The Spillway

by Mike Maher

The spillways been open for about a week, which gives a lil look at how much water the Mississippi carries as ya drive west on I-10 towards Manchac. It’s pretty interesting I think so the other day I was taking some folks out to Manchac for an 11:30am tour. Actually, wait no, I think it was the 2:00pm tour. Anyway yeah I was taking them out for the 2:00pm tour, and someone asked about the spillway. So I got to talking about it, ya know, the history, how much water it moves, the importance of it, this kinda thing. And ya know, I’m driving so I’m watching where I’m going, we pride ourselves on safety. So I can’t see the folks in the back, I assume they’re totally enthralled by the engineering marvel and the implications for fisheries in the lake, ya know it’s really pretty interesting. After I share the information, I pause to hear if there’s a question in the back, maybe a comment or two, this sorta thing, a lot of times people have a comment or question. No one said anything so I figured I’d just cap it off with a “pretty interesting, huh?” No one said anything again so I finished driving to Manchac and gave the tour.