be an Olive Garden and perhaps some suburban boondocking alternatives such as Wal-Mart. None of the usual suspects were close enough to the restaurant, though, so we scouted until we found this parking lot.

The mall should be closing in another twenty minutes or so, and, with luck, no one will disturb us tonight.

Today's drive was uneventful, just a straight shot up 165. We did fuel up -- it turned out that Cushatta had it's own gas station, with $2.569 diesel, one of the lowest prices in the state.

Tomorrow we will leave Louisiana for Arkansas.