Caddo Lake
It was a test run for a trip that we want to take this fall. We wanted to make sure that we would have a place and could get our RV down by this lake……so off we went in the Jeep with our friends Steve and Leta. We took off Friday….destination: Uncertain, Texas….and yes that is the actual name of the town! I will give you more history and pics on this town when we go back.
We pulled into Uncertain in the late evening hours. We decided that we would try to find lodging close to the lake so we could really check it out. We quickly found out that this was the swamp and 5 star hotels…..well you’re not going to get that here. What you have in Uncertain is little cabins, bed and breakfast or rooms and some looking better than others. Everything looks shut down for the night, but we found a number on the Uncertain Inn and found us all a room….just barely for a place that looked dead. We quickly find out from the very nice lady who runs the Uncertain Inn that everyone in this town has a piece of the action after we asked her what’s to eat around this place. She politely told us she could whup us up something to eat or we could go to “River Bend” to eat dinner. You have one place in this town that serves breakfast, one that serves lunch and one that does dinner! Everyone gets a piece of the action that way…..what they do compete with is the lake tours. The River Bend restaurant was a nice surprise……..we ate out over the lake in their screened in porch and the food was great!
After a good night’s rest we decided to check out the lake and to see if there were any RV parks in the area. The locals call it the invisible lake and we quickly found out why. You simply just cannot see the lake without being in a boat with all the swamp around you. There are all kinds of tours you can take at this lake from an old Steamboat to a little john boat. We decided on the tour with a pontoon boat with Captain Byron. We set that up for 6 p.m. in the evening…..I wanted the better light and it was hot and humid and unless you have your own boat you’re not going to get an early tour….that will come when we come back with our own boats.
We ran around all day checking out places to come back to biding our time until the tour. The tour…..it was the best money we spent all weekend long. I only had 1 ½ hr to take pics of this beautiful lake and with that on a moving boat and we only touched not even a ¼ of the lake….but here are some of the results of that tour.
The above photo is of the historic Government Ditch, one of many man-made features within the naturally-formed lake. The Corps of Engineers designed and dredged this canal -- which bypasses the twisting course of the "Old River" (in actuality, the original course of Big Cypress Bayou) -- in the 1870s to provide a shortcut for steamboat traffic, saving them several miles of arduous travel.
Even though this lake is full of alligators it's also a very popular place for jet skiing, swimming and canoeing not to mention the fishing. Yea I'm not sure I wanna swim with the gators!
The most famous place on the lake is Dick and Charlie's Tea Room. From back in the 1800's, this is the only establishment left of the original approximately 30 like it on the East side of Lake Caddo that were in a Wet county where the laws were lax and loosely enforced. On the west side where Uncertain is located, the county was dry and no alcohol was allowed to be sold. But on the East side, these structures were built and anything was allowed. The only way to get to these establishments was by boat as they were literally out in the swamp, but on the East side of the county line. They sold liquor, held dances, gambled, and served as brothels, according to the guide. They literally were proud of the fact that they allowed anything to go on. In fact, if you'll notice, there is an old sign posted on the front of a tree that shows what the rules were for this establishment.
House Rules
1. There anit none.
2. There never was none.
3. There anit gonna be none.
For the Good Times"
On the smaller sign below, it says:
"Waitress wanted.
Good Fishing Boat Needd"
It's a gorgeous lake with endless photography possibilities. Our next trip will be the end of October and the first week of November where I'm hoping to have plenty of time with our own boat to capture the fall colors and the wildlife! I will be counting the days until we go back!
